Chapter 72

The day of the magic class was two days after that. Luciel went to Gillard’s study with a relaxed disposition.

“Luciel, as I announced last time, we have a magic test today.”

“Yes, I’ve been waiting for it.”

“It will be conducted as a match with a 3rd circle wizard. The wizard you will fight against is already at the training center. Let’s move.”

“Yes.”

When I went to the training center, Eres politely bowed down to Gillard. It was a funny thing for Luciel to see, since she knew his personality.

“Are you here, Master Gillard?”

“You’ve become quite reliable, Eres.”

“Really? Then please accept me as a disciple.”

When Eres sent a desperate glance, Gillard, who was rubbing his chin, answered with concern.

“……I’ll decide based on the results of today’s match.”

“Okay, I will definitely win! Let’s do well, Luciel.”

Eres raised his hand to Luciel and acted friendly.

“Hello, Eres.”

Gillard smirked as he glanced at the two children.

“You seem to have gotten close to each other after meeting once. Luciel, this is Eres Sylvane, the youngest wizard in the tower. He will be your opponent.”

“Yes.”

“He seems to be mischievous, but his magic skills are quite reliable, so he will be a good opponent.”

Seeing Grandpa Gillard saying that, it was clear that Eres’ magic skills were extraordinary.

He actually managed to become a 3rd circle wizard, and he even expressed an attribute, so he was sure to be a formidable opponent. Seeing Eres burning with fighting spirit, Luciel thought she should work hard and her body tensed up.

“Come on, you two. Make sure you wear this robe.”

Gillard handed over robes that looked like transparent gowns one by one.

“I’ll explain the simple rules. A protective shield is attached to this robe to protect the body. In short, you can have a safe match.”

“Phew, that’s a relief.”

As Luciel swept up her tiny chest, Eres grunted, seemingly a bit disappointed.

“Ah, then this is not a real wizard’s match. Oh, but I didn’t mean to hurt Luciel.”

“Because it’s best for children to be safe!” (Gillard)

“Then, no matter how much we attack each other, it won’t hurt?”

Luciel raised her head toward Gillard and hung a question mark.

“You take no physical damage, but if you are attacked, you cannot move for a while. Instead, magic to record points was applied to the area being attacked. The head is worth 10 points, the heart is 10 points, and the rest are 3 points. But if the power of magic is strong, you’ll get extra points.”

Gillard summoned a green staff and two round image spheres. The video spheres summoned side by side with a white line in the center were red and blue respectively.

“Here. Each of those big video spheres will be marked with a number. Red is Luciel and blue is Eres’, so watch it carefully.”

“Oh, yes!”

“Hung. It finally feels like a proper match!”

Eres, who was complacent before, also swallowed his saliva as if he was a little nervous just before the confrontation. Luciel’s heart was also pounding.

Following Gillard’s guidance, the two went in front of the video booth with a white line in between and stood facing each other as if confronting the opponent.

“Come on, if I raise my hand, it’s the start of the match. Take our wands. The first to reach 50 points wins. However, if the match is not decided by then, the one who scores more points in 10 minutes wins.”

Luciel and Eres nodded side by side.

“Luciel, I’m sorry, but I’m going to win today. I can’t lose to a 9-year-old, 1st circle rookie, right? I mean, I’ve been impatiently waiting for my first match ever!”

Eres pulled out his wand and held it up. He looked very confident. A small rock was attached to the end of the brown staff symbolizing the earth attribute.

“Even the wand shows the element of the wizard.”

As Luciel’s eyes widened, Eres smiled as if he was proud of his wand.

“Of course! I’m getting stronger.”

“I see, that’s cool. But I don’t want to lose either. I will work hard.”

“Yes, yes. Bring it on!”

At the same time as Luciel called the wand, she was ready to gather mana. Eres was surprised for a moment at the transparent and shining beauty of the ‘Innocent wand’ that fits snugly in her hand.

“Your wand is so pretty.”

‘But it doesn’t look very strong, right? Experience in learning magic, wizardry level, wand, and attribute. I have the upper hand in everything!’

Come to think of it, he wondered if the match was a complete piece of cake, so he thought to give Luciel a bit of leeway. On the other side, Luciel stared at Eres, clenching her wand, with a serious glare in her eyes.

“Luciel, do you want to attack first?”

Luciel shook her head when he said he would give her a handicap.

“Then it won’t be my win. Don’t go easy on me.”

“Really? You can’t regret it.”

“Yes. I have no regrets.”

Seeing Luciel grab her wand with even more strength, Eres was disturbed. He started to wonder what he was doing by beating such a small kid. On the other hand, Gillard, who took a step back and watched the two children, had amused eyes.

Both children would be a formidable opponent to each other.

Luciel has just started magic, but she had potential with tremendous magical power. Eres manifested his earth attribute earlier on and was 2 circles higher than her.

Regardless of winning or losing, it seemed to be an interesting match.

* * *

All of a sudden, people of the Duke’s Castle began to gather one by one on the stairs behind the training center. Eva, Soliaphe, and Evelyn sat together, cross-legged, while Leoni sat next to his mother, rolling his pomegranate eyes while eating candy.

Soon after, even a few servants gathered. Bessie and Rose gathered their hands and cheered.

“Wow! Cheer up!”

Gillard looked behind him, and beckoned people not to scream too loudly. Then he raised his hands high into the sky as counted.

“Three, two, one…….start!”

As soon as it started, Luciel closed her eyes and took a step behind, raising her mana. Eres, who believes that he was superior from circles to attributes, would have attacked like crazy if she approached.

Luciel’s weapon was her strong magical power.

‘It’s important to be patient!’

“Stone Shard!”

Eres, who had gathered his mana, shouted his starter word towards Luciel. In an instant, a fist-sized stone flew towards her.

Whik!

Koo!

The flying stone hit Luciel’s head. From the beginning, it was obvious that she would give away more than 10 points, so Luciel, who had been cold analyzing her chances, fled to another place.

First of all, she thought it would be important to understand Eres’ attack pattern, so she chose to watch. Luciel recalled the properties of the land she had learned in theory class.

The basic property of the earth is that it is solid and heavy.

‘Speed and growth are also slow.’

The number of possible magic for each circle was also small, and there were only two attack skills up to the 5th circle. The 2nd circle, Stone Shard that Eres had just cast, and the 4th circle, Stone Edge.

‘I just need to know those two attack patterns.’

Of course, there was a possibility of him casting a secondary attribute magic or non-attribute magic, but Luciel had an advantage in non-attribute magic.

While Luciel continued to build up mana little by little, Eres fired another stone shard, perhaps he was thinking of attempting attacks until he exhausted all the mana he had.

Luciel leaned over to avoid the attack.

“Luciel, you are not scared, are you? Why aren’t you attacking?”

Eres, who was swinging his wand, asked as if frustrated and bothered, but Luciel did not respond. Meanwhile, the people who were watching the match between the two were also murmuring.

“Why isn’t our Little Madam attacking?”

“Indeed.”

Bessie and Rose whispered as if they were upset. Leoni also inflated his cheeks as if it was stuffy, but he could not bear it and shouted.

“Sister! What are you doing! Use magic!”

Gillard approached his grandson and stroked his frizzy blonde hair.

“Leoni, you have to be quiet so that she can concentrate.”

Meanwhile, Soliaphe, who was silently watching Luciel, thought to herself.

‘That kid, it’s not that she can’t attack. She won’t do it. Luciel is watching to analyze the other person’s attack pattern.’

Knights and a wizard have different dispositions, but basically, their attitude when dealing with someone is not that different. It was the basics of battle to understand and grasp the opponent’s pattern of action, to anticipate how they would move, and to respond accordingly.

Soliaphe was deeply surprised by Luciel’s calm demeanor. Even if you can’t see the immediate results, if you don’t act impatiently and move step by step, you’ll gain experience in battle.

When she smiles at me, she’s such a gentle and cute child, but I didn’t know she would be this meticulous.

Moreover, Luciel has yet to move, so she has not been read by her opponent yet.

Paah!

A bright yellow magic circle shone. Eres cast spell after spell, aiming for Luciel, who was constantly avoiding him.

“Stone Shard!”

This time, two sharp stones which looked very menacing, were summoned.

Boom, kugung!

It was a time when Luciel’s movement, which was avoiding everything well like a baby squirrel, slowed down for a while.

‘Okay, now!’

Eres habitually bit his teeth and swung his wand once more.

“Stone Shard!”

The newly summoned stone flew in a parabola. It seemed to be the perfect timing for attacking. However, the stone that aimed at Luciel’s head hit her in the heart. Thanks to the shield attached to the robe, the stone bounced off. It didn’t hurt, she could only feel that something had touched her.

Just a little startled, Luciel closed her eyes for a moment.

“Done!”

Eres rejoiced and raised his arms for a moment. A blue number went up on Eres’ video ball with a beep sound. It was 15 points.

People were amazed by the score and the momentum that went to the little boy at once.

But Luciel calmly observed the moment. The timing with the highest probability of failing to cast defensive magic was after hitting an attack.

At that moment when everyone was agitated, Luciel cast her first spell as if exploding the huge mana she had accumulated so far.

“……Slip!”