Chapter 1 – The Beginning of Observation

Naren de Unifa. Now in her third year at Magna Academy, she was a shining star among all the students of the Department of Magic, the Magical Knights, and the Department of Magical Engineering—a rising rookie.

She ran for Student Council President, earning many votes, and consistently boasted outstanding grades in all the mock exams, never missing the top ranks. Her internal grades and external awards were second to none. Truly, she was among the top 1% of those expected to lead the next generation of mages.

But even for someone like her, Naren had many worries. For example, no matter how hard she studied, there was always that classmate who beat her to first place every year; the same classmate who, when she ran for Student Council President, made her Vice President in an instant and took the President’s seat for himself; and every time she entered a competition, she would clash with him, only to be outdone and watch him leisurely succeed.

Anyway, that guy’s golden nape is just so irritating!

Naren’s fist clenched and trembled. She never thought of herself as someone who was easily jealous. But when she looked at Ray Lu Fernando, the top student mage in the school, her heart flared up like a moth drawn to a lightbulb.

Of course, she knew well that this was just a fleeting feeling—a meaningless sense of defeat that would fade away if left alone. Wasting energy on such things was pointless. But would a moth rush to the light for no reason? Even though it’s hot, they approach again and again, until their whole body is burned—that is their fate.

‘Am I really just a moth? That can’t be. ……But if not, nothing makes sense, does it?’

Maybe that’s why? Naren found it impossible to sit still when she looked at Ray. He drew everyone’s attention to himself like a magnet, even though he wasn’t aware of it. Even Naren, who rarely blinked at anything, found her gaze captured by him without difficulty.

‘I study every day, yet that guy is always being called out by professors for academic meetings and such. But whenever there’s a test, he gets an A++ without fail. There must be something going on.’

No matter how good someone’s stamina is, or how many recovery potions they drink, there’s a limit for humans who aren’t machines. His packed schedule lasted not just a day, but for weeks and months. Yet he was always fine. Not even a single dark circle, blemish, or pimple—the enemies of healthy skin—ever appeared.

‘Is he even human? How can he always look so perfect?’

She’d stay up all night for assignments, or return from academic meetings with professors looking like a zombie, yet how could only he shine so brightly?

Naren’s obsession clearly started there. Mages, as a race, are driven by curiosity. As a mage herself, she had to investigate until her questions were answered.

“So, I’ve decided to investigate Ray.”

Ariel sighed, giving her the look reserved for hopeless cases. Tired of her friend’s antics, Ariel’s expression showed exhaustion, but Naren didn’t notice.

“Haa, you really do come up with all sorts of things.”

“Why! Think about it, all this time we’ve just drooled over him, but never tried to find out how he manages everything!”

“That’s true, but aren’t you going too far? He could really be a superhuman, you know. Ah, finish your bread before you talk.”

“Okay, okay. Hmm, today’s mushroom soup is nice, right? Anyway, I want to check if he’s really that special. Who knows? Maybe Ray’s been cheating or something.”

Naren flipped her hair dramatically and snorted. Ariel, sitting across from her, looked annoyed, but Naren didn’t care.

“Ha, maybe you should get checked for paranoia? Mages are known to get that. Us knight aspirants spend our time swinging swords, not thinking about such things.”

“Hey! No matter how passionate I am about things I’m interested in, I’m not that bad! It’s different, totally different!”

“Yeah. Sure…….”

“Ah, why are you trailing off!”

Ariel’s reaction wasn’t exactly supportive, but Naren pressed for an answer. Even though she was the type to immediately voice her decisions, hearing agreement would have made her more motivated.

She didn’t know she’d regret her words a few seconds later.

“Hmm, you’re going to observe me?”

“Gasp!”

From behind, a voice she should never have heard in this situation rang out. Naren stiffened and slowly turned her head.

The person in question was sitting right behind her.

“Ah, hahaha. Hello, Ray?”

“Hello, Ariel. Good morning. So, Naren. You seem to have a lot of questions about me?”

He casually brought his tray over and sat next to her, then spoke with a sly smile.

“Ask me anything. If it’s you, I’ll answer everything.”

He smiled, his eyes curving into mischievous crescents, and it was so annoying. If the freshmen had seen this, they’d each have something to say—like how he looked pure, or how he was seductive despite being a guy. But unfortunately, those tricks no longer worked on Naren.

“No, I’m fine. I prefer to do things myself, you know? Whatever it is.”

“Really? Hm, you’ll regret it.”

“What regret.”

He lured with subtle curiosity, like someone who’s fished many times before. But Naren was among the victims caught by his tricks. She snorted.

Instead of listening to him, she hurriedly stuffed her breakfast and stood up. This was the only way to enter the classroom before Ray.

“Ah, she’s running away.”

“Who! I’m not!”

“See you later, Naren~”

Though she snapped at Ray’s provocation, her feet moved quickly. Ariel waved with an amused look, but Naren didn’t see it as she dashed across the hall. She ran away. She said she wasn’t, but in reality, she was fleeing in a hurry, like a thief caught red-handed.

She wanted to get away. Away from where he was.

Of course, she’d see him again in the classroom, but just knowing her secret spying plan had been discovered made her face feel like it was burning.

Druruk—

She flung open the door, and the students inside turned their attention to Naren. But she ignored them and sat down. She’d been trained for this since before she was Vice President. Rather than worrying about attention, she was more focused on how to uncover Ray’s secret for maintaining his perfect condition, and how to bring down his ever lofty pride.

‘First, I need to follow him without getting caught.’

For a moment, she wondered if this was a crime, but quickly shook her head.

If it was for harassment, like hidden cameras or stalking, it would be wrong. But what she intended was well within the bounds allowed at the academy. The academy considered cheating unfair, but watching students to report such behavior was permitted. As a member of the Student Council, she was simply fulfilling her duty to monitor for misconduct.

‘Yes, that’s right.’

Having justified herself as much as possible, Naren sat down and started thinking up methods. Although Ray was the top student here, able to hold his own in debates with professors, she was the second daughter of the Unifa Earldom, a family of mages for generations. She was confident she could follow him secretly without being caught.

‘If I summon a familiar, the magical energy would give me away, so… hmm, maybe I should ask a friendly fairy for help?’

Ray was strangely sensitive to magic, more so than other students. So Naren was even considering using machines. Recently, her junior Haran from the Department of Magical Engineering had boasted about building something called a drone—maybe she could borrow it.

Well, he said it was a revival of an ancient, ruined artifact, but isn’t a camera the same? Naren wasn’t interested in magical devices, so she just thought they were similar. If Haran heard this, he’d protest that it was different.

While she was lost in thought, time quickly passed. The cheerful melody of the class bell rang, and soon the professor came in to start the lecture. Today happened to be the fortune-telling class.

Was she so deep in thought that she forgot it was her favorite subject? Naren snapped out of her trance and took out her cherished crystal ball. After getting ready, she looked up and saw the learning objectives being written on the board. The chalk tapped out its presence, and behind it, the excited voices of students buzzed.

The professor silently finished writing the topic, then turned and clapped his hands once.

“Attention! Now, what does it say here? Let’s all read it together.”

Professor Perun called out energetically to the students. Everyone read today’s objective in unison.

“Let’s learn how to foresee the near future and discuss it together.”

“That’s right! You’ve made it! After a long journey through theory, you’re finally moving on to practice!”

“Woohoo!”

Someone cheered from somewhere. Though she didn’t say it, Naren was also happy inside.

First and second year students focused on theory from textbooks and reference books, but starting in third and fourth year, classes shifted to practical work and papers. Fifth and sixth years joined professors’ labs to specialize in one field.

Her major, elemental magic, was already at fourth-year level, but she hadn’t paid as much attention to her minor, fortune-telling, so only now was she entering practical training.

Most students here had chosen this class as a minor, so they were probably in the same boat. Knowing the future is appealing to anyone. Unfortunately, in the magic world, it wasn’t a popular field, so it couldn’t be chosen as a major.

While Professor Perun reviewed the theory, Naren unconsciously glanced at Ray’s seat. Fortune-telling was a popular class, but why did they have to use the same classroom? She made a prim face as soon as she spotted him sitting there.

‘I’ll definitely succeed before that guy does.’

Naren narrowed her eyes and grabbed her crystal ball. She already knew the boring theory by heart. All that was left was to finish the foresight before anyone else and walk out of the classroom with pride.