The Saintess's Buffer and the Mutant Wyvern

I lost to Ella ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at Omok again, and the way she looked obnoxiously happy about it made my fists tremble. Still, I wasn't so lacking in self-control that I'd actually punch her. When I thought about it, she was the female lead of a romance-fantasy world, so it made sense she'd have talent in all sorts of random things.

And then—

"Professor, that—"

"Wait, Professor?!"

"Seriously, when is that girl even coming…."

I, Ashen Serdis. Third in the Knight Department, third in the Magic Department, third in the Magic Engineering Department, and third in the Economics Department. Losing was already second nature to me. I'd long since learned how to accept defeat.

So once again, I sparred with Leona and got my ass handed to me. Why did they keep pairing me up against someone on the verge of becoming a Sword Master? 'Did I get on the professor's bad side?' But I couldn't think of anything I'd done to piss off the Knight Department's professors. As I lay there clutching my right arm that felt like the muscles were screaming, I genuinely started wondering if the professor hated me.

"Ashen, here."

"Thanks…."

Rui must have finished his own sparring, because he came over to where I was sprawled out and handed me some water. Rui, who was only mid-to-low tier in the Knight Department, only had a bit of dirt on his clothes. So why was I, who ranked third, suffering this badly?

"Life…."

Well, the gap between second and third place was just ridiculously huge. Ah, I wish some big event would happen for the romance-fantasy heroine already. I was more than willing to get properly caught up in it and use it to grow. But deciding when those events happened wasn't something I could control.

"Oh! You're recovered! Then let's go again!"

"Please, no…."

All I could do was try to get hit by Leona in ways that hurt a little less. Seriously, I curse Estelle for never showing up during sparring.

-Clang!

"Gaaah! Just blocking the sword and my arm is—!"

"I can see you growing too, so as a fellow student, I'm truly delighted!"

"Growth my ass, I'm going to die here!!"

-Clink!

"Oh! You deflected the blade!"

"Huff… huff… feels like my arm's about to break—"

"Then I'll come at you even harder!"

"Kyaaaaaaaack!!"

I didn't know what kind of incident would happen around Ella, but I just hoped the resulting hardship would be weaker than what Leona put me through. Seriously. Please.

After the Knight Department lecture that left me drenched in blood and exhaustion from sparring with Leona ended, I arrived at the Magic Department classroom only to hear everyone being called out to the sparring grounds. Following the professor, all the students headed to the training field. For some reason, Loxia, the top student of the department, was nowhere to be seen.

…Why did all the top students love skipping class so much? Maybe skipping class was one of the qualifications for being number one. I was having these pointless thoughts when the professor, using amplification magic, opened his mouth.

Magic Department sparring, huh. I'd half-expected it the moment he called us to the training grounds, so I nodded and listened carefully to the professor's words. As I quietly nodded along, listening—

'Wait a second.'

Suddenly, something felt off. Sparring. The top student's absence.

"Uh."

The moment I looked toward the professor with a sinking feeling—

"Ah."

My ominous premonition was, as usual, spot on.

I'd sworn to somehow surpass the people above me, but… come on, there had to be some reasonable level difference for me to even try anything. I still hadn't awakened the Mental Sphere, the condition for becoming a Great Mage. It seemed like both Loxia, the top student, and Levia, the second, could use it. But I had no fucking clue how.

"Um, Professor? No matter how I look at it, the levels don't seem to match—"

"Phew… thank you so much…."

Still, it was a huge relief that she wouldn't be using that insanely overpowered Mental Sphere that forced its will on everyone inside it. Yeah, if I'd already awakened my own Mental Sphere and we were fighting over territory, maybe. But right now, if she used it against me, it'd be worse than trying to crack a rock with an egg.

And so, I found myself facing Levia, the second-ranked student in the Magic Department. She'd looked grumpy ever since she came up, wearing a sullen expression the whole time.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Since you probably won't even be able to react properly anyway, just stay still."

"…What?"

She casually tossed out that dismissive remark, then—

"Blazing Light."

"!!"

She fired off a top-tier spell right from the start. A pillar of light shot forward with enough force to pierce through everything in its path. It was definitely at a level where no mage below Levia's caliber could possibly dodge it, but—

"…You dodged?"

I wasn't your average Magic Department student. I was a Magic Department student and a Knight Department student at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠same time. I read the flow of mana as a mage and dodged the attack as a knight. Of course, since it was light magic—one of the notoriously difficult spells even among top-tier magic—it was hard to dodge even after seeing it, but hard didn't mean impossible.

"You didn't dodge it completely. It grazed you."

I broke out in a cold sweat as I looked at my blackened, scorched sleeve. If I'd been even a little slower, it would've burned all the way to the bone.

"…Wait, this is supposed to be sparring! Are you trying to kill someone?!"

"The chairman set up countermeasures, didn't he?"

"That only prevents death, not injury!"

No matter how much the chairman had installed death-prevention magic for the sake of realistic student sparring… it literally only stopped you from dying. You still got hurt exactly as badly as the attack would cause. That was why my muscles kept screaming and my bones kept breaking during my spars with Leona. It prevented death, but it didn't stop attacks that brought you right to death's door.

"You'll just get healed afterward, so stop complaining…."

"What the… ha, never mind."

Levia's words, which showed zero regard for human feelings, made me flare up for a second, but when I thought about it, mages were usually crazy anyway. If someone could reach second place while being that insane, it wasn't surprising she'd have that kind of mindset. Besides, even the second-place Knight Department student who didn't seem to use his head much was a lunatic. For the Magic Department, where they wracked their brains to the limit, having zero social skills and no sense of empathy was probably the natural result.

"You got lucky this time… but it's over now."

Apparently thinking I'd dodged purely by luck, Levia slammed her staff—which was taller than she was—into the ground with a bored expression.

"Flame Blast."

And with the chant, mana gathered at the huge gem attached to the end of her staff.

"Flame Blast!"

"…What?"

I cast the exact same spell she did. Levia's massive flames collided with mine, radiating intense heat. But since the total amount of mana was on a completely different level, my flames were steadily pushed back.

'Crazy bitch…!'

If we turned this into a firepower contest, I'd lose for sure. I knew that, but—

"You crazy biiiiitch!"

Maybe because I'd dodged her magic once before, Levia's flames had spread out so wide that rolling sideways wasn't enough to escape them.

-Scratch. Scratch. Scratch.

"Mmm…."

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could hear something that sounded like someone peeling fruit. And there was a medicinal smell in my nose.

…This felt like déjà vu.

"!! You're awake?"

Unlike during the swordsmanship sparring, this time Rui spoke in a trembling voice that genuinely sounded worried. When I turned my head, I saw bandages wrapped all over my body.

"Are you okay? Does anything hurt? The infirmary teacher said the treatment was complete, but it was really close! If you hadn't blocked it with ice magic at the last second, the burns would've been much worse…."

Rui must have thought it looked really serious, because he was spitting out words like a machine gun. That was when—

-Thudthudthudthudthud…

The sound of many people running came from outside. And it wasn't just footsteps we heard.

"Run!"

"Those lunatics in the Magic Research Club! How the hell did they manage the demonic beast?!"

"The professors told us to get as far away as possible, so just run!"

"Oh."

Looked like another incident had exploded.

"…Ashen? Why are you grabbing your sword?"

"Seems like a demonic beast escaped from the Magic Research Club."

"And why are you putting on your gauntlets… wait, you're not serious? You just woke up!"

"They wrapped the bandages really thoroughly. Thanks, but they're getting in the way of moving…."

"Hey… wait! If you're going, I'm coming too!"

A demonic beast that had escaped from the Magic Research Club. It reeked of an event. Sword and gauntlets in hand, I ran in the opposite direction of the fleeing students. The demonic beast was probably in the Magic Research Club room. Avoiding the students as much as possible, I made my way up the stairs. And the moment I finally arrived in front of the Magic Research Club room—

"It's okay, Ray. I'll protect you."

There was Ella, shielding herself with a golden protective barrier. Looking closer, she was holding someone in her arms, apparently trying to protect them. Around her were two magic professors and what looked like two teaching assistants.

"Are the Knight Department professors still not here?! That thing has strong magic resistance, so we need swords…!"

"Oh."

One of the older professors said they needed swords. Hmm.

"That thing—it's mine!!"

"!! W-what are you doing here?!"

"If a student comes in— Ah, Ashen Serdis!"

"What?! That crazy bastard?!"