Chapter 55

The hidden rule of this Flowering Festival’s preliminaries was simple.

Give extra points for each student subdued.

It was a rule that was clearly disadvantageous to the Magic Division, where attacks on students were forbidden.

To be blunt, it was closer to a boost for Lucian, who couldn’t catch the monsters that gave points because he was being attacked by students.

“What, what are you talking about.”

I can see the enemy’s weakness with the ‘I Am the Writer’ skill.

For monsters, their weakness is the core, which, if broken, results in death. In the case of the guy in front of me, I could clearly see a few spots vulnerable to attack.

Here’s a question.

What is the standard for a student being attacked?

What other situations are there besides a student getting hurt?

“So… it’s like this.”

A circle of fire quietly formed in my hand.

The clear red mana swirled around my fingers, and I raised the corners of my mouth, as if mocking the situation before me.

“Haha! The moment you attack me, you’re eliminated─”

Of course I know that.

But the one I’m aiming for isn’t that stupid guy.

My target is─

The circle of fire that bloomed on my palm was aimed precisely at the magitool. And it burned the remaining wing of the magitool that was precariously holding on with one wing in the sky.

If the magitool is attacked, it will judge that the student is in a dangerous state, and this magitool will deploy a protective magic!

And what is that protective magic, you ask?

The magitool that had lost both its wings fell rapidly.

Flash!

Just before a huge crash sounded on the floor, a light flashed with a crackling sound.

It was the ‘lightning cage’ that protects the student, which had appeared.

The lightning cage ‘safely’ and completely surrounded the guy so that he couldn’t be attacked in any way.

“Oh dear, you should have been more careful!”

“What on earth is this!”

The guys who were suddenly trapped in the lightning cage tried to break it. However, as they got closer, they flinched and stepped back at the sight of it crackling with lightning.

That’s because it was a protective magic handmade by the strongest modern magician for his disciples.

That thing was so sturdy and certain that even I couldn’t touch it.

Just stay quietly in the lightning cage like a cocoon.

“Well then, shall I deal with your other friends?”

Several circles of fire formed in my hand.

Just imagining how many extra points I could get already made my mouth water.

Ignatz Schreiden, thank you!

* * *

The successor who pulled out the Hero’s Holy Sword, Lucian.

He received the protection of the Imperial Family, but because of that, there were always people who disliked him.

Especially among the nobles, there were many who disliked him. Because Lucian was a commoner without even a surname.

For Lucian, who took swordsmanship lectures, the Flowering Festival was more important than anything. If he messed up his grades, wouldn’t the emperor be disappointed in Lucian?

Under the vicious plan, the bribed students challenged Lucian to duels one after another.

Lucian’s sword, which had to endure endless duels, wavered for a moment, and he accidentally attacked a magitool. The magitool, exposed to a strong force, immediately used its protective magic.

“Stop it now!!”

It was a scene intended to show how amazing Lucian was, for being able to deliver a blow that could destroy the very sturdy magitool made by my father in a single strike.

Thus, the student trapped in the lightning cage also became Lucian’s points.

I thought of it as soon as the hidden rule was explained along with the main rules.

By utilizing the magitool’s protective magic, even the Magic Division, which couldn’t directly attack, could get extra points.

“Yeah, it’s useless!”

The magitool that my father had personally worked on couldn’t possibly be destroyed by basic elemental magic.

But I had definitely written it.

The circle of fire ignores all defense─

Therefore, I can ignore durability and destroy them all!

“Haha!”

The points are rolling in!

Everyone, be good and become food for my medal!

“Everyone, aim for that guy’s magitool! We’re going to activate the magitool’s protective magic!”

I wasn’t the only one who could attack the magitool’s wings.

A fast-flying attack magic instantly bombarded the magitool above my head.

Boom!

It made a spectacular sound and raised a cloud of dust, but my magitool was fine.

“The durability of a magitool made by the strongest modern magician is no joke!”

It’s not weak enough to be taken down by a mere first-year’s magic.

“Then how does your attack work, Theo?!”

If the enhanced circle of fire that ignores defense accurately hits a weak point, even my father’s magitool is bound to be shattered.

Moreover, the wings are bound to be a little less durable than the main body!

“You have to aim for the weak points!”

Ten blazing circles of fire appeared in my hand and flew in different directions, instantly burning the magitool’s wings.

The magitools that lost their wings fell to the ground and very safely trapped all the attackers.

“Don’t worry too much. The inside of the magic cage will be very safe and comfortable.”

After neatly burning the wings of the last three remaining magitools, I left the place.

Thanks for the extra points!

* * *

Beatrice, who had jumped to her feet, exclaimed with her mouth wide open.

“Does that even make sense?”

Although there were magitools, they didn’t know what kind of situations might occur, so Beatrice and Evan always attended the Flowering Festival to prepare for accidents.

Thanks to that, they saw everything.

The exhilarating, no, terrible sight of the magitool that Evan had personally worked on for the entire month of preparing for the Flowering Festival being shattered by a mere basic elemental magic, the circle of fire!

Tearing at her hair, which was as red as a luscious rose, Beatrice asked Evan as if shouting.

“Did you perhaps tell him the magitool’s weakness?!”

“Of course not.”

Unlike the astonished Beatrice, Evan watched the situation with calm eyes.

Right, no matter how much of a fool he was for his son, I’d believe that he wouldn’t cross the line as an Academy professor.

Still, it was a sight that was hard to believe.

Attaching circles of wind to his shoes and running as if gliding, and piercing a monster’s core in an instant to kill it.

He neutralized a dozen students in an instant with a method that one wouldn’t normally think of.

“Is that worth being considered a takedown?”

Evan, who had been drinking tea, asked Beatrice.

Beatrice, who had slumped back into her seat, swept back her disheveled hair.

She watched Theo’s figure with eyes full of emptiness.

“It was such a clean takedown that I’m starting to wonder if you told him the hidden rule.”

“No matter how much I dote on my son, I don’t cross the line.”

I know that very well.

The Evan Lisitoel that Beatrice knew was a person who could be called the personification of regulations.

A person who must always follow the rules, hates loopholes, and detests favoritism.

It was an evaluation that anyone who knew Evan would agree on, but the problem was the words that would come out of the mouths of people who didn’t know him.

“Didn’t you tell him not to stand out too much?”

“Why should I?”

Evan put down his teacup with a sharp clink.

His eyes were so cold that a snowy field in winter would be much warmer.

“If my son has to not stand out just because he’s my son, wouldn’t that be discrimination?”

“That’s true, but….”

He stands out too much.

This year’s first-years are already getting a lot of attention because of the Descendant of the Hero who pulled out the Holy Sword.

“You are planning on hiding the fact that your son has Simunan, right?”

“…….”

Evan drank his tea without saying a word.

Seeing him take a sip, it seems he had forgotten for a moment.

“By the way, it really is basic magic, right?”

“Yes, basic magic enhanced with mana.”

“…Then it’s fine.”

It just so happened that among the magic they used, there were almost no fire attributes, so perhaps its weakness was fire.

Or maybe, since it was the first-year competition of the Flowering Festival where they learn basic elemental magic, he had made it so that it would be immediately destroyed if attacked with basic magic as a hidden rule.

I’ll have to make that kind of excuse.

Even that wouldn’t escape the suspicion of favoritism, though.

“I really hate you.”

“Whatever.”

Though she felt sorry for Theo, Beatrice thought it would be nice if Theo fell down and got a nosebleed somewhere.

Actually, she wasn’t sorry. If he just broke his nose, she’d feel relieved!

* * *

“Achoo!”

Is someone cursing me? For some reason, my ears felt itchy and I coughed.

“Hmm.”

I had been running around on my inline skates and taking down every monster I could find, and I was starting to feel dizzy.

How much time has passed?

I checked the time and it had been about an hour.

“Let’s rest for a bit.”

I sat on a nearby rock and finally caught my breath.

The extra points from the hidden rule are high.

I’ve subdued about twenty people, and I’ve beaten up so many monsters that it’s hard to count, so the score difference with Lucian must have widened quite a bit, right?

Even so, the moment I lose first place in the Magic Division in the tournament, the medal is gone.

There’s a three-day break after the preliminaries, so I’ll have to prepare as much as I can during that time.

In any case, the guys who will be in the tournament will also be preparing to fight me.

Ugh! I stretched my body and got up from the rock, dusting off my pants.

“I wonder if Zephi and Cian are okay?”

It’s about time for that to happen.

In the original story, it ended safely without any casualties, so I can rest assured, but there’s no guarantee that it will follow the original story.

By now, Zephyros, who had revealed his presence to Lucian for the first time, had become friends with Lucian, and Fel, who should have appeared in Part 2, had suddenly popped up.

“Sigh, even so, it’s like a rabbit worrying about a lion. Don’t you think so too?”

Jeez, you’re not even answering when a person asks you a question, aren’t you being too mean?

After clicking my tongue, I sent out a circle of fire.

The circle of fire shattered the magitool’s wing, and the lightning cage that shot out from the fallen magitool once again trapped a student.

“Even if it’s a marquis family, they can’t possibly bribe this many students.”

Even if they somehow scraped together the first ten or so, if you include the sporadic attacks that continued as I moved, it adds up to thirty people.

The total number of magicians participating in the Flowering Festival’s Magic Division is 100.

There’s no way they could bribe 1/3 of them. Does that mean there’s something else besides that Schreiden guy?

“Hmm.”

Either way, I was grateful that they were becoming my daily points. It was difficult for me to attack first.

But if I didn’t have the information from the original story, I would have been eliminated without a doubt.

Thinking about it that way didn’t make me feel very good.

“You know. What’s the reason you’re targeting me? I haven’t done anything to you guys.”

“Get lost!”

The way he spat out the curse was quite chilling.

But I have my ways of making him spill the truth.

「Make the person in front of you speak the hidden truth.」

It was quite convenient that I didn’t have to rack my brain to count the number of characters one by one now that the character limit had increased to a certain extent.

Whoosh─ I felt my mana drain away, and I felt a slight dampness in my nose.

“The Duke of Nevera ordered it!!”

While I was wiping my nosebleed, the guy trapped in the lightning cage shouted loudly.

This… is another unexpected turn of events.

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