“Miss Coritte, is there something you need?”
“It’s nothing major. Umm, Hulim, don’t you have a magic wand? I was thinking, starting next semester, you can bring your wand to class.”
“Is that allowed?”
Hulim was a bit surprised.
“Mhm!”
Coritte nodded.
“It’s fine now. Most of the students have already learned the basics of magic. Their confidence won’t be so easily shaken, and honestly, some might even start getting cocky. If we have a role model like you, Hulim, the others will have a clear goal to work toward, and should study even harder.”
“I understand, Miss Coritte. I’ll bring my magic wand with me next semester.”
After just saying goodbye to Coritte,
A figure was waving their right hand at Hulim excitedly at the school gate.
“Hulim——!”
Hulim walked over.
“Fran? Is there something you need?”
Fran said happily, “Hulim, I just thought of something! Even though you can’t come to my house to play because you need to train, I can just go to your house! It’s not like I have to train! What do you think?”
“… …”
It would probably be good for you to spend a little more time practicing your own magic.
Looking at Fran, who could be considered a friend, Hulim still didn’t say this out loud.
But the Butler of the Bandon Family standing nearby looked anxious, glancing at Fran several times as if wanting to say something but holding back.
… …It seems the Bandon Family has already heard about Fran’s declining grades.
“That’s fine. If you can come over, Fran… …”
“Really! Then it’s settled! I’ll definitely come over tomorrow!”
Fran was overjoyed and got into the carriage with the butler, waving nonstop at Hulim even after boarding.
“Hulim, see you tomorrow~!”
Hulim raised her right hand and waved back.
“Yeah, tomorrow… …”
Let’s see if you can actually leave your house tomorrow.
Hulim entered a not-too-short, not-too-long holiday, and because of it, the time spent training with the sword increased greatly. However, Lezeryan didn’t strictly require his youngest daughter to practice swordsmanship for a certain amount of time every day, so after practicing all morning, Hulim would always head to the Magical Beast Forest for Semilis’s training.
Since there was more free time during the break, Semilis’s training was no longer just about dropping a magical beast right in front of Hulim and letting her fight it head-on.
Instead, Semilis would randomly place a magical beast somewhere in a certain area, then fly with Hulim to that region, requiring her to first find the beast and then figure out a way to defeat it.
Although it was much more troublesome this way, this was what would actually happen in reality, so Hulim was quite enthusiastic about it.
All those wilderness survival skills, as well as the knowledge of potions and identifying special plants that she’d learned before, finally proved useful.
The only problem was that finding and hunting a specific magical beast in the forest wasn’t easy—in fact, running into all sorts of unexpected situations was completely normal.
Sometimes, Hulim couldn’t find the magical beast at all, or other magical beasts would barge in and interrupt. Some of them were local residents, just unlucky enough to be chosen by Semilis. These creatures, so familiar with the environment, would always give Hulim a hard time, and she even had to retreat in defeat more than once.
Still, the growth gained from failure was remarkable.
With experience in fighting under unfavorable conditions, she would be able to remain calm when facing such situations in the future.
And so, after a period of intense training, the not-too-short, not-too-long holiday came to an end.
As for Fran, she never did visit their home—in fact, she hadn’t been able to leave her house at all this break.
“Waaah——! Hulim, I finally get to see you! Father was so mean, he wouldn’t let me go out! I never want to speak to him again!”
On the first morning of the new semester, Fran appeared before Hulim with a deeply aggrieved look.
“Sorry, Hulim, I didn’t mean to stand you up.”
It seemed her vacation really had been awful.
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
Seeing Fran clinging to her arm, eyes full of tears, Hulim comforted her,
“Bandon-san made that decision because of your magic, right? So if your magic gets stronger, he’ll have no reason to keep you at home anymore.”
“Really? If I become stronger at magic, Father won’t ground me?”
“Of course—that should be the case… …”
“Alright! I’m going to become an amazing mage and make Father see me in a new light!”
Fran, who’d just been pouting, was now fired up with determination. “Oh, by the way, Hulim, is that a… magic wand on your back?”
Fran finally noticed the new object Hulim was carrying.
A wooden staff with a half-moon-shaped tip.
“Yeah, that’s right! It’s my magic wand! Cool, isn’t it? It might look like a stick, but it’s really amazing. No matter what kind of magic I use, it always helps me reliably… …”
Whenever it came to topics about magic or magic wands, Hulim couldn’t help but talk a lot more.
Fran tilted her head, “Huh? That wand looks like it’s at least Second Rank… …”
“That’s right! Hulim is a Second Rank mage, so it makes sense for her to have a wand!”
Fran recalled the scene when Hulim saved her—she’d definitely used Second Rank magic at that time.
Remembering that moment, Fran’s heart began to race with excitement.
“So cool! Can I touch your wand?”
“Of course!”
Without hesitation, Hulim handed the wand to Fran.
Fran held the wand in her hands, carefully feeling it from top to bottom.
“So this is Hulim’s magic wand… … Do you touch it every day, Hulim… … hee hee~!”
“Uh… um… Fran?”
“It really is awesome!”
Fran suddenly shouted, raising the wand above her head.
“At first glance it just looks like a stick, but the more I look at it, the more it feels like a real magic wand! Like—ah! This is what a wand should be!”
“Hey, Hulim, what’s this wand made of?”
Was I just imagining things earlier… …
“Um… this little one is made from the trunk of a Mistmarsh Treant. It’s a very rare material, and it amplifies all types of magic equally. For a multi-attribute mage like me, it’s practically tailor-made!”
“Mistmarsh Treant——?!”
Fran’s eyes sparkled.
“That name is so cool, it really makes it feel like a magic wand!”
“Alright! I’ve decided, I’m going to buy a wand made from Mistmarsh Treant too. I’ll go beg my father as soon as I get home!”
Well… …
I guess it’s not really a problem to buy a wand early, but didn’t you just say you never wanted to speak to your father again?
Although a new semester had started, the holiday was short, so there were almost no changes among the students in class.
Because of this, Hulim showing up with a magic wand attracted a lot of attention.
As long as you hadn’t been sleeping through all the theory classes, you’d know what a wand like that signified.
“H-Hulim is already a Second Rank mage?!”
“Amazing. If I remember right, even by graduation there are barely a handful of students in this school who reach Second Rank, right?”
Hulim’s magic wand was like a bolt from the blue, causing quite a stir among the students.