CHAPTER 61

Regret, Emptiness, Obsession?

“Huh?! What?! How is that even possible?”

Karl was shocked when he saw how fast the Notos dorm was cleaning the mandrakes.

They had placed the mandrakes in wash tubs, used water pumps to pour water, and then Lorenzo summoned a water spirit. The spirit picked up the mandrakes and rubbed them with both hands, cleaning them in one move.

Even though the water spirit got dirty, the muddy water flowed like blood through its body and drained away beneath it.

“A water spirit that circulates water inside itself? That must use a lot of magic power.”

“No, not really. I’m not doing it alone. The other students are casting spin spells inside the spirit to move the dirt to one spot.”

“What?! They’re casting spin spells inside the water spirit’s body? But water spirits resist magic…”

It takes a lot more magic power and focus to cast spells on a spirit compared to plain water. But with only two wash tubs, the water gets dirty quickly and there’s nowhere to drain it. So Lorenzo used one water spirit to clean, and others cleaned the spirit itself.

Then another water spirit appeared—Fiona, a girl from Notos, summoned one too.

While the other dorms only used one spirit, Notos started with two. Their speed shot up, and they soon took the lead.

“I want to try too!”

Seeing this, Isolde from Zephyros dorm also summoned a water spirit to help clean faster. Now both Zephyros (west) and Notos (south) had two spirits helping them.

Boreas dorm began falling behind.

“Grr. Don’t worry! If this becomes a long fight, we’ll win. Summoning spirits uses too much magic and energy! They won’t be able to keep it up. This is a timed test, so they’ll have to give up.”

Karl encouraged his Boreas team and made the wind spell even stronger.

“Please stop! If you blow wind toward us, dust flies over and sticks to our clean mandrakes!”

Even the usually calm Lorenzo looked irritated and protested.

“Sorry, but I’m not giving up this great method.”

“You’re really…!”

And just then, a question from Idnia surprised everyone.

“Um, if we’ve finished cleaning all our mandrakes, can we help clean the other dorms’ too?”

“…What?”

“What…?”

Lorenzo, Fiona, Karl, Rudolph, and Isolde couldn’t believe what they heard.

Only 30 minutes had passed. How could Eurus dorm, with Idnia, be done already?

“That’s impossible!”

Everyone shouted in unison.

But it was true.

All of Eurus’s mandrakes were cleaned and neatly placed on the work table.

“How… how did they do that?”

The teacher gave permission.

“Very well, Idnia. You may help clean other mandrakes.”

“Thank you.”

Idnia raised her black-iron magic wand.

Flashback:

Eurus had the fewest students. In a contest like this, fewer people usually meant certain defeat.

“It’s hopeless. Doesn’t matter how hard we try. This isn’t like potion extraction—one person can’t carry the whole thing. We’re just making money for the Academy,” said Sendia Aspinal, trying to make everyone give up.

But Idnia stepped forward.

“Sendia, you can think that way, but don’t drag others into giving up. We can win this.”

“Huh? How?”

“There are only two wash tubs. Even if other dorms have more students, without efficient teamwork, they’ll get stuck. We can still win with fewer people.”

“Maybe, but still, isn’t it better to have more hands, even if it’s just washing by hand?”

Sendia wasn’t convinced.

‘But high-ranking nobles don’t like hard labor like factory work,’ Idnia thought.

But she didn’t say that out loud, since most students in Eurus were nobles too.

“Everyone, let me show you how.”

She rolled up her sleeves and started demonstrating.

Back to now:

Everyone was amazed to see the cleaned mandrakes piled up on the Eurus table.

Even the spirit-users like Lorenzo and Fiona had slowed down from exhaustion. They ended their spirit summoning just to watch what Idnia was doing.

Rudolph and Isolde also canceled their summons and watched.

Karl kept casting wind magic.

“This is my chance to get ahead again.”

He blew dust toward the students waiting near Idnia.

“Hey, Karl, as a friend… can you not?” said Rudolph coldly—a tone that didn’t match his usual kind self.

“Uh…”

Karl froze from the unexpected sharpness in Rudolph’s eyes.

“Okay then!”

-Shield spell!

Idnia cast a shield spell and changed its shape.

Her shield became a large metal strainer.

“What the…?”

She scooped up mandrakes into it and shook them hard—dust flew out.

She had her team cast spinning wind magic on a set spot to imitate Karl’s wind.

But unlike Karl’s wide wind, their magic spun close to the ground, and other students poured water over the dust to stop it from spreading.

Water on the ground was controlled with spin magic too, to wash the dirt into the drain.

“She’s using only one wash tub?”

After the first wash, Idnia moved the strainer under the water pump and rinsed the mandrakes. The flowing water was also used to wash the floor.

She placed the clean mandrakes on the work table.

“Amazing. Now I see how she’s so fast.”

Lorenzo was impressed.

Summoning spirits caused a bottleneck because not every student could do it. That meant not everyone could help.

But Idnia used her magic to do the main task, and had the rest of Eurus cast easy spin spells.

Everyone could join in, and everything moved fast.

‘But… Isn’t it tiring for her? That transformed shield must take a lot of concentration.’

Then he saw something surprising.

Other Eurus students had joined their magic wands together to keep the shield spell going.

They hadn’t shaped them like Idnia’s strainer, but they made vertical bars like a basket.

Idnia had shaped hers solo. The others made it with teamwork.

“…Incredible.”

Everyone was impressed.

All the mandrakes were cleaned.

Instructor Nayli the Dryad looked deeply moved.

“I brought more than usual just in case… but Eurus dorm clearly won.

Their method was smart. They used basic spells and made sure everyone helped, sharing magic power and focus so no one got too tired.

Other dorms should think about why I gave only two wash tubs each. You had numbers, but it didn’t help.

And learning high-level magic early backfired.

Eurus dorm, you get 5 public points. And Idnia, as dorm leader, gets 1 bonus point!”

It was a huge reward—6 points total. Especially when the entrance exam winner only got 2 points.

But no one could complain.

Idnia’s planning and leadership were too good.

Rudolph just stared at Idnia.

His chest ached.

He had never felt inferior to anyone. He was the crown prince—destined to rule. If someone in the Empire did well, he should praise them, not compete.

But Idnia… was too amazing.

And she had broken off their engagement.

He couldn’t be sure of her loyalty anymore—and she was incredibly talented.

‘She’s a prince-elector. She could even aim for the throne herself… Am I overthinking?’

Rudolph felt jealous, admiring, and heartbroken all at once.

If only she would glance at him, just once…

“Brother?”

It was Isolde.

“Are you okay?”

“No, it’s nothing, Isolde.”

“Even though we lost today, I learned a lot from her. Her ideas and method were very educational. Next time, I promise I’ll win for you.”

Isolde felt sad seeing her brother in pain.

“You’re a great help, Isolde… But still…”

Rudolph gave a bitter smile.

He had never felt like he lacked anything.

But today, he felt like something was missing.

He couldn’t help but think—

If only I hadn’t broken off the engagement with Idnia…