We came to the courtyard of the academy.

“Today I’ll be having all of you fight each other.”

‘Huh? On the first day?’

“This is to show me how much you’ve progressed from last year. Show me how you’re grown and if you actually paid attention in class.”

Her name is Gula. She’s a retired adventurer from a fairly famous noble family. Her attributes are wind and earth.

She brushed her auburn coloured hair aside and made a ponytail at the back of her head.

“And those who lose will receive a failing grade at the end of the term.”

She smirked and called a student to hand out notes.

It was a tournament sort of ranking.

‘A group battle, huh.’

Coincidence or not, Damian was in my team.

He laughed evilly as he gazed at the other students.

“Let’s kick their asses.”

He whispered in my ears.

‘This might be a start of a wonderful friendship.’

“It will be three on three. Sadly, neither of you get to see how the other teams battle since I’ll be splitting you up and sending you to different parts of the forest. The teams are written on the paper right there. Get together and plan your strategies. The non combatants are obviously not fighting.”

Some non-combatants are only here to observe magic because they are interested in it.

“Eris?”

“That’s me~”

A cheerful voice answered me.

A familiar girl with blonde hair and blue eyes was standing beside Damian.

“It says here you’re in our team?”

She nodded with her fists pumped.

“I won’t disappoint you two!”

She’s awfully cheery that it almost seems fake.

She brought out her wand and showed us her wind magic.

Damian and I applauded when she managed to cut off a leaf from a tree. She pouted unhappily.

“I-I can still help out with other things!”

I looked at Damian. He shook his head in disappointment.

How can the sister of a White Order member be this damn weak?

The other teams have already left the vicinity into the forest.

Gula was looking at us from afar in a tree.

Damian spoke to Eris to find out her weaknesses and strengths and jotted it down in a book.

I saw that she has little mana but abnormally high magic attack.

–Why not try to synchronize, master?

–With her? Why?

–Her attack power is far stronger than master’s arcane magic. Master has far more mana so she definitely can’t win against you in a fair fight. By combining your strengths by synchronizing your mana natures, I believe you should be able to make up for any faults. That boy over there can act as your physical damage dealer.

I rubbed my chin in contemplation. It’s true that Damian does look like a close range combatant.

–Can I perhaps synchronize with Damian as well?

–That’s impossible. Black mana and arcane mana are two different things.

I’ve only ever synchronized with Miya back in the forest when we adventured together.

Should I give it a shot?

I then approached them.

“Miss Eris, can I try something?”

“Hm? Yes?”

I grabbed her arm and sent my mana throughout her body through her mana pores.

“Hiirk!? What is this!? Ah! Ah!”

She wobbled on her knees as cold sweat formed on her skin.

–The overwhelming amount of mana is making it hard to accept her. Keep trying.

I sent even more mana into Eris. Her body was heavily convulsing as her eyes were peeled back.

“...”

D-Did I overdo it?

Her eyes then shot open.

“I’m brimming with power!!! Hohohoho!”

It worked?

“How does your body feel?”

“It’s a little much but I can feel a lot of mana in my core! How can you have so much!?”

I noticed a sharp icicle heading for Eris. Damian instantly moved and materialized a dagger again.

SHIIIIING

CLANK

“Attack!”

Damian and I pushed our back together to look both ways for the sign of an enemy.

‘Really? Not even a signal?’

Eris’ childish behaviour also vanished as she narrowed her eyes at the surroundings.

“Enemy to our 6.”

Her voice sounded deeper and more mature than her voice from earlier.

“I-I mean, someone is coming towards our backs!”

There it is again.

‘Let’s forget her weird personality first and focus on the enemy team.’

It was two guys and one girl that appeared before us.

Before I could grab my staff, Damian moved first. He went to the guy wearing armour manifested with mana.

The guy got ready to receive Damian’s attack.

I unfurled the cloth from my staff and my majestic red gem appeared.

The staff looked far menacing from when I received it. The cracks on the gem looks like it’s on the verge of exploding.

I chanted several spells as the opponent mage girl approached me. They seem to know what is sportsmanship in fighting since they’re not ganging up on one of us after another.

Damian seemed to be overwhelming that tank guy. The latter had a frustrated expression on his face even though the fight barely began a minute ago.

Eris took out her wand and chased down the remaining person towards another location.

“…”

“…”

It’s just me and my enemy right now. Gula must be watching us from somewhere. I could feel her gaze on us.

“I’d like to finish this quickly, commoner. And no need to introduce ourselves, I don’t want to give my name to you.”

The girl with drilled blonde hair flicked her wand and then a piece of the ground broke apart.

She wiggled her fingers and then the rocks turned into sharp spikes.

“Time to–“

“Would you shut up? [Firestorm]”

I casted my first Intermediate–High spell. I have the advantage in both spells and mana. In short, I’m stronger than everyone here even without my spirit magic.

Her eyes went wide as she lost concentration of her spell. The rock faded into dust.

“E-Eh....?”

“I suggest running from this. It would suck to kill you.”

“Kyaaaa!!! I‐I admit defeat!!”

The girl ran away with tears in her eyes.

WHOOSH

RUMBLE

My spell tore through the trees standing tall in the forest. Only ashes remained from where it passed. It was fortunate that it didn’t hit the girl from before.

◇◇

“What was that!? Did you use an artifact to increase the attack power?”

Damian came back and asked me with sparkling eyes. His innocent face was covered in blood.

“No, it’s just that my mana is more than enough to increase it on my own.”

“I wish I was a mage.”

Damian had tears in his eyes.

‘Don’t cry with a face covered in blood.’

“Even though I have magic power, I can only do this.”

He materialized a sword this time. A pitch black sword.

“The energy feels strong enough for battling enemies with mana but I’m useless in long range fights.”

“Come to think of it, why can you use dark magic?”

Dark magic isn’t exactly taboo. But it isn’t viewed positively either. There exists many forms of Dark Magic.

Be it Reanimation, summoning undead armies or even turning people into undead. There are many other forms of uses for that magic but I’m not well versed in that short of magic. I only ever saw Brynhildr use it back then.

But hers was far more powerful than Damian’s.

“You ever heard of the Minerva Assassin clan?”

“Huh? I think so...”

“I’m... part of that clan. They use us for single person assassinations or even to slaughter a nation if they call our entire family.”

“...”

This guy next to me is part of an assassin clan?

Eris isn’t back yet so we can speak without reserve.

“Ah, you give the same reaction to everyone that hears my clan name.”

Well, I can’t not be scared of a cold blooded murderer. If the two of us fought, who would win? Well, we have no reason to fight since we only met today.

“I was the first to be sent to this academy out of my whole clan. Father gave me permission to enter on the grounds that I accept any order of assassination he gives me... I just want to live a normal life and not become cold blooded killers like them.”

I patted his shoulder. He gazed up at me with his golden pupils.

“How about the two of us go for ice cream when this is over?”

I smiled.

‘Ah. He’s crying again.’

His face was scrunched up so much that he formed wrinkles. He turned his head and sobbed.

After a few seconds...

“Yes....”

We walked through the forest in search of any sounds of battle. I can faintly feel magic power so they might be far from us.

◇◇◇

“Hmm…”

Philip J. Colchis and Oliva Arianne Colchis laid there in bed after a steamy session.

Olivia drew circles on her husband’s chest as she innocently gazed up at him.

“So, what do you think?” Olivia asked.

“Sending out my precious daughter….”

In his hand was a letter from the Polomine Border.

It clearly stated that they needed reinforcements.

“If we send out little Charlotte and she successfully completes this campaign then she’ll receive even more achievements. Won’t that be good for the succession line? I avoid spoon-feeding Lyle and Emma and let them do things on their own. Speaking of them, both fulfilled the tasks given to them.”

Philip’s eyebrows went up in surprise.

“Lyle managed to help the Duke and Emma saved that foreign princess successfully?”

Olivia nodded with a bright smile.

Philip’s face then looked troubled.

‘It is true that Charlotte barely has any achievements as a princess. She has been missing for a while so many of her tasks have been given to her siblings.’

Charlotte also lost a lot of support from the nobles she had in her circle. Since she refused to marry any foreign royalty, things got even more complicated without foreign influence. Basically, she has to fight for the throne with her own hands.

“She has capable guards by her side, no? That Clyde boy and that foreign knight girl.”

Philip put his hand on his chin as he sat by the fireplace and read the report.

“I think this is necessary as well. It might even give her the support she needs for the succession war.”

Olivia grinned widely from behind his back.

Philip looked at the sun rising outside and then frowned.

“It seems our night has come to an end. I truly enjoyed our time together, my love.”

The king kissed his wife again before putting on his robe.

Official duties as a king begins early for him. He exited the door to enter his real bedroom next to his wife’s bedroom.

A bunch of maids instantly approached before closing the door.

“Heh.”

Olivia wiped the excess spit from her mouth with a disgusted expression.

“Things are looking good so far.”

She got up and stood by the window, overlooking their kingdom.

At only 38 years old, her body has reached the peak of maturity for a woman. Her curved hips swayed seductively to induce lust in any man. Her breasts were big but firm. The white unblemished skin makes one think she hardly ever goes outside.

Olivia sniffed her body and only smelled the stink of a man. She’s a natural man-hater. She’s only putting up an act for this farce of a wedding so she can have power as a queen. There is no love for her. She can never love a man.

Melodia is not an obstacle anymore and can’t interfere with her plans.

“Clark, are you there?”

Olivia spoke in a commanding voice.

–Yes…

The voice of restraint answered her back. She smiled in ridicule.

“Have all preparations been handled so far?”

–Yes. They agreed.

“Good work.”

Her eyes narrowed in delight.

It was a few months ago when Olivia managed to ensnare one of the strongest men of the continent around her finger. It was enough to even make the Spear God submit.

She poisoned his sister. Although the actual poison was filtered to a degree that it won't show and rapidly spread like in Melodia's case. Unlike Melodia, Eris wasn't injected with a deadly illness along with the poison.

“Fufufu.”

Olivia cut off the line without another word and laughed in amusement.

Before becoming the second concubine of the king, she was an amateur doctor in a rural village. This means that she has knowledge to a lot of medicinal factors.

Like poison.

Little by little, she sends Clark a temporary healing potion instead of the cure itself.

It’s a poison she came up with so naturally no one has access to its cure. It was the same poison used on the former queen, Melodia. The only difference is that she doesn’t give Melodia a potion.

She will eventually die. And when that day comes–

She’ll be the queen of Colchis.

She’ll make the kingdom hers and find a way to kill her husband.

The sister of the king is helping her towards that goal. Although, helping would be the wrong word to use. Olivia is convinced that Margaret is just using her.

‘That’s fine because–‘

Olivia poured a glass of wine and crossed her legs while still being naked. The sweat on her skin glistened in the morning sun’s rays.

“I’m using her too.”

She snickered quietly as she closed her eyes and imagined the future where she rules over all.