Villainess and the Stalker - Chapter 16 - Sorcery Skill

Chapter 16 : Sorcery Skill

「…O Winter Spirit, lower the air temperature, freeze and strike mine enemy…Zero Lance(Ice Spear).」

A white mist-like substance gathered in front of my palm as I chanted my aria. It congealed until it finally formed a crystal clear ice lance before I launched it toward my target.

It easily pierced through the target prepared in this room and disappeared after leaving a small mark on the target.

「… Fuuh.」

It seems that I had successfully cast that spell.

Honestly, I had no problem casting this level of spell even if I had to do it without chanting the aria. The problem lied in the people who were peeking in to see our training from outside the window…after all, the room we’re using right now has a window, which allowed other students to sneak a peek into our training.

Furthermore, while I couldn’t tell who exactly was peeking on me, there’s still Conrad, my classmate, who also saw me casting that spell. That’s why…

The moment he saw the spell I cast just now, Conrad rushed into my direction to speak to me.

「I saw it! Ryuu!」

Looking at his excited expression, I guessed that I hadn’t made a mistake when I adjusted the power level of my sorcery.

To make things short, the spell I just used belonged to the 2nd tier sorcery. It was something that any graduating students from this academy could use with ease. However, there was a huge difference in terms of power and system I used just now.

Even when one was using the same spell, the output was heavily influenced by the caster’s training and knowledge. In some cases, that difference was enough to make others mistake the sorcery rank that was cast.

I’d have to say that even though the spell that I used just now was adjusted so that it looked just slightly below the level of this academy’s graduating students, it was still enough to shock Conrad. And the words that he spoke were the biggest evidence of it.

「Originally, I still had some doubts when you told me that you’re really good at sorcery… but now? Now, I know that you’re telling the truth! That spell you cast just now! That output alone makes me wonder why in the world did this academy place you in the 1st grade. 」

「Is it really that amazing?」

I tilted my head in confusion.

The reason why I was puzzled was because what I did just now was what everyone in my motherland could do as long as they trained properly that is.

Though I could say that, even there, I was still a cut above the rest amongst those who were trained by their families. Still, I wouldn’t go as far as saying that I am the strongest amongst them. [TL : He’s talking about homeschooling.]

And, that’s another reason why Conrad’s remark just now puzzled me.

I mean, while I had judged that NONE of the 3rd year students, whose magic essence I had seen, might be able to match my acquaintances in my motherland, I couldn’t be so sure about that matter. Well, let’s use the spell I just cast as an example… I expected that others, regardless of their nation, would have a hard time understanding the principle behind it unless I used its average output.

And yet… even if he didn’t understand… what Conrad felt right now…

「OF COURSE IT IS!」

Was amazed. Then he continued speaking…

「No students in this academy can use this spell with such ease unless they are already ready to graduate from this academy. Well, if we limit it to your output just now, some elite might be able to do that, but it’s still pretty much impossible for them to do it as precisely and as stable as you did… the output of your spell just now was neither too weak nor too strong, you managed to adjust your output just enough to pierce right on the center of the target dummy. Moreover, it seems that you weren’t even exhausted after using that spell, right?」

Conrad spoke at length, doing a commentary on what I did instead of commenting on the sorcery itself. And for a moment, I was troubled searching for a reply since Conrad was already incredibly surprised by the most basic spell I cast.

However, I couldn’t lie either since Conrad might see through it. So, I’d have to say something vague to avoid him discovering my true prowess.

「It’s true that this level of sorcery doesn’t tire me out. But, do you think it’s possible for me to use this level of sorcery in rapid succession?」

「Well that would be asking for the impossible but… At your current level, you could easily be conscripted as a magus soldier. Though, I guess it’s impossible if you’re already out of fuel after the first shoot.」

Magus soldier was the appelative for soldiers who were able to use magic. They existed in every country and the basic requirement to enter this troop was naturally for one to be able to use sorcery.

Their main job was to fire powerful sorcery from behind the vanguard soldier. Basically, long-distance bombardment was their job and specialty.

Although their job mostly only consisted of firing fireballs or fire arrows toward the enemies, in a special case, some of them could devastate the enemy formation through conjuring tornadoes, gigantic fireballs, or giant fire arrows. Thus, they were treated like the hero of the army.

While becoming a magus soldier was akin to stepping into the royal road of life in every single country, I had no intention to become one from the very beginning.

「I’ll be troubled if I’m scouted for that kind of dangerous job… I mean, I heard that lately the magus soldiers were treated like disposable tool you know?」

Even though I didn’t know the details about Helios Kingdom’s situation, I still had more military knowledge due to the nature of my education. Therefore, I knew all along that Magus soldiers were only useful until they used up their mana.

And while many people said that magus soldier wasn’t an exhausting job since they could retreat to rest for the sake of recovering their mana to use it once again, that was a big fat lie. The physical fatigue for frail sorcerers aside, the mental fatigue which came from casting their sorcery until they exhausted their mana was huge.

However, the people who think that it’s better to mass produce low-quality sorcerers to become magus soldiers were much more numerous than the amount of stubborn people who were enraged by the over-exploitation of sorcerers. As such…

「Yeah, I’ve heard many stories of magus soldiers treated like disposable tools. But, even if it’s rotten, this place is still an academy. If the news spread that the graduating students of this academy were treated like disposable tools, the academy won’t let its graduates become a part of magus army again, ever. Then again, the magus army division might have tried hard to hide that news but… well, in any case, it won’t hurt to always be wary toward their job offer.」

「Hee. Is the unity of our academy’s graduates… that strong? I expected there’ll be more like Miss Maria type who won’t hesitate to use the other people without batting their eyes, but it seems I’ve to re-evaluate my judgement in this matter.」

「Please don’t take those sort of people as our representatives… Well, I can’t refute that part of the graduates act like Miss Maria but the rest are basically normal you see.」