External Training (1)
I stood facing a certain man, wearing an obviously troubled expression.
“Do we really have to fight?”
“Of course we do. I want to see what my prospective brother-in-law is capable of.”
That was a lie.
He was just using the excuse of checking my skills as a pretext to beat me into the ground.
The man standing across from me was Heinz Curbis. He was the eldest son of the Curbis ducal family, known as the Ice Mage, and Zen’s older brother.
And from what I knew, he was a siscon… and a pretty extreme one at that.
I had finished breakfast and was about to head back to the academy when he suddenly grabbed me, declared he wanted to test my strength, and dragged me to the training grounds attached to the separate villa. That was how I ended up in this situation.
‘Originally, Heinz is supposed to be intellectual, cold, and not particularly fond of fighting.’
The Heinz I knew from the game had that kind of personality. But in reality, he was the type of siscon who would throw caution to the wind the moment his little sister was involved.
“Then I’ll take the first move.”
“Huh?”
Shouldn’t he normally say something like, “I’ll yield the first strike”?
The temperature around us began to plummet at an alarming rate.
Heinz Curbis's Act is precise judgment. His Abl is Ice, perfectly matching his title as the Ice Mage.
Ice crystals began forming in Heinz’s hand. They stole heat from the surrounding air, causing the temperature to drop rapidly.
“Absolute Freezing.”
Absolute Freezing.
It was originally a 6th-circle spell. Heinz, who was only at the 5th circle, shouldn’t have been able to use it. But thanks to his Abl’s correction, he could wield every ice-type spell in existence.
‘He’s probably set up a barrier, so no one’s coming to help, right?’
The space had already been transformed by Heinz’s barrier magic into an area no one could enter. That meant there would be no witnesses. I could use my abilities without holding back.
I pulled a single card from my pocket.
It was the Magician card from the Major Arcana of the tarot deck.
I once read a manga where the protagonist used a special technique that sealed all mana in the surrounding space. Of course, I couldn’t actually do something like that, so this was purely for show.
“From now on, this space will be unable to use magic for a while.”
Abl: Alteration is activating.
[Situation alteration in progress. Restriction: Temporary alteration applied.]
[Alteration content: From now on, this space will be unable to use magic for a while.]
[Alteration in progress.]
[Alteration complete.]
[Upon completion of alteration, for the next 2 minutes, no mana-based abilities can be used within this space.]
Two minutes…? That’s way too short.
But two minutes was more than enough.
As anyone who had seen Yuda could tell you, a mage who couldn’t use mana was about as useful as red bean paste-less fish-shaped bread.
The moment the mana was completely cut off, the ice crystals in Heinz’s hand melted away and vanished.
Even though he could no longer cast magic, there wasn’t the slightest hint of agitation on his face.
“A mana-sealing ability? How interesting.”
He actually sounded intrigued.
“You’re not even slightly flustered that a mage can’t use magic?”
“Why would I be? Only third-rate mages panic when they can’t manipulate mana. A true mage should be able to fight even without magic.”
That was the moment.
Heinz kicked off the ground and closed the distance in an instant.
Curbis-style Fist Technique, 12th Form: Lightning Fist (Blitz-Faust).
It was a punch as fast as lightning itself.
Even without mana infused into it, the powerful fist was about to slam into me—
“Brother!”
A girl’s intervention made Heinz’s fist freeze right in front of my nose.
“Z-Zen?!”
I watched the cold, seemingly unflappable face of Heinz twist with pure shock.
“What exactly do you think you’re doing?!”
“T-That is… I wanted to see my prospective brother-in-law’s skills…”
“I clearly felt killing intent in that last attack. Do you really think that excuse is going to work?”
Heinz couldn’t say a single word in response to Zen’s sharp rebuke.
Zen walked over to me, grabbed my wrist, then turned back to Heinz and declared,
“If you touch my fiancé again, I will not forgive you—even if you are my brother.”
Those words delivered a complete K.O. to Heinz.
And just like that, the Heinz Incident was neatly wrapped up by Zen’s clean uppercut.
‘It really ended without any real fight at all.’
Well, it was fine by me. The easier, the better.
“Itsuki.”
Yuna called out to Itsuki.
A shadow immediately descended in front of her.
“You called, my lady?”
“Yes. I heard that Han Ijun stayed out last night. Do you know what happened?”
Yuna asked while recalling how Han Ijun hadn’t returned to the dormitory the previous night.
‘It’s not like I particularly care whether that guy stays out or not, but since we’re roommates, I’d be held jointly responsible if he causes trouble.’
That was the excuse she used, but deep down, Yuna was genuinely concerned about Ijun.
Itsuki didn’t know how to answer the question.
She had no idea what Ijun had been doing yesterday.
Yuna might have thought she was monitoring Ijun’s movements 24/7, but in reality, she had been following Matthias—the Apocalypse apostle candidate—on Ijun’s orders.
Yesterday as well, she had been busy capturing and torturing Matthias’s underlings. She genuinely didn’t know where Ijun had gone.
“I’m sorry. While I was monitoring him, Han Ijun suddenly disappeared from sight. I lost track of him, so I don’t know what happened yesterday.”
‘I’m sorry, my lady, but I can’t tell you the truth.’
This was both her own judgment and Ijun’s.
He had said that the path he would walk from now on was quite dangerous, and he didn’t want to drag Yuna into it. Itsuki had agreed with him.
Yuna narrowed her eyes with suspicion for a moment, but eventually nodded as if she understood and dismissed Itsuki.
Once Itsuki had vanished, Yuna buried her face in her pillow and muttered quietly.
“Just what is he doing outside all the time? And more importantly… why do I even care about this?!”
Abl: Alteration has been used to conceal the truth.
Just thinking about Ijun made Yuna feel nothing but irritation.
“Two extra editions! We have two extra editions today!”
Rata was running around energetically as usual.
The moment Ijun saw Rata, the image of a vegetable launcher flashed through his mind and irritation surged up, but he held it in.
“Two extra editions…? There are really two?”
“Yes! Two whole stories!”
A female student asked Rata what the extra editions were about.
“One is about external training.”
“External training?”
When the girl tilted her head at the unfamiliar term, Rata began explaining.
“It was passed by the Eldron Board of Directors yesterday. They’re implementing it on a trial basis to give students real combat experience. Since it’s only a test run, not every student will participate. Only a select few will be chosen to carry out external missions.”
It had only been passed yesterday and was an idea proposed by the board itself. It shouldn’t have been announced yet, so no one outside the directors should have known about it. The girl wondered how Rata had found out, but then remembered it was Rata and simply let the question go.
“And the second one?”
“Hehe, this is the real kicker. You know the special transfer student Han Ijun, right?”
“Ah, you mean the vegetable launcher?”
“Yes! That vegetable launcher, Han Ijun, is apparently engaged to Zen Curbis, the young lady of the Curbis ducal family!”
“Is that for real?”
“This is 100% pure, undisputed fact.”
It was even more shocking news than the external training announcement.
The Curbis ducal family was one of the empire’s five great houses, led by the Tower Master known as the Demon of Magic. The idea that Han Ijun was engaged to their daughter was the kind of bombshell that would dominate every conversation. The girl thought there couldn’t be a bigger scoop.
After that, the girl and Rata went around the academy, spreading the news of the engagement far and wide.
In the cafeteria, I was having lunch with Esil.
“Why do my ears feel so itchy? And why does the back of my head feel like it’s burning?”
“Maybe you didn’t wash properly?”
“I shower three times a day, you know? But why is everyone staring at me?”
I looked around.
Every single student in the cafeteria had their eyes glued to me.
“Do you know why they’re acting like this?”
I asked Esil. She swallowed the meat filling her mouth and answered.
“A rumor about Ijun has spread. The one spreading it is Rata.”
“Rata? What kind of rumor did that squirrel spread this time to make them look at me like that?”
“The rumor that you’re engaged to Zen.”
“Huh?”
For a moment, I genuinely thought I had misheard.
The engagement between me and Zen was supposed to be top secret. The only people who knew were the Duke, the Duchess, and Heinz. So how on earth had Rata found out? My head spun with confusion.
“So I told Rata something.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him that Ijun is the prospective son-in-law of the Louvre marquis family.”
“?????????”
Esil’s words only added more chaos to the situation.
Wasn’t that the fake story I had made up just to get into the auction?
“So the rumor has been distorted like this. The vegetable launcher Han Ijun is a trashy, two-timing, womanizing scumbag who’s playing both the Curbis ducal family and the Louvre marquis family at the same time.”
“Oh dear god…”
My head was starting to throb painfully.
And just like that, I had somehow ended up branded as a trashy, two-timing, womanizing scumbag caught between two of the empire’s five great houses—the family of the Sword Saint and the family of the Demon of Magic.
