Chapter 98
Chapter 98
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: The Decisive Play
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Madelia Page dragged her weary body back to the mansion, and immediately the butler and maids swarmed to attend to her.
“You were out quite late.”
The young head butler Kenis cautiously remarked, and Madelia nodded.
“It’s a murder case. Special task force mages got hit during finals week.”
“Special task force mages...?! ”
“There were all sorts of reports to the Magic Alliance, so it dragged on... Anyway, could you call Casena? I want to have dinner with her.”
Despite her face drained to the point of collapse from exhaustion, just the thought of her daughter’s laughter brought a flush of color to her cheeks.
But unable to fulfill that hope, Kenis wore an apologetic, troubled expression.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well... Your Excellency, the young lady still hasn’t returned from school.”
“What? What time is it now?”
Kenis hesitated a moment, but soon gave a concise report on the series of disturbances that had erupted at school while Madelia was away.
“Rain Ludwig quit the student council? And Casena’s watching that match right now?”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
“Who the hell approved this ridiculous joke?”
Kenis quietly clamped his mouth shut. Madelia let out a low sigh and summoned the maids back.
“Bring a fresh robe. I’m heading to the school right now.”
* * *
Logan felt the hefty weight of the magic orb gripped in his hand as he eyed the scoreboard.
Set score: 17–22.
The young master barely snatched the serve right, which means a crucial mission’s just landed in my lap...
‘And it’s the chance of a lifetime to show off to Lily!’
Nailing five straight ace serves here might make Lilian fall for me for real—just the thought has me grinning.
“Alright. Here we go!”
He launched into a full-powered leap, twisting his abs completely, and smashed the ball with ferocious momentum—Logan’s spike serve—
“Eek...?!”
—flew not just barely out over the opponent’s court but way off into the distance, ruled out before the linesmen even had a chance to call it.
‘That damn monkey...’
Owen clutched his forehead against the pounding headache, while Chaihak peer Ilin wiped away tears of感動.
‘Damn it, I trusted you, Logan!!! Pretending to help the genius (disaster) young master, then straight-up sabotaging him!’
Oblivious, Logan was taking heat from every academy’s later-year students on the court.
“Logan, you muscle-brained moron... we’re one point from set, what the hell was that!”
[ㄹㅇ no hope lmao]
“Hehe, Logan, you know messing around at a moment like this means you’d have zero excuses even if you died★”
Lilian, Kaden, and Nora vented their frustrations in their own ways, but only Rain clapped Logan on the shoulder.
“Close call. We’ll get the next one.”
“Sniff, Young Master...”
He might’ve looked the calmest of the six, but Rain was actually the one closest to breaking among them.
His breathing wouldn’t steady.
The cold sweat wouldn’t stop.
It was all thanks to Griffinballer’s relentless mark on Rain Ludwig—win or lose a point, it dragged into at least three rallies each time, relentlessly eating away at the boy’s stamina and mental fortitude.
“Just like the professor said.”
“Yeah. Their attacks aren’t breaking from textbook patterns.”
“I couldn’t buy the ‘first time playing’ line earlier, but heh, they’re screaming beginner now.”
There were limits to covering inexperience with raw talent. Especially once the opponent spotted the flaw.
“Here comes another C Quick, just like before!”
Unlike the back-and-forth first half, Christa quietly bit her lip as she watched Rain’s side start getting overwhelmed.
“They’ve finally hit their limit...”
As Christa said, Rain had no choice but to reach his breaking point.
He’d been carrying nearly four players’ worth of work from the jump. More precisely, he’d had to.
Lilian and Kaden might hold up against other clubs, but against Griffinballer? They were nothing more than warm bodies.
‘And Weiber’s been nothing but sluggish moves since earlier—no need to even mention him.’
Attack or defense, he had to touch the ball more than anyone...
Pulling off those impossible tosses nonstop must’ve already bottomed out his mental strength and mana.
Magic volleyball demanded instantly solving the opponent’s equations on the fly—the fatigue from that was beyond mortal imagination.
‘You’ve done more than enough, Rain.’
That thought, seeing Rain slumped and gasping for air, wasn’t just Christa’s—it flashed through Elin Ludwig’s mind too.
‘No one would blame you for collapsing from exhaustion now. Just call it.’
Clinging on stubbornly wouldn’t change a thing.
The match’s outcome was set from the start... The team weight classes were just too mismatched.
‘So why?’
The same question flickered through Weiber’s mind as he glanced sidelong at Rain.
‘Why hasn’t this guy given up yet?’
Was it all real?
Quitting the student council, scraping together teammates from the Eight Great Academies—not some joke just to face Griffinballer...
“What a shame, Young Master.”
That was when Maya Snark called out from across the net. Rain’s reaction was so slow he barely managed to lift his head.
“I can see your talent’s genius-level, and your leadership’s top-notch. Honest praise.”
“...?”
“Makes it all the sadder. If you hadn’t picked a fight with us, you could’ve enjoyed student council life, climbed to president no problem, and had a blast all through school.”
It was all sincere.
The praise for the Ludwig heir’s skills, and the mockery for getting in their way.
She still couldn’t fathom why this guy had stuck his neck out for Valencia.
“You’re the pitiful ones.”
Rain’s unexpected reply cut through.
His eyes held none of their usual bold flair—only a glacial chill swirled within.
“You don’t get what magic means... You just know how to use it to stomp weaklings. And you think that makes you hot shit.”
“What magic means? Enlighten me.”
“No clue. That’s why I’m chasing it.”
Magic’s meaning was truth itself—even after reaching archmage heights once, he hadn’t grasped it. The path’s end was still faint, blurry, distant.
“But I know you’re wrong.”
Because he carried a lantern-like signpost in his heart, guiding him along that road.
“My auntie said it. Magic only means something when you share it with others.”
The smile that curved the boy’s lips as he spoke was uncannily similar—though he was oblivious to it.
- Never forget, Lin.
Dean Atlante, who’d shared magic’s light with the boy. Hero Rista, who’d shown him the possibilities of the world and all it held.
- Magic’s like a torch—its meaning is born only when you pass it on.
Seeing that smile, Weiber felt something slam into his skull like a hammer.
It stirred the heart.
A smile laced with endless longing, brimming with certainty in his path... one no one who looked down on others could ever wear.
“That’s why I can’t call you mages.”
“Can’t call us mages? Then what?”
“That’s why I’m here to fix your rotten mindset. Never even played magic volleyball before.”
Maya Snark’s eyes narrowed.
What an obnoxious prick.
From their first meeting to now...
Those eyes—pity rippling in them, not contempt or scorn.
“Keep bragging like you’re hot shit all you want—it’s meaningless. In the mage world, skill rules all. And you lost to us, Young Master.”
Current set score: 17–23.
Just two more points, and Griffinballer wins. So where the hell was that composure coming from?
“Gertrude, nice serve!”
Gertrude was a wing spiker too, and her signature was a devastating spike serve.
Accuracy was iffy, but thanks to her family’s martial training, her raw power outstripped even Sandra’s.
‘Should’ve collapsed ages ago...’
Any normal magic volleyball player pulling Rain’s workload would’ve keeled over from stamina and mana depletion by now.
‘No idea how he’s hanging on, but for Miss Christa’s sake, I’ll put him out of his misery!’
A toss soft as caressing water, four light approach steps like walking on waves, a serene leap rippling the shallows.
Thwack—!
The heavy impact sent the ball rocketing right in his face—Kaden’s arm took the hit, and it flew straight back.
“......”
Thump, thump, thump... The ball’s bounces echoed mechanically through the doomed silence of the arena.
The cheers for the challengers had long faded, leaving the gym as still as an autumn graveyard.
Professor Owen swallowed a silent sigh, eyes shut.
‘Match point. Truly backed into a corner...’
Even the current rotation was the worst possible—no reversal in sight.
Logan, their block/spike ace, stuck in the back row. Nora, receive specialist, up front.
They needed a point to rotate, but the game ending first seemed more likely.
‘One point gets Logan front, Nora back, Rain on serve. Just one more point...’
But even cheering for that felt brutally cruel—no one could open their mouth.
‘Magic volleyball’s a single-set match unlike regular volleyball precisely because the mental drain is insane...’
As everyone stared in silent despair, Gertrude took a fresh ball from the ref and leaped once more.
‘Now...!’
‘This’ll...!’
‘End it...!’
The instant every Griffinballer player was certain of victory, someone lunged for the plummeting ball.
“Ha, that again...!”
Forced to the bench by rotation, Rowinbelt clutched the back of his neck.
Rain. Rain Ludwig.
Rowinbelt’s eyes flew wide the next instant. Not just him—everyone watching.
“......?!”
“......?!”
“......?!”
As he received, Rain rolled backward lightly. Just like Rowinbelt and Nora had.
“O, o, ooooo—?!”
A flawless receive that killed all the ball’s power, turning it into a perfect setup toss.
“—He lifted itttt!”
Nora let out a light whistle.
‘Copied it after seeing it a few times...?’
Even Griffinballer’s coach Elin reeled from the shock, letting out a hollow chuckle.
Unbelievable. Truly absurd.
Too absurd for words...
But that was it. With the setter handling first touch, no setter left for attack. Their offense would simplify—no better than a free ball.
“Send it back, send it back!”
Logan frantically signaled to lob it to the enemy setter.
A hard-won chance—Griffinballer could keep their setter out of first touch...
Rain seemed to anticipate it too, hauling his creaking body up and stepping toward the net center. But then.
“My ball.”
Someone was already in the setter’s spot. Someone no one expected to be there.
Every eye in Gym 1 bulged wide.
Anyone who knew the challengers’ situation even a little—those who knew that ‘someone’s’ personality—shivered outright.
Weiber.
Rohwinen’s later-year, Weiber.
The guy who’d joined half-assed, just to fill the roster. The one who’d sworn he wouldn’t toss.
“Weiber, that guy...?”
“He’s already in setup...!”
The Griffinballer blockers’ eyes darted frantically.
‘Who? Who’s he setting?’
Lilian and Nora jumped to disrupt from the front. Sandra marked Nora, Maya took Lilian.
Right then—half a beat late in the attack tempo—Rain Ludwig soared.
‘Timing back attack? No way they spike to the guy who just received...’
Before the doubt could cross Maya’s mind, in time stretched annoyingly slow, the ball peeled off Weiber’s fingertips.
A hair above Rain Ludwig’s peak jump from the back row—straight onto the boy’s spike path.
Unlike Rain’s razor tosses, a relaxed, gentle arc any spiker would love.
‘Kinda感動...’
That thought flashing, Rain smashed it harder than a spike serve.
“──?!”
“──?!”
“──?!”
All noise cut off.
Eyes shook.
In silence like time frozen, the ball slammed the end line and ricocheted far away, its echo filling the gym.
“......”
“......”
Rain landed from the spike, panting as he faced Weiber.
A silent exchange thick with tangled emotions hung between them—then their palms clapped together, shattering the hush.
As if on cue, roars exploded, rattling the gym’s glass.
“Waaaaah—!”
In the frenzy of excitement, the challenger team traded backhanded cheers.
“Finally awake? How long you gonna sleep— was debating smacking your head.”
“Shut it, muscle monkey.”
[Way too cocky;;]
“One clutch play when it counts? Good enough★”
“We’re alive thanks to you, Weiber.”
Staring at Rain’s outstretched hand, Weiber dredged up a distant memory.
When was it? The moment he started despising nobles just for existing.
As a kid, maybe he’d just been thrilled to fit in. Sharing classrooms, casting the same spells with those lofty nobles.
But reality wasn’t so kind.
- A filthy commoner with no sense of place...
- Think slinging spells erases your lowly roots?
Over time, nobles hardened in his mind as jealous hacks who envied the hardworking.
His once-bright, outgoing personality turned cold and sharp...
All nobles were the same. Pathetic leeches living off superiority. Had to be.
“......Just helped once. ‘Cause I saw you putting in the effort you talked about.”
This guy was different.
Rain Ludwig was different.
Maybe the exact image of nobility he’d idolized as a child...
‘Unbelievable.’
Professor Owen shuddered with an emotion beyond words, watching the surreal scene.
‘He turned brash Logan, scheming Nora, razor-edged Lilian and Weiber inside out like that? In just half a year?’
He’d dismissed the vice professor’s fuss at term’s end... but Rain Ludwig was the real deal.
‘The day that kid grows up and becomes a magic world heavyweight, magic... no, the world itself might change.’