Chapter 32 Translator: XZY Chapter 32: 3-Star (2) ***
A multitude of guards flanked the magnificent carriage carrying the Margrave of Belmeade.
Even from a distance, it exuded the unmistakable aura of a person of considerable importance, yet from the Margrave's perspective, he had formed his escort on a rather modest scale.
The city guards at the entrance of Ebelstein, upon seeing the seal of the Belmeade family engraved on the carriage, all swallowed a dry gulp of saliva and cleared the way. The servants had brought out documents to prove their identities, but the guards didn't even glance at them. His was a dignity that did not even require an inspection to confirm his identity.
Until the moment that large carriage crossed over the well-maintained roads of the outer commercial district, not a single person in the city stood in its way. Although it was drawing a great deal of attention from the people, considering his status, this was a remarkably quiet affair.
'It seems the Beltus and Duplein parties haven't arrived yet.'
The Margrave of Belmeade, who was sitting in the carriage with his chin propped on his hand, observing the street scenery, was organizing his thoughts alone.
There were many reasons why the Margrave had led his precious self all the way to Ebelstein. On the surface, it was because of the tariff agreement planned for the near future, but in reality, it was to seek out and meet the great archmage, Lord Drest Wolftail.
Not only that, but since he was in Ebelstein anyway, he also wanted to meet his most beloved daughter, Elente, and ask how she was doing.
Normally, it was customary to send a letter in advance to announce a visit, but the Margrave of Belmeade deliberately did not do so. He had a desire to surprise his beloved daughter, and he also wanted to check on how she was usually getting by.
How was she surviving in this Ebelstein social circle, which was like a sheet of thin ice?
When he visited Elente's estate, which was set up in the noble district, with a heart full of worry, she was already quite disheartened and drained of energy.
"Ah, Father."
Elente, who was sitting in the garden drinking tea with a haggard face, widened her eyes and was taken aback.
The Margrave of Belmeade was just as surprised.
<><><>
"Elente. If life in the social circle is too difficult, you can come back to the estate. It is a good thing to expand your connections for the sake of your position, but I don't think you need to do so to the point of hurting your own heart."
The Margrave of Belmeade would put on a solemn expression and speak in a magnanimous tone in front of anyone, but when he was in front of Elente, he could not be more benevolent.
He was a person who could get a rough sense of her condition just by looking at the color of Elente's face. Her complexion was not good, and her eyes lacked vitality; it was clear she had suffered a great disappointment recently.
As a father, how could he remain still? Elente was the jewel of the Belmeade family, the most precious asset the Margrave possessed.
No matter how much her status in the social circle was as precious as life itself to a noblewoman, he thought there was no reason for her to remain in Ebelstein while being so hurt.
"N-No, Father. It's just that my achievements have been a bit lacking recently, so I was just reproaching myself, wondering if I had become lazy."
"Lazy! Elente! You are the greatest pride of our Belmeade family! To have achieved so much at this age and to be so mature...! Who on earth would utter such nonsense?"
"...Y-You don't have to go that far. And it's just... I recently lost a magic duel, so I was contemplating how I could raise my level of magic a bit more."
"You lost a magic duel? Elente. You are a child with more outstanding magic skills than any noble young lady I have ever seen. How could such a thing have happened?"
"Well... to the young lady of the Duplein family..."
At those words, the Margrave of Belmeade was at a loss for words.
Eventually, he pressed his temples and let out a deep sigh, then shifted the direction of his thoughts toward how he should comfort Elente.
Even the Margrave of Belmeade had heard the name of the Duplein family's Lady Aiseline enough.
He should have thought of her name first when Elente said she had lost a magic duel. In truth, it was clear that in this Ebelstein social circle, the only noble young lady who could defeat her in magic skills was probably Aiseline.
"Elente. It may be a bit difficult now, but if you continue to strive steadily, the day will come when the sun will shine."
"Thank you for the comfort, Father. Still, I recently hired a magic master, and my magical achievements have increased quite a bit. You'll be surprised when you see my skills."
"A magic master... you mean Felmier? I heard he was spending time at the Belmeade estate recently..."
"No. To prepare for the duel with Lady Aiseline for a while, I brought in a mercenary from the tavern street. At first, I just called him to use some magic a few times, but he knew more than I thought, so I received quite a bit of help."
Elente, while laying out her recent affairs, glanced a bit at the Margrave of Belmeade's expression.
This was because she could not know how the fact that she had taken a mercenary from the streets as her master would be received by him.
No matter how magnanimous and unprejudiced the Margrave of Belmeade was, in the end, a noble was a noble.
It was only natural for him to be anxious that such a mercenary of uncertain identity was attached to his one and only daughter as a master.
As Elente expected, the corners of the Margrave of Belmeade's eyes twitched.
However, he seemed to fall into thought for a moment, and then eventually asked again.
"I see, and what kind of help did you receive, specifically?"
"Just... I learned magic theories that can't be learned through noble etiquette alone... and he showed me the methodology, how to strive if I really wanted to win."
"But you were defeated by Aiseline. Anyone can teach about mentality."
It was a sharp tone.
It was rare for the Margrave of Belmeade, who doted on his daughter, to speak so directly.
Elente sensed it. The Margrave of Belmeade was trying to find out and assess something through this exchange.
Since there was no benefit in thinking too complexly, Elente answered as it was.
"Delivering that message in a way that resonates is also a skill. At least I... felt like my perspective has broadened a lot."
"..."
The Margrave of Belmeade propped his chin on his hand and remained still for a moment, then studied Elente's expression and slowly closed his eyes.
Since the Margrave of Belmeade had read every single letter that flew from Elente without fail whenever he was about to forget, he could make a rough guess about Elente's life in the social circle.
Whether it was when she was learning the affairs of the domain at the Belmeade estate, or when she came over to Ebelstein to study the social circle... a strange, indescribable confidence would always flow from Elente's eyes.
However, when one saw the wide world and met all sorts of people more skilled than oneself, it was often the case that such full confidence would be dampened.
To put it badly, one became dispirited; to put it well, one's perspective broadened.
What kind of heart one held at such a time often determined the disposition that person would carry for the rest of their life.
There was no such thing as a life that only moved straight forward, so what would one's mindset be when one was dampened? Thinking about it that way, the Margrave of Belmeade had no choice but to retract the words he had just said.
"I see. Elente, it might be better for you not to return to the Belmeade estate."
"Do you think so? Actually... I was thinking of staying in Ebelstein."
"Try to strive a little more in your studies of the social circle. The Duplein family's Aiseline is certainly not an easy opponent, but I believe that my daughter will be able to do it someday."
To give up everything here and take her back to the Belmeade estate was to make all the journeys his daughter had made in Ebelstein end in failure.
He could not do that. Even if he was a little worried, there were times when one had to release one's child into the wide world. An arm that only bends inward cannot make a great person.
However, it was the psychology of parents to want to help where they could.
"Alright. If that mercenary fellow is so good at teaching magic, it might be better for the Belmeade family to have him exclusively."
"I heard he's affiliated with a place called the Veldern Mercenary Corps... but the high-ranking vassals might oppose it a bit."
"Is that important? Whether or not he is helpful to my daughter's magical achievements is the most important thing."
The Margrave of Belmeade patted Elente's shoulder a few times and laughed heartily.
"Just trust this father of yours. He's just a commoner, so if I stuff him with a generous amount of gold coins, he'll be won over. I should call the head butler separately for now."
<><><>
KABOOM! BOOM!
"Hyaaak! Derek! I-I'm going to get hit too...!"
A single, great gust of wind swept through the area, and a bloody storm raged in the damp underground labyrinth.
The outskirts of Ebelstein. It was a labyrinth of the lowest level, but a labyrinth was still a labyrinth. Derek, who was killing the magical beasts one by one with a serious expression and without letting his guard down, suddenly had his eyes widen.
These were magics he had trained by killing magical beasts every time. However, today, he felt a sense of incongruity in the very sensation he felt from his mana.
The 2-Star magic 'Fireball,' which he usually cast to wipe out a wide range of enemies at once. He felt as if that magic had gained a little more power.
It was a magic he had used hundreds of times, so for that familiar sensation to be distorted now was not a very welcome thing.
However, the fact that its firepower had increased was no different from saying that his adaptability to mana had increased a little more.
It was a positive change rather than a negative one.
Had the effort he had accumulated through repeated mastery over countless years been meaningful?
In the middle of the labyrinth that had become a sea of blood, Derek spread his hand wide and stared at it.
"Derek? What are you doing? More are coming from inside! Kyaak! It's tough for me when the distance closes!"
Felinne quickly picked up the longsword that was tied to her waist. For her, who fundamentally maintained distance and supported combat with her bow, a swarm of goblins rushing in like that was not a very welcome opponent. This was because she had a bad matchup against enemies that pushed with numbers.
Derek, with widened eyes, folded and unfolded his hand a few times.
Just a moment ago, the very sensation of the mana drawn from his body seemed to have been much more powerful than usual.
Eventually, he slowly closed his eyes and savored that sensation in his head.
The form of the 3-Star combat magic, 'Wall of Fire,' which he had practiced over and over while poring over the grimoire he had received from the Duplein family, was drawn in his mind.
It was not a magic that simply attacked the enemy by materializing a sphere and exploding it, but one that materialized a proper wall to suppress a wide range of enemies at once, and subsequently established an advantageous battlefield.
As it required much more delicate and precise mana utilization, it was a magic that one couldn't even dare to use with ordinary mastery, and no matter how much he trained his mana sense to the extreme, it was a reckless attempt at his current level.
However, a kind of unknown confidence flowed out from within.
It was as if the histories of effort he had accumulated, just repetitively and routinely, were gently speaking to Derek. What about now? Now that his mana sense had been heightened to the extreme, who was to say?
Amidst that vague confidence, Derek's mana-infused eyes shone for an instant.
KABOOM!
However, what followed was just a series of simple explosions.
If that was all, it would not have mattered, but in an instant, more than half of the mana Derek held had evaporated and flown away.
Kaaak! Kaak!
Tatatat!
Derek, gasping for breath, gritted his teeth and picked up his sword.
If one collapsed from exhaustion in the middle of a battlefield, there was only death. In front of the rushing magical beasts, Derek wiped away his cold sweat and gripped the palm holding the sword tightly.
His vision became hazy, but he endured with his mental strength and prevented himself from losing consciousness.
<><><>
"You almost died? You, Derek? Not somewhere else, but in such a low-level labyrinth?"
As Felinne made a fuss and complained next to him, Corps Leader Jayden made a disbelieving expression.
Indeed, Derek was completely exhausted, his face buried in the bar table.
Jayden, who brought out a drink that helped with fatigue recovery, tilted his head and checked Derek's condition. It seemed that Derek had simply attached too much meaning to the whole 'almost died' thing.
Since Derek had a strong tendency to prepare perfectly even for trivial requests, he would make conservative judgments if there was even a slight hitch in his plan or if an anomaly occurred.
He seemed to be in a foul mood for having struggled more than he expected on a request he thought he could handle as easily as eating cold porridge.
"Ugh... Derek's mana almost ran out in the middle. So we postponed retrieving the request item until tomorrow and broke through by fighting with as little mana as possible, focusing on close combat."
"You could have dealt with magical beasts of that level somehow with close combat, couldn't you?"
"That's true, but... we were also tired, so if we had been careless, who knows what would have happened. Felinne had a hard time too."
Knowing well that Derek was rarely careless, Jayden could only tilt his head.
It was too strange for Derek, who had become as mature as he could be, to make a mistake of failing in mana distribution.
"What happened?"
"In the middle... I felt a strange sense of incongruity in my mana utilization, so I instinctively overdid it a bit."
Saying so, Derek once again spread his palm and stared at it.
It felt as if that strange feeling, like a pleasure or an incongruity of having broken through some kind of wall, continued to linger.
"..."
His pride as a mercenary was greatly scratched by the fact that a hitch had occurred in such a trivial request.
However, separate from that, the thought that he might have just approached a new level of magic was also flooding in.
For more than half of that much mana to evaporate in a single spell.
It was a similar sight to when Lady Aiseline, who had just learned 2-Star magic for the first time, had exhausted herself in a flash by spamming fireballs.
If one rashly used magic of an unfamiliar star-rank, a phenomenon where the efficiency of mana utilization dropped to an extreme would often occur. It was a phenomenon that growing mages often experienced before moving on to the next star-rank.
Although the magic manifestation itself had failed, could it be that he had just gone to the verge of using 3-Star magic?
Thinking about it that way, Derek's chest strangely began to pound.
Now seventeen, with about a year left until he became an adult, had there ever been a mage who had already reached the entry-level of 3-Star at this time?
If one searched the entire continent, there might be a few, but at least among the commoners, there would not be a single one.
He had more than enough talent, and he had strived with gritted teeth.
There had not been a single day when he did not train in magic. It would not be strange for some results to start showing up soon.
However, it felt like something was just a little bit lacking.
Although he was already running towards a high level as a mage, it felt like he was missing something by a hair's breadth, preventing his hand from reaching the realm of 3-Star.
While feeling that strange, unidentifiable frustration, he also felt a sincere joy at the fact that the results of his efforts so far were showing. The sense of accomplishment that mages held was on a different level from that of ordinary commoners.
Creak~
It was then, as Derek was quietly staring at his palm.
Late at night, a time when the tavern's business was already winding down.
Someone opened the door and entered the tavern where only Derek and Felinne were sitting.
"Welcome. Unfortunately, we'll be closing soon. But it's fine if you're just having a quick drink."
"I don't mind. Give me a glass of your best seller, preferably a strong one."
"Ho ho, today's last customer is a gentleman who knows how to drink."
A time closer to morning than to dawn.
Even at such a late hour when no one was walking the streets, there were occasionally one or two customers who came to wet their throats.
The customer who entered, shaking off his robe, did not show his face well, but judging by his voice, he seemed quite old.
Despite there being many empty seats, he deliberately came and sat down in the seat next to the one next to Derek at the bar table.
With Felinne on the other side, who was spouting today's tales of bravery while chugging honey wine, Derek, who was quietly staring at his hand, glanced at the customer out of the corner of his eye.
His build was small. The arm revealed under the robe was not just slender, but emaciated. He was a man so withered that it was a wonder how he was supporting his own body.
Just by looking at the wrinkles on his hands, it was clear that he was a person who had lived for at least half a century.
Since people's lives were all different, it was possible for such an old man to enter a tavern at such a late hour and have a drink.
It was the moment Derek roughly dismissed it and slowly closed his eyes to feel the energy of the mana in his body again.
"There is no need to be impatient because you are blocked, nor is there a need to force your way through. The essence of Wild School magic lies in following the natural flow."
The man said such a thing in a frank voice without any context.
Derek looked at the man again, and Felinne also turned her head with a puzzled face. However, the man just quietly bowed his head and remained still, buried in his robe.
"Pardon?"
Derek asked back. The intention of the question was, who are you, and why are you saying such a thing?
However, the old man did not answer and quietly pushed back the hood of his robe.
In that moment, the corners of Derek's eyes trembled slightly.
With a bewildered Felinne behind him, he had to forcibly restart the flow of his thoughts that had almost frozen for a moment.
"Of course, I know full well how futile an advice it is to tell mages to let go of their desire for achievement."
"..."
A forehead full of wrinkles. Short-cropped hair. Lifeless, hazy eyes. Downturned corners of the mouth. Parched lips. A figure that looked more like a living corpse than a person.
He looked like a person who could be said to have lived for nearly a hundred years, not just half a century. In fact, as far as Derek knew, he was not a person with much life left.
Thump!
Jayden, who had brought a glass of alcohol from the kitchen, placed it in front of the old man.
The old man threw a word of thanks as if tossing it, then quietly took a sip of the alcohol and said.
"Tobellon mountain, is it? The acidity is weaker than I thought."
"My goodness. A customer with a discerning palate. Unfortunately, it's a bit difficult to apply such strict standards to the products left just before closing."
"This is excellent. If I were just a little younger, I would have drunk until I was completely intoxicated."
The old man then turned his gaze towards Derek and spoke.
"You have a talent for the combat and confusion schools, but you are a little lacking in the summoning and detection schools. The amount of mana itself is excellent, but its flow is not yet completely open. The efficiency of the mana flowing in your body weakens as it flows to the extremities."
"…"
"Considering your age, it is truly a marvelous level, but from the looks of it, you think too much when you use magic. Boy."
Felinne's eyes widened in surprise. Derek also quietly listened to the old man's words.
It was not that there had been no one who had seen through Derek's level at a glance. The Grand Duke of Duplein had gauged Derek's magical achievements to some extent at their first meeting.
With 4-Star detection magic, one could roughly gauge an opponent's level just by looking. Of course, detection mages who had reached that level were almost impossible to find even in renowned noble houses.
However, the old man's eye was already beyond even that level.
"A cautious disposition is helpful when exploring a labyrinth, but it's a bit different when using magic. When materializing the mana utilization of the free-spirited Wild School, it would be better to be a little more daring."
"...May I ask for your name?"
"Why ask what you already know?"
The old man even knew that Derek had already seen through his identity.
Combat, Transmutation, Confusion, Summoning, Detection.
Excluding the forbidden fields, the fields of magic were ultimately divided into these five main categories.
The creature called man has a habit of lining things up and ranking them no matter what they do.
When they debated who the world's best mage was in each field, the high nobles would continue their discussions with back-and-forth arguments.
Even if there was a person who was widely recognized due to their high star-rank, a unanimous decision was rare. This was because someone would always present a third opinion.
However, when it came to the best detection mage, no one ever raised an objection.
Because he was a person of unusual background, it was difficult to know his true worth unless one was a high noble, but those who did know never raised a counterargument.
"Drest Wolftail."
That was the name of this withered old man who was taking a sip of beer right in front of him.
Because he was a person who went wherever he wanted to go and was never caught if he did not want to be, in noble society, they would call him the Wandering Spirit.
Indeed, his intellectual gaze was just like those of a ghost.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Read 80 more chapters ahead on NovelDex!
https://noveldex.io/series/noble-lady-reformation-guide
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━