Chapter 14 Translator: XZY
Chapter 14: Master and Disciple (4) ***
Reigh felt a strange sense of unease as he looked at Diella standing on the platform.
What kind of person was the girl named Diella?
She was self-centered, immature, and a thoughtless child.
She was such a hooligan that it would be no loss to kick her out of the Duplein family right away. The sight of her spouting insults time and again, and the sight of her harming the servants Reigh cherished, still flickered before his eyes.
However, in Diella, who was now standing straight on the platform and looking at Reigh, such a frivolous appearance could not be seen.
In her appearance, staring at Reigh calmly from under her pulled-up robe, there was prudence and a slight tension.
'...Did she really come out with the intention of winning?'
Reigh pressed his forearm and looked up at the mansion's terrace where the Grand Duke of Duplein was watching.
The gaze of him, sitting at the tea table with the noble lady and looking down at the garden, showed not even a twitch.
'In any case, I should end this quickly.'
The servant in charge of arbitration stood straight on the platform.
Reigh also went up on the platform and spoke while looking at Diella.
"I thought you'd be thinking of ways to run away while harming the servants with a frightened face, but this is unexpected."
Reigh's noble attire was more active than Valerian's. When he rolled up his sleeves and dusted off his hands, the veins rising on his forearms came into view at a glance. He was a sturdy young man before he was a mage.
It was hard to imagine Diella, who lacked both magical skill and physical strength, beating Reigh. Reigh's mind was filled with the thought of ending the match in a flash.
"Please complete your preparations for the duel. Applying the rules of the high-level mage duel of the Ebelstein Kelbrem Salon, the one whose Pelom's protection ward activates first will be the loser."
The head butler Delon recited the basic points on the platform. The duel rules of the Kelbrem Salon were already the most common rules in magic duels between nobles. The two of them knew it well without him having to recite them one by one.
The head butler Delon then closed his eyes slowly, opened them, and said.
"Begin."
With the declaration of the start, Reigh swiftly raised his arm. With a feeling as if the taut string of tension had snapped, a fighting spirit momentarily rose in Reigh's eyes.
Each duelist started with an accessory on which a high-level mage had inscribed a protection ward.
The 'Protection Inscription,' a protection ward of at least 3-Star or higher, would automatically activate just before the wearer suffered truly great damage, neutralizing the opponent's magic and disappearing. In other words, the moment this protection ward was activated, it was the same as having suffered great damage, so defeat was confirmed.
The protection ward lasted for about 10 minutes from the time it was worn. If the match was not decided within 10 minutes, it was a draw.
Naturally, Reigh had no intention of even allowing a draw, so he focused his mind.
Against a slow-moving opponent like Diella, a single proper 1-Star magic spell would be enough to activate the protection ward.
Reigh then began to chant, gathering mana in his hand.
"O wind that sweeps the plains and splits the earth..."
Reigh began to chant with his arm raised, but Diella was still just standing there, staring at him.
One of the keys to a magic battle was the speed of the chant.
If the battle started with a distance between them, the one who finished the chant first would be more advantageous.
It was important to start chanting quickly to draw out magic for a response, even if it was late, but Diella was still just staring at Reigh, her robe fluttering.
'Is her body frozen with fear?'
Reigh smiled faintly and finished preparing to release the 1-Star magic 'Wind Blade' from his fingertips.
A slight sense of disappointment lingered, thinking that the match would end too easily. That said, Reigh was not a soft-hearted person to the extent of going easy on Diella.
And so, the blade formed of wind flew towards Diella.
He was filled with the thought of activating the protection ward at once and throwing her back into the annex.
Whoosh!
At that moment, Diella lowered her posture and dashed to the side.
Her robe fluttered, and through the gaps in her collar, her golden hair could be seen flying.
It was a nimble movement that had been hard to see from Diella until now.
However, she was still just a girl who had been cooped up in the annex. There was a limit to how nimble her movements could be.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Reigh gritted his teeth and manifested mana, turning the direction of the wind blade.
The wind blade, which had changed its trajectory, flew towards Diella, but it never hit her directly.
Whoosh!
Smack! Crack!
An ice pillar that shot up from the floor blocked the trajectory of the wind blade.
Normally, a basic ice wall like that, which had only been imbued with an element, could not block the power of a 1-Star magic.
However, she had changed directions here and there, forcing the opponent to change the attack trajectory. The flow of mana, twisted and bent during use, was bound to have its power halved compared to when it was first chanted.
Reigh frowned.
Diella knew that the more complex and varied the trajectory of the magic, the harder it was to control the mana and the lower its power became.
It was a kind of instinctual knowledge that could only be known by personally drawing and handling mana.
Diella, who had repeated the practice of mana manifestation with Derek until she was sick of it over the past period of time, had now reached a state where her sense of mana flow was not inferior to Reigh's.
'It seems her training over the past period was not without results.'
Reigh stood in his place and chanted magic once again. This time, he intended to fire his specialty, the Wind Blade, in a three-shot burst.
If she intended to interfere with his mana control by flying around, he just had to block off her escape route itself.
And so, when it seemed that the next magic was about to fly, Diella gritted her teeth as she ran to the side.
'Listen carefully, Lady Diella. The combat techniques of a mercenary are different from those of nobles. They don't particularly hold being fair and square as a virtue, and are just focused on winning itself.'
'It may be far from the honorable victory imagined in a normal magic duel. You may not be recognized even if you win.'
The words Derek had said to her before she stepped onto the platform, looking down at Diella with those blood-red eyes.
'Nevertheless, you can create the outcome of winning. The opponent is a 1-Star mage, but his practical combat experience is extremely lacking.'
The dueling techniques of mercenaries, where a single misstep could bring death to one's doorstep, were too far removed from the life Diella had lived.
No matter how Derek tried to pass it on, there was no way that Diella, who had lived as a noble young lady, could absorb it in an instant.
Therefore, Derek had only conveyed the basic principles to Diella.
It was merely knowledge conveyed through words.
There was no way that just verbally conveying the practical knowledge of someone who had stood on the brink of life and death on the battlefield their whole life a few times would have a significant learning effect.
Nevertheless, Derek's advice always had a part that hit a blind spot.
They were the elements of real combat, which were not even considered in the magic duels of nobles, full of authority and dignity.
Coordinating the battlefield and utilizing the environment. Starting from basic cover tactics using terrain and features, to how to induce the opponent's carelessness, how to waste the opponent's mana while saving my own. How to deflect powerful magic with sense.
There was a limit to what she could utilize with knowledge she had only heard, but if the opponent came at her with the etiquette of fair and square nobles, Diella had many options she could choose from.
BANG!
Whoosh!
Diella, who had drawn out her mana, created a few more ice pillars.
It was still Diella, who was only at a rudimentary level. Just this much made her feel as if her head was throbbing, but she soon ran around, weaving between the pillars that could be used as cover.
Derek had told Diella.
Battlefield coordination was the most basic element in a duel victory. Fighting on an open plain, fighting in a dark forest, and fighting in a complex urban area could not all be the same.
Diella intended to make the battlefield as complex as possible to draw out all sorts of variables.
Given the nature of the duel, where she could win by activating the opponent's protection ward just once, she could win as long as she caught him off guard just once.
Diella was a Wild School mage from birth.
Even when she could not use magic, when she was facing Derek who was chasing her in that dark forest, she had tried to use the given environment to strike at his back.
Using the darkness of the forest and the cover of the bushes, she had gripped a rock with trembling hands and tried to defeat Derek somehow. That time was still engraved in her memory.
CRASH! BANG!
And so, as she circled the outer edge of the platform and dodged Reigh's magic one more time, the outer part of the platform collapsed, and smoke rose.
Diella jumped down to the collapsed side of the platform and then burrowed into the empty space under the platform.
'According to the rules of the Kelbrem Salon, if you go outside the platform fence, it's a loss...!'
Reigh thought, gritting his teeth and scattering the smoke.
'I see...! The empty space under the platform is not outside the fence...!'
Reigh was about to get angry at such a haphazard interpretation of the rules, but in the end, he had to acknowledge it.
The high-level mage duel rules of the Kelbrem Salon did not take into account the assumption that the opponent would cowardly run around and even use the space under the platform for cover.
This was because in the magic duels of nobles, which were steeped in authoritarianism, there were no frivolous people who would infiltrate the dusty space under the platform to avoid the opponent's magic.
Pabababak!
At that moment, three or four ice pillars shot up from beside Reigh.
Diella, who had jumped under the platform, had manifested mana in the location where Reigh was likely to be from below.
Kaak! Kagagak!
The ice pillars that shot up from under the wooden platform were clearly aimed at Reigh.
If a single blow was enough for victory, then attack unilaterally from outside the opponent's line of sight. That was the most certain method Derek had come up with.
Nobles were those who sought to achieve an honorable victory.
The magic duels of the salon, where they fairly drew out their mana, showed off their skills, and revealed the results of their training to the public, did not take into account the sharp deadliness of practical combat at all.
In a real battle to kill the opponent, being fair and square could never be a virtue.
A tilted environment like that, where one could unilaterally beat up the opponent, was the most ideal battlefield that mercenaries thought of.
Pshshk
'This is crazy...!'
Reigh quickly ran towards the center of the platform.
He could not accurately grasp the location of Diella, who was running around under the platform. There was no way he could hit someone with magic when he did not even know where they were.
The battlefield was tilted. Until Diella collapsed from exhaustion, he was in a position where he had to keep dodging.
In fact, the way to overcome it was simple.
He just had to jump down into that dusty space under the platform and start again in an equal combat environment.
If there was an enemy who induced a messy brawl in a mud pit, then he too had to be prepared to jump into that mud pit.
If Diella had thrown aside the noble etiquette of a magic duel and turned her direction towards an obsession with victory, then Reigh had no choice but to respond accordingly.
Reigh steeled himself to jump down into the dusty space under the platform. If the opponent came out like that, then he too had no choice but to become unsightly.
And so, it was when he headed towards the side of the platform that he had just broken with the Wind Blade.
C-c-crack
'...!'
The broken side of the platform was blocked with ice manifested by mana.
She had quickly seized the advantageous point of the battlefield for herself and blocked the opponent's entry.
"This... brat...!"
Reigh manifested mana in his hand once again.
He could just create another entrance to the space under the platform. Breaking a wooden platform was a piece of cake for Reigh.
Swoosh!
However, when Reigh tried to manifest mana, Diella's attack flew in from under the platform.
Unlike Reigh's attacks, Diella's attacks, with their narrow range, did not make a big hole in the platform.
But the magic that flew in would trigger the protection ward if it hit directly. In the world of magic duels, that was enough to decide the match.
Swoosh! Kwaak! Kwaak!
Whenever Reigh tried to break the platform to get to Diella, endless interference came in.
Diella under the platform also could not accurately grasp the opponent's location, but she could roughly infer it using the flow of mana or the sound of footsteps.
This difference was huge.
She was constantly aiming for the moment Reigh manifested mana to break the platform. At least for the moment Reigh's position was specified, she could attack completely unilaterally.
She had no intention of ever giving up the advantage of this tilted battlefield to the opponent. In a mercenary's combat techniques, being fair and square was a luxury.
Through the hole in the platform where the ice pillar had pierced, the figure of Diella, covered in dust, could be glimpsed.
Reigh's eyes met with Diella's under the platform. No emotional stirrings could be felt in those eyes.
That gaze, which maintained its composure even in a combat situation, seemed familiar.
It was the gaze of that mercenary-turned-master, who had not shown a single change in emotion even when Valerian had grabbed him by the collar.
They were those endlessly cold eyes, which tried to make a rational judgment in any situation.
Only then did Reigh realize.
There was no way that tiny girl could have come up with such an idea of dominating the battlefield on her own.
Without a doubt, it was the influence of that white-haired master.
"This brat...!"
Kwa-gak! Kwa-ga-gak!
Reigh drew up his mana once again and manifested a mana arrow. He then shattered all the ice pillars that were rising towards him.
Reigh gritted his teeth tightly. If the opponent had thrown away all duel etiquette and started moving solely for victory, then he had no choice but to assume a posture befitting that.
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"What... what is that...! Covered in dust... Diella...!"
Miriella, who was looking down at the duel from the terrace, was horrified. This was a scene too far removed from the magic duels of nobles.
Miriella quickly grabbed the hem of her skirt and tried to run down from the terrace. She made a gesture as if she could not just stand by and watch, but the Grand Duke of Duplein stopped Miriella with a stern voice.
"Watch the duel until the end for now."
"Dear..!"
He walked to the railing of the terrace and looked down at the platform with his arms folded.
Under the dusty scenery, even the servants were clearly flustered.
All the vassals of the noble family seemed to be unaccustomed to such a situation, but the Grand Duke of Duplein, who had been in and out of the battlefield several times in his youth, did not even show much surprise.
He was just cupping his chin and looking down at the duel.
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