Chapter 41: Second Andnt to School Regulations (1)
“What’s the reason?”
“The nurse said this: my discharge is the day after the duel ends.”
“Ah…….”
“Since I wasn’t in the shape of Archis Eir right now, what could I do? I couldn’t just do as I pleased.”
“I’m curious how the duel will go with Archis gone.”
“I thought the sa, so I ekly listened.”
Among the top-ranked students, how many of them would deliberately try to lose?
There would be plenty who could secure enough results to avoid penalties yet still wouldn’t bother.
“What were the duels like before I ca to Class 0?”
“Back then, since there were no penalties, all the students gave it their all. The more points one had, the more popular they were among the students.”
“No, not that. I ant the grades by subject.”
“Ah, except for the summoning subject, everything was pretty much the sa. When I wasn’t selected by lottery, everything was decided by a hair’s breadth.”
“Really? I can pretty much picture how the duel will unfold now.”
Just then, the nurse who had stepped out returned to the infirmary.
Seeing Banshi standing before my bed, she questioned with a voice full of suspicion.
“You’re not trying to go out together sowhere again, are you?”
“No, we’re not. I just ca to see Artel for a mont.”
With an unwanted guest added to the room, our private conversation ca to an end.
Banshi tactfully stepped aside.
“I’ll co again later.”
“Sure, take care.”
Once Banshi, who had been keeping company, left, I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
‘To think I had to stay like this for three whole weeks…….’
The nurse didn’t speak much with . She seed like soone who didn’t want to talk to students in the first place.
I spent the entire day alone in the infirmary, and it was nothing but boring.
I wanted to go to the library right away and read sothing, or et Hei or Kiena and chat about anything at all.
A long rest was basically torture in another form.
‘Still, let’s think positive. Compared to when I guarded Sylarid’s sealing stone at the pinnacle, this is way better, isn’t it?’
All that had floated there was a single full moon.
Two massive iron doors.
And before them, an erald-colored sealing stone bound tight with chains.
It must have been about 150 years ago when I guarded Sylarid’s sealing stone at the peak.
Those were days when I had felt pure, unfiltered solitude.
‘Compared to that, the infirmary was a paradise on earth.’
Recalling my previous life made the boredom binding my body and mind feel as if it were lting away.
—Nide, let’s et for a mont. Location is in the far corner of the library, in front of the fireplace.
It was a ssage sent late at night, delivered to Nide—who had been resting in her office—via a Mob.
The sender was Vice Headmaster Forr.
Nide was montarily puzzled.
They had only contacted each other through Mob; he had never asked to et in person like this before.
“What’s happening all of a sudden? It feels like it’s been years since I last t the vice headmaster.”
Probably the last ti was at her appointnt ceremony as professor, and never again afterward.
Still, a summons was a summons, so she headed to the eting point marked on the Mob.
“But a fireplace? Did the library even have one? Why would there be a fireplace in a place filled with books? What if a fire breaks out?”
After being appointed as a Class 0 professor, she had wandered around to learn the facilities and layout.
She had also examined the library carefully back then, and there was no fireplace anywhere.
When was it added?
Filled with questions, she reached the location indicated on the Mob—only to find a fireplace waiting there.
“When did this get here without knowing……?”
A professor was the administrator of the class.
Thus, any changes to that class would all be shown through the Mob—whether new students were admitted, whether facilities were going to be modified, and so on.
But this facility, which definitely didn’t exist when she was appointed, had appeared with no notification at all.
“Was I supposed to approve its installation?”
Then Forr’s voice ca from inside the fireplace.
Crackle…… Fwoosh!
Flas suddenly ignited on the bare fireplace floor, and black smoke rose up, taking the shape of a person.
‘So it was a waypoint.’
Only then did Nide realize why she hadn’t known of the fireplace’s existence.
“No, you weren’t.”
Forr reached inside his coat and handed Nide a new Mob.
“What is this?”
“Install it on the ceiling of the dueling hall. It’s a Mob with only recording capability. Its purpose…… you probably know without saying.”
“It’s because of Artel, isn’t it.”
“Yes. It’ll also be connected to my Mob and the headmaster’s. All you need to do is install it.”
“Understood.”
Nide took the Mob.
“But the Class 0 nurse said Artel won’t be able to participate in this duel.”
“That’s fine. Isn’t there a final duel right before the end of the first sester? And there’s also the second sester.”
The first sester started in March and ended in June.
Before the school regulations were anded, there would have been sixteen duels in total, but since it was changed to a monthly schedule, now there would only be four.
Two had already taken place, and soon the third would begin.
Artel, due to the injuries he sustained in the second duel, wouldn’t attend the third but would join in the fourth.
“Well then, I’ll take my leave.”
“You ca all the way here just to hand this?”
“Yeah. I thought it’d be better to give it myself. That’s how important it is.”
“I understand. Please take care on your way.”
As Nide bowed, Forr stepped into the flas inside the fireplace; his feet turned into black smoke, and he vanished up the chimney.
Nide went to the dueling hall as instructed and threw the Mob toward the ceiling.
It stuck there, then turned transparent, invisible even to her eyes.
‘When did he make sothing like this? Mobs do co in all sorts of forms, but this is the first ti I’ve seen one like this.’
Just as she finished the task, closed the door of the dueling hall, and was about to return to her office—
“Seems professors these days train in the dueling hall the students use.”
The voice ca from behind her.
It was Walfis, the teacher in charge of the darkness elent.
When Nide turned around, he gave her a sharp look, his expression and gaze as abrasive as always.
“Whatever I do, I’m not obliged to report it to you. You’re not the headmaster of this school, are you?”
Nide dismissed him like that and tried to step away toward her office.
“The fact that soone like you is a professor is truly stupid and arrogant.”
Her steps halted at Walfis’s single remark.
Naturally, it was more than enough to stop her.
At the sa ti, the two—man and woman—began a glare-off filled with murderous intent.
“What did you an by that? With what intention?”
“Your eyes are quite frightening. Are you thinking of killing ?”
“Teacher Walfis, act with so sense while I’m willing to overlook things.”
“Kuh, kukukuk. Overlook things? How does sothing like that co out of a professor’s mouth?”
Walfis let out an unpleasant laugh, his shoulders genuinely shaking.
“You seem to think you can act like this because the headmaster is behind you. As a mber of the Draco Family, I warn you. Be careful how you behave from now on.”
“It seems you’re misunderstanding sothing, Teacher Walfis.”
“Misunderstanding?”
“Is this place supposed to be the Draco Family’s main estate? Why should I be threatened by you? This is the Ed Branch School. Ed Etar is the owner of this school. And I am a professor who inherited a portion of his authority. Show proper respect.”
“Don’t make laugh. That Ed Etar is also a mage under my family head. If you put it that way, you should be the one showing respect. In the Magical Society, Draco Tyrant is the master.”
“Sounds like you’re saying you want to try .”
“I wouldn’t mind.”
“Really?”
Nide manifested a vast number of tiny droplets, small as grains of sand.
Even by rough estimation, the count was enormous—hundreds, no, easily exceeding a thousand.
“About sixty percent of the adult human body is water. So? Shall we find out—those bright red sixty percent of your insides?”
Then Nide slowly sent the countless droplets toward Walfis.
“For a professor, you’re not very wise.”
Pop!
But Walfis didn’t even blink. He pierced an approaching droplet with a black awl and burst it.
‘The Draco Family’s signature magic.’
The black awl was already far too famous in the Magical Society.
It was a spell symbolizing the strongest of darkness mages, and its creator was the current Archmage Draco Tylant.
It was also widely known as the magic that subdued the deranged Archis Eir, so much so that so circles even called it the Awl of Indu.
Pop-pop-pop-pop-pow!
Beginning with one droplet, the entire mass of droplets Nide had manifested burst in rapid succession.
Flinch.
During that process, Walfis’s left eye twitched slightly.
‘Hmph.’
It lasted only for the briefest instant, but Nide saw it clearly.
And she knew very well what that reaction ant.
After bursting all the droplets, Walfis left her with a single remark.
“I can play with soone like you whenever I want. So mind yourself.”
It was said triumphantly after he had burst all the droplets Nide created.
His words carried a strong murderous tone.
Then Walfis spun around and walked down the corridor at a leisurely pace.
He truly felt he could kill her, but doing so would only create more trouble, so he judged that this level of intimidation was enough.
Once Walfis disappeared, leaving Nide alone in the corridor—
She waited until he was completely gone, then let out a aningful laugh.
“Fufufufu. Getting all proud after struggling so hard to destroy just a few droplets.”
His slight twitch while destroying the droplets—
That was unmistakably proof that he had overexerted himself a bit.
Crack-crackle-crackle!
The corridor wall instantly froze over, and sharp icicles jutted out from it.
“If I had shown you this, you would’ve collapsed, Walfis.”
The droplets she manifested were re distraction.
The true spell that would have dealt lethal damage was the freezing magic she had hidden within the wall.
“You and I are destined to clash soday anyway, so I’ll endure only this much for today. Now I know exactly what your level is.”
With that, Nide withdrew her magic and returned to her office.
As a mage who had declared herself a rcenary for Ed Etar, her enemy was the Draco Family—just like the Ed Family’s.
“This tedious war of nerves… I wonder when it’ll end.”
What she desired most in life was not this ongoing standoff between the Main School and the Draco Family, but a full-scale battle where victory and defeat would be made clear.
“Artel, you’ll be discharged tomorrow, right?”
“So it seems.”
For once, the usually reserved nurse initiated a conversation.
Just as she said, tomorrow was finally the day I would be discharged.
My body had fully recovered over the comparatively long span of a month.
No matter how weak Artel’s body was, it was enough ti to heal all injuries.
“The duel must have started by now, right?”
“Probably.”
And today was the day the duel without began.
“Which subject do you think will take first place?”
“Hmm…… the summoning subject.”
“Summoning? In Class 0 it’s always been the chronically inferior subject. That’s unexpected.”
“When one unexpected thing piles on top of another, a new result appears.”
The second unexpected factor, of course, was Kiena.
“Pft, you sound like an old grandpa. Where did you learn to talk like that?”
“Self-studied.”
“You’re such a strange and funny student. I’ll step out for a bit, so rest.”
She stepped out again, and after quite so ti passed, visitors ca to the infirmary.
This ti, Hei, Kiena, and Banshi arrived together.
“Artel! Look at this!”
Kiena showed a handwritten score sheet on paper.
It looked like she recorded it while watching the duel.
But the duel results were……
“What is this?”
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