Chapter 147: Akensom (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 147: Akensom (5)
Boradori on the left.
Daisy on the right.
With this, I had gathered my full strength.
“Hey, you crazy bastard! Why are you coming toward us?!”
There was a bit of a mutiny from Boradori, but it was fine.
“Didn’t Miss Daisy say she’d help if I ever needed it?”
“I—I did say that! But this isn't exactly what I had in mind, is it?!”
“Where else are you going to find a more urgent situation than this?!”
“Daisy! I told you not to go around handing out blank checks!”
“How was I supposed to know it would turn out like this?!”
Despite her tearful face, the way she drew her magic sword suggested she intended to help.
“You didn't even get me anything for my birthday!”
“……”
…Right, there was an event like that.
“And you missed it twice!”
“……”
No, normal people don't have two birthdays in one year.
“This year… I’ll try my best?”
“Not ‘I’ll make sure to do it,’ but ‘I’ll try my best’? And you’re saying it like it’s a question?!”
Well, I might forget again.
I’m the type who doesn't even keep track of my own birthday…
“Agh!”
Watching this, Boradori’s expression looked like she was about to have a stroke as she began to move her mana.
In response, wooden palisades suddenly erupted from the ground.
At the same time, the magic circles hidden in the surroundings activated.
Boom!
With a thunderous roar, magic began to pour down.
“You’re rats in a trap!”
“Mages inside, surrender immediately!”
“Helping Adam Smith, the enemy of the Magic Department… Have you no shame as mages?!”
Voices infused with mana rang out, urging Daisy and Violet to surrender.
“Miss Daisy isn't part of the Magic Department anymore, so she’s fine.”
I ignored Daisy, who looked like she very much wanted to surrender.
“I’m still in the Magic Department, though? I think I’m allowed to surrender!”
“Can you handle the aftermath?”
“……”
I reminded the repeating-year slave of reality.
“…For some reason, you two seem really close!”
“We’re not!”
“Absolutely not!”
“Violet said that a strong denial is basically an affirmation—”
“If you’ve got time to talk, use that magic sword to soak up some spells! I’m seriously struggling here!”
Seeing Violet’s face go from flushed to deathly pale, Daisy sighed and began to absorb the incoming spells with her magic sword.
“Eek!”
Occasionally, a spell would slip through, but Boradori was there to deflect them. If we just stalled for time like this, a monster that even the Dragonkin couldn't handle would be complete.
“Attack!”
Had the Magic Department also studied the footage from that day, just like the Swordsmanship Department?
As soon as Daisy stepped forward, the mages ceased part of their bombardment and began to move.
“Seriously, they’re going this far? Hey! What the hell did you even do?!”
“She’s right, Mr. Adam! At this point, wouldn't it be better to just apologize?!”
Mages engaging in a full-scale frontal assault.
Daisy, a former mage, and Boradori, a practicing sorceress who still claimed to be a mage, both felt the intense resolve of their opponents and barked at me.
“I’m the victim here.”
I truly felt wronged.
“In what way?!”
“Think about it. What did I do wrong? I didn't start the fights. I didn't use cowardly tricks. I simply won fair and square in 1v1 duels. It’s not like I won and ran away, either; I accepted every challenge as long as I was able…”
“…Huh?”
“And yet, an entire department—no, the entire grade—unites to hunt me down because they can't win. Even after I beat them, they come back for a ‘Losers’ Revival Match’ and charge at me again…”
“Uh… huh!”
Was it because she couldn't find a single flaw in my logic?
Daisy repeated “Huh?” for a good while before nodding.
“Y-you’re right?!”
Witnessing the truth, she nodded in agreement.
As expected of a Swordsmanship Department convert.
Unlike those other Magic Spammers, she didn't turn a blind eye to the truth.
“Daisy, don't let him persuade you!”
Of course, Boradori, who still hadn't shed her Magic Spammer instincts despite eating from Leon’s hand, protested, but it didn't matter.
“Aaaaagh!”
The Magic Department already seemed to view me, Daisy, and Boradori as one and the same.
“No, really, do we have to go this far?!”
“I know, right? Isn't it a bit much?”
“It’s your own karma, so shut up and help!”
Boradori screamed, but unfortunately, a swordsman isn't much help in a long-range battle like this.
Of course, if I pushed myself, I could help by firing off sword energy.
But that only works when the enemy numbers are reasonable.
Besides, I wasn't in peak condition, having been steadily drained by Magic Spammers during the day and dark mages at night.
So, the most I could do was fight those Magic Spammers once they actually closed the distance.
“Agh!”
Seeing her let out a lament but remain silent after my explanation, she probably meant for me to just focus on the enemies in front of us.
“Still. I thought we were on good terms once.”
I spoke with a sense of regret as I looked at Princess Ruelle, who stood at the vanguard.
“That was a long time ago,” Princess Ruelle replied flatly, cutting me off as she prepared for battle.
With the sky raining magic in the background, I was busy dealing with the mages right in front of me when—
“……?”
I felt a powerful impact on my back.
Wait, what the fuck?
Was there someone who had learned stealth magic well enough to deceive my senses?
“…Urgh! A betrayal?”
But when I turned my head, I saw a familiar face.
Someone I thought would never be able to betray me.
The traitor who had defied that trust and struck me.
Looking down at my fallen form with a stoic expression was…
“From the beginning, no one has stood at the top of the Academy. Not you, not me, not anyone!”
It was Boradori. No, it was Violet.
Violet - Is this really worth going this far?
The weakness of a mage is the existence of cooldowns.
The gap between one spell and the next.
That is why a mage must maintain distance, and some mages even learn swordsmanship or martial arts to fill that gap.
Truly exceptional mages can weave minor spells into those gaps to prevent an opponent's approach or disrupt their next move.
But that was a feat reserved only for the most talented mages with extraordinary calculation abilities.
Therefore, most mages eliminate this weakness in three ways.
First, by finding a reliable vanguard.
This is the method commonly used by mercenary groups: placing someone in front to block the enemy while the mage prepares their spell.
Second, by utilizing the terrain.
In war, this means repeatedly firing spells from behind thick castle walls and retreating.
In the field, it means hiding behind whatever cover is available and spamming magic.
This is also why the derogatory term "Magic Spammer" exists… but looking at it objectively, it was simply the most efficient way to use magic.
And finally… there was the most difficult, yet simplest method.
“Aaaaagh! Seriously, you’re dead after this!”
The sight unfolding before my eyes: an endless deluge of magic.
In other words, overwhelming the enemy with sheer numbers.
“Shut up and just block the magic!”
“I am blocking it!”
I never imagined I’d be using sorcery against fellow Academy students instead of dark mages.
How did it come to this?
…How? Because of that damn boss of mine…
“Wait?”
As I was snarling to myself, a sudden question popped into my head.
Really. Why? Why did it turn out like this?
Was it because of Adam Smith’s—the embodiment of Leon, the pure sword-nut—hatred for mages?
Yes.
That was the problem.
But that was all it was.
Unofficially, this guy was a Royal Knight with ties to the Leon Royal Family that even Ellen didn't fully understand.
But that was strictly unofficial; the only people who knew were a few high-ranking Academy officials and the foreign agents gathered in our club.
In other words, officially, the human known as Adam Smith was just…
A particularly crazy bastard from Leon, a country of sword-maniacs that didn't just favor the sword but practically worshipped it.
He was just a lunatic who claimed to use fire and ice magic through some weird medicine that altered his mana properties.
Of course, that would grate on many mages.
But it wasn't enough of a reason to go this far.
Just as our boss had argued moments ago.
While his stance on magic was unacceptable, he had, in the end, defeated Arwen and Demacia—renowned powerhouses of the Magic Department—in fair 1v1 duels.
Therefore, ganging up on a single person like this actually lowered the prestige of the Magic Department.
Could Princess Ruelle of Dale—the kingdom of mages—and Senior Demacia, who had represented the Magic Department for four years, really not know that?
“Die. Die. Die!”
“……”
Looking at the madness-stricken Princess Ruelle in front of me, it seemed they didn't.
That’s when my suspicion turned into certainty.
No matter how much she represented the mages of Dale, there was truly no reason for a princess of a nation to act like this.
“Sigh…”
Damn it, dark mages again…
No, maybe it was the Demon Tribe.
“An Emotion Amplification Magic Circle.”
It was something that had appeared in the original work.
However, the development wasn't like this.
It was a spell devised by dark mages to help the villain who fought against Esid for the position of Student Council President at the beginning of the fourth-year arc, which was the final part of the Academy section.
The RoFan novel never explained how they managed to secretly construct such a massive magic circle, but the main plot involved using it to amplify negative emotions within the Academy, creating all sorts of conflict to plunge the school into chaos.
It gets so messy that even the midterm exam arc, which I had been waiting for, thinking another incident would surely happen, was skipped entirely!
And that circle was currently active on Akensom.
Once I confirmed this and protected my mind with mana and sorcery, I felt my head clear up a bit.
To drive the direction of emotions into a frenzy so discreetly.
It was just like those dark mages to be so diligent only when it came to dog-shit schemes.
“……”
But even if I shouted this truth out loud, neither the opponents nor my damn boss would listen.
Therefore, I had to think.
To end this godforsaken situation as quickly as possible… what should I do?
I subtly reduced the number of spells I was blocking.
I withdrew the sorcery I had been using to preserve my mana.
The time I had left to use magic and sorcery simultaneously… wasn't much.
The opponent was strong. No, he was a monster.
I would only get one chance.
I could use the technique itself a few more times.
But I would only be able to land a clean hit once.
I waited for the opening, then threw the dagger I had been hiding.
“…Urgh! A betrayal?”
It was a success.
No matter how great Adam Smith was, it seemed he couldn't defend his back while dealing with the main force of the Magic Department in front of him.
The mages in the front began to blink in surprise at the sudden turn of events.
Not yet.
I couldn't let them start thinking.
Right now, the more they thought, the more they would be consumed by rage.
“From the beginning, no one has stood at the top of the Academy. Not you, not me. Not anyone!”
“B-Boradori, you!”
“But the vacancy at the top of the Academy ends now. From this moment on… I will be the strongest!”
I delivered the final blow to my staggering boss and snatched his Badge of Survival.
“I am Violet of the Magic Department! I have taken down Adam Smith!”
As I held up Adam Smith’s stolen badge, a roar of victory erupted from the Magic Department, but…
“……”
Faced with the fury of my boss, whose expression alone seemed to cast a curse upon me.
—I-it’s not what it looks like! Hey! Hey! Listen to me! You can hear me! Don't look away…!
I had no choice but to squeeze out my remaining mana and sorcery to desperately explain myself via telepathy.