episode_0171

The lecture hall was empty now that all classes had ended. I waited quietly for Ellia. After a few minutes, the door creaked open, and Ellia stood behind me.

“Nobody followed you, right?”

“Yeah. More importantly, if you’d stayed in this classroom until now, it would’ve looked plenty suspicious.”

“As rough as I may seem, I’ve been playing the diligent honor student pretty well this semester. When I said I wanted to stay and study, they just accepted it.”

“About your leg… Did no one question it at all?”

“Obviously not. I gave them a plausible enough explanation, and they all bought it.”

“Explanation?”

“I told them I was developing a new spell with you, but I lost control of the magic circuits, and the ones in my leg got severed.”

“How crude.”

“Crude, but believable, don’t you think? A weakling like me got greedy, tried to develop a spell to grow stronger quickly, failed, and lost my leg in the process. It’s the kind of accident that happens all the time.”

Creating a new spell isn’t easy. For one, even if you have a purpose in mind, if a spell that already achieves it exists, then it’s meaningless. You also have to consider whether it’s usable by everyone and whether it has side effects for anyone.

Only after navigating that tedious, complex process does something worthy of being called a “new spell” come into existence.

“Making a new spell is a colossal pain, right? If I told them I cut corners and paid the price for it, they’d think I got off easy.”

Even though my leg was lost due to the backlash of a contract, they wouldn’t know that—nor did I have any intention of telling them. The symptoms themselves resembled mana overload, anyway. And thanks to me keeping a low profile, quite a few students even looked at me with pity.

There was one unexpected revelation, too: it wasn’t just Chris and Ellia who thought my wheelchair was a questionable choice.

A student I’d never even exchanged a word with before came up to me and offered to help if I was in a tough spot. Still, I wasn’t tactless enough to bring that up in front of Ellia.

“Thanks for coming, Ellia. I was a little worried you might not show. Glad it was just my imagination.”

“‘Thanks’? It was I who declared I’d be responsible for you for life. Having said that, acting accordingly is only natural.”

Even though she didn’t need to, Ellia stood behind me and gripped the handles of my wheelchair, pushing me forward slowly.

“Were they unable to come, or… is this something you couldn’t tell them? Is it about the future?”

“Yeah. When planning, keeping too many things in mind just muddles my thoughts. In that sense, you’re the only one I can trust enough to dump everything on.”

“I’m honored to be relied on.”

“Nice way of putting it. But who put me in this situation where I had to rely on you?”

“Hmph. Are you planning to keep bringing that up even now?”

“…No. It’s too late for that. Today’s topic isn’t that. It’s about preparations we need to finish before the festival. Even after convincing the committee to scale it down, the risks are still there. So we should move while we still have time. First—”

“—We wipe them all out? Good idea.”

I nodded.

“Yeah. Those dark mages—”

“A good idea, but you’re staying out of it.”

“Huh?”

“With that leg of yours, where exactly do you plan to go? Sit tight and wait. I’ll bring back the results.”

“You’re seriously suggesting handling something this critical alone?! Even one slip-up will cause massive headaches!”

“I could argue back, but… fine. I agree that before the festival starts, we either weaken the dark mages or wipe them out entirely. But I’ll only allow it on one condition: Cecilia and El accompany you. Even you can accept that much.”

“Bodyguards?”

“Bodyguards and supervision. Leave you alone, and knowing you, you might come back missing an arm instead of just a leg. The image of you pretending nothing happened is already crystal clear in my mind.”

“Ugh…”

Cecilia and El, huh? In terms of sheer combat power, there was no better duo to take on dark mages. Cecilia’s divine energy countered their dark magic perfectly, and El’s body was sturdy enough to shrug off their spells unscathed.

The longer we left the dark mages alone, the more they’d grow their ranks and produce victims. Right now, they were scattered in small cells, but before the Academy event began and drew crowds, we had to eliminate them.

I nodded.

“Fine. I’ll do as you say. Moving around like this is a pain anyway.”

“Glad you understand. When do you plan to move?”

“The day after tomorrow. I’ll explain everything tomorrow and start by evening. They’re more active at night. A nighttime ambush would be more effective.”

“Good. Then I’ll relay that to those two. Once your lecture ends, they’ll assist you immediately.”

“Wasn’t El staying at our mansion?”

“You think we’d let someone that dangerous stay at the ducal estate? Of course El’s with Cecilia now. Chris agreed too.”

“Ugh. Well, she is the Demon King. So you’re telling me I’ll get escorted all the way home? That’ll draw way too much attention.”

Though my public image wasn’t great, enough people knew my face. And Ellia’s—currently the most promising imperial candidate—was even more recognizable.

“That’s intentional. Don’t worry about it.”

True to her bold declaration, no matter how many eyes were on us, Ellia paid them no mind and pushed me home unhurriedly.

“Ugh, I wanna die.”

“Such blasphemy.”

The next day, Ellia held up her end of the deal and had El and Cecilia ready. The moment my lecture ended, I found Cecilia waiting outside the door with El in her arms. The sight was almost eerie.

“That was fast. I was planning to head to the student council room first.”

“Lady Ellia requested it. Personally, I’d prefer you stayed somewhere safe, but I know you wouldn’t listen, would you?”

“Hmph. I hardly seem like that much of a liability.”

Beside the concerned Cecilia, El muttered something utterly deflating.

“Our El has such a way with words.”

“Mmm! I only tell the truth!”

“Right. So let’s skip treats for this week as punishment.”

As despair washed over El’s face, I suppressed a smirk. Serves you right.

“Eric. Teasing a child isn’t nice.”

“What’d I do? Just gave her a fair punishment.”

“That’s exactly what teasing is. So, we’re hunting dark mages, right? Did you call for backup? No matter what happens, we should be prepared for danger.”

“Right.”

Of course, the dark mage gatherings I’d scouted beforehand were weak enough for Cecilia to handle alone. With knowledge from past loops, she could wield divine energy at 1.5x its normal efficiency—and being a Saintess meant she had reserves to spare.

“Didn’t Ellia tell you? The kingdom’s knights are nearby, disguised as civilians. With you and El, it should be more than enough, but like you said, emergencies happen.”

And predictably, none did.

“My… Is this really it?”

Cecilia looked around in mild surprise. The room was littered with suspicious magic circles, ominous decorations clearly tied to dark forces, and dried bloodstains.

In the center lay seven unconscious men. The remnants of attempted resistance clung thickly in the air.

“No, it’s just that you are too strong. No matter how skilled they are, how could dark mages beat a Saintess? It’s like seven mice trying to take down a cat.”

“Oh, Eric. I’m not a Saintess yet. Just someone with a little more divine energy than most.”

Despite her words, Cecilia didn’t seem the least bit tired. After keeping El and me outside, a few punches sounded from within before she cheerfully invited us in—only for us to find this.

“You took them all down bare-handed?”

“Yes. I was on guard since they were dark mages, but their spellcasting was so slow compared to Ellia or Chris’s… Honestly, even if they tried to hit me, it’d be hard.”

“Don’t use them as the standard.”

The dark mage hunt turned into a one-sided rout. Cecilia sensed their mana from outside, left El and me behind, stepped in—then came the sound of punches, followed by her smiling face telling us it was safe.

This repeated several times.

“Eric.”

“Yeah?”

El pouted.

“Can I go home now?”

“No.”

Truthfully, she could—but why let her off that easy?