Even a Child Wouldn't Do That, Let Alone a Mage.
Even a Child Wouldn't Do That, Let Alone a Mage.
A sharp whistle—
Theodore's forfeiture due to incapacitation, and the referee's immediate blast of the whistle, signaled the end of the match.
The elapsed time itself was nothing remarkable.
No representative was sent to the infirmary afterward, either. Yet the process had been so ferocious that the spectator stands lay steeped in a dead, absolute silence.
"Whoa...."
A single small exclamation from someone tore through that stillness.
That was the start.
One, then two people rose from the Magic Department side... and began to applaud.
The clapping spread like a wave, soon swelling into a massive surge.
Waaaaaah─!
A belated tidal wave of cheering crashed over Plan. He furrowed his brow and tried to leave the arena.
"Plan, Student Plan!"
Sepia. She rushed into the arena, hauling a crowd of other journalists along with her.
"A v-v-v-victory!"
Wide-eyed, she closed the distance until she was right in front of Plan.
"You won! A real, actual victory!"
"...."
With her shouting at such close proximity, Plan's expression naturally stiffened. Sepia pulled a thick stack of papers from her bag.
"The Magic Department has won the first event of the Magic Sword Grand Festival! Oh, what do I do, there's so much to ask! Ah, right. Let's start with this... When did you learn summoning magic?"
"Seems like a few decades now."
Sepia jerked her head back in alarm.
Plan only realized he'd misspoken after the words left his mouth.
"A few de-decades? Do you mean you awakened the summoning type at birth? Is that the implication?"
"It's a joke."
She bounced like a frog dropped into a boiling pot.
"Ah, honestly! You startled me! I almost believed it without thinking!"
"I'll be going now."
Plan had a great many things to consider, and an equal number of things he wanted to consider. And even more things he had to do.
First among them: the circuit contained in Theodore's final strike had been a form he'd never seen before.
Whether it was truly unique or not—that was an answer he could only find through research.
If it was indeed unique... could he produce an identical effect by combining multiple magics?
And if he could, then how. There was so much to investigate.
But then Sepia's urgent shout reached his ears.
"Hold on, hold on, Student Plan! You have to uphold the tradition!"
"...Tradition?"
"Yes. Tradition!"
Sepia nodded and extended a rod toward Plan. Anticipation saturated her expression.
"You must say a few words in front of everyone. Is there any tradition older than that?"
Plan studied the rod with an impassive stare.
Its structure was simple. The entirety of its function was nothing more than amplifying sound.
Sepia spoke, delighted.
"Please, go ahead and say something. Everyone is waiting for Student Plan to open his mouth, you know. Myself included."
"A few words, you say...."
He looked anew around the spectator stands.
The Magic Department students were still in the throes of venting their joy.
Some were even clinging to each other in embraces, so that the roar of elation within the arena showed no signs of abating whatsoever.
In the far distance, the Knight of Embers, Scarlett, was also quietly watching Plan.
Beholding a spectacle like this, even someone with nothing to say found words rising in his throat.
Plan scraped the rod roughly against his sleeve.
Krrrrrk─!
Instantly, a harsh noise erupted inside the arena. Students in the stands all grimaced and covered their ears.
From the center of the arena, now recaptured by silence, Plan opened his mouth.
"What exactly are you all so giddy about."
Perplexity began spreading across every face.
"Do you clap your hands when the sun rises in the morning, and hurl cheers when the moon rises at night."
The arena quieted. Plan's voice resonated with a heavy weight.
"Not even a child would act like that, let alone mages."
His sharp gaze swept across the spectator stands.
"Just give one nod of your head and leave it at that."
Uttering the words levelly, Plan turned his gaze toward the Yudit family's Scarlett.
Scarlett folded her own arms and cocked her head to the side. She still couldn't grasp what Plan was trying to say.
He didn't avoid her eyes, which flickered like embers. Instead, he met them squarely.
"Because a mage defeating a knight is exactly that level of matter."
Having said only that much, Plan turned away.
As for how foolish a face Scarlett made at that moment... he'd ask her directly when he saw her later.
But then, in the very next instant.
Waaaaaaaaaah─!
The silence that had approached the Void shattered into splinters, and a cheer redoubled in magnitude engulfed the arena.
"...?"
Plan half-turned his head over his shoulder.
The spellbound Knight Department students, the Magic Department students running riot even more spellbound, the ovation and applause brimming with nothing but unadulterated delight...
That tremendous wave was directed solely at Plan.
"I can't understand this at all."
Shaking his head from side to side, Plan took his leave.
As he departed, a swarm of journalists began clinging behind him.
"H-hold on! Student Plan!"
"Student Plan!"
"If it's no trouble, just one question!"
The scene somehow reminded him of his previous world, so Plan quickened his steps as he walked away.
◈
"...."
Professor Audrey stared vacantly at this astonishing spectacle.
"We've won...."
After murmuring those words, Audrey's gaze drifted toward the Chancellor.
"Chancellor, we... we've won!"
"Yes. I saw it clearly."
Conet wore a satisfied expression and nodded lightly.
"It's... it's incomprehensible. Chancellor, did you see Student Plan's magic?"
"Discussion of magical matters we'll save for the faculty meeting. First...."
Conet gestured with his eyes toward the other professors. Audrey's gaze hurriedly followed.
"...Look at that first."
At the end of that gaze stood Brody and the other professors who had vehemently opposed this affair.
Every one of them wore the exact same expression.
A face that had lost all words, utterly dumbfounded.
"They're all completely beside themselves. Well, it's only to be expected."
"Let us fully savor this entire scene. For this moment, that is quite enough."
As though wishing to feel this instant more deeply, Conet slowly inhaled and exhaled.
"During today's meeting, Professor Violet will have quite a great deal to say. I'm already looking forward to it. Oh, but still...."
Conet surveyed his surroundings.
One seat among the faculty section was vacant.
"...Why is Professor Violet not at her seat?"
"Ah, as for that... well...."
Smiling awkwardly, Audrey pointed a fingertip toward the front of the stands.
In the far distance, at the very front row of the spectator stands.
"...."
Clutching the pointed hat she had removed in one hand, Violet was wearing a smile of deepest satisfaction.
◈
Evening hour, the first-year exclusive dining hall of the Magic Department.
BANG!
A student kicked the dining hall door open and burst inside.
The sound was so loud that the chatter died down all at once, and every gaze fixed on him.
"Huff, huuuff...."
The boy was gasping for breath.
His face was drenched in sweat, yet he showed no inclination to wipe it. Judging by how red both his cheeks had grown, he was quite intoxicated.
And then, in the very next moment...
Slllit.
The boy grinned, teeth bared bright. Turning a radiant smile upon his surroundings, he slowly opened his mouth.
"As all of you are surely aware! In the Magic Sword Grand Festival's first event, the Combat...."
Drawing out the pause just slightly, he retrieved a sheet of paper, folded many times over, from his chest.
Opening it at once with telekinesis, he declared:
[ Magic Department Clinches Decisive Victory in Combat Event — First Win in 20 Years ]
"The Magic Department has triumphed!"
At the same moment, an explosive reaction erupted.
"Waaaaaah!"
Becky shot up from her seat and threw her hands up in a cheer. Thanks to that, Louis, beside her, ended up wearing an overturned meal tray like a hat.
Louis had crossed paths with Becky a few times before.
As far as he recalled, she was always a girl who watched other students warily; he'd never once seen her this overjoyed.
"Hahaha...."
Even with food tipped over his head, laughter came first.
It was only natural. How could anyone be angry in a situation like this?
From the moment you are born a mage, you grow up gradually realizing you must live on your knees before knights.
How crushing it is—the feeling that no matter how far you walk this path, there are some you can never surpass.
But the Magic Department had won. The dark, cramped space had been blown open and turned bright in an instant.
The light felt for the first time was nothing short of brilliant and warm. How could the other students' experience be any different?
Plan.
All of this had occurred purely because of that bastard alone.
That was Theodore's swordsmanship. That thing.
Mages have magic, knights have swordsmanship.
That was, until now, the element that could most clearly explain the difference between mage and knight.
Precisely because their differences were so defined, knights and mages walked separate paths and couldn't understand one another, but...
The Knight Department side must have been turned completely upside down too.
What Plan had shown today.
To identically replicate Theodore's swordsmanship—that would become a spark rattling not only magic, but the very foundations of the sword.
Plan, who had lit the fuse, struck Louis as endlessly fascinating and intriguing.
He didn't know what kind of explosion would occur, but one thing alone was certain: the scale would be immense.
"Hooray! B-but, wait. How did we win? Honestly, even now I still don't know how we won."
"Swordsmanship... he copied it, right? Is that possible? He didn't even have an artifact or a scroll."
"And his opponent was Theodore, wasn't it. The once-in-a-generation Theodore, a first-year!"
The dining hall had maintained this atmosphere nonstop.
Joy over the victory and bewilderment toward Plan mixed together, whirling like a typhoon.
The professors were, in their own way, thrown into absolute chaos—so on this day, there was no one who could calm the students down.
Thanks to each one of those factors falling into place, despite this being a space intended for meals, not a single student was filling their stomach.
Becky, lost in thoughts of Plan, abruptly gripped her spoon.
She brought it close to her mouth and planted her other hand on her hip. That image from earlier wouldn't leave her head.
Unconsciously, she murmured:
"...Just give one nod of your head and leave it at that."
She'd said it quietly, thinking it a private mutter, but it seems it was loud enough for the people around her to hear.
The girls beside her burst out laughing.
"Puhaha! Becky! That doesn't sound like him at all!"
"Whoa~ You weren't seriously trying to imitate Plan just now, were you?"
Even at Becky's clumsy mimicry, everyone clapped and exploded into laughter.
"Wh-what the. You heard that?"
The girl's face went so red it looked about to burst.
Some of the commoner girls outright latched onto Becky as if clutching a doll.
"H-hey, you guys... e-easy...."
"We won! The Magic Department won! I seriously have no clue how we won! But we won!"
"Uu... ughk...."
Becky's face began to turn pallid, but the girls' embraces only grew more fervent.
Yet even in this moment when everyone was rejoicing, there was one person who couldn't join in and wore a crumpled expression.
The girl silently picking at her food: Hailey.
"Hailey. Are you all right?"
Louis spoke to her while wiping the food from his uniform. Hailey hurriedly smoothed her face.
"Huh? Oh?"
"I was wondering if you were feeling unwell somewhere. Your expression's been so poor for a while now, and it seemed like you weren't managing to eat properly."
"Ahh...."
Hailey put down her chopsticks and pressed a hand firmly against her own chest.
There was no way to describe it.
A suffocating weight, impossible to express—something no combination of words could convey—was pressing down on her heart.
"It's nothing. I just feel a bit sick."
"Ah, no—you had to feel sick at a time like this? That's too bad. On such a great day."
"...A great day?"
"Yeah. It's a great day. Plan beat Theodore, didn't he."
Louis nodded with a smile. He was purely enjoying this situation.
Plan beat Theodore, huh.
Even as she silently repeated it to herself, Hailey couldn't believe the fact. This, despite having seen it plainly with her own two eyes.
"Hey, Louis."
Unable to do anything about her constricted insides, Hailey opened her mouth.
"Are you okay with this? You were supposed to be the representative originally."
"Yeah. I'm okay?"
Louis nodded far too easily.
"Watching today's match, I knew for sure. Plan was the right person for representative."
Those words slammed hard into Hailey's mind.
"The more I think about it... he's really incredible. He was the one who proposed changing the representative selection criteria in the first place, and then at the end he proved it with results."
"...."
"Speaking of which, when I get the chance later, I'm planning to ask him to teach me some magic. Got to learn this and that industriously at the side of an amazing guy."
Before she knew it, Hailey was wearing an absent, enraptured expression.
She'd thrown something away to approach Louis—and that something had turned out to be more impressive than Louis.
—You will have to do the same.
Abruptly, Plan's words coiled around her ears. The meaning of those words was only now, little by little, starting to sink in.
What was she supposed to think as she remembered Plan, what expression was she supposed to wear when she faced him, what was she supposed to say....
Suddenly, all of it had become unknowable.
"I'll get up first."
"Ah, right. You said your stomach was upset. Go get some rest."
Unable even to properly bid farewell to Louis, Hailey fled the dining hall as though escaping.
She walked. And walked some more.
Finally, at the very moment she was passing in front of the library—
"...!"
Without realizing it, Hailey's fingertips trembled. Because the very person who had flipped the Magic Department upside down had caught her eye.
Plan.
Standing utterly still, he was in the midst of inspecting a book.
It was nothing more than scanning the volume with a sharp gaze, but the scene itself formed a single painting.
Even the small, simple act of turning a page with his fingers exuded elegance and poise.
His red eyes, too, were profoundly solemn and deep.
A typhoon from the Magic Sword Grand Festival was sweeping the entire Magic Department, yet the very man who was its cause remained composed and aloof.
As if he were the eye of the storm.
No, no.
This couldn't be.
This wasn't it.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
You're Plan.
The Plan Hailey knew wasn't like this.
Couldn't be like this.
Every time Plan turned a page, Hailey's shoulders gave a flinch, wondering if maybe he was about to look this way.
Unconsciously, she gulped.
Should she perhaps greet him first instead? Offer some light words of congratulations at least? Just approach and try saying something, that much at least....
Even while Hailey's mind felt ready to burst.
"...."
Silently, Plan was only turning pages.
There was no interest directed toward Hailey. Not the slightest bit.