[V5C5] You Forgot Something (Tia)
Translated by Jodas 5: The Magic BattleDong, dong — The first bell rang.
Just as it did, all twelve Apprentices got moving at a quick pace.
Sevil, taking the lead, spoke as she surveyed their surroundings.
“No need to run. Conserve your energy. Gerald, you take up the rear and ensure Tia and Finn don’t get separated.”
“Roger that.” Gerald, walking at the back of the group, responded curtly.
As a Harpy, Tia wasn’t accustomed to walking with human feet, so she waddled as she walked and couldn’t move terribly fast.
Finn was the shortest among them and had the shortest legs, but also considering that his family abandoned him for his bad legs, he always dragged his feet as he walked.
When moving, these two would invariably fall behind.
For this magic battle, they wouldn’t split up into two or three groups. They would try to move for the most part as one big group of twelve.
The essence of their strategy for this magic battle was ‘a fighting retreat.’
While waddling as fast as she could, Tia recalled the contents of their strategy meeting.
At their strategy meeting, Wren stood in front of the blackboard as he spoke.
“I’ve tried to come up with weaknesses for Frederik and the rest of the Extermination Office team, but I think the biggest is definitely still the gap in their mobility.”
Out of the three of them: Frederik, Rikard, and Helena; only Frederik could use flight magic.
Given Frederik’s outstanding mobility, it was easy for him to get separated from his partners.
“Well, even when separated from their partners, those three are all strong enough to fight on their own… But due to the rules of this magic battle, Rikard and Helena won’t be allowed to attack.”
It was forbidden for Rikard and Helena to attack. All they could do were defense and support.
Thus, if they could draw out Frederik, those two would be unable to do their jobs.
On top of that, Sevil continued where Wren left off.
“Think of Frederik as cavalry, with Rikard and Helena being infantry. In that case, our objective should be to stay on the move to bring Frederik out ahead, separating him from Rikard and Helena.”
(I want to fight against Frederik and win, but…)
As Tia waddled rapidly, she glanced back at the starting point.
The time limit for the magic battle was one hour.
Sevil had said that it wasn’t a bad idea to think about running for the whole hour in order to win.
However, they wouldn’t be able to win if they just ran off aimlessly.
They would have to weather Frederik’s attacks, and if possible, try to take him down. If that wasn’t possible, then they’d run. That was their strategy for this battle.
In the center of the group, Ella pulled out a pocket watch and confirmed the time.
“We’re coming up on five minutes. Roswi, get ready.”
“Got it.”
Just as Roswitha pulled sticks out from under her cloak, the bell rang out.
Dong, dong, the sound of the bell reverberated across the forest. The sound that signaled the start of the magic battle.
Roswitha began her incantation.
“Thine irrational devotion, the rain that dwells within thee, thou fish who hast lost thine eyes, swim forth and reveal!”
The stick was enveloped in water, and took the form of a small fish.
The fish of water swam nimbly between the trees, headed for where Frederik and the others were.
Roswitha could share her vision with that fish of water. It was the ideal magic for performing reconnaissance on Frederik’s team.
However, in order to share vision with the fish, Roswitha would have to close her own eyes. Otherwise the things she could see would overlap with what the fish saw, making it impossible to make anything out.
While Roswitha had her eyes closed, Ella and Sophie walked on either side of her to keep her from tripping.
Then, as the group started to move more slowly… Roswitha screamed.
“They noticed me! …They’re too fast!”
While waiting for the starting bell to ring, Frederik glanced at Röhm.
(So Röhm is the adjudicator this time… Director Haydn must be disappointed.)
After how nervous and fidgety he was over the opportunity to meet Röhm, Haydn was in the viewing room, while Röhm was here.
They’ve missed each other once again.
That man may be one of the most talented fighters of the Wedge Tower, and he was sincere and cheerful, but he was strangely unlucky. That was the boss they knew, Extermination Office Director Haydn.
“Ah, how sad… It’s so sad….”
Crying with both hands covering her face, Helena was not taking pity on their poor ol’ boss Haydn.
“I’m in a magic battle with the Apprentices… People are going to think I’m like this barbarian here…”
Her words were incredibly rude, but it was a waste of time trying to account for Helena’s insults.
Frederik tapped his shoulder with his spear and sighed lightly.
“Well, it’s not a job I like to do. I don’t want my juniors to hate me either.”
“But you’re more than willing to crush your little brother to pieces.”
Whispering under his breath, Rikard glared at Frederik.
“That’s something completely different. Is there anyone in this world who enjoys being hated by their juniors? Aside from Dammer, that is.”
“I don’t think that guy necessarily enjoys being hated, either.”
Frederik didn’t like combat at all, and it saddened him to have his juniors hate him.
In the first place, the Wedge Tower was always understaffed. It would be a serious issue if new recruits weren’t willing to come to their Office, so most of the adults tended to be friendly to the Apprentices. People like Dammer were in the minority.
“If you’re worried about that, I think you can rest easily.”
Röhm spoke to them definitively.
Beneath her short bangs, her eyes glimmered, and Röhm smiled confidently.
“All of those kids understand the joy of the challenge.”
Of course they did. The Apprentice Mages were all under Röhm’s tutelage.
Just this morning, the Management Office’s Barrett had said the same thing, hadn’t he? That his little rival was looking forward to the magic battle.
“…Then I’d better try my hardest.”
Röhm chucked at Frederik’s muttering. Then she checked her pocket watch.
Seemed like it was about time.
Röhm grasped the rope on the bell set up at the meeting point.
“Without further ado, now that five minutes have passed, let’s begin the magic battle… Begin!”
Dong, dong, the bell rang.
Frederik and Helena chanted right off the bat. Frederik started with the incantation for flight magic, while Helena used detection magic.
“One small signature detected. Water attribute. It’s coming closer.”
Just as Helena muttered, Frederik activated his flight magic and pushed off from the ground.
“Is it some kind of reconnaissance magic? Share it with—.”
Before Frederik could even finish his sentence, Helena was already chanting the incantation for a type of magic that would share the results of her detection magic.
Just as Helena’s incantation ended, Frederik closed his eyes.
When he did, his a small light appeared amidst the darkness of his vision.
This was a representation of mana signatures around them, presented in a top-down view with Helena at the center.
While maintaining her detection magic, Helena was sharing its results with Frederik and Rikard.
Once he got a general idea of its location, Frederik flew off with his flight magic in the direction of the detection.
There, he could see a small fish made of water in the shadow of the trees. This was most likely a form of magic meant for reconnaissance.
“That famous Classical School family — Was it the Ohlendorfs? They’ve got a kid who uses some fascinating magic.”
Classical Magecraft — it certainly was potent, but he could sense that the user was unaccustomed to actual battles. There was a lot of finesse to when, where, and how to use reconnaissance magic. To put it simply, this one was just too easy to read.
Frederik coated his spear with wind magic, and brought it down on the watery fish.
The stick buried at the center of the fish split cleanly into two halves, and dropped unceremoniously onto the ground.
He closed his eyes once more. No mana signatures in the surrounding area.
Once he was certain he was in the clear, Frederik flew up to just below the ceiling of the magic battle barrier.
The Apprentices were given only five minutes.
With a large group of twelve, they only had five minutes to move. No matter how fast they tried to go, they would only be able to get so far.
(…Found them.)
To the East. He could see multiple silhouettes moving between the trees.
Frederik signaled with his hands down towards the ground.
—Multiple hostiles detected. Moving to engage.
That was his signal that he would be going ahead.
While he knew that he would be able to receive support if he stuck with Rikard and Helena, Frederik chose not to do that.
(One hour for twelve of them… It’s gonna be a pain to get them all.)
What Frederik dreaded the most here was the chance the Apprentices would give up on trying to win and just scatter into the woods, each one running and hiding individually.
With Helena’s reconnaissance and Frederik’s mobility, they would be able to seek each one out and deal with them. But it would be a pain in the ass to get that done.
(Hunting is only enjoyable when it’s over quickly.)
Setting his sights on where he saw those figures, Frederik thought.
How would he best get the Apprentices knocked out as painlessly as possible?
While the magic battle would protect their physical bodies, there would still be pain. If he attacked them with his mana-wreathed spear, of course it would hurt.
If there were only one or two opponents, he could try capturing them and sending them out of the barrier or blow them away with wind. However, twelve was definitely too much for that to work.
Time would run out before he could capture and throw out each and every one of them.
(…Should I make a big ball of wind and drop it onto the ground from above?)
If he blew them away with wind from the side, there was a chance they could end up getting hurt if they hit something, so it was best to attack from above.
Then, they would only be pressed to the ground, and if he put enough mana into it, then he could try to knock them all out in one blow.
(To do that, I first need to corner them so they don’t scatter and run off…)
With his vector of attack decided, Frederik ranked his priority targets as he headed towards where he’d seen those figures.
Then, his brother leaped from between the trees of the forest.
Boooiing, Directly upwards.
“Uoooghhhh!! Brooootheeeerrrrr!!”
On the ground, where Oliver had leapt from, Wren and Tia shouted after him.
“Oliver, you forgot something! Don’t forget Tia!”
“Pyoeehhhhh, Oliveeerrrrr! Come bacckkkkk!!”
All thoughts of strategy or priorities went completely out of the window.
— Alright, time to crush that foolish little brother.
Frederik tightened the grip on his spear and accelerated.