༺ Mentor Isaac (6) ༻
Miya’s body crashed against a tree.
The water magic that violently surged like a tsunami settled onto the ground, and Miya’s body slid down with it.
Miya threw up water with painful coughs. Her entire body and mouth stung. Her body refused to move to her will.
The attack had been a fusion of dense water and powerful lightning magic. Mana mastery of that level was truly in the realm of talent.
Step. Step.
Luce walked closer.
Instinctive fear kicked in, and Miya peered up at her, her body completely drenched like a wet rat.
Kuack-.
“Guergh!”
Luce used her foot to press Miya’s shoulder against the tree and looked down at her with an expression of apathy.
Luce’s face was shadowed by the shade of the tree they stood under; her oceanic eyes glowed with a frightening bloodlust.
Lightning mana sparked around Luce like a flashing barrier. Behind her stood the flickering figure of a black grouse, the bird of prey’s eyes flashing.
It was the mana of the legendary magic beast, Thunderbird Galia.
Moreover, the synchronization of the familiar and Luce was at MAX. Luce and the Thunderbird’s powers were one.
Whether it was mana mastery, elemental firepower, or her familiar, she was flawless in every way.
Gazing upon the beautiful figure of an awe-inspiring woman of power.
Miya… felt strong disbelief.
“Senior Luce, but why…?”
Because she couldn’t understand.
She, who had wealth, power, and fame had offered Luce to help achieve her dreams. It must have been a rare and tempting offer for her.
Even if it hadn’t been, not a single person in this world could rashly charge at Miya in this manner.
Yes. She, the Priestess, was practically the ruler of the eastern nation. What she had just done had been no different from initiating an attack on an entire nation.
Miya was utterly bewildered because of that. She hadn’t expected this to happen. Her actions were not just a little, but far from the common sense she knew.
Soon after, Luce’s voice fell upon her.
“I know that you were there, watching us.”
Luce’s eyesight was much sharper than what would normally be considered reasonable.
It was to the point she would be able to identify a single ant in the distance if she concentrated.
So she knew just a moment ago that White, Merlin, and Miya had been watching her and Isaac.
White was fine since she had been expected to come.
But the problem was Miya.
“Who do you think you are…”
“Guahkk!”
Luce put more pressure onto the foot that was pressed on Miya’s shoulder. Miya cried out in pain.
“…To call Isaac an insect?”
What had come to Luce’s mind was a shred of regret that had come from her shattered heart.
A person who had become precious to Luce when she had been abandoned by another precious person.
It was the agonizing memory of when she had lost the Candy House Witch.
In front of the countless soldiers, tears merely streamed down Luce’s face as she held the Candy House Witch in her arms. The helplessness and pain of bereavement had strangled her until now.
To that Luce, who had been lost amid her darkened heart, Isaac had appeared like a ray of light. He had become her precious person.
So the value that Isaac held for Luce was worth more than a fortune. If someone dared to criticize him, then a pure flame of fury ignited within Luce.
Luce leaned over and stared down at Miya up close. Her braided locks of rose-gold hair slid down over her shoulders.
And for a while, the two continued to gaze into one another’s eyes.
Overwhelmed by the frigid eyes that seemed ready to kill her at any moment, Miya even forgot to breathe.
“Don’t ever, talk to me again.”
Luce whispered to her in a low voice.
Then, Luce withdrew her foot from Miya’s shoulder and turned around, calmly leaving the scene.
“…”
Miya grasped the shoulder that Luce stomped on. It hurt. At the same time, the Nine-tailed Fox’s mana was withdrawn and her flame tails disappeared.
She stared, dazed, at the second-year top seat walking into the distance.
The rose-gold hair blended into the sunset on the horizon.
“…Tch.”
Miya clicked her tongue.
It was the first time she had been beaten. Her entire body shook.
This… is humiliation.
It was an emotion that she had felt for the first time.
Soon, a small flame flickered from her index finger. Miya glimpsed down at that flame.
[Miya, do not provoke that child.]
Immediately after, the Nine-tailed Fox’s voice rang in her ears.
[Not even I can compete against the Thunderbird. Not to mention that the Thunderbird’s power has already integrated into that girl’s strength, so there is not a single thing I can do.]
“…”
Miya’s attractive crimson-laced eyes narrowed irritatedly.
A sigh came out together with her voice.
“Bullshit.”
It was natural for her to claim what she wanted.
It was natural for her to stand on top.
That had been the natural way of life for Miya.
‘Isaac…’
The silver-blue-haired senior, Isaac. Was he really that precious to Luce Eltania, to the point that he clouded her rational thinking?
Miya chuckled and supported herself against the tree to stand up, then began walking in the opposite direction of the path Luce took.
Though her legs were still shaky, she managed to walk after casting healing magic.
“I want her even more now…”
Humiliation and shame washed over Miya, causing her to shrink. Her entire body was shivering from the cold.
But these new emotions had instead ignited an even stronger fire within Miya.
Using the heat from her fire mana, Miya dried off the water from her body as she walked forward.
Luce Eltania, Isaac.
She continued to repeat those two names in her mind.
Eventually, Miya rejoined with the escort wizard who had been searching for her.
The escort wizard shook in fear when she found parts of Miya’s school uniform torn, but Miya shook it off and told her that it was not a big deal.
She did not want to cause a commotion over something as trivial as this.
…There had been someone who witnessed the entire incident.
A female student who enjoyed taking walks had been passing through the Hydrangea Garden when she sensed a strong mana and found Luce and Miya.
Her light pink hair was braided down on both sides into a loop. Unlike other students, she wore a veil and robe.
Her eyes were opened so narrowly that her eyes could not be seen. One could even believe that her eyes were closed.
The only prominent expression on her face was her noble smile that contained her interest in what she witnessed.
“Sylon. Do you know who ‘Isaac’ is?”
The Saintess, Bianca Anturaze, asked her escort priest in an elegant voice.
***
After finishing my lesson with White, we parted ways at the entrance of the Hydrangea Garden.
On the path toward the dorms. A glowing ball of mana similar to that of a firefly flew towards me and landed on my arm. It was Frost Dragon Hilde.
[Master, I am back.]
‘Hilde, tell me what you said before again.’
I had Frost Dragon Hilde constantly patrol my surroundings. She was similar to an extra surveillance device in addition to my [Clairvoyance].
Her role was to relay the situation to my head whenever something happened.
It was natural for me to be extra cautious since not only did Alice suspect me of being the Black Monster, but the Paladins were also put into action.
Just a moment ago, Hilde had reported what had happened around me.
But because I did not have a chance to respond then, I decided to take a moment to sort the events once more.
‘So the Priestess had been spying on me and got into a fight with Luce… and the Saintess witnessed that happen?’
[Correct.]
I was the reason why Luce and Miya fought. Miya had insulted me to spur Luce, and that triggered Luce’s anger.
It looked like Miya planned to keep quiet about this incident. She likely wants to make Luce hers like she had originally planned.
Even if I hadn’t been the reason, it was inevitable for those two to have conflict. Miya shouldn’t do anything over threatening to make Luce hers.
Anyhow, Miya had realized that I was Luce’s weakness.
This had also been revealed to Saintess Bianca, who coincidentally happened to witness the two female students fighting,
It was difficult to predict what variables would emerge from this situation. I did at least expect that she would not do anything rash to me now that she knew harming me was akin to suicide if Luce found out, but…
Well, it was inevitable for me to come into contact with Miya anyway. I’d just think of it as the schedule having been pulled forward a bit.
Actually, I may have become safer now that Miya believed that I was under Luce’s protection.
‘The problem is the Saintess.’
Saintess Bianca Anturaze.
As expected from the three main characters of the Golden Generation, she was quite beautiful, a female student with light pink hair that seemed quite noble. She had narrow eyes, but she wasn’t a hidden villain.
She was a side character in ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱.
And because I didn’t like her personality, I didn’t plan to associate with her. But it looked like Bianca had input the name ‘Isaac’ into her head.
I didn’t know what to do, because this girl’s actions were even harder to predict than the Paladins.
…It wasn’t like I had a choice. I now needed to create my plan even more systematically while taking Bianca into consideration.
I now needed to prepare to fight scenario demons like the Abyssal Sea Monster and the Necromancer King.
The first enemy of Semester 1 Year 2, the Abyssal Sea Monster, was going to make its appearance soon. It was going to be during the next joint practical evaluation.
I had a lot to think about.
I’ll sort my thoughts out before I go to bed after finishing today’s training…
“…?”
Just as I was passing through an empty path, I suddenly felt mana powerful enough to make a shiver run down my spine.
Whooooosh—-.
A soft light green wind wrapped around me.
When I whipped my head up in surprise, I found a female student’s face right in front of me.
The girl was surrounded by the wind. Her light green twin tails and wizard’s cape fluttered in the wind.
With a bright smile, she wrapped her arms around my shoulder and then landed on the ground in my embrace.
After locking me in with her arms so that I couldn’t escape.
Chu.
She cutely pecked my cheek. The pleasant feeling left a lingering sensation on my cheek.
With a flushed face, she had a lovely smile as she gazed at me up close.
“It’s been a while, Sir Isaac! Did you miss me?”
One of my favorite characters, Kaya Astrea.
Or Dark Kaya, to be exact.
“I know I missed you a lot~.”
“Kaya…?”
Kaya laughed innocently and rubbed her cheek against my face. All sorts of squishy things such as her cheek or chest came into contact with me, I didn’t know what to do.
I couldn’t escape from her reach because her arms were wrapped around me, and I was going crazy from her warm breath touching my skin. I let my guard down because it had been a long time since I had seen her.
Anyway, it looks like she also made some changes after becoming a second year, just as Luce had braided her hair.
Her difference was that the black hair tie she used changed to a red one that was just like her eye color. It suited her hair color as well. Her hair also seemed a bit shorter as well.
“Yeah, it’s nice to see you. Have you been well?”
“Yes, thanks to Sir Isaac. Sigh. You’ve become so manly after becoming a second year~.”
Still close to me, Kaya tilted her head from side to side while talking to me in a cute voice.
I opened my eyes partially and fixed my glasses, then glared at her.
“More importantly, haven’t you been avoiding me these days?”
With a quiet, “Ahh…” Kaya quietly turned her eyes away from me.
I really liked Kaya. So I wanted to go say hello and have the occasional conversation with her, but she kept on running away from me.
Whenever I checked on her with [Psychological Insight], it looked like she wanted to say something to me, but she was having a hard time with it.
I didn’t think she needed to hide it though.
“There’s something that I didn’t want to talk about… I’m sorry about that.”
Kaya smiled awkwardly.
Her mother had caught onto the feelings that she had for me.
So she had promised to bring the person she liked to the Astrea Manor but was debating about how to suggest to me the promise that she had made on her own terms.
It looked like today was the day that she mustered up the courage, even using Dark Kaya, for it.
This was convenient. I had been planning to force a strategy meeting if I needed to so that we could deal with the Abyssal Sea Monster with ease.
I’d already talked about it with Dorothy, and it had been about time to talk with Kaya as well.
“I had something to talk about with you too. I was going to talk with you sometime soon.”
“Oh, what is it?”
“You talk first. Why did you avoid me?”
“Ah…”
Kaya quietly stared at me.
Then burst out in laughter as if she couldn’t hold it in anymore, and wrapped her arms around my waist, burying herself into my chest.
With Kaya rubbing her face against my chest, her scent wafted up and tickled my nose.
“Can we stay like this a little longer and talk later? I just can’t help liking Sir Isaac so much…”
…She’s way too cute.
