Episode 51
* * *
That night, at the Duke of Saxony’s residence in the capital.
‘Did you call me all the way here just to show me your little ones?’
After a few days of absurdity, Dale sat cross-legged in his bedroom, thinking.
There is no way the Bloody Duke would have invited him to the Imperial Academy for that simple reason. He thinks of the twelve Purifiers who attacked Dale’s cavalry on the Saxon River that day. Fanatics who would not hesitate to burn their own bodies.
In comparison, the noble children of the Imperial Academy were nothing but laughable rookies. They had no doubt that they would become the magicians of the Red Tower and the elite of the Empire. They did not even realize that they were nothing more than puppets of the Tower.
‘After all, they are children who do not know the ways of the world.’
With that thought, Dale turned his head. It was at that very moment.
dripping.
“Dale.”
There was a knock on the door. It was accompanied by a very familiar voice.
“Teacher Sepia?”
“Can I come in for a moment?”
Dale gasped in surprise at Sepia’s words that she would come into his bedroom.
“Come in.”
Immediately, with an answer without even a hint of hesitation.
Dale held his breath as he watched Sepia cautiously enter the room.
A nightgown embroidered with black and dark lace on pure white silk. Her crystal-colored hair was fluttering in the water. Her skin, as white and beautiful as jade, was glimpsed through the silk hem.
“… … Hmm, hmm.”
Sepia blushed as if she realized Dale’s gaze was blank.
“I was trying to change my clothes after taking a shower, but, uh, I didn’t have anything suitable to wear.”
After a pretentious, exaggerated cough, Sepia sat down on the edge of the bed. On the duvet filled with feathers. Right next to Dale.
Silence fell. It was a somewhat awkward silence.
“… … Thank you for coming with me to the zodiac.”
After a moment of silence, Dale opened his mouth cautiously.
“okay.”
Only then did Sepia regain her composure and smile quietly.
“Did you like the classes at the Academy?”
“It is incomparable to the teachings of Mr. Sepia.”
Dale smiled mischievously, and Sepia smiled back kindly. Silence fell again.
“… … that day.”
It was Sepia who broke the silence.
“I saw the look of sadness on your face as you lost your knights.”
Sepia opened her mouth.
“I failed to properly protect you from the Purifiers.”
Even though she had unleashed a storm of cold air toward the orc riders and had let out a blue dissonance, Sepia’s ability that day was only enough to ‘protect Dale by a hair’s breadth. It was by no means the kind of power that a 6th circle elf wizard could display.
“Don’t blame yourself.”
So Dale shook his head quietly.
“You protected me, Master, and it was my fault that I lost the Saxon swords.”
“no.”
But Sepia shook her head quietly.
“Didn’t I promise to stay by your side?”
After stirring, he quietly extended his hand.
“It didn’t mean I was just going to protect you.”
“… … ?”
He holds young Dale’s hand as it is.
“I just hope you don’t feel sad.”
“Teacher Sepia… … .”
The warm Sepia of the Snow Elf could be felt from hand to hand.
“I can’t possibly understand how someone so young could have such a vain and empty world of thought.”
The two wizards, by communicating and resonating with each other’s worlds… … knew that the emotions they felt were merely ‘the result of coming into contact with Dale’s world’, but nothing changed. Desperately suppressing the affection and love that even she could not control, Sepia affirmed Dale.
A form of love that is truly close to Agape.
That was the ‘mission’ she first resolved to face when she encountered this child’s world.
* * *
At that time, at the mansion of Count Walter the Archduke.
Leonard came back drunk from the red-light district. As usual. But that wasn’t where he headed as soon as he got back to the mansion.
“Hey, Prince Leonard!”
Leonard raised his voice towards the Walter family butler who could not hide his embarrassment.
“Shut up, you old-timer!”
“Ha, Count Haona strictly forbids entry into the underground… … .”
“The eldest son of the Count’s family wants to go, so what are you, a brat, doing to block my way?”
Leonard ignored the butler’s pleas and walked on. He headed towards the underground room where Walter the Blood, the elder of the Red Tower, had been storing his ‘artifact’. He forcibly took the key that Walter the Palace Count had entrusted to the butler.
This morning, I recall Dale’s expression as he looked at me as if nothing had happened. Only then did I finally understand. To Dale of Saxony, Leonard Walter was not even ‘worth being conscious of’.
“I have to show that f*cking kid… … .”
Leonard shouted, his breath reeking of alcohol and the power of his intoxication fading away.
“I, Leonard Walter, am the most talented wizard in the Empire… … .”
A few days ago, what the Saxon prince showed was by no means his talent. It was simply the result of borrowing the ‘power of the artifact’. Yes. The difference between Leonard and Dale. It was definitely not a difference in talent.
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There is only one thing: whether it is an artifact or not.
That’s why Leonard didn’t hesitate. He didn’t care about the damage he would incur if someone with less talent were to get hold of the artifact.
* * *
The next day, the lecture hall for the top students of the 3rd circle of the Imperial Academy.
“It seems that the monster hunters have finished capturing the ‘monsters’ to be used in the upcoming graduation exams.”
The Imperial Academy’s graduation exam is a few weeks away.
It was a good thing for Dale. However, if the ‘graduation exam’ was to be held while he was staying in the zodiac, Dale could not just suck his thumb during the exam.
‘I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.’
He was not the type of person to struggle through a test for a mere 3rd circle wizard. The only thing that filled Dale’s mind was what Sepia had shown him last night.
The emotions she was feeling were ultimately nothing more than the delusion of emotions that resonated with ‘Dale’s world’. Even after realizing that fact, Dale’s behavior did not change. Because he wanted Sepia to be by his side.
I didn’t want to let go.
The mere fact brought about an inexplicable sense of guilt in Dale.
‘It’s not something to think about right now.’
After some thought, Dale turns his head as if shaking off the delusion.
Leonard was there.
“… … .”
Leonard, who, unlike usual, is keeping an ominously silent silence.
‘Are you finally coming to your senses?’
Dale didn’t think much of it when he saw it.
In a sense, this is what is meant when a genius cannot understand an ordinary person.
* * *
That afternoon, a mock magic duel class was held in preparation for the graduation exam.
The first runner in the class was Leonard Walter, and unfortunately his opponent was an undergraduate from Circle 3.
He was not particularly inferior or talented, but was just an undergraduate student who obeyed Leonard’s rule. And the professor who was watching the duel between the two couldn’t hide his anxiety.
After ‘that day’, Leonard’s condition was strangely strange.
I can’t tell exactly what has changed. It’s just strangely quiet. He, who should be ruling the Imperial Academy like a tyrant, is just keeping a silence that makes it hard to read his intentions.
The professor couldn’t stand the fact that it was so ominous. Unlike Dale, who just dismissed it as a case of him being immature, he knew Leonard Walter’s personality better than anyone else.
“Well, then… … the duel between Leonard and Balor will begin.”
The professor opened his mouth with a trembling voice.
An existence that cannot be dared to go against. Strictly speaking, Leonard himself is not something to be feared. Even though his talent is far ahead of his own, there is still a wall of circles 3 and 4 between the two. The professor’s fear is directed at the elder of the red tower who is watching over him… ‘Walter the Flame’.
Like the elders of the Red Tower, he was a tyrant even greater than Leonard.
The rulers of the enemy tower, who cannot dare to oppose a mere 4th circle magician like yourself.
A magical flame was lit to signal the start of the duel.
“hey.”
It was then that Leonard opened his mouth to address his opponent. Without even thinking about using magic, he extended his arm and pointed at Dale.
“Use attack magic toward Saxony’s love interest.”
“Hey, Leonard? That’s so sudden… … .”
“Do you want to die from my magic like this?”
In an unexpected turn of events, the student’s expression turned thoughtful. Leonard asked back without paying attention. He manipulated the bloody magic that was swirling around his hand.
At the same time, the fact that he tried not to get his hands dirty until the very end is proof of his extremely vile conduct.
“Hey, Leonard!”
“Shut up, you talentless old bastard.”
The professor raised his voice in embarrassment at the sight, but Leonard answered without paying attention.
“Where does a kid who has been squabbling in the 4th circle for 60 years get his mouth to open up?”
“Hey, Leonard… …!”
“Before you tell your father, keep your mouth shut.”
The situation was not good.
“Hey, you f*cking kids. You’re saying you’re more scared of that kid than me right now? Huh?”
Leonard asked again.
“So, it’s not a lion Walter, but the f*cking kid is more scary?”
To all the top students of the 3rd circle here.
“Shoot that kid with your magic right now!”
Leonard shouted again. At the same time, the blood-red magic swirling in his hand took the form of a flame. A red flame that could never be considered that of a mere 3rd circle magician.
‘Artifact… …!’
“Everyone, back off!”
As Dale shouted, a vortex of flames swept across the area beneath Leonard’s feet. It was a flame that even the Fourth Circle Professor could not dare to do anything about. Dale directed his ‘blue magic’ right at that flame.
A blank world filled with cold and ashenness, projecting the magic of that very winter night’s cold.
Even if it borrowed the power of the artifact, it was not something that a single talented person could dare to resist. The swirling flames subsided.
“ha ha ha…….”
Leonard smiled weakly as he watched the flames dying out.
“Yes, my duel opponent has finally appeared.”
It wasn’t a self-deprecating laugh.
“Shall we start a fight to determine the best talent in the empire?”
Leonard asked back after laughing. Seeing that, Dale also asked back in bewilderment.
“Do kids these days go through puberty after they turn twenty?”
