27 – *Click* (≡^∇^≡)

-Milady, wouldn’t it be better to study while taking short breaks…?

-You’re already ranked first. The professors all say there’s no one at the Royal Academy who can keep up with you. There’s absolutely no need to feel rushed.

Ester Tristi was the first wall Etilla had ever encountered.

The moment she first faced him, she felt as though her talent had been negated.

She still couldn’t forget the way Ester had looked at her, with eyes that seemed to have mastered everything.

-Magic can generate greater power when combined with the rules of the world.

-The magic you know is merely half-baked.

The way he said it with such a knowing look, as if defeating her was nothing special, was infuriating beyond tolerance.

Without a doubt, Ester was the first person to evoke such complicated emotions in Etilla.

For a girl who had always believed herself to be a genius with the greatest talent in the world, the sudden appearance of another genius was akin to a catastrophe.

‘It hasn’t even been that long since he solved the Millennium Prize Problems, and now he’s broken the Necronomicon’s barrier formula too… The youngest recipient of the Royal 3rd Class Medal, and even a minor baronetcy… Ugh.’

Etilla felt as though all the titles she was destined to claim were being snatched away by Ester.

Barely eight hours of sleep, all told, this entire week.

Ever since encountering Ester, Etilla had thrown herself into her magic like a woman possessed.

It was the frustration, you see.

And she had strived, until now, to quell that very frustration.

Etilla met the boy in the corridor.

“E-Ester Tristi…”

At first, she thought she was hallucinating from lack of sleep, but Ester before her was undeniably real.

“Is this a dream, or am I awake…”

Ester wasn’t a student at Tristi Academy like Etilla.

Could it be that he was here on business again, as he had been before? Why was he walking the hallway alone, without even a maid?

‘Whatever it is, this is a chance.’

A chance to showcase her true abilities to Ester Tristi.

A chance to flatten the nose of Ester, who always looked at her with such arrogant eyes.

But, Etilla’s lips felt strangely heavy today, unwilling to move.

Etilla vividly remembered her first encounter with Ester.

Her pride, shattered by the boy with talent superior to her own, Etilla had fled in tears.

A memory so mortifying she would kick her blankets at night, consumed by embarrassment.

And no wonder, from Ester’s perspective, Etilla must have looked like a madwoman, suddenly bursting into tears while helpfully explaining a problem, only to then trip and fall flat on her face…

‘Being face to face like this is so humiliating…’

“Did you have some business with me?”

Ester stopped walking.

“Miss Etilla Bedford.”

He spoke so calmly.

“uuuh…”

Etilla’s face burned.

“You can speak comfortably. In fact, being stared at like that makes me even more uncomfortable.”

How could she casually, without sounding strange, challenge Ester to a duel?

‘A challenge!! Is too much… I have a question…!! Is even worse…’

As Etilla hesitated, Ester’s legs began to move again.

“If you have nothing to say, then I shall be going.”

“Alright, just a moment!!”

Etilla reached her decision.

She cast her spell.

‘Blaze Eater’, a fusion of an ignition spell from the school of pyromancy and a rapid growth spell from the school of life magic, materialized right there.

It began as small as a candle flame, but the blaze gradually intensified with each passing moment.

To the casual observer, it might seem an unremarkable, commonplace magic, yet it boasted a potency comparable to even the highest-level spells.

The reason was simple.

Blending magic from completely disparate schools was akin to trying to mix oil and water.

Etilla wore a proud expression.

Most mages dedicated their entire lives to mastering just one school, but she was different.

She stood worlds apart from the concepts of mediocrity and common talent.

For she had not only mastered the lore of pyromancy, but also absorbed the knowledge of other schools.

Cross blend.

She had succeeded in forging a new spell by interweaving magic from two distinct schools.

There had been numerous attempts, but Etilla was the only one who had ever managed to truly pull it off.

“Hehe~”

She had shown it to Professor Aria not long ago, and the Professor had called it a brilliant invention, saying that with just a bit more polish before presenting it to the academy, a Royal Order and the Quadricolor Prize would be hers for the taking.

Etilla beamed, filled with self-importance.

‘She must have been amazed, right?’

A genius always recognizes true worth.

A genius who had solved a Millennium Prize Problem would surely understand just how incredible the magic Etilla had just performed was.

‘Hurry up and show me how impressed you are! If you beg and plead to know how I did it, I might even be kind enough to tell you!’

However.

Ester merely stroked his chin, observing Etilla’s magic intently.

“Hmm.”

Ester strode towards the now-gigantic flame.

“A new spell created by combining rapid growth and ignition, is it? It’s certainly a compatible pairing, but my eyes perceive far too many vulnerabilities.”

Ester inserted a finger into the very center of the flame, and the blaze vanished in an instant.

“There have been many attempts to create new magic by blending spells. And there have been many successful instances. The Meteor Shower, for example. The problem, however, arises when applying this method to spells from different schools, as the cohesion becomes far too fragile. Just as now, it collapses in an instant with the mere insertion of a bit of mana into a gap.”

“In my opinion,” Ester muttered,

A new Blaze Eater bloomed forth.

More solid, more cohesive in its form.

Esther pierced it with her finger, just as before, but the flame did not falter.

The Cross Blend she had just cast was Etila’s masterpiece.

An achievement Etila could proudly display to others.

Though incomplete, she had been confident it would even startle Esther Tristijo herself.

But Esther spoke to Etila as a professor might advise a student whose experiment had failed.

And Esther’s words were the truth.

The flame Esther conjured in an instant was far more refined, more beautiful than the magic Etila labored over through sleepless nights.

“I have other matters to attend to, so I cannot examine it in greater detail, but these are the issues I’ve found with this magic. It needs a little more refinement.”

It felt unreasonable.

That she would discern its flaws after only seeing it once, without the meticulous experimentation and proof she herself had undergone, and then produce something even more magnificent.

She felt herself shrinking.

Etila lowered her head.

Her chest tightened.

It felt as if her talent, her very identity, which had been praised by so many, was being utterly denied.

Esther hadn’t insulted her in any way, but a nameless torment slowly constricted her heart.

“An intriguing concept.”

Suddenly, Esther murmured.

Etila, barely holding back tears, lifted her head.

She saw Esther’s gaze fixed on the ever-growing flame.

“A combination of disparate schools… a new form of magic unlike any I’ve seen before.”

Esther’s face was painted with the shifting crimson light.

A small smile bloomed on her cold, impassive lips.

“uuuh…”

The girl’s face flushed instantly.

Etila fled her seat without hesitation.

For the moment she glimpsed Esther’s smile, an overwhelmingly embarrassing feeling had seized her.

Burning with renewed resolve, she vowed to herself.

Next time, I’ll give Esther Tristy what for, for sure.

Though, I didn’t even make it far before sprawling face-first onto the floor.

The mortification was all the more potent in that moment.

*

“Hm….”

It seems, like last time, she was about to ask something, so I kindly offered a response only for Etilla to run off again.

Was I too stiff and severe…? I just can’t figure it out.

Out in the world, where I meet a lot of people, I try my best not to reveal my true self through the Nob AI.

The reason being my atrocious manners and the reputation I’ve built, but Dalpi says that maintaining a sharp image with other people is actually more helpful in maintaining relationships.

I agreed to some extent with the idea that it’s better to be seen as intimidating than to be easily taken advantage of.

However, given that I’d made Etilla cry once before, I tried to maintain a softer atmosphere this time around, *tch*.

『If you don’t like the soft wizard mk.2 version who’s mastered both etiquette and genius, how about a snobbish noble young master concept based on Kenneth and Uriel?』

Just kill me already.

I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ll have to ask her why when I see her again, and apologize if I did something wrong.

Feeling unsettled, I headed towards Aria’s office.