Even after graduating from training camp, rookies are not immediately recognized as Dragon Knights.
That is because they must receive six months of education in noncombat areas as probationary Dragon Knights.
Half a year of training, half a year of probation.
Only after completing that full year are they finally awarded the Dragon Divine Armament and recognized as proper Dragon Knights.
The education during probation is usually handled one-on-one, or one-on-two, by senior Dragon Knights.
This time, because the 1044th cohort had a large number of rookies, most of them would work in one-on-two teams.
“We shall go first!”
“Then we will be off!”
“A-ah, goodbye! See you later!”
The assault tank duo, Monica, and Suiseiki left the reception room together with the seniors who had come to receive them.
The ones left at the end were Eugene and Bella, and Noan and Henri.
Eugene’s expression darkened.
It was regrettable that all the lovely young ladies had left, but the most uncomfortable bastard of all had remained until the very end.
Blaze, blaze.
Noan’s burning eyes were glaring this way.
As if he were desperate to tear Eugene apart.
He had been like that ever since they met.
‘He must be frustrated.’
He had kept losing to Eugene since training camp, so it was understandable.
Even more so when someone who had originally been about equal to him suddenly pulled ahead.
Eugene understood.
‘But isn’t this a bit much?’
Even a woman in love who had met her lover again after ten years would not look at someone that passionately.
Forcibly ignoring that gaze, Eugene turned his head in the opposite direction and saw Bella and Henri.
The lazy Black Dragon had failed to endure even this short wait and was wandering through dreamland.
He was not merely nodding off. He was lying on the long sofa with his head resting on Bella’s thigh.
Henri was an especially young dragon.
In human terms, he was like a boy a little over ten years old.
Perhaps because of that, even before the regression, Henri had been adored tremendously by the female classmates.
Seeing Bella’s motherly face as she laughed softly and stroked Henri’s head……
‘This feels strange.’
To Eugene, who was beaten, thrown, or tortured under the guise of a massage every day, it was an outrageous sight.
One person was stuck with a competitive pervert and getting glared at, while another was being pampered and sleeping sprawled out.
It was lamentable.
‘Is being cute really the best?’
Come to think of it, when he had Henri as his partner, he had found him quite cute too. No matter how many accidents he caused or how little he listened, Eugene had never really thought of him as hateful.
“…….”
There was no one in particular to talk to, and sitting there like that made time pass unbearably slowly.
But no matter how long they waited, no one came.
‘It feels like roughly two hours have passed.’
He recalled the senior who had taught him the job in the distant past.
Call sign, Killer Bee.
The mage Barosina Elenia and the Blue Dragon Banya.
They had been kind seniors who had taught him gently throughout all six months.
It would have been nice if he had been matched with them again this time, but this time, the two had become the mentors for someone else.
The result had changed because Eugene and Bella had formed a partnership.
Now, even the two regressors did not know who would play the role of senior to Eugene and Bella.
Time continued to pass.
Bella was now sleeping together with Henri altogether, and Noan, as if he never grew tired, continued watching Eugene.
‘No, there’s a limit to how long you can make someone wait!’
Unable to endure any longer, Eugene rose from his seat.
“I’m going to check what kind of idiot is this late.”
“Who are you calling an idiot?”
It was the moment Eugene tried to pull the doorknob.
Along with a prim voice, someone opened the door and entered. Eugene’s eyes widened.
“Commander?”
The one who appeared was Algina Admire, commander of the Dragon Knight Order.
Startled, Noan rose from his seat, and Bella, who had awakened from sleep, also woke Henri.
Meanwhile, Algina entered the reception room, naturally sat on the sofa, and poured tea.
“Commander…… why are you here?”
Algina drank her tea as if nothing were unusual and said,
“Why else? To educate you.”
“Pardon?”
“What?”
In the entire history of the Order, there had never been a case where the commander personally handled rookies’ probationary education.
It was only natural that everyone was surprised.
“Of course, someone else will handle your basic education as Dragon Knights. Come in.”
She snapped her fingers.
Then a handsome, blond, cheerful-looking man and a gloomy-looking man with short silver hair entered.
Algina introduced the two.
“Call sign Stone. Yung Percival and Luohan.”
“Greetings, juniors.”
“……Hello.”
At the unexpected selection, Eugene’s eyebrow twitched slightly.
Stone was not a particularly famous Dragon Knight. However, Eugene, who had returned from the future, knew them.
The two, who had supposedly been given the call sign Stone, a pebble rolling around on the roadside, because they had no particular distinguishing features, were not outstanding in terms of ability.
Their combat power, magic, and command ability were all merely passable.
But those two had been among the final Dragon Knights who fought together with Bella and Eugene for a long time.
How had they, who lacked any special ability, survived for so long?
The conclusion Eugene reached after watching the two for a long time was this.
They knew themselves well.
And they had cool-headed judgment that allowed them to make good use of that fact.
They were people who knew exactly when and where they could display their optimal ability.
And when it came to their mindset toward missions and their diligence, they were more outstanding than anyone.
In other words, they lacked nothing as mentors.
The only question was the background behind the Stone duo coming together with Algina.
As Eugene pondered that, he suddenly looked at Algina.
“……The old men of the Magic Towers moved, didn’t they?”
Algina nodded.
“Yes. A request came directly from the Magic Towers. They asked whether I could personally educate you two.”
Algina looked back and forth between Eugene and Noan.
“To be precise, the Arcane Magic Tower contacted me first, and the Lightning Magic Tower responded after hearing that news.”
Algina was the strongest mage alive.
Now that Nidbolg had disappeared, it was safe to say there was no mage who could oppose her.
On top of that, she was the Dragon Knight Commander.
What did it mean to ask someone like that to educate mages from the Magic Towers whose talents were in full bloom?
Their goal was clear.
Eugene clicked his tongue.
“Those old geezers…….”
Most likely, the elders of the Magic Towers had acted as soon as they heard the news about Eugene.
Twinstella.
As could be seen from the reactions of the 1044th cohort’s classmates and other people, it was an existence that inspired goodwill and awe in anyone.
One of those Twinstella was from our Arcane Magic Tower?
On top of that, if he was a young genius with outstanding skill, there was no reason to hesitate.
‘They mean to push me as the next Tower Master.’
A former Dragon Knight and Twinstella.
If he was also a person educated by the commander, the strongest mage, then that history alone would give him tremendous authority.
He would have everything needed to become Tower Master.
The intentions of Noan’s Lightning Magic Tower were obvious as well.
Like the Arcane Magic Tower, the Lightning Magic Tower was also a school that pursued pragmatism.
It had a subtle rivalry with the Arcane Magic Tower.
But imagine that they heard the Arcane Magic Tower was raising a promising talent. There was no way they would stay still.
On top of that, Eugene and Noan had already formed a public rivalry due to the incident at the Magic Tower Grand Competition.
From the Lightning Magic Tower’s perspective, it was regrettable that Noan was not Twinstella, but if he was called the rival of that Twinstella, the picture was not bad.
Noan also seemed to have reached the same conclusion as Eugene, because he narrowed his brows.
“I understand you are quite busy, Commander.”
“I received proper payment. Sir Victor of the Arcane Magic Tower has agreed to take over the role of imperial magic advisor.”
Victor Reinhart.
As the former Tower Master of the Arcane Magic Tower, he was a person more than capable of teaching magic to the emperor’s descendants and managing the court mages.
“And the Lightning Magic Tower signed a twenty-year guard mission contract with the Dragon Knight Order.”
A guard mission contract meant that one Dragon Knight would be stationed for a set period to protect the Lightning Magic Tower.
A full twenty-year contract.
It was an extraordinary statement.
Hiring a Dragon Knight through the Order cost an enormous amount.
It was an entirely different matter from hiring Eugene and Bella, who had registered as mercenaries and put themselves forward as products.
What if Eugene’s group died while doing mercenary work?
Even if such a case occurred, the Order would not take any action.
That was because problems during free activities were not the Order’s responsibility.
Some enraged individuals might move, but that would be a separate matter.
But what if a Dragon Knight formally dispatched by the Order died?
That would be a completely different story.
In that case, the entire Dragon Knight Order would move to resolve the problem.
It was to show the responsibility they carried, and the trust needed to maintain their group.
And that would become a disaster difficult for most nations to endure.
Because of those reasons, formally requesting a Dragon Knight dispatch through the Order came with an astronomical price.
And yet they had bound that into a twenty-year contract.
‘They must be quite serious.’
And there was one more reason the two Magic Towers had made this request of Algina.
Algina looked at Eugene and Noan.
“You two, I hear your noses pierce the sky because you are doing so well in your towers.”
Noan answered reflexively.
“My nose is not high. The people around me are simply foolish. And……”
He looked at Eugene as if seeking agreement. Eugene laughed.
“What’s wrong with having a bit of a high nose? We have good reason for it.”
Algina’s face became stern.
“Ordinarily, people do not answer like that. Do you not know the saying that rice bows its head the more it ripens?”
Ha. Noan laughed.
“It is not bowing one’s head, but merely adjusting to reality. The more foolish people are, the more they cannot acknowledge those better than themselves, so they avoid it out of fear.”
Yung Percival, the dragon rider listening beside them, laughed heartily.
“You are brimming with confidence! Very good.”
Eugene merely kept smiling.
Now that he had accumulated many experiences, he agreed with Algina’s words, but if it had been him before the regression, he would have reacted exactly the same as Noan.
This was the real reason the towers had designated Algina.
A Tower Master was someone who led a Magic Tower.
Could one become a good Tower Master with ability alone?
No.
In order to lead others, one had to possess the generosity and consideration to understand others.
I alone am supreme in heaven and earth. Someone who thought themselves the greatest could not become that.
So the old men of the two towers had sent Algina to the two of them.
A heaven beyond the heavens.
Try tasting true talent for yourselves.
Then your heads will naturally bow.
To Eugene, it felt as though he could hear the nagging of those old men in his ears.
Algina said,
“Good. Then come out. Let us see your skill.”
***
“I will go first.”
Noan stepped forward first.
Algina and Noan stood in the wide parade ground of the Order.
The strongest active-duty mage and the strongest rookie.
It was a match no one could help being interested in, and others gathered as spectators as well. A round crowd formed around the parade ground.
Noan stood facing Algina and said,
“My magic has high killing power, so it is difficult to control. Will that be all right?”
Algina laughed with a dumbfounded expression.
“Yes, yes. Even if I die, I will not hold you responsible. Zeta?”
Zeta, Algina’s partner standing at a distance, said,
“I have prepared a document in case of an emergency. I have also left proof as a witness, so you may display your skill without worry.”
Zeta waved a paper stamped with Algina’s signature.
Even preparation that made it impossible to argue.
“Tsk.”
Noan’s lips twisted.
That was because his clumsy provocation had instead made him the brat who did not know his place.
But provocation was only preparation before the real fight. He calmly gathered his mind and inhaled.
“Understood. Then let us begin.”
“Good.”
Sparring between mages was simple.
The side that wove magic first and struck the opponent won.
In practice, exchanges of attack and defense continued more than that, but they held little meaning.
Because in most cases, victory and defeat were already decided by the first strike.
In order to block the opponent’s attack, one had to weave defensive magic. But while blocking in that way, the opponent could use another attack spell, so one would have no choice but to keep blocking.
There was the option of using defensive magic and offensive magic at the same time, but the opponent was not a fool.
If such a situation came, the opponent would instead use two attack spells.
Unless one defensive spell could block two attack spells, it was a meaningless act.
Therefore, the factors that decided victory between mages could be broadly divided into three.
Being faster than the opponent.
Being able to use more spells at once than the opponent.
Or wielding far stronger defense and offense through higher efficiency or output than the opponent.
Noan was the type who focused everything on the first factor.
‘Because that is the easiest way to win!’
Strike before the opponent.
For example, what would happen if he could launch an attack before the opponent deployed defensive magic?
The match would already end there. There would be no need to consider the second or third factors.
As long as he was fast, he could snatch every victory.
So there was no need to look at anything else.
Speed was the greatest factor of victory.
The high-speed casting technique he had studied his entire life was enough to make even the old men of the Lightning Magic Tower, who had lived close to a century, stick out their tongues in astonishment.
Noan was certain.
Even if the opponent was the strongest mage, Algina Admire, he was ahead in casting speed!
The moment he took the first attack, the scales of victory would tilt toward him.
Noan’s monocle reflected Algina.
The sparring had begun, but she had not yet raised her mana.
Noan was the same.
She merely looked at Noan quietly, with an unreadable expression.
Who would raise their mana first, faster and more accurately?
That itself was the critical point.
Wind blew.
A fallen leaf that had flown from afar passed between the two.
The murmuring of the spectators ceased.
It was because they felt pressure from the momentum of the two standing in the parade ground.
Even the birds that always chirped fled from their places, and the parade ground was wrapped in silence.
“Ah.”
It was the instant one spectator, overwhelmed by the heightened tension, dropped the object in their hand.
Noan moved.
Algina moved.
Mana surged up like flame.
RUMBLE!
Two streaks of lightning split space.
A tidal wave that rose from somewhere swept across the parade ground.
FWAAAAAAASH!
From the collision of water and lightning, shock waves and steam spread explosively.
Spray bursting out in a circle became a blast of aftermath and swept through the surroundings.
The hair of everyone encircling the parade ground was pushed back, and fallen leaves scattered in every direction.
Scrrrrape- THUD!
Noan flew all the way to the far side of the parade ground, slid along the wall, and collapsed.
Algina’s brown hair fluttered.
Algina, who had raised her hand as if scooping something up, shook the water from her hair and turned her head.
“Next.”
The green light in her eyes, which had seemed only gentle, flashed eerily like cursed fire.
“Impressive.”
Muttering that, Eugene stepped forward into the parade ground.