Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: The Return of the Archmage (4)
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“Could you tell me a bit more about the situation?”
“The incident happened a week ago. The escapee is a man named Lucas, and before he was caught, he was the vice-captain of the Parrot Thieves. The captain is currently on the wanted list.”
“Besides the escapee, do you know anything about the appearance of the person who attacked Inferno?”
“Hmm, let’s see. I’ve only heard rumors. They said he was an old man with stark white hair. I think he had two followers with him. I heard he used dark magic to break the prisoners out. What was it called again? Something of Darkness…”
“The Power of Darkness?”
“Yes, that’s it! You really are a magic academy instructor.”
Reina praised him, but Thadd wasn’t listening. Dark magic. And an old man who could cast the Power of Darkness, an advanced technique, had attacked Inferno.
‘Could it be?’
Thadd’s head shot up.
“My apologies. I must be going.”
“What? Oh, yes.”
His adherence to courtesy until the very end was almost instinctual. Thadd’s eyes no longer saw the party hall or the beautiful woman before him.
‘Damn it! Of all the times for me to be away on business!’
The prison break had been a week ago. If they had traveled from Bashka without rest, they would have had more than enough time to reach Creas.
“A carriage! A carriage!”
Leaving the mansion, Thadd climbed into the first carriage he saw in the long line of waiting vehicles. He opened the window to the coachman’s seat and shouted.
“To Creas! As fast as you can!”
“S-Sir, all the carriages here are reserved. I can’t take anyone who isn’t on the list…”
The carriage was meant for a high-ranking official, so it was unlikely any ordinary sum would sway the coachman.
Thadd rummaged through his pockets and pulled out all the money he had.
“Here! Take it. Are you going or not?”
The coachman, after counting the gold coins scattered on the box seat, immediately changed his expression and prepared to depart.
“I’ll get you there swiftly, sir. Will you be traveling through the night?”
“No sleep, no rest! Just go as fast as you can!”
The crisp sound of horse hooves clattered through the night air.
“Damn it! I can’t be too late.”
Thadd leaned back against the seat and pressed a hand to his forehead. He wanted to use Spatial Transfer to leap there, but attempting it repeatedly in a foreign land without knowing the coordinates or environment would take more than ten lives to survive.
The fact that there was nothing he could do paradoxically helped him regain his composure. Once he had a grasp of the situation, a question arose.
What on earth was his scheme for reappearing in the world now?
Thadd had never met him, nor had he ever seen his face. But the terrible connection he’d heard about from Alpheas was vivid in his memory.
“Viltor Arcane…”
Thadd’s eyes, staring straight ahead, blazed with fire.
* * *
Past four in the morning, Canis and his group entered the training grounds on the mountainside of Alpheas Magic Academy.
Though he’d never attended a magic academy, as a disciple of an Archmage, he could tell the facilities were top-of-the-line.
A flippant voice broke the silence.
“Whew, they built this place nice. Practically paved it with gold coins. I wonder how much the land costs?”
Canis scowled and turned his head. The B-rank wanted criminal, Lucas, had a pair of swords engraved with parrots slung over his shoulder.
“Keep it down. The guards might be on patrol.”
“What’s the worry? We can just cut them down. Bury them.”
Canis felt even more disgusted. He was accompanying this man under his master’s orders, but there wasn't a single thing he liked about him.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. You were hired by us. If you jeopardize the mission, I won’t let you off the hook first.”
“Hoo, so scary. Kids these days have it good. Get a great master and they can talk back to their elders.”
Lucas plopped down on the training ground. Since he wasn't disrupting the mission any further, Canis suppressed his anger.
‘The most important thing is Master’s revenge. I have no choice but to endure him, even if I don’t like it.’
Lucas yawned and asked.
“Anyway, why are we waiting here? We have to go down to the academy eventually, don’t we?”
Arin, her face filled with disgust, replied.
“Master is going to cast a spell. It’s a wide-area spell, so we won’t be safe if we’re within its range. If you’re feeling confident, you can go down first, though.”
Lucas shrugged. To be honest, he wanted to avoid Arcane’s magic at all costs.
“Heh heh, don’t get so angry, little missy. It’ll make your cute face look ugly.”
“Hmph, it’s none of your business what I look like.”
“Don’t be like that. How about you and I have a little romance? I can teach you things more fun than magic.”
As a blushing Arin was about to lose her temper and shout, Canis cut in.
“Quiet. It’s starting.”
The group’s gazes turned to the sky. Arcane was floating at the center of the moon, using Fly magic.
Fly was a fusion spell that simultaneously used Press and Blow, the two branches of the Air element. The principle was to first form a solid air pressure barrier around oneself with Press-type magic, then generate lift by creating wind with Blow-type magic. It was classified as an Over Power spell due to the merit of flight, but it required delicate senses because the wind changed in real-time.
As darkness swarmed in to cover the moon, Arcane, who was concentrating his mind, snapped his eyes open. Combining Omniscience and Omnipotence, he spread his limbs wide and cast Abyss Nova, the masterpiece of his life.
There was no deafening roar or terrifying aftershock, but the sight of the dark energy blanketing the academy was a spectacle.
When the effects of Abyss Nova, which had spread to the outskirts of the magic academy, faded, the moon reappeared, and the surroundings brightened.
“Hoo. Hoo.”
Arcane gasped for breath. It was a massive spell that consumed ninety percent of his mental energy, even for an Archmage like him.
‘It will be difficult to draw upon it for a while.’
Arcane changed direction and headed for the mountain. Even maintaining the Fly spell was difficult, but his anger only grew stronger.
Now that Abyss Nova had been cast, there was no one left to interfere with him. Besides, hadn’t he raised disciples for just such a situation?
“Hehehe, just you wait, Alpheas. I’ll make you taste the same humiliation from forty years ago.”
The dark night passed, and a pale light began to rise from the eastern foothills.
The Uninvited Guest of Darkness (1)
It was the last day of their suspension. Shirone and his friends, who had studied at the inn until dawn, didn’t wake up until well after morning had passed. After teasing each other for a moment about their disheveled appearances, they took a bath.
By the time they returned their books to the library and entered the academy, lunchtime was over. The campus was quiet during class hours, and janitors were sweeping the stone paths.
“This is the end of it, our vacation.”
“What vacation? Is a suspension a vacation?”
“Still, we had fun. What are you going to do now?”
Shirone turned toward the dorms and said.
“First, I’m going to go back and tidy up my room. Classes start tomorrow, so I need to clean it today.”
“You and your meticulousness. Alright. We’ll be at the society clubroom, so come by if you get bored.”
“Okay. See you later.”
After parting with his friends, Shirone returned to his dorm. His room was a mess since he hadn’t paid it any mind during the presentation preparations. He rolled up his sleeves and began cleaning, finishing by arranging his textbooks in order on the shelf.
A week-long suspension that had come without warning.
But he had gained something from it. No, it was an enlightenment that surpassed anything he had learned at the academy so far.
‘Finally, regular classes. I can’t wait for tomorrow.’
He had naturally fallen behind, and he planned to focus on his classes for the time being, even if it meant reducing his research society activities.
‘Nade and Iruki must feel the same way.’
The eyes of his friends he’d seen at the inn were burning with a passion for learning. It was thanks to their new, clear goal of being promoted to Class Four by the end of this semester.
Alpheas Magic Academy determined promotions at the end of each semester based on first-half grades, and the cutoff was a staggering 80 points or higher in all subjects. Not an average of 80, but a score of 80 or more in every single subject—a terrifyingly high bar.
Of course, it wasn't an impossible score, but it was difficult for any student. It was inevitable that everyone had weaker subjects depending on their personal aptitude.
Nevertheless, the academy's educational policy was firm.
To master the knowledge of all fields to a certain level before entering a major.
That was why any graduate of the magic academy could be expected to use the basic magic of each element. It was also why graduates were favored on the front lines of the magical society.
Not all active mages were graduates of the magic academy. A significant portion came from non-academy backgrounds, having become a mage's apprentice, attained enlightenment on their own, or learned magic through darker routes.
Their strengths were their abundant field experience and their use of practical, combat-ready magic. However, they also had the disadvantage of a poorer understanding of magic and less potential for growth compared to academy graduates.
Who to hire depended on the nature of the work, but it was a fact that academy graduates had an advantage in finding employment. The 80-point standard set by the academy was a benchmark that took the current state of society into account.
“Hah. So what does that mean? In my case, I have to raise my average by more than 30 points.”
Whatever enlightenment Shirone had gained, this was still an academy. To be promoted, he absolutely needed an Omniscience score of 80 or higher.
It wasn't impossible if he utilized the framework of knowledge. Furthermore, if he supplemented it with the knowledge he gained while preparing for the presentation and studying the God Particle, his scores would likely rise considerably.
But even considering all that, he felt his chances of promotion were probably around thirty percent.
‘No, isn’t that actually amazing? A thirty percent chance of getting promoted to Class Four in just half a year.’
Shirone thought positively. Wasn't that a chance worth taking? If Nade and Iruki were promoted and he was the only one left in Class Five… the thought alone was dreadful.
Besides, if he got into Class Four, he would be eligible to apply for the graduate class. That would mean keeping his promise to Amy.
“Gasp! That’s right! Amy!”
He hadn’t seen her once since the presentation ended. At the time, he had been too excited to even think of looking for her.
‘Ah, I should have at least said hello. I was so thoughtless.’
Amy was a precious friend who had cheered him on during every difficult challenge. This time, he would be the one to give her strength. As he thought this and left the dorm, a mischievous glint appeared in Shirone’s eyes.
“Hehe! She’s going to be so surprised.”
* * *
Shirone headed to the graduate building with two cups of coffee in his hands. One was for Amy, the other for Seriel. The memory of running coffee errands for Amy in the past brought a bitter smile to his lips.
‘Back then, I really thought my world was ending.’
Come to think of it, their relationship was like a fateful rivalry.
Who would have thought that the delinquent girl he met in an alley at the age of twelve would now be his friend?
Shirone walked up the hill to the graduate building. The archway known as the Steel Gate stood guard at the entrance. He hadn't realized from a distance, but it was a much larger structure than he had thought.
‘This is the pinnacle of the magic academy.’
Passing under the structure that symbolized the spirit of a mage, Shirone felt a sense of solemnity.
When the sixth-period class ended, the graduate students came outside. Shirone spotted Amy and Seriel talking near the central entrance and shouted.
“Amy! Amy!”
The graduate students turned their heads, but Amy and Seriel seemed not to have heard, still deep in conversation. A playful urge took over, and Shirone tiptoed up behind them, holding out a coffee in front of Amy’s face.
“Ta-da! A surprise gift!”
Amy’s eyes widened in shock. Shirone, grinning from ear to ear, offered the other coffee to Seriel.
“Here, this is for you too, senior. Have this and cheer up!”
Seriel tilted her head. Amy blinked a few times, then her brow furrowed.
“What the…? Who are you? Why are you giving us coffee?”