Genius Wizard Conceals His Origins

T/N: The latter part of this chapter was cut off, and I only noticed it late. Apologies for the inconvenience. Edited 8/30/24.

Dignity and refinement are concepts far too distant from my life.

I’ve been a loner since birth. I learned how to beg before I learned how to greet politely.

Even now that I’ve become somewhat more human-like after learning common etiquette from the Oslo family, that basic premise hasn’t changed much.

The only social gathering where I show my face is the Nocturne Club, which has thrown away all pretense of refinement. I never had the chance to experience exchanges between prestigious families or the formalities of high society.

Thus, my understanding of upper-class dignity was entirely based on what I had seen at the university.

According to my limited knowledge, the children of the upper class were…

How should I put it, they seemed like petty fools.

“Now, we begin discussing the last work we’ll look at before the midterms. If we examine the 16th-century play ―”

Once again, the tiresome [Understanding Literary Genres] lecture started.

Usually, this would be the time they start chatting among themselves, but.

Not today.

I pretended to listen attentively to the lecture while reading the atmosphere.

Gazes.

I could feel the glances that had subsided for a while now touching me again occasionally.

There’s only one reason I can think of for this.

<…Huh?>

That brief conversation acted as a catalyst, causing a major tectonic shift in the classroom.

The conversation itself wasn’t anything special. If you think of it as between friends, it might even seem a bit stiff. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

But the problem was the fact that ‘Julia Müller initiated a conversation’.

Since enrollment, the number of times Julia has spoken to someone probably hasn’t reached ten. That’s how much Julia didn’t approach students first. They would approach her anyway.

Such a Julia greeted someone warmly for the first time.

And it happened to be me.

“…”

This is troublesome.

The gazes of the male students looking at me were unsettling.

Memories of the first day of enrollment come flooding back. Until then, the majority of people weren’t too fond of my gray hair.

But as I kept repeating the cycle of home―school―library―home, obsessed with studying, they gradually started to ignore me, which was an incredible boon for me.

Thanks to that, I was living comfortably, but…

Isn’t this like a second coming of the first day of enrollment?

It was absurd that they showed such hostility just because of one greeting, but considering Julia’s attitude so far, I could also understand why they might feel that way.

I closed my eyes and recalled Julia Müller’s smiling face.

No matter how many times I think about it, it’s certain. An expression I’ve never seen before.

Was yesterday’s incident the trigger?

“Hmm.”

Playing mind games isn’t my forte.

What on earth is her intention? I couldn’t come to any conclusion, but I immediately steeled my resolve.

Ignore it.

With that, I raised my head and focused on the board.

Coincidentally, the lecture content was about plays. My favorite literary genre.

Ding dong―

The bell rings.

“Oh, next week is already the start of the midterm exam period. I hope all of you do well on your exams.”

With these kind words, the professor left the classroom. Unfortunately, the warm words of encouragement didn’t seem to reach the students.

About seven male students simultaneously pushed back their chairs and started rushing toward Julia.

The sons of notable upper-class families surrounded Julia’s wheelchair and stood at attention.

What kind of farce is this?

As I started watching with my chin resting on my hand, a blonde young man who looked the most formal among the male students opened his mouth.

“Lady Julia. Have you decided who among us will be in charge of your wheelchair?”

“Oh my. I was planning to call my butler soon.”

“Isn’t more than half of the campus restricted to students and faculty only?”

“Hmm… I don’t want to burden you all with difficult tasks. Despite how it looks, I’m quite good at handling the wheelchair myself.”

“Enough. To not spare help for those in need. That’s the motto of our family.”

“…So?”

The young man seemed slightly flustered as he didn’t expect Julia to calmly question back, but…

He quickly regained his confident expression and answered.

“At first, we tried to decide among ourselves who would be in charge of the wheelchair, but it was an issue that we couldn’t reach a conclusion on. So we humbly request that Lady Julia choose one of us.”

The young man elegantly concluded his speech.

I watched the scene with great interest, forgetting to leave the classroom.

It was quite an amusing farce. Especially considering that Julia had never once said she would let them be in charge of her wheelchair.

I tried to predict the next scene.

She’ll refuse.

The important thing is how she refuses. According to my limited knowledge, in social circles, a direct refusal was not much different from insulting someone’s character.

Now. How will Julia answer? [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

Just as I thought this, Julia parted her lips.

“I prefer spending time with cultured individuals.”

Huh?

“So I’ll decide this way.”

She’s not refusing.

Covering her mouth and smiling softly, Julia quietly declared.

“I’ll choose the person with the highest score on the midterm exam among those taking [Understanding Literary Genres].”

As she said this, she looked around at the crowd.

By turning the wheels of her wheelchair in different directions, she slowly started to rotate.

Thus, Julia quickly scanned the male students surrounding her and finally looked at me through the gap between them.

At the same time, she lowered the hand covering her mouth back to her lap.

Ah.

That smile again.

#May 25th. Cloudy.

The dark clouds filling the sky announced the start of midterm exams at the Frauvian Federal University of Magic.

The number of exams varies by student; it’s generally around five.

Among these, [Calculus I], which all freshmen must take, and [Type I Magic Practice] and [Type II Magic Practice], which almost everyone takes even though they’re not mandatory, were the main battlegrounds for students.

The difficulty was a given. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

Because it requires not just memorization but understanding, cramming doesn’t work.

The knowledge learned in these lectures forms the foundation for advanced magic studies, so many freshmen enthusiastically tackled the midterms for [Calculus I] and the two [Magic Practice] lecture classes.

However, there are exceptions to everything.

The young man with brilliant blonde hair, Gustav Mach, devised a strategy that went against the grain.

“All-in on [Understanding Literary Genres].”

Gustav’s entrance exam rank was 569th.

Clearly, in the lower ranks.

But that wasn’t a problem for Gustav because he had no intention whatsoever of becoming a magic scholar.

That was his father’s will as a mana lamp businessman.

Since he started studying simply to fully inherit the family business, he completely abandoned his studies after coming to university.

The only thing he was interested in was connections!

Meeting children from all walks of life gathered at the Federal University of Magic, getting acquainted, and forming relationships. That was Gustav’s sole purpose.

And Julia Müller, whom he had his eye on, was undoubtedly the best catch.

A member of the Müller family, one of the top three wealthiest in Frauzen.

Moreover, she’s the daughter of Professor Müller, second only to the University Chancellor in influence.

“I absolutely can’t let her slip away.”

Catching her was far more important than grades.

She’s quite good-looking, too, so it might not be bad to build a deep friendship while he’s at it. He could even take care of her if necessary for that purpose.

First day of exams.

[Calculus I]

“Aaargh…”

“What is this? An alien language?”

Students groan.

What could it be to make them react like that? Gustav lifted one corner of his mouth as he looked at the exam paper.

4.(10 pts.)

[Let f(x) = tanh⁻¹(cosx) – sech⁻¹(sinx). Find f(π/50).] *1

“Good.”

He lightly gives up.

Looking around, everyone except one person is holding their heads. That one person is the infamous ruffian from the Fourth School, so it seemed the difficulty of this exam was unusual.

It means it doesn’t matter much if he messes up. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

Fourth day of exams.

[Type II Magic Practice]

“…”

“…”

It’s quiet.

In this case, there are usually two possibilities. Either it’s too easy or too difficult.

Gustav looked at the exam paper.

…It seemed to be the latter.

Everyone except one person has put down their pens, and is agonizing. That one person was none other than that gray-haired kid, so it should be fine to mess up this exam, too.

And finally, the day before the [Understanding Literary Genres] exam arrived.

He headed to the library after a long time and took out a thin sheet of paper.

It was none other than last year’s summer semester midterm exam for [Understanding Literary Genres].

The so-called ‘family lineage’.

“Hehe… Not just anyone can get this. As expected, the world is all about connections.”

A chuckle naturally escapes.

With this alone, a high score on the midterm was guaranteed.

Who on earth would have listened carefully to that old professor’s lectures?!

Even if the competitors had studied hard, the result wouldn’t change.

The old professor’s exams had a reputation for being so trivial and old-fashioned that it was said, ‘you can only get a high score if you memorize all the works.’

They say he’s been recycling the same questions for over a decade.

There’s no way anyone could surpass the score of someone who memorized the ‘family lineage.’

It’s not fair, but what can you do? That’s life.

Gustav started memorizing the ‘family lineage,’ confident in his victory.

“Hmm…”

Although it’s just memorization, because he had put studying aside for months, he couldn’t take in the words at all.

In the end, it took over three hours just to familiarize himself with the ‘family lineage.’

“Phew!”

He let out a light sigh and glanced around.

The exams are now in their final stages. The library, which had been bustling, was now nearly half empty.

It was then.

“Oh ho.”

Gustav discovered a familiar face.

Gray hair. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

It was Eugene Oslo, sprawled out, sleeping on the desk.

“He was the only worry, but… Heh.”

Even a rotten fish can still be used as bait. He had worried that the top scorer’s prowess might extend to literature, but seeing that sight, it seemed there was no need to worry.

“Hahaha!”

Certain victory.

Gustav Mach left the library with a broad smile on his face.

#May 31st. Cloudy.

The [Understanding Literary Genres] exam time finally arrived.

In a relaxed atmosphere where more than half of the students put their heads down as soon as the exam started, and only a few model students and competitors were earnestly writing down answers…

“…Huh?”

Gustav Mach alone rubbed his eyes with a serious expression.

It’s different from the ‘family lineage.’

T/N (added 8/30/24)

I never thought I’d see inverse hyperbolic tangent nor inverse hyperbolic secant in my life, let alone cos(pi/50) or sin(pi/50). This question is insane, and apparently, the solution involves using properties of trigonometry to expand those hyperbolic terms; I won’t be yapping about it anymore for visual pleasure, so feel free to search for those equivalents for yourself. If approximation is allowed, pi/50 is a really small number, close to 0. So, when substituting for the final answer, cos(≈0) = 1, and sin(≈0) = 0, making the final answer easier to work with.