Chapter 28 –
Magram, the Deceiver God
‘Hmph. What do you think of that?!’
Isolde Folchen puffed up with pride.
Having secured 5 merit points and risen to the top of the student ranking chart, she looked toward Idnia, expecting jealousy—or at least a reaction.
But Idnia didn’t even glance her way.
She was focused elsewhere.
‘Tch… that woman?!’
Isolde felt an odd mix of anger and defeat at being ignored.
As the clever girl she was, she understood the reality:
Compared to Idnia—daughter of the Duke of Betelgeuse, who essentially ran the entire Euros Dorm—Isolde was just a regular student.
Someone bearing the weight of a dorm leader and an entire territory wouldn’t be bothered by temporary merit rankings.
‘Still… if I keep stacking points, I’ll secure Zephyros Dorm’s dominance. That’s the least I can do for my dear brother.’
Isolde knew her role, and Crown Prince Rudolf appreciated her contribution.
“Well done, Isolde. I’m proud of you,” he said warmly.
“Oh, brother… did I finally become useful to you?”
“Not just to me—your efforts help all of Zephyros Dorm. Actually, I’m thinking of holding a study session during maintenance period. Would you be willing to tutor the others?”
“M-Me?!”
Isolde was taken aback.
Rudolf wanted the top scorer in Baroness Byulem’s quiz—her—to teach the rest.
“But there isn’t even a place to gather…”
“We’ll use the courtyard.”
“Won’t students from other dorms see us?”
“Let them. They won’t be able to copy the study session, and even if they do, it benefits the academy as a whole.”
Truly a prince-like mindset.
In his eyes, all students would someday serve the Empire. If he nurtured their talents now, they would support his reign later.
From Rudolf’s perspective, unity and mutual growth were more beneficial than rivalry.
‘Ugh… I want to refuse.’
Unlike Rudolf, Isolde didn’t want to share her hard-earned knowledge.
To him, academic success was just one of many talents. But to Isolde—it was everything.
She was the daughter of the emperor’s favored concubine. No one dared insult her openly, but high society thrived on slander behind closed doors.
She wanted to silence those rumors with sheer skill.
And now she was supposed to just hand her secrets over?
During the academy entrance exam, she had realized the professors’ intentions: to separate the exceptional from the merely good.
She had passed it—and barely so. The others here were only a hair’s breadth behind her. Sharing her insights through study sessions would be a great personal cost.
‘I want to refuse.
But if I say no, will my brother think I’m petty?
I’m just one of the many people he cherishes… but to me, he’s everything.
He wants my pride? My knowledge? Of course I’ll give it.
But I wonder… how important am I to him?
Among all the things he owns… how much do I weigh?’
Just then—luck was on her side.
Raindrops began to fall.
“Ah… it’s raining. I guess the courtyard study session is canceled.”
Just like that, Rudolf’s request—so heavy with meaning for her—was rendered moot by a bit of bad weather.
She was relieved.
The academy had no large indoor spaces available to students. And with the rain, they couldn’t gather outside either.
‘Whew. Lucky break. But if we ever unlock facilities for indoor study using merit points… I’ll need to find a way to avoid disappointing him again.’
Even though she had escaped this time, Isolde knew her trials were far from over.
With Baroness Byulem’s class over, it was time for the infamous Magram’s lecture—one of the Empire’s “Five Convicted Professors.”
Students filed into Lecture Hall #1, uneasy from recent tensions.
Although most had lived in different regions, many had crossed paths in the capital Dyunais. They’d been slowly building friendships—until now.
Despite the alliance spearheaded by Crown Prince Rudolf, no one fully trusted it anymore.
Lorenzo Medici and the Notos Dorm had proven they were capable of smuggling goods and even buying out an entire village shop.
Who could trust a sword held by someone else?
The upper-class students understood: to preserve the alliance, you had to hold the hilt yourself. But if everyone reached for the hilt, the alliance would fall apart.
‘We’ll keep the alliance… but secure merit points first.’
A fire lit in the students’ eyes.
Then the lecture began—
“…Huh?”
The bell rang… but no professor appeared.
Only a small oil lamp sat on the podium. The type you’d imagine a genie emerging from.
Suddenly, a massive flaming hand burst out and began rubbing the lamp itself.
‘Rubbing your own lamp? Seriously…’
Even Idnia, who knew everything from the original game, had to stifle a laugh.
The fire spirit Ifrit—Magram—was also the lamp’s god. Heating the lamp, he conjured flame and smoke into a humanoid form.
“Eek!”
“Wha—?!”
Students recoiled in surprise as a towering figure of smoke and fire emerged.
He wore a turban and flaunted a body of burning muscles, complete with a flaming crescent blade on his hip.
“Whew, this old lamp needs some preheating these days.
Hello, Academy students. I’m Magram, your magic instructor!”
Then he whistled.
‘Wait… that’s the Awakening Girl Concert opening theme,’ thought Idnia with a smirk.
She recognized the melody—and the trick behind it. But if she commented, she’d blow her cover.
Most other students were too shocked to care about the tune—they were focused on Magram himself.
“Wow…”
“He’s really an Ifrit…”
“I’ve never seen one in person…”
Magram grinned, pleased.
“It’s an honor to meet such bright young souls.”
Unlike the other Convicted Professors, Magram seemed unusually friendly.
And then—
“To commemorate our meeting, I’ll be giving each of you 20 Akacoins.”
“20?!”
“Yes, right now.”
At that moment, every student’s Academy brooch glowed.
“The Akacoins have been recorded in your brooches. You can spend them at the shop.
You’ll also be able to check your balance with a simple reading spell.
Oh, right! Let me teach it to you.”
He levitated a piece of chalk and began writing on the board, explaining how to cast the “reading” spell and activate it.
‘Wait, the trigger word is just reading? That’s… so easy.’
The imperial language Eldar and English had similar phonetics, so students mastered the spell almost instantly—even Idnia and Mari.
The spell revealed each brooch’s data: name, dorm, year, merit/demerit points, and Akacoin balance.
“20 Akacoins… How much is that worth?”
“At the current rate, about 100 shillings.”
“…”
Every student froze.
100 shillings was not small change—even for nobles.
To hand out that much to every student?
‘This really is the kind of genie from fairy tales…’
The students murmured, awestruck by Magram’s generosity.
But Idnia saw right through it.
‘Of course. This is the phase when Akacoin is at peak value. The actual value is 1:1.
This is just like a mobile game giving out 100 free summons at the start.
He’s fattening us up for the slaughter.’
Magram’s plan was simple: get students addicted to Akacoin by giving them free taste.
And that wasn’t all—
“To celebrate learning the reading spell, everyone gets 1 merit point!”
“…What?”
“…”
One point to every student?
With that alone, dorms like Zephyros (61 students) and Notos (50 students) could immediately unlock facilities.
Even Boreas, with 47 students, only needed a few extra points.
But Euros, with just 32 students, fell behind again.
Mari and Idnia had earned 3 points each—but it wasn’t enough to close the gap.
‘Magram’s causing chaos… and he’s not going to be this generous forever.’
In an instant, Euros became the most disadvantaged dorm.
“Wait, professor! This is absurd. The top entrance scorer only got 2 points! How can everyone get 1 just for a basic spell?”
It was Christian Dupont from Euros who spoke up.
He understood: this mass giveaway would destroy the balance.
‘It’s clearly a scheme to pit students against each other.
Once we’re divided, the rewards will stop.’
Christian bravely protested.
“Oh? So you already knew the reading spell?”
“Yes.”
“Then your merit point is canceled.”
“…What?”
Christian’s point was revoked.
Everyone fell silent in horror.
They weren’t fools—they understood Magram’s intentions.
If you protested, he’d find a reason to punish you.
‘He wants us to fight…’
‘But if I speak up, I’ll lose points…’
‘What do I do? If I lose points and others don’t, I’ll be the idiot.’
They all knew they were being manipulated.
But then—Crown Prince Rudolf rose from his seat.
