novelraw Chapter 74 : Element-Favored Sparring Arena (1)
Chapter 74 : Element-Favored Sparring Arena (1)
Chapter 74: Element-Favored Sparring Arena (1)
-Honestly, like my three older brothers before me, I can’t say that I’m not afraid. It’s true that I’m afraid of death. However, what I can say for certain is that it’s fulfilling. And…… if you end up finding my younger sister, Delsere, later on, please be sure to pass these words on to her. Tell her that this older sister met a death worthy of leaving her name behind, so it’s fine, and that she shouldn’t be sad. For the sake of Delsere, whom I’ll meet someday, I’ll leave behind the tea that Delsere liked. She really liked eating cookies together with this tea. Please be sure to tell her. Then, thank you.
It was the voice of a woman flowing out from a recording Mob placed in the Headmaster’s Office of the Ed Branch School.
“Sorry, Emmet Laren…….”
She was a member of the Emmet Family whose sacrifice had been decided this time.
No, she had probably already been sacrificed.
Because her voice had been recorded yesterday.
On the day before the opening of the semester, a telegram from Tyrant suddenly flew in.
The message said to open the way, as the Royal Guard would be going to Class 3.
It was the moment when the nightmare from Class 1 began once again.
In the end, Etar once again dispatched a survivor of the Emmet Family, and the visit of the Royal Guard could be blocked.
“Headmaster…….”
The one who soothed the heavy-hearted Etar, as always, was Vice Headmaster Former.
“This can’t go on. The Royal Guard will keep coming to the school, and if every time we send out the Emmet Family survivors we barely managed to save, then there’s no reason for us to have saved them in the first place.”
There was a painfully clear limit to plugging holes by sacrificing precious human resources.
In the long run, this would only result in pushing the entirety of the Sculptors under Etar into ruin.
“Since it’s come to this, we need to make a strong move too, Former.”
“Yes, Headmaster.”
“Withdraw the plan to expel Artel and think of a way to raise him to Class 6 in the shortest possible time. I need to face that student directly to get a clear sense of direction.”
Because Etar couldn’t go down personally, Artel had to be brought up.
However, to Former’s ears, that strong move sounded like a blunder.
“Headmaster…… isn’t this approaching the matter too emotionally? Shouldn’t we first grasp the situation a bit more carefully…….”
“Until when? Until all the Emmet Family mages we barely saved are dead?”
“…….”
His words were also correct.
If this kind of stopgap continued, it was obvious that the side that would end up suffering irreparable internal injuries would be them.
“Start from Class 3. Whether it’s a special selection or whatever else, find a way to raise Artel to Class 6 in the shortest possible time.”
“……Before that, may I ask one presumptuous question?”
“Go ahead.”
“Truly, if by any chance…… truly if by any chance, Artel turns out to be a student who falls short of our expectations, then what do we do?”
There was reason behind Former taking such a passive stance.
He was currently analyzing the situation cool-headedly.
And ‘by any chance’ implied something that had a low probability, but was clearly something that ‘could happen’.
Therefore, it had to be anticipated.
“Then I’ll rise up together with my friends. There’s no other way anymore.”
“……In the end, are you choosing an all-out war?”
“We’ve been accumulating strength for the past hundred years too. I’m not even hoping to win. Mutual destruction is the most ideal outcome we’re aiming for.”
The six Disciples of Arkis Aimer.
With their master’s death, the six Disciples split into two factions.
The moderate faction, led by the current Archmage Draco Tyrant, which sought wealth and glory by aligning with the Draco Family.
And the hardline faction, led by Ed Etar, which sought to drag Draco Tyrant—who killed Arkis Aimer—down from the throne of Archmage.
In the moderate faction were the Draco, Lamic, and Mirne Families, while in the hardline faction were the Ed, Rus, and Ramus Families.
Although all six had been taught by the same person, as time passed, they walked the same path but headed toward different destinations.
Moreover, aside from the Draco Family in the moderate faction, the heads of the other two families—the Water Lamic and the Wind Mirne.
Despite knowing the truth hidden behind Arkis Aimer’s death, they were heads who had simply joined hands with Draco Tyrant for wealth and glory.
Because of that, Etar could forgive them even less than Tyrant, who had killed Arkis Aimer.
The friends Etar spoke of were precisely the Light Rus and Earth Ramus Families in the hardline faction.
“Even a volcano erupts when the time comes. It was a volcano that was bound to erupt anyway. We merely forced it to stay plugged.”
“If we clash with full force, do we have any chance of winning?”
“By my calculations, about 92%.”
At Etar’s answer, Former showed a hopeful expression.
“The probability that we lose.”
“…….”
Soon, his expression turned miserable.
“Tyrant is the biggest problem. He’s already been using students as materials for 300 years to amplify his mana. Since we can’t even get a grasp on the amplification figures, it can’t be calculated.”
Even so, it wasn’t something where they could simply keep dragging out time.
Before he could amplify his mana any further, they had to drive Tyrant out somehow and also break the sealing stone of Sylarid at the very top.
“Impel occasionally goes up and down the top due to Tyrant’s summons, and at those times he secretly reported the color of the sealing stone to me.”
“The most recent time…… when was it?”
“Before the start of winter vacation. Back then, he said the black portion was about sixty percent. The time is slowly approaching. Tyrant will start moving in earnest too. Before that, he wants to thoroughly deal with the obstacles—the Emmet Family and the Artel issue. So, Former. No, Root. Think of the preparations.”
It was Etar, who had now returned to his father’s voice.
“However, there was one thing that bothered me. It was because of the Joint Admission System. Because of the school rules we created, it seemed difficult to raise only Artel to Class 6 in the shortest period of time.”
There were also the students’ eyes watching.
As much as possible, we had to pretend to be fair to the students while still raising Artel to Class 6.
“It may be a difficult problem, but I’m counting on you.”
It might have sounded like an irresponsible remark that dumped everything on him, but there was nothing else I could say.
“Could you leave now? I need to tell my friends in advance.”
“Understood. Then, I will think it over as well.”
Fortunately, Former replied in a way that showed he intended to carry it out faithfully.
‘This made it certain. Etar didn’t just join hands with the Emmet Family—he had placed the Emmet Family under his command.’
At the same time, at the very top.
Tyrant smiled as he received reports about what had happened in the Underworld.
Originally, this was supposed to be the day the Archmage’s personal guard headed toward the Ed Branch School’s 3rd Class, but because of a single Emmet Family survivor who appeared in the Underworld, the captain and vice-captain of the guard were dispatched back to the Underworld.
Etar had fallen right into the trap Tyrant had dug.
‘Kukukuk, Etar. What kind of creature are you, so far removed from development and evolution? No… should I say that your unique stupidity itself has evolved?’
The secret organization Etar commanded, which had been shrouded in mystery.
With this, a considerable portion of it was exposed to Tyrant.
For Tyrant, this was an unexpected achievement—extremely satisfying information.
‘Now then, how should I use Ignito, that fellow? It’s the perfect opportunity to use him in reverse and eliminate that troublesome Etar…….’
Tyrant soon sank into a happy dilemma.
9:30 a.m.
My first duel was scheduled the moment 3rd Class began.
Moreover, 9:30 a.m. was before classes even started.
“……I’m here too.”
“Me too.”
Starting with me, the same duel schedule was assigned to Kiena and Hei, who had been eating with me.
Both of them had the exact same time as me: 9:30 a.m.
“See you later. I’ll make sure all three of you get a proper initiation.”
It was something said by a student standing next to Keled.
Coincidentally, there were also three students whispering while looking at us.
Judging by the looks of it, those three had each challenged one of us to a duel.
“Hey, you. Double Caster.”
In the meantime, Keled, who was scheduled to duel with me, spoke.
Even though he clearly knew my name, deliberately calling me Double Caster meant he was still full of the desire to pick a fight.
“Why.”
“You said you were sorry to me, right?”
“So?”
“I was just curious why you were saying what I was supposed to say.”
Oh ho.
Just look at this impudent little brat.
I liked this kind of boldness. Just the boldness.
Keled left the cafeteria with a swagger, leading his little gang.
“Seeing him suddenly makes me think of Nohill Hapert. It pisses me off. What does he believe in to act so cocky? Is he even the top student of 3rd Class or something?”
Hei said.
“He was way worse than that! At least this guy isn’t even a family mage!”
Kiena chimed in as well.
That kind of hostility. It was exactly the same as how she had been before she became close with Banshi.
It really seemed like she disliked him to an extreme degree.
“Let’s finish eating and get ready, then head to the duel arena. You know where it is.”
3rd Class was much bigger and wider than 1st Class.
And during the vacation, one peculiar thing was that the duel arena couldn’t be used.
It was a strange place where the authority to open it was granted entirely to professors.
That was why we could finally see its true form only today, when the semester began.
A moment we had looked forward to all vacation long, yet one we would now face as soon as the meal ended.
The three of us finished our meal at a relatively relaxed pace and headed to the duel arena in time.
“Three scheduled duels right from the start of the semester, and that early in the morning…….”
Just like Professor Nide had done in 1st Class, the 3rd Class professor, Cullem, was sitting on a chair at the entrance of the duel arena holding a list.
“And I have to go through all this hardship because of you lot. Don’t you feel even a little sorry toward your professor?”
And with that, I could roughly grasp the atmosphere of 3rd Class.
Up until 1st Class, teachers used honorifics and treated students kindly, but 3rd Class was different.
Even Professor Nide of 1st Class, at the first meeting, had used polite language as if admonishing and guiding the students.
I hadn’t met the other teachers yet, but seeing Cullem like this, I was confident they wouldn’t be much different.
Cullem scolded us as she looked at the six of us who had gathered on time.
“Strictly speaking, isn’t this because of the Headmaster suddenly changing the school rules, rather than because of us?”
It was a question I casually threw out to gauge her reaction.
Cullem was also a mage of the Ed Family.
I was curious to see what kind of reaction she would show when I said something that disparaged her family head.
“What did you just say? Have you ever been hit by a professor’s magic?”
As expected, she had a look as if she would personally manifest magic and attack a student if I said anything harsher.
“Ah, no. I’m sorry.”
Have you ever been hit by an Archmage’s magic?
Anyway, I had no intention of needlessly deepening the conflict.
So when I pretended to tuck my tail between my legs, Cullem stopped there as well.
“The applicant is Keled, huh? Since an Earth Element student applied, we’ll need to prepare an Earth Element–favored duel arena. Ah, all three duel applicants are Earth Element students?”
“What is an element-favored duel arena?”
Since it was something I didn’t know, I asked her.
“See it with your own eyes. You’ll know immediately once you do. Ah, the three of you might not know. What a favored duel arena means.”
Cullem said as she swept her gaze over me, Kiena, and Hei.
Kiena and Hei also looked equally puzzled, having heard the term for the first time in their lives.
“Artel goes in through Portal 11, Kiena through 12, and Hei through 13.”
It was something Cullem said as she opened the duel arena door.
‘Does that mean there are portals inside the duel arena?’
The sight of the duel arena, opened wide, made even my mouth fall open.
“……Why are there so many portals?”
Kiena and Banshi reacted the same way I did.