“Next up—Illuminate.”

  “【?????????????????????】”

  Since Colette didn’t signal her to stop, Hulim continued her demonstration.

  A brilliant white light burst forth from the tip of her finger. Even under the clear, sunny sky, the glow was strikingly bright.

  “She actually cast a second spell!”

  “Hulim is so amazing......”

  Murmurs of admiration rippled through the crowd. But to one particular girl standing among the students, those words sounded like nails scraping against a chalkboard.

  The girl stared fixedly at Hulim, her chest burning with a mix of anger and embarrassment. Her cheeks flushed bright red.

  Had she been outdone again?

  Worse still, she’d just gone and boasted about “winning” to Hulim not long ago. The humiliation of this sudden reversal was almost too much to bear!

  It was like she’d made a fool of herself performing a silly trick—and Hulim must have been laughing her head off behind her back!

  What should she do? She wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear!

  And most infuriating of all—

  Why did she always lose to Hulim?!

  Damn it, Hulim! How dare you look down on me! I swear I won’t let this slide!

  “【???????????????????????】”

  “Whoa! That’s a third one!”

  “Is that a non-elemental spell?”

  While Fran seethed internally, Hulim finished demonstrating all three of her spells.

  “Ms. Colette, is that all you need?”

  “......”

  Colette gave Hulim a long, meaningful look, then broke into a sweet, radiant smile.

  “Of course~! Thank you for the wonderful demonstration, Hulim. You may return to your seat now~!”

  Hulim bowed politely and made her way back to the crowd.

  But no sooner had she taken her spot than her instincts—honed by years of combat training—tingled. She sensed an intense gaze burning into her back. Glancing over her shoulder, she locked eyes with a pair of reddish eyes, glistening with unshed tears.

  “Hmph!”

  The moment their eyes met, the owner of that gaze let out a sharp huff and whipped her head away, refusing to look at Hulim any longer.

  Hulim: “......”

  What was her problem? Had she done something to offend the girl? She’d acted like this earlier too.

  Hulim shrugged, unable to make sense of it. She decided to stop overthinking—it wasn’t worth the trouble.

  Well, if she wasn’t an enemy, Hulim didn’t care what she did.

  Fran, who’d turned her head away in a childish fit of pique, never once took her eyes off Hulim from the corner of her vision. When she saw Hulim look away and stop paying attention to her, her anger flared even hotter.

  What was that supposed to mean?! She’d looked right at me—was that her idea of revenge? It had to be! Ugh, Hulim! I definitely won’t let this go!

  “It seems only three of our students have mastered magic so far~!”

  After confirming no one else was going to volunteer, Colette said in a tone that sounded almost disappointed—then brightened up again in an instant, beaming at the class.

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  “Well! That’s more than I expected! You all are amazing~!”

  “......”

  So was that a good number or a bad number?

  The students exchanged confused glances, silently sighing at their new teacher’s utterly unpredictable personality.

  Of course, Colette had no idea what they were thinking. She pressed on with her lesson.

  “Since three of you already know how to cast spells, I assume you all have a basic grasp of magic fundamentals.”

  “Magic in our world is classified into seven elemental affinities: fire, wind, water, earth, light, dark, and non-elemental. Every single one of you will possess at least one of these affinities. Just like Ander and Fran demonstrated earlier—from their first-tier spells, we can tell they have fire affinity and wind affinity respectively.

  Naturally, there are also rare cases of people with multiple affinities—like our very own Hulim here.”

  At that, everyone’s eyes darted to Hulim once more.

  “The first thing all of you need to do is figure out your own magic affinity, just like these three students have—”

  “Ms. Colette!”

  A boy in the front row suddenly raised his hand, cutting her off mid-sentence.

  “Yes, young man? Do you have a question?”

  Colette asked with a smile.

  “What affinity do you have, Ms. Colette? Can you show us your magic?”

  As soon as the question left his mouth, the other boys and girls lit up with eager anticipation.

  Right! If she was their magic teacher, it was only natural for her to show them her skills, wasn’t it?

  “Aww~! You kids are impossible! Well...... Since you’re all so curious, I suppose I can put on a little show. After all, I doubt any of you would take my lessons seriously until you’ve seen what I’m capable of, huh?”

  When Colette agreed, the students erupted into cheers.

  “Really?!”

  “What kind of magic can you use, Ms. Colette?”

  “It must be a second-tier spell! You’re a teacher, so second-tier is a given......”

  “Alright, alright, settle down everyone! Now, I want all of you to move back to the edge of the training ground.”

  Instead of casting her spell right away, Colette first directed the students to retreat.

  “Huh? The field is still plenty wide—why do we have to go all the way to the edge?”

  “Maybe she’s worried about accidentally hitting us?”

  “No way! How big of an area could a second-tier spell cover......”

  Though confused by her request, the students obeyed, stepping back until they lined the perimeter of the large training ground. Soon, Colette was the only one left standing in the center.

  “Everyone~! Watch closely! This is my magic!”

  Colette gripped her wand tightly in her right hand, holding it high above her head. She called out to the crowd, then began chanting her incantation in a low, rapid voice.

  “【?????????????????????????????????????????????????】”

  “......Flames, rise and consume all!”

  BOOM——!

  A towering wall of fire suddenly erupted from the ground, surging skyward until it painted the entire sky crimson. Townsfolk going about their daily business in Mentor Town noticed the spectacular sight and stopped in their tracks, craning their necks to stare.

  “Whoa!”

  Caught off guard by the massive fire curtain that spanned nearly half the training ground, several students stumbled backward in fright, some even tripping and falling to the ground.

  In that moment, they finally understood why Colette had made them retreat to the edge. Anyone left in the middle of the field would’ve been swallowed up by that inferno.

  “S-Spectacular! That can’t be a second-tier spell! It’s a third-tier spell! Definitely third-tier!”

  After the initial shock wore off, the crowd exploded into excited shouts.

  “A third-tier spell! You’re amazing, Ms. Colette!”

  “So you’re a C-Rank Mage? There are barely any C-Rank mages in the entire town!”

  As the students screamed in awe, Hulim watched the blazing inferno with her eyes wide, a faint glimmer of excitement shining deep within her pupils.

  The moment Colette had unleashed her magic, Hulim had recognized the mana fluctuations. This was a third-tier fire spell—and if she wasn’t mistaken, it was the Scorching Curtain, one of the most difficult third-tier fire spells to master, and the one with the widest area of effect.

  “Third-tier......”

  She thought to herself, a surge of determination welling up inside her. Perhaps it wouldn’t be long before she reached that level too. Gradually, her excited emotions settled into a calm resolve.

  WHOOSH!

  Just then, the roaring wall of fire vanished into thin air as quickly as it had appeared, as if it had never existed at all.

  But the lingering warmth radiating from the ground was a stark reminder that what they’d witnessed was no illusion.

  “Wow, Ms. Colette! You’re so cool!”

  “I can’t believe our school finally has a C-Rank Mage as an instructor!”

  As soon as Colette ended the spell, the students swarmed her, surrounding her in a tight circle.

  “Ahhaha~! It’s not that big of a deal~!”

  “Ms. Colette, your magic is awesome! Can you teach it to me?”

  “Well, that depends on whether you have fire affinity first~!”

  “Don’t worry, Ms. Colette! The moment I saw your spell, I knew it was meant to be! I must have fire affinity!”

  “I think you shouldn’t jump to conclusions so quickly~......”

  “Ms. Colette, I heard you’re from the Royal Capital! I thought it was just a rumor, but is it true?”

  “Huh?! Fran, where did you hear that?!?”

  “Really?! So Ms. Colette is actually a big shot?!”

  “N-No! It’s nothing like that! Alright, everyone, stop crowding around me and let’s get back to class!”

  No matter how much the students pressed her for answers, Colette refused to say anything more. She herded everyone back into line and launched straight into her lesson.