You All Get Out Too
Croissant, whom I’d spent the last several minutes thoroughly dressing down, rose with a furrowed brow as though the humiliation were physically painful.
“Ugh… When did you ever get power like this?”
“Sorry, but magic is my specialty. Gorlan? Loglan? Even if your house is famous for magic, you’re still just studying under the court mage, aren’t you?”
“That’s…”
He couldn’t refute it. The fact that he was learning from the court mage was simply undeniable.
Anyway, victory was mine, so I shot the professor a quick glance.
“Professor, I won, correct?”
“Well, I have a mountain of questions, but—”
Don’t ask. It’s annoying.
“I refuse. It’s a hassle. Second, it’s a hassle. Third, it’s a hassle. In any case, I won, didn’t I?”
The original owner had left behind far too many irritating loose ends.
“It has to be a trick. That villainess using magic on that level? She must be connected to a demon.”
Our dear Miss Croissant still refused to believe it.
If she was going to be like this, there was no helping it.
“This is exactly why ignorant people should keep their mouths shut.”
“What did you just say?”
The academy’s standards really had fallen. Tsk.
“Logically speaking, a demon sneaks into the imperial capital and contracts with me? I’m neither a politician nor anyone directly tied to the military. On top of that, both the capital’s barrier and the academy’s barrier are active. Would they really break through all of it just to form a contract with me?”
It was a stupid move. Demons were humanoid monsters—humans corrupted by the Demon King or other demons, or creatures that had existed in that form from the beginning. They were stronger than ordinary monsters and occasionally contracted with humans to grant power under certain conditions. Naturally, those conditions were always detrimental to the human side. In short, it was no different from ordering the contracting human to become a traitor to their own country.
The real issue was this: was the original owner in any position worth a demon risking a contract? No. She simply had good blood. A demon wouldn’t take that kind of risk to enter the empire’s capital and contract with her—especially not when she was on the verge of being expelled from her own family.
I had no idea how badly the original owner must have bullied everyone for the students to hate acknowledging her strength this much.
“Th-then it must be mana doping—”
“That’s right! For a villainess!”
“How many enhancement potions would you even need to get power like that?”
Not just Croissant—everyone who held a grudge against the original owner rose up at once. In short, it looked like they all wanted to quit magic after today.
If they used their heads for even a second, they’d realize doping wouldn’t work either.
“Where would a disowned person like me even obtain such drugs? If you’re that suspicious, test me. I have nothing to hide. You saw everything with your own eyes and there’s evidence, so if you still don’t believe me, come at me the same way.”
This was simpler. Crushing everyone who challenged me would spread the original owner’s name. Of course it would start as infamy, but infamy was still better than obscurity. At the very least, the Ashtar family would finally recognize my ability.
“I only used basic spells. But if you can’t break through them, you understand what that means, right?”
They’d all have to drop out of the Magic Engineering Department.
More than ten students charged at me.
The only ones who calmly assessed the situation were a handful of commoner-born students. They simply watched from the back while the nobles, burning with rage, surrounded me.
“Hmph! The Loglan young lady merely let her guard down. All you have to do is cast a guard spell and chant properly!”
Oh, letting her guard down. If that’s what they called letting one’s guard down, then every noble here had a completely useless head.
“That’s right! Do you really think you can take on all of us?”
The students encircled me exactly like the swordsmanship students would. An annihilation-by-encirclement formation? Seeing the swordsmen do something similar, it might have been something they learned in first year. It made sense; this was an era of war against the Demon King.
“Wow. Incredible! The academy students really do have excellent teamwork!”
“Is now the time to be impressed?”
The homeroom professor shook his head at me.
It was the perfect time. The hero’s party had zero teamwork. Well, they did have frenzied teamwork in the hero’s bed with his women, but that was a different story.
The hero and his girls did display some coordination in battle. The problem was that they only knew how to smash everything with raw power, so half the hero party’s support funds were always spent on rebuilding villages or compensating victims. Just remembering it made my head spin.
“Still, this is the first time I’ve seen teamwork like this.”
“Minus you, of course.”
“Professor, life is inherently lonely.”
I had always been alone.
“Oh, that line’s pretty cool.”
“Teamwork is good. It’s a decent tactic for the weak to face the strong. Of course, if you rely on nothing but teamwork forever, your skills will never improve.”
No matter how often the weak banded together, all it strengthened was their camaraderie.
“What are you yapping about? Lightning! Pierce the wicked villainess before me!”
That was noble magic too.
“Fireball!”
Fireball was at least entry-level fire magic.
“Ice Needle!”
Ice Needle was entry-level ice magic.
It was rather disappointing. The fact that the magic standards of humanity’s greatest nation were at this level was probably my fault for having restructured the entire magic system. This was something that would gradually correct itself as the framework I’d established took root.
The real problem was that most of these fools were still clinging to their family’s secret spells.
Proportionate to population, the empire probably had more competent mages overall, but its nobles were far more lacking than the kingdom’s nobles, who had produced self-sacrificing mages when their backs were truly against the wall.
With the Four Heavenly Kings still on the move, the nobles were still obsessing over family magic. In that case, it was time to deliver some justice.
“Oh dear, how scary. Hup!”
Boom!
The Magic Engineering students had linked their spells and hurled them at the Demon King Olivia, but they were no heroes. The ones struck by the blue streak of my Mana Bullet simply crumpled.
“See? That’s why you shouldn’t act so cocky.”
If you didn’t know your place and kept running your mouth, this was what happened.
Behold—an unlucky genius in the flesh.
At this rate, people would simply call the original owner an insufferably talented bitch. That title alone would suffice.
After knocking down a few more, I sensed a presence behind me.
“Then how about this? A mage is supposed to be weak in close quarters! Huh?”
“Have you perhaps heard of a battle mage?”
I wrapped mana around my hand, seized the thug leaping at me from behind by the collar, and slammed him to the ground.
“Guh!”
Thud!Crack!Snap!
“You even swept the entire magic department.”
“Professor. I have won. Your student has finally claimed victory!”
I flashed a bright white smile—like Eastern rice noodles—and gave the professor a thumbs-up.
What? When your student wins, shouldn’t you look happy? Why was his face so twisted?
“No, they’re all my students too.”
“From now on, I’ll be your only student, won’t I?”
“Ugh…”
The professor pressed hard on his temples as if suffering a migraine.
Why? Wouldn’t having just me be better for him? Even if there were ten thousand of these fools, they wouldn’t contribute anything in war. The students from regional academies would be far stronger.
“That girl’s a monster. Sword goes whoosh, then bang! She blocked it all!”
“I understand, so you shut your mouth.”
The professors were trading jokes among themselves.
“Th-this is cheating!”
Now it was cheating. What cheating?
“What is?”
“You’ve been hiding your power until now. That’s against the rules! Have you no shame as the young lady of House Ashtar?”
Oh, not particularly.
“What kind of idiot reveals their full strength to a rival family?”
“!!”
Noble houses competed with one another. There was no reason to show their true abilities. That reasoning alone could explain why the original owner had seemed to hide her power. Besides, this was a wartime era fighting the Demon King’s army. All the human nations, beastmen states, and elven kingdoms that had once warred with each other had now formed an alliance. In a world like this, why would anyone willingly reveal their full strength to others?
“The war against the Demon King’s forces continues even now. To maintain wartime readiness at any moment and to prepare for the deployment of student soldiers, school uniforms have been redesigned to double as military uniforms.”
“Are you lecturing us?”
If it sounded like a lecture, that’s because it was.
“You couldn’t control your temper, got your engagement broken off by the crown prince, and decided that a villainess with a rotten personality whom you wanted to look down on couldn’t possibly be strong. That’s why you challenged me.”
I couldn’t simply let that slide.
At my words the students’ faces twisted with displeasure, but none of them could refute me. Because it wasn’t wrong in the slightest. On top of that, the empire’s nobles possessed far stronger pride than those of other countries. It was the greatest nation of humanity, after all. Refuting me here would be considered shameful, so they simply glared or remained silent.
“Then you really were hiding your power all this time? Why?”
Ah, I needed an excuse.
“If I had wielded this power as the crown prince’s fiancée, what do you think would have happened?”
“Ah… So from the very beginning…”
If the fiancée possessed this much power, her position as crown princess would have been unshakable. And she would have been used by the imperial family on the basis of that strength. Adding that setting was enough.
Olivia had originally been incredibly—absurdly—strong. However, because she refused to be used in a political marriage, she had hidden her power. Wasn’t it perfect? It meant she was arrogant and insolent, yet that powerful.
“Anything beyond that is a trade secret, so shh. Now then, what are you all still doing here? Pack your things and get out immediately. From now on, this classroom will be used solely by me and Miss Plene.”
I jerked my chin toward the exit of the training ground.
“Wait, this is the swordsmanship department’s training hall—”
The swordsmanship professor’s objection wasn’t important right now.
“………”
The noble children’s expressions had grown ominous. Why? Wasn’t this what you chose?
If you wanted to mess with me that badly, you should have been prepared to get messed with in return. Right?
This was the perfect chance to thoroughly shatter their noble pride.
“Hey, wait. Ashtar. Are you really going to do this?”
The homeroom teacher seemed to be trying to mediate at a reasonable point.
It had already fallen this far. What, was there somewhere even lower to go?
“A promise between men.”
“You’re a girl.”
Anyway. You had to overlook trivial things like that if you wanted to be called a professor.
“Let’s overlook that part.”
“No, no matter how you look at it. You’re really going to drive all these kids out?”
There was nothing stopping me. They were the ones who started it first anyway. It had nothing to do with me.
“Yes. Most of you appear to be nobles. You wouldn’t dream of breaking a promise made in the name of nobility, would you?”
Among commoners, very few learned magic directly. The tuition was expensive, so they usually only began studying as adults. That was probably why commoners rarely applied to the magic department.
Ah, so that was why Plene was so dense.
“………”
Once again the nobles couldn’t answer and simply stayed silent.
“Well, since I went easy on you it probably doesn’t even hurt. Surely you can carry your own luggage? Or are you upset? Angry?”
Just stay quiet.
As nobles, they seethed with indignation. Their faces flushed red with fury.
Normally a hero or protagonist would show mercy. Well, the hero bastard I knew wouldn’t have, but anyway. If it were the protagonist, they might have let it go out of kindness.
“If you’re mad, you should have won.”
With only those words, I used magic to hurl the deranged fools straight outside.