Chapter 15 – Entrance with fire.
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The chapter is longer than I expected. Whoop!

__________

Birds chirped along the road with some occasional butterflies flying in their carriage window. The wind breeze brought the fragrance of fresh flowers and newly sprouted grass. Gentle sunlight shone the greenery making their trip warm and beautiful.

"The weather is awfully nice today. It's like divine power was used or something."

The weird complaint came from a noble lady with long flowing black hair in the carriage. It was Elena. She was in a light red dress today as it wasn't an official business day. Today was the day she went to the Royal Academy and studied there for three years.

Sitting inside the carriage with her were two other girls. One dressed as a maid and one dressed in a simpler white dress than Elena. They both had brown hair but the one in a dress had beautiful golden eyes.

"Nice weather is good, right? At least, it isn't raining."

The maid leaned out the window to look with a big smile on her face. She waved at the knights that were escorting them but they only nodded back. Her mood was clearly quite excited for this was her first time going to the capital. Although this was the third day on the road.

They traveled light without luggage in a single carriage. It was because everything had already been prepared at their destination, they just had to arrive there. They made multiple stops along the way for meals and sleep

"Emily, stop poking your head out the window."

The maid stopped looking at the roadside and returned to her seat after being reprimanded by a calm voice.

"Aw, Mari is strict!"

"I just follow our Lady's example. You should too."

The mentioned Lady was having a quiet time closing her eyes while folding her arms under her breasts. It was like she was meditating in an irritating way or something. After a while, Elena opened her eyes and grunted with dissatisfaction.

"Not a single monster nearby."

Once again, she was planning to spice up her trip but her knights had cleared the way the day before she departed. They had worked so thoroughly that not a single monster was left near the road. They didn't forget the experience from her last trip at all.

With her game denied, her attention fell back to her maids in front of her.

Emily was as unmaid-like as ever and Mari was sitting so still that she could be mistaken as a doll in a white dress.

The Academy had a rule that nobles could only bring one servant each. While that was just a trivial thing, Elena didn't want to leave any of her two maids behind. That sparked some complications near the end of their preparation. Then it was decided that one of the maids would attend as a student under the Count's support.

Mari was picked as an unexpected recommendation from her mother. Filianore seemed to like Mari and wanted her to study a bit more than just maidwork.

So now Mari would be both a student and a maid. No one could complain. This was not a rare tactic as other Noble Houses also sent their people in with their heirs a lot.

Elena had already picked her course. She would learn in the magic course as expected. Her conversation with her fiance, Finn bore no weight whatsoever. Mari would learn in the martial art course, of course. This was a good opportunity for her to evaluate her armament.

Mari had picked the hammer in the beginning because it was the heaviest thing around. She felt uncomfortable wielding lightweight weapons.

That made some sense to Elena as she had witnessed Mari using her weapon not as a hammer but more like a weighty object. She recalled the best weapon for those types of fighters was a club. But she would let her maid choose.

Learning some basic fighting styles could give her a better insight. But Elena didn't expect Mari would ever pick anything that was not heavy. It was in her nature already.

"Mari, the entrance test for the martial art course will be heavily skill dependent. You don't have any skills that are worth mentioning yet."

"I will try my best, Milady!"

Elena shook her head.

"Don't try your best. If you don't have the skill, then use brute force."

"!?"

She smirked at the confused look on Mari.

"The test will be three spars with three instructors. Students are supposed to show their skill, speed and wit."

The test was just a way for the nobles to show off their House since they would all be admitted anyway. But that fit right in Elena's alley. They wanted a show, she would give them a show. She just needed to instruct her naive Demon maid a little.

"All you need to do is stay in one place. Do not move a single step until the match is over. Oh, and don't kill your opponents."

There was a limited time for each student to perform so if she didn't move, the instructor would. Elena had no grudge against those instructors but her maid needed a good stepping stone. Who would be better than an official instructor?

She laughed to herself when Mari was seriously thinking about how to fight without moving her legs. She believed her little Demon maid would do just fine. The Academy didn't have hammer-type weapons so Mari wouldn't fling herself out of the test ground.

Her own test was irrelevant to her so she didn't look into it.

On the side was Emily.

Well, Emily will be fine either way.

The three just enjoyed the trip in their own ways in this long ride to the capital peacefully. Absolutely nothing happened at all on the road.

__________

The carriage arrived at the capital late in the evening. The huge gate of the Kingdom greeted them… lacklusterly.

It couldn't be helped since the place was wrecked quite thoroughly by many disaster-class monsters. The gate that was still standing was already impressive.

But humans adapted fast. The rebuilding was fast too as the main street and markets had returned to mostly normal. Many new shops and stores rose up with the opportunity.

Although there were some ruins or piles of rubble around, the vitality of the people was high.

Elena's carriage had to travel many days to arrive here and everyone was tired of the journey. Especially Elena.

She had endured three days but at any moment, she could stomp out of the carriage and blast magic around to release stress. Staying inside a stuffy box for so long made her itchy.

But she had finally arrived.

The scenery of the capital didn't impress her. Her two maids were impressed though. Their eyes kept looking out the window with Mari more reserved than Emily.

The procedure at the gate was simple without waiting because she was a noble.

They went straight to the Academy right away. There was a big dormitory for noble ladies which Elena had to stay in. It was compulsory so it couldn't be different.

Finally, they could step down on solid ground. The building before them was really big and tall.

"Wow, if they tell me to clean this place, I will die."

Emily was at her usual self. They were already inside the Academy and Elena didn't even notice it as she wasn't required to be at the headmaster's office so her knight drove her till the dormitory's door. She didn't even see the main gate when they had passed by it because she was very excited to jump off the carriage.

"So where is our room?"

"Servants are not allowed to sleep in the same room as their master."

A stern old woman walked out of the door to greet them and scolded Emily when she asked out of nowhere.

"Greetings Lady Elena De Heuser. I am Isvilete, the manager of this dormitory. And a greeting to you too Lady Mari."

Elena looked at the old woman. She didn't feel anything about her but there was something chilling with her visage. Her cranky outlook combined with the white hair and slanted eyes would make all the other young girls here on edge. She oozed strictness.

Well, Elena knew this person though. There was information about her in the boring stack of papers at home.

"A pleasure to meet you, Baroness Isvilete. I will be in your care."

Elena answered back in perfect manners and got an approval from the Baroness. With that background and appearance, she found the old woman unexpectedly useful to have around. But her maids were extremely wary of the Baroness. More specifically, Emily was hiding behind Mari who was glaring at the old woman.

"It is quite late already so I will lead you to your room now. You can have your meal in the dining room or in your room. Please rest well as tomorrow is an important day."

They followed her into the building. Honestly, to Elena this building was just big and nothing special. The dining room was enormous to house all the young nobles without them feeling stuffy. Her room and Mari's room were next to each other on the second floor. There were many hallways with rooms on both sides so Elena easily forgot where her room was. Luckily there was Mari who was still a very capable maid remembering it for her.

Baroness Isvilete quickly left them in front of their room with a polite excuse and dragged Emily elsewhere. Servants had their own quarter to sleep and they needed to know the layout of the dormitory to better serve their master. The silent tears on Emily's face were not seen by anyone while she followed the dutiful, no-nonsense manager.

Elena just looked after them a bit and returned her attention back to her room. Emily would bring food to her after a while anyway. Mari was exempted from doing maid work currently since she had to receive her own room in the official role of a student.

"Well? Let's go inside and wait for her."

They started looking around their room and checking things out. Elena just gave her room a quick look and quickly sat down at the table. There was nothing that had magic in her room. Mari was checking for secret contraptions or suspicious hiding spots so it took her more time. But eventually, she was done and came knocking at Elena's door. She was still a genuine maid so she wanted to be near her master if it was possible.

They didn't wait long before the door was opened again by Emily, without knocking. Elena didn't scold her but Mari did as always.

"S-sorry. The food cart was heavy."

She pushed the big cart full of food inside and brought up the dishes on the table. It was a lot of food for one person.

"I brought your meal too, Mari! Aren't I great?"

"Thanks… but I can just come downstairs to eat with you."

In the back, Elena was poking a bit at her food before speaking out to them.

"If you go downstairs, you won't eat at the same table. Mari is a student now."

The two of them looked stunned as they remembered. Elena ignored them and ate her fill judgingly.

"The cooks are better than at my mansion. And what is this? Look like a pink slime."

"Ah, that is strawberry pudding. A new dish in the capital."

"It tastes… unsatisfactory. Your sweets are more delicious."

"Uhehe."

A stupid grin plastered on Emily's face because of the offhand compliment. She turned bashful real quick.

“Anyway, the two of you sit down and eat. I will decorate my room a bit.”

“Yes! Master!”

Emily pulled Mari over the table and the two started eating carefully. They were used to such order by Elena who didn’t care much about the facade in private. Elena herself didn’t eat a lot as she just wanted to taste the food. She would have enjoyed the meal with her maids if the dormitory didn’t occupy her mind.

By decorating her room, she meant enchanting. There were a lot of mana trails floating around the window. Spells were used a lot around this dormitory it seemed. Although she didn’t know what kind of spells were used because of the almost dissipated mana traces, she just needed to put up some defense. Surely all those hidden spells were illegal in some ways so there was no need to be considerate.

Elena spread her wards on the wall to reinforce it. She did Mari’s room too while she was at it. They were next to each other anyway. The window was made with wood and glass. There were intricate engraving all over the place too but they were all meaningless decorations. Elena put a oneway barrier on her window with mana as the filtered component.

That way, not too much mana would leak to the outside. If her sleeping place vomited mana like no tomorrow then someone or something would notice sooner or later.

She didn’t put up any anti-spying ward as it would be suspicious to be the only one to have something like that in this dormitory. It wasn’t like people could spy on her without her notice anyway. Even Heroes couldn’t do something so ridiculous.

“Emily, when you return to your quarter, swallow this.”

“Hm? Wha-”

A small red bead was thrown at her by Elena who was sitting at the window sill. She almost dropped it but Mari caught it for her. After inspecting it for a bit, Emily couldn’t hold back and ask its purpose. Her hands were trembling and her eyes shook while holding it carefully.

“T-This Primor- I mean precious item…"

"Just a precaution. I don't want someone to control you with mind magic while being here. Mari doesn't need it."

Emily swallowed hard with some sweats rolled down her forehead and was about to pop the bead into her mouth.

"Stop it, idiot! Swallow it when you are back in your room and about to sleep. You will be unconscious till morning."

"Ah, right. I forgot."

It was perhaps unnecessary but Elena didn't want to take the chance. With the amount of spell traces in the air, there could be people doing nasty things. Brainwashing and thralldom were normal stuffs that her succubi liked doing, she couldn't expect less from humans either. Protection by magic items was good but she was aware of strong artifacts like the teleportation she had tangled with. There could be an artifact that specialized in mind magic so the best defense was she herself.

There was nothing much afterward. Her maids returned to their room after taking care of her bath time. They rest to prepare for the important performance tomorrow.

__________

 

Status:

Name: Condensed Essence of Demon King Elena

Item Rating: Primordial

Description: (Consumable) Condensed Essence made by Demon King Elena.
Grant [Mark of the Demon King].
Increase body mana conductivity.
Increase affinity in [Annihilation Magic].

 

Emily sat on her bed trembling while looking at the small red bead in her hand. This was the second time she laid her eyes on items of this rating.

What should I do? Will I be okay? But this is a super rare item though.

She knew she had to consume this but it was scary. The benefits were not a lot but each and every one of them was something unbelievable.

And she could make this kind of item as she pleases!? This game needs to be nerfed!

Emily realized that Elena wouldn't just give anyone this bead. For all her quirkiness, she really took good care of her subordinates. She didn't say the Demon King was a worrywart because the otome game really had mind-control magic items. The [Mark of the Demon King] would keep her from being controlled by others. Or something along the line, she didn't pay enough attention in the explanation while fascination overtook her.

She also worried about her Divine Blessing. Would it be gone if she swallowed the bead? She didn't know. That was why she was still sitting there trembling.

She gave it a lick. Nothing happened.

Yeah, figured.

Biting her lips slightly, she popped it in her mouth and swallowed in one breath. She sat there motionlessly in the aftershock of her fake bravado.

I-I did it! I swallow the thing! I…!

She fell backward like a doll with her neck in an uncomfortable position and started to snore.

___________

Elena walked in the main avenue where the new students were gathered. Mari and Emily followed close by while trying to keep their posture straight. Emily was rubbing her aching neck occasionally with a miserable face.

That's weird. I don't think my essence hurts.

She had done a fast scan over her maid but nothing was wrong. Putting her essence in was just her way to protect her subordinates. It was one of her imitations of Divine Blessing. Of course, there was no divine power so it didn't work like one. But it was still capable of preventing invasive magic.

Elena continued to walk forward but a group of girls in fancy dresses had flooded out from the side and blocked the way. She didn't recognize those types of clothes. They were bulky and had a lot of jewelry sewed on. She was about to open her mouth to call them but her hand was suddenly picked up and kissed by a brown skin young man. He had silvery white hair and deep purple eyes. With one hand on his heart and one knee on the ground, he started to look at her eyes.

"Oh, beautiful maiden! Your eyes are like ruby of the highest quality, those dreamy lips are like the divine fruit from heaven. You have completely captured my heart from just a glance. Oh, maiden from heaven! Won't you tell me your name?"

Elena just stood there in shock. The most disgusting feeling she had ever felt crawled up her stomach and made her grimace. In the background, however, girls from here and there kept 'kya' 'kya' while hiding their faces.

Luckily, there was Mari who came to the rescue right away. She chopped his wrist and gave the young man a light kick which sent him to the bush with a loud crash.

"No! Prince Kordan!"

The young man didn't come out of the thicket. Some servants of those colorful girls quickly came over to carry the tanned boy out. He had fallen unconscious and his wrist was swollen. Nothing some healing from a priest couldn't cure.

He was carried away immediately but the girls now started to surround Elena's group.

"How dare some wenches like you do that to His Highness the Imperial Prince!? You… *slap* *slap*!"

Two loud and clear sounds reverberated the avenue. Silence fell on the whole scene and everyone stopped their walk. The girl that was shouting was sticking her butt out of the same bush Prince Kordan was just in, without moving.

That girl intended to slap Mari but was instinctively countered by the target and sent flying. Her face would be swollen now with her wrist in the same state as the Prince.

"... Oh… I didn't mean to do that."

The Prince was physically many times sturdier than the girl so Mari couldn't adjust her strength in time. But thanks to that the other girls started trembling and didn't say a thing more. Be it due to anger or fear was unknown but Elena decided to let this be and pulled her two maids away. She felt released to know that there were many malicious little brats around. Their souls were like Imps which gave her nostalgia.

Diplomatic issues? Well, they needed to come to her house and complain first. And seeing as they were from the Empire, Elena thought she could probably get away with killing one or two. Those teenagers were all disposable pawns in the grand play of their nations anyway.

She soon arrived at their seats in the gathering place. There was a small ceremony before the test began so she started to observe other people with [Vision]. Noone was as good as Cecilia of the Duke House but there were still some that were stronger than the rest. And no Apostle, which gave her relief. Then she saw Finn, her fiance sitting in the front row with a boy and a girl that had the same golden hair color as him. She pretended to see nothing and moved on.

There were three hundred students limit each year as there were not a lot of nobles and no commoners wanting to study here. This year though, the number of the Kingdom's students lessened, and in their places were foreign nobles from the Empire and a few Kingdoms around. The three hundred seats were almost full.

Elena guessed these people were here with a winning attitude. The Kingdom was suddenly in a bind and somehow they thought it was them that was better. She wouldn't correct them though. Having delusions was free.

Emily, who was standing behind her chair, called out to her. Apparently, someone was trying to talk to her. It was a girl with long blue hair and green eyes sitting to her right. Elena narrowed her eyes on the girl.

The capital really is colorful. I have seen a full rainbow of hair colors in just today.

"Um, um, you are Lady Elena De Heuser, right? My name is Vanille De Belemont. It is my pleasure to meet you today."

"Oh, it is nice to meet you too, Lady Vanille De Belemont. Excuse me but… have we met before?”

It was just a polite way to say ‘I don’t know you, what do you want?’ straight in her face. Elena’s stone-cold expression also didn’t leave much for misunderstanding either.

"Ah, please don't be angry. We haven't met before but I know a lot about you from my father. He is also a teacher here."

"Your father?"

The girl smiled after finally getting a reaction out of Elena.

"He is Baron Andre Belemont."

"Oh, so you are his daughter. He didn't mention you at all. Please send him my gratitude for tutoring me in the past two years."

"You don't need to be so humble. He always says that your magic is beyond any he has seen. His fascination with you can be a bit unhealthy too."

She put a hand over her mouth and giggled lightly with a bit of mischief. Elena could clearly feel the difference between this Vanille girl and the rest of the students. Her attitude was too lax and easy-going for the kind of teenagers crawling all around this place. Power wise, she was nothing but everything else was a good match for any nobles. Approaching Elena like this was too natural and casual for the students here. In other words, this girl was a spy for someone.

Just because her father taught Elena for a while didn't mean she would be on the same side. She could be wrong about this girl but that was not a serious problem.

For now, Elena would let this girl do as she pleased.

"I hope we will be in the same class."

"Likewise. Having someone familiar is reassuring."

There would be ten classes with three of them belonging to the special elites. Students of all courses studied together in the morning and went for their specialized courses in the evening. This was because everyone needed to study the same general knowledge as a noble and to make connections with each other. The latter part was the most important thing in this Academy to the nobles though.

Elena didn't pay the girl any more attention as the ceremony had ended and they were to move over to the practice ground. As expected, this Vanille girl followed right behind her casually.

Magic was tested first as it was a quick process. Each student had to cast their strongest spell on a target that had a measuring artifact installed. It was nothing serious as spells from children were weak and this was just a way to estimate their potential. Even the strongest of them all could not even slay a tier one monster normally. The platform they stood on was also an artifact that showed the colors of elements they currently had control over. The brighter and bigger it was, the stronger the affinity.

Three hundred students though. This will take the whole day.

All students needed to be tested in magic. After that was the combat test of the martial art course. It would be a pure show. To Elena, there was no point in this test because they were not even students yet, what was there to test? The whole point of learning for kids was because they knew nothing, wasn't it?

But anyway, Royalties and High Nobles would go first. Then they could laze around watching the whole thing like a festival while being served by servants. Elena would be somewhere in the middle. There were a lot of students that were higher ranks than her.

Everyone had a seat while waiting for their turn. Food and drinks were made at a nearby makeshift kitchen. To be honest, this was more of a party than an entrance examination.

No wonder commoners never go to this Academy. They will just suffer.

Elena paid attention to the testing ground before her. The royalties had started.

The first one was her Kingdom's third Prince, Melvin De Agava. He had the blond hair and blue eyes of the Royalties. His face was still round and small like a child though.

"I call upon the will of fire, lend me your power and burn my enemy. [Fireball]!"

A swirl of red-orange flame gathered in front of Melvin's hand and shot off. The target was a big metal pillar with magic formations carved in.

*Puff*

Fire was splattered on impact and his performance ended. The pillar had a floating number in front of it indicating roughly the absorbed mana, or the damage dealt. The platform had three light balls floating up with red as the biggest, as big as his head, then green and blue being smaller than a fist.

That is shocking. Hearing chants after such a long time sure brings back memories.

Of course, he was not impressive to Elena. Instead, she was a bit startled by the chanting. It weirded her out and reminded her of the time she infiltrated the Heroes.

"115! That is an excellent result! His Highness has exceptional potential in fire magic and a high amount of mana control!"

They judged the control by the amount of mana used in a spell. Not entirely correct but still pretty acceptable. The more one can control, the more mana could be put in a spell. In this case, feeding the lesser spirits.

The number was not reliable as even with her control, if she used the same amount of mana as Melvin then she would get the same results. Well, there was no reason for her to do that though.

Limiting herself to a small amount of mana was her plan but to the level of these people was still too ridiculous for her. Luckily, there were all sorts of rumors about her power circulated in the capital. Her [Cyclone] spell last time was obscured by manipulation from her father so the information had somewhat deviated. Still, she could safely unleash part of her power without too much trouble.

For students that didn’t have any spell yet, they just had to stand on the platform and try to use some mana. There were not many as nobles had an obligation to know some magic. Most of those were the nobles that went for the liberal course since their talent in magic and combat was not good.

Next up was the Princess. She was the only Princess in the Royal family. She was the youngest here at thirteen years old. Apparently, the Royal family decided to boost up their name by having a prodigious Princess. Politics and all.

"Princess Liliana De Agava. Please step up to the platform."

The small girl smiled innocently and skipped over quickly. It looked like she was unaware of her role as a strategic piece of her parents.

Elena looked at Liliana with her powered eyes. Once glance was all she needed to know the real capability of the Princess. Mana was overflowing inside her tiny body with traces of draconic property.

A modified human. This Kingdom is more sinister than it looks.

Of course, a Princess would not be a test subject. But this meant there were many lives behind what she had. Good results didn't come out of nowhere.

As the humans fought her through the years, they had also resorted to all sorts of atrocities. She had assumed it was due to desperation. Now though, she wasn't so sure anymore. This world didn't have an official threat to her knowledge. Sure there were some strong monsters here and there but they had adventurers to square off against.

Perhaps I have judged humans too well.

Overall, this didn't change anything for her. Seeking power was everyone's business.

While she was thinking about this and that, a huge [Fireball] had charred the pillar and made a big explosion. It was nearly as big as the tiny explosive [Fireball] she had scattered over the undead back home.

"550! Absolutely incredible! That amount of power could kill a tier two monster easily!"

Huh? Tier two? What's that?

Elena was a bit interested in the new word she heard. But the judge kept praising the Princess and didn't mention it again. The Princess's affinities were the same as her brother but bigger and more evenly. She soon changed her interest to the numbers.

So 550 kills tier two but 115 doesn't. Perhaps 250 is tier one? How much is 1 mana anyway?

Her pondering had no result as the test continued on. Next was the foreign royalties, then the nobles took turns after. It was the tanned boy who had grabbed her hand a while ago. There was no injury left. He too chose [Fireball] in his test. But his score was only sixty five.

All the royalties used [Fireball] even though noble children are not allowed to learn it early. I also just learned it recently due to my tutor being a bit weird. And that Prince, Kordan is it? He has some tough bones. Must have been their Empire's secret.

It was like a flexing exhibition of royalties to Elena. Seeing the modified Princess and a Prince with extremely dense bones were interesting. The two nations focused on different fields to dominate.

After a long hour of waiting, it was finally her turn. Of course, her fiance had already tested after the royal families but he was focusing in the sword so his spell score was only fifty.

"Elena De Heuser. Please step up to the platform."

Elena stood up and moved forward. She had decided on a spell to use. No chanting, of course. Pretending to need it was a hassle.

As soon as she put her foot on the platform, it hummed with power. Her natural mana emission was already too much for it to handle. But it didn't break.

She had taken control of the artifact and kept it from exploding. She could reinforce and improve the magic formation but she didn't. Giving them their upgraded item could be seen as cheating and she didn't have any spare breath for argument.

This artifact had no problem showing her real power because its sole function was only to display the affinities in the shape of balls of light. The problem was how it read such a result. Her potential was not simply many times the normal humans. It was a rank of its own, outside of this world.

While showing her full power to those people could be exhilarating, she knew not to test the gods too much. There could be Apostles in the capital and seeing a big ball of light expanded to the whole city would not be good.

So she took control of this artifact and made a smaller ball of light. But first, she needed to fire off her spell.

Elena raised one finger and pointed toward the pillar. The wind picked up and started to gain speed. There were only a few people who took notice of her because of the rumors, the rest were oblivious and dismissive of the fact that someone stronger than them existed.

Then a sharp sound rang out deafening the noise hundreds of students made. The pillar collapsed into countless tiny cubes along with the three meters wide trench that was filled with similar cubes stretched to the far wall of the Academy.

There was no chant, no visuals, no nothing. Everything just turned into cubes after a blast of wind swept the whole ground. All eyes looked at the finely cut path with incomprehension.

"Am I done yet?"

Her question shook the judge and the other instructors awake. There was no falsehood that magic was cast. Furthermore, two intimidating giant balls of light, one red and the other green, floated up from the ground. Her light balls were bigger than a carriage each and were blindingly bright.

Elena had made only two colors that she guessed were fire and wind. Because she had only shown prowess in just those two elements. There was no need to rush things, she was still 'growing'. But her calculation was wrong as the amount of mana she had fed the artifact was still too much and it ballooned her colored light balls to such a size.

"G-G-God above! S-Such terrifying magic power! And the number is…!? 10.000!? It broke! The artifact is still intact but it overloads!"

She did prevent the measuring artifact from being chopped up so there was still a number floated tiltedly above the trench. It had absorbed quite a bit of mana from her spell and reached the countertop before long.

"M-Milady, if you allow me to ask a question."

"Ask away."

The old wizard lookalike instructor on the side came up to her and expressed his curiosity. She had expected it. 

"What spell is that?"

"Oh, it was just a [Wind Blade]."

Murmurs were raised among the students and instructors. They could not recognize the blade of wind in any form.

"Impossible! No, no way a simple [Wind Blade] can do that!"

"It's the truth though. Here *schlick* *schlick* see?"

The old man fell back on his butt when Elena released two more blasts of wind parallel to the first one. Now there were three trenches. The speed of the spell was just too fast. And the blade of wind was not a typical straight line either. Hers was like a tangled thread that shot forward with Mach speed ignoring any resistance. The sharpness depended on the mana provided, not the shape of the spell. If she didn't want to miss, she would make a net shape [Wind Blade]. This situation didn't require that much effort though so she just shot out a ball of thread.

"I think this should clear up your question, instructor?"

She gave a small nod and went back to her seat.

"Please wait! T-That is your strongest spell, right?"

Elena turned her head back and looked at him. She didn't answer immediately.

He should hear about me already. The people that don't know are mostly ignorant and egoistic. And he doesn't look like one.

"Of course, not. You don't expect me to cast 'that' here, do you?"

His eyes grew wide as something clicked in his head. She ignored him and returned to her seat for real. It was clear that he knew about the undead attack but didn't believe it. She sat regally and felt satisfied with her show. The other students around her though, they felt oppressed by her performance and kept glancing her way in secret. However, the biggest stare was from the Princess. She blatantly looked Elena in the face from all the way over at her group.

There was no malice or anything else other than curiosity in that stare so Elena just smiled back slightly. The Princess waved back but the Prince quickly pulled her hand down. Both he and her fiance, Finn, had a bitter, twitching face on. The whole place grew strangely quiet. Only some whispering here and there.

The testing ground was fixed quickly with many magic instructors around. The measuring artifact was also replaced. Nobody thought that the day to replace this artifact would come. It was too sturdy for student-level mages after all.

Elena started to relax herself with a beverage her maid brought over for her. Things were getting boring now that her part was done and the mediocre students took over.

Then someone arrived late. She looked over and it was just the girl that was sent to the bushes. Apparently, she had just woken up from her injury. Her body had fully recovered now. Elena had the time so she observed that girl closely. Previously, only her butt had been showing when Elena had taken a look. The girl had some good-looking features as expected of a noblewoman. Purple hair and eyes like the colorful bunch that they were.

Elena detected something on the girl, an active artifact. And the way she looked maliciously at Mari and her was telling enough.

That girl is definitely up to no good. Well now. It has just become boring.

When that girl had seated herself, Elena promptly reached over with her mana and took control of that artifact.

The item was a small golden bell. The effect was a curse of depravity on the target. Elena would totally be fine but her maids would succumb to this kind of curse. This curse would free the inflicted from any restraint and amplify any of their darkest thoughts. Definitely the end of any nobles in public. And that girl seemed to want a piece of her maids. She didn’t know how well her essence would fare against it but this was not the time to test that.

Your revenge is appreciated. But I don't want to risk my servants' life here.

The golden bell inside the girl’s skirt lit up and activated. She could see the panic on her face as she turned green with realization. Too late.

*Boom*

Suddenly, spells were set off among the students with many injuries. Tables and chairs exploded sending young nobles flying around. Fire spread everywhere and blood started to drop. Abrupt chaos. It was Elena who set the explosion though.

"What is going on? Protect the Prince and Princess!"

"It hurts! My legs hurt!"

"Someone stop her!"

"I am going to kill you!"

The maddened noble girl made a beeline toward Elena, or more specifically, Mari. Spells shot at all who stood on her path, each and every one of the spells was chantless and powerful. Everyone started to get away from the crazy noble girl and formed a perimeter while the important nobles were evacuating. They also noticed the targets of the violence were all badly burnt and incapacitated. It was nothing a mere student was capable of.

It was thanks to Elena. She just changed the enchantment in the bell a bit and added the magic increasing stuff in. The bell was made from a type of impure magic gold but it was still a better magic conductor than normal mithril. The result was not as impressive as her machine dolls but it still yielded a fantastic three times increase due to her mastery.

"Russell Ku Lavender. I order you to cease this madness immediately!"

"Ah~ Prince Kordan~ you are so handsome! YOU! Don't look at my Prince!"

"Wha-!?"

A big ball of fire flew past the Prince who confronted his subject. It exploded in the face of another Lady from his Empire and sent both of them to the side with serious burns to her face and only minor scratches on him.

The Prince, however, didn't stand up. He was shocked at the fact that he was nearly hit. It had never happened to him before, the brush of death. The feeling of the spell passing by his face made his legs shake. Of course, he wouldn't die even if it hit his face. The evidence was the still-living victim that had her face burned. They all had some protection on their clothes as nobles even if they didn’t know about it. Such was the life of the rich.

Elena watched the girl getting sidetracked and forgot about them without saying anything. Emily who stood behind her also didn't say much except the occasional 'whoa' and 'wow'. Mari was, as expected of a good maid, standing between her master and the danger. The three of them were the only calm people around which was an eye-catching sight. It was because Elena was still sitting with her drink in hand while all the chairs and tables around her had been trashed by the running noble youths.

The instructors were busy controlling the damage while the servants were trying their best to shield their Lords and Ladies. Unfortunately, Elena was not satisfied with this much of a mess.

The fire spread quickly through the entire field and climbed up to the buildings. With her adding mana to the fire, it was temporarily invincible. Nothing could stop it.

Will the Empire compensate the Kingdom? This IS a diplomatic incident.

Elena giggled quietly at the political shenanigan that she wouldn't be involved in. It was just in time for the foreign noble girl to do something scandalous. She had started to rip off her clothes and ran at Prince Kordan like a beast in heat.

"Ah~ take me, Prince Kordan!"

The people around woke up from the shock of seeing an almost naked girl and started to get in her way to protect the Prince’s chastity. It was a mess of a brawl as the girl didn't hesitate at all at using her enhanced magic power.

The mana output was tripled but it was still only as much as the spell of the modified Princess. So with enough time, stronger people had arrived to subdue her.

Once again, Elena was having none of that. She made a mithril scepter and sent it over through the ground. The hysterical girl picked up the shiny weapon without any doubting. Then instructors started flying. It was hopeless. The headmaster was in the castle doing some secret business so no one powerful enough was nearby.

Hmm, I think this is enough. I had my fun. Let's finish this.

"Mari."

"Yes, master."

Elena gestured toward the half-naked girl that was burning the wind barrier of the instructors.

"End her."

"It will be done."

A grin appeared on Mari's face without her knowing. She looked at the target and started walking forward. Her muscles creaked loudly as she tensed her whole body. The sound and movements pulled everyone's attention to her. She ignored them and continued walking toward the enemy. Her white dress and hair fluttered as energy swirled around her body. Her golden eyes started to shine slightly.

Her target had stopped bothering the instructors to look at Mari. Rage filled her vision completely and a beastly scream echoed as the mad girl unleashed magic toward Mari.

Spells were blasting without any chanting and the power was nothing to scoff at. Ironically, as the girl turned mad her thoughts became simple and pure. With the help of the mithril scepter, spirits simply followed her will and mana which was secretly supplied by Elena. Each of her spells right at the moment would kill if hit directly. The instructors survived thus far thanks to their barriers and magic items.

What occurred was a reenact of the training back home to Mari. She used her palms and arms to block and deflect spells. Her movements carried the basics of a brawler. She continued to move forward unimpededly while striking down [Fireball] after [Fireball]. The girl couldn’t afford to think of other spells.

Then everything abruptly ended with a loud slap to the face. Mari had reached her target.

The girl had her head buried deep into the earth with her broken arms laying limply. The arms were just in the way of Mari's slap and luckily helped decrease the damage to her head, slightly.

Mari frowned unsatisfyingly. She had been hoping to unwind a bit but it was not enough. And now she couldn't possibly wake the girl up just to punch her again. She was still a noble. Cracking her skull was all she could manage in such a short fight. Mari had planned to break some more bones at least.

"Tsk."

Elena looked at her maid proudly. The little Demon maid had splendid control of her current power. She would have to think of some kind of reward for her effort.

"Alright, we are going back to our room."

With her fun done, Elena retreated quickly from the mess. Staying would be too much after what she and her maid had done. Although no one knew about her part, she still wanted to be out of here. People parted a way for her group to go through silently. No one said a word.

___________

The whole Academy was in a never-before-seen incident. Nearly one third of the Academy got burned to cinders. Many injured students and instructors almost died from the fire.

The Academy was temporarily closed down to investigate this matter.

"What kind of nonsense is this? I will not tolerate such slander!"

"This is not a slander. The truth is that your people planned to use underhanded methods in the sacred ground for study and even caused such a tragedy in the Academy! This is a crime!"

"This is not! I won't accept your biased conclusion!"

It was getting nowhere even after the interrogation. The criminal was captured and given treatment at the royal dungeon. They needed the power of a Holy Maiden from the cathedral to lift the curse. In the process, they had also taken into custody a golden bell that was suspected to be the cause of this incident and a mithril scepter.

The Court Wizard had appraised the artifact and confirmed its effects as strengthening magic power and inflicting a curse on the target. There was no doubt the girl had used the bell in the testing ground. The scepter was an exceptional medium too with incredible mana control and amplification.

"Is the Empire so dishonorable? Denying such a blatant crime is nothing but an act of thugs!"

"You dare to insult the Kane Empire!?"

"Are you confirming what I said to be true?"

"The Emperor will hear of this!"

"And do what? This case has been distributed to all the other countries' ambassadors. You can't hide it behind a war. If you don't want to be punished by your Emperor, you have better deal with this matter admirably."

The face of the man turned red with anger but he couldn't yell back. It was true that the result of the incident made his Empire bear full responsibility. He would definitely receive punishment for letting such a thing happen.

"We will conduct mind magic on the criminal in the evening. You should be in the dungeon on time."

"Fine! You will regret this!"

The Empire's ambassador stomped out of the meeting room. The royal inquisitors just let the man do as he pleased for now. Their Kingdom was at an advantage in this case but their real situation didn't change. They were still recovering from the monsters' attack and many foreign powers were ready to rip them apart.

Still, the Empire had to lose some monetary possessions for this incident. They would force out the full story from the young noble girl with hypnosis and make the ambassador shut up for good. The witnesses didn't have enough persuasive power to him.

"At least we won't have to give back the artifact and that treasure. How could a mere child possess such a thing?"

"It is the vanity of nobles. Don't think too much about it."

"Well, that girl will be the first person to be expelled in history."

"Expel? She will be executed. The whole family included. This is the Kane Empire we are talking about. The Emperor doesn't tolerate such humiliation."

While trading idle chatter, they were glad they lived in the Kingdom. It wasn't all good but they didn't have any cruel rulers since the dawn of their Kingdom.

The inquisitors also moved out of the meeting room and prepared to do their work. It would be a busy week.

___________

End of chapter 15.

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I have been focusing on writing so there is no drawing yet. I want my story to have some more chapters. Maybe next time.

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