[V3C9] Adults Question the Will to Fight
Translated by Jodas 3: The Fateful BrothersWhen Guidance Office Director Hegelich visited the offices of the Extermination Office, that Office’s Director, Haydn, made everyone else leave the room and gestured for Hegelich to sit at a writing desk. This room had no sofas with which to entertain guests.
“Sorry I don’t even have any tea to offer you, Director Hegelich.”
“Oh, I don’t mind. The Guidance Office isn’t much different.”
“I do have some liquor my subordinates snuck in, if you’d prefer.”
“……I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that.”
Hegelich made a bitter expression, but Haydn brushed it off with a light chuckle.
The Director of the Extermination Office, Fritz Haydn, was a large blond man somewhere in his mid-twenties.
One could tell at a glance that his well-toned body had been meticulously trained, and on top of that he wore light, high-mobility clothing.
Haydn was the youngest among the Directors, but as one of the Wedge Tower’s few true powerhouses, he was a true genius comparable to the Headmaster, the highest authority, himself.
Haydn grabbed the seat across from Hegelich, and soon after sitting down, bowed his head.
“I’m sorry for my subordinate’s actions today. I’d heard that Frederik’s little brother had enrolled as an Apprentice, but……..I didn’t think they’d get along this poorly……..”
“The Lange family carries a great weight on their backs. To an extent, I understand Frederik’s feelings…….Regardless, as the Director of the Guidance Office, I have a duty to encourage the growth of my Apprentices.”
“Yes, I’ve heard the reports from my subordinates. You want to schedule a rematch against Frederik in a Magic Battle, huh? It goes without saying, I don’t mind.”
Saying that, Haydn’s face relaxed a bit and he smiled.
His smile still had a slight hint of the impression of a cocky young boy.
“Director Hegelich. I think this is improper of me, but I am actually a little excited for this……I can’t wait to see my subordinates go against Liese’s students.”
Liese—referring to Hegelich’s subordinate Anneliese Röhm.
She had a childish appearance due to how she always kept her bangs cut short, but she was a genius who was fluent in both Modern and Classical Magecraft and was Haydn’s peer.
In the past, Haydn and Röhm were rivals who stood side-by-side in the Extermination Office.
Their talents were evenly matched. Until Röhm suffered an injury to her mana organs that prevented her from taking to the battlefield, these two stood as the two wings of the Extermination Office.
The subordinates and students of these old rivals would be fighting. Thinking of it that way, Hegelich also thought it to be quite profound.
Haydn spoke a little more forcefully.
“Alright, let’s decide on a date. As for the rules…….I think it would be best to give Frederik some support. Should we include Rikard and Helena in the fight?”
Hegelich’s face tightened to Haydn’s muttering.
Rikard and Helena were classmates from the same Instructor, and often operated together in their Extermination Office duties.
You had Frederik with his unmatched mobility, Rikard who was a heavy hitter that excelled at fighting defensively, and Helena who could act as both support and offense. These three made up the Extermination Office’s top team.
Even if all twelve Apprentices worked together perfectly, they would have no chance of winning.
“Would that not be too unfair for the Apprentices?”
“They’d mostly just be there to keep Frederik from going too far. In fact……Let’s have the Magic Battle end as soon as Frederik is defeated. Rikard and Helena will be forbidden from launching attacks at the Apprentices. What do you think of having them there purely for defense and crowd control?”
“I still think that would put my side at a serious disadvantage……”
However, after seeing the exchange between Frederik and Oliver today, he agreed that Frederik definitely needed someone to stop him.
“……..I understand. I will accept those conditions. Would one month from now be an acceptable date?”
“I don’t mind, but……is one month really enough for you? I’d heard there are some among the Apprentices who can’t use magecraft at all yet.”
It was as Haydn said. Among the Apprentices, there were only two who could properly use magecraft: Roswitha and Julius. Those two were from the Classical and Modern Schools, respectively, and often came to blows with each other.
The Apprentices had little coordination, and many of them had yet to set an objective for themselves. There was even one who couldn’t do two-digit addition yet—that was precisely why such an insurmountable group project was necessary.
“They will only have one year as Apprentices. If there are those who determine through this assignment that they won’t be able to make it at the Wedge Tower and decide to leave, I wouldn’t mind.”
He didn’t mind if the ones without the drive to succeed at this assignment decided to quit—No, they should quit. That was what Hegelich believed.
“What do you want to accomplish here at the Wedge Tower? Do you have the will to stand up against hardship and fight? —Those who cannot consider those questions on their own and take action won’t be able to make it from here on out, you.”
Instructor Sombart of the Guidance Office smiled widely and shared stories of the past with the single student remaining in his classroom.
There were three students in Sombart’s class. Two of them, Oliver Lange and John Rose, had gone to observe another Spire.
At the moment, there was only one left in the classroom.
The boy with straight black hair and a snakelike aura, Julius Löwenich.
“…….And that is what I know about events leading up to the exile of Samuel Löwenich……your father. The severing of relations between the Wedge Tower and the previous Emperor overlapped exactly with the time that your father was exiled from the Wedge Tower. Well, I think it’s safe to say there’s some kind of relationship.”
Sombart told a story of the Wedge Tower’s past.
A tale of how a man who was once one of the Wedge Tower’s Spiremasters, Samuel Löwenich, fell from grace and was chased out.
Sombart smiled toothily as he told the story with slippery words.
“Has my tale been of any use to you?”
“Kuku, It doesn’t differ much from what I know…….this just confirms it.”
Julius gave a throaty laugh, and gently stroked the ring on his finger.
“The higher-ups at the Wedge Tower are concealing a big secret. There’s got to be something that only the Directors…….No, only the Spiremasters are privy to.”
The Spiremasters are complicit in keeping secrets. On top of that, they have dark secrets that can’t be exposed.
Then Julius’ father, Samuel, lost his footing because he brushed up against that secret.
Julius reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag full of coins, placing it on the lectern in front of Sombart.
Sombart continued to give his toothy smile.
“I’m happy to tell you this much for free, you know?”
“‘If something can be solved with money, then solve it with money. Hospitality and kindness can add up to become an unbearable debt’—Those were my father’s words.”
“Hahaha! If that’s how you think, then I must respect his wishes and take it graciously!”
Sombart slid the bag of coins into his pocket.
Sombart was ambitious, but he wasn’t blinded by money. Julius could tell that he was the type to add up small acts of kindness to put someone in his debt. That was precisely why he pre-empted that strategy by bringing out the money.
If something can be solved with money, then solve it with money—his father’s teachings were exactly correct.
“Considering the results of today’s mana evaluation, I should get started on building my faction.”
“Wonderful! We should get the Modern School working together! In that case, I’d definitely want to get Princess Adelheid onto our side, but she’s cautious of anyone who tries to approach her…….I recommend getting her two lackeys on board first!”
“Then, we start with Tia Vogel. Her goal is obvious, so it should be easy to rope her in.”
At the start of the entrance exam, Tia declared that she wanted to fly.
If flight magic was her goal, then it should be a piece of cake to rope her into the Modern School.
“Kuku, Tia Vogel. I’ll definitely make her my friend.”
“You’ve got the spirit, wonderful!”
Since Julius’ father lost his position, the Classical School has held a firm grip on the Wedge Tower.
Sombart was a devoted member of the Modern School, but his influence was limited. That was why he wanted to team up with Julius to take down the higher-ups of the Classical School.
“Director Hegelich is from the Modern School just like me, but that guy has no ambition. That’s why ambitious youngsters like us have to pick up the slack! ……Oops, my apologies, you’re not ambitious, are you?”
Sombart’s fake smile belied just a little bit of pity.
“You’re just thinking of your father.”