Chapter 56
Casey Grove had three older brothers, but all three went off to slay dragons and never returned.
Her eldest brother was seized by a wyvern and dropped from a great height. His neck broke, killing him instantly.
Her second brother was torn apart by a Red Dragon's claws, and when his body was brought home, his arms and legs were missing.
Her third brother was burned to death by a Red Dragon's fiery breath. His charred skin had fused to his helmet and armor, and since it could not be removed, he had to be buried still wearing them.
Whenever the threat of dragons arose, her father repeatedly petitioned the kingdom to dispatch the Dragon Knight Corps. But the Dragon Knight Corps had almost never arrived in time.
Casey's hometown of Bright was a barren land of little importance to the Ridill Kingdom. The nobles in the central region paid it no attention.
Indeed, some even said that the abundance of dragons in this land so close to the border made an invasion from the neighboring country less likely—that dragons were a more useful line of defense than minor nobles, without a thought for those who lived there.
The Randall knights were the ones who saved Casey and the others after the land was ravaged by dragons and their families were taken from them, leaving them on the brink of despair. They secretly rushed to the Bright domain and devoted themselves to slaying the dragons.
Apparently, Casey's grandmother had been a member of the Randall marquis house, and that connection was what brought them there.
How grateful Casey and the others had been for that support, after the kingdom had abandoned them.
From then on, Casey's father, Count Bright, and the Randall nobles began secretly keeping in touch and discussing the situation in each other's countries.
The Clockford Duke was a frequent topic of conversation.
The maternal grandfather of the Second Prince and the most powerful man in the Ridill Kingdom, he apparently intended to invade Randall as a foothold for a future war with the Empire.
If the Second Prince became the next king, that nightmare would become reality.
──Is there anything I can do?
When Casey asked that, her father told her with an anguished expression:
──Go to Serendia Academy.
If you catch Felix's eye and manage to win him over, that would be best.
But if that proves impossible...
──Use this.
With that, her father placed a small magic tool in Casey's hand... 〈Spiral Flame〉.
＊ ＊ ＊
(What on earth is going on...?)
Being carried over the black-haired man's shoulder, Casey was utterly confused.
This man called Nero was strange enough, clearly past student age yet wearing a school uniform, but Monica was even stranger.
It was surprising enough that Monica knew about the existence of 〈Spiral Flame〉, but now she was saying that she could neutralize it.
(She can't possibly do that...)
Casey had heard from her father just how powerful 〈Spiral Flame〉 was.
Its weaknesses were its short effective range and less-than-perfect accuracy. That was precisely why Casey had set it up while Felix was overseeing the fireworks delivery.
Even if 〈Spiral Flame〉 failed to strike Felix directly, the fire from the fireworks would finish him off for certain.
The man called Nero easily vaulted over the gate of the Old Garden and proceeded farther inside.
The Old Garden was overgrown with weeds and completely untended. At its center stood an old fountain.
Monica climbed down from Nero's shoulder, ran to the fountain, and peered inside. Rainwater had collected in the abandoned fountain, and moss covered it.
"This fountain... There's a magic formula carved into the bottom... So this was the large-scale barrier protecting the academy."
Monica then examined the ornamental carvings on the fountain's outer section and narrowed her eyes.
"There's another protective barrier around the large-scale barrier... They must have protected the barrier with another barrier to keep the large-scale one from being destroyed..."
"So unless we do something about the outer protective barrier, we can't tamper with the main large-scale barrier? ...Then what do we do?"
In response to the black-haired man's words, Monica declared in a voice free of hesitation:
"Just break the outer protective barrier."
Casey became even more confused. What was Monica talking about?
Casey was an amateur when it came to magic, but she understood that what Monica was proposing was not something just anyone could do.
＊ ＊ ＊
Monica stood before the fountain and concentrated. The steps she now had to take were remarkably simple.
One: destroy the protective barrier on the outside of the fountain.
Two: rewrite the large-scale barrier on the inside of the fountain for use against 〈Spiral Flame〉.
The outer protective barrier activated whenever someone tried to touch the large-scale barrier inside. Its strength was extraordinarily high, and ordinary magic would never be enough to destroy it.
In that case, Monica would have to destroy it with every bit of power she possessed.
Monica closed her eyes and rapidly constructed a magic formula.
It was an extremely advanced spell that only a handful of people in the kingdom could use. Even Monica, who could cast spells without incantations, needed more than ten seconds to activate it.
And whenever Monica used this magic, she spoke only the final incantation aloud, out of awe and respect for the being she was about to summon.
"...Unseen King of Guidance, answer my call and show a fragment of your power."
At that instant, the rustling of the trees stopped dead.
The wind fell still, all sound vanished, and a white door appeared above Monica's head.
Casey's eyes widened, while Nero cheerfully whistled and said, "Now that's pulling out all the stops."
"By the name of Monica Everett, one of the Seven Sages. Open, Gate. Emerge from the edge of silence... Sheffield, Spirit King of Wind."
＊ ＊ ＊
Will was moving around inside Felix's breast pocket. Apparently, he was trying to tell him something.
Felix called out to Elliot, moved a short distance away, and hid in the shadow of a tree.
"Will, what's wrong?"
"...I'm sorry to bother you during student council business."
The white lizard poked its little head out of Felix's pocket and looked around uneasily.
When Felix noticed Will's unusual behavior and called, "Will?" once more, Will looked up at him and said:
"...A gate for summoning a Spirit King has opened somewhere nearby."
"You mean someone used a spell to summon a Spirit King?"
"...Yes. Judging by this presence, I believe it is Sheffield-sama, the Spirit King of Wind."
Felix rested a hand against his chin and pondered Will's words.
Fewer than ten people in the Ridill Kingdom had contracts with high-ranking spirits. Of those, roughly half should have been capable of summoning a Spirit King.
(...Is one of the Seven Sages nearby? The one who specializes in wind magic would be... Louis Miller, the 〈Barrier Mage〉?)
A Spirit King being summoned was no ordinary event. It meant that a large-scale battle, or something comparable to one, was taking place.
And yet Felix could hear no commotion or sounds of destruction around him.
"...Will, keep watch over our surroundings for a while. Once the unloading is finished, let's look around the academy."
"Understood."
The white lizard nodded once and returned to Felix's pocket.
＊ ＊ ＊
Monica could keep the door connecting to the Spirit King open for less than three seconds.
But that was more than enough to destroy a single barrier.
"Destroy it."
As if answering her voice, a sharp blade of wind came crashing down from the gate. Like a gigantic cleaver, it carved countless cracks into the protective barrier around the fountain.
The wind died down, and as the gate closed, only the fountain's outer frame shattered cleanly apart.
"...What... was that...? And just now, you said... one of the Seven Sages...?"
Carried on Nero's shoulder, Casey groaned in a trembling voice.
Without turning toward Casey, Monica stepped over the fragments of the fountain's outer frame and headed toward the fountain's interior.
"...You weren't the only one keeping secrets, Casey."
That was all Monica could manage to say.
More importantly, she still had work to do. After destroying the outer barrier, she had to move on to the main task—the rewriting of the large-scale defensive barrier covering the entire academy.
The magic formula carved into the bottom of the fountain was so magnificent that Monica let out an involuntary breath of admiration. It was only to be expected, considering that Louis Miller, the 〈Barrier Mage〉, had spent so much time creating it. The delicate technique used to construct the barrier was close to the work of a master architect. Louis, too, was a great genius, albeit in a different way from Monica. His personality was terrible, though.
(Several dummy formulas have been incorporated to prevent rewriting... First, I need to disable them.)
"Monica! The magic power in the west warehouse is going nuts! It's about to blow!"
Nero's voice did not reach Monica.
Her wide-open eyes reflected a complex and abstruse magic formula. Monica deciphered it as though she were solving a set of equations.
(Dummy formula analysis complete. Specify barrier coordinates. Change the barrier activation condition from "attack from outside" to "attack from inside." Limit it to the fire element. Exclude oxygen. Then just compress, compress, compress...)
It was not a flashy spell like the summoning of a Spirit King, but a quiet, inconspicuous battle.
Having completely grasped Louis's defensive barrier, Monica compressed it from something that protected the entire academy into one just large enough to cover 〈Spiral Flame〉. Since 〈Spiral Flame〉 was small enough to fit in a person's palm, the barrier only needed to be minuscule.
The 〈Spiral Flame〉 secretly installed beneath a shelf in the west warehouse erupted. Flames spiraling like countless springs wound tight to their limit burst outward all at once.
Normally, those flames would have pierced the people nearby, ignited the fireworks, and caused a catastrophe... but the minuscule barrier held them in.
Barriers were normally designed to let oxygen and other things necessary for humans to sustain life pass through. Monica had deliberately configured this one not to allow oxygen through.
It was the same principle as putting a lid over an alcohol lamp to extinguish it. Deprived of oxygen inside the barrier, 〈Spiral Flame〉 rapidly died away as though its former vigor had been nothing but a lie.
After confirming that the flames had burned out completely, Monica let out a long breath.
"............The neutralization of 〈Spiral Flame〉... is complete."
With that, Monica toppled backward onto the ground.
Between summoning the Spirit King and rewriting the large-scale barrier, Monica's magic power had been completely exhausted.
As Nero walked toward the fountain, he proudly told Casey, who was still perched on his shoulder:
"See? My master is amazing, huh?"