Twenty-Third Chapter
Live Combat Training
All the tournament contestants gathered two days after the selection matches. Technically, vacation was over, but lessons hadn’t begun yet, so the majority of the students were done for the day before noon.
On the third floor of the community building where the cafeteria commons and such were located, was a large multipurpose room featuring a long curved table used by the selection committee with a podium in the middle. It was big enough to fit the thirty tournament contestants without feeling cramped.
And right now, Felinella was going over the details of what was to come.
It was at this point that she was chosen to be the tournament representative, but that had more or less been decided when she became the committee chairperson. Strictly speaking, she was the highest-ranking student in the Institute excluding Alus, so there were no objections.
“Due to tournament regulations, there are no restrictions on bringing in AWRs. They were originally intended as a means to train for battle against Fiends... moreover, as the tournament is meant to display individual abilities, use of weapons other than AWRs is forbidden. However, certain equipment is allowed as long as its sole purpose is not for attack. The main points of what is prohibited are written in the pamphlets before you, so please read through them.”
Felinella stood on the platform, eloquently explaining the details. “Last year’s results were not all that good. So let’s all come together and bring the Second Magical Institute the honor of victory this year.”
Vigorous shouts and applause came from those present.
However, Alus and Loki weren’t among the ones raising their voices. That was simply because as former military personnel, they didn’t really understand the merit of winning, nor were they on the same wavelength as the other students, so they missed their timing. In that regard, the two still weren’t used to Institute life.
That said, Alus couldn’t say anymore that he didn’t care if the Institute won or not. Now that he was one of the contestants, the Governor-General and others were expecting him to win. And he couldn’t really ignore the Governor-General’s will.
Next, Felinella put on a somewhat serious expression. “You have all been chosen as representatives of the Institute, so do try not to behave shamefully. And of course, taking Chemical Boost or other illegal drugs that would drag the Institute’s reputation through the mud will not be tolerated. Not only will you be immediately disqualified, but you will be taken into custody and your license may be revoked.”
Even Alus knew what Chemical Boost was. It was an illegal pill that served as a mana stimulant.
Mana stimulants were generally outlawed due to the risk of mana running amok. But considering how much attention the tournament garnered, it wasn’t unthinkable that some would take to drugs. One of the contestants instinctively gulped as they thought of how strict the punishment was.
After a short pause, Felinella started speaking again. “Next, as for the training until the tournament, contestants will receive priority on reserving the training grounds. However, I don’t want you to just train as normal. I also recommend that you train under the instruction of a coach. You can, of course, ask the teachers or your upperclassmen. However, there are many among them that lack actual experience, so the selection committee has taken to speaking with those suitable to coach. Considering the numbers, it won’t be possible to have one on one guidance, but there will always be four teachers at the training grounds. Despite that, there are always some who are unable to find a good instructor each year that end up wasting precious time on inefficient training. If that happens, I ask for you to help each other out. Please don’t forget that all of you carry the honor of the Second Magical Institute.”
Those powerful words made Felinella’s presence stand out even more to the contestants, since they could not only use teachers but also upperclassmen. She was already adored by the students, so many were hoping for guidance from her. Many expectantly held on to that desire, boys and girls alike.
“Also... the principal has agreed to coach when she has time to spare. I believe she will show her face at the training grounds from time to time.”
Suddenly, a stir spread through the contestants. That had come as a welcome surprise. Sisty, as a former Single, was practically worshiped by the students.
The room felt afire with excitement, aside from Alus’ and Loki’s frigid expressions as they knew what the principal was really like. The students seemed even more excited now than when they were selected.
“You will be able to reserve the training grounds from today, but please start by finding a personal coach first. You can train under their guidance, set clear goals and work through them together.” These words were intended for the first-year students.
For the time being, the multipurpose room would serve as headquarters for the contestants. Whenever there was a notice regarding the tournament, the headquarters would let the contestants know through an Institute-wide broadcast. On top of that, there was a detailed schedule written in the pamphlet the contestants had been handed.
Alus indifferently flipped through the pages and found a single page that caught his interest.
As he put on a dubious expression, Felinella touched on the subject. “On the very last page of the pamphlet there is a list of names, as well as their position and contact information, of those who are instructors... students, teachers, or otherwise. Please try to find an instructor suitable for your affinity. However, unless the situation truly calls for it, try to keep in mind that a student instructor will only be allowed to instruct two at a time.”
I see, Alus thought to himself, as he looked at the pamphlet again. As far as he could tell, they hadn’t been chosen purely due to their ranking.
However, the names of Loki and Felinella, who were among the top students, were there. Contestants had been asked to help each other out, so that much made sense.
But... why was the name of Alus Reigin there too?
Alus furrowed his brows, as he had a bad feeling about this.
Felinella should know that he hated this kind of thing. So perhaps someone was working behind the scenes. Regardless, she had probably tried to be considerate with her previously-stated rule.
Tesfia and Alice would be receiving guidance from him anyways. Loki was a special exception, but as each student instructor could coach two students each, Alus’ spots were already filled.
That was also more effective. If Tesfia and Alice were to go to some other instructor, who knew what kinds of things they’d be taught. It was possible that all the results from Alus’ training would go to waste.
Well, even though his name was written down, he was a first-year student and from an outsider’s perspective he was just an ordinary student that nobody knew much about. Moreover, although the other instructors had an affinity listed next to their names, it had been left blank for Alus.
Since that was the case, Alus figured that there wouldn’t be anyone reckless enough to turn to him for guidance. But if things did turn out to be a pain, then he’d just come up with a reason to turn them away.
“The selection committee has received consent from those on the list, so they shouldn’t refuse.”
I didn’t hear anything about this, Alus said in his mind, and he stared over towards the podium in hope for an answer. That’s when his eyes met with an apologetic Felinella.
“Contestants are also included in this list, and like I said before, let’s help each other out. But considering personal circumstances, please come speak to me first... Now, if there are no questions, I would like to end this meeting.” Felinella’s voice echoed through the room.
Alus wasn’t fully satisfied, but if he could avoid any troubles that was fine. Surely there wasn’t anyone that would come ask for his guidance...
Once Felinella had finished speaking, most students moved to leave the multipurpose room. With how fast their steps were, they were likely scrambling to find an instructor.
There were still students left in the room... however, most of them were asking to be coached personally by Felinella.
Alus practically gloated as he stood up and tried to leave with Loki...
“Alus?!”
... When a cute voice called to him from behind. He turned around with furrowed brows. In front of him was a female student with a chestnut-colored short bob.
“... Ms. Ciel, wasn’t it? What is it?” Even without Loki’s prod, Alus wouldn’t forget her in a few days. He’d fought her during the selection matches and recommended her to Felinella even.
“Actually, I heard that you look over Fia’s and Alice’s training, so I thought...”
Seeing Alus’ expression, Tesfia and Alice were standing on either side of Ciel as if to back up their friend. He narrowed his eyes and stared at them, but it seemed they were planning on feigning innocence.
“It seems there’s a misunderstanding. I’m only looking after them on paper, but that’s so that they can train on their own without anyone butting in. I actually need a teacher to look over my own training... just between us, those two have some dirt on me, and I’ll go through hell if I cross them,” he whispered in a low voice, wearing a dry, cynical smile, prompting Ciel’s eyes to open wide.
“Fia and Alice... have dirt on you?” Ciel could hardly believe it, and confusion filled her face.
Tesfia was about to open her mouth to clarify things, while Alice had a troubled look. Alus flashed them a spiteful smile as if to get back at them.
After a pause, he shrugged in an exaggerated fashion. “Now then, jokes aside... Sorry, Ms. Ciel, but even if you want my guidance, there’s not much I can do. I have my own training, and since I am both a student and contestant, I don’t think watching over more than two students will be accepted. I think it would be better for you to find a teacher to coach you instead of having someone like me.”
“I see... but I would like to hear the opinions of as many as possible, so do you mind if I at least come ask for your opinion?” Ciel seemed satisfied with Alus’ explanation, and gave him a shy smile, a steady will shining in her eyes after having seen a portion of Alus’ strength. It was a strong gaze, somewhat different from what Tesfia and Alice had.
He’d become painfully aware of the cold darkness hidden in the world, and lately he’d felt like he was weak against those kinds of earnest eyes. Despite feeling fed up, he also felt like he couldn’t just flat-out reject her. Even as he ignored the two girls that had put Ciel up to it and were silently cheering her on.
Alus acknowledged Loki’s worried look and opened his mouth, aware of the troubles he might bring on himself. “Well, if you’re fine with just advice... You have a good sense for things, so you should probably focus your training on improving the accuracy of your spells and the speed at which you cast them. You could abbreviate some earth attribute spells to cut down on the casting time. You should also look over the process of construction of the magic you use. Also, you seem to be biased toward the image of the spell in terms of your composition.”
Ciel was completely engrossed in Alus’ words, nodding after his every point.
“Because of that, the strength of your spell drops. So you should go through the construction process in order. The direction is one thing, but the biggest problem is that the spell’s origin coordinates are very sketchy. So I think you should really review the construction.”
“How can you tell that much?”
“That’s a trade secret. Anyways, the training itself is up to you, so do your best.”
“Y-Yeah...”
Ciel bowed in thanks to Alus, and made sure to thank Tesfia and Alice as well before leaving the room in search of another instructor.
Alus sat back down in his chair and let out a sigh.
Loki also sat down next to him, wearing a complex expression, but she didn’t say anything. Upon closer inspection, there was a slight smile on her face as well.
She was, of course, happy that he hadn’t been dragged into doing more work, but she was even happier that another person who recognized his greatness had appeared.
That was when the two girls spoke up.
“Sorry, I thought you would be able to look after three people in your spare time. Ciel is a hard worker, so I couldn’t help myself...” Tesfia said.
“Yeah, I was sure that you would be okay with it, Al,” Alice added.
“Keep talking. I might have time but I don’t plan on breaking the rule to stand out even more. Besides, I’d rather focus on my own research than do that. Just so you know, you two don’t have the time to worry about others. Especially not you, Fia. After what I said to your mother, my dignity will be in tatters if you don’t produce any results.”
“...!! Y-Yeah... right. That’s true.”
“A wry smile’s not going to save you. You can drop out for all I care, but since I’m going through the trouble of teaching you, I’m not going to accept disgraceful performances. It’s because you bungle things up that I have to focus on just the two of you.” Regardless of what he said, Alus was looking after Tesfia and Alice, as well as Loki, for special circumstances.
The room was beginning to grow sparse with students, so Alus scratched the back of his head and moved toward the podium, though there were still some students asking for Felinella’s guidance.
Felinella, in the middle of the group, looked troubled as she held her hands up and shook her head in an attempt to restrain the excited students. Surprisingly, many of them were female students, with the male students timidly standing some distance away.
It was a pitiful sight, but Alus had his own business to attend to, so he didn’t have time to care. “Do you have a moment?” he said to the person in the center of the tumult.
The voices of the female students asking for Felinella’s guidance were rather noisy. Despite that, she didn’t miss Alus’ voice. “Yes! ...Can I help you?” Her choice of words was a little formal due to the presence of the other students.
“I’ve taken up instruction for two students, so...”
However, Alus showed no signs of being concerned at this. Because of that, the female students surrounding Felinella stared at Alus. Some even glared at him. Nobody said anything out loud, but their eyes were pretty much saying, “What’s with that attitude? Who do you think you are?”
But Felinella didn’t seem to mind. “Ah, I understand... so you wanted to report that. Please don’t force yourself,” she said, immediately responding to him, with the last words directed to him personally.
Alus had only made sure to follow the rules, so he lowered his head and excused himself.
As he got further away, the eyes staring at his back became fewer and fewer. When he glanced back, he could see Felinella once again surrounded by students respectfully looking at her and requesting her guidance.
That really looks like a pain, Alus thought once again, like it had nothing to do with him, but he did pick up his pace a little as sharp glares turned his way once more. He didn’t want to get caught up in any more trouble.
* * *
About an hour had passed since Alus and the others got to training at the training grounds. They had priority on reserving the training grounds, but the partitioning was still darkened to prevent anyone from seeing in.
Loki’s training was to improve her ability to keep track of things in her blind spot by using her mana sonar. More specifically, it started with catching a ball with her eyes closed. However, the ball was gradually exchanged for something harder, and by now it had changed to a knife.
The training had pretty much turned into her doing battle with her eyes closed. But thanks to Loki’s talent and efforts, she was making it through this training. Even her movements were practically unchanged despite wearing a blindfold. In fact, since she had eliminated her blind spot, she was even able to deal with attacks from behind. By using her mana sonar to keep track of the enemy’s movements she was even able to react to their spells before they were cast.
However—
Her senses were beginning to lose focus. Now that feints were mixed in with Alus’ attacks, she was barely able to evade.
She immediately moved to counterattack, but by that time Alus’ fist was already flying toward her abdomen. With no time to defend and dodge, she had no choice but to brace her tiny body.
The merciless fist sent Loki flying. By now, her body was unable to keep up with her senses.
And with that—“Three minutes, huh. Not bad.”
“Thank you very much.”
Having been blown away, Loki managed to recover and gracefully land. She twitched a bit at the mental damage taken but answered Alus sincerely.
“Take a break for now. You’ve used up a lot of mana, and you’ll only exhaust yourself if you push too hard.”
No, I can still... Loki tried to retort, but Alus shifted his glance to the other two in the middle of training instead. Realizing that leaving those two on their own would be ineffective, he felt like it was about time to give them individual menus, though Alice was still in the middle of working on hers.
She’d put down her AWR and focused some distance away. Normally the user was in contact with the AWR when using it. Mana transferred more smoothly that way, and the AWR was able to read the information more accurately as well. But AWRs could also function even at some distance.
Alice had more or less built up a spell ahead of time and was now working on trying to input coordinates from a distance. There wasn’t much point in using the training grounds for that, but if she succeeded there was a risk of wayward magic, so it was safer here.
As for Tesfia... Her future rested on the results of the tournament, and Alus thought she might have a little too much emotional attachment to that fact.
Alus carried some of the responsibility for putting her up to it. Normally, a person’s way of thinking was more restricted if they trained when at their wit’s end. And Tesfia showed an especially strong tendency for that. That’s why he felt he needed to take some measures.
Right now she was in a corner of the training grounds, creating lumps of ice in the air with magic. She wasn’t just shooting the lumps out either. Instead, she was controlling them. In other words, she was giving direction to the mana and ice lumps, overwriting the coordinates one after another.
Tesfia was pretty bad at delicate work, but this technique was something she couldn’t skip if she was to aim for the top. Especially if she was going to put Icicle Sword to full use.
Alus believed that there was no spell more suitable to show Frose her daughter’s strength. After all, Icicle Sword was a spell handed down in the Fable family. In the spell encyclopedia it was listed as an advanced spell, but there were no details on it. Its essence apparently wasn’t in the difficulty of casting it, but in the molding of the sword of ice.
He had seen through the magic formula engraved on Tesfia’s AWR. Through intuition and his vast knowledge of magic, he’d realized that the Icicle Sword Tesfia was using was only the first stage of its form. From what he could tell, Icicle Sword had further room to evolve.
But the truth wasn’t even recorded in the spell encyclopedia. That’s why Alus believed that the true Fable family heritage spell wasn’t what Tesfia was using, but something beyond it.
Unfortunately, there were too many unknowns for him to move on to the next step. So he decided to rely on Tesfia’s memory. More specifically, Alus asked her about the Icicle Sword that her mother had shown to her in her childhood.
It was quite a while ago, and a portion of Tesfia’s memories were iffy, but after hearing what she had to say Alus was sure of one thing. Icicle Sword’s truth lay in its form, and Tesfia particularly excelled in the sculpting of magic.
So he figured that in order to move on to the next step, she should be focusing on altering the information after the spell had manifested. In other words, the ability to manipulate a spell after casting it.
In fact, if you thought about it... if you were just going to shoot the blade at the target, there was no reason for it to be a sword, nor did the form need to be so complex.
At first, Alus had misunderstood it as being a way to display the composure and power of nobility, but by changing his perspective he could see a new meaning. Thinking of the shape as necessary, its true form was very simple.
However, how close Tesfia could come to that true form before the tournament would depend on her talents and efforts.
“... That’s why I think there’s a step beyond to this spell. That said, I don’t believe you’ll learn it even if you clear all the tasks I give you,” Alus declared.
“But there’s less than a month left before the tournament, right? I want to clear all of the tasks you give me at least before then.”
The drops of sweat on Tesfia’s forehead seemed to reflect her impatience. Having said her piece, she put on a serious expression and tried to return to her training, when—
“Urk?!” Her head was suddenly pulled back, leaving her bewildered.
Alus had lightly pulled on her red ponytail. “You’ll just end up getting nowhere like that. Nothing I teach you will stick the way you are right now.”
“—?! Then what am I supposed to do?” Tesfia asked with a frown, as she redid her ponytail.
“Hmm... well, let’s switch things up. If you want to self-destruct that’s up to you, but I won’t come out unharmed if you mess things up. My pride in particular.”
“I’m glad we share an interest in my succeeding, but will we make it in time?”
“Ultimately, that’s up to you. In fact, expecting delicate spell construction from you was probably a mistake.”
Tesfia pouted over the cold words, but she managed to hold back and keep herself from complaining.
“Trying to teach you too much will just end up going over your head, so let’s start with learning an advanced spell. I think Ice Bullet would be a good choice.”
“Wait a minute, won’t an advanced spell like that be even harder to learn quickly?”
Tesfia’s complaint would generally be correct, though to Alus that was just a preconceived notion. “It doesn’t have to be exactly as recorded in the encyclopedia. Do you know the details of Ice Bullet?”
“If I remember it correctly, you create several lumps of ice that split up when you fire it in a rain of ice bullets.”
“That’s right, but it’s only considered an advanced spell because the lumps of ice are built up in two steps. Trying to learn the complete version will take time. In other words, you only need to get to a usable level.”
The first step in learning a spell was having an image of the results when using the spell. Having a preconceived image of what the spell was like in your head was one of the pitfalls of current magic studies.
If you had too strong of an image of the completed spell, it was easy for it to have a negative influence on the spell at earlier stages. And as a result, not only did this make learning the complete version more difficult, but it made it tricky to spot other ways the spell could be applied.
“You can do something like that?” Tesfia asked in a suspicious tone, but there was a glint of expectation and hope in her eyes.
Since this presented a good opportunity, Alus brought Alice and Loki over and began to speak.
When a Magicmaster used magic, they had an image of the phenomenon that would manifest. This was taught even at the Institute. This was because the merits of an image when casting a spell were significant. And by accurately doing it, you could simplify several steps in the process of casting.
That said, you couldn’t just do anything as long as you could imagine it. An individual’s techniques and aptitude, their mana stores, and more needed to be taken into consideration. Trying to accomplish something beyond their abilities would result in a misfire or imperfect spell. That’s why it was necessary to accurately trace the magic formula and go through each step in the process.
When two people using the same attribute clashed, the ability to control the information in spells made a big difference.
Yet current education relied too heavily on the image, and didn’t push the students to properly go through each step. As the quick learning of spells would lead to higher ranks, Magicmasters had begun to prioritize learning spells.
Tesfia was the type to rely on her feelings, and she was rather sloppy when it came to using logic. Though that only spoke more for her qualities as a magician.
Suddenly, Alus held up a single finger in front of her. He then created a lump of ice the size of a fist above his finger. Its uneven features were only part of its charm. “By changing the spell configuration in the middle...” he said, and pointed his finger down.
Obeying his will, the lump of ice flew straight forward like an arrow.
However... just before it crashed into the wall, its trajectory curved.
“Huh?! What was that? Did you make it so that it would turn like that from the start?”
“There wouldn’t be any point in that.” Alus created a couple of lumps of ice and altered their trajectories at will. “Start off by at least being able to do this. It’s fine if you start with just one lump of ice.”
“O-Okay.” Tesfia immediately passed mana through her AWR and attempted to replicate Alus’ examples.
Seeing her flow of mana, Alus shook his head and firmly declared, “This is no good. Take a rest for a while. You guys seem to be thinking that you’ll get better if you keep training.”
“But I want to try it now while it’s still fresh in my memory!”
“This is what I mean. You’re trying to build magic by relying on an image.”
Tesfia reluctantly agreed to Alus’ orders, and a short while later Alice and Loki joined in, and they all took a break from training.
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