CH 181.1

When I came to I was met with Milly crying her eyes out.

「Zeph! Thank god! You finally woke up!」

「… What in the world happened…?」

As I began to organize the thoughts in my tried I slowly raised up my aching body. 　

It seemed like I was currently in our Guild House. 　

Urgh, my body feels so heavy. And this pain coursing through my whole body. 　

There were numerous burns covering my whole body. 　

Milly whispered gently as she stroked each one of them.

「You really did your best out there Zeph. You suffered so much… yet you still… Everyone was there cheering for you.」

As I looked around, standing next to Milly Claude, Lydia, Silverie and Shirushu were all there. 　

They had serene expressions on their faces as they stared down at me.

「Zeph-kun…」

「Zeph-chi!」

Both of them exclaimed. After nodding at both of them I asked the thing that was bothering me the most right now.

「… What happened with the match…?」

When Silverie heard me ask that, she showed a wry smile.

「Good grief, you’re more concerned about the match than with your own body. You truly are a one-of-a-kind.」 

「Tell him Silverie-san!」

Shirushu laughed as she wiped away her tears.

After that Milly opened her mouth and spoke.

「Well…」

As the words left her mouth the memories slowly began flowing in. 　

That’s right, that’s what happened…

◆ ◆ ◆

Time Square! 　

While time was stopped I cast Red Inferno. 　

He won’t be able to dodge a flame as huge as this. 　

As I thought that I noticed a blue flame appear on top of Bertram’s hand. Lydia had told me about it before. 　

According to her, a flame’s hue changed from red to blue as its heat increased. 　

Did he create that by compressing the Flame of Flame’s magic power? If that’s the case, then this is bad. 　

It was general knowledge that when two spells of the same system collided, the stronger one would win. 　

I won’t be able to win with this…! 　

Despite the fact that I had realized the danger I was in, Time Square’s time limit was approaching, forcing my brain to go into overdrive. 　

Thanks to that I managed to think of something. 　

With this, just maybe…! 　

Immediately after that time began to flow again.

Triple Fusion: Red Inferno Triple. 　

The flame that burst forth was weaker than Bertram’s just as I had expected. 　

In that case, I just have to incorporate even more spells.

「I’ll cast Time Manipulate… on the flame!」

Without launching the spell, I cast Time Manipulate on it. 　

As the flame’s time sped up, its color began to gradually change from red to blue. 　

The more time passed the stronger the flame got. If it continued it would grow infinitely powerful.

「NOT YET…!」

I won’t be able to win against Bertram with just this! 　

My magic power lines began to tear apart as they approached their limit. 　

While that was happening the flame turned white, and then it took on a silver color.

「This is my flame!!!」

My ultimate flame collided with Bertram’s ultimate flame. 　

The flames collided with one another as sparks flew everywhere, causing an explosion that consumed both of us. 　

Both flames pushed against each other, yet neither came out on top. 　

However, the seemingly endless power battle began to draw to a close. 　

Bertram’s flame managed to overpower mine, consuming it. 　

Bertram’s lips curled into a smile when he saw that, as he knew he had won. However, his face suddenly froze the next moment… 　

That was because the silver flame was still burning inside of Bertram’s blue flame.

「What the…?!」

Bertram was completely dumbstruck. A bright light erupted, engulfing the entire region. 　

What in the world happened? My body won’t move. 　

This had been my final attack. It had completely drained me, leaving me in a state where I couldn’t even move a finger. 　

I couldn’t even figure out whether I was standing or not.

「Good grief…」

As the light faded, I noticed Bertram’s silhouette standing within it. 　

Then, his body suddenly tilted to one side and he fell down. 　

As the audience became utterly quiet, I managed to wring out the last of my power and raised my right hand.

「B-BERTRAM IS DOWN!!! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE HAVE OUR WINNER! ZEPH EINSTEINNNNNNN!!!」 　

Following the announcer’s announcement, the whole crowd went wild.

「Kuku… This sure feels great…」 I whispered, after which I felt my consciousness beginning to fade away.

◆ ◆ ◆

「… That’s right. I won.」

The memories of winning slowly started to come back to me. 　

I won against Bertram. Against the Flame of Flame…!

「Congratulations, Zeph!」

「Fufufu.」

I couldn’t hold back my joy as I heard Milly congratulate me.

「Kukuku…」

「Zeph-kun?」 　

「What’s wrong Zeph-chi?」

「Hahahahaha! I did it! I DID IT!!! HAHAHAHA!」

Everything was left completely dumbstruck at seeing me this happy. 　

But even so I couldn’t hold back my joy. 　

The Flame of Flame, which I had yearned for since my previous life, was finally within my grasp.

「This is terrible! What should we do?! Zeph-san has gone crazy!」

「Don’t worry about it Shirushu. Sometimes he’s like that.」 Silverie said, trying to calm her down. 　

I wiped off the tears that were running down my face and turned towards everyone.

「Everyone, thank you.」

I wouldn’t have gotten here if it wasn’t for everyone. That was the unmistakable reality.

My thanks were also loaded with all of my feelings of thankfulness toward everyone.

「You really are acting strange Zeph…」 Milly said as she looked at me. 　

Tsch, you’re not cute at all. You deserve to be punished because of this. 　

I grabbed a hold of Milly and hugged her with all of my strength.

「HYAA?! Zeph! W-What are you doing…?!」

「Tsch, you’re noise, you idiot.」 

I squeezed her even tighter after that. 　

And tighter, and tighter. 　

「Stop it! It hurts!!!」

「Even though you say that, you’re actually enjoying this, aren’t you?」

「What?! That’s not true…」

「Kukuku.」

「Urgh!  Stop teasing me!!! Good grief. You’re such an idiot, Zeph!」 Milly’s ecstatic voice reverberated throughout the room. 　

Her lively voice brought both laughs and tears to everyone’s eyes.

◆ ◆ ◆

Now it’s time to talk about what happened afterwards. 　

After obtaining the Flame of Flame title from Bertram I moved to the Flame Tower and began to lead a fulfilling life over there. 　

While flipping through some documents, I was currently enjoying a calm cup of tea. 　

Ahh, what a nice, peaceful afternoon. 　

As I sank deeper into the chair, allowing myself to be immersed by the peace, I heard a creaking noise.

「Zeph! You have a visitor!」

The one who broke my peace was my mother. 　

Some time ago I had invited her here to live with me. She would assist me with things while she was in the tower, and she was currently in charge of carrying some items to the Guild House. Despite my repeated warnings to her not to bother herself, she continued to ignore me. 　

I closed the documents I was reading with a grumpy frown.

「… I’ll be right there, mom.」

「You don’t want to keep them waiting now!」

「Yea, yea.」

After descending the long, twisting staircase, I found myself in the midst of the garden. I came to a door after traveling through the garden. When I opened the door, I saw Yera standing on the other side. 　

Her long sleeves fluttered and she smiled as she waved her hand at me.

「Hey. It’s been a while, Zeph.」

「So it’s you Yera. What do you need?」

「Do I need to have a reason to come? You’re so cold.」

You only come when you need something though…

「… Just tell me what you’re here for.」

「Sheesh, you’re no fun… Here you go.」 Yera said and spread out a poster for the Heavenly Mage Festival.

「Come to think of it, it’s that time of the year already.」

「That’s right. I’m so looking forward to it!」 Yera said with a wide smile.

「It really will be fun to see how far the challengers will get this year.」

「I know right, fufufufu.」

「Kukuku.」

My mother merely stood there, perplexed, while Yera and I laughed in a strange manner. 　

I got ahead of myself there.

I cleared my throat and changed the topic.

「By the way, how is Silverie?」

「Hmph? Oh, that thing… Well you could say she’s doing okay.」 Yera said as she gazed off towards the Wind Tower with a complex look on her face. 　

Silverie had inherited the Wind of Wind title from Yera and was currently teaching magicians and Dispatch Magicians magic.

「You see, she’s quite bad at teaching people. All of her students are having a hard time.」

「Hahaha.」

Well I guess that’s to be expected. She’s the type that learns with experience after all. Still, to think that Silverie would have students under her.

I was aware of her struggles. After all, she would often come to me to complain.

However, whenever we talked about training her eyes would suddenly begin to sparkle. Which was a testament that she was actually enjoying it.

「Can you try to keep quiet?!」

As I turned around, I spotted Elise sipping her coffee at a table in the garden. 　

She shamelessly tagged along with me and settled at the Flame Tower once I took on the Flame of Flame title. 　

At first I didn’t want her to come, however, Bertram forcefully pushed her on to me. 　

Along with the words 「Take care of my daughter.」 　

To top it off, Milly even decided to invite her to the guild, so Elise was now one of our guild members as well.

「My tea time is ruined because of you.」

「Why didn’t you just drink it in your room…」

「With this nice weather, it would be a waste to lock myself in my room.」 Elise said as she raised her cup in an extravagant manner. 　

Good grief, why do all the troublesome ones join our guild…

「Ah, Zeph-chi I finally found you!」 Lydia exclaimed, waving her hand. 　

Her tall frame and buoyant chest, as usual, carried a strong presence even from a distance. 　

After my match, Lydia ended up going around to many different countries in order to learn their crafts and was currently a really successful blacksmith. 　

However, she would often refuse the orders that came in and was still living together with us. 　

Personally it seemed like a waste, however, Lydia said that it was way more fun to be with everyone.

「Is it that time already?」

「That’s right. It’s perfect that both Yera-san and Elise-chan are here as well. We must go soon.」

「You’re right. We wouldn’t want to be late.」

「That’s right. It’s such a big moment after all.」 Lydia replied as she sexily positioned her index finger in front of her lips. 　

She’s gotten even more voluptuous. There must be a lot of guys lining up for her. 　

As those thoughts ran through my mind Lydia suddenly turned around and smiled.

「You don’t need to worry I only have eyes for you Zeph-chi.」

「… Don’t misunderstand, I’m not worried.」

「Ahaha, well I guess it’s all right then.」

Tsch, she always does this. I really can’t win against her.

「Hurry up, let’s go! You two also!」

「Okay, okay.」