Belmiard (2)
Margrave Belmiard, the youngest among the most influential figures in the western part of the Empire, was a man for whom everything was perfect.
He ruled the entire coastal region south of the Belcos Peninsula, and alone managed sixty percent of the trade routes leading to Ebelstein, and in the northern part of his territory he even held the headquarters of the Drest Academy, the largest magic academic society on the continent.
Not only that, he also solely managed the vast granary region stretching far to the north of the coastal area, so when one added up the annual tax revenue of the Belmiard County, there was even a joke going around that one could fill the sea with gold coins.
He was, quite literally, a man who swam in a sea of gold coins. However, even for him, whose entire life had been smooth sailing, there was one thing he lacked, and that was fortune in children.
His eldest son, Linus, was obsessed with gambling and women and spent his days in debauchery without a care, and his youngest, Leonard, suddenly declared one day that he would devote himself to the will of god and left on a pilgrimage, and except for festival days and important family events, he did not even show his face. It was truly enough to drive one mad.
At least the second child, Ellente, had her head screwed on straight and was faithful to her duties, so she was, in effect, the one and only treasure of Count Belmiard, who always suffered headaches over his children.
"It is time to go practice magic sparring, Young Lady Ellente."
" ... Is it already that time."
Young Lady Ellente, who received all of Count Belmiard's love, had already come to the noble district of Ebelstein long ago and begun her High Society training.
She was sitting in the corridor of a large dome-shaped building next to the plaza of the noble district. Among Ebelstein's nobles, this place was called the Cultural Corridor, a place where various salons and small clubs gathered to socialize and build connections.
Young Lady Ellente had just finished a meeting of the Rosea Salon, the only salon she belonged to, and was using the short free time she had to skim through documents containing news from her territory.
"I heard that there is a tea party being held by the Viscount Bellorn Family. If you plan to attend, I will move the sparring practice to a later time."
"Forget it. I don't want to waste time on that kind of childish play."
The girl still had more than a year left before her coming-of-age ceremony, but she was already mature.
Count Belmiard was already letting her experience various practical affairs. Supervision of crop cultivation and harvest in the granary region, review of livestock management, as well as financial work such as reviewing taxes and rents, dispute mediation, and even military duties like managing private soldiers and weapons — she was being made to experience all of these.
There were even rumors that he intended to amend the long-standing family rule and pass on the estate to make her the Family Head. If that were true, she would become the only female count in the western part of the Empire.
"......."
Though she was still only at the stage of gaining experience with the assistance of old retainers, she had already learned the workings of territory administration to a certain degree, and to her, these High Society games often felt like childish play by naive young ladies.
Still, because of public scrutiny, she fulfilled her duties as a noble young lady, but whenever she looked at the marriage proposal letters that came in from time to time, she could not help but snort.
When she looked at the writing styles of men who puffed themselves up and recited all kinds of flowery words in an attempt to buy the heart of a woman who had not even made her High Society debut yet, she could not help but think to herself that this must be what people meant by "empty on the inside."
The girl wanted to become a ruler, not to be subordinate to a single man. As if proving that fact, the girl, who stood up while letting her red hair fall down her back, looked dignified and imposing.
"Today feels good. I might be able to use 2-star magic."
"There is nothing good about having excessive ambition. Mastery of magic is something that must be built up step by step, steadily."
As Young Lady Ellente left the corridor while muttering to herself, the old magic master who followed behind her gave calm advice.
*
Entering the magic sparring arena located in the northeast of the noble district, Young Lady Ellente suddenly had a question and asked.
"But there doesn't seem to be any sparring scheduled for today ... who am I supposed to practice with?"
"Today, in order to practice offensive magic more seriously, I have arranged for a commoner to act as your opponent."
"What?"
Ellente, who had been entering the sparring arena with her dress hem trailing behind her, glared at the old magic master.
That old master was a gentleman named Pelmier.
He was a person personally scouted by a high-ranking retainer of the Belmiard Count Family in the northern part of the Empire, an old mage from the Viscount Maxton Family. He was a 3-star Search-type mage, but he also had considerable knowledge of Combat-type magic and Summoning Magic. And he was also a person thoroughly steeped in aristocratic ideology.
Young Lady Ellente herself was also a person influenced by noble society, so it could not be said that she had no sense of privilege or superiority, but even so, she had quite a few points of conflict with this old magic master named Pelmier.
This was precisely one of them.
"The person who will stand on the opposite side of the sparring arena today is nothing more than a commoner, so you may practice magic as much as you like. If he gets a little injured, that is something that can be settled by giving him some gold coins."
"So Master Pelmier came all the way down from that cold north to Ebelstein to teach me how to beat people up, is that it?"
"That is what sparring is, originally."
"Didn't you always teach me that I must display etiquette, refinement, and elegance?"
"That is in reference to sparring between nobles."
Young Lady Ellente stopped walking toward the sparring arena, looked up at the old master, and shot him a sharp glare.
In this day and age, there was no need to even consider how shallow the level of commoners' magic was.
Even more so, a commoner who came happily for a single gold coin would, at best, be at the very beginning of 1-star, or more likely just a half-baked fellow who had not even learned star-rank magic at all.
Pelmiere stood there firmly with his hands clasped behind his back, not even flinching at the girl's glare.
Pelmiere did not fail to understand Young Lady Ellente's personality.
She considered going all-out against the weak to be disgraceful, and she thought it barbaric to hurl magic at opponents who could barely even resist.
Unlike Pelmiere, who regarded commoners as something between beasts and humans, Ellente was a person who at least thought they should be treated as people.
"Even so, I have arranged for a commoner who can use 1-star magic. He will not be completely unable to resist."
"Do you even hear yourself right now .. "
"If you truly respect your opponent, then go all-out. Is that not the etiquette on the sparring arena?"
In any case, he was a master who was eloquent with words. Young Lady Ellente could only let out a deep sigh.
"Then today, let us focus on mastering Combat-type magic and Illusion-type magic among the 1-star spells."
"I'll stop if it feels like it's going too far."
"With that attitude, your skill will never improve."
Young Lady Ellente headed toward the sparring arena, letting the master's words go in one ear and out the other.
*
'My goodness, he's too young.'
Young Lady Ellente could not help but furrow her brow again.
The boy sitting on the opposite side of the sparring arena, fixing his boots, looked at most to be about the same age as Young Lady Ellente.
Even among commoners, those who were called 1-star mages were often already quite old.
Learning star-rank magic at a young age was something that was almost only possible for nobles. He was surely just some half-baked fellow who had gotten lucky and manifested a bit of mana.
Looking at him more closely, he seemed to be a mercenary.
It seemed Pelmiere had put in a request to the mercenary groups around the tavern district and brought someone over.
"......"
Perhaps noticing that Young Lady Ellente had come up onto the sparring arena, the boy stood up while brushing off the tips of his boots and bowed politely.
A neat tunic and a leather belt. Seeing that not only the metal parts of the scabbard at his waist, but even the belt buckle and the buttons on his clothes were shining, he did not seem to be a street beggar.
His hair was pure white, and his eyes, like Ellente's, were red.
For some reason, that appearance felt strangely out of place. He was clearly just a child around her age, yet an inexplicable sense of maturity was emanating from him.
'.... So he's not just some nobody?'
"My name is Derrick."
"Ellente."
Ellente did not bother to give her full name. He was not someone who deserved that much courtesy, and in any case, he would know it even if she did not say it.
However, that name, Derrick, somehow felt like one she had heard somewhere before. It felt like a name she had heard in passing, but it seemed to have been a long time ago, so she could not remember clearly.
Ellente tapped her chin a few times and sank into thought, but dredging up memories buried in the distant past was not an easy task.
When Ellente remembered a commoner's name, there was always a reason. So if that name felt familiar, there was probably a reason for that too.
She tilted her head a few times like that, but nothing in particular came to mind. Only her wavy red hair brushed against her back a few times.
"How much magic can you use?"
"I can use a little 1-star magic."
So he really had learned star-rank magic.
Considering his age, it was quite an achievement, but compared to Ellente, who was already aiming for the beginning of 2-star, the difference in level would surely be vast.
Ellente wondered if she should just send this boy back and glanced at Pelmiere, but Pelmiere shook his head slightly with his eyes closed. That stubborn master always made Ellente sigh.
"You know the basic etiquette of magic sparring, right?"
"Yes. Only the basics, but I've seen it and heard about it."
"Good. Then resist as much as you can. I'll try to finish it quickly."
From the tip of Young Lady Ellente's fingers, mana began to surge little by little. Because of the aftereffects of the mana, her red hair floated up, and the hem of her luxurious frilled dress also began to flutter.
She was among the nobles with particularly fast magic achievement, and by the time she had come of age, her mana had already manifested naturally.
She was quite a talented individual.
Going overboard against a commoner boy who wandered around the mercenary world would only hurt her dignity. The girl pulled out her mana mechanically, without any change in expression.
From Ellente's point of view, ending it quickly would leave a better aftertaste, and from the boy's point of view, he could easily take his gold coins and leave.
That was what she was thinking as she gradually pulled up more mana.
"By resisting as much as possible ... to what extent do you mean?"
"What?"
"It would be good if you could set some guidelines for how much I should resist."
At those words, Ellente looked at Derrick quietly, as if in disbelief.
Right in front of him, a fully trained 1-star mage was gathering mana, and yet the boy did not show even a hint of tension.
"What kind of ..... nonsense are you talking about?"
"I am a mercenary. As you know, mercenaries take it as a virtue and a source of pride to always complete the task they are given in accordance with the client's objective."
She wondered what on earth he was talking about and looked into the boy's eyes, but as usual, he had a serious gaze.
"I came here after receiving a request to help with magic training. If that is the request, then how much should I resist to be most helpful to Young Lady Ellente's magic training?"
Ellente did not know it, but Derrick had already ingrained that policy into his body through countless mercenary jobs. No matter what anyone said, he was a seasoned mercenary.
A mercenary places the client's objective as the top priority.
Whether subjugating monsters, dealing with suspicious individuals, or escorting a merchant caravan ..... the basis of all actions and judgments is the client's goal.
If what the client wants is help in becoming more proficient in magic, and they have paid appropriate money for it, then Derrick will move for that goal. That was why Derrick was looking at Ellente with such serious eyes.
He had said something vague like he would just take a few hits and lose, but if the core of the request truly lay in magic training, then Derrick's attitude had no choice but to change.
And that seriousness was precisely why, among so many mercenaries, clients would specifically seek out Derrick and give him requests. In this harsh mercenary world, not just anyone could make a name for themselves.
However, that was all a story from the bottom-tier mercenary world.
It was not something a noble young lady who lived among the clouds needed to know, nor something she needed to concern herself with.
"Ha."
Ellente let out a dry laugh once and said as if amused.
"I told you, didn't I. Resist with all your strength."
"I understand."
—Whoosh!
Ellente brushed off Derrick's pointless questions and began to emit a massive amount of mana from her hand.
Even with the same 1-star magic, the level differed depending on who used it. As if proving that fact, the mana aura flowing out from Young Lady Ellente's hand was of a completely different quality from ordinary 1-star magic.
—Whoosh!
"Wind that sweeps across the earth ... "
Young Lady Ellente instantly continued her incantation and drew out the 1-star magic 'Shockwave'.
Most Combat-type magic usually took the form of elements, but this magic simply generated an impact to blow the opponent away.
It was a spell mainly used by mages who needed to create distance in most combat situations, and in sparring like this, it was often used when one wanted to push the opponent out of bounds and decide the match in an instant.
If one did not know the proper way to deal with it, they would not even realize what had happened before being slammed outside the wall.
Originally, such crude magic was not allowed in magic sparring, where dignity was valued, but Ellente's goal was simply to blow that commoner away and send him back after giving him a gold coin or two.
And so, the magic drawn from Ellente's hand flew toward Derrick.
Derrick's two red eyes widened.
At that moment, Ellente felt a strange sense of unease.
—Whoosh!
Derrick lightly jumped to the side once and avoided the Shockwave.
Since Shockwave had no visible form, one had to sense the mana in an instant and estimate its range. It was natural that one needed a fairly developed sense of using mana, and one also needed agility to avoid it.
At that moment, Ellente narrowed her eyes and quickly raised her evaluation of Derrick.
'So he really isn't just some nobody ...?'
Quickly pulling up additional mana, she manifested 1-star magic Ice Spear.
When Delia had just learned 1-star magic, her Ice Spears were small and few in number, but Ellente's Ice Spears, already skilled to the point of mastery, were larger than a person's upper body, and their number easily exceeded a dozen.
'Still ...! I don't want to waste energy, so I should just finish this quickly ...!'
If she fired a huge number of Ice Spears at once without leaving any blind spots, there would be no way out.
One or two might be dealt with through instinct, but in front of overwhelming numbers, the unique agility of mercenaries like him would have no meaning at all.
It was just as Ellente turned her gaze toward Derrick to set the direction in which she would fire the Ice Spears.
–Clang! Clang! Bang!
When she came to her senses, all of the Ice Spears that had been floating around Ellente had been shattered.
–Pssssh!
For a moment, Ellente felt as if time had slowed down.
Fragments of shattered ice were slowly falling around her.
In Ellente's wide-open eyes, those glittering ice fragments were reflected.
In Ellente's vision, there was only the sight of Derrick raising his fist and clenching it tightly. She had barely managed to observe the state after he had grasped the flow of mana.
In that brief instant, had he drawn out exactly as many Mana Arrows as there were Ice Spears and destroyed them all?
The problem was that the entire process was not visible at all. There was no incantation, and there was no sluggish bottleneck that occurred in the process of using mana.
Mana drawn out as naturally as flowing water made it impossible for the opponent to even recognize it.
From the fact that each of those many Mana Arrows had pierced each Ice Spear precisely, one could not help but feel that the fineness of his mana control itself was on a completely different level.
Had he introduced himself as a 1-star mage?
No matter how much training one did as a 1-star mage, could one become like this?
The boy opened his tightly clenched fist, then shook his wrist as if loosening the tension.
Ellente's eyes narrowed even further.
Then she made a big backward leap and once again pulled up her mana. Seriousness had already risen on her face.
The girl, whose magic sense was sufficiently sharp, realized it in just two exchanges.
He was not someone she could deal with half-heartedly.
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