Clash with the Ivory Tower
The student whose head Adel had grabbed struggled desperately to escape his grip.
“L-let go of me?!”
“A-aaagh!!”
But all that came back was pain like his temples were being pierced.
“You lot. Judging by your robes, you're from the Ivory Tower. Who's your master?”
Adel asked the mage sitting at the front of the car after entering. He was the one who had pinched his nose and grimaced first when Harun came in.
“This bastard...!!”
“What the hell are you doing?! Beat that filthy desert rat!!”
The academy students shouted one after another, reaching into their robes for their magic wands.
“Kaaaaagh---!!!”
But in that instant, a scream filling the entire train car made their shoulders flinch.
“Didn't they teach you at the academy to at least answer when asked?”
As Adel's finger dug into the student's temple, a red drop of blood beaded at his fingertip.
“Hmm.”
Seeing the students unable to hide their shock, Adel smirked with a knowing expression.
[These fools can't even sense my presence. Seeing them chitter like insignificant ants, it doesn't even make me angry anymore.]
Kalderet seemed to share Adel's sentiment.
“Can't be helped. Mages don't receive God's Blessing, after all.”
Adel tightened his finger. The captured student writhed uncontrollably, his body slowly crumpling to the train floor.
“You only get angry at a certain level. This is just plain education.”
“What? Level? This bastard...”
“They're the type who think magic is the truth of the world. They say there's no room for divine power because they're so full of mana, but...”
Adel yanked up the head of the student who had been sitting.
Squeeze—
“A-aaagh!!!”
The student screamed in agony.
“They're just narrow-minded.”
Thud—!!!
Adel casually hurled him away. The student slid limply down the aisle between seats, apparently unconscious.
“Hanson!!!”
“You barbaric scum...!!”
“What the hell do you think you're doing?!”
Seeing their fainted comrade, the mages could no longer hold back and drew their wands from their robes in unison.
Stab—
“Aagh!”
But in that moment, the mage in front of Adel dropped his wand without even chanting a spell, screaming as he collapsed.
Kasla's dagger was embedded in the mage's shoulder.
“Listen up. Desert folk are hunters, not barbarians. If you're curious about real barbarians, go to the Cove. Rookie.”
Adel lightly tapped the fallen mage's cheek.
“Mention my name, and they'll tear you limb from limb nice and clean. Especially those with demon spirit stones—they love mages.”
The mage trembled, unable to even look at Adel's face properly.
“They want to devour every bit of that meager mana seeping into your bodies.”
“D-doing this sort of thing...”
“And you think you'll get away with it? That's a boring question. I did it knowing I'd get away with it.”
Slice—!!
Without hesitation, Adel severed one of the mage's fingers.
“Aaaaaagh!!!!”
His scream echoed through the car.
“If you don't know the gap between you and the guy in front of you, you have to learn it the hard way.”
Whoosh...
Black void energy filled the train car.
“It's about time the Ivory Tower learned too. Hell, I'd welcome it. Go back and tell your master.”
“H-heuk, heuk...”
“Cough...”
The students could barely breathe under the crushing void aura.
“Even you who can't use divine power can sense what this force is.”
“N-no way...”
“Th-this power...”
The tips of the wands they gripped began trembling in unison, as if by agreement.
“From now on, every time you see desert folk, you'll remember this.”
Adel said in a low voice.
“Don't forget this thick scent of the void. Hell, without fingers to plug your nose, you'll smell it from a thousand miles away and have to run.”
“U-uu...”
Adel tossed the severed finger out the window.
“N-no, don't!!”
It was nothing more than childish taunting. No one in the train car had anticipated this outcome.
“Rookies getting a real taste of the world.”
“Can't help it when greenhouse flowers act out like that.”
Kasla and Harun shook their heads.
“You bastard... Do you know what family we're from?! I'll tell my father and wipe you all out!!!”
A student who had lost his reason lunged at Adel with a shout.
“...Kids will be kids.”
“Even in this situation, holding his head high. Doesn't he realize cutting his finger instead of his neck was the greatest mercy?”
But aside from the raging one, the other students in the car just stared at Adel in dazed shock.
At the very least, they had felt it. They had picked the wrong opponent—very wrong.
“Forgive their rudeness. Eighth of the White Ghosts.”
It was then. The door to the opposite car opened, and a boy walked in.
At those words, the void filling the car loosened in an instant.
[Oh? What's this?]
Kalderet sounded incredulous at the mana pushing back his void.
Adel turned his head. But despite the dense mana repelling divine power, the boy looked utterly unmotivated.
He didn't even seem surprised by his comrade's severed finger moments ago.
Unlike the other students in Adel's car, he wore a red robe signifying top rank.
'Damn... This guy's on the train?'
Adel smirked, chuckling dryly at the boy who bowed silently to him.
'No wonder the mages were so cocky. They had backing.'
Ironically, his emotionless demeanor had instantly reversed the atmosphere, injecting a strange vitality.
'But they're idiots too. Their ace is this guy? He doesn't give a damn about others' well-being.'
As he thought, the boy's expression didn't change even with his mutilated comrade right there.
The boy might not know him, but Adel knew him better than anyone.
The Ivory Tower's genius. Juwan Regian.
In his past life, in the windless zone, Adel had used sea demon stones from his strategy to claim victory.
And that was just one of countless strategies Adel remembered from him.
But he felt no guilt for using them first. After all, Juwan had been one of those who ambushed him in his past life.
'Twenty high god contractors were a pain, but you were worse, Juwan.'
An inexplicable anger surged.
But it wasn't simple revenge against someone who tried to kill him.
It felt more like betrayal.
'Why did you try to kill me...'
High god contractors had always been wary of him as an ancient god contractor from the start.
But Juwan was different. He walked only the path of magic, not even contracting a low god.
He had no interest in divine power, making him one of the few who looked at Adel squarely.
Yet in the end, he had turned his blade on him.
'What was the reason?'
Even facing death, he never said.
Just like his emotionless expression when they first met, he faced death unchanged.
'...I don't know how to deal with you.'
Could he build bonds like in his past life? Even if so, no guarantee the outcome would differ.
He couldn't be sure without knowing why he tried to kill him.
“You okay?”
“U-uu...”
In that moment, Juwan staunched the bleeding from the student's severed finger.
“I stopped the blood with magic for now. The train's fast, but I can find the finger with detection spells. Don't worry.”
“U-uh... Sorry.”
“It's fine. I'll handle the rest, so go rest in the back car.”
Juwan soothed the pale-faced student.
Vmmm...
As he focused his mana, a small bird shape formed above his palm.
Flutter!!
The bird flew out the window, splitting into over a dozen that rapidly scouted the surroundings.
'5th-class detection magic. No chant... Already at 6th-class peak at that age.'
A true genius.
But what truly surprised Adel wasn't Juwan's high-level magic at a young age.
'...What? Him caring for a comrade?'
It would be ordinary for anyone else, but that very ordinariness shocked Adel.
He had never seen it from past-life Juwan.
“On behalf of the Ivory Tower, I apologize.”
“Are you leading these guys? You seem too young for that.”
“Even someone like you, Adel, is here. They're just immature academy trainees.”
Juwan replied leisurely.
“It may not be enough atonement, but if you'd like, use my private cabin. It has a bathroom too, by the way.”
Juwan glanced meaningfully at the women behind Adel with a smile.
'...Smiling? Juwan Regian smiling?'
The natural shift in expression made Adel chuckle unwittingly.
“Private cabin? This guy's different from the other idiots—seems reasonable.”
Sure enough, at the mention of the bathroom, Kasla perked up and sheathed her dagger.
“Is that your real personality?”
“Pardon?”
Juwan looked back at Adel quizzically.
“...No. I must've misspoken. Anyway, how did you know who I am?”
At his question, Juwan smiled mysteriously, as if he'd been waiting for it.
“Haha. The continent's informants are quite capable. It's widely known now that the Eighth White Ghost conquered Ruinxen.”
“You believe the newsletters from informants? I thought fancy Ivory Tower mages ignored continental rumors. Juwan Regian.”
“...?!”
When Adel called his name, Juwan's eyes widened moments ago.
“Don't think I wouldn't know you. No newsletters needed—the desert has good eyes.”
“Y-you know me?”
“How could I not know the Ivory Tower's genius? They call you the reincarnation of the ancient grand mage Max Haram.”
“You're too kind. It's just an overblown title for someone like me.”
He scratched his head as if embarrassed.
“If anything, 'reincarnation of Max Haram' suits you more, Adel! No—beyond that!”
“...What?”
“Actually... Reading about you in the newsletters made me realize something. My master called it nonsense, but I'm convinced.”
Juwan stepped closer, glanced at the other students, and whispered so only Adel could hear.
“...What are you talking about?”
“My masters dismissed it as slave rumors, but street talk is more reliable than newsletters.”
He said.
“Not long after Ruinxen's owner changed, Cratel was liberated. It came out late, but Cratel was the lair of the black dragon Shan.”
'He knew that.'
Adel narrowed his eyes slightly.
But considering Juwan's master was Ivory Tower head Julian Pader, it was possible.
'The magic council leaders would know it was Shan's.'
“Everyone sings of the Liberation King, but I see it differently. Ruinxen and Cratel aren't far. Two unchanged cities flipped in an instant.”
He murmured low.
“The ancient dragon's heart vanished. Who took it? I think it was you, Adel.”
Juwan's eyes sparkled.
Different from his past life, but that sharp gaze was the same.
A mind's eye piercing truth. Why he was called genius.
“Others might not see, but I'm sure. You have mana, Adel.”
'He noticed even with my spirit axis blocking the flow?'
Adel thought, watching him.
'Should I kill him?'
It was too early for the magic council to learn he could use mana.
He quietly rested his hand on his sword.
“If that's true... You'd be unprecedented.”
“...What?”
“You're truly my idol!”
But then Juwan shouted like a confession.
Adel stared in bewilderment at the boy bowing deeply.
“...”
It was utterly unexpected.