The Mysterious Child: An Adventure Tale Beginning with Numerology

"'Acid Ballad'!"

A fist-sized acid bullet flies towards me.

It's the magic that traumatized me. The direct cause of Roze becoming my heart.

I was startled for a moment, not expecting Savey to use that magic—but well, now it's just intermediate-level magic to me.

It has high penetration power, but its range is narrow and it's slow.

Or rather, after getting used to serious fights with the Dragon King, most attacks seem to move in slow motion.

I twisted my body with minimal movement to avoid it and immediately kicked off the ground.

In the blink of an eye, I leaped behind Savey. If the goal is sparring rather than practice, I should show my true ability at least once for him to be satisfied.

"Huh? He disapp—"

"I'm behind you."

"!"

When I lightly tapped his shoulder, Savey turned around, gasping.

The surrounding students probably saw an afterimage, but from Savey's perspective in front, he couldn't have seen how I moved. My agility value is over 6000, so it's a speed that's hard to follow unless you have extremely good eyes.

I thought I might have been a bit childish when—

"'Wind Cutter'!"

Oh, he hasn't given up.

However, it was a beginner-level magic cast on the spur of the moment, so both its power and accuracy were lacking.

I lightly deflected the wind blade with the back of my hand.

"...Huh?"

"The density is rough. For magic, a concrete image is more important than activation speed."

"!?"

He glared at me, gritting his teeth.

Oops. I unintentionally slipped into teaching mode.

"What do you know! A failure who can't even use magic has no right to speak!"

"I'm sorry, that was presumptuous of me. Please forget it."

"Shut up! Besides, you're always grinning and it pisses me off! Just because you're a bit strong, you're getting cocky with all the praise! Just because you succeeded as an adventurer, a lowly brute like you has no right to teach us nobles—"

"Please apologize."

Before I knew it, Lilith had approached.

She was glaring at Savey with obvious anger.

"Savey-san, are you aware of what you just said? A failure? How important are magicians in your world? Who decided that adventurers are brutes? After seeing with your own eyes what kind of person is standing in front of you, you make discriminatory remarks based on position and constitution just because you don't like him? Do you seriously think that's how a high-ranking noble, who should be an example to the people, behaves?"

"S-shut up, Lilith! You're just defending him because you like him! I know, you two were meeting secretly in the library! Despite being engaged to me, you were sneaking around... in the end, you're just like any other woman! You whore!"

So we were seen.

I see, now it makes sense. No wonder Savey was directing so much hostility towards me today. Indeed, if your fiancée is getting close to some upstart man, you'd be in a bad mood.

As I was thinking about how to explain this, Lilith spoke in a cold voice. It was a low tone I had never heard from her before.

"Is that so? But so what? It's true that I'm engaged to Savey-san, but as we're still students, there's no reason for my actions to be restricted by you. There's nothing shameful about it, and there's not a single reason to blame me for meeting with Ruruk-sensei."

Lilith declared clearly.

Tanya's eyes were sparkling as she looked this way.

"Y-you... Do you understand what you're saying! Just because you have a nice face, you think you can get away with anything! Do you know what will happen if you embarrass me, a duke's son!"

"I'm speechless. After your absurd arguments, you're now going to brandish your family's power? You'd better stop such shameful talk. And apologize quickly. Calling Ruruk-sensei a failure is... absolutely unforgivable."

"I'm the one who can't forgive! Listen, Lilith, you don't understand anything! I'll overlook you being attracted to a slightly strong man as a momentary lapse of judgment. But who do you think you are to lecture me! As a woman, not being able to save face for your future husband, as expected of a daughter from a muscle-brained family!"

This is nonsense.

The person himself is dead serious, but... well, this Kingdom of Mataisa has a strong culture of male chauvinism. In noble society, such remarks probably wouldn't be considered much of a problem.

But I can't accept those words. Being called a muscle-brained family, well, I agree so I don't mind, but I can't forgive the transparent intention to control Lilith just because she's a woman.

As I frowned, feeling annoyed, Lilith was about to retort with even more intense eyes when—

"This seems to be at an impasse. How about settling it with a duel?"

Mamared calmly interjected.

"When an argument can't be settled, a duel is held and the winner's claim is upheld. It's an old custom, but as you're both from ducal families, you should know this practice, right?"

"...Yes."

"Ah, of course."

"Then, with me as the mediator, how about the loser of the duel apologizes? I can't overlook disputes between students, and more importantly, I can't start my lecture like this. Monsters won't wait for human conflicts, you know?"

As expected of the unwavering woman, Mamared.

Personally, I want to stop the duel. Lilith's level is just slightly higher, but Savey has high talent as a magician.

However, as Mamared said, without a duel, it seems like it would turn into a big fight. If there's any danger to Lilith, I'll protect her.

"Understood."

"...Fine."

Neither Lilith nor Savey seemed to have any objections.

"Then I'll manage it as such. The duel method will be the orthodox one-on-one, each allowed one piece of equipment, attacks should avoid fatal wounds. In case you accidentally kill your opponent, there will be severe punishment based on duel law, so please don't get too heated. If you want to surrender, shout 'surrender' or raise your hand towards me. Do you both understand?"

"Yes."

"Good. Then please face each other at a distance. The signal to start will be when this glove falls."

As Mamared said this, the two glared at each other, facing off.

"Are you sure about this, Lilith? Why don't you apologize now while your honor is still intact?"

"That's quite an amusing joke."

"Do you think you can beat me? Don't overestimate yourself just because you became the student council president."

"I return those words to you. It's for your own good not to underestimate me."

"Tch... If that's how it is. Don't regret it later."

I suppose Savey was worried about Lilith's public image in his own way. From what I've seen in today's lesson, Lilith can move skillfully, but her magic chanting speed and physical abilities don't particularly stand out.

I wanted to give some advice too, but at this point, I'm an outsider, so I quietly move closer to the students.

Mamared lightly raised her glove.

"Now, both of you take your stances—begin!"

"It'll hurt, but bear with it! Pierce through, 'Water Bullet'!"

Savey activated his magic without hesitation.

The compressed water bullet flew straight towards Lilith and—

"'Phalanx'."

"What!?"

It was deflected by an invisible wall and disappeared.

Lilith was holding up a shining ring. What's that?

[[ "Ring of Rejection"

> Legendary accessory. Has the effect of creating a barrier wall that rejects interference at any desired location. ]]

A barrier!

Until now, I had only seen barrier magic in books. It's not even in the forbidden magic index, so it's something that hasn't been confirmed in the history of magic yet.

Being legendary class means it probably has defensive performance on par with my "Domain Arbitration". I'm genuinely surprised.

"Damn it! 'Aqua Bomb'!"

"'Phalanx'."

"'Acid Ballad'!"

"'Phalanx'."

None of Savey's magic gets through.

Of course. From the front, nothing short of equivalent extreme-level magic can break that defensive wall.

"W-what's with that! That's cheating!"

"Cheating? One weapon or tool is within the rules. And if you have no more moves, I'll attack next."

"Attack... haha, fine. After all, you're an amateur at magic. Even if you have a superior defensive magical tool, your puny attacks are no match for my magic—"

"Whisper of the wind, echo to the other shore—'Sound Snipe'."

In an instant, a sonic bullet pierced through.

...I'm surprised again.

This technique is often used by Elen, but I've never seen any other magician use it.

That's because this is magic developed by me, Elen, and Roze.

Originally, there were techniques to interfere with sound using wind magic like "Sound Curtain", but sound-based magic was mostly used in an area-of-effect manner. While there were ways to amplify or expand the range of sound, the idea of giving sound directionality was too scientific for this world.

There were already sniping magics that narrowed the range to extend range and power, so it wasn't particularly difficult for us to adapt that using sound waves, but it seems Lilith had developed it on her own as well.

"...She's excellent."

Seeing Savey lose consciousness with blood flowing from his ears, I couldn't help but smile.

Mamared announced the end of the match and was applying a potion to Savey. Ordinary potions probably won't fully heal him, and he probably won't wake up immediately.

"Everyone, I apologize for the unsightly display."

Lilith bowed her head.

All the students applauded. The Ladies' Academy students, in particular, seemed pleased.

"Ruruk-sensei. I'm sorry for acting on my own."

She came running up to me and smiled shyly.

There's no need to apologize for acting on her own, it's partly my fault too.

"There's no need to apologize. Rather, I'm grateful that you got angry on my behalf. Given my position, I certainly couldn't have engaged in a duel."

"I'm glad I could be of help."

Lilith looked up at my face, her cheeks flushing dreamily.

Squeals erupted from the Ladies' Academy students. I feel some strange gazes... I wonder what it is. Well, never mind.

"Now, we had some trouble, but it's time for the lecture. Savey-san can't help it, but the rest of you need to learn more about monsters. Knowledge is life."

Mamared clapped her hands to gather attention.

As always, she's someone who lives at her own pace. I respect that.

With that, Mamared's lecture began, so the students sat down in various ways to listen.

I moved to the wall with Tanya to avoid getting in the way.

"Hey, Ruruk-kun."

"What is it?"

"Did you really make a move on Lilith-san?"

She's grinning mischievously.

"I didn't make any moves."

"Eh~ Really?"

"Really."

"But it seemed like Lilith-san wasn't entirely against it~"

Well, Lilith does have a bit of a brother complex.

I have a sister complex too, so I can't really talk. Let's just say we're similar siblings.

Tanya nudges me with her elbow.

"She's a promising young lady from a ducal family, you know? Since you have the chance, why don't you steal her away?"

"What are you saying? You told me to give up just the other day."

"But it's gotten interesting now~"

What nonsense is this receptionist saying?

As we were exchanging such silly banter,

"You two, please be quiet."

"Sorry."

We were scolded by Mamared.