Okay then,
off I go.
Right. Good luck.
Remember,
whatever you do, be prudent.
Yeah, I know, Granny.
Nothing's coming up on my search magic at the moment.
I'm sorry, Shin.
Huh?
Making you come all the way to my house to pick me up like this...
All the way? Using a gate, it took no time at all...
...and I can't very well let you run into any more danger, can I?
Shin...!
Ugh... it's too early in the morning for my stomach to turn.
"Wise Man's Grandchild"
Good morning, Shin. Leave it to you to come to school with girls in tow
so soon after enrolling.
Put a sock in it, Aug. You know why I'm doing this.
Yeah, I know, but I couldn't help myself from teasing you.
Hey, you...
Good morning, Shin.
Good morning to you.
M-Morning.
Dah! Made it! I did make it in time, right? I'm okay, right?
Y-Yes.
You made it, but what gives with you arriving at school
in the nick of time on the first day?
Oh, I was so looking forward to today's class that I couldn't get to sleep.
"Alice Corner"
Then I slept in.
What are you, a child?!
Yeah, um... in this world, you're an adult at age 15, so...
You're all here, right?
Ah, Teacher.
Good morning!
Yeah, good morning. Everyone take your seats. We're starting homeroom.
Once that's done, I'll show you around the school.
That's the quick tour. The school is broadly divided into two buildings--
one of them being the classroom building, where your classes are,
and the other one has the faculty offices, the student council room,
as well as the rooms used for laboratories and study groups.
Study groups? Are those like clubs?
The Attack Magic Study Group...
...the Quality of Life Study Group, which produces magical gear...
...and the Body Language Study Group,
which deals in mastery of physical strengthening magic, to name a few.
What was that last one?
That's the wrong idea of how to live as a magician.
The Body Language Study Group.
If it weren't for my duties guarding His Highness,
I would absolutely choose to join that one!
Hey, you don't have to worry about me. Go ahead and join if you want to.
No, I cannot very well do that.
This is the magic academy.
My authority as a royal doesn't carry here.
There's no reason to be tied to me the whole time.
Your Highness! I very much appreciate that!
He just hates being escorted, so he's getting them to give him some space.
Say, Shin, do you have a study group that you want to join?
No, not especially.
Yeah, I suppose not. You wouldn't find any of them to be a challenge.
No, it's not that.
Here's a better idea--why not start your own?
Huh?
Ho, a study group created by Wolford? That would be fascinating.
Sure it would, Teacher.
It would be interesting to see what kind of study group Shin would start,
and what activities it would have.
"Lyn Hughes"
Indeed, it would be interesting.
If you make one, I'd like to join it, too!
"Yuri Carlton"
I might join, too.
"Tony Freyd"
Nice. If I joined, I'd probably stay in S-Class all the way through.
Teacher, what does it take to start a study group?
Five or more members, and a faculty adviser.
Then you just need to submit a request form, and you can start one.
If you really want to do it, I'll be your adviser.
Hey, guys, just a minute!
Shin, if you're going to start a study group, I'll have to join it, too.
Huh?
Well, think about it. If you're going to take her home,
it makes sense to do things together.
Yeah, that's true...
If you're the group's president, what would we even do?
I never said I was going to!
How about the Hero Study Group?
Huh? What does that mean?
You'd tell us all about Master Merlin and Mistress Melida!
Huh?!
Unfortunately, there's already a study group
that follows the exploits of the wise man and the guru.
There is?!
Then how about we work on mastering all kinds of magic,
with Wolford as our focus?
Huh?
We'll call it the Ultimate Magic Study Group.
"Ultimate Magic Study Group"
You're killing me! You're killing me, Lyn!
Sure. The Ultimate Magic Study Group. That would be perfect for you, Shin.
Huh?
Great! The Ultimate Magic Study Group! That sounds super-duper!
No, wait, hold on! Hold on!
Can you decide on your subject matter after class?
Huh?!
All who want to join, raise your hands.
Me!
It's not "ultimate" anything...
Demon appearances have increased this much in the last year?
Why is that? If demons are proliferating,
there should be more of a commotion throughout the kingdom.
However, I haven't even heard any rumors of that happening.
What's the meaning of this, Dominic?
"Dominic Gastor"
If you will look over the daily reports, I'm sure it will be clear.
The daily increase in demons has been extremely slight.
It's been little by little, within the margin of error,
but it definitely has been increasing.
Hmm...
The way it's been increasing, slowly enough to avoid our notice--
This is nothing more than my own personal speculation,
but I get the impression that it's artificially induced.
Ridiculous! There's no way this increase in demons could be man-made!
Your Majesty, these are unusual circumstances.
We need an immediate investigation.
All right.
Enlist the Demon Hunters' Society and thoroughly investigate this!
As you command.
"Rietsburg Estate"
Kurt!
Kurt, are you here?!
What is it, Father?
Don't "What is it" me! I've received a summons to His Majesty.
You know why, don't you?
What were you thinking?!
You know that throwing your standing around at the magic academy
is forbidden, don't you?!
With all due respect, Father, we are a chosen people.
It's not right for us to be treated on the same level as commoners.
Kurt, what are you... what are you saying?
I am a chosen person!
I am a special person!
And yet everyone else disrespects and defies me!
There's no way I can stand for that!
Yeah, it's him. Everything started going wrong after he showed up.
I can't do as I please with my girl,
and moreover, if His Highness is taking his side, it's all the more reason to--
Kurt!
I can't turn a blind eye to a statement like that!
I'm going to have to think about how to punish you!
Somebody, lock Kurt in his room!
What's gotten into you, Kurt?
"At the academy the next day"
Kurt has been grounded?
Yeah. Apparently, the Rietsburg family contacted the academy this morning.
Listen,
if I can ask, why does Kurt have that attitude?
He's not allowed to throw the weight of his family name around, right?
Honestly, we're at a loss, ourselves.
We went to the same middle school that he did,
but his behavior was never anything like this.
He was pretty sure of himself, but he was always a normal student.
He did start acting differently after he started going to Mr. Schtrom's lab.
Come to think of it, you're right.
Schtrom?
In our third year of middle school,
he transferred in as a magic teacher, claiming to be exiled from the empire.
He took anyone who was half-decent with magic
and invited us all to come over and visit his laboratory.
It sounded shady to us, so we turned down his invitation.
He might be blind, because he has a patch covering both his eyes,
but he acted normally.
He might have been using a special kind of magic
which let him sense inorganic objects that had no magic.
A magician with an eyepatch over both eyes, in exile from the empire?
"Rietsburg Estate, entry hall"
Ah, Mr. Schtrom, thank you for coming over!
It has been too long, Mrs. Rietsburg.
How is your son doing?
Oh, I don't know what is happening anymore!
How could my boy end up like this?
My husband is trying to discipline Kurt.
The way things are going, I'm afraid my boy will...
I see. He looked up to me as his teacher.
I'll go and have a word with him.
Please do. You're the only one I can turn to.
Please, bring him back to his senses!
What's going on, Kurt?
Mr. Schtrom?
Well, isn't this a pretty pathetic sight?
I told you that you're somebody special, didn't I?
Yes.
Your station and your abilities are special.
There is nothing you can't obtain.
But I didn't manage to get the girl!
Because he... Because he stood in my way!
I see. So he is a hindrance to you, is he?
Listen to me. I want you to teach this hindrance a lesson.
You are special, after all.
Kurt,
dance as best you can for me.
"School cafeteria"
Shin, what are you going to do now about coming and going to school?
What am I going to do?
Kurt has been grounded at home.
There's no longer any danger at the academy or on the street now, right?
Well, I guess not.
There might not be any need for an escort now.
I suppose that's true... He's an escort, after all.
Then again, is there any harm walking her to school not as an escort?
Our houses are in the same direction.
There's no reason why not!
Y-You're right! We do live in the same direction!
There's nothing weird about us walking to school together!
Ah! I beg your pardon...
Jeez, Sizilien, are you ever overexcited.
I-I am not!
Impressive, Shin.
Huh?
Saying "be with me" like that, in front of everyone.
That's something I could never do.
That isn't what I said, right?
Well, all joking aside, walking to school together is a good thing.
Klode and Messina are both fine-looking young ladies.
They are bound to attract some unsavory characters.
Well, if they ever do, my search magic will detect them.
Huh? How so?
How so? You can usually tell when someone is directing ill will at you, right?
No, we can't sense ill will with search magic.
Well, um... Thor, have you ever hunted a demon?
No, of course I haven't. I just barely got out of middle school.
The magic power of a demon is sort of sinister, sort of gross, and not normal.
Regular people can have that vibe, too, so you can distinguish them.
So what you're saying is...
Wolford, you've hunted demons before?
Yes, I have.
Just curious, how old were you when you first did it?
Ten.
Ten?!
It was a bear, as I recall.
A bear?!
It was about three meters tall. I cut off his head.
H-Huh?
"Have I done it again?"
Have I done it again?
"Yuri" "Julius" "Alice" "Lyn" "Thor" "Aug" "Tony"
Huh? Which part are you surprised at?
All of it.
We have study group orientation in the afternoon.
But we've already decided we're going to start the Ultimate Magic Study Group.
It's a waste of time to have them tell us about study groups
that we have no intention of joining.
Don't say that. If we all refuse to participate, it will incur resentment.
There's ill will directed at us.
Where is it coming from?
Kurt!
Damn it!
Sizilien! Aug! Channel magic energy into your uniforms!
A magic barrier?
Shin, your hands!
It's all right. My auto-healing is kicking in.
I couldn't completely defend against it.
It happened so fast, my visualization was incomplete.
What's he doing here?
I thought he was grounded.
He was positively trying to kill us just now.
Yeah, that was attempted murder.
There's no way we can let this slide.
Damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you...
Damn you!
Hey, Aug,
do you think he's in control?
No, I don't.
It's bad, right?
Yeah, it's bad.
Damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you!
Are you for real?!
He's demonized...!
Aug, take the others and get out of here.
Shin, you're not going to...
I'll stop him one way or another.
That's crazy! You get out of here, too!
We can't let a demonoid run loose in the capital.
Then I'll help you.
What are you talking about? You've never hunted a demon before.
So we're just in your way?
Yeah. You're in the way.
Is that right?
We're getting out of here!
No way! We can't just leave Shin here all alone!
We'll only slow him down!
But...!
Messina, take Klode away, even if you have to drag her away!
R-Right!
Sizilien!
The rest of you, hurry up!
You two, go tell the teachers about this, right now.
--Yes, Highness! --Yes, Highness!
Let's do this, Kurt!
Huh? Did that actually do some damage?
I was just trying to slow him down.
Wolford, damn you!
A demonoid that can speak?
This isn't like what Grandpa told me about.
I thought demonoids were supposed to lose all sense of reason.
I'll kill you! I will kill you, Wolford!
It really is hurting him.
Which means that he hasn't totally become a demonoid.
Then there ought to be a way to turn him back.
If I can control the out-of-control magic that is demonizing Kurt...
Wolford!
It can't be!
He's gathering up magical power into himself to create an explosion!
I won't let you!
Damn! With that much magic power, he'll blow up the whole academy!
It's over!
What do I do? What should I do?
There's no more time.
Forgive me, Kurt!
I've never killed a person before...
Damn it, what's going on? What is going on?
Are you all right, Shin?!
Shin! Are you... Are you hurt?!
No, I'm fine.
I can't believe you actually defeated a demonoid.
You guys all watched that?
Yeah.
Wasn't there anything else I could do?
He was stalking you, Sizilien...
...and even turned into a demonoid...
But even so...
Shin...
Shin, things are going to get rough for you now.
Huh?
This is the second demonoid appearance in all of history.
It's a huge deal, and will shake the whole kingdom,
but you resolved it just like that.
Your Highness!
Are you all right?
We got a report of a demonoid!
Where is the demonoid?
He's the one lying over there.
You don't mean...
You don't mean you brought him down?!
No, it wasn't me.
Listen up, everyone!
The demonoid was brought down
by Shin Wolford, grandson of Merlin the Wise Man!
He took down a demonoid by himself?!
That's the wise man's grandson for you!
Our new hero!
Shin Wolford!
Shin! Shin! Shin! Shin!
Uh, no, I mean...
Is this what he meant by "rough"?