Mightiest Melee Magician

“Then, I’ll soon look forward to the day where we can meet each other while smiling.”

The princes, having achieved their goals in coming to the Academy, quickly left, but…

The twin princes’ attack! An Academy visit.

The after effects of this storm were enough to make the Academy’s mood chaotic.

“Did you hear what the princes said? They were talking about instating Ruin as the guardian of the kingdom.”

“The position of guardian has been monopolized by the Galehill family for so long. Looks like it’s gonna get rowdy again.”

In the middle of the academy garden where the entirety of the academic body could see us, the princes took my side.

No.

Rather than simply taking my side, they showed overwhelming support for me, and since they brought up the potentially very sensitive to someone topic of ‘guardian’, it was natural for the academy to become chaotic.

That person was…

“Shush! Michael is coming.”

“……”

Michael Galehill.

Michael Galehill, who was tried for expulsion after consuming an illegal drug during the mid-semester test, was given a 30 day suspension from school instead, somehow managing to avoid expulsion.

However, in a sense, a lot of things went terribly wrong for him too.

Hankus and the ‘Michael Group’, which could’ve called themselves his followers, all turned their backs on Michael.

Now, unlike his usual character of roving in groups to bully weaker students, every day he walked by himself.

It was obvious that his pride had taken a massive hit.

“Are you talking about me right now?”

“E-eh? Ah, n-nope……”

But Michael continued to act brazenly as if it was him who avoided everyone and not the other way around.

There was only one thing left for him to believe in.

“That’s quite baffling. Really… Who’s deciding what? Did you all forget? I’m a Galehill.”

“……”

“No matter what you do now, after you graduate, you’ll be working under me.”

And that was his House.

House Galehill, the kingdom’s magic family.

This house didn’t put importance on keeping a clean record, nor acting in good faith.

No matter what happened, it was true that they had enjoyed enormous authority and power from time immemorial while monopolizing the position of ‘guardian’, and it was very likely for the next guardian to be from that family as well.

But of course…

“Really? But I don’t think that’s what the princes are thinking.”

“……”

That was before I showed up.

“Dammit…”

Michael’s gaze faltered greatly from a student’s rebuttal, and his unstable gaze turned toward me.

Our eyes met, and I lifted my right hand, greeting Michael.

“It’s been a while.”

“You talentless bastard… So you think you won now, huh?”

“……What?”

“We’ll see about that. I’ll be the one laughing in the end.”

However, Michael spat on the ground and turned his back, disappearing off somewhere.

Jason, who was standing next to me, put a hand on my shoulder.

“It’s because of jealousy. He thinks that you stole everything from him, Ruin.”

“……”

Jealousy.

This was a truly dangerous emotion.

If used properly, it could motivate one’s self-improvement…

But if used wrongly, it could cloud one’s vision.

The emotion I saw in Michael wasn’t a drive to improve himself, but more a bitter anger. 

I stole everything from you?

No.

You were just holding onto what was rightfully mine.

“You needed to see Michael’s face when he heard that you won the Grand Festival. He was so shocked that he didn’t even attend class for a few days.”

“……”

“Even though I don’t know everything, I bet he’s grinding his teeth right now, because if he ends up losing to you at the end of this semester too, it’ll really be over for him. He'll do anything to try and win, so you need to be careful. He’s already an insane guy, so if you push him to his limits, we don’t know what he’ll do.”

Michael was enraged by the prestige I obtained after the Grand Festival, and was objecting to the fact that the Academy seemed to be moving with me.

It was telling that the twin princes’ visit had ignited his inferiority complex.

The affection of the royal family, being their guardian…

He wouldn’t hesitate to do dirty things to ‘get back’ what he had mistaken as ‘his’ from me.

Since he had already been suspended for 30 days, if he was to get punished again, he wouldn’t be able to avoid being expelled.

But maybe those things didn’t even concern him now.

Because this problem was directly concerned with the honor of the Galehill family.

No, it was very plausible that he was already scheming something.

“……”

How come this unnerving feeling I felt was always right?

Galehill had already started moving.

* * *

* * *

The 2nd-semester classes for the graduating class were more practical than theory.

There were the joint classes with the knights that I talked about before, and something else.

“Hey everyone. Welcome. My name is Jakil Galehill. I’m three years older than you and a past student at the academy. I’m currently a court magician working at the palace to protect the capital……”

The alumni of the Academy came to talk to us about their current work and gave us a lecture to help us on how to select our paths after graduation.

The lectures themselves weren’t a problem.

The real problem was that the alumni called back for these lectures were all magicians from the Galehill family.

“……The reaction isn’t good. When my seniors came to school when I was here, we greeted them and engaged in the lectures. Why are you guys like this?”

Jakil Galehill.

He was Michael’s older brother and the eldest son of the Galehill family, and he gestured with his chin toward me.

“Is it because of that guy?”

“……”

Everyone’s eyes were on me.

What was this?

This direct shot toward me?

“You’re that famous Ruin Ardell, right? I’ve heard a lot about you recently… Aren’t you that promising magician, and also the representative of the Academy?”

“……That is true.”

He looked at me and politely praised me.

No.

He acted as if he was.

“But even I did that much, I think.”

“……”

He belittled me, downplaying my achievements as ordinary and obviously showing that he was looking down on me.

Well, that was expected.

He would’ve used all kinds of underhanded tactics when he was at school to maintain his position.

However, Jakil had idiotically ended up digging his own grave.

Jason quickly raised his hands and asked a question as if he was waiting for this.

“Teacher! Sir! I have a question.”

“……A question? Well, sure. Ask me anything.”

“Did you win at the Grand Festival as well, teacher?”

“……”

Idiocy.

This was probably tradition in the Galehill family.

Being hit in his weak spot, a vein popped on Jakil Galehill’s forehead, and his face lost its composure.

Seeing that he couldn’t just shout at his juniors, he held it in and tried to smile.

“……It wasn’t on when I was in the graduating class. It only happens once every eight years… Did you ask because you didn’t know?”

“Ah. Then, how about the Magic Festivals run every year? You won them all, right?”

“……”

Jakil’s eyes instantly went cold.

It was a signal to tell Jason to shut up, and recognising this, Jason continued to heckle him.

“Ah…… I guess you couldn’t. I’m sorry. I was curious because you said you were as good as Ruin.”

“Pft.”

My peers couldn’t hold in their laughs, one or two leaking through, and my senior, who had failed after initiating this battle against me, had definitely taken a huge blow to his ego.

“……Fuu. Well, that’s understandable.”

But he tried his best to pass it off as nothing and laughed heartily.

“Sure. That Ruin guy is pretty impressive, right?”

“Of course. He’s amazing. He was even able to get the attention of the Empire’s Crown Prince.”

Jakil talked with a sly smile.

“Is that so? But are we in the empire right now?”

“……”

‘Are we in the empire right now?’

There were a lot of meanings layered under this one phrase…

One of them was definitely saying that, no matter how much I struggled in the kingdom, I wouldn’t be able to make it anywhere.

It was frighteningly similar to the way Michael thought.

“Then, should I start the lecture now?”

Jakil looked to be quite satisfied with what he said, and started his lecture.

“What I will be speaking to you about today is the magicians of the Galehill family and the court magicians that you dream about.”

Yeah, this was the real problem.

It hadn’t even been a year since Michael had revealed the corruption of the school, but the academy still couldn’t escape the shadow of the Galehill house.

Also…

“Everyone knows, right? That among the 14 court magicians selected last year, 11 were part of the Galehill family.”

The entire magic society of the palace boiled down to the Galehills.

“As an academic senior that graduated earlier than you guys, and also as your senior in life, I’ll tell you the one thing that you need to know to succeed. Everyone, remember this. There’s nothing you can do just because you are good.”

This was one of the reasons why I chose to go back to my hometown after graduation rather than become a court magician like I’d dreamed about for so long.

“If you don’t have a family that pulls you from the front and pushes you from the back… then the outcome won’t be that good. You need to unite. Even more so if you are weak. This might sound a little snobbish right now, but as you guys are the graduating class, you must think more about reality than ideals… Everyone wants achievements greater than their themselves, right?”

Jakil’s eyes landed on me.

“Just because you support your current school representative, Ruin Ardell, here right now… would your life afterward follow Ruin  too? Would it?”

“……”

The mood of the classroom started to shift a little.

This speech was enough to trouble the hearts of the students, and being bolstered by this atmosphere, the look of success could be seen in Jakil’s eyes.

He also became more daring.

“Ruin Ardell, what do you think about this?”

A question directed at me.

No, an obvious provocation.

I took it head on as I stood up from my seat, and I declared loudly with a composed voice,

“Who knows? Just because ten pieces of trash are grouped together with determination, they still won’t produce a masterpiece. They would just end up as a bigger pile of trash.”

The mood turned cold.

“Is that directed at me?”

“Does it bother you?”

“Sure, I heard it from my brother Michael quite a bit. That you are quite the rude bastard.”

“Haven’t you heard anything else? That he also got beaten up bad by that rude bastard?”

“You…… I’ll need to scold you a little.”

It was clear.

In the second semester, House Galehill would not hesitate to use any tricks up their sleeves against me.

And that in this situation, one where the twin princes were showing favorability toward me, they wouldn’t ever leave me alone.

——