༺ Mentor Isaac (4) ༻
-He has become Princess Snow White’s mentor.
-Is it a coincidence?
5th seat of the second-year of Märchen Academy, Class A.
Keridna Whiteclark, the pink short-haired daughter of the Ducal Whiteclark Family.
She was one of the select few who knew that Isaac was the Nameless Hero.
Following her older sister Aichel Whiteclark’s orders, Keridna was recording every single rumor she had heard about Isaac.
Late into the night, in the top-ranked dorm, Charles Hall.
The glowing lamp on top of the desk shone a soft light through the dim room.
Keridna closed the notebook where she had collected information about Isaac and fell into deep thought. It was a question that she contemplated over numerous times.
‘Why is my sister so obsessed with Isaac…?’
The Ducal Whiteclark Family was keeping watch over noble families with their bloodline magic [Sight Synchronization].
Because of that, Keridna learned through Aichel that nobles from all around the Zelver Empire had begun to move in the shadows, their actions centralized on the Nameless Hero.
The Carnedas Family was especially suspicious. It was the family that her peer and the third seat of Class A, Ciel Carnedas, was a part of.
Their strange behavior caused them to become the focus of Aichel’s supervision.
The Nameless Hero, Isaac was currently an archwizard that the entire world was keeping their eyes on.
If it became certain that he was on humanity’s side, then it was clear that the entire world would begin competing fiercely to bring him to their side.
But… The way in which Aichel Whiteclark obsessed over Isaac seemed completely unrelated to the fact that he was the Nameless Hero.
Perhaps just as Isaac seemed to have many secrets, Aichel also had secrets of her own. Secrets that she could not tell even Keridna, her own sister.
“…”
Keridna gazed out the window. The sorrowful moon floated high up in the night sky.
She had the feeling that something big was going to happen soon.
***
Morning. Orphin Hall, building for the classes of the Magic Department.
Whilst passing through the hallway, Priestess Miya met with Princess Snow White who was coming from the other side. They were both alone since escorts weren’t allowed inside the hall unless the situation was unavoidable.
White flinched in surprise when she met gazes with Miya, then shifted her gaze elsewhere. She even seemed to be sweating for some reason.
Then, as if she made up her mind, White clenched her fists and nodded firmly.
She stopped walking. Then with an awkward smile, waved at Miya while saying hello.
The anxiety in her expression was clear in her forced smile.
“H-hey, there…?”
“…”
Whoosh.
Miya nonchalantly passed by White as if she didn’t see a thing.
White froze on the spot, her hand still raised mid-wave.
The distance between the two girls grew larger. The other students that had been in the hallways stole glimpses at White and whispered among themselves.
“Did you see that? Princess White just said ‘hi’ and got ignored by the Priestess.”
“My goodness…”
“There’s a scary atmosphere between those two…”
The incident at the cafeteria where White dumped her food tray on Miya had already been spread through the school like a legend.
As a result, the relationship of the two girls had already become a hot topic among the students.
But White hadn’t heard even a bit of the student’s whispers.
‘She didn’t have to completely ignore me like that though…’
She felt as though she could cry.
All she had wanted was to become friends with her.
It pained White to experience this situation.
‘Snow White…’
Miya’s eyes, decorated with charming red makeup, narrowed into slits.
On their first day at the academy, she had underestimated White. White had been trembling pathetically whenever anything would happen. So she just thought of her as a wealthy pig at most.
But when White dumped that food tray onto her in the cafeteria, Miya had been reminded of several facts.
Snow White was a princess of the Zelver Empire.
‘She has likely been in the center of a bloody battlefield for power until now.’
It was well known among the other rulers that the fight for the position of successor in the Zelver Empire was quite fierce. That was the environment that Snow White had grown up in.
Not to mention, she heard that there had been a problem with the Empress acting out within the imperial family.
The word was that the former Empress, who had been mentally ill, secretly attempted to assassinate her own daughter several times. Miya also knew that her daughter had been Snow White.
‘It’s impossible that a pig like her, who’s lived in a lavish-looking battlefield like that of the Zelver Imperial Family, would be a naïve scaredy-cat…’
It made much more sense for her to be a schemer wearing the mask of an innocent lamb in order to survive whilst waiting for the opponent to lower their guard.
‘Or maybe not.’
Of course, that thought was a mere possibility. It may just be her overactive imagination at play. Miya believed in the theory that White was actually just a naïve pig more than anything else.
Because of the usual lame attitude, she displayed… It could only be considered real.
‘…I can figure it out later.’
Miya straightened her expression.
***
“It is time for a special lesson.”
When Fernando Frost, a first-year professor for the Magic Department, raised the megaphone and spoke into it, many female students blushed with a blissful smile.
Inside a large classroom, all the first-year students of the Magic Department were seated.
On top of the stage was Fernando, where he was continuing with the special lesson.
“Today, you will all be learning about ‘Mana Release’. It is common sense that the stronger you can release your mana, the more powerful your spells will become. Therefore, we will begin the lesson after letting each of you estimate just how much mana you can release.”
Fernando turned his head towards the waiting room next to the stage.
“Luce Eltania, please come forward.”
A girl walked out from the side of the stage.
She was wearing a student uniform with her rose-gold hair braided down the sides. The butterfly-shaped hair ornament suited her well, and her face was shockingly beautiful.
She stood next to Fernando and peered down at the first-year students.
The ribboned brooch on her uniform was blue, signifying her status as a second-year.
The first-year students of the Magic Department collectively concentrated their gazes on the girl, realizing that it was the Luce Eltania. She was, after all, quite a renowned figure.
It was likely that almost everyone in this classroom admired her.
“That’s Luce Eltania…!”
Princess Snow White’s eyes sparkled with admiration.
“Luce Eltania…?”
And Priestess Miya’s eyes opened wide in bewilderment at Luce’s sudden appearance.
On the other hand, Luce remained completely expressionless. As if she had no interest in whether the first years gazed upon her with sparkling eyes or not.
Then, Luce’s blue eyes began skirting quickly across the room and stopped on one female student.
“H-huhh…?”
Princess Snow White’s eyes clashed in the air with Luce’s eyes. For a moment she was excited, but after sensing a sinister malice that felt like it would freeze her entire body, instinctive fear kicked into her system. White’s body reflexively began to tremble.
To Luce, Princess White was a nuisance.
Because she was the one who had been spending time together with Isaac every day recently under the excuse of that mentoring system or whatever it was called. Luce despised the fact that she couldn’t spend as much time with Isaac because of it.
“Luce, your mana.”
Under Fernando’s command.
Luce let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes, then slowly reopened them.
Mmmwhooooshh——-!
Her dense mana spread through the classroom like a powerful gust of wind.
The first-year students all felt a chill run through their entire bodies. The hairs on their neck stood on their ends. It was clear that they were all surprised by the unbelievable mana that pressed against their skin.
“Now, what you all have to do is simple. Push out your mana to the best of your abilities and disrupt Luce Eltania’s mana. Your maximum mana output will be measured. The records will become references for future lessons and personal counseling, so it is encouraged that you give it your all.”
After hearing Fernando’s instructions, the students swallowed nervously and whispered to one another.
The students could see the mana’s solid formation.
Just how high did her mana mastery have to be for such an intricate structure?
Not to mention that in front of such intense mana, the students were caught up in a sense of inadequacy after realizing just how inferior their mana was in comparison.
But attacking Luce’s mana was still a part of the lesson.
If not now, when would they ever have the chance to compare their strength with the top seat?
Each of the first-year students began collecting their mana and then poured it out towards Luce.
…Eventually, many of the students either ended up with nosebleeds or collapsed from exhaustion. Significant time had passed since Princess Snow White collapsed on top of the desk with her arms shaking.
Even after the fierce onslaught of the students’ mana, Luce’s mana remained as sturdy as a steel wall, remaining unscathed.
Though all of the first-years in the room were born with talent, all were equal before Luce’s unparalleled might.
On the other hand, Priestess Miya and the light pink-haired girl, Saintess Bianca Anturaze, quietly observed Luce.
Fernando’s eyebrows furrowed as he turned to look at the two girls.
“Why are you two not even trying to disrupt it?”
“Because it’s clear that we will lose.”
Priestess Miya, who had her chin resting on her palm, casually tossed back an answer to Fernando.
When Fernando signaled to Saintess Bianca, she merely nodded her head with a benevolent smile.
Fernando let out a deep sigh. Though they were uncooperative with the lesson, there was no reason to criticize them for not participating. They merely had to deal with the consequences that would follow.
“Luce Eltania, you may withdraw your mana. Well done.”
Luce’s mana faded away. She soon walked off the stage.
The intimidating atmosphere within the classroom soon settled, but pained aching sounds soon echoed all around. After all, most of the students had released far too much mana and pushed themselves.
But Fernando began the lesson as if it didn’t matter. So the students aside from the Priestess and the Saintess all listened to the lesson while groaning like zombies.
***
“Senior Luce Eltania, correct?”
“…?”
After class had ended.
Braided rose-gold hair. Butterfly-shaped hair ornament. Luce Eltania had just left the school building and was walking down the path.
Nearby a red plum tree that was in bloom, Luce stopped when a female student with loose pearl-black hair approached her.
The attractive red makeup around the female student’s soft eyes made them seem more angular.
Seeing that she had an escort wizard in tow, she was likely someone of high status. From what Luce knew, there were only three freshmen who were permitted to have escorts among the students.
Looking at the red brooch on her uniform, she was a first-year student.
‘Ah, the Priestess.’
Luce figured out her identity immediately.
“I’m ‘Miya’. You should have seen me in the classroom earlier, but I don’t know if you remembered me since there were so many other people.”
“…”
“I respect you, Senior. Personally, I like you.”
Miya leaned her body forward and brought her face closer to Luce, then grinned.
“Huhu. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Senior Lu… Huh?”
Luce ignored the hand that Priestess Miya held out for a handshake and continued walking.
She wanted to hurry and go see Isaac. It didn’t matter to Luce that this black-haired freshman was the Priestess of the Eastern Nation.
The escort wizard seemed shocked, but Miya just tilted her head calmly as if she had expected that to happen.
“She’s cold, just like the rumors say.”
Luce Eltania.
The one who owned the legendary magic beast, Thunderbird Galia as her familiar, and had single-handedly protected Märchen Academy from the Floating Island’s massive attacks.
That talent could only be described as overwhelming, and she was currently the prominent top seat for the second years of the Magic Department at Märchen Academy.
But it didn’t stop there. Luce was the dictionary definition of an ice princess who didn’t speak with others and gave them a cold stare when one attempted to speak with her.
“Where are you going? You won’t get anything good out of ignoring me.”
Luce only continued to walk instead of responding.
Seeing that, Miya gazed at Luce’s silhouette fading into the distance with a smirk.
“Miss Miya?”
“I like her. I want her even more now.”
Miya brought a folded black fan up to her lips and blushed.
The escort wizard swallowed anxiously.
There had been several things that Priestess Miya had constantly spoken about wanting while coming to the Märchen Academy.
The first was obviously the Nameless Hero.
Next were the top seats of each grade in the Magic Department, Luce Eltania, and the Star Witch, Dorothy Heartnova.
In addition to the Nameless Hero, the rumors that had spread throughout the continent and even to the Eastern Nation over the ocean were enough to catch Miya’s attention.
Miya was the type who needed to claim what she wanted. If there was by any chance a reason she could not claim something, then she went as far as to remove that reason to claim what she wanted.
And right now, Miya had just said that she wanted Luce Eltania even more.
Miya would be ready to do anything in order to make someone hers.
“Don’t you think it would be so wonderful if… Someone like her submissively obeyed my orders and smiled only at me?”
Miya knew how to recognize people like Luce.
Those who had no such thing as blood or tears, and were cold-blooded enough to remove whatever stood in their way for their benefit or something they wanted.
That senior, Luce Eltania, was most definitely such a person.
Because.
“A cold, ice-hearted woman… one who treats others as trash and smiles at nobody. I know that feeling. That person… They’re just like me.”
She was also one of them.
Those of the same kind were able to recognize one another.
“Heh.”
Miya secretly began to tail Luce.
She wanted to learn more about her.
***
In the corner of the Hydrangea Garden. I had been training my magic while waiting for Princess Snow White.
But right now… I just stared up blankly at a girl with rose-gold hair.
“Isaac, aren’t you hungry? I brought some stuff to eat in case you hadn’t eaten yet. Do you want me to feed you?”
She had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, tilted her head, and smiled playfully at me.
“Luce…”
…This girl, how did she get here?
