Preparing for the Flame
I managed to slip away somehow. Behind me, the roaring of battle echoed for a long time.
"How on earth did they hold out against that monster...?"
A tree flew through the sky and vanished into the distance, launched like a baseball struck by a bat.
I did my best to ignore it and made my way back to the academy. Students were milling about everywhere. Members of the Disciplinary Committee wearing armbands and Student Council officers exuding powerful auras were busy restoring order to the chaos.
I happened to lock eyes with a Disciplinary Committee member who was dragging away a captured member of the Occupation Club.
"Hey! Grab that suspicious guy over there!"
Ah. I forgot to take off my mask. I had been in such a rush to escape from Irelia Leonhart that the black mask was still firmly attached to my face.
The moment I appeared—covered in dirt and wearing a highly suspicious black mask—the Disciplinary Committee students lunged toward me. If I got caught now, I would undoubtedly be dragged straight to Irelia.
I quickly vanished from the spot. A brief commotion erupted among the guards when their target suddenly dissolved into thin air. Fortunately, a few captured Occupation Club members chose that exact moment to attempt an escape, successfully drawing the aggro away from me.
"The Disciplinary Committee really is competent. I suppose it's because they're all superhumans."
Every single one of them was a mana user, far stronger than any ordinary human. Despite the utter chaos wrought by the clash with the Occupation Club, order was restored almost instantly once the Disciplinary Committee took charge. Even the owner of Big Chicken Hof, whose tavern had been completely leveled, was wearing a broad grin. The Student Council always compensated for property damage with incredibly generous sums, after all.
I turned my gaze toward Idrian Goldenroad. He had lost an unrecognizable amount of weight compared to when we first met. The physical transformation that would serve as the justification for the heroines falling in love with him was finally beginning to show. Watching the shifting gazes of the crowd landing on him, I quietly slipped away from the rooftop. It was time to prepare for the next episode.
***
Seril Lever stared down at the strawberry smoothie sitting in front of her. It looked mouthwatering, but her attention remained entirely fixed on the man sitting across from her.
"What's the reason you called me out the very moment lectures ended?"
Kanteil, wearing a faint, fox-like smile, looked back at her with slightly curved eyes before speaking.
"What do you think it would take to defeat Antalles?"
"Excuse me? Why are you bringing up an upper-tier demon all of a sudden?"
Possessing an exhaustive knowledge of both monsters and demons, she recognized the name instantly. The Demon of Fire and Plague. An ancient terror that had single-handedly annihilated an entire kingdom in the era before modern magic developed. It was a staple name in any introductory demonology course. Seril tilted her head in confusion.
"Just simple curiosity. Coincidentally, the location for our next exam is the Lava Dungeon."
"Ah... Is this because of the legend that Antalles is sealed inside the Lava Dungeon?"
Teonor Academy was home to countless urban legends. Rumors like: the emperor of a fallen empire is buried in the Desert Dungeon and will rise as an undead to rebuild his kingdom; the Student Council President isn't actually human; a forgotten runner-up student lives hidden in the girls' dormitory; or that the leader of the Occupation Club has always been a high-ranking member of the Student Council. Most of these were unverified rumors. The Lava Dungeon had its own share of myths, the most famous being the seal of Antalles. It claimed that an ancient hero had sealed the Demon of Fire and Plague deep within the volcanic depths. Of course, the academy had officially debunked this myth after conducting five separate, rigorous investigations.
Except he really is sealed down there.
In the original story, this event was what catapulted the protagonist, Idrian, into absolute stardom. But while it was fortunate that the protagonist was there to stop it, what if the demon broke free and slaughtered the other students without any interference? The resulting carnage would be too horrific to imagine. If standard mana users were equivalent to human weapons, those who transcended that boundary into true superhumans were walking strategic weapons.
With all the variables that have cropped up so far, there's no guarantee the Antalles subjugation will go according to the original plot.
That was precisely why I had summoned the pink-haired girl sitting before me, Seril Lever. I needed to find something that could serve as Antalles' weakness, completely separate from the specific magic tools Idrian was destined to acquire.
"I'm just curious. Ever since that last demon attack, I've developed a bit of an interest in them. Think of it as a minor hobby."
"I had no idea you had such a hobby, Kanteil."
Her expression clearly said, I never pegged you for the demon-studying type. Despite her surprise, she gave me an answer. And that answer was what brought us here—to a small alchemy workshop nestled on the very outskirts of the academy.
"Is this the place?"
I asked, looking at the dilapidated structure. It was so run-down that it was hard to tell whether it was an actual workshop or just a glorified shack. It looked ready to collapse at any moment. Yet, despite the building's age, the surrounding fence was remarkably clean. Not a single stray weed or overgrown vine marred the perimeter. It was clear the owner maintained the property with meticulous care.
I walked past the small signboard and stepped inside. The interior was just as tidy as the exterior. In typical fantasy novels, these kinds of places are usually caked in thick layers of dust, but I couldn't spot a single speck here no matter how hard I looked. Instead, rows of high-quality magic tools that would impress even the most discerning connoisseur were neatly arranged on pristine display shelves.
I approached an inner door bearing a paper sign and knocked. Knock, knock. "Is anyone inside?"
A moment after I knocked, a loud clattering and banging echoed from within. The door burst open, and a brown-haired woman wearing a pair of brass goggles scrambled out.
"Ow, ow, ow..."
She groaned, clutching her forehead as if she had just banged it against something. Teary-eyed, she blinked up at me.
"Are you... perhaps the person Lady Seril mentioned?"
"Yes. I'm Kanteil."
"I'm Checo. Please, come on in. I haven't had a chance to tidy up back here, so it's a bit of a mess. Let me clear some space for you."
"It's fine, don't worry about it."
Despite her slight hesitation, Checo opened the door to the inner sanctum. Beyond it lay the true heart of the workshop, a stark contrast to the storefront. Strange, unrecognizable apparatuses filled the room, and several magic tools engraved with intricate magic circles caught my eye. It seemed the building itself was dilapidated because she had poured her entire budget into acquiring state-of-the-art equipment.
Honestly, it's not even that dirty.
Contrary to Checo's anxieties, the workshop was remarkably orderly. If she ever saw the academy's research labs, she would probably faint on the spot. Those places reeked of rot so strongly you could smell them from fifty meters away.
Checo scurried around, gathering unfinished prototypes into her arms and returning them to their proper shelves. Feeling a bit awkward just standing there, I pulled up a nearby chair and sat down. After a brief wait, she finished tidying up and sat across from me, holding a pair of steaming mugs.
"I don't have much to offer, but... please, have some of this. It's a tea that helps with stress relief."
A deep red liquid sloshed gently inside the ceramic mugs.
"Thank you."
I took a sip. The warm liquid washed over my lips and filled my mouth with a savory, slightly bitter aftertaste. It tasted exactly like ordinary green tea.
"So, you came looking for a magic tool that could exploit Antalles' weakness?"
"Yes. I've developed a bit of a curiosity regarding demons."
"I suppose that makes sense. Lately, we've had a lot of people coming in search of anti-demon equipment."
She was referring to the attack during the freshman welcoming party. Because the incident had erupted across the entire academy city rather than just a single campus building, both students and ordinary citizens had suffered. We had successfully stopped the main ritual, but it had been impossible to protect every corner of the massive city. Casualties were inevitable, and many had lost their lives that day.
"Everyone has their own reasons," Checo sighed. "Some are opportunists who jump in blindly because demon parts fetch a high price. Others are ordinary citizens who want revenge for their families but lack the strength to do it themselves. And some are just trying to prepare for the next attack. But the most common are those who seek the power of magic tools for vengeance—even when they know full well that using one as an ordinary human is practically a death sentence."
Unlike in typical fantasy novels, magic tools in this world weren't convenient gadgets that anyone could use. They were a privilege reserved strictly for mana users—those chosen to walk the path of superhumans. If an ordinary person attempted to wield a powerful magic tool, the backlash could easily knock them unconscious, or worse, kill them. To wield mana, one needed to awaken their mana circuits, which ordinary humans lacked. Consequently, magic tools designed for non-awakened users forced mana through the user's blood vessels instead. Funneling raw magical energy through fragile, biological veins inevitably ruptured them, destroying the body from the inside out.
"Ah, listen to me ramble... I've said too much."
Embarrassed at having poured her heart out to a complete stranger, Checo quickly stood up and walked over to a large cabinet.
"You said you needed a magic tool capable of fighting Antalles, right? It's actually perfect timing. I recently developed a new tool specifically designed to deal with fire-attribute demons. Though, of course, it's only powerful enough to handle the lowest of the low-tier ones."
Forcing a bright smile, Checo hauled out a massive wooden crate. She grunted under its weight before setting it down on the table with a heavy thud. When she pried the lid open, a beautifully crafted crimson bow was revealed inside.
"...It looks a bit too ornate for a weapon meant to slay demons, doesn't it?"
"Well, a girl's got to make a living. This one was custom-made with noble clients in mind."
Nobles often cared far more about a weapon's aesthetic appeal than its actual performance. To high society, style and extravagance were direct reflections of one's worth. Of course, there were certain prestigious families who had absolutely no need for such superficial displays.
For instance, the Frost House of the North, the Continent's Four Great Families, and the Imperial Family.
These were entities so powerful that people bowed their heads to them without them ever needing to show off. Why would they care about flashy designs? Their very names were synonymous with absolute wealth and authority. Even if Irelia Leonhart were to drop out of the academy tomorrow, the Empire would eagerly offer her a countship just to secure her loyalty. Her raw power, combined with the blood of the Lion of Leonhart—one of the Continent's Four Great Families—was easily worth a high-ranking noble title. Well, most of those legendary houses wouldn't even make an appearance until the mid-point of the original story.
Ah, right. The Goldenroad family is also one of the Continent's Four Great Families.
The financial giants, House Goldenroad. They were the shadow players who held the global economy in the palm of their hands. They stood at the absolute pinnacle of financial power—so formidable that even the hot-tempered, reckless Lionhearts of House Leonhart acknowledged them, and the Imperial Family kept the Protection Bureau on high alert, monitoring the family head's movements twenty-four hours a day. That was the family of our protagonist, Idrian Goldenroad. Though, at this point in time, even Idrian himself hadn't fully realized the sheer weight of his family's influence.
I shook my head to clear the stray thoughts. I needed to focus. Antalles was not a demon to be taken lightly.