FWOOSH.
‘Damn it!’
Although he could see only one of them, Jaes instinctively sensed the trajectories of all seven arrows flying toward him.
He could even tell at once from their power that everything Greiker had launched until now had been nothing more than child’s play.
However,
—First Tier.
—Magic Arrow (Magic Arrow).
—Accelerated Incantation.
—Twelvefold Volley.
The effort Jaes had devoted to constant image training immediately bore fruit, even in such a situation.
‘I can’t read their trajectories accurately enough to block them all yet! Spread them wide and fire a barrage!!’
“Show me every suspicious point, Mir!”
<Yes, Master!>
Neither Jaes nor Mir was anywhere near perfect. Nevertheless, after regaining his composure, Jaes decided that his best option was to launch a rapid barrage of magical projectiles.
Although his attacks were inferior in power and he had begun his incantation later than Greiker, they spread out like a wide net in front of Jaes without falling behind, intercepting Greiker’s magic.
Even then, Jaes did not stop casting.
‘Don’t let your guard down. He’s a proper Mage. I’m still a novice, so he isn’t someone I can afford to underestimate!’
—Acceleration. Separation . Incantation.
Unless all the work he had done thus far had been meaningless, he should now be able to apply the acceleration effect in the manner he desired to spells other than Magic Arrow.
‘I’ve never properly tried it before, though!’
—First Tier.
—Shield (Shield).
—Accelerated Incantation.
—Triple Layering.
He accelerated the process of gathering the air and increasing its density.
He seized and fixed the air—which naturally sought to disperse—even faster and more firmly.
CRASH.
Just as he had predicted, the Magic Arrows Jaes had initially fired collided with Greiker’s attack.
Although they failed to neutralise it completely, they offset a portion of its power.
The remaining attacks, weakened by that first collision, were then stopped by Jaes’s Shields and exhausted the last of their power.
Greiker’s eyes flew wide as he witnessed the scene, unable to suppress his inward astonishment.
‘What is that bastard?!’
Unless Greiker’s eyes had deceived him, Jaes had simultaneously cast two spells, Magic Arrow and Shield, in the brief interval after Greiker launched his own Magic Arrow.
The number of Magic Arrows Jaes had created was even greater than Greiker’s, and his Shields did not appear ordinary either.
‘Moreover, his speed still hasn’t decreased. That means he must still be maintaining Haste. ……A first-year who only just enrolled is simultaneously controlling three spells, even if they are all First-Tier spells? And he’s doing it perfectly?!’
A chill ran down Greiker’s spine.
The amount of Mana he sensed from Jaes unmistakably remained at the First Tier.
Yet the fact that Jaes could accomplish such a feat despite that made Greiker feel even more disturbed.
‘Now that it has come to this, I’ll subdue him without fail!’
This was no longer the time to concern himself with the eyes of those around him.
With that level of ability, Jaes could be a spy from an enemy kingdom who had falsified his identity and infiltrated the academy.
Even if he was not, Greiker could simply use Vele’s assistance to make it appear that way now that he had confirmed Jaes’s ability.
Converge.
Ascendance, Blood Nourishment, Portrait .
By replenishing the blood, I paint the image of existence.
At that moment, an ominous concentration of Mana began gathering around Greiker.
‘Damn it. What is he trying to do now?!’
Even Jaes, who had only recently taken his first steps into magic, could sense it clearly. Nor was he foolish enough not to understand what it meant.
‘Is he planning to use higher-tier magic? Second Tier? No, judging by this, it might be even higher!’
Jaes had never directly confronted a higher-tier offensive spell cast seriously by a Mage.
However, from the ominous pressure accompanying Greiker’s murmured incantation, he instinctively sensed an intangible wall that he could not yet overcome.
—First Tier.
—Magic Arrow (Magic Arrow).
—Accelerated Incantation . Limit.
—Flash Strike.
Jaes instinctively cast a single Magic Arrow, concentrating the entirety of his present ability solely upon speed, just as he had when facing Miya.
That hidden trump card shot toward Greiker while he was still chanting, flying as swiftly as a flash of light.
CRACKLE!
Even so, it could not penetrate the magical barrier of Greiker, a Fourth-Tier Mage.
‘Damn it. So it really is impossible.’
“!!”
At that moment, Jaes glanced toward a small commotion behind him.
Vele and Ian entered his field of vision.
Even amid everything happening, Jaes clearly saw that Vele had knocked Ian down and was now smiling viciously at him.
‘……I see. So it really was you. I still hoped there was a chance I was wrong.’
Jaes could have threatened Vele further that night, yet he had chosen to let the matter end quietly.
He had even made allowances for the bastard’s pride.
And this was all he received in return.
‘You did this because you believed having a teacher behind you made you untouchable?’
Even in another world, nothing truly changed.
In his previous world, how much had Jaes lost merely because he was an orphan? Whether at school or graduate school, people with influential connections had tormented him and even stolen his research ideas.
CRACK.
Jaes took a small marker from inside his clothes and quietly crushed it.
He was undoubtedly still one of the weak in this world.
However, he had no intention of remaining weak and silently enduring everything as he had in his previous world.
That was why he had taken out a single piece of ‘insurance’ when the opportunity arose.
‘Fine. Let’s see whose backing is more reliable—mine or yours.’
I walk the path of the sovereign.
—Third Tier. Annihilation.
—Saint Road (Saint Road).
FWOOSH!
At that moment, an intense wave of light erupted from Greiker.
As befitted a Third-Tier spell, it contained power beyond comparison with everything that had come before.
It shot directly toward Jaes across such a broad area that evasion was impossible.
However,
The spell never reached Jaes’s body.
“Phew. What is this now?”
CRACK!
“What?!”
Before Greiker could even comprehend what had happened, a narrow-eyed man appeared at the scene.
With a single strike that descended from the air like a bolt of lightning, he shattered Greiker’s spell in an instant.
“You……?”
Greiker stared blankly at the man’s sudden appearance.
“……Do you need an explanation?”
“……No. I can more or less imagine what happened.”
Golden waves rippled across Raiden’s entire body as his eyes narrowed.
“Greiker. This clearly appears to be a class. What were you thinking, using a Third-Tier offensive spell against a student?”
Greiker could only bite repeatedly at his lips in response to Raiden’s question, which had been delivered in his usual impassive tone.
“Raiden…… What suddenly brings you here?”
“I believe I asked my question first.”
“It was self-defence. That bastard used magic with the intention of harming me, so I used a spell to subdue him.”
“You used Third-Tier Magic against a first-year for that reason alone?”
“That bastard’s ability was not that of a first-year! I was merely refusing to lower my guard.”
“……Hmm.”
Raiden glanced aside.
He briefly met Jaes’s gaze before turning back toward Greiker and staring at him expressionlessly.
Greiker could not help feeling the silent pressure radiating from him.
‘Damn it. Why did this bastard have to appear here now……?!’
Raiden.
There was no possibility that Greiker could have forgotten him.
When Greiker had arrived in the royal capital, confident in his own talent, Raiden had been the first person to force him to experience the frustration of an ordinary man. Raiden had entered the Mage Tower that had rejected Greiker and swiftly risen to become Duke Ailin’s Chief Disciple.
Only a little more than ten years ago, the two of them had occupied nearly equal positions.
Now, however, Greiker remained a mere teacher, still searching for an opportunity to enter the Mage Tower, while Raiden had long since become its Chief Mage.
“A proper investigation will reveal the details in any case. Duke Ailin has temporarily left due to an urgent matter, so I presently hold full authority over this place. I will take this student with me for now.”
“What……?”
Greiker grew increasingly anxious at Raiden’s words.
His original plan had been to dispose of Jaes and coordinate their stories with Vele’s assistance. Yet that plan was already beginning to collapse.
‘Damn it. Why does that bastard always have to stand in my way……?!’
If matters proceeded like this, Greiker could envision only one future. Far from entering the Mage Tower, he would be discarded by House Morris after he had outlived his usefulness.
Raiden turned around.
“Now, follow me for the time being…….”
The moment Raiden took his eyes off Greiker and turned toward Jaes, who stood behind him,
‘If only that bastard weren’t here……!’
Splendour. Manifestation.
Be cast upon the shadows.
—Third Tier. Dark Shadow.
—Saint Shadow (Saint Shadow).
FWOOSH.
Greiker instantly launched another Third-Tier spell he had prepared by chanting in advance.
He targeted Raiden, who had seemingly lowered his guard and looked away from him at such close range.
‘Die! Duke Ailin said to be absent anyway. If I eliminate this bastard, I can blame everything on Jaes and find a way to survive! No, perhaps Vele and I can claim that I defeated him in a legitimate duel, allowing me to enter the Mage Tower I have desired for so long!’
Greiker’s ultimate attack contained his full power and everything he had left.
……However, that attack led only to—
“How foolish. So you finally revealed your true colours.”
—the final scene that remained in Greiker’s memory.
—Fourth Tier. Flashfire.
—Dominion.
—Spell Armament.
—Thunderstorm.
The exchange that followed lasted, quite literally, for no more than the blink of an eye.
BOOOOM!
“Urgh!!”
Even Jaes, who had witnessed it from the closest position, managed to perceive only a fragment of that instant with Mir’s assistance.
“Gaaah……!”
Greiker, the person who had actually been attacked, could not even comprehend what had struck him.
He was driven into the floor along with the spell he had just unleashed, as though the ground itself had been punched through, and immediately lost consciousness.
“To obtain an objective account, it would be better to ask the students over there rather than the person directly involved, wouldn’t it?”
STEP. STEP.
Still wearing a frighteningly impassive expression, Raiden began walking toward the only two students who remained there after watching Jaes’s examination.
Vele and Ian.
“H-Hiiik!”
THUMP.
As Raiden approached, Vele’s guilty conscience seemed to catch up with him. The strength left his legs, and he collapsed onto the ground.
“Now, what happened here just now?”
‘T-This man is Raiden, Duke Ailin’s Chief Disciple and the Chief Mage of the Mage Tower……!’
It was Vele’s first time seeing him from such a close distance.
Raiden was a genius Mage said to be approaching mastery of the Fifth Tier despite not yet being forty. Although his origins were unknown, his standing was already regarded as nearly equal to that of a marquis.
In other words, he occupied a position at least equal to that of Vele’s own father.
Even Vele could not treat him carelessly.
‘Why did someone like him suddenly appear here?!’
“W-W-Well, I don’t know much either. During the basic magic examination, Instructor Greiker and Jaes suddenly started fighting……!”
Overwhelmed by Raiden’s intimidating presence, Vele blurted out a lie before he could stop himself.
However, Ian immediately denied it from beside him.
“Th-That’s a lie! When Jaes was being attacked by Instructor Greiker, Vele clearly tried to target me with magic from behind! I blocked it with Shield, so I’m certain!”
“Y-You bastard?! Ian, what nonsense are you spouting?! H-He’s lying! That commoner is telling an absurd lie!”
“Hmm. Each of you claims the other is lying. In that case, shall we hear from the other two people?”
“……What?”
Raiden gestured.
The moment he finished speaking, two people who had been concealing themselves without Vele or Ian noticing revealed themselves.
One of them, Damian, glanced indifferently at Vele before clearly reporting everything he had witnessed to Raiden.
“Ian’s account is true. Vele cast magic toward Jaes’s back, and Ian blocked it with Shield. For reasons unknown, Instructor Greiker also began attacking Jaes during the examination.”
“L-Lord Damian?!”
Damian Duschfeld, the third son of the ducal House Duschfeld,
and his butler, Robert.
‘Hmm. So this is the son of the ducal House Duschfeld.’
“So he says. I will hear the rest of your account later. When that time comes, I hope you will not lie in my presence again. I greatly dislike liars. For now, you will remain confined. Would you assist me, Damian?”
“Of course.”
“Then return to the classroom first. I will deal with matters here.”
“Understood.”
“U-Ugh.”
And so,
The brief yet intense disturbance reached its conclusion.
After the others had departed and only the two of them remained for a time,
“Now, shall the two of us resume our conversation?”
Raiden spoke first to Jaes, who wore a somewhat troubled expression.
For some reason, a mischievous smile had appeared on Raiden’s face.