Chapter 89

Spectacle (1)

It’s something that happened nearly ten years ago now.

Enette was crouched in a corner of a street in the royal capital.
She wasn’t particularly skilled at pickpocketing, intimidation, or violence.
She was supposed to at least beg and hand over tribute money to the gang leader, but she hadn’t earned a single coin.

A carriage passed by.
Through its window, a small child—no older than four or five—was playing with a toy soldier, holding it out absentmindedly.

Enette stared blankly at the scene.
Was the child three or four years younger than her?
That child would grow up without ever knowing hardship.
It made her feel wronged, resentful, and miserable.

“Huh?”

Then the child dropped the toy soldier outside the carriage.

Enette saw her chance.
If it was something used by a noble child, the gang leader would surely overlook things.

The carriage came to a late stop.
But by then, Enette had already picked up the fallen toy soldier.

She ran with all her strength.
Or at least, she tried to.

Before she could even take a step, she was grabbed by a soldier.

“I threw it for her. Let that girl go.”

The child had already stepped out of the carriage and spoke in a clear, composed voice.
Even the way nobles spoke was different.
Not knowing what to do, Enette flattened herself on the ground.

“Where is your home?”

A noblewoman who stepped down afterward asked.
She was unlike the pale and frail noblewomen Enette had seen before.
She had a sturdy build and wore trousers.
Her sharp eyes gave a strong impression, though her jawline was slender.

“Do you have no mouth, or do you not know how to speak?”
“…I… don’t have a home.”
“Then, would you like to come with me?”

Was it just her imagination?
The noblewoman’s voice sounded warm.

At that moment—

Fireworks burst above the distant royal castle.
They were the fireworks set off every year during the royal banquet.
A display from a world unrelated to her… yet for the first time, it felt as if it shone for her.

Enette remembered the color of those fireworks.
They were a deep orange—
a hue reminiscent of the evening glow.

Slowly, Enette raised her hand.
The crowd’s gaze followed the tip of her fingers.

A flickering flame gathered at her fingertips,
then gradually rose into the air.

Like dandelion seeds, the flame scattered into countless fragments.
Before even touching the ground, they oxidized and faded away.

It was a beautiful display of fireworks.

“How can this be…?”

Reich, the Dean of the Magic Faculty at the Royal Academy, couldn’t take his eyes off Enette.
A genius is, by their very existence, a tremendous blessing.
They surpass limits that ordinary people can never reach—
and push those limits even further.

The aged dean, who had devoted decades to magical education, had long thirsted for such talent.
At that moment, it felt as though he had taken a sip of cold spring water amid a burning thirst.

‘A child who hasn’t even formed a single mana circuit… how…?’

Because he had taught countless students, Reich felt it even more deeply.
The mediocre are countless, the talented are few, and geniuses are beings permitted by the gods.
In his eyes, Enette was one of those chosen.

To ignite flames without incantation meant she was already proficient in ancient language.

To reproduce the color of the evening glow meant she could regulate the temperature of flames through mana—
in other words, her mana control was extraordinary.

Even for adult mages, lifting high-temperature gaseous flames into the air was not easy.
To shatter those flames into fragments and scatter them like fireworks—
that was an entirely different level of imagination.

‘With talent like that, word should have spread already… yet I’ve never heard of her.’

Reich murmured the name Enette.
A mage acting as the proxy of Isaac, Goethe’s heir.
Her family name was not mentioned.

‘It doesn’t matter what she is—lowborn, commoner, or noble. That child is a treasure.’

Reich’s eyes gleamed.
If he took her as his disciple and raised her into the greatest mage in the kingdom,
his own name would be recorded in history for generations.
He would become the teacher of the greatest mage.

At that thought, even Reich himself was startled.
To think he held such ambition.
That was how astonishing Enette’s talent was.

It wasn’t only Reich who was captivated by her magic.

The crowd gathered at the Great Hall felt the same.
Beltran, in particular, could not take his eyes off Enette.
His face was flushed red with excitement.

Before her demonstration, Beltran had been filled with solemn resolve.

I will prove it.

That he was worthy.
That he, the second son—not the eldest son of the Büchtner family—
deserved greater support as the future head of the house.

Even while watching Felix’s demonstration, he had been determined to surpass it.
He had been confident.

But the moment he saw Enette’s magic—
that confidence crumbled like smoke.

Such beautiful magic…
He had never seen anything like it, not even among adults.

What shocked Beltran even more was Enette’s face.

She was the girl who had attacked their carriage when he was dispatched to Bernsi as part of Akanlaufer.
He remembered striking her head with a staff…
but when he regained consciousness, he was already back at the main estate.

When he questioned the servants, he learned that none of the Akanlaufer sent to Bernsi had reached their destination.

Bernsi had been completely subjugated by Goethe,
and the great families had been purged.
The marquis who had requested Akanlaufer’s support had surrendered to Count Goethe.

‘That girl… is Isaac’s proxy?’

Beltran was thrown into confusion.

If so, then Goethe had been the one who ordered the interception of Akanlaufer,
and that girl—Enette—was a monster-like mage raised by Goethe.

She had knocked out seven out of eight Akanlaufer members in an instant—without even killing them.
Among them were seasoned mages and scholars well-versed in magic.

Beltran was certain.
With that level of skill, subduing Akanlaufer would not have been difficult.

How far did all of this connect?

His head throbbed, yet he was seized by a strange excitement.

This was a competition attended by the dean of the Royal Academy.
If he caught his eye and obtained a recommendation letter, he could enter the Academy without spending a fortune.

For Beltran—who had received no support simply for being the second son—a smooth path could finally open.
He wouldn’t have to live as a mercenary like Akanlaufer anymore.

And yet, in this moment—

All those thoughts were pushed far away.
His gaze was fixed entirely on Enette, standing on the stage.

He couldn’t hear the murmurs or gasps of the crowd.
Only the pounding of his own heart filled his ears.

There was only one question in his mind:

What exactly was stirring him so deeply right now?
Was it the beauty of the flames she created…
or her own beauty?

Her neatly tied dark brown hair,
her long, slender eyes,
and her small, pointed nose.

For a brief moment, it felt like their eyes met—
and his breath seemed to stop.

Only then did Beltran realize that the beauty of the flames was merely enhancing her own beauty.

“The second son of the Büchtner family, Lord Beltran—please demonstrate.”

“The second son of the Büchtner family, Lord Beltran! Please demonstrate!”

“Um… young master?”

A servant called out to him.

“Huh? Ah.”

By the time Beltran came to his senses, the stage was already empty.
Enette—and the flames—had long since disappeared.
Only the lingering afterimage remained in his mind.

“It’s your turn, young master.”
“Y-Yes! That’s me. Beltran von Büchtner.”

At his dazed reply, faint laughter spread among the crowd.
No one was expecting much from his magic.

They had already seen two demonstrations that exceeded expectations.
With their standards raised, Beltran no longer held their interest.
Perhaps it would be different if he were the eldest son of the Büchtner family who had entered the Royal Academy as the runner-up.
Beltran knew exactly how he was being perceived.

I’ll show them this time.

Firming his resolve, Beltran stepped onto the stage.
Somewhere, Enette might be watching.
He would draw out all of his potential—
to leave an impression on her, and to prove himself.

Stage 1: Mana concentration.

An amount of mana incomparable to what Felix or Enette had shown gathered around him.
A sphere of mana large enough to envelop Felix’s entire body flickered in midair.

“Oh ho.”

The dean, who had been leaning against a pillar calming his excitement after Enette’s demonstration, straightened up and craned his neck forward.

“The second son of the Büchtner family is this good?”
“I heard he reached quasi-rank in Class 1, but to this extent?”
“He’ll reach Class 2 in no time.”

Beltran was already overwhelming the crowd with sheer volume of mana.
That mana soon absorbed all the moisture in the Great Hall and gathered it into a single point.

Compression. Condensation. Expansion. Evaporation.

Beltran carefully executed each of those intricate steps.

Crack—

Frost began forming from the bottom of the massive sphere of mana.

“To see ice magic in a competition…”
“I’ve never seen such a large ice spell.”
“Is that Glacier?”
“At his age, a Glacier of that size…”

A massive chunk of ice, large enough to obscure Beltran himself, was taking shape.
His face flushed red, veins bulging across his forehead.
He scraped together even the last remnants of mana within him.

Crrrkkk—

The condensed mana completely transformed into a solid mass of ice.

Boom—

The bluish ice mass fell to the ground with a thunderous crash.
Shattered fragments of ice scattered in all directions.

‘So many rare sights in a single day…’

Reich clicked his tongue in amazement.
Among the thousands of students he had taught, only about a hundred were considered talented.
Of those, fewer than ten could be called geniuses.
And even those geniuses did not appear every year—sometimes only once every several years.

Yet in this single competition, he had already found two.

If Felix was merely talented, then Enette and Beltran could undoubtedly be called geniuses.

“Huff— huff—”

Beltran bent over his knees, breathing heavily.
He had overexerted himself; blood trickled from his nose.

“Young master!”

The servant rushed out and wiped the blood with a handkerchief.

‘Even the elemental structure is stable.’

Reich picked up one of the broken ice fragments.

Despite leaving the caster’s control, the ice retained its form instead of dissipating.

Thunderous applause erupted.

“This competition is truly fascinating.”
“It’s impossible to judge who’s better.”
“Still, I prefer that young lady with the fireworks.”

Spectators chattered excitedly among themselves.

Beltran quickly scanned the faces in the crowd.
He wanted Enette to be watching him.

But no matter how carefully he looked, he couldn’t find the girl who had captivated him.

“Eldest son of the Ripe family, Lord Carlos—please demonstrate.”
“I withdraw.”

The contestant before Jonas suddenly forfeited.
The announcer, unfazed, called the next name from the parchment.

“Next, the second son of the Goethe family, Lord Jonas. Please demonstrate.”

Step. Step.

Jonas strode up onto the stage.

Within the crowd, Isaac lowered the hood of his robe.
His appearance had changed due to the Rune Stone of the Wolf King, but no one from outside could recognize him.

Isaac met Jonas’s eyes and gave a small nod.
Jonas responded in kind.

He intended to display his very best magic—
right in front of his older brother.