CH 70

A huge wave of water appeared before my eyes along with a huge vortex.

Standing at the center of the vortex was Brother Vincent.

The large volume of undulating water that flowed out of him became a wave and then transformed into a large dragon as it rose to the sky. A sparkling light blue colored water dragon. The brilliant sunlight shining through it took everyone’s breath away from how divine it looked.

The water dragon opened its vicious mouth wide and went all the way down to its opponent, Brother Seth.

Water splashed into the audience. The growls of the water dragon could be heard.

—However.

Behind Brother Seth, who raised his hand softly, the face of a beautiful woman who looked like a snow queen floated for a moment.

Then, the moment the snow queen made a motion of blowing on the palm of her hand—

With a sharp sound, the sparkle disappeared from the ferocious water dragon’s eyes.

What was left there was the figure of a dragon that had hardened like an ice statue. Clicking his tongue with his face contorted, Brother Vincent raised his right hand again to make his next move.

The water stream that flowed from the fingers of Brother Vincent’s right hand filled the arena floor again in no time at all.

“Seth, I’ll take you down!”

“All you have ever done is get knocked down.”

Although both of them were equally adept at water magic, Brother Seth who specialized in ice magic, and Brother Vincent who excelled in flashy, over-the-top water magic, were opposites in their fighting styles.

The two people who are in the opposing factions in real life are thus engaged in a physical battle, and this is a magic battle with win or lose as a result.

In fact, neither the first prince faction nor the second prince faction could honestly support either of them because this match kept them in suspense and made their stomachs hurt. I also always had to watch this match with a difficult feeling.

(Still, as expected— the final battle is between my brothers this year, too…)

In the face of the straightforward Brother Vincent’s unrelenting and furious attacks, Brother Seth created footholds with ice on the water and was able to make each one of the attacks fall on the ice. However—

“This fight is already over.”

“Mika… Well, I guess this year the winner will be-…”

I could see that Brother Seth was about to launch his greatest ice magic.

The ice goddess-like apparition behind him put her hands together in a strange way, and then the arena was enveloped in a white light.

The next moment…

“Whoa, even the court mage’s water barrier is frozen.”

“But we can still see inside because it’s smooth ice, that’s good. As expected of Brother Seth.”

I wonder why Brother Vincent filled the arena floor with water.

I wonder if he didn’t think that if all that water was to be frozen, his feet would be frozen as well. This is just my guess, but I think that Brother Vincent has more magical power than Brother Seth. However, how to put it…

(Brother Seth is a strategist, after all… Brother Vincent is usually so smart, but when he gets angry, he’s a bit…)

For some reason, green peppers that Brother Vincent probably hated appeared in my mind, and I drowned them out thinking that it’s rude to think about it now.

His water dragon was magnificent, and since he can make that magic continuously, I feel like he could have had a good match with a little more thought put into it.

As I was thinking about this, the referee in the arena exclaimed in a loud voice, “The winner is His Highness Seth Ancene Pluvia!”

For the time being, I sighed, thinking that another year had gone by without incident.

Then, I stared at Mika who was sitting next to me, and questioned him with my eyes.

“Ah…I retrieved the item. But there’s something I want to talk about later.”

“Alright.”

I think he’s probably refraining from talking about it for now because the magic battle for fifth graders is about to begin. I don’t need to hear about it right away, so I can ask him about it later. I get a little nervous because it’ll be the magic battle for fifth graders next after the lunch break.

Mika and I carried our sandwiches and made our way to the courtyard.

Around the entrance facing the courtyard, I saw a frustrated Brother Vincent and a group of stern-faced cronies coming out, weaving through the crowd.

Mika said with a troubled smile.

“He seems to be in a bad mood, no surprise there.”

“That’s to be expected. In the end, he couldn’t win a single match before he graduated.”

“Ah…looks like Baroness Tessier is there, too.”

I saw Baroness Tessier, in a cute light pink robe, chasing after Brother Vincent in a flurry of small steps.

And then, I don’t know why, but a shiver ran through my body due to a combination of various emotions.

“What should I say to him…to my brother who looked like an ogre who hadn’t eaten anything for five days…”

“Yeah. That girl is amazing… She’s still chasing after him in that atmosphere that no one would dare to approach.”

“But she was defeated in the first round, huh. And to Marquess Delanois, too.”

“We could also say that what Vivienne did has hit her weak point as well.”

Baroness Tessier caught up with Brother Vincent and gently put her hand on his arm as they walked with a large stride.

She seemed to have tried to speak to him, but perhaps not wanting to talk with anyone even if it was Baroness Tessier, he brushed her hand off and went away with Jelaire somewhere, leaving her standing there frozen in a daze.

(It didn’t go well even with her…)

At that moment, I heard a group of female students passing by me and Mika gossiping about Baroness Tessier, perhaps because they had noticed her there.

“Hey, that’s…”

“Yes…that girl. Seriously, a pink robe…? That’s really something.”

“I don’t know how she could stand it. Earlier, His Highness Vincent complimented her on how cute it was, so I guess he gave it to her after all?”

“I know, right. The design was fantastic, isn’t it? But, it’s still too much.”

When I listened carefully, the voices of giggling female students could be heard here and there.

Even male students seemed to think of her as an attention seeker, and I heard them laugh bitterly.

Then I thought.

(How malicious… Who, you ask? I meant the original culprit!)

——Ho ho ho ho ho!——

***

Growing like a vine from my hand, the water shimmered softly, as if illuminated by the moonlight.

I always ended up recalling in my head, the secret base where I spent my childhood with Mika.

The water, so beautifully luminous that it seemed to be silver, was swept down on my opponent as it circled me.

When using magic, the image in your head is important.

In my mind, the image is always the courtyard I sneak out of in the middle of the night. Perhaps…it’s because that was the first time I was able to use magic, and also because it’s a happy memory.

I managed to make it to the final tournament. My opponent was a male student who wore a blade of lightning all over his body and excelled at close combat. I’m better at fighting at a distance from my opponents, so if he gets close, it’s all over for me.

That’s why I’m letting the water wrap around me like this to keep him from getting too close…

(But this probably won’t last for long…)

My weak self always ended up coming out just like that. Still, I did quite well this year.

The water vine that had become large caught the male student’s leg and threw him up into the air. I quickly created a water prison with my left hand and tried to lock him in it, but the opponent was a little quicker than me. I thought he might have sneaked close to me at the speed of light, but then I was suddenly confronted with a lightning-clad hand blade right before my eyes.

“…Y-You got me.”

“Ohhh!” the cheers resounded.

But unlike last year, I could hear people cheering me on here and there, and it was a little embarrassing.

At least I made it to the final eight for the tournament, but I’m still disappointed that I couldn’t fight as well as my brothers.

Last week, Vivienne told me that there was apparently a depiction of me challenging Baroness Tessier to a magic battle if she chose Brother Seth, ignoring the differences in our school grades.

——You use a water whip, right?! I already know! With your beautiful face like an ice queen, you use water! As a whip! Ah, I want to get hit!——

I remember looking at her with a blank stare, not knowing where I should start retorting back to her reaction.

Some magic is like cookie-cutter, but as one uses it, the magic will develop a form that is easy for one to use. Frankly, as someone who was always looking at magic plants, I find it easiest to use water in the image of a plant, and I end up using it in that kind of shape. That’s right…

(It’s not a whip or anything like that! It’s something more like a vine… I used! that kind of image!)

For some reason, I remembered that Vivienne was breathing heavily when we talked about it, and I felt tired all the more.

As I was walking out through the passageway of the audience seat, Mika was waiting for me with a soft cloth.

Mika probably knows that this event is something I’m not very good at. But I was glad it was over anyway, I thought and took the offered cloth.

“Congratulations on the fourth place. Good fight.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

When he said that to me, it felt embarrassing.

I think I did a little better this time, because I’ve been in eighth place so far. While wiping sweat with the cloth, I hid my face which seemed to turn red.

Perhaps he didn’t notice, Mika continued talking.

“The Knights seem to be investigating in the direction that Marquess Delanois had nothing to do with the incident. For now, the important thing is that we know that she’s not the cause. Since there is no real harm done, that’s enough for the time being, right?”

“That’s right.”

How in the world did Mika know what was going on with the Knights investigation when I thought he was watching my game until just now? It made me wonder. But since Mika says so, there will be no suspicion cast on Marquess Delanois, and there will be no connection of the incident to Vivienne in the foreseeable future.

People would also probably think that it was strange if Baroness Tessier suddenly said, “Marquess Delanois did terrible things to me,” after she went to the magic battle with such a robe.

As I was taking a breath of relief, I noticed that Mika had a troubled look on his face.

“Huh, what is it?”

“Well, I feel bad telling you this when you’re tired, but I have some not-so-good news for you.”

Hearing Mika say that with a bitter smile, I remembered that there was something he hadn’t told me yet earlier, that he purposefully put off for later. I asked with my eyes, hoping it wasn’t something too bad.

Mika seemed to have a hard time, saying “Uhh,” and then began to speak.

“Baroness Tessier didn’t throw away the hair clip, but gave it to a friend. The friend ended up throwing it out as trash, so I picked it up and had the actual thing…”

“Hmm? Who did she give it to?”

After letting out a sigh, Mika continued.

“It was Patriel Faure.”

……Eh?