Chapter 115: War of Destruction (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 115: War of Destruction (1)
Fortunately, it turned out the Swordsmanship Department hadn't been conquered by some ordinary mage.
—That guy? He was a talent that several Knight Commanders were drooling over.
He was someone whose talent for the sword was recognized even in Leon.
However.
"Why the hell is a guy like that in the Leon Magic Tower...?"
I had wondered why someone with that much talent was only learning the sword for morning calisthenics.
—They say his village was almost wiped out by a monster wave when he was a kid. Apparently, he was saved by a passing mage. Since then, becoming a mage has been his life's goal...
Because he admired a passing mage, he threw away his natural-born gift and started walking the path of magic, for which he had zero talent.
...A knight should have been the one passing by.
"What was Leon even doing?"
—He said he wanted to be a mage...
"No, not that. If such a capable mage was passing through, they should have recruited them."
—Is that the problem here?
"Look at our Magic Tower. I thought they were incompetent when I was in Leon, but now that I'm out, it's even more noticeable."
—...Is it that bad?
"Even the Magic Spammers who used to defend them cut ties once they heard stories about the Leon Magic Tower."
According to the Fire Spammer who burns even demons, the Leon Magic Tower isn't even a real magic tower.
If a mage was impressive enough to make a junior overflowing with swordsmanship talent switch to magic just by looking at them, wouldn't they be an incredible talent?
"Do you know who it was?"
—I don't. But one thing is for sure...
"It definitely wasn't anyone from our Magic Tower."
—Probably not.
Of course, they say the mages of the Leon Magic Tower are the ones who got kicked out of other towers.
Still, since they're paid employees, they have enough combat power to slaughter monsters.
They just lack the ability to research and develop magic.
—Lazy bastards like them would never do something so troublesome.
Just as the Commander said.
They were the type who wouldn't budge even at the royal family's request. There was no way those stubborn, heavy-bottomed fools would do something so commendable.
"So, what are you going to do?"
—About what?
"Either way, the fact that a bottom-tier student in the Magic Department was actually the top of the Swordsmanship Department... isn't this a defeat for the sword-wielders?"
—The Empire's standards are what they are. What do you expect me to do?
The Commander is useless as always.
At this rate, the Swordsmanship Department will be pushed aside by the Magic Department.
I'd even seen the Magic Spammer's younger sister, Princess Ruelle, at the Swordsmanship Club a few times, and her skills were quite decent.
Of course, "decent" by a mage's standards.
But considering the level of this year's swordsmanship freshmen... a few of those idiots might actually lose to her.
And considering the growth rate of Daisy, who transferred from the Magic Department, it wouldn't be strange if the freshmen started thinking Magic Department > Swordsmanship Department.
Therefore, I had no choice but to sacrifice myself.
"Teach me magic, Boradori!"
"...Are you serious?"
I decided to learn magic.
"This is the basic theory... You're not going to do it, are you?"
"Nope."
I canceled that decision.
I gave up on learning magic.
The reason was simple.
"I need to actually understand what you're saying for this to work."
Thinking back, I never had much luck with foreign languages or math in my past life either.
"In that case..."
There was only one way left.
Magic? It's nothing special.
"You want me to use magic too?"
While acting as a sparring partner for Princess Ruelle, who had come to the Swordsmanship Club to practice, I told her to use magic as well as her sword.
Since I often played the role of the club's communal sandbag, Princess Ruelle used magic on her sword without much suspicion.
"Don't think it'll be the same as usual. I may look like this, but I'm the top of the Magic Department! I'm different when I use magic!"
"Don't worry. I'm going to use magic too."
"...Huh? You, Senior Adam? Is it a magic sword? Or did you actually learn magic?"
Princess Ruelle blinked at my words, and I could hear murmurs from the surroundings.
The vanguard of mage-hatred suddenly claiming to use magic seemed to have raised some doubts.
Well, if I were a bystander, I'd probably think, What kind of bullshit is this?
So, it was better to just show them.
I held a sword in each hand and raised them high into the air.
There was no deep reason for choosing dual swords.
They just looked cool.
"Fire."
"......?"
Princess Ruelle felt the first sting of irritation at my activation words.
"Ice."
"......!"
And she felt the second sting at the aura I radiated.
"Ooh!"
"Adam, since when could you use magic?!"
"Swords enveloped in fire and ice!"
"He's recreated the legendary magic swordsman!"
"I knew it! You're the pride of our Swordsmanship Department!"
"......That is NOT magic!"
Finally, unable to contain her rage at the reaction of the swordsmanship students, Princess Ruelle charged.
Even though she was an enlightened being who had opened her eyes to the sword, unlike other Magic Spammers...
"I won... with magic."
"No, you absolutely did not!"
Unfortunately, her skills were still lacking.
Starting with the first sacrifice, Princess Ruelle, my Magic Department dojo-breaking began.
"Fire... Attack."
"That's not magic, it's just a sw—Gah!"
The flaming sword cut through magic and pummeled the mage.
"Ice Age."
"How is this any different from just hitting me with an ice club?!"
The fragile stone golem created by a mage was sliced clean through by my frost-infused strike.
"Finishing move... Dance of Fire and Ice."
"You bastard, you just made that name up on the spot, didn't you?!"
As I took down the Magic Department one by one using "magic," the prestige of the Swordsmanship Department soared.
"...You mean your notoriety?"
I nodded calmly at Boradori's look of utter disbelief.
"The notoriety must be something the defeated Magic Spammers left behind."
"...They'd leave it even if they didn't lose, okay? I'm working hard to spread it too, you know."
"You're doing it too...?"
"You've made enemies of all forty million mages. You'd better watch your back at night."
"Are there really forty million mages?"
"At the end or beginning of the year, people hop on the trend, so it probably swells to fifty million."
I didn't know if she was joking or serious, but it didn't matter.
"To think there are so many sacrifices for the honor of swordsmanship..."
"Even if the Magic Towers label you a public enemy, just consider it your comeuppance."
A public enemy of mages using nothing but "magic."
It felt a bit like being treated as a dark mage, but then again, aren't mages usually a bit sinister?
"I'll consider it fate. Just find me my next opponent."
"...You want me to find you another opponent after you've mocked magic and mages like that? Are you determined to make me an outcast in the Magic Department?!"
"Watch your tone."
"...Please?!"
I coolly forced Boradori, who still thought she was Violet, to face reality.
"Do you think this is a joke? This is a great step for Leon, for the revival of the sword."
"...Why are you the one taking that step?"
"Because our Prince is in a bit of a funk."
Some time had passed since the "Room Incident," but Prince Ellen was still out of it.
He said he still couldn't forget the look in Daisy's eyes back then.
Unlike Esid and Hedrick, who had snapped out of it relatively quickly, the rest of the RoFan male leads were suffering from the aftereffects.
"Do you know? Because of that reaction, a rumor is spreading among the young ladies that the ones who couldn't get it together, like Prince Ellen, were the ones who actually kissed..."
"...At this rate, the rumor will spread to the whole kingdom."
I hope my salary doesn't get cut because of this.
"...This is a self-sacrifice to dispel those rumors."
"...Didn't you just say it was a great step for Leon?"
"Anyway. I don't care if it's a senior, just bring someone. I'll beat them all with magic."
"This is seriously so irritating..."
Even as she said that, Boradori brought a new opponent.
"Your villainy ends today."
"......?"
And it was royalty from another kingdom, no less.
Immediately after the "Room You Can't Leave Without Kissing" incident.
Though they tried to act otherwise, several members of the Flower Arrangement Club were suffering from severe PTSD.
"No... It wasn't like that, Daisy!"
They would often have nightmares of Daisy looking at them with contempt, losing sleep over it!
Daisy had no ill will, but the atmosphere of that moment and her expression had dealt a great wound to those floundering in the clutches of RoFan.
That was why the Magic Spammer—no, Arwen, the Prince of Dale and the one who held the top spot in the second-year Magic Department with dignity—steeled his resolve.
"Your villainy ends today."
He would defeat that man and erase the image of "sodomy" from everyone's memories.
You might wonder what kind of nonsense this is, but fortunately for Arwen, the current Adam Smith was a person worth that much effort.
Rewinding time a bit to this morning.
"Hey, you bastard! Open the door before I break it down!"
Arwen, who was once again wallowing in misery after a nightmare of that day, heard the familiar voice of his own flesh and blood.
"Ruelle. This is the men's dormitory... Oof!"
"Shut up! Right now! The honor of us mages is being dragged through the gutter!"
Ruelle stormed in, delivering a knee to the solar plexus of Arwen, who had cautiously opened the door.
She then began to recount the reality of how the entire field of magic was currently being desecrated.
"Before being a royal of Dale, as a fellow mage, I can't just stand by. Even a dark mage would have their eyes rolling back in rage!"
She had always been a bit of a tomboy, but Arwen, feeling that his sister's condition had worsened since transferring to the Academy, replied grumpily.
"...Then why don't you stop him?"
I'm not in the mood for this right now.
As a fellow mage, he grumbled at his sister for failing to understand a mage's delicate sensibilities.
"I tried! I was the first victim, okay?! Since that day, I've been losing sleep wondering how I can grind that man's face into the dirt! He even shows up in my dreams!"
However, Ruelle's outburst only intensified at his words.
"But I can't win! The more we fight, the less I see a chance of winning! What is with that man?! Why is he so strong?!"
Looking at his sister, who was even shedding a few tears of frustration, Arwen thought of the person she called "that man."
'Adam Smith.'
Daisy's "fake" boyfriend.
And before that, the person Ellen had evaluated as "the strongest swordsman among our peers that I know."
"Well... he's a monster who's basically Leon's second secret weapon."
He was the one responsible for giving Asran—the boy called the "Brilliant Star of the Empire" and destined to be the future Sword Emperor—humiliating nicknames like "Defeat Sword Emperor" or "The Strongest Third-in-Command."
So, no matter how talented his sister was... winning would be difficult.
"So, your defeat is..."
"Who said I needed comfort?!"
He had tried to comfort her, but Ruelle grabbed Arwen by the collar and started shaking him violently.
"What we need right now isn't comfort! It's victory! A victory for magic!"
"No. Wait. Ack!"
Arwen reached out to pry her hands off his collar, but he realized it was impossible to push back his sister's sturdy forearms.
'You've... grown a lot...!'
If they had a war of succession with bare fists and no mana, Ruelle could probably beat all her siblings combined.
In that moment of absurd thought, a possibility flashed through Arwen's mind.
'If I defeat him... in front of everyone.'
I might look a bit cool.
The pressure of RoFan + first love + mental anguish and a weakened state of mind due to a dark mage's wicked schemes(?) + three days of no sleep + his vision blurring as his sister strangled him...
After all these factors combined.
"Come at me, Adam Smith."
He volunteered to become the hero of the Magic Department.