Mightiest Melee Magician
Chapter 40
The students of the Collum kingdom’s magic school couldn’t figure out a way to overcome this awkward situation.
“This is insane…”
“H-how do you block that?”
Ruin Ardell.
Having shown off his immense strength in one of the first events, they thought that, if they could properly keep him in check, victory would be assured.
However, the sudden openings created by only focusing down Ruin became a problem for the defensive line.
And, if that made them stop restraining him,
“Block! Block him!”
“Damn it! How do you expect us to block that?! You try blocking him!”
“……”
No one could block Ruin Ardell as he charged into the defensive formation like a rhino brandishing its horn.
How could they even hope to?
He dodged most of the long-range magic aimed at him.
And in the rare case that the magic did hit, he destroyed it using his strange and unusual strength.
In the case that Ruin happened to get close to them,
“I-it’s exploding again!”
“It’s his butt this time!”
Arm, leg, hips, shoulders… Even his butt.
There was no limit to where he could activate his magic.
Boom! KKKKAAAAANG!
And as Ruin brushed past another person, the explosion magic detonated.
“Woah! Wow!”
“That’s crazy!”
Thanks to this, the audience members, who were waiting to watch an intense game filled with strategy and close calls, were met with a fireworks show.
And everyone watched on, excited like children.
The only people not excited by this were the Collum students.
“D-damn it… Just where did that monster come from?”
At this point, the defenders even started to move back.
It was obvious that, even if they tried to block him, they would only be sent flying.
An overwhelming victory.
“Give up. We lost. We…… We had lost from the start…”
After playing like this for a while, the score became a record-breaking 11 to 0,
And this gap in scores ripped away any lifeline of hope they’d hung onto till the end.
Normally in , the winner scored at most 3, maybe 4 points.
But for 11 points to be scored…
It was an abnormal score that didn’t fit the Grand Festival that was supposed to be a festival between scholars in magic.
“……We surrender.”
“Surrender! Surrender has been called! The winner is…… Ignit Magic Academy, 11 to 0!”
Throwing in the towel before an even more crushing defeat.
Maybe this was the natural sequence of events.
It wasn’t that the Collum magic school was weak.
They weren’t an upper-level school in the 32 schools, but they had always been operating with prudent and practical means and had always ranked in the middle.
Doom Prime of Raynac Magic Soldier Training School.
Irene Prius of Seiki Women’s Residential College.
Or anyone else.
If they had to go up against anyone else, they wouldn’t have lost with this big of a gap in scores.
Then what was the reason for this utter defeat?
The school representative of Collum looked at Ruin and said in a defeated tone while chuckling at the situation,
“That guy… Unpredictable.”
Unpredictable.
Using methods during the game that were totally different from normal magicians.
It was because of this Ruin Ardell who surrounded himself with these unconventional variables.
“That big talk he had in front of the inn before all of us, I understand now. He wasn’t bluffing in the slightest. This is our complete defeat.”
“Right. Just maybe… they might actually win.”
Winning the Grand Festival.
It was an event so far from their reach that it was hard to even imagine,
But maybe… it wasn’t impossible after all.
* * *
“YEAAAAAAAAAAH!”
“We won another one!”
“If we keep going like this, don’t you think winning the whole thing is possible too?”
2 wins in a row.
Currently, we had won every event we had participated in since the Grand Festival began.
My peers all ran onto the stadium grounds and hugged each other while cheering.
And Straang…
She, who was the Incarnation of Strength, had a joyful smile on her face, having felt full of power.
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“Kya! I’m so happy!”
Everyone was happy,
But I didn’t have time to relish in my complete victory.
“Ruin Ardell.”
“……Professor.”
Professor Hydel, who had walked up to me, brought me news about the interview with the King of Magicians.
“It’ll be at 7 in the afternoon. You should come up without eating.”
7pm?
I hurriedly checked the time.
It was already past 6.
“He should’ve given me some time to catch my breath at least. That person… Even if I don’t know much about him, I can tell he’s someone who rushes things.”
“I can’t deny that.”
Professor Hydel nodded as he agreed with my thoughts, and I lightly smiled as I walked into the waiting room.
I took a quick shower to clean the sweat off my body, and after putting on my academy uniform, I walked to the mana gate that was installed at one part of the stadium.
Waiting for me at the mana gate was a welcoming face.
“Director.”
“…Ruin.”
Tirion Ignit.
As the only pride of the weak kingdom of Radian, he gave me a welcoming smile.
But I could tell that it was a bitter smile.
The emotion carried in that smile was none other than worry.
“I knew you would do fine, but you still exceeded my expectations. Thank you for representing the academy and showing us this marvelous performance.”
“Thank you for your kind words.”
“But because of this, you have attracted the attention of a dangerous man.”
A dangerous man.
Well, he really was a dangerous man.
He was a magician at a level where, if he flicked his fingers, I would instantly cease to exist.
On top of that, a two-faced nature where I couldn’t figure out what he was really thinking.
However,
“……I can’t hide it forever.”
As long as I didn’t give up on magic, there would have always been scenarios where I had to meet him.
Honestly, it happening now was better.
Because I had the director as my pillar of support.
With a light expression on my face, I clapped my hands together.
“Then, should we go in?”
“Let’s.”
As soon as we entered the mana gate, it instantly finished warming up and swiftly pushed us into the air while defying gravity.
The first person I saw as the gates opened…
“……I welcome you.”
A man wearing a brilliant robe while holding a magic crystal in his hand.
Even though he was an elder like Director Tirion and over the age of 60, he was a handsome man that looked like he was in his 30s.
A man with a gaze of slight playfulness that muddled others’ perceptions and hid his intentions.
“……That person, is he a dragon? Why is his magic power……”
“……”
Possessing huge amounts of magic power that could confuse even the senses of the Incarnation of Strength that spent her entire existence with a dragon.
A magician walking the boundary between man and demigod.
Fire King Teron.
He stood up from the Throne of Teron and talked in a joking tone.
“Ruin Ardell. I was just preparing dinner. For dessert, which one do you want, apple pie or egg tart?”
Towards that Teron, I smiled playfully.
“Cocovanilla please.”
* * *
* * *
The meal’s atmosphere was lighter than I expected.
Maybe to be considerate to me who had just come from a game, at least while we were eating, he didn’t ask me any special questions.
And thanks to that, I enjoyed the smoked meat, cheese gratin, prawn, and other Altein cuisines.
Afterwards, as I slurped up the cocovanilla juice dessert, Teron spoke to me.
“You wouldn’t know, but I know about you. I’ve seen you once from afar.”
“Me?”
“That’s right. It’s already been 5 years. Because back then, I was looking for children to personally teach. Seems society calls these the 11 children. I don’t know if you know, but you were one of the candidates.”
The 11 Magicians.
These were children that Teron personally picked out while going around in disguise, regardless of their status or school rank.
I looked toward Director Tirion and he nodded his head in affirmation.
“……”
I was a candidate for the 11 children?
It was my first-time hearing about this.
And this was an important point.
The main reason I was invited to this place today.
“There’s a big difference between your young self and your current self. Enough to say that you’re different people entirely.”
“……”
“I’ll ask this bluntly. The things that happened to you between these times. Can you tell them to me?”
My current self.
It was evidence that stated that the discernment of the ‘Magician at the Boundary’ was wrong.
Since this was a humiliating ‘stain’ that said his discernment was wrong…
Teron’s eyes lit up.
His gaze was analyzing my very core,
And his spirit carried pressure that commanded me to immediately answer.
“Ehm.”
As I stayed silent, the mood suddenly became heavy.
Asking how I ‘became strong’.
For both magicians and knights, this was generally a rude question to ask.
However, the one who asked was the very curious King of Magicians.
He didn’t care about being ‘rude’.
What should I do in this situation?
Director Tirion nodded at me to signal it was ok to stay silent.
Ok.
Should I lie a little?
Or should I use Millie’s Covenant as an excuse and talk vaguely.
In that moment I was thinking what to do,
Fire King Teron spoke up, as if he had read my mind.
“Millie’s Covenant. It came about because the great magician Millie was wrongly accused as a witch using black magic and this sparked a promise between magicians. As long as I don’t lie, I’ll only tell the truth. So don’t ask any more.”
“Yes. I’ve learnt this in class, so I know it very well.”
“Right. You’re a smart kid, so you should know. Then you should also know the danger of a ‘lie’ coming out of a magician’s mouth.”
“……”
I was getting confused.
This…
Did he mean that I should not be vague, using the covenant as an excuse?
Or was he threatening that, if I lied, something big would happen?
But for someone who was threatening another, his eyes were still full of mischief.
I looked directly into those eyes and said,
“I apologize, but there’s only one thing I can say to the King of Magicians.”
“What is it?”
“My talent might have been wrong, but at least my ‘efforts’ were never wrong.”
“…effort?”
At that, Teron’s expression became weirdly complicated and the Director’s face went bright with joy.
Fire King Teron clicked his tongue and looked at Director Tirion.
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Talking about effort. He’s speaking just like you.”
“This is the reason I like Ruin very much.”
However, Teron didn’t seem to give up and asked me again.
His eyes were stubborn.
“Sure. Did you say effort? What did you put your effort into?”
“Currently, I’ve been interested in martial arts.”
“To overcome your evocation disorder, you trained your martial arts. Thanks to that, you became as strong as an ogre and are able to cast magic without casting time? Are you saying this is believable?”
“With the reason of me not lying, please don’t ask more about the truth.”
“So, you’re saying that’s not it. Then, the only thing left is an artifact, right? However, I’ve never heard of an artifact like that.”
“……”
He stubbornly questioned me to the end to get his answer.
Having seen enough, Director Tirion dissuaded him.
“That much is enough.”
“Fine, fine.”
Teron jokingly laughed and put both his hands up in surrender.
He smiled like he meant ‘I’ll stop here for today’.
“There are many events to watch going forward anyways.”
Right.
There are many events left to watch.
Fire King Teron told me he’d ‘watch me’ going forward.
“The fruits of your ‘effort’…… I wonder if it can apply to my children too. I’m looking forward to it.”
And he also told me he would ‘look forward’ to my performance.
I looked Teron straight in his eyes.
“Yes. Please keep watching me.”
I was planning on lifting Fire King Teron’s expectations of me through this festival.
Maybe, this was…
“I’m curious now too. How much of a difference there is between me, and the children picked out by the King of Magicians?”
“……”
An opportunity.
In front of everyone.
In front of the King of Magicians.
An opportunity to say that, compared to the magicians he had picked out, I was a better magician.
Maybe he saw through my intentions.
“Ha. Haha……”
Teron looked at me like I was an interesting specimen.
His gaze seemed to say, ‘look at this impudent rascal’.
And my cute arrogance wasn’t taken as rude.
In any case,
“Ruin Ardell… You’re a funny one.”
The entrance of an interesting magician was welcome to him too.
——
