Chapter 41. A Friend Who's Good at Magic
Radel smiled in satisfaction.
He had wondered how he would find a friend who was good at magic, but he was lucky to find one so quickly.
All that remained was to make a plan to catch the Swamp Serpent for the Cryptozoology group project.
Radel, Gusto, and Armandy gathered again the next day to devise a plan.
Overnight, Armandy's face had become noticeably gaunt. Even after Gusto had healed him as requested before he left, he still looked like this.
“You must have had a rough night.”
Armandy was at a loss for words at Radel’s shameless remark, as if nothing had happened after attacking his tent yesterday.
What could one say to a lunatic?
“……It’s nothing. More importantly, you must call me Almond here. And please speak casually.”
“I see. Alright.”
It was only natural for a secret agent to use an alias during a mission. Radel quickly agreed and began to formulate the plan in earnest.
Radel looked at the two and asked.
“Anyone ever caught a Swamp Serpent before?”
Both Gusto and Armandy shook their heads.
Unlike the two of them, Radel had experience.
It was because he had caught a Swamp Serpent in his past life.
“Then I’ll tell you what I know. The first reason Swamp Serpents are hard to catch is because they spew poison. If you get poisoned, your health continuously drops, and in the worst case, your weapon can get corroded. So, I think to avoid the poison, we should first read the direction of the wind and…….”
Armandy wondered how the 8th Prince possessed such knowledge.
In any case, he was a suspicious guy in many ways.
“……After that, how about we aim for the Swamp Serpent's weak spot, its eye, from the very beginning. What do you all think?”
“I know detoxification magic, so you don’t have to worry about the poison.”
As Armandy offered his opinion, Radel was impressed.
“That’s great. Then you two can start by casting detoxification magic.”
“Do you not need it, Your Highness?”
Armandy asked Radel, who spoke as if it had nothing to do with him.
“Ah, did I not tell you? I have a constitution where Heal doesn't work at all, so detoxification won't work either.”
Radel said it nonchalantly, scratching the back of his neck.
‘He's talking about such information as if he's just mentioning an allergy?’
Armandy was horrified.
He knew that Heal didn't work on the 8th Prince after he manifested his Ability, but for detoxification magic to not work either.
Was it really okay, even if he had an Ability?
“I have tried it. Other blessings don’t work on him either.”
Gusto agreed matter-of-factly.
Unaware of Armandy's shock, Radel calmly thought about the next step of the plan. He had wanted to avoid this method as much as possible, but he had no choice.
‘If poison is the problem…….’
The only thing left was doping.
* * *
“You’ve already formed a team?”
Inette asked, surprised.
The Cryptozoology assignment had just been given out!
“Yeah. We’re catching a Swamp Serpent. What about you guys?”
“A Giant Poison Bear.”
Hearing Inette’s words, it seemed that the monster to be caught was different for each class.
Well, it wasn't like a Dungeon where monsters spawned endlessly, so it was impossible for everyone to catch the same monster.
‘Wait.’
Radel felt something was off.
Even if the evaluation monster was different for each class, the number of Swamp Serpents was also limited. In that case, wouldn't there be no more Swamp Serpents to hunt later?
‘Is the evaluation assignment actually something we have to catch in advance, not in a month?’
It was then.
“This is bad!”
A commotion arose from over there.
The three of them went to where people were gathered.
“I heard some kids from our class went to catch a Swamp Serpent and came back practically as corpses!”
When Radel got there, students from Class B had gathered.
It seemed a team had already been unable to resist the challenge.
“No way, how did that happen?”
“They weren't the kind of kids to fail!”
The students were shocked to hear there were casualties.
The team that had challenged it this time was so skilled in magic that no one seemed to have thought it would turn out this way.
“They said the Swamp Serpent has high magic resistance, so magic didn’t work.”
“What?!”
The faces of the freshmen, who had naturally assumed they could catch it with magic, darkened.
The poison was tricky enough, but now it had high magic resistance too!
Radel was also a bit shocked. The information was slightly different from what he knew.
When he caught a Swamp Serpent in his past life, he hadn't struggled with magic resistance.
This was a world where magic was a given, so it wasn’t strange for a strong monster to have such a trait, but…….
What shocked Radel more was a different issue.
‘So catching it early wasn't the answer?’
Was this even something freshmen could catch on their own?
* * *
The next lecture was Combat Magic.
“That’s a real shame. It would have been better if they had trained harder in Combat Magic before taking on the challenge.”
Professor Lilian wore a regretful expression, as if she had heard the news about the injured students from Class B.
“So, to avoid things like this from happening, you all must take Combat Magic, right?”
Professor Lilian's bright smile was innocent.
‘She's a completely different person from back then.’
Radel recalled Professor Lilian who had exuded a menacing killing intent toward Professor Marianne.
Thinking back, she was a dangerous person.
“By the way, have you all decided on an opponent you want to face?”
Professor Lilian handed out slips of paper to the freshmen.
Told to write her own name and her opponent's name and submit it, Radel also picked up a pen.
Whose name should I write down?
After some thought, Radel figured it was a secret ballot anyway and wrote down a random name before submitting it.
“Today's class is very easy.”
Professor Lilian led the freshmen outdoors.
A large target was prepared there.
Professor Lilian stood at the starting line and pointed to the target.
“Everyone can see it clearly, right? All you have to do is shoot and hit the center.”
At Professor Lilian's words, the freshmen were slightly relieved.
Hitting a stationary target wouldn't be that difficult. The distance was quite far, making aiming tricky, but with a few tries, they should be able to hit something like this.
The freshmen who were confident in their magic challenged it first.
“Flame!”
The freshman who had summoned fire in the air shot the magic toward the target.
The flame's shape, speed, direction. Everything was perfect.
That is, if there hadn't been an obstacle in the middle.
Chwaak!
The moment the flame flew, a magic circle appeared on the empty ground, and a pillar of water shot up.
“Huh?”
The bewildered freshman swung his staff to move the flame, but it was in vain. The vigorously flying flame magic evaporated the instant it touched the water pillar.
The freshmen reflexively looked at Professor Lilian.
You said it was easy? You said we just had to hit it?
But Professor Lilian just smiled brightly.
“Excuse me, Professor. You didn’t say there was a magic circle like that…….”
“Is it still too easy?”
Someone protested, but Professor Lilian didn't pay any attention and tilted her head.
“Real enemies will move, so if you can't even hit a stationary target, is there any need to attend the academy……. It makes me wonder.”
At those words, everyone fell silent in unison.
After that, the freshmen tried to hit the target while avoiding the magic circle without another word of complaint.
But it wasn't easy.
When they used water element magic, a pillar of fire would rise as if it had been waiting, and when they used earth element magic, a water pillar would shoot up, turning the ground over.
Radel, like the other freshmen, was struggling.
The best Radel could do was make fire or water come out of his staff. His magic skills were still too raw to shoot magic past the magic circle.
Gusto was skillfully summoning light.
Undead monsters were weak to light, so it was a fitting element for Gusto, an apprentice holy knight.
“What are you going to do, Gusto?”
“I’ve had similar training with divine power during holy knight classes.”
His explanation was that he had trained against moving Skeletons.
‘There must be an easier way than just shooting elements.’
Radel thought deeply as he stared at the target.
So far, no one had managed to hit the center of the target.
But even among them, there was one who stood out.
It was Leon, who had shot water element magic.
The fast-flying water droplet turned into ice right before the magic circle and pierced through the pillar of fire.
Then it flew to the target and stuck.
“That’s amazing.”
“Who’s that?”
To be able to change elements so freely!
Gasps of admiration flowed from the mouths of the watching freshmen.
Leon's followers were practically shedding tears.
“As expected of Prince Leon.”
“Calling His Highness a genius of magic is not enough……!”
After receiving confirmation from Professor Lilian, Leon disappeared like the wind.
‘I'm jealous.’
More than anything else, Radel was incredibly envious that he could go back before the lecture was even over.
Gusto also shot a light element and hit the target, avoiding the magic circle.
“Pass! You may go back.”
Professor Lilian was assessing the level of the freshmen who had passed so far and writing evaluations on a piece of paper.
The 9th Prince had been famous in the world of magic even before his admission, so she had expected him to pass a long-range magic test of this level quickly.
She even thought that if the 9th Prince chose Combat Magic as his major, he would be worth raising well for a match.
On top of that, freshmen she hadn't considered at all were also starting to stand out.
‘Gusto Zebro. An apprentice holy knight of the Supreme Deity Order? A decent talent.’
Lilian was looking through the attendance book.
Swoosh!
In an instant, a bright light grazed past Professor Lilian’s eyes.
It was so fast that she couldn't even tell what had passed by.
Chijijik……!
The streak of light that had grazed past Professor Lilian's eyes.
It went past the water and fire pillars and embedded itself in the dead center of the target.
“What was that?”
“Light element magic? I’ve never seen anything like that.”
They must be seeing a laser pointer for the first time here.
No matter how many different elements he thought of, this was the best method he could come up with.
He had only just learned magic; there was no element he could handle skillfully enough to hit a target accurately.
So Radel came up with a completely new approach.
Didn't he just have to hit that target accurately?
In that case, instead of creating light and throwing it, why not just aim and shoot?
Light travels in a straight line, so there's no way it would miss.
Even if water or fire appeared, it might be refracted, but it wouldn't be extinguished or disappear.
Besides, with Radel's skills, it was actually easier to control light in a straight line. It was because he could easily visualize it by thinking of a lightsaber or a laser pointer.
In any case, since he had hit the center of the target accurately, he thought Professor Lilian might let it slide.
Professor Lilian stared at Radel's magic for a moment and then spoke.
“Hmm, interesting. Pass!”
Radel bowed his head to Professor Lilian and left immediately.
Professor Lilian gave the freshmen a short break to replace the target.
When she got close to the target, she saw that only the central circle part had been cleanly vaporized.
A smile naturally formed on Professor Lilian’s lips.
Her combat instincts told her the danger of this magic.
What if this target had been an enemy's head?
The thought made her unable to stop smiling.
“Hee hee.”
Thinking she would have to roll him around more to make him stronger, Professor Lilian smiled pleasantly.
* * *
“Why am I getting weird chills?”
On his way back to the campsite, Radel suddenly got goosebumps and rubbed his arm.
Radel was contemplating how to catch the Swamp Serpent.
From what he'd overheard the other freshmen chattering about during class earlier, it seemed the failed team had also made their own preparations.
They had used wind element magic to push away the poisonous smoke and prepared the strongest attack magic they could use.
However, the Swamp Serpent had high magic resistance, and the freshmen's clumsy element magic didn't work.
In that case, strong physical force should work.
“I guess I'll have to attack the Swamp Serpent's eyes first, just as I initially thought. For that, a bow or long-range magic would be needed……. Huh?”
Radel muttered to himself and then realized something.
Wasn't what he just did long-range magic?
Come to think of it, the target did seem to look like a large eyeball, didn't it……?