Sousetsuka

Chapter 38 Strongest Sage, Fights Demon

 

The umpire pointed at drawn circles.
Two drawn circles for the First and Second Academy reps, with a 20-meter gap between them.
I wonder if this gap is in consideration of the First Academy students who cannot use swords.

By the way, we've confirmed that there's no rule that disallows getting close to your opponents.
Carrying weapons like swords or bows are also allowed.

"Are you both ready!"

"Second Academy, we're ready!"

"Representatives of the glorious First Academy don't need to get ready to beat these bunch!"

This demon sure always finds a way to speak ill.
Well, a demon with polite language and good conducts can't possibly exist though.

"The 65th Royal Academy Interpersonal Match, begin!"

"Alright, let's go!"

I stepped forward as the match started.
Alma put an arrow on her bow, Ruli began to construct a magic.

"""Fire Mana that dwells in my body--"""

Our three opponents had begun to chant a spell.
No. That's not exactly correct. The demon's mana had moved before it started its chant.
In other words, the demon is just pretending to chant.

An arrow and a magic passed beside me as I ran forward.
They hit the the two people beside the demon splendidly, destroying the outer layer of their dual-layered barrier completely.

"Lychese, Jias, double knock out!"

"Wha..."

The audience were surprised.
Two of the First Academy reps forfeited the match five second after it started.

The demon is the only one left now.
Judging from the presences behind me, it seems Alma and Ruli are properly taking evasive maneuvers.

"Oraa!"

The demon finished its pretend-chant and shot its magic.
Even if they were weaklings, the demon didn't look perturbed at all with its teammates defeats.
Its face looked upset for an instant when it saw Ruli's and Alma's magic, but that seemed more like because of the chantless magic.

And the magic were directed at--Alma and Ruli.
Two magic were activated at the same time.

Moreover, the mana put into the magic is quite significant. Its power is clearly intended to break the defensive magic and make it into an 『Accident』.
If it can hit that is.

"Ha!"

"And...there!"

The two evaded the demon's magic by jumping assisted with magic.
The heat and blast reached even me, but all of us are safe.

Evasion magic was one of the things I taught to these two during this one month.
The two used that to evade the demon's magic and ran to the waiting room.

"A-awesome! What power!"

"I didn't know that Devilis's magic was that strong! Surely he can beat them 1-on-3?"

The demon's name appears to be Devilis.
The audience doesn't seem to notice its fake chant magic just now at all.

"Look those two are running away! Laaame!"

"Get him, Devilis!"

I ignore the audience's voices and thrust my sword at Devilis's neck.
I haven't buffed it with magic. Since this attack won't kill it anyway, I'm saving my mana even a little.

However, an attack to the neck is the weakness of demons.
Devilis itself couldn't afford to ignore it, it invoked a light evasion magic and evaded my attack.
--Chantlessly.

"Oy. What about the chant?"

The demon's face warped when I said that. Looks like it noticed its blunder to hide it.

"Fire mana!"

Devilis shot a magic at me with an extremely slovenly shortened chant, filled with murderous intent.
I evaded it with jump magic and took a bit of distant away.

A demon that could use magic without chanting deliberately pretended to chant.
....It's all clear now.


--The one that popularized chant magic is demons.


That explains the favoritism for First Crest and the cold treatment for the Fourth Crest.
Humanity getting weaker at magic is a good thing for demons, and magic of Fourth Crest that has a bad affinity for them must be undesirable for them.

Getting people to treat the Fourth Crest coldly should be quite easy if they slipped into a body of authority that decides on the standard of magic.
They can simply make the assessment require hitting a faraway target.

A question remains, why did they take such a roundabout fashion instead of just simply destroy humanity.... Perhaps, it's because the demons lack the manpower.
Demons have low reproductive power in the first place, they were already driven to the brink of extinction in my era. Their number might still haven't increased even after all this time.

In fact, this demon is the first demon-like mana reaction I've ever encountered since my reincarnation.
And this demon doesn't look seem like it has an abundance of combat experience.
Even putting aside the pretend chant matter, its combat spec doesn't live up to demon's standard.

After thinking all that, I constructed three magic while pointing my sword at the demon.




























Previous Chapter

Chapter 37 Strongest Sage, Getting Incited

 

"So this is the Royal Capital's arena...."

The day of the interpersonal match.
I, the teachers, and the other members went to the royal capital's arena.
The other students are going to cheer for us but they're acting separately.

"You've never seen it, Mathi-kun?"

"Yeah. I mean, the only place I know in the capital is our school. And the blacksmith from back then I guess."

I wasn't really interested in the arena since it mostly held mock battles with chant magic.
Well, the magic put on it is the same as what I've guessed, so there's no particular problem

"Now that you mentiont it, Mathi-kun's knowledge seems to be quite lopsided doesn't it.... I hope there's no Heaven-sent Child of Magic participating this year...."

"Heaven-sent Child of Magic?"

What's with that divine name. I never heard that.

"There was a few times when Second Academy had strong students that looked like they'd win. But during those years, First Academy always had someone stronger as the leader...."

"They were unbelievably strong every times it happened, so people called them 『Heaven-sent Child of Magic』. If I'm not mistaken, the previous magic division commander was also one. ...Well, I don't think even the 『Heaven-sent Child of Magic』 could stand against Mathi, we should be fine."

I see. That's what 『Heaven-sent Child of Magic』 about huh. Abnormally strong people also occasionally showed themselves up in my past life, but the timing is quite convenient this time.
Not sure how much does "unbelievably strong" means, well, I'll know when I see them.

If they're not somewhat strong, there's a possibility that the match ends too quick and we get no time to demonstrate the power of chantless magic instead.
I hope someone moderately tough appears.
I went to the waiting room while thinking that, however....

◇

"Hey. Mankind and demons are hostile against each others right?"

"They've always been humanity's greatest enemy since a long time ago.... What about it?"

Alma replied with a 'why are you asking the obvious' look on her face.

"Nah, I was just wondering. That aside, it's really here. That Heaven-sent Child of Magic. That is indeed a monster."

I muttered while examining the mana reaction.
The waiting rooms of the First and Second Academy are 100 meter apart, thus examining their mana isn't a difficult task
If that's really the Heaven-sent Child of Magic, it certainly has power incomparable to other students just like Ruli told me.

"From the waiting room of the First Academy, I could feel a strong.... Or rather, an odd power."

"It's true. ...Or rather, I don't think that's even the mana reaction of a human.... If even Mathi deems them strong, are they considerably dangerous?"

Thanks to their one month training with 【Passive Detection】, it seems these two have noticed the oddity of this mana.
I think its mana quantity is about 10 times mine.

It's a honest-to-goodness monster--or rather, demon for sure.
Judging from its mana reaction, it's most likely a type of demon that's good in disguise and with high defensive power. I guess the fact that it isn't the strong-at-attacking type is the silver lining here.
Demons usually have the ability to conceal their mana reaction, but they probably think they don't need to do that now that 【Passive Detection】 has been discarded by people.

"You two, listen to me."

"What's wrong?"

"If the enemy's leader is as I've guessed, this'll be quite dangerous.  Therefore, I'd like you two to defeat the two students besides the 『Heaven-sent Child of Magic』 and then immediately escape. Leave the rest to me."

"But, the arena has defensive magic...."

"It's possible for the defensive magic to be broken through. If we're only talking about magic output, the other party's is considerably higher compared to mine."

Well, that is if we're only talking about magic output.

"Surpassing Mathi-kun, that can't be a human...."

Because it's not.
I'd like to hide the fact that I know the enemy's real identity from the enemy itself as long as possible.
That's why, this is the time to tell them my plan.

Sounds of cheering resounded in the arena right after.
The waiting room's door is then opened.

"It's time, please enter the arena."

"We should just smash the two besides the leader right?"

"And then we escape..."

"That's the plan. Let's go then!"

We went to the arena from the opened door.
An official chant a magic at about the same time, putting defensive magic on the three of us.

Just as expected, I could break two layer of this defensive magic with a single slash of a magic-augmented sword.
The demon should be able to do the same with its magic, Ruli and Alma could destroy two layers too if they trained a bit more.
Alma could probably do it right here and now if I taught her enchant magic other than the simple mana-loaded one.

It's basically enough against someone who only uses chant magic.... but you can't deny its lack of strength.

"Oy, there's a Disqualified Crest!"

"You're right! It's a Disqualified Crest! And what's with those outfits, he gonna fight or something!"

"Oy, Disqualified Crest, this ain't a place for you to play around! I'm amazed you'd even get admitted to the Second Academy no matter how crappy it is!"

The demon shouted the moment it saw me.
It seems the demon is hiding its demonic characteristic with disguise magic and has even put on a fake Glory Crest on its body.
The other two students who were with the demon (both are humans with Glory Crest) raised their voices, and then jeers were thrown from the audience seats of the First Academy visitors.

The Second School visitors booed them back in retaliation.
They're saying anything they like, like 'Chicken bastards who can't even hold a sword is one to talk'.

Indeed, the First Academy students aren't carrying weapons unlike the Second Academy.
They've fortified themselves with mithril-made armor instead. The armor might be slightly effective, since this arena's defensive magic is the type that repels magic just before it hits your skin, however.... Considering Ruli and Alma could break the barrier in one blow, that doesn't seem like it'll help.

They appear to look down on Disqualified Crest quite a bit.... I guess they're specialized in long-distance chantless magic.

By the way, the audience seats are filled with students and teachers from both sides and several tens of what seem to be bigwig magicians.
Thus, the huge venue is mostly vacant.

"Umm! Just because he has a Disqualified Crest..."

"Ruli, thank you for covering me. However, you would only waste your time with these guys."

Ruli covered me.
Alma also seemed like she wanted to say something, but I stopped her.

There's no need to deliberately tell the enemy my strength.
The current me can't afford to let my guard down against a demon.
Looks like the demon is still going to pretend to be a human for now.... Now then, how to expose it.

"True enough, no point in saying anything to people who laughed the moment they saw someone else's crest. I almost wasted my breath there."

"Hmph. What are you barking, you think Disqualified Crest can win against Glory Crest. Covering these Disqualified Crest means you're the same kind. I'll blow you away together."

As we talked... or rather verbally abusing each others, the umpire got between us.

"We will now begin the interpersonal match! Both sides, take your position!"


























Previous Chapter

Chapter 36 Strongest Sage, Selected as Representative

 

About a month after Ruli and Alma started their training.
Principal Edward opened his mouth before the whole student body gathered in the meeting ground.
Today is the day the school is announcing the representatives for the interpersonal match.

"We will now announce representatives for interpersonal match."

The second graders looked at each others when they heard that.
Can't blame them. Usually the representatives were selected from second graders and they knew their identities long before the official announcement.
However, there was no news about it this year.

"Leader  First Year Class A, Mathias."

"Yes!"

I stepped forward as I got called.

"Eh? First year...?"

"It should be within the rule sure, but I've never heard first year ever getting selected...."

"And he's a Disqualified Crest. Is that all right?"

"Maybe they're going to throw the match away since we've never won an interpersonal match...."

The second graders reacted with perplexity and sympathy when they saw me.
Even though the representative seat was taken by a freshman, it seems their emotions mostly exclude anger.

Well, I could guess the reason for that.
Apparently, the Second Royal Academy has suffered 33 consecutive defeats.

Getting chosen in such a tournament means getting the short end of the stick, no one desires the honor.
It seems the second graders are thinking that the principal chooses me because he wants to give up the match.

"Member, First Year Class A, Alma!"

"Yes!"

"Member, First Year Class A, Ruli!"

"Yes!"

The second graders' uproar reached its climax when Ruli's name was called as the third rep.

"Principal, what the hell!"

"I can't believe you're sending first year kids as the reps! Lemme do it in their stead!"

"Me too! Like we'd stand being the only one safe while sacrificing the first year!"

Most of the first-year students already knew about chantless magic, so there wasn't really a fuss among them.
I guess this is the side effect of hiding the chantless magic until we have result to show in order to prevent strong oppositions.

....By the way, the second graders made it like the interpersonal-match was dangerous, but it's fundamentally safe. Physically speaking that is.
Apparently, the Royal Capital's arena has a device that puts a dual layer barrier on each participants, defeat condition is triggered when the outer barrier is destroyed, allowing matches without worry of injury, the interpersonal match will be held there.

However, it doesn't nullify the mental load and it seems there are students who are traumatized by the match.

It's an unnaturally high performance device compared to chant magic.... But I feel like there's a kind of relic with similar capability from my age.

The civilization of that time has been seemingly destroyed now, but at that time there was this slogan, 『Let's create a legacy we can be proud of even 3000 years in the future!』, lots of people created many things like pointlessly sturdy arenas and such, this arena might also be something from that time.
It's extremely easy to operate, even chant magic should be able to use it.

....If that's true, the magic loaded in it is most likely not absolutely impregnable.
Although there might be differences depending on the device, I probably could easily break through the barrier if I seriously attack with my sword or magic.
I've got to make sure not to kill someone by mistake.

"Quiet down!"

The principal suppressed the students who made a fuss with a word.

"I'm not throwing down the towel. Rather, I'm confident we'll win this year."

"Do you mean to say that those kids are stronger than us second graders?"

"That's right. We can't have a match cause we don't have the facility.... Just watch their magic for now."

The principal made an eye signal while saying that, and then the teachers brought in and set up three targets horizontally in the place.

"Here I go!"

Ruli declared that and shot one flame magic.
The flame magic hit the center target and blew away all three of them.

"Awesome. Is this for real...."

"Are they gonna overpower the First Academy with a Glory Crest....?"

"This isn't the end, next!"

This time the teachers set up three target in a straight line. The targets look to be overlapped from Alma's viewpoints.
Alma took out her bow and shot a mana-loaded arrow.
The arrow shot by Alma pierced through all three targets and fell down in the schoolyard dozens of meters further away.

By the by, when they first started training Ruli was stronger, but now they're about equal.
Their mana quantity have been relatively forged as well, showing growth where a Second Crest caught up to a First Crest.

"Well, as you can see. If you're curios how is this possible, I'll explain it after the match is over."

The students rustled again when they heard that.
This time the first graders besides Class A also joined the fuss.

"Seriously.... Wait, I didn't hear any chant?"

"Musta missed it. Still, just how strong is that bow....?"

"The first graders this year are an assembly of monsters....? I heard they introduced some kind of new class, don't tell me all of the first year are...."

"Nah. The two over there must be a special case. If those aren't enough to be the leader, then just who is that Mathias...."

"I heard from a first year acquaintance that there was someone who got 250 score in the entrance exam."

"What the heck!? Ain't 50 the perfect score!?"

The principal opens his mouth once again when the commotion is about to settle down.

"By the way, look forward to Mathias's power at the real show. Knowing them all from the beginning ain't fun right?"

Principal Edward grinned after he said that.

"These three will fight in the interpersonal match. We're gonna win this!"



























Previous Chapter

Chapter 35 Strongest Sage, Hermit Crab Bombing

 

"Oh, found a nice room. Let's go back after smashing it."

I found something interesting after an hour in the dungeon.
It's rare to encounter this room in your first dungeon day. Besides, this one seems like a hit. It's the type of Monster House that houses many monsters inside.

"Nice room?"

"A Monster House. Sensei, we're allowed to activate it right?"

"....Monster House? You can tell the difference from outside? I do feel some monster-like presence, but..."

"Yes, with 【Passive Detection】, you can tell one just by looking."

"【Passive Detection】 huh.... I've heard about it during the entrance ceremony day, but there's only a few teachers who managed to learn it.... Well, since we're safe with Mathias-kun here, Monster House would be a good experience."

Oh right. Sensei also has just learned chantless magic recently.
You need to comprehend reaction of mana to use Passive Detection, it sorta comes in set with chantless magic.
Well, learning 【Passive Detection】 won't be difficult once you can use chantless magic well enough. In fact, it seems sensei is already able to detect the presence of mana a bit.

Now that I've got sensei's permission, I'm going to activate the Monster House.

"It's called Monster House, but it originally has no monster inside. But if you create an impact in it--"

I threw a stone into the Monster House after saying that.
Hundreds of hermit crab monsters appeared inside the room the moment the stone hit the floor.


"Monsters come out of the woodwork. Basically you'd want to go around a Monster House or attack from outside. You'd get surrounded if you tried to pass through it."

Well, it's the perfect experience hunting ground for me personally, so no way I'd take a detour around it.

Monster Houses are places where the density of magic essence is thick, a kind of supersaturated place.
When someone pass through it, or if something or magic is thrown inside, the magic essence gets rapidly crystallized into magic stones and forms monsters.
Normally it's shaped like a small room, but sometimes even a passage can become one if the terrains meet the right conditions.

"Can we attack them?"

"Yeah. Rather, they'd come here if we don't."

Gonna counterattack if they do though.

The hermit crab monsters were coming at us, filling up the passage, while we were talking.

"Their number isn't decreasing at all no matter how many times I shot them though!"

"Wa wa, we're getting overwhelmed!"

"Calm down, aim at the monsters in the front one by one in rotation! Once the vanguard monster is stopped, the ones in the back should also stop!"

"E-even if you tell us that..."

"My bow can't catch up beating them one by one!"

Alma stopped using her bow and began to shoot the monsters with magic.
However, even if these hermit crabs are weak, they're still armored monsters. Alma who hasn't trained enough can't defeat them with direct magic.
The front line got broken in no time at all as their attack couldn't catch up.

"Well, this is what would happen if you stuck our nose into a Monster House with your present strength."

"Wai- stop commenting from the sideline and help us!"

"They're getting closer! Can we run now!"

It seems like it won't be a laughing matter soon, so I'm going to lend them a hand here.
I jump over the two with magic, and carpet bomb the hermit crabs from above.

I dropped down several dozens of weak magic, yet more than powerful enough to defeat these hermit crabs, in an instant, annihilating them all save for one at a slightly distant place.
I kicked the last one toward the wall as I landed, smashing it, extermination complete.

The Fourth Crest is really usable in a narrow passage. Even if the monsters come in groups, I can easily rout them down since they're not scattered about.

"Well, something like that. Running away is another choice since hermit crabs are slow, but it would be dangerous against fast monsters.... This must be the the biggest cause of casualties in this school right?"

"Correct. We would explain to the students about Monster Houses during the accompanying period but.... Looks like I don't have to do that here."

"This is too hard for our first time.... Aren't we only going to start seriously exploring after we've trained?"

"I'm happy to receive magic training.... But I would love if it's a bit more gentler.... Like maybe augment magic, if you'd please...."

"Chantless magic is the basic of augment magic, and there's many scenarios where a magic augmenter is required to fight.... For now, let's train until each of you can easily annihilate a swarm of this scale in one month!"

"I-Is that even possible for humans....? And in one month at that...."

"It is. Once it's finished, we're going to explore the dungeon for real and start training enchant magic besides augment and simple magic."

"I-I'll do my best!"

"True, feels like I can do it if this bow magic gets stronger! I'm gonna give it my all!"


Starting from this day, we kept training augment magic in addition to practicing magic combats in our free time after school.

--And about one month later.




























Previous Chapter

Chapter 34 Strongest Sage, Catches Monster Bare-handed

 

Dungeons are cave-like places where mana essence gathers, places of which monsters are easier to occur.
A cave that has turned into a dungeon changes its terrain by itself, there are even cases where it behaves like a living creature depending on the quantity and quality of the mana essence....
Looks like the outer layer of this dungeon doesn't have such a characteristic. It's hard for mana to pass through dungeon walls, so I cannot detect the deeper layer of this dungeon with my current search ability.

"Oh, found a monster."

I found a reaction from monster right after we stepped into the dungeon.
There's a hermit crab-like monster beyond an intersection straight ahead.

"Eh? I don't see anything resembling monster, has my search skill gotten bad? I should have good eyes for once though...."

"I can't see any monster either."

"Ah. You can't see it yet. It's beyond an intersection over there."

Guess I should teach them 【Passive Detection】 and stuff before we start the exploration for real.
There's a huge difference between someone who can and cannot use it.
Though well, it can be easily obstructed with concealment, so relying on it too much isn't a good idea either.

"By the way, what kind of monster is it?"

"It looks like a hermit crab. I'll go catch it real quick."

I said that and dashed off, after that I caught the hermit crab monster beyond the intersection and went back.
Of course, I've bound its claws and arms with magic to prevent accidents.

It's a very weak monster, I can probably beat it by hitting it with a physical reinforced fist.
Even this hermit crab can easily cut off human fingers if it can use its claws though.

"No matter how weak a monster is, they're still far stronger than common animals. It's not unusual for casualties to appear even with this monster, so you need to be careful.... Or so I'd like to say, but watching Mathias-kun catching one bare-handed like that makes you think there's no need for that.... You two, don't imitate him okay."

"Yes!"

"Not like we could even if we wanted...."

The two girls replied the teacher.
Well it's important to be careful.

There's a possibility of not being able to concentrate at the crucial parts if you're too focused on a weak opponent, thus moderately loosing your strain at the right parts is also important.... Well, they'll probably get used to it as they battle on.
Staying focused to their limit at all times should be a good lesson for beginners.

"Well, that's that, for now let's use this thing as a practice board."

I picked up the hermit crab while saying that.

"Alma, try to shoot an arrow at this monster."

"That monster is covered in shell isn't it? No matter how strong this bow is, I don't think it could break through the shell...."

"Yeah. It's just for confirming something. You don't need to mind me, I can manage even if your aim veers off a bit. Hurry, other monsters would come if we don't do this quick."

I know that no monster will come here for a while with 【Passive Detection】 though.

"I really don't want to shoot a target someone's holding.... Well, I guess Mathi-kun will be fine. Ei!"

Fwoosh, the arrow let loose with that sound and hit the hermit crab right in the shell even without my interference.
However, it couldn't break through the shell. Monster shell isn't soft enough to be broken by a bow of this level.

"Then try to shoot it after putting your mana on the arrow. Do it just like how you usually shoot a magic."

"Err... Like this?"

Alma successfully put her mana into the arrow along with her words. She has quite the sense.

"Try to shoot that arrow."

"Okay. Here it goes! Ei!"

The arrow this time smashed the shell and went deep into the hermit crab's body.
Once its shell is broken, the hermit crab that doesn't have much life force to begin with dies just like that.

"Eh, no way...."

"That was a kind of augment magic, 【Simple Magic Enchant】. It's the most basic magic of arrow enchant, you'll have to use it often to get used to it."

Saying that, I took out additional arrows from storage magic and handed them to Alma.

"....Huh? Where did the arrows come from just now?"

"Storage magic."

"Don't tell me that's a space-type storage magic....? Isn't that a stuff of legend...."

"It exists in reality. Since your maximum mana will decrease when you store heavy things, it's an unexpectedly inconvenient magic though."

"Heavy things?"

"Yeah. Half of my mana was taken away when I used it to store a War Tiger I beat in my trip to the royal capital."

I nearly burned the materials thanks to it.
Or rather I would have definitely done it if the merchant didn't tell me. No doubt about it.

"Isn't War Tiger a calamity class monster...."

"Un, sorry. My mistake for wanting common sense from Mathi-kun."

"Do I really even need to accompany this party..... I have to since it's the rule though...."

"You'll be able to beat something like War Tiger soon enough.... Now then, let's keep at it. It seems there's a lot monsters over there. Judging from the mana flow, it's in the same direction as the path to the next floor."

Most dungeons have a multilayered structure called 『Floors』.
Each floor is connected by stairs-like terrain like cliff and waterfall, the strength of monsters located in the same floor usually aren't that different.

In that sense, exploring a dungeon might be more stable than outside a dungeon. Because unlike in seas or forests, enemies with hugely different combat capabilities don't often suddenly appear out of nowhere.
Though well, even if that's often the case, that doesn't mean that it never happens.

"Then, you two, try to advance ahead while searching for the enemy from here on. I'll be sure to step forward if it looks dangerous though."

"Really, I don't know who's accompanying who here...."

We continued ahead in the dungeon while having that conversation.

























Previous Chapter

Chapter 33 Strongest Sage, Finishing without Destroying the Schoolyard

 

"So um, how much for this frightening bow....?"

Alma asked me while looking like she didn't want to hear it.
Price huh....

"Hmm... The material cost me around 100 ermi, and the processing took around 20 seconds, since I made it myself, the labor cost is zero so.... 100 ermi. I've also made some arrows with it, you can have it for free since I made them from leftovers."

By the way, Ermi is the currency of this country.
One ermi equals one copper coin, 100 ermi equal one silver coin, 1000 ermi equal one gold coin.

"So cheap!? No way, that can't be the right price no matter how you look at it...."

"100 ermi is unbelievable. With that kind of performance, it's hard to even put a price on the bow after all...."

"Then, 300 ermi."

I added the processing fee. 10 ermi for 1 second, meaning the hourly wage is 36000 ermi.
According to the merchant who accompanied me to the royal capital, an average family usually spends around 2000 ermi a month, so I'm already way overcharging her here.
Getting enough wage to live for one and half year in just an hour. And for a family even.

"It hardly changed!"

However, Alma still thinks it's too cheap.
Ah. I forgot the time needed to gather the material. Adding that, then....

"6300 ermi."

I added 10 minutes.
It's a complete rip-off. I'm sure even Alma would think so, I'll let her haggle it...

"Like I said, that's too cheap!"

Umm. Alma might be using the market price in the royal capital as her standard.
It's certainly cheap if you go there.
I mean, don't you think there's something strange with how the buyer side is raising the price like this.

"I can't raise it any further. I think you'll see for yourself that this price is fair in half a year time."

After all this, I had the option to raise the price in accordance to the market price here sure, but then that means I was overcharging this bow once Ruli learned how to do augment magic well.

I'd like to avoid such a cause of conflict.
....Well, mass producing this bow and then spreading them in the market might be fun on its own though.

"Like I said, no matter how you...."

"Then, I'll have you borrow that bow instead. And I'd like to ask for your cooperation in creating new swords for me. But first we should continue the practice in order to pass the test and get the permission to enter the dungeon. Also, Ruli, you still owe me one for your sword right?"

"Yes I do.... Oh, helping Mathi-kun with the sword making doesn't mean that I've returned the favor okay?"

"Really?"

"I mean, Mathi-kun, you're going to teach me your techniques in the process right!? That means my debt to you increases instead!"

"That's true, I'll also be getting stronger from Mathi's teaching and entering the dungeon.... I'm unilaterally profiting here! I've got to pay the bow after all!"

"....Is that so. By the way, we'll make several swords as soon as we get the materials and continue until you can make my ideal sword, which means it'll take quite a long time.... Yet, are you still sure about this?"

"We are!"

Looks like they're being quite stubborn about this.
I was going to let this pay their debt, but it increased instead.
Well it's not like it'll trouble anyone, guess this is fine.


By the way, the content of the dungeon test was posted in the classroom this morning.
The test is the same as the enrollment exam and can be taken anytime after school.

Furthermore, in case you pass the test you'll be exempted of either swordsmanship or magic lessons depending on the test you picked.
The reason for that is because this test is more difficult than the exam to be second graders.

"Umm, we're going to take the test today right? Are we going to be alright?"

"Yeah. If we can finish this test, we can use the time we get from not attending chant magic lesson for practicing real magic. We should do it as soon as possible. After all, chant magic is completely useless for augment magic."

I promptly replied Ruli's question.

"Got it! Let's go take it now!"

It seems Ruli got motivated when she heard about augment magic, she rushed to the faculty office.
Alma looked like she wanted to practice with her new bow a bit more, but maybe she didn't want to get left behind as she also followed after Ruli.

"We'd like to take the dungeon test."

"You really came Mathias-kun. You're later than expected."

A teacher came to us when I said that in the faculty room.

"Later?"

"You're the fifth group who's taken this test so far. Apparently, everyone practiced chantless magic in their free time after the chantless magic class. By the way, all four groups passed."

"....Um, I'm sorry."

Even if chant magic is useless, I still feel bad for the teachers in charge of teaching it.

"No no. Instead, we're glad about it. To tell you the truth, us teachers have come to feel that teaching chant magic is nonsensical, we're discussing among ourselves how we could begin to introduce chantless magic in the curriculum faster. ...Though well it's difficult to do without any achievement, so we intend to immediately add the lessons right after the interpersonal match."

Ooh. Apparently, the thing the principal said in the entrance ceremony about prioritizing ability is true.
Looks like I can expect chantless magic to get spread faster than planned.
We reached the testing ground (that is, the schoolyard) while we were talking about that.

"Now then. The test is the same as the entrance exams. But the standards will be higher, mind you. Who wants to go first?"

"Then, I'll do it."

I raised my hand first at the teacher who had finished setting up the targets on the schoolyard and establishing the shooting place.
Things should be easier for the two if they see an example beforehand.

The distance is 40 meter, a bit farther than the entrance exam. Quite hard
for the Fourth Crest, though well I'll manage somehow. While reserving enough mana to fix the schoolyard afterward in case they disqualify me for breaking it, I construct a magic that could blow away the whole mithril alloy--

"Stop, stop! You pass! Mathias-kun you pass either the magic or the sword tests okay!"

The teacher stopped me when I was going to construct the magic. Wonder if he thought that I was going to destroy the schoolyard again.
Well, I unquestionably would if it continued.

Let's consider this a good thing considering it ended without me wasting my mana.
Now there's no need for me to attend that chant magic classes. Since I'm also exempted of theoretical lectures, I only need to attend the swordsmanship class.

To be honest, I'm interested to learn just how far this world has changed so I'd like to see a bit of the theoretical lectures.... But I shouldn't force it. I'd learn about it sooner or later anyway, I'm sure I'd see for myself just what happened to the world by getting stronger. Yup.
By the way, I asked Ruli why magic became this bad, but she answered that it had always been like this. It appears that the decline of magic started far in the past.
Putting that aside, I feel this test is too hard on the Fourth Crest.

"I think this test still has room for improvement. Fourth Crest is a crest specialized in close-quarter combat, it's still quite useful even if its magic cannot reach those targets. Though unlike other Crests, it's hard to handle unless you're proficient in swordsmanship...."

"Actually, the staff is currently discussing about that matter. Looking at all the lessons so far, we couldn't find anything wrong with the characteristics of the crests that you Mathias-kun told us, however.... Radically changing evaluation of the Crests aren't something that can be done overnight. We'd have to wait for the result of the lessons from here on."

Well, I guess they'd be confused if they were suddenly told that the characteristics of crests they had believed up until now were wrong.
I think this academy is quite flexible already just for the fact that they're reviewing it.
There's no need to hurry, I was able to pass after all.

"As for the matter of a special test for the Disqualified Crest.... Apparently, the top brass, even higher than the academy's top, are strongly against it."

I didn't really feel discrimination against Disqualified Crest when I came to this school.... Yet it's still problematic huh.
There's even that criteria where you get -200 point toward becoming the next family head just by bearing the crest.
If that's real, revising this would mean allowing a disqualified crest to become a noble.

"Now then. Let's continue with the test. Who's next?"

"Let me do it!"

Ruli raised her hand.
She broke the targets one by one using chantless magic.
All the targets are destroyed by the fifth shot.

"You pass without a doubt. The next one is Alma then."

"I'm afraid I can't catch up to Ruli and Mathias after watching them, but.... Ei."

Alma attacked the targets while saying that. She needed two shots to break each target, but her magic's power and accuracy was relatively stable, she managed to break all the targets no problem.

"Your magic is quite strong Alma, the other two are just unusual. The entire last year students would have to repeat the grade if this were considered a failure.... You pass!"

"Yay!"

Looks like we all passed.
Well there was no need to worry about this in the first place.
The most worrisome part was the schoolyard's durability.

"With this you are allowed to go into the dungeon, however for the first few times..... You three have to be accompanied by a teacher until they deemed you fine to go without one. When are you planning to go?"

"Could we go today?"

"Today!?"

"Will we be alright going so suddenly?"

"It should be fine. Judging from the mana reaction, there's no monster worth mentioning within the visible range. The problem is the accompanying teacher...."

"Of course, I have no problem going with you now. I don't think you three would hit a roadblock either. I wouldn't have given you the permission if I didn't think so. Follow me."

Looks like the teacher can go too.
He's guiding us to the dungeon immediately.
After passing a metal gate, we arrived at the mouth of a cave.

"Now then. We'll be entering the dungeon from here on. Even if there's no strong monster in the upper layer, unlike at school, your safety isn't guaranteed here, you might even lose your life in some cases. In fact, 80% of the casualty in this school are due to this dungeon. You have to make sure to always be careful. And return to ground as soon as you think it's gotten dangerous."

"""YES!"""

After replying teacher, we took our first step into the dungeon.


























Previous Chapter

Chapter 32 Strongest Sage, Creates Crude Bow

 

Whoa. That means Ruli enrolled in a school where 10% of its students died just to become a magic augmenter.
I could understand if she wanted to learn about augmenting along with combat, but if she enrolled here just for the augmenting lessons, there should be many other safer places.

It might have been understandable if she lived in the sticks with no sufficient info on her hand and was told to do it by her parents like me, she must be quite whimsical....

"But is it really all right? Letting someone with a crest not suited for combat into your party...."

"Of course. Magic augment is also necessary to build up your magic. There's no shop that sells proper magic swords in the Royal Capital, thus raising a strong augmenter with Glory Crest is quite important for me personally."

And also, I can collect magic stones once I enter the dungeon.
Judging from the dungeon's presence, the monsters prowling near its entrance are far weaker than the monsters around the territory's vicinity, so the magic stones won't be of good quality, nevertheless, they're usable for practices.

You need a huge amount of magic stones for augment training, therefore we can't begin without going inside the dungeon first.

"Of course I'll join! Please let me join your party!"

"Then, me too!"

....Alright. Now the most difficult part of the mission required to enter the dungeon has been cleared.
Now these two just need to get as strong as second graders... though I wonder if they're already stronger than the average second grader.

Chantless magic shouldn't be usable for the second graders yet after all, I'm also sure that these two exceed them in magic power, consumption and firing rate.
Well, there are still some worrying parts though, I'd like to train them above ground before we go inside the dungeon.
The interpersonal matches will be held next month anyway, right after that should be a good time.

"By the way Alma. You said you were better with bows, why did you switch to swords then?"

"Eh, do I have to use bow?"

"Not really, but... why?"

"Because a bow is useless once you run out of arrow, and it can't fly  straight unlike magic.... They told me to stop using one since it's only useful for hunting animals...."

"Which idiot told you that...."

It's true that bows aren't strong by itself, but you can strengthen it by using enchant and augment on the bow and arrows.

A type of weapon with a stronger firepower and firing rate than bows called 『Gun』 was developed in world I lived in the past, but since magic augment couldn't be used on them, they were only used in low level combats.
And you're saying bows are weaker than chant magic? Nonsense.

In the first place, Alma's Second Crest is a crest well suited for bows than swords.
Its firing rate isn't comparable to the Third Crest, but it's easy to put high powered magic on an arrow with it.

With the Third Crest, you can't match firing rate of normal magic with bows, so you'd end up shooting arrows with half-assed power and half-assed speed, like an inferior version of Second Crest bow-users.
By the way, the Fourth Crest is unparalleled for swords.

"Then that means I can use a bow? The part about needing arrows is difficult though...."

"Yeah. But you will need to put magic on the arrows, so you'd have to train on it if you've never done it before. Even an arrow like this can fly well if you compensate it with magic."

I picked up a branch near my feet and reshaped it into a haphazard arrow using magic.
It's crude and has no feather or arrowhead, but it can fly straight if you put magic on it and is relatively powerful.

"You said that and all, but I've never seen anyone who could do that in the present time!"

"You have the Glory Crest Ruli, you'll be able to make something better with your eyes closed with a few months of training. Well that's that, so there's no need to worry about arrows."

"Yay! ....I left my bow in my home though, gotta buy one later! ...Wonder if I have enough cash...."

"Training.... Mathi-kun, are you going to teach me augmenting!? Isn't Mathi-kun's augments something like an extraordinary family secret technique!?"

"Of course I'll teach you how. But only after we get some magic stones in the dungeon. As for the bow.... It might be better to make one myself rather than purchasing one."

Usually, you get weapons created by a proper First Crest craftsman, but the bows I saw when I was picking swords back then were all of terrible quality just like the swords.

"You're going to make one!?"

"It's only a substitute until we can obtain a proper bow. Don't expect too much of its performance.... We'll rebuild it once Ruli is able to use processing and augmenting magic.

"But I have a feeling that Mathi-kun's 'don't expect much' can't be trusted at all...."

"Like with this amazing sword too...."

"No really. I'm really not good with bows. To begin with, my crest can't be used to augment it well."

Augmenting a sword with magic is simple, but bow is another matter.

"Then it'll be a common strong bow?"

"....I wonder about that. It might be a tad better than the stuff they sold in the city."

◇

Next day.
As promised, I made a bow with a pitiful shooting performance (I made it small to make it easy to use inside a dungeon. I mixed a tiny amount of metal in it to increase the power even a bit) and gave it to Alma, but....

"It really was a lie!"

That was the first thing Alma uttered after shooting a few arrows with the bow I made.

"Is it a let down? But I don't think there's anyone selling a proper bow in this city...."

Alma isn't a daughter of a noble for show after all, she must have had a proper bow.
In that case, I should use movement-type magic and go to--.

"No! It's the opposite! What's with the power when it's this small!? It's also very precise, it's so weird, this bow's scary!"

Eeh....




































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