Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Balik wore a dumbfounded expression, as if he thought I was joking.
But when he saw my impassive gaze, his mouth snapped shut.
“…Are you serious?”
“Do I look like I’m joking?”
Balik bit down hard on his lip.
“Fine. What kind of wager are you proposing?”
“Anything.”
“…What?”
“You can choose the contest yourself. There’s nothing I could lose at.”
Balik’s face twisted in a scowl.
“You really must have gone mad! Fine, we’ll do the Butterfly War. You’d better brace yourself!”
Unlike knights, who measured their skill only through brawling duels, mages competed against one another in all sorts of different ways.
The Butterfly War was one of the most popular contests.
“The dueling arena is this way.”
Since dueling culture was so widespread among the Empire’s upper classes, the tavern even had a separate, lavish arena set up on one side.
It was positioned so that people could watch while drinking, too.
The drinkers became spectators and began to chatter.
“Professor Balik and Young Master Ban are having a Magic Contest?”
“How could they possibly be matched? Young Master Ban has Mana Insensitivity.”
“Even so, he can’t just sit back after they insulted his family! I’ve changed my opinion of Young Master Ban today! I thought he was just a pathetic loser, but he’s got a fair bit of backbone.”
“Still, that’s far too reckless a challenge.”
“Well, all we have to do is watch and enjoy the show, right? Come on, let’s bet some money. I’ll put 300 Pena on Professor Balik.”
“I’ll put 500 Pena on Professor Balik, too.”
“Professor Balik for me, as well. Is no one betting on Young Master Ban? We can’t have a wager like this.”
Betting on duels was a time-honored tradition.
Naturally, no one bet on me to win.
Just then, a gruff voice cut through the crowd.
It was Hans.
“One thousand Pena on Young Master Ban.”
“!!”
That was equivalent to half a year’s living expenses for a commoner.
…Hans, is he secretly broke? Isn’t that practically his entire fortune?
But Hans didn’t stop there.
He turned to the manager.
“I’ll put up my mage certification and take out a loan from your tavern. You can manage 10,000 Pena on the spot, can’t you?”
The room erupted in murmurs.
“Has he gone mad?”
“He’s betting more than 10,000 Pena on Young Master Ban?”
Hans gave everyone a taunting smirk.
“You cowards have only bet pocket change, yet you have plenty to say. Keep your eyes wide open and watch Young Master Ban’s greatness. Every last one of your coins will be mine.”
“What the hell are you talking about? I’ll put another 1,000 Pena on Professor Balik!”
“I’ll add 2,000 Pena, too!”
The pot grew in an instant, and I stared at him in disbelief.
…That bald middle-aged guy?
Greed glimmered in Hans’s eyes!
He had the look of a greedy man, convinced I would win and eager to make a tidy profit.
…Not a bad idea.
I nodded toward the manager, too.
“I’ll bet on myself, too. Let’s see… 1,000 Pena.”
That was all the money I had.
In other words, if I lost the wager, I’d be penniless.
And what if I lose?
That won’t happen.
I thought with complete confidence.
“Prepare yourself.”
Balik cast a spell.
Rustle.
A butterfly made of mana appeared in midair.
In the Butterfly War, the contestants made mana-crafted butterflies compete against one another. It was a contest of mana’s purity and the ability to control it.
“Ooh! Isn’t Professor Balik a specialist in control magic? And yet he’s made a butterfly that huge! It’s as big as his palm!”
“It’s not just one! He’s made five!”
I cast a spell, too.
Rustle.
A single butterfly fluttered into being.
Compared to Balik’s enormous butterflies, it was so small it looked pitiful.
“…Young Master Ban did make a butterfly, at least.”
“But… it looks like it’s falling quite a bit short.”
Balik sneered at me darkly.
“Ban, you’ve improved since before. In the past, you would have failed at the very stage of shaping the butterfly. If you admit defeat now, you can at least spare yourself the humiliation—”
“You’re noisy. I was under the impression this wasn’t a contest of who could run their mouth the best.”
“…Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
The butterflies surged toward me with fierce momentum.
My butterfly looked like a candle standing against a storm.
But—
“Did you say you couldn’t understand why I applied for the professor appointment exam?”
For the record, like most ordinary people, my personality was very much the kind that was meek toward the strong and bold toward the weak.
If I thought I could win, I could stand tall, too.
I spoke with an air of confidence.
“Find out for yourself.”
<Win Rate in Magic Contests Against Sneaky, Nepotistically Appointed Professors>
Slaaash!
The wings of one of Balik’s butterflies brushed against mine—and were torn clean off in an instant.
As if they’d been sliced through by a blade.
“W-What?!”
Everyone stared in confusion.
This was only the beginning.
My butterfly fluttered through the air.
Balik’s enormous butterflies tried to stop it, but to no avail.
“Two.”
Boom!
My butterfly pierced straight through the other butterfly’s chest, and the huge creature, now with a hole in it, trembled and vanished.
“Three.”
Slaaash!
Balik’s butterfly wings were torn again.
“T-That’s impossible!”
“Am I seeing things?”
The one-sided fight left the room reeling in shock.
Of course. Balik wasn’t particularly talented to begin with.
Balik was a parachute hire the Rapalt Ducal House had planted at Rubiness Academy so it could control the school as it pleased.
Someone like him had no chance of standing up to my Grandmaster ability.
“What sorcery did you use?!”
Fwoosh!!
The movements of the two remaining butterflies grew larger and larger.
Balik had concentrated his mana.
But—
“Four. Five.”
Craaaack!
The two remaining butterflies were shattered into pieces and vanished.
“Gah!”
Balik, whose mana had surged back against him, swallowed a mouthful of blood.
The room fell silent.
Victory. An overwhelming victory, at that.
I spoke to Balik, who was standing unsteadily.
“I’ll offer you a lesson. Concentrating your mana at the end was an act that showed you had no idea how to manipulate mana properly.”
“!!”
“I hope it was a mistake you made in your panic. Otherwise, I feel terribly sorry for the students you teach.”
Balik’s face turned bright red.
His expression was filled with fury.
But I wasn’t afraid.
I was the one who had won here.
And when I was the one in the position of power, I could wield it as much as I pleased.
The Black Flame Dragon aided me, helping me project an arrogant air.
“Looks like we should honor the outcome of our wager. You remember what we agreed you’d do if you lost, don’t you?”
Balik’s face went deathly pale.
He had agreed to get down on his knees in front of everyone and shout, “I respect Lord Ban and the Ecclesia Ducal House!”
It was more than humiliating. It was social death.
He would never be able to show his face in aristocratic society again—a society that placed such importance on honor.
“I-I can’t do something like that…”
But Balik abruptly stopped speaking halfway through.
Everyone who had been watching was staring intently at him.
As if they meant to make sure he kept his promise.
‘To them, it’s just entertaining to watch.’
Balik was stuck with no way out.
Just as his knees began to tremble—
I casually said, “I’m joking.”
“…Huh?”
“Why are you so tense? Do you really think I’d make a friend of mine do something like that? It was all a joke.”
‘It’d be a problem if Balik completely broke down here.’
As I’d said time and again, Balik was an “angel” who would help me pass.
“Let’s do this instead. You can cover everyone’s drinks here. As an apology for causing such a commotion. What do you say?”
Balik’s face turned pale for an entirely different reason.
The Rapalt Ducal House was a family of gold, but it was famous for another nickname, too.
—The House of Cheapskates.
There was no way the family would generously support Balik, a distant branch relative.
‘At best, he probably gets paid like the household retainers. If he covers the drinks here, he’ll be no better off than bankrupt.’
But Balik had no choice.
“I-I understand. I’ll do as you say.”
“Is that all?”
“…What?”
“Where’s your thanks for my mercy?”
This time, Balik’s face turned red like a bomb about to go off.
His face had gone through quite a variety of changes in a very short time.
“I-I’m grateful for your consideration.”
“I can’t feel any sincerity in that.”
“Th-that’s…”
“Well, I suppose it’s hard to expect proper manners from someone of a branch family. I’ll let it slide. I’m a magnanimous man.”
In the end, Balik could no longer hold back and exploded.
“I’m leaving!”
He spun around and stormed out of Dien.
The manager called after him spitefully.
“Professor Balik, what about the bill?”
“Damn it! I’ll borrow the money from the family bank and pay it!!”
After Balik disappeared, the others looked at me with admiration.
“Young Master Ban seems to have changed.”
“How in the world did you beat Professor Balik just now?”
“Maybe Professor Balik did something wrong? After all, manifestation magic isn’t even his specialty. He must’ve let his guard down.”
If they’d been “proper mages,” they might have realized the meaning behind the magic I’d used, but there was no one like that here.
What had impressed the people was something else.
“Still, what you showed us today was amazing.”
“You’ve changed completely from before.”
“Just what you’d expect from the bloodline of the great Ecclesia family.”
Just then, the manager came over to me.
“Will you be all right?”
“What do you mean?”
“Professor Balik won’t let this go. He’ll surely hold a grudge and try to sabotage your examination.”
Just then, a loud crash rang out from outside the establishment.
I looked through the window. Balik was in a rage, wreaking pointless havoc in the street.
“It’ll be fine.”
“But—”
“Do you know when the moon shines brightest? When the darkness is deepest.”
The manager tilted his head.
He had the look of someone wondering what nonsense I was talking about.
…Even I cringed at the nonsense coming out of my mouth, but the Black Flame Dragon’s mouth never stopped spouting grandiose nonsense.
“It means that whatever Balik tries to pull, it’ll only help me. He’ll become a tool that makes my greatness shine.”
Could I really pass the examination by taking it normally?
Impossible.
Even without the people who held grudges against me, how could I pass with zero points in every category?
‘There’s only one way. I have to make an enormous impact.’
But even that wouldn’t be easy.
There was only so much impact I could make during an examination.
At the end of the day, it was still just an examination.
I needed someone to help me.
Someone to set the stage.
‘Balik will help me.’
The more Balik tried to humiliate me—
The more favorable the stage would become for me.
‘Go, Balik!’
Just then, Hans approached, his face brimming with happiness.
“Young Master, I’ve collected all the wager money!”
“…Must be nice, making money.”
For the record, I’d only wagered 1,000 Pena, so I hadn’t won much.
The one who’d hit the jackpot was Hans, who’d wagered 11,000 Pena. Thanks to the odds, he’d made ten times what I had.
‘So this is what they mean when they say the bear does the tricks and someone else pockets the money.’
“Haha! Let’s drink today!”
“…Are you buying?”
“Ah! How could I, a mere subordinate, dare to presumptuously treat you, Young Master! Sob, I wish I could, but it’s such a shame. Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty!”
I looked at Hans with an exasperated stare.
At any rate, the day of the test arrived, and I stared at the scene in disbelief.
‘Has Balik lost his mind?’
The stage Balik had prepared was even bigger than I’d expected.