Chapter 28 Translator: XZY Chapter 28: Elente (3) ***
By the time Aiseline entered the noble district's magic dueling grounds, quite a lot of people had already gathered.
Fundamentally, a magic duel in a noble family was nothing more than an elegant hobby, serving to confirm each other's magical achievements, polish skills, and also act as a form of social activity.
Nevertheless, when rumors spread that the children of influential families were having a magic duel, numerous people would flock to observe, and they could be broadly divided into two groups.
The first were those who were purely interested in magic itself; the second were those with the ulterior motive of trying to get a connection with the nobility.
The former were often members of the magic society of the southwestern region or royal guests, while the latter were often wealthy merchants or the children of influential families.
When people gathered, knights and soldiers inevitably had to gather to maintain safety, and accordingly, those who commanded the scene would also mix in, making it unavoidably crowded.
The children of influential families were always destined to draw a crowd. Even though she knew this fact, Aiseline often found such scenes burdensome.
'Since it's a magic duel between the Duplein family and the Belmeade family, I suppose more people are bound to gather...'
It was just a practice duel.
The results of such a duel could be overturned at any time as time passed. Nevertheless, gossips would whisper about the results of such trivial magic duels.
Aiseline disliked the attitude of such short-sighted people, but she did not show it.
She was a person who was kind to everyone.
"Hello, Lady Aiseline. The cold has let up a lot."
"Yes, Lady Taniem, please be careful with your health, especially at a time like this."
"I looked into the book you mentioned at the last tea ceremony, Lady Aiseline. As you said, the sorrowful emotions were well alive in the expressions and descriptions."
"Oh my, you really read it. I'm so glad that you liked it, Lady Rakail."
Aiseline greeted the clinging followers with a bright smile, but the pace of her steps did not slow down. She wanted to go prepare for the duel right away, warm up, and quickly finish the magic duel with Lady Elente.
The lower-ranking noble followers who followed her flinched at her busy appearance, but still, if not now, there would be no other chance to exchange words with her.
It was quite a struggle to quickly cross the elegant corridor among the people who wanted to exchange even a single word with her.
As she was heading towards the center of the dueling grounds, a boy who was skimming through a small book in a corner of the corridor caught her eye.
"...!"
When Lady Aiseline turned her head with a flick, the followers and servants who were following her stopped in their tracks.
"Excuse me for a moment."
Lady Aiseline apologized to the girls who were chattering and following her, then quickly cut through them and walked gracefully.
She approached the boy who was mixed in with the crowd in a corner of the dueling ground corridor, reading a book about the history of magic.
His white hair, red eyes, and features that looked good-natured but revealed a strong character upon closer inspection were the same as before.
"Mr. Derek!"
As Aiseline spoke with a bright face, the boy's pupils trembled slightly.
Perhaps he hadn't noticed because the crowd around him was so dense, as the boy turned his head with a slight surprise.
There, Lady Aiseline, dressed beautifully in an elegant dress as always, was speaking to him in a cheerful tone.
Behind her, all sorts of lower-ranking nobles, followers, and servants were watching. The boy had to rack his brain for a moment to judge the situation.
"It has been a long time, Lady Aiseline."
The correct answer was to bow politely first.
They had parted in late spring, and now it was late winter... so it had been quite a long time since he had met Lady Aiseline.
"You came to watch the duel, Mr. Derek. It's been so long since we met, but you haven't changed at all."
"Yes. You are beautiful as always, Lady Aiseline. You have become even more elegant."
"Oh my, you praise me too much. You have become skilled in complimenting a lady, Mr. Derek. Is it because you've been working in the noble district for a while? Ohoho."
It was not strange for Aiseline to act so pleased.
Derek was the person who had solved the most difficult problem Aiseline had been harboring for several years, and he was also a person with very outstanding magical skills.
His character was also well-formed, but he had the roughness peculiar to a mercenary. Lady Aiseline accepted Derek's roughness as free-spirited rather than rude.
However, the gazes of the followers and servants around her had become quite meaningful.
As they were people who had worked so hard to cling to her and receive her attention even once, the person whom Aiseline suddenly greeted with such pleasure was an object of both envy and caution.
"..."
Derek was a person who looked ordinary on the outside. A tight-fitting tunic and pants, leather boots, a robe worn instead of a cloak, a dagger on his right hip, and a longsword on the other side. Although there was still a hint of a young boy, he was at an age where he was already running towards being a young man.
The reason why Aiseline was so pleased to greet that unremarkable commoner could be easily understood by listening to their conversation.
"It's already winter, making my words of asking you to stop by the mansion for some good tea seem meaningless."
"I am sorry. I am truly grateful for that consideration, but I was too busy trying to make a living."
"I heard that you are looking after Lady Elente's magic."
"You are well-informed. We had a brief connection, so I taught her a few things."
Those around them finally realized that the wandering magic master Lady Elente had been talking about was the man before their eyes.
The mercenary who had reformed the hooligan of the Duplein family and whom Lady Elente had entrusted her magic duel lessons to entirely was him.
However, Lady Aiseline made quite a worried expression.
"...You weren't too harsh, were you...?"
"...?"
"Lady Elente has been looking very tired recently... I was a little worried."
Lady Aiseline knew well from her sister Diella's testimony that Derek's magic lessons were not the kind that a normal noble young lady could withstand.
It was not like she was going off for knight training; where was there a person who would push a training regimen that even ordinary soldiers could barely handle onto an elegant and beautiful young lady?
However, Derek was a man who would not shy away from any means to achieve his client's goal.
Derek looked at Aiseline, who had a worried face, and then finally said.
"You do not need to worry, Lady Aiseline. No, rather, it is not good to worry too much about your opponent."
"Pardon...?"
"Please do not let your guard down too much."
Derek said so and gave a polite bow.
Lady Aiseline was also busy, and the gazes that had gathered around them were excessively burdensome.
Aiseline belatedly realized that this situation itself could be a great burden to Derek, and said to Derek with an awkward smile.
"Le-let's have a friendly chat when you come to the mansion next time, Mr. Derek. I have my next schedule, so I must be going."
"Yes, please go ahead."
Derek then put on the hood of his robe and walked away in the opposite direction of Lady Aiseline.
Although he was a boy with a year left until his coming-of-age ceremony, he often looked like an old man who had already gone through all sorts of hardships. He was a truly mysterious boy.
<><><>
Aiseline had also vaguely noticed the inferiority complex that Elente harbored towards her. In fact, it would be stranger not to know.
But she did not give it too much meaning. It was because her capacity was large.
For those who stood at the top, things like envy and jealousy were a natural part of life. In the first place, Elente was not the only one who harbored jealousy towards her.
Although Elente was particularly more severe and persistent, many people who were inferior to her had also appeared and tried to tarnish Aiseline.
Only by being able to stand tall amidst all that opposition could one be called a young lady of the Duplein family.
Therefore, the emotion that Lady Aiseline felt for those who were jealous of her was pity.
She hoped that those who were engulfed in negative emotions and were eating away at themselves would get out of that unproductive cycle as soon as possible. It was because it was not a good thing for Aiseline, nor for them.
Elente was the same.
Futile jealousy would only eat away at oneself. She wanted to advise her to quickly cast off that cycle and become a well-intentioned competitor, sharing friendly conversations and cultivating education together. However, she also knew well that it was not as easy as it sounded.
"Hello, Lady Aiseline."
"Have you been well, Lady Elente? You haven't been coming to the salon meetings much lately, have you? I heard you are focusing on preparing for the duel... I guess I should be nervous."
"..."
There was a venomous look in the eyes of Lady Elente, who had come up on the dueling stage.
On the large dueling stage, all sorts of influential figures and noble young ladies were gathered in the spectator seats, discussing magic.
The protagonists who would compete on the stage today were Lady Elente and Lady Aiseline, standing in the center.
As the two beautiful roses tidied their clothes on the stage, a neat round of applause poured down towards the platform.
Protective magic was spread around the luxurious dueling grounds.
The rules of the duel were, as always, a decision within 10 minutes, and the one whose protective magic engraved on their accessory was activated first would lose.
"Then, I look forward to a good match."
Lady Aiseline gathered her mana and sent a greeting to Elente.
Elente returned the same words and quietly lifted her head. The chill in her eyes felt familiar from somewhere.
"..."
An indescribable sense of dissonance was rising.
Lady Elente was just standing calmly, with her beautiful red hair let down as always.
However, in her eyes that were staring at Aiseline, there was a different sense of dissonance than usual.
Aiseline calmly looked at that Lady Elente, lost in thought.
Before long, she was able to figure out the identity of that dissonance.
Whenever she had a conversation with Aiseline, there was a strange emotional turmoil in Elente's eyes.
However, now, in this place, as Elente demurely looked at Aiseline and focused only on magic, that kind of feeling was not felt at all.
Lady Elente's eyes, which had been as hot as fire, had at some point become as cold as ice. She was concentrating on the duel.
Could it be that Elente had finally escaped from that jealous heart that had been tormenting her for a long time?
Could it be that Derek, a great master, had pulled this Lady Elente out of the cycle of that dark and gloomy period?
It was a moment when such a hope sprang up. However, it did not take long to realize that was not the case.
When she closed and opened her eyes, her entire vision turned red.
Only then did Lady Aiseline realize that Lady Elente's blazing fire arrows were covering the entire battlefield.
In the middle of the flames, the figure of Lady Elente with blazing eyes was soaring up like a fire.
<><><>
—'You can never win if you drag it into a pure magic skill contest. You must drag the flow of the battle in a different direction.'
—'...Drag it in a different direction...? In a magic duel, if not by magic skill, then by what is the winner decided?'
Normal noble young ladies would practice magic elegantly with a renowned master in a practice ground with a smoothly polished floor.
However, Lady Elente, in the middle of a labyrinth where the smell of blood rose and rotten mucus was everywhere, sat on the floor and looked up at Derek to ask.
Her whole body was already exhausted, and she was in a state where she had vomited after seeing the limbs of magical beasts being cut off all day. Her face was also completely haggard, a sight that made her accept that this was the hell Derek had spoken of.
Regardless of that haggard appearance, Derek continued his teaching. He was a person who always carried out the requests he received.
—'Mental strength.'
Hearing those words, Lady Elente made a dumbfounded expression.
Who in the world did not know that having mental strength was a good thing? If one could win a magic duel with only mental strength, why was there a star-rank classification of magic in the world, and why did the elitism of mages exist?
However, Derek was not a person who spoke meaningless words. Elente was certain after going along with Derek's lessons for the past few weeks. There must be an implied meaning in those words.
—'While taking lessons with me, you have repeatedly experienced scraping together your mana to the very, very limit, haven't you?'
—'I did... I thought it was your bad hobby.'
—'I have no such hobby. In a state where both sides' mana is completely depleted, the winner is more often decided by the person's mental strength rather than the magic skill itself.'
Derek's voice had become even more serious.
—'Drag it into a war of attrition by scattering magic as splendidly and grandly as possible. So that at the very, very end... the one who somehow draws out the mana that seems like it won't come out even if you scrape more will be the victor.'
—'...What if Aiseline's mana capacity is greater than mine?'
—'Then you lose.'
—'...'
—'Of course, a person's mana capacity is largely innate, but you, Lady Elente, who inherited the blood of the Belmeade family, won't be that far behind. So... believe in yourself.'
Derek was covered in the blood of a magical beast. It was after he had single-handedly slaughtered a spider larger than a human with a sword and burned it with magic.
He looked like a different person when he was catching and killing magical beasts. Every moment of following him through the labyrinth was a series of thoughts that if there was a real monster, it would be this boy.
This was not a magic dueling ground where safety was guaranteed, but a den of magical beasts where life and death were decided by a moment's carelessness.
If one had lived their whole life in a place like this, a duel on a platform would feel like nothing more than child's play.
It was only in a life-and-death battle that a person would draw out their own limits.
It was only on thin ice where one could lose everything with a single moment of carelessness that a human would draw out all the power hidden in their subconscious. That feeling could not be easily learned even if you gave a fortune.
Therefore, Derek had pushed Lady Elente into the labyrinth.
He had made her use magic all day long.
He had made her dodge the axe swings among the charging goblins and burn the pride of the trolls.
Life and death. The scene in between.
The pressure that even the layers of protective magic might be shattered at any moment.
The cold sweat that came up even just standing still. The trembling legs. The hazy vision.
Only in such an environment could one taste, even just a little, the feeling of drawing out all the power remaining at the very bottom of the bottom.
There was a realm that could never be realized by always sitting in an elegant mansion and playing at being dignified.
The flowers in the greenhouse would not know until they grow old and die. They could never learn that feeling of scraping everything from the bottom of the bottom and standing up.
Derek, as a master, was a person who knew how to awaken such things.
—Fwoooooooooosh!
—Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga-gang!
The spectators who were watching the magic duel near the platform all exclaimed in admiration.
No matter how outstanding the magic utilization and how vast the mana capacity, the limit of 1-Star magic was ultimately set.
Nevertheless, Elente's flame spells, which shone so grandly as to cover the entire platform, were dazzling.
—Whoooosh!
Aiseline, who had quickly wrapped her body in mana to protect herself, quickly rolled her eyes and chased Elente's position.
On the platform filled with flames, in the midst of the hot air, Elente, wrapped in fire all over her body like a witch, was staring straight at Aiseline.
What was in her eyes was, as expected, jealousy. A grand scale of envy directed towards the perfect Aiseline in every aspect, and a very small amount of self-loathing mixed in.
Aiseline, who read those eyes, realized.
Those eyes, which were so emotional on one hand, yet did not lose their reason in the duel, were the very same ones her sister, Diella, had shown when she faced Reigh.
Derek's disciples held a hot fire in their chests and a cold chill in their eyes.
What that master taught his disciples was a hot desire for victory, along with a cold reason that looked at the contest.
It was a gaze where heat and cold clashed hotly. An eerie aura flowed that made the one standing opposite swallow a dry gulp of saliva.
Only then did Aiseline feel like she knew the reason why Reigh had had to fight with all his might against Diella that day.
Derek's disciples were different from normal noble young ladies in their very will to enter a contest.
Anyone who faced that obsession-like tenacity for the first time was bound to take a step back once.
However, the one standing opposite was Aiseline Eleanor Duplein.
'Still... I win.'
She was not a person who went around showing off her achievements, but she was a person with enough confidence in her own skills.
No matter how much of a disciple of Derek she was, Aiseline was a person on the verge of 2-Star. Even if she was a 1-Star mage like Elente, the difference in class was considerable.
She was confident that she would never lose if she decided to go for a skill contest.
And so, freezing magic with a chill began to rise from Aiseline's body.
At the same time, Elente's eyes widened. An enormous amount of fire arrows, so many that their number could not be counted, began to spew out from the other side.
"..."
Elente had spent the past few weeks skimming through the world Derek lived in.
The traces of the world she had glimpsed were reflected in her eyes. Most of it was blood. The rest was also gruesome.
Caked-on fluid, a pungent stench, the severed arm of a monster, the eggs of a poisonous spider, scattered corpses, the chill of the stone floor, the traces of slaughter, a sea of blood spread out, the screams of monsters.
After climbing up from the cracks of such things and standing straight in the place she originally lived, every place looked like a peaceful and warm meadow.
It was the same even on this dueling ground where numerous spells were being fired off. The girl was calmly grasping the entire situation even in the midst of this grand display of mana.
And so, as mana and mana clashed, a huge radiance began to envelop the dueling ground.
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