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Chapter 74
Skipping grades was basically only possible for those smart ones. So, I could guess that she held a magic-related talent. Her ability to use magic immediately without having to cast was certainly a praiseworthy one.
She had to have a high level of intelligence to be able to understand magic and hold a talent related to magic control to begin with, so her talent to immediately use magic was probably her most outstanding talent, not the only one.
She was someone worthy of the number 1 spot.
“It is a magic-related talent, but it seems similar to a supernatural power. I’m not completely sure about the details. It’s both a support ability as well as a magic-related talent.”
At Redina’s words, I and Ellen nodded our heads. There was no law that a supernatural power related to magic couldn’t exist after all. Of course, it was quite surprising that she had a supernatural ability I had never set up though.
……I mean, supernatural abilities would randomly appear in this world from time to time, so there was no real need for me to actually set up a limited few, so it wasn’t all that strange that an extra had an ability I had no idea about.
Still, this ability “no casting” was actually a pretty powerful one in practice. Depending on how she grew, she had the potential to become someone hella strong.
Redina sighed as she ate her ice cream.
“But what use has it? If I don’t get a larger magic pool, it wouldn’t even matter.”
If one’s magic power wasn’t able to support such a fraudulent ability, it was worth even less than a pebble on the streets.
Magic was the most convenient and powerful ability to have. Right now, there were only very few things the high-ranked wizard Eleris couldn’t do, that included teleportation, camouflage and offence. Wizards were almost omnipotent.
So there were a lot of conditions.
The basic condition to become a wizard was being smart, having an enormous amount of magical power, also having a talent for controlling mana and one must have a talent for one of the corresponding fields of magic.
These were, of course, the conditions to become a success. If even one of these aspects were less developed, it would be hard for one to actually succeed.
The best example of the importance of the size of one’s magic pool was Eleris. She had so much magical power that she could cast Mass Teleport in succession. If I used the Flame of Tuesday, which she returned to me, I’d also be able to use “No casting” to summon flames. However, I could only use it as long as I have magical power left.
Redina seemed to have a strong talent for magic and she also seemed smart enough to easily skip grades, but it looked like her magic pool was quite small.
Even if she knew how to use magic, if she didn’t have enough mana, she wouldn’t be able to use her knowledge.
“It’ll grow larger with time. You’re still young.”
She was only 15 years old. Why was she already whining about having a small mana pool?
“That’s what everyone says….”
Redina sighed as if she didn’t know what to do. Saying that while eating those macarons only made her seem cute though.
What if a 15-year-old kid had that much power in their hands? Looking at the lengths I have to go, I felt slightly ridiculous.
“Want me to tell you about who’s much worse off than you? It’ll make you feel better about yourself, you know?”
“Huh? What? Why would that make anyone feel better?”
She looked at me and shook her head as if she had no idea why I suddenly told her that this would make her feel better.
“We’re just normal people, you know? Hearing others being worse off than oneself makes one feel good about oneself. I’m not that well off either, see? That’s how it is.”
It was a similar concept to what one would call catharsis.
“……If that makes you feel good, then you’re a garbage person.”
“No, I mean people are generally like that, you know?”
I’m someone who grew up being taught to always look at those worse off than myself and think „Ah, I’m still better than them“. They’d tell us things like: „There are countries where kids can’t even go to school! You’re better off than them, right? Huh? So be thankful and don’t complain! Got it?”.
“In this world, there are people who have a gigantic mana pool, but lack an aptitude for using it.”
“Wha, what?!”
When she heard my words, Redina’s face turned pale and she even lost grip on the macaron she was holding.
“How could someone born with a huge amount of magical power be bad at controlling it? You’re lying! There can’t be someone like that!”
It certainly sounded absurd. It was like telling someone that there was someone born with a huge amount of strong muscles, but they weren’t able to make use of them because they didn’t have tendons. Redina frowned, scolding me not to lie.
“He’s talking about Cayer Vioden from our class.”
I didn’t answer her, but Ellen, who kept silent up until then.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
It sure was surprising that Ellen answered in my stead when she kept quiet all this time, but it was even more surprising that she remembered the information about Cayer’s talent.
“Did you memorize his info?”
“……You told me before.”
Ah.
On my first day in Temple, she heard me say that Cayer had huge amounts of magical power but was unable to control it properly. It seemed like she remembered that.
When Redina heard about Cayer’s circumstanced of being cursed with having a lot of magical power but no way to use it, she was speechless for some time.
That was the truth.
Because Cayer was blessed with a naturally big mana pool he held a tremendous amount of magical power as well as an extreme magical power growth rate, but he wasn’t able to use it because he had no aptitude for magic control. That was why he was in Class A, but ended up as Number 10, that was why he had such flaming hatred for Class B. That was the only way he could bolster his low self-esteem.
He was like a dam without a floodgate.
“Wha…. What will happen to him?”
Redina’s face turned as white as a sheet. It seemed that she started to worry about her junior, who was bestowed with such a cursed blessing.
“Anyway, senior has it much better, right? How is it? Did your worries fly away after hearing that? Hm? Did you think something like ‘I’m glad that’s not me’?”
“!”
After hearing about someone much worse off, Redina started to worry about Cayer, realizing that her situation wasn’t that bad at least. She must have immediately felt relieved hearing that he was worse off than herself and felt guilty about that.
Redina blankly opened her mouth, her face turning red, then she shouted at me.
“You evil bastard! You’re such a bad guy!”
Seeing me talk trash about my classmates while teasing my senior at the same time, Redina seemed to have had enough.
*             *             *
It seemed like Redina wandered around Temple on her own, because almost all of her classmates returned home for their vacation. It also looked like she was bored of being on her own, as she kept going around with us even after we finished eating the desserts.
“It’s very quiet.”
To Redina, who was always surrounded by people, Temple seemed like a completely unfamiliar place at the moment.
“Must be because of that incident.”
The one I caused, to be precise.
“Huh….”
There were some people going around Main Street, but there were only very few students around.
We were the only ones at that cafe.
“Did the Demon King resurrect to take revenge on us?”
Of course, there were various rumors floating around and everyone had their own interpretation of the situation.
The theory that the Demon King might have resurrected to take revenge on humanity was something not only Redina deemed as a possibility.
“Who knows?”
At my words, Redina looked up at me. Her big eyes were filled with fear. That fear was completely understandable. This case just proved that the Imperial Capital was also within the demon remnants’ scope.
“What if it’s really like that? Artorius is dead. Who will kill the Demon King now?”
The only Temple students who knew that Ellen was Artorius’ younger sister were me, Bertus and probably Charlotte. So Redina was saying this without any ill intentions. Artorius went beyond just being a representative of humanity and was about to reach the level of a deity.
And this representative who was close to getting deified wasn’t held up to normal human standards. At this stage, they all treated him like some non-human.
Redina was referring to Artorius, the hero of mankind, but Ellen would think of him as her precious brother and family member.
Would Ellen think that they thought of her brother as just a tool to bring down the Demon King? I tried to meet Ellen’s eyes.
I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of emotions were lurking behind those calm eyes, but she certainly didn’t look happy.
I took the teddy bear to my side to balance out the weight.
“Then we should all just perish together.”
“No way!”
Redina continued to babble on about what we should do if the Demon King really resurrected and tried to invade the Empire. Ellen kept completely quiet.
How ironic.
The Demon King was dead.
However, there was still a Demon Prince who didn’t want to become the Demon King.
Artorius was dead.
However, there was that hero’s little sister who didn’t want to become a hero.
It all seemed like I’d end up becoming Charlotte’s enemy eventually.
In any case, I again realized that I was Ellen’s enemy as well.
They were two of my closest friends in Temple.
The fact that these two would be the people who’d have the hardest time dealing with my truth suddenly made my heart feel cold.
“Thank you, junior! I’ll cherish the Teddy Bear!”
“…Okay.”
As we returned to the Royal Class’ dormitories, Redina gave Ellen a tight hug, saying that she was grateful for the teddy bear.
-Pat, pat
Of course, she probably imagined this was a senior hugging her junior, but no matter how one looked at it, it looked like she was the one getting hugged. After hugging Ellen, Redina looked at me with a blank gaze.
“Reinhardt, you need to fix that habit of yours to behave so harshly on purpose.”
As if she realized once more that I was some outspoken, weird bastard, she admonished me.
“I’ll try that. In my next life.”
“Oh, come on!”
-Bzzzt!
“Ah, that stings!”
Redina eventually snapped and hit me with an electricity spell using her no-casting. Because of that tingling feeling, I jumped.
“Did you just use magic on your junior?”
“What are you talking about, you brat?! You’re lucky!”
If Redina was serious she could give me a real shock. She smiled mischievously at me.
“Anyway, thanks to you too. I’ll buy you some desserts some time!”
Then Redina stumbled up the stairs while holding that huge teddy bear.
I actually made someone who couldn’t bear insulting others to attack me with magic.
“Well, looks like I really have a talent for angering those who usually wouldn’t get angry, huh?”
Ellen, Adriana, and Redina too.
I really felt like I was slowly accumulating some kinds of achievements by angering and teasing people. However, I didn’t actually get achievement points for it.
“…Did you only realize that now?”
“What?”
“That’s right.”
Ellen looked at me as if I was crazy. We returned to the first-year Class A dormitory. In the hallway on our way back, Ellen quietly called out to me.
“Reinhardt.”
“What is it?”
“If the Demon King really had resurrected…”
That girl still seemed to think about this. Ellen stopped and looked at me.
“Do you think I absolutely have to take up arms to fight him?”
Redina was whining earlier, but she didn’t think about a situation where she had to fight the Demon King all on her own. However, Ellen seemed to think exactly that.
Redina thought that Artorius absolutely had to fight the Demon King. No doubt. Other people were also thinking like that.
However, Ellen knew that she was much more capable than Artorius.
So, if the Demon King were to resurrect and war would break out again…
If it was known that Ellen was Artorius’ sister…
People would obviously think that Ellen had to fight the Demon King as well. They would think that there was no one else who could fight him other than her.
Of course, she wasn’t quite ready yet, but I firmly believed that Ellen would end up defeating the Demon King someday.
Ellen had no intention of risking her life for the world. However, she knew she would be forced to do so. That was why she asked me if I thought the same as Redina.
In a way, Ellen’s question was quite arrogant. She was convinced that she was more than capable of defeating the Demon King after all. Of course, because it was the truth, it couldn’t be called arrogant or overconfident.
“I wouldn’t want you to do that.”
“Why?”
Ellen seemed curious about my reason.
“If you were gone, I’d have to eat all alone.”
“……I’m serious.”
Ellen slightly furrowed her eyebrows, as if she had no patience for my bullshit.
“I’m serious, too.”
“…….”
I sighed and looked at the scenery stretching out before Temple, the sun almost set. My arms were crossed.
“I’m not planning on eating with you for the rest of my life, but I don’t want to spend the rest of my life not being able to share a meal with you.”
I didn’t want her to die.
That was what I meant to say. Ellen was facing me with her back to the setting sun. I couldn’t see what kind of expression she was making, because of that.
“So you mean to say that you don’t want me to die because of your own needs?”
“There are plenty of people that demand others to die for them, so can’t there also be people who ask others not to die for their sake?”
I couldn’t see Ellen’s expression clearly.
Perhaps she was smiling.
“Also, please think about the poor Demon King that has to fight you.”
“……You overestimate me.”
“No, I’m pretty damn sure that you’d beat the crap out of him.”
I mean, wasn’t that already happening?
The Reinhardt she was kicking around every day was actually the next Demon King after all!
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