Inside of a spacious aerial carriage, Mer sat next to Eugene and distractedly fiddled with her fingers. No matter how much she thought about it, this whole situation didn’t make any sense to Mer.
Akasha belonged to Sienna. The same went for Witch Craft and everything else that was in Sienna’s Hall; it all belonged to Sienna. Although they were currently displayed in the Royal Library Akron, the royal family of Aroth could not claim ownership of them. It was unacceptable for them to do so. Aroth had already asked far too much of Sienna.
The Magic Kingdom of Aroth had a long history. The founder of Aroth, the Magic King, was called the first ‘Archwizard’ in the history of humankind, someone who had reached the pinnacle of ancient magic. Ever since then, Aroth had produced several great wizards.
However, no other wizard had had as large an effect on the whole field of ‘magic’ as Sienna. None were able to copy her feat of defeating a Demon King with just a human’s body. Aroth was only able to establish its title as the Magic Kingdom because Sienna, having returned from Helmuth, had settled in Aroth.
In the following three hundred years, countless wizards and people dreaming of becoming wizards had been drawn to Aroth out of admiration for Sienna and had settled here. Even after Sienna had gone into seclusion, this trend had continued unabated until the present day.
‘...We already convinced the royal family,’ Mer thought as her lips stuck out in a pout.
Of course, that persuasion was based on the threat of drowning the entirety of Abram. In any case, the important thing was that they had been convinced.
Mer assessed the situation. ‘Crown Prince Honein seemed to have the intention of handing Akasha over to Eugene from the very beginning. If that old man called the prime minister hadn’t tried to hold on to it and failed, the handover would have gone much more smoothly.’
That was how things should have ended.
“...Sir Eugene,” Mer spoke up after some hesitation. “There’s no need for you to accommodate the Green Tower Master’s stubbornness.”
The Green Tower Master, Jeneric Osman, was a wizard who thought of himself as the Chosen One.
That had also been the case with Jeneric’s father, the former Green Tower Master. Mer clearly remembered just how wicked and terrible of a wizard that man was. While claiming that it was for the sake of magic and Lady Sienna, he had gotten consent from the Royal Family to dissect Mer, whom he treated as a mere familiar — no, as a mere ‘thing.’
Although Aroth had acknowledged Akasha’s handover, Jeneric refused to recognize it. From the moment he was born, he had been installed with a pride in his ‘bloodline’ that made him unable to acknowledge what he should already have been forced to admit. Jeneric still felt that he could personally claim to be the legitimate successor of the Wise Sienna, so he had come to Eugene and issued a challenge. He never once doubted the fact that Akasha, which he himself couldn’t even use, would one day be the magic staff that belonged solely to him.
“No matter how irritated and angry the Green Tower Master gets, he still has no right to claim Akasha’s ownership,” Mer argued. “He also has no way of taking it from you by force.”
“That’s probably true,” Eugene agreed.
“In the first place, asking for a duel was ridiculous and absurd. Even if Sir Eugene were to refuse the challenge, no one would call you a coward for doing so. Instead, they would consider it pitiful that the Green Tower Master would actually attempt to force a junior many years younger than himself into a duel,” Mer said indignantly.
“Mhm,” Eugene responded wordlessly.
“...Even if the Green Tower Master absolutely refuses to back down, there’s still no need to take part in a duel. After all, the Red Tower Master — no, practically all the Tower Masters except for the Green Tower Master will support Eugene in this. How amusing that the other Tower Masters respect Lady Sienna more than the Green Tower Master, who claims to be Lady Sienna’s legitimate successor,” Mer commented.
Instead of replying, Eugene just grinned at her. As Mer, who was sitting across from Eugene, looked at him with eyes full of anxiety, he just shrugged casually.
Mer recalled the exact moment during the conversation that Eugene’s attitude had undergone a transformation. When Jeneric had first appeared out of nowhere, Eugene hadn’t taken the lead in the conversation. It had been Melkith El-Hayah and Mer who had taken turns wrestling with Jeneric.
—A mere familiar dares to—!
Unable to control his rage, Jeneric had spat out these words. At that moment, Eugene’s expression had changed. When it was revealed that Jeneric’s father was behind Mer’s dissection in an attempt to uncover Witch Craft’s core mysteries, Eugene had gotten up from his seat.
“...Is it really because of me?” Mer couldn’t help but ask this question after a few moments of hesitation.
There was no need for Eugene to go that far. Mer hadn’t revealed that information because she had wanted to spur Eugene into action. ‘A mere familiar?’ Hearing words like these didn’t have any effect on her. Although Eugene had told Mer that she wasn’t just a familiar, Mer had already heard such hurtful words from people like Jeneric so many times that she had gotten tired of them.
As such, Mer didn’t care even if she had to hear such nonsense one more time. As long as Sienna had truly thought of Mer as a daughter, and Eugene kept reassuring her that she wasn’t just a familiar, but a human being, that alone was enough for Mer.
“It’s just that,” Eugene finally spoke up with a smirk, “that bastard, the Green Tower Master, looked down on me.”
Eugene had always had this sort of personality, ever since he was Hamel. Even if he started out trying to control himself, the moment that his opponent crossed a ‘line’ that Hamel had set in his own mind, then he definitely wouldn’t be able to hold it in. He would need to vent his anger and irritable temper on the offender somehow.
It was just like back then, seven years ago, when he had first arrived at the Lionheart clan’s main estate for the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony. At that time, Eugene hadn’t really wanted to get into an unnecessary fight with the twins from the direct line. However, when Cyan began disparaging Gerhard, Eugene’s own father, Eugene couldn’t hold it in any longer and he had accepted Cyan’s challenge to a duel.
“...Puhaha!” Melkith, who had been silently listening to them talk, suddenly burst into laughter. She wrapped her arms around her stomach as she doubled over cackling, then nodded her head and said, “You're right. Just like you said, the Green Tower Master, that bastard, really is looking down on you. I’ve always thought he was a nasty old man. Why do you think he came looking for you today of all days?”
“Because Master Lovellian is absent,” Eugene answered.
“That’s right. If the Red Tower Master was still in his Tower of Magic, would the Green Tower Master have dared to come looking for you spouting this nonsense about a duel? That bastard, he probably felt really conflicted when he saw you with me,” Melkith smugly guessed.
“Even so, he still approached us in the end and spat out his nonsense. Ah, is that because he feels that the White Tower Master is actually inferior to himself?” Mer speculated.
“...Hahah!” Melkith laughed harshly. “If that really is the case, then that bastard Jeneric really is a fool. I would even bet that among the current day Tower Masters, not a single one of them is a worse wizard than Jeneric. It’s not just the Tower Masters either. Trempel Vizard, that aristocrat, would probably be able to take care of Jeneric in just ten minutes.”
Eugene felt a bit surprised by these words. The impression that Eugene had gotten from Trempel was that he wasn’t all that impressive of a wizard. He seemed to just be an old wizard who threw around stale jokes that weren’t all that funny and who had always annoyed Eugene from the moment they had met by following him around and calling out ‘Lord Eugene, Lord Eugene.’
“...Hm. Brat, I can probably tell what you’re thinking from that expression on your face. That old man, Trempel, despite what he looks like, is actually quite the impressive person. In the first place, the fact that he’s able to stand at the heat of the Court Wizards as their commander means that he has to be Aroth’s number one battle wizard,” Melkith revealed.
Eugene marveled, “His looks really are deceptive.”
Melkith speculated, “That’s probably because he’s satisfied. He’s already reached the age that he has, there’s no position higher than the one he currently occupies, and it’s not like there is a wartime situation going on. In any case, Jeneric must have still pressed on after seeing me with you because he probably wasn’t sure of my relationship with you.”
“Had he kept trying to pressure me into agreeing, even after I had refused, would you have taken my side?” Eugene asked.
“There’s no need to even ask such an obvious question. However, didn’t you still end up foolishly accepting his request? That’s why I’ve accompanied you here,” Melkith said with a bright smile. “Magic comes in innumerable forms. After mastering their speciality of magic, each wizard who has gone on to successfully become an Archwizard has had to develop their own unique, ‘Signature’ spell. You should already be familiar with one, right? The Red Tower Master’s ‘Pantheon’.”
“I know of it, though I haven’t learned it,” Eugene admitted.
“If you want to inherit that spell from him, you will probably have to actually reach the Eighth Circle first. That’s not just the case with the Red Tower Master’s Pantheon either. All Archwizards’ Signature Spells are high-level spells that can’t be imitated if you’re not in the Eighth Circle,” Melkith abruptly changed her mind. “No, they might be inimitable even if you do reach the Eighth Circle.”
The specialty of the Red Tower of Magic was summoning magic. As its Tower Master, Lovellian was the best summoner among the current generation of wizards. His Signature Spell, Pantheon, was able to call on a whole pantheon of summons, each of whom had the power equivalent to a natural disaster.
Melkith informed Eugene, “Jeneric’s Signature Spell is ‘Yggdrasil’. A spell that turns his own body into a giant tree… or at least that’s the most convenient way to think of it. No, would it be better to consider it a flower? But it doesn’t really suit him, does it?”
“No, it doesn’t,” Eugene agreed.
“Still, you can’t take that spell lightly. The moment that Yggdrasil is set up, Jeneric becomes a very difficult opponent to deal with. His attack speed is fast and he has crowd control, but that’s only the most obvious threats… what makes him especially tricky is that the entire land that Jeneric roots himself in comes under his control,” Melkith elaborated with a grin as she pointed out the window. “In principle, Jeneric might be able to take over about half of Pentagon. Isn’t that absurd? But an Eighth Circle Archwizard is just that sort of existence. And that’s the Archwizard Jeneric Osman that you’re scheduled to duel with.”
“However, in his duel with me, he won’t be able to use that awesome Signature Spell of his, right?” Eugene pointed out.
“That’s true. Because Yggdrasil is Jeneric’s original Eighth Circle spell. However, it’s not like he’s only limited to using only low-rank spells either, right?” Melkith intentionally erased her smile and stared at Eugene as she warned him, “Jeneric developed Yggdrasil by combining several different original spells. The completed version of Yggdrasil is in the Eighth Circle, but the previous version of the spell, the Divine Tree, is in the Sixth Circle. Jeneric was probably intending to use that spell to win from the very beginning.”
“How cheap, so that’s why he set the limit at the Sixth Circle?”
“Probably. While pretending to make such a reasonable concession, he actually just wants to reinforce his reputation as a wizard by crushing you.”
Changing the subject, Eugene asked, “What kind of spell is the Divine Tree?”
“It’s a miniature version of Yggdrasil,” Melkith answered. “Although he can’t just fire high-level magic like he could as Yggdrasil, it will still allow Jeneric to control the ground at the site of the duel.”
“Well, that just means I need to keep flying,” Eugene said with a shrug.
“...That’s a joke, right?” Melkith asked in disbelief. “You intend on flying in the sky while facing a wizard of a higher Circle than you? The moment you start flying, you’ll be sent crashing to the ground with a Dispel.”
“We can’t be sure of that until I try,” Eugene said confidently. “If you’re not going to encourage me, could you at least stop trying to scare me off?”
“I’m just trying to tell you that you can still give up at this point,” Melkight informed him as she leaned over and looked closely at Eugene. “Brat, I like your hotbloodedness. Since that bastard, the Green Tower Master, tried to take you for a fool, there’s nothing wrong with getting angry at him. However, what do you think that there is to gain from taking part in a real duel against him? The honor of fearlessly accepting a challenge from a wizard who’s stronger than you are? But is that honor worth as much as Akasha?”
Mer didn’t say anything and just kept her head bowed. No matter how much she thought about it, it felt like it was her fault that this duel had been finalized.
“Even if you call off the duel at this point, there shouldn’t be many people who will look down on you for it. Because you’re still young after all. And if Jeneric puts up a fuss because of that? I’ll take care of him. What? Do you feel like you’re burdening me? That bastard, Jeneric probably won’t want to fight me for real in any case, and I feel the same way,” Melkith assured him with a grin as she pointed behind herself, where Jeneric was riding in the aerial carriage ahead of them. “As long as I stand up to that bastard and quarrel with him, the Red Tower Master should find his attention drawn to here and come running over from Abram. The other Tower Masters should also follow suit. If that’s how the situation plays out, Jeneric also won’t be able to continue being so stubborn—”
“I didn’t accept the duel because the blood suddenly rushed to my head,” Eugene interrupted her. “Since he refuses to recognize me, I want the chance to prove my qualifications to him. I also want him to apologize to Mer.”
Mer hesitantly began, “...Sir Eugene, I’m fin—”
“But I’m not fine, so just drop it. Mer, you know who ‘I’ am. My personality is a bit vicious. I’m also a touch stubborn. I’m also a piece of trash who won’t even lend an ear to what anyone else is saying. Whether it’s in the past or now, that’s all still the same,” Eugene said with a grin as he ruffled Mer’s hair. “Between honor and Akasha? If I had to choose one, then of course Akasha is more valuable. But that said, while honor isn’t completely worthless, I don’t really enjoy commenting about whether or not someone is honorable. Especially when it comes to myself.”
“...But then why do you need to accept the duel?” Mer pleaded.
“Because I’m not going to let him take it from me,” Eugene promised as the corners of his mouth twisted into a smile. “I can only use spells up to the Sixth Circle, but that’s ‘only spells’. Isn’t that right? Without relying on magic, there’s a lot of other things that I can do. If I immediately summon the Wind Spirit King, you can’t really classify his existence according to the Circle Formula, now can you? Of course not. Spirits are spirits, and Circles are Circles, so how do you decide what the equivalent is?”
“...Hm,” Mer hummed hesitantly.
“Apart from that, I’ve also got other things up my sleeves. If I thought I was going to lose, then I wouldn’t have accepted the duel under these conditions,” Eugene assured her.
Eugene understood why Melkith had been trying to warn him. While Eugene was talented, Jeneric Osman was also quite the talented person. If it was a contest of their ‘magic,’ then Eugene wouldn’t be able to beat Jeneric even if he got a free revive. Honestly speaking, even if Jenneric was only limited to spells of the Fifth Circle instead of the Sixth Circle, Eugene wasn’t confident that he would be able to beat Jenneric in a battle of magic.
However, this wasn’t a battle of magic. It was a duel. Moreover, Jeneric had even told Eugene that he was free to use all of his abilities.
The Lionheart clan’s main family had recognized Eugene’s martial talent and adopted him, but he was still only twenty years old. Experience was something that came with age, especially when it came to combat.
So how exactly did Jenneric see Eugene?
In the three years that Eugene had spent in Aroth, he had kept himself confined to Akron. The news that Eugene had killed both Assassins and Sand Shamans in Nahama hadn’t been revealed. Jenneric was also ignorant of how Eugene had fought with Barang in Samar, and the Zoran tribe had helped him while Eugene was escaping the forest with the elves, making it seem like Eugene hadn’t done anything.
Jenneric knew nothing about Eugene.
There was no way for him to know that Eugene was really the reincarnation of the Stupid Hamel, who had been a companion of the Great Vermouth three hundred years ago. Right now, magic wasn’t the core of Eugene’s abilities. He had always been a warrior since his previous life, and that was still the case now. Magic was just one of his various different means.
So even if Jeneric was the superior wizard, setting the limit at the Sixth Circle was both ignorant and arrogant on his part.
“There’s going to be a duel,” Jeneric declared as soon as he descended from his carriage, his voice trembling with excitement. He quickly gave orders to the wizards from the Green Tower of Magic who were waiting there to meet him, “A duel isn’t any fun without a lot of spectators. Go and deliver the news of this duel to the tourists in Merdein Square. Tell them that the square behind the Green Tower of Magic will be opened so that they can watch.”
Jeneric had designated the site of the duel to be the square behind the Green Tower of Magic. The land there was the private property of the Green Tower of Magic. It was also close to one of Aroth’s famous tourist attractions, Merdein Square.
‘As long as enough of a crowd is gathered, it will be difficult for the other Tower Masters to oppose the duel,’ Jeneric schemed.
The news of a duel, especially one between the famous Eugene Lionheart and the Green Tower Master, Jeneric Osman, would spread quickly. Spectators would surely flock to the duel while feeling as if they had just won the lottery. Under such circumstances, if someone tried to cancel the duel, the audience was sure to be outraged and might even take Jeneric’s side without Jeneric even needing to come out and say something.
Eugene arrived moments later as his aerial carriage landed on the ground. There were already spectators packed tightly around the outskirts of this large square.
“Nasty bastard,” Melkith grumbled as she glared out the carriage window.
She had expected something like this from the moment that Jeneric had designated the square behind the Green Tower of Magic as the site of their duel. That was why she had told Eugene to quickly give up, but….
‘...It’s still not too late. So what if it’s embarrassing?’ Melkith scolded silently.
Something like public outrage could easily be suppressed by showing the civilians something even more scary and revealing their true strength. Of course, such an oppressive method was sure to lead to dissatisfaction later, but Melkith wasn’t the type of person to care about something like that.
“Really now, quite a lot of people have already arrived after only a few minutes,” Eugene commented.
“Are you feeling nervous?” Jeneric asked with a smile.
While it looked polite on the surface, having seen what truly laid below, it just felt disgusting to Eugene.
Eugene chuckled and shook his head before saying, “Not at all, since I’m the type of person who gets more excited the more people are watching me.”
As he’d thought, Eugene really was just a cheeky brat. Jeneric kept up the smile on his lips, even as his eyes filled with a cold chill.
“...About that familiar,” Jeneric brought up as he glared down at Mer who was standing next to Eugene.
Jeneric clearly remembered how Mer had thrown a dirty napkin at his chest. It was so ridiculously insulting that Jeneric had gotten flustered and failed to stop the thrown napkin from hitting him. The words that had followed were equally absurd. On his knees, with his head bowed, very respectfully?
Apologizing to something like a mere familiar?
Jeneric continued speaking, “Do you intend to use it as a meatshield? I have to say that would be a pretty good strategy. Although I don’t know about you, that familiar is quite durable. Even after breaking it apart again and again, you can still restore it by infusing it with some mana.
“...Haha,” Eugene squeezed out a dry laugh as he unfurled his cloak. “You told me to use my full ability, right? Honestly speaking, it didn’t feel good to hear that. And I’m not using Mer, I’m getting help from her.”
“...Help?” Jeneric repeated doubtfully.
“Well anyways, since Mer’s existence is also part of my full range of abilities, I will make sure to get her help, just as Sir Jeneric has advised,” Eugene said politely.
Jeneric just thought of this as a futile display of stubbornness. Could this be an example of the pride that came from being young and hot-blooded? Jeneric snorted and pulled out a long staff from inside his robe.
“Whatever you like,” Jeneric offered generously.
Jeneric didn’t know what kind of help Mer could give to Eugene. Even if he had known, he wouldn’t have placed any restrictions on ‘using’ Mer. While claiming himself to be the Wise Sienna’s legitimate successor, Jeneric also took great pride in the fact that he was an Archwizard of the Eighth Circle.
“Let’s get started,” Jeneric proposed.
Would it look better if he took the time to play with his opponent? Or would it be better to finish Eugene off quickly, so that he wouldn’t even get a chance to put up any resistance? Either way, the result of this duel would surely end up being Jeneric’s victory. This was quite the happy problem for Jeneric to be facing. A young child like this who coveted things that were out of his league and was overconfident in his talents needed to be properly disciplined.
‘Let’s start by showing him the difference in our levels,’ Jeneric thought with a relaxed smile as he raised his staff.
He had decided what kind of spell he would start off with from the moment that he had set the limit of all magic spells to the Sixth Circle.
The Divine Tree.
A huge amount of mana was directed by the staff into the earth, causing the ground to shake. The surging soil wrapped around Jeneric’s legs.
Meanwhile, a white mane flowed up in the air.
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