episode_0088

One thing I knew well was that fifth-year magic was not something that could be easily seen, and even if a situation arose to see it, it was never a good thing. A duel with senior Leonard means that no matter how well you block it, one part of you will end up in flames. Since he mainly uses fire magic, he is probably stronger than Ceresria’s flame, and even compared to senior Isabel, there was no way to estimate its power.

If you think about it seriously, Erica-senpai said that Leonard-senpai’s magic was not for practical use. That’s why I became curious as to whether Senior Leonard’s magic was probably a form of suppression.

“But right now, a duel is impossible this night, so come find me tomorrow when you have time.”

“Where are you, senior?”

“I don’t have any plans for tomorrow, so I’ll probably be in the basement, but I just have to have a light duel, so I’ll be at the training center tomorrow, so come by whenever you want.”

“Can I go in the morning?”

“There is no problem, but I hope I don’t end up not being able to attend the lecture after the duel.”

“You’re not going to treat me like that, are you?”

“That’s also true, you’ve been holding on to the person who goes to work for too long, let’s go.”

“Then that’s enough.”

After bowing to Senior Leonard, I passed through the school gate and slowly walked towards Ignolia.

I arrived at a familiar bar and was working. There weren’t that many customers today, so I thought I should clean up the warehouse. I told Aunt Toa that I would come back after cleaning up the warehouse. She laughed a little when she answered that she would get angry if I made a joke. I went back to the back of the store and started organizing the messy boxes.

Since it was heavier than I thought, it would be a bit difficult, so I looked around briefly, held the staff in my right hand, and cast a spell.

“Mana, become the invisible hand.”

And as soon as I cast my spell, mana gathered in the staff, and the hand made of mana began to move, just as I imagined in my head. As I was slowly organizing the warehouse with magic, a thought occurred to me.

I wondered if it would be difficult to create two hands at the same time, but as soon as I opened my left hand and activated the magic, my mind started to become confused. Giving commands with one hand wasn’t as difficult as I thought, but since I had to give commands to both hands and then my body at the same time, I felt like my brain couldn’t keep up with the processing speed.

It was possible to some extent to connect magic to a magic that had already been activated, but using two magics at the same time seemed to require practice. But it was also a little strange. It felt like something like this had rarely happened in a duel. Preparing magic with one hand while preparing magic with the other. It’s as if something inside me awakens only in moments like duels.

Thinking again that wizards are truly strange beings, I finished organizing the exterior of the warehouse and entered the warehouse. When I saw the cluttered warehouse, I relaxed and slowly began to clean it.

“There are no customers today.”

“Normally, I would have told you not to say that, but today you really are not there. Did something happen?”

“The Demon King’s army’s spy has also been caught, so I don’t think anything major will happen.”

“Maybe it’s because something so big has happened, but I don’t think I’ll be surprised anymore no matter what happens.”

As I was talking like that, Aunt Toa looked at me and asked a question.

“Did you hear the story about Uncle Hans?”

“Story?”

“You said you left Ignolia recently. Is there something you need to look for, or did something happen? You came late at night on your day off, paid off the backlog for drinks, and said you were going on a short trip. Where did you go? I don’t know either.”

“It seems like something has happened, he’s not the type of person who would normally do that.”

“Well, we don’t know the reason either.”

As I was talking about various things with Aunt Toa, I had a question that slowly came to me. Of course, Ignolia’s spy was caught, and the person who appeared to be an official of the Demon King’s army ordered withdrawal, so there were probably no spies around here.

But, hasn’t the Academy’s spy been caught yet, no…? … Did it exist in the first place? I felt like my expression was slowly hardening due to the sudden rush of questions. If, indeed, the Academy’s spy existed and had not been caught yet, I slowly smiled at the creepiness that slowly came over me as I thought and thought about it.

It’s not a situation I would find myself in, but it’s true that I’m worried.

Following the familiar path, I returned to the academy’s gate, and this time senior Erica was standing there. It was Leonard senior earlier. I wonder if something happened.

With that curiosity, I made eye contact with my senior, and without saying a word, he raised his right hand and moved his hand as if to ask me to approach him. As I approached him with that hand gesture, he slowly started talking to me.

“You said you defeated the Clown of the Wind?”

“Is that why you are here?”

“Apart from that, did you hear that Leonard said he had to go somewhere for a while? He asked Leonard to show him some magic?”

“Yes… … ”

“What kind of wind suddenly blew made my disciple start fighting like this? Strange?”

I slowly answered my senior’s words.

“Senior Isabel gave us an assignment. Fight and win against 10 wizards before the end of this semester.”

“Well, Isabel said that.”

“And he told me to tell senior Erica. I saw Arnold recently and he told me to come down to his hometown because he had something to leave to him.”

“I don’t want to go because I think I know what it is.”

After saying that, the senior shrugged his shoulders once and placed his hand on my shoulder.

“Well, try your best, fighting 10 wizards isn’t difficult, but winning might be difficult.”

“I will try my best.”

“And when you meet Isabel later, tell her what I said.”

“What do you mean?”

“I will teach my student.”

As morning approached, I naturally got up from my sleep, quickly headed to the restaurant, asked the fairies for some light bread, and ate it. When I arrived at the training center, senior Leonard was standing in the center of the training hall.

“I never thought it would come this quickly.”

“It’s because I’m excited, because it’s not easy to see the magic of 5th graders.”

“As I said, I’m not the type of person who’s good at showing magic to others, so I guess it’ll be enough to make it feel like a duel.”

Then Senior Leonard cast a protection spell on me, and I carefully held the staff in my hand. I slowly pointed my cane at my senior, and he looked at me, took out his cane, and slowly spoke.

“I’m speaking for you, but it would be a good idea to deploy protection magic if possible.”

“I still tried to do that.”

I slowly moved the mana in my body and spoke the spell with my mouth.

“Ice, rise up.”

As soon as I cast my spell, the water droplets around me began to turn into ice along with the cold that was slowly gathering. I then waved my staff and spoke.

“Ice, protect my body.”

As I spoke, the ice sculptures that had gathered around me formed a large wall in front of me. Senior Leonard nodded and looked at me.

“Then, let’s begin now.”

“Yes, senior.”

At that moment, I noticed mana fluctuating around my senior’s body. Like Isabel’s magic, like Erica’s magic, as if all the mana in the world was gathered there, the moment the mana slowly gathered and Leonard’s mouth opened, heat began to gather quickly.

The heat was such that it was difficult to even keep my eyes open. The senior slowly took a step forward in such great heat that he thought he might get burned if he got close, and the moment he took a step, a huge fire broke out.

As if burning his body, a large flame began to circle around Leonard’s body, and the flames around his body gradually increased in size and began to take on a giant-like shape.

Wasn’t it said that he was a flame Goliath, a flame giant?

What I now see in front of me is a huge giant literally made of flames. Is this why it is said that it is weak in actual combat? Of course, it was natural that a huge amount of mana would be consumed to use that amount of mana, and above all, although that magic was capable of both defense and attack at the same time, it was a magic where defense was the main focus.

If you surround your body with a large flame that has no loopholes and is impervious to attacks, then the only way to win is if the opponent’s mana is depleted, or if you stop the flame.

“This is your magic.”

“As you can see, if I get into this state, it won’t be easy for me to control my flames, so it’s an almost impossible technique in actual combat, but in a duel, it’s a different story.”

Senior Leonard’s eyes, visible through the large flame giant, caught my eye.

“I fall, or my opponent falls. Because that is the basis of duel.”

At those words, I swallowed slowly.