Chapter 23 Translator: XZY
Chapter 23: Belmeade (3) ***
'For a commoner, his magical level is excellent. The words that he is a veteran mercenary were not empty talk.'
Felmier had let the words of praise that Jayden, who had mediated the request, had said about Derek go in one ear and out the other. It was because it was obvious that the level of a commoner would be all the same.
In fact, seeing as he only applied 1-Star magic, his limit seemed clear, but his sense of handling the flow of mana was the most refined among the commoners Felmier had ever seen.
Sometimes, there were those whose future might have been different if they had been born with a good bloodline. Sometimes, when looking at commoners, such people could be seen, but they would usually hit the wall of their bloodline and break soon after.
It was not easy to continue one's will when watching mages born with the good bloodline of a prestigious family instantly catch up to the magical level one had acquired at the end of a long and arduous period of time. In mastering magic, the most important thing was, first, bloodline, and second, bloodline.
That mercenary seemed to still have that will, seeing as he looked young. From Elente's perspective, there was no better training partner than this. There was no need to be polite like with other nobles, a certain amount of back-and-forth was possible, and even if he got hurt in a scuffle, it would not be a big problem.
Felmier once again recalled the confident expression of Jayden, who had recommended the choice of person. Certainly, the eye for talent of a mercenary who was said to have made a name for himself in the Dawn War in his day was different.
'The Veldern Mercenary Corps, was it... I think His Excellency Belmeade will be interested.'
Thinking that he should remember the name of that mercenary corps, Felmier once again looked at the two people who were in the middle of the duel. The duel itself seemed to be maintaining a near-even match between them.
"O flame of judgment that punishes all things...'
Hwaaaak!
Chanting the unique chant of the Scholastic School, Elente, who had created some distance, drew up 1-Star magic again.
This time, with a serious expression, it was her specialty, flame-type magic.
A dozen flame arrows of a small size were formed in the air.
Derek's red eyes flashed once, and in an instant, he saw through the flow of that mana. Elente also caught that look in Derek's eyes in an instant.
'He's already started to guess the direction my magic will go...!'
Elente quickly changed her mind. If she used magic in her usual way, Derek would find a way to neutralize Elente's magic in an instant, just like before.
Mana contained the mage's intention.
If one followed the direction of that flow, the way it was manifested, and the speed at which it changed, there were cases where one could see through the intention with which the user of that magic was casting it.
Derek was already a master in that field.
What more needed to be said? He was a master of dueling. Elente could easily see through the fact that he had extremely developed his ability to read the flow of mana in real combat.
She had heard that among monsters, there were sometimes mutants that could manifest mana, so in order to kill such things, the sense to see through mana would be a necessity, not a choice.
If that person named Derek was really that much of a veteran, then an attack with a half-baked intention would be nothing more than walking into his clutches.
If so, then a magic that was fired as if spraying in all directions would be much more efficient in subduing Derek.
In any case, there was a protection magic outside the platform, so there was no need to worry about destroying the building. Elente's policy was decided in an instant.
In a deliberation that did not even take a full second, Elente changed all her plans with only her senses.
The flame arrows, of which dozens more had bloomed, were not aimed at any one place, but intended to take control of the entire platform.
'Oh...?'
Derek's eyes widened in surprise. It was an interesting judgment.
Derek had had quite a few opportunities to see the magic of nobles, but it was rare to see a mage of this age who could change their judgment and adapt so quickly.
Noble mages could easily overpower commoners with their firepower or the amount of their mana, but since they had lived their entire lives from the position of the strong, their ability to quickly change and apply magic according to the situation was often relatively lacking.
Application and cheap tricks were usually developed in the hands of the weak.
Therefore, it was right to see Elente's quick judgment as something close to innate.
Hwaak!
And so, it was difficult to guess the direction of the flow of mana that was spreading out as if being sprayed in all directions.
Derek quickly organized his mana and put all his effort into defense.
In a square platform like this, the corners were relatively less affected by attacks.
If the opponent's attack showed no regularity, then it was necessary to first occupy a more advantageous position probabilistically.
Derek quickly jumped into a corner and wrapped himself in mana. And so, after neutralizing a few mana arrows that flew towards him, it was the moment he was quickly drawing out his mana for a counterattack.
"I knew you'd be here."
Elente, who had instantly detected Derek's position, had already finished the chant for her next magic.
In the first place, spraying the flame arrows was just a smokescreen to drive Derek into a corner and hit him with the next magic.
From the point of using a magic of this scale just for a smokescreen, it was not difficult to deduce that the amount of her mana was considerable.
Derek's manifestation of mana was already slightly delayed because he was dealing with the flame arrows.
Elente, taking advantage of that gap, began to manifest an ice spear again to land a blow.
This time, there was a will not to be neutralized by dawdling like before.
However, Derek was also reading all of Elente's intentions.
He closed his eyes slowly for a moment, then opened them, and with a flick of his hand, he raised the 1-Star magic 'Light Generation' to its maximum output.
Hwaaaaaak!
The light that burst out in an instant blinded his vision for a moment.
Derek was not at a level where he was very confident in transmutation magic. However, it was quite effective for creating an opening in the opponent during a duel.
Elente immediately squeezed her eyes shut as soon as she saw the light burst out. It was a reaction speed that was close to instinct.
And yet, she pricked up her ears and prepared to defend by wrapping mana around her body.
'A good response.'
Derek quickly drew out his mana and thought to himself.
Lady Elente, who made the optimal judgment every single moment, was certainly a prodigy.
She was trying to respond to Derek's magic by concentrating on her hearing as much as possible, even while her eyes were squeezed shut.
'If I concentrate well on the energy of the mana and the sound I hear, I can respond as much as I want...! So, aiming for the moment the direction is specified...!'
Kagagang!
At that moment, Derek's mana arrow flew in and struck the wall of mana that Elente was wrapped in.
Her reaction was momentarily slow, but she was able to block Derek's attack with the mana she had manifested late. The firepower itself was not that great.
Elente opened her eyes slightly and confirmed Derek's position. The light was already gone, and the white-haired mage who was manifesting offensive magic again came into view.
'I didn't hear any sound at all...!'
She had roughly detected the direction of the mana, but the fact that she had not heard the sound of it flying at all... meant that the sound had been erased by an artificial method.
'Illusion magic...! He even considered the fact that I was relying on my hearing...!'
An illusion magic that blocked sound among the 1-Star basic magics.
Using various types of magic by going back and forth like that was quite difficult. It could be guessed that the reason Derek's mana arrow had flown in with relatively weak firepower was because it was an environment where it was difficult to concentrate solely on one magic.
However, if it had flown in with a 2-Star or higher magic with sufficient firepower, instead of a 1-Star magic... the duel would have ended with the protection magic being manifested by that last blow.
The reason this duel had not ended was simply because the opponent was a 1-Star mage. Realizing that fact, Elente gritted her teeth and manifested more mana.
'If he keeps challenging me with technical aspects, then I just have to crush him with overwhelming firepower!'
Elente scraped up her mana more strongly and leaped back greatly.
However, Derek, who had grasped Elente's intention, followed her closely and narrowed the distance.
'He's trying to induce a close-quarters battle...? Is he confident in his magic manifestation speed?'
Fast magic manifestation was Elente's specialty.
She was confident in her firepower, but she would not refuse to compete with manifestation speed.
The girl's gaze turned to the tip of Derek's hand.
It was the moment she had decided to pierce his protection magic with her own ice spear, at the moment he gathered his mana at his fingertips and concentrated.
Thump!
However, Derek's magic was manifested half a beat faster than Elente had thought.
As was usually the case with Scholastic School mages, she had thought that the magic manifested from his fingertips would attack her... but Derek's magic was not like that.
Greatly narrowing the distance with Elente, when Derek stomped his foot on the floor once, an electric shock bloomed from there.
1-Star magic 'Power Manifestation.'
The sight of it blooming from the tip of his foot that had kicked off the floor for a running start.
Elente, while her mouth was wide open in surprise, managed to manifest her mana and receive that attack.
Hwaaaak! Taang!
Seeing her react somehow to a magic manifestation she had never seen before, Derek was surprised with a sound of 'oh.' He had not thought that she would be able to deal with it so perfectly.
However, in fact, the one who was more surprised was Elente. It was the first time she had seen someone use magic in this way.
"Huu...."
Elente, who had composed herself, gathered her thoughts and manifested her mana again.
She would not just take an attack that flew in openly. If she wanted to land a blow on that boy, she had to use other attacks as bait to draw out an opening.
And so, the magical exchange continued a few more times, but the boy dodged the magic here and there with mysterious movements.
The way he handled mana was also so free-spirited that it was not easy to see through its flow with the systematically organized methods of the Scholastic School.
Since the magic of the Scholastic School was almost completely researched theoretically, if one just followed and utilized it well, the most efficient performance within the assumed range would come out.
However, the boy's way of utilizing mana was playing separately from the theory, so it did not seem very efficient, and it felt as if he was not fully utilizing its performance.
However, it was that much harder to guess. It was as if watching an opponent in a sword duel who was swinging the sword upside down or throwing it around.
However, if one was just calm, one could break through such cheap tricks as much as one wanted.
As Derek gathered his mana and took a few steps back, this time, Elente rushed in and narrowed the distance.
When Derek quickly drew out a mana arrow and tried to respond, this time, Elente smiled faintly and lifted the hem of her skirt.
"Yes, is this how you do it?"
And so, when she elegantly lifted the hem of her skirt and took a big step on the floor, the blooming electric shock attacked Derek.
She had copied him at once after seeing his way of manifesting magic just once. She was a mage who learned surprisingly quickly.
Thinking that he would not have expected to be attacked in the way he had done, Elente had intentionally caught him off guard.
However, competing with Derek with unconventional mana utilization was not a very good move.
Paak!
Derek seized the mana, and then took the electric shock that Elente had manifested and bent its direction.
─If one carelessly copied the mana utilization of a Wild School mage, one would be used against them.
Elente, who had no way of knowing that fact, was startled upon seeing Derek's appearance. It was also the first time she had ever seen a way to use the opponent's mana to attack in reverse.
Kaang!
Kuung! Pazizik!
The electric shock that Derek had drawn out passed by Elente's ear and narrowly missed.
The electric shock that struck the empty floor made a gruesome sound.
If the direction of the last blow had been straight, the match would have been decided at once.
Elente quickly tried to draw up her mana again, but there was bound to be a slight gap in the state where she had just manifested magic.
And there was no way Derek would miss that gap. Even while drawing up her mana, a certainty that she would not be able to react to the next attack rose.
And so, it was the moment Derek was about to land the next blow.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
The bell that had been prepared on one side of the platform had mana circulate in it, and it began to ring on its own.
It was a sound that announced the end of the duel time. It was the rule of the duel that a match that was not decided within 10 minutes would be treated as a draw.
"Good work."
Derek greeted her as if he had been waiting.
Lady Elente, with her reddish pupils wide open, was quietly staring at Derek.
<><><>
"You are an excellent mage."
Lady Elente, who had realized that Derek was quite skilled in magic just by exchanging a few blows, spoke elegantly while tidying up the hem of her dress.
Her attitude and posture were quite different from before the duel. Basically, she was still condescending, but it seemed that even she, who had treated Derek carelessly, had decided to show him the minimum of courtesy.
"If you could have used a magic with stronger firepower, the match would have been decided much more simply."
"That's not true. Lady Elente, you were the most excellent in mana utilization among the nobles I have seen. As expected of the young lady of the County of Belmeade."
"Well, I wonder about that."
After finishing the duel, Lady Elente's servants approached and quickly began to tidy up her appearance and hair.
A noble young lady, who could not lose her dignity for even a single moment, was not allowed to have her appearance disheveled even in this short duel.
Lady Elente was sitting on a seat in the corner of the dueling grounds, getting her hair brushed.
And yet, her expression seemed quite pleased, as if she was satisfied with the recent duel.
"I heard you don't have any particular bloodline, but seeing as you are trained to that extent, you must have put in a bone-breaking effort."
"To be precise, it was an environment where I had no choice. If you join a mercenary corps to make a living, you usually end up doing it even if you don't want to."
"There's no need to be humble by making excuses. I quite like hardworking people."
She had heard that about four or five commoners per generation would rise to 3-Star despite not having the blessing of a bloodline. Surely, it must be people like this who did not succumb to their given environment and tried until the end to one day reach 3-Star.
It was not difficult for Lady Elente to deduce that Derek's life must have been closer to a path of thorns than a path of flowers, so she sent him a light encouragement.
"However, I don't particularly like the old man who is acting all stern outside that platform, so it would be better not to get on his bad side."
Elente smiled playfully and gestured with her chin towards Felmier, who was standing with his hands behind his back beyond the platform.
Derek did not bother to look that way. There was no point in looking back, as it would only reveal that they were talking about him.
Liking even that sense of Derek, Lady Elente had to try to remember again where she had heard this boy's name.
"Today's duel has been a good inspiration. I might be able to get a good result in the next magic duel."
"Lady Elente's dueling skills are very outstanding, so I don't think you need to worry too much."
"Hmm? Well. I suppose mediocre mages would be no match for me, but I don't even count duels with such people as duels."
Lady Elente lowered her gaze and spoke, brushing her hair a few times.
"However, there is just one person I really want to beat."
"...Are there that many people who are better at dueling than Lady Elente?"
"Of course not. However, there is just an opponent I could never beat, no matter how many times I fought."
Lady Elente did not bother to say the name.
However, it was not that difficult to deduce who it might be.
The mages of the Rosea Salon, where Lady Elente was a part of, were mostly not at a higher level than her.
In the end, if it was a noble young lady who would be in a position to compete with her in magical level, it would only be those from the House of Beltus or the House of Duplein.
It was widely rumored that she had already beaten Lady Denise of the House of Beltus several times, so in the end, the only one left by elimination was Lady Aiseline of the House of Duplein.
"..."
Lady Elente had a habit of strangely tensing her brow when she thought of her.
That Lady Aiseline, who was called the lily that bloomed in the garden of the Duplein family, was a person who was above Lady Elente in all aspects.
Belmeade could not follow Duplein in terms of family background, and it was not easy to surpass Lady Aiseline in terms of the grace or aristocratic dignity that flowed out.
She was a person who always achieved the best results in all fields of a lady's education, and she was a girl in whom one could not find a weakness even if one looked with a fine-tooth comb.
Even her personality was completely faultless, so those who had spoken with her a few times were busy praising what a person of perfected character she was.
When one saw a person who roamed above the clouds to this extent, one would usually feel a sense of awe.
The world called the worship of an idol that one could not reach, no matter how much one stretched out one's hand, respect.
However, respect and awe were things one felt for people who were so distantly unreachable.
One did not feel such emotions for someone who seemed to be within reach, yet was tantalizingly out of reach. Rather, it was often the case that one felt the opposite emotion. It was envy and jealousy.
If there was a flaw that the seemingly perfect Lady Elente could not shake off for her entire life, it was the jealousy towards the one who stood at the top, having defeated her.
If she had lost in the prestige of her family, the education as a lady, and her dignity, then shouldn't she at least win in the field she was confident in, magic?
As if to make even that self-questioning colorless, Lady Aiseline's magical skill was outstanding, and even her dignity was sufficiently imbued in her mana utilization.
A complete defeat in all aspects.
Nevertheless, the subtle sense of distance that made it seem as if she could reach her someday if she gritted her teeth and climbed up pushed the girl further into a pit. The world called the name of that pit inferiority complex.
"..."
Derek, after watching her, who had suddenly become silent, quietly bowed his head and pretended not to see.
Though she did not easily show it to anyone, she, who was revered by many, was the very incarnation of jealousy.
"If you are going to finish today's duel here, then I will be on my way. If you need any more help in the future, please find the leader Jayden of the Veldern Mercenary Corps. I believe that magic master over there knows him well."
"Yes, you have worked hard."
Elente replied to Derek roughly.
Every time she thought of Aiseline, a coldness would seep into her attitude. Thinking that it was a truly bad habit, Lady Elente shook her head.
In any case, it seemed that a new inspiration for mana utilization had come to her, so she was in the middle of a monologue that she should slowly finish her grooming and practice some more.
Lady Aiseline.
As soon as she thought of her, something came to mind in a chain reaction. In that moment, Lady Elente's pupils widened with a flash.
It was a conversation that was now buried in her memory beyond, as it was a story from too long ago.
Now it was winter, with a chill in the air, but the time when Lady Elente had heard that story was when she was enjoying the warm spring sun.
'Ah, Derek is the name of that magic teacher. He's from a mercenary background, who used to work at a place called the Veldern Mercenary Corps, and his magic skills are so outstanding that the way he utilizes mana itself is also very unique─'
Derek.
It was the name of that very magic master whom Lady Aiseline had praised so highly at a meeting of the Rosea Salon that her mouth had gone dry.
He was the mercenary-turned-master who had made the hooligan of the Duplein family, Diella Katarina Duplein, manifest her mana, and had even taught her 1-Star magic.
She had heard a story at the summer meeting where Lady Aiseline had expressed her disappointment at not being able to keep that mercenary in the family and had let him go.
─This boy was the wandering magic master whom even Lady Aiseline of that Duplein family could not keep.
Taak.
Elente grabbed the hand of the maid who was brushing her hair and pulled it down, and then stood up from her seat.
Then she lifted the hem of her dress and went forward, almost running, and grabbed the collar of Derek, who was about to leave towards the exit.
When Derek turned around with a slightly surprised expression, Lady Elente lifted her head, met his eyes, and spoke.
"You are the mercenary who used to teach magic at the Duplein ducal estate, aren't you?"
The girl's red pupils were sparkling brightly.
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