The Mage Tower Lord and the Knight Commander
Whoosh—!
Using spatial transfer magic, Mage Tower Lord Dekaron leaped across space in an instant and arrived near the academy. He immediately deployed a Fly spell and shot straight toward the location of the massive black dragon.
A spirit of overwhelming majesty straight out of legends!
The thought that his own grandson had summoned it filled Dekaron's gray eyes with swelling emotion. The Mage Tower Lord landed squarely in the center of the training grounds.
"Hahaha! My proud grandson! Where are you? You've truly performed a miracle that far exceeds this old man's expectations!"
His booming voice echoed thunderously across the training grounds.
But as the dust settled and visibility cleared, the Mage Tower Lord's laughter cut off abruptly.
"Grandson…?"
There wasn't a single hair of his beloved grandson Asrion to be seen on the training grounds. Not even a trace of his presence. All that was there was the black-haired girl Vesperia stroking the dragon's snout. Princess Ardelia fiddling with the dragon from the side. And finally, a scrawny commoner boy staring at him curiously.
Professor Elmiana approached the Mage Tower Lord with a flustered expression.
"M-Mage Tower Lord? What brings you here so suddenly?"
"Professor Elmiana, what in the world is going on here? Where is my grandson?"
Professor Elmiana looked utterly baffled as to why the Mage Tower Lord was searching for his grandson here.
"What are you talking about? Asrion hasn't even been here… No, I haven't seen him at all today except for this morning's class."
The moment he heard that, the Mage Tower Lord asked in confusion.
"Th-then who summoned this spirit? I heard even a first-year did it! If it wasn't my grandson…"
Professor Elmiana muttered in bewilderment.
"No, there's no way Asrion could summon something like that…"
In place of the baffled professor, Rian answered.
"It's my fashion accessory spirit."
Rian said it in such a calm tone.
The commoner boy, whom no one had paid any mind to, claimed it was his fashion accessory spirit. The Mage Tower Lord took it as a blatant lie directed at him.
"You brat! How dare you spout such nonsense in front of the Mage Tower Lord himself…!"
"It's true, Mage Tower Lord!"
Professor Elmiana jumped in with an excited voice.
"This child summoned it just now! He nearly overloaded and burst my summoning circle this morning, and now he's forcibly torn open space to call forth this colossal being! It's a prodigious talent that rewrites the history of magic!"
Her pink eyes gleamed with fanatic fervor.
At those words, a shock like lightning struck the Mage Tower Lord's mind.
Only then did his reason escape the blind delusion of doting on his grandson and begin to face reality.
Come to think of it, it was impossible for 13-year-old Asrion, a 3-Circle mage, to summon such a monster. He finally realized he'd let his grandfatherly love blind him to absurdity.
Damn, I let my bias cloud my judgment.
With reason restored, the senses of the 9-Circle archmage sharpened like a blade.
His gaze turned to Rian, scrutinizing him closely.
Gasp, what kind of monster is this?
The Mage Tower Lord drew in a sharp breath.
He appeared to be an ordinary boy thoroughly concealing his mana. But the insight of one who had reached the 9-Circle realm vaguely detected the grotesquely interlocking vortex of mana churning inside the boy. A bizarre circle structure that twisted like dimensions themselves. Despite being 4-Circle, his mana reserves rivaled an 8-Circle archmage. Utterly abnormal.
"You… what exactly are you?"
Wariness thickened the Mage Tower Lord's voice.
At that moment, Professor Elmiana proudly shouted.
"He's Rian, the sole disciple of Archmage Iril!"
Iril.
The moment that name came up, the Mage Tower Lord's face stiffened.
The elf archmage who had lived for centuries, one of the empire's top absolute powerhouses. It was surprising enough that the eccentric old woman had finally taken a disciple. But to think that disciple was a calamity shattering all common sense…
"Greetings, Mage Tower Lord."
"Nice to meet you, Mage Tower Lord."
Then, Ardelia and Vesperia approached and greeted him politely, snapping the Mage Tower Lord back to his senses. Come to think of it, the princess and the Edelgart lady were here too.
Ha, haha…
It was all so bewildering.
* * *
At that very moment, a different kind of commotion was unfolding at the academy's main gate.
Rumble—!
Amid the earth-shaking thunder of hooves, hundreds of imperial knights in silver plate armor charged ferociously toward the academy gate.
"Full charge! Protect Her Highness the Princess at all costs!"
The knight commander raised his sword and screamed as if vomiting blood.
They looked ready to smash through the academy's firmly shut iron gates.
But what blocked their desperate charge wasn't some massive beast or fallen dark mage.
It was the academy guards, their brows deeply furrowed.
"Hey! Even if you're the imperial knights, what the hell is this rampage right after dinner in someone else's territory?!"
The academy guard captain's irritated bellow— he was seriously considering resignation— struck the knight commander's ears.
He was the security chief of the Imperial Solarrium Academy, one of the continent's premier institutions. Even the imperial knight commander couldn't cavalierly ignore him in his domain.
But the situation was urgent.
The knight commander yanked his reins to halt and glared wide-eyed.
"Can't you see that massive dragon blotting out the sky? Get out of the way! Her Highness's safety is at stake!"
"What dragon? That's just a spirit summoned by a first-year freshman for today's summoning class assignment."
The guard captain replied indifferently.
The knight commander's jaw dropped.
The hundreds of knights following behind froze like statues.
"A first-year… freshman's assignment?"
A dragon larger than the building itself was a first-year student's spirit.
The knights' grim resolve, steeled for bloody battle and death, scattered into the air.
The academy's atmosphere was so serene and everyday. There had been shock and chaos, but it seemed calmer than expected, leaving the knights to think:
Ha…
The knight commander nearly dropped his sword in utter deflation.
But he couldn't withdraw until he confirmed the princess's safety with his own eyes.
"I must see Her Highness myself!"
"Do as you like. But the horses can't come in. And I'll report this up the chain."
The Imperial Solarrium Knights had the right to investigate the academy without cumbersome procedures. Thanks to that, he didn't waste time on bureaucracy.
He leaped from his horse, rallied his knights, and bolted madly toward the training grounds.
Upon arriving, an unbelievable sight unfolded before the knight commander.
The world-ending colossal dragon lay meekly on the ground.
And beside its massive snout stood Ardelia, her golden hair swaying, completely unharmed and pristine.
"Y-Your Highness!"
The knight commander flung his weapon aside and prostrated himself.
"Your Highness! Thank the heavens your sacred body is safe! This disloyal wretch arrived too late… sob!"
The battle-hardened commander wept thick tears in overwhelming relief.
The knights behind him knelt en masse, wiping away tears.
But Ardelia's face, facing their tearful loyalty, was rigidly incredulous.
"Sir William, what on earth are you doing here? No, more importantly, why are you crying?"
Ardelia asked in baffled confusion.
She had been lost in romantic fantasies of dragon-riding with Vesperia just moments ago. Now the Mage Tower Lord had shown up, followed by the imperial knights bursting into sobs— it was absurd.
"Your Highness, this place is dangerous. Allow us to escort you to safety."
That was when it happened.
"Kyuuu!"
The golden velociraptor spirit at Ardelia's feet, Bright, reacted to the sudden uproar.
It perceived the armed men charging(?) toward its master as a threat.
Bright bared its vicious fangs and stiffened its tail.
Vrrr—!
Overwhelming light mana condensed in Bright's eyes.
It was the eye-beam that had pierced the kidnapper's limbs that afternoon.
"Eek!"
"What the hell is that monster?!"
The knights, sensing the threat, yelped and snatched up their dropped swords.
Ardelia frantically reached out and pressed down on Bright's head.
"No, Bright! Don't shoot! They're not trying to hurt me!"
At its master's urgent plea, Bright dispersed the light in its eyes and let out a disappointed chirp.
Ardelia, sweating bullets, jabbed her chin toward the knight commander.
"Nothing happened, so stop causing a scene and return to the palace immediately. This one's my spirit, and that dragon is just my classmate's spirit."
At her firm command, the knight commander blankly alternated glances between the dragon and the velociraptor.
He'd heard the same from the guard captain.
But it was impossible to believe.
"Cl-classmate's spirit? B-but Your Highness! Such an off-spec dragon isn't just any spirit. It could threaten the empire's security! We must investigate immedia—"
"Ah, can't you shut up already? Her Highness ordered you to leave, so why are you yapping?!"
"M-Mage Tower Lord?"
The knight commander belatedly spotted the Mage Tower Lord, hidden behind the dragon's leg, and panicked.