episode_0182

“…It’s not over yet.”

Yes, it’s not over yet.

Even though I missed all three swords, I haven’t declared defeat to Harold yet.

After all, for a mage, a sword is just a secondary tool, not the main weapon.

I may have thrown away all the swords I could use, so Harold might have thought he had achieved a ‘complete victory,’ but that logic only applies in a duel between swordsmen.

When a mage and a swordsman who have used all their power face off, the standard for a complete victory changes.

-Boom!

“….!”

With the propulsion of the shockwave used under my feet, my body was propelled towards Harold.

Startled by my sudden rush towards him, Harold hurriedly adjusted his grip on the sword.

Even though he was a Sword Master, his reaction to quickly adjust his stance even while temporarily putting down the sword was indeed swift.

However, no matter how much of a master he was, he couldn’t take a perfect stance in a surprise attack.

Normally, I would have prepared to respond with either a sword or magic attack, but Harold, running out of time, assumed a ‘magic defense’ stance to block the magic coming towards him.

“Yes, that’s how it usually goes.”

I had already utilized all three swords.

Throughout the entire second semester duel with Harold, I made sure to use only the three short swords to make that point clear.

It was absurd for a mage to engage in close combat with a swordsman.

I hadn’t even pretended to reach into my uniform and pull out a sword, so it was completely unexpected.

My last trump card, the ‘magic to create a sword.’

-Shwoosh!

“….!”

I could see Harold’s expression freeze momentarily as he saw my sword flying towards him.

It was unpredictable. Instantly creating a sword was a magic skill that any player from the ‘Luminor Academy’ would naturally learn after playing Release for a while.

Isn’t it strange when you think about it? Among Release’s dagger skills, there is ‘dagger throwing.’

Fighting in battle while consuming weapons is a risky situation that anyone with a bit of common sense would consider.

Fortunately, the developers weren’t completely stupid, and Release could also learn skills to handle the dangerous situations caused by dagger throwing.

That was the ‘Dagger 1st Enhancement Skill,’ the Vision Blade.

A blade made of compressed magic that could be created on the spot appeared at my fingertips.

The sparkling blade clashed with Harold’s sword in mid-air as he was caught off guard.

-Crack!

“Ugh…!”

Harold managed to block my Vision Blade in mid-air, but the blade, made of compressed magic, slightly pierced through with a burst of magical energy.

It couldn’t last long against a real sword, but it didn’t matter.

…My last resort, this Vision Blade, was a technique I had used with double casting in mind from the beginning.

“Aaah!!”

After creating a second Vision Blade with a slight time delay in the opposite hand, I swung it towards Harold’s exposed waist.

It was the final attack added to the surprise attack, the last finishing move.

If even this was blocked, there would be no way for me to defeat Harold.

With that thought in mind, my Vision Blade was about to barely touch Harold’s body.

Just before my Vision Blade could touch him, a thin magical shield made of vision magic deflected my second blade.

-Crackle!

“Ha, haa….”

Even in a situation where his hands were not free, the instinct to protect his body was at an animalistic level.

Of course, thanks to that, even though my conscience was not involved, this match became a victory for me.

It was the moment when Harold broke the initial condition of not using magic or mana for the handicap between a Sword Master and a regular student.

“You used magic, didn’t you?”

“…Yes, I had no choice.”

With those words, Harold slowly sheathed his sword and acknowledged my victory with a score of 1-0.

It was a somewhat cowardly victory, but it was a definite win for me.

“I did not declare defeat, Professor Harold. Besides, as a mage, fighting with magic is part of the rules. My swordsmanship is merely a skill to induce the opponent’s ‘carelessness.’”

“…I see, you certainly utilized it well to induce carelessness.”

It was Harold himself, whom I managed to make careless. Even though it was just a test duel for the semester, the fact that I made him let his guard down remains unchanged.

“You are becoming more like Edan in every aspect.”

“…What?”

“Never mind. I admit that this was my mistake. I should have anticipated that you wouldn’t give up so easily, considering your personality.”

“Are you saying…?”

“Yes, you have earned an A+ for defeating me. You have worked hard this past semester, Lillis.”

“Oh, th-thank you, Professor Harold!”

Yes, this is victory.

Finally, finally, the moment I defeated Harold has come.

It was a great triumph to be the only magic department student to defeat him.

“Lillis, isn’t this a bit underhanded?”

“Master, it’s a bit shameful…”

Shut up, you two. As long as I defeat Harold, that’s all that matters.

***

A week has passed since I somewhat unfairly managed to defeat Harold in a match.

The final event of the semester, the end-of-term hunt, has come to an end, and as the remaining lectures are gradually finishing, it’s time to start preparing to return to Blackwood Manor.

Unfortunately, Ethan and I are still at school, even though all the classes have ended for days.

The student council duties that Seraphine started this semester have not yet been completed.

The student council’s term is a bit longer than that of other students.

While all the students are heading back to their hometowns after finishing their last classes, we are still here performing our duties.

Some of these duties include organizing applications from students who want to stay at school for club activities or study during the vacation, as well as handling complaints and requests from students that came in during the semester to improve the academy during the break.

We are in a position where we have to finish the semester a little later than the regular students. It’s only a difference of about a week, but still.

“Work itself is much less compared to during the semester, so it’s quite relaxing.”

During my time as a player in ‘Luminor Academy,’ there were times when I didn’t like the delays caused by student council duties.

Since it was a game with high freedom, there were many things to do during the week, such as collecting items or exploring dungeons.

But now, I’m not in a position to do such things, and there’s no need to rush around for reasons like collecting artifacts.

I’m sorry for defeating the Abyssal Kraken with Ethan and taking the sub-event, but it was unavoidable.

Instead, attaching a fire spirit to Agnes was ultimately more beneficial for the hero party’s strength.

I didn’t touch any artifacts or items that were obvious to collect or approach.

“I shouldn’t mess with them unnecessarily, as it could be a real nuisance during the hero’s demon lord conquest.”

Due to the serious mistake that led to the situation where I had to bring Lilith into the Demon King Subjugation Force, it was truly the worst.

Not only was my life messed up, but it seemed like I was breaking my promise with Eden first.

With those thoughts in mind, I was casually organizing my duties as the Student Council Secretary.

Amidst the paperwork, a mysterious document caught my eye, which seemed to be a list of potential new students for the next year.

“President Seraphine, what is this document?”

“Oh, are you talking about that? The students listed there are potential new students likely to enter the academy next year. They might be your future classmates, so it would be good for you to familiarize yourself with them in advance!”

“I checked it earlier and had a rough idea of that. There were already a few students being considered by the Augustus Merchant Guild.”

“Ah, I see. Was that it? Do we really need to memorize this? I’m not confident in memorizing names without seeing people’s faces.”

“Oh, it’s okay. The materials I provided are just for reference. If Orion thinks that way, you don’t have to memorize it.”

Although they were saying it was fine to be relaxed and all, it was probably advantageous to memorize it after all.

It was an opportunity to build connections with promising 1st-year students. And using Princess Seraphine’s name made it even more legitimate.

Having good connections was indeed beneficial. When you’re a princess, you even freely distribute such information to your people.

Of course, I didn’t really need the information at the moment, and I already had a rough idea of the main characters, so it didn’t matter.

Still, just to check, I quickly scanned to see if there were any main characters among the 1st-years.

Barbarian Liria from the Combat Department.

Kind Alchemist Tralia from the Pharmacy Department.

And the Inventor Cedric from the Technology Department.

If I had to add one more, it would be the Back Alley Brawler Kaniel from the Martial Arts Department. He seemed to be from a different background, so he probably didn’t make it to Seraphine’s candidate list.

With those thoughts in mind, after briefly looking over the list of new students, I set it aside and thought that today’s tasks were done.

Just when I thought that the day’s work was coming to an end, Seraphine suddenly made a suggestion.

“Is tomorrow the last day for Student Council duties this semester?”

“Yes, President Seraphine.”

“In that case, how about we all have a semester-end party tomorrow?”

…A party? Suddenly?

Wasn’t this kind of event also in the original game?