Chapter 14

Chapter 14
## Chapter 14

Leigh felt a strange sense of dissonance as he looked at Diella, who remained standing in her place on the platform.

What kind of person was this girl named Diella?

Selfish, immature, reckless—a true spoiled child.

She was a troublemaker, and her expulsion from House Duplain would have been no loss. Memories of her hurling insults and hurting the servants Leigh cherished still surfaced in his mind.

But now, standing tall on the platform and looking at Leigh, no trace of that reckless behavior remained. Beneath the cloak she wore, her gaze toward Leigh seemed calm, tinged with caution and a hint of tension.

*Did she really come to win?*

Leigh adjusted his arm and looked toward the terrace, where Grand Duke Duplain watched from the mansion alongside that woman, his gaze fixed.

“In any case, I need to end this quickly.”

The servant in charge of officiating the ceremony stood firm on the platform.

Leigh stepped onto the platform and looked silently at Diella, then remarked:

“I thought you would be plotting your escape, terrorizing the servants with fear reflected on your face. But you never cease to amaze me.”

Leigh’s noble attire was more practical than Valerian’s. As he rolled up his sleeves and brushed off his hands, the veins in his arms became clearly visible. Before becoming a mage, he was a strong young man.

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It was hard to imagine that Diella, lacking both magical and physical strength, could defeat Leigh. His mind was focused on a quick and decisive victory.

“Please, finalize the preparations for the duel. We will use the advanced mage duel rules of Kelbrem Hall in Ebelstein, where the combat ends when the first protection circle is activated,” Leigh said.

The head butler, Delron, read the basic rules from the platform. The rules of Kelbrem Hall were already the most common in noble magic duels. There was no need to recite them in full; both participants knew them well.

That said, Delron closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and declared:

“Begin.”

As soon as the combat started, Leigh raised his hand quickly. It felt as if a taut rope snapped, and a fierce fighting spirit flashed briefly in his eyes.

Each duelist began with an amulet engraved with a magic protection circle by an experienced mage.

The “Protection Engraving,” a protection circle of at least three stars, would activate automatically just before the bearer suffered a serious injury, neutralizing the opponent’s magic and disappearing. In essence, its activation meant the bearer had received a significant blow, thus confirming their defeat.

The protection circle lasted about ten minutes from its placement. If the duel did not end in that time, the result would be a draw.

Of course, Leigh had no intention of allowing a draw, so he concentrated his mind. Against someone as slow as Diella, a well-cast one-star spell would be enough to activate her protection circle.

Leigh gathered magic in his hands and began his incantation.

“Oh, wind that sweeps the meadows and parts the earth…!”

Although Leigh had begun his incantation with his hand raised, Diella remained motionless, staring fixedly at him.

A key aspect of magic duels was the speed of the incantations. When starting at a distance, whoever finished their incantation first would have the advantage.

To counter with magic, it was crucial to start the enchantment quickly, but Diella remained still, her cloak fluttering as she stared at Leigh.

*Is she paralyzed by fear?*

Leigh smiled confidently, ready to cast the one-star spell “Wind Blade” from his fingertips. The idea that the duel would end so easily caused him some disappointment. Leigh was not one to beat around the bush with Diella.

The blade, shaped by the wind, headed toward Diella. He was already thinking about how her protection circle would instantly activate and lock her back in the annex.

*Whish!*

In that instant, Diella ducked and lunged to the side. Her cloak fluttered and a flash of her golden hair was glimpsed through the fabric. It was an agile movement, uncommon for Diella.

However, she was still a girl who had been locked in an annex. No matter how agile she was, her movements had limits.

*Stop right there!*

With gritted teeth, Leigh undid his spell, redirecting the Wind Blade.

The blade, upon being redirected, described an arc toward Diella, but it did not reach her directly.

*Whish!*

*Crack! Crash!*

A pillar of ice rose from the ground, blocking the path of the Wind Blade.

Normally, a basic ice wall like that, imbued only with elemental magic, would not withstand the force of a one-star spell.

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However, by constantly changing direction, she forced her opponent to modify the trajectory of his attack. Magic with a distorted and redirected flow would surely lose half its power compared to a direct cast.

Leigh frowned.

Diella knew that the more complex and varied the trajectory of the spell, the harder it would be to control its power and the weaker it would become.

It was a kind of instinctive knowledge that could only be understood through the practical manipulation of magic. After practicing magic manifestation with Dereck to the point of exhaustion, Diella had perfected her sense of magic flow to rival Leigh’s.

“So that training was not in vain.”

Standing tall with his back straight, Leigh began another incantation, this time with the intention of casting three Wind Blades consecutively, his specialty.

If her intention was to keep moving from side to side and disrupting his magic control, it would be enough for him to stop backing down.

As the next incantation approached, Diella ran to the side, gritting her teeth.

“Listen carefully, Lady Diella. The combat skills of a mercenary differ from those of a noble. We do not consider fair play a virtue; our only goal is victory.”

“The honorable victory you imagine in a typical magic duel is far from what awaits you here. You may win, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to be recognized.”

Before stepping onto the platform, Dereck spoke while looking at Diella with eyes as red as fire.

“Even so, you can achieve a victorious result. Your opponent may be a one-star mage, but he has no real experience in extreme combat.”

The dueling techniques of mercenaries, where a small mistake could mean death, were very different from the life Diella had led.

Even if Dereck tried to transmit his knowledge to her, it was unlikely that Diella, who had been raised as a noble lady, could assimilate them instantly.

Thus, Dereck had only transmitted the basic principles. It was solely oral instruction. It was difficult to expect true learning from a few verbal exchanges with someone who had been on the edge of life and death on the battlefield.

However, Dereck’s advice always had the peculiarity of exploiting weaknesses. They included elements of real combat that were not even considered in noble and dignified magic duels.

Controlling the battlefield and taking advantage of the environment. Starting with basic defensive tactics using the terrain and the surroundings, destabilizing the opponent, conserving one’s own magic while wasting the enemy’s, and skillfully deflecting powerful spells.

Even if oral knowledge had limited application, if the opponent clung to the noble ethics of fair play, Diella had many tools at her disposal.

*Bang!*

*Whish!*

With a magic movement, Diella summoned several more ice pillars.

Still a beginner, Diella felt her head throb from the effort, but she soon dove among the pillars, using them as cover.

Dereck had told Diella:

“Controlling the battlefield is the most basic element for victory in a duel. Fighting in an open field, in a dark forest, or in a complex urban landscape: none of them are the same.”

Diella intended to make the battlefield as complex as possible, introducing all possible variables.

In a duel where activating the opponent’s protection circle just once meant victory, breaking their defense just once could bring triumph.

Diella was, by nature, a mage of the wild school.

Even when she couldn’t use magic, even when she was in that dark forest, fleeing from Dereck, she had tried to attack from behind, taking advantage of the terrain in her favor.

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The darkness of the forest, the thickness of the bushes, clinging to a stone with trembling hands, trying in some way to bring Dereck down—that memory was still alive in her mind.

*Bang! Bang!*

While dodging Leigh’s spell again and circling the edge of the platform, part of the edge of the platform collapsed and smoke swirled.

Diella jumped toward the collapsed side of the platform and slid into the empty space below.

“According to the rules of Kelbrem Hall, going out of the platform’s boundary means defeat…!”

Leigh gritted his teeth and dispersed the smoke while he thought.

“So that’s it…! The empty space under the platform is not outside the walls…!”

Leigh was on the verge of losing his temper at the literal interpretation of the rules, but he couldn’t deny it. The advanced mage duel rules of Kelbrem Hall did not contemplate the possibility of a cowardly opponent hiding in the dusty space under the platform to avoid the adversary’s spells.

Never before had such a brazen individual been seen crawling under the podium to avoid attacks during a noble magic duel, steeped in tradition and authority.

*Crack!*

In that instant, several ice pillars rose beside Leigh. Diella, who had jumped under the platform, had materialized her magic in the area where Leigh was likely located.

*Crack! Crack!*

The ice pillars sprouting under the wooden platform were clearly aimed at Leigh.

If a single attack could secure victory, then attacking from outside the opponent’s line of sight was the safest method Dereck had devised.

Nobles sought honorable victories. They cast their spells with dignity, exhibited their skills, and revealed the results of their training to the public in the duels of Kelbrem Hall, where the harsh and mortal reality of real combat was not even considered.

In a real fight, where the objective is to kill the opponent, fairness has never been a virtue.

A scenario that allowed a unilateral attack against the enemy was the ideal battlefield for a mercenary.

“Damn it…!”

Leigh ran quickly toward the center of the platform. It was impossible to precisely locate Diella while she moved underneath. Magic could not target someone whose position was unknown.

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The battlefield was tilted. Leigh had to keep dodging until Diella collapsed from exhaustion.

In reality, the solution was simple. Jump into the dusty space below the platform and resume the fight on equal terms.

If your opponent was causing havoc in the mud, you also had to be prepared to dive into it.

If Diella had set aside the noble etiquette of magic duels in her obsession with victory, then Leigh had to adapt and respond accordingly.

Leigh summoned the courage to jump into the dusty space below. If the opponent used such tactics, he also had to be willing to get dirty. It was then that he headed toward the part of the platform that had been recently destroyed by the Wind Blade.

*Crack.*

“…!”

The collapsed edge of the platform was covered in ice, created by magic.

Quickly, she took the advantageous position on the battlefield and blocked her opponent’s entrance.

“This… damn it…!”

Leigh materialized magic in his hands once more. Creating a new entrance to the lower space was a piece of cake. Breaking the wooden platform was child’s play for him.

*Crack!*

However, while Leigh tried to force his way through, Diella’s attack emerged from under the platform. Unlike Leigh’s attack, Diella’s more precise blow did not open a large hole in the podium.

But a direct impact of incoming magic would activate the protection circle. In the world of magic duels, that could decide the result.

*Crack! Crash! Crash!*

Every time Leigh tried to break through the platform to pursue Diella, her attacks interrupted him over and over again.

Diella, appearing below, could not determine Leigh’s exact location, but she could roughly deduce it using the magic flow or the sound of his footsteps.

This difference was significant.

She kept aiming for the moment Leigh channeled his power to destroy the platform. At least, when his position was secured, she could attack him unilaterally.

She had no intention of giving up her advantage on the tilted battlefield. Fairness in combat skills was a luxury for mercenaries.

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Diella’s dusty figure was glimpsed among the ice pillars piercing the podium.

Leigh’s eyes met Diella’s under the platform. There was no trace of emotion in those eyes.

Even in the midst of battle, that cold gaze remained impassive; a look he recognized from somewhere.

It was the same look as that white-haired mercenary tutor, whose emotions remained unperturbed even when Valerian grabbed him by the neck.

Cold and unshakable eyes, always trying to make rational judgments, no matter the situation.

Only then did Leigh realize. It was impossible that such a small girl had devised all of that on her own.

Without a doubt, it was the influence of that white-haired tutor.

“This brat…!”

*Crack! Crack!*

Leigh summoned his magic again, materializing arrows of magic energy.

He destroyed every ice pillar that dared to approach.

Leigh gritted his teeth. If his opponent had discarded all notion of etiquette in a duel and was only acting for victory, he had no choice but to respond in the same way.

***

“What… what is that…?! Covered in dust… Diella…!”

Miriela, who had been watching the duel from the terrace, was startled. This was far from being a noble and polite magic duel. Miriela quickly grabbed the edge of her skirt, ready to run down from the terrace. She couldn’t sit there watching, but the Duke of Duplain stopped her with a firm voice.

“Let the duel take its course.”

“You…!”

He approached the terrace railing, rested his hands on it, and silently observed the platform below. The servants also showed clear signs of distress at the dust-filled scene.

The noble followers seemed unable to adapt to the situation, but the Duke of Duplain, who had traveled many battlefields in his youth, showed no sign of surprise.

He simply rested his chin on his hand and calmly watched the duel unfold.