Chapter 109….
Even the man in the black robe, as well as Cleares, who had been learning mana control separately from Nillit at the far end of the room, turned around at the strange sensation.
“Is it not?”
Ellie tilted her head as she compared the flow of mana carried within the cold she had created to the cold produced by the man in the black robe.
“Why does this work…?”
The man in the black robe was aghast.
Quite literally.
Why did this work?
Ellie had simply stared closely at the spell the man in the black robe had cast, then in an instant moved her mana in the exact same way.
A flawless, identical spell was activated.
No— it wasn’t perfectly identical. The process was slightly different.
However, the formula had actually been simplified, causing the spell to activate more cleanly and reliably.
In magic, a spell that could shorten and simplify the process was considered superior.
This was not something someone could do—casting a spell they had never once performed before simply by watching it.
“…Try it again.”
“Okay!”
Ellie repeated the cooling spell without difficulty.
Once again, without failure, the same blast of cold swept through the room.
That cold froze the hearts of both the “self-proclaimed archmage” Nillit and the “greatest genius archmage in the history since the Mage Tower was founded,” the man in the black robe.
“…How is this possible? Do you understand what’s happening?”
“No. I don’t understand it either. How can this even work?”
At the two archmages’ stunned questions, Ellie felt embarrassed and scratched the back of her head.
“It just works when I do it….”
This cooling spell was really easy.
If Ruden oppa’s magic was like multiplying ten-digit numbers, this cooling spell was like adding single-digit numbers.
She could at least say she had worked hard.
The word “just” was a deceptive word that only geniuses could use.
The two archmages, who had always been the ones using that word, now experienced firsthand how humiliating and infuriating it was to hear it instead.
No matter how much of a genius you are! This makes no sense!
They had never seen—or even heard of—such a genius.
“You—just try doing everything you can.”
“Huh? Everything I can…?”
“Yes. That cooling spell you just used—how far can you take it?”
“Umm….”
She couldn’t quite grasp what she was supposed to do.
She looked at the man in the black robe for help, but he gave no answer.
It meant she had to figure it out herself.
Ellie cast another cooling spell for the people in the room, who were somehow sweating cold sweat despite the chill.
Another mass of cold, about the size of a person, appeared.
“What?! You can maintain two at the same time?!”
But it had the opposite effect.
The air was clearly cooler, yet the amount of cold sweat dripping down the archmage’s cheek increased.
“How are you maintaining the spell?”
“Huh…?”
Ellie tilted her head.
Maintain?
You wouldn’t call it “maintaining” when you made a ball of bubbles in the bath.
Ellie stared blankly at the result of the spell she had created.
“Just…?”
“Not ‘just.’ The method.”
“I don’t know…?”
“How can you not know?! You’re the one who did it!”
“I just did it!”
Ellie shouted back indignantly.
The man in the black robe shook his head.
“No, how does this even work…? Can you make it bigger?”
“Huh? Probably?”
Ellie filled the entire room with the cooling spell.
The man in the black robe grabbed Ellie’s wrist and checked the flow of her mana.
“…It’s stable.”
As if she had simply exhaled once.
Mana naturally recovers over time.
If too much is drained at once, it can feel painful, like a wound—but small amounts refill quickly and leave no trace.
“You’re okay, right?”
“Yep!”
No matter how anyone looked at her, Ellie was perfectly fine.
“Can I go practice in the next room?”
“…Go ahead.”
She had already surpassed what a teacher could instruct.
All that remained was to see how long Ellie’s mana could last, and to train her to move it more skillfully.
With permission granted, Ellie immediately ran to the adjacent room.
In that room was Lady Raval, who hadn’t been able to attend the magic lesson.
“Oh my, Your Majesty. Is the lesson already over?”
“No, not yet! I’m practicing!”
Lilkia, who had been in the hallway, followed her inside.
“I’m curious what you learned in your first magic lesson.”
“I learned a cooling spell!”
“Oh… does it freeze things?”
“No! It makes things cool!”
Ellie stretched out her hand toward the room and activated the spell again.
Whoooosh—
In an instant, refreshing air filled the room.
“!”
“How is it? Cool, right?”
“H—how could something like this…?”
Lady Raval wasn’t the only one shocked.
The man in the black robe and Nillit were so stunned they nearly fell over backward.
“C-cooling magic isn’t especially difficult, but using it everywhere like this and maintaining it…”
Ellie had easily done something ordinary mages couldn’t even dream of.
“?”
Meanwhile, she wore an innocent expression, not understanding at all what was supposed to be difficult.
The man in the black robe laughed hollowly and slumped his shoulders.
He had realized it.
Hierarchy only exists within the same species.
Trying to rank a cat and a tiger together is meaningless.
The man in the black robe completely revised his teaching policy.
Having abundant mana and being good at magic were entirely different matters.
Just as having great strength doesn’t automatically make one skilled with a sword.
Yet Ellie excelled at both.
This is dangerous!
A genius too great could become a threat to the world.
The man in the black robe recalled something that needed to be taught before magic.
Character education.
Ellie cooled the entire hallway as well, saying she would cool Lilkia too, then returned to the room where the lesson had begun.
“Now, before we properly begin magic, there’s something you need to know.”
“Okay.”
Ellie sat neatly across from him and listened attentively.
With the room cool, she felt like she could listen to anything.
The man in the black robe shivered as the room’s temperature stubbornly refused to rise.
“First, shall we try weakening the spell you’ve cast in the room? Can you do that?”
“Yep! I’ll try!”
Ellie easily raised the temperature a little.
“Good. First, the rules of magic. Excessive magic can twist the rules of the world, so you must use moderation.”
“The rules of the world?”
“Yes. In summer, it’s normal for it to be hot, but if you overuse cooling magic, the world’s rules can become distorted and cause side effects.”
“Side effects?”
“The world might be destroyed.”
“Gasp!”
Ellie instantly turned pale.
The world could be destroyed—not just by mana rampage like Princess Elia’s, but by other means too?!
And by her own hand?!
Ellie quickly withdrew the cooling spell.
“…Well, it’s not that you can’t use it at all. Just don’t shake the world’s rules.”
“How much is that exactly?!”
Ellie was nearly in tears.
For her, the destruction of the world was a landmine of a word.
“What if the world is destroyed because of me?!”
She had planned to become a great queen, make everyone happy, and then wait for her brother!
She had never imagined destroying the world with her own hands before that time even came.
But this was a world that had already been destroyed once.
Princess Elia had destroyed it once—so she could too.
To Ellie, it was a terrifyingly realistic fear.
“You can’t destroy the world that easily with magic.”
“No! You can destroy it easily!”
Because Princess Elia had!
“…Ah.”
Only then did the man in the black robe recall what Ellie had said when they first met—about being possessed by a book and about Princess Elia’s rampage.
At the time, he had dismissed it as childish talk.
But seeing Ellie’s pale face now, the thought “What if?” crossed his mind.
…No, still.
The story didn’t add up, and there was no similar history or incident.
It was too unrealistic to accept as reality.
Even if Ellie’s mana and magical talent were extraordinarily different from others.
“At the level we’re measuring now, even if you poured out all your mana and detonated it, at most you’d only be able to wipe out a single castle.”
The man in the black robe explained calmly.
Ellie, who had been trembling in panic, slowly calmed down and listened.
“At that level, the mages of the Mage Tower could stop it easily.”
“But it takes time for the Mage Tower to arrive…”
“Then we—and your mage corps—would calm you down.”
“!”
Only then did Ellie stop trembling and lift her head brightly.
Cleares, who had been standing beside Nillit watching over Ellie, nodded and took her hand.
Though no mana flowed through it, holding Cleares’s hand calmed her heart, which had been tossing like a stormy sea.
“I will hold onto Ellie no matter what.”
“Cleares…”
“No matter what happens, I will not let go, so please don’t worry.”
Cleares squeezed her hand firmly, as if making a vow.
“…Okay!”
Only then could Ellie smile again.
