Silent Witch

Book 12: Chapter 13: Later, This Commotion was Turned into an Opera and Passed Down to Future Generations (and so on)…

It had been snowing until a few days ago at Serendia Academy, but today the snow stopped before noon, and a thin blue sky peeked through the cloudy sky. The sound of a violin echoed loudly in the ballroom, where the winter sky could be seen outside the window. The melody with a sense of speed made the listeners' hearts soar and boil involuntarily. As soon as the phrase of the performance ended, the violinist Benjamin Moulding shouted to the audience in a loud voice.

"This is the beginning of a battle of men for the sake of a maiden! The instigator of this duel is the fiery redhead transfer student, Hubert Dee! He will face three brave young men! Who will win this deadly battle and gain the maiden's favor! The battle of men who will not give up is about to begin here and now! Oh, engrave the fortune of witnessing the first magic duel in the history of Serendia Academy in your chest, and let me play the emotion, the excitement, here and now with my violin! First, the first movement"

Benjamin stood on the platform at the far end of the dance hall. The students in the audience cheered as they pleased at Benjamin's impassioned speech. Elliot, who was sitting in the audience, looked at Monica with sympathy.

The student council members were basically sitting side by side in the front row, but Monica was sitting in the row behind them, and her friends Lana and Claudia were sitting on either side of her. Felix had thought that it would be better for Monica to be with her friends since she looked so pale.

"Miss Norton, are you breathing? Hey?"

Elliot called out to Monica, who was sitting behind him, but Monica didn't budge. When Elliot waved his hand in front of Monica's face, Claudia, who was sitting to Monica's left, muttered.

"She's fainted while sitting."

The rumor of the duel proposed by Hubert Dee spread throughout the academy in just three days and aroused the speculation of many students. The school's concern was that the students who came to watch the commotion might accidentally enter the barrier and get caught up in it. So the student council decided to set up a place where they could watch the magic duel, and convince the teachers.

The magic duel could be projected onto a crystal ball by incorporating a farsight technique into the barrier. The crystal ball could then be set to a projection device, which could project the image onto a large white cloth stretched on the stage.

Thus, a spectator seat of the same size as the outdoor stage of the cultural festival was set up in the dance hall, but the number of students who crowded in was more than expected. Some of them were even standing, and it was a bit of a festival.

After all, the people who participated in this duel were all well-known students.

Hubert Dee, a transfer student who has a bad attitude, but is the nephew of the Seven Sages.

Cyril Ashley, known as the "Ice Prince" and one of the most powerful students in the academy, serves as the Vice President of the Student Council.

Glenn Dudley, a disciple of the Seven Sages, gained fame by playing the role of a hero during the school festival, instantly becoming a well-known figure.

And lastly, Roberto Vinkel, an academically excellent exchange student from Randall.

Moreover, since Cyril's participation was ordered by the student council president Felix, Cyril was practically Felix's proxy. It was natural for the students to be excited.

Felix had set up this stage for reasons other than ensuring the safety of the students.

This commotion was no longer possible to hide. So instead of having a secret duel, he decided to stage it as a glamorous stage and make Monica a tragic heroine.

The one who helped him with that was the up-and-coming musician Benjamin Moulding.

His slightly exaggerated speech and excellent music helped to make this duel more theatrical.

That was the situation that led to the present, but the tragic heroine sitting in the audience was already reaching her physical and mental limits. Her expression was not that of a heroine watching the duel of men, but that of a prisoner sentenced to death, or a dying patient.

If Lana and the others hadn't let her skip the afternoon classes and take a nap, Monica wouldn't have been able to walk this far.

As Monica pressed her stomach which was hurting, Lana next to her said "Ah". If she followed her gaze, she could see the image of the forest, the venue of the duel, projected on the white cloth on the stage. At first, it was an aerial view of the forest, but gradually it zoomed in on the forest and then showed a man.

It was the culprit of this commotion, the fiery redhead, Hubert Dee.

The image switched again, and this time it showed the three challengers standing near the entrance of the forest, Cyril Ashley, Glenn Dudley, and Roberto Vinkel.

When the magic duel barrier was activated, physical attacks were nullified, and only magic could inflict damage. Therefore, bringing weapons was meaningless, but for some reason, only Robert had a sword hanging from his waist. The others were basically in their usual uniform and empty-handed.

The magic duel barrier could be added with effects such as reducing pain or forcing a return when their mana reached a certain number. That was the barrier that Monica used in the Seven Sages selection test. But to add those effects, a huge amount of mana and a magic tool to maintain the barrier were needed.

The barrier that was set up in the training ground of Serendia Academy seemed to be unable to add the effects of pain reduction or forced return. In other words, the damage would be accompanied by the pain.

Inside the barrier, even if you were attacked, your body would not be hurt, and only your mana would decrease, but the magic battle would not end until you lost consciousness.

They wouldn't get hurt, but Cyril and the others might feel pain. Just thinking that, Monica's body became cold.

"Hey, by the way, is that Dee guy really that strong? It's going to be three against one, right?"

Monica was at a loss for words at Lana's question. How much should she tell about Hubert? If she talked too much, it would reveal that Monica was in Minerva.

"Um, I don't know, maybe"

Monica mumbled and stuttered, and Claudia muttered with a gloomy face.

"He's the nephew of the Artillery Magician, so he must be a strong fighter."

Hubert's uncle, the Artillery Magician, Bradford Firestone, was one of the most powerful fighters among the Seven Sages.

His specialty is using six-fold enhanced attack magic, which could only be blocked by the same Seven Sages, the Barrier Magician, Louis Miller.

But Hubert's fighting style was the opposite of his uncle, who preferred to use more moves rather than put power into one shot.

Simply looking at the amount of mana, Glenn and Lord Cyril are higher, but

Monica was anxious.

Hubert Dee's real specialty was not "magic." It was "hunting."

The magic duel took place in the forest near Serendia Academy. Hubert had moved to the back of the forest beforehand, while Glenn, Cyril, and Robert waited near the entrance of the forest until the bell rang to start.

Glenn bent and stretched his knees lightly to warm up, and then voiced the question he had been wondering about.

"We can't use physical attacks inside the magic duel barrier, right?"

"What are you talking about now? Don't tell me you didn't know that?"

Cyril snapped at him, and Glenn hurriedly replied.

"Of course, I know that! I mean, that guy over there!"

He said, pointing at Roberto, who was wearing leather gloves and bending and stretching his fingers.

Roberto looked up from his gloves and looked at Glenn.

"What about me?"

"Your sword is useless in a magic duel, right? It'll bounce off the barrier."

"I know that. It's no problem."

Glenn didn't know much about Roberto. He only heard that he was an exchange student from the Randall Kingdom and that he had the same elective class as Monica.

Roberto seemed to be younger than Glenn, but he was about the same height. What was different was the thickness of his muscles. That was the body of someone who trained regularly.

As Glenn secretly admired him, Cyril glanced at Roberto and muttered.

"A magic sword, huh?"

"Yes, that's right."

Roberto nodded and drew his sword from his waist. The sword was broken at a point about a thumb's length from the guard. But when Roberto chanted, water gushed out from the broken part and formed a blade.

Glenn had learned a little bit about the technique of magic swords from Louis.

It was a technique mainly used by the knights of the neighboring Randall Kingdom, and there were various variations, such as making a blade from mana from the tip of the sword like Robert, making a handle from mana as well, or enhancing a normal sword with auxiliary magic.

"Why don't you just use auxiliary magic on a normal sword?"

"Swords that can withstand auxiliary magic are very rare. Some people make them from mana from the handle, but I prefer to use the handle I'm used to, so I do it this way."

As Glenn nodded in admiration, Roberto put his magic sword back to its original state, and put the thumb-length steel into the scabbard, saying.

"Let me say it first. I intend to defeat Senior Hubert Dee and have Monica join my chess club. Therefore, I can't give up the role of taking down Senior Hubbard Dee to you two."

At this declaration, Cyril twitched his thin eyebrows and glared at Robert.

"I can't let it slide. Treasurer Norton is a student council member. I can't hand her over to another club. It's against His Highness's wishes."

"This duel is supposed to be a bet on Miss Monica herself. Then there should be no problem."

"Don't twist the rules to your liking!"

Cyril wrinkled his nose in disgust. A cold and chilly mana was already drifting around him.

"It is my duty, as commanded by His Highness, to defeat Hubert Dee. You two should just stand by and watch."

"Wait a minute! I want to be the one to defeat that senior! That person I'm the only one who can defeat him!"

Glenn argued in a stronger tone than usual, and then Roberto intervened.

"No, I'm the one who will defeat him."

"It's me!"

"He's mine!"

The three glared at each other for a while, but none of them showed any sign of backing down.

Then there was only one conclusion. This magic duel was a race to see who would defeat Hubert Dee first.

And so, the three challengers showed no sign of cooperating, and the magic duel was about to begin.

"By the way, I wanted to ask you something before the match."

"What a coincidence, so did I."

They said, looking at Roberto, specifically, his bare arms.

"Why are you rolling up your sleeves?"

"It's winter now. Aren't you cold?"

The two looked at him suspiciously, and Roberto flexed his arm, making his muscles bulge, and said.

"It's an appeal of masculine charm."

The two pretended they didn't hear that.