~Chapter 82~
‘No, of course she’s beautiful! Right, she’s so ridiculously pretty! It’s impossible to say she’s ugly when looking at that face unless my eyes are turned backward!’
Felix’s face turned as red as his hair as he tried to explain himself in his head.
A hot summer breeze blew, sweeping through the area.
It came rushing in strongly.
“Ah.”
A strong gust of wind suddenly snatched the photo from Felix’s hand.
He watched as the photo flew away. Fortunately, it wasn’t too far and landed on the ground nearby.
As Felix rushed over to pick it up, a voice called out to him.
“Excuse me, where can I find the magician who performed at the demonstration yesterday?”
The voice hit him like a thunderclap. As he slowly picked up the photo, he turned his gaze toward the source of the voice.
“The demonstration? You mean the Master of the Dawn Tower?”
“Yes, I do want to meet them, but I’m actually looking for the royal court’s head magician, the one who was their opponent—someone with light brown hair.”
“Well, you’ll have to go to the palace for that.”
“The palace? Isn’t that where they are?”
“I wouldn’t know!”
Felix’s attention was drawn to a man standing awkwardly on one side of the street.
With black hair and eyes as dark as his hair, the man had a fairly ordinary appearance, though his clothes were quite fine and his posture upright. In other words, he looked like a noble.
‘The kid’s drawing had a black-haired man on the father’s side.’
Felix quietly approached the man.
“Hmm, what should I do…?”
The black-haired man, muttering in frustration, froze when he saw Felix approaching him threateningly.
“Ah, uh, hello…?”
Instead of answering, Felix showed the photo he was holding.
“Is this the person you’re looking for?”
The man, who had been startled at first, looked at the photo and smiled brightly.
“Ah, yes! That’s Relshiz!”
Felix’s expression turned deadly serious in an instant, but the man, still absorbed in the photo, didn’t notice the change.
“Where can I meet Relshiz? I’ve been wanting to meet her…”
“You’re not from Edelheim, are you?”
“No, I’m from Wincans, on the Southern Continent. I’m here for the exchange event…”
Felix’s golden eyes gleamed with a strange light.
“What’s your connection to this magician?”
The man smiled wistfully, as if lost in thought.
“It’s a very special connection…”
At that moment, Felix noticed the man was holding a pile of toys and a cute doll.
Following Felix’s gaze, the man scratched his cheek awkwardly.
“Oh, I have a little daughter. I was going to give these to her as gifts…”
Aha.
Felix’s instincts whispered to him, and in an instant, he grabbed the man by the neck like a hound. The man’s face turned pale.
“Ugh, what are you doing? Why are you—”
“Let’s go somewhere quiet and talk.”
“What? No, please…!”
The man’s desperate cries faded as they disappeared into a dark alley.
***
“Big sis.”
As the event was about to start, I entered the arena with Shiz, who suddenly pulled my hand.
“I need to go to the bathroom.”
“Okay, I’ll take you.”
I noticed Shiz’s urgent expression as we made our way inside the building to the bathroom.
“Do you not want me to come in?”
“Of course not. I’m a big girl now, I can go alone.”
Shiz puffed out her chest and put her hands on her hips.
Thinking back, I realized that even at the orphanage, she had been able to go to the bathroom alone. The teachers must have taught them well.
“I’ll wait outside. If you need anything, call me.”
“Okay!”
I guided Shiz into the bathroom and leaned against the hallway to wait. The strain from using too much magic the previous day hadn’t completely worn off, and I was still a little out of breath.
‘Maybe it’s because I’ve been using disguise magic constantly.’
I checked to make sure no one was around and then released the magic. Without using mana, I felt a little better.
As I waited for Shiz, I was trying to catch my breath when—
“…Relshiz?”
A strange voice called my name. I looked up and saw a group of people staring at me from a distance.
“That’s right, it’s Relshiz Baltain.”
The unfriendly gazes of the group scanned me from head to toe.
‘Who are these people?’
They weren’t complete strangers, but I couldn’t quite place them. They looked familiar, but I couldn’t remember where from. After staring at them for a moment, one of them spoke up.
“Don’t you remember us? We were in the same class at the academy.”
“Oh.”
That’s when it clicked.
“3rd, 4th, 5th.”
“Remember our names, will you? I’m Will, she’s Lucy, and that’s Evan!”
“Yeah, 3rd, 4th, 5th. You guys were always behind me in class.”
“You really…”
The three of them glared at me with fierce expressions.
It didn’t bother me much.
The reason I was so rude to this 3-4-5 trio was because they’d always made my life difficult at the academy.
While I was struggling to defeat Aska, they were doing everything they could to try and beat me.
‘They hated losing to me so much that they did all sorts of nasty things.’
They would hide my textbooks, change the lecture times, spread rumors to get me into trouble, and even tried to make me look like I was doing something wrong.
Despite all that, I kept moving ahead, and in the end, they started to rely on Aska. They kept saying they couldn’t beat Aska no matter how hard they tried.
‘The funny part is, Aska didn’t even get along with them.’
Some of the ‘small’ problems Aska caused at the academy included incidents involving this trio.
‘The 3rd place had his arm broken in a duel with Aska, the 4th place got a stomach ache from taking the wrong medicine during a lab session, and the 5th place failed an external practice session.’
The best part was that Aska had deliberately caused all of that.
But that was all in the past. I waved my hand dismissively.
“If you don’t have anything to say, just move along. I’m not in the mood.”
“The demonstration was ridiculous. How could you possibly beat Aska?”
The 3-4-5 trio, not content with their old grudge, was bringing it up again.
Why were they still angry? It was just a magic demonstration, not a competition for grades.
“Did you cheat behind the scenes? Did you beg Aska to lose?”
“Maybe Aska just went easy on you because he felt sorry for you. So pathetic.”
“Isn’t it shameful to win like that?”
I sighed, feeling my irritation rise.
“Did you see me begging Aska to lose?”
“Of course, you must have. There’s no way you could have beaten Aska otherwise!”
“Then you’re saying you have no proof?”
I stared at the trio as I spoke.
“If you’re so confident, bring proof and we can discuss it.”
The 3-4-5 trio went quiet, unable to say anything back. They were all talk but no action.
“I’ve never had to resort to dishonorable tactics when competing with anyone at the academy. And…”
I gave them a hard look.
“Even if Aska went easy on me, I’m still a far better magician than all of you.”
The trio’s faces turned a mixture of red and blue in embarrassment.
“Such audacity! You’re just a poor orphan with no backing!”
“Yeah, the orphan who beat all of you during the academy years.”
“Do you really think you’ll always be the royal head magician?”
Suddenly, the 3rd place grabbed my arm roughly.
“Ah! Are you not letting go?”
The 3rd place, losing his composure, didn’t listen to me at all.
“You keep boasting that you saved the Crown Prince’s life, but if your dirty tricks are exposed, he’ll definitely abandon you!”
I felt the crowd gathering around us. Shiz was still in the bathroom, and if she came out and saw this…
I stayed silent, unsure of what to do, but then suddenly a soft voice cut through the tension.
“What’s all this commotion?”
The trio froze, and I turned to see who was approaching.
