Boom!!!
“Uh? I wonder where the explosion happened this time. Ruth, wanna check it out?”
“……I’m fine.”
“Really? Well, I was shocked at first too, but now it’s just everyday life.”
Mina, sitting on the terrace of a coffeehouse, placed her coffee cup down with a bitter smile, even though there was a faint vibration and smoke rising from somewhere.
How long has it been since the entrance ceremony ended? Two weeks, maybe?
Back when the entrance ceremony just finished, I thought I’d never get used to this.
Only Mina remained, accepting that this had become routine after just two weeks.
“But I’m still curious, right? I wonder where blew up this time? It looks like it’s in the field of magic, from the position.”
“Probably a lab or… a classroom.”
“Why isn’t there a training ground…?”
Are all city academies like this? Rural girl Mina pondered about the rising smoke, further developing her misconceptions about the city.
Seeing the buildings near the smoke, it certainly seemed to be from a lab. She had heard that some labs exploded so often they just stopped repairing them.
“Is it normal for magic folks to experience such things? At least for us, well… it just ends with cracks or collapses! No explosions…”
“All the same.”
“Sigh, I think what the student council president said was right. Whether it’s magic or martial arts, there’s no advantage over administration, right? That person, who she really respects, was from the administration field too.”
“………”
“She said it’s someone who already graduated, but if the student council president praises them that much, I’d love to meet them. Ruth, what do you think? The student council president is the same rank as you, Rank 6!”
“Mina……..”
“Oh, sorry. You’re still doing your community service, huh…”
Why am I so oblivious? Mina sighed.
Her friend, Ruth, had broken the rules during the entrance ceremony by using sword aura to slice through the manticore illusion. Because of that, he was called to student affairs, scolded, and disciplined.
‘200 hours of community service and a ban from leaving the academy until it’s completed…’
I heard he’s the newest student to be disciplined faster than anyone since the student council president, but even that was shortened considering it was an unexpected event. So even after two weeks, Ruth was still spending his time after classes on community service, sacrificing sleep.
Here I am, casually bringing up rank topics while my friend has to go immediately after this tea party for his community service.
Feeling restless, Mina glanced at Ruth, who handed her a dessert.
“……Don’t be so down. You’ll complete those 200 hours next month.”
“Uh, yeah. Once I finish all those community service hours, let’s go play outside the academy! I’ve already found several spots! For example, if we go down east street—”
“………Are you talking about that potato restaurant?”
“Huh? Ruth, how did you know?”
I thought it was supposed to be a secret spot even the academy students don’t know about. How could Ruth, who can’t leave the academy, know about it?
Taken aback by the sudden innocent question, Ruth paused for a moment.
“Ah! You heard it from another senior, right?”
“………Yeah, that’s right.”
“See, it’s obvious! After all, many classmates and seniors were really interested in you!”
A Rank 6 knight in the same grade is kind of hard to ignore.
There were some bad rumors going around because he ignored the handshake of the great noble Lisha during the entrance ceremony, but Mina knew well that it was a ridiculous misunderstanding.
‘He’s just shy.’
As proof, Ruth puts in a lot of effort to get along with others. He knew quite a bit about new classmates, professors, and even Mina herself.
He may be shy, but observing others to strike up a conversation must be his way of doing things. Innocent rural girl Mina, beloved by the townspeople, firmly believed that was the case.
In a good way, it’s purity, but in a bad way, it’s simplicity.
Watching Mina’s reaction, Ruth quietly gazed into her eyes, then set his coffee cup down.
As if he knew she would react like this from the start.
“………Mina, about that senior you mentioned.”
“Huh? Ruth, you want to meet that senior the student council president respects too, right!?”
“No.”
“Huh? Ruth?”
“It would be… better if we didn’t meet.”
Ruth’s eyes looked eerie and subdued as he spoke.
Mina shivered momentarily from a feeling she couldn’t explain but quickly laughed it off.
“Okay, got it! Anyway, being a Rank 6 means I should listen!”
“……Don’t worry. You can become much stronger than me.”
“Me? Oh, Ruth. You don’t have to flatter me just because we’re friends. I’m still Rank 3 and almost last in martial arts…”
“………You’ll realize that later. You really have a good intuition…”
“Thanks. Hehe, I do hope I can manifest my ki like you. Did you see the headmistress at the entrance ceremony? It was almost blasphemous to think of myself as a martial artist next to her.”
“The headmistress………”
“She’s the most famous person in the kingdom. We just learned in history class that about a hundred years ago, assassins broke into the royal family, and all the royals almost perished!”
“………She took care of all those assassins by herself.”
Clink.
Ruth, quietly adding sugar to his coffee, continued speaking.
Aside from stopping the assassins, the headmistress was revered as a hero of the kingdom for various accomplishments. It’s well-known in history books that she was offered a dukedom and a massive territory by the late king to prevent her from leaving the kingdom.
There’s also a saying that reaching rank 8 means that number is directly related to national power. The empire, a hegemony, has more than ten rank 8s, while the following kingdom has four, whereas there are even smaller countries that don’t have a single rank 8.
I don’t know why the headmistress, who received love calls from the empire, chose the kingdom. She rejected the title but accepted the territory, and it’s clear she had some goals since she built Grandis Academy on top of that, but you could argue that was something she could’ve done in the empire as well.
Anyway, with a level of wealth seemingly gathered from who knows where, the headmistress rapidly turned Grandis Academy into a prestigious institution over the decades. Several events occurred in that time, but Grandis Academy will continue to exist for over 100 or 200 years.
───Or so.
There was a time when Ruth Spero believed that without a doubt.
That was a time that existed.
“…………”
“Ruth? What’s wrong?”
“……Just, thinking of old times.”
Ruth answered briefly at Mina’s concern and turned his head towards the street.
Whenever I’m swallowed up by memories of ‘the past,’ it’s often best just to be blank rather than think about it. What had happened before coming to the academy? Given the events at the salt mine, this felt like the best approach.
As Mina simply stared at the students passing by on the terrace.
Suddenly, a ruckus broke out.
“Is it true? Another duel? Has the princess lost it?”
“Losing it or not, it’s definitely a good watch. You think she challenged Chloe without a plan? There’s gotta be some trump card.”
“Dude, I saw that duel from a week ago. That was overwhelming! It was like she was just playing around! Plus, the princess will self-destruct just by standing there because of that chronic condition, right?”
“So, are you not going to go watch it?”
“Can’t you see I’m heading there right now?”
“Ruth, did you hear? They’re dueling!”
“……….”
A duel. While not as common as building explosions or collapses, they happen often enough to be memorable.
Even Ruth had received duel requests from classmates and several seniors. The odds were non-existent against a Rank 6 knight, but he thought, ‘If I seal one arm and don’t use sword aura, than maybe?’
He turned them all down, but despite the teasing saying he was just scared, after knocking out ten people at once in his first sparring class, those rumors had died down.
So he wasn’t focusing on the duel itself.
Specifically, he was more concerned about the participants in the duel.
“………Amatrius Delphia Beatrice, Chloe Pisty.”
“Wow, you remembered their full names? I keep tripping over my tongue.”
“Those two are dueled?”
“Yep. You were too busy with community service after classes to notice, huh? A week ago the princess fought that disciple from the Magic Tower!”
“……What?”
“Since it’s a magic field event, it wasn’t that big of a deal for us. But the martial arts field was buzzing about something else.”
“Something else?”
“Haha… Ruth, it’s because of what you did in your first sparring class…”
“…………”
Ruth, typically stable in emotions, looked unusually flustered, but after sipping his sweet coffee, he regained his composure.
After considering something for a moment, Ruth asked Mina.
“……What happened in that duel?”
“They said the disciple overwhelmingly won! But I heard that only a week later, the princess has requested a rematch. Is she training hard in the meantime?”
“……That makes sense. The fact that Beatrice, who suffers from a chronic condition, has decided to challenge Chloe again means.”
“Ruth?”
“‘This time’ she chose Beatrice.”
A deep sigh. And eyes that seemed to feel regret.
Mina’s best friend, Ruth, sometimes seemed to look too different. Almost like he had seen the whole world, if that makes sense?
‘It feels wrong to say this.’
Ruth… resembled Mina’s grandmother. Not in appearance, but in attitude and aura.
Always calm, acting like he knows everything, and impossible to see as being the same age.
It’s not maturity but more about wisdom and experience, to put it another way?
If I openly say such things, Ruth would shoot me a glare, so Mina, having learned from the recent events, firmly closed her mouth while nodding secretly and instead spoke.
“There’s still time before you have to go for community service, right? Do you want to go see it too?”
“………I’m fine. The outcome is already obvious anyway.”
“Huh? You think the disciple will win, too?”
“Well…”
While Ruth quietly stirred his coffee spoon for a moment.
He mumbled softly under his breath.
“……Adam.”
“Huh? Where have I heard that name? I’m sure it’s…”
“………Forget it, Mina.”
“Huh?”
“There’s nothing good for you to remember…”
But me? I absolutely must never forget.
A name I can’t let go of even in death.
“That’s the name.”
*
The 21st duel arena was already packed with spectators.
Since it’s a duel arena located in the magic section, most of the audience was magic field students wearing yellow bracelets, but there were some martial arts field students wearing blue bracelets as well.
Unfortunately, the administration field was pretty much absent since they had to work on group projects and reports during the time to watch the duel. Being referred to as the hope of commoners, that field had the most students among the three, leading to fierce competition in grades.
Nevertheless, in comparison to the administrative field, the students enjoying their relative leisure had similar opinions.
“Still, it’s going to be tough for her to win, right?”
“If she applied for the duel, she must have something in mind, but still, what’s the princess gonna do? She wouldn’t have solved that chronic condition in just a week.”
This time, it was Beatrice who applied for the duel, unlike last week. While she wasn’t thoughtless, winning was still going to be tough.
As the students chatted, they all fell silent.
“………….”
“Oh no, princess? You didn’t mess up your conditioning, did you?”
Beatrice and Chloe. The two duelers had appeared.
However, compared to Chloe, who exuded calmness, Beatrice was clearly in bad shape.
Her steps were heavy, breathing seemed difficult, and she looked on the verge of collapsing.
Still, it seems Beatrice was used to this state, as she stood in the duel arena with great effort. Chloe smirked at her.
“I’ll give you credit, princess.”
“………For what?”
“For having the courage to show up again. Wait, isn’t it that since you embarrassed yourself once, you figured it was okay to show it again? You’re not planning on challenging me again until you win, are you?”
“……That isn’t necessary.”
Beatrice, responding in a cracked voice, held something from her bosom.
“Why? I’m more than willing to accept your match.”
“After all… I’m going to win.”
“That’s a boring line.”
What she has clutched was, a clock-shaped artifact.
However, Chloe didn’t stop her. In a duel, artifacts are allowed as long as both parties agree. And of course, Chloe generously accepted Beatrice’s artifact use.
“You practiced that artifact usage during the week? You thought you could win with some toy?”
“…………”
“That thing isn’t even meant for combat, is it? It’s just a clock with alarm magic and some convenience spells added to it, so what can you do with…?”
Right at that moment.
Chloe furrowed her brow.
She’d felt an uncomfortable aura for a while but dismissed it, thinking it couldn’t be.
……There’s no magic.
Beatrice’s magic was completely empty. She was on the verge of mana exhaustion, something she had only heard of.
Mana exhaustion is akin to starvation or dehydration for ordinary people. Any normal mage would instinctively prevent mana exhaustion for the sake of survival.
But why?
“You.”
But what was even more surprising was.
Beatrice, who was on the cusp of mana exhaustion, had mana flowing through her body.
Flowing from the clock artifact she held.
As the mana gathered at Beatrice’s fingertips.
[Fireball]
A scene she had seen before unfolded.
Several fireballs floated in the air.
And then.
Whoosh!
The fireballs froze in place.
Whoooooosh!!
A gust of wind arose, forming a pillar of fire.
Boom!
Lightning wrapped around the fireballs, reinforcing them.
“You, you……!!”
“……It’s not that hard. Cough, is this what you were so proud of?”
The talent she had received from being acknowledged by the grand mage.
Just like Chloe, Beatrice was a rare multi-attribute holder.
Reproducing the magic Chloe had displayed a week ago, Beatrice, unlike last time, was perfectly controlling her magic.
“How!? No way, no way you’re using the mana from that artifact to…? Why would you go through that pointless process…? No.”
Clenching her teeth so hard it drew blood, Chloe glared at Beatrice.
Jealousy and hate ignited in her eyes as she directed them towards Beatrice.
“That’s the way out, isn’t it? A way to escape your chronic condition.”
“…………”
“I don’t care what you did to achieve it.”
Whoosh!
[Fireball]
Chloe, just like Beatrice, summoned even more fireballs, declaring with a voice that could devour.
“If I break that talent you don’t even understand…!!”
“……Adam.”
“I’ll be the only one who can earn the master’s acknowledgment!!!”
“Just wait. I’ll come to see you soon.”
Right after that.
The magic clashed.
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