Chapter 208: The Bullied fights back.


    The magic performance of the academys fair was dedicated to showing the students progress as mages, scribes, artificers, and all the other magical professions. Since this fair was held annually during the kingdoms founding anniversary week, which was about a month into the academys first semester of the year, what will be shown will mostly involve the efforts the students madest year.


    Nobles andmoners alike, regardless if theyre from a respectful position or just the parents of one of the students, were invited to the fair and these magical performances. The Mages Guilds guild master, as well as all the other Aleistunum mages, would use this chance to scout out potential students to invite to the Magical Capitals university. Although Griffonpeaks university was well managed, at least ording to Eines mother, it couldntpare to the best human-run university in Aleistunum.


    Eine invited everybody from Aurora to her performance, since she originally had something nned with her ssmates before she joined our party. This changed, however, after she gained a ton of levels and trained her magical abilities during our dungeon dive in Cedaraille. Instead of doing what she had nned before joining Aurora, which she had since described as pitiful, she had been invited by the Morgiana faction for something else.


    Simr to how the Greenveil and Equevanna students werepeting in which faction could earn the most during the fair, the Morgiana and Myrrdin students were trying to one-up each other during the magic performance, even recruiting students from other duchies for their cause. Some school rivalry isnt bad. It motivates students.


    It gets a little problematic when you publicly challenge another student to a duel, though.


    Eine! Arriving at the venue, I looked around it, noticing aristocrats sitting on bleachers that bore a striking simrity to an operas or cinemas cushioned chairs, surrounding a tform like a baseball match. Looking at a couple of young men and womens white and blue uniforms, I noticed that a few students were sitting with their rtives and acquaintances.


    White and blue are the national colors of Artorias, reflecting the color of feathers King Drangleic and his children had. With a blue jacket over a white shirt and a skirt going down to the knees, the female uniform was pretty simr to the male one, only switching out the long pants for a skirt. Fitting for a royal academy, every uniform, whether you were noble ormoner, had white embroidery and a custom-made emblem of their Houses coat of arms, if they had one.


    The students were allowed to customize their uniforms as long as they didntpletely rece the base clothing pieces or cover them up. As such, these students were wearing thigh-high socks, sashes, or even capes with their academy outfits.


    Ignoring them for now, though, I turned my attention to the tform in the middle, noticing a few young men and women wearing robes suited for mages. All of them were ring at the three people in the middle with a mix of slight irritation and anxiousness.


    I focused on those three people, noticing a blue-haired girl in a white and blue uniform. It was Eine; she had not changed out of her uniform into a robe. I then looked over at the two people standing opposite of her, two girls whose faces I remembered seeing at the ball.


    <em>It really is the Chezaic twins!</em>


    Josine, Eines maid, had called me here, telling me that Eine had epted to duel against the twins. Knowing this, everybody from Aurora immediately rushed over here. As we saw Eine calming her breathing while the twins red at Eine with deadpan eyes, showing their suppressed animosity through the twitching of their lips and eyelids, we couldnt help but call out to her.


    Ei!


    but we were immediately interrupted by someone.


    Ah, Lady Hestia! Wee to the academy. I hope you are enjoying your second visit. Miss Saori, Miss Tasianna, I wee you two as well. We turned around once we heard this voice, only to see Thyra of all people standing before us, along with an attendant walking behind her. She raised her hand slightly, gesturing her greeting before turning to Grimnir. Master Dwarf, I presume you are part of Lady Hestias entourage? After all, it is rare for any tazong to participate in anything us nobles host.


    Still holding onto his tes of food, Grimnir gave me an awkward look before looking back at Thyra and nodding. Aye, I am,ss. Im the personal cksmith of Aurora. Im only here for, uh, to see Eines performance.


    Peoples attention was drawn to us due to Thyra, staring at the tes he held with slight disgust. Grimnir scoffed at them but before this situation could escte, Thyra proposed that we sit down. I have already given my consent for this duel. Please, let us sit down and allow Lady Eine to solve her problem by herself.


    <em>Consent?</em>


    Thyra led us to the seats at the top of one of the bleachers. The seats in this row were the most unique among all the others, as if they were reserved for the finest guests. As we sat down, I asked Thyra why she was here, considering that I had learned she was 20 and had already graduated from the academy, and what she meant with giving her consent?


    Huh? I thought you knew, Lady Hestia. I am the academys principal. Thyras shocked face of my ignorance made me widen my eyes, clearing my mind to the point I remembered hearing a girl at the Chezaic twins tea party mention this very fact. I had moved it back into my memory since I thought it was just irrelevant gossip.


    Lady Hestia, I am very much qualified. I did not receive this position simply because my mother was the previous principal, but through my own merits. Just like you, I am an advanced elements practitioner. Inferno, torrent, storm, and terra. Thepositional elements of ice,va, lightning, and mud. I havent learned dark yet, and I only just learned holy magic so it hasnt evolved into [Sacred Magic] yet.


    Seeing my surprise, Thyra seemed to have misunderstood it for me not understanding why she was the principal, instead of not remembering she was the principal. When I cleared it up, she simply responded with an Oh and shrugged it off, as if she wanted us to forget about it.


    Still, hearing how she was able to learn five of the six elemental magics was pretty amazing. I didnt know about other mages but from the few Ive seen, most of them focused on one or two elements to master. Thyra and Nishio have been the only mages Ive known who have learned more basic elements than I did, and I had difficulty learning [Water Magic] and [Dark Magic] due to my titles.


    When Thyra mentioned she was an arcanist just like Saori, Tasianna, and me, I asked how her mother made it to the rank of Master at the mages guild. Master Kush was also an arcanist, but that was cause he rarely interacted with the mages guild ording to reports, so I was wondering if Thyras mother was an even better mage than my Master. Why was she only a vice guild master instead of the guilds master?


    The guild master of a mages guild branch doesnt need to be the strongest, Lady Hestia. They simply need to bepetent with managing the guild. Lady Maverina might not be the most powerful mage, but she is knowledgeable and reliable. Mother is a duchess, she is busy enough, so having to deal with the business of managing a whole guild branch on top of managing the duchy would be too burdensome, Thyra responded before pointing at the tform with Eine and the twins.


    All three of them attached bracelets around their wrist and activated them. From what I remembered, these were sparring bracelets. A referee then came over and registered them onto a manatech card before running over to Thyra. As he did that, I used this chance to ask Josine what exactly happened.


    To summarize, the twins were still bullies and Eine stepped in to protect the bully-victim. In more detail, the bully-victim was Amelia.


    After having to move into their maternal grandparents home in the Equevanna duchy after the Davison incident, the twins were allowed to continue to act as aristocrats despite what their parents participated in. Since Marquess Sirius, under the authority of Duke Greenveil had ordered the execution of their parents due to their treasonous actions, it wouldnt be impossible to believe the twins harbored a grudge.


    I heard enough reports of how the twins actively antagonized students belonging to the Greenveil duchy. Their parents were of the arcanuess rank when they still lived in Greenveil, I heard. Well, their mother belonged to an arcanuess house in Equevanna, too, Thyra exined their actions when they came back to the academy.


    You knew but you havent done anything? I questioned Thyra, criticizing her role as the principal.


    Yes, I did, since the rivalry between the Equevanna and Greenveil duchies is a known fact. Berating those twins wont stop the other students from acting out. As annoying as it is to say, the royal academy is more an institution for nobles to socialize with each other instead of a haven for learning. The training grounds before they entered high-society. The parents of a few students turned around as they heard this, giving Thyra looks of disapproval before turning around again once they saw my res.


    Rivalry between the duchies was considered a positive to drive the progress and innovation of the whole kingdom, especially when it could lead to their respective duke bing a grand duke. The pros of this could be seen with how students werepeting fiercely with each other during this fair.


    Sadly, some students took this too far. While noble students needed to act as aristocrats inside the school, nothing said you couldnt bully each other if you kept it civil. Anything that didnt lead to ruining your reputation was considered fair game and part of a nobles education. These elusive bullies were the most dangerous.


    On the other hand, you had the twins. Thyra mentioned she was only made the principal this year after spending two years at the basilica in Aureolis, but she had heard fromst years report that they have always acted like bullies, they were just part of the former group. After their parents died, they became more brazen.


    With how the student body knew about their Houses disestablishment, but not of the truth behind their parents execution, most preferred to stay away from them, in order to avoid being associated with the rtives of potential traitors.


    Being a noble also means knowing how to manipte others, Lady Hestia. She winked with a wry smile. Although she hadnt said it directly, from what she told me up until now, I was assuming the twins were being used by the Equevanna faction as scapegoats. Sent out to terrorize Greenveil students.


    Amelia, being the only child of Duke Greenveil who was still attending the academy, didnt have her siblings around to protect her, and with her being the child of amoner woman, she wasnt too popr among the more close-minded nobles. Even now, her parents and siblings were currently working with Eines parents to begin mass yeast production; as such, none of them could attend todays fair.


    Amelia was apparently quite popr among the Greenveil students for being a great merchant, but she wasnt the most assertive person. With a weaker constitution, she couldnt deal with stress too well, especially if people began bullying her. Eine intervened when she saw this and the rest was history.


    <em>I wonder if those twins nned all of this,</em> I thought before noticing Amelia sitting at a seat, biting her fingernails while surrounded by other Greenveil students. She was staring at Eine intently.


    After Thyra set the victory conditions for the duel, a mana barrier encapsted the tform, protecting the viewers from harm. A few people were gossiping about how it was unfair for two people to gang up on a single person, but everybody from Aurora knew better.


    <em>Higher level, higher base stats, more quality skills. Eines got this. </em>There was no need to worry about her but, something inside me was telling me it wouldnt be that simple. There should be students who have heard about Eine getting stronger, and even if those twins havent, they wouldnt just ept a duel without preparation, right? I mean, shouldnt they at least be wary the moment Eine epted to duel both of them?


    It was then when the twins unveiled two books from underneath their jackets. A collective Grimoires? came from the students wearing mage robes, and I confirmed the twins werent carrying normal books through my [Mana Eyes]. Eine tensed up a bit as she saw this. From the spell rings on the twins fingers, most spectators probably believed their weapons would be those, so those grimoires came as a surprise to everybody.


    Without dying the battle any longer, the referee called for Eine and the twins to get in ce.


    This shall be an exhibition duel as part of the fair, not a magician duel, by the orders of Principle Thyra Nimue Morgiana. This match shall end the moment a participants Health reaches or goes below 25% or if somebody leaves the mana barrier. With that, please, ready yourself! The referee then pointed the card he held up to the sky and paused. After a couple of seconds, he pressed it. Match, begin!


    The first to make a move was none other than Eine. Wary of what the twins, Francesca and Irac, were nning, she shot out two chantless [Wind sh]es. She could have cast [Tornado Bullet], but I guess she didnt want to kill them.


    The elder of the two, Francesca, winced as she saw the two air des shoot right at her and her sister, but jumped right in front of her younger sibling and opened her grimoire. The book opened, with its pages fluttering as though sted open with wind. The movement only stopped once Francesca touched a page, causing it to lighten up.


    <em>Earth Wall!</em> she called out and a wall of dense earth shot up from the ground, barely blocking Eines spells in time.


    Seals! multiple onlookers scoffed and clicked their tongues as they saw the twins utilize a spell bound into a seal to duel Eine. I turned over to Thyra and she nodded, making me remember what Thyra said yesterday.


    <em>Most mages believe using seals devalues your abilities as a mage. It is something non-mages use. </em>That was what I understood when Thyra mentioned the stigma around seals among mages. I personally disagreed with that opinion the moment I saw Francesca cast a spell without needing to chant for it. It still consumed mana and you still needed to know when to use them, showing skill and effort.


    Going back to the fight, the younger of the twins, Irac, opened her grimoire and began casting multiple spells in consecutive order. [Strengthening mes], [Protective Water], [Swift Winds], [Sturdy Earth], [Holy Protection], and [Holy Strength]; the buffing spells you would receive through the Divine System began enveloping Iracs body.


    Eine, unable to see the twins, naturally cast [Sturdy Earth] and [Swift Winds] on herself before continuing her assault. The moment she finished, Irac jumped from their cover and shot a [me Spear] at Eine. Eines eyes widened and she clicked her tongue, dodging the spell by sting herself out of the way with [Wind st].


    Irac continued shooting out spells, giving her elder sister enough time to buff herself up, too. Once she was done, a barrage of spells rained down upon Eine, forcing her to desperately dodge all the attacks by the slimmest margin. Her uniform was slowly getting ruined over time, causing her to frown.


    Oh, by the Light! This is far too one-sided?! Why are Lady Irac and Lady Francesa using such dangerous spells for a simple exhibition duel?!


    I guess thats what seals enable you to do. She and Lady Francesca are earth mages, from what I remember. They do not train much but have innately good potential due to their lineage. Casting so many spells at once still consumes a lot of mana.


    Truly? And they are ganging up against a counts daughter while using all these seals? Thats deplorable! Even if Lady Eine has improved and can cast chantlessly now, thats still too unfair!


    <em>Why is everybody overreacting like this? This is actually annoying at this point.</em>


    Thyra, noticing Aurorasck of reaction, turned around and spoke, I see you four have the fullest trust in Lady Eine. From my reports, Lady Eine only trained her earth and wind magic up to level five and wasnt very proficient in a mages duel, well, before she joined your party, of course.


    Ehhh, this is whatever, Grimnir was the first to speak on Eines behalf. Thess nearly fell to her death during our dungeon dive. Whether getting mauled by beasts or getting sted by spells, shes dealt with worse living the typical life of an adventurer.


    Wh-What?! Lady Eine didnt tell me about this! It was Josine who burst out in a panic, hinting at how Eine left some information out when she retold her adventure to her maid. Before she got a heart attack, Tasianna stood up and calmed Josine down.


    Its alright, Josine. Its alright. Its alright to worry but you should have more faith in your mistress, especially after you saw how much shes progressed. Shes receiving training from her father because she was able to impress him. Have faith, Josine.


    Saori nodded, looking rather bored. Exactly, and these are not opponents you need to worry about, Josine. As long as she has those rings, I do not think she will lose to two amateurs. Saori then pointed at the twins and the barrage of spells they were shooting out. If Tasianna, Saori, or Lady Hestia were dueling her right now instead of those girls, we would only need a handful of spells to lock Eine down and defeat her. But those twins are demonstrating that they have zero knowledge on how to efficiently use their spells, just slinging them around with the belief they have enough to sustain themselves for the rest of the duel. They thought they could juste into this duel without any practice or training and defeat a member of Aurora. Hmph!


    A few nobles turned around again, giving Saori some looks of disapproval. Annoyed, I exuded my auras and the nobles jolted their heads away from me, sweating now despite the cool air of spring.


    Haha, true! Eines game n is to get them to expand all their spells and make them regret challenging her. You can just look at the twins expressions. Slightly purple, so arcane corruption is creeping in. They are frowning despite their supposed advantage, clouding their uracy even further. In proper hands, I think seals are a useful tool, but I guess this is what you alluded to, right, Thyra? I turned over to the principal of the academy, a smile on my face.


    True, if you have no knowledge on how to cast spells, seals are simply wasted on you. I have seen E-rank adventurers more capable at using seals than these two. Maybe Ill use this example to lobby for more practical fighting training, especially with the number of nobles watching this match. An underperforming counts daughter has be more proficient in battle than the twin daughters of a disestablished arcanuess house. That is not eptable.


    We werent speaking so loudly without a reason. Unlike a normal sport match, the nobles had the decency to speak less loudly, making the venue pretty quiet and less hype. Everybody around us could hear us and this naturally caused people to speak.


    Hey, hey, thats the one of the Goddess blessed, right? The one who sang yesterday at the ball? Lady Eine is part of her party?! Such a ragtag group of different races, but Lady Eine hasnt been hurt yet. What did they do to train her?


    Oh, thats Lady Hestia! My parents mentioned they fought with her when Cedaraille was attacked by that giant spider. She and her party were the ones to deal the deciding blow and steal Duke Greenveils prey. I still remember how she clearly said Lady Eine was her retainer at the tea party.


    <em>Tch!</em> Everybody, dont listen to the principal! Lady Irac and Francesca are two mages with high potential. As fellow vassals of Duke Equevanna, we should be suppo- HUH?!


    No, Im out of fire spells! It was Francescas voice, screaming out how she used up a set of her attacks. Turning the pages of her grimoire to find a spell as sweat began to drop on the books paper, the rapid attacks of the twins died down for a moment.


    But this was exactly what Eine was waiting for.


    Irac clicked her tongue and prepared to shoot out another fire spell but


    <em>Petal me-</em>KYAAAA! The moment she called out the spells name, an earthen wall sprang out from the ground in front of her, causing her spell to crash against it and explode point-nk in front of her, hitting herself with the sshback.


    Try not to scream your attacks, Eine casually said, her brown spell ring just finished glowing.


    Irac! Uhm, <em>Water Ball!</em><em>Moderate Heal!</em> Francesca doused the fire burning her younger sister and healed up the wounds she sustained from her own attack. I am sure that if a priest were to see this, they probably would have been enraged with a non-church member casting a white grace on somebody. The expressions of the spectators were enough to suggest that.


    Eine, you damn bitch! How dare you-huh?! Where are you?! With rage-filled eyes, Francesca turned around to confront Eine, only to be met with silence and emptiness. Eine was nowhere to be seen for her.


    Lady Francesca, look up! Eines sneaky trick would have worked if people wouldnt cheat but, even that was already toote for the twins.


    <em>Watch out for upskirt moments, Eine~</em>


    Francesca jolted her head up, finally noticing Eine had used [Dragoon Jump] to jump into the air and was using [Wind st] to move herself up there. Having found her target again, Francesca grinned as she prepared another spell, only for another [Earth Wall] to ruin her ns. The wall shot upright beneath her and shot her into the air.


    Ahhhhhhhhh!!! Screaming, Francesca rotated in the air before mming her face uponnding on the ground, breaking her nose. Thebined gasp of the Equevanna students echoes throughout the venue only to be immediately reced by screams of despair.


    Good fight, Lady Francesca. Lady Irac. Having created her own opening through the usage of low-tier spells, she swooped back on the ground and sted both twins out of the mana barrier with [Wind st], granting her the win in the end through ring out.


    <em>As I thought, she frowned cause her uniform was ruined from not dodging those spells properly.</em>


    The winner of this duel has been decided! Through ring out, Lady Eine has won this duel! Runes will be activated to heal your injuries! the referee announced before activating the sparring card in his hand, switching on the runes etched into the sparring bracelets.


    Cheers erupted from the Greenveil students side, pping and praising Eine for her sess. Thyra then stood up and requested for me to amplify her voice with [Aerokinesis].


    Lady Eine, would you be willing to show us your strongest spells from your repertoire? Storm and Terra, if you may? Thyra spoke to Eine from atop the bleacher, somehow guessing Eines magic skills correctly. With no reason to decline, she cast both [Storm Magic Lv. 1]s [Tornado Bullet] and [Terra Magic Lv. 2]s [Bedrock des], stunning the people in the audience.


    Thyra smirked and began a speech, Dear, students of the royal academy of Griffonpeak, as you could see, two daughters of an arcanuess were simply defeated by a counts daughter through the effective usage of [Wind st] and [Earth Wall]. This is not to belittle seals or magic scrolls, but a testament to a mages ability to ovee perilous threats through ingenuity and experience. Without knowing how to use your spells properly, how can you expect to be a proper mage?


    Thyra then stretched her hand out, as if inviting everybody to something. This is my first year as your principal, my dear students, but I have the ambition to change our academy to a haven of education. The additional courses that I will introduce to the curriculum will focus more on the practical usage of your abilities as mages and knights. How can you call yourself the elites of the kingdom if simple adventurers surpass yourbat abilities? Are you not more interested in beingbat effective before graduating? Thank you for your attention.


    <em> So she allowed the duel to happen just to give out this speech? Hehe, sly noble.</em>


    The students were naturally confused at what Thyra just said but a few of them seemed to have been won over. Those from the Morgiana duchy were immediately won over, mostly cause of their patriotic feelings, but the Greenveil students who saw Eine beat the twins were surprisingly also on board, despite being mostly merchants.


    As parents and students began to make noise over Thyras speech, I narrowed my ears as I noticed the twins speaking to Eine.


    This isnt over, Eine! This isnt over, you hear me! We will make you regret what you did to our father and mother! Even if it means taking your house down! Francesca dered with reddened eyes and blood on her face.


    Eine frowned as she saw the two girls struggling to suppress the aches around their bodies and the tears about to burst from their eyes. With a stern re, she spoke back, Both your father and mother are traitors of the kingdom. You can try if you want, but remember that I will fight this time. I will fight back, no matter what!


    The rest of the event went by smoothly. Josine helped Eine change out of her tattered uniform into a new one and we reunited back at the seats. She then left us again to perform with her group, and honestly, it wasnt the most impressive thing really, even after switching to the Morgiana group. It was mostly theoretical stuff about making spells from [Wind Magic], so I wasnt very interested in it.


    But that didnt matter. Eine seemed to have fun doing it so I still had to be there for her. Speaking of friends, the moment the duel ended, I saw Amelia leave the venue, not even congratting Eine on a good fight. I know she severed their friendship, but still


    Regardless, the event continued. Students specialized in the six elements, except for the fire mages, began performing their shows one by one. When the magic performance ended without any fire mages, it suddenly reminded me of something. Ah, Lady Thyra, would you happen to know about a family called the Talsyn? I heard they were retainers for your family.


    She nodded so I continued, Well, uhm, could you please tell them that Macklemor is dead?


    Huuu, you know about Mister Macklemor, Lady Hestia? To quell Thyras curiosity, I exined to her how I met him during my first Quest to stop the bandit group he belonged to, having to kill him after an ident. Ahh, I see that is a shame. Well, I never met him personally since we were of different standing, but the Talsyns are part of the Morgiana House, even if they are our retainers. I heard something had happened with the previous fire professor, but I hadnt looked into it too much. I didnt even know Macklemor was once his student damn.


    Lady Thrya, Thyras attendant called her out for cursing, and Thyra nodded.


    Thank you very much for informing me about this. As the heir, I have a responsibility to take care of my retainers. I cannot do anything anymore for Mister Macklemor, but I will make sure his family knows about this I will assume you do not wish me to mention you as the source, Lady Hestia? I nodded and Thyraplied. She sighed deeply. Haaaaaaa, why does drama always follow the fire mages? I cannot even install a professor for fire magic because of that incident with Professor Svonnweidher.


    Well, not to speak ill of the dead, but Keith had iting. He was leading a fanatical sect of fire mages around.


    So Professor Svonnweidher is dead also? I presume you nevermind. The amount ofints Im receiving from the students who wish to pursue fire magic is causing me a headache already. I dont want to speak about it to you, Lady Hestia. She paused for a moment beforeing closer to whisper something to me. Although, since youre part of him through that title, couldnt you do something? You are a fire mage after all.


    I shook my head and declined. Im not involving myself with Shiterno.


    We then visited the knightpetition hosted by the Groushia and Lecartiglio students. Because of Eines duel and her performance with the magic venue, we missed Jonathans participation in it since it coincided with Eines. We missed quite arge part of thepetition but came in time to witness some knight getting fangirled by a bunch of female students.


    Kyaaaahhhh, Lord Charleslyt, you are so cool! We will be rooting for you when you make it to Rank A with your party!


    You are the perfect pdin, Lord Charleslyt! You are amazing!


    <em> Too much fangirling, urgh.</em>


    Without giving him another look, we left the venue and returned to Eines mansion. The ball held at the academy did not interest Eine, who was only focused on her own training, especially motivated after the duel today. Even without her father, KleaHatma was a good enough coach for sword fighting just cause Eines sword was a whipsword.


    But


    Peace wouldntst too long for Eine and House Helvas. With everything working so well for the family, it wouldnt have been too naive to think it wouldst a bit longer, right?


    Well sadly, this wouldnt be the case. Jonathan did not return to the mansion that day.


    The only thing we found was a letter.


    Father, Mother, Eine. Forgive me for my selfishness. For my own training, I shall be leaving on a journey. I renounce my title as heir and I wish you to grant it to Eine. Please, do not look for me, I will be in goodpany.