When I was working as a civil servant, I was found out to be a muscle-brained knight by the princess knight and got sent to the front lines - Episode 152

Episode 152

“So? Is that why you’re looking so worn out, having escaped from Miriam?”

On the night of the first day of the Magic Tournament, in the lounge of the male dormitory at the Royal Academy. Jez looked at Victor, who was slumped tiredly on the sofa, with a mix of exasperation and amusement.

It seemed that Miriam had indeed tried to confront Victor about the events of the day, but this time, Victor had managed to escape. Despite Miriam being busy with various preparations and not having much time, Victor’s ability to elude her in just under two months since the orientation camp was quite impressive.

However, it wasn’t as if he had escaped easily. In reality, Victor had managed to shake off Miriam and had retreated to the male dormitory, where female access was prohibited.

The Royal Academy is essentially a fully residential school. With each grade consisting of around 1,000 students, the dormitory area is like a small town. There are 30 buildings in this area, each housing about 100 students, with the male and female dormitories being roughly equal in number.

One of these buildings, Dormitory 21, is where Jez and Victor live among others from the first year. Each student has a small private room, while the dining hall, bathrooms, study rooms, lounges, and training rooms are shared.

In the lounge, Jez was chatting casually with Victor, who looked quite worn out. The lounge was also occupied by other first-year boys, almost all of whom were equally exasperated with Victor.

“So, was Miriam chasing you today because of that spell?”

Victor had showcased Multi-Incantation, Seventh Level Magic: Seven Heavens Concord, on the first day of the Magic Tournament preliminaries. Normally, such a spell would be saved for the finals and could potentially win the competition. Miriam was apparently quite annoyed that Victor had used it in the preliminaries.

According to the rules of the Magic Tournament, once a spell has been used, it cannot be used again in the same year’s tournament. This rule effectively eliminates students with limited spell repertoires.

Because of this rule, Miriam was reportedly upset for Victor’s sake? It almost seemed like she would say, “Are you an idiot?”

“Well, I get what Miriam is saying, but was it really okay to use that in the preliminaries?”

Jez was also concerned about the grand spell Victor had used. Although the spell was of little practical use and seldom used in real combat, it was excellent for practicing advanced magic. To cast that spell, one must be proficient in all seven magical elements. It means that being able to perform it implies mastery of at least Seventh Level Magic in all seven elements.

However, as mentioned, it’s not a practical spell. The reason is that simultaneous activation of all seven elements interferes with each other, resulting in effects no better than those of an attribute-less spell.

In actual combat, using an attribute-less spell of Seventh Level or higher would be more efficient. Victor understood this and chose to use that spell for this reason.

“Oh, that’s no problem. After all, that spell was already created by someone else. Reproducing it is no big deal. What’s really difficult is creating a new spell.”

Seeing Victor speak with such nonchalance made Jez exasperated in another way. He couldn’t help but think, “This guy is really something else,” and asked out of curiosity.

“So, does this mean we should expect even more from you in the Magic Tournament?”

Victor heard Jez’s provocative words and looked as if he was about to say, “You get it, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah. Look forward to it.”

Victor responded with a smile reminiscent of a mad scientist, exuding confidence.

・　・　・

On the second and third days of the Magic Tournament, the preliminaries continued without major disturbances. The students advancing through the preliminaries were largely those predicted in advance.

Students from all grades who had performed well in the recent mid-term exams were making it through. The Magic and Martial Arts Tournaments at the Royal Academy rarely experience upsets because students’ everyday training directly reflects their performance.

However, the abilities of the new students were still unknown, and many spectators had come specifically to gauge their skills.

Amidst this, Victor continued to advance through the preliminaries smoothly. After making a splash with a dramatic display in the first match, he proceeded to effortlessly win subsequent matches by using Eighth Level Magic of various attributes.

Eighth Level magic, while not reaching the strategic level of the Tashman Kingdom’s military magic, includes some spells classified as tactical level.

A 16-year-old boy who had just entered the Royal Academy effortlessly used such advanced magic. At first, the older students thought he was just being arrogant. But by the third day of the preliminaries, they looked at Victor with distant eyes.

The academy members re-evaluated his talent. Although he had already been assigned a research lab, discussions began about accelerating his academic progress and increasing his time at the Academy by advancing him through some courses.

Foreign visitors were stunned by the prodigious skill of the young genius who had appeared in the Tashman Kingdom. In some countries, someone who could use magic of this level might be called a grand sage.

Despite Victor casually performing such feats, he remained as nonchalant as ever. Jez was astonished by how Victor’s demeanor was consistently unremarkable.

For Victor, demonstrating established magical techniques might not be a big deal. What he had reserved for the finals were his original magical tools and spells.