35. Inter-School Competition (5)
All tournaments of the inter-school competition, in which over thirty prestigious schools from across the world took part, were held in the Stella Dome.
This special space, half reality and half illusion, where whatever terrain or even imaginary magic devices one desired could be summoned freely at will, was one of Stella’s distinctive identities.
After all, 9-Class spatial archmage Eltman Eltwin had poured all of his knowledge and magic into replicating the “Inner World.”
The Inner World, literally speaking, meant another world.
Replicating such a world made no sense by ordinary standards, but…
for mages of 8-Class or above, such things as “common sense” did not apply, so no one voiced any doubts.
“…Can partitions like this really block the curse?”
Kkotseorin, the king of all fairies and ruler of the elves, the being closest to the World Tree, asked in an uneasy voice.
At present, the Stella Dome had been formed into a massive stadium, and the general audience seats and the seats reserved for nobles were strictly separated.
On top of that, Eltman Eltwin had personally set aside a completely separate private space just for Kkotseorin.
This place, located at the highest point in the stadium, could not be seen from the outside, while from within, one could freely see everything outside.
The idea for this opaque glass barrier—visible from the inside but invisible from the outside—had been provided by Flame, and it was a special material developed by Alterisha.
On top of that, Eltman’s “spatial barrier” had been layered over it, so this place was effectively no different from an entirely separate world.
When the space itself was of another dimension, how could the curse possibly leak out?
Thanks to that, no one except Aide Oranha was near her, and so she was able to enjoy the matches in a fairly comfortable environment.
“Here, there’s no need for Your Majesty to worry about the curse at all.”
“How fascinating…”
Like a child, Kkotseorin reached out to touch the opaque barrier.
Because it felt so different from the way she usually forced herself to act dignified, the corners of Oranha’s mouth were just about to lift—
“You like it?”
“…Eltman. It has been a while.”
The opaque barrier split apart, and through the opening walked Eltman Eltwin, principal of Stella Academy.
Thinking their private time had been interrupted, Oranha’s expression stiffened slightly, but Kkotseorin smiled at the appearance of her grateful friend.
“To think you developed something like this. It’s amazing.”
“It’s not entirely my own original magic. Well, ninety-nine percent of it is my magic, but still.”
“Did you receive someone else’s help?”
Since Eltman Eltwin was not the sort of mage who needed anyone’s help, Kkotseorin opened her eyes wide, and he nodded with an awkward smile.
“Yeah. One of the students at our school developed a very unusual theory this time, something called the ‘Parallel Array Formula.’ It turned the magical world upside down. You’ve heard of it too, haven’t you? There’s a rather unusual student named Baek Yuseol.”
“Ah… yes. I’ve heard. I’m really curious what sort of student he is.”
At the sound of that name, Oranha’s fingertips twitched.
Baek Yuseol’s achievements were far too extraordinary to think of him as an ordinary student.
To a degree that made no sense at all.
But if one recalled the truth—that he was in fact a mage over several hundred years old—
then the story became more than plausible enough.
Eliminating Dark Mages? The Parallel Array Formula?
Every one of those was an astonishing achievement.
But that did not mean such astounding feats never appeared in the public eye.
It was only that most of them were normally limited to aged archmages.
The more Baek Yuseol’s achievements stood out, the more certainty Oranha’s hypothesis gained.
There is no doubt.
At this point in time, every single “Spirit-Slayer” had long since either been arrested or killed under the relentless pursuit of the elite High Elf judges.
Except for one.
The unidentified killer who had put Kkotseorin’s friend, Iphanel, to sleep.
At such a time, Baek Yuseol—who carried so much spiritual aura about him that one might mistake him for a divine beast rather than a human—was undeniably a Spirit-Slayer.
For unless one killed a spirit and took its heart,
it was impossible for a mere human to possess such an aura.
Did he think no one would recognize his true identity, and so he has begun moving openly at last?
If that was the case, then he had made a serious miscalculation.
Oranha had already seen through his identity.
And in this place, the very king of all fairies had personally arrived.
There was absolutely no way he could evade her sharp insight.
No matter what happens… I’m looking forward to this.
Had he enjoyed his life as a teenage student prospering under the name of Baek Yuseol?
Had the life of being called a genius been thrilling?
If so, then that was truly unfortunate for him.
Because all of it would end today.
Pretending not to notice the smile Oranha wore to himself, Kkotseorin continued conversing with Eltman.
“He sounds like an incredible student.”
“To think I’d learn something new from a student at my own school. I suppose I still have a long way to go. Well… compared to my ‘Master’s’ magic, I still haven’t even reached the dirt beneath the tips of their toes, so it’s true.”
As she touched the opaque barrier, Kkotseorin asked,
“Would it… perhaps be possible to obtain more of this?”
Eltman shook his head with regret.
“Sorry, but that won’t be possible. It’s only possible because this is the Stella Dome, a virtual space. At my level, it’s difficult magic to reproduce in the real world…”
“I see…”
It was unfortunate, but there was nothing to be done.
She was already accustomed to living alone.
Even so, where else would she ever be able to enjoy such a view?
“Anyway, I have to return to my post, so I should be going. I hope you have a pleasant time.”
“Thank you for taking such care of me.”
Only after Eltman left did their time alone finally return.
As Kkotseorin watched the thrilling League of Spirit match unfolding in the stadium, she asked Oranha,
“Aide.”
“Yes. Please speak.”
“You did say… that that ‘Spirit-Slayer’ was here, correct?”
“Of course.”
She slowly turned her head and met Oranha’s gaze.
Her beautiful eyes could not be directly seen because they were hidden behind a black mask and a veil, but the piercingly cold look in them could be felt with perfect clarity.
“There must… be no falsehood in those words.”
It sounded almost like a warning, but Oranha had complete confidence in his own judgment, so he was able to nod firmly.
“Of course.”
It had become the second day of the inter-school competition.
Unlike the 1vs1 duels, League of Spirit matches tended to be quite long.
A single match could take as little as ten minutes or as long as thirty, and since all thirty teams had to be matched up and earn points, it could not help but take quite a lot of time.
Still, no one complained.
If anything, there were many ordinary spectators who had come here from great distances just to watch the matches of those genius youths, so for some people, the longer it went on, the better.
So, in the meantime, what was I doing, with nothing to do?
“So. What’ll it be?”
I sat crookedly in my chair, legs crossed, arrogantly lifting a cup of coffee to my lips.
One arm draped over the backrest—that was the key point.
“Ah, hot.”
For a split second, it felt like I might burn my tongue and ruin the pose, but fortunately, I did not drop the cup.
Zeliel kept her head bowed with an expressionless face, saying nothing.
She was probably thinking something through.
Like how she had come to mistake me for a Dark Mage…
She must’ve been certain from the moment she gave me the Soul Orb.
I had forgotten about it because I had not paid any attention to it.
The mysterious artifact, the Soul Orb, inside the pendant Zeliel had gifted me.
Even in the Cradle of the Celestial Tree, it was treated as an extremely precious treasure, so no matter how massive the Starcloud company was, it should not have been easy for them to handle.
The fact that she had suddenly handed it over to me meant that someone who suspected me of being a Dark Mage had put her up to it.
“Not going to talk?”
“It was something I decided on my own.”
Even so, our loyal Zeliel did not reveal the identity of the person who had requested it.
I could guess it was someone whose status would be troublesome if exposed…
but anyway.
It would be one of the elder-level figures of the Celestial Tree.
To begin with, one could not even approach the Soul Orb casually.
Unless one was at the level of a High Elf elder or higher, it was impossible even to step into its shadow.
“Is that so? Then how are you going to take responsibility?”
At that, Zeliel raised her head and met my gaze.
If I were just a student with no standing, that would be one thing, but now I carried quite a bit of weight myself.
A cadet of Stella, co-developer of an item, the founder of the Parallel Array Formula.
…Not that I had personally accomplished every one of those things with my own hands, but still, if the Starcloud company turned its back on me for no reason, I was the kind of figure who would become quite a headache for them.
So that must have been why she wanted to get her hands on me.
She had thought my identity was that of a Dark Mage, and since she believed she had discovered that, she probably meant to use it as leverage to control me as she pleased.
Zeliel was not the sort of person who “thought for herself and acted.”
She was the sort of person who could only feel satisfied when she had useful “game pieces” that she could manipulate at will.
Blackmail, fabrication, manipulation, violence.
In terms of committing all kinds of dirty and filthy acts from behind the scenes, slowly dragging the other party into the gutter and turning them into a slave, she was not very different from Jeremy.
In many ways, she was a woman I really disliked.
“With just one word from me, even Starcloud would take a massive blow. Your father built it all up, didn’t he… It’s a real shame. For it to turn out like this because of his daughter’s mistake.”
Zeliel bit down lightly on her lip, but did not say a word.
Still, her head must be a mess by now.
Because I knew the setting that she loved her father dearly, I also knew this line was a direct critical hit to her.
If her father’s honor were severely damaged, and on top of that he were disappointed in her…
there was no way Zeliel would be able to endure that.
“Well, talking to you is annoying in the first place. Just bring your father here. I wonder how he’ll react? You accused someone of being a Dark Mage, and even tried to blackmail him with that…”
“…Please stop. Please, just stop.”
Zeliel’s eyes began to shake.
It even made her look rather pitiful.
If an extraordinarily beautiful girl, one who looked as though she might lose consciousness at any moment, gazed like that, most men would probably become enchanted and lose their hearts on the spot.
But thanks to the Blessing of Crimson Spring March, I was able to keep a cool head and steady reason in situations like this.
“If it’s compensation, I’ll pay as much as necessary… so please, just keep it a secret from my father.”
“Are you really okay with that? Just keeping this hidden from the public—not even counting hiding it from your father—would come with an enormous extra cost.”
“…That’s fine.”
So even if she had to pay any price at all, the one thing she desperately did not want was for her father to find out about her mistake.
Well, I had no real intention of tattling to Chairman Melian either.
It would be better to blackmail Zeliel here and bind her tightly.
That would also be better for Flame and Eizel, who were supposed to get mercilessly bullied by Zeliel later during the exchange-student episode at Starflower Tree Magic School.
“All right. Then it’s settled?”
I was planning to make a somewhat excessive demand of her.
Falsely branding someone as a Dark Mage was absolutely taboo even in magical society…
but even taking that into account, what I was about to demand was excessively unreasonable.
Still, no matter how much it was Zeliel, she would not agree to it immediately.
So I would have to use a method I had used once before.
Snap!
The moment I flicked my fingers, Anella, who had been waiting behind us, revealed herself.
“Yes!”
“Did you bring the item?”
“Of course!”
Grandly carrying even a 007 briefcase, she placed it on the table and opened it with a click-click sound, then took out a single sheet of paper.
…Even though I was staging this as though it looked impressive, it was really just cheap “mana paper” bought at a stationery shop.
Still, there was no one who did not know that mana paper had a special function.
“This is…”
I quickly wrote out a “pledge” on the mana paper and held it out to Zeliel.
“How about we play one wager match of Soul Chess?”
“…A wager match, you say?”
“That’s right. If I lose, we cleanly call the whole thing off and pretend it never happened. If I win, you agree to these terms. What do you say?”
It was a brutally unfair deal where I had nothing to lose even if I broke the pledge, whereas the other side would lose all of their mana if they broke it.
Without even knowing that fact, Zeliel silently read through the pledge.
And once she had finally checked every clause, she placed it back on the table and nodded with a confident expression.
“Fine. I accept these terms.”
I slowly lifted the corners of my mouth.
She took the bait.
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