The Genius Mage Who Uses Her Fists

The instant Lumiere’s flaming fist impacted the shimmering barrier, the latter shattered into a kaleidoscope of fragments. The flames continued to wash over the armor, blackening its once pristine silvery surface, before melting it to slag.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! That armor was made of mithril! No, in the first place, how on earth did she destroy a royal-grade barrier!?”

Bruno’s jaw almost hit the ground. But it wasn’t over. An explosion consumed the field in a colossal conflagration, buffeting the screaming students with shockwaves. Many were simply swept off their feet and tossed like dolls, while others toppled.

The barriers covering the other armor flared brilliantly as they struggled to withstand the tempest of violence. The support frames they were propped against, despite being hammered deep into the ground, shook. Clods of soil were hurled upward, along with a rain of grass.

As the shockwaves faded and the tremors ceased, all that was audible after the storm was the groans of stunned students, sprawled across the courtyard. At the epicenter, the culprit stood and retracted her arm, looking sheepish.

“I thought I held back,” Lumiere muttered, glancing at me in embarrassment. Unlike the other students, I had already anticipated the magnitude of devastation and conjured a barrier beforehand, which allowed me to remain on my feet.

“That was…holding back?!” Someone blurted in disbelief.

“Black magic! It has to be black magic!” A female student cried. “There’s no way that spell would be this powerful, otherwise!”

“Silence!” Bruno snapped. Like me, he had reflexively protected himself with a defensive aura and aside from his initial shock, he remained unruffled. “That’s a high-ranked fire spell, not black magic! Don’t mindlessly spread rumors and cause a needless panic!”

“Impressive. Very impressive!” Laughter rang from the back. Arthur Crowley approached, clapping in delight. “You’re the daughter of Duke Ombre? You’ve certainly inherited his immense mana capacity!”

While the headmaster and his entourage of teachers circled to congratulate the awkwardly squirming Lumiere, my gaze wandered to Oswald and his royal retinue. A stunned hush had befallen them, and they were whispering to each other in urgent tones. Only the crown prince remained silent, his expression unreadable. However, it was the words of his surrounding staff that caught my attention.

“How is this possible?”

“The seal has been unlocked.”

“Who could have…?”

I stiffened. I wasn’t completely certain, but from what snippets I heard, it appeared that the crown prince’s retinue was aware of the curse placed on Lumiere to seal her magic. And they didn’t seem pleased it had been lifted.

If they discovered I was the one who dismantled the curse…

A cough distracted me from my foreboding thoughts. Leonard lay a few paces away, shielding Silvia with his body. She immediately healed him with her holy magic, even as the dust around them gradually cleared, but her spell dissipated when she realized he wasn’t as hurt as she feared.

“I was just knocked over,” Leonard said, as if to confirm her diagnosis and ease her worries. “I’m not hurt.”

“I’m relieved.” Silvia sighed and brushed the dirt from her silvery hair. The second prince held her hand and leaned closer, whispering.

“Was that what you were worried about, Silvia? That scale of destruction? The immense amount of mana Lady Lumiere possessed?”

“No. No. This isn’t what I foresaw. This isn’t black magic.” She began to laugh, her voice filled more with relief than amusement. “We’re safe. So Lady Lumiere is capable of casting spells of other elements. My visions were wrong.”

“How can that be? You’ve never been wrong before…” He trailed off and looked up, realizing I was watching them. He cleared his throat and glanced away before rising to his feet and helping Silvia stand. Dropping his voice to a near incoherent mumble, he ushered her to the side. “There’s too many ears here. Let’s discuss this later.”

At that moment, I wanted to rush over, grab his collar, and demand answers. But he was the second prince of Antares Kingdom, and I was but a mere son of a baron. Such insolence would only see me apprehended instead of granting me the answers I sought.

Though I was somehow receiving pieces to a puzzle I didn’t even know I was involved in, they were raising more questions than answers. And it was infuriating. I was not used to being left so completely in the dark, blind and deaf to what was transpiring around me. Unlike when I was a PhD candidate, this wasn’t something I could simply study for or research.

The game of court politics played by rules totally different from those in university.

“As impressive as Lady Lumiere’s display of magical might was, I believe there are still other students who have yet to demonstrate their skills?” Crowley had finished complimenting the blushing black-haired beauty, and swept his undecipherable gaze across the groaning students still sprawled or sitting on the ravaged field, stunned.

“T…That’s right!” One of the other students spluttered and pointed a shaking finger at me. “Y…you! The bookwater noble! You claimed to be that monster’s teacher, didn’t you?”

“Yeah! Show us what you’re capable of!”

Ah, I understood what was going on. Having realized what a monster Lumiere was, and becoming too afraid to touch her, they decided to vent their scorn and fury on me instead. It was a coping mechanism to cover up the humiliation they felt when the initial subject of their mockery utterly and absolutely proved them wrong.

Pathetic.

Leonard and Silvia were watching me too, their expressions guarded. Oswald had returned to his usual, disinterested self, now that the commotion was over. As expected, only Lumiere could pique his interest. Though, given the words of his staff, I wasn’t sure if that interest was a good thing.

“What are you waiting for?”

“Afraid you’ll be exposed as a fraud?”

“Silence.” A single word from Lumiere, and everyone’s jeers died in their throats. They whimpered and avoided her fierce gaze, especially when the current desolate state of the field reminded them of what she was truly capable of. She glanced at me and hesitated. “Sir Trevor, don’t feel pressured…”

“No, it’s fine. As your tutor, how can I shame you by refusing their challenge?” I stepped forward. It wasn’t so much that I had no desire to let her down, but rather, I wanted to become somebody worthy enough to stand by her side. Lumiere had proven to everyone that she was one of the top mages. If I wanted to stay beside her, I had to…

…huh? Why did I want to stay beside her? Admittedly, I liked her, but it wasn’t to the extent that I wished to be in her company forever.

“Ugh…”

Grimacing, I shoved those irrelevant thoughts to the side for now, and approached one of the targets that had remained intact, its barrier still sturdy.

“Don’t tell me he’s going to punch the target like Lady Lumiere did?”

“So that’s where she learned her spell from? This guy?”

“Lady Lumiere is one thing, but surely this weak-looking bookwater noble with no mana can…”

Even as scornful laughter rose, I ignored the insults and focused on the target before me. Raising a hand, I poked the barrier with my fingertips. Again, I could “read” the runic inscriptions that powered the barrier. Inserting my own verses into its rhythmic flow, I dismantled the enchantment’s lyrical structure with a few strategically placed incantations.

The barrier pulsed for a second before shattering.

“W…what did he do?!”

“I…I remember now! Didn’t he dismantle the royal-grade geas back when his highness annulled his engagement with Lady Lumiere?”

However, I wasn’t done yet. Now that the barrier was gone, it was time for the finishing blow.

Waving my hand, I conjured a freezing spell. Ice spiked, then encased the mithril armor, the frost expanding rapidly to devour the mystical metal. I exhaled and tapped it, and the whole thing shattered.

“He’s a monster too.”

“Demon…the both of them are demons…the black-haired demon couple.”

Man, I was getting sick of their discrimination against people with black hair. Couldn’t they think of new insults?

I paid them no heed, instead whirling and stalking off to rejoin Lumiere, the only person who wasn’t surprised. She nodded at me with a small smile. Before she could say anything, though, someone else cut in.

“You…what did you do?”

To my astonishment, it was Crowley. The headmaster interposed himself between me and Lumiere, his gnarled hands grabbing my shoulders and his eyes frenzied.

“In all my years of practicing and researching magecraft, I’ve never seen a spell like that! What in the heavens was that? It was as if you reached deep into the enchantment’s very structure and disassembled its core constituents!”

Holy…no wonder he was the headmaster of the kingdom’s premier magic academy. With just a single glance, he could already guess the essence of what I did.

“What is the headmaster talking about?”

“I know that bookwater noble pulled off something impressive, but I still don’t understand.”

The students watched the scene, bemused. Remembering himself, Crowley cleared his throat and stepped back, resuming his dignified posture.

“We’ll discuss this again in greater detail later. I’m sure we’ll have every opportunity to do so in the next three years.” He leaned and smiled brightly. “However, I would like you to consider joining the magic research department.”

“I will think about it,” I replied. I didn’t know if it was fate, but the magic research department sounded like the closest thing to my scholarly pursuits in my previous life.

Crowley smiled and patted my shoulder before walking past. Clapping his hands, he gestured to the other students.

“All right, those of you who have yet to demonstrate your skills, please do so!” Excitement laced his words. “I look forward to uncovering more incredible talents. It seems that this batch is full of hidden gems.”

As flattered as I was, I wasn’t used to being the center of attention, and so I hurried toward the safety of Lumiere’s company. As I closed in on her, though, I felt an uncomfortable prickling sensation across the back of my neck.

Turning, I caught sight of the deep scrutiny that the crown prince’s staff were subjecting me to. Unlike before, they were no longer conversing in hushed tones. Instead, they were all staring at me so intensely that I felt a chill run down my spine.

That wasn’t the gaze of curiosity. Dad’s words echoed in my mind.

“The capital is full of schemers and serpents…of predators wearing the skin of people.”

Yes, right now, I felt as if I was nothing but prey. I wondered if I was being paranoid. Maybe they were trying to figure out my relationship with Lumiere. I could feel the weight of their gazes amplify when I reached her.

Right. If I was unlucky, the crown prince had taken interest in me, and his retinue was scheming how to eliminate me so that Oswald could safely and more easily marry Lumiere.

Somehow, that thought pissed me off more than I thought it should.

“Sir Trevor? Are you all right?” Lumiere must have seen the shift in my expression, for she voiced her concern. I blinked, then plastered a smile on my face. There was no reason she should worry about this as well.

“Yep, never been better. Did you see their faces?” I chortled. Glancing over my shoulder at the dismayed students, I grinned. “Seems like we’re going to have quite the entertaining school life ahead of us.”