Jeffbery Shut, My Eternal Lady
That guy needs to go first.
In mathematics, the most complex calculation can become the simplest equation with a single change of symbol.
1+1=2
1+1+1=3
1+1+1+1=4
↓
1×n=n
Swap addition for multiplication, and a number can proliferate without end. Something like 1×345, or 1×1638.
If the thrashing I'd just given Dwight with my robe hem and the soot I'd painted him in with black smoke amounted to roughly 1×112… what would happen if I inflated that number further?
A triumphant smile spread across my face as I rewrote the symbols and figures of the magic formula.
Dwight staggered, hollow-eyed, and looked at me. He had been watching the absurd amplification of my spell with a blank stare, and finally managed to spit out a question.
"What the hell are you trying to do?"
As he swept a hand toward me in an attempt to stop me, a flash of light cracked through the air.
KRA-KOOM!
"Hhk—!"
Tung!
Wherever Dwight's toes touched down, sparks burst like fireworks. He hopped and skipped across the rooftop as if beans were popping on a skillet of lightning.
KRA-KRA-KRA-KOOM!
"Ahahahaha!"
I laughed myself sick, jeering at him the whole time.
"Ow!"
"Whoa—!"
"Damn it—!"
I swung the crystal orb toward Dwight and addressed the viewers.
"Can you all see this? Dwight is hopping around like an absolute clown."
Of course, since Dwight was the protagonist, the original novel would have painted this scene as something close to a wuxia aerial dance — nimbly dodging my fierce assault as he raced across the rooftop. But I knew better. That guy was sweating bullets right now.
After broadcasting Dwight's humiliating little dance nationwide for a good while, I fired a burst of flame into the open sky.
Tung!
A magnificent firework shattered brilliantly overhead.
Tung! Tung!
Before long, students were thronging to the windows to gawk at the cascading light. I called out toward Dwight.
"Brat. Your counterattacks are so clumsy right now that playing with you has lost its charm. This great one shall take his leave — watch carefully."
I flashed a V-sign at the viewers, winked, and turned on my heel.
Tung!
Another light-bomb bloomed in the air and scattered across the night sky. In the afterimage of the fading light, a name blazed into view.
And just like that, I, Double Crown, ascended to the rank of secondary male lead.
Nothing stokes a man's competitive instinct quite like a formidable rival appearing before his heroine. Dwight had already been thoroughly humiliated by me. In a moment like this, there was no more effective move than to shout the name of the woman he loved for all the world to hear.
KRA-KRA-KOOM!
I walked on beams of light fired into the sky as if they were a staircase. I doffed my hat, swept it in a grand circle to salute the viewers, and vanished with a pop of teleportation.
Naturally, I didn't forget to leave a pretty heart drawn in the place I'd stood, with Jeffbery's name embroidered inside it.
A public proposal so over-the-top it would make women cough blood. Jeffbery could never actually like this kind of stunt, so there was zero chance of a green light between the two of us. This entire event existed solely to provoke Dwight.
Wearing a smile of pure satisfaction, I strolled down the corridor of Demarken House.
My Eternal Lady
Watching the live-broadcast fireworks show and the name that kept blooming across the sky, Jeffbery's mind went blank for a moment.
What on earth is happening right now?
Dwight, who hadn't shown up even when she nearly died, had appeared the instant Double Crown lured him out with a terrorist attack on the Magic Academy. After a breathless clash, Double Crown had suddenly shouted her name and sniped her with it for the whole world to see.
Staring at her own name stitched across the heavens, Jeffbery recalled the words Double Crown had once whispered by her ear.
I, Double Crown, do not touch weakened enemies. So grow stronger!
Her lips trembled. She clenched her fists.
"You insane bastard… You're using me as a hostage to threaten Dwight?"
More than anything, she was worried about Dwight's safety. In one corner of the rooftop, Dwight rustled and pushed himself up, then limped toward the door. The moment he disappeared inside, the live feed cut out.
Jeffbery immediately spun the crystal orb around to check the comments.
5,219 comments…
Jeffbery spun the crystal orb again and opened a news channel.
The next news segment made Jeffbery's nerves snap taut.
Meanwhile, Heil Lake has been utterly destroyed by Double Crown's indiscriminate terrorism. Traces suggesting the elimination of Heila, the Ash Witch who resided there, have been discovered throughout the site. Environmental experts have unanimously condemned Double Crown's pattern of ecological destruction.
Jeffbery's mouth fell open at the desolation on the screen. The shattered surface of a lake frozen into ice, trees torn to shreds, rubble rolling across the wreckage. It looked as if every tree had been stripped bare of its bark.
Then the crystal orb rang out noisily with an incoming call. The location: Heil Lake, the very place just featured on the news.
"I'll be right there."
Jeffbery transmitted her voice and activated teleportation.
"What in the world…!"
The lake in person was far more catastrophic. Michael, the 2nd Department Head, was directing the on-site search.
"What happened here?"
"The entire three-hundred-strong army of the witch Heila who lived here has been slaughtered. She was a headache for the government as well — we'd been deliberating how to handle her. Since he took care of it for us, I suppose we should call it a good thing? Of course, the press coverage has been unfavorable, but from our standpoint we ought to be grateful to Double Crown. He eliminated a high-ranking witch with no civilian casualties."
Jeffbery nodded silently.
"However… he left something strange behind."
"What is it?"
"Take a look here."
Letters scrawled across the ice like a signature came into view.
"Jeffbery — do not set foot anywhere near this place!"
Standing before a warning that bore her own name, Jeffbery was left speechless. First the sniping at the Academy attack, and now this. At this point, he was openly declaring his intent to use her.
"This bastard is really—!"
There was a limit to how much you could mess with someone. First he set her free on a whim, then confessed his love in front of the entire nation, and now he was telling her to stay the hell away — she couldn't make heads or tails of him.
"Think… you can clean this up?"
"I'll have to try."
Jeffbery drew up her mana. The mana circles throughout her body began gathering toward her heart. Stretching her hands over the frozen surface of the lake, she unfurled a magic circle.
Shhhk.
A transparent membrane settled gently like a spider's web and began gathering the debris scattered across the site.
"These idiots still don't get it!"
I watched the news streaming through the crystal orb with a sour expression. The footage showed Jeffbery cleaning up the site with magic.
Who the hell was putting my favorite character on unpaid field labor? I'd clearly left a warning. Jeffbery was not a talent to be wasted on something this menial. Deploying premium personnel for free like that…
Granted, I had a bit of a stake in this particular site myself, but that was just how government work went.
The comments were even worse.
This was not the reaction I wanted. At this rate, her relationship with Dwight might start to crack. Something had to be done — a measure that would upgrade Jeffbery's image and make people think twice before treating her carelessly.
I glared at Michael, the 2nd Department Head, strutting around the site looking important while doing absolutely nothing of substance.
That guy needs to go first.
You ignored my warning and still think you'll walk away unscathed?
In my head, I was already lining up the 1st through 3rd Department Heads and cracking their joints one by one. In the civil service, after all, nothing settles the pecking order quite like having the right backing.
So then… who should I move to make that happen?