Chapter 54: The Tumultuous Sester (1)
Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak!
Only the hurried sound of footsteps echoed faintly through the empty street.
‘That student was Artel? The one both Lord Etar and the Draco Family have been keeping their eyes on…’
The Tavern Owner kept recalling Artel’s face, the one he had glimpsed through the window.
Artel couldn’t have seen his transparent body, but the distance between their faces had been less than a hand’s breadth.
At that mont, he had held his breath in panic, thinking that even the faintest exhale from his nose might alert Artel to his presence.
But staying still would only get him caught sooner or later.
He had racked his brain desperately, searching for a way out—then used a small wind-elent spell.
Thanks to that, he managed to escape by masking his movents with the sound of rustling bushes.
Tak… tak….
Eventually, he slowed his running pace.
“But why…”
Once he had stopped completely, he murmured to himself while glancing back toward the direction of the Mihael Family’s estate.
“Why did I feel… a kind of relief when I saw that student? Whether it was instinct or my mind playing tricks on … it felt like sothing was being purified…?”
It wasn’t exactly the sa feeling as finally eting soone he had searched for all his life, but it was close enough.
And it was toward a re 1st Class student.
“What nonsense. I must’ve just felt that way because of the situation.”
He caught his breath and then returned to the tavern to report to Etar.
He told him that the only people he had seen in the restaurant were Ruin and the student Artel, that he hadn’t been able to discern what they were doing, and he apologized as he finished his report.
–So you saw the student Artel in person, then?
“Yes, that’s correct.”
–How was he? I’d like to see him myself, but as you know, I can’t move, so I’ll have to rely on your impression.
He answered that Artel had given off quite a familiar feeling.
–Is that so? Good work. That should be enough.
Etar didn’t ask further and ended the communication.
At the very top of the main academy building, where even looking upon it sent chills down one’s spine, darkness reigned.
In the sky, a single full moon hung lonely and still, while on the ground, sharp iron gates stretched upward as though ready to pierce that very moon.
Even the iron gate itself was black.
No—aside from the yellow full moon, this entire summit seed to allow only the color black to exist.
The moon in that sky—should one call it lonely, or dignified?
And within those spiked gates was sealed Sylarid, the one who had once plunged both the Magical Society and the Swordsmanship Society into terror and bloodshed.
Sylarid, the mage who had once dominated an era.
His power was so unmatched that he still lived to this day.
So even said that, in terms of sheer magical power, he had surpassed both the Archmage Alarize Petra and his disciple Archis Eir.
Archmage Tyrant stood before the iron gate, observing the seal stone—an erald and black mass intertwined in chaotic swirls.
Three hundred years ago, when Tyrant had killed Archis Eir at this very spot, the ratio of black in the stone had been only thirty percent.
But now, even after three centuries, it had barely reached seventy.
The seal stone had still not completely absorbed Sylarid’s power.
“Full Moon, word from the Mihael Family. The open visit has just concluded.”
At that mont, a Gatekeeper cloaked in a hooded robe appeared behind him to deliver the report.
“Connect it.”
“Yes, Full Moon.”
As the Gatekeeper handed over the Mob, Tyrant shifted his gaze away from the seal stone.
“This is the Archmage speaking.”
–It is an honor, Full Moon.
“Good. How was the student Artel?”
–……
Ruin couldn’t answer.
His silence alone confird Tyrant’s worst concern—it had already co to pass.
“You can’t rember either, can you?”
–I… have no excuse.
“That’s enough. That’s all I needed to know.”
Then Tyrant added Nohill Jick to the Mob connection.
Now, three people were linked through the Mob: Tyrant, Mihael Ruin, and Nohill Jick.
“I, as Archmage, issue a command to both your families.”
–Yes, sir!
–It is an honor, Full Moon!
“Use magic freely in the Underworld. Instigate conflict with the swordsn. Drive it to the point that you co to despise each other. Killing a swordsman is acceptable. You should be capable of at least that—if you dare call yourselves family heads.”
–…What?
–……
“I trust no mage of mine will lose to re swordsn.”
But the command that left his lips was far too devastating.
Since ancient tis, from the age of the First Great Swordsman and Great Archmage, it had been an unbroken pact that in the Underworld neither side would interfere with or provoke the other.
Now Tyrant had unilaterally shattered that ancient order.
–Full Moon, that’s…
The one who attempted to object was Ruin.
“I know what you’re worried about. But there’s no need. Plenty of mages will follow suit. Let them rampage as they please.”
Leaving only those words, Tyrant cut the Mob connection.
“Gatekeeper.”
“Yes, Full Moon.”
“We’ll need to act accordingly. Prepare. Summon the Royal Guard.”
“Understood.”
–What kind of madness is this? Did he say it on purpose, so I’d hear?
At that instant, a new voice echoed from within the seal stone.
Tyrant ignored it lightly.
After the open visit to the Mihael Family, we returned safely to the academy.
The rest of the day was given as free ti, and the students enjoyed their leisure as they pleased.
[Artel]
–Current Points: 100
I activated my Mob and checked my points.
During the first sester, it had said ‘Remaining Points’, but now it read ‘Current Points’.
Tomorrow, the revised school rules would take effect.
Which ant I’d have to endure a relentless schedule of duels with hardly a mont to breathe.
But there was a new concern weighing on my mind—
8. The graduation eligibility for 1st Class would be determined based on the points accumulated up until December 31st, 17:59:59. Only the top six students would be allowed to graduate, while the top three would receive special admission and skip 2nd Class, advancing directly to 3rd Class.
Conversely, the bottom ten students would be expelled regardless of their remaining points.
That was the final clause of the anded school regulations.
Out of thirty-one students, only three could advance directly to 3rd Class.
The problem, however, was that due to the new regulation changed during the first sester of 1st Class, there were now three students being ostracized.
They were , Hei, and Kiena.
And according to the newly anded regulation, the Joint Admission Students were considered a team—if even one of the three was expelled, then all would be expelled.
This school wasn’t the kind that would kindly make an exception, allowing the other two to advance to 3rd Class just because one of us ranked in the top three.
On the contrary, since none of us had reached the upper ranks, the likelihood of the school promoting other students to 3rd Class instead—and relegating us to 2nd Class—had risen dramatically.
The new school rule practically said this:
‘Arthel, Kiena, Hei. If all the students unite and tornt these three persistently, everything will be fine.’
The dueling system had been changed to a voluntary one, and now we were the ones who had to endure the brunt of it.
But the real issue was Banshi’s existence.
She was the one who knew who I truly was, who shared the sa circumstances, and who gave real strength.
That was what Banshi ant to .
However, due to the changed regulations, I could no longer move together with her.
It seed best to discuss it separately.
Since I already knew we were being watched, I didn’t contact Mob unnecessarily.
After all, she was close enough that I could just walk over and find her myself.
And so, I arrived in front of Banshi’s dormitory.
When I quietly knocked on her door, there was no response—only silence greeted .
She usually stayed in her dorm, so it was strange that she seed to be out today.
“I guess I’ll have to contact Mob. I really didn’t want to, if I could help it.”
Just as I was about to summon Mob, Banshi appeared at the end of the hallway.
“Follow .”
Her behavior was a bit strange.
Before I could even ask, she grabbed my wrist and led sowhere.
“Why the library?”
“Take a look inside.”
“…Why are there so many students here all of a sudden?”
More than twenty students were gathered closely together, clutching books.
No—judging by what I saw, it looked like every student except , Hei, Kiena, and Banshi was there.
That’s how crowded the place was.
“Hey, how long are you going to keep reading? Let it go already.”
“…But still—”
“Give it to .”
“I’ve been waiting forever to get a turn, I just started reading…”
“Watch your tone. You lowborn.”
I even saw a student snatching a book away from another.
The one trying to take it was Lamic Vir, from the Water Elent course.
I wondered what kind of book would make soone use their family’s authority so crudely—so I checked.
“They’re all… summoning tos? What’s gotten into them? Why are Elental Mages suddenly obsessed with summoning books?”
“Why do you think? They must desperately want to defeat soone from the Summoning course.”
She ant Kiena.
Right now, every 1st Class student was targeting Kiena.
Kiena—the only summoner in 1st Class capable of summoning an Artifact.
Regardless of that, the students had decided she would be their target.
Hei had burned out, showing signs of lethargy—making him seem like an easy target.
As for , being a Double Caster and having shown overwhelming results in duels, they’d likely given up on challenging long ago.
So the one they chose instead was Kiena.
Summoners were already considered weaker than Elental Mages.
And the reason for that was simple.
Summoners fought through their Artifacts.
Unlike Elental Mages, Summoners relied on an interdiary—the Artifact—which naturally made them slower and less adept in real combat.
Moreover, no matter how powerful an Artifact was, it beca ineffective at higher Circles.
Artifacts were slower than advanced spells, and unlike Elental Magic, they couldn’t manifest attacks instantly before the opponent’s eyes.
That was the limitation of an Artifact.
For an Artifact to attack, it had to move physically—movents that were easy to see, making direct assaults nearly impossible.
There was no way to conceal or disguise those movents.
That was also why swordsn struggled against mages.
Even Sylarid, a Double Caster who wielded both Summoning and Darkness, earned his infamous reputation only because of that rare combination.
When an Artifact was combined with an elent, Elental Magic wouldn’t work on it.
I didn’t know why—that was an unknown, unexplored mystery.
Even in Sylarid’s case, he only wielded the elent of Darkness, yet his Artifact couldn’t be affected by Flewd.
Still, a re Summoner without dual attributes was undeniably weaker than an Elental Mage.
But a Double Caster who could also wield elents—such a summoner would be an opponent even soone like , with Flewd, couldn’t easily handle.
A truly paradoxical and mysterious type of mage.
But one thing was certain—fighting a summoner was exceedingly simple once you knew how.
Kiena was one of those simple types.
Once you knew the counterasures, losing was actually harder.
“Pathetic.”
“What is?”
“No matter how much they study those tos, they’ll never defeat Kiena. Don’t you agree, Banshi?”
I deliberately spoke loudly.
Imdiately, every student in the library turned to glare at .
Their gazes were so sharp it felt like knives were scraping against my skin.
“Read all you want—it won’t help. You’ll never win. Let’s go, Banshi. We need to talk.”
“Ah, yes.”
That had been my declaration of war toward the other students.
This was 1st Class.
And what was 1st Class?
It was the place for students who had just discovered their elents.
Then what kind of books would be in a 1st Class library?
Naturally, only books that taught how to use newly discovered elents.
There would be nothing advanced—no detailed combat doctrines like, “Using this spell causes side effects,” or “A summoner’s body is their weak point.”
Those kinds of books didn’t exist anywhere in 1st Class.
The students didn’t even realize that. They thought simply reading summoning tos would reveal the answer.
‘Still, it was a good thing I didn’t expose Kiena’s weakness during that duel.’
It hadn’t been intentional—but it worked out perfectly.
After that, I brought Banshi back to my dormitory.
“You understand, right? Why those students will never be able to defeat Kiena.”
“Yes. If this were 3rd Class, I might think, ‘Maybe, just maybe,’ but this is 1st Class.”
Once we were alone, she reverted to speaking formally again.
And she clearly knew that the other students’ approach was wrong.
“So, what is it you wanted to discuss?”
“Ah, it’s about the new school regulation.”
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of ranking in the top three.”
Before I could even speak, Banshi had already anticipated my concern.
“…What?”
“Why are you so surprised, Lord Archis? Take Kiena and Hei and go on ahead to 3rd Class. I’ll follow shortly after.”
“……”
She didn’t avert her gaze. Instead, she smiled gently at .
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