Knowing that this is a dark territory, Zach’s trio turned crazy and started crying out loudly.

「This can’t be……」
「You are noise for guinea pigs, should I send electricity again?」
「「「「Damn it……」」」」

Looking at them, the man wearing the white coat shows off the remote again. As a result, they cannot do anything but keep silent.

「As long as you understand」
「Can I ask something?」

Seiya asks a question for a man in white.

「What, smart guy?」

Apparently, a man in white coat seems to have a relatively good impression of Seiya and answers his question readily.

That’s why Seiya tried to pull more information out of him

「Are you the cause of recent frequent kidnappings in Windistan?」

If the kidnapper of Windistan is also the man in the white coat in front of him, the number of kidnapped magicians should be tremendous.

In other words, it means that there are many people in these organization, and the more people they have, the bigger the chance to commit a mistake.

Seiya hoped for that.

「Wow … well done. That’s right. Not to mention Windistan, I am also kidnapping from Aquaristan」
「In can’t be….」

Answer beyond anticipation came back and he lost his words, but at the same time, he saw hope.

According to the testimony of a white coat, the three provincial churches of Freestan, Windistan, and Aquaristan should be on the move to search for him.

Then if he can buy some time, help will eventually come.

「Just how many kidnapped magicians did I kill. Kufufufu」
「What a *******……」
「He is a psycho」
「No way～」
「Take care. Pitiful guinea pigs」

He is a man with crazy eyes. He merely thinks of magicians as just experimental tools, and he feels no guilt regarding lost lives.

This is a problem that must be taken care of immediately. As soon as Seiya got the information, he decided to hold a strategic meeting with Zach’s trio as soon as possible.

「Do your best to stay obedient from now on」

The white-robed man said so and tried to leave, but someone rushed over to a man in a white robe and whispered to him.

Then the white robe hearing the story of a man looked at Seiya’s group while grinning and said.

「It is regretful news. We have a shortage of funds right now. So for now, choose one among you. I will take his organs to sell. Did you know? Organs of magicians can sell higher」
「「「「This is……」」」」
「Because I am a gentle person, I will graciously give you some time for selection. Decide in three minutes」

White coat with a smile on his face seemed to be looking forward to their discussion.

What choice will you make with your life as a stake? For the white coat, demonstration of the human ugliness was his favorite food.

「He’s insane ……」
「If you have time to beat around the bush then decide quickly, lab rats. Do you want electricity to flow again?」
「****……」
「If you do not hurry up I will choose myself. Kihihihi」

Seiya started thinking of what should be done in this situation. We are fellow comrades, we agreed to cooperate with each other. First of all, we should talk with each other without white coat listening, I should buy some time.

Thinking such things Seiya turned to face his comrades, just in time to see them looking back at him.

「Ehh……you can’t be……wait guys! We just….」
「Shut up! I’m a part of intermediate magician family, Unknown」
「That’s right, Unknown. No one will grief if you die, right? But we have a family」
「We are counting on you, Unknown~ Be brave ~」
「Besides, this is the only use for you anyway」
「Wait a moment,『It seems it’s decided』……」

When a man wearing a white coat says so, the men behind him open the prison and bring Seiya out.

At that time, Zach tried to steal the keys but failed due to painful electric current.

In the first place, Zach’s trio already lost their courage to escape in the face of the crazy man in white robe

「Well then, they did what I told, can’t be helped」
「Wait! Zach-kun! Hoa-kun! Shura-kun! You said we are comrades!」
「「「Oh, that’s right. That’s precisely why! We will not waste your sacrifice, Unknown」」」

The trio watched Seiya off with a crazy smile. Three people are desperate to survive; most likely they will abandon all their friends from now on.

Seiya stared at the three people with hatred seeping from his eyes, but then he was suddenly blindfolded.

Blindfolded Seiya was brought to an unknown place by the men.

On the way he seemed to go up the stairs, so he knew that they were in the basement so far, but Seiya couldn’t care less.

When they arrive in a room, men remove Seiya’s blindfold. It looked like an operating room, and there was a single bed in the middle.

Seiya was laid on the bed in the middle of a room, they restrained him by the neck, wrists, ankles and belly.

His body was restrained, and his magic was sealed by magic seal stone. A bright light was shining on Seiya.

After a while, a white-clothed man who changed into a surgeon garment comes into the operating room. There was a researcher-like assistant next to him, it was a moment right before the surgery.

The man in the white coat and the assistant set the surgical equipment, Seiya tried to free himself, but he couldn’t move because of the restraints.

White coat says to frantic Seiya.

「I am not a demon. I can at least hear your last will, kid」

Whether this was his mercy or he just wanted to play, either one was the same for Seiya. Seiya desperately wants to live.

「Please stop it! I beg you. Save me. I will do anything!」
「I see. Regretfully this is impossible. It is a farewell, kid」
「Nnn! Nnn! 」

The assistant presses the mask against Seiya’s mouth to apply anesthetic. Gradually the anesthesia starts to take effect, depriving Seiya of his consciousness.

As his consciousness gets hazy, Seiya thinks.

(Why me … why people despise me and call me Unknown … where are my parents … why can’t I remember them… … if only I wasn’t Unknown … … if only I had real family … why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why?)

Seiya felt how pitiful his life was up to this point.

He has no memory until the age of ten, the spells he learned are just basics of the basics. When he entered the academy, he was despised as Unknown by the classmates and received a lynching during training, he was betrayed by people he thought of as comrades ….

（Heh, I’m dying miserably like this. It was a boring life … …. If only I had more power ..）

If I had not stabbed him back then, if I had not brought my wallet, if I was adopted by Edward, if I had been absent from school today, if I did not go to the magic academy.

Seiya sinks in regret.

And finally, anesthesia seemed to disrupt his thoughts.

Seiya trying to resist against anesthesia, thought further.

If he is going to be killed, it is better to continue to resist anesthesia like this and die painfully, rather than obediently lose consciousness by anesthesia.

Thinking as such Seiya tried to separate his consciousness.

It was at this time.

(Do you feel hate?)

Seiya heard a voice in his head.

Cold. The moment Seiya felt so, he regained his consciousness.

When Seiya woke up and looked around, he found walls made of inorganic materials and iron bars spread around, as it turned out he was in the artificially made prison.

「Here is……」

Seiya who tried to remember what happened before he fainted finds Zach’s trio scattered around. Looking closely, they were even restrained with handcuffs.

「Zach-kun! Zach-kun! 」

Seiya tries to wake Zach up. Fortunately, Zach regained consciousness only after a few nudges, and Hoa and Shura also quickly followed suit.

When they regained consciousness and realized that they were imprisoned, they quickly asked Seiya for an explanation.

「Hey, Unknown. What did you do? Where is this place? 」

Zach, who decided this situation to be the Seiya’s fault, pounces on him. Seiya hurriedly began to explain to Zach.

「Zach-kun, wait! I have not done anything. It is the men of the dark organization that did this!」
「Ahh? Dark organization? Do think I will believe you?」
「It’s true. I’m captured too」
「Ohh? You must have orchestrated it somehow」

With Zach getting noisy and sticking to Seiya, Hoa and Shura gave a helping boat to Seiya. Both of them seem to have judged the situation calmly.

「Hey Zach! Apparently, we were captured. Look at those handcuffs. Besides, this place…」
「It’s strange~ I cannot use my magic~」
「What, you cannot use magic? What do you mean? Hey, Unknown」

Zach thought that it was Seiya’s work that he could not use magic.

「Wait … I do not even know. But I know that we were shot by something like an anesthetic gun and were brought here」

What Seiya is saying is definitely true, but from standpoint of Zach, when that happened Seiya suddenly lost consciousness.

I couldn’t believe Seiya so easily.

「Zach, apparently what Unknown says is true. This handcuff is probably made of magic seal stone. And only dark organizations deal with magic seal stones. And I do not think that Unknown is capable of preparing a magic seal stone」
「For it to be a magic seal stone … Is this true, Hoa?」
「Yeah, no doubt. I have once touched the real thing; this handcuff is the same as the magic seal stone I touched at that time. The culprit probably … …」

Magic seal stone is a mineral that seals the magic of the magician as its name implies.

Originally it was used by the church for arresting magicians who sinned, but in some underground societies, it was used for kidnapping and so on.

It is near impossible for individual magicians to obtain them because of their rarity and price.

「It seems this is the gang of kidnappers that teacher mentioned in the morning. Crap, we are in trouble」
「Do not be like that. Considering that they also use magic seal stones, the criminal is a large organization」
「What should we do~ ?」

Zach finally understood their current perilous situation.

As it is impossible for Seiya to acquire magic seal stones, Zach also understood that Seiya is innocent. But if Seiya isn’t a culprit, the situation becomes worse.

「It was said that the church is investigating this case, but probability of us being rescued is low」

Zach’s face morphed into that of a member of intermediate magician clan. Hoa and Shura became nervous seeing that face.

Even if they are magicians, they are still children, it is not known whether they can judge the situation rationally. In that case, by the teachings of Senabia Magic Academy you should obey the one with the highest rank, in this case, they should follow Zach’s instructions.

「What are we going to do, Zach-kun?」
「There is no choice but to escape」

Unlike usual, Zach readily answered Seiya’s question.

Zach does not pick on Seiya, for the time being, escape is a top priority. Getting the four of them out of here is a responsibility of Zach of the intermediate magician clan.

「What do you do to break out of the jail?」
「That’s right, Zach ~」

They are anxious, but they are both magicians. They have to get used to dangerous situations.

「First of all, we will cooperate with each other and wait for a chance to break out.」
「Agreed」
「That’s right~」

Considering the current situation, it is quite natural that Zach treats Seiya as an ally, but Seiya is happy about Zach’s words and trust.

If all of them can escape, then Seiya thinks that they can become friends born from a struggle. [¹]

「First things first, we need to do something about these handcuffs」
「Come to think of it. Unknown, what kind of guys were the enemy?」
「Well, I could not see clearly, but they were no good men and they had handguns in their hands. We fainted when we were shot by those handguns」

Listening to Seiya’s explanation, Zach thought.

「If it is a handgun … …, the opponent is highly likely to be from a non-magician organization」
「Certainly~」
「So if the handcuffs go away….」
「Yeah, it’s our win」

Zach’s face is not that of a bully, but that of a leader, Seiya and others leave their lives to him. Immediately switching his behavior, that’s what you expect from intermediate magician family.

Facing serious appearance of Zach, trust naturally appears in other’s chest.

「The problem is, how are we going to get the key……」
「The guards won’t carry the key on their belt right?」
「Yeah, no way~」
「That’s right, Zach-kun. There is no way they will do something so stupid … …」

clink clink

In that moment, a good-looking guy with something like a key on his belt, and a man wearing a thin, dirty white clothes appear.

「Apparently I’m stupid」
「「「「Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!」」」」

As the dirty man in white clothes said that and Seiya and others ended up crying out loud.

Looking at them, the white coat man scratched his neck, but Zach quickly questioned the man.

「What are you planning to do, *******? You have guts to mess with Runias family」

Zach shows off his family background to man in white. It was a threatening act and it was also a warning saying that if something happens, an intermediate magician clan would move.

「Runias family? I do not know such a family. Besides, you are my test subjects. Do not make so much noise」
「Test subjects? Do f*ck with me. Get me out of here right now!」
「You’re a noisy fellow」

Man in white coat treated Zach as a laboratory rat, he pulled out from his pocket something that resembles a remote control device and pressed the button.

「Aaaaaargh!」

Zach’s scream echoed in the prison.

「Next time the current will be stronger by two times. The guinea pig should behave like a guinea pig. By the way, this is Freestan, and we can do not like the common sense of Windistan. I advise you to remember that.」
「「「「Damn it……」」」」

The Leiria Kingdom’s Freestan is a province in the upper third of the donut looking from the sky, your position here is determined by you own ability and now by your lineage.

And there is only one reason why magicians from other provinces are being brought to Freestan.

Seiya heard rumors before, but he did not think that it was really being done. While thinking as such he listens to the man in white.

「Do you brought us here for the purpose of magic research?」

To Seiya’s question, a man wearing a white coat reveals a smile. From that expression, Seiya understood the answer to his own question and despaired.

「It helps me that you understand. Yes, I will use you as a tool to further my research and improve my position if Freestan」

In Freestan everything is based on ability, the top members of the church are also decided in battle. In Freestan, the human experiment like this one is not unusual.

In particular, in all kinds of underground societies.

Seiya asks the white-coated man.

「Even in Freestan if your human experiments come to light it will be the end of you. Besides that, the church is on the move, it won’t end well for you」

As Seiya said, the human experimentation is prohibited. If it comes to light he wouldn’t be able to save himself however high his ability is.

However, the white coat laughed at Seiya’s words.

「He-he-he. Too bad, little brat. No one will find out. Because this is not Freestan but the dark territory close to Freestan」
「Dark territory……are you sane?」
「Are you kidding?……」
「It can’t be……」

Hearing the words “dark territory”, they despaired and at the same time became afraid of the man in white. The dark territory, it’s population is negligible, it is a place where monsters live.

No matter how strong the church is, they won’t search for the criminal in the dark territory.

And even if they escape, there was no way they could return home safely from the dark territory.

When Seiya woke up, a white ceiling was spreading in front him. After looking around and finding medical instruments placed around him Seiya understands that he was sleeping on the bed in the medical room.

Apparently, the retired Seiya seems to have been brought to the nurse’s office, so as the still asleep Zach.

「Ah……」

Seiya reminds himself of his previous actions, quietly gets up the bed and leaves the school so as not to wake Zach up.

Leaving the room, he saw the clock and confirmed the time. The practical training seems to still be in progress.

Seiya decides to head to the shop situated in the school to moisten his dry throat.

Since the shops are not located in the same building as train stations and gymnasiums, he had to return to the main building where classrooms are.

The magic academy has a lot of facilities, the academy building is large, and it is hard to move around. It took about five minutes to return to the main building and arrive at the shop.

「Mm?」

Seiya tried to buy an energy drink with a fatigue restoring effect but noticed something. There was no wallet in his pocket.

Seiya tries to think just where on earth it went.

During practice training, it was certainly in the pocket, so it might be in the bed in the nurse’s office.

「It can’t be happening to me……」

Seiya succumbed to disappointment and despair.

Zach’s trio is still in that room. But he couldn’t buy dinner tonight without his wallet. So he went to the health department while praying that the trio is still sleeping.

Seiya came back to the nurse’s office, opened the doors quietly so as not to wake them up.

Fortunately, Zach is still asleep, and relieved Seiya starts searching the bed in which he was sleeping.

However, the wallet was not in bed, flustered, he searches down to the bottom of the bed. At such time, a very low voice was heard from behind Seiya.

「Is this what you are looking for, Unknown?」

While thinking「Crap … …」Seiya slowly looks back. Then there was Zach who had a disgusting smile holding Seiya’s wallet.

Shura and Hoa who also regained consciousness also have that revolting smile os their faces. Apparently, the three had already regained consciousness and seems to have been waiting for Seiya to come back.

「I heard, Unknown. You seem to have stabbed Zach?」
「Not bad for an Unknown～」

Seiya seeing the face of the three people realized what was going to happen. If he goes against them, he will receive violent “sanctions” and won’t get back his wallet.

「If you want this back, come closer to me, Unknown」
「I understand, Zach-kun. So return the wallet」
「What with that attitude? I told you to come closer」

Zach’s mood is the worst ever after seeing Seiya.

This should be that. Zach misunderstood that Seiya met with Edward in order to become a member of intermediate magician family, and adding to that he was suddenly backstabbed by Seiya, the beginner magician.

Seiya was pulled by Zach the back of the alley outside the school grounds.

There is little traffic in this alley, and it is a dark place. Especially during classes. Of course, the teachers of Magic Academy are in the academy building, so people will never come here all of the sudden.

In such an alley, Seiya’s punishment has begun.

「Take this! You stabbed me rather nicely, Unknown」
「A cheeky Unknown trying to become an intermediate magician. Don’t be so conceited」
「What’s wrong, Unknown? Why don’t you say something~?」
「Cough cough……」

Seiya is getting himself kicked and stepped on repeatedly.

There is no barrier like in a training dome here, and bruises will remain. Seiya has trouble breathing with his belly and chest getting stepped on.

「Hey Unknown. Don’t you think it will end here? Cheeky brats need to take responsibility for their actions. Hey! It’s presumptuous for a small fry to become an intermediate magician 」
「Take this! Do you want to step on us using director’s authority? Don’t screw with me! Do it after showing sufficient ability」
「That’s right~. You should belong to the bottom of beginner’s class for the rest of your life ~」
「Chg……」

Three people kept assaulting Seiya while misunderstanding, but Seiya wasn’t able to fix it already. Even if he told the truth, there are no reasons for three people to believe him and stop.

There is also the possibility of getting beaten up further by being told that he is rebelling. It’s better to just quietly wait until they finish. Seiya was thinking as such.

「This scum of a magician！」
「Fight fairly if you are unreconciled」
「That’s right~ That’ s right~」

Just how much he had been kicked?

Seiya thought so, but the brain stops thinking after a while and his consciousness gradually becomes distant. A lot of stains and bruises were made on the face of Seiya, and it was the same with the clothes.

（Is it over already……）

Seiya feels time flowing slower than ever.

During the usual training time, damage to the body does not persist, but now it is different. The wounds remain on the body the more he gets kicked, and it’s only getting worse.

And longer beatings further burdened Seiya’s heart.

The simultaneous burden on the spirit and body was immense.

（It hurts … it hurts … someone … … someone help me……）

Seiya suddenly gets agitated. It is a work Seiya, the weakling who sleeps deep inside his heart. He desperately prayed inside his spinning head.

（Anyone will do … …. help me）

Immediately after teary-eyed Seiya thought so, he caught a shadow in the field of his view.

Did people in the city who found them came to intervene? Hoping so Seiya checked his surroundings. And at the same time, a tremendous chill hit Seiya.

Several men come into the alley, but the atmosphere is not looking peaceful, those people held guns in their hands. [¹]

In this magical world there are guns, but those who use belong mostly to the dark organizations of non-magicians. For magicians, handgun holds no threat, and non-magicians ask for church’s help if there is something, there weren’t many people using guns in the first place.

Seiya saw a handgun only in a book, this was the first time seeing the real deal. However, he was convinced that the handguns of those men were dangerous.

Zack’s trio are concentrating on adding an insult to an injury and do not notice.

Seiya tries to tell the three people that the danger is coming from behind, but his voice doesn’t come out well.

「Ugh …… behi…」
「Oh? I can’t hear you ~」
「Ugh」

Somehow he tried to tell the trio about the threat approaching from behind, but they have no ears that are willing to listen, and further trample Seiya.

His chest is stifled, and Seiya cannot breathe well. At this point, those men were pointing their handguns on the trio’s backs.

The men who pulled the triggers of their handguns.

Poof Poof Poof

Immediately afterwards, the trio foams from their mouth, and then they lose consciousness. The men having confirmed that those three fainted gave a sigh in the direction of the entrance of the alley.

Then more men appear.

「Capture is complete」
「All right, pull them on the wagon. Let’s drive them to the laboratory」
「Roger」

Looking at those men he understood that they are the gang of kidnappers mentioned before. Seiya thought of leaving a clue behind while remembering the incident that Lamia told to the class in the morning.

（If I leave behind clues the church will……）

Poof

However, Seiya was also shot with a handgun and lost consciousness.

Suddenly the『Mantle of Light』has melted and Seiya exposed his defenseless appearance to Zach.

However, Seiya did not understand why『Mantle of Light』suddenly dissolved.

To tell the truth, Seiya mistook the amount of magical power used for『Mantle of Light』.

Seiya thought that『Mantle of Light』is a way to raise his physical abilities by wearing the magical power of light attribute. But with this alone, this spell cannot be cast.

It is impossible to withstand the rise in physical ability of the body as it is, else it will destroy the body on the caster.

So, you must raise your endurance for the magical power of the light attribute.

Because Seiya unconsciously increased the endurance of his body, he managed to consume more magical power than expected, causing mana shortage.

As soon as you think calmly, you can understand immediately but Seiya wasn’t in the mood for complex analysis.

「What’s wrong, Unknown. Is it okay to not the magic you used moment ago? 」

Zach, who is happy to see Seiya’s pitiful appearance, casts a spell towards Seiya.

「I, who received protection of fire, call upon your power『Fire Bullet』」

Zak continues exercising『Fire Bullet』one after another, and Seiya receives it all without an opportunity to prevent the attack.

「Uwa ~a ~a ~a ~a ~a ~a」
「It won’t over with just that」

Seiya is suffering from Zach’s attacks, unleashed without any mercy, and Hoa and Shura, having seen enough, are trying to stop Zach.

「Hey, you are overdoing things」
「That’s right~. As expected it is an overkill ~」

Zach stared at the two who tried to stop him.

「Shut up. If you do not want to end up like this, do not go against intermediate class magician clan」

Zach raged, he didn’t satisfy all of his grudges yet.

He was far from the usual Zach, which the two people knew. However, if they try to stop Zach of an intermediate magician family while being in a beginner magician family there is a possibility that they can suffer the same fate as Seiya, so they stayed silent.

「Hey, hey, what happened, Unknown? Is this the end? Huh? You are a disgrace of a magician」
「Wow….」

Receiving most of Zach’s attacks with his body, Seiya falls to the ground. It seems that his consciousness is already almost lost and he is reaching the limit, but Zach didn’t stop.

「『Fire Bullet』」[¹] 「You are overdoing things, Zach」
「Right, any more and he~…」

Hoa and Shura are trying to stop Zach’s spell by jumping on him.

Even though Zach is from an intermediate magician clan, unleashing excessive attacks on non-resisting magician is not going to be praised, even if it is training.

If an accident happens, some kind of penalty will come down from the school’s management and the three of them will end up getting penalized.

「Release me!」
「Wait a second, Zach」
「That’s right ~」
「Shut up. This scum is trying to consolidate his position by meeting the director. Why do you even try to protect him?」
To the people who cannot understand what he suddenly said. Zach tells then what happened in the morning.

「The director said that he wants to greet him as his adopted son. And then, all this bullying will disappear. This guy was selling himself to the director to become the part of an intermediate magician’s family, same as me」
「What is this all about……」

The two didn’t know what to say.

「He is trying to become equal with me by becoming an adopted child of the director who is in intermediate magician family. And I don’t want to be equal to this one」

What Zach says is not a mistake, but it is still different from the facts. In the morning, Zach happened to hear that Seiya and Edward were talking on the rooftop.

Usually, students are prohibited from approaching the rooftop.

However, as Seiya was casually heading towards the roof as if he had permission (he actually had one), Zach decided to tail him.

So Zach saw Seiya and Edward talking with each other.

They did not seem to have a relationship like between student and a director, and Zach was listening to the door trying to hear the conversation between them. But because the door was made of iron, he could not hear all of it.

The only thing Zach could hear is the phrase of adopting Seiya. And Zach made up the conversation of the Seiya and Edward from the phrases he heard and convinced himself that it is true.

「That’s …something」

Zach’s assertion is incorrect, misunderstanding is mixed within, Seiya wanted to them, but couldn’t utter a single word due to damage from Zach’s outrage.

Adding Seiya’s bad luck, Zach realizes that he is still conscious and wants to continue the “training”.

Even the two who had been trying to stop Zach until that time didn’t stop him once again after hearing this story.

Seiya is going to be above, Unknown in front of them will be above. They couldn’t accept such a thing.

「I’m not finished yet, Unknown」
「That was dirty, Unknown」
「That’s right~ That’ s right~」

Three people cast their spells eyeing Seiya with contempt. He will retire if the attacks reach him.

Seiya came to this realization intuitively, couldn’t do anything without any mana in his body. The only thing he can do is to accept reality.

「This is the end」
「Wow ….」

It was when Seiya was ready to accept defeat.

「『Wind Fang』」

At that time, a strong wind blew, blowing away the trio, who tried to activate their spells, hitting the tree.

「Eh?…」

Seiya, who could not understand what happened, managed to keep a strand of his consciousness and looked in the direction of the wind.

There was a boy with a short silver hair with his hand held in front of him.

It was wind attributed magician Jin Heint that smashed the trio using intermediate spell 『Wind Fang』. A magician of the senior magician clan, Heint family, he is a classmate of the Seiya.

A senior magician clan is a family with unique magic derived from the four basic attributes. Their number is small in the Kingdom of Leiria, but at the same time, they have formidable strength.

The spell used by Jin is the wind attribute intermediate spell『Wind Fang』. This is a spell that releases multiple 『Wind Blade』which are the beginner spell of wind attribute at the same time, making fangs from blades.

When shooting multiple『Wind Blade』at the same time, if timing deviates even a little, they will collide with each other and spell will fail. So『Wind Fang』is spell that requires considerable skill.

「You *******……」

Zach, stricken by a tree, stares daggers at Jin while slowly getting up. On the other hand, Hoa and Shura are still stunned by the shock, making their consciousness dim.

「Jin. What are you going to do? Stealing other people’s pray」
「Nothing much … I just saw three people in front of me, so I might as well defeat them … …」

Jin’s blunt attitude further irritates Zach.

「*******! Don’t mess with me」
「I’m not messing with anyone」

Jin’s behavior is quite normal, so Zack cannot complain. In addition, the opponent is from a senior magician clan above the Zach of the intermediate magician clan.

If Jin is to play like a bully, and sanction Zach it won’t be wrong however you look at it. But Zach was too excited to notice such a thing.

「Damn. Irritating *******」
「Don’t make me repeat myself, I’m not here to play around」

That attitude of Jin is increasingly annoying to Zach. Zach, seemed to be about to pounce on Jin, but the difference in ability is too big.

Zach instinctively understood that and was wary of Jin’s attack.

「Did you come here to……Huh?」

At that time, something pierced through Zach’s back, who was wary of Jin’s attack.

Zach slowly lowered his line of sight and saw his found the light penetrating his chest.

As he turned backward and traced the light, there was a figure of Seiya with his face still on the ground, but the only difference if his right arm facing Zach.

「Unknown…You *******…」

Zach stares at Seiya with eyes filled with hatred, but at the next moment, his body disappears in a cloud of sparkling dust.

（I did it……）

Seiya, who made Zach retire with his own hands, is pleased deep down in his heart. Although Seiya didn’t want to fight back at first, the appearance of Jin forced Zach to show the biggest opening yet

From that point he started exercising 『Triple Length』on Hollins, which is a mere spell of the beginner level, stabbing Zach in the back without thinking of aftermath.

『Triple Length』 is the spell that Seiya practiced during the fourth hour. He had broken branches at that time, but now to his surprise, he didn’t damage the durability of the swords in the slightest.

He just needed to elongate his sword enough to reach Zach.

Seiya then successfully exercised this spell for the first in his life and made Zach retire.

Seiya rejoiced that he retired Zach with his own hand. And Seiya thanked Jin who helped him.

Seiya thought that there was no one among his classmates who will help the Unknown and was quite happy about that.

「Err……Thank you for saving me Jin-kun」
「I didn’t help you」
「Eh?」

Seiya hesitates hearing such an answer.

「But you just defeated those three…」
「Because I didn’t see you here. And now I will also defeat you」
「Eh?」[²]

In the next moment, Seiya lost consciousness.

His head was cut off by Jin’s wind blade and he retired. Today’s class is a survival, everyone around is the enemy. Seiya ought to have thought about that sooner.

After that, Jin defeated two people scattered around the tree and headed for a new battle zone.

Today’s class ended as such for retired people.

But the day is not over yet for Seiya. A new problem is waiting for him.

As they approached the city, they saw a gate and a gatekeeper.

Seiya didn’t mind the gatekeeper and proceeded forward as it was natural, but Selena and the rest had a hard time staying calm.

「Stop」

The two gatekeepers ordered them to stop.

「We didn’t receive any news about people coming from the outside today. Who the hell are you? 」

Selena and the rest started sweating bullets at the gatekeeper’s question. Judging from his words, it seems that in this country gatekeepers are informed about people coming in beforehand.

But, of course, no one contacted them about Seiya’s group. The gatekeepers kept staring at Seiya.

The gatekeeper looked at Yua and Lily next, but the moment he saw them, his expression changed.

Yua and Lily aren’t just ordinarily cute, they are exceptionally cute.

White hair and beautiful red eyes, small but nice body with a tinge of sex appeal, Yua.

Beautiful sapphire eyes and hair, childish and overflowing with energy, Lily.

Looking at the two, the gatekeepers loudly swallowed their saliva.

But it wasn’t over yet.

The members of the student council behind Yua and Lily attracted their gazes. Although not to extent of Yua and Lily, they still were pretty enough to attract the stares.

Everyone even had the hair of a different color. The vigilance inside the gatekeeper’s eyes turned into jealousy.

Towards these gatekeepers, Seiya bluntly answered.

「No wonder. We planned to head directly for the fourth district instead of the second one. However, on the way, we were attacked by the powerful magical beast. I thought to resupply here」

Of course, it was a lie. However, the gatekeepers had no way to know, Seiya’s answer had no obvious holes.

More than anything, the gatekeeper’s stares made him want to file a complaint.

「I see. So that’s how it is. By the way, which district are you from? 」
「The seventh」
「I see」

The moment he said that he was from the third district [¹], the jealousy in their eyes grew even deeper. Seiya laughed as if he knew why that happened.

The gatekeepers removed a hidden cover and pushed a red button.

And with a loud sound, the gate began to open. Everyone was taken aback by the things they saw.

The gates in the Leiria Kingdom are made from wood, not from steel, and need manual labor to be opened, but it seems that this wasn’t the case for the gate before them.

The gatekeepers saw him off with frustrated eyes.「From the seventh district with such a number of women……」,「That must be it」,「Yeah, no doubt」was heard from the back, but the girls had no way to know what it was all about.

By the way, Aishi concealed the lion-like magical beast with her best efforts. To be precise, she put the ice block in the box so no one could see it.

That’s why the gatekeepers considered it to be some kind of goods and let it pass.

Like that, they successfully infiltrated the second district.

「This city is amazing……..」
「For such a city to exist」

Upon entering only Selena and Yua raised their voices, but everyone was surprised nonetheless.

If you want to express it in one line, it was a mechanized city. Buildings with a height you can’t see in the Leiria Kingdom, the street lights that work without any magic.

Although interested in the new things, Seiya urged everyone to cautiously proceed forward.

「Where are we going first?」

The one who asked was Yua. Although she was interested in the things she saw, her curiosity was low to begin with and she quickly calmed down.

On the contrary, it was Lily who had the sparkling eyes. Lily displayed her amazement when she first saw the Aquaristan, but now her amazement was even more apparent.

However, since they had no time for sightseeing, Aishi pacified her,

「Let’s start with earning money」
「「「「「「Earning money?」」」」」

Hearing his words, they finally remembered the magical beast they brought with them. Everyone had completely forgotten about it once they entered the gate. Or to be honest, they were too amazed at the city that they disregarded its existence.

Despite the fact that the magical beast was still under the calm effect, Seiya thought that he heard it whining.

After that, they arrived at a certain guild.  It looked rather humble and old compared to the rest of the city, but the sounds of activity could be heard from the inside. [²]

Seiya opened the door and went inside.

The left side of the guild resembled a restaurant with lots of people present.

On the other hand, on the right side, there was a board filled with requests of all sorts. He understood that the magician-looking people were searching for a suitable request from that board.

The insides of the guild reminded of the Aquaristan’s church. However, the atmosphere here was much different from the church.

Especially regarding Lily and Yua. It wasn’t surprising. The people were deeply interested in the five beautiful girls suddenly appearing. More than that, this was the Great Dakuria Empire. In the empire, the strong ones stand above and the women follow behind them.

In other words, as long as they could defeat Seiya they could make them theirs. There were many people with such a way of thinking.

Seiya didn’t mind and moved his legs towards the counter, but the girls were creeped out by the grinning uncles around them and followed closely behind him.

It wasn’t only Lily and Yua but also the student council.

There was a bald youth manning the counter. Being slightly older than Seiya, he too looked at the girls behind him with a disgusting smile.

「Can we sell here?」

Against this man, Seiya asked while applying some pressure. Maybe because he didn’t like his attitude, the man glared at Seiya.

「Yeah, you can. What do you want to sell? 」

His eyes were telling 「It must be something insignificant anyway, Hurry up and show it」but Seiya pretended not to notice.

Meanwhile, in the eating zone「I shall go」, or「This brat should be easy to deal with, easy」, or「I will take that girl」, or「Lend her to me too」could be heard.

Maybe because they heard the voices, Lily and Yua gripped Seiya’s sleeves and the student council approached even closer.

Seiya glanced at the magicians for a moment, switched his sight to the box, and brought it to the counter. Then, he asked Aishi to transform the block into the cage.

「「「「「「Hah………….」」」」」」

When the transformation was complete, the whole guild erupted. Everyone in the guild started to whisper to each other.

「I want to cash in this magical beast. It’s asleep right now but it’s not dead. There are no particular wounds. How much? 」

Following his words, the commotion only grew.

How did he do it? was said a lot. It’s just a beast that looks similar, was said too.

「I-Isn’t it the Glena Lion that rules over the Saral forest close to the second district? It is the one and only king of the Saral forest, you know? Do you say that you took it down it? 」

Asked the receptionist while staring at Seiya. Against that, Seiya answered with composure.

「I didn’t take it down, I captured it alive. So, can I sell it? 」

The receptionist that just couldn’t get to the appraisal was irritating Seiya. He was disinclined to stay in this unpleasant place any longer. However, the man just couldn’t get to the business.

The youth understood that Seiya was getting irritated but he thought that he was a scammer and wanted to finish the deal before something went wrong.

Thinking it through, it should have been impossible for the group of boys and girls to defeat it, forget about capturing it alive. The youth though as such and tried to delay him as much as possible.

「Yeah, you can sell it. But first, I want a proof that it’s alive」
「Understood. Oi, bird woman. Wake it up」

Selena startled at the sudden call but immediately understood what was required of her. She pulled out a gun and pointed at the magical beast.

「Are you sure?」
「Yeah, can’t help it」
「All right. The divine protection of the maiden of fire, appear before me『Radiating Wave』」

When she pulled a trigger, a kind of wave was emitted for the magic gun and landed on the beast.

Once it received the wave, its inside became active again and it recovered in a blink of an eye.

Guruaaaaaaaa~

When its roar resounded, the guild became completely silent.

It was a pressure of the true king of the beasts.

The trio of Zach, Hoa and Shura surrounded Seiya.

You can’t escape even if you want to. There are no people in the surroundings and it seems that they won’t encounter anyone anytime soon. Although no one would have helped Seiya even if they saw.

The three people stare at Seiya with disdain.

「Let us have fun fighting, Unknown」
「It’s a survival after all. Everyone is an enemy」
「But who should we fight first~? Let’s first defeat a single person~」
「I agree. Well then, let’s start from Unknown! 」

Three of them, having finished their farce, started casting magic towards Seiya one after another.

「I, who received protection of fire, call upon your power『Fire Bullet』」
「I, who received protection of fire, call upon your power『Fire Bullet』」
「I, who received protection of wind, call upon your power『Wind Blade』」

The spells cast by three people one after another land on Seiya, scorching hot wind blades burn and slice Seiya’s body.

「Damn it……」

Seiya starts to deflect their attacks on his vital parts with twin swords, Hollins, using precise moves and utmost concentration.

Seiya is under a storm of numerous attacks, but it does not reach his protected spots。

Thanks to the special barrier which is put in the training dome Seiya’s body is fine. However, since the damage itself goes to the spirit, Seiya has an expression of agony.

Both of the spells that three people used are classified as beginner spells, but it was a powerful attack for Seiya who cannot use magic satisfactorily.

Even though he managed to prevent this round of attacks with Hollins, but it won’t be strange if Seiya’s will have a lapse in concentration as time goes on.

「What’s happened, Unknown? You won’t fight back?」
「Or you can’t fight back?」
「Come to think of it, you can’t even use magic properly~」
「「「Gahahahahahahaha……」」」

Three people laughed loudly while watching the Seiya defending. Certainly, Seiya could not use magic well enough, but if it is those three it is possible to counterattack.

However, Seiya absolutely refused to act.

If he counterattacks here, he will be bullied even harsher. Seiya is aware that Zach is such a type of a person.

And Zach’s trio also knew that Seiya won’t fight back.

「I, who received protection of light……ehh」
「Ha-ha, if you do not chant it properly, magic won’t come out, Unknown」
「Hah……」
「What should we do Zach? Shall we finish him?」
「No, not yet. I have yet to fight properly. Gahahahahahahaha」

Seiya does not counterattack but tries to defend himself with a defensive spell. However, before the chant is completed, it is forcibly interrupted.

The trio knew that Seiya will not fight back, as such defensive magic was unneeded. Attacking to their heart’s content they didn’t bother with defense at all.

Three people were tormenting Seiya, but only Zach raised laughter of delight from the bottom of his heart, somewhat different from the other two.

Seeing the delighted appearance of Zach, Hoa and Shura started to hesitate.

Seiya thought that Zach was behaving strangely today. Usually, they make Seiya retire quite swiftly, but today was different.

Tormenting Seiya over and over, he does not seem satisfied and continues his assault.

Looking at the state of Zach, Seiya understood that he was in danger. However, there is no way the three people will forgive him if he tries to use defensive magic

While numerous attacks continued to hit Seiya, he thinks of a way out.

It is a spell that he always practiced during the third hour.

He never succeeded, but Seiya was convinced that with his spell he could overcome this predicament.

He didn’t know if it will succeed.

However, Seiya’s instincts tell him to use that spell here.

Seiya starts to move the light attribute magical power inside his body while preventing attacks that are likely to become fatalities with twin swords Hollins. There is no need to be impatient. Thinking to himself as such, Seiya calms down.

「Unknown is trying to do something」
「It will misfire anyway」
「Useless struggle~」

Three people knew that Seiya was up to something, but since he was not chanting, they were convinced that magic will misfire.

In theory, it is said that casting magic without chant is possible, but such a feat can only be achieved by a magician with some power. And Seiya is not such a magician.

An ordinary magician needs an aid of a magic stone to omit the chant, but even if Seiya in front of him has a magic stone, he couldn’t believe he will use it.

In other words, it is impossible for Seiya to unleash a spell without chanting. Zach’s trio thought as such.

「Fuu……」

While breathing out, Seiya was quite impatient at the bottom of his heart. If the spell he tries to complete does not succeed, he won’t be able to tell what will happen to him.

Seeing the state of Zach, if he couldn’t cast it well, there will be no end to Seiya’s torment.

The moment before completion of Seiya’s spell, the trio finally noticed. While having no idea what Seiya tries to do, they were able to perceive strange magical waves, different from usual.

The impatient trio immediately launched a fierce assault.

「『Fire Bullet』」
「『Fire bullet』」
「『Wind Blade』」

Those spells launched by the three people were supposed to hit Seiya. However, at the next moment, the figure of Seiya, who had an expression of agony until the moment ago, disappears from the sight of three people in a blink of an eye.

「「「What?」」」

The trio saw their spells hit the ground while raising dust clouds. Completely unable to process what happened.

Being unable to find his figure, they were able to understand that he surely didn’t retire.

Three people quickly looked around trying to find Seiya, and found him a slight distance away from them.

Seiya’s body is shining clad in the magical power of the light attribute. To be exact, it would be better to say that he is wearing the magical power of light.

（That will work!）

Seiya was elated in his mind due to successful casting.

The magic used by Seiya is his original magic『Mantle of Light』. It clads the body in the power of light and makes use of 『rising』special effect of the light attribute to dramatically raise his physical abilities.

If you cannot defend and cannot fight back, just avoid the enemy. Seiya thought so and used 『Mantle of Light』.

As for results, Zach’s trio was unable to grasp the way Seiya moved out of their field of vision.

「Unknown……」

Zach rages in anger and thinking of Seiya. It didn’t defend nor counterattacked, just avoided him. That was the most humiliating thing for Zach.

Despite focusing on the attack all the way, despite concentrating on the appearance of Seiya, he still could not capture his movements and was taken aback.

Moreover, Zach does not know the spell used by Seiya, nor does he heard of it. He was inferior to Seiya the Unknown.

That fact was unacceptable to Zach.

「Don’t be so arrogant! You a just an Unknown! I, who received protection of fire, call upon your power『Fire Bullet』」

Although Zach cast 『Fire Bullet』towards Seiya, he couldn’t capture the appearance of Seiya whose physical abilities have been increased by 『Mantle of Light』.

And Seiya continuously avoids Zack’s attacks. This further raises Zach’s anger, but Seiya does not care.

Their attacks did not hit him anymore.

「You guys, help right now. Let’s attack together」
「Yeah」
「Sure」

Two people are disturbed seeing Zach’s demon-like face. But immediately cast their spells towards Seiya.

「 I, who received protection of fire, call upon your power『Fire Bullet』」
「 I, who received protection of fire, call upon your power『Fire Bullet』」
「 I, who received protection of wind, call upon your power『Wind Blade』」

Being clad in『Mantle of Light』the movements of fire bullets and wind blade launched by the trio seemed extremely slow in Seiya’s vision.

「Damn it. Why? 」

Not being able to hit Seiya irritates Zach greatly.

(After all, it is slow)

Seiya, feeling himself getting stronger, can counterattack however he desires.

With the help of 『Mantle of Light』it is easy to escape from Zach and it is easy to attack him either.

(In that case, I will do just that)

Seiya, who decided to counterattack, tries to slash at Zach while holding Hollins in both hands. Zach was still unable to react to the speed of Seiya.

In this case, it was OK to fight all three people.

「Eh?」

However, after the moment he took a first step Seiya feels the body suddenly getting heavier. Then he stumbled and fell to the ground.

「Why……」

Unexpectedly the magical power of the light that had been wrapped around the body of Seiya disappeared and the state of 『Mantle of Light』 had been released.

「It can’t be happening……」
「Yo, Unknown」

Zak is smiling while staring at Seiya who is stunned by the disappearance of 『Mantle of Light』.

Hate was radiating from his eyes.

Senabia Magic Academy has a vast dome for students to train in.

Even though it is called training, there are various types, including fighting using only close proximity weapons, far range attack using magic, battle using both weapons and magic.

But none of this is necessary for the future magician to use in battle in the future.

A battle for magicians is not just about people. There are also monsters that live in the dark territory.

Even so, churches around the country are wary of the dark terrain, dispatching magicians as soon as they discover monsters and annihilating them, there are little to no monsters attacking the city.

Even so, sometimes strong monsters that cannot be easily annihilated by the army, force their way into the city.

But even when a powerful monster attacks, it is easy to annihilate him even though it takes time, because one of the 12 sages of the kingdom will assume command and the church will provide troops.

Thanks to the that, there were no major problems other than the disappearance of the goddess in the Leiria Kingdom, and for many years, peace is being kept.

Returning to the matters at hand, Senabia Magic Academy’s Training Center. There is a special barrier inside the dome, and the damage received within that boundary will directly damage the spirit without affecting the body.

So it is absolutely impossible to die within the barrier, even if you receive enormous damage equivalent to lethal or faint, you will just turn into particles of light and dust and the barrier will send you out.

Seiya was quite inconvenienced with such training time. Magic is basically learned from the time of birth, but Seiya began to learn when he was ten years old.

At this point, he is ten years apart from the surrounding people. It is impossible for such Seiya to fight equally with other people.

In addition, during the battle training, Zach and his friends can legally assault Seiya.

Seiya can also counterattack, but doing so would worsen Zach’s mood and who knows what he can do after training.

So Seiya had no choice but to flee all the time.

While Seiya waited at the training grounds, red-haired teacher Lamia enters the training ground. When Lamia confirmed that everyone was here, she began explaining the training content.

「Today’s training is a survival. The field is a whole dome. Both weapons and magic are permitted to use. You are considered retired at the point of losing consciousness. Does anyone have any questions?……………… There are none. That’s all. I pray for a good fight」

After confirming that there are no questions, Lamia heads to the bleacher and lowers her back.

There is a screen constructed utilizing reflection magic on the bleachers, and you can see the inside of the training arena. Lamia looked at the screen ready to check everyone’s actions.

Before training begins, Seiya and his classmates are scattered to choose their starting point.

While making a sullen face, Seiya is looking for a place to hide, and the trio of Zach, Hoa and Shura approaches Seiya.

「Unknown, let’s try our best」

Zach said that to Seiya with a detestable grin on his face. This is a survival training. Everyone is an enemy, but it is also allowed to team up trying to defeat one by the power of numbers.

Basically, even if three people lynch Seiya, that does not count as foul.

Seiya knew what Zack was thinking, but he couldn’t do anything.

As a countermeasure, Seiya could also fight in a group, but this is impossible, classmates who fight with Unknown will be despised. In other words, Seiya can only fight alone today.

「Yeah……. Let’s both do our best」
「Heh. Sure~ Let’s do our best, Unknown」

Three fellows went away before Seiya with a content smile.

(…… Haa, yeah, training. I need to escape somewhere…………)

And the chime signaling the beginning of the class rings.

As soon as the chime is over, the inside of the barrier is changing from wasteland to green forest. This is the power of the illusion that the barrier has.

Even though I say illusions, I can touch forest trees and climb them. So it is not an exaggeration to say that this space feels like a real forest.

「The time limit is 2 hours. Training started! 」

Simultaneously with the signal from Lamia, the explosion could be heard spreading from several places.

Even if you change the insides of the dome from the wasteland into the forest, you can grasp the general position of the enemy, so battles may occur soon. Seiya summons his own weapon that he can call his partner to prepare for battle.

「Me, the apostle of light. Appear, Hollins! 」

When Seiya finished chanting, the yellow magic circle appears and short swords come out from inside right into the hands of Seiya.

This is the basic spell under the weapon summoning category, the weapon summoned by Seiya is a weapon called 「Twin swords Hollins」.

Seiya often used this magic, even though his spell repertoire is rather humble. It is Seiya’s belief that if you cannot use magic well you could compensate with swordsmanship.

Magic is divided into beginner magic, intermediate magic, advanced magic, and the power grows stronger as the rank goes up.

Incidentally, regardless of the rank of magic and the rank of a magician, even beginner magicians who could use advanced magic exist, but they are very rare.

In addition to this, there are spells designated as forbidden and clan’s unique magic, but they are all ranked.

Seiya who summoned the Hollins ran towards the sound of an explosion. He did it not to join the battle but to escape from the trio.

The deeper you enter into the battle zone, the more likely it is that three people will get caught up in other battles, and the possibility of being lynched will be low.

And if you are lucky, those three people may be killed by other students.

Fortunately, there are no other classmates joining the three’s lynching team, and they do not interfere with Seiya except the trio, even if you encounter them you will only fight normally.

Seiya arrives where the explosion sounded, as expected, intense fighting was in progress.

A petite boy with blond hair and eyeglasses Chris Haniat was fighting with a muscular big man with shaved head, Kair Dennas.

Both are Seiya’s classmates and are highly skilled magicians.

Kair, with his muscular body holding a large hammer, uses magic of the fire attribute, and Chris was fighting with light magic while avoiding Kair’s attack.

「I、the one who received divine protection of fire, require your power『Fire Bullet』」

A red magic circle is deployed on Kair’s hammer and it becomes covered if fire. Each time Kair shook the hammer, fire bullets were released attacking Chris.

「You are naive!  I who received the protection of light, now let the light shine『Wall of Light』」

When the magic circle is deployed in front of Chris, two light walls simultaneously appear to protect him.

The spell used by Chris is one of the most popular defense spells of light attribute intermediate level spells 『Wall of Light』, it protects the front of the caster by creating the wall of light. [¹]

But Chris’ magic didn’t end with just that.

Chris activated 『rising』special effect of the light attribute. The two『Wall of Light』raise each other’s defensive power, to five times the norm.

Kair’s 『Fire Bullet』cannot destroy Chris’ double『Wall of Light』and gets scattered.

(After all, Chris is awesome……. He is using intermediate light magic so easily…. It is impossible for me…)

It is natural that a fight at a level of Chris and Kair will be possible for Seiya if he studied magic since childhood, but of course, current Seiya cannot do such a thing.

First, his chanting speed is slower than Chris. Second, it is difficult for Seiya to exercise two or more spells at the same time.

Seiya was watching the two fighting while thinking about such things, but suddenly he was assaulted by a cold feeling. It felt as if a hungry snake stared at his back.

A cold feeling clung to the body of Seiya, turning his face to the back, there was the appearance of Zach’s trio deploying magic circles with the hateful grins on their faces.

「Yo ~ Unknown. I was searching for you」
「Zach-kun……」

Seiya hurriedly tried to take a stance with the twin swords Hollins in his hand but he was late. A red chain emerged from the magic circle which Zach was deploying and winded around the foot of Seiya.

Seiya tried to remove the chain wrapped around his feet, but the chain was a spell of fire attribute, so high heat attacks Seiya the moment he touches it. It was fortunate that uniform had long pants, otherwise, heat would have been unbearable.

The spell used by Zach is beginner fire spell 『Chains of Fire』. Even if this chain is cut apart, it can be reformed immediately and returned to original condition, so it is a commonly used spell for disabling an opponent.

Zach says while pulling the chain wrapped around Seiya’s foot.

「Ha-ha. Let us also begin our training~, Unknown. But here is a little inconvenient, so let’s change the place」

Zach starts running while pulling a chain.

Hoa and Shura also run after Zac, but Seiya inevitably crawls on the ground since he is still constricted be the 『Chains of Fire』.

「Heh……」

The ground and branches mercilessly strike Seiya, but Zach continues to run while pulling the chain without worrying about such things.

By the time they arrived at the small clearing Seiya’s face and uniform were muddy through and through.

Seiya felt it was probably here that Zach’s trio is going to lynch him under the name of training.

Three people were watching Seiya while flashing a small detestable grin. From those eyes, he felt a strong despise and hatred.

He was on the rooftop in a dark blue suit, a chubby elderly man with kind eyes. He has a black beard and gives an impression of a gentle uncle.

To tell the truth, he was a graduate of Senabia Magic Academy and his name is Edward. He is also a guardian of Seiya.

Edward and Seiya first met when Seiya was ten years old.

Seiya at that time had lost his memory and was wandering around the city of Windistan. He was coincidentally picked up by Edward, and since then Seiya and Edward have come to live together.

Because Edward had no children, he loved Seiya like a real son and taught him magic. But such happiness soon ended.

From the guardians of the students attending the Senabia Magic Academy came to complain to him, as he was a director of the academy because he pays to mush attention to a useless person.

At first, Edward said that he will adopt Seiya, but was stopped by his family who knew about the life and ability of Seiya, Edward had no choice but to abandon Seiya who was left crying.

But even so, Edward at least decided to let Seiya stay in his own villa and enroll in a Senabia Magic Academy in the range reachable to himself.

Since Seiya entered Senabia Magic Academy, the two of them started meeting on the academy roof during a break every day.

Edward is also a father figure for Seiya, as well as his magical teacher.

Even so, meeting for such a short time is unbearable for them. But for two people this time was very important.

And today Edward made a proposal to Seiya.

「Seiya, I think of you as of my own son」
「Thank you, teacher. Teacher is like a father to me too」
「So become my son. If I adopt you, Seiya won’t be Unknown anymore and no one will despise you」

Edward knows about the bullying that Seiya is receiving.

However, in his position, he cannot be concerned with what is not considered a problem. If Seiya asks for help, he can act immediately, but Seiya never asked Edward for help.

I do not want to bother Edward anymore. That thought was in the heart of Seiya.

That’s why he proposed to adopt Seiya many times.

If Seiya is adopted by Edward, Seiya can acquire a family protection and the current bullying will naturally disappear. But Seiya did not accept it firmly.

Seiya is already a child of Edward, and once he finishes a procedure for adoption even if the family is opposed it they won’t be able to do anything. Edward has this much resolve.

「Teacher, I can’t do that. I received a lot of help and was protected by a teacher. I can’t bother you any more」

The annoyance that Seiya mentioned is that Senabia Magic Academy cares deeply about reputation.

Because Edward has no children, adopting Seiya inevitably makes him the next family head.

In this case, it will diminish the name of Edward’s family.

Besides that, there are harsh legal issues in the way.

Seiya, who understood it well, never agreed to Edward’s proposal.

「I see. I do not care about such a thing so tell me as soon as you change your mind」
「Thank you teacher」
「Well then. Let’s do our best」

That said, Edward went out of the rooftop, but his back view seemed very disappointed. And Edward, who came out from the roof, never noticed the people lurking near.

Then Seiya that remained on the rooftop starts his self-training.

He started to train the magical power of light attribute in his body and started to gather the magical power of light attribute around Seiya. Yellow magical power slowly wraps around the body of Seiya, but in the next moment the magical cover of the light flickers and disappears.

Seiya stops magical training and brainstorms.

「Hmm, after all, it is impossible. It is difficult to do so without chanting. However, since this magic is original, I do not even know the perfect chant」

While saying as such, Seiya agitates the magical power of light in his body again. The magical power of the light attribute clinging to the body of Seiya, but it runs out quickly and disappears.

While sitting, Seiya tries the same thing over and over, but in the next moment, it vanishes again.

What Seiya was trying was his original magic.

Since original magic is constructed based on theory, chant is hard to create. So it takes a tremendous amount of time to develop. For this reason, it is very unusual for new magic to be developed in this world.

And Seiya was challenging such gigantic goal.

「I should try chanting it. But last time, I used words for light attribute reinforcement and magic continuity but I did not succeed ……」

Mumbling to himself, Seiya looks at the clouds floating in the sky while lying sprawled on the roof.

Seiya talked to Edward about his original magic he’s trying now, but he told Seiya to quit immediately.

The reason is simple.

Seiya’s magic has already been in the invocation phase, even though the theory behind it is not so firm. With magic you don’t understand, you do not know when you will fall into an unexpected situation.

If you mistakenly use the wrong chant, it might hurt the caster.

Casting is the same as chemistry, or so they say. Even if it is not dangerous on its own, it can be harmful to the human body if mixed.

With that as the reason, Edward who judged it to be dangerous told Seiya to stop developing new magic. But Seiya kept developing it secretly from Edward.

That is because if this magic is completed, Seiya’s fighting power will rise dramatically. Then he may be able to retaliate those who look down on him.

Seiya’s expectations for this new magic were that high.

Seiya continued the same thing over and over until the end of the third hour, but he never succeeded.

In the fourth hour, Seiya starts a new magic training, unlike the previous one.

While grasping the tree branch, Seiya starts chanting.

「Me, who received the protection of light. Show, the power of light 『Triple length』」

When he finished casting, the tree branch shines. It was covered with magical power of light attribute.

Seiya increases the amount of magical power that flows into the branch.

Then the length of the branch triples. Even though it tripled, the length of the branch itself was not, but the light that the branches wrapped in extended to three times the length of the branch.

Seiya keeps the length of light as it is, then doubles it.

I doubled it and stopped there. However, the branches wrapped in light six times its length broke and the magical power disappeared.

「Damn it, it happened after all. I need to be gentler and try once more」

The magic that Seiya practicing is called the light attribute beginner magic 『Triple length』, this magic can increase the length of an object with the magical power of light attribute.

And what he’s doing now is training to change the length of branches freely using light.

Seiya thought that if he could manipulate this magic freely he will be able to change the length of the sword during battles.

Why is it a branch of a tree? Because there is a backlash in a case of failure and the sword itself will break like the branch during battle.

Seiya did the same thing afterwards, but each time he broke the branch and eventually there was no progress during self-training time today.

In the end, the time for lunch break began.

When it’s time for lunch break, he goes out of the school. There is a bakery located a little away from the school. The name of the bakery is 「Bake John」, and it is a shop Edward often brought him to.

Seiya likes this shop and always byes his lunch here. Upon entering the shop, John the owner of 「Bake John」speaks to Seiya.

「Welcome, Seiya」
「Hello uncle」
「Is it usual?」
「Yes, please」

That said, John puts the bread on the tray. Because Seiya is a regular customer, he already remembered his habits.

John is a skinhead with a large body, dense black beard, and seems to be scary, but if you know him better he is surprisingly gentle and very familiar to people.

John hands a tray with bread to Seiya and receives money from him.

「Seiya, this is a service」

Saying that he puts a red apple on the tray with melon bread and ice tea.

「Thank you」
「That’s right, Seiya. Tell that ******* Edward to come by sometimes」
「Will do」

Seiya finds a seat on an open terrace and starts taking lunch.

He likes this shop not only because bread is delicious, it is also because there are no magicians.

Neither John is magician nor any other regular customers touch Seiya the Unknown. Therefore, because Seiya does not need to worry, he always comes here for lunch.

While eating bread, Seiya thinks about his fighting style.

He is trying to establish a new battle style for himself with close combat as a priority using two spells which he trained during self-training, but it is difficult to realize because neither has succeeded yet.

However, once the new battle style is completed, it is also true that Seiya’s ability will be quite high. Therefore, he definitely wants to complete it soon.

Seiya’s battle style is a super-proximity-type that places importance on speed, but it can also accommodate medium distances.

The battle in super proximity to the enemy is advantageous, but it becomes tough after mid distance.

Therefore, he was planning to deal with that problem using 『Triple length』 which he was practicing during the fourth hour. This style which can be established only with simple magic is the battle style that is most suitable for Seiya who cannot use magic well.

When he finished eating lunch, he returned the tray to John.

「Thank you for the meal. I’ll come again」
「Sure, try your best in the afternoon too, Seiya」
「Yup」

Thanking John, Seiya headed for the classroom for practical training.

A day at Senabia Magic Academy consists of six lessons. This is common practice in most magical schools, basically, the lessons are divided into two-hour units.

In the first and second hours, you learn magic theory for the school year, sandwiching in between a slightly long break, the third and fourth hour are considered to be self-training time.

The self-training time is the time when you try to solve problems by yourself, and in some cases, it is possible to consult with the teachers.

And in the fifth and sixth hours after the lunch break, practical exercises and training incorporating magic and martial arts are carried out.

Magic is basically composed of three aspects such as theory, technique, and aptitude, and it is possible to exercise magic only when these three are combined.

The theory is, as its name implies, tells about the composition of magic and magic particles.

Technique is a skill of a magician, and it can be said that magicians are usually good in it. It is the only field where progress can be made depending on just efforts.

And aptitude decides affinity for magic attributes. The magician is born with an aptitude for one or more of four basic attributes, fire, water, wind, light, all magic consists of these four attributes.

Some magicians are born with more than two aptitudes, and it is possible for them to handle magic that simultaneously uses multiple attributes from the beginning.

The magic of suitable attribute can be used very easily, but it is difficult to use the magic of the attribute that you have no affinity with. So, the magic that magician can use was decided to some extent since he was born.

Three of the above are very important things for casting magic. By the way, the attribute of Seiya is light, but even the simplest spell, not to mention powerful ones, required complete chanting for Seiya.

With the absence of parents as a reason, magic training during the childhood was not provided for Seiya.

Being unable to train in early childhood the time it takes to learn fundamentals of magic is much more than that of other people, already overwhelmingly different from surrounding people.

Still, Seiya trained his fencing skills and studied theory. Thanks to that Seiya’s grades are considerably good.

Seiya started preparing for classes when Lamia leaves the classroom. The lesson in the first hour is to understand “chanting” and the meaning of chanting used when activating magic.

Each word has its meaning in a chant, and its meaning constitutes the magic attribute. There are words that cover two kinds of magic spells of the same attribute, that word is a word expressing an attribute.

For example, the chant of fire attribute beginner magic 『Fire bullet』is as follows.

「I, the one who received divine protection of fire, require your power『Fire Bullet』」

Here, it shows that you use fire magic with words 「the one who received divine protection of fire」. There are other words that express fire attribute, but these ones are the most popular ones.

Three people’s shadows are approaching Seiya. Of course, these three people are Zach, Hoa and Shura.

「Are you ready for classes already, Unknown?」
「So diligent」
「Well, Unknown needs to work hard if he wants to be here~」

Three people were involved with Seiya, not just every morning but almost all the time. And Seiya also responds with a humble posture every time.

It is easier for Seiya to forget his pride than to assume a violent attitude and hurt the three people’s mood, that would be even more troublesome.

「Yes…because I am inferior to everyone. I need to work hard」

Seiya answers to the words of Zach with a bitter smile. Usually, they make a fool out of Seiya here and return back to their seat satisfied but unfortunately these three people today were in a bad mood.

「Hey, Unknown. It seems that you will catch up with us soon if you say that」

Zach looks at Seiya with a hateful smile.

「I didn’t mean it that way……」

Seiya tries to resolve the misunderstanding, but it cannot be done easily. After all, these three people are doing it on purpose.

「Aren’t you become conceited, Unknown」
「That’s right~」
「I didn’t……」

No matter what you say, it will become worse. However, staying silent and ignoring them won’t be any better, concluded Seiya.

But Zach didn’t like his answer. Apparently, Zach’s mood is pretty bad.

「Ohh? Do you dare to answer back?」
「Since you are so arrogant you need to apologize」
「Maybe you should do a dogeza～」

Three people begin to demand Seiya to kneel. But however you look at it, they are overdoing things. But no one stops those three.

Some of the classmates are more influential than Zach, but there was no one who helped Seiya.

「Hah, that sounds nice. Dogeza it is」
「Come on, say “Sorry, I was too conceited”」
「Hurry up~ Unknown~」

Having said that, Seiya slowly reached the ground with his head.

There is no such thing as pride in this place, an apology by making a dogeza is like a work to him. Classmates are looking with sparkling eyes, but there is no one who stopped him.

「I’m sorry for being conceited. Please forgive me」
「「「Gahahahahahahaha!」」」[¹]

The trio laughed out loud when they saw Seiya’s dogeza. Then Zach said while stepping on the head of Seiya.

「The bottom of beginner rank shouldn’t talk back to intermediate class magician family. Oh, and this is a punishment rather than assault. Hahaha」

His voice sounded like he believed that his behavior was justified

In the world of magicians, when the lower family goes against the senior family, the senior family has the right to sanction the lower family, if you exercise that sanctioning right, if it is judged that it is not excessive, it will be considered as legal.

And now what Zach is doing has been approved legally.

But if Zach hits Seiya or the other two lay their hands on him it will become a problem. Zach understands it and won’t tread on this road

Classmates pretend they cannot see Seiya and prepare for lessons.

Seiya was treated like that every single day.

Every day you are to apologize if you talk back. Being a beginner magician without background, he can’t do anything about it.

The time of such pain also forcefully ends when class starts. Bocuto, a teacher in charge of chanting, came into the classroom and started explaining chanting.

Standing on the podium and writing words one after another on the blackboard, he is a famous person in the world of magic chanting. He is doing research about discarding or shortening chant at the time of magic invocation, and he is a great person with great theoretical knowledge.

However, when announced, where was an opinion that no-chanting was risky and dangerous, but they were blamed for denying progress and teacher got praised for his innovative research.

Since then, although he continues his research, he seems to be emphasizing education now.

「At least three things are necessary for casting. An attribute is a given. Without it, it would be impossible to build a magic incantation. And then a word of declaring a magical composition. Is it for attack or for defense, does it penetrate or let it go? Without this, it would just be a magical explosion…. 」

The class continues like this, after the first hour is over, the second hour is a lecture.

Today’s second hour’s lecture is about 「Special effects of attributes」, which is the basics of the basics. This lesson is about basics so it’s not that useful for Seiya.

For that reason, Seiya will study the chanting while pretending to listen to the lecture.

Like Seiya, there were many students pretending to be listening to classes and sleeping, but the teacher of 「Special effects of attributes」 did not show any irritation to such students and continued unperturbed.

By the way, special effects of attributes are like by-products in each magic attribute. It is a phenomenon that can be used in spells because it is possible to apply to magic the effect of 『activation』 for fire, 『calm』for water, 『hard』 for wind, 『rising』 for light.

After the second hour when most of the students slept, during the long break, Seiya quickly left the classroom so that Zach could not find it.

He leaves the class and goes to the roof of the academy building. The roof of Senabia Magic Academy usually prohibits students from entering, but only Seiya was specially permitted.

Seiya spends his time on that roof every day until the end of the 4th hour doing self-training.

Such arrangement was good for Seiya as well as for other students.

If they do their self-training in the same place as despised Unknown Seiya, the air in that spot becomes stifling and it is uncomfortable for Seiya and other students.

So, Lamia gave a special permission to use the rooftop.

Seiya is grateful for the permission to use the rooftop and keeps making effective use of the space where we can focus alone.

When Seiya opened the door made of iron and arrived at the roof, there was a guest there.

A comfortable wind was blowing like letting you know about the beginning of May; a new day was about to begin. It was holiday until yesterday, the students from around the world are walking around seemingly dispirited.

It was the same for the students of Senabia Magic Academy here.

Senabia Magic Academy is one of only 10 magic academies in the Leiria Kingdom and is located in the city of Orna in the northern part of the country.

In addition, this Senabia Magic Academy is a famous magical academy, especially among the rest of magical academy in the region.

Among the students of such famous Senabia Magic Academy, while wearing a particularly depressed face, there was a student heading to the classroom at the last minute just as usual.

The name of this weak looking, blonde haired, blue eyed youth was Kiritsuna Seiya, second-year student of this academy.

Seiya who was walking with a depressed face got to the front door of the class to which he belonged, he opened the door of the classroom then quickly went to his designated seat by the window and sat down.

Classmates looked at Seiya for a moment but they instantly lost interest and resumed chatting with their friends. His classmates behaved like they couldn’t see Seiya at all.

However, not everyone was like that, and three boys come to Seiya in the same way as usual, and the same thing started again.

「Yo, so you came here again, Unknown」
「Aren’t you brave coming here over and over again, Unknown」
「Well, it can’t be helped since it’s you~. You don’t know your family after all~」

Today as well, three boys Zach Runias, Hoa Teir, Shura Neins came to him. These three people were rare students among the class who talked to Seiya.

However, because of the unfriendly attitude of the three people, an unpleasant atmosphere is being unleashed. Three boys kept talking about this all the time, without getting tired at all.

Why are these three involved in Seiya like every day, the reason for these three people to bother him every single day was based on Seiya’s birth.

Currently, Seiya goes to this Senabia Magic Academy while living alone. The reason why Seiya lives by himself is simply because there are no parents.

But even if his parents aren’t there, these three people would not bother him every day, and the classmates would have more exchanges with Seiya.

The problem is that not only Seiya had no parents, but the fact that Seiya knew nothing about his parents or about his clan at all.

It is particularly important for magicians to have a good family, because their family may decide their position within the kingdom after graduation.

In addition, in the Windistan district where Seiya’s Senabia Magic Academy operates, there is a strong tendency to emphasize the family’s power in particular, and the caste you belong in the academy is determined by the family as well.

For that reason, Seiya who did not know anything about his family was called Unknown, Unknown because he knew nothing about it, and he was treated as if didn’t exist in the class.

Even if Seiya is in trouble, no one will help. At the same time, if Seiya tries to help someone, they treat him like air and trying to not get involved.

To avoid weird rumors and hurt their reputation they keep ignoring him.

But only those three were different.

A man with a short black hair trained body is called Zach Runias, the second son of the Runias family. The Runias family is an intermediate magician clan belonging to Windistan, that mainly specializes in fire attribute magic.

The man with brown hair is Hoa Teir, the third son of the Teir family. Like the Runias family, the Teir family is a magician clan belonging to Windistan, but unlike the Runias family, it is a beginner magician clan.

Finally, bald head, the man who seems to be in motion all the time is Shura Neins, the second son of the Neins clan. Like the Teir family, the Neins family is a beginner magician clan belonging to Windistan.

About half of the population of the Leiria kingdom are magicians and the other half are civilians.

Magicians earn their livelihood mainly by succeeding the family business or in the kingdom’s defense force, and for the magicians who are in the defense force of the kingdom the higher the rank of the clans, the more important your job.

For the magicians, they are classified into four classes: expert magician, senior magician, intermediate magician, beginner magician, and the number decreases as the class goes up. For example, there are only twelve expert magicians in Leiria kingdom.

And the class of the family is determined by the class of the owner of that family.

For example, the family of Zach is an intermediate magician family, but the intermediate magician is Zach’s father, and Zach himself is still a beginner magician.

However, even though it is said that Zach is a beginner magician, he is an intermediate magician family, so his position is higher than the beginner magician of the beginner magician clan.

So, Seiya being at the bottom of the Beginner Magician family cannot resist the Zak of the intermediate magician family, and he has no choice but to smile although unwilling.

This was his daily routine.

It also ends when the chime begins to ring, so it’s a test for patience until then. If Seiya while not having family power or personal ability beat up other people, Seiya will be expelled.

Even if Seiya is correct, as long as there is something called family power, Seiya is the weakest magician and the worst at Senabia Magic Academy.

A few minutes after the trio started bothering Seiya, the chime rang and Lamia, who is the homeroom teacher, comes into the classroom.

From Lamia with long red hair and red eyes, you can feel cool adults’ sex appeal. But her gaze today is more severe than ever.

Lamia is from an intermediate magician clan, herself is also an intermediate magician. Among the girls in Senabia Magic Academy, she has top class skills in close combat and she is a famous magician with fire attribute in Windistan.

Seeing her severe than ever expression classmates became tense.

「Good morning everyone. Absent… …none. Well then, I have an important matter to announce. The frequency of magicians being kidnapped recently is increased. As for this matter, it seems that investigators will come not only from the church but also from the capital, so the criminal will be caught soon, but be as careful as you can」

The church which she mentioned is the institution which manages every place, which in turn is managed by the capital city of Leiria.

There used to be a goddess named Lina Maria in the old days, but she suddenly disappeared several decades ago. Currently, the Leiria kingdom is being ruled by a group of seven wise men.

And the church is located in the central parts of Freestan, Aquaristan, Windistan distributed around the kingdom, and it is an institution that manages everything around.

Since there is no goddess in the church, it consists of several representatives from various places and several people dispatched from the capital.

Looking at the Leiria kingdom from above, its shape is a donut.

It is centered where the capital is located so that Freestan, Aquaristan and Windistan are divided into three equal parts, and the large walls surround the outer circumference of these three regions.

Outside of the wall is the land called the dark territory is spreading, there are monsters called magical beasts and population is close to nothing, the monsters are very ferocious and often invade the walls.

When a horde of beasts invades or when an incident occurs, the churches in each place are to deal with this responsibility. However, there are cases where people are dispatched from the church in the capital when it is impossible to do anything by a regional church alone in particularly violent cases or in a case of enormous damage.

In other words, this incident is considered either a violent case or brings enormous damage.

In the current situation, saying it simply, the magician becomes money by demanding ransom from his family. The deprived house pays a ransom to take back their child and the value of the magician is quite high.

Especially the magician above intermediate becomes considerably expensive. Because there is a unique family magic passed down in such families.

Unique magic is a prerequisite for becoming an intermediate magician and can be mentioned as a symbol of the family.

If a kidnapped child possessed unique magic, it is no exaggeration to say that the child possesses the secrets of the family.

When that child is sold to another family, the family’s secret and unique will be lost, so the clan attempts to prevent that at all costs. It will bring the kidnappers a lot of riches.

Even if the kidnapped child did not have unique magic, while being the eldest son of the family, they will desperately try to recover him. It is highly likely that the eldest son will be the next president of the family, because of that eldest son is often raised at big expense since childhood.

On the other hand, in the case of the second son or the third son, they will try to regain him, but won’t waste too much effort.

To be able to use magic means to be able to protect yourself, so if he wants to survive he needs to do it with his own power.

At a first glance, it seems to be ruthless, but it is obvious for a person who deals with magic, and most magicians are ready.

The road of an abandoned child is usually to be sold away and become a mercenary or to be enslaved with a collar. Either way, he will become gold for the kidnapper.

In this way the value of the magician is high, and because the demand is high, the kidnapping comes into being.

Because of that, the magical academy where the talents gather represents a huge allure for criminals. That being said, there are teachers experienced in combat, so they can’t easily kidnap people.

That’s why kidnapping in a city with a magical academy present is rare.

「Report is over」

Lamia who finished the report finally leaves us and goes out of the classroom. Thus a new day of Senabia Magic Academy started.