Accidents Happen in the Blink of an Eye

Lihel, the first-year combat instructor, was a capable mage.

She had spent her teens as the sole disciple of one of the only seven Great Archmages on the continent, and her twenties as a court mage showered with the Imperial family's favor. Rumor even had it that her overwhelming powers of insight surpassed those of an Archmage herself.

"Instructor, I'll take my leave now. Thank you for your help."

She had come to the Academy after committing some minor misstep, yet everyone respected her all the same.

"...Hmm."

Lihel surveyed the dormitory room. The living room was a disaster area, as if a burglar had torn through it — and one entire wall had been outright demolished.

...Two cadets did this?

She hadn't conducted a detailed investigation yet, but the claim was absurd. That wall would have been difficult for even her to break. Give her about a minute, and sure, it was possible.

"Far too clean."

Shattering ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠exactly one side of a wall like that was impossible. The neighboring rooms would have collapsed along with it.

Saaaa—

Lihel sensed scattered mana. Faint. She noticed it at once. Every trace had been wiped away, as if to destroy the evidence. No — to be precise—

Some of the mana was left behind.

But it was far too weak to have shattered a wall. Presumably the residue of those cadets.

"..."

She investigated for a long while after that, but found nothing else amiss. Lihel returned to her office with a strange unease gnawing at her, and then set to writing her report.

She revised the report. For now, it was still nothing more than suspicion.

Lucia, was it?

Lihel merely turned the name over in her mind.

Hmm.

Peaceful.

I was sprawled across Lucia's pillow. What a luxurious life this was. And last night's business wrapped up nicely, too.

The wicked male cadets had been stopped by the dorm supervisor. As if breaking into a beautiful female student's room weren't enough, they'd gone and blasted the dormitory wall clean off! The degenerates. A simple suspension wouldn't be the end of it.

Anyway.

The weekend already?

Entrance ceremony Thursday, first classes Friday. One single day of classes and then the weekend — a flawless schedule.

Nice.

There was a vacant room on the same floor, so we didn't even have to live with the living room exposed. Everything was perfect. I was lounging on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the bed soaking up the warm sunlight when—

"Master. The meal is ready."

Lucia brought my food over.

Thanks.

Lettuce, spinach, and rice, arranged neatly on a plate. A vegan diet that would make any human recoil and flip the table.

Delicious~

Maybe my sense of taste had changed, but even a few grains of rice had dopamine firing on all cylinders. I was marveling at the absurdly cost-effective life of a sparrow as I ate when—

"..."

Lucia crouched down and peered at me.

Hm. Being supervised by a beautiful girl even while eating — there'd probably be quite a market for that... but sadly, it made me uncomfortable.

Lucia.

"...Yes, Master?"

She answered after a slight pause. She hadn't been looking at me, had she.

Is something on your mind?

"No, it's not a worry, exactly... yesterday, you broke through a wall, Master."

...I did.

I had told Lucia I'd broken the wall by accident. Leaving the living room wall demolished and pretending not to notice would've been shameful.

"I was wondering just how strong someone would have to be to do something like that."

The atmosphere had turned rather serious.

Fair enough. Lucia kept striving to grow stronger for some purpose. I didn't know what that purpose was — and in the original story, she dies before that dream can ever come true.

But—

I'll make it happen for her.

Steel my resolve once more, I answered.

Lucia. You will become strong. I promise.

And then—

Besides, that spell I used — you could learn it too.Its power varies depending on raw mana capacity, but... want to give it a try?

This spell seemed like a good match for Lucia. I'd crafted it on the spot back then, so the formula wasn't complicated.

Efficiency's probably around intermediate-level magic? Fast, with respectable power. With exams next week, it'd come in handy.

"Yes, Master."

On a golden Saturday morning, magic lessons began.

Casting magic at home would turn the place into an open-house showcase again, so we headed outside first.

Let's go to the forest. No one will see us there.

The Academy grounds were enormous — so enormous that the forest held its own ecosystem. Which meant we could practice with peace of mind.

The training grounds would be ideal, but... there was nothing good about displaying the bizarre spectacle of a sparrow teaching a cadet.

"Is this far enough?"

Yep. I don't sense anyone else's mana.

We'd gone fairly deep, just in case. Aside from a few shattered boulders, there were no signs of people passing through.

...Wait, did I do that?

The rocks I'd smashed testing my strength on the first day. It felt like it had been around here.

Hm. I decided not to worry about it.

I'll start by teaching you how to handle mana.

"Yes, Master."

First, we're going to maximize the aggressive form of your mana. If it gets dangerous, I'll block it — so take it slow.

Lucia did exactly as I instructed. She honed her mana razor-sharp. She grasped the intent of the formula. She even reproduced the formula itself, perfectly.

"...Master, is it time for the next step?"

Lucia absorbed everything like an absolute monster. If you overlooked the fact that it had taken her a full ten hours, you could genuinely have called her a genius of the ages.

Insane.

We'd come out in the morning, and the sun was already setting. Through all that time, Lucia hadn't rested even once. When her mana scattered, she reshaped it. When she couldn't understand the theory, she tore the formula down to its very foundations.

For ten straight hours.

This was not something a human being should be capable of. Handling mana is nothing like ordinary study. Overuse makes it feel like your brain itself is burning, and past a certain point your muscles seize up.

And yet her mana's still practically full.

She must have trained like this since she was little — no wonder her mana capacity had become monstrous too.

Now it's time to cast the spell. You completed it in a single day — great work.

"...Thank you."

For an instant, something like a smile seemed to surface on Lucia's face. She blinked, and her expression went blank again. Was the smile just my imagination?

Let's take it one step at a time. Draw out your mana, and—

Saaa—

Just then, I sensed a flow of mana in the distance.

Hold on. Looks like someone's coming.

"...I can't sense anything at all. How close are they?"

Not far. Maybe five hundred meters?

"What? You can detect someone at that range, inside a forest...?"

Her eyes widened slightly, but I had no time to spare for it.

Their direction's all jumbled. But the distance kept shrinking. Coincidence?

Looks like someone's lost. If you don't mind, could you guide them out?

"Yes, we're just about finished practicing anyway."

I had Lucia go guide the lost cadet. If someone went missing at night, they could actually die. If they really died, I'd be drowning in guilt — starting my very own tragedy of regret...

"...Hah. Hah!"

There he was — the Blonde Noble Delinquent, beaten half to death already.

Yeah, we could've left this one to die.

"Ah, finally! A person—! Huh? Lucia?"

Gulping for air, the scumbag flashed a vile grin.

"Well, well. What a coincidence. Wandering into a forest like this, all alone? Out here, no one... would see a thing...!"

What on earth was this guy on about.

Lucia. There's a lovely target over there.

"Yes, I was already preparing."

A formula took shape in front of Lucia. Truly, we were of one mind.

Vwoooom.

The air across the whole area compressed. Razor-sharp, shorn mana wove itself into the formula, and a fierce gale whipped through the forest. Tree branches shuddered. Grass blades flailed.

Just as the spell completed—

"What's with this sudden wind—"

KUUUUNG!

The man's body launched skyward. He must have flown at least ten meters backward.

"...How was that?"

Lucia turned her head, meeting my eyes where I sat on her shoulder.

Excellent. Your power control was perfect, too.

"Thank you. It's all thanks to you, Master."

At that distance, I could see it clearly — a faint smile had indeed spread across her face.

The guy was unconscious. Left like that, he'd genuinely die, so we returned to the Academy and reported it.

Not that anyone would believe Lucia had done it. Besides, I erased every trace of her mana scattered around the area. Even a Great Archmage wouldn't find it.

Anyway.

The next day we practiced in the forest again. To be safe, we went even deeper this time, when—

"Grrrrowl...!"

A tiger. A tiger absolutely stuffed to the brim with mana, standing six meters tall at that.

Want me to clear it out?

I'd normally leave it to Lucia, but this thing looked ready to shred two or three Academy cadets without breaking a sweat. A genuinely dangerous beast. Had it been lurking out here, undetected, all this time?

"No, I'll handle this one. Could you just keep it from getting close to me?"

Sure.

As soon as I answered, Lucia deployed her mana. The wind magic she'd practiced all day yesterday. It had no impressive name — since we both had terrible naming sense, we'd decided not to bother.

"...Whew."

The formula unfolded, and the beast charged at us.

KUNG!

The ground trembled. Tens of meters closed in a single breath.

Don't come any closer.

KAANG! A barrier wrapped itself around Lucia. Not so much as a scratch appeared on it.

Fire straight ahead. I'll drop the barrier on your timing.

The beast kept up its assault, and then—

"...Now."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Her full-power spell crackled to life.

KWAAAANG!

A wind closer to an explosion surged forward, pulverizing everything in its path.

It's dead.

One-shot kill. The casting time was long, but the spell was flawless. With enough practice, it would be more than viable in real combat.

"Of course it's strong — it's your magic, Master. But I never expected this much power."

Having said that, Lucia paused for a moment.

"...Thank you, Master."

She said it, calm and quiet.

Oh, it's nothing. Let's keep practicing hard until the exam next week.

"Yes."

There was no shortage of things to work on. The casting time was far too long, and so was the output.

Can't be ramming that thing into a person's skull. There'd be sparring matches eventually, after all. The spell needed a way to be dialed down.

Nothing much happened after that. We attended classes diligently, churned through the insane mountain of homework, and practiced magic. The head of the first-year Magic Department even came knocking on our door, begging to see the ancient magic —

"My boy, if you can truly cast ancient magic—"

"Busy."

I shut the door in his face and refused with surgical precision.

And... oh, right. Whenever I ran into the Basic Theory Professor, I made sure to radiate murderous intent.

An extremely fulfilling stretch of days — and then it was Friday. Exam day.

It won't affect the grades all that much, but... making a good impression here would let us claim a favorable position in the events to come. No downside to shining bright.

"Team assignments will be announced in five minutes! All first-year cadets, please gather in the waiting rooms immediately!"

For the record, this exam was a fantasy-style group assignment. Teams of four would enter a random dungeon and clear it as fast as possible.

There were what, forty dungeon types?

I'd tried telling Lucia the list, but gave up — it was pointless. She'd refused outright, saying it amounted to cheating.

I should just warn her about the dangerous ones.

I idled away the time sitting in the waiting room.

"Ah — ah. Team assignments will now begin."

"A screen will be displayed in each waiting room. Please confirm your team, then proceed according to the instructions."

A massive hologram materialized in the center of the waiting room, presumably projected from a magic device mounted on the ceiling. Very sci-fi.

"I'm in Team C."

Everyone else scrambled to check whether their teammates matched up, but Lucia glanced at her own result and promptly lost interest. Whoever she got, she'd hate them equally.

Can't say I'm curious either.

The personnel for this exam were always the same. That incident was surely going to happen this time too, right?

"Cadets of Team A, please step forward."

Some time passed, and the guide led the teams out one by one.

"— Cadets of Team C, please step forward."

And so Lucia's team assembled.

"Huh? Lucia?"

The most eye-catching member was, of course, the golden-haired beauty Chloe. Top and second rank of the year on the same team — was the balancing broken, or what?

"Call me Velli."

"I-I'm Idea! I'm a commoner, so please, feel free to speak casually with me...!"

A red-haired girl with a short crop, and the gloomy black-haired girl. The mana I sensed from both was utterly feeble. A touch above the Blonde Noble Delinquent's level, maybe?

Then again, even that puts them in the Empire's top one percent. But at the Academy, they were merely average. Not even in the same universe as Lucia.

"What does being a commoner matter? Noble or not, none of that counts for anything at the Academy. You can use casual speech with me too."

So said the red-haired girl with a smile.

"A-ah...! Still, formal speech is more comfortable for me, so I'll keep talking like this...!"

For the record: Chloe was from a viscount's family, while Lucia and the red-haired girl were both daughters of counts.

"Slaps on the face, I won't even object to... so if you get angry, it's okay to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hit me, a little."

The gloomy girl was deferential to the point of excess. If I remembered right, she had some kind of trauma. Poor thing.

"Hey now, slapping someone's face is going too far. I'd know — I've been slapped before, and it feels way worse than you'd think?"

The red-haired girl shot a sidelong glance at Lucia as she spoke. She couldn't have been more obvious about needling her — but Lucia hadn't been listening to the conversation in the first place.

Lucia. No need to answer — just keep listening.

I sent her a telepathic message.

Watch out for that red-haired one. I can feel hostility rolling off her.

Nod.

Lucia gave a small, graceful nod of her head.

After that, her team headed for the exam grounds.

"Everyone has their artifacts equipped, correct?"

Once we'd put on the defensive artifacts as accident insurance, the four of us stood before the blue portal.

Here's hoping for good luck.

Ideally, there'd be a gimmick that separated us from the red-haired girl. She had tried to corner Lucia, after all.

"You may enter. Mind your step so you don't fall."

We entered the portal together.

...And this is?

I scanned our surroundings. A narrow cave. Don't tell me the early section is meant to be run solo? No stretch where the party splits — fine by me—

"—Looks like it's just the two of us."

An unpleasant voice rang out. There stood the red-haired girl.

Velli.

Back in her magic school days — middle school, by Earth reckoning — she was the girl who'd tried to corner Lucia and gotten slapped in return. Thirty-one consecutive slaps, no less, which had bred a titanic grudge.

"Be careful in the dungeon's early stages — the supervisors can't see you there. If a monster gets you, or you get trapped somewhere strange, no one will be able to help you."

The moment Velli finished speaking—

"..."

Lucia scanned the area. Due to technical limitations, there were no monitoring devices in the early stretches.

Lucia.

Thirty meters ahead. There's a trap — step wrong, and you'll be sealed away in a separate space until the dungeon is cleared.

...Just, you know. For reference.

Lucia nodded.

"..."

Her gaze shifted to Velli.

"What, you want to shake hands or something?"

...Something ugly was about to happen. I could feel it.