The First Duel (2)
It was the first time in the Academy’s history that students had collectively refused to attend class in protest against a professor.
And anything new was interesting by nature.
The story of Ellie and Rachel spread through the Academy in an instant, and because nobles could often tell one another apart at a glance from the color of their hair and eyes alone, everyone recognized Rachel at once.
“Oh, isn’t that—”
“Hey, look over there.”
As Rachel crossed the Academy courtyard, students’ eyes followed her from every direction.
“Tch…”
If it had been up to her, she would have shouted at them to stop staring, but doing that in front of a student body packed with the children of high nobles would have been no different from trying to kill herself.
Rachel wasn’t foolish enough to do something like that. Being cruel to the weak and meek before the strong was part of why she’d been able to become a professor at all, even if only temporarily.
“Rachel Vermi.”
At the voice calling her name, Rachel turned—and her expression twisted with disgust.
Ellie was standing right there, black eyes blazing with anger.
By her own creed of kicking down and flattering up, Rachel should have been the weaker one here, but she didn’t know that.
“What do you want, orphan girl?”
Without saying a word, Ellie glared at her and threw a ring-shaped stream of mana down at Rachel’s feet.
With a sharp crack, the mana tore up the grass and soil.
At the sight, the surrounding students either widened their eyes or covered their mouths. Everyone was shocked all the same.
A mage had challenged another mage to a duel.
“…Hah.”
Rachel ground her teeth.
“You think this is funny? You know damn well you’re the headmaster’s private little pet, and you think I’m just going to accept a duel from you?”
“You really do sound like a dog,” Ellie said with a sneer. “So is that what you are? A dog?”
Rachel’s face darkened further.
“Then what do you think happened? Did the headmaster secretly send mana to me or something? Does your world fall apart if you don’t cling to nonsense that stupid?”
The students around them began murmuring. What? The headmaster did what? Was that even possible?
“E-even if it wasn’t done that way, that bitch Scathach—”
“Are you going to spit it out or not? Stop yapping and answer properly, you bitch.”
At Ellie’s vicious insult, one she had never once shown before, shock rippled through the students gathered around them.
She didn’t enjoy cursing, but there was no helping it.
A lie could damage a person’s reputation all on its own. Even in the modern world, why had so many conspiracy theories never died out?
If she wanted to make sure it stuck in people’s memories, she needed to shock them.
Ellie strode forward.
“Honestly, I don’t care either way. I still haven’t gotten an apology from you, have I? I’m going to grab you by the hair, drag an apology out of you, and then make you apologize to the headmaster too.”
Rachel stumbled back, but with students gathering tighter and tighter around them, escape was becoming difficult.
“So accept the duel or don’t. I’m going to slap your face in ten seconds regardless.”
“How interesting.”
At that moment, a young man stepped forward.
“If you’re going to duel, I’ll serve as the witness. I imagine that would satisfy both of you, wouldn’t it?”
“…Professor Teleman.”
He was the Teleman who taught Ellie’s magical dueling class.
He calmly pushed the students aside and widened the distance between the two duelists. Every movement was so natural it felt like handling crowds and people was simply second nature to him.
“What rules shall we use? To the death? Or only until just before that?”
Ellie’s eyes narrowed for a split second as she looked at Teleman.
Just as I thought.
This man was hiding something, or carrying something in his heart.
Still, for the moment, it was clear he would serve faithfully as a witness.
“I propose incapacity, death, or surrender. Single match. And if I win, I get an apology from Rachel Vermi twice.”
“Confirmed. Then as for the opposing side, Professor Vermi—oh, dear, you’re not a professor anymore, are you?—Lady Vermi?”
“…I’ll accept the victory conditions. But on one condition.”
Rachel pointed at Ellie with a finger.
“If I win, I’ll have the right to decide what happens to that brat’s life.”
A chill spread through the students who had been watching purely out of curiosity.
But Ellie nodded without hesitation.
“Fine. If you accept my victory condition, then I’ll accept yours as well.”
“It is agreed.”
“The same goes for you.”
“As witness, I swear I shall judge this duel fairly and impartially. Then—”
That was when a shrill voice rang out.
“P-please, wait a moment!”
It was Stella. Her face had gone pale blue.
“What are you saying!? How can those possibly be equal conditions?”
Teleman turned a cold gaze on her.
“Lady Blaze, the parties to the duel have accepted them. A third party has no right to interfere. Step back.”
“E-even so—”
“Stella.”
Ellie called her friend’s name.
“Wait for me. Trust me.”
“…!!”
Stella looked as though she might burst into tears at any moment, and honestly, she wanted to cry right then and there.
“…Very well.”
But she held the tears back with effort.
“I’ll do as Ellie says.”
Somewhere in her heart, she had an instinctive certainty: if she truly wanted to stand as Ellie’s friend rather than someone merely receiving her one-sided care, then she had to endure this.
Even if they couldn’t be equal, they had to try to be.
That was the same reason Clea had gotten up the moment the Emperor passed in front of her before, choosing to rise at once instead of accepting Ellie’s kindness in offering her rest.
Teleman drew the lines of the duel field with swift strokes of mana.
“The number of spectators doesn’t matter, but if you cross into that boundary, I can’t guarantee your safety.”
The children who had been toeing the line hurriedly retreated.
“I’ll signal by lowering my hand. Then both of you prepare yourselves, and—”
Whoosh.
“Begin.”
Rachel immediately drew her wand.
There were broadly two ways for one mage to kill or injure another: casting magic directly onto the enemy’s body, or manipulating the materials around them to inflict harm.
For example, casting a spell to break someone’s leg belonged to the first method, while lifting a giant stone and smashing them with it belonged to the second.
To defend against the first, one had to prevent the opponent’s mana from reaching one’s body, so both Ellie and Rachel instantly threw up barriers.
That meant the battle seemed to hinge on manipulation of surrounding material. That was common in duels between mages.
And in situations like this, there was one especially useful strategy.
“Seventy-three!”
At Rachel’s sudden shout of a magic word, the students around them looked confused.
“Five, eight, A-ron three!”
Namely: attack with magic words the opponent didn’t know.
For instance, if you used a common magic word everyone knew—something like “Move the stone and strike the opponent!”—then naturally the opponent wouldn’t be a fool and would respond the moment they heard it.
But if the same spell were cast using an unfamiliar magic word, they wouldn’t be able to react until the stone had already started moving. If they were unlucky, they’d simply get hit.
That was one reason older mages who knew a wide variety of magic words had the advantage in battle.
And indeed, the dirt beneath Ellie’s feet had been gouged into a pit. Ellie hadn’t been able to neutralize Rachel’s spell.
Her gaze sank to the level of the hole beneath her.
“Emaar-Kog-Ba!”
Another magic word. This time, blue flames whooshed up around the pit.
It was a binding tactic, sealing off her movement so she couldn’t climb out. All that remained was the finishing blow.
“Mag, hum…!”
A massive blade appeared in the air. If it fell as it was, it would cleave Ellie’s body cleanly down the middle.
Rachel spoke now that victory was all but certain.
“I’ll give you three seconds. Three… two….”
If she was going to kill her, she could simply do it now.
But Rachel wanted to seize life and death in her hands and make Ellie taste hell first.
She wanted Ellie to beg for death, to curse the fact that she was still alive.
Well, if that didn’t work, she could always kill her now.
“One!”
The blade fell from above.
Ellie, who had not said a word until now, quietly looked up and reached one hand toward the descending blade.
“Fortify.”
The common magic word for strengthening.
The reason she had deliberately used a common magic word was simple: Rachel had been the one teaching that class, after all.
It was intended as an insult, not a final courtesy.
The blade struck Ellie’s palm. Countless students, both male and female, screamed and shut their eyes at that instant.
But instead of slicing Ellie vertically in half, the blade shattered into pieces.
“…Huh?”
From Rachel’s mouth came not a magic word, not speech, but pure, naked bewilderment.
Why? How? What on earth had just happened? That had only been a simple strengthening spell.
But the shock did not end there.
When Ellie reached her hand into the blue flames ringed around the pit, the fire writhed wildly and then died out.
“Keh!?”
With mana, she had smothered mana.
Even if Rachel had only been appointed out of political necessity, she had still once been a professor. A student-level mage overpowering her with mana was impossible.
It shouldn’t have been possible.
And yet it had happened.
“P-Professor Teleman! What in the world is—”
“As witness, I declare that no cheating has occurred in this duel.”
“B-but, that was—”
“The duel will not be interrupted. I repeat: no cheating has occurred, and the duel will not be interrupted.”
While that exchange unfolded, Ellie had already stepped right up to Rachel’s face, her fist clenched tight.
The plan to slap her had changed. She was going to hurt more.