The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 151: The Noble Assembly (6)

The winner and loser were evident.

Renawill was winning. Aether didn’t have a chance. At least, that was what it looked like to the nobles who had bet on Renawill.

However.

“The important thing is not to let your guard down until the end.”

Aether slowly shook her head, her smile one of leisure. How in the world did she have leisure?

Come to think of it....

It was said that Golden-Eyed were slow to emotional changes. She could actually be quite rattled but not showing it on her face.

If this had been normal gambling, her face would have been natural for it–a poker face that skillfully tricked the opponent.

But currently they were having a swordplay.

Swordplays themselves had no elements of gambling. It was a match that only involved skill and intellect.

Renawill smirked. How she had completed Flare when she couldn’t even answer something simple or draw a scroll properly.... No matter how much he thought about it, it didn’t make sense.

The faces of the nobles who had bet on Aether turned gloomy. The ones who had bet on the so-called ‘favorite’ must have been sure of their win as they began jeering at those who bet against. Things like ‘isn’t she too uneducated’, ‘how is she the first author of Flare’ could be heard from some of them.

Aether didn’t pay it mind, but she found the situation extremely boring.

How annoying.

Drawing scrolls was annoying.

Proving was also annoying.

Just one thing. She found it hilarious that the supposedly sacred banquet hall had become a place of extravagance and entertainment.

Aether looked around with blank eyes.

There was a reason why she had accepted Renawill’s request even while knowing that a swordplay would be annoying.

Crowd.

People gathered when there was an attraction. Whether you liked it or not, the number of interested people increased as well. And out of them, there would probably be at least one person who you were seeking.

...Found you.

Off to one side, one person who was watching this scene with interest.

Professor Cai-Lussac.

Aether acknowledged Cai-Lussac with her eyes, his face quite the sight. Did he bet large money? No, he wasn’t that kind of person.

It was the same when she looked elsewhere.

Homeroom, and the chairman.

She was seeing those two for the first time at this swordplay as well. There hadn’t been a single glimpse of them when she had been going around playing the palace maid a little while ago. Aether thought to herself that she had had no reason to change into a maid uniform. The skirt that came down to her knee felt short all of a sudden.

Still, she found the ones she’d been looking for so she’d just about achieved her goal.

As she was about to end it–

“What are you all doing here?”

The sound of hiccuping. A young man, who drove away the crowd surrounding the swordplay, came staggering into the center.

“Hmm?”

Aether scowled. No wonder, since it was someone she knew.

The Second Prince, Klion Philiut.

She thought it could happen since it was the palace, but hadn’t expected him to intrude before the noble assembly officially started. It was the worst reunion with her classmate.

No, it had been the worst from the start.

Aether smiled wryly. Currently, she was in a maid uniform. And the Second Prince with a reputation for his awful womanizing ways had a maid fetish.

“Hmm.... Keep.”

Keep?

“What....”

Was this bastard saying–

Was what I wanted to say, but there were lots of eyes. It would be best to hold back from using explicit words as much as possible.

“...What brings you here, Your Highness?”

“Is there a problem with me being in my own home?”

Prince Klion looked around, then grabbed a random noble and asked what was happening. And fearing the Prince’s authority, some Baron bowed and explained the situation. The Prince went ‘hmm’ and rummaged through both his pockets, pulling out dozens of platinum pieces.

The platinum coins was a relatively recently-issued currency at Duke Blanton’s initiative. It was worth dozens of gold a piece.

“I will join.”

“But we already finished placing bets.”

“Do you have something against me, the Crown Prince, participating?”

“N-no. Not at all.”

Prince Klion placed platinum coins onto the gambling table. Clatter. The sharp sound of metal stimulated the ears of gamblers.

“Oh....”

The Prince bet on Aether winning.

“Will you be truly alright with that?”

“What?”

“That girl is currently losing.”

“So what?”

“You may just lose money for nothing....”

But the Prince snickered and patted the shoulder of his vassal. Perhaps it was due to the alcohol, but he couldn’t control his strength very well.

“So what do you want me to do? Whether I lose or not, it’s nothing but entertainment.”

“.......”

“Listen well, Baron Jehad. If I don’t bet on the beautiful lady in this kind of situation, how can you call that a man?”

Nonsensical logic. The Baron couldn’t hide his bewilderment, and same for Aether who was in a swordplay at a distance.

For an instant, Aether wanted to pull out her staff. However, after learning that the Prince was in quite the pitiful circumstance, she’d also been trying hard not to cross the line. Such as not speaking to one another in class, or passing each other by in the hallway without a glance and such.

But if the Prince kept coming into contact like this, then it was hopeless. Tsk, Aether clicked her tongue. She shook off her thoughts.

“Then next is the final question.”

She had to start paying attention to this side, too.

While the Prince was causing a commotion, Aether lost two more times to Renawill. With this, the life score was three-zero.

If she passed one more time, then she would lose completely.

This whole time, Aether kept repeating ‘I pass’ like a parrot. But now she felt that she no longer needed to, since she sufficiently analyzed the pattern of questions Renawill gave and checked what was the best question to present.

Most of all.

This is hIlarious as fuck.

Doing it this way made things fun and kept people on their toes.

“If you cannot answer this time, it will be my win.”

“I am aware.”

“Your knowledge is too shallow for you to have contributed to making Flare.”

“I already told you. I simply went up on the giant’s shoulders.

It almost sounded humble.

Of course, it was up to interpretation. ‘Going up’ on the giant’s shoulder could be a roundabout way of saying that the girl was better than Klais. Aether had actually considered even that interpretation when she had said that. They could think however they wanted.

“That giants’ shoulders.”

Renawill repeated what Aether said. His burning crimson eyes were directed at Aether.

Click. Before he knew it, the girl was opening the lid of a new fountain pen.

Is she serious?

Even if she was, it didn’t matter; he was going to ask a question that would be difficult to answer.

The other day, there was a newly-published paper from the Fire Magic Society.

Renawill had devoured that paper before coming to the capital. Aether couldn’t have read it. Believing this, Renawill smiled with his eyes.

“Then here is the question. When all things are subjected to light, they emit heat depending on the energy of the light. Tell me what kind of relationship that this heat has depending on the temperature and area.”

See, the way the girl’s indifferent eyes are turning wide. Again, Renawill was certain of his victory.

“Do you need to do calculations?”

“No.”

Aether clicked her tongue. Click. Then she closed the pen lid again.

“Should I assume that it absorbs elements of all bands?”

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“Uh.... Y-yes.”

“Then the radiation should be proportionate to the absolute temperature to the power of four, and proportionate to the surface area.”

Hearing the answer, Renawill’s eyes became as large as a cherry tomato. It was because the conclusion of that paper accorded with the answer that girl just gave.

“...Count Saliere.”

“I’ve reviewed a paper regarding the thermal equilibrium of the Fire Element. It must be the contents of the paper.”

“Did you know about it as well?

“One cannot fall behind on learning if they are in academics.”

It was the answer. Renawill momentarily lost his cool at the unexpected answer.

It can’t be.

She couldn’t even draw a single Advanced scroll. She couldn’t even answer a basic circuit problem properly. He had just confirmed that she didn’t know about magipetrology, refinement, nor the basics of creating formulas!

...Yet she knew about the latest research trends?

How?

It must be a coincidence....

He wanted to believe that she just happened to read the paper somehow. Renawill’s trembling pupils reflected Aether’s exterior. She had her chin on her hands with fingers laced together, the corners of her lips slightly lifted.

“It can’t be....”

“Now it’s my turn.”

It was definitely a different tone from before. Her voice was also half a tone lower.

A poker face wasn’t only about being indifferent. Changing one’s tone and behavior when it mattered was another way of deceiving the opponent.

The girl, Aether, was an expert at this sort of acting.

“When looking at the triggering part of the Flare scroll, you can see that there is local unitary symmetry. Explain briefly why the matrix responsible for each bond in this section, in the conjugate transpose form, should preserve this structure from rotating.”

Words came out like rapid-fire. Aether had been speaking relatively slowly, but Renawill couldn’t understand even half the question.

“Can you repeat that once more?”

“Of course.”

After that, Aether repeated the same thing three times.

And with that, the air of the audience began to take a turn.