Chapter 1 (Part 1)

The unusually long winter had passed. As always, the hyacinth flowers, heralding spring, bloomed brightly all over the campus first, exciting the students’ hearts.

Around this time, when the spring atmosphere was in full swing, the historic Ver-Arche Festival, which could be considered the pride of the Imperial Academy, began, bringing vitality among the students.

However, there was an exceptional figure to whom all this excitement and energy did not apply. That protagonist was Sienna Onyx, who was pursuing a doctoral course in the academy’s Department of Magical Botany.

Unlike the students enjoying the warm spring breeze on the campus, Sienna was holed up in her private lab, where only a single ray of sunlight barely entered, clutching her head. She had just returned from meeting her advisor, Professor Erba.

‘Miss Onyx. As I said before, your hypothesis on the correlation between the mechanism of the nervous system and the elemental arrangement of magical plants is excellent. The recent supplementary data is also convincing.’

‘Oh, yes. Thank you!’

‘However, if you only push the hypothesis, it might be hard to graduate. Achieving results in experiments is the most important thing, but you’ve been at a standstill. This way, you can’t complete your thesis.’

‘Oh, yes….’

‘If you fail in this experiment as well, it might be best to change your research topic. Do you understand?’

‘But, Professor, I feel like I’m almost there!’

‘That’s why I’m saying I’ll watch until this experiment.’

Sienna, who had become sullen, looked at Erba with desperate eyes, but Erba firmly shook his head as if he had already given enough chances. In the end, she returned with her thesis, which had received a time-limited warning, and was tearing her hair out in despair.

“I don’t have any other topics in mind besides this one…. I’m really in trouble.”

Since it was a thesis she had been working on for three years, she definitely wanted to complete it, but it was maddening to repeatedly fail at the most crucial magical potion making. If she failed again and had to change her research topic, there would be no telling when she would graduate….

The thought of having to live like a slave to her professor for several more years made her vision go dark. As she recalled the stern-faced Professor Erba, her despair gradually turned into anger.

“Without even providing a new model of the magical potion maker!”

The grinder, extractor, and maker were all decades-old. While the professor’s own lab was filled with new magical tools, he made the students use only outdated ones, with the flashy saying that masterpieces come from scarcity.

“Should I just buy one myself?”

No, no. I can’t spend my precious money on this shabby place anymore. Just the tuition and living expenses for the academy alone are a fortune. No matter how much money I have, I shouldn’t waste it like this.

Sienna shook her head firmly and made a resolute decision. She would succeed this time, no matter what it took. She would definitely graduate from the tiresome academy.

But first, a break.

She was so heated that her head was throbbing. Deciding she needed a little ventilation, Sienna trudged out of the lab. As she stepped outside into the breezy spring air, the fragrant scent of flowers seemed to restore some of her lost vitality.

She absentmindedly brushed off cherry blossom petals falling on her long ash-gray hair as she walked slowly. Then, as she was passing near the auditorium, she suddenly stopped at the sight of a man with the same ash-gray hair running towards her.

“Sister!”

“Huh? Montague?”

“What are you doing outside for a change? Wow. Yeah. Take this chance to get some sunlight. You look so pale. Are you going to die like this?”

“Shut up. Why are you here instead of practicing? The swordsmanship department is in the west.”

Montague, Sienna’s younger brother by three years, was enrolled in the swordsmanship department. Although he wasn’t particularly talented in swordsmanship and had been admitted through a donation on the condition of building a training ground at the academy, his passion was exceptional, and he was known to practice diligently every day. Therefore, they rarely ran into each other at the academy.

Montague pointed at the campus, lined with magically created lights, and answered Sienna’s question with frustration.

“Today is the start of the Ver-Arche Festival. No one practices today. Didn’t you come out because you knew it was the festival?”

“Oh. That’s why there are so many people.”

“Wow. How out of touch with the world are you?”

Just how much do they work for you… Shouldn’t that professor be reported? 

Montague muttered suspiciously as he pushed Sienna’s back. He looked pleased to have met her by chance.

“Everyone’s gone to the pub booths since midday, so I was bored by sightseeing alone. Let’s go to the auditorium together.”

“Why the auditorium?”

Sienna, automatically walking forward due to her large brother’s touch, weakly mumbled.

She wasn’t fond of crowded places…. She needed to go back and experiment again…. Montague sighed at his sister’s attitude, which showed not a hint of excitement or enthusiasm for the festival. Of course, he already knew how to boost Sienna’s motivation at times like this.

“You know there’s always an auction on the first day of the Ver-Arche, right? This time, they’re auctioning off a Mandrago’s Sigh.”

“What? Is that true?”

Sienna’s dark green eyes, which had been as dull as frozen fish, suddenly sparkled with interest. Montague, shaking his head at his sister’s face, which finally seemed to return from her mental laboratory to reality, continued to push Sienna’s back as he spoke.

“Yeah. It seems like the rumor has already spread among the students in the magic department? Everyone’s been waiting just for today.”

Sienna, who went crazy for rare magical plants, seemed genuinely unaware of this. She tilted her head, sharing Montague’s doubt.

“But why didn’t I know? With a Mandrago’s Sigh being auctioned, there’s no way no one told me… Oh, right, I don’t have any friends.”

Sienna was the only one who had skipped grades early and stayed on to pursue a doctoral course; all her other friends graduated two years ago.

Back when she was a fresh undergraduate, Sienna used to enjoy the festival with her friends. But now, facing the threat of not graduating, those times felt like a distant past life.

“Even if I win the bid for the Mandrago’s Sigh, would anything change?”

Sienna muttered self-deprecatingly.

“If I get expelled without graduating, it would be less lonely to leave with it tucked under my arm. Since the fruit has a neural disruption effect, maybe I should just eat it for my mental health if things go wrong…. Oh.”

“What’s wrong?”

Sienna suddenly stopped mid-sentence and stood still, not moving. Montague ran forward to check on her.

Seriously, what’s next? Is she going to freeze standing up? It’s spring now, isn’t it? 

Despite her brother’s grumbling, Sienna stood there for a long time, her dark green eyes slowly rolling around.

After finishing her thoughts, she grabbed Montague’s sleeve and started dragging him along.

“Neural disruption effect! If I extract the juice from the Mandrago’s Sigh fruit, it might make entering a hypnotic state easier! Let’s hurry, Montague.”

“Oh, oh, okay….”

Montague hastily followed Sienna, who suddenly urged her steps with a jumping spirit.

The area around the academy’s main auditorium, where the charity auction was being held, was already bustling with people who came to watch the auction and those selling various snacks and souvenirs around them.

Sienna skillfully navigated through the crowded people and soon arrived at the entrance of the auditorium. Members of the student council controlling the entrance offered mechanical greetings and guidance.

“Hello. Auction participants to the right, spectators to the left. The auction proceeds will be used for the academy’s scholarship fund. How can I assist you?”

Sienna, looking briefly at the tired-looking student council with a sympathetic glance, pointed to the right and answered.

“I’m here to participate in the auction.”

“Only current students can participate in the auction. Please place your hands on the enrollment verification magic circle.”

On the parchments attached to the table, enrollment verification magic circles were drawn. When they placed their hands on it, a warm sensation spread, and a yellow light emanated from Montague’s hand, while a blue light came from Sienna’s hand.

“Oh my. If it’s blue, that means you’re in the doctoral program. Hang in there. I’ll give you your seating tickets, so please enter on the right.”

The student council member offered encouragement to Sienna with a gaze even more sympathetic than the one she had given him earlier. With a reluctant face, Sienna nodded and headed inside the auditorium.