The royal academy’s magic performance event was a showcase dedicated to the achievements of their student’s progress in the magical arts. Whether you were a mage, an artificer, or an alchemist, it was an opportunity for many young aristocrats to display their abilities to their families and future in-laws.

Sadly, as the fair was held annually during the kingdom’s founding anniversary week—meaning it began a month into the first semester of the year—performances were prepared a year beforehand. Although I didn’t attend school any longer, as a student-in-age, I found such an arrangement really annoying.

In any case, nobles and commoners alike were encouraged to perform, especially commoners as this acted as a scouting opportunity. The Mage’s Guild’s guild master, as well as all the other Aleistunum mages, would use this chance to seek out potential students to invite to the Magical Capital’s university. Although Griffonpeak’s university was well managed, at least according to Ellaine’s mother, it couldn’t compare to the best human-run university in Aleistunum.

Originally, Ellaine had prepared something with her fellow students before she joined us, but due to her training and personal growth while under Aurora, she was invited by the Morgiana faction for a more “prestigious” showcase. As mentioned before, the Morgiana and Myrrdin factions competed against each other for arcane superiority, which was why they would recruit promising students from other duchies for their cause.

Ellaine’s mother was a former Morgiana noble, so it was a perfect arrangement. Nobody could accuse the kids for “hiring interlopers” or call them out for being unsure of their strength. Well, it went to show how even in this world, school rivalries were a real thing. As long as it wasn’t malicious, it could motivate students.

Alas, it would become a little problematic when you publicly challenge another student to a duel, though.

Arriving at the venue, I looked around, noticing aristocrats sitting on bleachers that bore a striking similarity to an opera’s or cinema’s cushioned chairs, surrounding a platform like a baseball match. Looking at a couple of young men and women’s white and blue uniforms, I noticed that a few students were sitting with their relatives and acquaintances.

White and blue were the national colors of Artorias, reflecting the feathers King Drangleic and his children had. With a blue jacket over a white shirt and a skirt going down to the knees, the female uniform was pretty similar to the male one, only switching out the long pants for a skirt. Fitting for a royal academy, every uniform, whether you were noble or commoner, had white embroidery and a custom-made emblem of their House’s coat of arms, if they had one.

The students were allowed to customize their uniforms as long as they didn’t completely replace the base clothing pieces or cover them up. As such, these students were wearing thigh-high socks, sashes, or even capes with their academy outfits.

“They looked better than Shiroko high’s,” Saori stated before she looked over at me, probably imagining how I would look in the uniform. Admittedly, the girl’s uniform was pretty cute and the blue and white would go well with my crimson hair.

I then turned my attention to the platform in the middle, noticing a few young men and women wearing robes suited for mages. All of them were glaring at the three people in the middle with a mix of slight irritation and anxiousness.

I focused on those three people, noticing a blue-haired girl in a white and blue uniform. It was Ellaine; she had not changed out of her uniform into a robe. I then looked over at the two people standing opposite of her, two girls whose faces I remembered seeing at the ball.

They really are the Chezaic twins!

Josine’s warning caused all of us to rush over her to make sure Ellaine was all right. A duel between them? Seriously? Yet, seeing Ellaine calming her breathing while the twins glared at Ellaine with deadpan eyes, showing their suppressed animosity through the twitching of their lips and eyelids, we couldn’t help but call out to her.

“Ellai—!”

… But we were immediately interrupted. “Ah, Lady Hestia! Welcome to the royal academy. I hope you’re enjoying your second visit. Miss Saori, Miss Tasianna, I welcome you two as well.”

We turned around once we heard this voice, only to see Thyra of all people standing before us, along with an attendant walking behind her. She raised her hand slightly, gesturing her greeting before turning to Grimnir.

“Master Dwarf, I presume you are part of Lady Hestia’s entourage? After all, it is rare for tazongs to participate in anything us nobles host.”

Still holding onto his plates of food, Grimnir gave me an awkward look before looking back at Thyra to nod. “Aye, I am, lass. I’m the personal blacksmith of Aurora. I’m only here to see my apprentice’s performance.”

Blunt as ever …

Due to his tone, the aristocrats around us began to glare at Grimnir for his casual reply, even remarking with disgust at his unseemly food plates. Grimnir scoffed but before this situation could escalate, Thyra interjected.

“I have already given my consent for this duel. Please, let us sit down and allow Lady Ellaine to solve her problem by herself.”

‘Consent?’

Thyra led us to the seats at the top of one of the bleachers. The seats in this row were the most unique among all the others, as if they were reserved for the finest guests. As we sat down, I asked Thyra why she was here, since I knew she was 20 and had already graduated from the academy. Was she here for somebody?

“Pardon? I thought you knew, Lady Hestia. I am the academy’s principal.” Thyra’s bafflement at my ignorance made me widen my eyes, clearing my mind to the point I remembered hearing a girl at the Chezaic twin’s tea party mention this very fact. I had moved it back into my memory since I thought it was just irrelevant gossip.

“To assuage your fears, I am very much qualified. I did not receive this position simply because my mother was the previous principal, but through my own merits. Just like you, I am an advanced elements practitioner. Inferno, torrent, storm, and terra. The compositional elements of ice, lava, lightning, and mud. I haven’t learned any dark spells yet, and I only just learned holy magic so it hasn’t evolved into [Sacred Magic] yet.”

Seeing my surprise, Thyra seemed to have misunderstood it for me not understanding why she was the principal, instead of not remembering she was the principal. When I cleared it up, she simply responded with an “Oh” and shrugged it off, as if she wanted us to forget about it.

Still, hearing how she was able to learn five of the six elemental magics was pretty amazing. I didn’t know about other mages but from the few I’ve seen, most of them focused on one or two elements to master. Thyra and Nishio have been the only mages I’ve known who have learned more basic elements than I did, and I had difficulty learning [Water Magic] and [Dark Magic] due to my blessings.

When Thyra mentioned she was an arcanist just like Saori, Tasianna, and me, I asked how her mother made it to the rank of “Master” at the mage’s guild. Master Kush was also an arcanist, but that was ‘cause he rarely interacted with the mage’s guild according to reports, so I was wondering if Thyra’s mother was an even better mage than my master. Why was she only a vice guild master instead of the guild’s master?

“The guild master of a mage’s guild branch doesn’t need to be the strongest. They simply need to be competent with managing the guild. Lady Maverina might not be the most powerful mage, but she is knowledgeable and reliable. Mother is a duchess, she is busy enough, so having to deal with the business of managing a whole guild branch on top of managing the duchy would be too burdensome,” Thyra responded before pointing at the platform with Ellaine and the twins.

All three of them attached bracelets around their wrist and activated them. From what I remembered, these were sparring bracelets. A referee then came over and registered them onto a manatech card before running over to Thyra. As he did that, I used this chance to ask Josine what exactly happened.

To summarize, the twins were still bullies and Ellaine stepped in to protect the bully-victim. In more detail, the bully-victim was Amelia.

After having to move into their maternal grandparents’ home in the Equevanna duchy after the Davison incident, the twins were allowed to continue to act as aristocrats despite what their parents participated in. Since Marquess Sirius, under the authority of Duke Greenveil had ordered the execution of their parents due to their treasonous actions, I was sure the twins harbored a grudge.

To be fair, losing your beloved parents would ruin any kid’s sanity, especially if you knew they were to be executed. I could sympathize … but I wasn’t good enough of a person to ignore them bullying my friend.

“I heard enough reports of how the twins actively antagonized students belonging to the Greenveil duchy. Their mother’s maternal family is an arcanuess house in Equevanna, so they haven’t lost that much influence since their days in Greenveil,” Thyra explained.

“You knew but you haven’t done anything?” I criticized her role as the principal.

“Yes, I did, since the rivalry between the Equevanna and Greenveil duchies is a known fact. Berating those twins won’t stop the other students from acting out, and I cannot expel them for such a ‘trivial’ reason. As annoying as it is to say, the royal academy is more an institution for nobles to socialize with each other instead of a haven for learning. The ‘training grounds’ before they enter high-society.”

The parents of a few students turned around as they heard this, giving Thyra looks of disapproval before turning around again once they saw my glares.

Rivalry between the duchies was considered a positive to drive the progress and innovation of the whole kingdom, especially when it could lead to their respective dukes becoming a grand duke. The pros of this could be seen with how students were competing fiercely with each other during this fair.

Sadly, some students took this too far. While noble students needed to act as aristocrats inside the school, nothing said you couldn’t bully each other if you kept it “civil.” Anything that didn’t lead to ruining your reputation was considered fair game and part of a noble’s “education.” These elusive bullies were the most dangerous.

On the other hand, you had the twins. Thyra mentioned she was only made the principal this year after spending two years at the basilica in Aureolis, but she had heard from last year’s report that they have always acted like bullies, they were just part of the former group. After their parents died, they became more brazen.

With how the student body knew about house Chezaic’s disestablishment, but not of the truth behind their parent’s execution, most preferred to stay away from them, in order to avoid being associated with the relatives of potential traitors.

“Being a noble also means knowing how to manipulate others, Lady Hestia.” She winked with a wry smile. Reading in between the lines, I assumed the twins were being used by the Equevanna faction as scapegoats. Sent out to terrorize Greenveil students.

Amelia, being the only child of Duke Greenveil who was still attending the academy, didn’t have her siblings around to protect her, and with her being the child of a commoner woman, she wasn’t too popular among the more close-minded nobles. Even now, her parents and siblings were currently working with Ellaine’s parents to begin mass yeast production; therefore, none of them could attend today’s fair.

Amelia was apparently quite popular among the Greenveil students for being a great merchant, but she wasn’t the most assertive person. With a weaker constitution, she couldn’t deal with stress too well. Ellaine intervened when she saw her being bullied and the rest was history.

Did these idiots plan all of this, I thought before noticing Amelia sitting at a seat, biting her fingernails while surrounded by other Greenveil students. She was staring at Ellaine intently, shivering.

After Thyra set the victory conditions for the duel, a mana barrier encapsulated the platform, protecting the viewers from harm. A few people were gossiping about how it was unfair for two people to gang up on a single person, but everybody from Aurora knew better.

Higher level, higher base stats, more quality skills. Ellaine’s got this.

There was no need to worry about her … but, something inside me was telling me it wouldn’t be that simple. There should be students who have heard about Ellaine getting stronger, and even if those twins haven’t, they wouldn’t just accept a duel without preparation, right? I mean, shouldn’t they at least become wary the moment Ellaine accepted to duel both of them?

It was then when the twins unveiled two books from underneath their jackets. A collective “Grimoires?” came from the students wearing mage robes, and I confirmed the twins weren’t carrying normal books through my [Mana Eyes]. Ellaine tensed up a bit as she saw this. From the spell rings on the twin’s fingers, most spectators probably believed their weapons would be those, so those grimoires came as a surprise to everybody.

Without delaying the battle any longer, the referee called for Ellaine and the twins to get in place.

“This shall be an exhibition duel as part of the fair, not a magician duel, by the orders of Principle Thyra Nimue Morgiana. This match shall end the moment a participant’s health reaches or goes below 25% or if somebody leaves the mana barrier. With that, please, ready yourself!” The referee then pointed the card he held up to the sky and paused. After a couple of seconds, he pressed it. “Match, begin!”

The first to make a move was none other than Ellaine. Wary of what the twins, Francesca and Iracela, were planning, she shot out two chantless [Wind Slash]es. She could have cast [Tornado Bullet], but I guess she didn’t want to kill them.

The elder of the two, Francesca, winced as she saw the two air blades, yet jumped right in front of her younger sibling and opened her grimoire. The book opened, with its pages fluttering as though blasted open with wind. The movement only stopped once Francesca touched a page, causing it to lighten up.

“Earth Wall!” she called out and a wall of dense earth shot up from the ground, barely blocking Ellaine’s spells in time.

“Seals!” Multiple onlookers scoffed and clicked their tongues as they saw the twins utilize a bound spell to duel Ellaine. I turned over to Thyra and she nodded, making me remember what Thyra said yesterday.

Most mages believe using seals devalues your abilities as a mage. It is something non-mages use. That was what I understood when Thyra mentioned the stigma around seals among mages. I personally disagreed with that opinion the moment I saw Francesca cast a spell without needing to chant for it. It still consumed mana and you still needed to know when to use them, showing skill and effort.

Going back to the fight, the younger of the twins, Iracela, opened her grimoire and began casting multiple spells in consecutive order. [Strengthening Flames], [Protective Water], [Swift Winds], [Sturdy Earth], [Holy Protection], and [Holy Strength]; the buffing spells you would receive through the Divine System began enveloping Iracela’s body.

Ellaine, unable to see the twins, naturally cast [Sturdy Earth] and [Swift Winds] on herself before continuing her assault. The moment she finished, Iracela jumped from their cover and shot a [Flame Spear] at Ellaine. Ellaine’s eyes widened and she clicked her tongue, dodging the spell by blasting herself out of the way with [Wind Blast].

Iracela continued shooting out spells, giving her elder sister enough time to buff herself up, too. Once she was done, a barrage of spells rained down upon Ellaine, forcing her to desperately dodge all the attacks by the slimmest margin. Her uniform was slowly getting ruined over time, causing her to frown.

“Oh, by the Light! This is far too one-sided! Why are Lady Iracela and Lady Francesa using such dangerous spells for a simple exhibition duel?”

“Their pride must be compelling them to win at any cost. Seals allow you to cast a number of spells, as long as you have the mana. Being the children of two born arcanuess grants them a strong lineage, and with it, superior mana growths. Yet, they do not train; merely doing the minimum for the academy.”

“Truly? They outnumber a count’s daughter, yet they rely on scroll magic? Deplorable! Lady Ellaine might have improved into a chantless mage, but this is still outrageous, no?”

Why is everybody overreacting like this? This is actually annoying at this point.

Thyra, noticing our party’s lack of reaction, turned around and spoke, “I see you four have the fullest trust in Lady Ellaine. From my reports, Lady Ellaine only trained her earth and wind magic up to level five and wasn’t very proficient in a mage’s duel, well, before she joined your party, of course.”

“Ehhh, this is whatever,” Grimnir was the first to speak on Ellaine’s behalf. “The lass nearly fell to her death during our dungeon dive. Whether getting mauled by beasts or getting blasted by spells, she’s dealt with worse living the typical life of an adventurer.”

“Wh-what? Lady Ellaine didn’t tell me about this!” Josine burst out in a panic. Before she got a heart attack, Tasianna stood up and calmed Josine down.

“Place your trust in her efforts, Josine. It’s all right to worry but you should have more faith in your mistress, especially after you saw how much she’s progressed. She’s receiving training from her father because she was able to impress him. Have faith, Josine.”

Saori nodded, looking rather bored. “Exactly, and these are not opponents you need to worry about. As long as she has her catalysts, I do not believe she will lose to two amateurs,”—Saori then pointed at the twins and the barrage of spells they were shooting out—“If Tasianna, Lady Hestia, or I were dueling Ellaine, we would only need a handful of spells to lock her down. These twins are demonstrating a lack of discipline, experience on using spells, and emotional control. They are merely slinging spells with no direction or plan, believing they will win in a battle of attrition. They thought they could come into this duel without any practice or training and defeat a member of Aurora. Hmph!”

A few nobles turned around again, giving Saori some looks of disapproval despite her proper analysis. Annoyed, I exuded my auras and the nobles jolted their heads away from me, sweating now despite the cool air of spring.

On the other hand, Thyra chuckled. “Splendid analysis; dare I add, everything is still within Lady Ellaine’s plan? Confidence clouds their judgement, making them ignore the bluish color on their faces and the impending exhaustion of their minds and arsenal.”

Seeing her smile for a moment, Thyra then let out a deep sigh. “Yet, these are my students. Maybe I should use this example to lobby for more practical fighting training, or extracurricular adventures. An underperforming count’s daughter has become more proficient in battle than the twin daughters of a disestablished arcanuess house. This is unacceptable.”

Thyra was speaking very loudly. Unlike a normal sport match, nobles had the decency to speak in a composed manner, making the venue pretty quiet and less hype. Everybody around us could hear us and this naturally caused people to speak.

“Hey, is that the dragonewt shrine maiden? The one who sang yesterday at the ball, remember? Lady Ellaine is part of a blessed party? Such a ragtag group of different races, but … Lady Ellaine hasn’t been hurt yet. What did they do to train her?”

“Oh, that’s Lady Hestia! My parents mentioned they fought with her when Cedaraille was sieged by a giant spider. She and her party were the ones to deal the deciding blow and ‘steal’ Duke Greenveil’s prey. I still remember how she clearly said Lady Ellaine was her retainer at the tea party.”

“Tch! Everybody, don’t listen to the principal! Lady Iracela and Francesca are two mages with high potential. As fellow vassals of Duke Equevanna, we should be suppo—Huh!”

“No, I’m out of fire spells!” It was Francesca. Sweat began to form on her face as she turned the pages of her grimoire in a frenzy, unable to continue the spell barrage.

Alas, this was exactly what Ellaine was waiting for.

Iracela clicked her tongue and prepared to shoot out another fire spell but —

“Petal Flame—Kyaaa!” The moment she called out the spell’s name, an earthen wall sprang out from the ground in front of her, causing her spell to crash against it and explode point-blank in front of her, hitting herself with the splashback.

“Try not to scream your attacks,” Ellaine casually said as her brown spell ring just finished glowing.

“Iracela! Uhm, Water Ball! Moderate Heal!” Francesca doused the fire burning her younger sister and healed up the wounds she sustained from her own attack. The spectators frowned at her usage of a holy spell.

“Ellaine, you rotten farmhand! How dare you—Huh! Where are you?” With rage-filled eyes, Francesca turned around to confront Ellaine, only to be met with silence and emptiness. Ellaine was nowhere to be seen … for her.

“Lady Francesca, look up!” Fortunately for her, the spectators helped her, yet it was all too late.

Watch out for upskirt moments, Ellaine.

Francesca jolted her head up, finally noticing Ellaine had used [Dragoon Jump] to jump into the air and was using [Air Walk] to keep herself up. Having found her target again, Francesca grinned as she prepared another spell, only for another [Earth Wall] to ruin her plans. The wall materialized beneath her and shot her into the air.

Screaming, Francesca rotated in the air before slamming her face upon landing on the ground, breaking her nose. The combined gasp of the Equevanna students echoes throughout the venue only to be immediately replaced by screams of despair.

Having created her own opening through the usage of “low-tier” spells, Ellaine swooped back on the ground and blasted both twins out of the mana barrier with [Wind Blast], granting her the win in the end through ring out.

“The winner of this duel has been decided! Through ring out, Lady Ellaine has won this duel! Runes will be activated to heal your injuries!” the referee announced before activating the sparring card in his hand, switching on the runes etched into the sparring bracelets.

Cheers erupted from the Greenveil students’ side, clapping and praising Ellaine for her success. Thyra then stood up and requested for me to amplify her voice with [Aerokinesis]. “Lady Ellaine, would you be willing to show us your strongest spells from your repertoire? Storm and Terra, if you may?”

Somehow she guessed Ellaine’s current magic skill correctly. With no reason to decline, she obliged and cast both [Storm Magic Lv. 1]’s [Tornado Bullet] and [Terra Magic Lv. 2]’s [Bedrock Blades], stunning the people in the audience.

Thyra smirked and began a speech, “Dear students of the royal academy of Griffonpeak, as you could see, two daughters of an arcanuess were simply defeated by a count’s daughter through the effective usage of [Wind Blast] and [Earth Wall]. This is not to belittle seals or magic scrolls, but a testament to a mage’s ability to overcome perilous threats through ingenuity and experience. Without knowing how to use your spells properly, how can you expect to become a proper mage?”

Thyra then stretched her hand out, as if inviting everybody to something. “This is my first year as your principal, my dear students, but I have the ambition to change our academy to a haven of education. The additional courses that I will introduce to the curriculum will focus more on the practical usage of your abilities as mages and knights. How can you call yourself the elites of the kingdom if simple adventurers surpass your combat abilities? Are you not more interested in being combat effective before graduating? Thank you for your attention.”

… So she allowed the duel to happen just to give out this speech? Hehe, sly noble.

The students were naturally confused at what Thyra just said but a few of them seemed to have been won over. Those from the Morgiana duchy were immediately supportive, mostly ‘cause of their patriotic feelings, but the Greenveil students who saw Ellaine beat the twins were surprisingly also on board, despite being mostly “merchants.”

As parents and students began to make noise over Thyra’s speech, I narrowed my ears as I noticed the twins speaking to Ellaine.

“This isn’t over, Ellaine! This isn’t over, you hear me! We will make you regret what you did to our father and mother! Even if it means taking your house down!” Francesca declared with reddened eyes and blood on her face.

Ellaine frowned as she saw the two girls struggling to suppress the aches around their bodies and the tears about to burst from their eyes. With a stern glare, she spoke back, “Both your father and mother are traitors of the kingdom. You can try if you want, but remember that I will fight this time. I will fight back, no matter what!”

The rest of the event went by smoothly. Josine helped Ellaine change out of her tattered uniform into a new one and we reunited back at the seats. She then left us again to perform with her group, and honestly, it wasn’t the most impressive thing really, even after switching to the Morgiana group. It was mostly theoretical stuff about making spells from [Wind Magic], so I wasn’t very interested in it.

But that didn’t matter. Ellaine seemed to have fun doing it so I still had to be there for her. Speaking of friends, the moment the duel ended, I saw Amelia leave the venue, not even congratulating Ellaine on a good fight. I knew she severed their friendship, but still …

Regardless, the event continued. Students specialized in the six elements, except for the fire mages, began performing their shows one by one. When the magic performance ended without any fire mages, it suddenly reminded me of something.

“Ah, Lady Thyra, would you happen to know about a family called the ‘Talsyn?’ I heard they were retainers for your family.”

She nodded so I continued, “Well, uhm, could you please tell them that Macklemor is dead?”

“Huuu, you know about Mister Macklemor?” To quell Thyra’s curiosity, I explained to her how I met him during my first Quest to stop the bandit group he belonged to, having to kill him after an accident. “Ahh, I see … A shame. Well, I never met him personally since we were of different standing, but the Talsyns are part of the Morgiana House, even if they are our retainers. I heard something had happened with the previous fire professor, but I hadn’t looked into it too much. I didn’t even know Macklemor was once his student … Damnation.”

“Lady Thrya,” Thyra’s attendant called her out for cursing, causing her to nod.

“Thank you very much for informing me about this. As the heir, I have a responsibility to take care of my retainers. I cannot do anything anymore for Mister Macklemor, but I will make sure his family knows about this… I will assume you do not wish me to mention you as the source, Lady Hestia?” I nodded and Thyra complied. She sighed deeply. “Why does drama always follow the fire mages? I cannot even install a professor for fire magic because of that incident with Professor Svonnweidher.”

“Well, not to speak ill of the dead, but Keith had it coming. He was leading a fanatical sect of fire mages around.”

“… So Professor Svonnweidher is dead also? I presume you … nevermind. The amount of complaints I’m receiving from the students who wish to pursue fire magic is causing me a headache already. I don’t want to speak about it to you, Lady Hestia.” She paused for a moment before coming closer to whisper something to me. “Although, since you’re part of him through a title, couldn’t you do something? You are a fire mage after all.”

I shook my head and declined. I would not involve myself with Shiterno.

We then visited the knight competition hosted by the Groushia and Lecartiglio students. Because of Ellaine’s duel and her performance with the magic venue, we missed Jonathan’s participation since it coincided with Ellaine’s. We missed quite a large part of the competition but came in time to witness some knight getting fangirled by a bunch of female students.

“Ahhhhh, Lord Charleslyt, you are so cool! We will be rooting for you when you make it to rank A with your party!”

“You are the perfect knight, Lord Charleslyt! You are amazing!”

… Too much fangirling, urgh.

Without giving him another look, we left the venue and returned to Ellaine’s mansion. The ball held at the academy did not interest Ellaine, who was only focused on her own training, especially motivated after the duel today. Even without her father, Klea’Hatma was a good enough coach for sword fighting.

But …

Peace wouldn’t last too long for Ellaine and House Helvas. With everything working so well for the family, it wouldn’t have been too naive to think it would last a bit longer, right?

Well … sadly, this wouldn’t be the case. Jonathan did not return to the mansion that day.

The only thing we found was a letter.

“Father, Mother, Ellaine. Forgive me for my selfishness. For my own training, I shall be leaving on a journey. I renounce my title as heir and I wish you to grant it to Ellaine. Please, do not look for me, I will be in good company.”