“Karina! Look! It’s a maze!”
At Millia’s words, the pink-haired Saint chased after Johann’s last known position. Although he was hidden within the maze, the elevated spectator stand allowed her to identify his spot to some extent.
“It seems to have developed even more compared to when we built the fortress.”
‘Impressive…’
To suddenly have a maze appear in such a wide-open space made Karina gasp in awe. While she had seen Johann’s abilities before, she had never witnessed them being used like this.
Karina stared intently at the maze.
Though the maze had a somewhat haphazard feel to it, it seemed remarkably interesting to Karina. She tracked Johann’s sporadic appearances within it.
Johann’s leisurely movements while toyed with by Lewis’s party were quite striking.
Even for someone like her, who was close to being a novice in combat, it felt ‘unique.’
‘If he fights like that, it might be tough to go rescue anyone who gets hurt…’
As she pondered this while watching the commotion, she caught sight of Johann being sent flying after taking a hit from Lewis far away.
‘He… he’s not hurt, right?’
“Johann just flew away!”
Without realizing it, her hands clenched. Karina wasn’t even aware of it as she strained to catch sight of Johann.
Only after confirming that he was safe did she let out a sigh of relief.
‘Heh, youth is something else.’
Headmaster Merlin alternated his gaze between Karina and Johann, mixed feelings of skepticism, contentment, and envy evident in his eyes.
“My side is getting cold…”
“Excuse me? Are you not feeling well?”
“…Not at all.”
Merlin swallowed his tears inwardly.
—————
Hmm. It’s still a bit ambiguous.
While Lewis himself wasn’t weak, thinking about the challenges that would come up during their second and third years reminded him how much they still had to improve.
Might need to work hard during winter break.
Of course, everyone else too. Ideally, I want them to be able to use 1st-grade magic by their second year.
By the third year, I hope they can use special magic.
Whether or not you can cast special magic is pivotal in developing a wizard build. In the original work, not being able to use special magic made it incredibly tough to push through the later stages. The problem of course is that building a wizard is hell in itself…
Why do they force a single-player experience? Wizards might as well disappear after getting hit once without a meat shield.
By the way, what should I do next? The training headmaster’s waist has already become part of my territory, and there’s no way 2nd-grade magic could break my maze in one go. At best, it would just breach part of it.
If Lewis had Phoenix’s Blessing, he could easily overpower me… but unfortunately, the blessing belongs to me.
I took away one of the protagonist’s power-up methods, so it’s a bit much to raise expectations too high. Still, I believed Lewis could navigate this obstacle just fine.
After all, he’s the original protagonist.
With protagonist privilege attached to him, he should be able to handle this level of problem.
I intentionally crouched atop the wall, watching to see what Lewis’s party would do.
Are they going to break the maze?
Or attack me?
I tapped the handle of my shovel with my fingers, anticipating their choices.
[Contractor, aren’t you being a bit too laid-back?]
“It’s a mock combat. If I push too hard, we won’t get a proper test.”
If this were real combat, I’d be busy polishing my shovel and shoving corpses into a pit by now. The moment they get trapped in the maze, sharp spikes would pop out from all sides and they’d die without being able to resist.
There wouldn’t be much difference for the rear line either. No matter how much of a wizard you are, you can’t attack from underground; using skills from below would turn you into a skewer.
This is just a mock battle, so for now, I’m just dragging them down by the ankles… though I realize it sounds a bit ninja-like.
As I wasted time thinking about that, Lewis’s party finally began to make a move.
First up, magic, huh.
Well, that was the most effective method. Walking into the maze would be suicidal, so breaking it or pulling me out would be the most efficient choice.
What magic should they use—
“Ha.”
As soon as I saw the water cannon erupt from Elisa’s hands, I dove straight down under the maze. I couldn’t help chuckling, thinking that had I been just a moment slower, I might have been blasted off the back of the maze.
[Contractor, your expression there was pretty villainous…]
“What kind of innocent person do you know looks more villainous than me? Don’t throw around baseless accusations!”
[…What does that even mean, Contractor?]
“Enough chit-chat. They’re coming.”
[What?]
“Crafting.”
I quickly dug into the ground. The soil beneath the training headmaster was packed tight, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle.
In no time, I tunneled out of the maze and looked back at it.
“Just a bit longer, and I would have been a fried chicken.”
Water in the maze with lightning magic, huh.
It’s a smart tactic. Unless the maze is huge, for something roughly 30 pyeong, spreading water everywhere and then zapping it with lightning to induce electrocution isn’t a bad idea at all.
[Wow, if I’d been there, I’d be toast.]
“Hm.”
I suppose that’s somewhat a passing grade.
I brushed off the dirt clinging to me. The fight isn’t over yet, so how should I deal with those who come over from the maze? Creating another maze is one option, but I don’t plan on dragging this battle out in a boring way.
After all, they can’t die anyway.
Besides, dragging it out like that wouldn’t help those kids. The battle is basically a lesson anyway, so I adjusted my grip on the shovel and watched as the kids leaped over the maze, landing in front of it.
“How was that?”
“That was a good move. You made great use of the fact that water and lightning together creates a stronger shock.”
“Not like we’d just sit and take it either.”
“Right!”
“Y-You complimented us…”
Quite the mixed reactions.
Well then, let’s kick off the second round.
“Now, I’ll start the second round. Let’s see your full power.”
At my words, instead of blindly attacking, Lewis’s party exchanged glances and nodded. It seemed they had something prepared. I couldn’t help but chuckle at that sight.
How cute.
As if their planning was complete, Lewis tightened his grip on his sword and aimed it at me. He was poised to charge at any moment. Noticing this stance, I wrapped the flames of the Phoenix around my shovel.
“Here I come!”
“Bring it on.”
Is Lewis the bait? I noticed ice chunks and lightning spears flying in from both sides as Lewis charged, and I couldn’t help but grin.
Let’s get this started.
———————-
“Checkmate.”
“Ugh…”
Upon hearing that the battle was over, I checked on Elisa, who was wobbling and about to fall over.
“My legs… they can’t hold me…”
“It can’t be helped. I’ll take you to Karina, so hang in there.”
Supporting Elisa by her waist and backside, I lifted her up. Elisa seemed a bit anxious being held like this and clung to my clothes, curling up in my arms. Seeing her puppy-like demeanor caused a smile to unconsciously bloom on my face.
“Johanni…!”
“Do you have something to say?”
At my question, Elisa contemplated for a moment, then asked with a flushed face.
“Did I… did I do well?”
“Hm. You still need improvement, but I’ll say it’s a passing score.”
“Hehe…”
Elisa seemed incredibly pleased with getting a passing score, breaking into a childlike grin.
“You all also passed. Fill in the gaps gradually along your dungeon explorations.”
“Yes…”
“If my class had been like Uncle, at least 30% of the students would’ve dropped out…”
“Totally agree…”
Ignoring Lewis’s party grumbling, I headed toward where Karina was sitting. As I got closer, I could see her face.
[Contractor, Karina’s expression seems a bit weird. Almost like she’s…]
Don’t you dare say something weird.
I approached Karina, whose face showed signs of discomfort as Rue had pointed out. Was something the matter? Or perhaps I had pushed the kids too hard?
“Crafting.”
Creating a suitable spot to lay Elisa down, I walked over to Karina.
“Did you come?”
“Yeah. Looks like it went well. Karina, is something wrong?”
“…No. Is Elisa badly hurt?”
“She mentioned her legs couldn’t hold her. I think it’s just from the tension easing up.”
“Johann! You were amazing!”
Yeah, yeah. I patted Millia’s head, who had clung to my side, then turned back to Karina. Karina had been staring straight at Millia, but upon noticing my gaze, she jumped a bit and looked up at me.
“Are you okay?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. I’ll just go check on Elisa…”
“Seems like you think Johann is really great!”
What on earth is that supposed to mean?
I looked down at Millia, but she just grinned playfully.
“Ah, youth…”
What’s Merlin up to now?
I tilted my head, looking at the maze I had created.
It’s going to take some time to fix all that.
Thinking that, I stood up unsteadily and watched the students approaching from this direction.
I’m looking forward to the dungeon exploration.
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