131. Evacuation

131. Evacuation

“It’s mine, it’s mine….”

Freya, once again trapped in a secluded warehouse, gritted her teeth and muttered. It felt as if the whole world had conspired to torment her.

She was the first to like, the first to love, the first to want her, so why were other girls trying to snatch her sister away?

They have no right to do so. Without making the slightest effort to claim her sister, they try to steal what others have painstakingly prepared. There are no thieves worse than them.

“Ha, haha… Yes, then I have a way too.”

Freya felt the ropes binding her loosen. It was the result of struggling for a long time after being trapped. As a result, the parts that were tied were red and chafed, forming wounds, but as long as she could grab her staff, such wounds were nothing.

“… Done.”

Freya moved her slightly freed hands and took out a blade she had secretly hidden in her clothes. It was a weapon she had prepared in case she was ever trapped again. Freya picked up the blade and slowly rubbed it against the rope, cutting it.

Snap, thud.

The rope that had kept her from moving an inch just moments ago fell limply to the ground. Freya stood up with her freed body and smiled.

“Stupid fools, do you think I’d fall for the same thing twice?”

Her staff, placed tantalizingly just out of reach in front of the chair where she had been tied up. It seemed they left it there to give her false hope, but rather, it was their grave mistake.

“If you really wanted to trap me, you should have targeted the staff.”

As Freya grabbed the staff, a familiar sensation swept over her body. Moving the magic she could now control like her own limbs, Freya instantly healed the wounds on her wrists from the ropes.

Her skin was fluffy and soft again, as always. Freya checked her body a few more times and nodded. She had to heal meticulously, as not a single blemish should remain when she was intimate with her sister.

“Heh heh….”

Life magic is commonly known as magic related to healing. This is obvious to non-majors, and even those who have studied life magic all think so.

But is that all?

“You don’t know why I learned life magic from Mom, do you? Stupid fools.”

To heal her sister, who always returned injured from training. Yes, that’s right. Because she could get closer to her sister. But there’s a more fundamental reason.

“Freya, it’s best to learn only one type of magic throughout your life. I’ll give you this book explaining the magic, so read it thoroughly and choose carefully.”

Freya clearly remembered the old introductory magic textbook she received from her mother to learn magic, and the explanation of life magic written in it.

Life magic- magic that explores and manipulates the origin of life.

Healing magic, mental magic, even necromancy- everything related to life is a derivative of life magic. It’s just that the direction is different.

That obvious principle was written only in the old magic book her mother gave her. She doesn’t know why. Perhaps knowledge was lost over time, or perhaps someone intentionally hid it. But what’s important is not that, but the fact that life magic encompasses everything that deals with life.

Instead of going out to find her sister, Freya headed to the research lab in the magic department building. There, she opened a desk drawer and took out the notebook where she had written down the magic she had been researching for over a decade.

Magic she had prepared in anticipation of the day she would claim her sister. Although it’s still incomplete, if it’s completed, then….

“Just once… then I’ll win.”

No matter how much they tie her up, lock her away, and keep her away from her sister, they don’t know this simple truth of life. They just run endlessly like foolish horses. They can’t reach the finish line. They can’t win.

Only she can do that.

“After that, I’ll propose to my sister. Forget the laws, I’ll just declare independence for the Grand Duchy.”

Freya smiled, wagging her tail. The sunlight from the sky shining through the window seemed to bless her. Freya approached the window and spread her arms wide.

Behold! The sky is helping me!

“Huh?”

The sky gradually darkened.

Is it clouds? No, there are no clouds. It’s clear. But something is blocking the sun. However, the strong backlight makes it impossible to see.

While Freya squinted and glared at the sun, the sky grew darker by the minute. The object blocking the sun grew larger over time, and then….

“What is that? A dragon…? Kyaak?!”

The ground shook.

——

“My tail fur suddenly stood on end.”

“That’s strange. Is it static electricity?”

“No, um, when my tail fur stands up like this, there’s always been something… what was it.”

I rested my chin on my hand and pondered. Meanwhile, Priscilla was rubbing her face against my tail, finding the sensation new and pleasant, and Claire was rolling around in bed, foolishly giggling. In fact, Claire had been in this state ever since she won against me yesterday.

“Hmm, so… Ah, I remember.”

Usually, when my tail fur stands on end… it’s when my father attacks me with his sword during training. I relied heavily on this sensation when training in blizzards where I couldn’t see an inch ahead.

But my father isn’t here, so why are my tail hairs standing on end?

It was at that moment.

BOOM!

“What, what is it?”

Claire startled and got up from the sudden shaking. Priscilla also seemed a little surprised and pulled her face away from my tail. I stood up and looked out the window.

“It’s dark outside.”

“Dark? It’s morning?”

As I gestured to show them what I saw, before they could even reach the window, a loud siren began to blare throughout the entire dormitory. It was an alarm to evacuate from an air raid.

I could hear murmuring from the hallway. It seemed everyone had rushed out.

“Is this a drill?”

“-Attention, this is an actual situation. Repeat, this is an actual situation.”

“No, it’s not.”

An actual situation.

We quickly left the room and followed the students who were rushing out. As soon as we stepped outside the dormitory, we saw the academy streets in chaos.

Streets engulfed in flames, walls crumbling under the impact. Professors and staff were guiding students to evacuate to shelters in an orderly manner despite the situation.

“What in the world is this?”

“Huk… Are you okay?”

“This much is fine.”

I said, deflecting a piece of the dormitory building that fell from the sky with one hand. Compared to the sandbags I carried around yesterday, this was not even considered heavy. The flying debris disappeared into the blazing flames.

Eventually, something heavy emerged from the flames and landed in front of me. It was a lizard with wings and four legs, its entire body protected by red scales. Despite its majestic appearance, the lizard collapsed pathetically when its neck was severed.

“What in the world? Why are there monsters in the academy?”

“Huk… Isn’t that a dragon?!”

“Dragon?”

Dots filled the sky, so many they obscured the sun. Upon closer inspection, creatures with colorful wings were hovering in the sky. They looked similar to the monster I killed. They were firing something from their mouths, blowing up the academy.

It looked like stars falling from the sky.

“Huh? That’s coming this way- Ugh?!”

One of them, from where Claire pointed, fell towards us. I deflected it with Ur, sending the dragon flying and shooting down one of the dragons. The feeling of hitting it was quite good.

“Claire, are you okay?”

“Th-thank you for saving me.”

I patted Claire’s head and approached a nearby professor to ask about the situation. The professor was holding a staff, creating a shield in the sky and guiding the students.

The situation was simple. Suddenly, without any warning, dragons rained down from the sky and began terrorizing the academy. The reason was unknown, but the professor said that evacuating the students was the priority and asked for my help.

There was no reason to refuse. I returned to Claire and Priscilla and explained the situation.

“Save the students?”

“I fought earlier, so I know Claire can handle a 1-on-1 fight. Priscilla… it might be a bit dangerous, so she can stick with Claire and provide magical support.”

“What about Skadi?”

Priscilla asked, looking at me.

“I’ll go alone. It’ll be more efficient if Claire and I go separately.”

“Hmm…. Alright.”

It would be a wiser decision to split into two groups rather than wasting time by sticking together when I can handle it alone. And I have Ur with me.

“Be careful… oh, you don’t need to! Then we’ll be going!”

“Yeah. Don’t get hurt, okay?”

After receiving assurances that they wouldn’t overexert themselves multiple times, I parted ways with my companions.

Thousands of dragons were still flying in the sky.