He had heard that Julian was the Mad Prince.
However, he had also heard that Julian remained the most famous prince in the Empire and that the Crown Prince had sent him to the academy because he feared his popularity.
That was why Sion had thought they were in similar circumstances.
-……The Flame of Etain?
Voices filled with disbelief.
-Is that not Sion Etain?
-It is, is it not? That is the Flame of Etain, Sion Etain. I am not seeing things, am I?
-Good heavens. That is impossible. My master always told me that if I wanted to become an Archmage, I would have to be reborn as the Flame of Etain…….
-My father said it at every meal. He said that within ten years, the Flame of Etain would become the Inferno of Etain. Then House Etain would no longer be merely the ruler of the East. It would be able to compete with the Central Magic Tower itself.
-Your father said that too? My eldest brother said the same thing every day. He would ask when I intended to become like that after all the money he had spent on me. How does this make any sense?
-Has House Etain lost its mind?
Whispers.
Whispers.
Endless whispers.
-Heh. It seems the rumors that Sion Etain was abandoned by his family were true.
-What? Is that really true?
-Why else would he be here? After all that commotion, I suppose there is no overcoming what one was born with. Who would have imagined that even the Flame of Etain would end up like the rest of us?
‘Like the rest of us.’
Most of the nobles in the Liberation Army had been driven by their families into a place where they were expected to die.
Some belonged to powerless cadet branches.
Some possessed talent that was neither exceptional nor worthless.
Others posed a threat to their family’s designated heir.
Those who had fallen into despair were astonished to see Sion Etain, once revered as a future Archmage, reduced to the same position as themselves.
-In the end, no one can overcome the circumstances of their birth.
-How could the Head of House sleep peacefully while the Flame of Etain remained alive? This was only natural.
-So even a peerless genius cannot overcome his origins…….
Beneath their words, they took a certain pleasure in his downfall.
‘It is hardly surprising.’
Sion himself had felt comforted when he thought Julian Barnabas Istvan was in circumstances similar to his own.
Even someone born an imperial prince and blessed with immense divine power could be cast into a death trap once he lost his hold on power.
Or so Sion had thought.
Yet Julian had annihilated the Vampire Bats in an instant and brought the Liberation Army under his control.
“Do you think I would have gathered all of you to save the academy without making preparations of this extent?”
Julian’s voice, imbued with divine power, rang out from the head of the procession. Enveloped in dazzling light, he shouted.
“God is watching over us! Liberate the academy! Eradicate the demons!”
“Yes!”
“Liberate the academy! Eradicate the demons!”
Sion Etain frowned against the light. A bitter taste filled his mouth.
‘There was something different about him from the beginning.’
It was not merely the dignity granted by his status as an imperial prince.
There was the vivid life in his eyes and the keen manner in which he observed his surroundings.
“Liberate the academy! Eradicate the demons!”
Listening carefully, even the chant rolled easily off the tongue and suited the situation perfectly.
It sounded spontaneous, but it was a prepared rallying cry.
Sion realized the truth.
Prince Julian had used his bloodline and status to choose his own path.
That confidence came from someone who had decided for himself which road he would walk.
Hah.
A hollow laugh escaped Sion.
‘What a fool I was.’
He mocked himself.
Despite being called a genius, he had understood nothing.
He had not understood the true importance of social status.
Protecting one’s pride and living boldly and confidently were privileges reserved for those born into elevated positions.
‘You fool. You thought talent and effort would be enough.’
-I will devote everything I have to raising House Etain into the Empire’s greatest family of fire mages.
-Will you grant me the honor of standing beside you, my lady?
He had thought he had chosen his own future.
It had been an illusion.
-Sion Etain is hereby stripped of his qualifications as heir.
A single declaration had closed the path before him.
-You wish to remain as a retainer? Give up. What lunatic Head of House would keep a lion as his dog?
-You have no future in House Etain.
-My lady is busy. It would be best if you did not seek her out again.
Even when everyone who had once supported him turned their backs and began wishing for his death, Sion had refused to surrender his pride or his faith in himself.
He might have fallen from a prodigious heir to an unwanted nuisance, but he remained an outstanding mage.
His achievements had been forged through natural talent and effort intense enough to kill him.
Although House Etain had abandoned him, Sion had believed that he would determine his own end.
He had thought he had earned at least that much.
-Sion Etain, you will lead the forces provided by our house and join the Arpad Academy Liberation Army.
It had been a monumental delusion.
-Do you not understand? You will die if you go there, you bastard. They are sending you there because they want you dead.
He knew.
However, what could he possibly do?
Sion glanced behind him.
He could see the mages who had accompanied him from House Etain.
‘One of them will betray me and kill me.’
He pulled his hood lower. The face framed by his red hair twisted bitterly.
A genius.
The Flame of Etain.
A future Archmage.
He had thought he was different.
He had believed that he would succeed.
He had believed himself capable of breaking through the barrier of social status.
‘I was wrong.’
He watched Julian shining with golden light.
‘No matter how talented I am or how hard I work, someone like me can never cross that wall.’
***
The Main Building of Arpad Academy.
A middle-aged man stood alone in the broad, dilapidated lobby, trembling as he bowed his head.
The demon watching him from atop the central staircase spoke.
“So what you are telling me is……”
The demon’s beautiful voice sharpened.
“Every monster you sent was defeated?”
“Y-yes.”
Cold sweat streamed down the middle-aged man’s face as he reported.
The swarm of Vampire Bats had been roasted all at once, while the Griffin Chimera and the Snake Pit had been rendered helpless and slaughtered by the Liberation Army.
“Ha……?”
The beautiful demon frowned at this unexpected development.
“You are saying that the monsters guarding the Main Building were killed so easily?”
“They do not appear to be ordinary enemies. Their divine power also seemed exceptionally strong.”
“You are stating the obvious. Naturally, they would possess at least that much strength if they dared invade territory occupied by demons.”
The demon fell into thought.
‘How are they killing the monsters so efficiently?’
He had fought many holy knights before, yet none of them had understood the monsters’ habits well enough to respond with such precision.
However, the so-called Liberation Army had crushed each of the monsters’ attacks with unstoppable momentum from the very beginning.
That was not all.
‘Judging by the direction of their advance, they are clearly targeting the Main Building.’
The Main Building of Arpad Academy.
It was the heart of the Empire’s greatest magic academy and the place where its headmaster resided.
Those who knew nothing might consider it merely a symbolic structure with little value now that the academy had no headmaster.
However, the headmaster of Arpad Academy wielded far greater authority than most imagined.
The Academy Magical Defense System.
If someone occupied the Headmaster’s Office on the second floor and was authenticated as the headmaster by the ‘Core of the Magic Power Source,’ they could activate the Academy Magical Defense System, which only the headmaster could control.
‘Even we could not have occupied the academy if its Magical Defense System had been functioning properly.’
The defense system, powered by the strength of an ancient dragon, was that formidable.
‘If a newly appointed headmaster acquires control of the Academy Magical Defense System…….’
That could not be allowed.
The power already had a rightful master.
After considering the situation carefully, the demon came to a realization.
‘The holy knights did not simply gather a mob of useless people and drag them here.’
They knew far too much about the academy’s internal circumstances to be ordinary invaders attacking from outside.
“……I believe I understand.”
The demon spoke.
“They already knew. They knew about the Vampire Bats, the Griffin Chimera, and the Snake Pit.”
“!”
“There is a spy among us.”
The demon gazed down at the middle-aged man wringing his hands below the staircase.
“Now that I recall, you claimed to know enough about monsters to publish a book on the subject.”
“Th-that is true, but that is because……!”
The man tried to explain, but the demon cut him off mercilessly.
“A lowly human dared deceive me and provide information to the enemy.”
“N-no!”
The man went deathly pale and threw himself flat upon the floor.
“Lord Paimon, you know better than anyone that I have remained beside you and served you faithfully for the past five years!”
“I know.”
The demon smiled elegantly.
“But why should I care?”
“!”
“Were you not always the sort of creature who betrayed one master after another for personal gain?”
“Th-this is a misunderstanding! I have never betrayed anyone as powerful as you, Lord Paimon……!”
The man continued shouting desperately, but the demon snapped his fingers with a bored expression.
Familiars resembling black shadows materialized in midair and seized both of the man’s arms.
“Take him away and put that vest on him.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Lord Paimon! Lord Paimooon!”
The middle-aged man desperately called his name as the familiars dragged him away.
“Lord Paimooon! Aaargh!”
To the demon’s ears, however, the screams sounded no more significant than birdsong carried upon a gentle breeze.
“Humans are at their most beautiful when they wail as they approach their destruction.”
The demon murmured in a beautiful voice. His long fingers stroked his slender chin.
“Insolent and insignificant creatures they may be…… but I never tire of hearing the lovely sounds they make when they swarm together.”
The familiars bowed courteously in agreement.
The demon continued.
“That must be why He cannot bring Himself to abandon the Human Realm.”
Thinking of his liege, the demon rose.
It was time to present Him with new screams and lamentations.
“Prepare the ‘Entrance Ceremony.’”
***
Some time later, before the Main Building of Arpad Academy.
“…….”
The Liberation Army fell silent as they arrived and looked up at the building.
Creeeak. Creeeak.
The hinges of the wide-open windows made sounds that seemed to promise the appearance of ghosts.
“It was truly magnificent when I saw it several years ago…….”
“Good heavens. The Main Building itself…… Entering this place properly was my lifelong dream. How could it have become so shabby and filthy?”
Several of the mages looked visibly devastated.
Some squeezed their eyes shut whenever the light at the tip of the Holy Sword moved across the building.
Theodore also frowned.
“This is supposed to be the center of the Empire’s greatest magic academy. How could it have fallen into such a miserable state?”
“Marble buildings always look especially wretched when they are abandoned.”
Julian answered as though it were nothing, but he was tense inwardly.
‘We made it this far without any serious trouble.’
He looked up at a second-floor window while entertaining a thought that would have horrified Theodore and the Liberation Army had they heard it.
‘That was the Headmaster’s Office.’
If they could break through to that room, they could begin reclaiming the academy in earnest.
Julian reviewed what he remembered.
‘Once I occupy the Headmaster’s Office and receive authentication, I can use the academy headmaster’s Magical Defense System.’
Even if they visited each place occupied by the demons and defeated them one by one, their efforts would be meaningless if they could not hold the reclaimed territory.
However, the situation would be entirely different if Julian could control the Academy Magical Defense System.
Once they drove the demons out of an area, they could restore its powerful magical defenses and protect the students within.
‘But the moment we enter the Main Building, we will inevitably encounter a demon. There is no possibility that the demons occupying the academy would leave the building containing the Magical Defense System unguarded.’
He wet his dry lips.
Despite all the absurd misfortunes he had suffered in his previous life, he had never actually fought a demon……
‘Wait.’
Julian reconsidered.
‘Honestly, after Arthur Blanco squeezed every last drop out of me for more than ten years, was that really any different from living as a demon’s slave?’