Empire Point, the computer room 「Maximilian Hall」 built with the sponsorship of Knight Maximilian. “Today we learned how to access the internal server called the intranet.” The instructor was wrapping up the 90-minute class. It was the newly launched [Information Processing] course that began this semester. “You’ll be using computers frequently from now on, so practice typing speed, document writing, and browsing methods every day. Submit all the documents you wrote today.” Elite cadet ‘Hannah’ carefully moved her mouse and clicked the send button for the document she had meticulously written. Click. [Transfer complete] “......Did it go through?” Probably did. It was a machine she was seeing for the first time, so it was difficult. Keyboard, mouse, monitor, everything was unfamiliar to Hannah, who came from a rural area in the south. “Well then, good work today. Keep it up for the next class as well.” The lecture ended. The next training was also newly organized this semester: [Aerial Assault]. “Seriously~ we're actually doing this. So annoying.” “Exactly, what do they expect from us? Jumping out of the sky? Are they crazy or what.” The noble cadets grumbled as they moved. Hannah honestly found it absurd. Rumors were already widespread that those guys had rented a transport aircraft and were doing trial runs on their own. “......Sigh. Is this going to cost money again?” “They say not this time. And even if it does, so what? We’ll earn it back once we become knights.” “You say that because you don’t know my family’s situation.” Commoner cadets also gathered in small groups and moved together. But Hannah was alone. No one talked to her. She had been ostracized ever since the Jacob incident. Well, it didn’t bother her. In fact, she liked it. “......That must be it.” Before she knew it, they arrived at the training ground. A large transport aircraft was parked on the runway, and parachutes were lined up on the long table in front of it. The elite cadets stood in formation there. As everyone was murmuring while staring at the transport aircraft. “Quiet──!” With a loud shout, an instructor wearing a goggle helmet for descent stepped out of the transport aircraft. All attention was drawn to him. “Welcome. I’m the instructor who will supervise your first descent today.” The man, seemingly from the airborne unit, was wearing a major’s uniform. “In descent training, the most important things are control and discipline. Because the place you jump into will soon be a battlefield. Therefore, during this training, you will obey my commands without question.” His helmet and goggles were completely black, hiding his face, but for some reason, the voice sounded familiar to Hannah. It definitely sounded like someone she’d heard somewhere....... “Today you will practice landing from an altitude of 500 meters. Now put on your parachutes. Go!” The cadets took turns strapping the parachutes onto their backs. "Board the transport plane!" Everyone watched the instructor’s reaction as they boarded the aircraft. “Don’t dawdle!” The instructor shoved the ones who were slacking inside. He’s pretty rough. Hannah couldn’t help but worry. Noble cadets really hated this kind of thing. And it was true, these days, if anything upset them, some would complain to their mommy and daddy, so even instructors acted a bit cautiously. “Sit and buckle your belts.” Everyone sat along the side seats inside the transport aircraft. At that moment, two cadets were playing with the belts and chuckling. “Why do we even need these belts?”, something like that. It was Royce and Dare Tann. They were famously from high-ranking families, even at Empire Point. “Hey.” The instructor’s gaze fixed on the two. “You think you’re here for fun?” Suddenly, the atmosphere inside the transport aircraft froze. The two cadets didn’t respond, and the instructor asked again. “I asked if you think you’re here for fun.” “......No.” Royce’s reply was curt. In other words, disrespectful. Probably thinking, “Just a mere major” But usually, instructors let it slide at this point. “No-?” This time was different. The instructor strode up, grabbed Royce by the collar, and flung him out of the transport aircraft. Dare Tann met the same fate. “Ugh!” “Argh!” The two rolled on the asphalt outside the transport aircraft. “Get up.” They both quickly got to their feet. Their faces were red up to the ears. Looked like they were embarrassed. “Get down.” “.......” “.......” The two remained silent. They didn’t get down. From Hannah’s perspective, it looked dangerously close to the edge. Normally, an instructor wouldn’t go this far. Royce and Dare Tann were heirs of high-ranking noble families. That status was exactly why they were so relaxed even during training. “I said get down. Are you morons who don’t understand language?” Even so, this instructor was quite rigid. Truly a soldier with no flexibility. At that moment. “......Instructor. What is your name?” Finally, Royce, unable to hold back, confronted him. The act of asking for a name itself carried that meaning, and Royce's face was full of arrogance. He glared at the instructor while grinding his teeth. The instructor responded with a question. “My name?” “Yes. I came to receive training, not to be humiliated.” Hannah watched the clash from the corner of her eye. The instructor would probably have to yield. She didn’t know the dynamics of rank very well yet, but still, an airborne major couldn’t be that untouchable. “What, you going to run home and tell your mommy?” The instructor asked with a faint sneer. Hannah unconsciously opened her mouth. The other cadets were the same. It was that shocking of a remark. “......Ah, screw this.” Royce, eyes wide open, and Dare Tann both let out a sigh filled with heat. The instructor took off his helmet and tossed it aside. “!” “Oh!” At that moment, Royce’s face went completely pale. He flinched, stumbled back, and then quickly slammed his forehead to the ground. Dare Tann beside him did the same. All the other cadets tensed up in a similar way. “What a joke.” It was a face no Empire Point cadet could possibly fail to recognize. For Hannah, the image of him glaring down at them over Jacob’s corpse flashed through her mind like a trauma. Maximilian of the Sentinel. He raised an eyebrow, looking back and forth between the two cadets. “What has changed?” “I apologize!” “No, answer the question.” "We're sorry!" “......Do you little bastards not even understand words?” He kicked both cadets in the ribs with the top of his foot. Thud─! Thud─! The moment they fell, they immediately planted their foreheads back on the ground. They even held back their groans. “‘We're sorry’ is not the correct answer. I asked what has changed.” "......We, we didn't know you were a knight!" “And if you didn’t know, what difference would that make? If you wanted to be praised, you should’ve acted that way even when you saw my face.” “I apologize!” “I apologize!” “......Fucking idiots.” Maximilian turned away from the two cadets and looked around the inside of the transport aircraft. Then he pointed to his major rank insignia. “Officially, a Knight receives the treatment of a Major on the battlefield. You all are even more worthless than that.” Dane, the cadet commander of Empire Point, had asked Maximilian, who already had experience with aerial assault operations, to handle the first training session. Maximilian had gladly accepted. In Maximilian’s opinion, Dane probably understood what would happen if a regular airborne instructor were put in charge of this class. “Just because you’re cadets doesn’t mean you’re entitled to act differently depending on who’s in front of you. If a Knight walks around with his neck held high, he’ll be the first to die. Because Knights will always be the top priority targets on every battlefield.” In rising nations, the children of powerful families were actually like steel, but in the Empire, where wealth and power had stagnated for too long, noble heirs were particularly troublesome. “Answer.” ──We’ll keep that in mind! The cadets’ shout filled the transport aircraft. Maximilian nodded and spoke to the two still bowing their heads. “Royce. Dare Tann. You’re both under disciplinary action for insubordination.” “We’ll correct our behavior!” “We’ll correct our behavior!” “Get in.” They jumped up and quickly took their seats. Hannah took a deep breath as she looked at the dust covering the dazed pair’s bowed heads. “Today, you will learn how to deploy a parachute and conduct descent training. However, parachutes are only for this week. In the future, free-fall without parachutes and how to use mana mid-descent will be major evaluation factors. Answer!” ──Yes, sir! All the cadets were now completely focused on Maximilian. Discipline had already been firmly established. Shock therapy. That must have been why he had gone out of his way to wear a helmet and appear unrecognized. *** After the first aerial assault training at Empire Point, inside Dane’s office. “How was it?” “There were definitely quite a few disrespectful guys.” At my words, Dane grinned. “It can’t be helped. Those kinds of guys only see Empire Point instructors as washed-up retired knights or soldiers sucking up to nobles. Didn’t you think that way too when you were a cadet?” “No. I never thought that. If anything, I felt disillusioned by the special treatment I received.” Being an Ebenholtz, I did receive quite a bit of preferential treatment. Like during the mana mud training, where the instructor guided only me to a different area and I easily got full marks, those kinds of cases. Of course, truthfully, I didn’t feel disillusioned at all. I was actually really grateful to that instructor. “But from what I heard from my father.” The word “father” still didn’t sit right in my mouth. Sebestian just didn’t feel like a fatherly figure to me. “He said he was disciplined quite a lot. Though I can’t imagine him being beaten.” “......Same here, but that was nearly forty years ago. Back then, war was part of daily life, so I’m sure he was beaten too.” “Then, Commander of the Cadets, I believe it’s time we returned to those days.” Dane’s expression turned serious for a moment. This wasn’t about reminiscing on the past, or suggesting we simply toughen up the training. I was speaking of the ‘wartime’ that was not far off. “I heard that you’ve also been getting quite a bit of flak from cadets’ parents lately.” Dane frowned as if disgusted. “They get updates through their terminals instantly. If it looks like their kid’s grades are dropping, they contact us immediately.” “Revise Empire Point’s school rules entirely. Bring it back to forty years ago, when there were no terminals.” Dane’s eyes scanned me up and down. “I doubt that’s possible.” “From now on, the biggest sponsor of Empire Point is Ebenholtz. Announce that it’s the will of Ebenholtz. Since it’s the start of a new semester, now’s the perfect time. Disrespectful idiots without manners only understand when you bash them over the head once or twice.” The name Ebenholtz is, in simple terms, a mana nuclear umbrella. No noble would dare make a fuss. Dane nodded, barely holding back a smile. “Alright. Starting this semester, I’ll revise the school regulations under Ebenholtz’s sponsorship.” “Yes. Let’s do that. Also, take this.” I handed him a copy of the「Aura Sphere」theory book, along with a soon-to-be-published issue of the latest magic engineering journal. “This is「Aura Sphere” [Magitech Journal: Theory of the Week - On the Possibility of 「Aura Sphere」] “It’ll be officially released soon, but most knights won’t be able to get their hands on it for a while.” A shortage is expected. Not just because of the knights. Anyone with a deep interest in mana, and the Revolutionary forces as well, would try to get their hands on it by any means. That’s why I plan to implement very strict procedures and security at the purchasing stage and keep the supply tightly controlled. Of course, it’ll eventually leak, but the goal is to delay that moment as much as possible. “Is that so?” “Yes. The list price for one copy is fifty thousand dollars, but if demand heats up, it may soar to twice that or more.” “......Did you say fifty thousand? Is there mana security on it or something?” “There is.” Mana security, a magical protection system that activates the pages only when mana is infused into the book. Once mana is infused, the book remembers it, meaning only one person can use each copy. It’s usually used for high-level magic books. “I consider my 「Aura Sphere」 to be a strategic resource.” I believe this technique book is certainly worth that much. ....... After Maximilian left. Dane read the completed theory book intently for quite a while. “......He really did a fine job.” He muttered quietly as he took off his rimless glasses. Thinking over the theory, it was not something that could be devised in a short amount of time. Judging by the number and complexity of the mana formulas in the technique, clearly, it required deep contemplation over a long period and countless trials and errors. What people call real grindwork. Dane chuckled to himself, thinking of Maximilian. “Was he thinking all this up instead of training?” The cautious remarks instructors shared about Maximilian were mostly along the lines of: for some reason, he doesn’t seem focused in class. He doesn’t appear to train hard, nor put effort into anything. Today, Dane heard something from Maximilian that resembled an answer. ‘......I never thought that way. If anything, I felt a sense of disillusionment with the preferential treatment I received.’ Compared to Empire Point during Sebestian’s time, the current one is just a place where people play house while looking for a shortcut to success. Had Maximilian perhaps lost his motivation because of such trends? Dane suddenly put on a serious expression and summoned all faculty and instructors. From today, Empire Point’s academic regulations would be fully revised. ....... The main estate of the great Kandel family. Sonnet Kandel had been sitting in the study all night, reading a single theory book. 「Knight Technique: Aura Sphere」 「Author: Maximilian Albrecht von Ebenholtz」 It was the official release version of 「Aura Sphere」, which had passed the inspection of the Central Mana Graduate Institute. As the Kandel family held great influence in the fields of magic and magical studies, obtaining this had not been difficult. “Spherical aura......” A technique where aura is assembled through mana formulas and implanted into a mana stone, which is then discharged to form a sphere-shaped defensive barrier. It was the work of a young knight from the Ebenholtz family. This「Aura Sphere」had a perfectly established logic, and the flow of circuits was clean and efficient. However, the difficulty was quite high. The entry barrier was extremely steep. Not only due to the expensive price of the theory book, but because “high-purity mana stones” were essential. “Hmm.” A wizard is a practitioner who studies magic, while a knight is an expert in manipulating mana itself, they say. Sonnet Kandel acknowledged Maximilian’s achievement. This man had certainly invented a highly practical, combat-focused technique. It was worth preserving. “Check-in.” She placed Maximilian’s technique book into her library. “You’ve created a fine technique, Knight Maximilian.” This wasn’t just simple storage. The knowledge permitted entry into her “Library” had passed through extremely strict criteria. Taking a step back, Sonnet looked at the bookshelf and nodded. “It even works as interior decor.” As expected of the Ebenholtz family, its aesthetic wasn’t bad. A very luxurious hardcover edition. Without a change in expression, she picked up a high-purity mana stone from the desk. Fzzzzt! She activated her mana and formed the「Aura Sphere」. Wiiiiing─ The sphere-shaped aura spread out around her body. For Sonnet, one attempt was enough. She had already “stored” it in her library. “The feel of it... is even smoother than the theory suggests.” She left behind a one-line review of satisfaction.