Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The Magic You Chose (3)
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From the moment the inter-year competition drew near, Adella's days became incredibly busy.
After lectures ended, she would gather with Kal and Jennifer, who had been selected alongside her, at the training grounds to continue preparing for the showdown.
Kal aimed to join the knight order.
Having a mage who wielded a sword like a knight made the front line solid, so the balance was good.
"Look at this, Adella. This is the list of students from the second-years."
While taking a short break to discuss strategy, Jennifer shared the opponent's information with the other two.
Pointing to a black-haired woman who anyone would call a beauty, Jennifer said,
"This is the second-year top student. Senior Liv Lavre de Greenwood. I hear she can use dozens of different spells."
"Impressive. What about you, Adella?"
"Me? Um..."
Adella fell into thought at Kal's question.
She still hadn't received permission from Louis for any magic beyond the one he taught her.
"O-One, maybe?"
"Is that something to agonize over for so long...?"
"Whatever. It's a relief you can use at least that much. Anyway, we need to keep constant pressure on Senior Liv, and it looks like they'll put someone named Hafen up front."
The Cloud Viscount Family was a fairly renowned house that even held a 4th-class medal. Hafen's swordsmanship was undoubtedly no joke.
In that sense, no matter how impressive the year-top student or the Cloud Viscount Family was, compared to Roshiar, it was like a drop in the ocean—
"This is gonna be really tough to win."
"Yeah."
The two who knew Adella's true capabilities couldn't help but feel heavy-hearted.
"Oh, um... I think I have to head out first again today."
"Another appointment?"
"Yeah."
On top of that, she often bailed midway through even these practices.
No matter how much they asked why, she never answered.
"Sorry. I'll come earlier tomorrow."
"It's fine. Go on ahead."
After getting her friends' understanding, Adella hurried off. She craved victory just as much as anyone else.
But the canteen was a space anyone could enter, and the dorm had a curfew, so Adella didn't have many chances to meet Louis.
In the end, their meeting time was around 9 p.m.—a brief hour or so after she finished inter-year practice with the other students.
"I'm here~."
Adella entered through the back door—not the front one she'd closed early—while hiding her slight fatigue.
Louis sat at the counter as usual, reading the newspaper. It was the magic newspaper from the intelligence agency that delivered real-time continental news.
Adella quietly approached and secretly watched him.
'Am I bothering him?'
Even Adella, who wasn't the most perceptive, knew when to make a sensible judgment.
Today, Louis seemed to be in a bad mood just by looking at him.
"Sigh. What a bunch of idiots."
Come to think of it, Adella didn't know much about Louis.
He openly disliked nobles but sometimes looked at her and the others at the academy with envious eyes.
Judging by his hair color and the occasional incomprehensible remarks, he might not even be from the Penheim Kingdom.
And he was an exceptionally skilled mage who had made great contributions in the Great War.
The Great War had ended abruptly ten years ago, and he was too young to have participated back then, but he claimed he did.
And also—
"Frostbite on the toes and they pull the knight order from the front lines? Back in my day, we picked up severed toes and ate them when there was no food, fighting on stubbornly. That damn Whitelett Margrave's turned into a saint."
Louis, cigarette in mouth, ran a hand through his hair.
This habit of his when irritated made Adella's heart flutter from time to time.
"Huh, what. When did you get here?"
"Huh? Oh..."
"Come here. Gotta inject karma before it's too late."
If he just cut his hair and dressed up a bit, he'd be as handsome as any count's young master—
Keeping that thought to herself, Adella pretended to reluctantly approach him.
Adella's growth plan was proceeding smoothly.
Perhaps because she'd grown up so purely and brightly, the scant karma in her body had now built up to the point where she could use three spells in a row—Black Sun Fire Offering, Evil Transfer Metastasis, and Magic End.
And I adjusted the amount of karma I injected into Adella each time, limiting it to just enough for one use per spell.
This was to prevent her body from becoming overly saturated with demonic energy.
"Hah...! Hng...!"
Was it because I focused on efficiency over sensation, or because I couldn't set the mood?
Kissing Adella, who wasn't even my lover, always felt a bit awkward no matter how many times we did it.
For one, she didn't close her eyes.
Those aquamarine eyes stared straight at me the whole time our lips met.
Occasionally, she'd lift a hand to brush my hair or playfully clack her teeth against mine.
"Hnyang? W-Wait! Hmmp...!"
At times like that, I'd just support her waist and feed her saliva continuously, like passing food to a baby bird.
When I pushed so forcefully, she stopped struggling and resisting, instead demurely clasping her hands over her chest, relaxing her body, and accepting it.
Her tongue movements were still clumsy, and after it ended, she'd keep rubbing her legs together—so she didn't seem accustomed to kissing, at least.
"Pha! Um, Teacher..."
"What?"
"Have you done this with other people besides me?"
Questions like this put me in a tough spot. Depending on how I answered, it could lead to some horrific misunderstanding later.
Truth be told, I dreaded the day Adella grew enough to inherit Roshiar's unique magic circuit with primate-level intelligence.
She'd only seen Black Sun Fire Offering with her eyes, but she'd remember Evil Transfer Metastasis with her body.
The moment she realized it was Terra's unique magic, and learned I was one of the people from Helzev with the others back then, she'd suddenly recall it.
What about with Whitelett Margrave too? What about with Whitelett Margrave too? What about with Whitelett Margrave too? What about with Whitelett Margrave too? What about with Whitelett Margrave too? What about with Whitelett Margrave too? What about with Whitelett Margrave too?
Fuck. Fucking hell.
To tell the truth from the start: absolutely not.
Just as Earth had wireless charging technology, for stacking karma without buildup, saliva transfer wasn't necessary for Evil Transfer. It was just less efficient; mere proximity sufficed.
Wired charging... Oh, shit. Just thinking about it was horrifying.
If a rumor started from Adella's mouth and spread to the capital, I was confident I'd become the continent's second Demon King and exterminate humanity.
"Why ask something like that?"
"Huh? No, just..."
"You don't need to know."
"Okaay..."
Adella made a complicated expression at my sharp refusal.
Well, my return to Earth would come sooner than the day she developed that kind of insight, so no need to worry.
Late at night, her footsteps toward the dorm seemed just a little heavier.
"Hey, Liv. Wanna hit the canteen?"
"At this late hour?"
Liv, who had been reviewing the day's lessons in light dorm attire, turned her slumped shoulders at Karen's words as she entered.
"Yeah. Aren't you hungry? You're gonna pull an all-nighter anyway."
"I might stay up late, but I'm not really hungry..."
"That's how you play it, huh...?"
Karen snatched the notebook Liv was using without warning.
Then, instead of letting her take it back, she pressed it against Liv's lower belly and shouted loud enough to echo through the dorm.
"Right you are~! Our Baroness Liv isn't some herbivore grazing on grass all day."
"Ka-Karen!?"
"Whoa, look at this. How's your waist thinner than the notebook? How do you even lose weight like this...?"
"I-I'm going! I'll go, so...!"
She hadn't dieted on purpose; it was just natural from her tight finances.
Feeling wronged but half-resigned, Liv went out with Karen.
"Don't worry too much. I'll buy whatever you want."
"Still..."
"Wonder if there's any bread left at this hour? Ah~. Why does this academy only have one canteen open at night?"
"There's only one canteen to begin with."
And it didn't even have fixed hours, so it was uncertain if Louis had the door open now.
As they walked the brick path glowing red under the gas lamps, the canteen came into view in the distance.
"Oh, it's open!"
Karen's steps quickened naturally. Liv, on the other hand, slowed hers a bit.
Since her last conversation with Louis, approaching him had become difficult for her.
She couldn't remember what the Litvice Test Paper had shown him to make him act so emotional.
All that lingered in her confused mind were his words about knowing her father.
Liv realized anew how little she knew about him.
"Huh? The door's locked?"
Karen touched the glass door, saw the padlock, and looked puzzled.
"Where'd that uncle go?"
At that moment, Liv noticed someone coming from behind the canteen.
The girl with drooping blue hair, looking somewhat downcast, saw them and mumbled softly,
"...We're closed for the day."
"What? Who are you? A first-year?"
"Teacher's not feeling well. Come back tomorrow."
With that, the nameless first-year vanished into the darkness.
She seemed the one feeling down, though.
Liv stared in the direction the girl had come from. Coming from there meant she'd been inside the canteen until just now, right?
"What's her deal...? Liv?"
"Huh, yeah?"
"What now? Wait here, or head back?"
At Karen's question, Liv hesitated briefly. But as the first-floor lights went out and a small noise came from the second floor, she shook her head.
"Let's go back. We came too late."
"Tch, alright. Sorry, the match is soon, and I wasted your time."
"No. Let's go."
As Karen said, the magic showdown was right around the corner.
Whether for living expenses... no, the prize money, Liv had to win no matter what.