“…Why do humans only have two legs? If we had three, at least I could eat one of them…”

Rix was hungry. Very hungry.

He hadn’t had anything substantial to eat in almost ten days.

He was so hungry he wasn’t thinking straight anymore.

This happened some time ago, back when Rix was still a mercenary.

Rix, wearing his tattered leather armor and carrying his chipped sword in hand, wandered across a vast, open wilderness.

He was surrounded by nothing but sand, rocky mountains, and withered grass that stretched on and on as far as the eye could see.

He no longer had any sense of his own bearings or where he was heading.

Two weeks earlier, the Black Mercenary Corps, which Rix belonged to, had been hired by Godrick, a local warlord in the Eastern Conflict Zone, to participate in a battle in the Syrx Wilderness.

On the very first day of battle, their allied forces had been utterly, thoroughly, completely beaten and annihilated.

In order to survive, the Black Mercenary Corps were forced to scatter and retreat.

Rix had gotten separated from his comrades in the chaos, which had led to his current situation.

“They do say ‘you win some, you lose some’…”

Rix looked up at the sky…and was unable to suppress a scream.

“But why the hell did we have to side with Godriiiick?! It was obvious we were gonna lose before the battle even started!”

Godrick turned out to be a ridiculously incompetent commander.

He was always doing stupid stuff like pointlessly extending the front line of his troops in random places, totally neglecting logistics, deploying his forces in small batches, executing any of his vassals who spoke out against him, and making a mad rush at the entire enemy army head-on… It was enough to make a person think Wait, is this guy for real?

Godrick was essentially a huge idiot who siphoned massive taxes from his subjects and spent the money living in the lap of luxury. He waged unjust wars of aggression and plunder against neighboring regions and tribes, broke all sorts of non-aggression pacts, and made enemies everywhere he went.

“Down with the corrupt warlord! Now is the time to liberate all who suffer under his oppression!” his opponents would shout in battle.

There was no hope of winning against a group burning with such righteous indignation.

Then why, exactly, did the Black Mercenary Corps side with Godrick?

“Huh? ’Cause that asshole Godrick’s got deep pockets, that’s why.” - Captain Black

“Then join him by yourself! Don’t drag all of us into thiiiiiis!” Rix shouted, banging his battered sword against the ground.

Even just remembering it pissed him off.

“Godrick only pays so well because no one else is willing to fight for him! The only thing he has going for him is money! Godrick may be an asshole, but we’re the real idiots here! We’re trash!”

Of course, Rix had been against the captain’s decision to ally with Godrick.

On top of his reputation as an exceedingly incompetent commander, in this war in particular, their opponents’ side had a clear, noble cause. Their morale clearly had Godrick’s side beat through and through.

The situation for Godrick’s side was bad.

They had almost no chance of winning. They were basically throwing their lives away.

And you can’t buy back life, no matter how much money you have.

Rix had tried to explain this as kindly and carefully as he could to his comrades in the Black Mercenary Corps.

At first, they had agreed with him: “You’ve always been a sharp one, Rix!”

But the second they heard from Captain Black just how much money they were getting for the job…

“Whoo-hoooooo! Ka-ching, ka-ching!” - Mercenary A

“Who cares what that dummy Rix says?!” - Mercenary B

“Money is worth more than life! And this is easy cash, as long as we don’t die!” - Mercenary C

“If my calculations are right, if we each kill ten men, we can win against an enemy a hundred times our size!” - Mercenary D, smirking confidently

“I don’t really get it…but all we gotta do is win, right?!” - Mercenary E

“Argh, how can you all be so stupid and shortsighted?! This is why I hate being a mercenaryyyyyyy!” Rix shouted, banging his battered sword against the ground.

Even just remembering it pissed him off.

“Ah…crap… I’m getting dizzy…”

Rix fell to his knees.

Hunger finally pushed him over the edge. His consciousness began to waver, and he became totally unable to control his body.

He was losing his ability to think. He couldn’t even tell where he was anymore.

He had run out of his rations long ago. If only he could gather some of the surrounding flora and fauna as provisions… Except there was nothing but poisonous plants around him, and not a single edible lizard or bug in sight.

At this rate, he was surely going to starve to death.

“Ha-ha-ha… I was always prepared to die in battle… But I’m not sure how I feel about dying of starvation…”

Rix flashed a strained smile and stared vacantly at the ground.

“…Hmm…?”

Then he noticed something.

Something half buried in the ground.

“Huh…? Is that what I think it is…?”

Mustering the last of his strength, Rix dug the thing out of the earth with his sword.

And that very thing was…

“…An egg…?”

Yes. It was an egg.

An egg with a strange pattern upon its surface.

And the egg was excessively large—about the size of a human child.

But that part wasn’t important.

“An eeeeegg!! It’s a miracle!”

What was important was that this gigantic egg could save Rix from the brink of death by starvation.

“Yes! I have no idea what kind of egg this is, but it looks huge enough to feed me for at least a few days! Time to dig iiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!!”

Overcome with joy, Rix again mustered up his last bit of strength to gather some dried twigs and start a fire…

Crack.

But suddenly, a fissure appeared in the eggshell.

Crack. Crack. Crack, crack…

The fissure spread across the entire shell…

Snap! Crash!

Finally, the egg broke completely open, and as the shell fragments scattered in all directions, Rix was able to see what was inside.

“Huh…?”

And what he laid eyes upon left him dumbfounded.

It was…a girl.

She looked to be younger than Rix. A mere child.

The girl was trim, her body not yet developed. She had silky smooth skin, dainty arms and legs, and fluffy blond hair that blazed brightly in the sun’s rays.

Her face was beautiful, like a lovely little pixie’s. Her eyes, like large emerald-green gems, stared at the ground in front of her in a daze.

This girl, without a stitch of clothing on her body, was sitting with her knees knocked together and her legs splayed out to either side.

“…Huh…?” said Rix. He was speechless, his consciousness still hazy with hunger.

He felt like he was in a waking dream. Nothing felt real anymore.

“…?”

Before long, the girl seemed to come to her senses and started to look around.

Then she locked eyes with Rix, who was still standing dumbfounded before her.

“…”

“…”

They stared blankly at each other for a while.

Finally, the girl’s empty eyes lit up, and she smiled. She turned to Rix and spoke.

“Big Brother!”

This was how Rix met Tran—the girl who would become like a little sister to him in the Black Mercenary Corps.

But I digress.

About one minute after this shocking encounter…

“Huh? You’re askin’ why I’m callin’ you Big Brother? You say you don’t have any sisters? Well, that’s obvious! You’re just…my brother! Erm…I don’t really understand it myself, but I’m pretty sure you’re my brother! It’s, like, it’s not somethin’ I can explain. I just feel it in my soul! So, Big Brother! I’ll be stickin’ with you from now on! My life belongs to you!

“…Huh? You sure it’s okay?! I thought you’d say that! Thank you! I love you, Brother!

“……Um, by the way…why’d you tie my arms and legs to this stick and hang me over this pile of firewood? Everythin’s all upside down, and it kinda hurts…

“Huh? Is that some flint you got there? Um, y’know, if you use that thing too close to the kindling, I’m gonna get roasted…

“Ohhh, I gotcha! You’re fixin’ to eat me?! Ah-ha-ha-ha! You’re so funny, Brother! I guess I did say my life belongs to you! But that’s not how I meant it— Wait, that’s hot!! Ouch, that’s hottttt!!

“Brother?! Wait a sec! Did you seriously light the fire?! You really lit iiiiiiiiiit?!” Tran screamed, flailing.

The Estoria Academy of Magic was bustling with activity and excitement.

“Calling all first-year students! Come join the Flying Club! Why not have some fun with us in the Sky Ring? All experience levels are welcome!”

“Come check out the Dueling Club! You, first-years! If you wanna call yourself a real man—and a real mage—you need to become stronger! Of course, girls are welcome, too! Let’s all aim to be the strongest we can be, together!”

“Hello, first-year students! Come and find your destiny at the Astrology Club!”

Upperclassmen had set up booths across the campus representing their respective clubs and were calling out to the first-year students as they walked past. Some gave explanations of their club activities and made friendly conversation at their booths.

The first-year students looked to be enjoying themselves as they walked around, discussing which booth they should visit next, or which club they should join.

Among those first-year students was Rix.

“All right! Let’s do this! I’m gonna find the perfect club for me!” he cried. “Then I’m gonna have the best student life everrrrrr!!”

His eyes aflame with enthusiasm, he looked wildly around for which booth he should hit up next.

He was way too over the top, which just made him seem weird and cringey.

“Wow, Rix is really fired up, huh?” said Randy.

“You can always count on Rix to give every single thing his all,” Annie agreed.

The two of them watched Rix with their best attempts at warm expressions.

“More importantly,” Serephina added, “Rix must join some club one way or another, correct? And he’ll be in trouble if he can’t manage that, yes? We must take this situation seriously.”

“This really is all just too idiotic,” said Shino.

These two were eyeing Rix with exasperated looks on their faces.

Extracurriculars such as club activities were not compulsory at the Estoria Academy of Magic. Students were free to choose whether they wanted to participate in them. Much like in many regular schools, plenty of academy students didn’t belong to any club.

Then why was Rix so fixated on joining a club, you ask?

Let’s rewind the story a bit…

“At this rate…you will be expelled.”

“What?! Why?!”

When one of the academy’s own Grand Masters of Magic, Darwin, made this merciless announcement, Rix let out a cry of despair that echoed throughout the room.

Once again, they were in the headmaster’s office of the Estoria Academy of Magic.

The headmaster himself sat at the back at his finely crafted desk, while instructors Darwin and Crawford stood in front of it, looking harried.

The three men had called Rix to the office, and despite his trepidation, he felt compelled to ask why they thought he would be expelled.

“Please, hold on a minute! How exactly did you come to that totally unreasonable conclusion?!”

“Not only are you utterly dull, you’re a magnificent idiot. You’re so stupid it makes my hair stand on end,” Darwin replied. “Your life is barely even worth living. Your existence is a waste of this world’s resources. The best contribution you could possibly offer would be to die already.”

“Do you have to be so mean?! I swear, one of these days, somebody’s gonna stab you in the back!” Rix shouted with tears in his eyes. Darwin’s insults cut as sharply as always.

“Ha-ha-ha! You seem to be in an especially good mood today, Darwin!” said Headmaster Jake.

“Well…his target is only a first-year,” Crawford noted. “You can tell he’s doing his best to go easy on him.”

“That was going easy?!” Rix cried, once again in shock.

“But of course, it’s only natural for Mr. Rix to be confused over such a sudden notice! Crawford, please take over and explain the situation!”

“What? Me? Ugh… What a pain… What’s the best way to explain this…?” Scratching his head, Crawford turned to face Rix.

Rix stared straight at Crawford, his eyes full of determination. “Let me get this out of the way right off the bat, Professor Crawford. I know I don’t have a regular, open Sphere. I can’t blame you for thinking I’m a poor student. But haven’t we already gone over this and resolved that whole problem?”

“Well…yeah…but…”

“I don’t know what’s going on between the higher-ups of the academy, but I…I’m prepared to fight back against any unfair or unreasonable decisions. I’ll do whatever I can.”

“Listen now, Rix. Because of the unique nature of your Sphere, we are giving you some extent of special consideration when it comes to practical magic examinations,” Crawford said. “But the grades you got on the recent written midterm exams were the lowest, worst, crappiest garbage scores we’ve ever seen in the history of the academy… They were so bad that you won’t be able to recover no matter how well you do on final exams. When it’s this bad, there’s no way we can keep making special exceptions for you. That’s why there’s basically no question that you’ll end up expelled after the year-end promotion examinations. Sorry.”

“Dammit! I wasn’t expecting your reasoning to be so valid! In fact, that doesn’t sound unreasonable at all!”

Rix was defeated before he even had the chance to fight.

“I for one have no intention of bailing out a stupid, worthless, piece of trash like you, even if you were to raise a hundred million est for bail,” Darwin remarked.

“Just for once, could you quit kicking me while I’m down?!” Rix wailed.

“Ha-ha-ha! Oh Darwin, you’ve always been one to strictly follow the rules! I know you would never play favorites, even toward royalty!” Headmaster Jake responded apologetically with a merry smile.

“But you know…I don’t really understand it myself.” Crawford scratched his head, looking exasperated. “To be honest, unlike the final exams, the stuff on the midterms isn’t that hard. As long as you study, pretty much anyone should be able to get a passing grade. But still, you somehow managed to get such horrible marks…”

“I know, right?! I’ve been studying and everything, so how did that even happen?!” Rix cried. “And after I finally managed to memorize my multiplication tables, too…!”

“Oh… Finally, huh?”

“You fool. Die, you waste of air.”

“How can you be so cruel?!” Rix wailed at Darwin’s cruel insults.

“But I think I understand now… After hearing all this, I’m starting to think that one’s upbringing is quite a large factor!” Headmaster Jake cut in again. “After looking into your background, Mr. Rix, it seems you worked as a mercenary for as long as you can remember. Is that correct?!”

“Huh?! Oh, yeah, I did…”

“Hmm! That means you never had a chance to get a decent primary education! You see, the entrance examination for our academy includes not only questions on the fundamentals of magic, but also sections on general subjects such as mathematics and science! Since you were exempt from the exam as a scholarship student, we had no way of knowing that your understanding of these basic subjects was so delayed compared to the rest of the student body!”

“I know, right?!”

“Yes! But still, rules are rules!” Headmaster Jake insisted, making sure not to let Rix’s expectations get the best of him. “No matter how different your upbringing was, we cannot make a special exception only for you! As long as you are unable to meet the requirements for advancing to the next grade, we at the academy must force you to withdraw!”

“I know, right?! Ugh… Does this mean that there’s really no other path for me apart from being a mercenary…?!”

Rix started cradling his head in despair, but Headmaster Jake unexpectedly kept going.

“That said, I’m sure that you have already made some irreplaceable friends here! And we understand full well that you wish to continue to enjoy your glorious youth by their sides! So I would like to do something to try to help you!”

“…But I thought rules are rules.”

“They are! But remember what I have just said. As long as you are unable to meet the qualifications for advancing to the next grade, we at the academy must force you to withdraw! In that case, the solution is simple! You must meet the requirements for advancing to the next grade! And you must do so before the year-end promotion examinations!”

“…Huh?”

Rix raised his head expectantly.

“The requirements for advancing to the next grade are comprised of a comprehensive evaluation that determines whether the student is a worthy enough mage to advance to the next level!” Headmaster Jake went on. “Of course, your exam grades in each subject and credits earned have great influence over this evaluation, but in fact, they are not everything! Take extracurricular activities, for example—we have a great number and variety of clubs at the academy, and students belonging to each club engage in their own activities and studies after school every day. If one were to achieve some kind of outstanding accomplishment through these extracurricular activities, the academy would not hesitate to take that into account in fulfillment of the advancement requirements!”

“For real?!” Rix’s eyes opened wide in surprise.

“Yes, everything the headmaster said is for real,” Crawford replied with a bothered air. “There have actually been quite a few students in the past who avoided being expelled and advanced to the next grade by doing the very same. There were even some so persistent as to force their way through their third year with that method. While it takes classroom learning to become a mage, it’s not the only thing that matters when it comes down to how successful someone will actually be in the future. Ah, what a pain.”

“Hmph… Personally, I don’t agree with allowing such ambiguity for a rule that’s intended to be strictly followed by all. But I do acknowledge that what Crawford said has some truth to it.”

Even Darwin ceded as much, though he looked pretty unhappy about it.

“Coincidentally, the restriction on first-year students’ participation in club activities is always lifted the same day that midterm exam results are announced! That means upperclassmen should be starting their recruitment activities today!” Headmaster Jake added. “I think you ought to seriously consider joining one of these clubs, Mr. Rix!”

Finding a new spark of hope in what his teachers had just told him, Rix started getting excited.

“Got it! I’ll go join a club, right now!” he vowed. “And then, though I’m not really sure how, I’ll get me some of those outstanding accomplishments! If I can do that, and I can convince you all…then please let me stay at the academy!”

“Ha-ha-ha! Certainly! I have high expectations for you, my boy!”

“In that case, I’ve gotta go look for a club to join ASAP! Let’s do thiiiiiiis!!”

With that…Rix turned resolutely on his heel and left the headmaster’s office.

And that’s how we ended up here.

“Speaking of which, Rix! How did you manage to end up in this mess after I helped you study every single night during exams?!” Shino demanded.

“Urrrrrghhhhh!! Shino! Let go! I give, I give!”

Shino was furious when she remembered all the effort they had put in leading up to this situation. She took one look at Rix blissfully and innocently browsing the club booths, wrapped her arm around his neck from behind, and started choking him.

“I can’t believe you failed every single exam so miserably! All that red ink looked like a massacre! Such failure shouldn’t even be possible!” she griped. “You just gave up on answering the stuff you didn’t know?! I told you over and over again to tell me if there was literally anything you didn’t understand!”

“I’m sorry! Shino! It…it turns out I’m way stupider than I ever imagined… I didn’t even understand how much I didn’t understand…”

“You idiot! I wasted two hours with you every night studying magic. Give me my precious time back!”

“I know. I’m sorry… Hey, I’ll make it up to you by spending two hours every night teaching you about mercenary culture and assassination techniques—”

“Why would I need that kind of information?! Don’t you even try dumping your past failures on me!”

“Aw, come on, Shino! Can’t you just give me a break?!”

The two of them grappled back and forth, causing a scene.

“One way or another, they seem to be getting along as usual,” Randy commented with a touch of amusement.

“Ah-ha-ha… They really are…,” Annie added with a vague smile.

“Grrr…” Serephina furrowed her brow, looking upset.

The three friends each had their own reactions from watching Shino and Rix.

“Ugh! I am just completely fed up with you! I give up!” Shino cried. “As if I care whether or not you get expelled anyway! I couldn’t care less! I don’t care one single, tiny bit!”

“Sure, Shino, although I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have helped him so much with his studying if you actually didn’t care,” Randy said, grinning at Shino as she kept hounding Rix.

Then he turned around and teased Annie and Serephina.

“Heh-heh… Looks like Shino’s gotten unexpectedly proactive and taken the lead. Hey, Annie, Serephina. You’re both gonna have to try a little harder if you want to—”

Clash!

“…What ever could you mean by that, Randy?”

“Yes, I, too, have no idea what you could be referring to. It seems I’ve suddenly become too stupid to comprehend. I simply don’t know what you are suggesting.”

Annie and Serephina fixed their gazes on Randy, crossing their staff and rapier over his neck in the shape of an X.

“Eeeeek?! I’m sorry!”

“Here they are—our very best monsters, carefully selected and prepared for this club info session!”

Mick turned around and revealed a space enclosed by three magical barriers that prevented the creatures inside from escaping.

Within those barriers were enshrined three types of monsters.

“First off, we’ve got our club vice president Sasha’s favorite, the Tentacled Roper!”

The huge monster, which was covered in gross-looking mucus, had numerous tentacles that undulated repugnantly. Its appendages coiled around and lifted a female student who seemed to be one of the club members.

“Ngaaaaah! ♥”

The girl who was being fondled by the tentacles had on a rapturous expression and was moaning excitedly.

“Ah-ha-ha! Sasha is always very hands-on when she handles her monsters!” Mick told the group. “Next, we have Ronny’s favorite, the Evil Eye!”

The next monster had a spherical build with one huge eye at its center, a set of menacing, knife-like fangs, and about ten tentacles extending from all over its body, each tipped with an eye of its own. It was a blasphemy of a monster. A single look at it would chip away at your sanity.

On the other side of the protective barrier, a male student was staring spellbound at the creature.

“Aah… Esmerelda… Your eyes are so beautiful…,” he said before freezing solid.

“Ah-ha-ha! That Ronny’s gotten himself turned into stone again! I told you not to look at her directly! Professor Lucia at the infirmary is gonna have to give you another talking-to. You’re hopeless!” Mick teased. “Anyway, lastly! My monster of choice, the cannibal corpse lily, Rafflesian!”

This monster took the form of a huge, ominous, poisonous-looking flower.

At the center of its petals was a large mouth filled with repulsive fangs that clacked eerily. It was munching on some food the club had given it—a whole deer.

“Well, what do you think?! These are the club’s loveliest monsters, chosen especially for today’s exhibition! Aren’t they amazing?! Aren’t they adorable?! Aren’t they cool?! Haah…haah…”

“You really didn’t have anything better to choose from?!” Randy shouted in exasperation as Mick stared enraptured at the cannibal lily.

What else could he do except yell?

“…Yuck.”

“Eep…”

“Seriously…?”

Shino, Annie, and Serephina were reeling back in disgust, of course.

“Sorry, but these guys are the best we’ve got to show you. Besides them, we’ve only got boring, normal monsters like unicorns, griffins, and pixies…”

“Why didn’t you bring those out here? You are trying to get new members, aren’t you?” Randy scratched his head in frustration. “Dammit! Now I get why everyone calls these guys crazy weirdos! And yeah, they’re right! I don’t know what else to call them! Honestly!”

Then Randy turned back toward Rix.

“Rix! You get what I’m saying, right? This club—its members—they aren’t normal! Please, you can’t join—”

“Oh man… So cool…”

“Argh, do whatever you want, then!”

Rix was gazing at the abhorrent monsters in admiration like a little boy might look at a superhero. Randy was about ready to give up.

“Hey, you guys,” he said to the rest of his friends. “Are you really okay with it if Rix joins up with these freaks?”

“……It’s fine, I guess. If this is what Rix wants, then we have no right to stop him.”

“Frankly, I’d like to do everything in my power to stop him.”

“Y-yeah… Ah-ha-ha…”

Shino was pouting, Serephina looked grumpy, and Annie could only laugh ambiguously.

“I mean…I guess you’re right. People should be free to choose the club they want to join. But still, in Rix’s case, that’s not entirely true. I’m not sure Rix will be able to produce some kind of accomplishment that will help him avoid getting expelled at this club…” Randy groaned, looking troubled.

“Accomplishment? If you’re looking for something you might be able to include in your résumé, then I really recommend you join us at the Magical Creature Club!” Mick’s sharp ears picked up on the conversation, and he eagerly continued trying to convince them, not letting them get away. “Why, you may ask? Because the phoenix we have has recently laid an egg!”

“Wha—?! S-seriously? A phoenix laid an egg?!”

“My goodness!”

Randy and Serephina both opened their eyes wide.

“Hmm? Fee-nicks? And what’s so special about some egg?” Rix asked. “Shino, clue me in, here.”

“He’s talking about a phoenix, the bird of immortal flame. Normally, at the end of its life, it goes up in flames and is reincarnated from its own ashes. That means it has no need to leave behind offspring. It is extremely rare for a phoenix to lay an egg, or produce offspring, for that matter. I’ve only seen it happen once before, in my past life.”

Even Shino seemed to be intrigued. She had been staring at Mick like he was a piece of garbage, but as she explained things to Rix, her gaze began to soften.

Once she was done speaking, Mick excitedly added, “If all goes well, we’ll get to see a newborn phoenix chick within this academic year! That means that if you join the Magical Creature Club now, you’ll be able to claim participation in two of our accomplishments: one, belonging to a club that succeeded in incubating and hatching a phoenix egg, and two, helping raise a phoenix chick! I can guarantee that’ll help you stand out as a strong candidate when you’re job-hunting in the future!”

“…Damn. He’s got a point there,” said Randy.

“Yes,” Serephina agreed. “And an accomplishment like that would surely be enough for Rix to avoid expulsion.”

“Hmph. It seems magical ability isn’t necessary here, either, so it may be a good fit for Rix on that front as well…,” said Shino.

“Ugh… But there’s just something I don’t like about this…,” Annie remarked. “I don’t want Rix hanging out with these guys…”

They all couldn’t help but sigh at the conundrum.

“By the way, we’ve also set up the phoenix egg for viewing for any prospective members. It’s in another booth in the back,” said Mick. “How about it? Do you want to check it out?”

“Huh, so you didn’t really think we were serious about joining, either?”

“By all means, I’d love to see it! Please!” Rix eagerly bowed his head.

Eventually, they all agreed to follow Mick to another booth, farther in the back.

“And here we are! Go ahead, take it in! Now on public display for the very first time! Our magnificent achievement, a miracle never before seen in the history of the Estoria Academy of Magic!” Mick announced. “The phoenix egg… Wait, what?”

Within the booth they had been led to, there was a pedestal with a large egg placed upon it.

It was beautiful, with a pattern resembling a flame etched upon its surface.

But someone was already in the booth before them.

“…”

This person was poised in front of the egg, standing with their back to Rix and the others.

They had a small frame and wore a tattered, hooded cloak that covered their entire body. It was difficult to tell exactly what their build was like, but their delicate shoulders gave the impression of a young girl—even a child.

Yet there was something unbalanced about that small frame and the massive, solid iron ax on their back.

They were right up against the egg, staring at it infatuatedly, their head obscuring more than half of the egg from view.

“Hey, you there. You’re not allowed to come in here unless you’re accompanied by a Magical Creature Club member. I’m sorry, but…,” Mick started to call out.

Slurp…slurp, slurp…slurp…

That was when the group heard a strange noise coming from the person in front of the egg.

It sounded almost like they were slurping up some kind of viscous liquid…

“Wh-what is that sound…?”

“H-huh? Wait…there’s supposed to be a protective barrier around the egg and its pedestal. No one should be able to get close to it… Yet somehow, the barrier is broken…”

Mick was starting to realize how strange this situation was when…

Wobble! Crash!

…something from the top of the egg collapsed to one side…and fell to the floor.

What had fallen…was a large piece of eggshell. It looked like the upper part of the egg, which had been split perfectly in half.

“…Huh? What?”

Everyone stood bewildered at the incomprehensible scene before them.

Then the small-framed figure slowly turned to face them.

“…?”

It was a girl, with fluffy blond hair covered by her hood. She had a young face, and she looked like she was just a kid. Her emerald-green eyes, like two large gems, opened wide in surprise. She blinked at Rix and the others.

And as she turned around, it became clear what exactly had happened to the phoenix egg.

The bottom half was still on the pedestal…but it was empty.

Furthermore, the girl had some kind of sticky yellow liquid all around her mouth.

That could only mean…

“Th-the eeeeeeeeeegg?!”

Mick screamed, struggling to keep from fainting. He was practically foaming at the mouth by the time he fell to the ground.

“Y-you! Don’t tell me you ate it! You ate the phoenix egg?!” Randy demanded of the girl.

“Th-this must be some kind of joke, right? You must know that a phoenix egg is worth more than a small country’s entire yearly budget!” Serephina chimed in, pale in the face.

“A-and it was such a precious and rare magical specimen…,” Annie whispered in complete shock.

“I don’t really know what you’re talkin’ about, but that egg was super tasty!” the girl replied without an ounce of shame. She flashed a smile as bright as the sun. “Are you guys the owners of this egg?! Man, I was so hungry that I just went and gobbled it up! I’m really sorry! But on my honor as a mercenary, I’ll make sure I pay you back for it! Do you have anyone you need killed, or any battles that need winnin’? I may not look it, but I’m actually real strong! I can definitely help you out!”

“What?! Who said anything about killing people?!” Randy yelled.

“Tran?!”

Rix pushed Randy out of the way and stood flabbergasted in front of the girl.

“Huh? What? You know this person?” Randy asked him.

“Tran! Wh-what are you doing here?!”

“Huh? Big Brother Rix…?”

The girl—Tran—stared at Rix in surprise when she noticed he was there.

“Sniffle… Brother…”

And suddenly, tears welled up in Tran’s large, gemlike eyes.

“I just couldn’t believe that you were dead… I couldn’t give up on you, so I searched all over for you in the ruins… Eventually, I picked up your scent and followed it far away to the west… Snff… Hic… And now I’m finally able to see you again… I finally found you, Brother…”

“T-Tran…”

“Waaaaaaaah! Brotherrrr!!”

The next moment, as if overcome with emotion, the girl flew at Rix and brandished the gigantic ax from her back toward Rix’s head.

“Brotherrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!”

She swung the ax down at him mercilessly, with every fiber of her being.

“Whooooaaaaa! Traaaaan?!”

Rix immediately unsheathed his sword and parried the lightning-fast attack. His and Tran’s weapons clashed, sending sparks flying.

The ax slammed into the ground and created a humongous blast.

“At this rate…you must be expelled. Immediately.”

“What?! It got even worse?!”

It was the day after the incident with Tran.

When one of the academy’s own Grand Masters of Magic, Darwin, made that merciless announcement, Rix let out a cry of despair that echoed throughout the room.

He had once again found himself in the headmaster’s office.

The headmaster himself sat at the back at his finely crafted desk, while instructors Darwin and Crawford stood in front of it, looking harried.

Shino, Randy, Serephina, and Annie—all of whom had been involved in the previous day’s incident—were there as well.

“Wh-what exactly do you mean?! Am I gonna be kicked out before the year-end promotion exams?! We won’t stand for such an absurd punishment! Right, everyone?!”

Rix turned to Randy, Shino, Serephina, and Annie, seeking their agreement.

“Sounds fair, actually.”

“Yeah, I agree.”

“Fair indeed.”

“Yes, I can’t argue with that…”

“Wait, what?! I thought you guys were my friends!”

“Professor, we’re not involved with Rix whatsoever, but we always figured he was the type to do something like this,” said Randy.

“He’s right,” Shino agreed. “We’re all in the same class, but we don’t interact with him on a regular basis. I did feel he was a dangerous individual who might pull this sort of thing, however.”

“Wow, way to throw me under the bus!”

Rix clutched his head in tears. His friends were being totally heartless.

“But anyway,” said Randy, “joking aside…”

“Yes,” said Shino. “Let’s get to the topic at hand.”

“Certainly,” Serephina replied.

She intended to speak for the group, turning to address Darwin, Crawford, and the headmaster.

“While we got a bit carried away there, in all actuality, we do not believe such measures are appropriate against Rix,” she began. “Basically nothing to do with either the damage to the phoenix egg or the escape of the monsters was caused by Rix’s own negligence. Most of the blame lies with Rix’s former mercenary comrade, the girl called Tran. You should easily be able to confirm this if you inquire among the students who were in the general vicinity of the incident, and among the Magical Creature Club members. Hence, we will not stand for such unreasonable consequences. We demand an explanation for the motives behind your decision.”

“Fine,” said Darwin. “Then listen up.” He responded to Serephina’s challenge with a snort. “Rix. Regarding the decision to expel you immediately… It’s because of that girl you’ve so carelessly let run loose—your dragon, Tran.”

“…Huh? Tran? A dragon? And what do you mean, my dragon?”

Rix’s jaw dropped. He didn’t understand a word of what Darwin had just said.

“““…”””

Serephina, Annie, and Randy went totally still and silent for a moment.

“Professor Darwin’s gone senile, huh…?”

“What a pity. He’s still so young, and at the prime of his career as a Grand Master of Magic…”

Randy and Serephina were muttering among themselves in sarcastically pained undertones.

“I see,” said Darwin. “If it seems I’m just a poor, sick man with cognitive dysfunction, then I myself certainly don’t know what I might do next…so I suppose I’ll simply give up on trying.”

Darwin’s typical sullen expression doubled in intensity as he began to summon a massive fireball at his fingertips with an audible rrrumble…

““We’re sorry!””

Randy and Serephina immediately dropped to the floor and prostrated themselves.

Shino shot them an exasperated look. “You two are hopeless… But Professor Darwin is right. Are you listening, Rix? That girl… She really is your dragon. So anything she does, you’re responsible for, too.”

“Shino… No matter what happens, even if you can’t even remember who I am anymore, I’ll always be your friend. Okay?”

“Don’t treat me like I’m senile, too!”

Shino grabbed Rix by the head and, using physical enhancement magic, put him into a choke hold within an inch of his life.

“Ha-ha-ha! This conversation is going nowhere fast! Please, Crawford, take over!” Headmaster Jake urged.

“What, me again? Ughhh, what a pain…” Crawford listlessly blew out a billow of purple smoke. “Uh, so, it’s kind of a pain to explain, so I’ll just get straight to the point. That girl—Tran is her name, right? You see…she’s the reincarnation of a dragon.”

“What?!”

“Aetherically speaking, I can tell her Sphere isn’t that of a human. Its ominous, ferocious aura clearly belongs to a dragon… And an ancient dragon at that, one who has lived long and gained the ability to intervene with Mother Nature. Having been reincarnated as a human, those immense powers have fallen silent… But to think that a terrible power like that is out walking around freely… Well, it’s such a pain that I wouldn’t even want to go outside.”

“Oh, I see. Because it’s a pain…” Annie smiled awkwardly at Crawford, who was acting his part as usual.

“Wait! Hold on a second, Professor Crawford!” Rix cut in frantically. He looked shocked to the core. “Tran’s definitely a human! Just because she was born out of an egg and sometimes grows those weird wings out of her back and flies around doesn’t mean she’s not a regular girl like any other! There’s no way Tran’s a dragon! I refuse to believe it…!”

“None of that stuff applies to a regular girl,” Randy quipped, visibly annoyed.

“I’d say she’s most definitely a dragon based on all that,” said Serephina, also visibly annoyed.

“But Professor…is there really such a thing as a dragon getting reincarnated as a human?”

“It’s extremely rare, but there have been some reports of such cases throughout history,” Crawford replied. “Dragons are higher beings compared to humans, and ancient dragons are the very embodiment of the overwhelming force of nature. You could even say they embody the continuous circular flow of nature itself. Owing to that, their rate of evolution is extremely fast. Biological evolution occurs through constant change, after all. Having reached this high realm of existence, dragons became able to, at the brink of death, will themselves back to the form of an egg and reconstruct themselves into their desired form for their next life… Though it sounds like a pain, since the process apparently takes an absurd amount of time. In magical biology, I’m pretty sure they call it the dragons’ evolutionary resurrection.”

“I see… So basically, this means I have to leave the academy?! Curses!” Rix spat.

“Clearly you’re not following this at all,” Randy said, quick to point out what everyone was thinking.

“Good grief, you’re thick as always,” Serephina griped. “The fact that Tran is a dragon has no direct bearing on you being expelled whatsoever.”

“Yeah, it’s like Darwin said. It’s the fact that Tran is your dragon.” Crawford blew a purple plume of tobacco smoke toward the ceiling and paused for a moment. “She’s what we call a summoned creature, or summon for short. And she’s yours.”

“…Huh?”

“What?”

“And I have no idea how you got into such a pain of a situation like this, but…although she’s been reincarnated as a human, it looks like you’ve got an ancient dragon for a summon. Ha-ha-ha, when the mages all over the world trying their hardest to perfect their own summoning magic get wind of this, they’ll be so jealous they might start a war.”

“““Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!”””

Serephina, Randy, and Annie couldn’t hold back gasps of surprise as the reality of the situation hit.

“So Tran’s a dragon, and she’s my summon…?” Rix started to tremble with shock and delight. “Which means…I have a knack for summoning magic?!”

“Of course not, you dullard,” Darwin spat.

“No, you don’t. Remember your place, Rix,” Shino said coldly.

“Hey! Can’t you be even a little nicer to me?!” Rix hollered, tearing up once again.

Just then, Annie raised a question.

“But…it’s strange, isn’t it? I thought that the more powerful the being, the more difficult it should be to form a summoning contract… So it would be a huge achievement to take an ancient dragon as your summon. It just doesn’t make sense if Rix doesn’t have any magical ability…”

“That relates back to the whole expulsion issue…,” Crawford answered with great annoyance. “The contract between Tran and Rix is only a one-way contract.”

“…Huh?”

“Normally, a summoning contract is bound only after both a contract of control from the side of the master toward the summon and a contract of servitude from the side of the summon toward the master are complete. Yet somehow, there’s no contract of control between Rix and Tran. But there is an existing contract of servitude between Tran and Rix. It really is strange…and a huge pain no matter how you slice it…”

“For students at the academy, it is recognized as one’s natural right as a mage to be able to bring one’s own summons onto the campus grounds with you.”

At this point, Darwin had taken over the explanation, speaking dispassionately.

“However, that is in the case that both sides of the contract have been bound, and the master has complete control over their summon. It is forbidden to bring uncontracted summoned creatures or those with incomplete contracts onto school grounds. In short, you are deemed to be neglecting a mage’s minimum responsibility toward their summoned creature…and the punishment is immediate expulsion from the academy. If you don’t like it, hurry up and redo your summon contract, you fool.”

“D-do what now…?!” Rix was quaking. “Um, so…redoing a contract… That sounds like it must take a lot of different summoning magic stuff, right? And since I don’t have a regular Sphere, I can’t use magic…”

“I couldn’t care less. You figure it out.”

Darwin’s response was merciless as usual.

And Headmaster Jake was quick to rub salt into the wound.

“Oh, by the way, Mr. Rix! Any misconduct carried out by a summon is considered their master’s responsibility! That means the responsibility for the destruction of the valuable phoenix egg and the damage caused by the monsters running loose within academy grounds unfortunately lies with you! At least, that’s how it will be considered from a public perspective! Ha-ha-ha! The board of directors already has quite a poor opinion of you, but after this incident, it’ll be lower than ever! All this combined with your abysmal test grades! Even if you are able to clean up the mess surrounding Tran’s contract…you will still need to accomplish something big enough to overturn all of this! Additionally, all this should put you at a disadvantage when job-hunting, too! Nonetheless…you’re still young, so keep doing your best! Don’t give up! Fight bravely onward!”

“Wh-wh-what…?”

It was all too much. Rix could do nothing but throw his head back and scream.

“Whaaat?! Why is my future such a mess?!”

“First things first: Let’s review the situation.”

The strategy meeting began, with Shino taking the lead.

It was lunch break, and the day’s morning classes had ended.

The group had set up camp in one corner of the student dining hall and was listening to Shino as its members ate their respective lunches.

“For starters…we have Rix’s expulsion due to poor grades. Let’s set aside that one for now,” Shino began. “We’ll just have to keep looking for a club that will let him join. And it has to be somewhere where he might be able to achieve some kind of accomplishment by the end of the school year.”

“Um…so do you think the Magical Creature Club is a no-go after all?” Rix asked.

“Pretty sure I saw the club president making a voodoo doll using your hair.”

“I don’t really get what I did wrong, but I can tell he seriously hates me now.” Tears were streaming down Rix’s face.

“I think the first problem we need to tackle is the issue threatening your immediate expulsion. In other words, your summoning contract with Tran.”

“Tran… My summon…”

With a piece of rye bread hanging out of his mouth, Rix laced his hands behind his head and looked up toward the ceiling.

“To be honest, I still can’t believe she’s my summon… Are we sure it’s even true?”

“It seems pretty certain by my estimation,” said Shino. “Tran’s connection to you is like a one-way street.”

“Man… Seriously…?” Rix sighed. “Me and Tran fought together as fellow mercenaries for so long…but I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined that she was a summoned creature.”

“Magic is bound by the laws of cause and effect. If there is an effect, there must be a cause that led to it. Do you have any idea what could have led to the contract between you and Tran?”

“No, not a clue. I can’t even use magic.”

Serephina sipped her potato soup and brought up her own thoughts.

“For one thing, it’s awfully strange that it’s a one-way contract in the direction from Tran to Rix.”

“That’s true…,” said Annie. “Normally, summoning contracts are initiated from the mage’s side, after which both sides of the contract are bound… Is it even possible for only one side of the contract to be completed?”

“Not usually. I tried searching my faint memories of my past life as the Dusk Demon, but I don’t remember ever hearing of such a case,” replied Shino.

“““Hrmm…”””

The three girls strained their faces in thought.

“By the way, Rix.” Randy, who had been silently eating his pasta, suddenly posed a question. “You and Tran were members of the same mercenary corps, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. She was like a little sister to me.”

“Hmm… Then let me ask this. How did you two first meet?”

“Oh yeah, that’s a good point,” said Annie. “If he doesn’t have any idea about how they formed a contract, then maybe there was something about their first meeting that can give us a clue. That makes sense.”

“The day I met Tran…” Rix scratched his head as he dug through his memories. “Oh yeah… One day, I was wandering the ruins of a certain battlefield and came across an egg.”

“An egg? I see… She was going through the dragons’ evolutionary resurrection.”

“Yeah. So then the egg started to hatch right in front of me… Then she popped out of it, stark naked… And that’s how I met Tran.”

“Oh, really?”

Rix narrowed his eyes in fond reminiscence. “Ha-ha-ha, that really brings me back… When I saw her there, totally naked like that…I just couldn’t take it anymore, so I jumped on her and tried to gobble her right up (as food)… If the other members of the corps hadn’t found us then and stopped me, who knows what would have happened…”

““““…””””

All four of Rix’s friends froze solid.

After a moment…

“…You say you jumped on her and tried to gobble her up (in a sexual sense)?” Randy asked.

“Disgusting. You pedophile,” Shino spat.

“That’s low, Rix,” said Serephina. “I may need to rethink my decision to hire you into my future army.”

“I misjudged you, Rix…,” said Annie.

Each friend scorned Rix and eyed him like he was a piece of trash.

“I mean, sure, it was pretty low, but I don’t think it was that bad,” Rix retorted, meeting their gazes with a disgusted look of his own. “I had no other choice! I was facing the extreme conditions of the battlefield, and I couldn’t help myself!”

“…Couldn’t help yourself (in a sexual sense)?”

“Disgusting.”

“The worst.”

“That’s just obscene, Rix.”

“There’s nothing I can say that’ll fix this, is there?!” Rix yelled with his head in his hands.

“Then again, I don’t think he’s the kind of guy who would do something so awful, so…I do get the feeling there’s something we’re missing about the whole story…,” said Randy.

“…Agreed,” said Serephina.

“Y-yeah…,” Annie added. “You must be right…”

“Could it be he meant he literally tried to gobble her up as food?” Serephina wondered aloud.

“Come on, he’s not that stupid,” said Randy.

Shino ignored their whispering and kept a straight face as she went on in a detached manner. “Anyway, that aside. Rix, there are two possible routes you can take from here. One: Reform your contract with Tran and bring her completely under your control as your summon.”

“Completely make Tran my summon…?”

“Yes. While your reputation at the academy is at rock bottom now, with this route, you can gain value as a rare mage with an ancient dragon as his summon.”

“Hrm… That somehow doesn’t sit well… It makes me feel like I’m treating Tran as an object.”

“You want to become a mage, don’t you? If so, you’ll need to get over it. Furthermore…this may end up being for her benefit as well. In a sense, she is in a very dangerous situation right now.”

“…?”

Shino’s vague wording had Rix visibly confused.

“But still, you can’t use magic,” she added. “So this route may be all but hopeless for you.”

“Okay… Hey, Shino, isn’t there some way you can make the contract between me and Tran in my place?” Rix asked, the thought having just occurred to him.

““““…””””

“To avoid getting expelled, I need to do something about the summoning contract with Tran,” Rix mused. “And then I need to join a club and achieve something in it. This is going to be impossible, isn’t it…?”

The lunch break that coincided with Rix and Tran’s fateful reencounter had ended.

While walking through the academy grounds toward the next afternoon class, Rix was mumbling to himself weakly.

Seeing him like this, an exasperated Shino started to scold him.

“Get a hold of yourself, Rix. Either way, that’s something to worry about after classes. For now, please just pay attention in class.”

“That’s right,” Serephina agreed. “You can’t afford for your grades to fall any lower than they already have. If you go past the point where an achievement in your club activities will help you recover your reputation from your poor grades, then there will be no helping you.”

“We’re all here to give you a hand with your studies. So let’s do our best. Okay?” said Annie.

“Wow! I dunno what’s goin’ on, but it sure sounds like you’re in a pickle, Brother!” Tran added, unconcerned. She was trotting along next to Rix.

“…Tran, about eighty percent of this whole situation is thanks to you, y’know,” Rix told her.

“??? Thanks to me…?”

Rix was glaring at Tran, who stared back in puzzlement.

Then she gave a thumbs-up and flashed a dazzling smile. “I don’t really get it, but I’m happy to be of service, Brother!”

“Not even sarcasm works on you!”

Smush! Rix grabbed Tran’s head with both hands and shook it violently.

“Anyway, Tran. What made you suddenly decide to start following us around everywhere?”

“Heh… Brother, didja forget the ironclad rules of life on the battlefield?” She puffed out her flat chest and put on a smug face. “‘If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles’!”

“Yeah, I remember. But we never bothered to know either the enemy or ourselves, and we were always afraid of how every battle would turn out… So?”

“A bloodstained battlefield is where you really belong, and that had me wonderin’ why you came here. I’m pretty smart, so I decided to observe the enemy firsthand and find out what kind of place this really is!” Tran explained. “I just know that this isn’t where you belong! So once I figure out the reason why, I won’t have any reservations or regrets about tearin’ it to the ground before I bring you back to the corps!”

“I’m not sure you took the right meaning from that quote…and the rest of the stuff you said is just scary…”

“Hey, Shino…do you think that girl is okay?” Randy whispered. “I mean…she was clearly acting weird a little while ago, right…?”

“Yes, there is certainly something strange about her. We just don’t know what that something is yet.” Shino let out a small sigh. “But I believe we may be safe for now as long as we don’t bring up the summoning contract with Rix to her again.”

“Sure hope so…”

“But truly, Tran. You may be a reckless person, but you’re a talented fighter, and cute to boot. I’ve taken quite a liking to you! What say you and Rix become my subordinates one day?”

“Oh Serephina, you never stop trying to recruit people for your army, do you?” said Annie. “By the way, Tran, you ate quite a lot back there. Would you like some candy to cleanse your palate?”

“Gosh, thanks, you two! I really appreciate it! To pay you back, I’ll make sure I let you two escape before I destroy the academy!”

The lively, innocent way in which Tran spoke made it impossible to tell if she was joking or serious.

“I feel like…in one sense…it’s more dangerous to keep her with us…,” Randy said to Shino.

“It is hard to tell if it’s some kind of mercenary humor…or if she simply has a total lack of ethical standards.”

Shino let out another sigh. Being with Tran felt like carrying around a bomb and never knowing when it was going to explode.

“Even so, I think it’s best if we keep her under our close observation,” Shino continued. “We somehow need to unravel the mystery behind Rix and Tran’s contract…and furthermore, nothing good will come from letting a stray summon run free without a hand on the reins.”

The group arrived at their next class: summoning magic.

The classroom was built like an arena; at its center was a round stage encased in a magical barrier where the instructor could demonstrate spells for the students.

As Rix and his friends waited in a corner of the room for the class to start, Randy whispered, “So…I wonder who’s going to be teaching this class.”

“Right. Professor Anna was supposed to teach the summoning magic class, and it got temporarily canceled following her untimely ‘retirement,’” Shino replied flatly.

“…Yeah, exactly.”

Rix nodded with a slightly pained look on his face. (Tran, meanwhile, was standing next to Rix, her eyes darting around the classroom in fascination.)

The incident with Professor Anna had occurred about two weeks earlier.

Instructor Anna Piyonelle had originally been the teacher for the summoning magic class. She had also been the one who so diligently helped Shino and Rix along in opening their Spheres, which every mage needed to use magic.

But the truth had been that she was a member of a forbidden secret organization: the Faith Faction.

She’d gotten close to Shino, who had been the Dusk Demon in her previous life, with the aim of using Shino’s powers for her own purposes. In the process, things had turned sinister, and after a near fight to the death, Rix was able to stop her.

“I feel like… How do I put this? Like the level of evilness of the teachers at this school is a little higher than average…”

“Well, there are some comparatively normal ones, too, like Professor Arca.”

Rix and the others nervously waited to find out just what kind of character would appear to teach the summoning magic class.

Finally, just as the bell to signal the beginning of the period rang, the door opened, and in walked a certain familiar figure.

She was a beautiful woman of noble bearing and unclear age. Her purple hair was tied back, and her irises were the color of blood. Her complexion was pale white, like wax.

This woman, at once bewitching and mature while also fresh-faced, youthful, and even childlike, was none other than…

“Hello, everyone. I’m very sorry to have kept you waiting.”

““““Professor Arca?!””””

Professor Arca was usually in charge of the black magic class.

“My name is Arca Claudia. I will be temporarily taking charge of the White Class’s summoning magic class, in place of the previous instructor, Professor Anna. You see, today’s dessert at the dining hall was just so divine… I completely lost myself in my enjoyment, and the time got away from me. It seems I am still in need of some discipline as an instructor… Heh-heh-heh.”

“Huh? B-but Professor Arca, don’t you teach the black magic class? Isn’t summoning magic outside of your area of expertise?” one of the students called out.

“For any of you thinking the same, please, do not worry,” Arca replied. “To slightly change the topic, summoned creatures are ranked on how difficult they are to acquire, from rank E to rank S, based on their rarity and the strength of their existence. I presume you already know this, correct?

“Heed my summons, O guiding hand of sacred flame and soul.”

Professor Arca raised her index finger into the air, etched a pentagram and magical script into the empty space, and chanted an incantation.

The next moment, the spell she had drawn glowed scarlet, dyeing the entire room that color.

A burst of bright red flame swirled near Arca—and the burning, scorching fire formed the shape of a great bird that shined a deep crimson.

It spread its wings and landed on Arca’s extended arm.

““““A ph-phoeniiiiiiiiiix?!””””

It was the famous immortal phoenix—an S-rank summon.

“No waaaaay!”

“I thought having even an A-rank would make someone a super-high-level summoner?!”

“I don’t think even Professor Anna had an S-rank summon!”

“To have an S-rank summon… That’s, like, legendary-level!”

The entire class was overcome with surprise, and Randy and Rix were no exception.

“Damn, I gotta say…I’m impressed.”

“Yeah…I didn’t expect Professor Arca to summon grilled chicken…!”

“Yeah, that thing looks delicious! Do we get to eat it?!” Tran asked.

“I don’t think I even have to say this, but you know that’s not the part you’re supposed to be impressed by, right? And it’s not grilled chicken…,” said Serephina.

The students all stared in disbelief at Arca, who smiled calmly at them, waved her finger again, and sent the phoenix back into the void.

“Physical enhancement magic, black magic, white magic, summoning magic… There isn’t a single field of magic that I haven’t mastered. It just so happens that black magic is my strongest subject,” she explained. “Please rest assured that I am more than qualified to instruct you fledgling mages in the art of summoning magic.”

She’s inhuman…

Having first been shown just how extraordinary Arca was in their black magic class, and being shown the same all over again now, the students were aghast and in disbelief.

“The strongest teacher at the academy must be either Professor Darwin or Professor Arca…”

“I really wonder which of them is stronger…”

“It’s obviously gotta be Professor Arca…”

“No way, it’s Professor Darwin. Haven’t you heard those rumors—?”

The students had gotten so excited that they were starting to derail into various tangents.

“Ahem. Let’s leave the chitchat at that, shall we? I’d like to begin the class.”

But with a clearing of her throat, Arca brought the students’ attention back and started the class.

“Now, since it’s been a while since you’ve attended this class, allow me to start with a simple review. What, exactly, is summoning magic? Is there anyone here who can answer?”

With that, Annie raised her hand and spoke up.

“Yes, ma’am. It is a field of magic that communicates with or controls nonhuman beings such as insects, plants, animals, monsters, and cryptids, as well as conceptual beings such as fairies and spirits.”

“Thank you for the exemplary answer.” Arca looked at Annie with a smile before continuing. “Yes, that is exactly what summoning magic is. In short, it is an exceedingly arrogant form of magic that unilaterally controls all nonhuman beings using magical power and uses them like slaves. Among mages, we have a saying: ‘If thou seekest to achieve thy desires, thou must feed the desires of others into the kiln.’ Summoning magic is the very embodiment of those words. It is a magic that must be exercised with great care, and we must strictly forbid its misuse.”

The students gulped in anticipation.

“However, you all must have your doubts, correct? Summoning magic controls all nonhuman beings…? Even if it is magic, how could such a thing be possible?” Arca asked. “In terms of simple strength of existence of single organisms, humans are by no means the strongest beings in the natural world. In fact, it would be faster if you counted up from the bottom. Then why, despite that, can we weak humans control and use beings stronger than ourselves? That is because there is a law of this world through which God has established humankind as the lords of creation.”

Arca took up a piece of chalk and began writing on the blackboard.

“This is called…the True Name. Plants, animals, monsters, cryptids, fairies, and spirits… The soul of every living being that lives in this world has a unique name that defines its existence, called its True Name,” she said at length. “Any who know the True Name of another’s soul have complete dominion over it, and any commands given in that True Name supersede all other laws of this world. Moreover, every being in this world is bound to their True Name, with the sole exception of humans. This is because humankind are the only beings who do not possess a True Name. The reason for that is unknown. In this sense, humans are the only incomplete existence in this world. However, owing to that—humans gained power over all creation.”

Having finished writing these concepts on the blackboard, Arca turned around to face the students.

“Using your Sphere, you can discern and grasp the True Name of a target’s soul, then summon and use that target’s very existence at your will. This is summoning magic. It may be more accurate to call it ‘existence control techniques,’ however.”

“…That’s way more absurd and scary than I originally thought.” Randy mumbled to himself while leaning his head on his hand. “True Name, huh? What kind of an unfair system is that, that just from having a name known by someone else, you can’t go against them anymore? …Maybe it’s insensitive of me, but I’m glad I was born a human…”

“Ha-ha-ha. You know, Randy, humans aren’t much different,” said Rix. “How many humans do you think charged straight into a battlefield where they clearly knew they would die, just because their employer felt like it and ordered them to?”

“Pretty sure that only applies to people in certain…special industries.”

Arca ignored the two boys’ banter.

“In fact, once you discern and grasp the True Name of your summoning target, the summoning and use of the being itself are not that difficult, as long as you can prepare the mana and Sphere strength required for summoning,” she told the class. “However, that initial discernment and grasping of a True Name…that requires extremely high levels of technique, knowledge, and experience. Even controlling a small animal on the level of a rat or a bird is quite difficult. It would be no exaggeration to say that the core of the whole study of summoning magic lies in this.”

Staring back at the students as they started to murmur among themselves, Arca made a declaration.

“Over this one year of summoning magic class, you will learn the techniques and workings behind how to discern and grasp a True Name—that is, the summoning oath rite. Then, by the time you move up into your second year, we expect you to have grasped the True Name of at least one summon of your own, no matter how small, through your own individual effort…”

Then Arca paused.

A faint smile appeared on her face before she began to speak again.

“Actually, we have a student among us today who has already obtained their very own summoned creature. And this exceptional student’s summon is not some small animal but quite a magnificent creature.”

The class broke into hushed chatter.

“Wait, does she mean…?” said Randy.

“Honestly…I was really hoping we could keep this quiet,” Shino grumbled.

The two of them had a bad feeling from Arca’s lead-in, and they scowled in unison…but then:

“Heh… So you saw right through me, Professor Arca. I shouldn’t be surprised.”

Suddenly, a student stood up among the class with a bold smile.

“To think that at one simple glance, you could discern that I, Alfred Lordston, have already obtained my very own summon… But I should expect no less from Arca Claudia, the one they call the Obsidian Sage. Allow me to express my endless admiration for your keen eye.”

Alfred cut an imposingly smug figure.

“What? Oh…yes. That’s right, you already have a summon, too, don’t you, Alfred?”

Alfred cocked his head in confusion at Arca’s puzzled response.

Muffled giggles started erupting around the classroom.

“Wha—?! Y-you mean to say…that there’s someone else besides me?! Another student with some magnificent summoned creature at their command?! Well, who the hell is it?!” Alfred demanded. “Well?! Is it you, Serephina?! A genius mage like you, I could understand—”

“I’m still but a beginner at summoning magic. I cannot even summon a fly.”

“What?! Then…Shino! It must be you! Your Sphere may be tiny, but even I can recognize your extraordinary knowledge of spells and ability for magical techniques!”

“Unfortunately, no. The last time I died, I completely lost my stock of True Names—”

“That’s enough, Shino!”

Annie reached forward from her seat behind Shino and hurriedly covered Shino’s mouth.

“I-it’s not you, either?! Guh… Then who the hell could it be?!”

“Uh, well…it’s Rix,” Arca flatly whispered.

“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!” Alfred glared at Rix in a rage. “Don’t be ridiculous… A person like you has a summon?! You can’t even use magic!”

“Seriously, Alfred, how did you not know this already?” said Randy. “I’m pretty sure the rumors of Rix’s summon have been spreading like crazy all over campus since yesterday.”

“It must be because he’s always alone and doesn’t have any friends,” Serephina replied.

“Poor Alfred…,” said Annie. “Come on, we should try being nicer to him…”

“Shut up, all of you!” Alfred shouted. Then he returned his glare to Rix and let out a nasally chuckle as if to provoke him. “Hmph… Well, Rix. To think that a failure like you who can’t even use magic already has his own summon. How did you manage a thing like that?”

“Uh, I’m not really sure how it happened, myself…”

“The hell? Well, whatever. Let’s see it, this summon of yours. I’d like to see it for myself and judge if it’s as great as they say. I bet it’s nothing more than a dog or a cat…”

“She’s sitting right next to me, actually.”

“Hi! I’m Tran!”

Tran happily raised her hand.

““““???””””

The classroom instantly flew into a commotion.

While many had heard the rumor that Rix had his own summon, none of them expected it to be the mysterious girl sitting next to him. All turned to stare at her.

Then Alfred, having laid eyes on Tran—

“Ha-ha-ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

—suddenly burst into what was clearly disparaging laughter.

“Ah, I suppose there are all sorts of people in this world—even lowly, vulgar sleazebags like you who don’t even deserve to call themselves mages.”

“What did you say?!”

“All right, Rix. What is she? An elf? Some kind of beast hybrid?” Alfred asked. “I can tell she is quite a strong summon. I’ll give you that. But either way, I see there really are such rotten people who enslave demi-human women as summons for certain purposes…and you’re one of them, huh? Tsk… This is why I’ve always been against you plebs with no common sense becoming mages.”

“Hey, Alfred. Hold on a second there—”

Heedless to Randy’s calls for restraint, Alfred ran into the middle of the circular classroom and began to chant an incantation.

“Come forth, O my noble, majestic, brave, and sharp-eyed companion!”

The pentagram Alfred had etched into the air with his wand expanded, and a magical force started burning white-hot upon it.

A portal opened in midair and summoned forth a creature with a mighty presence.

Its gaze was sharp as a knife. It had the upper body of an eagle and the lower body of a lion; the creature was muscular yet lean, like an overwhelmingly wild and violent work of art.

Most astounding of all was its sheer presence, which practically made the room tremble.

This creature, with its wild, majestic beauty and power that made all the students hold their breath, was called—

“A-rank summon: the griffin,” Alfred said. “The fated companion of the Lordston family, generation after generation. What do you think, Rix? Are you surprised? Now this is what you call real summoning magic—a contract between souls, built on loyalty and trust. A bond of destiny. Compared to you, who chose your summon simply to fulfill your vulgar desires, I’m on a whole different level in terms of my method and commitment.”

Alfred and his griffin seemed to be on the same wavelength without needing a single word spoken between them.

The griffin sidled up to Alfred and shot Rix a sharp, hostile glare.

Rix could tell with one look that Alfred and this creature trusted each other completely, and that left him genuinely impressed.

“Rix,” said Alfred. “I challenge you to a summon battle.”

“A what?!”

A summon battle was one of the dueling methods of mages, in which they competed using the strength of their summoned creatures.

Essentially, the mages themselves were to only give instructions to their summons and boost them with mana at strategic points of the battle. Otherwise, direct intervention in the battle was strictly prohibited.

In short, it was a battle to test the trust and level of training between a mage and their summon.

“If you lose, you have to break the contract between you and that girl—set her free.”

“No, you see…I don’t have any control over—”

“I accept your challenge!”

Just as Rix was wondering how best he should explain the situation, Tran was quick to innocently take Alfred up on his invitation.

“All I gotta do is fight that griffin, right?! I don’t totally get it, but I’m not one to back down from a fight! I won’t lose!” Saying this, Tran trotted down to the center of the classroom’s arena.

“Ugh… So you’ve got the girl so whipped that she’d still agree so enthusiastically when faced with a clearly stronger opponent… Commoner mages really are the worst,” Alfred spat. “I hereby vow, on my honor as a member of the noble class! I will see that girl freed…!”

Alfred’s anger and hatred toward Rix were growing by the minute.

“Alfred…stop… Please, stop this…!”

“We beg you… This is just…too much…!”

Randy and Serephina had tears in their eyes as they tried to stop the battle from going forward.

“Hmph! Siding with Rix as always, I see! What a despicable bunch you are.”

“No, that’s not it! You’re wrong! That’s really not the reason!”

“He’s right! You know, even if you are sort of annoying, I can tell you’re really not that bad of a person after all! So I just feel bad for what’s about to happen to you…!”

“Ha-ha-ha! Why should you pity me?” Alfred scoffed. “The only creatures that could ever hope to win against my A-rank griffin would be Professor Arca’s S-rank phoenix, a legendary EX-rank, or maybe something like an ancient dragon!”

“Alfreeeeeeeeeeed!!” Randy cried out. For some reason, he couldn’t stop the tears from pouring down his face. “Professor Arca! Please, put a stop to this pointless contest! Professor!” Randy begged Arca desperately.

“Oh? But why would I do a thing like that?”

Arca, apparently with all intention of watching the battle play out, seemed puzzled by the request.

“Why wouldn’t you?!”

“Well, because…it seems like it will be interesting…?”

“Are you sure you’re really qualified to be a teacher?”

And so, Tran and the griffin were soon facing off against each other in the middle of the classroom. Arca created a magical barrier around them, and the battle began.

“You got it, Rhody? …Don’t hurt her. Just do what you can to make her lose the will to fight.”

“Grrrrrr…”

The griffin nodded and let out a low growl as it took in Alfred’s instructions.

Then it roared menacingly at Tran, as if to intimidate her.

“GRRRRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!”

The air in the classroom rumbled with the pressure and immensity of the roar.

Its power was great enough to cause some of the students watching on to faint. However…

“Fssshhhaaaah!”

For just an instant, Tran’s aura seemed to swell as she raised both hands over her head and howled back.

The next moment—

“Whaaaaaaaaat?! Rhodyyyyyyyy?!”

—the griffin rolled over onto its back, showing Tran its belly and looking smaller than ever.

“Whiiiiine… Whiiiiiine…”

It started trembling.

“What?! What happened?! What’s wrong, Rhodyyyyyy?!”

“Brother! I won! Did I do good?”

“You did great! You won without hurting them, just like I asked you to! You’re a very good girl! Aaaah, thank goodness! I seriously thought my heart was gonna stop!!”

“Eh-heh-heh! ♥”

Tran looked happy as Rix petted her on the head.

In response to the farce playing out in the center of the room…

“Well…I guess that makes sense.”

“Seems reasonable.”

“I’m just glad there wasn’t any major damage…other than to Alfred’s ego, that is…”

“Ah-ha-ha-ha…”

The rest of the students blinked in wonderment. Randy and his friends simply breathed sighs of relief.

“All right! Today’s classes are over! Time to get back to looking for a club!”

“Let’s do it!”

Rix and Tran were walking through the academy grounds and psyching themselves up.

“I’m still gonna tear this school to the ground after all this, but do your best for now, Brother!”

“Thanks for your support! But I’m still gonna have to kill you if you try that!”

“Ah-ha-ha, right back atcha! When that happens, I guess I’ll be bringing just your head back to the corps with me!”

“Ha-ha-ha, you rascal!”

“Tee-hee! ♪”

“…I dunno if I’ll ever understand the way fellow mercenaries interact,” Randy said with a sigh. He was staring blankly at Tran and Rix, who were in the middle of a lively conversation.

“They seem to get along well, at least…but there’s something unique about how easily they talk about killing each other,” Annie mused.

“Just a regular pair of sociopaths,” Shino remarked.

“Oh-ho-ho, they truly are interesting characters, aren’t they? I’d love to have them both under my employ someday,” said Serephina.

The group then headed for their next destination.

““““Welcome to Flying Club, first-year students!””””

“I really think a club with some nice, refreshing activities, like the Flying Club, will be best for me,” said Rix, looking more confident than ever.

“Yeah, you may be right. As long as you can get past the issue that you can’t fly,” Randy quipped.

The group of friends had reached a wide-open field somewhere within the grounds of the academy—the training grounds for flight magic.

Gathered there were some dozen upperclassmen and another dozen first-year students, which included Rix.

“I’m the president of the Flying Club, Sora Skyliner.”

An energetic, sporty-looking girl with long, chestnut-brown hair pulled into a ponytail stood before the first-year students and smiled back brightly at them.

While she was still only a second-year student, she was known as a flying ace, having already made great achievements at various flying competitions.

“You have all already learned about the art of flying—flight magic—in class, right?”

The first-year students nodded.

Physical enhancement magic was foundational among all mages, and beyond that, there were nine basic spells that were considered essential: Ember, Thunderbolt, Shield, Telekinesis, Illuminate, Telepathy, Heal, Sleep…and finally, Flight. Together with physical enhancement magic, that made ten major spell types in total. Apparently, one could only really begin to call oneself a mage after mastering these ten techniques.

“By the way, I can’t do any of them!”

“Rix, who are you talking to?” said Randy. “And by the way, even me and Annie are able to do all of the ten spells at some level, though there are some we’re not so great at…”

Sora ignored the two boys’ banter and went on with her explanation.

“Our club activities center around using flight magic to fly freely through the sky and visit all kinds of different places together. We also compete against one another to test our skills. For example, we’ll see how fast we can reach a certain destination, or practice acrobatic flying techniques together. But of course…if you can’t use the flight spell, then you can’t do any of that. So that’s why, before we allow any of you prospective members to join, we need to test you.”

The first-year students started to murmur anxiously, but Sora was quick to try to calm them back down.

“But don’t worry; it’s all right. The test isn’t that hard! Even though we call it an entrance test, we really just want to check your current flying skill level, that’s all!”

Hearing this, the first-year students breathed sighs of relief, all except…

“Well, that’s it for you,” Randy told Rix, who had started to tremble.

“…”

“Let me guess, you were hoping you could just fool them by running super fast instead of flying, weren’t you? Thought you could just tell them you were flying very low to the ground?”

“Wha—?! N-no, no, no, no, of course I wouldn’t try a cheat like that…!”

“Look me in the eyes and say that. It’s weird in the first place that you would want to try to join the Flying Club when you know you can’t fly. Come on, let’s just go find a different club.”

“Hold on, Randy. I have a secret plan…”

“…I take to the sky, my wings spread wide!”

The first-years focused their minds with their wands readied as they chanted the Flight incantation.

Rix watched one student slowly float roughly one meter off the ground and move forward in midair.

“Whoooaaaa?!”

Finally, after hovering forward about fifty meters, they landed back onto the ground.

“Huff…huff…wheeze…wheeze… I’m sorry, but that’s about all I can manage at this point… Is it good enough to join the club?” the student asked Sora.

“No problem! That was fine! Once you start practicing together with us, you’ll be flying all over like that in no time!”

Sora pointed encouragingly toward the sky.

Above them, some upperclassmen were practicing, zooming through the air at great speed, flying in large circles.

“Wow… You guys are amazing…”

The first-year student, who had barely been able to fly fifty meters, looked up at the sky in admiration.

“You know, I wasn’t so different from you when I first joined, myself!”

“R-really…? Then I’ll keep working at it!”

Rix and Randy had been observing this exchange.

“Did you see that, Randy?”

“See what?”

“That guy… He only flew fifty meters, but they still let him join.”

“So what?”

“So that means…” Rix triumphantly stepped forward. “Miss Sora! Can I go next?”

“Sure, be my guest! Just go easy, okay? First, stand on this line, then fly toward that one over there… Wait… Huh? You know, you don’t have to stand so far back from the starting line…”

Sora was cocking her head in confusion at Rix’s stance, but he simply ignored her as he continued to back up farther and farther.

“White Class, first-year, Rix Frestat. Here I gooooooooo! I take to the sky, my wings spread wide! Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!”

He took off in a mad dash.

Fwoom!

He moved so incredibly fast that looking from the front, he almost appeared to vanish—then as he reached the start line, he took a great leap.

He didn’t fly—he leaped.

“’Sup, guys?!” (zoom!)

““““Wha—?!””””

Rix greeted the upperclassmen flying aloft as he zoomed past them, leaping still higher…and eventually, he landed with a skid, far beyond the intended fifty-meter goal line.

Yeah, pretty sure that was just a long jump…

Randy, Serephina, and Annie were all thinking the same thing.

“…Whew, I guess that’s the most I can manage right now… How was that?! Was it good enough to join the club?!”

Although he was doing his best to sound humble, Rix could barely hide his confident smirk.

“No. I’m afraid not,” Sora answered with a merciless stare.

“What?! Why?! I flew farther than all the other first-year students, didn’t I?”

“Because what he did wasn’t flying at all, was it?” Randy whispered to Serephina.

“To be honest, while I expected this to happen, I never cease to be amazed at what a beast Rix is.”

“I’ve heard that there are some students who just can’t get the knack for flight magic in particular,” said Sora. “This test is supposed to deter such students from joining…”

“Except this isn’t a case of flight magic in particular,” Randy muttered.

“It’s no use trying to fool us by using your excellent physical enhancement magic, Rix. As club president, I simply can’t allow you to join. I’m sorry. But with physical enhancement magic skill like that, I’m sure you’ll find another club that will be happy to take you…”

But just then, as Sora was laying down her judgment…an unexpected helping hand reached out to Rix.

“It seems that being able to fly using flight magic specifically isn’t mandatory to join, is it? In short, it’s enough to simply be able to fly in the sky.”

It was Shino. She was holding the pamphlet containing all the various clubs’ philosophies and details on their activities.

She closed the pamphlet with a snap and looked over at Sora.

“Shino?!”

Rix, who had returned to the starting line in a dash, stood there shocked by Shino’s words. Then Shino called out to Tran, who had been loitering around, fascinated by exploring her surroundings.

“You’re up, summon.”

“Huh? Me?”

“Yes, you. You can fly, can’t you? Put Rix on your back and fly him around.”

Next, Shino poked Rix in the chest with her finger.

“You listening? A summon’s power is their master’s power. That means her magic belongs to you as well. Understand? Even if the contract is incomplete, you’re still Tran’s master. So Tran’s power is your magic. It would be a waste not to take advantage of it, right?”

“Y-yeah! You’re right! Okay, Tran! Can I ask you to do what Shino just said?!”

“No problem, Brother!”

Tran responded in her usual innocent fashion as she unfurled her dragon wings.

Then she got down on the ground on all fours.

“Come on, Brother! Go ahead and hop on!”

“O-okay!”

Rix plopped down cross-legged on Tran’s back.

Given that she was the reincarnation of a dragon, even sitting on her back, Rix couldn’t sense a shred of weakness. Rather, her body felt incredibly stable, like sitting on top of a boulder.

“All right, here I go! Whoo-hoooooooooo!”

In an instant, Tran had begun to powerfully beat her wings, and with the overwhelming air pressure it created, she soared into the air with Rix on her back.

“Wh-whooooaaaaa?!”

Rix couldn’t help but get excited from watching himself rise higher and higher.

“It’s the first time I’ve ridden on your back and flown like this, but it’s super fun!” he told Tran.

“Really? Somehow, it’s super fun for me to fly with you, too!”

“That’s great! As long as you’re okay with it, it might not be so bad to practice this kind of thing every day!”

“Yeah, I’m totally okay with it!”

Below them, the students on the field silently watched the pair happily flying around.

“…Hmm.”

With a small smirk as if to say “Well, that’s decided,” Shino turned to Sora. “I’ll ask again for good measure. What do you think? Now can you let Rix into the club?”

“No. ’Fraid not. Sorry,” Sora whispered.

“I figured.”

Having expected this answer, Shino fell back into her usual expressionless look.

Then she and Sora looked back up at Rix and Tran.

“Ah-ha-ha! Hey, Brother! The wind sure feels nice!”

“Yeah, it’s great! Oh, what’s that? Let’s head over there and check it out, Tran!”

“You got it!”

A young-looking girl doing as she’s told, with a larger man sitting right on top of her doing nothing but giving orders…

More than anyone had imagined, the optics somehow looked very…

Weird…

At that moment, all the students watching were of the same mind.

After that, Rix and the others ended up having to continue their search for a club.

They planned to keep checking out the different clubs the academy had to offer one after another for the next few days.

On the second day, they visited the Physical Enhancement Athletics Club.

At this club, members devoted themselves to the study of physical enhancement magic and competed in various track-and-field and gymnastics events.

“Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

“Wh-whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!”

There was Rix, pulling ahead of all the club’s members in a mad dash.

“Bwaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

“Wh-whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!”

There was Rix, throwing the iron shot put ball farther than anyone else in the club could.

“Graaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

“Wh-whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!”

There was Rix, leaping over the high-jump bar, higher than any of the other members.

“Hooooo-yeaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

“Wh-whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!”

There was Rix, lifting a heavier barbell than any of the club’s upperclassmen could lift…

“Well?! How was that?!”

Wham! Blam! Rix cast aside a barbell that was so heavy it half embedded itself in the ground where it landed.

He turned back toward the upperclassmen of the Physical Enhancement Athletics Club and asked with an elated look on his face, “You did say that you won’t be able to let me join if I can’t use magic… But now you can tell that I’m good enough to join the club, right?! I get a pass, right?!”

“Sorry, no.”

“What?! Why?!”

“Because…after today, we’re considering disbanding the club for good.”

“Whyyyyy?!”

“Our confidence is tanked…”

“Ugh… I never imagined that I could have my butt so easily beaten by some guy who can’t even use magic…”

“These past three years of training… What even was the point…?”

“Maybe I’ll just give it all up and become a monk, and live out the rest of my days in silent reflection…”

“Wha—?! You guyyyyyssss! Where are you going?!”

Rix clung to the club members to try to stop them from leaving as they trudged gloomily away from the practice grounds.

“…So this one’s no good, either.”

“Hrmm… I really thought this one would be a winner, but it turned out to be quite the opposite…”

“Well, to any regular mage just trying to live their life, Rix is basically just some toxic jerk coming to destroy their status quo…”

Rix’s friends all looked on and let out a sigh.

On the third day, they visited the Summon Battle Club.

At this club, members focused on training their summoned creatures and used them in battles.

“Go, Tran!”

“Fshaaaaaaaah!”

“Eeeeeeeeee?! Arf, arf!”

Faced with Tran’s roar of intimidation, the great wolf Fenrir rolled over on its back and bared its belly in surrender.

“Y-you’re kidding! Even the club president’s Fenrir…?!”

“What the hell is that summon anyway…?!”

“So this is an ancient dragon…?! It’s too strong…!!”

The upperclassmen of the Summon Battle Club were murmuring among themselves.

Rix shot them a smug grin. “We win! Total victory!” he cried. “How about that, guys?! What do you think of my summon’s power now?! You had your doubts at first, saying she looked too weak to compete… But now, you’ll let me join, right?!”

““““Sorry, no.””””

“What?! Why?!” Rix wailed back at their blank stares. “Whyyy?! Don’t tell me it’s because our summoning contract is incomplete?! Or is it because you’re sore after losing to a newbie like me?”

“That’s all true, too, but that’s not the reason… The main reason is, well…even if she is an ancient dragon, there’s just something about an older man bossing around a little girl like that and making her fight monsters… The optics are just too weird… It’s pretty off-putting…”

“Not the whole optics thing again! Is that really so important to you?!”

“To be honest, you look like a total creep!”

“There’s no way we can let you compete for us against other schools!”

“I’m embarrassed just thinking about it!”

“Hey, that’s just mean!” Rix cringed against the torrent of criticism. “…No luck here, either, huh?”

“This is proving harder than I thought. If Tran looked like an actual dragon, instead of a little girl, this would have been over a lot quicker.”

“Ah-ha-ha-ha…”

And just as Rix’s friends were really starting to feel like they were ready to call it a day…

“Argh, fine, I get it! If it’s no good to have Tran fight, then how about I fight the summons myself instead?!”

“No way! Don’t you understand the whole point of it being a Summon Battle Club?!”

“What makes you think a regular person who can’t even use magic could stand a chance against a trained summon?!”

“Fine then, since you’re really starting to tick me off, why don’t we show you firsthand how strong our summons really are?! Come at me, first-year! We’ll make you regret underestimating my summon!”

“All right, let’s do this! Gimme all you got, guys!”

(Note 1: Rix defeated all of them.)

(Note 2: The club members lost confidence and started to contemplate shutting down the club, but the others were able to convince them otherwise after considerable effort.)

And so, one after another, Rix banged down the doors of club after club.

But unfortunately, he had the door slammed in his face again and again.

After all, there weren’t many people at the academy who were willing to take in an anomaly like Rix, who, on top of not being able to use magic, lacked the common sense of the average mage.

Then, after many ups and downs in their search for a club for Rix, they stumbled upon something promising.

On the fifth day…

““““Welcome, first-year students, to the Alchemy Club!””””

“You know, I really think an intellectual club like this will be perfect for me,” said Rix, looking more confident than ever.

“Yeah, you may be right. As long as you ignore the intellectual part,” Randy quipped.

The group had come to a room on the academy grounds outfitted for magical experiments.

In this room, reserved for the Alchemy Club’s activities after school, were a handful of upperclassmen, as well as ten or so first-year students, including Rix and his friends.

“Hello… I’m…the Alchemy Club president…Elsie Alistan.”

A second-year female student, with bangs so long that they obscured her face, stood before the first-years and whispered an introduction.

“Did you know…that the magic potions…and magic tool craftsmanship…that you learn in class…was originally derived from…alchemy? At the Alchemy Club…we carry out experiments using traditional alchemical methods…and have fun while…deepening our knowledge and understanding of…magic potions and…magic tool crafting… That’s what we do here…”

“I think I understand what you’re getting at. Let me try giving another example…,” said Rix. “It’s kinda like how the sophisticated battle tactics of today were originally established gradually from reckless killing on the battlefield. So by having fun practicing that old-fashioned reckless killing, we can more deeply understand just how rational the current state of battle tactics is. Something like that, right?”

“Rix…please… I can’t even…”

Randy was too exhausted to think of a clever comeback for that one.

“Well then, let’s go right ahead…and start a trial experiment…for all you prospective first-years…to see what the club is like…”

And so, Rix and the others decided to participate in the Alchemy Club’s trial.

After distributing the magical materials and alchemical experiment equipment to each group of first-years at their stations, Elsie continued with her explanation.

“Today…we’re going to be making…magical fireworks… Hee-hee-hee…”

“Nooooooooooo! Please, anything but thaaaaaat!!” Randy reflexively protested.

“…Hmm…? Why do you say that…Randy…?” Elsie asked, peeking out one eye from a gap in her long bangs and staring at Randy with surprise.

“Because those two are here!!”

With tears in his eyes, Randy pointed behind himself.

At that station…

“Hear that, Brother? We’re gonna make fireworks!!”

“Piece of cake! You and I have always been great at making explosives!” said Rix. “We were always getting complimented on our work back in the corps, weren’t we?!”

“That’s right! Aw, that really takes me back… We were always tryin’ to think up new ways to make our explosives kill more people more efficiently than ever before…”

“I remember… Sometimes we’d mix in sharp pieces of metal and things like that…”

“Oh yeah… Hee-hee, back then…”

“Please, enough with the reminiscing! You’re creeping me out!” Randy begged. He then turned back to Elsie. “Anyway, as you can see! I just get a really bad feeling about this whole fireworks thing. Please, call it off! You don’t want to die here today, do you?!”

“No need to…exaggerate…” Elsie had nothing but a vague smile in response to Randy’s frantic pleas. “I’ve already…prepared all the tools… And while we must…be careful when handling some of the more dangerous substances…the fireworks we are making…are different from regular fireworks…and will not go off unless a certain incantation is recited… So as long as we don’t intentionally light them with a magic flame…there is no risk of early detonation… And besides, it’s all right… I’ll be supervising…the whole time…”

Elsie kept smiling and tried to reassure Randy.

“Hmm… As long as we don’t light them with a magic flame, you say…?” Randy mused.

In that case, it seemed like those meatheads in the back of the room wouldn’t be accidentally setting any explosions off… Nonetheless, Randy couldn’t completely shake off his anxiety.

Still, Elsie decided to go forward with the experiment, and the first-year students were off and running on their first experience with alchemy.

“First…let’s ensure we have all the materials we need…lined up at our stations…and prepare them for use… This kind of preparation…is essential in ensuring…a successful alchemical experiment…”

“All righty, then!”

In front of Rix sat a big lump of rock.

“To start, take the black stone with the striped pattern on its surface… This is called flint obsidian…and we will use it for the burst charge… We’ll cut out the mineral…and slice it finely…”

“Cool, so I just gotta cut this thing out?”

“But since it is very hard…and is attuned to the fire element…if we use a magical mithril knife…enchanted with the opposite element, water…then it will cut like butter…”

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!”

Slash!

“All right, it’s cut!”

“Nice one, Brother! It’s been a while since I saw you do your famous boulder slash!”

While Elsie was explaining things, Rix had taken out his sword and sliced the rock in half.

“Cool! I guess I’ll just keep doing that until we get it fine enough!”

“You’ve got this!”

Slash! Slash! Slash!

Rix shaved away at the rock, which was supposed to be impossible to cut without a mithril knife, little by little…

“…???”

Elsie stared vacantly at the strange scene for a while, before coming back to her senses and continuing her explanation.

“N-next…we’ll take the finely cut flint obsidian…and, using a special, magical mortar and pestle, grind it into a powder… Since this cannot be accomplished with a blade…we need to attune the pestle to the water element…and cast a vibration spell on the mortar…”

“Tran! Your turn!”

“Sure thing!”

Behind Elsie, Tran took the pieces of rock that Rix had sliced up in both of her fists…

Crackle, crackle, CRUNCHHHHH!

…and crushed them with her incredible grip strength.

As she did, a fine sand filtered out smoothly from between her fingers.

“?????? …?! H-huh…?” Elsie gave a wide-eyed stare and froze on the spot.

“Look… Elsie’s getting all confused… Do you think we should stop and help her…?” Randy grumbled from another station where he was working on the same experiment.

He was still stuck at the step where he was cutting up the flint obsidian with the mithril knife. He wasn’t used to having to elementally attune an instrument, so he was having some trouble cutting through his stone.

“This is the Alchemy Club’s specialty,” Shino said. “If we interrupt and try to help in the middle of their own instruction, we might risk injuring someone’s ego again. Just let it go.”

Shino, on the other hand, looked like she was used to this kind of thing; she had already cut up her stone in several places.

Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop—! She swiftly minced her lump of stone.

“Wow… Shino, you’re quite good at that! Such tremendous skill!” Serephina marveled.

“You kind of remind me of a mother who’s good at cooking!”

“Who are you calling a mother?” (chop, chop, chop, chop!)

And so, the experiment continued…

“N-next…take your piece of shattercrystal… This material is even harder than the flint obsidian…so once again, take your mithril knife…”

“Yee-haaaaaaaw!!”

Rix kicked off the ceiling and, using his own speed plus the momentum of gravity, brought down his sword.

Slash!!!

“Nice one, Brother! Flying boulder slash!”

“??????? …Wh-whaaat…?”

“…Next we will assemble the firework’s core…the stars…by mixing together various materials that will burn different colors…,” Elsie said. “First, this one…the Fruit of the Cursed Tree… It’s a substance collected from a certain monster called the Demon Tree… When the tree’s resentment, which resides within the fruit’s juice, is purified…it gives off a beautiful, clear blue light… We’ll extract the juice from the fruit…using a specialized juicer… On top of being harder than a diamond…if you do this step incorrectly, you will be cursed…so we must first put up an anti-curse barrier, then exercise the utmost caution…”

“Nnnnnnngh!!”

Squeeeeeeze! Drip, drip, drip…!

Tran had taken the Fruit of the Cursed Tree and squashed it between her hands like an apple.

“Nice one, Tran! That reminds me, you used to make us juice just like that back then…”

“Sure did, Brother!”

“Huh? But it looks like there’s some kind of weird black smoke coming out of the leftover fruit…and it’s swirling all around you. Are you okay?”

A menacing, otherworldly groan followed.

“Don’t worry about it! I’m super strong, so I’ll be fine!” Tran batted at the smoke.

The groan quickly dissipated with a fsssshhhhh…

“Huh…??? U-um…that curse is supposed to put even the strongest mages into a deep sleep for three whole days…but…? Wait, back up…huuuh…?”

“Elsie, don’t even try to understand them. You can’t win,” said Randy. “You’ll go bald from the stress. You should just leave them be, as long as they’re not doing any real damage.”

Randy patted Elsie on the shoulder as she stood there totally dumbfounded, with her eyes wide.

After various ups and downs…

“…Th-this isn’t what I’d call…conventional alchemy…but…”

…Elsie stood exhausted as she watched the first-years finish their work.

“We did it! Our masterpiece is finished!”

“Good work as always, Brother!”

Laid out in front of Rix and Tran were three slightly off-looking, mostly spherical fireworks.

“But it looks like we had a lot of leftover materials, huh?”

“Maybe we got too carried away and made a mistake in our measurements somewhere…? But it looks like it’ll be fine, probably.”

“Oh, looks like yours turned out well in the end! To be honest, watching you two, I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to pull it off.”

“Hmph. Not bad, Rix. All things considered.”

Randy and Shino also appeared to have finished their work and were carrying their own fireworks toward Rix’s workstation.

Looking around them, they also noticed the other groups were finishing up their fireworks, too.

“Now, then…why don’t we go right ahead…and try setting them off…? Let’s move outside…”

Following Elsie’s lead, Rix and the other first-years headed outside.

“Curtain of night, veil us in your darkness.”

As Elsie recited the incantation for Veil of Darkness, only the area immediately around them became as dark as night. Now the scene was set for their fireworks display.

“All right, everyone… First, insert your firework spheres into the launching device one at a time…”

The upperclassmen of the Alchemy Club were standing at the ready beside the cylindrical launching devices, which were fitted with magical crystals.

“These magical fireworks…in theory…use various types of magical fire, with different magical wavelengths…which are activated all at once to create a firework…to put it simply…”

“I see, I see… Magical fire, all at once, you say?”

Rix was nodding vigorously, looking enthralled at Elsie’s explanation.

“Yes…that’s why it is possible to light them directly…but that makes them harder to control…and more dangerous… Hence why we use the launchers…,” Elsie replied. “To operate one, you must apply fire-aspected mana to the launcher’s crystal…until it turns red…and once it changes color…be careful not to add any more…”

Doing as they were told by Elsie, the first-years timidly got to work operating their launchers.

But Rix was simply standing in front of his loaded launcher, looking troubled.

“Um, sorry Elsie, but… Actually, I…can’t use magic…”

Rix scratched his head awkwardly, having revealed the truth that he had been keeping secret (or trying to) up until that point.

“I didn’t want you to be mad when you found out I couldn’t use magic and was just wasting your time…”

“No, I know about you… You’re that scholarship student everyone has been talking about… Rix…”

“!”

Rix was shocked at Elsie’s unexpected reply.

“Of course, I was surprised that someone who can’t use magic…was attending this academy, but…meeting you in person…I was even more surprised… You really are amazing…somehow…”

“So…even though you knew, you still let me join the trial experiment…?”

“Yeah… Of course, even alchemy…is much more convenient when you can use magic…but there’s plenty you can do without it…like coming up with new theories, or discoveries, ideas…”

Elsie peeked out from a space in her overgrown bangs and smiled at Rix.

“And besides…the most important thing is whether or not we can get along…and have fun doing alchemy together… Isn’t that right…Rix…?”

“E-Elsie…”

Elsie pulled something out before Rix.

It was some kind of small, metallic rectangle.

The object seemed to be able to open and close, and when Elsie pushed her thumb against it, it opened up to reveal a small red bead, which gave off a small flame.

“Elsie? What is that?”

“A magical tool…called a firelighter. While its firepower is low…it allows anyone to easily use magical flames. Here, you can have it.”

She shut the top of the firelighter with a click and handed it over to Rix.

“If you use this…you’ll be able to set off your fireworks…even though you can’t use magic…”

“Th-thank you so much, Elsie!”

Rix held the firelighter in his hand and clicked it open to produce a flame, then went right ahead to hold it up to the crystal of the launcher. It soon turned red, and he removed the flame once again.

“Yes…that looks…about right… There, that’s enough…,” Elsie urged.

Rix and Tran stepped away from the launcher.

Then, about ten seconds later…

Boom! With a satisfying sound, a mass of light flew out of the launcher and into the sky.

Poof!

In the distant sky, the light became a beautiful, sparkling ring of color that opened up like a flower.

“Oooooohhhhhh!! Wow!” Rix cheered, balling his hands into fists.

“…!”

Tran stared up at the sky, wide-eyed.

But the firework only gave off a brief flash. The beautiful ring of light soon disappeared back into the darkness.

“Th-th-that was awesome!!”

Coming back to her senses once the light had disappeared, Tran started bouncing up and down in excitement.

“Awesome! Amazing! That’s the first time I’ve ever seen fireworks in real life!” she cried. “I didn’t know they were so pretty!”

“Yeah, same here! On the battlefield, we only ever used gunpowder to blow up as many people as possible. But I didn’t know you could use it like this, too!”

“I know, right?! Who knew that an explosion that wasn’t full of human limbs and flesh could be so beautiful…”

“And that an explosion that wasn’t filled with the dying screams of our enemies could be so moving…”

“You two… Can’t you be a little less creepy about this? Just this one time? You’re really killing the mood…,” Randy snapped back at them.

But Elsie still couldn’t help but smile happily at Rix and Tran.

“Hee-hee… Seeing you both so happy…makes all the hard work worth it… I hope you’ll consider…joining the club…”

“Y-yes! Thank you, Elsie!”

“Well, then…everyone else…can go ahead and launch their fireworks, too…”

And so…the impromptu fireworks display began in full force.

Powwwww!

““““Whooooaaaaaaa!!””””

One after another, the first-year students set off their fireworks.

When the fireworks Shino had made were launched into the sky, not only the first-year students but the Alchemy Club’s upperclassmen, too, cried out in cheers of astonishment.

Their overwhelming power and artistry, paired with their delicate and ethereal light, were enough to entrance all who witnessed them.

“Amazing! That first-year girl’s fireworks are really something else!”

“The processing of the gunpowder, and the mixture of the stars and the burst charge, are all too perfect!”

“On top of everything, it looks like she even carefully calculated the shape of the explosion in the sky…?!”

“It’s so beautiful… It’s a work of art…!”

“If she entered those into the summer fireworks contest, she’d definitely be in the running to win…!”

“She might even be as good as Elsie!”

The crowd was going wild.

Wanting to show off their own work, the rest of the first-year students started shooting their fireworks into the air one after another…

And hearing the commotion, students from other clubs started to come over to watch what was going on. The Alchemy Club’s impromptu fireworks display was unexpectedly drawing a serious crowd.

“Shino… You’re really amazing,” Rix said, blinking in wonder at Shino, who was looking up at the sky beside him. “Let me guess—have you made fireworks before?”

“…A long, long time ago…,” Shino whispered, “…there was a carefree girl…who just wanted to make people smile using magic.”

At the same time, someone’s beautiful flower of light was blooming with a boom high up in the sky.

“Huh? What did you say? Sorry, I couldn’t hear you over the sound of the fireworks…”

“…Hmph. It’s nothing.”

Shino turned her face away, brushed back her hair, and walked off.

“Ah-ha-haaa! Brotherrr! Today was so much fun, wasn’t it?! So this is what school is really like?! And club activities? This is the ‘springtime of life’ they’re always talkin’ about?!”

The group had finished their day’s tour of the various clubs, and evening had fallen.

Tran was in a gleeful mood as they all walked back to the White Class’s dormitory.

“Tran, I’m just exhausted… I’m beat, body and mind…,” Rix moaned as Tran kept trotting along beside him.

And Rix really did look beat. His whole body was burned, and his robe was covered in soot. His head was singed all over.

He still hadn’t recovered from being caught up in the magical explosion.

“Huh? Really? I dunno about you, but I feel great!”

On the other hand, although Tran had been caught up in the same explosion, she was as lively as ever.

While her hooded cloak did have some traces of soot on it, Tran looked like she hadn’t taken a single bit of damage from the explosion. She didn’t have a single burn on her.

“Well, you are a dragon, after all. Fire doesn’t really affect you, right…? That reminds me. That time I tried to cook you and eat you, but my fire wouldn’t cook you at all, no matter how long I worked at it…”

“…Do you even hear yourself when you talk?” Randy said to Rix.

“Dragons are said to have tremendous robustness and resistance to various elements, but to think those attributes would be passed on even after being reincarnated as a human…,” Serephina remarked. “Now that’s the kind of person I’d really love to have under my employ!”

Randy was looking at them with exasperation, while Serephina puffed out her chest with her hands on her hips.

“But still…I can’t believe I haven’t found a club that’ll take me yet…” Rix let out a sigh.

Randy looked surprised. “Hmm? While it’s true that you’ve been chased away from most of the clubs we’ve visited so far, I thought it went pretty well today at the Alchemy Club, don’t you? What’s wrong with them?”

“I guess, it’s just… It’s not impossible, but…it’s just kind of awkward…after we left things the way we did at the end…”

“Huh? I really don’t think Elsie would suddenly turn you away, even after something like that. Though she did give you two quite the lecture after that.”

“Ugh…”

Remembering how Elsie, who had been so calm and kind up until then, had given them such a harsh scolding, Rix felt more and more depressed.

“Well, of course that’s one of the reasons, but you know…I also feel like I don’t want to decide for sure until I’ve seen all the clubs at the academy…so there’s that, too.”

“…Oh?”

“I just… It’s my first time going to school. So of course, it’s my first time doing any kind of club activity, too… And it’s been really fun seeing all the different things this world has to offer. Though I know this isn’t really the time to be taking this all so casually…”

“Well, if that’s the case, then why don’t you just take your time looking around?”

“And of course, I mean all the clubs that have nothing to do with fighting!”

“Do whatever you want on that front.” Randy shrugged.

“By the way, Randy, do you plan to join a club?”

“Me? Yeah, I’ve already decided on one.”

“What? Really?! Which one?”

“Well, I wasn’t trying to hide it or anything. But I was planning on joining one of the clubs you hated—”

Then, just as Rix and Randy were getting swept up in conversation…

Whump! Suddenly, Rix felt the impact of someone’s body weight on his back.

“Whoa?! …Tran?”

“Nnnnn!!”

Looking back, Rix saw that Tran had jumped onto his back and was clinging to him. She had her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs crossed over his waist.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong, Tran?”

“Brotherrr, I’m so tired! Carry meeeee!”

“…Don’t lie. You were just bragging about how great you were feeling a minute ago.”

“Yeah, but, all of a sudden, I got reeeally tired! So, carry meee!”

“Sigh… What the hell…?”

Rix couldn’t help but let out an exasperated sigh.

“…I see, I see. This must be one of the special attacks of a little sister character, huh?” Randy grinned at Rix.

“At this rate, it’s anyone’s race… I’ll call it the Heroine Race: Rix Cup! If you guys don’t watch out, she’ll be beating you in no time…,” Randy whispered, turning back to look at Shino and the others.

“Is that so?” Annie asked.

“Who knows?” said Serephina. “Maybe you’re the one…”

“…we should be beating, Randy,” Shino added.

Clash!

Annie and Serephina fixed their gazes on Randy, crossing their staff and rapier over his neck in the shape of an X. Shino pointed her wand straight at his jaw.

“…I-I’m sorry, I won’t do it again…!”

Randy’s face went pale with fear.

Meanwhile…

“Nnnnn, come on, Brotherrr, nnnnnh!”

“Good grief…”

Tran was nuzzling her face into Rix’s back, causing him to sigh all over again…though he clearly wasn’t totally hating it.

After all, Tran had always had this side to her, ever since they met.

While often she just had fun messing with him…she would also suddenly get all lovey-dovey with him like this, too.

Her innocent, whimsical, and almost overly free manner was just like that of a stray cat.

This girl whom Rix had picked up by chance on a certain battlefield—Tran.

While he did wonder why Tran had been so clingy toward him since the moment they met…he didn’t really have a problem with it.

…To think I left her behind without saying anything… I have my own life, too, though… I don’t regret what I did… But I do feel sort of bad about it…

Rix suddenly felt a pang of guilt over the whole situation.

As he was mulling over all this, the group came across a fork in the path as they walked through the academy grounds.

To their left was the path that led to the White Class’s dormitory.

But Shino started to take the path to their right.

“Huh? Shino, where are you going?” Rix asked.

“To the library.”

“What? Right now? To do what?”

Shino whirled around and pointed at Rix’s nose.

“Rix. Maybe you’ve completely forgotten, but it’s not only your club we have to worry about. We need to do something about your incomplete contract with Tran as soon as possible. Remember?”

“Oh, right…”

“In the end, Professor Darwin really does go easy on his students. Normally, on the academy’s end, your incomplete summoning contract would have you expelled immediately. But Darwin went so far as to give us time to try to sort it out. You shouldn’t take his kindness for granted.”

“Ugh… Yeah…you’re right…”

“In any case…I can’t really say anything until I try doing some serious research about Tran’s True Name… But I want to at least try looking into if there have been any similar cases like this in the past. If it seems like it’s going to be too difficult to break the contract with the way things are, we need to think of other methods.”

“I-in that case, I’ll go with you! I feel bad making you do all the work!”

“No, it’s fine. I’m really just personally interested in looking into it. Plus, considering you always fall asleep when you try to read anything longer than two sentences, I don’t think you’ll be much help anyway.”

“Ouch…”

Rix’s shoulders slumped at Shino’s usual frosty demeanor.

Shino continued, as if to scold him. “More importantly, you have your own duty you need to take care of.”

“Duty?”

“Yes. Your duty to keep your eye on Tran. Understood?”

“Keep my eye on her? Well…I was planning on it… I mean, we don’t know what trouble she might get into if we let her get out of sight…”

“That’s not what I mean… It’s that, in her current state… Ugh, never mind! If I have to sit here and explain every little thing to you, I won’t be able to get to the library before it closes! I’ll tell you later, so just, don’t take your eyes off her. Understood?”

“S-sure thing…”

Leaving it at that, Shino broke off from the group and headed for the academy library.

“Hey, Rix, hurry up!”

“Yep, coming!”

And so Rix followed Randy, Serephina, and Annie, with Tran riding on his back, as they all headed for the White Class’s dormitory.

“Hey, Brother?” Tran whispered into Rix’s ear.

“What is it, Tran?”

“Why don’t we go for a little walk…just the two of us?”

Rix blinked in confusion at Tran’s unexpected invitation. “Right now? I guess we still have some time until curfew, but…”

After all that had happened that day, Rix was exhausted.

He wanted to go straight back to the dormitory, take a bath, and relax for the rest of the night.

As he was thinking this…

“…Can’t we?” Tran asked again in a fawning voice that also had a tinge of sadness to it.

“…Sigh… All right.”

Rix reluctantly agreed.

He let the others know that he and Tran were going to go for a little walk around the academy grounds.

“…”

“♪♪♪”

Rix and Tran strolled aimlessly through the academy grounds, which were being overtaken by the color of the dusky evening.

Tran had gotten down from Rix’s back and was trotting along on her own feet.

Rix followed Tran, who walked a few paces ahead of him.

What’s Tran thinking…suddenly asking to go for a walk together like this? Don’t tell me she’s planning to attack me now…

Rix started to feel a little wary.

She must have had some reason to drag him out here with this timing, but she didn’t say anything in particular about it.

She just kept walking happily along, humming a tone-deaf tune to herself.

Just what is she up to? Then again, this isn’t so bad…

Rix broke his line of vision from Tran’s back and looked around him.

To his left was a forest so deep that it made you feel like you’d get sucked up into it; to his right stood the magnificent buildings of the academy… In the distance, he could see the ridgeline of the beautiful mountains, burning in the color of the twilight.

He could see the beautiful academy garden, and students walking on the paths who looked to be on their way back to their dormitories after finishing up their club activities.

Beyond that, he could see a magical training ground with some students gathered in it, apparently still working hard.

These scenes of beautiful, vast nature paired with young people overflowing with liveliness were all part of the normal, everyday life here at the academy.

This everyday, unchanging, “ordinary” scenery.

Every time he looked upon it, Rix couldn’t help but think…

He couldn’t help but think about how precious and beautiful it all was.

I used to hate the evening…and the twilight…

The scenery dyed a fierce red and gold by the setting sun never ceased to remind him of the blood and flames of the battlefield.

And it reminded him of the terrifying darkness of night that always followed.

But more than anything, that color of twilight made him remember the vexing light that shone at the tip of a sword—and the scenery of somewhere from his past, deep within his memories.

What were those memories? And that scenery?

Rix couldn’t remember them well, and he wasn’t sure, but he thought it must have been—

“Brother.”

Tran called out to him and brought his consciousness back from where it was diving, deep within his memories.

Rix scratched his head. “Hmm? What is it, Tran?”

“School…is fun, isn’t it…?”

Tran turned back to face Rix and shot him a carefree smile.

But Rix had known Tran long enough to realize that behind that carefree smile was a loneliness—a sadness, like she was about to burst into tears at any moment.

“…Tran?”

“I understand it now…the reason why you left the corps to come here. Actually, Brother…I first came to this academy about two weeks ago.”

“!”

Two weeks.

That meant she had been here since about the time that the incident at Campbell Street with Professor Anna had just ended and was starting to settle down.

But Rix had only met up with Tran at the academy about one week ago.

There had been about one week of lag between the two events.

“Why didn’t you come to me earlier?”

“At first…I planned to come at you right away. ‘Welcome those who come our way, but chase those who try to leave to the ends of hell’… Followin’ the ironclad code of our corps, I planned on beatin’ you up and forcin’ you to come back with me.”

“…Scary.”

“But…”

Tran momentarily cut herself off and looked down at the ground, before continuing in a whisper.

“I…I saw.”

“…Saw…what?”

“I saw you, Brother…looking so happy. I had never seen you look like that before, in all our mercenary days together… You were sloppy, and full of openings when I could have easily attacked you…but you looked like you were having so much fun…”

Tran shut her eyes.

She remembered what she had seen two weeks ago, as she had watched Rix from a distance…

“Rix, how long do you plan to keep playing around?” Shino demanded. “This is supposed to be a study session for the midterms. Do you even know what that means?”

“J-just give me a minute, Shino! Just this one game… Just let me finish this one game…!” Rix pleaded. “Wah-ha-ha, take that! My ultimate attack! It all comes down to this…! And with that, I wiiiiiiin—?!”

“There. Checkmate,” said Randy. “Looks like you’ll be picking up the tab on our next trip to the Forest Brownie, Rix!”

“Gwaaaaaaaaah?!”

“All of your tactics are way too obvious. You’ve got to stop attacking straight on from the front, and think of some other ways to go about it…”

“Argh! That always seemed to work out some way or another on the battlefield, so why not now…?!”

“The battlefield and the chessboard are not the same, you meathead. And I’m pretty sure it only ‘worked out some way or another’ because it’s you.”

“Randy, I must say. You are quite good at chess,” Serephina remarked. “How about it—once we’re done studying for the day, why don’t you take me on for one match?”

“Oh? Sure, why not? But I’m warning you, I won’t go easy on you just because you’re a princess.”

“Oh-ho-ho! That’s rich, coming from a commoner like you! But oh, I’ll allow it. I expect I’ll be putting you back in your place soon enough!”

“Everyone working hard so far? I brought some tea and snacks!”

“Oooh! Thank you, Annie!” Rix said. “All right, everyone, I think we got a good block of hard studying time in, so let’s all take a break!”

“Rix… Just when exactly are you planning on studying?” Shino asked. “Don’t come crying to me later.”

It had been something like this—just your average, normal scene among regular students.

Tran, perched on a tree branch outside, had peered in through the window at this fun moment among friends.

But of course, that wasn’t the only thing she saw.

Tran had been secretly watching Rix’s everyday life for some time.

“Mm… You really just seemed…to be having a lot of fun, Brother.”

“Tran…”

“So I…I understood it all pretty quickly… I understood that the corps wasn’t the place for you anymore…or the battlefield, either… The place where you belong now is here…”

Then…

“I thought that if I spent time with you here at the academy…maybe I’d find something that proved it wasn’t right for you…but… Ah-ha-ha, but I couldn’t find a single thing! So that’s enough!”

Tran started trailing off.

“…So I guess…I’m just…no use to you anymore… Nobody needs me anymore…”

Tran was standing right in front of Rix. That much was certain.

But something about her lonely smile made Rix feel like she was about to disappear, as if she was something out of a dream, or an illusion.

“That’s not true,” Rix replied hurriedly. “What makes you think I don’t need you anymore?”

“I only had any value when I was fighting alongside you on the battlefield… My life had meaning… But…if you find a new place for yourself, where you don’t have to fight…and you stop fighting…then I’ll no longer have any value or meaning…”

“Why would you say that, Tran?!”

Rix didn’t understand. He drew closer and pressed her for an answer.

“Your whole reason to exist is to help me fight? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! I am me, and you are you! Right?! Just like I have my own life, you have your own life, too! So there’s no way the value or meaning of your existence would just go away like that!”

“No…that’s how it is, Brother. I’m sure of it.”

“Why?! What’s your reason?!”

“Reason? …I dunno. I’m not really sure of it myself. But somewhere, deep inside my heart…I just know. That’s just who I am. I was born…to fight alongside you.”

“…?!”

Rix suddenly remembered something.

He remembered the day he met Tran.

He remembered how he found that egg by chance out in the wasteland.

And he remembered the time he first met her…when she first called him Brother.

What exactly was that egg?

And exactly how did they end up with a one-way summoning contract?

The fact that she was the reincarnation of an ancient dragon wasn’t even important anymore.

What exactly was Tran, in the first place?

And why had Rix never given it a second thought, all this time?

“I think you’re amazing, Brother. I respect you. ’Cause…you followed your heart and chose a new path in life,” Tran whispered weakly. “But I’m stupid… I always just assumed that the battlefield was the best place for both of us… I always assumed that you’d fight with me forever, until the day I died… Ahh… Now…I don’t have anything left to do… What do I do next…?”

Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes.

“Tran…!” Rix shouted.

He had a feeling something was about to go wrong. Like if he didn’t stop Tran here and now, something irreversible was going to happen.

“Tran, I’m stupid, too, so I don’t completely understand what you’re getting at,” he told her. “Isn’t it funny? We’ve known each other for so long, and there’s still so much we don’t know about each other. I mean…I don’t even know stuff about myself, or my own upbringing.”

“…”

“But hey, if you don’t know what you should do next…why don’t you stay here and go to the academy with me?”

“Go to…the academy?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Again, I don’t totally get it, but I guess you’re my summon or whatever. There should be no problem with you staying here with me and attending the academy. So…I’ll figure out how to fix our contract…and…”

Rix felt a fierce premonition.

If he didn’t keep Tran there somehow, she was going to leave him.

And he felt she probably wouldn’t be returning to the Black Mercenary Corps, either.

Tran belonged with Rix on the battlefield and nowhere else.

As long as Rix wasn’t in the corps, Tran would feel she didn’t belong. He was certain that Tran would find some battlefield unbeknownst to him where she’d continue to fight meaninglessly all on her own. She felt she had no other option, which was precisely how Rix used to be. He knew this painfully well, because they were so similar.

“Stay at the academy with me. I’m sure…that there’s another path for you besides fighting,” her urged with all the sincerity he had in him.

“…” But Tran sadly shook her head.

“…Why not, Tran?”

Rix barely managed to squeeze out the question from the back of his throat, all while realizing that something had decidedly caused their paths to diverge.

“Why…are you so stuck on fighting by my side…?” he asked. “Why…is that the only thing you’re willing to do…?”

“Ah-ha-ha…I wonder about that myself…,” Tran replied. “But…lately…I keep having the same dream… And I think that dream kind of helped me understand something about it all… That…probably…me and you, are—”

“Sigh… Will you two ever shut up? I’m sick of listening to your yapping.”

Rix and Tran were suddenly assailed by a mocking, spiteful voice.

“Meaning? Value? …Don’t make me laugh. The struggles of ordinary people like you don’t have any meaning or value. However…I can’t say the same about the existence of an ancient dragon. Now that is valuable indeed.”

Before they knew it, Rix and Tran had been surrounded by a group of about ten students, who appeared to be upperclassmen.

But they weren’t wearing the usual student attire—not the robes of the White Class, the Blue Class, nor the Red Class.

Instead, they were wearing some kind of special robes that were adorned with golden embroidery.

And they must have been using some kind of magic to conceal their approach.

Rix felt a chill run up his spine when he realized this mysterious group had come this close to him without him noticing, despite his superior senses as a warrior.

“…Who are you?” he asked, putting himself on guard and placing his hand on the hilt of the sword at his hip. They were clearly trouble.

As he did this, the person who appeared to be the leader of the group shrugged.

“My, my, you call yourself a member of this academy and you don’t know who we are? This is precisely why we shouldn’t let in you fake Fools,” the leader replied patronizingly. “Fine, allow me to enlighten you. Listen well, because I won’t be telling you twice. We are the Peace Preservation Council—and we maintain the order of this academy.”

Back around the time right after Rix and the others had met up with Tran, before they began looking at the various clubs in earnest…

“But man, there really are a lot of clubs at this academy… I don’t even know where to start,” Rix commented while gazing at the club pamphlet.

“Well, to name some of the more well-known ones, you’ve got Dueling Club, Flying Club, Astrology Club, Alchemy Club, Magical Creature Club, Physical Enhancement Athletics Club, Summon Battle Club, Archaeology Club, Magical Music Ensemble Club…,” Randy replied. “Those ones are the biggest, have the most members, and are always making some kind of notable accomplishment year after year. I’d say they’re the representative clubs at this academy.”

“And there are others that are smaller in scale, like the Magical Game Appreciation Society, the Eastern Sorcery Research Group, or the Magical Cooking Association… It seems like there really are all kinds of extracurricular groups,” Serephina added.

“This one’s a little different from the other club activities, but there’s also an organization called the Student Council Leadership Committee,” said Shino. “They oversee the various club-related activities and other events at the academy.”

“Hey, Shino, is there any difference between the ones called clubs and the ones called other things, like group, society, or association?”

“As far as I can tell from the pamphlet, clubs are officially recognized by the academy and receive a yearly budget for their activities. On the other hand, societies and the like don’t receive any budgetary assistance. The former are obligated to submit a report on their activities once a quarter, while the latter are totally free from that obligation.”

“Gotcha.” Rix closed the club pamphlet with a snap and stood up. “Okay! I think I’ll start by just checking out as many clubs as I can!”

“I’ll go with you! Y’know, as my duty as your some-un or whatever!”

“Uh…sure, okay, just try not to get into too much trouble.”

“Okey dokey! You got it!”

“Goodness, look who’s talking.”

With that, Rix and the others started walking, heading toward their first club.

“Hold on a minute, Rix.”

But just as they did, Randy tapped Rix on the shoulder.

“I didn’t want to spoil your fun before it even started…but I figure it’s best if I just let you know about this one thing.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“It’s true that this academy has lots of different clubs and societies that do all kinds of extracurricular activities. And there are legitimate ones that have gotten all their approvals from the student council, but there are also unofficial groups that are just doing their own thing without any kind of approval… And these unofficial ones can be pretty sketchy. While most of them are honest and operate with moderation and common sense…some of them are the kind of people we really don’t want to get involved with. For example, groups that are studying magic that’s been banned by the academy, or basically delinquent groups that follow some kind of dangerous ideology.

“There’s one on the top of the list of groups we want to avoid, and it’s called…”

“So you guys are the famous Peace Preservation Council?”

Rix readied his stance, even more on guard than before.

Beside him, Tran was looking confused, not really understanding the situation.

The leader of the group, seemingly pleased with Rix’s reaction to their name, had a faint smile on his face. “Yeah,” he said. “And if you’re a serious student at this academy, you’d best remember our name. I’m the leader of the Peace Preservation Council—third-year student Gerard Lowell.”

Gerard looked like a serious, inflexible honor-student type. He had handsome, delicate facial features, but he always seemed to have a face on like he was looking down on people, making him difficult to approach.

Rix guessed he must be from the noble class. He was well dressed, and his rings, earrings, and other accessories he wore looked more expensive than anything Rix would ever be able to afford.

“So even common Fools like you first-years know about us… Heh, I’m glad to hear that our righteous deeds are finally leaving their mark at this rotten academy…” The leader, Gerard, brushed his hair back proudly over his head.

“If I remember correctly, you guys are an unofficial group that isn’t recognized by the student council, right?” Rix replied nonchalantly. “I’ve heard your group’s just a hangout for dangerous punks. And that you’re always trying to butt into the affairs of the school without permission, and trying to solve them on your own, even when they should be handled by the student council, which has the actual authority entrusted by the school to do so…”

“…”

“I’m in no place to tell you this…but maybe you guys should try not to bother the people around you so much.”

At his words, Rix could sense a twinge of anger rush through the students who were surrounding him.

Gerard’s gaze, fixed on Rix, became even colder and sharper.

Huh? Are they mad? Was it something I said?

Rix cocked his head in confusion.

“If that’s all you can understand from our activities…you really are just a commoner,” Gerard growled. “You have no idea, do you…how rotten this academy is at its core? Nor how much trouble we’ve gone through to try to cleanse it from its rot?”

“You’re right, I have no idea. And frankly, I’m not really interested, either…”

Rix had only tried to answer honestly, but for some reason, he started to sense the students of the Peace Preservation Council, with Gerard in the lead, seething more and more with anger.

…What’s happening? thought Rix.

“It’s all because that incompetent Headmaster Jake is in charge now,” Gerard said. “Ever since he implemented the curriculum allowing anyone to awaken their Spheres using the Fool’s Elixir, our world’s been flooded with senseless commoner Fools who think they can call themselves mages, infesting our ranks like vermin… They’re far too stupid to be worthy of calling themselves something as noble as a mage. They’re the ones who keep causing problem after problem, incident after incident at this school. And in the end, it’s all because only those with noble blood such as ours should be allowed to become mages…”

“Huh? But since the beginning of the history of magic, there’ve always been stupid mages who, every so often, gained too much power, got carried away, and caused some kind of incident or problem,” Rix said. “And that had nothing to do with being a commoner or a noble…or at least that’s what I learned in Professor Gibson’s history of magic class.”

Since he didn’t seem to be making a very good impression, Rix tried to say something that might make him seem more like a serious student who actually paid attention in class.

But instead, he felt another wave of anger wash over the group of students.

Why are they like this?!

Rix felt tears welling in his eyes.

“Hmph. Well, in any case, to maintain order within the mage community, and to keep everyone engaged in disciplined and constructive daily activity, we must have an executive body at the head of that community with absolute power and will…especially one that is willing to get its own hands dirty. Even an empty-headed commoner like you should be able to understand that, can’t you?”

“Ah! Yeah, I totally get it! Like a command group behind the front lines, right?!” *

*Command group: In mercenary groups and armies, signifies a unit with the rather brutal mission of monitoring its own troops from the rear and forcing them to continue fighting through force when they attempt to desert or flee from battle against their orders.

“Yeah, they’re definitely necessary! Hired soldiers are so quick to leave their comrades behind and desert as soon as their troops are at a disadvantage… But even if it’s the command group’s duty, it sure feels bad to have to cut down your own soldiers. Ha-ha-ha…”

“Y-yeah, whatever, you get it now, right? I mean, the significance behind our activities?”

Gerard cringed at Rix, then went on as he spread open the hem of his robe.

“The proper order of any group must be governed by power. You could call it a necessary evil. And we members of the Peace Preservation Council enforce that order with our noble will and determination… We are the chosen ones who carry out that necessary evil for the sake of order. The order of this academy, where almost all of daily student life is left up to the autonomy of the student, is maintained day after day…all thanks to our efforts.”

Gerard declared this grandly, with an expression full of confidence and pride.

“…But…isn’t that the student council’s job?” Rix asked. “Why do some unrelated, ordinary students like you guys have to butt in…?”

Rix again tilted his head in confusion and posed his frank impression of doubt.

And when he did, another jolt of anger spread like lightning through the group.

Whaaat?! Was it something I said?!

Rix just couldn’t grasp what was making them so mad—he was just trying to be honest.

“You really understand nothing, don’t you?” Gerard spat. “The student council? They’re incompetent, and they completely fail to see the truth and reality of the mage community.”

Gerard’s voice was full of disgust and contempt.

“Even though we already know from the start that any trouble will have been caused by those senseless commoner mages. And even though we all know the answer to maintaining order would be to expel each and every one of them from the school. Still the student council insists on providing all kinds of pointless support to them, trying to mediate the discord between nobles and commoners, and making it easy for commoners to enroll and have a normal student life at this academy. They’re a bunch of idiots who don’t even deserve to call themselves mages.”

“…?”

“And what I find most unforgivable of all is that they deny students like us, who truly care about the future of the mage community, and completely reject our attempts to join the student council ourselves,” Gerard added. “Fools like them, who cannot even consider the greater good or see what lies in our futures, shouldn’t be allowed to control this academy from above, nor enjoy the glory afforded by the position. This academy is rotten to the core. And somebody has to be the one to fix it. Understand, first-year?”

“Um…?”

For a moment…

Rix hemmed and hawed as he crossed his arms, ruminating on all that Gerard had just said.

Then, as if he had finally gotten the point, he pounded one fist against his other hand in a gesture of apparent understanding.

“I see! So that’s how it is! I think I finally got it!”

“Hmph… Finally got it through your head, huh? Maybe you’re not as dumb as I—”

“So you guys actually just really, really want to join the top organization of this academy, the student council, but since you keep getting turned away, this is your way of sulking about it!” said Rix. “So instead, you make up some weird group called the Peace Preservation Council, pretend like you’re your own version of the student council, and try to compete with them like little kids having a tantrum! That’s basically the gist of it, right?!”

“You’re really trying to die today, aren’t you?”

“Huh? What did I say?!”

The gazes of the students surrounding Rix had already passed the point of simple hostility. They were murderous.

But Rix still had no idea exactly where he had gone wrong.

Ugh… And after Randy’s warning, I really didn’t want to get involved with these guys…!

He was floundering, at a total loss.

“…Well, fine. I never expected a filthy commoner like you to understand our noble principles in the first place,” Gerard scoffed. “After all, you and I exist on completely different levels of the social order.”

“Oh, Gerard, don’t put yourself down like that… Be confident, no matter what hand life has dealt you!”

“Why would you think I’m below you, not the other way around?! The more I talk to you, the more you’re starting to piss me off!”

Gerard was clearly at his wits’ end.

“By the way, do you have any idea why we, the Peace Preservation Council, have appeared here before you today?” he asked Rix.

“Huh?! N-no, no, no, no, I have n-n-n-no idea why you’d, um—”

“Sure, that reaction’s not suspicious at all…”

Gerard was starting to look truly exhausted over the course of talking with Rix.

“Calm down. We don’t have any business with you, at least not today. Don’t get me wrong, we are serious about our goal of expelling every commoner from this academy, but we’re not the kind of unreasonable organization that would use vigilante punishment or sanctions against an innocent student who’s done nothing wrong…”

“Really?! Seriously?! You’re joking, right?! Is this some kind of prank?! You know, lying is like the gateway drug to true crime! Come on, don’t slide down that slippery slope!”

“…How is it possible for every single thing you say to be so annoying?”

Gerard could only click his tongue at Rix’s over-the-top surprised reaction.

“Who we do have business with is you.”

“???”

Gerard pointed at Tran.

Tran, who had been in the middle of a big, bored yawn, suddenly snapped back to attention.

Dammit… I was hoping that wasn’t it…

Rix gritted his teeth.

He thought back to the phoenix egg incident, and the monster escape incident with the Magical Creature Club. And the incomplete summoning contract between them. And all the other things. Tran certainly hadn’t been laying low.

Tran was an outsider. She wasn’t even supposed to be here in the first place.

So it wasn’t really surprising that a radical vigilante organization like the Peace Preservation Council had come to eliminate her from the academy.

“Wait, Gerard. Tran is my summon.”

Rix stood in front of Tran to guard her.

“Brother?!”

“And since she’s my summon, that should mean she’s my responsibility, given that I’m her master. So can you please just leave her alone for now? If you need someone to punish, let it be me.”

Rix was used to pain anyway.

He had been captured by the enemy and tortured more than a few times in his life.

As long as he divorced his consciousness from the pain and cleared his mind completely, he knew he could take any level of suffering.

“So you still don’t get it.” Gerard laughed disparagingly, a cruel grin on his face. “Of course, considering how much she’s disrupted the order of the academy, she would normally be a target of our punishment. But sometimes, someone can be valuable enough that we feel we can turn a blind eye to such troublemaking. For example, someone of noble blood, like us—or a rare, valuable creature like her.”

“…?!”

“We heard about her… She’s actually an ancient dragon.”

Rix narrowed his eyes.

The somewhat silly look he had had on until now was suddenly replaced with a sharp gaze, like he was staring down the enemy on the battlefield.

Rix’s sharp senses from years as a soldier had felt it keenly. This man in front of him…was his enemy.

“…What about it?” Rix fell deeper into a battle stance as he asked.

“It’s truly magnificent, isn’t it? I wonder if a commoner like you can even begin to understand what a miracle her very existence is…or how valuable she is.” Gerard’s tone was exaggerated. “Hey, Rix. Take, for example, the executive power of the incompetent student council. Or the power of having an ancient dragon as a summon, which a lowly person like you clearly doesn’t deserve. Don’t you think something so valuable…should belong to someone truly worthy of wielding it?”

And the moment after Gerard said this—

“Yes, for example—someone like me.”

—he suddenly raised up his hand, giving some kind of sign.

And at the same time, the students surrounding Rix all took out their wands, raised up their hands, and began chanting some kind of incantation.

““““Bind!””””

In a flash, the entire area was filled with purple streaks of lightning. Innumerable rings of light closed in on Rix’s and Tran’s arms and legs, completely immobilizing them.

“Wh-what is this…?! I can’t move…!”

“U-urrrghhh…!”

Even with Tran’s monstrous strength, let alone Rix’s, the binding halos of light seemed to be unbreakable.

“You won’t be breaking through those. That’s Bind…a kind of magic that restricts the target’s movement,” Gerard said. “There’s no way a person like you who can’t use magic will be getting out of ten mages’ worth of that spell. Now, then…”

Having safely rendered Rix and Tran powerless, Gerard puffed out his chest and began to proudly walk toward them.

“Guh…”

“Allow me to give you a little lesson on summoning magic, as an upperclassman. Let me teach you something about that incomplete summoning contract between the two of you.”

“…?!”

Rix was frozen in shock.

“In most cases, it is necessary for a mage to obtain a summoned creature through directly forming a contract with them, in person,” Gerard began. “How exactly the contract is formed is inconsequential. They could verbally negotiate and agree upon the contract. Or the mage could forcibly make the creature yield and bind the contract against the creature’s will. In either case, the mage conducts the summoning oath rite, appraises the True Name of the creature, and takes them under their control. In some very rare cases—for example, when the summon possesses intelligence—the creature may themselves provide their True Name to the mage directly. At any rate, in that instant, a contract is formed between the two parties, and the summoned creature then belongs to the mage. That is the most basic way to form a summoning contract with summoning magic. You learned this all in class already, right?”

“…!”

Gerard walked pass Rix, who remained frozen, and stood in front of Tran.

“And so, normally, the contract will become invalid after the master mage dies,” he said. “The master mage releases their grasp of the summon, and they are set free. But very, very rarely…there are other cases. Cases where even after the master dies, the summon maintains their end of the contract of servitude.”

“Grrrrrr…!”

Tran let out a low growl as Gerard grasped her chin in his hand.

“It may be out of a deep love and trust for their departed master, or perhaps due to some kind of curse or obstructive thought… We do not know the true reason. But such cases do exist—such pitiful existences where even without the presence of their master, a summon remains tied to them… We mages who specialize in summoning magic call them…stray summons. That’s right. Just like you, ancient dragon.”

“I’m not a stray!!” Tran’s eyes flashed with anger as she bared her fangs in a shout. “I’m Brother’s…! …Brother’s…”

But her fierce howl was becoming weaker and weaker and losing confidence.

Gerard, who couldn’t have had the slightest idea of Tran’s true feelings, snickered at her in deprecation. “Yes, that’s the strange part about all this. It seems your master isn’t dead. As you can see, he’s alive and well. But if we expand our Spheres and use aetheric sight to investigate you, we can see that there is a one-way summoning contract between you and Rix. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a case like this. If we are to describe your status in magic terms, you are indeed a stray summon, yet your master is still alive… Ha-ha-ha, the Society for Summoning Studies will be in an uproar when they hear about it.”

Then Gerard took out his wand before Tran.

“Anyway, I’ve gone on long enough about that. It really doesn’t matter in the end. What does matter…is that you are a stray summon without a true master present. That’s the main point here.”

Gerard moved his wand and, with it, began writing lines of letters made of light in the air in front of Tran’s eyes.

“…?!”

Tran was unable to take her eyes off them.

The letters. The letters. The letters…

It was as if she was being sucked into them.

Then suddenly—

“Ah, ah— AaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH HHHHH?!”

—Tran let out an earsplitting scream.

Something about her anguish looked abnormal.

Her eyes were open so wide that they looked like they were about to split open at the sides.

Her small, delicate body was shaking uncontrollably as if with a violent fever.

Small bits of foam began to form at the corners of her mouth.

“Hey! What the hell did you do to her?!”

Rix put all his strength into trying to move so that he could jump at Gerard…but his entire body remained completely restrained by the sturdy rings of light. He couldn’t move a muscle.

“Normally, it would be very difficult for a person of my rank to deduce an ancient dragon’s True Name, even if they had been reincarnated as a human,” Gerard said. “So in that case…I thought, why don’t I just overwrite it? That is, with a name that I do know.”

“…?!”

“A False Name. I have given her a new name to define her existence, in place of her True Name. With that, I’m able to take her into my grasp as my own summon.”

“Wh-what…?!”

“Of course, a cheap trick like this wouldn’t work at all on a regular summoned creature. The exception is that it’s quite effective on stray summons. That’s because they’ve already completed the summoning oath rite. By simply taking the place of their former master, it’s easy to obtain control over the summon.”

“Stop…!”

Gerard continued to speak as if spellbound, watching the anger burning in Rix’s eyes.

“Oh, but how wonderful! I never imagined I’d be able to obtain an ancient dragon as my own summon! Now this is power! She is power itself, and the greatest power imaginable in this world! And as long as I have this power, I should easily be able to crush that infuriating student council! And next, I’ll fulfill our dream of making the Peace Preservation Council the top organization of this academy! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Aaaah-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaa!”

“Wh-what the hell are you thinking…?!”

“Oh, but don’t worry, Rix!” Gerard added. “While I’m sure you had no idea how to properly use her, I’ll make sure to get one hundred and twenty percent of her potential out of her! I’m sure she’ll be happier this way! Once I’ve fully gained control of her, where should I even begin?! What training shall I start with first?! Heh… I think we have no use for this weak human body! Maybe I’ll force her back into her ancestral form! Or maybe I can leave her as a human and try all different kinds of modifications on her body!

“Goodness, this really gets my creative juices flowing! Don’t you agree, former master Rix?! Wa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!”

“You asshole…!”

Rix gritted his teeth until he felt they were about to break, overwhelmed by his fury and enraged at the powerless position he was in.

“Know your place, lowly humans.”

Suddenly, they were surrounded by the explosive welling-up of an overwhelming pressure, presence, and magical power. And with it, a tremendous, soul-freezing frosty air swirled like a tempest around them.

The chilling air and its impact froze and shattered the halos of light binding Rix and Tran—at the same time, the surrounding upperclassmen of the Peace Preservation Council were blown away.

“Gyaaaaah?! My arm! What happened to my aaaaaarm?!”

“My feet… I can’t move my feet…!”

“Eeeeeek?!”

The upperclassmen, their limbs frozen to the bone, let out screams as they tumbled frantically to the ground.

This was the power of the Dragons’ Shout known as Punishing Cold.

All motion and energy ceased under its extreme low temperatures.

Through the power of this freezing roar, a dragon was able to negate all spells and curses.

And of course, the dragon that had released such a roar was…

“…Tran?!”

“…”

Tran did not respond to Rix.

All she did was release a low, ferocious, beastly growl from deep within her delicate throat.

The usual, innocent Tran was nowhere to be seen.

Her entire body emanated a violent magical power and was brimming with a presence like that of a giant. Her endlessly cold, freezing gaze glared at the students around her as if they were nothing but garbage.

“You should thank the swordsman. It is only out of consideration to him that I did not freeze you underlings to your very cores…”

Saying this, Tran then turned to glare sharply at Gerard.

“But you, I cannot forgive. Die.”

“…?!”

Gerard quickly cast a Shield spell and blocked Tran’s freezing wind with a magical barrier.

But standing now before the awakened Tran, he was being pushed to his limit as a cold sweat began to appear on his forehead.

“You think you can take his place and become my master? You insult me. A simple death is not enough for one such as you. I shall tear you limb from limb before I toss you into the mires of hell…!”

Instantly, the furious Tran disappeared from sight.

No, she hadn’t disappeared—she was running at Gerard at superspeed.

Her physical ability exceeded even Rix’s. It was the overwhelming, superhuman ability of a dragon.

Momentarily breaking the sound barrier, the resulting shock wave tore the surrounding area to shreds as she rushed straight for Gerard.

There was no way for an ordinary person to begin to face that speed.

But Gerard was no ordinary person. He was a mage.

And a mage was omnipotent toward everything within the bounds of their own Sphere.

That meant that he could sense Tran’s movements and respond to them.

“Thrice, I reject you!”

In an instant, Gerard summoned an immense amount of mana to cast another Shield spell.

What he created was a three-layer magical barrier.

To be able to cast the same spell three times in a row—it was a special move, and proof that he was a first-class mage.

However…

*   *   *

“Grrrrrrrrr…!”

There was a cracking sound.

Golden scales began to cover Tran’s right arm, and five sharp claws extended from her hand.

The next moment, Tran had sliced straight through Gerard’s three-layer shield and easily shredded it to smithereens.

Another Dragons’ Shout: Slashing Claw—an attack that manifested as the dragon’s claws becoming sharp enough to slice through even mithril or orichalcum like butter.

“Ugh, guhhhh?!”

As the three-layer barrier was destroyed, Gerard’s body was pushed back about thirty feet from the impact, his feet scraping deeply into the ground.

“You think someone of your stature has what it takes to control me? How laughable.”

Seething with a stifling, murderous aura, Tran slowly walked toward Gerard…

“Tran, wait!” Rix called, sensing that something was horribly wrong. “Please, don’t take this any further! Don’t kill him!”

“This, I cannot abide. Even if it is a request from the swordsman. This is different from the Dark Lord simply insulting me before. This scum… Of all things, he tried to replace the swordsman as my master.”

Tran’s eyes as she looked back at Rix shone blazing and ominous. Just meeting her gaze was terrifying enough to make his heart feel like it was being squeezed in his chest.

“Let me remind you, you small, human children. Lest you forget, I’ll have you carve this upon your souls. I am a dragon. I am the very top of the food chain, and an overwhelmingly higher existence than any human. I will show you fragile humans just what disaster will befall any who dare incur my wrath!”

This was bad.

Rix wasn’t sure exactly how it had come to this, but Tran was furious.

If he didn’t do anything, she would definitely tear Gerard to little bits and pieces and kill him.

How can we get out of this…?!

Knowing he had to do something to stop her, Rix unsheathed his sword.

There was no way he could let Tran kill someone on academy grounds.

Even a hopeless jerk like Gerard was still a student here.

If she killed him, the academy’s administration would definitely come for her.

They’d probably have to face Professor Darwin…or maybe Professor Arca.

In any case, even an idiot like Rix could tell that it would bring the worst possible outcome for Tran.

But can I win against Tran…?! Even when we were mercenaries together, I never once beat her during our sparring matches…

If he used that light at the tip of his sword, he just might be able to win.

But it wouldn’t be training anymore. It would be a fight to the death.

He had never fought like that against Tran, and he wasn’t in a hurry to try it.

But I have to do this…! I have to stop Tran, without using the shining sword, and with her in this powered-up state…!

Having decided this, Rix shouted to Gerard.

“Hey! Gerard! You’ve got to run away! I’ll find some way to stop her!”

As much as he resented having to do so, right now, he had to protect Gerard.

Standing by this decision, Rix faced up against Tran and took a low battle stance…

“…Hmm? …What? Huh…?”

Having seemingly encountered something he just couldn’t understand, Gerard stood there with his arms crossed and his head cocked to one side.

Then, as if finally grasping the situation, he pounded his fist in understanding.

“So that’s how it is. You really think that I’m weaker than that little girl—Tran, you called her? That’s a serious insult. Now that really makes my blood boil.”

Just as Rix heard Gerard mumbling this perplexing line…

Crack.

The sound of mana tearing into the atmosphere like lightning reverberated around them, and…

“Ugh, aaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH?!”

…Tran suddenly grasped at her chest and let out a scream of anguish.

“…What?! Tran?!”

Rix ran over to her.

As he approached, he could see letters formed of light floating upon her chest.

They were those same letters of light that had been on the verge of disappearing until moments ago—the False Name.

“Wh-what is this…?!”

“Heh… Without this, you might have really had me in a tight spot just now…”

Rix turned back to look at Gerard, who was wielding his wand in his left hand. Above his raised right hand floated something, which was surrounded by an ominous, dark, magical aura.

Out of the thing flowed an unchecked, nauseating, evil miasma.

The thing, which made Rix feel ill just to look at…was some kind of bone.

He remembered that magical aura, that evil miasma it was giving off. He had felt this before.

It was similar to the aura that Gordon and Anna had given off before.

“That thing… It’s a…!”

“Oh? That look on your face… It seems you’re familiar. That’s right…this is a second-class Demon Relic. It’s a piece of the remains of the Dusk Demon, Shenola.”

“…?!”

“If I use the power from this Demon Relic…I should be able to reforge a summoning contract with a stray summon, even if it is an ancient dragon.”

Gerard declared this with a calm yet arrogant look on his face.

“Grrrraaaaahhhhh!! You bastard…! Some measly human thinks he can— AAAAHHHHHHH?!”

Tran cradled her head in her arms as she screamed in anguish.

She looked like she was struggling with all her strength against the False Name that Gerard had imprinted on her.

“…Tsk, you’re a tough one, aren’t you…? I expected as much from an ancient dragon. Fine… Forming the new contract is only a matter of time now. Once it’s complete, I’ll be sure to give you some proper training.”

Gerard glanced at the suffering Tran, looking annoyed.

And then—Rix made his move.

“Stop…!”

He couldn’t let Gerard do this to his comrade, his sister-in-arms whom he had been through so much with on the battlefield.

He couldn’t allow Gerard to make her suffer like this.

In that instant, he came to a decision—I don’t care what happens; I’m cutting him down, here and now—and headed straight for Gerard.

“STOPPPPPPP!!”

Rix’s attack, like a swift, sharp wind, was just about to slice into Gerard’s neck—but Rix froze.

Before he knew it, his entire body had again been caught in a countless number of those binding halos from before.

“…?!”

“My, my… Do you really think that a lowly commoner like you—someone who isn’t even a mage—can win against me, one of the chosen people?”

Gerard calmly approached Rix, who was frozen solid like a stone statue, and pointed his wand at him.

The tip of his wand slowly began to gather mana, and Rix could do nothing except watch it happen.

“I must thank you, Rix. And please, don’t worry. I’ll be sure to take good care of your precious dragon, starting today.”

Then—

“Combust.”

—Gerard cast a spell that burst into a blaze of flame and wind right in front of Rix.

Rix helplessly took the full brunt of the attack., Powerless, he was blown away and badly burned.

D-dammit… Tran…!

He hit the ground, and his consciousness began to fade…but he was certain he heard something at that moment.

“Brother… Brother…help me… Help me, please…”

That was the last thing he remembered.

As he sensed Gerard’s and Tran’s presences drifting farther and farther away, Rix’s consciousness went dark…

__________

_______

___

I’m dreaming.

It’s a strange dream of two people.

No—more precisely, it’s one person and one creature.

And I’m idly watching this tale unfold from high up above.

There once was a young man.

This young man was a swordsman.

But he was no ordinary swordsman—he had remarkable skill. The young man was a master.

Just from the way he walked, you could tell he was dangerous.

Though at first he always looked careless, the casual way in which he held himself left no openings, and no hesitation.

His favorite hooded cloak that covered his body was in tatters. He always wore the hood up over his eyes, making him look even more suspicious and sullen.

But once he took out his sword, it was all over for anyone standing in his way.

For in this time and place, where magic was the absolute power, this young man was an abnormality—he couldn’t use magic at all. He only wielded his sword.

How much training and how many battles did he have to live through to reach such godlike skill?

Once he took out that sword, he could cut down a thousand monsters or make an army of ten thousand retreat.

And at the tip of his sword shone a silver light, brilliant as the dawn—his shining sword.

If I were to challenge this guy to a swordfight as I am right now, he would wipe the floor with me.

The young man traveled throughout a chaotic and war-torn era, where the weak were ravaged and the strong did as they pleased.

As he continued to perfect his skills with his sword, he traveled silently over the land, joining battlefield after battlefield, fighting with all sorts of monsters, and taking on all types of mages. And he never lost a single fight.

What is he even planning to do with all that strength? Or at least that’s what I’m thinking.

But the young man had a purpose that he was working toward.

His final goal was to defeat the most powerful and evil mage in the history of the world: the Dusk Demon.

“…How about ‘Tran’?”

“What do you mean?”

“For your name. It feels dull if I’m always just calling you ‘dragon.’”

“Heh… Is that some sort of joke? I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised if that’s the best your head can come up with.”

“Oh… All right… I guess it was too simple after all… Okay, scratch that one. I’ll think of something else…”

“No, no, Tran is fine. I am female, after all, so perhaps the ring of a cute name like that isn’t so bad. I’ll accept it gratefully.”

The young swordsman had company on his journey.

He was accompanied by a huge dragon, who was now looking down on him like a mountain as he frantically attempted to start a fire to prepare a meal.

And it was a magnificent dragon indeed. It had beautiful, glimmering golden scales. Its sharp emerald-green eyes, like two large gemstones, were aggressive yet beautiful, too.

Its body gave off a sense of overwhelming authority, presence, gravity, and even an air of dignity.

“Hrmm, maybe the kindling’s too damp? I can’t seem to get a fire started…”

“Allow me.”

The dragon let out a small puff of breath.

Fwoom! In an instant, with the power of the flames of hell, the kindling as well as the chunk of boar meat that hung above it both were immediately burned to ash.

“…Tran?”

“My apologies. Oh, I’m truly sorry…”

Now having no dinner for the night, the young man looked up resentfully at the dragon as it hung its head awkwardly.

“U-um… As my apology, would you like to eat some of my flesh instead…?”

“Maybe if I really reach my limit. But not yet.”

The young man breathed a sigh and lay down where he sat.

“Change of subject, but…it’s been quite a while since you joined up with me.”

“Yes, you’re right… At first, I had no idea what to make of you, the way you suddenly and so rudely came right into my den and asked for a bout.”

The dragon looked up at the sky as if fondly recalling a distant memory.

“At the time, I thought you were just another fool who didn’t know their place. Someone who just wanted to take my head to elevate theirown name, or wanted to slice me up and use me for magical ingredients, or searched for great wealth, or wanted me to follow them as their summoned creature… Many such humans have approached me for such reasons…though I simply killed them all.”

“Scary.”

“But for some deviant to come to me for the simple purpose of sword training… You were the first and only of that sort.”

The dragon seemed to let out a chuckle—but it was hard to tell for sure, since the structure of dragons’ faces was so different from that of humans.

“Unlike all the other measly humans I have encountered, you forwent all tricks and truly challenged me head-on with but a single sword… After three days and three nights of mortal combat, you defeated me fair and square.”

“Ha-ha-ha, but I was really about to drop dead, myself… A few times, I was even pretty sure I saw my ancestors waving at me from the other side, telling me to ‘turn back from the light’!”

“Heh… You truly surprised me. I never imagined that someone could nullify my secret weapon,that roar, in such a way…”

“A-all right, you can stop there… It’s making my ears hurt just thinking about it…”

“And just when I thought I had been truly beaten… Just as I thought I had met my final fate. You said to me… ‘That was a great match! Let’s do it again sometime!’ …Honestly, I could not believe my ears.”

“But I told you right from the beginning! It was only supposed to be part of my sword training.”

“And I was supposed to believe that? When among you humans, you ascribe such special meaning and value to the title of dragon slayer? As much as I resent it, the truth is that dragon flesh is worth a fortune to your kind. For you to not only spare my life but also go out of your way to tend to my wounds, not take a single part of my body for yourself, and go home empty-handed, was beyond my imagination.”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha…”

The young man smiled vaguely as he lay on the ground and stared up at the faraway starry sky.

“Is the Dark Lord really so powerful that you must train your sword to such reckless limits?” the dragon asked the man.

The young man narrowed his eyes. “Yeah. She’s strong. She’s…not even human anymore. She’s a monster.”

“……”

“The Dark Lord…was actually a childhood friend of mine… In the past, she loved making people smile with her magic, and she was just an innocent, cute girl. I really loved her, the way she was back then. I loved the way she was always creating something. Unlike me,” he said. “But…it’s all changed now. This world of war and chaos changed her. Now she’s nothing but a demon, drunk on the joy of killing and destruction… She’s an enemy of the world. But then again… Actually, she… From the very start, she’s always been…”

The young man began to say something but seemed to make up his mind and declare something else instead.

“Someone needs to stop her. Someone needs to kill her. And that’s where I come in.”

“To have to kill a beloved friend… And in order to do so, face near death over and over, in order to become stronger. I do not claim to understand the workings of the human heart, but…it sounds painful.”

The dragon spoke with sympathy in its voice.

“Will she not be swayed by talking? Are not discussion and negotiation humans’ strengths?”

“No, that’s impossible… At this point, she’s broken. She doesn’t understand anything except her own goal of getting stronger through destroying, killing, and consuming everything she comes up against. There’s no saving her anymore. The only way to really save her is—”

The young man took out his sword and held it in both hands, pointing it toward the distant, starry sky.

It was as if he was fixing to slash down the stars in the night sky with his sword.

“I’ve always been a man who has no skills besides fighting with a sword,” he said. “And I’m broken, too—a broken human who only feels alive when I’m fighting. But if there’s something that can save a man like me, then…”

“……”

For a while, the dragon looked down at the young man, who gazed at the starry glow at the tip of his sword with a tragic yet brave look on his face.

Then the dragon spoke.

“…My friend—I am the same.”

“…Tran?”

“I, too, have spent much of my time in battle. Sometimes against humans like you, other times against my own kind,” the dragon added. “In any event, I have fought for a very long time. Fought for my supremacy in this world. I followed my dragon’s instinct to fight. I sought the pleasures of victory and superiority as I forced the weak to bow to me.”

“…”

“And I am the strongest. The masses prostrate themselves before me. I am a dragon. I stand at the pinnacle of existence in this world… And when drunk on bloodlust, I held no doubts toward that way of life. Rather, I was proud of it. However—one day, out of the blue, I realized. As I stood alone in a wasteland of my own devastation, as it faded in the twilight… I realized…at the end of that long journey…the result of that way of life…was absolutely nothing.”

“……”

“When I realized that, I looked back on the path I had forged through battle, which I had been so proud of…and the brilliant color of those memories had suddenly gone dull and gray. All the fighting and the slaughter, up until then… What had it been for? After that, I couldn’t stop asking myself. I no longer knew the meaning of fighting. No, I had realized that it never had meaning in the first place. But it was already too late to simply change my way of life. Having understood themeaninglessness of my actions, I continued to fight. And it brought me nothing but further emptiness.”

It seemed even dragons had their own struggles and sorrows.

The young man had no idea how he should respond, so he stayed silent.

The dragon appeared to contort its face into a small smile.

“But then, for the first time in my life, there may just be a fight I can believe has meaning. My friend. I will lend my strength to your battle. Let us fight together, until our lives run out. You call yourself a man who is unable to create anything, but I believe that isn’t true. And believing this, my existence will give meaning to your fight, and your existence will give meaning to my fight for you. If you and I fight together…we shall grant each other’s existences a higher value.”

“Ha-ha-ha, Tran, everything you say is always so difficult; it’s too hard for me to understand… But basically, you’re saying that if we fight together, we won’t be useless in this world anymore, right?”

“A vast simplification, but yes.”

“Ha-ha-ha. Well, either way, I’m all for fighting together. If I have you fighting on my side, I just might have a chance against the Dark Lord. But more than anything, I won’t be alone… It’s a great thing to have a friend by your side.”

The young man stood.

Then, as if gesturing for a handshake, he stuck his hand out to the dragon.

In response, the dragon extended one of its front claws, and the young man grasped it.

“Here’s to our partnership, Tran.”

“Rix! Come back to us! Rix!”

“…?!”

Rix’s consciousness, drifting in a dream, suddenly responded to the sound of somebody calling his name and was brought back to reality.

When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Shino’s ghastly face, viewed from upside down.

She had been grasping Rix’s face with her hands as he lay face up on the ground and was peering down at him.

“Rix…! Th-thank goodness!”

“Phew… Well, I didn’t think something like that would kill a man like you…but you had us worried.”

The next thing he saw was Annie holding his hand with tears in her eyes and Serephina, breathing a sigh of relief.

“When Shino called us all here using a Telepathy spell, you were lying here on the brink of death… What the hell happened?”

Randy, too, stood nearby with his arms crossed as he questioned Rix in a serious tone of voice.

“It was—!! Ugh…”

When Rix tried to sit up, his body felt as heavy as lead.

“Don’t push yourself. Annie and I healed your wounds with a healing spell, but you still haven’t recovered the blood you lost or the energy you expended,” said Shino. “Just be still. So? What happened? Though I think I have some idea.”

“A-actually…”

Urged on by Shino, Rix shook his still-fuzzy head and recounted what had happened from the beginning.

“The Peace Preservation Council…?! Dammit! The nerve they have…!”

When Randy heard what had happened, he stomped his feet in anger.

“Rix. That detail about the leader having a bone fragment in his possession… Is that really true?”

Shino checked with Rix once more, with a cold look on her face.

“Yeah…no doubt about it. The magical aura coming from Gerard… It was the exact same as that time with Professor Anna. What’s it called again…? A Demon Relic? Yeah…he had one of them.”

“…I see.” Shino nodded. “To be able to use a False Name on an ancient dragon to form a stolen contract… There’s no way he would have been able to do that to someone like Tran without the power of a Demon Relic… So it must be true.”

“This is terrible. So in short, this means that behind that Peace Preservation Council…is the Faith Faction.”

The Faith Faction—the dark side of the Estoria Academy of Magic.

And faith magic—a forbidden type of magic first created by the Dusk Demon, Shenola.

The Faith Faction was a taboo secret society that centered around researching and studying this faith magic.

It was a dangerous group that was willing to make any sacrifice in order to achieve its goals.

With its thoroughly secretive membership, there was no way to know where members of the Faith Faction were lurking in the academy, who the members were, or how large its membership really was.

Even the upper levels of the academy itself—that is, instructors with the world’s top-class magic abilities—were struggling to track down and eliminate the Faith Faction.

“…”

“…Shino.”

Rix wasn’t sure how to continue the conversation with Shino, who was silently thinking to herself.

After all, in her past life, Shino had been the Dusk Demon, Shenola.

The Faith Faction was the lingering proof of the crimes Shino had committed against this world in her past life.

Furthermore, the Demon Relics that the Faith Faction was misusing and touting as its signature were pieces of Shino’s remains from her past life. One could only guess at the true turmoil and complexity of her feelings surrounding it all.

“In any case, now that we know the Faith Faction is involved, this is no longer just an issue between students.”

Seemingly looking to snap herself out of her mulling, Shino spoke up.

“This isn’t something we can handle on our own. First thing tomorrow morning, I’ll report the incident to the academy. That will be our best course of action—”

“No, Shino. We can’t do that.” Rix grabbed Shino’s hand. “Right now, it’s a race against the clock. Tran was able to resist it. She fought against the recontracting with the False Name. But she won’t be able to keep resisting it forever—the contract will be sealed soon,” he told her. “Shino…you know this, don’t you? Please, be honest with me… Do you think Tran will last until morning?”

“…”

Shino expanded her Sphere and examined Rix aetherically.

The one-way contract between Tran and Rix was still valid. However, it was weakening by the minute. There was no way it would last until the next morning.

“…I’d guess her breaking point will be around midnight tonight,” Shino admitted. “But the only thing we can do is wait until tomorrow morning. At night, the instructors and administration at the academy all retreat to their respective secret offices. It will be nearly impossible to contact them now.”

“…!”

“Furthermore, once the new contract is completed—there will be no going back. She’ll never return to you again. It will be an official contract between a mage who is in possession of a Demon Relic and an ancient dragon. One single person will be in control of such power and influence that could bring unimaginable wealth and honor… No person would be able to give that up, even if it meant they’d be expelled. And it would be beyond any of the teachers at this academy, much less the student council, to be able to stop them.”

As if to respond that he had known it all along, Rix slowly and unsteadily rose to his feet.

Then he began to walk away.

“Wait. Where do you think you’re going?”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it…? I’m going to find the Peace Preservation Council…! And save Tran…!”

“Yeah, so where do you think that is? Do you know where their base is?”

“…!”

Rix froze. Now that she mentioned it, he realized he didn’t know.

Shino let out a sigh. “Rix. Remember the Magical Creature Club? They said they were raising magical creatures in a secret room—the other-dimensional areas hidden on the reverse side of the academy. And it seems that the academy has a huge quantity of these secret rooms… So many that even the administration doesn’t know exactly how many there are.”

“…?!”

“The secret offices given out to upperclassmen and instructors must also be these secret rooms. Though I have no idea why the Estoria Academy of Magic would have such a chaotic system…the fact that such a lawless group is able to escape the scrutiny of the school’s upper administration and the student council, and is able to operate however they like, is a sure sign that they must have a secret room as their base that the school is unaware of. It will be impossible to find it if we simply start wandering around the school grounds looking for it.”

“Even if that’s true…I can’t give up on it just like that…!”

Dragging his feet along, Rix started walking again.

“Tran’s…like a sister to me…!” he said. “Though I have no right to say it after leaving her behind and coming all the way out here…! There’s just no way…I can let a guy like that…take away her dignity…and her future…! Because I know even she…can find a reason for living…besides fighting…though it might take some time…!”

“…”

“Argh… I’m getting all mixed up trying to justify it… In short, it’s just… That guy thinks he can take my little sister away from me…? Well, this big bro will never let him get away with it!!” Rix shouted.

Shino heaved another deep sigh. “Well…that sounds like something you would say. In fact, you’re sounding more and more like a mage.”

“…Shino?”

“‘If thou seekest to achieve thy desires, thou must feed the desires of others into the kiln.’ It’s one of the most fundamental principles for mages. In order to achieve your desires, you need to trample down the desires of others. In order to grant your wishes, you need to twist the logic, the rules, of the world. No matter how much people talk of such nonsensical, fancy goals like the search for truth, the contribution to human advancement, or personal spiritual training…that is the true essence of mages, in the end. And that’s exactly why magic is the way it is today.”

Shino took out her wand and stared straight back at Rix.

“…In that case, we should do our best to act like the mages we are,” she added. “I’ll go with you.”

“Shino…!”

“Thinking something like this might happen, I actually enchanted Tran with a magical beacon. I should be able to find out where she is.”

“Wh-whaaaat…?! My friends are so smart and talented…! That’s awesome!”

“…You’re just too reckless. Let me be clear, lest you misunderstand. I couldn’t care less about what happens to your foolish sister. But I can’t stand to see my bones from my past life being used like a toy, so I’m going to give those guys a beating.”

In response to Rix’s unabashed praise, Shino put on a sour face that was somehow bashful and turned away.

“Oh-ho-ho! Of course, I’ll be accompanying you as well!” Serephina puffed out her chest and majestically declared her intention to help. “After all, Rix and Tran will become my most valuable of vassals in the future! I must personally punish any such scoundrel who tries to take what belongs to me!”

“S-Serephina… Thank you… I’m glad we have you as a friend,” Rix said. “But I really don’t want to work for you.”

“Please, won’t you even consider it a little?!”

Serephina’s eyes started filling with tears of despair.

“…I’m going too, Rix.”

“…Me too.”

Having decided for themselves as well, Randy and Annie also chimed in.

“I may be a total weakling, pipsqueak, small fry compared to you, Shino, and the princess…but there’s no way I can just sit by and watch without helping.”

“And I’m worried about Tran, too… I want to help!”

“I know we might just be a burden, but—”

As if they thought they might get turned down, Randy and Annie asserted their strong intentions.

“All right, then. Thank you, Randy, Annie. I’m counting on you.”

But unexpectedly, Rix accepted their offers without hesitation.

“Huh?”

“O-oh, okay…?”

Half-expecting to be left behind for this one, Randy and Annie couldn’t help but be a little surprised.

“…Hmm? Your own will is everything when it comes to whether you show up to a battle. What do you need my permission for?” Rix asked them.

“!”

“And besides, I’ve seen all sorts of people in my time as a mercenary. I can pretty much tell if someone’s gonna die right away or if they’re gonna stubbornly make it through the battle alive… And I’m pretty sure you guys are the latter. You’ve already made it past that first level that weeds out the former.”

“Ha, ha-ha-ha… What the hell is that…?”

Randy laughed awkwardly at Rix’s strange criteria.

“I, too, believe it is better for all of us if you come along to participate in the battle,” said Serephina. “While you may still be beginners based on your magical skills, I feel that Randy has a good sense for battle, and it would be a huge help to have one person healing and supporting behind the front lines, Annie.”

“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, I can’t fully explain it, but I think you’re right,” Rix replied. “And it’s just a feeling of mine, but…I think out of the three of you, Serephina would die quicker than Randy and Annie anyway.”

“Whaaaaaaaaat?! Seriously?!” Serephina’s eyes filled with tears of despair. “How could you say a thing like that?! Why me, with my prodigious skills?!”

“Hmm… I mean, it doesn’t have anything to do with pure skill level. It’s more like an inherent survival rate… How should I put it…?”

Serephina had grabbed Rix by the lapels and was shaking him violently.

Shino looked at the four friends and sighed. “Well, this is going nowhere,” she said. “But for the record, in general I agree with Rix and Serephina. Whatever happens, it is your own responsibility. If you understand and accept that, then I’m willing to take you along as well… So what do you think, you two?”

In response to Shino’s borderline indifference, Randy and Annie returned meek nods.

“All right! Then let’s all go and kick the crap out of that asshole Gerard!”

And so, with Rix in the lead, the group of friends started heading back toward the academy’s school buildings.

Shino quietly whispered to Rix as she walked beside him.

“By the way…I hate to call you out when you’re trying to keep up a cool front, but… You know, out of all of us, you may be the one who turns out to be the biggest liability. You understand that…right?”

“Ugh…”

She was right. Rix could not use magic. He lacked a Sphere, which was necessary for any person to cast spells.

To be exact, he had a Sphere, but it was unique in a way that meant when it came to magical battles, it was essentially the same as not having one at all.

There was a common saying in the magical world: “A swordsman can never win against a mage.”

To a non-mage, being inside the bounds of a Sphere was a death sentence.

“Come on. Don’t say that, Shino…”

“I just want to make sure we’re on the same page.”

Rix fidgeted awkwardly as Shino stated this matter-of-factly.

“That said, there is one way that we can use you as a sort of secret weapon,” she added. “In fact, if that weren’t true, I wouldn’t be agreeing to go into such a reckless fight.”

“…Huh?”

As Rix blinked in confusion, Shino mumbled some kind of incantation while playing with her hair.

She had a section of hair that was longer in one place…which she stroked a few times from top to bottom, before eventually taking it in her fingertips and putting her mouth against it, as if blowing into it.

Then after a while, she plucked a single strand of hair out of the section.

“Hold out your hand. The left one.”

“…?”

Shino mysteriously took Rix’s left hand in hers, wrapped the strand of hair around his ring finger, and then tied it in place.

“…Shino, what is this for?”

“Listen to me, Rix. Okay? This…is your lifeline.”

In the northeast wing of the Estoria Academy of Magic’s school building…

The sun had set completely, and the inside of the building was shrouded in darkness, without a single light illuminating their way. They had reached an area called the Long Gallery, which was lined with various paintings and other works of art.

The group stood in front of a large mirror on the wall.

“Here we are,” said Shino. “I believe this is the entrance to their base.”

She held her wand aloft and cast the Illuminate spell to light its tip.

“Huh? You mean this mirror?” Rix asked.

“Yes. On the other side of this mirror is an other-dimensional space—a secret room.”

Rix went right ahead and tried attacking the mirror headfirst.

Naturally, it repelled his attack. And that looked painful.

“…Um, I can’t get in,” he said.

“Obviously it isn’t going to be that easy. There are enchantments on the entrance to Lock and Conceal it,” Shino replied with a touch of exasperation. “It seems to be the kind of enchantment that can be easily disabled and allow one to enter if one speaks the password.”

“A password…?! Shino, do you know what it is?”

“Of course not. Why would I?”

“S-so…then, do we just have to start guessing until we get it right?!” Rix clutched at his head.

Shino sighed. “…We’re obviously not going to do anything that stupid.”

With that, Shino waved her wand and quickly wrote something on the mirror.

“Release and reveal thy truth to the light of day.”

She had chanted Dispel.

A sound like shattering glass rang out around them. The fabrication broke and crumbled into shards, revealing the entrance’s true form.

There was no longer a mirror there—it had been replaced by a heavy-looking door.

“Wh-what’s going on…? It looked like there really was a mirror there just a moment ago…,” Annie said, bewildered.

“Hmph. Too easy,” Shino scoffed before putting her wand away. “What exactly do they plan to hide behind such simplistic enchantments?”

“Actually…the spells cast on the entrance appeared to be of a considerably high level,” said Serephina. “At least, without being certain that this mirror itself was the entrance, there would be no way for even an instructor at the academy to notice it.”

“To be able to so simply dispel their magic… You really are the former Dusk Demon…,” said Randy. He and Serephina were a little freaked out by Shino’s magical prowess.

“Enough with the idle chatter. Beyond this door is an other-dimensional space—part of the Astral Plane that deviates from the rules of our own Material Plane. We need to be prepared for anything. And there may be more Peace Preservation Council members inside than we expect… Let’s proceed with caution.”

“Sure, you got it, Shino!” Rix cried. “Let’s doooooooo thiiiiiiis!!”

Craaaaaaash!

Rix performed a roundhouse kick on the door and smashed it open.

“Let’s go, everyone! Onwaaaaaaaaaaard!!”

“Didn’t I just say proceed with cautioooooon?!”

As Rix resolutely charged straight into the new path he’d created, Shino shouted at him, her face turning beet-red.

“Dammit. This is going to be harder than I thought…”

Gerard clicked his tongue in annoyance.

He was standing in the secret room that the Peace Preservation Council used as their base.

The Peace Preservation Council’s secret room actually contained multiple rooms, with multiple passages connecting them; it was similar to a dungeon.

Gerard was currently in the deepest room of the complex.

The room was relatively large, with an area that looked like a space for conducting magical ceremonies and rites.

Drawn on the floor in the center of the room was a magical spell circle, and above it, Tran was hanging from the ceiling with both hands in chains.

She was limp and motionless.

The False Name was still etched on her chest, and with each passing moment, the glow of the letters appeared to grow brighter.

“I didn’t expect the recontracting to take this much effort, especially using a Demon Relic. But it’s only a matter of time. Before long, this ancient dragon will be mine… I was right to have temporarily joined forces with them.”

Gerard chuckled to himself.

“But…who would have thought? I never would have guessed that person was part of the Faith Faction…but I guess people are not always what they seem to be. In any case, having an ancient dragon as an official summon grants tremendous power…and it will all be mine,” he said. “I’ll crush the lowly Faith Faction and the student council and have this academy under my control… Not even the academy’s administration will be able to stop me… Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

Just then, a magical alarm rang out over the magical ceremony grounds.

“…An intruder?” Gerard tilted his head in confusion. “Ridiculous. They may be sniffing around, but for that incompetent student council to figure out where our secret room is…? Impossible…! Not even the instructors know where all the secret rooms are, and we’ve perfectly concealed ourselves…! There’s simply no way the student council could—!”

Moreover, this time of day was outside of the student council’s official operating period.

Even if they had detected the location of this secret room, it would be unthinkable for them to come barging in at this hour.

“Unless…”

Having suddenly thought of another possibility, Gerard began poking around at and examining Tran’s body with his wand as she continued to hang from the ceiling.

And—there it was. A magical beacon, inscribed upon the back of Tran’s left hand.

“…Wh-what is this level of magic?! It was so perfectly hidden!”

Even a mage of Gerard’s skill hadn’t noticed its presence until just then.

The magical concealment skill used on the beacon was of a totally different level than his own. There couldn’t even be many instructors at the academy who could use this level of concealment magic.

“…Which means, judging from this situation, in all probability, the intruder is somehow related to the ancient dragon… Could it be that idiotic, incompetent commoner Rix and the rest of his first-year friends?”

The Peace Preservation Council took it upon themselves to investigate and know all information regarding friend groups and other student cliques at the academy.

If his assumption was true, the beacon must have been placed by Shino Whytenight.

She was an unusual student indeed—while her practical skills as a mage were mediocre, for some reason, her knowledge of spells surpassed even that of the instructors.

“I see… So they’ve come to take back their ancient dragon, have they? Hmph… They think they can scare me…”

Having thought perhaps the student council had shown up, Gerard had started to sweat a little.

After all, the student council did have a considerable membership of skilled students. He didn’t think he would lose in a fight against them, but it would be less than ideal to be taken off guard with them like this.

A mage should only fight when they’re confident in their own ability to win.

But as long as his opponent would be that group of first-year students, he had nothing to worry about.

While he was sore that the first-years had located their secret room, they’d secured plenty of backup spots they could move to for a situation like this.

But it looked like it was still going to take some time for Tran’s False Name to fully take effect.

“If I have no choice…fine. I’ll just have to face those insolent first-years,” Gerard said with a snap of his fingers.

The chains holding Tran to the ceiling were severed, and her body crumpled to the floor…

The place where Rix and the others had entered looked to be both an endless hall and a vast meeting room.

And there were some ten or so Peace Preservation Council upperclassmen gathered there.

The members looked surprised at the group’s sudden appearance, but they quickly started moving in an organized manner in order to try to surround them.

“Who the hell are you?!”

“How did you find this place?!”

However, Rix was faster than them.

“Diiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeee!!”

““Gwaaaaaaaaaaahhh?!””

He started to fight the moment he set eyes on them. When encountering an enemy he knew he had to defeat, conversation was not necessary.

Falling back on his training as a mercenary, he cut down two of the upperclassmen in a flash (using the back of his sword to simply knock them down). As the two flew backward, a fierce brawl began.

The Peace Preservation Council often found itself involved in such fights, one way or another.

And as a group that had fought its way through the academy to get where it was today, its members were seasoned fighters.

Yet still…

“Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

“W-wait! Wait a minute! I need just a second to prepa— Gwah?!”

“Th-this isn’t fair! In a fair magic duel, you need to announce your name and perform a bow to your opponent before you— Bwaaahhh?!”

“S-stay calm! Okay?! We can talk this out! Can’t we just talk—? Aaaaaaaaagh?!”

On top of being struck by surprise as if by a lightning strike, it was apparently the first time that even these upperclassmen had ever encountered such a one-sided, no-questions-asked, unrelenting opponent.

It was as if a raging storm of one-sided violence had suddenly blown through the room.

In all the confusion and upset, the upperclassmen were getting beaten to a pulp.

Then at last:

“Phew… All clear!”

Looking satisfied and refreshed, Rix re-sheathed his sword.

Not a single person was left standing aside from Rix himself.

“Um, by the way, you said you wanted to talk about something, right?” Rix asked. “Whatever you’ve got to say, I’m listening. I do think that it’s always important to try to talk things out before resorting to violence…”

With a sincere look on his face, Rix grabbed one of the fallen members by the lapels and pulled him up.

But seeing as the student’s eyes were rolled back in his head and his mouth foaming, he was in no state to respond to Rix.

“Damn…you took them all down before they even had a chance to expand their Spheres… Amazing…,” Randy marveled.

“It’s a valid tactic, for someone like Rix who can’t use magic…but it’s certainly not a pretty sight,” said Shino.

“A beautiful performance of true fighting capability! You never fail to convince me more and more that I want you for my army! Though you may be a lost cause as a human being!” Serephina remarked.

“Ah-ha-ha… I wonder if they’re all okay…,” said Annie.

The four friends reflected on the battle that they’d been unable to contribute to…although that was because it had ended before they’d had the chance to do anything.

“Shino…this good luck charm you gave me works wonders! I owe this victory to you!”

Rix giddily held up his hand to show off the strand of Shino’s hair that she had tied around his left ring finger.

“That had nothing to do with it. That’s not what that charm is for,” Shino curtly responded with a dead stare back at Rix. “Don’t you dare loop me in with your atrocities.”

“…I feel like…Rix doesn’t really need our help on this one.”

“Yes, I was feeling the same.”

“For now, let’s just hurry onward. We don’t have much time… I can sense Tran’s contract with Rix growing weaker and weaker,” Shino said before she started walking again.

The Peace Preservation Council’s secret room was a bit like a maze.

It contained a resource room, a laboratory, a pantry, a room for sleeping, a kitchen, toilets… Having all the amenities one could need, the members could stay there for days and days if they wanted without any inconvenience.

“Those guys had this awesome base hidden away for themselves all this time? I’m kind of jealous.”

“Yeah, I’ve decided. They’re totally evil, to the core. Right, Randy? So let’s steal this place away from them and make it our own secret base. How about it?”

“Nice idea! All riiight, now I’ve got something to get excited about!”

“Hmph. You realize that’s not going to be possible, right? And what’s with men always getting all worked up about the idea of secret bases, hideouts, and things like that…?”

“Because we’re guys…? We can’t help it!”

During this exchange, the group continued to walk cautiously onward.

They were careful to watch out for traps…but surprisingly, they didn’t encounter any.

When they thought about it, maybe it didn’t occur to its owners to place traps in a communal living space like this, since it was already a secret room that they didn’t expect intruders to find.

Thankful for this, Rix and the others made steady progress as they kept pushing forward.

“Which way next, Shino?”

At the lead, Rix came to a T-shaped fork in the path and turned back to ask Shino for directions.

Shino had used a spell called Spatial Awareness, which had allowed her to form a map of the secret room in her head.

“…Go left at that fork.”

“Thanks, Shino! You’re the best!”

Rix was making light of the situation…

“…”

…but Shino’s usual austere, stone-faced expression looked somehow a little perplexed.

“What’s wrong, Shino?” Sensing something was off, Rix couldn’t help but ask.

“…It’s nothing. Just my imagination.” Shino responded curtly and said nothing more about it.

“…?”

While Rix found her behavior strange, he decided not to dwell on it and instead focused on the path ahead of him.

Shino stared absentmindedly at Rix’s back as he walked in front of her and thought.

That’s right…just my imagination. There’s no other explanation… There’s no way that I know this place… Or that I’ve been here before… It must only be my imagination…

Shino had been assaulted by a strong feeling of déjà vu.

And now she was trying her best to ignore it and follow Rix’s lead.

Then finally…they reached an opening in the path.

“What is this place…?” said Rix.

“It looks…similar to the magical combat training grounds in the basement of the academy,” Randy replied.

The group looked around to get a feel for their surroundings.

“These…are our personal training grounds.”

Someone had appeared before them.

“We, the chosen ones who control the order of this academy. Of course, we must be stronger than anyone else in order to carry out our mission. And so day after day, we train ourselves relentlessly.”

It was Gerard.

And standing next to him—

“…”

—was Tran.

Her eyes looked vacant as her gaze wandered in a daze before her.

“Tran!”

Rix, having recognized her, shouted her name and ran toward her.

“We’re here to save you, Tran! It’s all right now! Come this way—”

Whoosh!

Rix had to quickly duck to dodge a side cleave that tore through the air.

If his reaction had been a split second later…his head would have been sliced clean off his body.

Unexpectedly, Tran had rushed toward Rix at blinding speed, pulled out the battle ax on her back, and swung it at him.

She stooped low like an animal as she held her ax at the ready.

“T-Tran…?”

“Grrrrrrrrr…!”

Tran’s only response to the bewildered Rix was like the threatening snarl of a beast.

“Wh-what’s wrong, Tran?!”

“D-don’t tell me…we’re too late?!”

“No…he’s already made you his summon?!”

Serephina, Randy, and Annie all gasped in response, expecting the worst.

“No, that’s not it. The contract between Tran and Rix still hasn’t been completely severed…,” Shino responded matter-of-factly, sensing the reality of Tran’s condition. “She’s perhaps under a forced-control summon, now that the False Name is more than half embedded into her. Though it shouldn’t normally be possible for someone to control a summon when the work of the False Name hasn’t been fully completed…”

“That’s right. But since I have this, the impossible becomes possible for me.”

Gerard held up his left hand. Floating in his palm was a bone fragment—a Demon Relic.

And out of it was flowing a black, ominous magical aura, like water from a broken pipe.

Then Gerard snapped his fingers.

“Ugh, argh, aaaaAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!”

Tran’s body was enveloped in the inexhaustible flow of mana gushing from the Demon Relic.

Then, with heretofore unmatched power and speed, Tran began to charge toward the flustered Rix once again.

“Wha—?!”

In a split second, Tran’s overhead blow came crashing down toward Rix.

With no other choice, Rix drew his sword and held it defensively with both hands in front of himself.

But he knew he wasn’t going to be able to fully block Tran’s attack with this sword.

His sword would be snapped in two, and Rix himself would be sliced down the middle right along with it.

“Rix!”

But Shino’s magic made it just in the nick of time.

She stuck out her wand, infused Rix’s sword with mana, and enchanted it with a strengthening spell.

And in the next moment, Rix’s sword clashed one-on-one with Tran’s ax.

A huge burst of sound rang out around them.

Sparks flew like fireworks in a violent frenzy. Rix’s sword held fast without breaking; however…

“Aaaaaagh?!”

“Grrrrrrraaaaaaaahhh!!”

…Rix was being pushed backward by the force of Tran’s attack.

The soles of his shoes dug deep scrapes into the ground below him.

“Dammit…! Hey, Gerard! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Randy called out to Gerard in a shout. “You’re taking this too far! Stop her! Are you trying to kill Rix?!”

“So what…if I am?” Gerard responded in a strange tone, his eyes like dark abysses.

“What…?!”

“This is a secret room… If something happens here, no one outside will know… That’s right… So there’s nothing stopping me…”

Gerard’s strange air took Randy’s breath away.

“But really…this Demon Relic is truly amazing…! I feel a limitless, overflowing power like nothing I’ve ever felt before…! Like this!” Gerard cried.

A shudder reverberated through the room—and a gush of mana overflowed from the Demon Relic floating in Gerard’s palm.

“Gah, ugh, aaaAAAAAAAHHHH?!”

In response, Tran’s entire body was overcome with even more of the ominous, black mana aura.

Tran’s presence was endlessly swelling, and then her delicate, girlish physique began to change.

Snap! Scales appeared on her limbs and cheeks.

Crack! Claws lengthened from her fingers, and horns began to grow from her head…

Along with these changes, Tran moved to attack Rix, with an even higher level of inhuman power.

“T-Tran…?!”

“AaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!”

Rix’s sword and Tran’s ax clashed over and over.

Rix could do nothing but try to defend himself.

He was completely occupied by trying to deflect Tran’s attacks.

“W-wasn’t that…what they call mana boosting?!”

Mana boosting—a type of magic where a mage sends their own mana to their summoned creature in order to strengthen their abilities.

“Yes, you’re right! But it’s so strong that a human body can’t contain it all! It’s making Tran’s body revert back to its ancestral form as a defense mechanism!”

“You idiot! You’re trying to force Tran to stop being a human?!”

“Like I said! So what if I am?!” Gerard gave back nothing but a scoff to Serephina’s fierce reproach. “‘If thou seekest to achieve thy desires, thou must feed the desires of others into the kiln’! So what if I, a mage, step over others for the sake of my own cause?! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! And now I have the power to do just that! A Demon Relic! And an ancient dragon! With both of these in my possession, I’m invincible! The stupid student council is no match for me now! Even the academy administration poses no threat! Heh-heh-heh… I’ll bring the ultimate order back to this academy! I’m the only one who can create a truly righteous academy, where real mages like us can rule…! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaa!!”

“Th-this is no good. He’s become just like Professor Anna. He’s gone completely insane.”

“Well, thankfully, he’s not as desperate of an opponent as Anna was…but still, his power is overwhelming.”

“I agree. And…if he really gets an ancient dragon under his control, he’ll be even more powerful than the instructors.”

“Let’s leave Tran to Rix… We need to defeat Gerard.”

Shino, Serephina, Randy, and Annie all took to their battle stances.

“Oh? You want to fight me, do you? And do you think you can win?”

“…We can,” Shino spat back. “Right now, you’re only controlling Tran by force through an incomplete False Name. You’re just pushing through this recklessly, relying on the Demon Relic’s power. Tran is an ancient dragon. Controlling her with brute force like you are now, there’s no way you can possibly have the leeway to use any other substantial magic.”

“I see what you’re getting at… To be fair, like you say, I can’t use any decent spells in my current state, and I can’t fight back. So in that case, I guess I’ll just have to call something to fight in my place, won’t I?”

“…?!”

Then a spell circle appeared before Gerard.

The spell circle emitted a light as it opened a portal. Out from the portal, something appeared.