Semi-retired Adventurer Lives Leisurely - Chapter 140

Ch. 140: Magecraft Examination

The girl, Emily, appeared on the scene suddenly, and the 8 who were already standing by at the Class 10 sign stared at her in surprise. Of course, the people in Class 9 who were close by were staring as well.

The Class Instructor, Mr. Derrick, also stood there bewildered for a split second, but thenーー

Derrick: “Ohh～～”

Groaned as he scratched his head and spoke.

Derrick: “Umm, so you must be one of the courses enrollees, Emily Statia, am I correct?” Emily: “Yes, that’s me! I just turned 16 the other day, and my grandmother finally approved of me moving forward with my Adventurer career…….but I had to promise to at least take one course before I can, so that’s why I’m here!”

No one asked, but she just flooded us with a long introduction!!

Emily blew out steam out of her nostrils and smiled really broadly. …….oh, I think I’ve seen someone like this before. She has the, “C’mon, now. Don’t hesitate to shower me with your praises” look that Cyril has sometimes. But I feel like Cyril is slightly more reserved than this girl……maybe.

Derrick: “IーI see. Well, you have very noble goals and aspirations.”

Emily: “Thank you, mister. Now, let’s get on with this course or whatever, shall we?” Emily gripped her staff with a Spellcall Stone on the end, and Mr. Derrick let out a very, very long sigh.

Derrick: “………understood. It’s about that time anyway, so let’s begin. Over there on the practice field is our space.”

Emily: “Oh, mister, you don’t look so good. Do you want a piece of candy?” Derrick: “……I’ll gladly accept. And also, it’s not mister. It’s Mr. Derrick. I’m your course instructor.”

Emily: “Ah, yes. The instructor. It’s a pleasure making your acquaintance, Instructor.”

Emily handed him the candy with pure innocence on her face, and Mr. Derrick only furrowed his brows deeper and began walking.

Well, yeah. She didn’t seem like a bad girl at heart…..it would just be tiring dealing with her. Unlike the rest of us who were joining the course, for Mr. Derrick, this might be quite the challenging course to teach for him. Quietly, I wished him a sympathetic best of luck.

Fred: “………Mr. Henry, does the last name Statia sound familiar to you?”

Henry: “Hm?” As we followed Mr. Derrick, who was walking in front, Fred spoke up something that was bothering him.

It was about Emily’s full name that Mr. Derrick mentioned. In this country, you have to have a certain level of status in order to have a family name, so I’m certain that she came from a decent upbringing.

So Statia, huh…..

Have I heard of this name before……hm. ……..oh.

Henry: “……..is she related to Elizabeth Statia?”

Fred: “Most likely. I don’t think it’s a coincidence to come take a course on the Kroseid Style with that last name.”

Elizabeth Statia.

She is a former Hero of Legend that was renowned for her exceptional ability to freely use the Kroseid Style.

She was active around 50 years ago. At the time, before the war with the Demon Kingdom broke out and before anyone knew anything about fighting the highest tiers, she was one of the fearless ones that took them down solo.

She’s well above Sir Ezeal’s age, so she had retired long ago, but I haven’t heard any rumors of her passing.

She is one of the preeminent progenitors of everyone who uses the Kroseid Style in combat, and if you studied in school, you would have at least heard of her name.

Henry: “But she’s a self-proclaimed beautiful, genius Magecraft Spellcaster.”

Fred: “YーYeah….”

It was difficult tying the former, fierce god-like fighting legend we hear in the fables and this strange girl who walked a bit ahead of us. Of course, it might be because they’re completely unrelated but……

Fred: “Well, I guess we can just ask her eventually. I can’t argue with her calling herself beautiful.”

Henry: “……….Fred, do you like girls like that?” Fred: “Her face is cute.”

He really doesn’t hesitate with these kinds of comments, does he!! Well, now that I recall, Owen acted like a gentleman, but when it was just us guys, he spoke in the same way.

Fred: “Oh, no, no. Please don’t misunderstand, Mr. Henry. We’ve only just met, and we only know her for her eccentric personality and the way she spoke. That’s why I can only judge her by her face.”

Henry: “…….and what’s your honest opinion?”

Fred: “It would have been better if she had more development in her body overall.”

Henry: “Yeah, I agree.”

And both Fred and I nod in agreement at the thought.

Fred: “But wait. Mr. Henry, as for your girlfriend……”

Henry: “……well, sometimes, you can like girls that may not be exactly your type. Well, whatever. I see you’ve been checking her out too.”

I lightly elbow Fred in the ribs.

Fred: “Hahaha, please excuse me. I’ll keep the conversation we had just now from your girlfriend, and we’ll call it even, no?” ….ugh.

But Fred really is easy to talk to. Like a sound board, he will follow and respond to any topic you bring up. Even without our connection through Owen, we would have gotten along just fine.

Jend is too serious to joke about these kinds of things, and it was refreshing to be able to just let loose and be idiots with just the guys.

So, we chatted as we walked, and Mr. Derrick eventually stopped at a certain location.

Derrick: “Okay, this is the spot.

There was a line drawn on the ground, and beyond the line, I saw a lot of signs of destruction that is caused by Magecraft. So this is a space where we could practice and test Magecraft Spells.

At the edge of the Practice Field was a Magecraft Barrier. And beyond that, I don’t know if it was additional precautions but was a wide, open field. It looked to be a place where you could really blast any Magecraft Spell.

Derrick: “So, for the first day of class, we will be assessing your individual strengths and skills. …….oh～ so if you exaggerated your skills on the registration form to make yourself look better, come forward now before you embarrass yourself.”

An uncomfortable silence and stillness followed.

…….but after a while, two people raised their hand fearfully and report to Mr. Derrick their actual level of skill.

Derrick: “…..(sigh). Okay, I will call out your names one by one, so cast the combination of Spells that I call out.”

And from there, we took our first step to begin our 3 months of Kroseid Style training at the Mages Tower.

<<<<>>>>

Derrick: “Alfred, you are surrounded by countless enemies. Blow them away with everything you got.”

Fred: “…..! [Wind] {Gale} + [Wind] {Gale} + [Blade] {Lamina} ……. [Double] {Doblé} + [Double] {Doblé} + [Launch] {Veros}!”

Fred cast a Magecraft Spell as he was told.

He thought for a moment, and then quickly combined his Spells together, but at the end, he fumbled slightly.

This is now Fred’s 10th Spell that Mr. Derrick instructed him to cast, but up until now, it doesn’t look like Fred has been able to connect combinations of Spells into something similar to instinct and muscle memory.

He is fast enough as a rearguard, but if he wants to fight up front, then that will leave some concerns.

On the other hand, once he determines the Spell he wants to cast, the finesse to his technique is good. Considering that he is a Magecraft Spellcaster that can protect himself, he has enough skill to be able to serve as a Knight already. ………but that’s once you exclude the Black Knights which is made up of the top tier (only measuring strength) of Knights.

Assessing Fred’s blades of wind, Mr. Derrick nodded once.

Fred: “Hmm, I think I got the general picture. Since you’re carrying around a spear, you want to fight on the vanguard side, right? We’ll aim to increase the construction speed of Spells and refine your judgment skills.”

Fred: “Yes, thank you very much!”

And Fred bowed in a Knight’s manner very naturally and came back.

Henry: “Hey, welcome back.”

Fred: “YーYes. That was pretty tiring……I didn’t think it would be that hard from the start.”

Henry: “I’m glad you were the first to go. Now I know what to expect.”

The last situation was pretty easy to understand, but Mr. Derrick has been relaying situations where Magecraft Spells can be utilized, and you must immediately come up with a combination of Spells to cast……..is the general exam itself.

For instance, “Now you want to put distance between you and the enemy” or “it’s mid-range, and there are 3 mid-tier lower-class Demonic Creatures” or “you’re surrounded by easy enemies and you need to break through their line”……..are some of the examples Alfred was given.

And Mr. Derrick will follow-up with questions on why you chose the Spells you did, so this is a pretty intense examination. You can’t just keep blasting away your strongest Spells.

Derrick: “Next, Sandy. Come forward.”

The next person was the opposite type of Fred and was a complete rearguard Magecraft Spellcaster. They spoke back and forth, and began using Magecraft Spells.

Fred: “Huh…..? That person…they’re firing off multiple Spells with one of Mr. Derrick’s command, but is that okay?” Henry: “Yeah, that’s perfectly fine.”

Mr. Derrick mentioned that the simulation was a hunt with two vanguard warriors. You won’t necessarily be in a tag team situation always, so he was sending support Spells to each.

And sometimes, you might interpret the situation different with words alone, so Mr. Derrick made sure to hear out your intentions and goals with every Spell.

Judging from the way they were casting the Spell, they were probably supporting a vanguard who was doing as he or she pleased. It’s an impressive show of skill.”

The next person was someone who just blasted Spells. They combined just the right amount of Spell Power to take down an enemy with one shot and carefully fired each Spell.

Henry: “Oh, you can use [Cannon] {Telma} in that kind of way…”

…….I thought I would be bored just watching, but I got to see a lot of different ways people utilized Spells, and it was pretty entertaining.

Fred was also getting just as much out of observing and began taking down notes in a memo book. Though he may be a playboy, he’s still studious and hardworking at heart.

Derrick: “Next is……..Emily.”

Emily: “Yes! It’s finally my turn! I was tired of waiting!”

Derrick: “Emily, I want to confirm just in case, but….is everything you wrote down here true?”

Emily: “What? How rude. I was raised with my Grandma always telling me that God hated liars.”

Emily puffed out her chest. Mr. Derrick responded with a “Okay～” and awkwardly scratched his head as he gave out the first assignment.

Derrick: “You meet Mid-tier Upper-Class 10 creatures. Distance is 20 meters.”

Emily: “[Water] {Eedle} + [Water] {Eedle} + [Invade] {Ginci} + [Invade] {Ginci} …….[Ultimate Amplification] {Ultima}!”

She can use [Ultimate Amplification] {Ultima}?!

As I stared wide-eyed, the Spell Emily casted changed the Practice Field’s ground into swampy mud.

……there are actually few Demonic Creatures that can fly. So hypothetically, all the Demonic Creatures in the imaginary scenario are caught in the mud and are immobile.

Emily: “[Strengthen] {Hazac} + [Ice] {Glacio} + [Spear] {Lancer} + [Spray] {Barrage}!”

The following Spell sent several dozen ice spears and struck exactly 20 meters from their location and broke into pieces. From the power of the Spell, an ordinary Demonic Creature of the Mid-Tier Upper-Class would have been killed by it.

Fred: “Isn’t [Spray] {Barrage} the highest level of all launch type Spells?”

Henry: “…….[Ultimate Amplification] {Ultima} is not something you can use unless you’re a First-Class Kroseid Style Spellcaster. It’s the highest of all strengthening type Spells.”

It is approximately 3 times stronger than one of my [Strengthen] {Hazac}. But because of that, the scale of the Spell Structure and Inscription and the handling of the Spell is exponentially more difficult.

……….now that I look closely, I see that Emily’s staff is not good for close combat, but it has Spell Inscriptions engraved in every space available.

Derrick: “Okay, next.”

And Emily continued to cast very high-level Magecraft Spells with each instruction.

Her skills with Magecraft, decision-making ー overall, she completely exceeded every previous course attendee hands down.

Compared to her wacky introduction, seeing her actual strength made all the observers stand flabbergasted once again.

Derrick: “That’s all. …….well, I don’t think anything will change even if we continue.”

After 5 assignments, Mr. Derrick ended the examination having no further questions.

Derrick: “So yeahー …..you definitely have enough skills to match your confidence. I don’t have anything to teach you as far as Magecraft Spells go.’

Emily: “Yes, of course! I am the beautiful, genius Magecraft Spellcaster! Besides, my Grandma made me do a lot of the same tests Mr. Instructor is doing!”

So for her, the term genius is not an exaggeration. Beautiful…….you can say that. Since she was saying how much she was taught not to lie, her words about her skills were true.

Derrick: “Yes, but overall, you seem to overdo it. Your Spells are leaning towards overkills. You need to learn more about conserving your Magic Power.”

Emily: “Ugh…..erhmmmm….fine. I understand.”

And she took the criticism without making much of a fuss. If you can do this much at that age, it wouldn’t be surprising to see an over-inflated ego.

Derrick: “Next, Henry.”

Henry: “Oh, yes!”

As I was lost in thought, my name was called.

……….alright, let’s do my best then.

<<<<>>>>

Derrick: “You seem to have room for improvement with Magecraft Spells……but similar to Emily, I don’t have much to teach you either. Besides that, what is with that ridiculous Spell construction speed…..”

Well, I was fighting on the frontlines for 10 years so…..and so I received a rather high appraisal andーー

Emily: “Urgh…! How dare you be compared to me. ……I see now. You must be my rival!”

…….and now, I’m being dragged into class drama.