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Let’s talk about the fire attribute. The fire attribute is the easiest to use in combat among the four fundamental attributes, on top of being widely used in everyday life. Practically all the magic and spells of this attribute can be used for combat, and it’s quite popular among the hot-blooded youths and, particularly, the highly egoistical noble sons.

And what I mean by that is……

「I ask! By the flame of purification, burn my enemies to ashes! “Flame Lance”!」
「I decree under my name! Incinerate all that stands against me! “Flame Arrow”!」

The instant we opened the tent entrance, these screams greeted us. Well, okay, I understand that chanting is necessary for magecraft and the chant can differ based on the magic circle and support catalyst ‌they use, but… seeing their extremely smug look makes me feel embarrassed for them.¹

Before these boys, a doll of unknown material fitted with armor is standing on the ground, so I suppose the purpose of that is to measure the strength of the magic, or magecraft. Besides the dolls, there are also examiners filling in some papers.

「Lily, the line is over here.」
「Thank you, Sola. Still, it’s quite hot in here.」
「We will look after your admission permits. The inside of this tent has the highest temperature in the whole examination hall, after all. Observers, please come this way.」

It seems like examinees can observe even if they aren’t taking the test. Or rather, the people watching over the examinees are probably the guardians of these “young masters”. Ces initially planned to accompany us, so I suppose this is natural considering that these are children of nobility.

「Lily, Sola, do your best!」
「Of course!」
「We’ll be back soon.」

Sola and I will take the test here. It seems like the test is done with two people at a time, and both of us have two people before us in our respective line. Sola points at one of them and quietly whispers to me. The boy was small but has a pair of sheep horns, and his eyes are sparkling as he looks at the spell of the examinee before him.

「Lily, do you know of that examinee on our right?」
「No, forgive me, I’m not much acquainted with others, you see…..」
「I thought so…… That gentleman is Lord Teybert, a distant relative of the Great Sage of Capricorn. He’s a sorcerer of singular fire attribute.」

It seems like we’ve immediately encountered the rare singular attribute user. In addition, being that he’s a sorcerer with a singular fire attribute, his offensive ability on its own is likely top class. I’m looking forward to seeing what sort of magic he’ll be using.

「Next! Teybert Vanis Scharf Bodwin!²」
「Yes!」

Whoops, it looks like it’s already his turn now. I guess it’s time to see what he has to offer.

「I’m counting on you. “Flame”」

The boy said only these words with a natural tone. His voice wasn’t by any means loud, yet it reverberated clearly through the tent. In the next instant, the flames gushed forth from the feet of the doll, burning everything, even the metal armor, to dregs. Ah, the mage apprentice called along with him is shrinking away from this sight. He’s fumbling his chant too. Well…… After seeing magic of that level being used right next to him, I can’t really blame him.

「Amazing.」
「While his control is a bit green, there’s nothing to criticize about his power.」
「You can see his magic power?」
「Well, I’m simply a bit confident with my eyes.」

I’m not going to explicitly answer that. I can’t. While the force of his magic ‌is pretty high, there’s too much magic power, resulting in a net loss. Still, that isn’t a bad thing at his current stage, it simply means that he still has room for improvement. In actuality, considering that he’s at this level before starting a full-blown training, his magic power control is already enough.

「Next! Lily! And Solarima Viola Ormos!」
「「Yes!」」

As we were talking about Teybert’s magic, we were called for our turn. Before me, a new doll was placed in exchange for the doll that was burned to dregs. The examinee that went before Sola couldn’t destroy the doll, so it’s left there as it is.

「Would you mind going first?」
「In that case, gladly. I am Solarima, the lady heir of the Purple House of Ormos. Go! “Flame Arrow”!!」

Taking out a wand, Sola quickly gathered magic power and cast her magic. It seems that she decided on using the orthodox combat magic “Flame Arrow”. It’s a spell that creates a flaming arrow and shoots it to the target, but in general, magecraft could produce 1-3 arrows while magic could produce 4-5 arrows. Yet Sola fired off 9 arrows with her magic. These arrows flew straight to the doll, piercing through its armor and burning the doll’s body underneath.

While Teybert’s “Flame” was amazing, in regards to magic power control however, Sola’s magic is also splendid in of itself. Though, unlike the singular attribute Teybert, Sola uses multiple attributes, so her firepower falls slightly behind. While the doll is enveloped with flames, it only had enough power to deform the armor.

「Kuh!…… I don’t have enough firepower, did I……」
「It’s enough. With this, A-class shouldn’t be out of your reach.」
「Thank you very much. Lily, it’s your turn now.」

As prompted by Sola, I take a step forward. At that moment, I heard an annoying snicker from the waiting area where we had been.

「She doesn’t even have a peerage or a family name, this red folk is overstretching herself.」
「Hahaha! Don’t make fun of her. She’s just making some memories. At most, she’s some low-level sorcerer, but she’s going to be a valuable labor force in the future, you know? 」

Hmph! I was planning on saving my energy, but I’m pissed now. Ahh, this isn’t good. My mind is telling me that that was just some brat’s nonsense, that there’s no point in caring about it, but I aaabsolutely hate these kinds of stuff.

「Hey! You-」
「Sola.」

Sola was about to reprimand them, or perhaps correct them, but I stopped her by calling her name. No matter what you say to them, it’s useless to these kinds of fools. They’re likely just small-time cowards that can’t even attack people directly, doing that is a waste of time.

With that said, I’m going to show them the difference between us.

「Mr. Examiner, it’s dangerous there, so ‌please take a step back?」
「Yes?」
「You as well, it’s dangerous, so please move back. While I ‌think that you shouldn’t feel the heat even if you come in contact with it, just to be sure.」
「Ha?」

I ignored the fools and warned the examiners standing beside the dolls. The dolls in front of me, the dolls for the other examinees, and what seems to be spares. I similarly warned the examiner standing beside those. I’m just making sure. After all, while I don’t think that I’d lose my cool in pure anger, I can’t be too sure.

「Well then, I’ll be going now. “Burn”.」

………………
…………
……

「Kyahahahaha! A misfire!? A misfire on the most basic magic!?」
「Gyahahahaha!! This is a masterpiece! Are you even a sorcerer!!」

Nothing happened. Not even the heat, sound, or the flow of air changed for the activation of my magic and only the laughter of those two echoed throughout the tent. In the end, that’s all they’re worth. They don’t even realize what happened right in front of them. And even if they could, it would be long after everything has ended, and by that time, they wouldn’t even realize that they were too late to notice it.

In actuality, the examiners, Sola, Urania, and the boy Teybert who should already have been done with his test earlier are left jaw dropped in shock. They understood what exactly I did right now.

「Hmph!」
Snap!

While stealing a glance at the two examinees still laughing non-stop, I snapped my fingers. At that instant, all the dolls inside the tent were turned into ashes. I have no idea how many of these dolls they have in stock but… Well, with this the two behind us won’t be having their test anytime soon.

There doesn’t seem to be anyone lined up behind them even now, and since we’re somewhat late because we took a long time waiting for Ces to begin with, we should be one of the last examinees for this day, meaning this shouldn’t be an issue.

「U-Undoubtedly A-class. To think that a simple “Burn” would have this much power in a single instant, moreover with an expanded range of target……」
「Thank you very much. Now then, Sola, Urania, shall we head to the next examination area?」
「O-Of course.」
「Nn, which one next?」
「The next would be the earth attribute. I will observe this time around.」

The two behind us are currently frozen mid-laugh. The examiners are similarly frozen as well, except for my examiner, who somehow performed his duties. The problem here is the singular fire attribute boy Teybert, he’s staring right at me with a really strong sparkle in his eyes.³

In the meantime, we immediately moved to the next examination area before things got troublesome.

1. Lilith: Chuuni magic
2. Lilith: Mouthful
3. Lilith: Flag