CHAPTER 46: DUEL -SECOND HALF- (PART 2)

Damuel had been in charge of the entrance exams, so he knew Olivia could use middle level magic.
He found it odd that she was underperforming so much during classes though, but kept those thoughts to himself to remain impartial to the student.

“Well, umm… I’ve always been academically bad.
You know that, right Natalia? You’ve seen how terrible my report cards from school looked before.”
“Was it really that bad?”

Olivia paced around nervously while Damuel turned to Natalia for verification.

“I don’t know all the particular details myself, but I remember the last time she had a long break from school, she needed to be tutored by my Mistress nearly everyday.
I guess it’s safe to assume that was a common occurrence.”

“But that’s just regular academics, right? Magic knowledge is different from that.
You need quite a lot of magic knowledge to be able to use middle level spells, and with shortened chants no less.”

Mathias was right, as the level of spells increased, it was necessary to understand the underlying magic principles, and know how to manage such quantities of mana.
In a way, one needed to know how to destroy the laws of regular physics to understand how magic worked.

So a lot of background knowledge and practice was needed for that.
Even more so to be able to shorten chants.

Mathias had already started casting Hail Storm when Olivia began preparing a spell to defend herself.
Both spells had activated at the same time, Olivia getting there faster since she shortened a portion of her chant.

Then the two spells collided and canceled out.

That was only possible if both sides had around the same amount of power.
In other words, Olivia’s spell with a shortened chant was as powerful as Mathias’ after a full chant.

“Umm, so I don’t really think about much when I use magic, I just do what feels right to me.
With chants sometimes I don’t feel like repeating the whole thing, so I just skip parts randomly1.”

Everyone was left speechless hearing that.
Apparently Olivia learned more by instinct than with theory.

“Wait, then why is it that you can’t use simple spells?”

Natalia knew her creator, Ophelia, also had some parts that defied common sense, so she was used to a bit of craziness.
But Olivia’s answer was so outrageous even she was baffled.

“Simple spells use so little mana that I can’t really measure it correctly.”
“Wait, so you can use middle level spells without issue, but you can’t use low level ones2?”
“Yeah.”

Natalia was left speechless.
She could not afford to forget Olivia was Ophelia’s daughter.

“Even I was surprised to see you’re able to use Magical Arts though, and your technique was different from any other I’ve seen too.”
“What are Magical Arts?”

Natalia asked Damuel, who stood with his arms crossed.

“Ah, they’re a combination of magic and martial arts.”

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There were various types of such arts, they used short chants to imbue magic into a specific attack, or to channel mana into a weapon, or to grant an affinity towards a certain element.
The first example Natalia thought of was Jane’s Slash Impact.

For Magical Arts to work, the weapon used needed to be sturdy and made of a material with good mana conductivity.
It was possible to use them without weapons, but one needed an even more resilient body to resist the effects of mana coursing through it.
In other words, one needed to train both their bodies and their magic skills to take advantage of them, so not many people chose to use them.

Magical Arts were way out of Ophelia’s area of expertise, so she was unable to teach Natalia much about it.

“My father taught me Magical Arts.
Though apparently his fighting style was really different from the usual ones.”

(Ah, Shuma came from the same world as me, so maybe he knew karate or other stuff like that…)

Natalia did not say anything, but she had a hunch as to why that was the case.

“Throughout the day I’m always using the healing and strengthening spells my mother taught me too, so in a way that serves as my training.
Gravity Magic makes a lot of tasks easier too.”

Olivia said that without much worry, but both Damuel and Mathias knew how difficult and dangerous that was.

She was using strengthening spells only on herself, without letting anyone else notice, while simultaneously healing herself.
If she lost focus on any spell she could end up badly hurt with internal wounds, so it really was no easy feat.

“You’re actually crazy, you know that3?”

Mathias grumbled while frowning.

Natalia also understood how surreal that was, while also realizing something she had never thought about.
Either way, the conflict had been resolved, so everyone went their own ways.

I could’ve never guessed Olivia is so strong.
She moved so quickly I could barely follow her as well.
Wait, does that mean she’s actually stronger than me? Does she even need me?

I’m glad we defended my Mistress’ honor, but I was starting to feel a bit of an identity crisis.

‘Will you travel with me once I become an adventurer then?’

Olivia had asked me that before, but now I feel like I’ll be the one being protected.

“Wait, Young Lady? If you’re so strong, why did you refuse to fight back when you were kidnapped before? I’m sure you could’ve freed yourself without issue.”
“Maybe, but if I fought all-out the flowers I picked for you would’ve gotten ruined…”

My head hurts a little hearing that response.

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“Young Lady, I appreciate the sentiment, but please prioritize your own safety in such situations.”

Ophelia will turn in her grave if Olivia gets hurt or worse because of me.

“If you get hurt because of me, I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Uh…okay, I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, as long as you understand that.”

I’m relieved hearing her response, and I instinctively pat her head.
She smiled like a flower in full bloom in response.
Ahh, I really need to get stronger to protect this smile.

“Oh right, one last thing Olivia.
I don’t doubt your position in classroom A, but if your grades keep falling you might be demoted to a different class, so be careful.”
“Huh?”

Damuel says that before turning around and leaving.

“Wait, I could lose my spot in the class then…”

The two of us faced a new problem as we were left alone in the school yard.

 

References

Robinxen: … Robinxen: Figured. Robinxen: Well the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I feel you bro.