Ch 170.1
Several days passed after that. As I diligently trained myself and delved even deeper into my research of the Colored Servant spell the day of the Heavenly Mage Festival finally came.
Claude and Shirushu stood in front of the house, seeing off me and Milly.
「Good luck, you two. I’m praying for your success Milly-san, Zeph-san.」 Shirushu said.
「I’ll definitely come watch once we’re done helping in the store!!」 Claude yelled out.
「Shirushu, Claude, thank you!!! We’ll do our best!」
On a separate note, Silverie had already left the house earlier, because she was part of the Heavenly Mage Festival’s staff, while Lydia was working on some final touches for my arm.
This year’s Title Match would proceed as usual, with the qualifiers taking place before noon, followed by the preliminaries until evening, and finally, the one who’d managed to stay until the end would get the opportunity to fight the Heavenly Mage and win their title.
Lydia told me that she’d finish up around the evening, but before that, I must win the preliminaries. I’ll probably manage somehow even with just one arm.
There weren’t many magicians that could use Soul Spells. My biggest rival would probably turn out to be Milly.
「Why are you looking at me with that grin?」 Milly asked.
「It’s nothing. I’m just looking forward to the finals… Kuku.」
「Hmph♪ I’ll have you know but I’m the type that gets stronger when faced with those kinds of situations!」
Truth be told, Milly had grown quite a lot compared to before and her coordination with Uruk had improved as well. She was quite the frightening opponent.
She had even managed to push me to the edge of defeat several times in the last few days.
However, that was because I hadn’t used Colored Servant.
I had to still use the spell in front of anyone else.
After all, Colored Servant was my trump card.
I wouldn’t mind if Milly saw it, but I’d be in a pinch if someone else found out about it. It wouldn’t hurt if I was a little more cautious than normal.
「Well just try to stay on your toes. You tend to let your guard down quite a lot after all.」
「Hmph… That’s not true!」 she said, puffing her cheeks.
It’s amazing how she can say that when her guard is constantly down.
We slowly made our way to the Soul Tower while continuing to chat.
◆ ◆ ◆
The Soul Tower was located in Prolea’s northern parts, and the aides stationed there were testing the candidates in front of the Isolated Spaces. It was a sort of screening.
Oh, they’re sure going at it.
「You’re finally here it seems.」
Coming from behind one of the pillars, someone remarked.
It was Elise.
I guess she came to watch.
「Morning! Elise, are you joining as well?」 Milly asked.
「… Unfortunately, Dispatch Magicians cannot participate.」 Elise remarked with a pained expression on her face.
Due to receiving the Magician Association’s Unique spells, the Dispatch Magician had numerous limitations placed on them when fighting.
One of them was being unable to compete in the Title Match. Which was also the reason why I hadn’t become a Dispatch Magician.
「Then why did you come?」
「I heard you were going to participate, so I came to give you some tips so I wouldn’t have to see you fail miserably. You should be grateful.」 Elise said in a boastful tone.
However, instead of being offended Milly just laughed with joy.
「Really?! Thank you, Elise!!!」
「I-It’s nothing special!」 Elise murmured, blushing as she turned around.
Milly tilted her head in befuddlement at Elise’s actions, but Elise disregarded her and began to explain with a small twist of her head.
「… The Soul of Soul, Urohime’s aides use a foreign country’s swordsmanship. I’ve seen it a few times up close. It has a peculiar feel to it. …I would encourage you to stay away from close-quarters combat as much as possible.」
Swordsmanship from a foreign country, eh… Come to think of it, Sarutobi was a Shinobi from a foreign country. His fighting style was really something else. If our opponents employ the same combat style as Sarutobi, it would be better if we avoided battling them in close quarters.
「I see… So close-quarters are dangerous. Let me write that down.」 Milly said.
「The aides are Urohime’s retainers that came with her when she married.」
「That makes sense.」
The Dispatch Magician’s information network is definitely something else.
「Elise did you really come all this way just to tell us that?!」 Milly asked.
「N-No! I just happened to be passing by! W-Well then I have some things to take care of so I’ll be leaving!」 Elise said and ran in the direction of the Magician Association.
Looking at her get further away, Milly let out a pained sigh.
「…What in the world was that I wonder?」
「Beats me. I don’t get what she’s thinking at all.」
After seeing her off both me and Milly lined up.
Those who had already finished registering themselves were either fighting in the Isolated Spaces or waiting for their turns.
As I had predicted, there weren’t many people present, and those who could employ familiars were even fewer.
「Why aren’t most of them using familiars I wonder? The Isolated Spaces here make the familiars really strong. It’s a waste not to use them.」
「Raising familiars requires quite a bit of funds after all. There aren’t many people like you and me who battle with familiars as their main weapon.」
Each time a Soul Spell was used a high amount of gemstones were consumed.
And that consumption was even higher when using Summon Servant. If I were to have Ain stay around all day she’d probably consume close to 500 gemstones.
That was equal to 10 times our daily hunting earnings.
To put it simply, raising familiars required a tremendous amount of money.
When I first awakened my Summon Servant, I was strapped for cash and had to scrape here and there to make ends meet. However, thanks to Lydia’s shop, both Milly and I were now able to employ our familiars freely.
She also made that mechanical arm for me. I really don’t know how I’ll repay her.
In any case, it was for these reasons that the number of competitors in the Soul Title Match was reduced. And, out of all those that competed, only a few were capable of pushing the Heavenly Mage to give it their best, therefore the Soul Title Match was rarely enjoyable to witness.
I didn’t have a familiar in my previous life, and I didn’t bother to summon one, therefore I rarely went to see the Title Matches.
Well, I guess having higher hurdles means fewer rivals.
At the same time, since I had raised my familiar to a high degree, Urohime was the one I would most likely defeat out of the Five Heavenly Mages.
「Next.」
「HERE!」 Milly exclaimed as she headed to the register.
Milly and I were both directed to different examinees after putting down the necessary information and handing over the participation fee.
「Milly don’t let your guard down, okay?」
「I know! Make sure to win, okay Zeph? Let’s meet at the finals.」 Milly said with a wide smile on her face.
I gave her a wry smile after which I headed to my appointed Isolated Space.
As soon as I stepped inside, I noticed an elderly gentleman dressed in white with the Magician Association’s crest embroidered on his clothes.
He possessed a magnificent beard, and despite his advanced age, his enormous muscles were clearly visible even from beneath his garments.
I cast Scout Scope on him.
Shiranui Gennai
Level 80
Magic Level
Red: 32 / 65
Blue: 41 / 51
Green: 19 / 19
Sky: 21 / 21
Soul: 65 / 65
Magic Power 3585 / 3585
That’s one high level he’s got there… He’s quite strong. And that doesn’t include just his status. The way he holds himself and his magic power which gives off the impression of a massive tree makes him seem like quite the opponent. Come to think of it, Elise did say that they’re proficient in close-quarters.
A feeling of anxiety washed over me.
「… Take your stance.」 he said.
Shiranui grabbed up the staff with his hands, saying nothing else.
No familiar huh… No, wait. I saw it with Scout Scope. This Shiranui guy’s Summon Servant is quite high levelled. There’s a high chance that he’s planning something… But I guess I can’t just stay and do nothing, now can I?
「I’m sorry but I’ll finish this with one strike.」 I said, immediately kicking the ground and widening the distance between me and Shiranui.
I can’t let myself be dragged into a close-quarters fight. I’ll bombard him with spells and finish this.
I cast Blue Gale and a water tornado enveloped Shiranui.
「I’m not done.」
Even before the water tornado could disappear I began to bombard him with Green Bullet.
The rock-like magic power bullets pierced through Shiranui’s body inside the tornado. Or that’s what I thought. Suddenly a strange feeling washed over me.
Why didn’t I feel any response…?
Even though the link between the spell and the caster weakened after the magic was cast, a response could still be felt when the spell struck something.
Even during an offset, there would still be a response.
Why didn’t I feel anything…? What does this mean?
「It’s my turn.」
As soon as those words came out the dust in the area exploded.
A white shadow flew at me with tremendous speed…
He’s fast!
I immediately twisted my body, somehow managing to dodge the charge.
The thing that had flown by just now was a beautifully sharpened blade.
「That was close?!」
This shape… If I’m right it should be a katana. A foreign weapon, eh.
According to what I’d heard about katanas, their sharpness was unparalleled because of the blade being folded and baked multiple times.
I don’t have time to worry about this…
「That’s not nice you know? Are you planning to kill me?」
「Do not fret. I didn’t aim at a vital spot… Still, it’s quite surprising that you managed to dodge it.」
When the smoke cleared, I saw Shiranui wearing a demon-like helmet with horns protruding from both sides and a white torso patch covering his chest.
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