The Nobility
Count Heylak was in an extremely foul mood right now.
There were many reasons for that, but the biggest one was that things were not going the way he had expected.
A few days ago, a woman had suddenly appeared over the Fhara Kingdom and completely shattered the Sky Island.
In a time of such anxiety, the image of that woman destroying the massive floating island was one that would be burned into the memories of everyone in the Fhara Kingdom no matter how hard they tried to forget it.
And the same was true for Count Heylak, who had been frantically loading his entire fortune into carriages and preparing to flee.
The magic that had turned the enormous Sky Island into fragments and collected them into magic snowflakes was invisible to the naked eye, but the woman who had flown up and shattered the island was not the only one behind it.
Thanks to that, the two of them were now perfectly etched into Count Heylak’s mind without a single blurry detail, and from the very next day he had thrown himself into hunting down their identities using every connection and information network at his disposal.
As befitted a count, his reach was vast, and it did not take him long to discover that the two professors from Lua Academy were Aria and Meiel.
Once he had the information, Count Heylak sent a letter to Principal Mira at Lua Academy that very day, hoping it would arrive before anyone else’s.
To a third party, his frantic state would have looked like the actions of a madman, but the reason Count Heylak was this anxious was simple.
‘My influence at important events has shrunk far too much lately……!’
Ever since recent days, the voice Count Heylak could make had become incredibly small.
If one were to answer who Count Heylak was, they could say he was a typical villainous noble.
Driven by obsession and greed for high positions, he had exerted all effort and sincerity to obtain the title of count, but the tower he had built was flawed because so much of that effort had been done through vile methods.
Flattery, sabotage, bribery, hired murders, backroom deals, and so on.
Count Heylak had been willing to do anything to climb the social ladder.
And the position he had reached through such despicable means had eventually tightened its grip on his ankle, so the Count, feeling his standing shrink in recent days, had decided to draw the two who had brought down the Sky Island into his faction.
‘With that kind of achievement, their fame and renown should definitely be recognized by His Majesty.’
These two had stopped a Sky Island that could have destroyed the entire Fhara Kingdom without any casualties.
Their surrounding support and prestige would be enormous, and by pulling these solid foundations into his own camp, his shrunken standing would expand once more.
Of course, if other nobles learned of it, they would look upon Count Heylak, already reduced in influence, with contempt, and in the worst case, his very title as count might even be shaken, but as long as he could seduce the two women, there would be no problem.
And Count Heylak was certain he could seduce them.
After all, who was he? A man who had risen to the position of count by seducing countless others.
Because he had bribed countless people with countless bribes, he could confidently claim superiority in the art of seduction.
As women, they would go wild for jewels, accessories, and grand mansions, but if they proved to have a more genuine aura, he would simply offer fine armor or rare books in exchange.
Of course, this confidence had come from the fact that he had rushed here after only briefly investigating their names and positions, and had no idea that they had a church and a pope behind them, but the Count, unaware of their true nature, glared at Mira with a politely fake smile while handing her a carefully prepared apology.
Behind the expression that looked sincere, Mira’s smile was slightly twisted as she kept repeating that she could not do it.
This rotten bitch……!
“What nonsense! Didn’t I tell you to call them right away?!”
“I’m sorry, but His Majesty the King has already issued an order to summon them to the palace tomorrow……”
“Then before His Majesty summons them, why can’t they come today?! This is why dumb people like you are……”
In the end, unable to hold back, Count Heylak raised his voice and shouted, but the response was the same as always.
Count Heylak already knew that His Majesty had summoned the two. That was why he had rushed here by carriage in such a hurry.
If he left for the palace tomorrow, other nobles would flock over like starving dogs and he would lose all opportunity to intervene, so he was biting his nails right now.
That was why he had come straight to the academy to meet their faces and take them back to his estate, where the plan would be perfect, but this rotten academy principal only repeated the same impossible answer.
“Does the name ‘count’ sound ridiculous to you?! Call Aria and Meiel right now!”
“I’m sorry, but it is impossible.”
“Ugh……!!”
As a last resort, Count Heylak had tried to threaten her with his own status, but the only response that came back was the same word: impossible.
Is this woman not even looking at the knights standing behind her?
Ten knights had been brought along as both escorts and displays of power. Each one was an elite warrior capable of entering the three knight orders.
Yet despite that, they answered calmly while subtly showing displeased faces, as if they were not the least bit scared.
‘Could it be……’
Unable to understand Mira’s fearless behavior, Count Heylak gnashed his teeth, and the thought that flashed through his mind made the veins in his eyes bulge.
Could this woman be ignoring his status because she knew it had fallen?
When he thought that way, the logic fit perfectly, and Count Heylak felt heat rising to his face.
What is an academy principal compared to Count Heylak?
The more he thought about it, the more his head burned. It was all a product of his own cause and effect, but to Count Heylak it was far more than just anger—it was pure fury.
In the end, unable to hold back his rage, Count Heylak clenched his fist and raised his right hand high into the sky, the wind slicing through his palm as he brought it down toward Mira.
Thud.
In an instant, an invisible force activated and stopped Count Heylak’s swinging hand in mid-air.
“It seems you are looking for me and my sister……”
She slowly descended to the ground, her voice sleepy and dragging as she fell.
Wearing her hat low and barely clinging to her staff, the sight of her was like seeing a plain little girl, but Count Heylak, who already knew her identity, had his eyes wide open.
“Oh! Are you Miss Meiel?”
There was no mistaking her. If so, the invisible force holding his hand in place must be her magic.
The moment Count Heylak made that judgment, he forced a kind smile and spoke to her.
“I was looking for you and your sister, Aria, so it’s fortunate. Do you have time? After all, skipping classes at the academy for a bit and coming with me might be better. I have a proposal that won’t leave you with any regrets.”
A blunt statement that following him would actually be more beneficial than staying at the academy.
It was true, and it was a statement worth agreeing to, since it came from the Count himself who had rushed all the way here.
As soon as she heard his words promising no regrets, Meiel’s eyebrows twitched slightly, and Count Heylak laughed inwardly, thinking he had won.
But that was only for a moment.
Crunch.
“Kyaaa?! M-Miss Meiel? What are you doing?!”
The invisible force began squeezing his arm harder and harder, and the pain of muscles about to tear apart made Count Heylak break into a cold sweat as he desperately asked Meiel.
And the next instant.
Looking at Meiel’s cold, staring face, Count Heylak realized something had gone wrong.
But it was already too late; spilled water could not be scooped back up.
* * *
Impossible, impossible, but this guy is more trash than I imagined.
I thought that while staring at Count Heylak.
The way he immediately changed his tone to imperative commands the moment he saw me, the disgusting voice that dripped with contempt the moment he heard his name, and how he had even ignored the academy I valued most.
If I had simply agreed to his words, the result would have been worse than dog food, so I naturally hardened my expression.
Naturally, the magical grip on his arm grew even tighter.
When the squeeze reached the point of pain enough to make his muscles scream, Count Heylak let out a scream, but I ignored it cleanly and whispered only to Mira standing beside me.
“This guy… he said he’s a count…… Is he some high-ranking noble……?”
“Eh? No, that’s not possible. Even as a count, he’s now a fallen noble whose position is barely hanging on by a thread. It’s probably hard for him to even get invited to important parties anymore.”
“Is that so……?”
For curiosity’s sake, I asked Mira about Count Heylak, and the answer made me let out a small sigh.
I had worried he might be a high-ranking noble if he called himself count, but he was far more of a fallen noble than I imagined.
Sure enough, upon hearing the words, not a single shred of loyalty toward Count Heylak could be seen in the eyes of the knights standing behind him.
Rather, it was clear from their expressions that they were simply working for money.
If that were the case, I would have loved to slice him into pieces right here, but after checking the surroundings with a wave of magic power, I gave up on that thought.
“Everyone is watching……”
Count Heylak’s commotion had been so loud that students, professors, and even the professors outside the windows were peeking out at me.
On the side of the professors’ room where I had descended, Morgan and Isolde were watching with curious expressions, and Mu looked ready to dash out at any moment if something happened.
Anyway, with so many people watching, I could not show a cruel sight like dismembering him.
My image was on the line, and more importantly, the academy that had only just resumed operations would fall into chaos.
Therefore, I praised Count Heylak’s judgment in coming to the academy instead of the church to avoid death, then slammed my staff down with a thud.
“I’ll show you the answer by action……”
“U-Uwaaaah?! Who’s grabbing me?! Grab me, I said!!”
The moment I slammed the staff, Count Heylak’s body began to rise in response, flailing his limbs in panic over fifty meters into the air, and the ridiculous sight made me, Mira, the students peeking from the windows, and the professors burst into laughter without exception.
“Kuph……”
“Kih, phup!”
“Kuhahah……”
And it seemed the knights escorting him were reacting the same way.
Since it was their first time seeing their superior in such a state, they tried to endure, but their shoulders twitched slightly one by one, so I used my speak-magic to address the floating Count Heylak.
“Don’t ever touch us like that again… but since this is your first time and it’s a public place, I’ll treat this as a safe fall game this time……”
“W-What kind of……!!!”
Just a safe fall game? It was skydiving without a parachute.
Count Heylak tried to ask me about it through speak-magic, but before he could finish the words, my spell sent his body soaring toward the sky at an impossible speed.
『Gravity Reversal』
Wrapped in my Artidect Shield, Count Heylak’s body vanished into the sky as the reversed gravity exploded like a bomb.
Faster than even the Demon King’s dragon seen from the Sky Island, it soon became a mere dot and completely vanished from view, impossible to confirm with the naked eye.
Perhaps it had already reached the stratosphere by now.
While I estimated the location of Count Heylak who had flown into the sky with a vague sense of the shield’s magic power, Mira asked me with a face that was satisfied yet worried.
“Umm… Miss Meiel? Where did you send Count Heylak?”
“Hmm… I wonder if he’s falling right now……?”
“Falling? Wait a minute. Could it be…?”
Mira looked terrified as she tried to understand my meaning, and only then did she realize what I had done to him—dropping him from an incredibly high altitude.
At the same time as Mira muttered, a small dot began to appear in the sky and started falling toward us.
Without a single scream, Count Heylak was falling at an absurd speed, and Mira hurriedly tried to draw her staff, but I stopped him with one hand and swung my staff.
“『Gravity Manipulation.』”
Manipulating the gravity at his falling position, I safely caught him, and with a thud, his body stopped thirty centimeters above the ground and froze.
The sudden stop would have put immense strain on his body, but it was my Artidect Shield, so of course the vivid sensation of falling remained intact.
And seeing Count Heylak’s face, he must have passed out from the fear at the moment of falling and could not even scream.
Perhaps he had even fainted during the ascent, but either way, he had definitely been traumatized.
“It truly is admirable, Miss Meiel. Truly.”
“Thank you……”
I placed the fainted Count Heylak on the ground, and Mira praised me with sincere words, so I nodded roughly in response and flew toward the professors’ room while leaving Count Heylak behind.
“Then please handle the aftermath… I have a class in thirty minutes……”
I would not come back here again after doing something like this, and it would serve as a warning to any nobles who tried the same thing.
Now that I had lightly settled the matter, I needed to prepare for the more important class.
After all, that was the duty of a professor.