94. Academy (7)
94. Academy (7)
The second day at Padix Academy.
I was questioned about yesterday's events.
They called it an investigation, but it wasn't conducted in a high-pressure or heavy atmosphere.
It was just questions like, "What was your last memory?", "What do you remember?", "Did the Black Mage say anything?"
They proceeded while being as considerate of me as possible.
I roughly brushed it off, saying I didn't remember well.
It was clear that the culprit behind the terror was a Black Mage. However, the Academy couldn't find the Black Mage who was the culprit of this incident.
But that was to be expected.
Because I ate the head, and my Raksha ate the remaining torso.
The only trace of the Black Mage was the scraps of flesh left in that pool of blood.
It must be driving the Academy absolutely insane.
It was as if the culprit had vanished in an instant. Along with six students, to boot.
Honestly, I was a little nervous.
Since this is a world with magic, I wondered if there was magic that could view the past.
But it seems such magic doesn't exist. Yui told me that unless it's recording a video, there is no magic to rewind time in a specific space to see the past.
After the investigation, they told me where to go.
It was none other than the large training ground.
Since the Class Assignment Exam was cancelled due to the terror and there was no way to judge the students, they said they would have a simple time to check their skills.
==
Charlotta didn't like the fact that they were re-doing the exam for class assignment the day after the terror occurred.
Charlotta also understood why the Academy made this decision.
If they showed themselves taking time off here, it could give an opening to other Black Mages or agents from other countries targeting the Academy, so they had to pretend that everything was as normal as possible.
However, it bothered her that the burden resulting from that had to be borne entirely by the freshmen.
Charlotta was evaluating the freshmen's skills while sparring with them, feeling uncomfortable.
Right now, the other freshmen were sparring with the assistants. Charlotta was the only student.
Although she was still a student, it was possible because Charlotta already possessed skills similar to an assistant and was working as one.
The assistants didn't say anything in front of Charlotta about her working as an assistant while still being a student.
That was how highly evaluated Charlotta was—as a genius, a hero, someone close to a champion who only appears once in a hundred years, at least in terms of combat power.
Lea walked up in front of such a Charlotta.
"Ugh—"
Charlotta instinctively brushed the part of her leg that had been torn with her hand.
"Hello."
Lea bowed politely to Charlotta and greeted her.
"Hello. Is your body alright?"
"Yes. I didn't really have any injuries."
"Really? That's a relief. Thank you for healing the freshmen. Thanks to you, none of them suffered any negative effects from their injuries."
"It was nothing."
"That's amazing. To say it was nothing after healing wounds of that extent. Shall we begin then?"
"Yes."
Charlotta aimed her weapon at Lea.
Charlotta wanted to have a serious spar with Lea once.
This place is a training ground built to conduct training that feels like real combat.
A great mage who was a companion to a hero in the past installed numerous spells in the training ground for their descendants.
Among them, the most highly rated feature is that as long as there is enough mana in the magic circle, you won't get injured.
Not getting injured doesn't mean there's no pain. It's just that the pain is reduced, and the greater the damage, the more vibration occurs in that area, blocking movement.
In short, you can fight like it's real combat, but you don't take damage.
'I wonder what Junior Lea's true skills are.'
Unlike yesterday, Charlotta steeled herself to defeat the Lea in front of her with all her might.
One might ask, isn't it wrong to spar since she's a Healer? But that's not the case at all.
Because she is a Healer, she needs to spar more.
Healers are usually the top priority target whenever a battle breaks out. Therefore, they need to know how to block or dodge various attacks.
So, when sparring with a Healer, the Healer usually practices by dodging, blocking, or healing their own wounds, but Charlotta wasn't thinking of doing that.
Charlotta was already aware of Lea's strength to some extent.
Even though she had been greatly off-guard, Lea possessed speed that made her lose track of her position for a moment.
It's funny to have this kind of resolve against a Healer, and a fresh-faced academy freshman at that, but Charlotta was more serious than ever.
Charlotta is someone who craves strength more than anyone else.
That is why she wanted to know the secret of Lea's strength.
"I'm ready."
Lea said she was ready while standing still, doing nothing.
"Wait a moment."
Charlotta said, lowering her sword.
"Don't you have a staff...?"
"A staff? Ah... I suppose I would need a staff, wouldn't I."
Usually, to use magic or Holy magic, you need a staff.
It's not that you can't use it without a staff, but without one, efficiency drops and it's hard to use. Furthermore, a staff is not just a weapon for magic.
It is also a means to protect one's own body.
"It's fine."
"I understand."
If it had been a normal Healer, she would have told them to at least hold a training staff, but because it was Lea, Charlotta didn't say anything.
She simply raised her rapier and aimed it at Lea.
==
"So that's the child Charlotta was talking about."
The professors on the second floor of the training ground focused their gaze on Lea.
Prodisia, Lea.
The two students who were admitted by special admission suddenly.
One could understand the special admission because one was an Elf.
To begin with, it's hard to understand an Elf entering a human Academy, but she possessed skills that could easily defeat not just assistants, but even professors.
But what about Lea?
They knew about Lea.
Saintess Lea of Mederun City was famous even in the Padix Kingdom.
A person called a Saintess had appeared just as the neighboring kingdom, the Holy Kingdom, was in the middle of the Saintess Selection.
However, there were doubts about her skills.
Lea heals people with Holy Power, but anyone who has received Holy Power from the Goddess can use healing magic.
Since there were more benefits if an Elf entered the Academy, they had let Lea in through special admission as well.
"I wonder how good her skills really are?"
"Wouldn't she at least be able to heal lacerations?"
"Lacerations? Isn't that at the level of a Saint Candidate?"
"Even if lacerations are hard, it would be good if she's at the level of detoxifying poison or curses."
The professors expected the spar between Lea and Charlotta to be the level of sparring that Healers always do.
However.
The moment Charlotta cast body enhancement magic on herself, they felt something was off.
If this had been a moderate level of magic, it would be one thing, but the power of the body enhancement magic she used just now was too great.
"Isn't that too dangerous? Even if injuries don't occur, they still feel the pain."
"Shouldn't we stop them?"
"Indeed. Charlotta isn't a child who would be so thoughtless—"
The professors' worries didn't last long.
Kwaaaaaang!!!
Ttaeng-! Taeng! Taeng!
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
"What is that?"
"Was she not a Healer, but a Monk?"
"No, there's no way she's a Monk. Holy Power is erupting from that child's body right now!"
"Was there body enhancement magic among the Holy spells?"
"Even if there was body enhancement magic, is it possible to block a rapier with one's hand, and with one's palm at that?"
The spar between Lea and Charlotta.
Charlotta was seriously thrusting her rapier like crazy, and Lea was blocking Charlotta's rapier with her hand.
The problem was that she wasn't batting it away with her hand, but blocking the thrusts with her palm.
Monk.
They are people who train their bodies to the extreme to fight with bodies as hard as steel.
It's not a level you can reach just by putting in effort; you must have talent.
It is said that truly strong Monks can block swords with their bare bodies, but those are a very small minority of Monks. And those Monks are all elderly people.
Because they need an overwhelming amount of time to reach such a high level.
But a Healer, not even a Monk, was doing that right in front of them, so the professors were dumbfounded.
==
'Oh... is this what fighting is?'
Lea was finding it fascinating to see her own body moving naturally against Charlotta, who was rushing at her as if to kill her.
Until now, her body, which wouldn't even react when her head exploded or her upper body was blown off, was moving naturally and blocking Charlotta's attacks in front of her.
'Was my body not moving because I hadn't eaten any humans until now?'
Come to think of it, since waking up as the Queen, I hadn't counted accurately, but I had been starving for almost half a year.
'Well, it's only natural that my body wouldn't move as I wanted if I had been starving that long.'
Her body had been soft, too.
It just had good strength, but its durability was no different from a human's. But now, it was clearly strong.
She was blocking a sword that looked like it would pierce through everything with just a light thrust, using only her bare hands.
'This is fun.'
Lea had been worried that fighting might be a little scary.
When she lived as a man on Earth, she didn't really fight. It was just a couple of times fighting with friends when she was a student.
In fact, even compared to the spar happening now, that was just like a kindergarten fight.
So she had been a little worried.
But that worry was a useless one.
Human.
And now that she had eaten the brain of a Mage who had been adapted to mana for a long time, the sleeping cells of the Queen began to wake up.
Both her body and mind began to transform into the Queen of Creatures.
==
It might be a little scary.
Caution
==
