Chapter 66
“We’ll meet again, my disciple—”
Carla watched her disciple walk away from the hut.
Before long, he disappeared from sight.
He probably couldn’t see her anymore.
“Phew,” she sighed.
Overwhelming relief filled Carla’s heart.
That was because Carla had just finished an important task.
Support magic. A necklace.
Yes, with this...
The great mage Carla clenched her fist, thrilled that her plan had succeeded.
After all this, surely—
(U-kun will give up fighting...!)
—Ultos Randall.
The only son of the Duke of Randall, and Carla’s disciple.
Whenever he said, “I’ve come up with a new training method,” he’d flash a cheerful smile and unveil some insane regimen that ignored all rules and dangers. And whenever she taught him magic, for some reason he’d focus exclusively on combat. Carla was deeply worried about this dangerous disciple.
And then.
“S-so you went to Lyon?”
“Yes.”
A little while after Ultos returned from Lyon, Carla heard his report and felt dizzy.
(I knew it... His aura has changed...!)
Ever since he’d gone to Lyon to make an appearance as a noble, Ultos—no, U-kun—had seemed different.
If she had to put it into words, it was like something had gone right and he was feeling just a little pleased with himself.
So Carla cautiously decided to ask him about it.
“My disciple.”
As she said that, she cleared her throat with an “Ahem” and asked as solemnly as she could.
“What is it?”
“Um... so... what did you do in Lyon?”
“Oh, I met my parents and went to a party.”
That’s not what I meant...
Damn, this is getting nowhere.
Carla decided to get straight to the point.
“S-so, my disciple. I got the feeling you got caught up in something bad in Lyon. From your aura, I mean.”
“...Ahh...”
A brief pause.
“Yeah, just a little. I was with Enrique when some unsavory men picked a fight with us.”
“I see. Nothing serious happened?”
“Oh, no, not at all.”
I see, Carla thought.
—Some unsavory men had picked a fight with him.
It was probably just a scuffle with some thugs in an alleyway.
(Thank goodness... At least he hadn’t gotten mixed up in anything strange.)
Carla was relieved. There was a reason she’d been so worried.
Around the same time Ultos went to Lyon, an incident had broken out there.
They said that on the outskirts of Lyon, a man hailed as a hero, Rain, clashed with a powerful man called 'Baldo'; in one village, a man calling himself 'Genesis' wiped out a band of thieves; and, in the end, Gregorio, the formidable mayor of Lyon, had his city hall suddenly destroyed by lightning magic.
That’s right.
Lyon, which until recently had been known as a fairly peaceful city, had now become famous throughout the kingdom as a place that might be “far more dangerous than the monster-infested frontier.”
That was why Carla had carefully checked that her strength-seeking disciple hadn’t gotten mixed up in anything strange.
As it turned out, apparently he’d only gotten into a fight with ordinary thugs.
Well, in that case, it was fine.
(I’d feared he might be involved in one of those three incidents... But, yes, it seems that was just my imagination.)
To begin with, you wouldn’t get involved with people from the underworld unless you went out of your way to seek them out. And surely, even if the only son of the Duke of Randall was reckless, he wouldn’t go picking a fight with the underworld.
Carla sighed in relief.
But at the same time...
(Still, Enrique, huh...)
Carla knew the person her disciple had mentioned.
Enrique.
Carla didn’t have much to do with adventurers, but she’d heard he was the sort of man whose talents had gone entirely into his muscles rather than magic. There were even stories of him fistfighting ogres barehanded.
Rumor had it his brain was made of muscle, too.
Carla knew Enrique was at the Randall estate.
While keeping an eye on the estate—no, secretly watching it from afar while hidden, to make sure U-kun wasn’t doing any dangerous training—she’d seen him.
His appearance was one step short of a full-blown vagrant.
And he had an almost dangerously powerful presence.
Carla’s cool mind had already arrived at the answer.
However you looked at it, U-kun was being influenced by that muscle-brained man, Enrique. Or maybe that man called Enrique had forcibly dragged a reluctant U-kun outside and gotten him into a fight with some thugs.
Adventurers like that were ambitious and eager to get ahead.
In Carla’s mind, Enrique appeared with a nasty grin, saying, “Heh heh heh... Come on, young master, fight!” while Ultos looked terrified at being given an unreasonable challenge.
“...The absolute worst...!”
Her honest opinion slipped out before she could stop it.
“Did you say something?”
“N-no, nothing.”
She looked at the innocent boy before her.
“My disciple.”
At this rate, one day he’d stick his nose into something he shouldn’t.
That was precisely why Carla came up with a plan.
“I shall tell you your next training regimen. It is—the study of support magic.”
Specifically, offensive magic was forbidden.
Carla hardened her heart and made support magic the priority, rather than offensive magic, which most people wanted to learn first.
“...Huh? Support magic all of a sudden...? But why?”
Ultos had a confused look on his face.
“W-well, that’s...”
Carla faltered.
What could she say to a disciple who was seeking battle? Surely, if she told a boy that age the real reason—“I’m worried about you”—he’d only rebel.
That was just how adolescence worked. Carla could relate.
“Well, um...”
And then.
The plan Carla came up with was—
“Well... you know, if you only learn offensive magic, the, the magical... balance, you know. I feel like it might be a little off, or something, ahahaha.”
The Secret Art: Obfuscation.
She knew it was a dirty adult tactic. After all, she was recommending support magic despite knowing how much her disciple wanted strength.
But Carla thought that was all right. Someday, U-kun would surely understand.
(This is all to keep you out of the cycle of battle...!)
And so, the training in support magic between Carla and her disciple U-kun began—but.
Ultos stared at Carla with a dubious look and said, “Was there a stat called balance?” Meanwhile, Carla was so desperate to cover up her lie that she failed to notice just how put off he was.
♦♦♦♦
And so, having successfully gotten Ultos to learn support magic and even given him the necklace, Carla was feeling extremely satisfied as she thought back to the 【Disguise】 spell from earlier.
Alone inside the hut, she basked in her sense of accomplishment.
“Mm-hmm.”
(A perfect plan, if I do say so myself...!)
He’d trained so diligently in support magic.
And that level of absorption! Surely U-kun had discovered the joys of support magic and lost all interest in fighting.
For once, even Carla, who was known as cold by the public, was in high spirits.
But she was surprised by her own feelings.
To think...
“I never thought I’d end up going to the academy...”
Carla had always been a free-spirited mage. She belonged to no particular group and spent no time with anyone. She wasn’t the sort of mage who’d join an academy.
That was because of Carla’s painful past.
She’d parted ways with the older brother she respected. Her brother, the only person she’d ever given a present to, had sought power and left.
Ever since then, Carla had never opened her heart to anyone.
She’d visited several noble households and worked as a private tutor. But not once had she called anyone her “disciple.”
Except Ultos.
That’s right. Ultos was somewhat like her brother.
He sought strength without limit. With single-minded determination.
Perhaps that was why.
Before she knew it, Carla couldn’t take her eyes off Ultos.
And as she spent time with Ultos, who pursued strength so earnestly, Carla had begun to want to go to the academy.
She wanted to learn more magic.
U-kun’s single-mindedness had moved Carla’s frozen heart, which had kept people at a distance until then.
“Hehe.”
She gazed at the ceiling.
She hadn’t made any accessories since that incident. Giving that necklace tied to her trauma to someone else, and even going to the academy, were things the Carla of old could never have imagined doing.
(That’s right, isn’t it, U-kun?)
Ultos.
No, U-kun had chosen on his own to prioritize support magic. There was nothing left to worry about. He wouldn’t seek strength and get caught up in strange incidents or fights anymore.
“Well, time to go.”
Carla chuckled softly and said her goodbyes.
The best memories of her life.
—Thinking of her beloved disciple.
And then, about three months later.
Carla was in a boarding house in the royal capital.
Everything had gone incredibly smoothly. Carla’s reputation had apparently reached the royal capital, too. She’d been admitted to the academy right away. She’d receive research funding, and she’d be able to improve even more.
“Do your best, U-kun. I’ll do my best, too.”
In her cluttered, somewhat dirty room, she said that and clenched her fist.
“Oh, right. I got a letter, didn’t I?”
She remembered.
Come to think of it, a letter had arrived that morning.
“...From the Randall domain?”
On closer inspection, the letter had come from the Randall domain.
Maybe it was from U-kun?
She eagerly opened it, full of anticipation.
What would it say? Maybe he was lonely without his teacher, or maybe he was hoping to attend the academy because he admired her!
Either way, it was good.
“I-it’s embarrassing, my disciple. W-well, if you’re really that lonely, I suppose I could visit you from time to time...”
She read the letter.
It said:
—Ultos Randall. Gravely injured and unconscious, his condition critical.
“Oh, so U-kun’s unconscious and in critical condition. Mm-hmm. He’s a boy, so I guess this sort of thing happens.”
Hmm????
Something felt off.
She read it again.
“U-unconscious???? In critical condition????”
The ominous words danced across the page.
“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeh?! Wh-wh-wh-why?! Why would this happen?!?!”
On this day, the mage hailed as the 【Ice Witch】 and 【Absolute Zero】, a woman who never once softened her expression...