novelraw Chapter 21 : A New Friend
Chapter 21 : A New Friend
Chapter 21: A New Friend
“Ah…… Archis…….”
As expected, Banshi recognized me immediately.
“Now then, will you answer my question?”
“I…… really…… Archi…… the pure white……. H-…… how……?”
As if she couldn’t believe it, the boldness she had shown me earlier disappeared completely, and she began stuttering terribly.
It felt as though she had become a completely different person in an instant.
And perhaps because she had lived since 250 years ago as a mage, she knew my nickname precisely.
“I don’t really like people who stutter.”
“M- my apologies!”
“What’s with the sudden formal speech?”
Banshi hurriedly dropped to her knees and sat.
“What is this?”
Her shift in attitude was so drastic it felt burdensome.
It was something she could only do because she thoroughly believed that I was Archis Eimer.
No—there was nothing to even doubt.
The Orbification of the Flewd element was a magic only my master and I could manifest.
Since Banshi was a member of the Emmet Family, she knew that and had no reason to question it further.
On top of that, the family motto of the Emmet Family—slightly childish, but—was ‘Revere the White Archmage.’
Since two consecutive Archmages had been Flewd Elementalists, even if their Circle was low, she told me later that Emmet Vise explained it as an intention to show gratitude toward me and my master, who had become their source of immense pride.
Because of that, I could understand Banshi’s sudden change in attitude now.
For the Emmet Family, Archis Eimer and my master Alarize Petra had been nothing less than gods of their own.
“But…… how did you appear here……? And you look far too different from the appearance I know…….”
“I didn’t call you here to complain about things from the past. I said answer my question first.”
“Ah! Yes. You asked whether a Double Caster can be raised, right?”
“Correct.”
“I also, actually, don’t know exactly. But when I was gathering information in the Lower World, I heard there was a drug that could temporarily create a Double Caster. So I thought that’s what this was……”
Times had truly changed.
To think they had shattered an absolute realm that should have been impossible through drugs.
“How did you collect information in the Lower World?”
“In the Lower World, aren’t the main houses of the six major elemental families—excluding Flewd—located there? Because of that, I believed it was a place where high-class information circulated in secret, so I spent a long time gathering information.”
“When did you enroll in this school?”
“Ten years ago.”
“Ten years?”
Banshi was a mage who already manifested at the level of a 6th Circle.
Even though she could have risen to 6th Class immediately, why was she only in 1st Class now, ten years later?
When I asked, she answered right away.
“As I said before, I enrolled in this school to kill Ed Etar. But instead of rising to 6th Circle immediately, I thought it would be better to gather internal information on the Ed Branch School, so I intentionally spent five years in each class.”
That meant when Banshi reached 1st Circle was around the same time Hei, Kiena, and I had enrolled.
That was why Banshi didn’t know me well.
“I witnessed my family’s downfall with my own eyes 250 years ago, vowed revenge, and spent 200 years training alone until I barely reached the 6th Circle. Then I spent the remaining 40 years collecting information and enrolled in this school ten years ago.”
“How did you train alone?”
“I referenced the books in the Emmet Family’s library. That’s how I began studying pharmacology and magic by myself.”
That was precisely why it took her 200 years to reach the 6th Circle.
A mage from a normal family would reach that level in less than a hundred years.
Of course, assuming they had talent.
But Banshi had lost not only her parents but her entire family, leaving her to learn solely through books.
“But Etar is a 9th Circle Mage. You intended to challenge him with 6th Circle?”
“Even so, since I’m a Flewd Elementalist, I thought it would be possible if I focused.”
Against a Fire Elementalist, a Flewd Elementalist was the worst possible matchup.
Fire needed Flewd to burn vigorously.
But Flewd Elementalists could also create a vacuum.
Because of that, when a Flewd Elementalist faced a Fire Elementalist, they could push up to around a two-Circle difference.
Banshi, filled with nothing but vengeance, seemed to believe that if she had the will, she could overcome even a three-Circle gap.
“Oh, and the name Banshi is an alias. My real name is Emmet Delsere.”
“Delsere…… what a pretty name.”
“Thank you.”
“You used an alias to hide that you’re from the Emmet Family, right? And you pretended to be a Fire Elementalist for that same reason?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
A student with the same objective as mine.
The only difference was that she had entered the school from the very beginning with the intention to kill Etar, whereas I was learning what kind of mage Etar was as I climbed upward.
“Banshi…… you chose that alias because of your deceased family, didn’t you?”
“You are correct.”
A fairy that foretold a family’s death with a sorrowful cry.
Her family was already gone, but she had chosen that name as a vow that she would never forget their deaths and would continue living in sorrow.
It was also the reason she continued to live at all.
“So why did you request a duel with me? You suddenly showed interest once you learned I was a Double Caster.”
“That was for my personal training.”
“Training?”
“Yes, while rising through the classes to kill Ed Etar, I didn’t know which of Etar’s dogs—strong mages—might appear. Since you were the first Double Caster in 500 years, I thought you would be the strongest and most optimal opponent I could meet in 1st Class. That’s why I didn’t mind betting all my points.”
“And you thought I might be one of Etar’s dogs, so you intended to kill me if necessary.”
“……I apologize for daring to attach such a disgraceful title to you, Archis-nim.”
At last, Banshi fully prostrated herself, begging forgiveness.
I now knew everything I wanted to know.
And I also made a firm decision on how I would treat this student.
“Let’s make a promise.”
“Yes! I will obey any command!”
She treated me as though I were the current Archmage.
“You and I seem to have similar goals. How about working together from now on?”
I extended my hand to her.
“……What?”
She looked flustered, unable to immediately take my hand.
“Your target is Etar, and mine is Tyrant, the one above him. Since the master taught the disciple wrong, I have to go teach him properly now.”
“Does that mean…… someone as lowly as me can dare become the Disciple of Archis-nim……?”
She still reacted as though she couldn’t believe it.
“No, something better than that. It’s embarrassing, but, friends?”
“Ye–es?”
She let out a shriek and her body fell backward.
Was that really something to be that surprised about?
“Right now, I’m not the Archmage but the student Artel. Why are you so startled by the word ‘friend’?”
“But still…….”
“From the moment we walk out of this dueling arena, we hide our identities just like we’ve done until now. I’ll call you Banshi, not Delsere, and you call me Artel. Informally. Got it?”
“……It’s hard, but I’ll try.”
“Good. Aren’t you hungry? You lost all your points to me, so you couldn’t even eat, right?”
Grrrrr.
“Ah…….”
Right then, as her tension eased, a loud sound came from Banshi’s stomach.
Now Banshi’s hair had returned to the scattered red color she had used as camouflage.
But even her face had turned as red as a carrot.
“Let’s go, eat.”
“Ah…… yes……!”
So my confrontation with Banshi, unlike its brutal beginning, ended peacefully.
“By the way, may I ask you a rude question?”
On our way to the cafeteria, Banshi looked around and asked.
“I told you to speak informally.”
“Ah…… uh…… can I ask you something?”
Now that she knew who I was, her manner of speaking and even her expressions had all stiffened.
“What is it?”
“How did you stay hidden for 300 years, and why did you only appear now…….”
“Ah, that.”
I also carefully scanned the hallway.
All the other students seemed to be enjoying lunchtime; there was no one else in the corridor.
“After I was attacked by Tyrant and opened my eyes, I was in this student’s body, and 300 years had passed. Can you believe that?”
“Aha…….”
She didn’t exactly believe it, but she looked like she was trying to.
“Oh, right. From now on, the two of us will be sticking together often, so what excuse should we use so we don’t draw suspicion?”
“Is that really necessar…….”
“Tsk.”
“……necessary?”
“Obviously it is. Just until class earlier, you were glaring at me like you couldn’t wait to tear me apart, and if we suddenly start sticking together, won’t not only the students but the teachers also find it strange?”
“Uh…… what would be good……?”
I also thought hard in my head about a good pretext, but nothing fitting came to mind.
While we were walking down the hallway in silence like that, Hei appeared.
“Artel! Huh? You two are together again?”
Suddenly, Hei’s expression turned lecherous.
“Where are you two going, looking so close?”
“The cafeteria.”
“Ah, right.”
Hei turned his steps away and patted my shoulder.
“Yeah, yeah. The cafeteeria? The two of you? Again? Hehe.”
But why did he keep grinning so sleazily?
After Hei left, as I was wondering about the reason for that smile, I recalled what he had said during the Fire Elemental class.
“Hey, I found our excuse.”
“Mm?”
“Let’s say you like me. Given the circumstances, isn’t that the simplest? We don’t even need to explain anything. And it’d be a bit much if we said I’m the one who likes you.”
The 1st Class students were all in their early to mid-teens anyway.
With that kind of reason, we wouldn’t have to explain in detail why we were suddenly always together; people would just accept it.
And in the teachers’ eyes, it would look like nothing more than a sweet, innocent school life between kids their age, so it was the most appropriate.
“H- how could someone like me possibly……!”
But once again, Banshi’s face turned as as red as a tomato.
“Who said you actually had to like me? And didn’t I tell you to speak informally? Are you ignoring me?”
“N- no……!”
“Then let’s go with that. From now on, act well. Don’t be this stiff like you are right now.”
“Got…… it.”
When we arrived in front of the cafeteria, I sent Banshi the 100 points needed as the cafeteria fee, and we went in together.
I had already eaten, but I didn’t want to leave her to eat alone.
Maybe it was because I knew she was a member of the Emmet Family and had suffered something terrible at the hands of my Disciple, Etar?
I felt particularly attached to Banshi.
As lunchtime drew to a close, there were no other students left in the cafeteria besides the two of us.
Banshi brought back a modest amount of food and sat down.
I poured myself just a cup of juice and sat across from her.
“So this year is your fifth year in 1st Class?”
“Yes.”
Once there were no other students around us, she returned to polite speech again.
She didn’t seem used to speaking informally yet, so this time I didn’t force it.
She would gradually get used to it anyway.
Thinking about it from her perspective, it was like me talking informally to my master, right?
Only now did I understand how that would feel, so I let it go.
“Then you’ll pass the exam this year and move up to 2nd Class. Oh, right. You’ve been here for five years, so you know how they evaluate 1st Class students’ abilities, right? Can you tell me?”
In the meantime, Banshi was putting food into her mouth and chewing quietly and neatly.
When I asked, she urgently covered her mouth with her hand and tried to swallow her food quickly.
She might have looked like she was only in her early teens on the outside, but her behavior was that of an adult mage who had lived 250 years.
“I shouldn’t have talked to you while you were eating. Take your time.”
“Thank you…….”
So I relaxed and, looking over my afternoon schedule, waited for Banshi to finish everything.
‘In the afternoon, there’s the joint class History of Mages 2.’
And that one was right before dinner.
In other words, after this lunchtime ended, I had about two hours free.
There was plenty of time to ask Banshi about various things in detail.
Once she had finished eating, Banshi neatly set down her fork and straightened her back.
“The 1st Class Promotion Exam is decided comprehensively.”
“Comprehensively?”
“Yes.”
“Explain.”