Mightiest Melee Magician

“Then how about ‘Ruin and the Boys’?”

“Jason.”

“How’s that? Isn’t it cool?”

“I don’t think you have a talent for naming things. How’s that?”

“......Ehem. Ok. Just a second.”

Jason was fully in ‘team naming’ mode.

The number of names he gave me was too high to even count.

Guardians of Ardell, Ruin and the Boys. Friends of Ruin, Sixteen Mages—because we were all 16-years-old—and so on.

“Urk. I’m gonna throw up.”

“......”

Although the names he gave me were so cringy that Straang was about to throw up, Jason didn’t give up.

He was writing notes and visiting the library for ideas about this, which made me question just how much better he would be as a student if he studied like this as well.

And so, two days passed.

Jason, who was walking around the academy grounds with eyes sunken from fatigue, suddenly clapped his hands and shouted as an idea struck him.

“Ohoh! This one! This one is the one!”

“What is it this time?”

“The team name! How about ‘Angra Agi Antis’?”

Straang and I both furrowed our brows at the same time.

“......What the heck is that?”

“It’s the name of that legendary three-headed dragon. The first head is Angra, the second Agi, and the third Antis.”

Angra Agi Antis.

As the three-headed dragon, it was an evil dragon said to have ended the world.

It literally was a dragon that appeared in a legend.

Although nobody knew if it really existed or not, it was natural for people to be excited about these stories of legend.

Jason talked excitedly.

“You, me, and Hansen. Us three! How’s that? Isn’t it cool?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think it’s that good.”

“Why? It’s the name of a legendary dragon! Although it being an evil dragon is a downside, it’s still pretty cool, right? For short, we can be ‘Team Triple A!”

“Triple A is fine. We can just change the meaning a bit.”

“Change? To what?”

“Triple A… in the hopes that your remaining grades can all be As. How about it?”

“Hey! Ruin!”

“Pft.”

In any case, this was how the name was decided.

Triple A.

Full name, Apex Area Ardell.

I guess, if I was to put meaning to it, it was that I wished for Ardell to climb being the ‘apex’ of all areas.

Currently, it was just Jason, Hansen, and me.

However, although it was just the three of us, this was only the beginning.

* * *

“Team Triple A? What’s that?”

“Fufu. It’s kinda like a military force with Ruin as the leader.”

“......Military force? What? Is Ruin gathering magicians after graduating?”

“It’s not just magicians, but knights as well. You saw it before, right? The commoner knight that defeated that famous trainee Maltive Kegen? That guy is also on this team.”

“Oh? That’s amazing!”

The trainee knights of Poldren had left the Academy, and so had the alumni.

The school grounds of the Academy that were once packed now looked quite empty, but if you looked closely inside, you could see that it was burning hot again.

It was because of Triple A.

“Hansen and I are going to follow Ruin to Ardell after graduation.”

“To Ardell? Why there?”

“With my skills, going anywhere good is a lost cause… so I’m going to follow Ruin to Ardell to get a job. You know it too, right? Ruin is going to do something incredible in the future.”

It wasn’t like he would receive large sums of money, or that a famous archmage was there either.

The Ardell of now didn’t have the appeal for a magician to give up everything to come down to it.

However, the one name of Ruin Ardell bloomed trust within the peers that this was worth betting their future on.

“Me too! I want to be part of this too!”

“No. As you can tell by the name, Triple A is an elite group, so we can’t accept just anyone.”

“But my grades are better than yours, Jason.”

“......Ahem. Anyway, we can’t accept just anyone. You need to do an interview with Ruin.”

The peers that normally trusted me and followed around hoped to go down to Ardell.

The full-scale war against Galehill became the primer this time.

They had seen with their own two eyes the reality of the youngest court magician. That it was just a facade created by the greed of those in power, and that these titles don’t have any merit.

On top of that, the rumor that the Director told me about also played a part.

“At least Ruin won’t try to use us or ignore us like the Galehills, right?”

“That’s right. And my father has been saying this recently… That the atmosphere around the capital is quite turbulent right now.”

“You heard it too? My father said the same. He said I needed to get friendly with Ruin.”

That next year, when the next lord of House Ardell would become an adult, the Galehills would collapse, and the Ardells would take everything.

“They say Ardell’s financial situation got a lot better recently. From what I hear, they got a trade deal with Eight-Lake.”

“The commercial port city in the Empire? That Eight-Lake? Really?”

“Yeah. Although it’s only rumors, they seem quite likely.”

“My goodness… Then Ardell is going to get bigger? That countryside town is?”

“Probably. The twin princes also promised to support Ardell quite actively… and on top of that… You know how my father manages the plans for the soldiers in the capital? He said that there’s a massive subjugation plan in the South that will take 200 knights and 3000 soldiers.”

“Why? What are they trying to subjugate?”

“They’re probably trying to expand Ardell’s territory.”

“......Woah. Holy crap.”

As the conclusive deal between Eight-Lake and Ardell, the massive southern subjugation plans, and other equally detailed plans started to come to light, the final blow was struck to completely swallow the Academy in a mood favoring Ardell.

“Ruin.”

“......Huh?”

“I’m sorry for calling you names and what not before… Back then, I kind of just was following the herd… Haha. You understand, right? Since you’re kind.”

“Get to the point.”

“Ah, ok. So… The ‘Triple A’ you’re making. Uhm, is there a spot for me too?”

“......”

The negative gazes that poured out on me when I first became the academy representative, before I won, had all disappeared, and everyone tried to get on my good side.

History was changing.

It was a natural flow as the wave of authority shifted.

However…

“No. There is no spot for you.”

“......”

I didn’t plan on accepting just anyone.

* * *

* * *

One of the important parts in the second semester’s schedule was the capital field trip.

The reason the magic academy students would take a field trip to the capital was because of none other than the magic tower and the court magicians.

The magic tower was the core of the magicians of the nation, and being a court magician was a dream that every magician born into nobility had.

Wearing the robe stamped with the king’s seal and walking around the precious palace. Being a court magician was the symbol of having both wealth and authority.

The field trip was a sort of ‘workplace visit’ that let these aspiring magicians have a glimpse of the life of a magician working in the magic tower or the palace.

Yeah.

The goal of the class was good.

However, the problem was that it was always only the goal that was good.

The Director felt the same, also not seeing the trip favorably.

Going to the capital really didn’t teach much, and the students would only be immersed in the fancifulness of the magicians.

However, as this class was something that had been in place long before even the Director was a student, he couldn’t just get rid of it either.

“Oh, oh! So we can go inside the magic tower?”

“A court magician…! Sheesh, it’s going to be so cool!”

Because of Jakil Galehill, the honor held by a court magician did fall a bit recently, but the problem was that there were too many students who were looking forward to this class.

Of course, I also didn’t like this class that much.

“Josh Galehil? We’ll finally get to see that guy’s face.”

“......Yeah.”

Just like what Straang suggested, this was the same as going into enemy territory.

He was the greatest member of the magic tower and was entrusted with all the authority to lead it by the king of magicians, Fire King Teron.

He was also the guardian of the kingdom and held all the court magicians under his control.

Taking the class was just like serving myself to Josh on a silver platter.

I got onto the mana train heading towards the capital and sat with Straang.

“What are you going to do?”

“What can I do? I can’t just go in recklessly and swing my fists or something.”

“But you can’t just sit still either.”

“Yeah. So I need to be prepared.”

“......Prepared?”

“Yeah. There will definitely be an ambush.”

Since he wouldn’t be able to move against me directly, he would either use other magicians of the house to assassinate me or use other underhanded methods.

Straang asked me,

“Why do you think that?”

“This ‘capital visit’ class will be the only opportunity for Josh to get rid of me.”

The Academy was protected by mana guardians, and these weren’t just any ordinary guardians.

Pledge, protect, and punish.

Summoned with these three keywords, they were the ultimate shields that wouldn’t be destroyed by any normal means.

That meant it was impossible for him to aim to kill me while I was at the Academy.

This also meant that he needed to target me while I was outside the Academy…

Then wasn’t right now, before I graduated, the best chance for him?

Straang scrunched her face uncharacteristically before taking two fingers to her chin and saying,

“That’s true. Is Josh Galehill strong?”

“Who knows? The rumors say that he’s a 7th-class magician, just like the Director… but I don’t know for sure. I haven’t seen him yet.”

“7th-class? Hmph! If I was like before, I could’ve just killed him with the tap of a finger.”

“Then what about now?”

“......Shut up.”

Although I didn’t know for sure how strong Straang was when she was active with Draka, I knew that 7th-class wasn’t a small fry in the slightest.

It was practically the boundary of human prowess.

In the case of our Director, who was also 7th-class…

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You cannot view this yet.

I couldn’t see any information regarding him through the Player’s Eye.

It was telling of the difference between our levels.

This was why I needed to prepare for the worst.

‘What if Josh Galehill himself tries to kill me?’

If he didn’t use hired hands or a subordinate, if Josh Galehill attacked me directly, my chance of winning plummeted.

While I was thinking about this…

[Next stop is ‘de Radian’, the capital of the Radian Kingdom.]

“We’re here!”

“......”

We arrived at the capital.

The ‘de Radian’ that we saw after coming off the train was unnaturally fancy, enough to be called a mini Ravirdyne.

It was incredibly fancy in a way unbefitting of Radian’s status of being a small and weak kingdom.

This was my first ever visit to the capital, but my first impression of it wasn’t good.

But I couldn’t afford to be immersed in these thoughts.

“Director. It’s been a while.”

After all, at the station, there was a group of men waiting for us to arrive.

——