Mightiest Melee Magician
Chapter 28
“A h-house?! A house is moving!”
“No… it’s not a house. That’s the mana train.”
It wasn’t a house.
It wasn’t a horse-drawn carriage either.
One of the greatest feats of magical engineering.
The Mana Train.
Made from the same material used to coat the statue of the Ogre Kingram, platinum, it was very responsive to mana, and it was safe due to it not crumpling under most physical impacts.
7 of these carriages were connected together like a sausage, and the form was just like a huge castle.
And this castle landed right in front of us in a very steady manner.
[This is the Ignit Magic Academy of the Radian Kingdom. We will depart in 3 minutes.]
Coupled with the announcement, the doors to the train opened, and Professor Hydel was the first to walk on board and into the train.
The train’s interior was filled with high quality chairs that each looked cozy and comfortable.
There were about 40 chairs.
Seeing there were 7 of these carriages, a few hundred could ride at the same time.
“Everyone, gather around and sit down.”
At Professor Hydel’s words, we all sat down while still looking around, astonished by the experience.
And an awkward 3 minutes passed.
[Now departing.]
The train, which had stopped for a moment in the flow of mana, closed its doors and started to move again.
“Woah!”
It was truly an incredible speed.
Following the mana road painting the sky in a purple hue, we were quickly transported by the mana train as it sprinted along the mana road without hesitation.
“Look at that!”
“Wow! That’s the academy?”
The place Jason pointed down to was the huge territory of the Ignit Academy, only second in size to the capital of the Radian Kingdom, slowly disappearing into a dot.
And another 5 minutes passed.
The train quickly passed through the eastern area, and into the Raynac Imperial Federation.
It was then.
Drag—
“Kekekeke, look over there.”
To be precise, it was from the carriage behind ours.
A sound of a door opening came from there.
This unfamiliar voice had ticked us off while we were just quietly sitting down.
“Who’s this? Aren’t these the Acadummy bumpkins?”
“……”
A unique look where every single one of them had a buzz cut.
A desert fox signet on the left part of their brown school uniform they were wearing.
These were students from the Oyota National Magic Institute.
* * *
Oyota National Magic Institute.
The only training school of the sand kingdom built on the desert, Oyota.
Even though they were a kingdom built on a desert, they couldn’t be underestimated.
As the place that boasted of their ancient history more than anywhere else, they were once the strongest and most persistent people on the continent.
They were especially known for polishing both their swordsmanship and bodies to the limit.
This Oyota also boasted of their elite squad called the ‘Shadow of the Desert’ that gained their fearsome notoriety by cutting down numerous magicians.
Now, they had been conquered by the Raynac Imperial Federation during its establishment.
Even though the Oyota had become quite weak, they belatedly started to invest into magic and magical engineering to try and recover their former strength.
The sole academy of this sand kingdom saw huge growth and prosperity with the support of the nation.
And were now strong enough to threaten us like this.
“Yo, Acadummies! Where’s Michael Galehill? I was going to ask him to take care of us this year too. Take care under us, I mean. Keke.”
“So last place this year is your responsibility again, right? Take care!”
“……”
I was speechless at this spectacle.
For them to openly challenge us like this.
Just what kind of treatment did Michael Galehill go through before?
I started to get a headache.
I looked towards the head of the Michael Group, Hankus.
“Why are they like this? Why are they so pressed to provoke us?”
“That’s… damn it.”
Hankus, who was so confident when talking back to me just a bit ago, instead became silent and started to constrain himself in front of these Oyota kids.
I didn’t hear it from his words, but I could guess what kind of treatment they had been getting before.
Acadummy.
Meaning, we had gotten a nickname because of our scores.
We were definitely the target of insults.
That’s why they couldn’t talk back, even while being humiliated like this.
I sneaked a peek towards Professor Hydel, who was silently focused on his reading.
“……”
Professor definitely could hear the commotion going on, but he didn’t lift his eyes from his book.
As I thought, he had no intention of interfering.
Right.
This was a natural way to increase ‘competition’ between students.
It would be a tradition of the Grand Festival, as it was used to distinguish the good magicians from the great.
Since they also knew that, Oyota could publicly come and provoke us.
“…Fuu.”
I shook my head left and right as I stood up from my seat.
And I mustered my most mocking voice against those buzz-cut-lookin’ Oyota punks.
“If you don’t go back to your car right now, I’m gonna plant a flower in that grass-cut hair.”
“Pfft!”
Plant a flower.
At this nonsensically cute threat, my academy peers couldn’t help but snicker.
One of those who snickered was Hankus.
However, he would then…
“I-it was just a cough…”
give a lame excuse and shut his mouth again, still walking on eggshells around the Oyotas.
What was this?
Why were you showing such a weak image?
Then, seemingly ticked off at this display, one of the Oyota students glared at Hankus and asked him,
“Hey, Hankus, what’s so funny?”
“S-sorry…”
“More than that, who’s the punk who I’ve never seen or even heard of before? Aren’t you a new one?”
“Uh, uh? That’s… o-our academy representative.”
“Representative? You are?”
His gaze shook for a moment as he looked at me.
As I nodded, the look in his eyes changed again.
“I’m the representative of Oyota, Seta Malkiri. What’s your name?”
“Ruin Ardell.”
“…Ruin? Haven’t heard of you before. Are you really the representative? Where’s Michael Galehill?”
“The Michael you’re looking for is probably bedridden, praying for his broken ribs to stick back properly.”
“What’s… that supposed to mean?”
“Do I really have to explain it to you?”
“……”
A question mark appeared on top of this Seta kid’s head.
It was an expression that said that he found this situation hard to comprehend.
Why was Michael’s broken ribs relevant to what was happening here?
Why did the representative of 5 years abruptly change right before a huge competition like the Grand Festival?
And,
“I think that’s enough for a first greeting, so if you’re done provoking us, it would be nice if you went back to your own carts.”
“……”
Why was this ‘representative’ in front of us who we’d never seen or heard of before so confident in his demands against us?
As I looked at the confused Seta, I said again in a colder tone,
“Wait, one more thing before you go. Talking about Acadummy and what not, I want you to apologize for barging in here so noisily and abruptly. In a more ‘polite’ manner than now.”
“What?”
Was it really an unreasonable request?
“Did you just tell me to apologize?”
“Yeah.”
I just wanted a simple apology.
Seta Malkiri’s complexion flipped instantly.
The look in his eyes resembled a ‘Desert Warrior’ more than a magician right then.
Seta Malkiri said while strongly clenching his fists,
“And if I don’t?”
* * *
* * *
It was like he had shown the intent to fight me right then and there .
Then, Hankus, who became pale while sitting there scared shitless, said to me,
“I-I think that’s enough… Since those guys are from Oyota, they’ve been constantly fighting since they were little…”
Hearing this, Seta Malkiri spoke again.
“Hey Hankus. Didn’t you tell your new rep about us?”
“Um, oh? I was just about to tell—”
“We need to pummel you again so you don’t forget.”
“……”
So, it was like this.
The reason the ones who had experienced the Magic Festival shivered in fear against these Oyota kids.
‘They were hit.’
Well, I heard that these things were commonplace.
They intentionally provoked us to ‘snap’ the team’s confidence before the competition even started.
Some would threaten.
Some would bribe.
Some would instigate violence.
And some would use their fists, like Oyota.
If they followed the festival’s rule of ‘Do not use magic outside the tournament grounds’, no one would take disciplinary action against them.
These were dirty tactics, but they were tactics nonetheless.
If a team began to falter even once, they would not be able to show their full potential, even if they wanted to.
I smirked.
“Then, you wanna go?”
If it was a fight, I wasn’t a magician that would lose.
“……”
As I came forward with confidence, Seta Malkiri furrowed his brows.
Traditionally, wasn’t it not right to even lose at rock paper scissors against a neighbouring nation?
Seta showed great displeasure at my overconfidence.
“Don’t regret it.”
He loosened the tightly bound cloth on his shoulder and started to wrap it around his fist.
‘He’s doing some useless thing.’
As I was thinking this…
A middle-aged man showed himself from the Oyota’s carriage.
“Seta. Stop there.”
It wasn’t hard to figure out who that person was.
“…Professor.”
They were the accompanying professor from the Oyota National Magic Institute.
He looked me up and down and turned his gaze towards Professor Hydel, who was still reading his book.
“Our students have shown you disrespect. I will apologize in their stead.”
“……Sure.”
However, Professor Hydel replied in a non-caring way while he still focused his gaze on his book.
Even though he was told off, the Oyota’s professor turned to talk to his students as if it was nothing.
“Seta. For you to create a commotion before the competition even began. Return back to your carriage now.”
“What? But professor—”
“Now!”
“……”
Seta Malkiri huffed as if he couldn’t understand the situation, but it seemed he couldn’t go against his professor’s commands.
“You. I’ll see you later.”
He left a phrase that a 3rd rate villain would use and returned to his carriage.
Oyota’s professor also bowed his head towards Professor Hydel and returned.
“…what? They just left?”
Our carriage suddenly became quiet.
It was only natural since a storm-like thing passed over us.
I sat down like it was nothing, and Jason and a few other students came up to me.
“Ruin, are you ok?”
“What?”
“No, I’m just worried… I know you’re strong, but you were too rash just then. Even though they are magicians, they’re rough kids who grew up fighting their entire lives.”
“That’s right. Those Oyota guys are famous for punching first and talking later. If you really did fight, it would have been a huge incident.”
Could have been a huge incident.
It could have been, but it could have not been.
I replied in a dry tone.
“Aren’t you angry?”
“Eh?”
“Those guys disrespected our academy. They openly disrespected you guys, and disrespected me, the representative.”
“W-well that’s true but…”
“But if I, the academy representative, stayed still, wouldn’t they find it funny and tease us even more? Then we’ll really become the ‘Acadummies’ they were talking about. Do you really want that? Are you really fine with being ignored like this?”
My gaze landed on Hankus.
“Since you’ve been still while getting hit, they have been disrespecting you for 5 years.”
“……”
Hankus’ face became red with shame.
Just a moment ago, he was trying to fight my ego with his.
But even before the competition began, he had shown an unsightly appearance, so he had no face to show.
And compared to him, since I was more confident against them,
“What are you going to do? It doesn’t seem like the time to have infighting between our egos.”
With a face flushed with embarrassment, Hankus flinched a bit.
“S-sorry…”
As Hankus was about to say something,
“…How unfortunate.”
Professor Hydel, who was just silently reading his book until now, muttered under his breath.
All eyes turned to Professor Hydel, and Professor still spoke without removing his eyes from the book.
“I missed an interesting scene.”
“……”
Eh?
What did he miss?
…Did I hear it wrong?
——
