Chapter 9: -all only for you (4)

“E-Enough, Karya!”

“I can do more!”

A drop of sweat trickled down her chin as she shrieked. The sun was setting, and the red twilight had descended.

Yet, several students, still burning with competitive spirit, remained in front of the scarecrow, gasping for breath.

“Don’t be foolish, just give up. It’s so clear now. Neither you nor we can break this.”

“Then you go on ahead. Aren’t you hungry? Your stomach’s been rumbling for a while, hasn’t it?”

“H-How dare you…”

Lizel, who had sighed and first spoken to Karya, who was panting and had dropped her sword, was startled by Karya’s counterattack, her face flushing, and she clutched her stomach.

‘So what if my stomach rumbles when I’m hungry?’

Even that sight seemed indecorous to Karya at the moment. It was clear proof that they were all on edge due to the lack of progress.

“Stop, that’s enough. It’s gotten too late.”

However, the conflict didn’t escalate further. Illia, who was equally bored and hungry, intervened.

“We will now have dinner. After you finish eating, gather again and try. I will also eat and return at that time.”

Illia pointed to the large clock tower standing next to the main training grounds, controlling the students.

“Now, hurry and go. It’s already been 8 hours.”

Though she didn’t show it due to her personality, Illia was quite restless and quickly sent the student council members away. The students from both student councils bickered with each other until that moment, but they were equally exhausted, so they quickly headed to their respective dining halls.

“L-Lassian-nim. What brings you here?”

And soon after, as if waiting, someone appeared at the scarecrow’s location the moment the student council disappeared.

“I just came to see. What the Headmaster left behind, and what exactly it is that it’s still intact.”

Lassian, who had just finished a satisfying meal, chuckled at Karl, who seemed unnecessarily anxious. Until now, it had been a space occupied by the student council, and now, with deep darkness beginning to fall, no presence could be felt around the main training grounds.

Standing before the scarecrow erected in a corner of the grounds, Lassian slowly placed his hand on it and felt the mana flowing within.

‘Like chilling cold, it’s being consumed very slowly, but definitely little by little.’

Innate mana is determined from the moment one is born, but the sensation of feeling that mana is entirely dependent on experience. And Lassian now possessed experience that surpassed not only students but even most professors.

He noticed that the mana dwelling in the scarecrow was slowly, yet clearly, leaking out little by little. It was definitely somewhat alien.

“The ability to artificially control the flow and speed of mana seems to be the characteristic of the Headmaster’s magic formula, the Ice Wheel Art. Its nature, literally like chilling cold, perfectly suits the Headmaster’s personality.”

“How on earth did you… no, what does that mean?”

“Each magic formula has characteristics, and those characteristics become its strengths and weaknesses. For example, the Flaming Art, the magic formula you decided to learn, is like a burning flame. The flow and speed of mana are free and fast, which allows for ‘amplification’. So, what do you think would happen if you artificially controlled the speed and flow of mana, like the Headmaster’s Ice Wheel Art?”

“Uh…”

“The Ice Wheel Art is the natural enemy of mana. It is a magic formula that exists solely for ‘combat’. It can gain an advantage in affinity against any other magic formula.”

Lassian hummed and his eyes sparkled. Just from the traces Eve left on a single scarecrow, he inferred what kind of power Eve possessed and genuinely felt wary of it.

“I’m not sure if I understand correctly. So, the Headmaster is incredibly strong? She looked so cute and similar to me on the outside.”

“You can understand it that way.”

Karl, adjusting his horn-rimmed glasses, scratched his head with a blank expression. Lassian gave a bitter smile and simply nodded. In truth, practical experience was essential to fully understand concepts like affinity and nature that he had just explained.

“Are we going back now?”

“That was the original plan.”

Lassian glanced at the scarecrow. His initial plan was just to observe it once. He wanted to see what kind of thing it was that stumped the student councils. Above all, his curiosity about Eve was considerable.

However, after personally confirming it and making a rough inference, something began to tickle in his chest.

‘Did I really become younger after entering this young body? Why am I feeling this way?’

Realizing it was a competitive urge, he scoffed at himself. Immediately after his reincarnation, he had resolved to live a rich and comfortable life this time.

But in this situation, that resolve seemed meaningless as his heart tingled and his hands twitched. The impulse felt as if it was directly commanding him.

This was a challenge posed by another ‘irregular’ to him, a variant who had experienced the miracle of reincarnation; he had to break it and prove himself.

“L-Lassian-nim?”

“If I break this, will the Headmaster really give me an inner core?”

He finally drew the sword from his waist.

‘It’s not difficult. Mana is weakest at the inflection point of its flow. If I deliver a strong impact there, I can sever its flow.’

Lassian calmly aimed his sword at the scarecrow, which had not even sustained a scratch despite hours of pounding from both student councils.

In his eyes, the weakness in the mana flowing through the scarecrow was clearly visible. The important thing was whether he now had enough power to destroy that weakness when he struck it.

The slender body of the boy, who had not yet properly begun training, was exceedingly frail compared to his prime.

‘Nothing to lose.’

But he gritted his teeth and pushed off the ground. At this very moment, the face of a certain girl flashed through his mind. Her cold, half-lidded purple eyes, that gaze as if she knew something. Lassian himself wasn’t sure why she bothered him so much.

“Haaat!”

His body was lacking. It was time to draw on all his strength, from his infancy to even his sperm-cell days. Letting out a yell, he swung his sword, pouring all his might into the precise strike point.

[Electrocution Art: Thunderclap]

The power he had deliberately hidden was momentarily revealed.

With crackling blue lightning swirling around his sword, his dark eyes turned blue, and a bolt of lightning shot upwards into the dark purple sky.

The power of the Electrocution Art, a magic formula with the nature of dispersion and destruction.

‘I broke it.’

His whole body shook from the strong recoil, and his joints creaked, but he smiled faintly at the sight of the scarecrow shattering into pieces.

It was the first time since his reincarnation that he felt such a sense of exhilaration, as if a great weight had been lifted from his heart.

“To think such an excellent student existed. This is surprising.”

And that exhilarated feeling plummeted when he heard a voice from behind him.

****

Lassian, Knight of Thunder and Hope. One of the Eight Heroes of the Farnes War.

And the protagonist of the story. Honestly, I liked the heroines more than him. It couldn’t be helped. He was the ‘protagonist’ onto whom readers projected their emotions.

I projected my emotions onto him to feel catharsis and appreciated the heroines’ charm.

But now, he, a perfectly normal person, stood before me. I couldn’t quite define this subtle feeling.

“H-Headmaster…”

“You don’t seem to be from the student council, but what does it matter? Since you broke what both student councils couldn’t break for hours in one go, I shall reward you. Excellent student, what is your name?”

While I genuinely wanted to give him something, according to the , I couldn’t directly interfere with those who were characters in the story.

However, it was possible through ‘designs’ disguised as coincidences. It was a coincidence that Lassian broke the scarecrow I had set up for the student council to break, and it was certainly a coincidence that I, out for an evening stroll, passed by this place at this time.

“My name is Lassian.”

“And you?”

“I-I-I am K-Karl…”

“Good.”

Karl. The name of the sidekick who always stuck by Lassian was indeed Karl. However, he was sacrificed in the mid-story to facilitate Lassian’s awakening.

Of course, that future can no longer exist.

“I’m not joking. Take it, this is yours now.”

I took an inner core from my pocket and threw it to him. He caught it instantly, but still looked at me with an expression of disbelief.

“If you don’t want it, I won’t mention your name, or rather, this incident at all to the student council.”

“Why are you doing all this for me?”

“Didn’t I tell you? I like excellent students.”

A talent will show itself, like an awl in a bag. Lassian might want to live an ordinary life, but that won’t happen. Even if it could, I will prevent it now.

“I think we’ll be seeing a lot of each other from now on, so I’m looking forward to it. Both of you.”

The first meeting seemed not bad. He was wary of me, but that was expected. I would take care of him a lot and torment him at the same time, and I hoped he would eventually realize that it was all for his own good.