Chapter 154

Chapter 154
Chapter 154

When the workers who had finished their shift left and only the construction site with the civil works remained, a strange atmosphere was created while walking through the place.

The sunset lengthened the shadows and, in a world stained red, only the half-built buildings remained.

As he walked there with Aiselin to check how everything was going, Dereck suddenly realized that the temperature had dropped a bit.

“It’s cold. You should go inside.”

“No, we’re almost done. There are quite a few details to improve on the auditorium’s finishes. Since the budget is a bit tight, I think it would be better to reinforce the quality, even if that means reducing the size of the inner courtyard a little.”

Aiselin, letting out visible puffs of steam with each exhalation, kept saying everything she had to say coherently.

Dereck watched her in silence and narrowed his eyes slightly.

Although it wasn’t unusual for him to look at her like that, every time he did, Aiselin felt a little uncomfortable, which is why she showed a somewhat embarrassed expression.

“D-… do you have something to tell me?”

“No. Nothing in particular; simply that, coming in and out of the Duplain territory after such a long time, I suppose I’m getting a little sentimental.”

Hearing something like that come out of the mouth of Dereck, someone who was far from an emotional person, Aiselin couldn’t help but tilt her head in confusion.

Dereck shook his white hair slightly and began to walk, leaving the area where wooden structures filled the construction site.

The creaking of the beams echoed in the empty space.

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“I thought that Lady Aiselin had also changed a lot since the first time I saw you.”

“Now that you mention it, when you brought me to the territory for the first time, that was when we met. How hard it was for you to find a master for Diella…!”

“It has been quite a long time. And to think that back then I didn’t imagine that we would see each other again for so long.”

Before meeting Aiselin, Dereck was nothing more than a low-class mercenary from the outskirts, without any contact with the nobility.

Many years had passed since then, and both he and Aiselin had experienced great changes in their lives.

Dereck had not stopped ascending relentlessly, never settling, always dreaming of reaching greater heights.

Aiselin had fallen to the very bottom, only to propel herself back up.

When someone has experienced both the earth and the clouds, the ups and downs of life seem natural to them.

Getting used to difficulties can be a good thing. But when one only looks up, sometimes one forgets something.

“I thought that we had come a long way. Just seeing you, that thought came to mind.”

“…?”

Aiselin looked at him, tilting her head.

She couldn’t add anything about the life of the boy who had ascended by fighting from the very bottom.

However, Dereck felt a strange affinity with her. Aiselin was his opposite: expressive, elegant, noble, refined; and yet, deep down, they were similar.

Both possessed the attitude of those who, after hitting rock bottom, know how to roll up their sleeves and move forward on their own. That grit. That will.

Seeing her, Dereck remembered the hard, cold pieces of bread he used to eat in a corner of the slum.

Upon leaving the auditorium grounds, they saw the sun setting in the western sky.

Due to the length of the shadows, night was near.

Thinking it would be better to return to the mansion before it got dark, Dereck looked at Aiselin, gently closed his eyes, and added:

The Ravenclaw family is starting to be mentioned among the high nobility of the center of the continent. I myself have reached the four-star rank, we are about to found the academy, and in Ebelstein society, I am already quite well-known. Compared to the first time I saw you, I have progressed a lot.

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“Well, the truth is that even then I thought you were someone extraordinary. Do you remember when we were in the carriage and you showed me different ways to use magic? Even then I sensed it. That you would rise, in one way or another.”

“When one ascends, there comes a time when one has to look back.”

Dereck wanted to reach the highest and brightest star in the night sky.

When someone rises so high, their gaze is fixed upwards and they no longer want to move.

But there always comes a moment when one must travel again the path that led them there.

“And reflecting on it, I realize that my journey began the moment I came into contact with the Duplain family.”

“…”

“That’s why, I suppose it was impossible for me to sit idly by and witness the decay of the Duplain family. Although, of course, I don’t intend to go around telling everyone.”

Aiselin watched him in silence as he spoke, looking at the darkening sky.

That cold and impassive mercenary rarely showed sentimentality.

Hearing him say those things in front of her made her happy, but she also felt there was a deeper meaning hidden in them.

“I wanted to thank you for having been the reason I was able to enter the world of nobility. That is all.”

“…”

That Dereck expressed his gratitude out of courtesy was common. But under the twilight light, his words took on a different meaning, alien to noble formalities.

Aiselin didn’t know how to respond, but in the end, she just smiled. Then she looked up at the same sky he was looking at.

From the east, a dark tone began to cover the red of the sky. Darkness symbolizes fear and terror, but when the moonlight mixes gently, sometimes it turns out to be surprisingly comforting.

The presence of a light source can make even darkness feel warm.

When Aiselin had sunk into her own darkness, she must have been able to lift her head and smile, because that light was accompanying her from behind.

Dereck’s white hair, although it didn’t literally glow, reflected the moonlight and emitted a soft glow.

The moon shines thanks to the sunlight; Dereck is not very different.

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Aiselin smiled seeing that and observed the small crystals that were beginning to fall from the sky.

It’s snowing. Tomorrow it will be a little warmer.

The wooden skeletons of the place, lonely and gloomy, began to slowly cover themselves with snow.

It was a warm winter.

***

It is a frigid winter that takes your breath away. If you let your guard down, it was evident that you would freeze to death.

Fwaaah!

The place where Siern reigned seemed to transform into the frozen snowy plains of the north.

Siern’s magic, which had already reached the 3-star level in conversion magic, had reached a level capable of freezing all the air around her.

Three-star magic, freezing.

The hair, which was fluttering in the wind due to the magic, covered her face, preventing one from seeing her expression clearly.

The young woman’s figure, imperturbable even before the lashing wind, was as if that wild era in which she remained barefoot on the frozen steppe was being recreated.

Between the strands of hair ruffled by the wind, eyes so cold that they froze the blood could be glimpsed. In the instant you crossed that gaze, you felt as if your whole body froze.

If one had to define that sensation with a single word, it would be killing intent.

Crackle! Crackle!

The duel field was not only completely frozen by the freezing magic, but even the protective barriers surrounding it were covered in ice.

The magical shockwave spread beyond the stands, affecting the entire field; the stained glass windows on the outer walls and even the chandeliers on the ceiling were completely frozen.

“Hiiiiiiiik—!”

Trisha’s feet were also stuck to the ground, frozen. The cold wave was already rising to her thighs, preventing her from moving her body.

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Not even ten seconds had passed since the battle began.

It was the exact moment to give up.

Anyone could realize it by looking into the eyes of that girl, the youngest disciple of the Ravenclaw lineage.

That small, short-statured girl knew perfectly well how to kill someone.

And she had absolutely no problem doing it.

Extreme fear ran through her skin.

This was not the time to argue about whether or not she could join as a disciple of the Ravenclaw lineage.

Diella, Ellen, Denise, Siern… believing she could be on par with those figures who shone like constellations had been an act of arrogance.

If the price of that arrogance was her life, it wasn’t worth it at all.

It was time to cancel the deal and run away.

Damn it!

“Ugh… Lady Siern…!”

Ellen, who was watching from the stands, frowned while enduring the magical pressure. If she saw that something was going to go really wrong, she planned to intervene immediately; her body was already half-raised.

Diella, sitting on the other side, also became tense in her seat while pushing back the hair that the wind was ruffling.

The other young ladies of the nobility were already being protected by their escorts.

Even someone without any knowledge of magic could understand it.

That creature was no longer at the level that young nobles who were barely learning magic could handle.

She was someone whom a high-ranking veteran mage should contain to avoid serious harm.

Fear was peeling the skin as if tearing it layer by layer.

In the midst of that horrible sensation, Trisha thought.

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That is definitely it.

When she was about to declare her surrender, she saw the fist of an old man cutting through the darkness.

A fist that stopped right in front of her.

Completely firm, without showing a single moment of weakness.

A familiar illusion.

Hutton’s fist had never lost strength. He had lived clenching his fists against the world, never letting them go.

And now, that fist extended towards young Trisha seemed to still be there.

Behind the fist, the voice of her father seemed to be heard.

“Although the whole world collapses on your head, never give up, Trisha.”

Was it even reasonable to join as a disciple in the Ravenclaw lineage, where figures like Diella, Ellen, and Siern clashed and competed?

She knew very well that, without special talent, an average person among geniuses would only end up shattered.

Even so, Trisha did not open her lips.

And the sound that finally emerged from her throat was…

The chanting of a fire spell.

Fwaaah!

1-star combat magic, Fire Arrow.

The only level 1 spell she had managed to master after locking herself in her room for months, she used it to melt the ice that was holding her legs.

Crackle!

“Kyaaah!”

She could barely control it; she still couldn’t regulate her magic correctly. The power was greater than she expected and she ended up burning her thigh.

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But even so, she regained her freedom of movement.

Crackle!

Damn it!

Trisha tried to run, but she slipped violently on the ice-covered floor. She stepped on her own dress and a tearing sound resonated in the air.

“Kyaah…! Gasp… gasp…!”

At least now she was away from Siern.

Three-star spells consumed an enormous amount of mana. Even Siern needed a few seconds to prepare the next one.

It was her chance to think of something.

Fwaaah.

3-star conversion magic, Acceleration.

Seeing Siern move with a speed that seemed to defy the passage of time, the young ladies of the nobility in the stands were left open-mouthed.

She moved with lightness, like a rabbit jumping in the snow, but several times faster.

Trisha barely blinked, and when she opened her eyes, Siern’s face was already right in front of hers.

In her entire life, only two people had managed to counter that speed.

Her father, Melverot.

And her master, Dereck.

Facing acceleration magic was as if the enemy was jumping through space itself.

Trisha had barely blinked and she already felt Siern’s breath on her face.

There was no way to react.

Siern’s magic and Trisha’s belonged to different worlds.

And the killing intent was still present in those eyes.

Only one image remained: death.

Just when Trisha felt her breath being cut off…

Fwaaah!

Strike!

In the instant that the one-star ice spear impacted Trisha’s forehead, the previously prepared protective barrier activated.

It was a defensive spell that nullified the fatal damage and decided the result of the duel.

Thwack!

The spear that would have blown off Trisha’s head disappeared, and all the barriers surrounding the field also vanished.

The duel was over.

The winner: Siern.

It didn’t even last a minute.

“No good.”

Siern muttered something incomprehensible while toying with the edge of her dress. She looked coldly at Trisha, who lay on the ground, and then turned to walk away.

The result was obvious.

There was no miracle that allowed Trisha to defeat Siern.

‘No good.’

The phrase that Siern muttered with cold eyes.

What did it mean?

That Trisha couldn’t beat her?

Anyone could interpret it that way.

But Trisha, who at that instant had been closer to Siern than anyone, understood its exact meaning.

“Gasp… gasp… gasp… ku-heok… cough! cough! kuh-heok!”

Unwanted tears gathered. She felt her chest trembling while she lay on the frozen field.

The spear that pierced her forehead in the end had not been thrown trusting in the barrier.

Siern, as always, had struck an instinctive blow with the clear intention to kill.

Only the barrier had prevented death.

That is why, Siern’s phrase, “No good,” had a terrifying meaning.

The indomitable girl still saw the duel as a fight to the death.

She had attacked to kill.

She had attempted to kill.

She simply hadn’t succeeded.

If that last blow had been strong enough to ignore the barrier, Trisha’s head would have flown off.

The fear of returning from the edge of death made her tremble completely.

Seeing Siern leave the field with total calm, as if she had never shown intention to kill…

Made her vision tremble.

Ellen let out a deep sigh.

Diella also sighed and stood up.

In the end, that was it, they thought.

Although none of them could defeat Siern, at least they hoped to see some attempt at resistance.

But Trisha couldn’t even do that.

She couldn’t launch a single counterattack.

It was normal.

Trisha was an ordinary person.

Siern was a genius blessed by the heavens.

A natural result.

It just had to be accepted.

“Well, the result is already decided, so I will take care of scheduling the next meeting…”

“Once more.”

Trisha spoke, stopping Siern just as she yawned and left the field.

Her mouth moved before her thoughts.

“What?”

“L-Lady Diella didn’t say anything about limits… did she…?”

Trisha’s appearance was pitiful. Torn dress, burnt thigh, cold sweat and tears on her face, trembling throat, goosebumps.

But even so, she forced an arrogant smile.

Because that was how she had been taught to live.

“A moment ago I was a little surprised… Yes… It is true. Lady Siern’s magic is… unimaginable. But…! If we do it again, it will be different!”

Siern looked at Diella in the stands.

Diella frowned, crossed her arms, and finally nodded.

Seeing that, Siern let out a long sigh.

Bang!

The next duel ended in fifteen seconds.

Siern’s combat magic, Shockwave, was too powerful for Trisha.

Bang!

Crack!

Thud!

The third duel also ended with Trisha flying through the air.

In the fourth, simply by compressing the air with mana, Siern made Trisha’s legs give way.

The fifth, sixth, seventh.

Bang!

Damn!

Boom!

Boom!

Bang!

Rumble!

By the time the eleventh duel arrived, many young ladies of the nobility had already left.

Thwack!, fwoosh!

Amidst the dust that rose, Trisha appeared in tatters.

Even Siern was sweating a little.

Even so, Trisha stood up as best she could, with bloodshot eyes.

She no longer had the strength to speak for long.

“Again.”

The ferocity of that gaze did not resemble that of any of the other disciples.

There were people who, even knowing that hitting their head against a steel wall would only break it, did so throughout their lives.

Stubborn and foolish people.

Boom, bang!

The sun set and night fell over Elfontaine Hall.

In the thirty-seventh duel, the moonlight filtered through the stained glass windows.

Crack!

Bang!

Boom!

Trisha, shattered, stood up again and looked at Siern with eyes full of ferocity.

At that moment, only two people remained in the stands: Diella and Ellen.

“…”

A line of sweat ran down both their cheeks.