Chapter 9
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 9: Raiding the Duke Estal Family (3)
As the carriage ran for a long time, a huge mountain range appeared outside the window.
'......What is that?'
The shape is a bit strange.
Because the peaks were strangely carved.
'Since it's a fantasy world, does weathering happen creatively too?'
Although it's not an erosion form that is completely impossible fluid-dynamically.
No matter how I look at it, it is too artificial to be the work of nature.
Perhaps feeling my gaze, Yveline, who had been stiff all along, opened her mouth.
Fortunately, it seems her tension has eased a bit.
"That is the Estal Mountain Range, symbolizing our family. It is also the lifeline of the family where high-quality mana stones pour out endlessly."
"The shape is quite...... unique. As if someone carved it."
"According to legend, our founder blew away a few mountain ridges whole while doing a magic experiment, resulting in that shape."
"......."
Eh, no way.
No matter if it's fantasy, does it make sense to change the terrain of a mountain range with human power?
"It must have just been some unusual weathering. Legends tend to get embellished originally."
I glossed over it outwardly.
But what if that legend is true?
If the existence called the founder is a monster enough to mold a mountain range.
This doll yawning and squeaking in my bosom right now.......
Just how strong is Eleanor?
Like master, like disciple; I can't even imagine the prime days of this doll.
'Should I ask once?'
Just as I was about to speak to ask.
Bang—!
The shaking of the carriage stopped.
"We're here."
Yveline muttered, slowly letting go of the hand that held my sleeve.
As soon as the carriage door opened and I stepped outside, my jaw dropped.
'What is this scale.'
It is too big to be called a mansion.
An appearance close to a castle.
'Is a Duke family originally this scale?'
Magic towers soaring as if to pierce the sky and outer walls finished with top-grade marble.
Facing it in reality felt completely different from reading it in a novel.
I realize painfully that they are rich.
'Yveline, you were really no joke.'
It seems one has to be at this level to act as a villainess in a romance fantasy.
The thought enters that I should treat Yveline better.
Soon, the heavy iron gate opened and dozens of figures poured out.
"We greet the Princess!"
Knights kneeling with discipline and maids bowing their heads.
Yveline got off the carriage with a cold and arrogant expression.
Soon she naturally accepts their escort.
Around the time I was lost in admiration at that dignified appearance.
A bulky man who appeared to be the Knight Commander scanned me and furrowed his brow.
"My Lady, what is that...... creature behind you? Is it a porter?"
Creature.
Isn't that a bit too harsh?
"He is my teacher. He came as Father's precious guest, so don't be rude."
At the cool rebuke, the Knight Commander's eyebrows twitch.
'She was thinking of me as a teacher in her own way.'
Quite touching.
I should teach her some quantum mechanics later as a reward.
But despite her shielding, the surrounding gazes were only cold.
Even the mages who were training in the training ground flocked over and started buzzing openly.
"That is a mage? The mana amount is at the level of a commoner?"
"I heard he is a researcher called personally by the Duke. What on earth was he thinking to let such a guy who doesn't even match the level into this place."
There are no direct insults.
But it seems they don't even acknowledge me as a mage.
I tried to just ignore it and pass by, but Eleanor inside me did not hold back at all.
"Puhahaha! Rihan. Do you see? The eyes of those foolish things. They only know how to count the quantity of mana, but cannot even grasp how compressed its quality is."
'......Senior, I am being ignored tremendously right now?'
"No need to be angry. Does a lion get angry at the antics of a swarm of ants? I can't wait to see their faces crumple already!"
Talk is cheap.
"This way. Follow me."
At Yveline's urging, I shrugged my shoulders and moved my steps.
Walking down the hallway, Yveline is like a cat on edge.
Is she looking at the surrounding atmosphere?
'I relaxed her earlier, why is she like this again.'
You didn't have a personality that cared about others' eyes in the novel, right?
The Yveline I knew in the original work was a typical villainess who smashed everything without looking back if she didn't like it.
Is it because it's still the early part so she hasn't blackened yet?
It was then.
She dismissed the following maids with a single glance.
Then she yanked my sleeve and pushed me into a dark hallway corner.
"......Hey, Rihan. Don't mind what those guys said earlier."
"What said? That I don't match the level?"
"Yeah, that!"
At my calm answer, Yveline rather choked up and continued.
"They are just guys who are ignorantly big only in mana pool. How unique a genius you were in our lab, how perfectly you understand the structure of magic...... they are idiots who don't know any of that."
Is she worrying about me?
Something is quite different from the Yveline I knew.
Maybe she is the type who definitely takes care of people she considers her own.
"You, absolutely don't leave my back. Don't move a single step until I allow it."
A desperate appearance to protect me.
Looking at times like this, she has a surprisingly reliable corner.
'Admirable.'
As soon as I entered the assigned room, I threw my luggage first.
As expected of a Duke family, the room is spacious and antique.
"Whew...... It's good, but somewhat suffocating."
But it may have dignity, yet there is no warmth of people living.
I miss my messy lab where various books and mana scanners were rolling around.
"......Senior, what about surveillance magic around?"
I lowered my voice preparing for possible eavesdropping.
The doll in my bosom answered, slightly gathering mana as if stretching.
"Who do you think I am. I have long since disabled such clumsy detection networks."
As expected of a capable Senior.
Only then did I bring up the main topic in earnest.
"So, did you find it? That ring."
"Hmph, layers of powerful seals are piled up. It seems my disciple hid it with great determination. But it cannot avoid this lady's eyes. It is 50 meters underground from here. I have roughly grasped the way."
"Oh! As expected of a capable 10th Hierarchy Mage! Senior is amazing!"
"Try to revere me with more sincerity!"
It was a bit funny to see the doll's torso heaving and boasting, but the information is certain.
As I started drawing the infiltration route in my head, my heart started to beat.
'Actually, I wanted to try something like this at least once.'
Isn't it one of the romances of modern people?
Like phantom thief codes.
Or Mission Impossible.
I didn't know I would actually rob a Duke family's treasure vault though.
"Did I read the Tom Cruise series thoroughly for this day?"
"Rihan. What is Tom Cruise?"
"Ah, there is such a thing. A very capable infiltration expert."
It was then, when Eleanor reacted as if my nonsense was absurd.
Knock, knock—.
A heavy knocking sound breaking the silence rang the door.
"Teacher Rihan, Duke Cassian is calling for you."
A maid's voice.
I opened the door with the feeling that what was to come had come.
"Let's go."
The place arrived following her was a huge indoor training ground within the mansion.
The training ground was already filled with heat emitted by hundreds of mages.
The mages of Estal, called the Empire's strongest magic corps.
Just the mana they spill without gathering is enough to make the skin tingle.
A little distance away, I see Yveline standing near the VIP seats.
Where did her usual confidence go?
She was staring intently at me with a worried expression.
'What is this. Was it a hazing ceremony, not a welcome ceremony?'
At that time, the air at the entrance of the training ground wavered and Duke Cassian appeared.
Every time he took a step, the noisy training ground became quiet as if cold water was poured on it.
Overwhelming silence like the descent of a monarch.
Cassian pierced through me with that unique empty gaze and opened his mouth.
"I prepared a small event. Teacher Rihan, whether your heterogeneous talent is real...... I want to confirm it directly."
Cassian's voice was polite, but the intention hidden behind it was cool.
"Try sparring with our family's Chief Mage, Delmar. He is a 4th Hierarchy mage. Considering you are a researcher, I told him to proceed safely, so please do your best."
As soon as the words finished, surrounding mages spilled fishy sneers and whispered.
"A researcher guy rolling around somewhere can match the Duke family's Chief Mage?"
"Sir Delmar, please go easy. What will become of the Princess's face?"
"Ha......."
I was dumbfounded and a hollow laugh came out.
4th Hierarchy.
According to the Imperial Corps organization.
A 4th Hierarchy mage means the potential to annihilate a platoon of skilled elite knights alone.
It means the starting point of a walking strategic weapon that changes the tide of the battlefield.
But fuck, you're telling me to fight such a monster?
Me, a 0th Hierarchy weakling?
You should at least give me a chance to refuse!
But Eleanor snorted.
"Hmm, you mean that brat? You'd win even by just blowing nose breath. Rihan, do not be scared. Am I not by your side. Magic is not something completed by fools who pour out mana, but in the hands of one who understands the laws of the world."
Those are cool words. Senior.
But I think the first digit in total mana amount is different.
The man named Delmar who walked out to the center of the training ground revealed hostility blatantly.
Especially the gaze he gives me after glancing at Yveline.
That is clearly an emotion of jealousy.
"I didn't quite like that the Princess brought such an insignificant outsider man as a teacher. That meager mana amount and dead fish-like eyes...... truly unimpressive."
Delmar gripped his ornately crafted staff and smiled fishily.
"Since it is the Duke's command, I will deal with you, but you must be prepared for your bottom to be revealed. If you don't want to be humiliated in front of the Lady, you better kneel and beg even now."
Looking at his way of speaking, it is certain.
'Aha, this bastard. You have feelings for Yveline?'
Not enough to harbor dirty desires for my disciple, you touch my steel mental fortified by graduate school life?
It seems he doesn't know the scariness of a graduate student steeped in social life yet.
Is it finally time to show it?
The power of a physicist.
"Fine. Let's just 'watch' the Chief Mage's great magic once."
The moment my words fell.
The fishy smile hanging on Delmar's lips disappears in an instant.
He stared at me stupidly for a while.
A gaze as if looking at a beast that cannot understand words.
Soon, murderous intent boiling in those pupils begins to waver.
"......Watch?"
Delmar's brow twitches fiercely.
Strength went into his white fingers holding the staff, and knuckles stood out.
He is a 4th Hierarchy mage who receives utmost treatment wherever he goes in the Empire.
To him, the words of a 0th Hierarchy mage saying he would just watch must have been a disgrace worse than slapping his cheek.
"Right, it wouldn't be a realm that a lowly existence like you dares to understand......."
Delmar recited in a chillingly low voice.
Kwaaang―!
At the same time, mana spews out from the tip of the staff as if exploding.
Magic power of the 4th Hierarchy.
Beyond simple pressure, it expands with the momentum to swallow the oxygen of the training ground itself.
"......I don't know if you can handle that watching. I will verify if you can still run that cheeky mouth in the pain of bones burning."
Heat like haze rises around him.
The mana Delmar emits has already far exceeded the level of safe sparring.
Even the watching mages flinched at that fierce energy.
I didn't blink an eye in the center of that storm.
"Kuhuhu, good! Rihan, that is exactly the spirit! Originally, for stupid guys, smashing what they are most confident in is the best education rather than teaching with words."
Eleanor's joyful laughter rang in my head.
I slowly reached out my hand.
"If you are ready, let's start. I'm a busy body."
Delmar's face crumpled quite visibly.