Chapter 12
When two adults entered the hall where only the freshmen remained, the noisy chatter suddenly stopped.
One of them was a very small and pale woman wearing a tracksuit and a laboratory coat that looked like it was sized for a child’s shirt. She jumped onto the stage. Without even greeting them, she began speaking immediately.
“This year’s Elemental Aptitude Test was supposed to be supervised by Professor Crowley. However, this morning he discovered an important breakthrough in his research and is currently… unaware of reality. Therefore, I, his assistant, will conduct the test instead.”
Seriously, what kind of person is Professor Crowley?
“First, I will explain the purpose of the Elemental Aptitude Test. According to the International Wizard Management Law, the data collected will be recorded in your official wizard registration.”
The man standing beside the assistant nodded as he held a clipboard and a fountain pen. Just by looking at his conservative clothing, he clearly seemed like a government official.
“Also, your elemental aptitude will influence your future classes. It would be unfair to fail a fish for not being able to climb a tree, wouldn’t it?”
The assistant paused for a moment, as if expecting the students to admire her brilliant analogy, and looked down at them.
But the freshmen only blinked at her like fish.
That was because the assistant had no authority, and freshmen had no sense of tact.
“…Ahem. Then we will now begin the Elemental Aptitude Test.”
The assistant took out her wand and waved it in the air.
At that moment, a small table suddenly appeared in the middle of the hall. On top of it lay a large candy wrapped in colorful packaging.
“When your name is called, come forward and open the Four-Element Cracker on the table while reciting the spell.”
Cracker? Why are they calling candy a cracker?
“Astra, Nova.”
Selly’s roommate, whose last name started with A, was called first.
“Please… just not earth…”
Nova clasped her hands together and muttered as she walked forward. She grabbed the candy and shouted,
“Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! Come forth, my element!”
She pulled both ends of the wrapper—
Bang!
With a small explosion and spark, the wrapper burst open.
Wait, that’s not candy.
Selly had once read about it in a book in her previous life. In some Western countries, there was a Christmas tradition where you pulled a paper tube wrapped like candy, and it popped open with a bang and small gifts came out.
The cracker Nova pulled split cleanly in half, and what came out was a green bead about the size of a marble.
But it had a ring like Saturn and floated in the air while spinning.
A planet?
The assistant made the judgment.
“Earth. No water.”
“Oh no…”
Nova, who had prayed for anything but earth, grabbed her head. The tiny planet circled around her head as if teasing her.
Nova, your name really lived up to itself…
Nova meant a type of star, after all. Though this one wasn’t exactly stellar.
“Auren, Kaspar.”
Bang!
“Air.”
The next student produced a small whirlwind that spun briefly before disappearing.
Smack!
“Ow!”
“Water.”
One child suddenly got slapped in the face by a splash of water.
Fwoosh!
“Ah! Hot!”
“Fire.”
Another student had a burning match drop into their hand.
After watching for a while, Selly understood.
The cracker released a substance made from the element that matched each person’s aptitude.
“Bellua, Talula.”
But one girl got something strange.
Bang!
Huh? Isn’t that a soy sauce dish?
A tiny bowl floated gently in the air.
“Fire and Earth.”
Hearing the assistant’s judgment, Selly whispered to Nova.
“Can someone be compatible with multiple elements?”
“It’s very rare, but it’s possible.”
Perhaps because it really was rare, the assistant added a comment in an excited tone instead of her usual businesslike voice.
“The year I entered school, one student produced flowing lava and almost burned a hole in his foot. A ceramic bowl is quite harmless.”
She said “harmless,” but the tone suggested boring.
Still, the girl who had been declared a rare mage raised the soy sauce dish high like a trophy and returned to her seat.
“Wow, fire! They say I can shoot fireballs!”
“Earth… does that mean I’m poor…?”
Some students were happy because they got the element they wanted, while others cried because they didn’t.
Almost no one was happy to get earth.
Earth must be the least popular.
Looking at it with the mindset of ten-year-old kids, Selly could understand.
Creating tidal waves, whirlpools, or shooting fireballs looked cool.
Earth… didn’t exactly have the same visual impact.
“Laurelheart, Selena.”
Finally, it was Selly’s turn.
What element will match me?
With excitement, she walked toward the newly appeared cracker on the table and imagined possibilities.
In my previous life my fortune said I had a lot of fire, so maybe fire? My name means moon, so maybe earth like Nova?
Earth magic would surely be useful.
But for Selly right now, it wasn’t that valuable.
I can’t survive by eating dirt, so I hope it’s water.
She had arrived with no money at all. She would need money for school supplies and clothes.
Maybe she could sell ice water to the students on the dormitory stairs.
Ah, wait! Air!
A service that flew students to the dormitories with wind magic would probably sell even better.
And she could ride the wind herself too.
Actually, anything is fine.
Selly grabbed the cracker and shouted while pulling it open.
“Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! Come forth, my element!”
Bang!
My element is—
…Bread?
What popped out from the split wrapper was a freshly baked loaf of bread, steam still rising from it.
“W-What is this?”
Selly wasn’t the only one confused.
The assistant and the government official had never seen this before either.
“What element could bread possibly be?”
They even brought out a thick book that recorded every item ever produced by the Four-Element Crackers.
Bread wasn’t in it.
“Is it an error?”
The assistant opened another cracker from the table as a test.
A pair of shoes with flames blazing on top popped out.
“Seems normal. Want to try again?”
Bang!
Flat bread.
Bang!
Cream bread.
Bang, pop, bang!
Chocolate croissant, butter pretzel, coffee bun, sausage pizza bread.
“……”
“Sometimes the Four-Element Cracker gives desserts or paper crowns like a normal Christmas cracker…”
The assistant trailed off ominously.
But Selly had to ask.
“When does that happen?”
“When there’s no element compatible with you.”
Boom.
While Selly stood there holding bread and reeling from the shock, the government official wrote a 0 next to the name Selena Laurelheart instead of an elemental aptitude.
Zero… the first zero of my entire two lifetimes…
While Selly stood there blankly, the test ended with the last student, “Jeremir, Robin.”
“I’m going to plant this in a flower pot and grow it.”
Some students took home their cracker items as souvenirs—sprouts, pebbles, half-burned matches.
Among them, Selly had by far the most souvenirs.
But no one thought she was lucky.
Carrying an armful of delicious-smelling bread and leaving the hall with a gloomy face, Selly was approached by Decoration Eyes, who mocked her.
“Zero-score, hehe. Laurelheart, are you just decoration?”
He had cried earlier about getting earth, yet now he was proudly chewing on a carrot.
“Ptui! Ugh…”
Monty spat it out, making a bitter face.
In front of him, Selly deliberately took a bite of a sweet chocolate croissant.
Crunch.
“Whoa…”
When Selly’s eyes suddenly widened, Nova asked while stuffing the floating planet back into her pocket.
“Why? Is it insanely delicious?”
Yes… but no.
It was insanely delicious.
But that wasn’t why she was surprised.
The moment she felt the crispy crust and the soft layers underneath, something clicked in her mind.
Bread loaf, flat bread, cream bread, croissant, pretzel, bun, pizza bread.
They were all different, but had one thing in common.
When you broke them apart, there were air pockets inside.
They were all fermented bread.
“The element of wheat is earth, right?”
If someone had affinity with earth, sometimes earth itself appeared—but sometimes products of earth appeared too, like sprouts or carrots.
So wheat could also be a symbol of earth.
“You mix water with earth’s symbol to make dough, fill it with air to make it rise, and bake it with fire. That’s bread.”
“So?”
“Then doesn’t that mean I got all the elements?”
She was a tragic perfect scorer who matched with every element—
But because of a misunderstanding, ended up with a zero.
