Chapter 1: The Man Who Doesn’t Hide His True Strength
About an hour had passed since the signal to begin.
In the arena surrounded by giant walls that doubled as spectator seats, young spirit masters were engaged in fierce battles in sections divided by barriers.
Among them, the most eye-catching was a girl with shining silver hair braided into three strands, wearing a white uniform reminiscent of a nun’s habit, and the dragon she was riding on, soaring through the sky as if it owned it.
Its red scales were covered in flames, and every time it flapped its huge pair of wings, small sparks danced in the air, evoking an image of the sun.
A dragon spirit, one of the highest-ranking spirits, and likely the supreme red dragon at that. The spectators were left speechless at the sight, filled only with awe. As the red dragon’s body began to glow even redder under the gaze of the crowd, its massive form started to fill with immense spiritual power.
An attack was coming. Faced with this certainty, the boy opposing the red dragon took a defensive stance, feeling somewhat like a hero.
“Do it now! Salamander!”
Following the command of its small master on its back, Salamander’s eyes flashed as it took a deep breath.
In the next moment, baring its sharp fangs, it unleashed not just a breath, but a crimson flame towards its small prey below without hesitation.
The spiritual power-infused inferno that spread instantly with a roar melted the ground as it approached the boy like a tsunami, threatening to engulf him.
“Hey, is this the kind of power a first-year can produce!?”
“So this is this year’s freshman top student, the ‘Priestess of the Flame Dragon’!”
“The genius of the Valhart family… huh.”
Exclamations of amazement, screams, and cheers mixed together as the students observed Salamander’s movements following the girl’s instructions.
Even among the teachers, there were those who raised their voices in disbelief.
But such reactions were natural. The power of the flame breath released by the girl’s spirit, Salamander, was clearly not at a student level. It was probably on par with the spirit magic of a professional spirit mage. If faced by an inexperienced student, it could easily result in fatalities.
Leia Valhart, known as the ‘Priestess of the Flame Dragon’ and the top freshman, was well aware of this. If she were to unleash a full-power breath infused with her spiritual power, most opponents would be reduced to charred remains without a chance to react.
However, at this moment, she showed no such concern. Leia was solely focused on channeling all of her spiritual power into Salamander, directing a serious inferno towards the boy below. And yet — despite unleashing an attack that should have reduced him to ashes — Leia felt no response.
As if to prove her intuition right, the flames spreading below were extinguished by a massive whirlpool of water that appeared from within, covering the entire area in steam produced by the fire’s extinguishment.
Her serious attack hadn’t connected. Faced with this fact, Leia frowned in the midst of the steam, only to contort her face even more the next moment.
“Not bad, you had me worried there.”
“Gh!”
Contrary to his words, a calm voice betraying not a hint of concern rang out as the steam was blown away by a gust of wind from spirit magic, revealing the boy before Leia’s eyes.
The white academy uniform the boy wore remained pristine and clean, vividly demonstrating that the previous attack had no effect whatsoever. It seemed he had completely defended against the inferno.
As Leia enhanced her vision with spiritual power to examine the boy, she saw several small spheres — water and wind minor spirits — floating around him, emitting blue and green light respectively. She deduced that he had used their power to unleash the water magic from earlier.
To think that the inferno released by her own contracted spirit, Salamander, had been…
“Tch!”
Leia involuntarily gritted her teeth in anger and humiliation.
While she hadn’t intended to kill with her previous attack, it was still an all-out strike meant to char him. And yet, it had been blocked by mere minor spirits, not even contracted ones, leaving him without even a single burn…
She had heard rumors about an incredible monster in the year above, but she never imagined the difference in ability would be this vast.
“Hah… hah…”
Her breathing became ragged from the intense spiritual power consumption. Unable to stand, she involuntarily dropped to one knee on Salamander’s back, trying to catch her breath.
Her body felt as heavy as lead, and she was overcome with the urge to collapse right there. But she couldn’t allow herself to fall. As a member of the noble Valhart family, she couldn’t display such unsightly behavior in front of the audience.
“You look like you’re struggling, junior. How about we call it quits here?”
“Don’t be ridiculous! As if I’d let it end like this!”
As Leia snarled, revealing her anger at what could be seen as an insulting proposal, the boy laughed awkwardly and muttered, “Yeah, I guess not.”
Eventually, he sighed as if resigned and pulled out a scroll from his pocket. The boy quickly chanted a spell and unrolled the scroll, causing a dull-colored sword to appear before his eyes.
The boy took the sword in hand and swung it a few times as if checking its feel before slowly taking a stance. At the same time, the floating minor spirits were absorbed into the boy’s sword, which began to emit a blue-green light.
“Well then, it’s my turn to attack now.”
As soon as he said this, the boy dashed towards Leia.
The boy put strength into his legs and leaped. Using wind magic to stay airborne after jumping high with his spiritually enhanced leg strength, he charged straight towards Salamander like an arrow.
Of course, Salamander wouldn’t allow the boy’s approach without resistance. Opening its jaws to shoot down the fly before it, it launched a fireball at the boy. While the power of the fireball was nothing compared to the previous attack, it would still cause more than just burns if received unguarded.
In response, the boy swung his sword at the approaching fireball.
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A crescent-shaped slash covered in water flew from the blade towards the fireball. The two opposing elemental attacks collided and annihilated each other, once again filling the surrounding area with steam.
“Kuh!”
Having lost sight of her opponent due to the steam, Leia tried to retreat by ordering Salamander to fall back, but before she could, the steam was swept away and the boy, flying through the air at tremendous speed, landed on Salamander’s back and pointed the tip of his sword at Leia’s throat.
At the same time, the bell signaling the end of the match rang out, accompanied by cheers.
Leia, who had already been pushed to her limits, suffered the first defeat of her life at the hands of Rourke Areas, the boy who had been purely defensive until his first offensive move in this battle.
“Hah…”
The match had ended safely.
As I was about to leave the arena, letting out a sigh of relief, I heard a sharp voice full of anger from behind me: “Wait right there!”
Turning around, I saw my opponent, Leia Valhart, glaring at me with an expression stained with anger.
“Do you need something?”
“What was that about in our match just now!?”
“What do you mean… by that?”
Well, it’s a bit rich of me to ask, but what she probably wants to know is…
“Why didn’t you summon your contracted spirit!?”
That’s it, right?
It’s basic for spirit masters to summon their contracted spirits when fighting. Yet here I am, fighting with just temporary contracts called simple contracts with the minor spirits floating around. No wonder she thinks I’m looking down on her and is angry.
To be honest, if I were in her position, I’d be pissed too. But since I can’t tell her the truth, my answer is already decided.
“I simply had no reason to summon it.”
At my response, spiritual power overflowed from Leia’s body, becoming a hot wind that made my hair flutter.
Oh, her spiritual power has already recovered right after the battle? As expected of the daughter of the Valhart family, she’s amazing.
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“Are you mocking me!?”
“I’m not. Rather, you made me scared several times, and I think you’re incredible. Among those I’ve fought, I’d say you’re the second strongest after the princess.”
I meant to give her honest praise without any lies, but as expected, or perhaps I should say predictably, Leia seemed to feel provoked. Her face turned as red as flame as she raised her arm bearing the red contract mark and summoned her contracted spirit, Salamander.
The red dragon, once again descending into the arena, let out a growl, seemingly affected by its master’s anger, and directed an incredible killing intent towards me.
“…What are you planning?”
I ask while consciously trying not to show fear in my expression.
I mean, I’ve been thinking this since we were fighting, but this dragon is seriously scary. I might actually wet myself if I’m not careful…
“I demand a rematch! Now! Right now!”
“…………”
Wait, wait. You’ve got to be kidding, right? Are you serious? I’m already exhausted from earlier, you know.
Though I managed to win by chance earlier, it’s clear that in a rematch I’d be reduced to ashes, literally. So I desperately wanted to avoid a repeat battle.
As I was racking my brains for an excuse to escape from her, help came from an unexpected quarter.
“Miss Valhart, I understand your feelings, but that’s enough. This is a welcoming match for new students. Now that it’s settled, please leave the arena promptly.”
A girl appeared from behind, her long blonde hair shimmering in the sunlight. It was Misha Romus, the top student of our year and the princess of the Kingdom of Romus.
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