Chapter 17
Hermione Enersis.
The Academy’s top-ranked entrant!
A genius of water and ice magic!!
A talent the Blue Mage Tower Master wants to take as her disciple!!!
And her, Akion’s small and precious fluid simulator and research slave….
“A young-fifty-something divorcee professor is after her?”
“I don’t know what ‘young fifty’ and ‘divorcee’ mean… but they sound unpleasant just hearing them.”
A professor at the Imperial Academy is trying to take her away.
He wants her to become his disciple.
Akion cast a sidelong glance at the Tower Master, feeling a sense of kinship with his sister.
“Neither term is a derogatory name that applies to the Tower Master.”
“Phew. What a relief.”
Come to think of it, according to the history of the Mage Tower, the Tower Master had not even dated by the time she was two thousand years old.
In other words, she was not young(?) like a young fifty-something, and was a maiden who had never even dated, let alone married!
“What are you thinking right now?”
It was frightening how the Tower Master noticed such irrelevant thoughts as if by magic.
The old-maid dragon narrowed her vertical pupils and glared at Akion, but,
“When I see such a depraved older person, it reminds me that there is no one older and more dependable than you, Tower Master.”
“Hmm, you know me well.”
Akion’s shameless quick-wittedness had improved enough lately that she fell for it.
It was a little pathetic that even her scaly tail was swishing, but Akion forced himself to erase it from his mind….
For now, purging the lab-slave NTR fan took priority.
“So, what is that professor’s name?”
The identity of the old man who had taken Hermione was….
“Anton Yurintsev.”
“Ah, that fellow.”
Anton Yurintsev.
He was the younger brother of Marquis Yurintsev, who ruled the northeastern mining region.
“He was a troublemaker when I was the academy principal.”
“What kind of fellow was he?”
“A wastrel who led his own clique around. He had talent, but his conduct was atrocious. He was even suspended for trying to force himself on a commoner female student.”
“Oh….”
“He tried that with me too, and I broke five places on him. I only let him go after his father came running that night to prostrate himself and beg forgiveness, but it seems he still hasn’t mended his ways.”
Though gifted in magic, he had lived like a delinquent in his youth and earned a terrible reputation; even after marrying, he abused his wife and was divorced—a general nuisance.
As a result, House Yurintsev was using the academy as little more than a prison to keep him locked up.
“A man like that is trying to violate my slave— I mean, my sister?”
“You can put those worries aside. Do you know why he was divorced?”
“Why?”
“Because one of the five places I broke on him was that one. I hear that even after it healed, he couldn’t perform as a man.”
“Ah…!”
The stated reason for the divorce was incompatibility, but that incompatibility had included incompatibility in the bedroom.
House Yurintsev had supposedly covered it up back then, but it was an open secret.
It was probably why he harassed the academy’s female students even more maliciously, but anyway.
“Why is a man like that hitting on my research slave?”
“You’re openly calling her a slave now… Well, your sister’s talent is exceptional for a human. And he is also an expert in water and ice magic.”
From his perspective, Hermione must have seemed like an irresistibly tempting lab-slave candidate.
Her exceptional looks probably made him want her even more.
“So he’s basically here to snatch my lab slave.”
“Please choose your words more tastefully….”
But even so, stealing someone else’s lab slave—no, graduate student?!
This was an act of disregarding and looking down on the other professor, and could hardly be anything but an enormous discourtesy.
“We need to crush him.”
“Mm-hmm. That’s the spirit of my disciple.”
“I’m not your disciple. Anyway….”
Normally, both the professor and the graduate student would be marked for doing something like this, but the problem was that this professor had a marquisate backing him and was an arrogant pervert.
The moment he threw noble etiquette out the window and acted as though daring them to do anything, only the Enersis family and Akion’s reputations might suffer.
Therefore….
“We’ll overwhelm him with force! Fair and square, one-on-one.”
“Hmm? You mean a duel?”
“Yes! Which is why your role is crucial this time, Tower Master… By any chance, are you strong even without using magic?”
“Of course. Why do you ask?”
“Well, you see….”
Among nobles, if you were insulted regardless of age or sex, this was the accepted solution—even if it meant ripping out the offender’s throat.
Akion intended to settle it with a duel.
*
- Rattle, creak!
- Neigh!
“Father!!”
“My daughter!”
Hermione, an academy student who had come home in haste despite it being winter break.
She burst into tears and threw herself into Delford’s arms, and after hearing what had happened, Delford hugged her tightly and hid her behind him.
- Rattle. Thud.
“Ho ho ho. Are you not Count Enersis?”
“Anton….”
The wastrel, rogue of a professor who had followed her straight here: Anton Yurintsev.
“You haven’t changed.”
“Count… You’ve changed a little. Unlike back then, you seem softer.”
His 20:80 side part made him look like a man who had likely preyed on several women, and his manner was no different from when Delford had been at the academy.
Of course, back then he had been suspended for being caught trying to force himself on a commoner student, so Delford had graduated early and thought he would never see him again.
“So, what brings you to Enersis?”
“Why, a parent-teacher consultation, of course!”
But of all things, the bastard had taken an interest in Hermione, leading to this reunion.
It was worth adding to one of the worst situations of Delford’s life.
“I’d like to register your daughter as a member of my laboratory—oops, I mean, enroll her so we can enjoy researching together like family. I promise she’ll be treated well, so if you could help persuade your daughter—”
Still arrogant.
Rude.
A disposition that considered brazenly causing trouble without caring what others thought to be confidence.
“When I said you hadn’t changed, I meant that arrogant, pathologically obsessive personality of yours.”
“……”
“Your pride is still as strong as ever.”
And even as he entered someone else’s territory and caused a disturbance, madness radiated from him in the form of murderous intent.
This was why Delford hated Anton. Then, now, and forever.
“Watch your tongue, Delford. Do you want a war with the Yurintsevs?”
“Your elder brother probably does.”
And the Yurintsevs did too.
At every aristocratic council held in the imperial palace, the Yurintsevs were one of the leading houses attacking Enersis.
They too were a mage family and, like Enersis, possessed a large iron mine.
But unlike Enersis, none of their ancestors had been mages with the word ‘Great’ before their names… hence their inferiority complex.
“You came here to create a pretext, Yurintsev.”
“Heh heh heh… You only noticed now, you dullard Delford?”
At this point, Delford realized.
The Marquis Yurintsev wanted war.
“I’ve already spoken with the academy principal, and Lady Hermione’s enrollment in the laboratory has been arranged. Enough. Hand her over.”
“Ha, haha. Are you truly insane?”
“If you object, bring me the former principal. Though, from what I hear, he’s been secluded in the Ridasid Mage Tower for over twenty years.”
And around this point, Delford realized something else.
“What?”
“Ho ho, am I wrong, Delford?”
There was an information gap.
He remembered Akion coming to see him last night and giving him advance notice.
“Feel free to pick a fight. The Mage Tower is doing a good job controlling the information. The Tower Master and I will handle it.”
So that was why—his proud youngest son had thought of everything!
“So this is why Akion told me to leave it to him….”
“Akion? Ah, you mean that ignorant youngest son of yours who can’t even use magic? I hear he’s become famous as a genius alchemist… That incandescent bulb, or was it a motor? I saw them, but, well. What could anyone do with something that merely shines a light and spins around─.”
“Let’s settle it with a duel.”
“Huh?”
So Delford immediately picked a fight.
“F-Father? A duel?”
“Well. Any dispute between nobles should be settled by a duel.”
“Indeed, Father. If you don’t mind, may I take part in the duel?”
“Akion?!”
And Hermione was thrown into confusion!
“Y-you can’t use magic! What are you planning to do by entering the duel?!”
“Sister. I have a plan.”
Akion was a genius alchemist, not a mage, after all.
If he stepped into the dueling grounds, he would die even against Anton, a professor who had gotten his position through politicking.
“Pleased to meet you, Professor Anton Yegachev.”
Even so, Akion fearlessly stepped forward first.
“Anton Yurintsev.”
“Yes, Professor Anton Ulysses. From what I hear, you wish to enroll my sister in your laboratory legally, is that right?”
“Tsk, pathetic provocation… That’s right. But you can’t use magic, can you?”
Anton disliked being needled by someone more than twenty years his junior, but….
Anyway, refusing to respect the young man who had stepped forward personally for his sister would be unbecoming of a nobleman, so he decided to accept it.
“I wish to put forward a champion. Someone who, like me, cannot use magic.”
“Ha! Are you thinking of putting forward a knight?”
And at Akion’s request for a champion, he thought, Of course!
Judging by his build, there was no way someone who had not even learned to wield a sword like a knight would stand in a duel for no reason.
But despite being a noble, the fellow was going to insist on choosing someone who could not use magic as his champion!
Though Anton was a wastrel and a rogue… unless he put forward an exceptional knight, he could not imagine losing.
And he himself had a trump card!
“Fine! If I win this duel, I’ll enroll Hermione Enersis in my laboratory!”
“And if I win?”
“I’ll grant you anything!”
Thus, Anton sensed victory.
That was why he staked a wish for anything on Akion.
Akion,
“You promise? I’ll see you in Ridasid’s Grand Plaza in one week.”
“Of course! Take good care of Lady Hermione—wash her─ ahem, I mean, look after her well! Hahaha!!”
Delford and Hermione, watching from the side, both smiled so wickedly that they got goosebumps.
Because Anton had fallen into their trap.
*
One week later.
Ridasid’s Grand Plaza drew a massive crowd.
“They say Young Master Akion and the younger brother of the head of House Yurintsev are dueling!”
“Oh dear, what will become of our young master…! He can’t even use magic!”
Akion, who had looked after every inhabitant of the Count of Enersis’s lands.
Naturally, concerned citizens made up the majority,
“Does Young Master Akion have any chance of winning?”
“I’d say it approaches zero. But he’s a genius, isn’t he? He must have a plan.”
The nobles from neighboring territories who had come to watch.
“Quiet! Quiet!”
And the imperial adjudicator and his troops, dispatched from the imperial court, were controlling the crowd.
“From this moment, I declare the duel between Anton Yurintsev and Akion Enersis! This shall be directly attested by His Majesty, scion of the Primordial Dragon, unifier of the continent of Ilias, Great Chieftain of the North, and descendant of the great hero!”
Among them, the adjudicator declared to everyone from the center that this was a legal duel with the emperor standing as witness.
“They even dragged the emperor into this.”
“Yurintsev is serious. They said he wanted war with Enersis… It seems he truly means to use this opportunity to create a pretext.”
Every noble who heard the story sympathized with Enersis.
No matter that Enersis was descended from a great archmage—they were still merely a count’s house.
And Yurintsev was one of the empire’s founding houses, above all backed by the aristocratic power of being a marquis house.
That was why they had borrowed the emperor’s name to formalize the duel. From Enersis’s perspective, Yurintsev was an exceptionally troublesome opponent.
“Anton Yurintsev! Are you present?”
“I’m here.”
Of course, this was a gamble.
Having invoked the emperor’s name, they had to win no matter what; if they failed, the Marquisate of Yurintsev would suffer tremendous damage.
Yet the Marquis of Yurintsev and Anton himself had sensed victory the moment Akion stepped forward for the duel.
“Then is Akion Enersis present?”
“I’m here.”
Whatever that man did, he would not be able to lay a finger on even one strand of Anton’s hair.
Even so, Anton had not let his guard down and had drunk all the enhancement potions provided by the Marquis of Yurintsev.
Honestly, Anton felt he could beat even a Swordmaster right now.
“I confirm that both duelists are present! Before we begin, I was informed that Akion Enersis would put forward a champion. Is that correct?”
“That is correct.”
Therefore, whoever Akion brought, Anton was convinced this moment marked the beginning of Enersis’s downfall.
“Is the champion here?”
“Yes, Tower Master?”
“Huh?”
Until the black-haired dragon who had been the principal when Akion was an academy student emerged from behind him.
Even now, more than twenty years later, she still possessed the same devastating beauty as back then,
“Anton. It’s been a long time. Have you spent all these years behaving yourself, staying quiet, and showing kindness to everyone?”
“Uh, uhhh?”
She was still hale and hearty.
Considering how endlessly Anton had cursed her for the agony of having his bones broken.
Anton suddenly remembered how, long ago, before his suspension, the Tower Master had broken his body.
In other words… this beautiful and magnificent woman, regarded as the pinnacle of magic, had been Anton’s opponent back then,
- Thud!
- Crack…!!!
“Or have you still failed to mend your ways, harassing women and tormenting innocent students?”
She had utterly crushed him with her bare hands.
Indeed, with nothing but physical force, without magic.
For reference, Anton had wildly flung magic at her back then.
He had to resist somehow as each part of his body was broken.
Of course, the Tower Master had simply deflected it at the level of her skin. She said she did not even need defensive magic.
Anton had learned what helplessness meant that day, and it remained a trauma even now….
“If that is the case, I am truly disappointed.”
“P-Principal! I—I!”
The switch that activated that trauma had descended once more.
As Akion’s representative, no less.
- Crack!
“This time, I may have to tear something off.”
“Ghk, urk…?!”
“I’ll give you the first move, but let’s finish this quickly. I have something to collect from Akion.”
Anton watched as a single stomp from the Tower Master dented the stone paving of the Grand Plaza,
“Hmm? Adjudicator.”
“Yes, O Dragon.”
“This fellow has fainted.”
He had passed out with his eyes rolled back.
- Drip, drip….
- Ssshhhhhh….
“Ugh….”
“Ahem. Hm. Well, I suppose that settles it.”
While he wet himself on the plaza floor.