Illusion Sword Master

＜ 427th Magic Research Association (2) ﹥

Objectively, Mentor Admin was a stunningly beautiful woman. Despite her lack of interest in dressing up and her melancholic atmosphere, her every action exuded an aura of elegance.

“You, I like.”

In a different situation, this comment might have been quite flattering. At least, if she weren’t currently shooting a fireball at me that could easily turn someone into ashes.

‘Is this crazy person going to kill someone for real?’

Like a child who’s gotten the toy they’ve always wanted, Menka was thrilled to be casting magic, and I had to focus on dodging her attacks with my aerial swordsmanship, leaving no room for even a slight mistake.

Whoosh! Boom!

Meanwhile, another fireball flew past my side and exploded on the wall. On the opposite side, a flame pillar was rising towards me.

Aerial swordsmanship requires delicate control over my magic and balance, making it a resource-intensive magic.

I barely dodged the attack by making sharp turns in mid-air, but my mental strength was nearing its limits.

Luckily, when I landed on the ground, Menka also paused her attack for a moment.

“You’re good at dodging. How do you do it? I can see everything!”

She asked, tilting her head, seemingly out of genuine curiosity rather than frustration that her attacks weren’t landing.

“There’s a delay between my mana sensing and magic activation.”

Menka’s magic was powerful, but her method of using it was rough.

Since I’ve been training my mana sensing from a young age, I’m good at reading the flow of mana, so I could roughly predict the shape and direction of her incoming mana.

Even so, she attacked me fiercely, as if trying to crush me. When it comes to killing, Menka is unparalleled, even among the top three of the magic academy.

“How did you do it?” Menka asked again.

Instead of answering directly, I changed the subject to buy some time. I had to drag out the conversation to catch my breath.

“Don’t people usually die or get hurt when they’re hit by a fireball? If you don’t have any grudge against me, why not stop here?”

“You’re talking like those weaklings. If you don’t pour all your strength into a fight, you won’t get stronger. Why worry about your life when you can become stronger? I thought you were on the same page as me.”

“What’s with you?”

She sounded like a warrior from a distant land.

To me, who values life and finds it precious, her words were incomprehensible.

“Then why do you research magic swords? You can just hide in a safe place and cast magic. Don’t you want to get closer and kill your enemies directly?”

There’s a sad reality that I’m a half-baked magician who can’t use magic without a sword as a medium.

To Menka, who doesn’t know this, I must have seemed like a fellow warrior.

“I must be misunderstanding, but I don’t really like fighting. I surrender. Let’s stop.”

“…You’re boring. I didn’t come here to chat.”

She didn’t buy it.

Whoosh!

The flames surged again.

I immediately used my aerial swordsmanship to dodge Menka’s attack, not taking my eyes off her.

“It’s going to be a long fight.”

This crazy warrior seems to be loved by the flames, having already fired dozens of fireballs without showing any signs of exhaustion.

I’ll be the first to tire.

In this desperate situation where I’d get hurt if I let my guard down, the best way to escape was to quickly subdue Menka.

“There’s a chance to win.”

Luckily, Menka seemed to lack real combat experience, and her battle tactics were rough, separate from her magic’s power.

She only uses straightforward attacks, not paying much attention to defense.

As the saying goes, “attack is the best defense,” but her rear and side guards are noticeably weak.

I used my aerial swordsmanship to dodge Menka’s magic and traversed the training room.

I suddenly changed direction and charged towards Menka. She stumbled, caught off guard by the sudden change in target trajectory.

I took advantage of the opening and accelerated my aerial swordsmanship to its maximum speed, then launched myself from the sword I was riding.

Mengka swiftly summoned a wall of flames in front of her.

Taang!

The sword, which had been fiercely thrust forward, lost its strength as it touched the wall of flames and bounced back, sticking to the wall behind Mengka’s shoulder.

The mana that had created the flames was stronger than the enchantment on the sword, so the strength was cancelled out.

I didn’t care and pulled out another sword, charging towards Mengka.

She was also preparing her next magic, her eyes fixed on me. The amount of mana was alarming, and I couldn’t help but feel a sense of excitement. What was enjoyable about this situation, anyway? I had a smirk on my face.

“Wow, this girl is crazy.”

I suppressed the urge to swear and stopped in my tracks, holding out my hand without the sword.

“Let’s stop this now.”

“What?”

Mengka, who was preparing her magic, furrowed her brow. It was as if she was asking why I was ruining the mood.

Even now, the mana that could change its form into flames was gathering around her.

There was no time to explain, so I hastily activated the enchantment on the sword stuck behind Mengka’s back.

Shiik.

The sword returned to my hand.

Got it. The hilt of the sword hit Mengka’s back of the head, which was in its path.

“Ack!”

Her head jerked forward, and her body crumpled.

“Listen to people when they talk.”

Thinking about how much trouble she had caused, I felt late anger rising.

I almost hit her on the back of the head while she was unconscious.

When I had the same thought, Mengka came to.

“Huh? Uh…”

She looked around, seemingly confused, and groaned in pain as she touched the back of her head. There must be a large bump.

“Will she suddenly flip out and cast another spell?”

I subtly increased the distance between us.

“…Really, you have a lot of actual combat experience.”

Mengka finally understood the situation and said.

“Ah, yeah. That’s right.”

It wasn’t a grand feat worth boasting about, but I responded accordingly. It was true, after all.

I had spent ten years on the battlefield.

It was a terrible memory, rather than something to be proud of, but in terms of combat experience, it was unmatched by my fellow students who had grown up in a greenhouse.

“Teach me, too. How to fight well.”

She said with a serious expression.

“Hmm…”

I couldn’t refuse, or it would become very troublesome.

“It’s not hard to point out the obvious weaknesses, but…”

I also wanted to learn something from this genius mage who was known for her exceptional skills.

Only, I wanted to avoid being bothered again by this deadly weapon that had overcome its own weaknesses.

After a brief calculation, I spoke in a very heavy tone.

“Okay, but there’s a condition.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ll promise this first. You don’t touch me. Not just that, you don’t even think of harming me in any way. Easy?”

“Why’s that?”

“Never mind, just promise. Then I’ll teach you the practical skills I learned on the battlefield.”

Mentka hesitated for a moment, then nodded reluctantly.

“What about the others?”

“What… if they’re okay with it, then it’s fine. Ah, but be gentle. I don’t want to clean up the mess, got it?”

Mentka nodded again, still looking unhappy.

Honestly, I didn’t think much of her either, but I’d done my part.

Whether it was Seradin or Roem, if they got caught up with this crazy person, that was their problem.

#

The Magic Research Club, which was on the brink of collapse from the very first meeting, surprisingly started operating normally the next day.

“Seradin, did you apologize to Ethan?”

“I’m wiping away the sauce on my lips. I don’t want to know what you had for breakfast.”

Roem and Seradin were still bickering.

“Can’t you guys just calm down? What if you fight again like last time?”

“Sorry, Ethan.”

“Hmph.”

Both of them were still wary of me due to the previous incident. They both seemed to feel a great sense of responsibility for the big accident that had occurred when I intervened.

Mentka, who had been keeping a low profile, was also quiet.

For various reasons, I had taken on the role of chairman of the Magic Research Club, but it was Seradin who was leading the research.

She, who valued face and influence, seemed to want to make up for her previous mistakes and gain confidence, so she had brought magic materials from the Zeiffer Duchy.

“I brought the materials, so please take care of them with gratitude. If these materials are leaked, we’ll protest as a family unit, so please be careful with security.”

“This is… definitely amazing.”

Indeed, the noble family known as the “Magic Aristocracy” was different.

Even Roem, who still had a grudge against Seradin, was impressed by the high-quality materials.

From then on, the research club proceeded by sharing each other’s special skills.

Excluding me, the other three were all members of magic families, so they also shared knowledge of their family’s magic traditions.

Just that alone was a treasure trove of high-level knowledge that I, who had only learned magic through my sword, could hardly believe.

Seradin specialized in lightning magic.

Mentka specialized in fire magic.

Roem specialized in defensive magic.

I was the only one who couldn’t keep up with these three, who were like rivals competing with each other, and had to be mindful of my place.

The sword magic was originally a unique magic that I had developed, using my sword as a medium to sense mana.

However, when it came to practical applications of magic, I had a lot to contribute.

Even in simulations, if we were to engage in a real battle like Mentka, a big accident would be inevitable, so we conducted a kind of mock battle based on simulations.

“The power and efficiency are good, but if we use it without securing the surroundings, it could affect our innocent allies. In that case, it’s… well…”

Thanks to my experience of seeing mana flows and teaching new recruits on the battlefield, I could interpret the battle manual brought by Seradin.

In fact, most of it was just rambling, but these geniuses would understand and apply it to their own magic.

When geniuses gather, they stimulate each other and grow, just as the saying goes. The Troika of the Magic Department was rapidly increasing their abilities every day.

I intervened between them, slowly extracting the research results of the geniuses.

The second year of the Magic Department was passing quickly.

#

As the second year of the War University Magic Department was coming to an end.

“Woohoo! I did it!”

A Magic Department student let out a joyful roar. In front of him was a white block split in half.

“Congratulations, Allen. Now you can freely hone yourself. Well… the semester is almost over, anyway.”

His name was Allen Gadus.

As the eldest son of the Gadus Viscount family, a local minor noble, and without any particularly remarkable characteristics, he was nicknamed “Just Average Allen” among his peers.

“I finally made it through!”

He felt an unprecedented sense of accomplishment.

“This is just the beginning.”

Allen recalled his glorious past.

In the Gadus territory, he was a genius unparalleled among his peers. His father, Viscount Gadus, would boast about Allen’s talent to every guest, to the point of being embarrassing.

So Allen believed himself to be a genius and lived accordingly.

He thought that, having entered the prestigious War University Magic Department, which only the chosen few among the nobles could attend, his confidence would never waver.

But.

“What’s with these monsters?”

It just so happened that there were four geniuses among his peers who were on a completely different level from him.

Sera Zephyr, who could control an overwhelming amount of mana and cast perfect lightning magic.

Roem Carlen, whose sense of applying magic was unmatched.

Menka Admin, who was loved by the fire element.

And Ethan, who wielded a strange magic using swords, with an overwhelming amount of power.

These four geniuses, who had relatively reduced Allen to an average level, had passed the first test of Professor Kuora’s class.

“No time to be discouraged. This is an opportunity.”

Allen clenched his fist and made a vow.

The 427th Magic Research Association.

He would somehow join the group created by those four geniuses. He would build friendships with them and exchange knowledge, aiming to reach an even higher level in the next year.

“That’s right. Being fifth isn’t bad either. I’ll be considered one of the top, and later, they’ll all call me ‘Hardworking Allen’.”

As the second year progressed and more students passed Professor Kuora’s tests, the Magic Research Association still only had those four members.

It wasn’t that they officially excluded other members.

“The atmosphere there is a bit… intense.”

“I feel like I wouldn’t fit in…”

“I followed Menka for training and almost died…”

Such rumors spread, and everyone was intimidated.

“I’m different. I have ambition.”

Allen headed straight for the free training room where the Magic Research Association gathered.

“Excuse me…”

And when he opened the door, he saw…

Whoosh!

“What’s going on?”

It was a flame. A fierce flame that had already engulfed the crumbling wall, covering the entire field of vision.

“Ugh… Controlling my strength is tough. I could just burn everything to the ground, but why do I have to do this?”

Mentor Admin was muttering to herself like that.

Alan didn’t dare to talk to her, fearing it might be dangerous, and turned his head away.

Rumble!

As soon as he turned his head, a loud noise erupted, and a purple light flickered before his eyes.

Boom! Boom! Crash!

Sera Zephir was unleashing a barrage of lightning bolts towards somewhere, and the target was the corner of the training room where Roem was setting up a defense barrier, shouting loudly.

“Sera! That’s enough! We’re just testing!”

“Then acknowledge that the Zephir family’s lightning magic is superior to the Karlen family’s defense magic!”

“That’s not possible!”

Rumble! Crash!

Alan turned his head away again.

“What’s going on again…?”

Someone was sitting on a sword floating in mid-air, performing a meditation-like action.

Two swords were orbiting around him like satellites. One sword had an electric current flowing through it, and the other was engulfed in flames.

It was Ethan.

As Alan stared at him in a daze, Ethan slowly opened his eyes.

“… Are you going to join the team?”

“No. I’m just going to leave.”

Alan quietly closed the door to the free training room.

“Well, I’ll just live as a ordinary Alan.”

＜ End of 427th Magic Research Association (2) ﹥