Chapter 53 :

Value (7)

'At about this time, Delia should be in a spar, right.'

The splendid mansion prepared separately for Aiselin. Between the stone statues engraved with a pretty lily crest, countless flowers were swaying in the wind.

–Rustle

Aiselin, who was sitting in the garden reading a book, suddenly nodded her head, worried about her younger sibling. She had said that the magical spar with Denise would be held at Delia’s mansion, but in any case, news of that victory or defeat would spread everywhere around the Rosea Salon through rumors.

'Please, nothing serious should happen..... I hope there won’t be any pointless gossip either.....'

Stirring up controversy is a habit of the public.

Even if it has no meaning, people go around judging and comparing, saying who is better and who is lacking.

Before arguing about right or wrong, it was simply something that was bound to happen, and if one wanted to receive everyone’s attention, it was something that had to be endured. Aiselin knew that well enough.

It hadn’t been long since she entered the Ebelstein High Society when Aiselin began to receive attention little by little. Now, she had effectively become a figure who could be called the face of the Rosea Salon.

When one receives the attention of countless noble Young Ladies and becomes the subject of whispers, being evaluated and compared becomes as natural as breathing. Naturally, the people who become the objects of comparison can only be those whose names carry weight and who are outstanding.

If one were to pick those who could at least stand on the same line of comparison as someone like Aiselin, in the end, there were only Ellente and Denise, both Young Ladies of the same three great noble families.

Ellente was a person whose inside and outside were transparent, but Denise was the complete opposite.

'She always maintains the appearance of a refined Young Lady, but her true nature seems lazier than I thought..... '

Aiselin’s insight was accurate.

When she occasionally met her at the sparring ground, or when they held academy debates, there were times when she could read the nature that lay beneath her. She would sometimes have a lukewarm look in her eyes, and basically, she clearly seemed to have no interest in anything. Even the things she showed interest in were merely actions taken out of necessity.

Most noble Young Ladies could not even grasp the bottom of Denise’s nature, but sharp Aiselin had already, through countless gatherings, noticed her essence little by little and was being considerate of her.

No matter what happened, she was the type of small citizen who just wanted to deal with things quickly and move on, and if her shoulders got heavy beyond what was necessary, she wanted to shake everything off, and live comfortably for a long, long time with such exquisite social skills.

She had never thought about what would happen if Denise were to be serious.

Aiselin and Ellente always defeated Denise whenever they had magical spars.

Since Denise had little obsession with victory or defeat in the first place, once the exchange of magic went beyond a certain level, she would just take it appropriately and end the match.

Not only Aiselin and Ellente, who were relatively close to her, but no Young Lady in the Rosea Salon had ever seen Denise fight seriously.

In other words, there was at least no one in this Rosea Salon who knew her true depth.

That fact made Aiselin strangely uneasy.

*

1-star Combat-type magic 'Shockwave' 'Ice Spear' 'Mana Arrow' 'Rapid Freezing' 'Thorn Bush'

Seeing five spells being incanted simultaneously, Denise could not help but click her tongue.

Delia, who was angry to the tips of her hair, intended to completely smash Denise’s defensive magic without even holding back.

If one of the two were to get seriously injured, it could develop into a problem between the families.

That was something she could deal with herself when the time came. Thinking roughly like that, Delia poured down countless spells like a barrage.

Despite that threatening momentum like a charging beast, Denise snorted once and raised her left hand to construct a magic circle.

'The mages of the Duplein Ducal House are all strong in personality, every single one of them.'

Denise had already grasped to some extent the information about the figures of the three great noble families.

Compared to Aiselin’s magic that walked along a neatly arranged path, Delia’s magic was free-spirited.

Even if they were 1-star spells that looked familiar, the way they were manifested, freely changing according to Delia’s will, was troublesome to deal with.

However, giving rules to such disorder was Denise’s specialty.

When Denise widened her eyes once, she could clearly see that even the spells being fired in all directions had some kind of pattern.

No matter how free-spirited the way one used mana was, personal habits and temperament were bound to show.

–Boom!

She easily evaded the ice spears that came crashing down again, and the ice pillars that rose from the ground.

Avoiding Delia’s magic itself was not that difficult. However, that did not mean that she could easily defeat Delia.

–Boom! Boom! Boom!

Overwhelming firepower. The gap that came from that could not be easily narrowed.

Denise had an outstanding talent for handling magic delicately, but she was not as good as one might think at crushing an opponent with one-sided firepower.

She merely sensed the opponent’s mana, evaded it, turned it against them, and found openings.

It was like the way a swordsman who had honed his techniques to the extreme would fight.

'I can feel the intention to not give me any opening to attack at all. It doesn’t seem like she’s conscious of my schemes..... Did she just instinctively see through it?'

If Denise analyzed her opponent by finding rational moves, Delia was a wild style like a rampaging natural disaster.

If it were an academic debate, reason and rationality would be the key factors for victory, but a magical spar was a field where momentum and intuition were far more important.

In the end, this duel on the magical sparring ground was a domain where Delia was bound to be more advantageous.

'Hoo.... '

A capable strategist never steps into the palm of the opponent’s hand. If she wanted to win, she would not have created this situation in the first place.

However, since her initial plan had been to lose from the start, the situation had turned out like this.

If things had come to this, all she had to do was find a way to win from this point onward.

Amid the raging storm of mana, Denise’s vision darkened once and then lit up again.

She took control of the flow of her thoughts, treated every tiny detail as information, and carefully observed the movements of that little beast.

Time slowed down. For a moment, not even sound could be heard.

Her heart beat, her brain accelerated. She took in even a single thread caught at the end of the fluttering frilled dress, and constructed the logic to defeat her opponent.

The few seconds in which Delia’s magic flew in.

The image of Delia seen through the gaps between the countless ice spears and Mana Arrows.

She was short, and her build was small. Luxuriant blonde hair, porcelain-like skin, blue eyes like Denise’s, the habit of dragging her right foot, the habit of steadying her breathing once when manifesting mana, and the routine of clenching her left fist tightly when manifesting Ice Spear.

–“Young Lady Denise.”

–“The ability to sense mana can reach a higher realm through repeated training. However, eyes that can instantly see through an opponent’s habits and essence even before mana are not something in the realm of learning. They are closer to the realm of acquisition.”

Her flashing eyes moved along the path where the mana was going.

Perhaps the frilled dress was a bit large, or perhaps there was a slight discomfort in the movement of her left arm. Perhaps the black rose-shaped brooch on her head was blocking her vision, because she occasionally shook her head. When a storm-like wind pushed in from the aftermath of mana, she had the habit of tightly grabbing the hem of her skirt with one hand.

In that way, everything about the girl named Delia, from her fingertips to her toes, entered Denise’s eyes and was converted into information.

'That observational insight of yours is an ability given to you like a gift, one that you cannot learn from anyone else. Isn’t this an age where countless mercenaries risk their lives going in and out of labyrinths just to refine their senses a little more?'

–“Do not underestimate the value that ability of yours holds....”

The words Derrick had said so often during lessons that her ears had practically grown calluses began to gradually make Denise’s eyes more serious.

When countless retainers of the Beltus family were only thinking about the great name of this family, it was the advice of one master who had finally seen Denise’s essence and tried to cultivate that ability.

He always had an expression like he had chewed sand, but while pretending not to, he had engraved those words in his heart.

–Whaak!

Thus, Delia’s magic slammed down and a cloud of dust rose, but… Denise’s defensive magic did not manifest.

–Rumble! Crash! Bang!

Rather, from within the dust cloud that blocked the view, Denise’s mana began to gush out.

In an instant, the aftermath of mana covered the area, and because of that, the dust was blown away and disappeared in a moment.

Denise, her silver-gray hair fluttering, manifested the 2-star Search-type magic 'Surveillance'.

It was the sense of that Search-type magic that had been honed to the extreme through exchanging blows with her master, Derrick.

In an instant, Denise’s magic circle, which spread widely over the entire sparring ground, completely took over the area.

–Whaaaaaak!

A spectacular sight unfolded, as if stars were being scattered.

Not only the servants, but even Delia had no choice but to open her eyes wide in shock.

Denise was one of the three Young Ladies most respected even in the Rosea Salon. Naturally, they thought her mastery of magic must have reached some level.

However, no matter what, no one had expected that she would already be at the level of 2-star.

Even the famous Aiselin Young Lady had only learned 2-star magic with great difficulty and received everyone’s congratulations.

However, Denise had simply not revealed it until now. She had already reached a realm of magic almost similar to Aiselin’s.

"Th, this is..... "

At the sight of Denise emerging from the dust, Delia could not help but be shocked.

Denise’s condition was not good.

The hem of her skirt was torn, she was covered in dust, and the ribbon that had been fixing her hair had come undone and was rolling around on the ground.

Her face was also covered in dirt, but even more surprising was that blood was flowing down beside her temple.

At that sight, she could not help but doubt her eyes.

Basically, high-level defensive magic must always accompany magical spars between noble Young Ladies.

There should absolutely be no injuries or wounds like that.

However, looking at Denise’s condition, no matter how one looked at it, it did not seem like her defensive magic was active.

Delia’s eyes flashed, and she sensed the aura of mana lingering around Denise’s body.

She could clearly feel the aura of a large defensive magic. It must be a magic circle engraved on the accessories she was wearing, so it would not be easily dispelled.

Then, there was only one possibility.

'She released her defensive magic herself.....!'

In the raging dust, she took off the accessory engraved with the defensive magic and released it herself.

The reason was obvious. In the end, what decided the victory or defeat of this magical spar was whether the defensive magic was activated or not.

Since the rule was that you won if you made the opponent’s defensive magic activate, when no one was looking, she had simply temporarily turned it off so that the defensive magic itself would not activate.

And then, when the view cleared again, she could just hide inside the defensive magic as if nothing had happened.

It was an action that went beyond exploiting a loophole in the rules and seemed to be mocking the rules themselves.

Until now, no one had ever avoided defeat in a magical spar in such a way.

That was only natural. Each and every noble Young Lady in the noble quarters had a precious body, so if they got hurt even a little, it would be a big problem.

In the first place, how important was honor in magical spars between nobles?

Relying on such tricks had no meaning at all.

Therefore, the very idea of taking off one’s accessories to deactivate the protection magic circle was impossible.

It was just that Denise was not a person bound by such fixed ideas.

Winning a spar like that would bring no honor at all. Even so, Denise had used such a trick without hesitation, even taking on the risk of seriously injuring her own body.

The reason was obvious.

What was at stake in this spar was not just honor. The future of her master, Derrick, would be decided by this spar.

"A bug got caught in the spider’s web."

While manifesting a huge magic circle, Denise, bleeding fresh blood, smiled darkly.

So what if it was a bit cowardly and a bit dirty? In the end, what mattered was how victory and defeat were decided.

If she thought it was truly cowardly, Delia herself could also hide in the blind spot and release her own protection magic circle.

In fact, if Delia really made up her mind, she might even be able to tear apart the protection magic circle.

If this spar overheated to that extent, it would practically go beyond a proper magical spar and develop into a brawl where they beat each other bloody.

No matter what, if it went that far, the servants would desperately rush in and stop it.

That would not have been a bad outcome either, but Denise did not want to take on more risk than this.

That was why she had manifested the 2-star magic 'Surveillance'.

It had not worked at all on her master, Derrick, but against Delia, a mage of a similar level, it was completely different.

Once you got caught in Denise’s magic circle, until Denise’s mana ran out and the magic circle was dispelled, this area would completely be her world.

A spider web spread by a spider that harbored deadly poison—once you got caught in it, you could never escape.

As if proving that fact, Delia’s movements became noticeably sluggish.

"Wh, what is this..... "

A sensation as if her whole body was being pierced by some unknown force.

Even the movement of a single fingertip, even the trembling of a single toe, all felt like they were playing inside Denise’s consciousness, a chilling sensation.

Delia, startled, manifested an Ice Spear, but in the place where the Ice Spear was manifested, a Mana Arrow had 'already' flown in and was embedded there.

The Mana Arrow had arrived before the Ice Spear was even manifested.

That meaning was huge.

It meant that Denise had already seen through all the results of Delia’s actions several seconds in advance.

"Hugh..... "

No matter what action she took, the response to it was already all prepared.

Those two eyes of Denise, with her concentration raised to the limit, were closer to a hunter who could easily capture such a naive wild animal.

"Hoo..... hoo..... "

The owner of the spider web, who had been crouching while incanting magic, straightened her body. Her completely loosened silver-gray hair flowed down along her shoulders.

That gaze resembled that of a chilling creature that strides toward the pitiful victim stuck in the spider web.

Delia quickly assessed the situation.

At least inside this magic circle, she absolutely could not create any variable that would go beyond Denise’s expectations.

She had to jump out of the magic circle and, once again, through the Wild School’s unique irregular use of magic, nullify all of Denise’s advantages.

It was at the moment she hurriedly turned her gaze to check the range of the magic circle’s influence.

"..... This is ridiculous."

–Unfortunately, Denise’s magic circle was covering this entire annex building.

It had been quite some time since Denise learned the 2-star magic 'Surveillance', but the limit of its range had only been a few meters around her at best.

However, after constantly honing her exchanges of Search-type magic with Derrick, Denise’s limits had grown far beyond imagination.

'Mages taught by Derrick all surpass their own limits, every single one of them.'

She knew that such rumors were already circulating among the salons.

And Delia had greatly underestimated the fact that Denise was also a disciple of that mage.

"Th..... this is..... "

No matter how much of a genius Delia might be, she was still an unpolished gem.

However, her opponent was already one of the three most renowned in the Rosea Salon, and a person who had received the teachings of the greatest master Delia knew.

Denise had evaluated herself as someone who could never become like Aiselin, but in terms of magic alone, she had already become a person comparable to that Aiselin.

By the time Delia understood that gap, the match was already decided.

–Paang!

"Kyaaaak!"

A single Mana Arrow that exquisitely pierced through the gap in Delia’s consciousness made her defensive magic activate as it was.

Delia could not even react.

–Whaaaaaaaak!

When the defensive magic that unfolded in an instant embraced Delia, only then did Delia’s pupils suddenly widen.

It was Delia’s defeat.

"..... Th, that can’t be..... "

"How on earth could she achieve such..... an accomplishment..... "

The servants who were watching the duel were all breaking out in cold sweat as well.

They had thought that Denise Young Lady’s level must be high, but they had never imagined it would be to this extent.

In that hollow silence, Denise quietly brushed the dust off her body and spoke.

"It was a good match, in any case."

Denise, who had returned to being a refined Young Lady once again, smiled.

Thus, the silence continued for a while.

As the situation gradually began to sink in, Delia bit her lower lip tightly.

Little by little, tears welled up in those clear eyes.

That was how the world of victory and defeat was.

*

< The Arrogant Sir Robein >

Derrick, who had been quietly staring at the title of that booklet written in prim and pouty letters, closed it with a thud and put it back into the drawer.

Then, as he was resting his chin on his hand and sinking into thought, a maid approached and spoke to him.

"It’s about Young Lady Denise."

Bella, who was quickly tidying up the room while Denise was away at Delia’s mansion, was the one.

She was a maid who had been with Denise since her childhood, so Derrick had heard that she was someone who knew her better than anyone.

When Derrick looked at her, she flinched and trembled, then gathered her courage and spoke.

"Will she be able to become a good mage?"

What was in those words was worry.

Bella, who had always been with Denise, was sincerely worried more than anyone about the many deficiencies she had.

Derrick rested his chin in his hand for a moment, then replied in a much lighter voice.

"She probably will."

The most important thing in mastering magic was bloodline.

That was why countless magic masters strove to become instructors for prestigious families.

If they produced a good disciple, their own name value would rise along with it.

However, when it came to the three great noble families of the Rosea Salon, everyone already had the advantage that came from an overwhelming bloodline.

If one wanted to reach a higher realm beyond that, that alone would not be enough.

That was why Derrick looked at Bella quietly and then said.

"In the first place, the only person in the Rosea Salon who can grow at the same pace as Young Lady Denise is probably Miss Aiselin."

It was the evaluation of Derrick, who had served all three families.

Bella seemed worried about the many deficiencies that Denise had, but Derrick’s opinion was the opposite.

Deficiency was precisely the most important fuel that burned a person’s will.

Rather, compared to Aiselin, who had walked the royal road in a gentle environment where everything was in place, Denise’s conditions were even better.

She had lived in a long, long winter, but once she began to burn, she would be hotter than lava spewing from a volcano.

Derrick would teach many students in the future as well, but who would become his 'best disciple' already seemed clear at this point.

Derrick had a hunch.

Denise was very likely to become a person who would make Derrick’s name value soar into the sky in the future.