Chapter 49: Chapter 49

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Translator: Vine

Chapter Title: A Lesson for the Vice-Head

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Dorara Corazin.

Vice-Head of Magic Studies.

Unique Trait: Inferiority Complex.

Specialty Magic: Wind.

As befits the Vice-Head of Magic Studies, he could manipulate various types of wind magic, and with enough time, could even control wide-ranging wind spells.

His blade-like wind magic was sharp enough to easily cleave trees.

However.

"You, what are you, exactly?"

There's always a natural counter in this world.

After taking a severe hit to the side from me, Dorara, thoroughly incensed, continuously cast wind magic at me.

Razor-sharp winds assailed me repeatedly, and Dorara laughed, guaranteeing victory. But in reality, he couldn't leave a single scratch on my body.

The mystery I possessed.

Steel Skin.

It was practically a perfect counter to Dorara's wind magic. My skin was immune to slashing attacks.

"You didn't even properly watch the group battle, did you?"

Well, of course, nothing else would catch his eye but Sharin.

He was someone who wouldn't hesitate to spread rumors just to defeat Sharin. Why would he even notice anyone else?

That's why he needed an even harsher lesson. Someone who couldn't admit their own shortcomings and only put others down was utterly useless.

As I lunged at him, Dorara, startled, conjured wind. Then, he quickly lifted himself into the air, flying out beyond the Sky Garden's rooftop.

Even I had no way to catch someone flying.

Realizing this, Dorara finally breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, remembering the humiliation he'd suffered, his eyes blazed with fury.

"This bastard. I should have known from the moment he started hanging around that Sharin bitch."

With his safety secured, Dorara's mouth started to run again.

Wind began to swirl around Dorara's body. The staff in his hand glowed with light.

Even if he looked pathetic, he was still the Vice-Head of Magic Studies.

While there was a vast difference between the Head and Vice-Head, he too was someone who had surpassed countless mages and stood above them.

His magical power was enough to easily overwhelm other mages.

Watching this, I was already in a starting stance. My hands were on the ground, and my back foot was slightly lifted.

Dorara looked at my actions with disbelief.

THWACK!

Piercing through his disbelief, I kicked off the ground and started running. The moment my feet touched the fence, CRASH! My body soared over the Sky Garden's railing and into the sky.

The Sky Garden was located far, far above the ground. Even for me, falling from here would be practically an act of suicide.

"Are you crazy!?"

Dorara shouted in horror. And his bewilderment created a huge opening.

My arm drew back. Simultaneously, a magic inscription activated on my Steel Skin.

The activated magic inscription was Explosion.

"If he thought he'd be safe in mid-air,"

I needed to show him he was mistaken. BOOM! With the explosion of the magic inscription from my hand, my body leaped once more in the sky.

The distance between Dorara and me closed in an instant. Due to the unexpected situation, Dorara hastily tried to activate his magic again, but it was too late.

The moment a mage allowed a close-combat fighter to close the distance, there was no chance. THWACK! My fist slammed mercilessly into Dorara's jaw.

"Ugh!"

Dorara's jaw took the hit, and a few teeth flew out. As his consciousness momentarily vanished from my blow, the magic that kept him airborne also dissipated.

Still, for the Vice-Head of Magic Studies, his resilience was decent. Even while half-unconscious, Dorara struggled to avoid falling.

"Pl-please, ugh, ahh! Sa-save me!"

He screamed, his face utterly pale. Because he couldn't focus, no magic activated.

He was going to die. Just as Dorara thought that.

GRAB!

My hand grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. Then, I caused an explosion with my other hand and returned to the Sky Garden.

THUD!

I flung Dorara to the ground, and he rolled a few times before coming to a stop.

Perhaps because he had almost fallen to his death just moments ago, Dorara's eyes were completely unfocused.

STEP-

"Haaah!"

When I made a sound with my foot, Dorara, startled, scrambled to his feet. He looked at me, his face covered in cold sweat.

A moment ago, if I hadn't saved him, Dorara would have died.

Knowing that he could have died depending on my choice, a deep-seated fear of me settled within him.

"You were quite chatty earlier."

CRACK!

Every time I stretched my wrist, Dorara winced. Yet, as if he still had any fight left in him, he hastily fumbled on the ground.

Then, he belatedly realized something was missing.

"Looking for this?"

When I showed him the staff in my hand, his face hardened even more. The most important thing when facing a mage was to disarm them.

It was the most basic of basics.

The moment his staff was taken, Dorara's magic accuracy would plummet miserably. This meant that, for now, he was nothing more than a slightly trained civilian.

CLINK-

So, I threw his staff back to him. He slowly raised his head, looking at the staff thrown before him.

His face showed he couldn't comprehend the situation for a moment.

After all, there was no reason to return a weapon to an opponent who had already been subdued.

"Let's go again."

I decided to become an even more incomprehensible being to Dorara.

"It'd be a shame to end things so quickly with the Vice-Head of Magic Studies."

Dorara finally realized the madness in my eyes.

Whether he lost his will to fight or not was none of my business. I picked a fight with him, partly to learn how to fight mages.

If it ended with just this much, it wouldn't satisfy me.

"You… crazy bastard."

Dorara muttered as if facing an incomprehensible being.

However, I was already ready to leap.

"Lunchtime isn't over yet."

And then, Dorara's screams echoed throughout the Sky Garden.

* * *

Murmurs-

Voices of surprise and horror from the students could be heard everywhere. However, I didn't bat an eye at their murmuring.

What I held in my hand was none other than the battered and bruised Dorara Corazin.

The Vice-Head of Magic Studies.

This was the Magic Studies building.

As I was shorter than the average boy, I was currently dragging Dorara along the ground.

Thanks to this, all eyes were on me, and the students looked puzzled.

"What is that?"

"Dorara's being dragged along, all messed up."

"Hey, isn't that him? The one who got first place in the group battle."

"Hanon, was it?"

The murmuring of the Magic Studies students grew even louder. I walked through their gazes and entered Dorara's classroom.

Then, I casually picked him up and threw him to the ground.

Dorara rolled a few times on the floor. His eyes rolled back, and he seemed completely out of it.

Feeling the gaze of the many Magic Studies students gathered, I took a long breath.

At the beginning of the second semester of the second year, Act 4, thanks to Dorara's efforts, rumors about Sharin would begin to spread in earnest, leading to her ostracization within Magic Studies.

This wasn't a particularly important factor in the scenario. It merely served as a factor to draw the capricious Sharin into the team.

Act 4 could be overcome quite easily with Sharin's help.

Which meant.

It didn't matter if I resolved Sharin's ostracization sooner or later.

"I never knew the Magic Studies students had fallen to such a low level."

The moment I spoke, the eyes of the Magic Studies students changed in unison.

Every single one of these students prided themselves on their magic.

Even if they were at the bottom of Jerion Academy, they were recognized for their excellence outside. This place was where talent upon talent gathered.

So, their pride was higher than anyone else's. There was no other field as purely talent-based as magic.

"Your Vice-Head of Magic Studies said that I only got first place in the group battle because of Sharin."

Of course, the Vice-Head was too busy badmouthing Sharin; he never said such a thing. However, the students, clearly sensing my insolence, naturally assumed Dorara had said such a thing.

"Bullshit."

I spat, looking at the Magic Studies students with a disdainful look.

"Even if any of you had taken that spot, I would have still gotten first place in the group battle."

"Huh?"

"What is he talking about?"

Their eyes sharpened.

Many of the students here were jealous of Sharin.

Sharin showed even those who had been praised as prodigies their whole lives that there was a peak they couldn't reach. Naturally, they couldn't control the budding inferiority complex within them.

However, regardless of this inferiority complex, deep down, they acknowledged Sharin's talent.

Sharin had defeated all the Magic Studies students and achieved first place. To deny her was to deny themselves, who were far below her.

"Don't make me laugh."

"Do you think the Head of Magic Studies is a joke? If it weren't for Sharin's magic, that time wouldn't have been achieved in the first place!"

"What do you know to talk such nonsense?"

Sure enough, an atmosphere of defending Sharin formed instead.

They had to prevent Sharin's denial to prevent their own denial. So, they began to advocate for Sharin.

Watching the students, I curled my lips into a sneer.

It was a clear sneer.

"It was all calculated. If someone else had joined, I would have formed the team and prepared in a different way. Sharin wasn't important. You know-nothings."

Magic Studies students tend to subtly look down on Martial Arts students as foolish. So, my words, "you know-nothings," uttered by a Martial Arts student, made their eyes blaze in unison.

"Your mouth runs wild."

"What do you know about magic?"

"You're incredibly rude."

The students' words were starting to get rough.

My face remained exceedingly calm as I looked at them. At the same time, my hand pointed to Dorara, stuck in the corner.

"Even so, all of you are still below that Vice-Head stuck over there."

Fire sparked in the students' eyes. And looking at Dorara, they all felt a surge of annoyance.

Their faces showed that they couldn't understand why he had gotten beaten up and lowered their pride for no reason. Perhaps because of this, many more students began to look at Dorara with great displeasure.

If it were them, they wouldn't have suffered like that.

Such thoughts were clearly visible in their eyes.

"I'm not even the Head of Martial Arts Studies. Given that the Vice-Head suffered that much against me, doesn't that mean all of you are insignificant too?"

A hostile atmosphere, as if they might attack at any moment, persisted among the students. Amidst such an atmosphere, I casually shrugged my shoulders.

"Well, what conversation can I even have with ignorant fools who can't even read the flow of a group battle?"

Some students drew their staffs. It was a clear indication that they would no longer tolerate insults.

"...Hanon?"

Just then.

The protagonist appeared.

The Head of Magic Studies.

Sharin Sazalys.

She looked at me, her face bewildered, from among the students, unable to understand the current situation.

"Sharin!"

"What is he, exactly? Why did you team up with someone like that?!"

"Hah, does he think the Head of Magic Studies is a joke?"

"If it were Sharin instead of Dorara, you'd be dead by now!"

The moment Sharin appeared, the students' voices grew much louder. Sharin showed her bewilderment at their reactions.

Amidst their intense reactions, I met Sharin's gaze.

"The Head and Vice-Head are only one rank apart. There's no difference."

My mouth didn't stop. Their eyes blazed even fiercer.

Ding-dong-ding-dong-

At that moment, the bell signaling the end of lunchtime rang. Hearing it, I walked towards the students surrounding me.

A hostile atmosphere persisted among the students, but when I glared coldly, they couldn't bring themselves to stop me. After all, it was true that I had reduced Dorara to that state.

"Hanon."

"Sharin, don't hang around with someone like that."

"How did you get first place with trash like that? Seriously, if it wasn't for you, Sharin, he would've been nothing."

"You shouldn't even associate with him."

Sharin called my name, but the Magic Studies girls were clinging to Sharin, busily chattering.

From now on, the subject of their curses wouldn't be Sharin, but me. Sharin would be praised and elevated among the Magic Studies students from now on.

To protect their pride, they had to make Sharin an idol.

For that, I intentionally poked at the subtle competitive spirit between Magic Studies and Martial Arts Studies.

No matter how much they disliked their own representative, they couldn't tolerate that representative being disrespected by someone from the opposing faction.

Such a mentality dominated the Magic Studies students.

So, from now on, instead of Sharin, I would be endlessly cursed among them. And Dorara, who I'd beaten, would probably be cursed alongside me.

I'm used to being cursed at thanks to the Isabelle incident. It just meant the number of people cursing me had increased a bit.

'I've repaid the debt for helping with the magic inscription and the group battle.'

Having repaid that debt, I left the Magic Studies building as I was.