Chapter 40
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: An Elf's Pride
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Genius.
A word commonly used to describe someone with exceptional talent in a particular field.
Until just a month ago, the title "Genius of Lightning Magic" was used among those in the know to refer to a young elf named Rireu.
A prodigy who had reached the 4th Circle at the tender age of nineteen, her fame had been widespread since she was very young.
Under the tutelage of an outstanding master named Alter Haindel, she honed and trained her fundamentals daily, and her passion was so strong that she would stay up all night to immerse herself in her studies.
Therefore, it was considered a foregone conclusion that she would soon become a high-ranking mage of the 7th Circle or higher.
The elders of the Lightning School, who had clamored that a 9th Circle lightning mage would appear for the first time in 200 years, flashed through Rireu’s mind.
*‘Thinking back on it now, it’s a ridiculous story.’*
Perhaps it was due to her racial traits, but in the history of magic, only three elven mages had ever reached the 9th Circle.
Two from the School of Air, and one from the School of Fire.
Until she was led by her master’s hand to meet the elders of the school’s exchange council for the first time, Rireu had truly believed she was a mage on the same level as those three geniuses of history.
But that arrogance was shattered the moment she met and spoke with the elders of the Lightning School exchange council.
Her uniquely elven senses had detected the anxiety hidden beneath the old men’s fuss.
*‘…To think, an elf born with such talent.’*
*‘If she were human, she might have genuinely aimed for the 9th Circle.’*
*‘If only that talent had been given to another child.’*
They looked at Rireu as if she were a thief who had stolen someone else’s talent.
The absolute pinnacle.
The 9th Circle, the apex of magic.
A genius among geniuses, said to appear only a few times a century.
Such distinguished figures were always human.
For some unknown reason, no matter how talented elven mages were, their growth always halted at the 8th Circle.
Some scholars explained it simply as ‘human creativity is superior,’ while others suggested it was because ‘humans receive a little more of the spirits’ love.’
However, none of these theories were accepted as fact.
No matter what theory was proposed, it failed to explain everything.
It was a fact known to all, without need for explanation, that elves, who live for thousands of years, would learn far more and experience a much wider variety of things than humans, whose lifespans barely exceed a hundred years.
And for a mage, the most important things are accumulating knowledge and deep thought.
For such mages, what resource could possibly be more precious than ‘time’?
Yet, in the long history of the elves, only three mages had ever reached the 9th Circle. And even those figures were now considered fictional by modern scholars.
It was a bizarre phenomenon that could only be described as an inherent limitation. A strange curse whose cause could not be identified.
*‘…What, so in the end, there’s no reason an elf can’t reach the 9th Circle.’*
The reason why elves couldn’t reach the 9th Circle was not precisely defined in any book in the world.
*‘If there’s no reason, why does everyone think it’s impossible?’*
Fools.
Rireu cursed the old men who had looked at her with pity in her heart.
So what if there were countless cases of promising prospects failing to reach the 9th Circle?
Past failures are no guarantee of future failure.
To conclude that she, too, would fail simply because no one had succeeded before was nothing more than the mindset of a loser.
Rireu devoted herself to training with fierce determination.
There was no reason anywhere in the world why she couldn’t reach the 9th Circle, and she wanted to crush the pride of the old men from the Lightning School who looked at her with pity just because she was an elf.
From that day on, she completely cut off all contact with her fellow apprentices at the magic tower. She no longer needed friends or colleagues in her life.
…This all happened when Rireu was just six years old.
Focusing every day solely on training and study, she reached the rank of a 4th Circle mage at the youngest age in elven history.
However, before she could even pop the champagne to celebrate her great achievement, news of another genius pierced her ears.
‘The appearance of a genius lightning mage, around sixteen or seventeen, who fought on par with the Overlord.’
‘A genius with 4th Circle-level mana despite never having studied properly.’
‘The youngest to be named in the Sword Saint’s party, a rising star who will save the entire continent.’
The race of that genius was, of course, human.
A sense of inferiority began to mess with her head.
Hearing that some human had effortlessly obtained the achievements she had worked herself to death for, without a moment’s rest, made her stomach churn.
The desperate difference in talent made her seethe, and all the time she had spent immersed in study and training felt like complete garbage.
Rireu arbitrarily guessed that the subject of the rumors must be an insufferable human, an arrogant person who took everything they had for granted.
…No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say she hoped that was the case.
Because if a human born with talent far greater than her own didn’t have at least that much of a flaw, she felt she wouldn’t be able to bear it.
*‘He must be a pathetic human.’*
She boarded a carriage with her master to see the face of this so-called genius.
*‘…He’ll have a wretched face. I’m sure of it.’*
Honestly, she was afraid. Afraid that her hopes would be dashed, and that she, who had charged forward for over a decade, would completely break down.
…And her hopes were spectacularly shattered.
“My name is Bin.”
She could tell at a glance that the boy before her was a kind person. Her uniquely keen elven senses told her so.
His straightforward eyes that looked right at her, his calm and warm voice, even the small gestures of his hands and feet that showed his consideration.
“…”
But there was no time for the world of the ‘Genius Mage of the Lightning School’ to crumble.
The boy from the rumors gladly took her hand, and when he heard she was an elf, his face lit up with a bright smile as if he were thrilled.
It was a first for her.
When ordinary humans saw her pointed ears, no matter how kindly she spoke, most of them would just give her a look that said ‘arrogant race.’
The elders of the school would look at her with pity, as if her pointed ears were some kind of stigma.
And yet, this boy looked at her pointed ears and was genuinely delighted… no, happy.
Her uniquely elven powers of observation told her that his smile was not fake.
The boy was not disappointed by the fact that Rireu was an elven mage.
On the contrary, he seemed even happier because she was an elven mage.
It didn’t matter why the boy had greeted her so brightly.
For she had met, for the first time besides her master Alter, someone who was not disappointed by the fact that she was an elven mage.
…No, perhaps he was the first person, even including Alter, to be happy about her being an elf.
The boy from the rumors was completely different from what she had hoped.
Contrary to Rireu’s wishes, the boy was a thoughtful person who didn’t judge others through the lens of ‘race.’ He was polite, and he gave her a genuine, bright smile… He was that kind of person.
The boy was even unhesitant to help her. When she had trouble making eye contact because she found it difficult to deal with people, he told her that ‘it’s polite to make eye contact when talking,’ and he had casually pushed her back when she was hesitating, unable to apologize.
Despite possessing a talent feared by the entire Mazoku army, the boy was far from arrogant; he was burdened by being called the ‘genius who will save humanity.’ He didn’t show it, but Rireu could see the worry in his eyes.
He seemed to feel the immense weight of the burden on his shoulders every single day.
“…Still, I got a precise look at its position!”
The reason Rireu didn’t collapse in tears as she had on the day she was nearly killed by the Tauros’s spear, even after feeling the poison brush against her robe, was very simple.
She didn’t want to be a burden to someone as amazing as the boy.
She didn’t want to be left behind. It might be an audacious wish, but if possible, she wanted to walk alongside him as far as she could. And if the opportunity arose, she wanted to help share even a small part of the great burden he carried on his back.
That desire was powerful enough to far surpass the fear of death.
To her, the future version of herself, sitting here and only being able to watch the boy’s back, was far more terrifying than any fear of death.
The thought that she might one day be so far away that she couldn’t even applaud, let alone share in the glory of the boy who would save the world, was too horrifying.
That was why Rireu’s legs didn't tremble.
How could a mage who couldn’t even do her part in a place like this ever reach the 9th Circle, and how could she protect the side of the rising star who would save the world?
“Lightning Strike.”
The bolt of lightning that shot from her staff drew a straight, true line, just like her resolve, and struck the floor.
A grotesque mass of flesh with countless legs, as if woven from dozens of spiders, shot a venomous glare at her, but her heart did not waver.
Immediately, the electricity that struck the floor began to spread out in all directions. It traveled up the walls, met at the ceiling, and caused a massive explosion.
In a brief moment, less than half a second.
An enormous amount of lightning rained down from above the massive, grotesque flesh monster.
The wooden arrows stuck in the flesh monster were the first to turn to ash, and soon the grotesque creature's skin began to peel away. Before long, its hideous body, drenched in poison, started turning to cinders.
The electricity gathered on the ceiling unleashed a torrent of lightning of the same magnitude on another mutant hiding in the corner of the room.
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
The successive massive explosions shook the surroundings.
When lightning strikes, the surrounding temperature can skyrocket to 30,000 degrees Celsius. The rapidly heated air expands at an incredible speed, and this expansion sends shockwaves through the area, creating a deafening roar.
It was a natural phenomenon commonly known as thunder, but the lightning Rireu had summoned was not followed by it.
“…Isolation.”
That was because Rireu had immediately swung her staff once more into the room just as the thunder was about to roar.
A faint mana flowed from its tip and wrapped around the walls of the room, and soon a faint barrier completely separated the room from the party.
Isolation.
It was a type of area-control magic that surrounded a space with walls of a highly conductive material, doubling the power of any lightning magic used within that area.
Rireu had trapped the entire room to prevent any thunder from leaking out.
The lightning that shot out from the magnetic field Rireu created struck the walls formed by the ‘Isolation’ spell and ricocheted off.
The flesh monster, its entire body already burning from the deflected lightning, was once again engulfed in a pure white flash.
Irregular flashes of light continued to erupt inside the room, but strangely, neither the smell of burning flesh nor the loud thunder escaped.
“…This is 4th Circle?”
Rex couldn’t help but let out a gasp of admiration at the magic, which was incomparable to any 4th Circle mage he had ever seen.
The power of ‘Lightning Strike,’ which far surpassed the ordinary level, was incredible. The fact that Rireu had quietly whispered the ‘incantation’ to increase its power played a part, but it was also thanks to her innate talent for ‘Lightning Strike.’
“…Your spell-chaining is masterful.”
But what captivated the white-haired boy wasn't the 'Lightning Strike.' It was the 'Isolation' spell that followed immediately after.
For the spell ‘Lightning Strike’ to perform at its best indoors, it had to go through two processes.
The first was the process of forming an artificial thundercloud above the enemy’s head, and the second was the process of dropping lightning from that artificial thundercloud to the floor.
Rireu had inserted a completely new spell, ‘Isolation,’ between the first and second processes.
She had prevented the sound of thunder from echoing everywhere and attracting the attention of monsters, while simultaneously doubling the destructive power of the already powerful ‘Lightning Strike.’
“Did you plan that in advance?”
“Huh? Oh, no, I just… after using Lightning Strike, I suddenly remembered I shouldn’t make a loud noise…”
“…You’re a genius.”
Spell-chaining, a rare technique shown only by a few users with outstanding control, famous enough to make a name for themselves in the community, and she had come up with it on the spot without even thinking about it beforehand.
The boy couldn’t help but say that as he looked at Rireu.
But Rireu couldn’t even manage a bitter laugh upon hearing the boy’s quiet words.
“…Hearing that from you means nothing, Bin.”
Rireu pouted and silently cursed the white-haired boy in her mind, calling him a ‘hypocrite.’
“Huh? Did I do something wrong?”
The white-haired boy looked at Rireu with an aggrieved expression, but she didn’t turn her face to him.
She just quietly buried her face in her robe.