Chapter 20

The Golden Daughter (3)

Lortel is a fierce realist and a genius at compromise.

From the beginning, Lortel was destined to become that way. This is because they have great ambitions but lack natural ability.

If you listen to it from a third party’s perspective, you may wonder what the hell that means.

This is because Lortel is one of only three students who received Class A qualification from Professor Glast upon entering the school. Just one reading is enough to memorize the main points of a book, and his mana sensitivity is at a level that ordinary students cannot follow, and he even has the rich background of Elte Trading Company.

However, nothing can reach the level of first-class.

In the field of magic, there is ‘Lazy Lucy’ who is treated as an outcast.

His practical sense in battle, including judgment, agility, and flexible improvisation, cannot match that of Ziggs, the Spear of the Vegetation.

Her family background, nobility of status, natural character, and ability as a leader... become useless in front of her archenemy, Princess Fenia.

The life that mischievous fate has granted Lortel is most likely a second-rate life.

And the means used by Lortel to overcome that mischievous fate is ‘pure desire.’

“Oh, Senior Yenika.”

Understanding, gains and losses, and calculations. It’s like he’s stubbornly trying to tip the scales in his favor even just a little.

Extremely harsh realism and an infinitely compromising attitude that has no hesitation in joining hands with necessary evil.

That way of life sometimes gave Lortel the stigma of an opportunist, but Lortel did not feel particularly insulted. Rather, I thought it would be much more humiliating not to be able to seize the opportunity that came within range.

“I was going to come visit you with a gift, but I ended up running into you in a place like this.”

“Hmm..? You are... Lortel. You look really different with your hair down.”

“I hear that often.”

The location was the hallway of Ofilis Building, which boasts the most luxurious facilities among the three major dormitories in Sylvania.

To get hired there, you had to meet one of two criteria. Overwhelming status or overwhelming grades.

Yenica is a case that satisfies the latter, and Lortel, who is qualified as the successor to Elte Company, is a case that satisfies both. However, this does not mean that the living environment in the dormitory will change significantly.

As for Lortel, after taking an evening bath, he was heading to his room while being attended to by the maids of the Ofilis building. Thanks to that, her outfit was somewhat simple and her hair was unkempt, giving Jenica a fairly fresh impression.

“Why, there was a big uproar the other day when I arbitrarily used intermediate magic during joint combat practice. It’s because I have a particularly impulsive side. It’s been a while, but I really wanted to apologize when I got the chance.”

“I see...”

The reason he put pressure on Yenika by using the intermediate ice spells ‘Ice Lance’ and ‘Instant Freeze’ was to gauge the value of his name as Sylvania’s second-year senior.

No matter what anyone says, the current main players in the Sylvania Academy Magic Department are first-year students. This year’s lineup of first-year students cannot guarantee victory in a duel, no matter how senior they are.

Nevertheless, the title of valedictorian of the second year cannot be taken lightly.

In the first year, there was Lucy Mayril, the undisputed number one, so it was meaningless to discuss the top position, but at least Lortel’s name was not left out when discussing the second place.

How big is the gap between yourself and Yenika? Attempts to measure it ended sadly without much meaning. This is because even intermediate level elemental magic, which even third-year students could not fully handle, could not cause significant damage to Yenika, who controlled high-ranking spirits like her limbs.

The price of arrogance is high. Thanks to this, even now, long after the joint combat training ended, I ended up wearing a bandage under my clothes due to minor wounds that had not healed.

“The wound hasn’t healed yet.”

Lortel keenly caught the sense of debt that remained in a corner of Yenica’s gaze.

The person named Yenica Palover is overly kind. Her nature aroused strong protective instincts in those around her, making her an idol for second-year students.

Moreover, recently, second-year students are being disastrously inferior to first-year students. In the meantime, she, the only one who showed a senior-like and capable appearance, became the savior of the second-year students. In some ways, the merits of Lortel, who was beaten so cruelly during the joint combat training, were not without.

Before that, he was our cute and cute senior spiritist who had to be protected, but now he is truly the only light and hope for the second year students.

When such expectations are gathered, it becomes an object of envy in an instant.

“I think it will heal quickly. Don’t worry too much, senior.”

In any case, personal connections lead to social power. Because Lortel has lived with this fact clearly in his mind, he does not forget to smile commercially at the cute second-year senior.

If the other person owes you something, even that is an asset. It would be foolish not to utilize the assets you have.

With that in mind, Lortel was thinking of using this debt as an opportunity to establish exchanges with Yenika.

“I guess things didn’t go well with Ed?”

Once in a while, this spiritist would pierce my lungs with a smile that couldn’t be more refreshing.

In the world of commerce, such a sly smile is like a symbol of the two sides of a human being. This is because merchants are a group of people who worry about how to betray others with an infinitely kind and pure smile.

But strangely, there is not a single trace of malice in that girl’s laughter.

I am also naturally sharp. It is a pure question asked without any malice or intention.

“I hear all the stories that are shared around the Northern Forest. Spirits talk a lot.”

I ignored Lortel’s words and unilaterally chased after Ed Rosstaylor, who was walking away with great strides. The line of movement was clearly heading straight toward the entrance to the Northern Forest.

Originally, the Northern Forest was completely the territory of the spirit priest Yenika. This is because most of the spirits roaming the northern forest are on Yenika’s side.

No matter how hard I tried, I could only see the edge of the entrance to the faraway northern forest. However, since even that was said to be Yenica’s territory, it was just absurd from Lortel’s perspective. This is because the conversation between Ed Rothtaylor and Lortel Kecheln was not something that could be proudly revealed even with empty words.

He was planning to use the situation of Ed Ross Taylor, who was cornered, to gauge his worth by trying to buy his connections with the spiritist Yenika with money. It’s not a situation where you can really open your heart.

“Lortel will have his ways.”

However, Jenica’s attitude of respecting even that was definitely worthy of being called a saint.

“Ed must have had his own way of doing things. From my point of view, that is more touching.”

“...”

“Of course, I felt a pang in the heart of Lortel, who willingly invested gold coins in the hopes of becoming friends with me... but they say a person’s sincerity cannot be bought with money. Hmm, maybe I’m talking too much like I’m boasting. ? It’s my first time having a junior, so I think I’m being too pretentious. Ugh, I’m embarrassed...”

Even after seeing such a scene, he doesn’t deny or criticize Lortel’s methods.

– Kwaang!

The monster that suddenly flew in shattered the drying rack that I had worked so hard to build and rolled a couple of times on the floor.

A flock of birds flew through the forest, making a fuss, and the rising dust obscured the view for a long time.

When I looked at the place from the same position I was sitting in while sharpening my bow, I immediately saw a familiar and disgusting witch’s hat gently landing on the floor.

If you look a little higher, you can see Lucy Mayril rolling on the floor with a shattered drying rack. It is a sight to see him covered in dust and stuck in the trunk of an old tree.

“What is it?”

As I stood up, reacting a beat late, Lucy, who was slumped over, answered slowly.

“I almost died...”

That was a line that should never have come out of Lucy Mayril’s mouth.

Why did a girl who was supposed to be leisurely walking around the area like a floating spirit after dinner at the Ofilis Hall in the early evening end up in a place like this?

As far as I know, the only person in this school who can fight Lucy on a whim is Principal Obel.

An opponent who would cause Lucy to experience the danger of death is a variable that I cannot deal with.

Feeling a sudden heightened sense of crisis, I quickly stood up and asked Lucy.

“I almost died, to whom?!”

“Be... to Belmaia...”

It was the name of the senior maid at Ofilis Hall.

“Hey!”

I roughly picked up the poker I could find nearby and threw it at Lucy. I thought it would naturally bounce off, but surprisingly, the defensive magic to deal with it did not appear.

Thanks to this, Lucy, who had a great night at poker, fell into tears and lay down on the floor. The soot marks left on my forehead were impressive.

“Is this correct?”

“I’m running out of magic power...”

Needless to say, this speed, which the eye couldn’t track, and the huge aftereffects, were high-level spatial magic called ‘space leap’.

High-ranking magic is magic that even professors use by concentrating and chanting.

“I got caught trying to skip the monthly meeting called by the dormitory director after dinner...”

“...So?”

“Bell was so angry that he came towards me with his fist clenched.”

Only then did I remember some of Lucy’s event scenes that I had seen from time to time. The natural enemy of this child-dependent troublemaker that no one could understand was none other than Bel Maia.

There was nothing Lucy could do about the personification of fear who pounded her temple with her fist whenever she had an accident, missed a schedule, or behaved poorly. The temple attack has a deep tradition as a means of subduing troublemakers. There is a famous expert in this field named Bong Mi-seon.

It can be funny to see Lucy, a rare genius, being subdued by a single maid.

However, no matter how gifted Lucy is with God-given talent, she would never do something senseless like messing with the maids at Ofilis Hall. It is an unwritten rule in Sylvania that the maids of Ofilis Building assist students without any error. They must be treated with consideration.

In fact, before talking about such unwritten rules, all students living at Ofilis Hall have an implicit debt of gratitude to the maids.

Even though they are students who are always treated well, the maids’ competence is something that leaves one speechless. To that extent, they are a first-class group. Household tasks such as cleaning and cooking are basic, and they can also assist with academic life or demonstrate simple magic.

Since they are infinitely faithful to their original job of assisting such talented students with their daily lives, they never step forward unnecessarily and most of them are reticent. The blunt appearance and personality are not unique to Belle Maia.

“I felt like it would hurt so much that I ran away. It was so sudden.”

In short, the story is that by using high-level spatial magic, ‘fast casting’, and even ‘casting without chanting’, it flew all the way from the Ofilis Hall, not even close range.

If you forcibly increase the casting speed or omit the chanting, your magic efficiency will be ruined. This is the level where you have to worry about square units, not doubling or tripling. In addition, the magic he casted was high-level magic, including spatial magic, and was used in such a way to show off his superiority.

Since this is the equivalent of flying a private plane to go to the convenience store in front of the house, it is natural that even Lucy’s magical power, which is overflowing like the ocean, will be gone in an instant. You can’t do something like this even if you bring in Principal Obel.

When I thought about the situation, it was absurd. When Belle Maia approached me, very angry, twirling her fists, she jumped up and flew all the way here, like a stray cat that found a cucumber on the street.

Lucy, lying on the floor in her loosely draped pajamas, let out a sigh.

“It’s hard...”

“Isn’t it a blessing to be self-employed?”

“It’s been so hard these days. Especially that senior maid has become so sensitive...”

“Bell Maia?”

He is a machine-like person who only focuses on his duties without changing his facial expression.

“You may not know it from the outside, but I can tell... He’s become very sensitive... I wonder if there’s someone worried... Still, I wonder if the sparks will spread to me...”

You seem to have earned it. Wouldn’t it be okay if I just behave like that? I didn’t bother to ask such a reasonable question that everyone in the world knows. Everyone in the world also knows that it is a useless thing to do.

Lucy, who had fallen face down on the street and was covered in dust, finally spoke.

“Hey.”

It’s always the same when he calls me “you know me”. It’s obvious even if you don’t look at what he says next.

“Do you have any beef jerky?”

I’m about to lose.

I took a deep breath and roughly raised my finger to point around Lucy.

There were the remains of the drying rack that had been broken when Lucy flew in and the beef jerky that had been dried on the drying rack.

Needless to say, the beef jerky was in an inedible state as it had rolled on the floor and was covered in dust.

“Hehe...”

Lucy’s complexion instantly turned pale when she saw that scene, and I took advantage of that opportunity to hit Lucy right between the eyes.

Lucy, who had not a single shred of magical energy left, just rolled on the floor with a crunching sound.