Chapter 44: You Shall Become My Squire. - 6
The headmaster stared at me intently with her glittering golden eyes.
Though her face was expressionless, her eyes shone even more brightly than they had when she was asking about the Dawn Troupe.
As though the story of the Dawn Troupe had merely been an afterthought, and this had been her true objective all along.
The businesslike interrogator from before was nowhere to be found. In her place was a child who had discovered a new toy.
But that...
It was not because of what the headmaster thought.
She seemed to be under the impression that I had dispelled the magic through something incredible...
But it was not some amazing feat of analyzing and undoing magic. I had merely erased it with a magic tool.
I felt like I should clear up the misunderstanding before it got any bigger...
At this rate, I was going to get dragged off to graduate school.
However.
"No, no, no, no."
Before I could clear up the misunderstanding, something stepped between the headmaster and me.
"What exactly do you think you are doing, Headmaster?"
It was Professor Luke, the blue flames in his eye sockets burning even fiercer.
"To suddenly try to take our Ian away..."
Our?
Had I become close enough with that professor for him to call me ours?
Had we not known each other for barely a week?
This was unsettling.
Usually, this was where the graduate-school route began.
Besides, in the game, Professor Luke had only ever recommended graduate school to Angelica.
What on earth had he seen in me?
He appeared to be trying to protect me from the headmaster’s clutches, but from where I stood, this side looked like a minefield too.
Still.
The headmaster did not appear willing to give up, either.
She folded her arms and gave me a slow once-over.
"Is it not Lumea’s duty to become the star that guides a lost student onto the proper path?"
The headmaster pressed on with her convictions as though the skeleton’s opinion did not matter in the slightest.
But.
"After living for five hundred years, have you finally gone senile? Or have your eyes turned into knot holes?"
He was no pushover either.
A curse spilled from the skeleton’s jawbone—a skeleton who normally spoke with impeccable courtesy.
What nerve, to defy that five-hundred-year-old, level-ninety chicken coop.
I could not even begin to imagine how badly he did not want to send me away.
Still, the headmaster apparently did not appreciate his defiance.
Cracks slowly began to form in her expressionless face.
As her eyes narrowed, an overwhelming pressure rippled out from the headmaster.
At the sight, Kafka went pale and broke out in a cold sweat, while Professor Silves stared at the headmaster in shock.
I was no different.
Because what was pouring forth now was...
[Dragon Fear binds you.]
[Dragon Strength attempts to resist.]
Dragon Fear.
An ability possessed by dragons.
One of the most powerful abilities, so mighty it was revered as an authority.
A force that overwhelmed all things and made them kneel.
It was just like back then.
The same feeling as when the Sword Master aura emitted by the family head had crushed down on my body.
Yet the pressure of this aura felt as though it stood even higher than that.
And she was going to use that here?
[Ash Bell Drayg]
◈ Level: 90
◈ The target is currently displeased.
This crazy bitch turned on Dragon Fear because she got offended?
Was this woman insane?
But the suffocating atmosphere lasted only a moment.
[You have escaped the influence of Dragon Fear.]
The aura that had spread out from the headmaster vanished in an instant, as though it had never existed in the first place.
No, to be exact, it had not vanished.
According to Insight Eye, the headmaster’s Dragon Fear was now bypassing Kafka, Professor Silves, and me, directed solely at Professor Luke.
In other words, the headmaster had concentrated every bit of the Dragon Fear radiating from her body onto a single person.
You could control Dragon Fear?
There had not been a pattern like that in the game...
More importantly, was this all right?
Merely entering the range of Dragon Fear should have been enough to send an ordinary person into fatal shock.
Yet.
Clatter.
"How is Ian suited to being a mage...? Look at that build and those muscles. He is obviously suited to be a swordsman."
Professor Luke moved his jawbone as if nothing were wrong.
With a reaction as though it were no big deal, Professor Luke opened his jawbone again.
What exactly was that man?
Still.
As though she had expected as much from Professor Luke, the headmaster showed no particular reaction.
"Are not most of those muscles you speak of made of mana? It is terribly inefficient. If that delicate mana control were used for magic instead..."
"Whether Ian is natural or juiced is none of my business. Our Ian will absolutely not be sent to some creepy magic-pumping bastard."
Hearing a skeleton call someone creepy made me feel strangely uncomfortable.
At that moment, the index finger of the headmaster’s right hand, which was gripping her elbow, twitched.
As if responding to it, the blue flames in Professor Luke’s eye sockets flared violently.
A hair-trigger situation.
Cold sweat drenched my back far more fiercely than when Isabella and Dolnesia had faced off.
Faculty power struggles are terrifying.
Within that tautly stretched tension.
The first to back down was the headmaster.
The aura spilling from her body was gradually fading.
I could tell that she was extinguishing her Dragon Fear.
"We shall discuss this matter separately later."
"Do not worry. I will never send him your way."
First.
I needed to end this fight.
"Um, Headmaster..."
The moment their power struggle ended.
I took Carnwennan out of my inventory and showed it to the headmaster.
To end this damned war, I needed to clear up the misunderstanding as soon as possible.
Besides, I did not want to go to graduate school.
"Actually, I dispelled that magic with this dagger."
Perhaps because it was a magic tool, the headmaster’s interest was immediately drawn to Carnwennan.
Her golden eyes turned toward it at once.
"This is..."
"I acquired it in the dungeon. It can nullify any magic of the sixth circle or below, so I was able to dispel that magic thanks to it."
"A dagger with such an ability actually exists...?"
Even she, who had lived for five hundred years, seemed never to have seen a weapon with such an ability. Her expression was one of disbelief.
Of course it was.
Even I, who had played through Dawnstar Academia twenty-nine times, had never heard of a weapon like that. And it had not even been acquired in the game—it was a gift bestowed upon me by the Knight King, that generous patron above.
In any case, the headmaster accepted Carnwennan and examined it for a moment.
"May I verify its effect?"
She looked at me and asked for permission to use it.
"That is fine."
It was not as though it would wear out, so I nodded.
Hummm—hummm—hummm.
The instant she received permission, the headmaster formed a magic circle in one hand.
With a humming sound, lines were drawn within the circle, while its border began to fill with runic letters.
At some point, a wind blew through the infirmary even though every window was closed.
[Ash’s Narrative, [Mana Storm], has been identified.]
[No circle exists.]
[You have failed to acquire [Mana Storm].]
What the hell.
The moment I saw the magic the headmaster intended to use, I barely swallowed the curse rising to my lips.
She was going to cast Mana Storm.
Mana Storm was a sixth-circle spell.
And among sixth-circle spells, it ranked among the most destructive.
Was she in her right mind?
She was going to use that inside the infirmary?
Whether she knew that or not, the headmaster brought the Carnwennan in her hand toward the magic circle.
The moment its blade touched it, her magic circle shattered and was nullified.
The headmaster’s eyes widened as she saw the broken magic circle.
"It is true. And it appears to operate on a different principle from [Dispel]."
She seemed rather flustered.
It appeared she had not expected it to truly be nullified.
Then.
The headmaster drew another magic circle.
Wait a second.
[Ash’s Narrative, [Dispel], has been identified.]
[No circle exists.]
[You have failed to acquire [Dispel].]
This time, it was Dispel, a fourth-circle spell with the ability to nullify magic.
It might have only been a fourth-circle spell in name, but the number of circles of magic it could nullify increased with the caster’s level. Someone like the headmaster could probably nullify even eighth-circle magic.
Was this crazy headmaster trying to erase Carnwennan?
Once again, I had to barely swallow the curse about to burst from my throat.
However.
Once again, the magic circle shattered, just like the Mana Storm circle before it.
When she suddenly used Dispel, I had nearly panicked, but perhaps Carnwennan’s principle was not magical—the thing that broke was the headmaster’s magic.
"A dagger that nullifies magic of the sixth circle or below regardless of the caster..."
The headmaster murmured.
"Use it well, Student Ian."
Then she returned Carnwennan to me.
A magic tool that could nullify any spell of the sixth circle or below.
She had every reason to covet it, yet the headmaster returned it to me with an unconcerned expression.
At around level ninety, did she simply have no need for an item like Carnwennan?
I was grateful not to have to argue about it, at least.
After accepting Carnwennan from her, I lowered my head briefly.
"I apologize for disappointing you, but the power that dispelled the magic was not my own."
Still, I had proved it to the headmaster.
That I was not the remarkable genius she thought I was.
Now that my bluff had been exposed, she would surely give up.
It would be even better if she was disappointed. Then I would not have to go to graduate school.
But.
"I see."
I did not know why.
Why were her eyes shining even more brightly?
As though she had found something better than Carnwennan.
Perhaps it was because her face was expressionless, but her golden eyes appeared brighter than ever.
"This is the first time."
Huh?
What did that mean?
"The first time I have been found out like this, I mean."
Found out about what?
"Student Ian. You were looking directly at Dragon Fear."
Yes, and what about Dragon Fear?
Why was it?
Dragon Fear had been extinguished long ago.
Yet every time she spoke, why did my back grow damp with sweat?
What on earth was she about to say?
"Dragon Fear may look similar to mana, but it is different. Thus, while there have been people who could see the flow of mana, no one has ever seen the flow of Dragon Fear."
The headmaster flexed the index finger that had been gripping her arm once, then twice, before continuing.
"You are the first person to see the flow of my Dragon Fear."
"Pardon?"
"And that is not all."
As she spoke, the headmaster brought forth the Dispel magic circle again.
"When I cast this spell on that dagger, you looked extraordinarily surprised. As though you knew what magic I was going to use."
"Of course I was surprised. Was the magic you intended to use not [Dispel]?"
Anyone would be surprised if someone as skilled as the headmaster slammed Dispel into a magic tool.
"How did you know this was [Dispel]?"
The headmaster’s eyes narrowed.
When I met her gaze, the cold sweat from before poured down me like a waterfall.
Damn it, should I not have brought up Dispel?
I must have shown off too much.
Think.
Otherwise, I was headed straight for graduate school.
Look at that face.
Did she not look like a predator licking its lips after spotting prey?
"...I saw a similar magic circle in a book I read long ago."
"How strange."
At my answer, the headmaster’s golden eyes began to curve like crescent moons.
What?
Where had I answered wrong?
"That magic circle is not [Dispel], you see."
"...?"
What did she mean? Insight Eye had clearly said...
That it was a Dispel spell...
As I repeated that to myself and looked at the headmaster’s face, my expression froze.
Her crescent-shaped eyes returned to normal, and so did her expressionless face.
But within that blank expression, her golden eyes were saying this.
Got you.
The raised gaze of a lion looking at a rabbit.
She definitely had eyes like that.
The headmaster dismantled the magic circle, rearranged its runes and lines, and drew it anew.
"This is the real [Dispel], Student Ian."
She displayed the rearranged magic circle before me once more.
[Ash’s Narrative, [Dispel], has been identified.]
[No circle exists.]
[You have failed to acquire [Dispel].]
It was true.
It looked different from the magic circle before, but Insight Eye was telling me.
That this one was real as well.
"I am truly curious how you could be certain that it was [Dispel], Student Ian."
As the headmaster stared at me expressionlessly.
Cold sweat cascaded down my back so heavily that I felt as though I might actually dehydrate today.
Fuck.
I was fucked.
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