The Whip of Tiamat
Tiamat felt as though her head were about to split. No — it actually was starting to hurt.
"Haa......"
A sigh slipped from between her lips as she surveyed the scene once more. Preparing for the entrance ceremony had already been more than enough to handle. What on earth was this supposed to be?
Even the most obvious details painted a picture that was anything but ordinary. The Hero Aiden lay collapsed with one arm gone, and across from him a pair of siblings sat lost in a world entirely their own.
Left with no other choice, Tiamat turned to Hella. Of everyone present, she was the one most likely to deliver an accurate and objective account of the facts.
"What happened here, Hella?"
"......Well."
Hella hesitated, if only for a moment. She wondered whether it was wise to lay out cause and effect in present company.
After all, the man who had severed the Hero's arm without so much as a flicker of hesitation — no matter how carelessly the words had been spoken — was none other than Duke Havertz himself. Even if she was merely reporting what had happened, the fear that he might fly into a rage came first.
Of course, Isaac was not some rabid dog who would throw a tantrum just because an explanation of the situation happened to contain an insult toward his little sister. But for Hella, who was meeting him face-to-face for the very first time, it was a reasonably cautious suspicion.
In the end, after repeatedly glancing at Isaac — who was blinking at her with a look of mild confusion — Hella sidled cautiously toward Tiamat.
"Well, you see, Principal......"
"......Hmm? Mm, mm-hmm."
She leaned in and whispered carefully into Tiamat's ear. Once the full explanation had been delivered, Tiamat first looked up at her in puzzlement.
"But Hella."
"......Yes, Principal."
"Is this really something you needed to whisper in my ear?"
Her reaction suggested it didn't particularly matter, though she found the whole performance rather awkward. Tiamat scratched her cheek, but Hella nodded with the utmost seriousness.
"Yes. It is necessary."
"......"
"If only to prevent a potential bloodbath...... Ah, and please don't let the Duke know I said that, either......"
"Ah. Well. Yeah, alright."
Tiamat nodded vaguely and gave her persistently clinging subordinate a light shove. It was a little much, after all. And on another level, she couldn't help wondering just how savage a mess they had made for that Hella to go this far.
Tiamat's green gaze slid sideways.
At the center of the ring of freshmen surrounding the scene, utterly oblivious to the stares, a pair of siblings clung together as if they'd been pasted to each other.
Isaac Havertz. And Charlotte Havertz. Tiamat regarded the two of them with an expression one degree more stripped of emotion than before.
She considered briefly how best to broach the subject, but it didn't take long.
"Duke Havertz."
Tiamat swept her bangs back with a slightly fierce motion as she spoke.
"You seem to have put on quite the spectacular show in my absence...... I never imagined I'd see a student's blood spilled on the very day of the entrance ceremony."
"......"
"I understand being angry after your family was insulted. You had every right to be. But I wonder if it hasn't crossed your mind that you stepped a little over the line."
She tapped the ground lightly, and a green wind rippled outward. Not a soul present could follow her movement.
"......"
Isaac, brows drawn together, looked down at the woman who had already closed the distance to just beneath his chin.
"Duke Havertz. As I'm sure you're well aware, this is my academy. And I...... don't particularly enjoy watching students bleed."
Her demeanor had clearly shifted from before. That thoroughly mechanical gaze made him feel as though she were dissecting him from head to toe. Even the form of address had changed...... and there was something he hadn't felt even a hint of during their first meeting—
"Hey. Are you going to answer me?"
"......!"
The pressure of a genuine Transcendent slammed down. Isaac suddenly felt a crushing weight bear down on his shoulders.
Dragon Speech. An absolute authority capable of dominating lesser life-forms with even a single ordinary word. That monstrous power made no exception even when the target was an 8th-Circle Archmage.
Of course, he could resist it to a degree, and if he deliberately stirred his mana he could probably shake it off entirely.
"......"
Isaac decided, at least for now, to submit to Tiamat. He had a rough idea of what she intended.
He snatched Charlotte's wrist with the hand he'd drawn back. This time he held her with genuine force, so she truly couldn't move.
Just moments ago she'd been telling him not to step in for her — and yet the signs that she was about to charge Tiamat had been painfully obvious.
"......Nngh."
Charlotte clearly understood her brother's intent. A faint flush colored her face as she obediently let her shoulders slump.
Perhaps because her behavior had been so contradictory? Either way, the fact that she could regulate her emotions so much better than before was something to be proud of. Isaac scattered that thought just as quickly, a faint, bitter smile on his lips.
This was hardly the time to be feeling proud. Tiamat's eyes slit into long, reptilian lines.
"Isaac Havertz. Did you not hear me?"
"......My apologies, Principal."
There was no other choice. To resolve the situation as cleanly as possible, the Academy itself needed to make a show of taking action. And for a freshman individual's transgression of this nature...... given his status and cultivation, having the Green Dragon personally administer punishment would be the most effective approach. Especially for those who had witnessed the scene firsthand.
In fact, Tiamat had deliberately used a Dragon Speech given physical form. She had crushed Isaac beneath the full presence of the dragonkin. That oppressive aura transmitted clearly to every third party present, which meant the terror that had been directed at Isaac now transferred to her.
The force that pinned him down felt as though it might last forever.
"......Hah."
But the moment Tiamat let out a short breath, it scattered and vanished as if it had never been. In the space left behind by that vanished pressure, only a slack, released tension remained.
The sound of freshmen collapsing to the ground rose from all around — thud, thud — among them those who were particularly young, or whose mental fortitude was unusually frail. Tiamat felt a slight pang of guilt toward them, but there was nothing to be done about it right now.
Maintaining her uniformly icy demeanor, she turned to her subordinate.
"Hella."
"Yes, Principal."
Hella bowed her head with the prompt courtesy of someone who had been waiting for this.
"The Hero...... should be taken to the third-year dormitory immediately. Has Sinclair Lewis returned to Church headquarters? She's still here, isn't she?"
"The Saintess? Yes. She's still on campus."
"Then pick up that arm over there as well. That girl should be able to reattach it somehow."
"Understood."
With that brief reply, Hella approached Aiden at once. She gripped her staff and chanted a few unintelligible words — and both figures were instantly wrapped in a swirl of light and vanished.
Long-range teleportation. Given that spatial magic was her specialty, the formula unfolded with a cleanliness that left nothing to be desired.
While Isaac privately admired the display, Tiamat shot him another icy glance.
"Duke Havertz."
And she said only one thing.
"I'll be watching you personally from now on, so I hope you won't do anything else this foolish."
"......"
There wasn't much Isaac could do in the face of that warning. He simply bowed his head in silence.
"......Ugh, eh? Wait, why me—"
Of course, he also grabbed the crown of his little sister's head and made her bow as well, as a bonus. Charlotte voiced a small complaint, but it didn't last long. After giving the two of them a once-over, Tiamat departed for the grand auditorium.
"No, seriously, why me......?"
Charlotte grumbled as she smoothed her rumpled hair. Isaac simply watched Tiamat's receding back in silence.
This year's entrance ceremony at the Altmain Imperial Academy, despite a single unfortunate incident, managed to draw to a close in a grand atmosphere.
After all, one of the Empire's undisputed candidates for strongest had enrolled as a freshman. And his younger sister, too, came with a terrifying epithet and no shortage of rumors. On top of that, the military standoff had eased thanks to the successful negotiations with the North Sea. As living proof of that, the Princess of the Gorge who had enrolled at the Academy — Arieta Halcyon — was also something of a hot potato for this year's class.
It was a night when not only the freshmen but even the upperclassmen were talking about the clash between the Hero and the Duke that afternoon.
The door burst open.
Isaac, who had been resting comfortably in his assigned dormitory, lifted his head at the sudden noise — and found himself face-to-face with a green-haired woman who had barged in without so much as a knock.
"Ah, Isaac! I'm just asking just in case, but you didn't get angry because I was so harsh earlier, or disappointed in me, or anyth— Hiek?! W-wait, why are you taking your clothes off, hup, huuuh. Huuuh."
"......"
He had just happened to be taking off his shirt to wash up. Tiamat covered her eyes with both hands, yet still peeked at his body through the gaps between her fingers, and Isaac let out a sigh.
"Principal."
"H-huh? Ah, yeah. More importantly, it's just you and me now, so, um, you can call me Tia......"
"Hands against the wall."
"......Huh?"
A water-blue switch materialized above Isaac's hand, and he thought to himself, It seems this green lizard would be better handled the same way I handle Elena.