Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: 028. Leo's Lie - (2)
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Otilie had just heard some shocking information.
"So... what you're saying, Father... is that someone is trying to exploit the conflict between the two towers?"
"Exactly."
It wasn't hard to understand.
Otilie belonged to the Magic Department herself.
No matter how much she kept to herself in the department, she knew full well from daily life that the relationship between the two towers was at its worst.
"In two weeks, on the day the end-of-month evaluations are announced, the incident will occur."
Priest Leo's story went like this.
The Ivory Tower and the Ashen Tower.
The two towers were bitter enemies. Moreover, ever since second-year cadet Izolde from the Ashen Tower took top spot in the department last year, the sense of inferiority held by the Ivory Tower had only grown stronger.
In that situation, the freshman top spot was now at risk of going to the Ashen Tower this year as well.
Someone had slipped into the increasingly hostile atmosphere of the Ivory Tower and was fanning the flames of conflict between the two towers.
"...So, you're saying there's a bad apple hiding in the Ivory Tower?"
"Yes. I don't know who it is. But that person will make their move on the day the end-of-month evaluations are announced in two weeks."
"..."
"At that time, Sister, I hope you'll deploy your puppets to protect the Magic Department cadets and minimize the damage as much as possible."
It was hard to believe.
But since it was Priest Leo saying it, she couldn't help but believe.
Still, there was one thing she was curious about.
'Father... how do you know all this?'
It was a perfectly reasonable question.
Leo's story was far too specific.
Detailed to the point where it seemed like he'd seen the future.
However, Otilie didn't voice the question.
"This is something only you can do, Sister."
Because Leo had placed a firm hand on her shoulder and said this.
"Miss Otilie, you are our only hope."
"Ah..."
Hope.
The moment she heard that word, it was as if someone had wound the spring in a puppet— a thrilling current surged through Otilie's body.
"...Yes."
She wouldn't disappoint him.
This time, she would create the perfect puppet.
Otilie made that vow.
One week later.
Magic Department end-of-month evaluation.
The Ivory Tower's evaluation proceeded under a solemn atmosphere.
"Next, Rosenkranz."
"Yes."
Whoosh.
Ivory Tower Chief Instructor Gregor Luden Dorp watched the cadets' magic with the eyes of a hawk.
Not bad.
Better than last year.
But still lacking. They were a step behind the Ashen Tower freshmen. Especially this promising newcomer Rosenkranz—her magic was powerful in terms of firepower, but control was lacking.
Tsk.
Gregor clicked his tongue.
'We must protect the pride of purebloods.'
If they lost the top spot to the Ashen Tower again this year, he wouldn't be able to show his face.
Especially thinking of that smug Ashen Tower professor needling him—it made his blood boil.
"Hoo..."
Gregor sighed and called the next name on the list.
"Next, Ihen Dorp."
No need to watch any further.
Third-rate at best.
A disgrace to purebloods.
If she brought that useless puppet again this time, he planned to ensure she never set foot in Erebus again.
Clank.
"...Hah."
Gregor let out a hollow laugh.
It wasn't even surprising anymore.
"Ihen Dorp, you've brought the puppet again this time."
"Yeah."
Otilie von Ihen Dorp had brought a puppet.
He had shattered it so badly last time that it couldn't even be repaired, yet she'd made a new one in the meantime.
This puppet was even larger than the previous one. For some reason, it had golden hair, a pitch-black body, and was even dressed in a comically crude priest's robe.
"...You just won't listen."
Arrogant girl.
Without her family's name, she never would have gotten into Erebus—a phony not even worthy of being called a mage.
He wanted to slap that pretty face a few times, but this was the Royal Academy, not the Mage Guild he belonged to. He couldn't lay a hand on a student, not with his reputation to consider.
Still, he had to save some face.
"...I warned you. If you brought the puppet again, I'd recommend expulsion. Did you not hear me?"
"I heard."
"Then why bring this...?"
"Try breaking it."
Otilie blurted out.
The surroundings fell silent.
Even the upperclassmen observing the evaluation were taken aback.
"Try breaking it."
"...What did you say?"
Gregor scowled.
Otilie's eyes were coldly impassive, dark circles stretching down under them.
In that eerie appearance, as he hesitated for a moment, Otilie continued.
"Like last time. Just break it."
"...What are you saying right now?"
"One minute."
Otilie raised a slender index finger.
"If you can't destroy this puppet in one minute, let me pass without failing."
"..."
"Don't think you can?"
Her final words were blatant provocation.
This girl was trying to play tricks on him, her own chief instructor.
Hmph.
Gregor snorted.
She was clearly full of herself after luckily blocking one attack last time.
Gregor was a pureblood mage, head of House Luden Dorp, specialists in gravity magic. He could crush a fallen magic family's toy in an instant.
"Ridiculous. No one's ever dared propose a deal to me during an end-of-month evaluation. Fine, I'll accept."
Gregor raised his staff.
Last time, his rage had caused him to accidentally damage part of the magic tower.
Not this time.
He would control his power carefully...
——Kaboom.
A deafening roar echoed as thick dust clouds enveloped the area.
Hmph.
He had compressed destructive force into a single point. That should pulverize even a tin can like that in one hit.
However, as the dust cleared, everyone gasped in shock.
"...Hm?"
The puppet stood there unscathed.
What in the world?
The moment Gregor saw the mana circuits exposed on the puppet's body, he scowled.
Implanting mana circuits into an inanimate object—whatever the method, it was blasphemous.
"...Same old trick."
"It's not a trick. It's magic."
"Magic isn't some filthy contraption like this!"
Bam!
A high-density gravity field enveloped the puppet.
Yet the puppet remained intact this time too.
At that point, even Gregor sensed something off. A mere puppet's mana circuits shouldn't withstand his gravity magic.
And yet...
"...What."
It was no mere 'puppet'—the mana density swirling around it was extraordinary.
Advanced magic.
The highest-tier defensive incantation that even graduating cadets couldn't use.
No, it wasn't just inscribed.
It had been cast.
By that puppet.
"...How in the..."
Gregor was speechless.
He knew that her family, House Ihen Dorp, passed down manipulation-type unique magic.
But that only allowed free control of puppets.
Implementing and deploying advanced magic like this was an entirely different realm.
In his decades as a mage, Gregor had never seen such a structure.
Embedding mana circuits in a non-living object.
Those circuits surpassing mid-tier mages.
Manifesting highest-tier magic through external control.
None of it made sense.
"..."
Flustered, Gregor froze with his staff raised.
"One minute's up."
"..."
"I win. So, no failing grade, right?"
Gregor was at a loss for words.
He couldn't back out after boasting in front of everyone.
More than that, his pride was in tatters. Despite going all out, he couldn't destroy a toy made by a mere first-year—not even a senior.
"Then I'll be going."
Otilie, who had just pulled off this absurd miracle, dragged the puppet's arm with a grunt and left. Unlike last time, she didn't smirk mockingly. She seemed utterly disinterested in the evaluation itself.
Creeak. The door closed as Otilie exited the hall.
Gregor couldn't bring himself to stop her.
"..."
His hand gripping the staff trembled with fury.
A heavy silence lingered for a while...
"Um, Instructor? Next evaluation...?"
"Shut your mouth!"
"Eek."
The next cadet after Otilie flinched.
Act 2 was now a week away.
He had Otilie von Ihen Dorp as insurance, but even that was just buying time.
It was hard to deny that the original plot had been completely derailed.
Izolde was recovering, and Elise was under house arrest.
Yet one card remained in his hand.
"Over the past week, seventeen people challenged me to rank matches. They probably thought they could win since I can't use my right arm. Of course, I beat them all. Hehe."
In the confessional, the future sword saint was proudly boasting about breaking the legs of fellow department cadets.
Sophia Aquilova.
She couldn't use her right arm, but even with her left alone, she stood at the pinnacle of the Knight Department.
She had shone in Act 1, so she should be reliable for Act 2 as well.
"Lately, no one's sparring with me in swordsmanship class. It's so boring. Up until last week, the instructor would spar with me, but not even that this week."
"...Well, yeah."
There was no in-between with her.
What worried him most about Sophia was this brawler temperament.
She hadn't been like this in the original.
This was all his karma, no doubt.
He wanted to tell her to tone it down, but worried it might hurt her feelings, so he held his tongue.
From experience, if he told her not to do something, she'd misunderstand and do it more.
He had no hobby of pouring oil on a blazing fire.
Anyway.
"Sister."
"Yes?"
"Are you free next Sunday evening, by any chance?"
There was a long pause from the other side of the partition.
Then a hesitant voice emerged.
"...Y-Yes... I-I'm free..."
"Perfect. Can we meet at the academy's east gate that day?"
"...You and me, Father?"
"Yes."
"Just the two of us?"
"...Probably."
Otilie might join, but he'd see how things played out then.
'If I can prevent the incident before it happens, that'd be ideal.'
The black curtain intervening in Act 2 exploited the Magic Department's conflicts to hatch a scheme.
The moment the Ashen Tower freshman top spot was confirmed, they approached an elite Ivory Tower student consumed by inferiority and made them use forbidden dark arts.
That was the taboo incantation summoning the otherworldly predator, known as the Predator.
Put differently, catching the black curtain before the Predator summon could prevent Act 2 entirely.
Sophia had a good nose—if something fishy was afoot, she might sniff it out.
It was an attempt born of that slim hope.
"...*gulp.*"
But the reaction opposite him was unusual.
A gulping sound came, followed by...
Crash.
The chair toppled over.
Then Sophia pressed her face right up to the partition and said,
"Th-That... what does it mean?"
"Mean?"
"You and me... meeting alone..."
Sophia seemed to be misunderstanding in a trivial way.
"Hm..."
Well, he couldn't exactly say he was off to stop a future disaster.
"Just a simple outing."
"...Gasp."
He decided to leave it at that for now.