Greiker.
He was a thirty-five-year-old Mage who had entered the Fourth Tier and taught the first-year basic magic class at Elhas Magic Academy.
These days, most Mages failed to overcome the barrier of the Third Tier and fell by the wayside.
As a result, whether one could reach the Fourth Tier had become the most important standard for measuring a Mage’s talent.
Greiker had broken through the barrier of the Third Tier at the relatively young age of thirty-something. Although he came from nothing more than a minor noble family in a remote region, he had been firmly confident that his abilities would allow him to rise to prominence.
Several years ago, that confidence had brought him here, where he hoped to become a disciple of Duke Ailin, who was renowned as the greatest Archmage in the kingdom.
……However, the reality Greiker encountered here was a cruel one. The talent he had believed was special was trampled beneath talents so far beyond his own that he could not even begin to measure them.
The Mage Tower.
There was no telling how much effort Greiker had devoted to becoming an official member of that place.
However, the number of people permitted to enter the Mage Tower and freely conduct research was inevitably limited.
Greiker repeatedly attempted to attract Duke Ailin’s attention, only to meet with failure every time.
As he continued waiting for an opportunity to enter the Mage Tower and wasted his time teaching inexperienced children at Elhas Magic Academy, Greiker could not rid himself of the thought that the gulf between him and the Mages of the Mage Tower was only growing wider.
‘Grit. If I could enter the Mage Tower, receive sufficient support, and concentrate on my personal research, I would be more than capable of keeping pace with the other Mages. Why am I the only one being treated this way?’
Then, one day,
Greiker received a secret proposal from Vele.
“Jaes? You want me to teach that child a lesson?”
“Yes. If you do, House Morris will promise you permanent support. Although we cannot yet compare to Duke Ailin’s Mage Tower, you know better than most how seriously our family takes the cultivation of Mages. You have benefited from it yourself, after all.”
“…….”
“There is no reason to doubt your talent when you have already entered the Fourth Tier and obtained a teaching position here at Elhas Magic Academy. With just a little influence from me, arranging such support would present no difficulty.”
They had met again here as teacher and student, but Greiker had only been able to study magic as a child and reach his present position because of the Mage cultivation programme House Morris had established before other noble families.
For that reason, Vele’s words were more than enough to shake Greiker’s resolve.
‘Rather than wasting an indefinite amount of time teaching children here while waiting for my turn to enter the Mage Tower, perhaps accepting his offer would be better.’
“……What exactly do you want me to do to him?”
“If possible, cripple one of his limbs. Of course, you can kill him if necessary. There is no need to concern yourself with the life of a mere commoner.”
“But if I did such a thing as his teacher, it would become a serious problem.”
“That is why it must appear to be an accident. The examination for your basic magic class is approaching, isn’t it? Unfortunate accidents sometimes occur during magical examinations.”
“…….”
“Even if a problem arises and you are disciplined or dismissed, I will arrange for you to become an official Mage of our house immediately. There is no need to worry. I, Vele, swear it upon the name of House Morris.”
‘In that case…….’
Greiker had known what kind of person Vele was since the boy was young.
However, he also knew that Vele was neither foolish nor someone who made empty promises.
Moreover, Vele had sworn upon the noble house in which he took such tremendous pride. There was no reason to doubt him any further.
‘I do not know what happened for him to bring such a request even to me, but that child named Jaes must have wounded his pride severely. ……It is always that useless pride of his.’
Greiker had no desire to discover precisely what had happened.
He merely felt some pity for the commoner child who had incurred Vele’s displeasure to such an extent.
Unlike Greiker, who came from a minor noble family, Vele possessed an extraordinarily powerful sense of pride as a noble.
‘……Then again, I am hardly in a position to criticise him when I still refuse to give up on surpassing those who entered the Mage Tower before me.’
Greiker had come here with the Mage Tower as his goal, only to witness talents that utterly overwhelmed his own.
However, he still retained his pride as a Mage. He had no intention of simply resigning himself to his current position.
The sole matter troubling Greiker was that, as a Mage, he would have to injure one of his own first-year students with magic.
Even that concern, however, did not stem from any humanitarian worry for Jaes.
The fact that he had failed to control his magic and seriously injured a student during an examination would remain a stain upon his career as a Mage for the rest of his life.
……Even so, Vele’s offer was far too tempting to refuse.
“Hmm. In that case…… Very well.”
“Heh heh. I will leave it to you.”
* * *
“Magic Arrow.”
And so, during the basic magic examination, Greiker cast the First-Tier spell Magic Arrow at Jaes with a measure of genuine power, unlike the spells he had used against the previous students.
He had deliberately moved Jaes’s turn to the very end. Most of the students who had already taken the examination had returned to their classroom, leaving only a few witnesses.
Since the handful who remained were members of Vele’s class, Vele had promised to deal with them himself.
Greiker therefore intended to disguise the incident as nothing more than an unfortunate accident during an examination.
‘I am sorry.’
The victim himself might realise that something was amiss partway through the test. However, a child like Jaes, who was not even of noble birth, would have no means of doing anything about it.
WHOOSH.
Greiker exchanged a brief glance with Vele, who had remained at a distance to watch Jaes’s examination, thereby completing their final confirmation.
The four Magic Arrows Greiker had cast then began flying toward Jaes in sequence, appearing no different from those he had launched at the previous students.
However,
The power contained within them was on an entirely different level.
They might have been First-Tier Magic Arrows, but when cast seriously by a Fourth-Tier Mage, their power was far beyond anything inexperienced first-years who had only begun learning First-Tier Magic could withstand.
‘If you are fortunate, it will end with the loss of your right arm. Blame your own misfortune for falling out of Vele’s favour.’
However, while Greiker was already preparing the performance he would give after the impending tragedy,
The situation began unfolding in a manner strangely different from what he had intended.
FWIP.
‘……What?!’
His second Magic Arrow pierced Jaes’s Shield, just as he had expected.
However, despite being confronted with such an unforeseen situation, Jaes calmly cast Haste and avoided the attack by the narrowest of margins.
That was clearly not a movement a mere first-year could produce on the spot.
FLASH.
A chill ran down Greiker’s spine.
When Jaes perfectly evaded the third Magic Arrow, which Greiker had also imbued with genuine power, an inexplicable coldness swept over him.
‘Is that boy not an ordinary student?!’
The spell Jaes had cast was nothing extraordinary in itself.
However, the fact that he could calmly respond with Haste and evade the attack within such a brief instant meant that he was no inexperienced novice.
And if that was the case, then unless Jaes was a fool, he must already have realised that Greiker’s magic was not being used merely for the purposes of an examination.
‘Then let us see whether you can withstand this as well!!’
FWOOSH.
The final remaining arrow.
Most of the students had already left, but Vele and several others were still watching. Greiker could not suddenly cast a spell other than Magic Arrow at this point.
……No, even without that reason, Greiker’s pride as a Mage compelled him to persist with Magic Arrow until the end.
‘You are nothing more than a boy in your late teens. Are you suggesting that I cannot subdue a child like you head-on with magic? ……Nonsense!!’
The Mages of the Mage Tower were one thing.
However, Greiker could not tolerate the sight of a mere first-year brat staring directly at him with his head held high.
‘I had intended to let you off with the loss of a single arm. Now that it has come to this, do not blame me even if you lose your life!’
—First Tier.
—Magic Arrow (Magic Arrow).
—Attribute Imbuement.
—Concealment. Rupture. Penetration. Enhancement.
Strengthening Magic Arrow, which was merely a basic First-Tier offensive spell, was inefficient.
Even so, Greiker was a Fourth-Tier Mage.
A first-year who had barely entered the Magic Academy was not someone capable of challenging him.
FWOOSH!
In the span of an instant, the Magic Arrow split into seven strands.
Beams of light approached Jaes from all directions along trajectories far more complex than before.
Greiker had even imbued all but the one flying directly toward Jaes with an invisibility attribute, mindful of the people watching.
He did not doubt for a moment that Jaes would soon be sprawled across the ground, bleeding exactly as Vele desired.
……However,
‘What…?!’
Greiker’s eyes soon widened in astonishment.
* * *
‘This confirms it. This isn’t an examination. That bastard intends to harm me.’
Jaes had been uncertain at first.
However, when Greiker’s magic struck with enough power to pierce his perfectly cast Shield,
Jaes quickly became certain of his suspicions.
‘Why?’
One glance around the room immediately revealed the reason.
Aside from Ian, who was waiting for him, Vele had deliberately remained behind to watch Jaes take the examination.
‘Ha. So that’s how you want to do this?’
Jaes honestly acknowledged his own miscalculation.
Even though he had now adapted to this world to some extent, it was still different from the world he had originally inhabited. He had been viewing the situation far too much through the lens of common sense.
He had never imagined that even a teacher would conspire with Vele to target him.
‘Is this the power that comes with noble authority? I’m truly sick of it.’
The moment Jaes recognised the danger, the results of his training manifested naturally. He cast Acceleration Magic, increasing the speed of both his thoughts and his body.
He stared directly at Greiker while rapidly considering the most appropriate way to overcome the situation.
‘Should I run first? What he’s doing obviously isn’t something he can admit to openly, so I should be able to escape the immediate danger by reaching a crowded place. But…… then there’ll be no avoiding attention.’
The Jaes of the past would have thought only of escaping with his life.
However, he was no longer the complete novice in magic he had been a month ago.
Although he had only mastered a small number of spells, he had repeatedly devoted himself to research, practice, and image training until he had developed a certain degree of confidence in Haste and Magic Arrow.
A few days earlier, he had confirmed their effectiveness against Vele’s gang.
Perhaps because of that, Greiker’s Magic Arrows were certainly dangerous, but now that Jaes recognised him as an enemy, they did not feel overwhelmingly threatening compared to his own.
‘Do I really need to run? Couldn’t I fight him somehow?’
Jaes was cautious by nature.
However, he had only recently learned magic and begun developing confidence in his abilities.
A trace of complacency, something that inevitably came to anyone during such a period, caused his judgement to falter for a single instant.
At the next moment, Greiker’s Magic Arrow split into seven separate paths.
FWOOSH.
In an instant, they descended upon Jaes.