Reincarnated as the Villainess's attendant

"Student Helterose, if you will."

The red-haired teacher called out for Kierul but the red-haired girl didn't acknowledge either his voice or even his existence.

Instead, she protectively stood by the pale blue-haired prince's side while he was doing his best to look as if he wasn't about to faint.

"Student Helterose are you not willing to participate in the magic examination?"

The red-haired Ikarveth raised his voice, not being able to stand being ignored by a student too well – especially a student from a family in decline.

"It's young lady Helterose for you."

"Wha...?!"

Kierul didn't care – but Zoemi on the other hand had no patience for annoyances like Ikarweth, so he glared at the middle-aged man, causing him to suck in air while the man's face was getting almost as red as his hair.

"Zoemi, you can play with that teacher later."

Kierul leaned to Surou's side and said while looking at her attendant with a bothered expression.

"Oh, it's your turn, isn't it, my lady...? I know you will do well...!"

As the girl moved, the blue-haired boy flinched as if woken up from a nap and smiled weakly at her.

"..."

Making Kierul look more upset than she already was.

"...my prince, you will keep your promise, right? I will be done with the examination and you will go lay down."

The red-haired girl insisted in a hushed voice so other students won't overhear her speaking in such a way to a member of a royal family.

"...huh...? I should... no, I mean, I promised you, so, of course, I will do just that... Don't worry about me, my lady."

Surou seemed to be out of it but his eyes regained some clarity once he locked gazes with Kierul after which he nodded in confirmation, feeling guilty for causing such an expression to show up on the girl's face.

After she got the confirmation of the prince's promise Kierul nodded at her attendant and the black-haired boy nodded back at her before she walked over to the examiners' table.

Without being told to, she reached out her hand and waited for one of the teachers to push forth the mana-measuring device, which the gold-haired teacher did with an intrigued expression.

After all, the girl had quite an interesting backstory, and more importantly she managed to deflect an attack from a light magician with only a physical enchantment.

Such a thing would be possible for a highly trained earth magician like lady Auequas sitting to Shuze's left, but to pull something like that while being a fire magician?

There was little doubt in the elderly magician's mind about young lady Helterose being a sheltered and well-protected transcended magician... Probably not on an outrageous level of Ehmi Gamemi Victureo but maybe somewhere around the power level of duke Espine.

That would explain the display of defensive capabilities that were almost never seen in the fire magician's repertoire.

But then, when the device hummed under the red-haired girl's hand, the reading that it showed up to all three teachers was...

"...A-an average amount of mana for a fire magician...?!"

"..."

The person who shouted the result was not teacher Shuze but the red-haired teacher Ikarveth – and honestly, the elderly gold-haired man breathed out in relief that he managed to keep calm and stay quiet because seeing his colleague outrage like that was quite a pathetic sight.

"Is there a problem with the amount of mana I was born with?"

Student Helterose raised her brow and glared at the red-haired teacher as if he was one of the most disgusting things that she had the misfortune of seeing in front of her.

"Of course not. Student Helterose, I must say that I have quite big expectations for your performance."

Teacher Auequas shook her head and smiled at the girl, motioning her hand politely toward the targets.

"I appreciate it, teacher, but I won't be showing off many spells. I have an important matter to attend to."

Kierul allowed herself a soft smile before turning her back to the teachers and going for the close-range target.

"..."

Standing in front of it she frowned and made a dissatisfied expression.

She leaned to the side looking past it and her expression darkened even more.

"That student doesn't know her place!"

Ikarveth scoffed at the other teachers acting as if he had the same respect as them...

...and was splendidly ignored...

"For the close-combat-range, she will surely use those enchantments that she redirected a light attack, won't she? I can't wait~"

"Hmm..."

The gold-haired man hummed excitedly to the brown-haired woman who didn't seem to completely agree with him on the matter of Kierul's choice of spells...

"Flashpoint."

...and her doubts ended up coming to fruition as the dissatisfied-looking girl breathed out annoyance and chanted dismissively without even looking at the first target...

*^%$#*

...and at her command, a blinding light engulfed the dummy donning the enchanted armor – and the next moment the only trace of the target's existence was a steaming vaguely armor-shaped enamel coating the ground in front of the red-haired girl...

"!!!" "?!?!" "What in the...?!"

This time it wasn't just the red-haired man – all three teachers stood up from their seats with varying degrees of shock and disbelief showing on their faces.

"Hmph. Here."

Without anyone asking – mostly because everyone was stunned speechless by the ridiculous power of the spell – Kierul walked over to the examiners and reached her hand over the mana measuring device.

"Go on. Measure it. Although the value of mana at my disposal would not change that much."

The student raised her head and said benevolently, looking down at the red-haired teacher in particular.

"...that's true... the amount of mana barely changed..."

Teacher Shuze who was the first one to sit back down activated the device and gasped in wonder at the result he was.

"That's impossible! You! You must have chea...!"

"Teacher Ikarveth. I've heard that you are quite the researcher... and your area of interest is increasing the mana pool a magician is born with, isn't it?"

The red-haired teacher seemed particularly upset about the discrepancy between the power and the mana consumption of the spell that his fellow but much younger fire magician displayed, and was raising his voice again this time with an open accusation, but Kierul talked over him with a rather mocking smile.

"What does that have to do with this situation?"

The change in Ikarveth's tone was instantaneous, the man's gaze and voice became ice-cold as he asked clearly ready to pick up the gauntlet that young Helterose slapped him with.

"Nothing~ I am merely impressed that you, teacher, are so invested in helping out the magicians born with a mana reservoir much too small to allow them for casting the commonly used spells. You surely must have spent a considerable amount of time researching and developing more efficient spells that focused on maximizing the spell power while decreasing the amount of mana consumed, first. Because if that's the case then you would have no problem with accepting the truth you are faced with right at this moment – for which I am exceedingly grateful~"

"...you little...!"

The amount of sarcasm sandwich that the red-haired girl served the red-haired man could only be truly appreciated with the topping of the look in Kierul's eyes.

Really... some students actually thought that young lady Helterose was seriously complimenting teacher Ikarveth...

...which made it that much harder for him to lash out in outrage...

"I'm taking too much time anyway, I'll be done with the next spell."

Successfully silencing the annoyance Kierul's expression became serious again and she announced while glancing back towards the blue-haired prince who wasn't swaying only because of the black-haired attendant's support.

"Are you sure...?"

"Hmm~!"

Teacher Shuze and teacher Auequas exchanged surprised looks and one of them asked, making Kierul smirk discreetly at the misunderstanding they were having~

The red-haired girl returned to the testing spot, but instead of standing n front of the short-range target as everyone else did, she positioned herself diagonally to it – of course, while keeping the proper distance between it and herself.

Then She reached out her right hand and locked her middle finger with her thumb as if preparing to flick somebody's forehead – only that her arm was outstretched and aiming at the middle of the enchanted armor.

Kierul then frowned and focused.

Her right hand started shining with the light of enchantments, but instead of the red glow emanating from the whole thing, only a few thin crimson lines appeared on her skin – with the exception of the winded-up middle finger that was shining brightly in its entirety.

*thump*

"...?!"

All of a sudden some unknown sound reverberated through the air confusing the onlookers, and Kierul's middle finger turned from red to orange...

*thump*

Then, merely a heartbeat later the sound repeated itself and the girl's finger turned from orange to yellow and the image of the red-haired girl itself became blurry...

...and it was actually impossible to say without getting closer whether it was because of the heat that the accumulating spell was entering or the air quake that occurred because of it...

...most likely both...

*THUMP*

"!!!" "...?"

The low sound repeated itself but this time it was more of a thunder than a hum – Kierul's finger turned from yellow to white and the reaction of every single fire magician in the vicinity caused all the others to become confused.

The fire magicians – teacher Ikarveth included – were both horrified and in awe at the sight of the white light displayed by their fellow fire magician...

"HMPH!"

But Kierul wasn't quite done yet – she scoffed and grabbed her right arm with her left hand as if to stabilize it and then...