Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Chapter 5. So Who’s Going to Enroll Now?

Before they left the manor.

Xymoron’s loyal butler, Vilcus, practically breathed fire.

“What in the world are you thinking, my lord!”

“Vilcus. Calm down.”

“You saw that bastard Prau’s expression just now. He won’t go easy on him. You know how powerful a Martial Mage’s body is...”

“Of course I know. Muscles infused with mana are like steel. If his opponent shows no restraint, Kawin might spend a year bedridden.”

“Then why did you agree to this?”

“Well. Responsibility... I suppose?”

Xymoron gave a hollow smile.

“Responsibility? Responsibility, you say? From the Young Master who has never kept his word once in his life?”

“Then perhaps he’ll learn a lesson. That recklessly speaking out of emotion can bring serious consequences.”

“My lord!”

Vilcus’s shoulders heaved without pause.

He couldn’t understand it.

Hadn’t this father always been foolishly indulgent whenever it came to his son?

Kawin was obviously about to be beaten half to death before his very eyes, yet he still couldn’t understand why Xymoron had accepted the duel.

Xymoron smiled faintly.

“A viscount’s son will eventually become a viscount himself. Even if his territory is no bigger than a handful, even if he has less substance than a mere merchant master.”

“What are you saying...”

“Kawin stepped forward in place of his father, a viscount. The weight of his words is not so different from that of a viscount. How could I simply ignore them?”

As he spoke, Xymoron pulled a sheet of paper from inside his clothes.

A document imbued with magical effects.

A scroll.

“I can help him a little afterward. Once Kawin has taken responsibility for his words.”

“...A healing scroll.”

Magic paper activated simply by unfolding it.

That was why it was both rare and expensive.

Using one for something as trivial as a spar was outrageously extravagant.

Especially considering the Anper family’s finances, it was absurdly valuable.

Xymoron intended to pay a steep price for his son.

“Didn’t you notice it too, Vilcus? Kawin has changed quite a bit lately.”

“Yes. His conduct has improved, and his body has gotten stronger. More than anything, there’s determination in his eyes.”

“A parent’s heart takes even the smallest possibility and lets imagination run wild. Just indulge me this once.”

With the family head himself saying so much, Vilcus could no longer object.

All he could do was pray.

That Kawin, who had only just begun to change for the better, would not be beaten within an inch of his life...!

Perhaps it was simply too painful to watch.

The instant Andne moved, Vilcus squeezed his eyes shut.

CRACK!

“Oh! Gods above!”

At a sound that unmistakably resembled bones breaking, Vilcus couldn’t suppress a gasp.

Still keeping his eyes tightly shut, Vilcus asked Xymoron,

“My lord! Is he badly hurt?”

“It certainly looks that way.”

“Then stop the duel immediately! Use the scroll now...!”

“I mean Andne, not Kawin.”

“...What?”

Had he misheard?

Vilcus cautiously opened one of his closed eyes.

Andne?

“Graaaah!”

An enraged roar forced Vilcus’s other eye open.

The howl of a wounded beast.

The voice unmistakably belonged to Andne.

Vilcus hurriedly turned his head.

A scene unfolded before him that made him doubt his own eyes.

“Ah!”

This time, an exclamation burst from him.

Andne was moving far faster than any ordinary person at a glance.

Kawin, meanwhile, seemed to be swaying around like some boneless mollusk.

‘But...’

CRACK!

Thud!

Yet it was always Andne whose jaw snapped upward and whose teeth went flying.

Andne’s once-handsome face had been reduced to a swollen mess.

If not for his trained Martial Mage body, he would have lost consciousness long ago.

“Why! Whyyyyyy!”

There was no need to hear the rest of Andne’s words.

Why can’t I hit you?

Someone like you!

With those sluggish movements!

‘He really doesn’t understand at all.’

Kawin moved with an indifferent expression.

There was no need to keep Lightning Speed activated continuously.

That would be wasteful.

He only had to activate it right before his opponent’s attack connected.

That was why he could look so sluggish while producing such overwhelming results.

With a gaze as cold as the color of his eyes, Kawin slipped through an opening in Andne’s guard.

His expression was as serious as when he had first learned Braille.

‘No doubt about it. The more we exchange blows...’

The energy inside his Orbis was strengthening, even if only by a tiny amount.

Which meant his mana was growing.

The third unique ability granted to the Stormlord.

‘Electric Predation’ had activated.

‘His mana is noticeably weakening. Meanwhile, mine is stronger than when we started.’

It was like stealing water from a nearly empty bucket and pouring it into a massive dam.

For Andne, who had only just completed his First Circle, there could hardly be anything more devastating.

“That hurts.”

Unexpected words escaped Kawin’s mouth after thoroughly beating him.

Looking at Andne’s badly swollen face, Kawin expressed his sincere feelings.

“Punching a Martial Mage with my bare hands hurts my knuckles.”

“!”

Kawin knew Andne, bruised all over, might cough up blood if he heard that.

But pain was pain.

Kawin decided to apply a little ingenuity.

‘If mana can take root in my nerves, there’s no reason I can’t put it into my skin.’

Crackle!

A fist filled with the power of thunder slammed into Andne’s shoulder.

BOOM!

Unlike before, when he had repeatedly been sent flying into the air.

Andne’s body froze in place like a stone statue.

There were no more shouts or screams.

Only a sharp cracking sound, like stone splitting apart.

Crack!

A fracture.

And it was happening inside Andne’s body.

His pride, and the pride of his father Prau.

His Circle shattered.

Thud!

Andne, who had lost consciousness while still standing, collapsed to the ground.

He had already been battered all over, and Electric Predation had drained his mana as well.

He looked as though a giant had hammered his entire body flat with an enormous mallet.

“Oh dear. Without a Circle, entering the Academy will be impossible now.”

Kawin smacked his lips as though genuinely disappointed.

Then curled the corner of his mouth toward the dazed Prau.

“That vacancy. Someone ought to fill it.”

* * *

They said there was something uniquely humiliating about signing a surrender document after losing a war.

Kawin felt like he finally understood what that must be like.

“Urgh...!”

The head of the Prios Merchant Company.

Prau Prios was signing with a trembling hand.

“I almost feel shameless asking this. Are you truly all right with it?”

“It’s fine. After all, now... urgh! We can’t use it anyway.”

An academy located in the northeastern part of the empire.

Tesca.

The admission fee alone amounted to a hundred years of living expenses for an ordinary household.

Of course, House Anper would pay less because they were nobles.

Maybe they could afford it after working the newly created fertile land for about ten years?

‘Absolutely not.’

Money aside, once the admission quota was full, there was no way to enter that year regardless of what one tried.

There was only one method.

A ‘transfer.’

If a student whose admission had already been confirmed encountered circumstances that prevented attendance, they could transfer that qualification to someone else.

Naturally, the recipient also had to be a First-Circle mage.

“What an astonishing coincidence.”

Vilcus, standing beside Xymoron, raised his cheeks in a broad smile.

“One side loses his Circle, while the other awakens a Circle during the duel. Perhaps this is the will of the gods.”

“The will of the gods...!”

Prau gripped the pen so tightly it looked as though he might snap it with his fingers alone.

Even so, he somehow maintained his composure and wrote his wishes on the admission application.

[I hereby transfer Andne Prios’s admission eligibility to Kawin Anper.]

The document required the Prios family seal, but that was no problem.

They were a merchant family that traveled with their company and signed contracts large and small as routinely as eating meals.

After stamping it with the seal he always carried, Prau politely presented the certificate to Xymoron.

“I would like to consider today’s matter settled with this.”

“Very well.”

Xymoron nodded with a grave expression.

It meant he would keep silent about the humiliation suffered by Prau and his son.

In exchange for an admission application that had become useless to them.

“The duel has taken quite some time. Why not spend the night?”

“I would very much like to, but our schedule is tight. Isn’t it the nature of a merchant to sleep easier knowing he must wake with the morning dew?”

“I still feel bad about this. When you visit next time, I’ll make sure to receive you more properly.”

“Your words alone are more than enough.”

Prau withdrew while maintaining the utmost courtesy.

Standing beside Xymoron, Kawin checked Prau’s breathing and the smell of his sweat.

‘He means it.’

Kawin sensed no particular lie in Prau’s voice.

With his son completely crushed, even the inferiority complex rooted in his heart seemed to have faded.

Once emotion vanished from a merchant, only interests remained.

Even if House Anper ruled a territory no bigger than a palm, there was no reason to make an enemy of them.

It was a wise choice.

Had he bared his teeth at Kawin, the very survival of the Prios Merchant Company would have become dangerously uncertain.

* * *

“It’s true! It really is!”

After examining Kawin, Xymoron bounced excitedly as though he might leap into the air at any moment.

“I can clearly feel it. Your mana. This should easily be enough to qualify as First Circle.”

The heavens have helped us.

It’s a miracle.

Xymoron and Vilcus traded lines back and forth while striking prayer poses.

Kawin stood where he was, his body trembling faintly.

He was struggling not to laugh at the sight.

‘Of course. I only showed them exactly one Circle’s worth.’

An Orbis was a concept above a Circle.

Even his father Xymoron could not accurately measure Kawin’s true power.

No, not merely Xymoron. Any mage who used Circles would be unable to do so.

When it came to information, Kawin already held an overwhelming advantage.

“I think so too. I always wanted to attend an Academy once I completed my Circle, but I never imagined everything would fit together this perfectly.”

Kawin hid his smile as he spoke.

Breaking Andne’s Circle and revealing his own awakening as a mage.

Everything had gone according to plan.

“To think Lightning magic has such a favorable matchup against Martial Mages. You said Andne stumbled every time he approached you, correct?”

“Yes. There was definitely something about it in our family’s books, so I decided to test it myself.”

“Well done. Perhaps you’ve already surpassed your father.”

Xymoron had spent his entire life confined to the Anper territory.

A man without a competitive bone in his body had never had any reason to fight another Martial Mage.

Faced with the story Kawin had fabricated, all Xymoron and Vilcus could do was,

nod along in admiration.

* * *

The time had come to leave home.

With a lightly packed bag over his shoulder, Kawin bowed to his father.

Xymoron held out a hand toward him.

“Take these.”

“These are...”

A smile slowly spread across Kawin’s lips when he saw them.

“Scrolls. The ones you were holding the other day.”

“Yes. I intended to use them if you ended up beaten to a pulp.”

The smile on Kawin’s face deepened.

Kawin carefully tucked the two scrolls into his bag.

Even considering that they were gifts for a son leaving on a long journey, they were tremendously expensive.

“Are you sure I can take two? Even one is expensive.”

“You’ll surely need them. And don’t worry. Did our farmland not double recently thanks to the blessing of Archmage Dharma!”

That was all me, though.

Kawin chuckled and raised a hand toward the people behind Xymoron.

Dozens of residents stood near the entrance to the territory, waving at him.

“Young Master! Stay healthy!”

“If anyone mocks you by calling it static electricity, punch them right in the nose!”

“Hey! Why bring up the forbidden words again on such a fine day!”

“Young Master! Make sure you come back strong!”

People he had seen every single day since gaining his sight.

His father, Vilcus, and everyone here had all become precious to Kawin.

He would return stronger.

Tesca Academy was the perfect place to accomplish that goal.

Endless spars designed to push students mercilessly.

There could be no better stage for Electric Predation.

‘And above all...’

An imperial treasure exhibited at academies throughout the empire.

Another chance to see a ‘grimoire’ awaited him there.