The Departure

In an unremarkable, uninhabited valley in the Morian Mountains along the eastern border of the Thorn Empire, an army of tens of thousands was stationed.

After more than ten days of continuous rain, the sun had finally come out. General Keli and Magician Abraham sat in an open space outside their tent, drinking their morning tea. Even under such harsh conditions, Magician Abraham stubbornly clung to the lifestyle of the Empire's upper class.

The army had entered this uninhabited border region twenty days earlier. After such a long wait, morale had inevitably begun to wane. But the ones who complained the most were the mages traveling with the army.

With his boots sinking into filthy mud, Abraham found that his morning tea seemed to taste faintly moldy as he sat across from a boor like Keli. They were supposed to have set out yesterday, according to plan. He couldn't understand what the uncouth man in front of him was waiting for.

"The reports from my men are clear. Eli is a Level 3 mage, and his son has just advanced to become a Level 4 Knight. The rebels in Tris Province are enough to tie up the entire southern force of the Feymont Empire. If you don't set out soon, aren't you afraid of missing your chance?" Abraham finally said coldly.

"Haha, a day or two won't make a difference. Come, let's have some more tea..."

"General..." A junior officer handed General Keli a small scroll. "A secret message just arrived by White-headed Messenger Crow!"

General Keli picked up the scroll and checked that the wax seal was intact before carefully opening it.

Seeing his deeply furrowed brow, Abraham couldn't help asking, "What does it say?"

General Keli didn't answer. Instead, he handed the scroll to Magician Abraham.

"...What! Eli was killed on the spot, and everyone in the Tris Family is dead except Derrick, who was captured with serious injuries..."

"There were no rebels at all. Eli's farce was over in a single morning!" General Keli said coldly.

"That fool! He'd spent so long plotting, yet he couldn't even make a ripple." Abraham looked furious.

"Hmph. The Feymont Empire might have known about our plans all along and been waiting for us to walk into a trap..."

This time, Magician Abraham thought there was something odd about the way General Keli was looking at him.

Dean Devis's laboratory at Tris Magic Academy.

"So, you're saying Eli was killed by nothing more than a Twelve-Element Magic spell?!" Victor's face was full of astonishment.

"And a Tri-Ice Spear..." Donald added.

"What a brilliant idea! Absolutely brilliant..." Victor's face flushed as he turned to Devis. "See? I told you ages ago that natural history was more fascinating than magic! The Academy should allocate more funding to natural history research..."

Dean Devis ignored Victor and continued examining the Magic Staff in his hand. "This material... Could it be..."

"One quarter Mithril," Donald answered.

"One quarter Mithril?! Are you sure?" Victor snatched the Magic Staff from Devis and turned it over, inspecting it carefully.

"How did you get so much Mithril?" Even Dean Devis, usually so composed, sounded a little unsteady.

"I've done some business with the Gnomes. Just like the magic crystals I used to pay my tuition, I got them by selling inventions."

"A few dozen magic crystals are one thing..." Victor weighed the staff in his hand. "But a kilogram of Mithril is something else entirely. Do you know how many magic crystals that much Mithril is worth?"

"Over ten thousand?" Donald ventured cautiously.

"You couldn't buy it for a hundred thousand!" Victor shouted.

"Then I'd better give it back. I didn't realize I was getting such an unfair deal..." Donald hadn't expected the price difference between Mithril in the Central Land and the Extreme North Country to be so enormous. The Gnome sisters really had gone a little overboard this time.

"Once you've got it, how can you give it back?" Victor clutched the Magic Staff, then seemed to realize he'd said the wrong thing and hurried to add, "I mean, Dwarves are very proud. Giving it back would be an insult..."

Donald was speechless.

Dean Devis slowly rose to his feet and opened a side door in the laboratory. "Come on. Let's see just how powerful it is."

Donald followed Dean Devis inside. The room was even bigger than the laboratory, almost completely bare and spacious. In the middle stood a metal mannequin covered in all kinds of marks, clearly used for testing the power of magic.

"This mannequin is sturdier than the one in the Magic Laboratory. It can withstand a Level 5 Knight's full-strength blow," Dean Devis explained.

In fact, as a third-year student, Donald wasn't even allowed in the Magic Laboratory.

Donald took the Magic Staff from Victor, aimed it at the mannequin, and pushed, pulled, and turned.

Boom! The sound of the explosion rang even louder in the enclosed room.

Dean Devis and Victor stepped forward to inspect the mannequin at the same time.

"That was stronger than a Level 3 Knight's full-strength blow, and the force was more concentrated!" Devis's voice trembled slightly.

"And from this distance, too..." Victor added.

"Exploding Ice Beads weren't this powerful before..." Donald still couldn't quite figure it out.

"That's the effect of the Mithril. When magic is surrounded by Mithril of such high concentration in such a small space, its power increases several times over," Dean Devis explained. "Normally, no one casts magic inside a container made of Mithril, because there's no point."

"Exactly. If you hadn't spread the Mithril evenly throughout the staff, but instead used it only in the chamber near the handle where the explosion is generated, the power would be even greater. The Mithril in the front half is actually wasted, apart from making the staff a little lighter," Victor added.

Donald nodded silently. Victor had a point.

"Did you come up with that Twelve-Element Magic yourself?" Devis asked.

"I had a sudden idea while I was building the model. I even hurt my hand at the time. I only thought of using it that way when I dueled Aldrich. That gave me the idea for this..."

"I remember Vivian also studied both water and fire..." Devis said, then walked out of the laboratory and told his assistant to fetch Vivian.

Vivian, who taught meditation, had also been injured in the battle the day before. She still looked a little pale.

"Dean Devis, Professor Victor. Oh, Donald, you're here too." Vivian warmly gave Donald a hug.

The mature, alluring woman's body gave Donald quite a jolt. For a moment, he worried that she would notice something was off from his expression, but fortunately, Vivian didn't keep her eyes on him for long.

"Dean, you wanted to see me...?"

"Vivian, if I remember correctly, you study both water and fire magic?" Devis asked.

"Yes, Dean."

"Donald, describe the model behind your Exploding Ice Bead spell to Professor Vivian."

It was a basic Twelve-element Defense Model, with only different Divine Elements used in the inner and outer layers. Vivian understood immediately.

"Be careful. The explosion could hurt your hand."

"It's fine. My magic resistance is much higher than yours," Vivian said playfully. Then she held out her right hand without any preparation, and an ice bead appeared in her palm. It was considerably larger than Donald's Exploding Ice Bead.

Pfft. The ice bead burst apart, and a tiny flame flickered through it.

"How could that happen?" Victor wondered.

Devis furrowed his brow. Only after seeing Professor Vivian out did he slowly speak.

"Donald, it seems your talent is unusual. You don't need to chant, and every kind of magic becomes more powerful in your hands. This Exploding Ice Bead spell is no exception. To keep it so small and make the explosion so powerful... perhaps only you can do it."

Before Donald left, Devis offered him some words of encouragement, saying that the Academy's legacy would depend on him. Donald felt that was still a long way off. Still, it was clear that the Dean remained somewhat discouraged by the failure to popularize the magic rifle.

Donald wasn't affected by Dean Devis's mood at all. On the contrary, if it weren't for Victor, he wouldn't have wanted to reveal the secret of the Magic Staff in the first place. A secret technique was better than one everyone knew.

From that day on, Donald became a star student at the Magic Academy. Students he didn't even know greeted him whenever he came and went, which made him uncomfortable. Fortunately, Wesley treated him just as he always had. On several occasions, he even borrowed Donald's amazing Magic Staff and swaggered around the Academy with it. Donald knew Wesley couldn't use it anyway, so he let him.

Lucia returned to the Imperial Capital with Kaz on the day the rebellion ended.

A few days after disappearing, Dick—the one who had injured Kelly at the tournament—sought Donald out with his face covered in bruises and his right arm broken too. (He'd probably done it to himself or been beaten by his family.) He confessed that Carl had misled him into doing all those things and tearfully begged forgiveness. Donald listened in silence, then turned and left without saying a word. Dick remained terrified, and eventually couldn't take it anymore. He withdrew from the Magic Academy.

Richard spent more than ten days recovering at the Dwarf Laboratory. Once he was well, he joined Kelly in undergoing Adarua's devilish training.

After the unexpected events at the Martial Magic Tournament, their enthusiasm for training surged. Adarua simply started treating them like Dwarves, and made the training harder every day.

News of the Alloy experiments reached the Extreme North Country. The Engineering Academy replied soon afterward, praising the experiments highly and stating that once the results were put into practice, they would greatly improve efficiency in the mining districts.

Natia Vida even sent Donald a letter of thanks. Afterward, the Gnome sisters and Adarua invited Donald, Richard, and Kelly to celebrate at a restaurant near the laboratory. Adarua even drank until she could barely stand.

As for the Magic Staff, Donald insisted on returning it to the Gnome sisters, but neither side would back down. In the end, they compromised and remade it, using pure Mithril in the reaction chamber for the Exploding Ice Bead, while mixing only a small amount of Mithril into the Dwarf Fine Steel used for the other parts to ensure their strength. That made it even more powerful while saving more than half the Mithril, so Donald accepted it without a qualm.

In mid-May, the Magic Academy received an official letter from the Imperial Capital inviting Donald and Wesley to attend the Martial Magic Tournament, which would be held there at the end of the month. Roger from the Knight Academy was also on the list. In addition, the letter invited Dean Devis, Victor, and several other Magic Academy professors.

Although the royal family hadn't said so outright, anyone paying attention could tell that all these people had refused to yield to the Tris Family on the day the rebellion began, and had even contributed to putting it down. Presumably, they were being summoned to receive their rewards.

The day after the letter arrived, a party of more than a dozen people set out at dawn in four carriages led by Dean Devis, heading toward Coennas, the Imperial Capital.

For the first time, Donald was leaving Tris Province.