Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Imperial Capital Karnias (5)
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Having received her staff from the maid, Edella quietly bowed her head toward the girl before her.
"Then, please teach me a move, Lady Rion."
The words seemed refined at first glance, but they carried a thorny sharpness beneath the surface.
'I can't accept this...!'
She couldn't maintain her dignified imperial princess demeanor toward this girl who had stolen the title of direct disciple from her revered Lady Sion.
"Sure... whatever..."
Rion's half-hearted reply came without her gaze even settling on Edella, her sparring opponent.
Her eyes were fixed solely on Karl and Linie, who were watching from outside the platform.
Edella wasn't even in her sights.
-Crunch...
Rion's indifferent attitude only fueled Edella's anger even more.
Rion pulled her staff from a subspatial spell.
"Um, you're holding your staff upside down."
"Oh."
The sight felt utterly unnatural to Edella.
'What is she...?'
To a mage, a staff was like a sword to a swordsman or a bow to an archer.
Yet this girl before her handled it with such clumsy inexperience.
'Maybe a scholar-type mage...?'
There were battle mages like Sion, who fought on the front lines, and scholar-type mages like the Magic Tower masters, who studied magic as an academic pursuit.
Perhaps this Rion girl was the latter.
'Even so, I won't hold back...!'
Still, there was no way Lady Sion would take an ordinary person with no talent as her disciple.
With that judgment, Edella decided to settle the match with her strongest available spell.
'Ice Cannon...!'
-Zzzap!
A beam of ice that would freeze any spot it even grazed.
Edella was absolutely convinced this spell would secure her victory.
Edella's Ice Cannon fired straight at Rion.
The blue-glowing beam closed in right before her eyes, yet Rion made no move to counter it.
'What should I do...?'
She simply hadn't decided on a response yet.
She couldn't show her true skills with Linie and Karl watching.
But losing convincingly might draw even more attention.
Amid the spectators, Linie was still glaring toward Sion with eyes that screamed, 'Let's see what you do.' Quite menacingly, at that.
'Ah, got it.'
In this spar, her tasks were to 'subdue Edella without hurting her too badly' and 'avoid Linie's suspicions.'
So, she just needed to pick a fighting style Sion wouldn't use.
'Haste.'
Boosting her movement speed and reflexes in an instant, she barely dodged the incoming beam.
Linie, witnessing the scene, plunged back into confusion.
'Sion definitely would've...'
Blocked it.
Easily, too.
'Is she dodging like that to fool me?'
Linie knew the Seven Stars' combat styles well, positioned in the rear as she always was.
Sion, in particular, preferred a rough, brawling style that deployed offense and defense simultaneously.
-Zzzap!
This evasive, counterattacking approach was definitely not Sion's.
'And above all...'
Sion wouldn't do something so inefficient.
Elemental magic had elemental affinities.
Ice was weak to fire, fire to water, water back to ice.
If it were Sion, she would've countered that ice spell with fire magic.
"Ice Cannon!"
"Ice... Cannon..."
Not clashing the exact same spells together in such a brute-force manner.
-Boom!
"Oh, even with the same spell, Rion's pushing harder?"
"..."
"What do you think, Linie? Who's gonna win?"
"Are you an idiot?"
Linie let out a faint sigh as she eyed Karl, who was mindlessly engrossed in the spar.
Did he really have to say that out loud?
"Obviously her."
When using the same magic, the one with superior mana reserves—in this case, Rion—held the advantage.
"Ngh... Chain Lightning...!"
"Chain... Lightning..."
And Rion was blatantly mirroring Edella's spells exactly.
As if deliberately showing off the gap in their levels.
"Haa..."
"Enough, stop there!"
Before the spar could heat up further, the emperor forcibly halted it.
The victor and loser were clear as day to anyone watching.
"Your Majesty...! I can still—"
"Enough. Do you intend to be even ruder to our guest, Edella?"
Unlike Edella, whose sparring attire was a mess, Rion looked pristine as ever.
Though she too was sweating profusely, as if admitting it hadn't been an easy fight.
'...Sion sweating from a match like this?'
At first glance, she had seemed like Sion, but the more she watched, the further she drifted from that image.
The more Linie took in this girl named Rion, the more confused she grew.
But even Linie, who could discern others' mana, missed one key fact.
"Haa... haaa..."
The reason Rion was sweating wasn't from overexerting her magic.
'Haa... I'm out of breath...!'
It was simply because she had been running around so much during the fight.
"Ngh..."
Edella gripped her staff so tightly it seemed it might snap, clearly bitter about her defeat.
"That was a good spar."
Yet the sting of loss didn't disrupt her poise as a princess.
"Y-Yeah... same here..."
The two ended their duel on a relatively peaceful note.
"Well then, everyone, see you at tomorrow's banquet."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
With the spar concluded, the emperor officially dismissed the gathering.
There were many busy preparing for tomorrow's banquet.
And Edella...
"P-Princess!"
"Don't follow me!"
...fled to her room like she was escaping.
Not showing disgrace before the emperor and his ministers was the bare minimum of her endurance.
"Urgh... still..."
'Did I... fool them okay...?'
Contrary to Rion's expectations, Linie still hadn't shaken off her doubts about her.
If anything, Rion's performance in the spar deepened Linie's interest, keeping her mulling over the girl's true identity all night.
"Argh, this is so annoying...! Why should I care this much about some nobody?!"
Linie felt pathetic for obsessing over someone like Sion.
A noble elf like herself, wasting thoughts on such a short-lived trivial race.
It was a matter of pride, but above all, she hated wasting time.
"Yeah, let's just sleep."
Whether Rion was Sion or not, she couldn't uncover the truth right now anyway.
So, rationally speaking, she shouldn't agonize over an unanswerable question and just get some res—
-Creak...
"Hm?"
Linie had sharper hearing than most.
Though if someone asked, 'Do elves have good hearing because their ears are pointy?' that would be wrong.
It was just her personal trait, not some elven stereotype.
'The room next door is definitely that girl's.'
And her keen ears clearly picked up the sound of the neighboring door opening.
-Step step
Not only that, but sounds of someone heading out in the dead of night.
Judging by the footsteps, it wasn't that golden-haired kid.
'Where's she sneaking off to alone at this hour?'
Anyone else, and Linie would've ignored it.
But if it was Rion, that changed things.
-Creak...
Linie opened her door and silently tailed Rion.
'Even using stealth magic... where the heck is she going?'
As if terrified of being spotted, Rion kept scanning her surroundings.
Soon, she began feeling along the walls of the palace corridor.
'Drawing something...?'
Looking closer, Rion held a fountain pen in hand.
Linie wanted to see what she was writing, but the distance was too great.
-Step step
As if finished, Rion tucked the pen into her pocket, glanced around once more, and hurried back to her room.
Unable to contain her curiosity, Linie rushed to the spot and inspected the wall thoroughly.
"What is this... a symbol?"
A small triangular mark with a tail, like an arrow.
Confirming the unusual arrow-like symbol, Linie was certain this was no ordinary occurrence.
"Doesn't look like any magical rune..."
Rion, suspected to be Sion, drawing strange symbols on the palace walls in the dead of night when everyone was asleep.
Obviously not normal.
'Pointing this way?'
Following the arrow's direction led to another arrow symbol.
Connecting them formed a path ending at one final spot.
And where Linie's eyes finally landed...
...was Rion's warning: What are you looking at?
"Hup...!"
Shock flooded Linie's entire body.
As the elves' top ranger, her stealth was unrivaled even in the empire.
For her tailing to be noticed, with such a warning left behind...
'It really is Sion...!'
Only one person could pull this off.
"Hoo... why does an achievement like this even exist?"
Sleep was precious to people, yet here was one disrupting it.
Couldn't do this in broad daylight, obviously.
Well, whatever...
As long as no one caught her, it was fine.
Legendary Grade: Imperial Palace ArtistCondition: Graffiti on the palace walls
[SUCCESS]