A few days later, Anna had completely returned to her usual self.
After finishing lunch together, the four of us were taking a walk through one of the parks inside the Academy.
By now, the sight of the four of us hanging around together had become so commonplace that the other cadets barely gave us a second glance.
However—
“Young Master. They are following us again.”
“Damn it. Hasn’t it already been three days?”
“Yes.”
For three days straight, those people had been shamelessly tailing Anna and me.
No matter how I thought about it, the Student Council was the most suspicious.
I was not famous enough for anyone else to organize this kind of surveillance, and pulling off something this coordinated inside the Academy would have been nearly impossible without the Student Council’s involvement.
Worse, their surveillance had grown more blatant with each passing day.
At this point, pretending not to notice them took considerable effort.
“Ruben. Those people following us are not first-years. I think they are connected to the Student Council.”
“Yeah.”
“Is it because of whatever you did for me?”
“Haha. Who knows? I did not do anything particularly significant.”
Of course, Anna knew absolutely nothing about the deal I had made with Sabel.
There was no reason for her to know, and knowing would not benefit her anyway.
Still, now that Sabel had stopped harassing her, Anna seemed extremely grateful to me.
Though I was grateful to her as well.
The image of Anna enduring everything alone to protect me was still deeply engraved in my mind.
Having a friend this loyal and steadfast was a blessing.
A real blessing.
“This is unpleasant.”
Karen clearly found the very fact that someone was following Anna intolerable.
Tyr was also fidgeting nervously under the obvious gazes of the older cadets watching us.
This would not do.
I needed to finish the deal quickly.
At this rate, we would not even be able to take a peaceful walk.
Gilbert Ellimore.
You are finished today.
***
Evenings at the Imperial Magic Academy were strangely lonely.
Perhaps it was because the Academy grounds were enormous compared to the relatively small number of students.
Or perhaps it had something to do with the institution’s unique nature.
Every cadet came from a famous noble family, giving the Academy an unusually strong political atmosphere.
It was already an excellent cradle for the Empire’s elite, but at the same time, it was also a battleground where future political struggles quietly took shape.
And Gilbert loved that aspect of the Academy.
He had already risen to the top of this contest for power.
By the time his classmates entered politics with the support of their families, they would become useful arms and legs for Gilbert.
“Haa... those damned bastards.”
Yet despite having everything others might envy, Gilbert had been in a foul mood lately.
First there was the humiliating incident from several days ago.
Then there was his younger sister, Sabel, who had suddenly changed her attitude and slipped beyond his control.
Nothing was going the way he wanted.
‘Times like this are exactly when I need to relieve some stress.’
Setting aside problems he could not solve immediately, Gilbert headed toward the basement of the main building where the Student Council was located.
There was an old room down there that the Academy no longer used and that the Student Council President had personally rented.
A faint light leaked through the slightly opened door.
“You have arrived, Lord Gilbert.”
Two of his followers were already waiting inside.
One of them was still standing awkwardly, apparently not yet fully recovered from the injury to his backside.
Both came from noble families already in decline.
If Gilbert told them to drop dead, they were practically the type to pretend to do it.
If they discarded their pride and became Gilbert’s dogs, restoring their families’ fortunes was not an impossible dream.
That was precisely why Gilbert trusted those who had already surrendered themselves to his power more than anyone else.
“Good work. Go outside and watch carefully for anyone approaching.”
“Yes, sir!”
His followers bowed and left, closing the door behind them.
Silence settled over the dim room, illuminated only by several torches.
Gilbert remained inside with a young woman whose eyes had been covered with black cloth and whose hands and feet were bound.
She appeared unconscious.
“Hehe. You picked a decent one.”
She had been abducted from a nearby slum.
Gilbert’s twisted desire centered on tormenting those far beneath him in status and power.
He could easily have pursued women through his wealth and rank, yet that was never what interested him.
Rather than the beautiful flowers of glittering noble society, he preferred those who lived among commoners and the poor.
And his pleasure came from destroying them.
His face carried the simple cruelty of a child breaking an insect merely to see what would happen.
“Wake up, you insect!”
Gilbert scooped water from a nearby jar and threw it over the unconscious woman.
“Aah!”
The sudden cold water jolted her awake.
She struggled instinctively, trying to understand what was happening, but her hands and feet were bound and her vision was covered.
She could not even tell where she was or who stood before her.
Yet even then, her first thought was not of herself.
“P-Please... spare me...! My sick mother is alone at home. If I do not return, she will have no one to care for her....”
“Shut up! I could not care less about your worthless mother.”
Gilbert sneered.
“Your only job tonight is to satisfy me. Do that, and you might return home with a large sum of money. Otherwise, someone will eventually find your body near some filthy sewer.”
The woman began to sob.
Gilbert’s unpleasant laughter echoed through the dark room as he approached her.
He lifted the cloth covering her eyes.
“You are rather pretty.”
“M-My lord... p-please....”
The moment she realized her captor was a noble, despair spread across her face.
She had spent her entire life in poverty.
She knew better than most how terrifying nobles could be.
People who never knew hunger.
People with overwhelming power.
People who always looked down from above.
“I have been under a great deal of stress lately.”
Gilbert reached toward her—
And then an unfamiliar boy’s voice came from behind him.
“Do you want to spend the rest of your life regretting this?”
Startled, Gilbert spun around.
There stood Ruben, arms crossed, looking at him as though he were staring at something pathetic.
***
“W-What...?”
“What? Speak properly, idiot.”
The bastard was so shocked that he could barely form a sentence.
I immediately dashed forward and kicked Gilbert squarely in the chest.
Apparently, all the brutal training I had endured at the Warrior Academy had made my kick stronger than I expected.
“Guegh!”
He went flying several paces before crashing to the floor, trembling all over.
Whether that was from pain or shock, I did not particularly care.
“Do you see the door behind me? Go through it and keep running left.”
“Th-Thank you, my lord!”
I freed the woman Gilbert had abducted and sent her outside.
The two idiots who had been standing guard were already sleeping peacefully under the effects of Sleep.
This secret room Gilbert had prepared for his private crimes would now serve my purposes nicely.
Rustle.
I looked over.
Gilbert was barely managing to push himself upright with one hand against his knee.
“Ghk... You bastard! Do you know who I am?!”
“Ooooh~ ‘Do you know who I am?!’”
My mask probably hid most of my expression, but I still pulled the most ridiculous face I could while mocking him.
The noble Gilbert Ellimore trembled with fury.
So what?
What was he going to do about it?
“You... You are the bastard who humiliated me the other day, are you not? You are remarkably elusive—and remarkably fearless—to appear before me again after what you did.”
Gilbert glared at me.
“Are you prepared to die?”
“I am supposed to be prepared to die?”
“Yes.”
“Me?”
“Yes!”
“Why?”
“....”
What?
Was glaring supposed to kill me?
“The origin of sacred life. The radiant force that takes all things away. Gather, bearing the will of destruction. Fire Storm!”
Apparently, while glaring at me, Gilbert had been calculating the spell.
For a 7th-Circle Mage, his casting speed was fairly impressive even for a high-level spell.
Wow.
So.
Very.
Impressive.
“Arcane Sword.”
Since I was dealing with a 7th-Circle Mage, I decided to respond with a 7th-Circle spell.
As I formed a Hand Seal, a translucent sword appeared in my grasp.
It was a magical blade created from mana itself.
There were few spells better suited to fighting other magic.
“Disappear!”
Gilbert unleashed the raging curtain of flame toward me.
I swung the sword.
The massive strike of mana tore through Fire Storm and extinguished it as easily as blowing out a candle.
“How?!”
Gilbert stared in disbelief.
Among Academy cadets, Gilbert was probably one of the finest students the Imperial Magic Academy currently had.
But I was one of the greatest mages in history.
Toying with a mere 7th-Circle Mage was child’s play.
“Like this!”
I swung the Arcane Sword again.
A tremendous gust erupted from the blade and hurled Gilbert backward once more.
“Guegh!”
What kind of scream was that?
And this guy was from a ducal family?
I slowly approached him as he lay on the floor, barely able to move.
“What... are you...?”
“Me?”
What should I tell him?
The man who killed you once before?
The person who was about to leave you with something you would never overcome?
Either way, it did not matter.
That was not important.
“You do not need to know.”
I raised one hand.
“Telekinesis!”
What came next was going to be extremely painful.
Since he would obviously struggle, I used Telekinesis to completely restrain his entire body.
“Ghk! How are you casting spells like this without even calculating them?!”
I ignored Gilbert’s academic curiosity and placed my hand against his chest.
Then, using my arm as a conduit, I slowly began forcing my mana into his Mana Core.
“What... are you doing?!”
“I am destroying your Mana Core.”
“What...?”
His face went pale.
“No! I was wrong! I will do anything! What do you want?!”
“To destroy your Mana Core.”
“No...! No! No! Noooo!”
“Yes.”
Poor Gilbert.
He probably wanted desperately to struggle, but he could not move a single part of his body.
He could only endure as my mana entered him.
That must have hurt.
Soon, I could clearly feel my mana filling the Mana Core inside him.
“All right.”
I looked down at him.
“Say goodbye to your Mana Core.”
“Please... I beg you.... Anything but that....”
How pathetic.
I pushed in the final surge of mana, like forcing one last breath into an overfilled balloon.
THUMP!
A dull impact sounded from Gilbert’s chest.
His eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness.
From now on, he would never be a mage again.
Even ordinary physical activity would likely become difficult for him.
“Gilbert Ellimore. Remember what happened to you today.”
I placed a hand over his head.
“But forget who did it.”
After using Memory Manipulation Magic to erase my face from his mind, my work was finally finished.
Pat, pat.
I dusted off my hands like a worker finishing a job and headed back aboveground.
Perhaps they had sensed the enormous disturbance of mana, because Academy security personnel were beginning to converge from several directions.
I summoned a triple-coordinate Teleport Portal designed to make pursuit impossible, then gave one last glance toward the building where Gilbert was now sleeping(?).
“Ah.”
I smiled.
“I feel much better.”
That was satisfying.