The Prodigy of the Mana Gun
Clap, clap, clap. Professor Galledo applauded Olivia’s dazzling display of archery.
“Hmm, remarkable! Olivia.”
“Isn’t it?”
Yes, yes. It was better to praise Olivia even more. No one disliked receiving compliments. Though it would have felt nicer if the praise was for magic.
“With skill like that, could you become a Divine Archer someday?”
“Huh? I’m going to become a Grand Mage, though?”
This time, I would definitely earn the title of Grand Mage. No—I needed to be called a Great Sage at the very least.
“Don’t joke. From what I’ve seen, you’ve only trained with mana bullets. You should take up the bow. This is your chance to become the Empire’s last Divine Archer.”
“No, that’s a bit much.”
Did he just say I only trained mana bullets? That wasn’t true at all.
“Now I understand why you all hated Olivia. But look at her. Olivia has reached a realm where she creates arrows herself using her enormous mana circuits after endless effort. Something even I cannot do—Olivia has accomplished it. She possesses outstanding talent and puts in the work. Yes. She can truly be called a hardworking genius.”
“No. If you say things like that about me…”
Those bastards would harass me endlessly. Just look at their faces—they were all seething with jealousy. The losers’ expressions were, well, no need to spell it out. Twisted with resentment. They must be thinking, Why am I worse than that bitch?
Galledo placed a hand on my shoulder and spoke with pride.
“You’re allowed a little arrogance. Noble young ladies are so busy with etiquette and refinement that they rarely have time for archery, yet you’ve reached the divine realm.”
If he called it the divine realm, the bow-obsessed students in the archery department would lose their minds.
“No, that’s a bit much.”
“Everyone, watch and learn from Olivia. I have business with the dean, so practice among yourselves until I return.”
With those words, Galledo left the archery range.
Fucking hell, is it because the professor used to be an adventurer? He’s so damn sloppy.
I glanced sideways. Shit. Those bastards were glaring at me.
Wait—maybe this was actually a good situation?
“Olivia Lapa Ashtar.”
The red-haired bastard called my name and strode over.
“What?”
“I take back what I said earlier. Let’s duel.”
“Oh?”
Why the sudden challenge? This changed things. I didn’t care if they pouted and badmouthed me behind my back.
“But there’s a condition. Not with bows. We’ll use the new weapon.”
Oh, the new weapon?
“By new weapon, you mean…”
Hmm. I had a pretty good idea what he was talking about.
“The mana gun.”
“Oh, mana guns. I know them quite well.”
The mana gun had been developed to replace the bow. To hunt monsters, you needed attacks infused with mana. Since ancient times, people had coated swords, spears, and arrows with mana to take them down. But bows were terribly inefficient. Elves had vast amounts of mana, and the Great Forest was their domain, so they crafted special bows that made hunting monsters easy. Human nations like the Kingdom or the Empire, however, had to draw ordinary bows with arrows slathered in mana.
In human-versus-human wars, plain arrows sufficed. But once the war against the Demon King escalated, the Empire desperately needed new weapons. What they created was a firearm—a miniaturized version of the old gunpowder cannons. It allowed them to train elite soldiers with far less practice than bows required, but another problem arose. While guns could kill monsters, their firepower was nothing like a cannon’s, leading to massive ammunition waste.
So the imperial court mages—who regarded me as a “magic scholar”—and the imperial arsenal asked for my help. I proposed the mana gun. The Kingdom was far smaller than the Empire and had been pummeled by the Demon King’s forces for years, leaving them no room to develop new weapons. The Empire, however, had money to burn. In the end, they succeeded in producing and test-firing the mana gun. I only saw things up to that point. After that, the war grew fiercer, and I had to leave the Empire.
“Anyway, let’s settle this. What should the bet be?”
“Whoever lands more rounds in the target wins.”
Oh, an interesting idea. The problem was, I could already see the cheat they had prepared. They had clearly practiced with the guns beforehand. Otherwise, there was no way they would confidently challenge Olivia—famous for her enormous mana circuits—with a weapon they were supposedly using for the first time. The feel of shooting a bow and a gun were completely different, after all.
“Can I practice a little first?”
“Mm. Go ahead.”
The red-haired man handed me the mana gun. It was quite long and would sit perfectly against the shoulder. I raised it.
Bang!
“Oh. So this is how it works.”
It was better than the first gunpowder models. The mechanism loaded a mana bullet, shaped it into a projectile, and fired. Light and practical. At first I would miss, but who was I? I was Noah, the Divine Archer.
Bang! Bang bang! Baaang!
Oh, this was too light. The actual weight felt heavier than expected, and my first few shots weren’t properly aimed. The sensation was different from the first time I had ever fired a gun. It was definitely distinct from ordinary ammunition. A little practice would fix that.
“As expected. Does she really think she can master it in one try?”
“Hmph. No matter how much she practices…”
They were laughing at me. I’d twist those faces soon enough.
After fiddling with the grip, I grew accustomed to the weight.
Bang bang bang!
Oh, not bad at all. In an instant, three shots struck the exact center of the target. The target plates were enchanted to repair themselves instantly even after taking bullets or arrows.
I considered practicing more, but anything beyond this would probably make the kids give up.
“Fucking easy. The feel of the bow never really leaves you. Shall we begin? Time to settle the bet, yes?”
I spun the mana gun around my finger with a relaxed smile. The red-haired leader and the others who had handled the weapons first looked visibly shaken.
“What? Are you going to back out now with some pathetic excuse?”
“Who said anything about backing out? If I lose, I’ll drop out of the academy—and every student you’ve expelled so far will be allowed to return to their original departments.”
Hmm. I hadn’t expected that kind of condition. As expected, I had no choice but to twist their faces again.
“Watch your words. It wasn’t expulsion. They left the department according to the loser’s terms. Fine. I’ll raise the stakes too. All of you will drop out.”
“Hah, how arrogant.”
Who was the arrogant one here? Their overconfident attitudes had been suspicious, so I had poked them a little.
“Do you think I wouldn’t know? You military families received special treatment and learned the weapon first. Do you think that’s something to brag about? Then why not yield equivalent points to the commoner late-starters? That wouldn’t be fair, would it? Attelina Academy’s founding principle is equality, yet this is equality? What a load of bullshit.”
Several of them averted their eyes at my words. Just as I thought. They had practiced in advance. The families who had contributed development funds to the arsenal received prototypes. They had trained with them first.
Using that prior practice, they had challenged Olivia, who knew nothing about the guns.
“Fine. We’ll do it that way.”
“And since it’s annoying to go one by one, let’s all shoot together.”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The noble sons who had already practiced with the mana guns each landed solid hits on their targets. Ten people were participating in the bet. It meant quite a few noble houses had invested heavily in the new weapon’s development—at least ten family heads. And those ten heads had given the weapons to their children for training.
No matter how large one’s mana vessel was, using a mana gun had its difficulties. If you couldn’t form the bullet, it was meaningless. This could be considered a type of mana bullet, but it was different from the usual kind. You had to channel precisely the right amount of mana in a size that fit the gun’s chamber. Only then would the gun shape it into a bullet inside, and pulling the trigger would launch it.
That was why—
Bang bang bang!
My gun never stopped pouring out bullets.
“Wait, is she still shooting?”
“Is this really her first time?”
I kept firing until the others were all exhausted, then fired once more for good measure before stopping. Their fatigue was obvious. I remained perfectly composed.
“Did you all think I was just an ordinary young lady who sits around drinking tea, chatting about which shop makes the best dresses, which tailor is famous, or which cosmetics to use?”
Absolutely not. This Olivia—who possessed every memory and the soul of Noah—would oppress those same nobles.
“What the—every single shot is dead center?”
“Should I have missed one on purpose?”
The difference in skill was overwhelming. The others had tired quickly, and countless shots had gone wide of the center. I had gone too far with the massacre. This was definitely my mistake.
“Th-this is impossible! It’s a scam! How could you—!”
The nameless red-haired bastard threw his gun and shouted at me in rage. Unable to accept his own inadequacy, he branded me a cheater.
“What, you can’t accept defeat? Well, after secretly practicing the new weapon first and still losing to me, I suppose it must feel unfair.”
“What the hell did you do?!”
He grabbed my collar, so I slapped his hand away with force and shrugged.
“This is the difference in talent. Do you understand now?”
I whispered softly, almost tenderly.
“The reason I’ve been so arrogant until now.”
With light, graceful steps, I approached the defeated losers and continued my taunt.
“I’m strong enough to afford arrogance. You, however, are not. It’s quite amusing how you cannot even gauge your opponent’s strength.”
Honestly, it wasn’t a lie. Just because Olivia was a villainess didn’t mean the nobles were virtuous.
“No, this can’t be. Logically, you’re just—”
“A villainess who was abandoned in a broken engagement. A woman who rides on the Ashtar family’s coattails, looks down on every other house, and thinks she’s the greatest. That’s how you’ve always seen me, right?”
That was exactly why you lost. Even if you had been wary of me, you had no chance of victory. You cannot overcome a difference in talent.
“But what can we do about it? You were the ones abandoned by such a woman. It is not that the strong survive—it is that the survivor becomes the strong. You’ve been arrogant this whole time, thinking you could win based on your shallow impression of me. Ah! That’s right—you suggested using the gun as insurance, didn’t you?”
“!!”
How utterly petty. This fight had been disadvantageous to me from the very beginning, yet these idiots had proudly lost it anyway.
“Now, all of you will drop out.”
“Hey, isn’t this going too far? You took a joke that seriously?”
One of the students tried to laugh it off as a joke. It had never been a joke. Sorry, but I had no intention of showing mercy. This body was the arrogant genius Olivia.
“Too far? If I had lost, you people would have mocked me, despised me, and forced me to leave the academy. Yet now your mouths are running so freely.”
“Professor! Please stop Olivia!”
Some students clung to Galledo, who had been watching with a bored expression.
I had to make sure he couldn’t help them.
“Professor, they made a bet with me involving their withdrawal from the academy. A promise made with their family names on the line. Yet they are pathetically refusing to honor it. How are they any different from monsters who beg for their lives the moment they’re cornered?”
“Hmm. You have no intention of forgiving them?”
Absolutely none. Why should I forgive them for anyone’s sake? They hadn’t reflected even slightly, so I had zero reason to let them off.
“I’ll consider it if they beg for forgiveness.”
Look at them—glaring at me with those eyes. If they apologized and licked the soles of my shoes, I might specially pardon them. That was what you called amnesty. The problem was that these people seemed incapable of accepting defeat at the hands of the arrogant genius.
“I understand. However, expelling a large group of nobles at once exceeds my authority, and a grace period will be necessary.”
“Well, I can wait that much.”
They would probably find a way to avoid actually dropping out. But at least I had created a new Olivia based on the foundation of the villainess Olivia. Yes. This was enough.