Volume 6Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – The Magic Academies’ World Tournament

The next day, we set off for the venue of the magic academies’ world tournament.

It was a big place, on the order of Yokohama Arena or the Tokyo Dome back home, and from what I heard it held all sorts of facilities inside. Obviously a building on that scale wasn’t put up for this event alone; it’s used whenever the island hosts anything to do with magic or swordsmanship. Being a staging post for shipping makes this a geographically convenient spot for world events, which is why it exists at all.

Yesterday’s three, the ones Naomi had comprehensively flattened, were walking beside me in an odd state.

“…Everything is passable, is it? That eastern-dress ponytail… I’m going to make her cry with an elven secret art, see if I don’t.”

That was Maria. There was something like a fire of pure fighting spirit in her eyes, and magic power was coming off her body, the elves’ own strengthening kind, so she’d evidently prepared something.

“A coin toss was all it took to catch us off guard? Right, then… I’ll use however dirty a trick it takes to make her eat her words! Luckily I got hold of some banned alchemical items in yesterday’s shopping.”

That was Anastasia. She had a rucksack on her back giving off a suspicious smell.

“…High-level magic does take time. But it took extra time because I did it so the town wouldn’t take damage… That woman… I’ll make her cry without fail.”

That was Sheryl, working her way through a skewer she’d bought at a stall. What the skewer had to do with anything, I couldn’t say.

“Ephthal-sama… Anastasia’s saying alarming things.”

“She’s certainly saying something dangerous, yes.”

“That useless mongrel… Shall I give her a hard lesson?”

“She’s fired up. Isn’t that a good thing?”

“But contraband means disqualification if she’s caught.”

“That’s an individual matter, though, isn’t it? It’s a team event. If she drops out I’ll cover the rest. Besides…”

“Besides?”

“If she isn’t caught, there’s no problem.”

“Well. That much is true.”

“Cheating without being caught is one of the correct answers in a fight. That isn’t cheating, it’s a technique.”

“That’s a very Ephthal-sama way of looking at it… I must say.”

“Personally I don’t lean on the crooked path much, but turning a gap in strength around by being clever is exactly what Anastasia is for… So no, I don’t think there’s a problem.”

While we were talking, something interesting was going on outside the venue. On the open ground before the indoor hall we were headed for, a crowd of students had gathered and appeared to be running some kind of magic target-destruction test. A closer look showed them firing spells at a bronze statue, with pass or fail judged on the effect of the attack…

“What’s that?”

“The preliminaries.”

“Preliminaries?”

“Yes.” Merlin nodded. “There are countless magic academies in the world. Accept every winning team from every school’s internal contest and the number of entrants becomes unmanageable.”

“Mm-hm.”

“And for a magic academy, placing at the national tournament is an honor… or rather, a matter that bears directly on the school’s standing.”

“So?”

“So students from every academy in the world that fancies its own strength are gathered, and a test is run for entry to the main tournament.”

“But we didn’t do any of that.”

“We are, nominally, a prestigious school.”

“Come to think of it… I do have a memory of being told something along those lines.”

“Prestigious we have always been. Even so, winning a seed into the main tournament on internal selection alone took about seven years after I became Headmaster.”

I nodded. So that was that, and we were about to walk on toward the main hall.

“Merlin, one thing.”

“Yes?”

“Would it be all right if I had a go at that?”

“The preliminaries look close to finished, and if I put a word in afterward they’ll almost certainly agree, but…”

“Then I’d very much like to enter.”

“What is this about?”

“There’s something I want to test.”

Merlin made a dubious face and put a hand to her chin as though thinking it over.

“Something to test? Meaning what?”

“Going into the main tournament cold with a handicap on would be taking the main tournament a bit lightly, I thought.”

“A handicap… you say?”

“For this tournament specifically I’ve set myself a problem.”

“Ephthal-sama’s problem?”

“Anyway. Put the word in for me.”

⁂

So it came about that I was going to do target destruction. Statue destruction, rather.

Merlin’s word carried enormous weight, incidentally. Not so much as a sour look, just “fine, go ahead,” for which I could only be grateful.

The one problem was this.

“Hey, look at this. The elite from the seeded school is taking the test for fun.”

“Let’s see what an elite school’s ability actually amounts to, then.”

“I am simply curious what the standard of a main-tournament entrant looks like.”

It had turned into something of a commotion. And among the several dozen in the gallery, to my surprise, was Naomi, the Sword God Emperor’s disciple.

“My master said what he said, but I have not given up on a bout with Headmaster Merlin.”

Undeterred, evidently. Very much Breit’s disciple’s disciple… I thought, and smiled wryly.

“Ah, and—I remain uninterested in a man picked for a team on the strength of a pretty face… Though it isn’t quite true that I have no interest at all in your ability.”

And that is how Naomi came to join the gallery.

Never mind that. The statue.

As I said to Merlin, I’ve set myself a problem for this tournament, and the problem is, bluntly, swordsmanship.

For this world tournament I mean to seal away every magic except physical enhancement. My research into the magic sword has already reached Level 10, so with the curse of zero magic aptitude gone I can use it whenever I like. The trouble is that the completeness of my swordsmanship, the thing that actually matters, hasn’t reached the standard I want of it.

For my own training, and as a handicap toward the students. In both senses, that felt about right.

Even so, this is a place where the world’s top talent gathers. Going in on a half-baked, shallow plan… makes me uneasy, frankly. Which is exactly why I thought I’d take this test.

“Right, then…”

I fixed my eyes on the bronze statue standing twenty meters in front of me, and asked the examiner beside me:

“So the point is to destroy this?”

“That’s it. Destroy it and you pass with nothing to argue about.”

“I was watching just now, and somebody went at it in close quarters… with a mace.”

“A little different from a swordsman—that’s a magic-swordsman-bracket lad. Anyway, long-range spell, magic sword with a spell on it, whatever you like. The point is you hit the statue with something… Anything.”

“That’s helpfully clear.”

Destructive force is, in the end, the best single measure of basic combat ability. Higher-level magic raises the power; a higher-level magic sword likewise. And even at the same level, mastery of magic-power handling changes the output. As a coarse sieve, it’s about as efficient as it gets.

“May I start, then?”

“Go ahead. Ah… one favor to ask of you.”

“A favor?”

“Truth is, I was told this was a special request from Headmaster Merlin… so I’m looking forward to what I’ll see. Let off a nice big explosion spell for us.”

Well. I’m not using magic this time.

If I went all out it would be Level 11: Four Emperors, or Level 10: Thunder God Emperor Ephthal, and that would unquestionably cause an enormous fuss.

So whether this man is impressed or not, let’s show him what I’ve got with swordsmanship alone.

Fraser nii-san, Cecilia nee-san. And Moria-san has drilled me since I was a child, on top of that. The three of them are considerable talents, so my swordsmanship ought to hold up reasonably well even at the world tournament. That was my read on it, at any rate.

“Right—”

I raised the sword high overhead and brought physical enhancement up to full. Then I jumped with everything I had. The wind pressure pulled my hair back and the statue was in front of me in an instant: twenty meters closed in a single bound, and the blade came down with everything in me behind it.

“Hah!”

The sword slid into the bronze like it was going through water, and cut it clean in two. The statue came down on the ground with a heavy thud.

Right! A pass with nothing to argue about!

My swordsmanship really does hold up at the world tournament. Thank you, Fraser nii-san, Cecilia nee-san. And Moria-san!

I was in the middle of a fist-pump when—

“That’s not possible… He actually destroyed it? Cut it clean in half?”

The examiner’s face was pure astonishment, and I heard myself say, “Sorry?”

“Destroying it was a pass with nothing to argue about, wasn’t it?”

“That’s a figure of speech!”

“A figure of speech?”

“That statue is made of adamantite! Officially you pass if you deform it or mark it with a spell or a magic sword!”

“…Which is?”

“Meaning that if you destroy it, that’s a pass with nothing to argue about, no discount, top of the scale!”

“Out of interest, how many students actually destroy it?”

“Maybe one in the last ten years!”

I began walking away rather briskly, went back to Merlin, and asked, somewhat shaken:

“Merlin… My swordsmanship is only what Fraser nii-san and the others taught me. What’s going on?”

“Ah… you don’t know, Ephthal-sama?”

“Know what?”

“Duke Fraser and Moria… Neither of them placed, but they’ve both represented their country at the Holy Emperor’s tournament.”

“Hmm…”

“Meaning they’re among the strongest in the world.”

“…Sorry? Which means…”

Nervously, I turned an ear to the gallery, which was buzzing.

“What in the world was that?”

“It’s another… dimension.”

“I mean… I don’t think that was even a magic sword just now.”

“Obviously it was. Do that without magic and you’re a monster.”

“Though they do say the world tournament turns up a history-rewriting genius now and again.”

“You’re saying he’s one?”

“Wait, wait, wait. Cutting through adamantite without even a magic sword, as a student? That doesn’t make any sense at all!”

This was bad. I’d evidently stood out rather too much.

And then Naomi came marching straight over to me.

“I see. So your place in the main tournament was won on ability after all. Still… you’re a wicked one.”

“Wicked?”

“Deploying concealment magic so that nobody can confirm what spell your magic sword is carrying… Though it was that same skill in concealment that had me fooled at first.”

Something in that clicked into place.

Standing out is fine now, honestly. But it’s equally true that I don’t want to stand out badly over something this trivial.

Which meant there was only one thing for it.

—A big wave like this one, there’s nothing to do but ride it!

So I pitched my voice for the crowd and delivered it with rather more reaction than necessary.

“That’s the Sword God Emperor’s disciple for you! Ah, you’ve got me! To think you’d spot that my swordwork was a magic sword under concealment!”

Then, heart going hard, I checked on the gallery. And—

“S-so it was! It was a magic sword after all!”

“Well, obviously. There’s no cutting adamantite with pure swordwork. That’s the level of the very best grown swordsmen.”

“I mean, a magic sword doing that is still ridiculous.”

“He’s a main-tournament entrant, though. A top-class magic swordsman here and there could probably manage that much.”

“Anyway, if the Sword God Emperor’s disciple says so, that settles it!”

Good. According to plan!

I made a second fist-pump.

“In any case, I understand that you are your side’s final weapon. After all, you have yet to let even me see the bottom of your ability.”

“Well, if we do meet in the exhibition match after the finals, let’s go easy on each other and not get hurt.”

I put out my right hand. Naomi simply turned on her heel.

“Until this is over, you may be my enemy.”

“…?”

“So I have no intention of being friendly until everything is finished.”

And off she went, ponytail swinging, out of the venue.

So the world tournament began with the usual sort of mess born out of the gap between my sense of things and everyone else’s. Though these days a mess is more or less fine. There’s no need to hide what I can do to excess anymore.

⁂

That night.

We’d finished the opening declaration ceremony conducted by the Magic Society’s senior figures, and were free. After putting Anastasia and the others through their final adjustments, I went wandering the town alone.

Being with everyone is lively and enjoyable and good. But now and then I want to walk a town by myself, have a quiet drink, and go home. It’s a habit of long standing and I haven’t managed it at all lately. Back at the ducal house I couldn’t even get out of doors properly.

So I was on my way to a promising fish restaurant I’d checked in advance when a voice came from behind me.

“I’ve had you looked into, Ephthal-kun.”

I turned, saw an old man I’d put in his seventies, and I know my face did something.

“The Magic Society’s… President?”

“The very same.”

There was no forgetting him. He was the man who’d stood on the platform at the ceremony that afternoon and declared the tournament open.

“And… what do you mean, looked into?”

“You’ve interested me for some while. A report came up from the human magic academy, you see.”

“The human magic academy?”

Ah, right… The first entrance test I sat was at the human academy.

“A most entertaining set of results. Overwhelming marks in the mock battles, a written examination the like of which the school had never seen, and a mock battle against Headmaster Merlin…”

“Hahaha…” A strained smile was all I could manage.

“As to the mock battle, using Level 10: Thunder God Emperor Ephthal is a bit much by any standard… as is the illusion magic that turns up later to explain it. But examination marks can’t be faked. And—”

“And?”

“It gets worse after that. Far too many fantastical events at your current academy’s internal selection as well. All settled as illusion magic, it seems.”

“Hahaha…” Another strained smile. Honestly, it’s all I can do.

“I don’t know where the illusion magic stops… But your ability is bottomless, at a level I’d call uncanny. Whether you want to be noticed or not, what you’re after, I can’t make out. You live at Headmaster Merlin’s residence, and you’re on friendly terms with the Undead Emperor into the bargain. Asking me not to take an interest would be the unreasonable thing, wouldn’t it?”

“Well… a number of things happened.”

“So, to be direct: what do you intend to do from here? Your present ability far transcends the instructors at that academy… It may well be at a level qualifying you for a seat in the Magic Society, in my view.”

“I’m thinking about a good many things where the future’s concerned.”

“Someone as far outside the standard as you… you can hardly go on being a student.”

“No… I suppose not.”

“I don’t know your origins. But whatever they are, they connect back four hundred years, before Magia Burst… or else to something of the ancient magic civilization. Come to that, there was talk of a lineage descended from the first Thunder God Emperor’s mistress… a family that had honed its magic unknown to anyone…”

That’s the story I made up for Merlin at the start. I suppose somebody overheard it back then. Which suits me, as it happens, and going by his face… the President is probably thinking along those lines himself.

“In any case, a man of your ability could have wealth and fame this instant. So I have a proposal.”

“A proposal?”

“Won’t you join the Magic Society?”

“The Magic Society?”

“Your ability would have to be examined, but I’m prepared to arrange a post befitting it.”

“…Is this the rumored staking of a claim before a student decides on a career? So it’s true that the Society marks promising magic students.”

The President gave a small shake of his head at that.

“Staking a claim, if you like… but I have my worries about the Society as it stands.”

“Such as?”

“The authority of the Four Emperors, for one, is in tatters.”

“…I’ve heard as much.”

“These days the seat of an Emperor goes not by ability but as the outcome of factional struggle inside the Society. A queue by faction, near enough…”

“…”

“It’s no wonder that genuine talents like Merlin-kun lose patience and drift away.”

“Sasha… -sama practically ignores the Society altogether. Though that’s always been true of him, and I hear the last hundred years have been particularly bad.”

“You speak as though you’ve known Sasha-sama a long time.”

Because I have… Which isn’t something I can say here, so I laughed vaguely and let it pass.

“So what is it you’re thinking?”

“The Society was itself a symbol of power once, a military force in its own right. Since Magia Burst the strength of mages has waned… and today our main business is running errands for one country or another.”

“…And?”

“Do you know that we once managed the relics of the ancient magic civilization—that we did the work of sealing away dark matter that couldn’t be analyzed… and relics judged dangerous and uncontrollable?”

I used to raid ancient ruins with Isaac and the others all the time, and made a fortune selling relics to the Magic Society. That I nearly said it out loud is, I think, forgivable.

“I’ve heard something of it.”

“Now every country holds relics as it pleases, and they are sometimes used in war.”

“Using relics of the ancient civilization in war isn’t something I can admire.”

“It’s a power beyond people. There are several cases of control being lost and a country being wiped off the map. And on top of that… since the relics were nearly all dug out during the Society’s era, the nations appear to be considering pushing into the Unexplored Territories. If that happens, matters will get out of hand entirely.”

“…”

“I mean to take relic management back into the Society’s hands, and that requires strength. Genuine mages scattered across the world, like Merlin-kun and Sasha-sama. And… people outside the standard, like you. That is what I want.”

“…I see. So that’s the aim.”

“Some mages already agree with me and have put their hands up. What do you say? I shan’t treat you badly.”

I thought about it for a while, and let out a small sigh.

“I don’t think it’s a bad offer.”

“Then I’d like your ability examined immediately. I’ll prepare a post that genuinely matches it—though there’ll be some squabbling inside the Society over your age.”

“No…” I put up a hand to stop him. “It’s that I’m… still only halfway along the road of magic.”

“Halfway along the road?”

“The road of the martial arts, if you prefer. There’s the saying about the frog in the well knowing nothing of the ocean, and I’ve seen a great many people with more power than me.”

“…”

“Happily, I’m young. There’s a lot of time left. If I’m going to do anything, I’d rather do it after raising my own strength as far as it will go… That’s how I feel at the moment.”

“…”

“When I can look at myself and think I’m not half-finished, I’d be grateful to be asked again.”

“…I see.”

The President’s face broke into a smile, a mild, grandfatherly one that suited his years.

“Truly, it takes me back.”

“Takes you back?”

“Thirty years younger, I was a grown man who still longed after the words strongest in the world.”

One of my own kind, then… It made me laugh in spite of myself.

At his age he probably still holds power on the order of Merlin’s, which tells me the words weren’t empty.

“In any case, this tournament isn’t soft enough to be walked through with your ability concealed.”

“So I gather.”

“Let me see your true strength… Or rather—I want to see it. How much power a boy who talks this big actually has…”

“Ha. Well—if it becomes necessary, I expect I’ll be showing you.”

I nodded and went on.

“I’ve no intention of hiding it needlessly anymore.”

“Good. I’d be grateful if you’d astonish me.”

“Incidentally—I wanted to ask about this year’s prize.”

“Hm? What of it?”

“I’d be grateful to know how the prize was decided. An ultra-grade alchemical material, I hear…”

The President thought for a moment and sighed.

“Ordinarily it’s simply money… or a magic implement suited to the honor. This year, for once, something without precedent was brought to us.”

“Brought to you?”

“The Society’s largest faction, which has expanded rapidly these last few years—it was decided on the recommendation of its head, the Earth Sage.”

“The Earth Sage? And who is that…?”

“He says himself that it’s a false name. But precisely because it’s false… the name will surprise you.”

“…Please tell me.”

“Itam. The name, with all respect owed, of one of the original Four Emperors. The Earth God Emperor.”

Right… I thought, and shrugged.

The Earth God Emperor Itam, though… Given the Fire God Emperor Cliff really did live into this era, that line holds.

Whether he’s the genuine article, I don’t know. But there’s no doubt left that this whole tournament was rigged to draw me out.

My old friend’s name. I sighed, deep.

⁂

The magic academies’ world tournament had begun in earnest, and we were shown into a room in the venue… a place like an enormous practice ground. Twenty meters square, near enough, with an interior so bare it barely counted as one.

“Isn’t this… not many people?”

Sixteen in the room, exactly as Maria said. Four teams, in other words. Given the scale of the world tournament, the number was clearly small, and there was no sign of the Ryushira students we’d met on the ship.

Whether or not it was in answer to Maria’s doubt, the referee stationed in the room cleared his throat and began.

“The first selection is a melee between the seeded schools and the schools that came through the preliminaries. Put plainly: of these four teams, only one goes up to the next selection.”

“…A melee?”

The referee nodded firmly at Sheryl’s question.

“Selections are running in other rooms at the same hour. Seeded schools by their past results, and preliminary qualifiers by their preliminary results, are distributed between the rooms so that no room carries an uneven share of strength.”

“What do you mean by an uneven share?”

“If the teams that would ordinarily finish first and second were put in the same room, and only one could go through, that would be grossly unfair, wouldn’t it?”

“Well—yes.”

“So the seeded and qualifying teams are each ranked, and distributed in order from the top into rooms A through F. Any other questions?”

None came, and in the silence that settled the referee took out a pocket watch.

“The rule is simple. The team whose member is left standing last goes through… Selection begins in all rooms simultaneously in nine minutes.”

We were guided to a circle drawn on the floor, each team’s starting position. A voice reached us from the group beside ours.

“You there. You lot are Headmaster Merlin’s students, aren’t you?”

“That’s right… And you are?”

“We’re Makenia Magic Academy—seventh place last time. Bad luck for you, though, drawing us.”

“Bad luck…?”

“Your lot only made the quarterfinals last time… Which puts your ranking below ours.”

“…?”

“Not that you’re anything to us. But you’d like to go through too, wouldn’t you? So here’s a proposal.”

He pointed at the students in the corner of the room.

“Those preliminary qualifiers… Word is they’re seriously dangerous.”

“Hm… In what sense?”

“They came through the preliminaries first by a mile. Every year it’s a dark horse like that who ends up placing near the top. Hence the proposal.”

“Which is?”

“Form an alliance. We work together and smash the other schools, and then the two of us have an honest duel afterward, no hard feelings. How about it?”

The odds would be better that way, true enough. And judging by the other two teams, they were deep in similar discussions. The little grace period before the start was probably designed with exactly this sort of off-mat maneuvering in mind, flexible response to the problem set… presumably.

I have views about the proposal. But the point of this tournament is students dueling students, and a four-hundred-year-old grandfather throwing his weight around is unquestionably off. So I’d leave it to Anastasia and the others.

I made eye contact, and she nodded back.

“I’m very sorry… but no.”

“No?”

“You came to us because you were certain you could beat us, didn’t you?”

“Well, yes.”

“Then just going along with your offer would be a terrible move! If you really are stronger than us, then you’re exactly the one we should be whittling down…”

Maria picked it up from there.

“And we’ve no intention of teaming up with people who look down on us to begin with. I’d rather not be stabbed in the back, either.”

And Sheryl put the lid on it.

“…Our goal is past the finals, at the exhibition match. If we can’t get through a place like this on our own, the correct reading is that we won’t hold up at the later stage.”

Well said, I applauded silently. You do have to come at things with that much spirit or it doesn’t work, and in terms of these girls growing… if they’d taken that offer I’d have started worrying about their future.

“Don’t you regret it, you lot. You there—you two teams over there! Let us in on your alliance!”

The two teams on the far side nodded hugely, on the instant. One against three, then. Overwhelmingly outnumbered, well, we’d see…

Then the referee called “Selection, begin!” and struck the gong mounted in the room.

From the opening moment, all three of the other teams sprang at us together.

“Heh! Regret turning me down!”

The man who’d spoken to us earlier turned out to be a magic swordsman. He led his team’s charge and put his sword at Anastasia.

“Mm… you’re slow. I don’t even need the secret weapon.”

She slipped the overhead cut neatly, then flicked her practice sword up into the man’s groin.

“Ugyoh!”

He foamed at the mouth and went down on the spot.

“Er… the rest of this gentleman’s team? Are you all right with that?”

“All right with what?”

“My area-effect spell is finished, you see. Level 5: Rising Sun.”

“Level 5?!”

They were wrapped in flame in an instant, the defensive magic thrown up against it doing next to nothing. The referee saw it, built his own defensive spell immediately, and shielded the students; the medical team came running at once.

Safety measures look thoroughly in order, then. If it had genuinely looked dangerous I’d have resisted Anastasia’s Level 5 myself, but the referee’s defensive work was decent and the medics’ healing magic looked reasonable. No problem here.

Thinking that, I checked on Maria and Sheryl, and found they’d already driven off the other team that had jumped them.

“Turns out it’s just that woman in eastern dress who’s ridiculous, and we’re actually strong… At student level, anyway.”

Maria clapped her hands together and glared at the last remaining team.

“…Naturally. Because we study under Ephthal.”

Sasha and Merlin and I have all been drilling these three, in fairness. The biggest single factor is probably the training in the astral world right before the showdown with the Fire God Emperor.

The remaining team were the preliminary qualifiers the man had called “seriously dangerous,” through in first place… Their academy was a recent foundation whose name I didn’t know, so there was genuinely no prior information at all… A complete dark horse.

“Right. Let’s settle this.”

Maria said it, and they grinned, and dropped into a full kneeling bow.

“We surrender! We yield!”

“What? What is this?”

“The black-haired gentleman’s exhibition at the preliminaries! We watched that!”

“It was incredible, honestly! We were all saying that people who go into the main tournament on a seed really are different!”

“And your teammates are strong on top of it! Truly, the only word for it is appalling!”

“We thought three teams at once might give us a chance, but honestly, that was a stupid idea!”

They conceded with faces like the sun coming out, and there wasn’t a trace of anything negative in it, no regret at all. It was the clean, bright look of people who felt they’d given the tournament everything.

“What do we do, Ephthal?”

“Admitting defeat honestly—a strategic withdrawal once you’ve felt the gap in ability—is one of the correct answers too. Let’s gratefully accept the win they’re giving us.”

The referee nodded broadly at that.

“The winner appears to be decided. Leave through that door. The other winning teams will appear in the room beyond it.”

He snapped his fingers and the door opposite the one we’d entered by opened, and we set off toward it as instructed.

“If it’s all like this, the exhibition looks like an easy walk, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. We can’t lose until we’ve made that woman in eastern dress eat her words.”

And when we came out through the door, we were in a waiting room… where three teams were already relaxing on the sofas.

“Did we… get held up somewhere?”

“There’s no way anyone could be faster than that, surely.”

“…Those people were simply faster.”

A little of something like alarm showed on the three of them. Looking at the teams who’d beaten us there, I grinned.

“Better than winning through on easy mode, isn’t it? This looks more interesting.”

⁂

Several days earlier. Narcis Island.

In a corner of the Magic Society’s general assembly headquarters, in a salon where the Society’s executives gathered, some ten senior officers were making conversation with wine in hand.

“Now then. Regarding this year’s magic academies’ world tournament… we’ve reached the customary deadline for the usual business. What do you all think?”

At the words of an elderly man in a black robe, an old woman in white beside him nodded.

“The Ryushira Magic Academy students, surely. Last year’s champions, so they’re the clear favorites.”

“I’ll back the Matorika Magic Academy students.”

The youngest man in the group spoke.

“I’ll back… Headmaster Merlin’s Altena Magic Academy. Headmaster Merlin causes a great deal of trouble, and she’s entertaining with it.”

“That school only began entering on a seed quite recently, didn’t it?”

“It’s my money either way. I’ll wager as I please.”

The black-robed man who’d opened the conversation clapped his hands together.

“Then I shall hold the book as usual. Let’s take the wagers.”

“Ryushira Magic Academy, five thousand gold.”

“Matorika Magic Academy, six thousand gold.”

“Matorika Magic Academy, five thousand gold.”

“Ryushira Magic Academy, seven thousand gold.”

“I’ll have Matorika Magic Academy for thirty thousand gold.”

The man in his prime who said thirty thousand set a stir going through the room, and the bookmaker shrugged with a wry smile, as if to say you have me there.

“Ha. That rather exceeds my pocket money. If Matorika actually wins, it seems I’ll be liquidating property.”

“Come now, we hear you’ve a great deal put by. That much wouldn’t make Lord Rosen’s vault so much as tremble.”

“True enough—but where it must be kept from my wife… certain figures become difficult.”

That got a laugh from the room. What followed, from the youngest man present, froze it.

“Headmaster Merlin’s Altena Magic Academy. Five hundred thousand gold.”

“F-five hundred… thousand?”

“There’s no ceiling on the stake, I take it? Is there some problem?”

“…It seems I really must consider selling assets. But Itam-dono… you are new to the Society, and you’re not a noble of any country, I think?”

“That is correct, yes.”

“Can five hundred thousand gold truly be produced in cash?”

“It can. Shall I have it ready tomorrow, if you like?”

“…Very well.”

And the young man they called Itam clapped his hands together.

“Come then. Let us watch the students give their all.”

“Will it go so smoothly, though, Itam-dono?”

“Meaning?”

“Let me say at the outset that I am hand in glove with the man responsible for running the tournament. You have staked a sum that vastly exceeds any range of play… and I have accepted it on that basis. If you would withdraw the figure now… indeed, since I have no wish to carry the risk myself… I would rather you did.”

“I am betting on Headmaster Merlin’s Altena Magic Academy to win. Did you not hear me say so a moment ago?”

“…Very well. Then please have five hundred thousand gold prepared.”

And several days later, on hearing the reports of Ephthal’s party in the preliminaries and the first selection, the bookmaker would go pale.

Ephthal’s Perspective

“Now for the second selection. From here you will traverse this labyrinth and make for the exit at ground level.”

We were inside a labyrinth of rock. The place is a mountain… or rather a crag with the peculiar look of a tower of stone, and we’d been let down near its summit from a balloon. First in through a hole open at the top of the crag, then a walk to a wide chamber, where we’d been given the briefing on the second selection. That’s how we came to be here.

Twenty teams still in, at a guess. Rumor said a substantial cull happened at this stage.

“Incidentally, this labyrinth falls under the adventurers’ guild. For an adult it’s classed as one an intermediate adventurer would explore. You children can be proud this was the place chosen for your selection.”

There were twenty examiners as well, one to each team, permanently, and each of them a first-rate mage chosen by the Magic Society. They’d step in if there was danger, so a degree of safety was guaranteed. Incidentally, the moment an examiner stepped in, that team was disqualified.

The examiner assigned to each team handed over a map and took up the explanation.

“There are thirty-five routes from this chamber to the surface. If a leading team clears out the monsters it creates a difference in difficulty, so each of you will traverse a different route.”

The map we were handed carried what looked like survey results compiled by the adventurers’ guild: monster distribution, traps, dangerous stretches along the way.

We passed it round, and when she’d read it Maria raised a hand with a sigh.

“I have a question.”

“What is it? Go ahead.”

“Our route… Is it genuinely intermediate? It looks like advanced-adventurer work to me.”

The examiner’s eyes slid away from me, and for an instant he looked awkward.

Hmm… Something here, then.

I was thinking that when his expression hardened.

“Do you have adventuring experience?”

“I have none.”

“Then how would you know?”

“I grew up in an elven forest… With this much material I can judge difficulty and danger well enough.”

The examiner sighed.

“Not every route is of equal difficulty. And… which academy’s team is assigned which route falls under the tournament committee’s authority.”

“What…?”

“Put kindly: you were judged capable of traversing it. Put unkindly… Headmaster Merlin’s power within the Society is essentially zero. She’s a lone wolf, after all.”

“Meaning what, exactly?”

“Meaning the faction a headmaster belongs to, and her standing within it, buys a certain consideration from the tournament’s organizers.”

“That’s… just favoritism!”

“Of the thirty-five, the twenty easiest routes are the ones being assigned. Which means somebody has to take this one regardless.”

“But… I can’t accept that!”

“All of that is part of the world tournament too. It’s unreasonable that you should be caught up in adults’ circumstances, but showing the strength to break through adversity matters as well.”

He’s talking nonsense, frankly. Maria was furious and so were the other two, but there was something off about the examiner’s expression. This feels like more than a factional power struggle. Or else the premise itself is a lie, the one about assigning the twenty easiest of thirty-five, and possibly…

—we’ve been given the hardest route of the thirty-five.

I’d not be surprised to be told so; that’s the level of suspicion I felt. It’s pure instinct with no evidence behind it, mind. And saying it gets us nowhere. Besides, the examiner is right that the strength to break through adversity matters, and it’ll be good experience for Anastasia and the others. I’ve never given them much occasion to go down into a dungeon.

“A question, examiner.”

“What is it, student Ephthal?”

“The point is that reaching ground level is the goal?”

“Yes. Out at the bottom inside the twenty-four-hour limit and you’ve passed the second selection.”

“Looking at the crag from outside, there must be places in the caves that open onto the outer wall.”

“About that… I meant to explain later, but rappelling is forbidden. And—”

“And?”

“Jumping and then cushioning or slowing your fall with wind magic is also forbidden. Immediate disqualification.”

“…I see.”

I’d had that in mind for the worst case. No such luck.

I clapped my hands and called to the three of them.

“Anyway, time’s limited. Let’s press on.”

“Yes, you’d better. I won’t help you at any point unless I judge your lives at risk… bear that in mind.”

⁂

We went with Maria leading.

The route genuinely was… an unreasonable place to send modern magic-academy students. If our academy’s student council had walked it, they’d have been finished by a giant snake before they got a third of the way.

Anastasia and the others, however, are improving by the day, so it was a march through empty country, burning monsters away with a rapid-fire barrage of magic high-level for students. The examiner watched Levels 3 and 4 normally enough. From Level 5 the air changed. And when he saw the Level 6 spell Sheryl had recently begun trialing at practical strength—

“Ha. Well, well… These are outrageous children.”

—he was near enough knocked off his feet.

But there was something in his face like serves you right, aimed at somebody, so I asked:

“So there is something behind this route after all.”

“I can’t answer that, in my position.”

“No, quite.”

“What I can say is this: adults’ low cunning doesn’t reach children who are outside the standard. There’ll be no interference in the selections after this, so don’t give it a thought.”

So there is some kind of malice pointed at us. This man seems safe enough to trust, though… hmm. And he says there’ll be no interference, but there’s such a thing as something he hasn’t anticipated. I’ll keep it in a corner of my mind as we go on.

We came near the goal on the map.

“Awful lot of up and down, but the surface is round the next corner.”

Maria led us on, map in hand, throwing her flat chest out. I took out a pocket watch and checked the time. Nine hours exactly. Comfortably through, at that rate.

“Honestly, though, outrageous children. And student Ephthal?”

“Yes?”

“You’ve used nothing but swordwork… None of you have shown the bottom of it yet, have you?”

“No, we’re completely at our limit. Master is a monster, so he’s different.”

“Yes, we’re genuinely right at the edge. Well—Ephthal’s a monster, so he’s different.”

“…I used Level 6 as well. Currently the highest difficulty I can manage. Ephthal is… frankly, a monster.”

Stop grabbing hold of a person and chanting monster, monster… My shoulders slumped.

“We’ll save student Ephthal’s monstrousness for the finals, then. Anyway, at this time you’ll be through first, won’t you?”

Talking like that, we came round the corner—

“This is the first chamber… isn’t it?”

Exactly as Maria said. It was where the selection had started.

“There was plenty of up and down, but it never felt like we were descending. Still… this is… what does this mean, Maria-san?”

Maria spread the map and began tracing our route with a finger.

“There’s no possibility I took a wrong turn. Ephthal… what do you make of it?”

“Maria doesn’t make that kind of blunder, and I was checking the map as we went. It was accurate navigation, taking the shortest line while avoiding the dangerous stretches.”

“Then how have we ended up like this?”

Anastasia caught her breath as something struck her.

“This route was somebody’s harassment in the first place, wasn’t it? In that case… isn’t there a possibility the map itself has been tampered with?”

“The map was a lie?”

Maria looked shocked. I nodded.

“I think that’s very likely. Honestly, I didn’t think they’d go this far… but it’s fine. There’s still time.”

“Time or not, that walk was nothing but bends. It’s a labyrinth, exactly as advertised. How do we get down without a map?”

“This is an off-mat brawl, so… I’ll lift my swordwork restriction and use detection magic. It’ll take a little while, but if I start from nothing, including whether an exit exists at all, I can make a map quickly enough.”

“Well, we do have Ephthal. Turning out a map the guild takes ages over, in no time flat, is… a bit outside common sense, mind.”

“That’s our Master!”

“…Obvious, for Ephthal.”

“You there… I think I just heard you say you’d make a map. Are you sane? There’s no doing that.”

We let the examiner’s remark go by and went back into the route we’d taken, from the first chamber again. And the sight that opened in front of us struck us dumb.

“Oh, come on… This is… surely a step too far?”

The route we’d been assigned had caved in, and was no longer usable as a road. Blasting magic or gunpowder, I couldn’t say which. But… this is appalling by any measure. You can feel a firm, determined intent that we shall not pass the second selection.

“Examiner. What happens in this case?”

“A cave-in is one of the accidents of a labyrinth. Under tournament regulations… it’s handled as one of the hazards that can occur.”

“Which means…”

“Your route to the surface has effectively ceased to exist, yes.”

“What about another route? One no other students are using…”

“Also forbidden under the regulations. The rule is that you take the route you were assigned.”

“Let me ask you one thing… What do you think of whoever arranged this?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Even I can’t condone this. Only…”

“Only?”

“Whatever noise I make, I make afterward. I’m sorry for you… but I can’t help you now. My apologies—this time you’ll have to accept the luck wasn’t with you…”

Which means it’s the doing of somebody connected with running the tournament, beyond much doubt. Although… hmm. The Society is borrowing a labyrinth under the adventurers’ guild’s authority. Could anyone manage something on the scale of damaging the labyrinth itself? The route assignment is certainly settled in that direction, but…

No use thinking about it.

“Then… it looks like we do that…”

“Hm? That? What’s that, Ephthal?”

“I absolutely have to win this tournament too.”

This is well past being the moment for restricting myself to swordwork, and well past the moment for holding anything back. So I mapped the terrain with detection magic, built up my magic power, and said:

“Level 9: Teleporters.”

A Level 9 formula, executed. We jumped some twenty meters sideways out of the space we occupied, and that put us outside the crag.

What spread out in front of us on the instant was bottomless blue sky, greenery and mountains. And the open sea, and a vast panorama of the island.

“Kyaaaaaaa!”

“The sky?! The sky?! Are we in the sky right now?!”

“…Bungee without the cord.”

“What in the world is thiiiiiiiis?!”

And then, inevitably, free fall. Five hundred meters of it, at a guess. We were going down at a tremendous rate, at any rate.

“We’re dying! We’re dying! This is going to kill us!”

“Master?! Are we all right?! We are all right, aren’t we?! It’s all right to leave this to you, isn’t it?!”

“…There is no such word as impossible for Ephthal.”

A hundred meters left. The ground coming up and up. Everyone’s clothes and hair streaming in the wind, the very flesh of our faces riding upward under the pressure.

And with ten meters left—

“Level 8: Anti-Gravity.”

The fall went gentle on the instant, and we drifted down and down and finally touched the ground with a light little sound.

“It seems we’re first.”

There was what looked like the exit from the crag labyrinth nearby, exactly as I’d said, and not a soul in sight.

“Being first really does feel good… Even if I thought I was going to die there for a second.”

Maria said it laughing. Then the examiner’s voice, shaken: “Wait, wait, wait… wait, wait wait wait, hold on!”

“You… What… what did you just do?”

“Wind magic is forbidden for a fall, so I substituted another method.”

“A Level 9 spell… And then a Level 8, unless my eyes deceived me.”

“That would be about the size of it, yes.”

“…”

“…”

Ah… He’s gone quiet, then. It is a fairly conclusive situation, I’ll grant. But at this point there’s nothing to be done about it.

I’d braced myself when the examiner, after a long think, let out a very deep sigh.

“I was taking the monster, monster business at half value. This is a genuine, unadulterated monster…”

“…”

“You understand I’ll have to report this upward, in my position?”

“That’s fine, but could it go directly to the President of the Magic Society, if possible?”

“You’ve a connection to the President?”

“Connection isn’t the word. I’ve met him.”

He seems the sort who’d handle a report like this deftly. Wishful thinking, possibly.

“…What in the world are you?”

The examiner clapped my shoulder, and grinned.

“Well. Can’t be helped… I promise I’ll say nothing to anyone but the President.” He went on, still grinning. “Call it the least I can do to atone for the unreasonable treatment you got from adults.”

⁂

The day after the cave-exploration test, with more teams left than planned, a written selection was held. A cull was duly made, and the day after that, as we were gathered in the main venue’s waiting room, a man from the tournament organizing committee appeared before us.

Incidentally, I got a bit serious about the written test. Anastasia and the others have good academic records too, so there’d never been any worry about being cut there.

“We are down to four teams at last. Now for the final selection… the world tournament final.”

“And what do the finals involve?”

The committee man nodded broadly at my question.

“The last stage is team against team. A survival format: the team whose captain falls first is finished. The final tournament is held in a public arena, incidentally, so from here each of you has your ability laid bare to the others.”

At that, Maria grinned and clenched her fist hard.

“Finally… a selection format worthy of the name!”

Fair enough, the melee and the cave exploration hadn’t felt much like an inter-academy contest.

“We will now announce the bracket, decided in advance by strict lottery.”

Given the harassment already, strict lottery gave me a bad feeling. But looking at what was announced, no, no sign of it this time. Our first-round opponent was Ryushira Magic Academy, the ones we’d shared the voyage with. No offense to them, but on the evidence of the fishmen, we should walk it.

The teams I’m marking are the ones that came through the melee selection faster than we did. Given my swordwork restriction, running into them straight away wouldn’t be ideal. I don’t think I’d slip. But in a contest there’s always the thousandth case…

Anyway, the public format is welcome. It means we can analyze the other teams’ strength from how they fight while they’re fighting.

“We’ll begin the first round of the final tournament immediately. Matches are survival format, three bouts across morning and afternoon—so everything finishes today.”

The Ryushira students came over and offered their hands.

“So… you did come this far.”

We each took the handshake, and they smiled.

“Ha. We couldn’t show you anything worth seeing on that ship.”

“We’ve known each other since the voyage. Let’s both do well and not get hurt.”

“Though judging our ability solely on that occasion will cost you.”

“How do you mean?”

“We already know you excel at close quarters. Which means… we have a way of fighting too.”

With that, wearing a bold smile, the Ryushira students left.

I put a hand to my chin and thought for a while.

“…What is it, Ephthal?”

“Maria. That lot just now… were extremely confident.”

“They were, yes.”

“…Would you let me take the lead spot in the first round?”

“I don’t mind, but… why?”

“Because this is a tournament format. With the other teams’ strength still unknown, I don’t want to reduce our numbers. And that confidence bothers me… So I’ll go out first… and keep our attrition to a minimum.”

⁂

We were shown to a circular arena, a facility that must hold several thousand, absurdly grand for students to use. Even so it was packed beyond capacity with Society people and townsfolk.

And then our first round began, as discussed.

“What—what, what, what?! A monster like this is cheating—gwuh!”

That was how I took four opponents in a row with swordwork alone, and won the first round.

The arena had gone silent watching me fight. Evidently it had turned into a rather sensational way to win.

The swordwork I picked up in this life really is remarkable, then… I sent silent thanks to my brother and sister back home.

Then both schools were lined up facing each other on the platform for the post-match courtesies, and the first thing the Ryushira students said, pleasantly, was:

“Well… That was extraordinary.”

“Extraordinary how?”

“That we, the previous champions, should be treated like children by an opponent using nothing but swordwork…”

My ear twitched.

“Sorry—what? What did you just say?”

“That we were treated like children…”

“No, not that part. The part before it. Would you say it again?”

“The part about us being the previous champions?”

She tilted her head as she said it. But… this is… I felt a thread of unease in my chest.

No… It’s fine. That’s needless worry. Because as a matter of fact the other two came through the melee selection faster than we did.

Thinking that, I looked over at the other two teams in the competitors’ seats, faces full of confidence.

Yes, it’s fine. They’re still radiating that bold smile, that enigmatic aura of the strong.

“In any case, you beat us, so I’d very much like you to win it.”

“We’ll give it everything.”

And we went back to the competitors’ seats to watch the other two teams fight.

⁂

So I watched the remaining bout of the final tournament and finished my analysis of the other teams’ strength—

—The level is… far, far too low!

I froze with my mouth hanging open, appalled.

At this rate a swordwork restriction… isn’t a restriction. It isn’t a handicap toward the students either. Come to that, Anastasia and the others are a class or two, three, above this.

—This isn’t even experience for them… never mind me!

I knew magic had declined, but I hadn’t imagined this far… I couldn’t even manage a sigh.

Part of the reason is that I saw Naomi, the Sword God Emperor’s disciple, first, and formed a wrong idea of what a world-standard child looks like.

But… no matter how I turn it, there’s one thing that doesn’t fit: the fact that there were children who finished the melee selection faster than we did.

So I asked the tournament official in the waiting room, the man who’d been assigned to us in the labyrinth.

“Those two teams just now… Is that their real ability?”

“Why do you ask?”

Not wanting to be overheard, I leaned in and said quietly:

“The level is too low.”

“From where you stand, I imagine so.”

“But those two teams came through the melee selection faster than we did.”

The official pulled a face like he’d bitten into something bitter, and murmured back:

“Ah. That… that test was rigged too.”

“The test was rigged?”

“With that many teams entered… that test had a time-limit cut as well.”

“A time limit? Nobody told us that.”

“There were people upstairs who’d have been inconvenienced if you’d hurried. And as for this bracket… you were actually rigged to meet the strongest team in the first round.”

“What…?”

“As for the melee selection—your room alone started about ten minutes late. Played straight, you’d have been disqualified on the time limit.”

“Meaning…”

“By rights you’d have gone through top by a mile. Which is precisely why they went as blatant as they did last time.”

Right. What now.

It seems the current position is that I’ve been shadow-boxing, bracing myself needlessly for this tournament in all sorts of ways.

So there was nothing for it. I gathered Anastasia and the others into a corner of the waiting room, cleared my throat, and said:

“Anastasia, Maria, Sheryl… I’d like you to hear me out.”

What is it, what is it, their faces said, and the three of them nodded and listened in silence.

“The truth is… that I’ve just this moment noticed a rather serious fact.”

“What sort of serious fact, Master?”

“What is it, Ephthal?”

“…I’m curious. Tell me.”

“Well… Until we came to this island, I thought the three of you were among the top students in the world.”

They listened, grave-faced, nodding along.

“But since arriving, between the Sword God Emperor’s disciple and the melee selection… there seemed to be some strong children about. And I thought to myself… well, the world tournament really is different.”

Mm-hm… And? their faces said, interested.

“But it seems… the three of you are simply too strong. You’ve gone far beyond what I assumed, and it isn’t just that you’re top-class—you already have ability at student level that leaves everyone else in the dust.”

Their eyes went wide: what?!

Though gone far beyond what I assumed isn’t right either. If anything, the correct wording is that the world’s magic students are far below what I assumed. Thinking about it properly… that’s natural enough—Merlin’s students are elites to begin with, and Anastasia and the others have raised their ability enormously since the internal selection.

Still, the impact of that melee selection was considerable. It fooled me completely. To think the thing itself was rigged…

“So. I’m going to put you in irons.”

I snapped my fingers, and a small invisible chain went into each of their heads: a Level 9-class magic-inhibition spell, laid on all three.

“…What is this?”

“Brain Prison. You’re under my inhibition now, and you can use magic only up to Level 3.”

“What? What does that mean?”

“I have a fair idea of the other academies’ ability. Get the tactics right—no, just do what you’re currently capable of—and there’s no opponent you can’t beat, though you’ll have a hard time of it.”

“But why would you do that, Master?”

“I’ve given up on treating this tournament as training for my swordwork, but I think it’ll be good experience for you.”

“I see…”

Maria said it, and I clapped my hands to signal that the discussion was closed.

“I’ve tuned it to the very edge of what’s manageable, but if it gets dangerous you can cry give up! inside your own head and the spell releases, so don’t worry. Even so—each of you work out your tactics… and try to reach your own limit without giving up.”

⁂

Time passed, and the afternoon came around for the last bout of the finals.

We finished lunch and set off for the site of the last battle at last. Our lead was Anastasia, second Maria, third Sheryl, and captain me. We want the prize, absolutely, so in a survival format this is the strongest arrangement. With me as the stopper at the end, losing isn’t possible.

At the call of “Begin!” Anastasia, in the lead, ran her usual parade of ambushes and secret weapons, bewildered her opponent and took the first bout. The bout after that she also won by underhanded means. Then she fought a third opponent. Her stock of surprises presumably exhausted, she wore him down nicely and then declared her own defeat.

The opponent facing Maria opened in a thoroughly foul mood.

“That woman just now… What a filthy way to fight. Blinding, strikes to the vitals… and she can only use magic up to Level 3…”

“Anyone who falls for it is an idiot.”

“What in the hell is wrong with you people?”

Maria’s provocation had him seeing red before the bout even started. On top of which Anastasia had worn him down, so, in the end, he was no match for her.

The last of them, the captain, was the tricky one. This student was in fact the tournament’s biggest dark horse: partway through it emerged that he could handle Level 5, and Maria fought hard within her Level 3 limit but finally surrendered. She had apparently considered releasing my inhibition partway through, but with Sheryl having done nothing at all so far… she seems to have withdrawn rather than step over her.

And so began Sheryl against the opposing captain. As the bout opened, Sheryl’s opponent grinned.

“Your third is… what, a child?”

“…”

“What are you people? You can barely manage Level 3. How are you still in the finals?”

“…”

“Granted, I was impressed by the black-haired man’s swordwork this morning. But the rest of you are all trickery and nothing else.”

“…”

“The only one with anything real is your captain… and he’s a muscle-head with nothing but a sword. Why not stop calling yourselves a magic academy and call yourselves a sword academy, or an ambush academy? I’ve no intention of letting a mob of nonsense like you call yourselves the summit of the magic academies!”

Sheryl raised a palm toward her opponent and murmured one line.

“…Level 6: Dragon Breath.”

“What?!”

It wasn’t only her opponent who shouted, incidentally.

Anastasia and Maria were every bit as astonished, and shouted along with him.

That’s Sheryl for you… Not merely an odd one, she read the room not at all and simply let fly.

“Hang on, hang on, Ephthal! What is this?!”

“Sheryl-chan… how can she use Level 6?! Don’t tell me she gave up and released Master’s inhibition when she wasn’t even in trouble?”

No wonder everyone was surprised. But for this girl, this is in fact the correct answer.

Needless to say, she didn’t release the inhibition I placed on her by crying give up. This was… a straight, unaided breaking of the spell.

I’d reckoned that Sheryl, given time, would be able to unpick my Brain Prison formula. For this problem, Anastasia can get through on trickery, and Maria has enough all-round ability to adapt to any situation. But Sheryl is a pure mage, and a child besides, without strength or any close-quarters art. So for her, using everything she has to break the inhibition formula unaided before the finals was the optimal route to victory.

She’d even allowed for her opponent’s ability and held back. Specifically, she’d tuned the power of a Level 6 spell down to a level that wouldn’t cause serious injury. A perfect response, I’d call it.

Though the place did smell of scorching… somewhat. No—a lot. Her opponent was unconscious and twitching, too.

And casting Level 6 in public looked likely to cause a certain amount of bother, since the Society’s senior figures in the guest seats were sending Sheryl looks loaded with all kinds of calculation. Staking an early claim, presumably.

“The winning school of the magic academies’ world tournament is hereby declared—Altena Magic Academy!”

So our victory was settled. All that remained was the exhibition match against the Sword God Emperor’s disciples…

Naomi’s ability I’ve already confirmed as the real thing. Going in with a holiday attitude ends here for Anastasia and the others, I should think.

Still… the highest peak in the world, students or not.

Thinking about it properly, there’s a good deal to reflect on. Sheryl aside, Anastasia and Maria weren’t up to much at all at the start… And the result is that they broke through any number of things by sheer effort, and now… they’re here. If they go on to place themselves seriously in the world of magic, this is unquestionably no more than a waypoint, a starting line, even. But it’s a symbolic occasion all the same.

“Congratulations. Anastasia, Maria, Sheryl. Getting this far is the result of your own hard work. Well done.”

I said it meaning every word of it, and the three of them smiled, embarrassed.