That's Terrifying
Drak — a true man.
I genuinely rooted for his love for the Herb Lover. Still…
A duel was a duel.
Lucia would give it everything she had.
— Candidates of Group C, Match 2, please proceed to the arena. —
With the chime of the announcement, we stepped out of the waiting room.
Lucia walked down the corridor, keeping a good two meters of distance between herself and Drak.
A few dozen seconds passed like that, until we came face to face with the wooden door at the end of the hall. Lucia apparently had no intention of touching it herself — she deliberately slowed her pace just enough to let Drak reach it first.
-Creeeak.
The result: a complete success. Lucia passed through without a single part of her body making contact with the door.
"Ah, there you are."
The guide standing beside the entrance explained the rules of the exam. Which spells were forbidden, what conduct would result in disqualification, and so on.
As I stood there listening…
Boring. Insufferably pedantic.
Sleep crept up on me all by itself. For that matter, I couldn't even see the logic behind banning Intermediate-grade and above offensive magic.
She was just going to spam Mana Bullets anyway.
Why bother?
While I was pondering that, Lucia and Drak equipped their defensive magic gear — blue bracelets that clung tightly to the wrist, active only on the arena floor.
"Then please move to your respective positions."
The guide sent Drak up the staircase on the far side and directed Lucia to the one near the entrance.
The explanation took forever, but at least the seating arrangement suited me fine.
-Tap, tap.
Lucia climbed the stairs. The whole climb was less than two meters, and the white marble made it rather pretty.
Hm.
In an instant she stood atop the arena, and she studied her surroundings closely.
The arena was a little over twenty meters across, and the floor was layered with powerful protective magic.
A touch weaker than the barrier on our dormitory, isn't it?
In any case, more than ten other arenas dotted the surrounding area.
How many server instances are they running here?
I supposed there was no helping it with this many people — dozens dueling simultaneously did feel a bit tacky, though. Thousands of students watching the matches. So where was the classic power-fantasy narrative where all eyes narrow onto the protagonist?
This is kind of a letdown.
There was, to be fair, one observation deck atop the raised walls — a space dotted sparsely with luxurious chairs. I was curious how many people would bother gathering to watch a few dozen students scrap at once, when—
"Miss Ray. You said you were curious about how mages fight, didn't you?"
No fewer than ten professors and instructors were seated around a single student.
Ray.
To draw this much aggro just by showing up. This was the moment I truly grasped the weight of the Herb Lover's authority.
…By the way.
Why is the Basic Magic Theory Professor sitting right next to her?
She kept leaning over with things like, "Miss Ray, you don't really know much about magic, do you?" or "There's this student named Chloe, you see…" — doing anything she could to snag the Herb Lover's attention.
"If you wait just a little longer, it will be that Chloe's turn. I can hardly wait myself."
"Ah, right."
Oblivious or not, the Herb Lover's gaze was fixed solely on Lucia. Her eyes sparkled brighter than I'd ever seen them.
Goodness. How utterly devoted to her desires.
I was feeling a flicker of respect for Ray as I scanned the viewing seats, when my eyes met Instructor Lihel's — seated side by side with the Basic Magic Theory Professor.
"…"
Perhaps she hadn't actually been looking at me, since she made no particular effort to avert her gaze.
What's her deal?
Was she interested in Lucia? From now on, I supposed I'd need to keep a moderate eye on Instructor Lihel too. Seemed like an overreaction on my part, but you never knew.
-Tap, tap.
While I was mulling that over, Drak climbed his own stairs.
"…Whew."
The Sword-Saint Sparrow's keen hearing caught the breath he drew, heavy with resolve. Drak turned his head briefly toward the viewing seats.
His gaze settled on one person only — an expressionless beauty with a golden bob and crimson eyes. When he looked at the Herb Lover, he clenched his fist tight.
Steeled himself, I suppose. It had a certain romance to it, at least.
"The duel will now begin."
At the referee's declaration, Drak unfolded his Mana Bullet formula.
-Kuguguung!
More than five Mana Bullets a second came screaming in. Lucia tracked every single one with her eyes and conjured a small barrier at each point of impact.
-KWAAANG!
The barrier that stopped the first shot held firm.
That wasn't good blocking, though. She had over-invested mana relative to the spell's actual force.
"…"
Lucia rapidly recalibrated her mana expenditure — and on the next volley, the barrier shattered the instant it stopped a bullet.
-Jjeojeok!
Neither excess nor deficiency. A perfectly measured allocation.
Flawless.
I checked the viewing stands' reaction. Naturally, the Herb Lover's eyes had lit up bright. The professors and instructors following her lead now regarded Lucia with interest as well, and—
"…"
The Basic Magic Theory Professor's face was marred by the faintest trace of fury.
…Something's off about that.
It felt subtly different from simple dislike. Anyway.
For several seconds, Lucia did nothing but raise barriers, gauging her opponent's ability.
[How is it?]
She gave my back a gentle pat.
"It's far easier than I expected."
She unfolded her Mana Bullet formula.
-KUUNG!
Bullets tore toward Drak's head.
"!"
He threw up a barrier in a panic — but the rate of fire was on another level.
-KUGUGUGUNG!
Eight rounds per second cracked across the arena. For a while he barely held on, but in the end Lucia's bullets punched clean through his barrier and—
-KUUNG!
—slammed into his head. At the same moment, the blue bracelet on his wrist flushed red.
"Candidate Lucia Cecilib, victory!"
Drak stared at her with a bewildered expression.
"What… what in the world…?"
Lucia turned lightly on her heel and headed for the waiting room.
"Easy."
[Right?]
In the original story, Lucia and Drak's win rate at this stage ran about six to four — Lucia with a slight edge. But that gap only narrowed with time, and by the second semester, Drak would utterly overwhelm her. A difference that no amount of effort could ever close — one that began to open the very moment they entered the Academy.
But now?
Not anymore.
Drak? I'd gladly concede he was the series' undisputed devoted-lover archetype, but he was no longer that caliber of genius.
Veronica, the embodiment of raw firepower? Her one-trick lightning arsenal had already been dealt with by the mana-piercing Hidden Piece.
And Chloe — blessed with every unreasonable talent under the sun?
…You, we'll save for later.
She could afford to lose slowly, I figured. There were plenty of people Lucia had to beat first before she could ever dream of going toe-to-toe with Chloe.
Professor Leudi of Basic Magic Theory despised talentless humans.
There was no grand reason behind it. She simply found it repulsive when someone without talent tried to stand on even footing with geniuses. The sight of them thrashing about, refusing to accept the difference they were born with — to Professor Leudi, it looked like nothing so much as a worm wriggling.
And the worm she remembered most vividly of all was none other than Lucia.
Professor Leudi had come to know Lucia in detail only a few years prior. She had been evaluating the talent of students who'd posted excellent results at magic schools, and Lucia had possessed the worst talent among them all.
To be precise, slightly better than mediocre — the kind of talent that would rank thirtieth out of a hundred people at a magic school.
And yet Lucia had wriggled to the very end. Clawed and scrabbled to climb higher. The sight of her struggling to become someone like Leudi herself…
Disgusting.
Leudi watched silently as Lucia descended from the arena. The professors and instructors around her were unanimous in their praise, and the fact of it curdled her stomach.
…It hardly matters. Lucia is fated to fall.
Drak was a gifted student. Even after such a humiliating defeat, once his talent began to blossom, it would be over.
And yet.
Disgusting.
She clenched her fist.
Disgusting. Disgusting. Disgusting. Disgusting…!
In the past, the feeling had never been this fierce. But ever since this semester began, the emotion had slipped beyond her control. Held hostage by it, she stared blankly into the air.
…
Her mind grew hazy for a moment.
…Was it really worth hating that much?
That had certainly been the feeling she carried only moments ago — and yet she could not understand why she had harbored it so intensely—
-Tick.
A sound like something snapping brought her back to herself.
Right. This is no time for this.
Professor Leudi surveyed her surroundings. The professors and instructors around Ray had departed on schedule, leaving only Ray, Instructor Lihel, and herself.
The other professors have no idea.
They didn't know the truth of what Lucia really was. She alone understood it — which meant she alone could deliver that truth to Ray.
"Miss Ray. You seem quite taken with Candidate Lucia."
"Ah, yes."
She resolved to lay bare every ugly detail of who Lucia really was.
The preliminaries consisted of two duels in total. After the first match, there was roughly an hour to wait before the next — and the students spent that hour studying for their theory classes.
Terrifying.
Next Monday — in other words, right after these preliminaries concluded — the very first exam would be in theory. That was why everyone had their theory textbooks on hand, and Lucia was no exception.
…Boredom.
Theory was something she'd already mastered and was merely reviewing. There was nothing left for me to teach her. Waiting a full hour with nothing to do…
That would be tragic.
Granted, simply watching Lucia would have been happiness enough — but there was someone I found rather intriguing at the moment.
The Herb Lover.
I'd glimpsed her just before the duel, but after spending a whole week together in the tower, some lingering ache of missing her remained. A nuisance when she was around, yet strangely dull when she wasn't?
Observing from a distance is the optimal strategy.
The Herb Lover was most beautiful from afar. With that thought, I cast my clairvoyance spell.
Lucia still had her second duel ahead of her, so the Herb Lover would surely still be waiting. The professors dote on the Herb Lover shamelessly. Expecting a dopamine-rich scene, I peered toward the viewing stands —
— and the Basic Magic Theory Professor was mid-sentence.
"—And so, Miss Ray, it would be best for you to stop paying attention to Candidate Lucia from here on out."
The Herb Lover stared at her with hollow eyes, while Instructor Lihel kept her head bowed, staring a hole into the floor as if wrestling with some grave dilemma.
…What is this?
I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Just as the bizarre scene began to stir genuine fear in me—
"Um, Professor?"
The Herb Lover spoke.
"Yes, Miss Ray?"
"You talk too much."
-KUUNG!
Ray's fist slammed into the professor's face.
"R-Ray! What is the meaning of this…?"
The professor, sprawled on the ground, sputtered in bewilderment.
"Kindly keep your mouth shut."
Ray looked down at her, expression gone ice-cold.
Hm.
Well, punching her did unleash a flood of dopamine. I had no idea what led up to it, but it was a fascinating scene nonetheless.
"…Whew."
Instructor Lihel merely pressed a hand to her forehead, sunk deep in thought. She still had her head bowed, eyes fixed on the floor.
…?
I'd just decked a professor right beside her — why on earth was she acting like that?