27. Taeryeong Divine Art (5)
The reward ceremony related to Meizen Tiren's defeat was held on a small scale. The reason it was worth calling small-scale was because, unlike last time, they had not gathered the entire student body for pointless pomp and ceremony.
Important figures such as the Stella Magic Knights, Stella Board of Directors, Stella Magic Tower shareholders, and Stella Magic Research Society attended the ceremony, and not only that, but people from various magic towers—including the Magic Daily newspaper—had gathered as well, so for first-year students, this could certainly be called quite an honor.
The students receiving rewards were Ma Yuseong and Baek Yuseol at the forefront, along with Flame, Eizel, Hong Biyeon, and the members of Hong Biyeon's faction.
Although the dark mage had been defeated by Ma Yuseong and Baek Yuseol, the others were also recognized for having risked their lives to hold the enemy back before those two entered the battle, so they too were awarded rather honorable medals.
"From this point on, the medals will be presented."
In the unnecessarily large auditorium, roughly two hundred famous mages had gathered. Oranha looked at Stella's students with bored eyes.
Just because Stella's students had prevented the incident at the World Tree, he had to attend a tedious event like this.
Oranha was well-versed in diplomacy and politics, but even so, his rational way of thinking still could not understand this method. He had attended only because it was necessary.
Chwarararak!
Camera flashes burst from all over the place.
Yes, those cameras were the important part.
By having him personally present rewards to them as the Elf King's representative, and then spreading photographs of that scene around, they intended to loudly publicize one fact: "No matter what those dark mages did, Stella and the World Tree are still on excellent terms!"
Politics was supposed to be the arena where the smartest people gathered, so he truly could not understand how it could all be so childish.
Then again, the dark mages who threatened the safety of the world were just as childish in their own way, so perhaps there was no reason the world's greatest magical institution should not stoop to matching them.
It really was a laughable world.
"First-year S-Class, Ma Yuseong. For setting an example to the other students…"
A handsome young man or beautiful young woman stepped up and received a commendation from an old member of the board. It was formal, dull, and boring, but to those students, it must have been a tremendous honor.
Oranha only had to stand beside them and bestow the second medal engraved with the Mark of the Celestial Tree.
The faces of the students receiving two medals at once were blooming with delight.
"Congratulations."
When Oranha spoke dryly and pinned the medal on him, the student named Ma Yuseong smiled coldly and nodded.
"Thank you."
He flinched.
For an instant, Oranha felt something eerie from him… but when he sensed again, he was just an ordinary student. Strong for his age, yes, but nothing more.
'…How unpleasant.'
Oranha disliked that his senses had reacted so sharply to a mere student, but he forced his expression under control.
If his rotten expression happened to be captured in a photo and the elders of the World Tree used it as an excuse to nitpick, then Kkotseorin would dislike him.
"First-year S-Class, Baek Yuseol. As above—"
Next, the commendation was presented to a small student who still had not even shed his boyishness. They said these first two students had defeated a dark mage with an estimated danger rating of 6 Risk, but he looked so young that it was hard to believe.
But even so, that was all. It was not enough to stir Oranha's curiosity.
However—
"Con-gra…"
The moment he reached out a hand to pin the medal on Baek Yuseol, some kind of 'aura' wafting from the boy's whole body made Oranha break out in chills.
'This is…!'
There was no way he could fail to recognize it.
It was unquestionably the aura of Iphanel, Kkotseorin's old friend.
He hurriedly looked around, but it seemed he was the only one who had noticed this aura. Then again… those uncivilized humans possessed no ability whatsoever to distinguish the aura of divine beasts.
"Is there some problem?"
"It is nothing."
A mage from the board asked, but Oranha swiftly recovered his composure and pinned the medal onto Baek Yuseol.
Then he started turning his mind at blinding speed.
'Why can I sense Iphanel's aura from him?'
No matter how much he thought about it, there was only one answer.
'He is the culprit who killed Iphanel.'
Of course, for the time being, it was merely a strong suspicion. A divine spirit killer would fundamentally possess a corrupted soul, and a high elf's senses should react sharply to that.
Because he did not sense such a corrupted aura from Baek Yuseol, he could not be completely certain.
…However, he soon changed his mind.
After all, dark mages had already managed to break through the divine beast barrier and invade, so why should there not also exist techniques for hiding a corrupted soul?
No matter that he was a Stella student—defeating a 6 Risk dark mage with two mages around the level of 3-Class was close to impossible.
According to what Baek Yuseol had said at the time, luck had been on their side… but what if he possessed some ability he could not easily reveal in front of others?
And what if that power was, in truth, the power of a divine spirit—
and he had hidden that power and entered Stella to launder his identity…?
Under the circumstances, everything fit together perfectly.
'Baek Yuseol.'
That bastard was the culprit.
The very culprit who had killed Iphanel, the one Kkotseorin was harboring resentment toward and desperately seeking!
If he captured him and offered him to Kkotseorin…
she would surely look upon him with favor.
'Not yet.'
Right now, there was no definitive proof.
Besides, rather than handing him over to Kkotseorin immediately, it would be far more effective to slowly build things up first, and then unveil it all at once.
When Kkotseorin's resentment had deepened a little more. When her worries had grown so heavy that she could no longer suppress her own emotions—that would be the perfect moment.
In any case, she would once again shut herself away in that ancient castle deep in the Primordial Mountain Range, and would only be able to learn in limited fashion what was happening outside. And with his influence, having already completely seized control of the White Castle…
he could even restrict the information that reached her.
Oranha forcibly held down the trembling corners of his mouth with superhuman restraint.
'Yes, I'll wait until then!'
If it was to produce the most dramatic possible situation, then a little waiting…
was nothing he couldn't endure.
A shocking incident had occurred during the familiar contract ceremony, with a dark mage launching an attack, but Stella's first-years continued their classes as though nothing had happened.
Parents did not suddenly come storming in, shouting, "Isn't this dangerous?!"
Because Stella was, after all, an institution for training magical warriors specialized in facing dark mages.
Of course, there were many parents who sent their children to Stella while still hoping that their child would never actually become a magical warrior.
Most nobles were like that.
Simply bearing the title of magical warrior was, in current mage society, an enormous advantage, so even if they did not intend for their children to truly risk their lives fighting dark mages in the future, they still sent them to the academy for the time being.
In other words, they could not very well protest each and every such incident, because they would be revealing too clearly that their real thought was: "Our child is just going to get the magical warrior license and retire."
Before long, the season had turned to summer.
Around this time of year, a new subject was added.
[Let's All Get Along, Familiars]
Since every year between fifty and a hundred students succeeded in making contracts with divine beasts, they were given separate training in order to strengthen their bond with them.
The professor in charge was Professor Pedelote, who also taught the subject Let's Raise Them Together, the Divine Beasts Beside Us.
Pedelote was quite large in build, and at first glance looked like an ordinary middle-aged neighborhood ahjumma, but her uniquely gentle smile left the students with a favorable impression.
"How much do you all know about divine beasts? A divine beast (神獸) is a form in which a mysterious spirit body has evolved into an animal. Most of them are beautiful or splendid in form, and young divine beasts are notably very cute."
Even though this class was not required, it was popular among the female students. They could earn credits just by spending the whole class watching cute, kind, mischievous, yet pure creatures.
"It isn't difficult to become close with divine beasts. All you have to do is open your heart and understand them."
That was a lie.
Thinking so, Eizel let out a long sigh.
Instead of the divine beast she had originally wanted, she had ended up making a familiar contract with one grandly named the 'Thunder Glacier Bird.'
The name alone was grand. In reality, it looked like a tiny, adorable sparrow.
But its personality was rotten.
If she had to describe it, it felt like some combination of a cat's touchy temperament and a kindergartener's disposition.
And she was supposed to become friends with a nasty little creature so full of pure malice?
Apparently the other students felt much the same, because all of them wore expressions of utter defeat, with dark circles under their eyes.
Only Professor Pedelote laughed cheerfully by herself.
"In order to become close to them, you need to know what your divine beast likes. They'll be happy if you give them gifts now and then. Playing with them often is also very good, but there are methods even to the way you play with them."
This and that.
The students only half-listened, but the moment Pedelote summoned a single enormous tiger and spoke, all eyes gathered on her.
"If you become close enough, someday you too will be able to summon your familiar directly and stand beside it on the battlefield~!"
Familiar Summoning.
It was something only possible once one's affinity with a contracted divine beast had reached its peak, and since they had occasionally witnessed magical warriors flying through the air atop dragon-shaped divine beasts while fighting, their eyes once again lit with enthusiasm.
…Though before long, they faced reality and that enthusiasm quickly died down.
"Ah, why! What the hell do you even want to do?!"
"Gaaah! This is so annoying! You wanted to play like this, so why are you being petty with me?!"
"You keep changing your mind! What exactly do you expect me to do?!"
Students' frustrated cries rang out from all directions. Because each student's divine beast was visible only to the contractor in question, it produced a ridiculous scene of people yelling angrily into empty air.
Eizel was not much different.
-Cheep?
A single blue sparrow tilted its head and pecked lightly at Eizel's hair.
After teasing and provoking her to its heart's content until now, the thing was suddenly trying to act cute only after she'd turned away in irritation.
"Ugh, so annoying…"
And so, until class ended, she failed to become close with this cute and irritating divine beast she had named Bluey.
"Everyone, don't be discouraged~ There's plenty of time~!"
"Yeees…"
"Riiight…"
Leaving the cheerful Professor Pedelote behind, Eizel and the other students came out of the lecture hall on their own.
'The next class is in thirty minutes…'
There was a little time to spare, so it seemed like she could return to the S-Class classroom and rest for a moment.
"Huu…"
Lately, she had felt as though all the strength had been draining out of her. Maybe she should start taking supplements or something.
The incident at the familiar contract ceremony had been bad enough, but on top of that she had accidentally run into the enemy she hated so much… and then learned about Baek Yuseol's 'incurable disease.'
Her body wasn't what felt exhausted.
Her heart… was.
Was there anything I could do for him?
That thought simply would not leave her head.
"Hey, hey, Eizel!"
"Huh? Oh."
As she walked blankly down the corridor, she heard Harillen's voice calling from afar. With an excited expression, Harillen ran up to her and fired off her words in a rapid stream.
"Hey, this is huge for you! You saw the notice, right?!"
"…No?"
"Hurry, hurry!"
Harillen grabbed Eizel and dragged her to the bulletin board in the main tower. Even Eizel, who was fairly healthy and strong by nature, was nearly out of breath from how frantically Harillen ran.
Buzz buzz.
A tremendous crowd of upperclassmen and students from the same year had gathered around the bulletin board, chatting noisily about something.
"Ah, come to think of it."
When summer season arrived, various events would begin.
'Aslan Seminar'
'Inter-School Competition (Duel & Battle Royale)'
'Arcanium Grand Festival'
There were countless events and more besides, but among them, the most noteworthy were the 'Aslan Seminar' and the 'Inter-School Competition.'
The Aslan Seminar in particular was a discussion and presentation forum where the most highly anticipated prodigies among aspiring mages from all over the world gathered.
There were elites all across the world who spent their lives striving toward participation in the Aslan Seminar, and once granted the qualification to attend, one's face and name would be published in Magician Column, the largest magazine in the magic world, so naturally it attracted everyone's attention.
And there—
[Rising Stars of This Year]
[Eizel Morf]
[Selien]
Eizel's name was printed there in bold, unmistakable form.
"Uh, uh…?"
Seeing her own name written in a place she had never expected it, she could only stand there flustered, mouth opening and closing uselessly without even managing to speak.
"Hey, hey, this is seriously huge!"
Harillen slung an arm around her shoulders and shook her wildly, and only then did Eizel barely regain her senses.
"My god…"
She had been criticized so much already, being called the child of a traitor and so on, that she had not expected this in the slightest.
Could it be that the 'paper' she had submitted on the day of the entrance ceremony, the one where she had researched ice magic, had finally shone through?
"M-me…"
She clapped both hands over her mouth, trying to suppress the emotions swelling up inside her.
"...Hello? So you're Eizel?"
Someone approached and spoke to her.
On the name tag pinned to her chest, the words [2-S Selien] were written clearly.
One of Stella's other Aslan participants this year.
Selien, her long black straight hair hanging down, pushed up her glasses and then offered a handshake with a sly smile.
"We'll be attending the seminar together, so… let's get along, shall we?"
"Ah, yes… sunbae-nim."
Eizel answered dazedly and took her hand.
For some reason… she was definitely smiling, but it didn't feel pleasant at all. It was as if she were looking down on her.
"Oh, right. I read your paper from the entrance ceremony. Well, I guess you did make an interesting discovery."
"Ah… yes. Thank you…"
"But it was a little pathetic."
"…"
Selien snickered and continued.
"It was an interesting discovery, sure. I'd never seen someone handle ice that way before. But that's all it was, isn't it?"
"Is that what you think?"
"Honestly, it's not like you made some great formula or created some magnificent equation… you just 'happened' to discover a new spell, didn't you? Judging it purely by level, it was just an ordinary high-schooler's level, so it was a little disappointing~ It made me think, so this is all even a Morf amounts to."
Eizel quickly understood why this woman had come over.
She had simply come to pick a fight.
Cases like this were beyond familiar by now—Eizel was sick to death of them—so she just turned around and shook her head.
"Yeees~ As expected, sunbae-nim, you're truly amazing. With such lofty standards, a junior like me must not even be worth looking at. I'd really love to see your magic at the seminar."
After saying that, she grabbed the fidgeting Harillen by the arm and pulled her back toward the classroom.
Behind them, Selien was staring with a hardened expression, but Eizel paid her no mind.
There were already more than enough people who disliked her for no reason, so there was no need to get angry every single time some second-year senior picked a fight with her.
'Still, the sky is clear~ and the clouds keep drifting by~'
Maybe it was because there had been so many stressful things lately, but to Eizel, something on this level felt no more than mildly cute.
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