Chapter 1 Episode 6
A challenge to the best of his generation・the Court Mage Carlyle
「Magic Arrow」
The white arrow fired from my hand glided in a straight line towards Carlyle.
My arrow and Carlyle’s shieldーー
crash into each other head on.
A loud deafening noise echoed through the place.
The magic arrow would just bounce off Carlyle’s shield and disappearーーthat was the scenario in everyone’s head there but my magic arrow will not be that case.
Bit by bit penetrating through Carlyle’s shield.
Zaaaaーーー
A faint noise can be heard from here. That was the noise coming from Carlyle’s legs which is planted on the ground and being pushed backwards by the overwhelming momentum.
Carlyle’s right hand, which is holding off my magic arrow, is trembling. The once straightened elbow started to buckle from the pushing momentum.
Carlyle wasーー
grinning when he looked at me.
「You, are fascinating」
He shouted immediately after he said that.
「Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!」
At the same he yelled, he changed the angle of his elbow, pressing down my magic arrow towards the ground.
The white glow burst like an explosion.
After the flash of light dissipated, Carlyle stood up and had a refreshing expression on his face.
「That was fun」
The moment his figure was visible from here, a loud cheer can be heard from the examinees.
「As what you would expected from Carlyle-sama!」
「As expected it was one sided! impressive!」
Carlyle walked towards me with a calm and steady pace as the crowd cheered.
「You, that was your third shot, are you satisfied?」
「……Yes. I’ll be fine as long as I got to use my Magic Arrow」
「Good for you. So your first test ended. Appreciate your effort」
「Thank you for taking your time with me」
I held out my right hand for a handshake.
butーー
Carlyle did not hold out his hand. He was just staring at my hand motionlessly and silently.
「Erm?」
As I tilted my head in confusion.
The examiner wedged himself physically between me and Carlyle.
「You moron! How dare you try to have a handshake with Carlyle-sama! You are going way too far!」
Oh I see, so that was the reason…….
Now that I think about it, I was just some random guy who came from who knows where and taking the entry exam. I should not be shaking hands with one of the most valuable assets of the empire, the genius court mage himself.
「Apologize for my bad manners」
As I was turning away and returning back to the place where Laura is waiting for me.
「Wait」
Carlyle stopped me.
「You, what is your name?」
「Albert」
「Albert huh」
Carlyle smiled.
「I’ll be sure to remember, that name」
He left the place and headed to who knows where after leaving behind those words.
While I return back to Laura.
「Good work! Albert-san! It went well!」
「Uh, does that looks like well to you?」
「Yea! Because you have the chance to have a spell sparring session with the one and only Carlyle-sama!? That was not a chance to come by easily!」
「Hmm……you are not wrong about it」
I did not really think about it that way but, that was quite a unique experience.
Maybe I should have probably just wing it and send out my best Magic Arrow anyways. He said “Should I remind you that there is no need to hold anything back? ”, but I fired an arrow similar in strength compared to the first and second shot, the third shot is not even close to my full power.
Well, the goal is not to beat him in a fight soーーI’ll just take it as a good experience and be happy about it.
「Ah! My number is being called! I’ll go then!」
「Sure, good luck」
With a pitter-patter of footsteps, Laura runs off to the front.
「Magic Arrow! Magic Arrow! Magic Arrow!」
Three white arrows cast by Laura glided towards the target.
All three arrows headed straight to the middle of the targetーーlanded on the target but just outside the bullseye.
That was not a bad result.
That is because as I looked towards other examinees, some of them could not even land a hit on the target, some of them even fired their arrow to the direction to the heavens.
I spoke to Laura after she came back.
「That was quite good」
「Yea! I was nervous but, I am glad I pull through!」
But she still had an uneasiness expression and tilted her head.
「I hope I get a good grade on that……What do you think」
Magic Arrow is the base and foundation for all other magics and is the first spell learned by many magicians.
So someone like me who is an expert in Magic Arrow, would be able to tell how skillful a magician is by just seeing his or her Magic Arrow.
As for Laura, she was being trained well considering her age.
She must have been blessed with good talents and trained under a good condition.
Much better than me 10+ years ago.
Soーー
I smiled and said to her.
「There is no need to be worried. You will pass it without a doubt」
「I wish that was the caseーー」
She was taken aback at that moment and said.
「Wait! If Albert-san said so, now I am starting to feel I am doing alright!」
Looks like she has some trust in me.
……even if I do not know the reason behind that, whatever it is, I am just glad that Laura is gaining confidence.
Just like that, the first test ended.
According to my memory, that was the practical skill section. The next test will be the last test which is a written test.
According to my memory that isーー
An examiner raised his voice and said.
「Well then, I announce that the second phase on practical skill starts now!」
The practical section did not end there.
Apparently 10+ years is really a long period of time and things changed.
「The second phase is a test for Dispel Magicーーa test on your skill in dispelling mana! A magic item will be handed to you prepared by the academy. You are require to dispel the magic on the item within the given time limit to pass the test.」
「……not good」
I murmured to myself when I heard the words from the examiner.
Laura tilted her head, who was standing next to me.
「What’s wrong?」
「I can’t use any spells with dispelling effect」
UtawareFan Translations 