The Ferocious Red-Haired Vixen
Abigail had been a mercenary before coming to Legandia Academy.
Her life as a mercenary in the Bel Federation—where lords clashed and civil wars were constant—had been brutally intense.
Surviving as a child, a young girl, among rough and vicious mercenaries was no easy feat.
Her enemies were never only on the battlefield; every single one of her fellow comrades could turn into foes.
Her striking red hair and eyes, along with her somewhat plain appearance, drew the mercenaries’ attention. They didn’t care about her age, and she had to endure their harassment, threats, and even worse.
Fortunately, Abigail—who had revealed herself to be a virgin to Rai—escaped those horrors.
All of it was thanks to the mercenary who had looked after her.
The mercenary everyone called One-Eyed Jack had no known real name. He asked to be called that, and everyone obliged.
Jack took notice of Abigail, the commoner’s daughter who was still too young to work but carried a burden far heavier than herself while bouncing around the mercenaries’ camp.
Although she was still immature and her womanly charm hadn’t fully emerged, her pretty face was enough to attract the mercenaries’ gazes as she grew older.
Jack had thought her odd jobs were just a few times because she had lost her home in the war. When he learned she was still with the mercenary group, he worried about her.
Abigail still didn’t know what kind of heart drove Jack to protect her. Whether it was the same lust and affection the other mercenaries felt or something warmer and more mercenary-like, Jack had kept her safe.
Though her mercenary career was short, Abigail entered under Jack, who had built his reputation on exceptional skill. She found safety among the dangerous mercenaries.
And what Abigail cherished most was obtaining the power she had longed for.
Jack taught her combat techniques to protect her body. Talented Abigail absorbed them like a sponge and grew rapidly.
At first Jack had only meant to teach self-defense, but her talent surprised him. Teaching became enjoyable, and he gradually taught her more. Abigail evolved from a mere odd-job girl into someone far more capable.
With her young, fragile body, she marched to war alongside the rough mercenaries and slaughtered their enemies.
The enemies who underestimated her as a child lay dead on the cold ground. The trail she left was as gruesome as any other vicious mercenary’s.
The mercenaries gave her the nickname “Red Hunting Dog” after seeing her ruthless skill and cruelty that didn’t match her age.
Of course, the nickname had started as something far cruder—envy and disgust turning into “bitch”—before becoming “Red Hunting Dog.” Everyone knew that.
Surviving in the midst of vicious mercenaries with an even more vicious personality, Abigail knocked enemies to the ground on the battlefield and silenced those who started trouble among the mercenaries.
Though it was a society where strength decided everything, mercenaries humiliated by a much younger girl secretly ambushed her. Every time, Abigail cut off the leader’s head and flaunted her prowess.
Once, weaponless and covered in wounds, she charged a mercenary and bit through his neck.
Blood sprayed from the severed artery. Abigail, drenched in blood as if she had bathed in it, charged again and bit the other side of his neck.
When Abigail casually spat out the flesh in her mouth, the surrounding mercenaries froze in horror.
After that, no mercenary ever touched her again.
Whenever new recruits tried to approach the young Abigail, the veterans warned them: if you don’t want to die, stay away from her.
Abigail had firmly established her place in the harsh environment, but Jack still wasn’t satisfied.
He worried about the child who should have been laughing and playing with her peers but had grown so cruel and poisonous.
And so he recommended Legandia Academy to her.
Jack wasn’t an academy graduate, but he had connections there. He gave Abigail a recommendation letter and told her to go to Legandia Academy.
Abigail didn’t care where she went as long as she could grow stronger. She accepted his offer without hesitation.
Seeing her cheerful acceptance, Jack smiled bitterly. Thinking of her future, he decided it was a good choice and sent her off.
“...”
Abigail snapped out of her daze and looked around, her vision gradually clearing.
She had faced this situation many times as a mercenary, but it had been a long time since she had been pushed to this point. She forced her trembling body to stand and adjusted her posture.
Now a senior by one year appeared, swaggering. The guy whose name she didn’t even remember.
“I know you’re tough, but it’s better to stop now. I’m tired too.”
Abigail raised her arm in response. The arm that had become rags refused to lift properly, but she managed to straighten her posture somehow.
Abigail hated the academy.
The Empire’s army was the strongest on the continent. They had captured the Devil of All Nations and ended the Era of War. Their morale, individual soldier skill, tactics, and command ability were unmatched.
Abigail had entered the academy thinking only of the Empire’s army’s image, but the academy’s unique atmosphere drained her energy.
It mocked her for thinking she couldn’t adapt to a stiff military-school-like place while living the mercenary life. The academy was far too free.
Dumb kids who only did dumb things. They said “do whatever you want” and didn’t even force lectures or training.
Thanks to that, she adapted easily, but Abigail was furious that the Empire’s top officials only had these idiots.
There was no intensity at all. Outside, they cut off enemies’ necks and spilled blood to survive. Here, they maintained a bright atmosphere just to be annoying.
Abigail refused to lose to these dumb kids.
Even though Rai had taken her sword and she could only use half her skill, she still refused to lose.
She had forced her way here through sheer stubbornness, fighting and winning, but the mess had left her body broken.
If she had a sword, she could rip out that sneering bastard’s heart.
Ah, I can’t kill him.
Abigail realized it was a match, shook her head to clear her mind, then changed her gaze back to fierce and glared at her opponent.
The opponent clicked his tongue at her swaying body and raised his sword.
“I don’t know what Instructor Rai said, but tone it down. You’ve done well just by coming this far with bare hands.”
The one who says that doesn’t understand.
No one on the battlefield would say coming this far was enough. The end was always to win, or you had to hand over your own life.
Abigail moved her screaming legs forward.
The movements Rai taught her were impossible with her broken body. Abigail charged in a wrecked posture and dodged the sword swing aimed at her waist by dropping backward.
The sword passed overhead. Abigail lying on the ground kicked the opponent’s ankle with her foot.
Though the kick lacked power from a lying position, the opponent pulled his foot back and swung his sword downward.
Abigail stood up immediately, threw the broken floor fragment in her hand, and the opponent, surprised by the unexpected attack, bent his waist.
“Die.”
Abigail, clenching her teeth, approached the opponent whose posture had collapsed and swung her fist.
She landed a perfect punch on the completely empty face. Seeing the incoming sword late, she smiled.
-Thud
The practice sword made a strong impact sound. Abigail’s waist bent and she flew backward.
In the shock that paralyzed her whole body, Abigail saw the opponent from afar, face twisted in rage, nose bleeding profusely.
The opponent’s expression was completely different from his previous relaxed one. Abigail faced the man glaring murderously at her and mocked him, raising her middle finger.
She kept the finger raised until it fell to the ground, then fainted. The match ended.
The first thing Abigail saw when she regained consciousness was Rai’s face.
He was holding a pen. When Abigail opened her eyes and their gazes met, he slowly lowered his hand.
Abigail got up with a frown, checked her face for injury, confirmed there was none, and let out a sigh.
“I did what you said, so now teach me that.”
“What are you saying the moment you wake up?”
“You did what I wanted, didn’t you?”
Rai sighed at Abigail’s words.
“You did it so I would succeed, not so you would succeed?”
“I did what you told me to anyway.”
Rai, who had a rough and coarse personality but found Abigail’s childish tantrums adorable, let out a soft laugh.
Abigail immediately frowned, thinking it sounded like mockery, but Rai didn’t care and looked around.
Only Abigail had fainted in the third-round loser bracket, so everyone else had finished treatment and left.
The only ones remaining were Abigail and Rai.
Rai waved his hand in the air and created a magic circle.
Following the hand moving as if drawing a picture, golden mana swirled in the air and magic circles formed one by one.
At first Abigail stared at the unfinished circle, concentrating. Then she felt something wrong and looked at Rai.
Normally, magic circles were described as tools for mixing multiple spells.
Excellent pure magicians could reach triple circles, and higher levels made the circles far more complex, requiring endless effort to advance one level.
Five, six, seven?
Abigail counted each circle one by one and doubted her own eyes.
She had never heard of a seventh circle. Heroic tales and legends mentioned up to fifth or sixth, but never seventh. She had never even considered it.
After spending time completing the magic circle, there was one that went far beyond Abigail’s understanding.
She had focused intensely on the weakest magic since coming to the academy.
Although she might be unskilled at actually casting spells, she had accumulated plenty of knowledge by visiting the library constantly. But Rai’s magic circle was incomprehensible—no matter how she looked at it, it was like encountering a foreign language for the first time.
“This is what you wanted, right? Can you do it?”
“...”
“Can’t you?”
Rai laughed mockingly and snapped his fingers, erasing the magic circle. The golden magic circle fluttered and vanished in the air. Soon a noisy sound came, and the door burst open. Leila entered.
Leila, who had rushed in hurriedly, glared at Rai and said,
“What did you do?”
“...”
“I was just teaching her.”
Rai pointed at Abigail. Leila stared blankly, let out a big sigh, and glared at Rai again.
“Do you remember what I told you? Don’t do useless things.”
“Ne~”
Without waiting for an answer, Leila stormed out. Rai, who had answered, smiled and turned his head.
She had come running in a hurry to feel the huge mana flow. It seemed interesting.
“Anyway, the technique I wrote is the exclusive property of archmages. You can’t learn it.”
“You were a pure magician?”
“No. Not a pure magic user, but an archmage.”
Abigail frowned, not understanding the archaic word “archmage.”
Looking back, the words Rai used were mostly ones that were no longer in common use. Pure magic users were now called pure magicians, and she didn’t know the difference between archmages and magicians.
“Why are you obsessed with power?”
“...”
“You don’t know?”
“No, you need to know. I have to teach you. If your goal is world conquest, I’ll teach you what fits. If you’re going to defeat the Demon King, I’ll teach you what fits that too.”
It wasn’t the same old clichéd saying about responsibilities that come with strength. He said he would teach you according to what you wanted, not the old sayings of elders.
Abigail stared fixedly at Rai, who seemed like the craziest human inside the crazy academy.
His face mixed with irritation, but most of what he said as if joking was true and made reality.
Someone whose actions you couldn’t believe, yet the most trustworthy human.
“I want revenge.”
“Who?”
The words Abigail had never said to anyone before, not even Jack, came out of her mouth.
She had unconsciously revealed her true feelings. Startled, she looked around, then got angry at Rai who was calmly watching her.
“You don’t know!”
“Even if I explain it several times, you still say that. Did that dumb kid hit your head too?”
“Just make me strong!”
The stubbornness of Abigail, who acted like a child throwing a tantrum, and Rai, who was second only to her in childishness, clashed and it got noisy.
In the end, Abigail ran away without telling Rai. She returned confused about why she had done that.
She had planned to keep the secret until she died, thinking only she knew and would solve it alone. But she had accidentally told that idiot too. She wanted to die.
Revealing the secret of revenge was supposed to be a serious matter that required caution, but Abigail was filled only with embarrassment and didn’t realize something was wrong. She ran down the street.