The Kidnapping
After the women's dormitory erosion incident.
The chancellor summoned a meeting of the academy's senior faculty.
Soden, the Swordsmanship Professor of the Knight Department, and Steer, the Spearman Professor.
Bern, the Combat Magic Professor of the Magic Department, and Inven, the Utility Magic Professor.
Hammond, the Magic Weapon Professor of the Magic Engineering Department, and Neil, the Magic Goods Professor.
And Adam, the Chief Professor of the Economics Department and the academy's treasurer.
Seven professors sat around the long table, each with an assistant standing behind them, all maintaining a solemn atmosphere as they waited for the chancellor.
Finally, the door opened.
—Creaaak…
““Welcome, Chancellor.””
At the chancellor's appearance, everyone rose and offered respectful greetings.
The chancellor walked silently to her seat.
With jet-black hair and glowing violet eyes, she looked every bit the Black Dragon Aknis, even in human form.
Born of the black dragon race, she had suppressed her wicked nature to become chancellor of the academy.
After taking her seat, she swept her gaze over the faculty.
“You goddamn bastards.”
The thick curse rolled out of her mouth.
“I tripled the guards, reinforced security to the max, and did everything I could think of. So why the hell does it keep getting breached? This fucking shit!!”
—Boom!
Aknis slammed the table in rage, splitting it clean in half as dust flew everywhere.
“What else can we even do? You professors, speak up… I’m at my limit here… Even the assistants’ opinions are fine, just say something!”
She had already been breached three times by black mages alone, plus the wyvern containment failure, so she was extremely on edge.
“The first day? Fine, the black mages teamed up with scavengers or whatever, so it was hard to predict. That was the first time, so okay. But the wyvern containment failure? That’s your department, Inven, isn’t it?”
“…My apologies.”
“Haa… Whatever. I already chewed you out for that. But the wyvern showing up at the exam hall again? That’s also something you lot should’ve handled, so I’ll let it slide for now. What can a magic professor do when magic doesn’t even work?”
Inven’s face darkened with every word.
But Aknis wasn’t finished.
“The invasion and the wyvern, those could be excused. It was the first time, and magic was nullified. But this women’s dormitory incident… isn’t this a bit much?”
“…My apologies.”
“The dorm supervisor submitted her resignation. She said with only the ability to see in the dark via magic, she couldn’t handle something like this.”
Aknis pulled out the resignation letter from her robes.
“I can’t really blame you all. I’m just venting. The real problem is those black mages who keep crawling in no matter what we do.”
The professors lowered their heads in somber silence.
“Haa… Fuck… Why am I even putting up with all this… I’m just a dragon who wanted to see human potential…”
Her only reason for becoming chancellor was to witness humans surpassing their limits.
Over a decade after founding the academy, she had finally gotten the monstrous students she wanted.
“But there’s just too much hassle… I want to go full black dragon and wipe out all the black mages…”
The problem was that all the annoying issues came bundled with that desire.
“Haa… Enough complaining. Give me some good ideas. How do we stop those black mage cockroaches… Yeah. Those blackroaches from getting in?”
—Rustle.
“Right, our treasurer Adam Smith.”
“I’ll be honest.”
“Yeah, yeah, we’ve known each other long enough.”
“…No matter how we try to block them, if it’s those guys, they’ll eventually break through given enough time. Instead of focusing on prevention, we should invest in faster response.”
“…”
“Am I wrong?”
“Fuck… Do we really have to do that…”
At Inven’s blunt facts, Aknis began seriously considering it.
“I… I think that’s the right approach as well.”
“Honestly, even back when I was younger, black mages always found a way in…”
“Even when I worked at the Magic Tower, it was always black mages who slipped through. If there’s no hole, they’ll dig one with their fingers if they have to.”
None of the other professors objected either.
They had all been thinking the same thing.
While the consensus shifted toward response over prevention, one suggestion emerged.
“What if we assign the task to one of the students?”
“…You want them to rush in first when black mages appear?”
“That’s correct!”
“Are you insane?! Students are precious resources—how could we pit them against black mages…!”
Aknis flared up at the idea.
Black mages were beings who, with enough luck, could single-handedly destroy an entire small nation.
But then—
“…Come to think of it, there’s already been a student who stepped up every time something happened, hasn’t there?”
“What? That saintess?”
“No. There’s one student who’s stepped up even more than the saintess.”
“What…?”
The chancellor paused at the mention of a student who was already doing exactly that.
“Ashen Sordis.”
“Ah, the 3rd place of our department?”
“You mean the 3rd place of our department.”
“Are you referring to the 3rd place of our department?”
“You mean our department’s 3rd place?”
At the name Ashen Sordis, the professors from each department nodded in recognition.
The chancellor also recalled with an “Ah.”
“Right, that’s the one… I forgot because of the saintess.”
Ever since the saintess appeared, letters had been pouring in from the Holy Empire.
Now that she thought about it, Ashen had always been beside her.
“…So you want that kid to be the first to run in and catch black mages the moment they show up? Even so, that’s…”
“He’d probably be happy to do it…”
“Hey, does it make sense for a student to—”
“You haven’t seen it, have you, Chancellor?”
“Seen what, damn it?”
“That kid catches black mages while smiling.”
“…?”
“Black mage handling duty?”
After the dormitory incident was resolved.
While the academy was closed as usual, the tall black-haired woman visited my dorm room where I was resting.
Her identity was none other than the chancellor of this academy.
I let her in, never expecting she’d come to offer me the role of dedicated black mage handler.
“Ahem… Yes. Honestly, I didn’t think you’d accept—”
“Sure, I’ll do it.”
“Huh…?”
I welcomed it completely.
They were offering support for something I was already doing anyway?
“R-Really…? I know you’re 3rd place across departments, but still…”
“The 1st and 2nd places are either too busy or too annoyed to bother, so who else would do it but me?”
The real monsters in 1st and 2nd place rarely got involved.
So it made sense for someone still within human limits like me to step up.
Besides, if I handled it myself, I’d gain experience and eventually surpass those above me.
I was desperate to grow.
“W-Well… If that’s what you want. Then first… take this.”
“Oh.”
The chancellor reached into the air and pulled out a small pouch, handing it to me.
“What’s this?”
“Elixir of Overcoming.”
“Ooh…!”
Didn’t know what it was, but it looked good.
“I wasn’t sure if giving this to a student was right, but… If you pour it straight into your mouth when you’re on the brink of death, completely at your limit, you’ll be able to grow.”
“Whoa, holy shit.”
“…?”
“Ah, sorry. I’m just really happy.”
Handing over such an overpowered item—maybe the chancellor wasn’t a black dragon but a white dragon?
Actually, the prejudice that black dragons were bad was probably wrong. Maybe white dragons were the trash and black dragons were the good ones.
“Giving me something this precious…”
“No, normally you shouldn’t even reach a near-death situation—”
“I’ll dedicate this body to the chancellor and bring back the heads of those vile black mages.”
“No, your words are too…”
“Long live the chancellor!!”
“Ah, seriously… Humans are too much trouble…”
Growth would be possible right before death.
And this was a romance fantasy world.
‘Ella, I believe in you.’
Surely, for the protagonist’s growth or to create tension, a near-death crisis would come at least once.
So I just had to wait until then.
‘Please, let it be someone insanely strong.’
The ones who had appeared so far weren’t strong enough to push me to the brink.
Not me, but the ones below me—Kyle and Leon… Actually, Kyle was out because of the wyvern.
Even Leon alone would’ve handled this much.
‘Please, let it be a huge incident. A really massive one.’
That was why I waited for days with the Elixir of Overcoming in hand.
“…Ashen.”
“What did you call me for this time…”
“Rebia has been kidnapped.”
Rebia had been abducted.
“Finally!!”
“…?”
“Ah, um, I’ll go rescue her right away! Don’t worry!”
“Well… For now, Loxia, Leon, and people from the Gloria ducal house are being sent, so you’ll be in a support role—”
“What?! I’m heading out immediately!”
“No…”
There was no way I was letting this golden opportunity slip away!
Just wait for me, Rebia!