Midterm Exam (3)
“…So that’s what happened.”
At the sight of the semi-transparent wyvern that had appeared before her, Loxia understood the situation in an instant. The mana she had lived with her entire life—the power that had always flaunted its presence far more than necessary—had vanished completely in a single moment. Even if it wasn’t a total disappearance like this, she had experienced times when her mana grew significantly weaker, so she recognized the feeling immediately.
The mutant wyvern from back then.
The wyvern discovered near the academy, the one with exceptionally high magic resistance. Created through experiments by black mages, the creature was so resistant to magic that her master had personally asked her to go and subdue it. And so she had. No matter how high its magic resistance was, nothing could withstand a direct hit from a spell even a dragon couldn’t endure. That was why she had taken down the mutant wyvern so easily, after which the staff in charge had handled the cleanup.
The experts who later studied the wyvern had concluded that the black mages must have created it as a counter to mages, and that it had broken free from their control and escaped. But that had been wrong. The wyvern she faced back then had merely been a prototype. The real thing was the semi-transparent wyvern standing before her now.
Its body was so translucent it was hard to believe it was a living creature. It was twice the size of a normal wyvern, with a purple magic stone glowing brightly just below its neck. The monster that had completely cut off all surrounding mana stared down at her with glowing red eyes.
“Kiiiiii….”
“If there’s no magic….”
There was nothing Loxia could do. She had been born alongside magic and had never lost to anyone when it came to it. Precisely because of that, she had never once experienced a situation without magic, nor had she ever imagined one could exist. She lacked the strength to swing a sword, and she didn’t even have a sword to begin with. The only exercise she had ever done was the simple routine her master had half-forced upon her.
“This is the end.”
The supernova of the magic world. The greatest genius mage of her era. And… the woman who gazed upon the cosmos. Loxia looked up at the sky where the source of her magic should have been. It was morning, so the stars were barely visible, but the sun was always blazing brightly, revealing its presence. The red sun reflected in her blue eyes.
Only then did she finally understand her fate.
“Kieeeeeeeeek!”
Seeing her completely drained of fighting spirit, looking no different from an ordinary female student, the wyvern let out a monstrous roar and charged toward her. It opened its maw wide as if ready to tear her apart at any second. Loxia’s body entered the creature’s range, and its jaws snapped shut.
And then.
“…It’s not the end?”
-Thud.
“Kieeeeeeeeeek!!”
The sun she had looked at—the sun that had looked back at her—had declared that her end was not yet here.
“Physical! Physical! Physical!”
“Kieeeeeeeeeeek!”
As if to prove it, a man suddenly appeared, drove his sword into the wyvern’s neck, and began pounding its lower jaw with his fist.
Definitely…
“Grilled fish?”
“It’s Ashen, damn it?! Why are you calling a person food?”
“…Ashen. Right.”
Remembering people’s names had never been easy. There had never been any value in doing so. But.
“…How did you get here?”
“I saw the kids fighting and noticed magic had stopped working, so I went looking for the place where magic was being suppressed the most! And sure enough, there was a spot nearby where magic didn’t work at all!”
“…I see.”
The name of the knight who had appeared before her. She thought she might actually remember it.
“Kieeeeeeeeeeek!”
“Ugh! It’s so loud! Just! Shut up already!”
“Kiek! Kek! Kiek?!”
“You bastard that only nullifies magic! You should’ve at least been prepared to get cut by a sword!”
The battlefield where magic usage had suddenly plummeted. It was obvious something that interfered with magic had appeared, so I wandered around looking for the spot where magic was being suppressed the most. The result was a huge success. A giant wyvern so translucent you could see through to the other side was standing right in front of Loxia, one of the obstacles for this exam.
So I immediately stabbed my sword into the semi-transparent wyvern’s neck. The reason wasn’t anything grand like “I’m saving a person.”
She’s a wall I need to overcome.
I couldn’t let one of the walls I had to surpass disappear so meaninglessly. Loxia was someone no one could catch up to in magic. For someone like her to be rendered unable to use magic and then killed? I couldn’t stand for it.
“You dirty bastard!”
“Kie, gekek!”
True victory was using every means at your disposal to win. Killing Loxia with a cheap trick like this was unacceptable.
“Who sent you? It couldn’t have happened naturally! You’re working with the wyvern from last time, aren’t you?!”
“Kiek! Igeeeeeek!”
“Sigh… It must be the work of the black mages who worship ‘The Erased One.’”
“The Erased One….”
The black mages who attacked on the first day of school had been worshippers of one of the 7 Great Archdemons—The Overwriter, Oberon. Black mages served one of the seven archdemons, so this time it seemed to be the followers of The Erased One.
“Well, that makes sense.”
Unlike Oberon, The Erased One was a demon without a name. It had erased everything in the world, including its own name, so its authority was also about erasing things. Using that erasing authority, they must have experimented on the wyvern, and the results were the magic-resistant wyvern from before and this semi-transparent wyvern currently pinned beneath my feet.
“Kieeeeek….”
“Well, it’s about time to finish this.”
I placed my sword against the wyvern’s neck again as it groaned in pain. The moment I prepared to swing with all my strength—
-Beeeeeee…!
“Huh.”
From the purple magic stone beneath the wyvern’s neck, black smoke began pouring out along with a sound like a boiling kettle that stabbed at my ears. I hurriedly stabbed my sword toward the magic stone, but—
-Clang!
“Are you kidding me?! It won’t break?!”
Even though I struck with all my power, not even a crack appeared on the magic stone. Not knowing what would happen if I left it alone, I did the only thing I could think of.
“Damn it…! No idea!”
-Crunch!
“Kieeeeeeeeeek!!”
I ripped the magic stone straight out of the wyvern’s body. And, thankfully—
-Psssssh….
“Kieeee….”
The smoke pouring from the magic stone stopped, and the wyvern drew its last breath. The creature that had exhausted its life force flickered for a moment before its translucent body returned to a normal black form.
“…Did that work?”
“…How did you do that?”
I stood there blankly holding the magic stone when Loxia asked with a look that said she couldn’t understand at all. But if she asked how I did it, she should already know there was only one answer I could give.
“What do you mean how? Like you just saw, I just ripped it out…”
“…Do you even know how difficult it is to extract a magic stone embedded in a monster’s body?”
“Hmm… I don’t know? I’m not in the Magic Engineering department.”
“Alchemists and archmages research ways to extract them, and they barely manage to pull them out by selecting the knights with the greatest physical strength. That’s what a magic stone is.”
Was it really that big of a deal? When I looked at her with that expression, Loxia let out a short sigh and continued.
“If you don’t do it that way, the stone absolutely won’t come out cleanly, so you can only use it with monster residue still attached. And if it stays like that for too long, it explodes. But… you just ripped it out with raw strength? Without any residue attached?”
“…Yeah?”
“Even the Imperial Guard members barely manage to extract them. How could a mere Knight Department student—?”
“…Wait a second.”
A sudden thought occurred to me. Did this girl seriously see me as just a normal Knight Department student?
“Do you seriously not know who I am?”
“I do. You’re Ashen, right?”
“No, no—not the name. You really don’t know me?”
“…Grilled fish?”
“No, that’s… ugh…”
Yeah, I get it now. She really doesn’t know me.
“…I’ll only say this once, so listen carefully and don’t forget.”
“What is it?”
“I’m Ashen Serdis from the Knight Department.”
“Yeah.”
“And the Magic Department.”
“…What?”
“And the Magic Engineering Department.”
“…?”
“I’m also in the Economics Department.”
“…Wait, I’m not following.”
“And I’m ranked third in all of them.”
“……………?”
Wow. Even though she’s first in the Magic Department, maybe the information was just too much for her.
“In the Knight Department, the only ones above me are first place Estelle Blade and second place Leona Blade. And both of them are Sword Masters. I’m right on the verge of reaching that level.”
“Then…”
“I may not be as strong as the captain of the Imperial Guard, but I’m stronger than a regular Imperial Guard knight.”
“….”
Because the captain of the Imperial Guard is a Sword Master, after all. As long as it’s not a Sword Master, I’m stronger than most people. Even so, forgetting someone who’s third place seemed a bit much, but then I wondered if maybe being third place was exactly why she couldn’t remember, and I suddenly felt depressed.
But.
“…I suppose I should try to remember people, just like my master said. You’re the first name I’ve remembered at the academy.”
Judging by the way she spoke, it seemed she couldn’t even remember Levia, who was ranked second right below her. I decided she was just that kind of person and let it go.
“…Anyway, is this thing really that dangerous?”
Enough about names. Let’s get back to the magic stone.
“It is. Normally. But since you pulled it out cleanly, the Magic Tower will buy it from you at a high price.”
“Oh.”
“Or you could use it yourself. You said you’re in Magic Engineering, right?”
“I’ve handled the magic stones sold on the market before, but this is my first time with something like this.”
“…You’ve really handled them?”
“I told you, I’m in the Magic Engineering Department. Look at this sword.”
“…You madman.”
“Hey…”
And so, on the first day of the long-awaited midterm exams, I ended up being called a madman by Loxia.