Imperial Academy Girl Magic Officer

The once white stone floor was stained red. The gaps between the marble were filled with blood flowing from Wolf’s mouth.
“Huh.”
Gartel sighed and held his forehead.
“You two there, can you take this boy to the infirmary? The mobile bed is in the corner of that table.”
“Ye-Yes!”
“Understood!”
Even as he dispatched cadets from the same class to escort Wolf, the bewilderment didn’t disappear. Rather, it grew as time passed.
‘Is there such a difference?’
It’s incredible. He didn’t expect Wolf to end up in such a terrible state.
Of course, it was a matchup intended to confirm Yena’s true skills. But he didn’t know she would really win, and with such an overwhelming difference at that.
“Look at the bloodstains.”
“Wasn’t Wolf ranked second in the class in the previous ability test? What is this……”
It wasn’t just his own feeling. Most of the candidates who witnessed the struggle between Wolf and Yena up close had dazed looks in their eyes, seeming to have received quite a shock.
‘What on earth was that movement?’
Thud, thud─
Gartel frowned while shaking off the blood on his palm.
It wasn’t an event that could be simply defined as Yena being stronger than Wolf. Wolf’s physical abilities clearly overwhelmed Yena, so how did he lose?
‘The difference in proficiency is severe.’
It meant there was a gap in the level of combat techniques.
Certainly, the movements Yena showed were too much to be seen as a first-year candidate. They were controlled yet powerful enough to not look out of place even for a graduate.
No, in terms of completeness, it was no less than the Empire’s official magic doctrine.
Then how on earth did she obtain such technical skills?
“Hmm……”
“Is there a problem, sir?”
Speak of the devil.
While walking around the training ground, Yena approached just then. She had washed up at some point, the blood scabs thickly stuck to her were gone, and she had a clean appearance with a fresh shirt.
‘To think such an innocently looking child was so cruel.’
He couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief. The more he saw Yena’s appearance with her eyes wide open and head tilted, the more discordant it felt.
Hiss, phew─
Gartel looked at the girl indifferently, then took out a pipe from his sleeve and lit it.
“Whew……”
Smoking this helped calm his mind and body a little. It was a kind of habit he engaged in whenever he had a lot on his mind.
“Yena Freud, have you received any special training elsewhere?”
Gartel opened his mouth after taking a couple of puffs on his pipe.
‘It was too perfect.’
Among the combat techniques Yena showed, there were some that even he, with his long career as an officer, had never seen.
That’s why he wanted to pinpoint where they came from.
‘If Yena created them herself…..’
It would mean she has genius-level talent too precious to give away, since she couldn’t have used mana restricted by the protective gear.
“You mean training, sir?”
“Yes, you must know that the skills you showed were not ordinary.”
I wonder what she’s hiding. Gartel blew smoke into the air, eagerly waiting for Yena’s answer.
“Well……”
And as the girl’s voice was heard,
Gulp─!
Gartel pulled back his head and looked at Yena sharply.

“Ye-Yena! Are you okay?”
“Yeah. No problem.”
Erika immediately ran over and wiped off the blood and dust on my body. Her glistening eyes well represented her tender heart.
How kind.
When all the cadets were trying to distance themselves from me with faces mixed with fear, she alone approached. I was very grateful that she cared so much, not minding my dirty appearance.
“B-But the blood……”
“This isn’t mine.”
I should repay her somehow later. This is the first time I’ve had such a lovely comrade, I liked her more and more as I saw her.
“Anyway, thank you for coming to me like this.”
“We’re friends! You helped me too, Yena!”
“Still.”
I patted her head as she scratched her cheek shyly, then stood up.
Rustle, swish─
This should be enough. I felt much fresher after roughly wiping off the sticky substances. Erika’s white handkerchief was stained dark red, showing how dirty I had been.
“She beat Wolf?”
“Did she use some kind of strange trick?”
As I got up from the floor and looked around, the first thing that greeted me was the cadets’ whispers. Even though the fight was over, they showed no signs of taking their eyes off me.
Of course, it was different from before.
After Wolf left for the infirmary, whereas in the past they had looked down on me, now their eyes were replaced with ones full of wariness.
“Hii, hiiiek!”
“Uh, ahem……”
When our eyes met, they skillfully avoided their seats.
“Ha.”
I couldn’t help but sneer at this situation.
Everyone’s attitude changed after a sparring that lasted barely ten minutes. Even the insulting remarks using commoner as an excuse that were occasionally heard had disappeared.
Isn’t it very hypocritical? I shook my head at the attention focusing from around and tidied up my appearance.
It was an expected reaction anyway.
In the end, except for special individuals like Rina and Erika, the classmates were just a group that would naturally follow once Wolf was subdued.
There was no need to pay attention to them. If there was anyone I should care about, it would be Instructor Gartel loitering in front of me.
Click─! Click─!
Then I’ll use this timing to get acquainted with the instructor.
“Is there a problem, sir?”
Having finished tidying up my clothes, I immediately approached Gartel. Judging by his complex expression, now was the opportunity to imprint myself in his mind.
“Ah, Yena.”
After a brief greeting, my conviction grew as I watched the instructor take out a pipe from his sleeve and fill it with tobacco.
Gartel smoked his pipe whenever his mind was complicated. It meant he was confused by my strength.
“Yena Freud.”
“Yes.”
“Have you received any special training elsewhere?”
After taking a few puffs of smoke, he asked about the sparring as expected.
“You mean training, sir?”
“Yes, you must know that the skills you showed were not ordinary.”
Gartel pressured with a tone full of charisma tinged with the sharpness unique to soldiers.
My treatment will be determined by how I answer here. I shouldn’t say anything absurd, nor should I make statements that rub him the wrong way.
It had to be coherent and plausible.
“It’s Prussian magic technique.”
After much deliberation, I gave that answer.
“That’s what they teach at the basic training camp, and you’re saying the movements you showed were that? I’ve educated thousands of cadets in Prussian magic technique, are you mocking me?”
“Not at all. To be precise, it’s modified magic technique.”
After immediately responding to Gartel’s anger, which was an expected course, I calmly continued my explanation.
I could answer confidently because there wasn’t an ounce of lie.
It was Prussian magic technique, and it was true that it was modified. However, I had modified this combat technique in the countless repeated past worlds that he wouldn’t know about.
“…Did you modify it yourself?”
“No, my father completed it.”
“Ah, your father?”
But I couldn’t tell the whole truth in this situation.
If I said that, it was obvious I’d be treated as a crazy person, or rather a crazy girl. So I decided to use Yena Freud’s setting, that is, my family history, a little.
“Yes, he was a magic soldier.”
“Then what you used was……”
“Yes. My father taught me.”
Settings are meant to be used, right?
I slightly twisted the fact that my father was a magic officer who was active in the war and told Gartel, who was stroking his mustache.
I thought it was a win-win situation anyway. The person called father would gain unexpected achievements, and I would gain causality, so there was no one losing out.
Well, there’s no one to say they don’t like it, so what can I do?
My mother and father lost their lives in the storm of war. There’s no one in the world to deny this claim.
“I-I see.”
After saying that much, Gartel didn’t raise any particular questions. Rather, he seemed flustered by the unexpected statements.
“So that’s how it was……”
He was asking and answering himself.
Is it done? The title of hero of the Great War must really be impressive, as he didn’t express any particular doubt about my father’s abilities. At last, his suspicious gaze disappeared.
So I was inwardly rejoicing, but…
Thud─
“I see!”
“Ye-Yes?”
As Gartel suddenly grabbed both my hands, I had to tighten the reins of tension again.
What is it?
His tightly closed lips, and firmly set mustache, what does that expression that seems to have decided something mean? I stiffened up at the sudden situation and stared at Gartel.
Gulp─
I coolly collected my thoughts and silently waited for his next words.
“Yena, would you be interested in joining the research department?”
“…Pardon?”
And I opened my eyes wide in surprise. Contrary to my worries, what came out of Gartel’s mouth was a gift-like proposal.
Joining the research department.
In university terms, it was like a kind of club, that is, an academic research group. But to think that word would appear here.
“To the place I’m recommending.”
“Research department recommendation, you say.”
“With your abilities, I think you’ll show sufficient performance.”
Gartel’s proposal was very attractive. Having an instructor write a recommendation letter was a rare opportunity that many cadets would dream of.
“Which department do you mean?”
“A place called the Magic Engineering Planning Department.”
How could I not be filled with excitement when that department was the top organization in the military academy?
The Magic Engineering Planning Department he mentioned was,
Heinz von Derian.
Ofret Lutz.
The department in charge of officers who would later be called ‘Geniuses of Armored Warfare’, make enormous contributions in the Great War, and bring winds of reform to the Empire’s military doctrine.