Published: August 25, 2025
The day after the territory competition was the graduation ceremony. The Lord and Lady Aub stayed in their respective rooms, but the other guardians returned to Ehrenfest for the time being.
…No wonder there were so few spectators.
Using mana for consecutive days of teleportation was tough, so guardians of middle- and lower-class nobles didn't come to the territory competition unless they knew their child had a chance to shine or hoped to arrange a marriage with a child from another territory.
Angelica’s father wanted to see the sword dance tomorrow more than today's ditter duel, so he planned to take the day off and come. By the way, Angelica’s mother was an attendant to the Foster Mother and had come to the noble academy with her today to watch the ditter duel. Liselotte said she was scheduled to have the day off tomorrow.
…Angelica was truly the only knight apprentice in a family of excellent attendants.
The graduation ceremony started at the third bell. In the morning, there would be performances like dedication dances and sword dances, and the head priest would come from the Central Temple to give blessings. It was more like a coming-of-age ceremony.
In the afternoon, the graduates who had come of age would dress formally and gather in the auditorium for the ceremony.
“Tomorrow, I’ll be staying at the dorm again, right?”
After dinner in the multipurpose hall, I asked the high priest. Since he was staying at the noble academy, I figured he’d be my watcher tomorrow as well.
“The important guests attending the graduation ceremony are the same as today. It’s meaningless for you to attend. …Would you be dissatisfied just reading books in the dorm?”
“I enjoy reading, but I wanted to see Angelica’s sword dance and Lady Eglantine’s dedication dance.”
I knew there was no way to skip the territory competition and only attend the graduation. Plus, I couldn’t see Angelica’s sword dance at all because it was practiced in a different location. It was a one-time performance, so I was all the more curious.
“If only there was a ‘video camera’…”
“What’s that?”
“It’s something that records sword and dedication dances so you can watch the footage later. …Let’s see, you know the magic tool Professor Hilsure used in his lectures? It’s something like that, but with movement you can watch.”
I thought about how to explain, and the high priest shrugged lightly.
“The projection magic tool should be with Professor Hilsure. I once made one for lecture use. It consumes an absurd amount of mana, so it was shelved after one use. But if you transfer your mana into a mana stone to power it, it might just manage to record the sword and dedication dances.”
“Really!?”
…So there was already a magic tool equivalent to a video camera!
Impressed, I looked up at the high priest with hope. He made a bitter face and picked up a mana stone from the Ordnance.
“The immediate problem is that Professor Hilsure will find out I’m at the noble academy, but if it keeps you quiet, I suppose it’s inevitable. You should fill this mana stone with your mana. If it runs out, the recording will cut off.”
He sent a message to Ordnance asking if they could borrow the projection magic tool from Hilsure. I happily took on the job of powering it up, gripping the mana stone and infusing it with mana.
…Hehe, hehe. Soon I’ll be able to watch the sword and dedication dances.
Just as I thought the reply should come soon, instead of a response from Ordnance, Professor Hilsure himself burst into the dorm clutching the magic tool and a stack of documents.
“Lord Ferdinand, if you were here, why didn’t you contact me sooner!? I have a mountain of things to discuss from the returned documents!”
“I didn’t contact you deliberately because I thought you might abandon the territory competition. It’s been a while, Professor Hilsure. Is this magic tool still usable?”
The high priest took the magic tool from Hilsure’s hand and began fiddling with it.