Chapter 17

Intermission: Chief Researcher Amelia’s Diary

○ TH OF ○

I can’t believe it.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget what happened today. Not until the day I die. How many centuries has it been since someone’s had an aptitude for Dark? No records in the past hundred years, at least. I was so surprised by it I got a little careless. Regrettable, but I just can’t suppress my intellectual curiosity! Seriously, not happening! I mean…I’ve always wanted to study the element of Dark!

I suppose I’ll contact the ministry to tell them I’m staying in Gilbadia for the time being. And ask Lord Gilbert to allow me to do research on his son’s Dark aptitude.

Ugh, I’ve always hated negotiating. I hope this goes well.

○ th of ○

Negotiations worked out, but Lord Gilbert has asked me to be his son’s teacher as part of the deal.

I’m really not much of a teacher, but I suppose he’ll need to get a handle on the fundamentals before he can start tapping into his element. Someone’s going to have to instruct him and I do have a teaching qualification from Aslan Magic Academy, but…I only got that so I could enter the academy whenever I want to. The Great Library there’s awesome; they’ve got great research facilities, and once you’ve got the qualification, there’s no annoying paperwork to get inside.

Man, seriously, I’ve got zero interest in teaching the next generation. I’m worried about this. Ever since I was a student, nobody’s ever really understood the things I try to teach them.

△ th of ○

Today was my first day teaching Luke magic, and there’s one thing I now know for certain—he doesn’t need an instructor. What’s the matter with him?! He’s incredible! All I need to do is hand him a spell book and he’ll do the rest!

People have always called me a genius. To be honest, I think even objectively speaking, they’re not wrong. I do have a talent for magic. I don’t find most things difficult.

…But Luke’s in a totally different dimension.

Has anyone ever managed to precisely control their mana on their very first try? Is there anyone capable of casting several non-elemental spells after their first day of magic instruction?

Answer: no. Until now.

I mean, I’d say that’s impossible, but he’s doing it all right in front of me. Holy crap, this kid is seriously something else.

△ th of ○

They say the size of a person’s mana reserves is determined by their talent, but mana output is determined by effort. Personally, I don’t think it’s true. You need a talent for both. It’s just that it’s nearly impossible to improve your mana reserves through effort alone. It was a real shock when I analyzed Luke’s mana reserves with a Mana Perception spell—he’s got access to a huge amount of power. He’s on the level of an academy headmaster or a magic knight… Maybe something even more. I mean, I could sense the depth and power the first day I met him, but after going over the data, jeez, it must be in his blood, to have a naturally occurring reservoir of this size.

Anyway, all went smoothly again today. He keeps surpassing my every expectation, and now that we’ve gotten down to it, I’m actually finding teaching him pretty interesting.

□th of ○

Whoa. Seriously, whoa.

It’s only been eighteen days.

This stuff is supposed to take years, but Luke’s mastered the basics of magic in just eighteen days. He can already use almost all of the non-elemental spells. I’d heard rumors about the Gilbert heir being an eccentric who studies the sword, but I didn’t realize he’d be crazy good at magic too. I’m so absorbed in my work that I’m rarely in on the latest gossip, but even I know the whispered rumors about him that have circulated among the aristocracy the past couple years. Even so, when the Gilberts first contacted me, I thought there was no way he’d be ready to take the entrance exam on his fifteenth birthday. He only had two years to prepare. I was wrong. Turns out that’s more than enough time for a monster like this kid. And it’s not only due to his natural talent, which is already beyond the norm. What’s even scarier is how completely laser-focused he is.

And soon…we’re finally getting into elemental magic instruction. Tomorrow! Heck yeah! Oh, I just can’t wait! I’m so freaking excited, I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep at all tonight.

○○ th of ○

Light keeps everyone away, but Dark swallows everything whole. Light reflects, and Dark absorbs… The stories were right! Yeah, sure, all of this was in the records, but actually seeing the crazy magic-absorbing thing it does up close was on another level! Really amazing. This does make me wonder how I should go about teaching him, though. There’s not much precedent for the rare elements, so it’s hard to design a syllabus for this. I mean, there’s so much I’ll need to figure out for myself. That’s why I just decided to start out by showing him my own magic.

My elemental magic is based in Sound.

Even as elements go, Sound’s strong—like, really strong—because the speed of sound makes it impossible to see my attacks with the naked eye. If I went up against any regular human, I imagine they’d die before even realizing what was happening.

I showed Luke a spell called Arrow of Sound. The base spell itself is extremely elementary, but when I combine it with my element, it becomes a single, insanely fast, almost undetectable strike.

Yep, my spells are strong, if I do say so myself. Luke’s always looking down on me, so the surprised look on his face when he saw that was kinda cute. I’m sure there’s a limit, but I think that Dark element’s ability to absorb should technically result in the strongest possible combination of shield and spear. I wonder, could it even block my Sound magic?

My hypothesis is that it’s impossible. The most powerful shield in the world is useless if you can’t activate it in time, after all. It looks like he realized that for himself, though, I saw him thinking it over. That was all we got done for the day, in the end. Hmm… Maybe I was wrong to show him my element?

Teaching really is tough.

# th of ○

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy… Man, oh man, this is crazy!

There’s this thing that Luke can do that I’ve called “Dark Blessing.” Let me try to explain it by starting with the basics.

Every magic user in the world has the Detect Mana ability. It’s so trivially simple that it barely even counts as magic at all. There’s also a basic Protection magic spell called Magic Barrier… And Luke said he “linked the two of them together.” Somehow…? Like, what the heck?! I’m the Chief Researcher of Elemental Magic, and I can’t for the life of me figure out what he means by that.

Dark Blessing is a Dark element ability that activates a Magic Barrier the moment mana is detected. In other words, Luke has created a partially automated magic security system that blocks spells. He doesn’t even need to think about it, which means it doesn’t matter one bit if the magic is undetectable or travels at impossible speeds. When he asked me to test it out, I thought there was no way it would work… But I couldn’t resist giving in to my intellectual curiosity, despite the fact that even my weakened spells would seriously injure Luke if I were to land a hit. Even so, how could I not? I had to test it out…for knowledge!

Looking back on it now, maybe I was just being self-centered. But hey, it worked out. He was absolutely right! He completely blocked my spell! Holy crap, it was crazy!

According to Luke, since Dark Blessing is an ability he uses unconsciously, it’s only capable of blocking spells under a certain amount of mana. Still, I know he’s got no idea just how amazing that thing is. He’s so powerful and yet knows nothing at all. And there’s more! He’s capable of creating a copy of any spell he absorbs with Dark Blessing! He went and recreated my Arrow of Sound for me!

Ah, this is so cool! I’m so lucky, I can’t believe it… He’s so, so, so good I j— (the rest of this entry is illegible)

☆ th of ○

Luke’s capable of casting a basic Arrow of Darkness now. That’s great, but I mean, this should have definitely come before Dark Blessing… Even the order he learns things in is weird. I’m used to that now, though.

Luke’s Arrow of Darkness has an absorbing quality to it, meaning that unless the Magic Barrier protecting his targets contains more mana than he’s poured into his arrow, the barrier will just get absorbed into his attack. In fact, the absorbed mana from the barrier makes his Arrow of Darkness even stronger. Oh man, this Dark elemental magic really is the best! It presents so many possibilities! I was right to stay here after all—there’s something new to study every day. I want to know everything about Dark.

Ah, right, Luke’s folks are having a party to celebrate the discovery of his element, apparently. They’ve asked me to attend too, but I really don’t wanna go. I’d rather just sit and watch Luke do his magic from the sidelines. I bet the place will be full of aristocrats, and I’ll have to act all proper and sensible.

How depressing.

***

The first time I saw Arrow of Light, it made me shudder in actual terror. I thought I’d be dead if someone attacked me with magic like that. How could such outrageous spells even exist in this world?

Amelia-san is really incredible . This Sound magic stuff is way too strong.

She was obviously holding back, but her attacks were still so powerful—not to mention they came at literally the speed of sound.

I wouldn’t doubt for a second if someone told me Amelia-san’s the strongest magic user in the whole world.

At the same time, I felt a familiar, fiery rage roar to life within me.

Another person who surpasses me. I am so sick of this.

I knew I had to come up with a plan to counter her spell. I thought long and hard about it. Thankfully, Amelia taught me a lot about magic theory in my lessons. I found her to be very knowledgeable despite her…other flaws.

To be honest, she’s a little—well, actually, a lot—weird.

She gets this crazed look in her eyes and starts breathing really heavily. The faces she makes…and I swear I’ve seen her drooling sometimes.

Truly the expression of a person with some very important screws missing inside their head.

The things she taught me were all accurate, though, and the time I spent with Amelia was very productive. At least, apart from the times she’d tell me to “knuckle down, and just go like, fwoosh! Whoops! Ta-da!” and other nonsense. But even then, I usually somehow understood what she was trying to say.

Eventually, I came up with a method to counter Amelia’s magic: Dark Blessing.

Unfortunately, this spell did have a significant disadvantage—while active, it considerably reduced my mana output. Still, I was pretty pleased with myself for finding a solution. Honestly, it’s almost disgusting how much talent I had. Whenever I put in the smallest amount of effort, I always got immediate results. No, it’s not just that. Even if I didn’t try that hard, most people would never be capable of reaching anywhere close to my level. Everything I did proved that I was one of the chosen ones and swelled my ego even further.

And yet—I’ve already met two people who are better than me.

I saw the wall looming up ahead. I needed to try harder, keep pushing, put in even more effort to overcome it. I’d been lucky, but how much luckier could I possibly get? Still, I was glad things worked out the way they did. I felt like I was getting closer to my goal.

Closer and closer to those truly peerless heights, the tallest peaks that are obscured by mist and hidden from those looking up from the ground.

That’s the only place I’ll ever find peace. I have to crush everything that stands between me and that goal. It’s going to be an annoying task, but I have to do it.

“Luke.”

It was my father’s voice.

Oh, right. I’m in the middle of a party filled with two-faced aristocrats. I shouldn’t daydream too much.

“Is something wrong, Father?”

“I wonder, do you like any of the girls here?”

“Excuse me?”

I genuinely didn’t understand what he was asking.

“I am asking if any of these girls are to your liking.”

“Uh…”

So I did hear him right. Where the heck did that come from?! How can you just ask me that with a straight face?

“Nobody in particular,” I answered calmly.

It was the truth. I hadn’t exchanged more than a few words with anybody at that party, male or female.

“Hmph, I see.”

Seriously, what’s up with this guy?! He’s my dad, right? I’ve got no idea what he’s getting at!

“I have received several offers of marriage on your account, but I have refused them all. Do you know why, Luke?”

“No.”

“It is because you are to choose for yourself.”

I see. I knew I wouldn’t have an arranged marriage, but I didn’t know why until just now. Powerful nobles really place a lot of weight in making political connections to other houses, but I suppose my father is a more sentimental type of guy.

“You are to tell me if a girl strikes your fancy,” he told me. “I will ensure that you take her as your wife. There is but one exception—royalty.”

This does feel like the kind of thing Luke’s parents would say. He’s so arrogant that he doesn’t doubt for a second that what he’s saying is possible… And giving me a line like that without a hint of malice in his eyes just makes this feel even worse.

“Thank you, Father,” I replied, just to satisfy him.

“That is all. Enjoy the party.”

What could I do but sigh? It was tiring enough having to deal with the boring aristocrats, and then my father had to ambush me to talk about that?

Maybe I should have been frank with him? Told him to mind his own business? No, that would have just made things worse. I couldn’t remember the whole story, but I did recall that in the original book, Luke stayed locked up in his parents’ home.

Probably so the next enemy the main character faced was Luke’s father. This made him resent the main character, and he tried everything in his power to destroy him. It’s, like, “Chapter Two: The Aristocrat’s Conspiracy Arc”—something like that. Well, that’s not how it’s going to play out.

“You look awfully sad for someone who’s just discovered their talent for a rare element.”

It was a girl’s voice. Normally I might blurt out “What now?” in immediate response, but that night, I simply turned my tired eyes towards her instead. The girl who stood before me was quite beautiful. She had long, shining silver hair, sharp blue-green eyes, and beautiful skin.

I bet any man or woman would be captivated just walking past her in the street. There’s a sort of aloof coldness to her, though, that powerful feeling of intimidation that often comes with beauty. To be honest, she’s not my type. I like girls who are more expressive and energetic, who really wear their heart on their sleeve, y’know? The one who’s standing in front of me looks like the polar opposite of that… Though I’ve definitely only got this on my mind because of Father.

“Alice Rune Lonsdale, was it?”

“Oh my, you know my name then, Luke Witharia Gilbert.”

This should be the first time I’ve ever met the eldest daughter of the house of Earl Lonsdale. The fact that I know her name means her family must be fairly influential aristocrats.

“May I call you Luke?” she asked.

“Call me whatever you want.”

“Well then. You may call me Alice.”

Oh, c’mon. Why are you approaching me?

“So…what, you use elemental magic then?” I asked, not particularly interested in her answer.

“The way you speak is rather snobbish, isn’t it? I suppose I’ll deign to answer you, though,” she sneered. “Indeed, I can.”

“I see.”

The first thing I thought when I looked at her was that she’s probably an Ice element user. That would be fitting for someone with such an ice queen vibe, and we’re both characters in a story, after all.

“Ice, right?”

“Who told you, I wonder?”

Huh, I was right. Sort of surprising, actually, that she’s exactly what she looks like.

“But that isn’t all.”

“Oh?”

“Ice and Poison. Those are my elements.”

Whoa. A double-element user? That really is impressive. And those are pretty villainous ones too. She might even give my Dark element a run for its money with those.

“You don’t seem all that surprised,” she continued.

Alice seemed displeased by my reaction. There was little of it on her face, but I could sense the emotion in her voice.

“I suppose you’re looking down on me because you have one of the rare elements,” she said haughtily.

“Mwa ha ha, that wasn’t my intent.”

My response only seemed to make her more hostile.

“Very well. I wonder, are you are free tomorrow? Let us hold a sparring match.”

“A sparring match?”

“Yes. I’m sure such things wouldn’t usually be allowed, but with her,” Alice paused to glance over at Amelia, “I imagine it might be possible.”

I followed her gaze. My mentor was acting like the model of a proper young aristocratic woman, completely at odds with how she normally was.

There sure is a gap between her public and private faces.

“Right, let’s do it then.”

I refused to run from an explicit challenge. I had no choice but to accept.

***

Alice was blessed with good looks and a talent for magic and, as a result, grew up surrounded by people who supported her with positive reinforcement. This upbringing did cause her personality to warp in certain ways, however, as she found herself contrasted with her distinctly undistinguished older brother, Yolande.

Yolande was kind to a fault. No matter how poorly his family treated him, he never stopped loving them. That was just the sort of endlessly kind person he was. Even as Alice and Yolande were set against each other, even as she was complimented and he was scolded, he always cared for her.

Children watched their parents as they grew, and Alice came to look down upon her older brother as well. Gradually, her feelings towards him began to escalate beyond their parents’ display of favoritism. She was never violent but would quite often shower him with verbal abuse. No matter how kind an individual might be, however, no normal man could withstand such daily punishment forever. But Yolande was not a normal man.

Secretly, he had an extreme sister complex and was a complete masochist.

He never thought of the abuse as a negative. Whenever Alice would berate and disparage him, he felt a perverse thrill. Yolande’s kindness was genuine. It was simply that everything about his situation—a situation that would have made any normal individual fall into the depths of self-pity—brought him supreme joy.

That was how he became so kind in the first place, so endlessly loving, and it was that kindness of his that ultimately warped his sister’s personality. Alice’s heart grew colder with each day as she berated and belittled her brother. The frost spread and grew with time until she turned into a complete and utter sadist.

And then she met Luke.

Luke constantly looked down on everyone around him. From the moment that Alice first saw him, she was seized by longing, completely overtaken by the desire to humiliate the boy behind those arrogant eyes. Luke’s element might be rare, but Alice knew that he’d only been studying for about a month. She, on the other hand, had over three years of practice under her belt. Besides that, she had plenty of talent in her own right as a user of two elements.

She could not possibly lose to him. There was simply no way it could happen.

Alice wailed bitterly as she fired off a barrage of spells, but it was no use. Everything was swallowed up by the darkness. She could do nothing to stop Luke’s slow march toward her.

He placed the blade of his sword to Alice’s neck, and then Amelia cried out.

“L-Luke! That’s enough! No more! You can’t go any further than that!” Her voice betrayed her conflicted heart, and her true self began to bubble to the surface. “Ah, b-but maybe a little more… I wonder if… No, no! Scratch that!”

Amelia pulled herself together and broke up the duel like a responsible adult.

“You aren’t ready. Everything about you is half-baked,” said Luke.

Alice lay face down on the ground, panting heavily. She had used up practically every last drop of mana within her and could no longer even stand. No matter how many times she tried, the result was always the same—Luke’s blade pressed to her neck. That was the end of it. Every single spell, whether Poison or Ice or a combination of both, was easily swallowed by Dark. It was no contest. Not even close.

She struggled to make sense of what had happened, her breathing ragged and her ego trampled thoroughly. With each loss, Alice heard the exact same degrading words that she’d spent years saying to her brother.

“Pitiful, aren’t you? You thought to challenge me with such meager strength?”

Alice should have been the one embarrassing him, but it was she who suffered the humiliation instead. With a crack, her self-conceit collapsed in on itself. Her mind could not endure the burden that loss placed upon it.

“Ah… M-more…” she gasped.

Sometimes a person’s heart could betray them.

There’s certainly a debate to be had whether this happened as a desperate move for self-preservation or if it’s merely one’s true nature being exposed. Regardless, at that moment, it was clear that Alice’s heart had indeed betrayed her.

“More… Ah… Insult me more! G-go ahead, talk down to me…”

“…Huh?”

In other words, she switched from an S to an M .

***

I asked him to inform me if any of the girls struck his fancy, and the very next day, he’s meeting with one of them. I see what’s going on here, my boy.

Luke would not learn of it for a while longer, but his father’s great misunderstanding, coupled with his incredible ability to get things done, would result in the hasty but smoothly arranged engagement of Luke and Alice.

***

“Argh!”