Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: An Unstable Rivalry
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That night, at Duke Sachsen’s mansion in the imperial capital.
‘Did he really call me all the way here just to watch some brats?’
After several absurd days, Dale sat cross-legged in his bedroom, lost in thought.
There was no way the Lord Crimson would have invited him to the Imperial Academy for such a trivial reason. He recalled the twelve Purifiers who had attacked his cavalry at the Sachsen River. Fanatics who didn't hesitate to burn their own bodies.
Compared to them, the noble children at the Imperial Academy were such fledglings it was almost laughable. They undoubtedly believed they were destined to become mages of the Red Magic Tower, the future elite of the Empire, never realizing they were nothing more than the tower’s puppets.
‘In the end, they’re just children who know nothing of the world.’
As he thought this, Dale turned his head. It was at that very moment.
*Knock, knock.*
“Dale.”
A knock came at the door, accompanied by a very familiar voice.
“Miss Sephia?”
“May I come in for a moment?”
Dale’s breath caught in his throat at Sephia’s request to enter his bedroom.
“Please, come in.”
His reply was immediate, without a hint of hesitation.
As Sephia cautiously entered the room, Dale found himself holding his breath.
She was dressed in a nightgown of pure white silk, embroidered with dark, black lace. Her crystal-colored hair was disheveled and damp. Through the silk, her skin, as white and fine as jade, peeked through.
“...Ahem, ahem.”
Sensing Dale’s captivated gaze, Sephia feigned a blush.
“I had just finished showering and was about to change, but, well, I didn't have any other suitable clothes.”
After an exaggeratedly theatrical cough, Sephia sat on the edge of the bed. Upon the mattress filled with goose down. Right next to Dale.
A silence fell. It was a somewhat awkward silence.
“...Thank you for coming all the way to the capital with me.”
After a moment, Dale spoke carefully.
“Of course.”
Only then did Sephia seem to regain her composure, smiling softly.
“Did you enjoy the classes at the academy?”
“They can’t compare to your teachings, Miss Sephia.”
Dale smiled mischievously, and Sephia returned it with a gentle one of her own. Silence fell once more.
“...That day.”
It was Sephia who broke the silence this time.
“I saw the look on your face when you lost your knights.”
Sephia began to speak.
“I couldn't properly protect you from the Purifiers.”
Although she had conjured a storm of frost against the orc riders and unleashed a Blue Discord, Sephia had only displayed enough power to *barely* protect Dale. It was by no means the full extent of what a 6th-Circle elven mage was capable of.
“Don’t blame yourself.”
Dale quietly shook his head.
“You protected me. Losing the swords of Sachsen was my failure.”
“No.”
But Sephia quietly shook her head.
“Didn’t I promise I would stay by your side?”
After shaking her head, she slowly reached out her hand.
“That didn’t just mean I would protect you alone.”
“...?”
She took young Dale’s hand in hers.
“I simply wish for you not to be sad.”
“Miss Sephia...”
He could feel the warmth of the snow elf, of Sephia, travel from her hand to his.
“I will likely never understand why someone as young as you possesses a world of thought so full of emptiness and void.”
As two mages, their worlds communed and resonated with each other... yet even knowing that the emotions she felt were merely a product of her contact with ‘Dale’s world’ changed nothing. Desperately suppressing an affection and endearment she couldn't control, Sephia affirmed Dale.
It was a form of love akin to Agape.
For this was the ‘mission’ she had first resolved to undertake upon encountering this child’s world.
* * *
At that same time, at the mansion of Count Palatine Walter.
Leonard returned, drunk, from the red-light district. Just like any other day. But where he headed upon his return was not his usual destination.
“S-Sir Leonard!”
Leonard raised his voice at the Walter family’s head butler, who couldn't hide his bewilderment.
“Shut up, you old bastard!”
“B-But the Count has strictly forbidden entry to the basement...”
“The eldest son of the Count wants to go. Who the hell are you to block my path?”
Shoving aside the butler’s pleas, Leonard strode on without a care. He headed for the underground chamber where Walter of the Blazing Blood, an elder of the Red Magic Tower, stored his ‘artifacts.’ He forcibly snatched the key that Count Palatine Walter had entrusted to the head butler.
He recalled Dale’s expression that morning, looking at him as if nothing had happened. Only now did he finally understand. To Dale of Sachsen, Leonard Walter wasn’t even ‘worth acknowledging.’
“I have to show that damned brat...”
Leonard shouted, his breath reeking of alcohol, bolstered by his intoxication.
“That I, Leonard Walter, am the mage with the greatest talent in the Empire...”
What the young lord of Sachsen had shown a few days ago wasn't his talent. It was merely the result of borrowing an ‘artifact’s power.’ That’s right. The difference between Leonard and Dale. It was absolutely not a difference in talent.
There was only one thing: the presence of an artifact.
That was why Leonard didn't hesitate. He paid no mind to the consequences one might suffer if they, lacking talent, were to wield an artifact.
* * *
The next day, in the lecture hall for the Imperial Academy’s highest 3rd-Circle class.
“It seems the monster hunters have finished capturing the ‘monsters’ for the upcoming graduation exam.”
The Imperial Academy’s graduation exam was only a few weeks away.
To Dale, it was of no consequence. But if the ‘graduation exam’ was to be held during his stay in the capital, he couldn't just sit on the sidelines.
‘Then again, there’s nothing to worry about.’
He wasn't one to struggle with a mere test for 3rd-Circle mages. Dale’s mind was simply filled with the image of Sephia from last night.
The feelings she experienced were ultimately just a delusion born from resonating with ‘Dale’s world.’ Even after realizing this, Dale’s actions didn't change. Because he wanted Sephia to stay by his side.
He didn't want to let her go.
That fact alone filled Dale with an inexplicable sense of guilt.
‘This isn’t something to think about right now.’
At the end of his thoughts, Dale turned his head as if to shake off the delusion.
Leonard was there.
“...”
Unlike his usual self, Leonard was maintaining an ominously profound silence.
‘Has he finally matured a little?’
Seeing this, Dale didn't think much of it.
In a way, this was a perfect example of a genius failing to understand an ordinary person.
* * *
That afternoon, a mock magic duel class was held in preparation for the graduation exam.
The first match featured Leonard Walter, and his unfortunate opponent was another 3rd-Circle student.
He was a student who was neither particularly inferior nor exceptionally talented, just one of the many who submitted to Leonard’s rule. The professor watching the two duel couldn't hide his inner anxiety.
Ever since ‘that day,’ Leonard’s state had been strangely off.
It was impossible to say exactly what had changed. He was just unnaturally quiet. The one who should have been reigning over the Imperial Academy like a tyrant was instead maintaining an inscrutable silence.
The professor found this fact unbearably ominous. Unlike Dale, who simply assumed Leonard had matured, he knew the character of the student named Leonard Walter better than anyone.
“A-Alright, then... we will begin the duel between Leonard and Valer.”
The professor announced in a trembling voice.
An existence he dared not defy. Strictly speaking, it wasn't Leonard himself who was frightening. Although the boy’s talent was far beyond his own, there was still the wall between the 3rd and 4th Circles. The professor’s fear was directed entirely at the elder of the Red Magic Tower who backed him... ‘Walter of the Blazing Blood.’
Like all elders of the Red Magic Tower, he was an even greater tyrant than Leonard.
Rulers of the Red Tower whom a mere 4th-Circle mage like himself could never hope to oppose.
The magical flame signaling the start of the duel flared up.
“Hey.”
It was then. Leonard spoke to his opponent. Without any intention of casting a spell, he pointed a finger at Dale.
“Use an attack spell on the brat from Sachsen.”
“L-Leonard? What is this all of a sudden...”
“Do you want to die by my magic right here?”
At the unexpected situation, the student’s face turned pale. Leonard asked again without a care, shaping the crimson magic swirling around his hand.
At the same time, his refusal to dirty his own hands to the very end was proof of his utterly despicable nature.
“L-Leonard!”
“Shut your mouth, you talentless old geezer.”
The professor shouted in bewilderment, and Leonard retorted without a second thought.
“A sixty-year-old hack still floundering in the 4th Circle has no right to flap his gums.”
“L-Leonard...!”
“Keep your mouth shut before I tell my father.”
The situation was getting serious.
“Hey, you damn bastards. Are you telling me you’re more scared of that brat than me? Huh?”
Leonard questioned them again.
“So, you’re more afraid of that damned brat than Leonard Walter? Is that it?”
He addressed the entire assembly of the highest 3rd-Circle class.
“Fire your magic at that brat right now!”
Leonard shouted once more. Simultaneously, the crimson magic swirling in his hand took the form of a flame. A scarlet blaze that could never be produced by a mere 3rd-Circle mage.
‘An artifact...!’
“Everyone, get back!”
No sooner had Dale shouted than a vortex of fire erupted from beneath Leonard’s feet. It was a flame that even the 4th-Circle professor dared not handle. Dale slammed his ‘blue magic’ down into that very flame.
Projecting the magic of a winter night, a world of chilling frost and ashen void.
It was of a nature that the flames of a mere prodigy, even one borrowing the power of an artifact, could never hope to resist. The swirling inferno subsided.
“Ha, haha...”
Seeing the flames die out so helplessly, Leonard let out a weak laugh.
“Yes, my duel opponent has finally appeared.”
It was not a laugh of self-pity.
“Shall we begin the fight to determine the greatest talent in the Empire?”
Leonard asked after his laughter subsided. Seeing this, Dale, equally dumbfounded, retorted.
“Do kids these days hit puberty after they turn twenty?”