Chapter 89

Mightiest Melee Magician

Chapter 89

Fatal Blow: 1/1 times (Complete)

You have completed the quest ‘The Ways to Fight a Knight’.

You have gained the skill ‘Steel Destruction’ as the reward.

Steel Destruction

Active

Armor, helmet, sword, or spear. No matter what, if it is created using steel, destroy it in one strike.

Cooldown: 3 minutes.

The status window to notify me of my quest completion appeared, but I didn’t have time to look at it.

“Sir Bolvar!”

I ran to Sir Bolvar, who fell on the ground.

He just sat on the floor while laughing at the absurd state while brushing himself off.

“This… I was waiting for some fearsome magic…… but for it to just be Light.”

“Well, using non-lethal magic doesn’t break the academy’s rules.”

“I couldn’t expect it. You really got me this time. Thanks to you, I learnt something as well, Young Master.”

I reached out my hand to Sir Bolvar, and he grabbed it, standing up.

Then…

Smack!

Someone slapped me on my back.

Ouch…

There was only one person in all of Ardell who would mercilessly slap me on my back like this.

“Ruin! Have you no honor? How dare you use magic in this sacred duel!”

Ruina.

Even though she was only 12 years old, she had awoken to the mindset of the knight and reprimanded me for using magic in a duel, and I accepted it wholeheartedly.

“Yeah. It was dishonorable. However, so are you for smacking an unsuspecting person on the back.”

“What? You wanna get hit again?”

“Ehm, no. I’ll pass.”

“Stop running away!”

I laughed as the enraged Ruina chased after me.

But still, she was right.

Since I couldn’t accomplish it with a wooden sword, I had used all the tricks in my book.

It definitely could’ve been a dishonorable duel, just as Ruina said.

However, Sir Bolvar defended my actions for me.

“Young Lady, the young master dueled me more honorably than anyone else.”

“Really? B-But using magic during a knight’s duel—”

“Young master is not a knight, but a magician. But didn’t he only use Light?”

“……”

Ruina couldn’t refute and closed her mouth before Sir Bolvar gave me a slow thumbs up and jokingly cried,

“After being defeated by a magician who only used Light, I’m too ashamed of myself to lift my head. Who cares about being ‘The Flash’ or ‘Spear Saint’? This old man will silently go back to fishing.”

He was obviously lying.

If he had wielded his half-moon spear rather than the wooden sword.

If he was at his peak condition and not matching my level, sparring for my growth.

Would I really have been able to deal a ‘fatal blow’ to him?

I couldn’t dare dismiss Sir Bolvar’s power just because of this.

“Anyway, are you done now?”

“Eh? Ah, yes.”

“I don’t know what you gained from sparring against me, but now I can go take a warm bath.”

“I’ve taken too much of your time. Sorry.”

“It was my pleasure to see your talent, Young Master.”

As Sir Bolvar and I shook hands…

“Wooooo—!”

The people of Ardell watching our duel cheered for us.

No matter who won, no matter who lost.

Weren’t we all part of Ardell?

Everyone saw an exciting fight early in the morning, and it was an energizing sight to start the day.

Well, for me, it was the end of the day.

I wanted to fall over and sleep in my bed.

I felt like I would fall asleep as soon as I sat down.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, a day had already passed.

“How did you sleep for 24 hours?”

“……”

“Ruin, are you actually a bear?”

24 hours.

I couldn’t believe it myself.

I ended up being called a bear by Ruina and also missed out on my daily quest, but my condition had returned.

While eating breakfast, I asked Ruina how Sir Bolvar was doing.

However…

“Sir Bolvar woke up yesterday evening to do his daily tasks, unlike you who fell dead like a corpse.”

“……”

He had only slept for 4 hours and went back to do all the things he needed to.

He kept repeating that he’s gone old, but wasn’t he more energetic than a teen?

There was also another thing that changed while I was out cold.

“People from Eight-Lake came by?”

“Yeah. They said they were workers.”

4 groups of 12 people.

A total of about 50 people had come to Ardell to construct the trade route through South Mountain.

As they were all paid by the 1st representative of Eight-Lake’s House Baltraze, they told us that they were here to build a base in Ardell and start the construction project for the next few months.

The fruits of my labor in the break had slowly started to bud.

Through this route we would be supplied weapons by Eight-Lake, and after that, we would be able to start our large-scale subjugation.

“Thanks to that, the town is alive. This is the first time that we had so many foreigners in our territory. Mrs. Mary looks so happy.”

For Mrs. Mary, who ran a restaurant in Ardell, this may have been the most customers she had ever seen.

It was great that she was happy.

After I came out with Ruina to check, it was more alive than I expected.

“Oh my! You can come in. It’s all been cleaned up perfectly!”

The Ardell’s only inn, ‘The Solitary Southern Traveler’, that was mostly used as a warehouse all year round had finished cleaning and preparations to meet their new customers.

Klang! Klang!

Mr. Pison, the blacksmith that had only been able to make farming equipment and saddles, started to efficiently craft different types of construction equipment and was able to show off his skills for the first time in a while.

Just looking at these scenes was enough to make me happier.

And next to me…

“Young Master, have you woken up?”

“Ah, yes.”

My father, Chief Baggins, and Sir Bolvar.

Ardell’s key personnel had gathered.

* * *

* * *

“Young Lady worried greatly about you not waking up, fearing that something happened to you.”

“Ruina did?”

As I turned to look at Ruina, her face became red and turned away while muttering, “I asked if you were a bear…”

Everyone burst into laughter.

After laughing like that for a bit, Chief Baggins asked me,

“How do you feel?”

“How do I feel?”

“Yes. This has all happened because of you, Young Master. I’m curious as to what you’re feeling right now.”

“……”

It was happening because of me……?

No.

It was all because of the help from my father and Irene, and because luck was on my side.

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However, it was true that I was feeling more than that.

I pointed towards the busy people working in the territory.

“Look at their expressions. How are they?”

“Everyone looks excited and happy.”

“Yes. Everyone here loves the quiet and peaceful Ardell, but they may have also waited for an active and lively Ardell like this as well.”

“That is true. Just because the number of people increases doesn’t mean the town we love disappears somewhere else.”

It hadn’t changed that much.

Rather, it was a freer, somewhat stronger Ardell.

“Change starts now.”

The change in Ardell that happened in the mere 40 days I spent here.

I was standing at the end of this change.

Of course, the change was currently too small to expect anything huge…

But I wasn’t rushed.

Because tomorrow was waiting for me.

“Your break is coming to an end soon, Young Master. It will be 6 months before we can see each other again once you return to the academy.”

“Subjugation preparation, trade route construction…… Looks like we’ll get to have a busy year thanks to you, Young Master.”

“You can leave Ardell to me and the Lord and you can focus on graduating, Young Master.”

“……”

Yeah.

That long yet short break was now over.

Tomorrow, I would ride another 10 days North toward the Academy.

Still longing for the hometown I hadn’t seen in a while, I didn’t want to return to the academy right away.

But I still had things left to do there.

Graduation.

I would at least officially become a magician.

I looked at my father.

His expression was a weird mix of pride and awkwardness as he looked at me, and I handed him the remaining gold I had on me.

“It’s 12 thousand gold. Please use it for Ardell.”

“……”

“I’ve taken out the 400 gold I’ll use, so don’t worry about it.”

My father hesitated on if he should accept this money or not.

“Are you going to refuse it again?”

“…Thank you, Ruin.”

But he didn’t spend long.

My father took the gold and grabbed my hand tight.

“I have no honor if I face you. I’m always in debt to you.”

What did he mean debt?

I was also undeniably part of Ardell.

Rather than saying this, I gave my father a tight hug.

“Then, I’ll be going.”

“…Be careful on the way.”

“Alright.”

Since I did this much, I could say the break was quite unique, right?

* * *

Irene asked me,

“Aren’t you nervous?”

It was a question regarding the huge sum of 40 thousand gold all disappearing.

But I just shrugged.

“Not at all. It was honestly too much money for me. After removing that load… I feel quite free.”

The crown prince said that, after I wasted all my money, I would come back to him…

But I didn’t feel that at all.

Rather than obtaining wealth, huge mansions, or other items of luxury, I spent all that money on things I wanted.

And my heart had never felt lighter.

From now on, I just need to earn that money with my own strength. Fufu……

“Also, I’m not totally out of money. I still saved 400 gold as emergency funds.”

“400 gold? Are you going to wage war somewhere?”

Irene mimicked the words of the 8 representatives of Eight-Lake as a joke, and I replied in  kind.

“Yes. I must. I will prepare to go to war against graduation.”

Well, it wasn’t like graduation took money.

But since I didn’t know when I would need it, it was good to just have a backup.

I wasn’t planning to live poorly in the future either.

As Irene and I rode outside of Ardell, we stopped.

“So it’s here.”

“Yeah.”

North of here would be the Academy.

If you went East, it would be the Raynac Empire.

A fork in the road.

After we separated here, when would we meet again?

I didn’t know.

However, unless she gave up on magic, we would be able to meet up sometime in the future, right?

As I was going to say goodbye, Irene spoke to me.

“I’ll help as well.”

“What?”

“The subjugation after graduation.”

“……It’ll be a pretty hectic time for you. Will you be alright?”

“I have no interest in those other things.”

The busiest times for most students waiting for graduation would probably be just after they graduate.

After all, it was the time to select their future from a waterfall of offers.

It was the same for Irene.

She would obviously be receiving an absurd amount of offers, countless more than the average student.

But to come volunteer for this during that important time period……

“I’m really sick and tired of Ravirdyne.”

“……”

This was probably part of the ‘journey’ she talked about before.

Of course, it was welcoming for me.

Since Irene was undoubtedly a great magician, she would be of great help to the combat force.

There was no reason to decline.

Rather I should’ve asked her first.

“Well, thank you.”

“You made the smart choice. Even if you declined, I was going to come to meet Ruina anyway.”

“……”

Ah, was that so.

“And we also need to see the end of it.”

“End of what?”

“Didn’t I tell you before? I’ll follow you until I can defeat you.”

“……”

Ah, that……

She hadn’t forgotten.

“We couldn’t work out a time because of how busy you were, but I’ll definitely challenge you next time.”

Lady Prius was so pretty, but as I got to know her better, I saw she had some weird tendencies.

“Well, do as you wish.”

I cooly accepted her ‘challenge’.

“Then, I’ll see you later.”

And we said our goodbyes, going our different ways on our horses.

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Giddyup!

My destination, the Academy.

But……

For some reason, I ended up going down a different road.

——