After the exam, the teachers were buzzing with excitement about this year's standout talents. They heaped praise on the three of them: Ted, Alyssa, and Abel.
Only Emerson, the teacher grading the written papers, let out a scornful scoff. He stated plainly that there was only ever one true genius. Abel, and Abel alone.
The other teachers were puzzled. After all, he was just an amber-eyed commoner. In terms of ability, Alyssa didn't appear to be any less impressive.
Emerson shook his head with weary exasperation and held up the perfect score answer sheet. Abel had solved the ultimate theorem, a complex theory that even seasoned researchers had been unable to crack.
Every teacher in the room went quiet.
At that moment the venerable headmaster walked through the door. He asked what had the teachers so animated. Emerson relayed the news with barely contained excitement. He had found an unparalleled genius, a student by the name of Abel.
The instant that name reached the headmaster's ears, his eyes went wide. He was so overcome with shock that his dentures actually flew out of his mouth. He urgently demanded that Emerson repeat the name. When he heard Abel a second time, everything inside him fell into place.
Deep into that night, the headmaster's office was filled with stunned, hushed whispers. The name Abel had made sleep impossible.
He crossed to an ancient statue and gathered magic in his hands. Magic flowed into the sword the statue held, and the room began to tremble faintly. A hidden door to a secret chamber slowly revealed itself. He stepped inside, into a room packed with old texts, went straight to a drawer, and pulled it open. Inside lay a letter of considerable age, resting in quiet stillness. Under the influence of magic, the paper unfolded.
It was a final note from his grandfather, a truth written for the eyes of his descendants. The letter revealed a secret that had been completely erased from history.
The tale the world celebrated, of the four sages who slew the demon king, was a lie. With only the four of them, they couldn't have even touched a hair on the demon king's head. The one who truly defeated the demon king was a mage with eyes of amber.
His name was Abel.
The headmaster recalled his grandfather's repeated warnings. That fifth sage, simply for possessing amber eyes that resembled those of the demon race, had been persecuted. Despite having power that could shake the heavens, his name had been struck from the history books.
But how could a human being have survived two hundred years?
He resolved that he had to take a far closer look at this young man's true strength.
In a capital city cafe after the entrance exams, Abel sat alone drinking coffee. Ted burst through the door in a flurry, excitement written all over his face. He waved his acceptance letter in the air, asking his master to guess the result. Abel barely glanced over and immediately saw through the fact that he had already peeked. His little trick found out, Ted was deeply dissatisfied.
But Abel suddenly shifted his gaze to a seat in the distance. He asked directly who was hiding over there.
A red-haired figure hadn't done a very good job of staying concealed. Caught red-handed, she had no choice but to wave an awkward greeting. She claimed it was a coincidental encounter. This was simply her favorite place for cake. Naive Ted believed her without a second thought.
Abel cut straight through the pleasantries and asked what she was actually there for. Alyssa immediately became flustered, her eyes darting around. She stumbled over her words and asked which class he had been placed in. She admitted that, as much as she hated to admit it, there seemed to be a lot she could learn from him.
Abel considered what she was after. But Ted couldn't hold it in and blurted out the answer with great satisfaction. He happily announced that both he and his master had been placed in the top tier, class A.
Upon hearing it was class A, Alyssa's eyes lit up. She immediately began humming a cheerful little tune and left in high spirits. Abel looked at Ted, genuinely puzzled about why she had come.
Just then the cafe door was gently pushed open again. The moment they saw who it was, both Ted and Abel froze. The one stepping through the door was Lilith, and she was wearing the uniform of an academy teacher. They asked her what she was doing in that outfit. Lilith announced with a smile that she had officially become a teacher at the academy, starting today.
Ted was so stunned he could barely blink, unable to believe such a coincidence was possible. But Abel wasn't surprised in the slightest, knowing her abilities far surpassed the ordinary. Whatever Lilith set her mind to, she could accomplish without breaking a sweat. Lilith leaned close to his ear and promised to continue helping him in her new capacity.
Before long it was the day before the entrance ceremony. She personally walked the two of them to the student dormitories. For the next five years, everyone would be living together in these halls. Then she excused herself to take care of some business. After Abel thanked her, he and Ted, weighed down by an absurd amount of luggage, made their way inside.
In the common hall they met Teacher Fidia, who served as the dormitory supervisor. Abel recognized her as one of the examiners from the entrance exam. Fidia recognized them as well, and handed over the official academy-issued uniforms. She reminded them that they were required to wear them whenever they left the grounds.
Abel took the bag and immediately noticed something unusual about the uniform. He pointed out that a certain kind of magical inscription had been applied to it. Fidia explained they were inscriptions for anti-magic and stain resistance. Abel asked who had applied them, but the answer he received was vague and evasive.
After collecting their keys, the two were assigned to adjacent rooms. But Abel couldn't stop thinking about that crude inscription on the uniform.
Ted noticed something was off and asked what was wrong. Abel explained that the inscription work on the uniform was terribly done, a complete waste of good material. He decided on the spot to reapply the inscriptions himself, and started by reworking Ted's uniform first. The moment Ted put it on, he felt light as a feather. Abel was satisfied with the result, too.
Just as he was about to work on his own uniform, Ted scooped up all his bags. Ted announced that he was going to conduct bun diplomacy in his new uniform. He pulled out a specialty from his hometown, snowball buns, and eagerly offered one to Abel to try. Abel found the taste fairly average and couldn't help but wonder if it was really a local specialty, but Ted paid that no mind and headed off with full ambition to share them with their neighbors. He had set himself a goal of making a hundred friends at the academy, and with that he charged out the door.