I just updated another chapter earlier too!
The battle ended in a matter of minutes.
Walking leisurely away from the battlefield was a man with dull gray hair.
There had been one irregularity at the very end, but as it turned out, this was the result.
Just as he'd declared, he'd completed his mission and left the academy.
All that remained was to report to the boss — and with his work finished, the man smiled and murmured.
"…………No, I'm beat."
All while shedding a tremendous amount of blood from his body.
"That kid is insane. Sorry, but honestly, I underestimated him. He said there'd be a risk, but I was thinking 'maybe I'll get a little hurt or something' — and look at this."
Yes, he had done exactly as he'd declared. He'd shown a willingness to fight, but his objective from the very start had been to disengage. By dangling that possibility, he'd gained the upper hand in the battle, and he had succeeded in making his escape — just as he'd planned.
The problem was what came after that.
Over there... Ermes had probably seen the man's true strength and caught on partway through.
That he couldn't win. That in this situation, it was impossible to prevent the man's victory condition — his escape.
And having grasped that, what did Ermes do?
"That guy,
switched
his target
on me...!"
If preventing his escape was impossible, then the next best option was...
——"I won't let you get away for free."
With that, he changed objectives and switched to magic better suited to the task.
This was the result — the man's current state.
As for the blood flowing from his entire body — honestly, that wasn't much of a problem. He just needed to receive healing magic back at base.
The problem was the foreign magic power still crawling all over his body. It still carried a quality akin to a curse, continuing to corrode him from within.
"Fire, ice... lightning too? Come on — aren't these effects from 'Erosion'-type magic that Dragon Species or Phantom Species use? How the hell does she have such a broad arsenal — no, how the hell did she even pull it off? Damn it, she hit me with every single—
...performance degradation...
—she had up her sleeve...!"
This much couldn't be healed on the spot.
All he could do was return to base and carefully take his time with a
...disenchantment...
There were few mages who specialized in that kind of work, so full recovery would likely take even longer.
...In the meantime, delays to the plans centering on him were inevitable.
"How combat-experienced is she, anyway? If I'd broken through the barrier a little faster, could I have avoided taking all this...? No — impossible. That was her full power given the situation."
Even as he analyzed and cursed under his breath... the man smiled.
"I mean, it's not like I could have used
...Magic Inscription Liberation...
right there... Fine. I'll admit it. She got me."
If anything, he should be giving her credit — she had squeezed out every last drop of possible results from that encounter.
Major delays to the plan were painful... but the gains were there to match. He had been able to identify the single most dangerous opponent at this stage.
"...How interesting. You're on."
And so, the man let a grin spread across his face. Even through that languid air about him, his smile clearly followed a deliberate will.
"Still, my report list for the Boss just keeps piling up... Ugh, painful, exhausting, tedious. That's exactly why I didn't want to fight... Well, I guess if I handle the next one right, it all works out."
There were plenty of lessons to take from this fight.
But he had survived. Which meant that, armed with those lessons, all he had to do was play it differently next time and avoid the same mistakes.
Holding fast to that conviction, the man spoke one last thing.
"'Learning' and 'evolution' — that's our weapon. The very privilege the nobles threw away. Isn't that right, Boss...!"
He kept talking, as though to drown out the pain.
And then, unseen by anyone, the man faded into the darkness.
◆
At the same time.
Ermes, too, had finished his battle and was making his way back toward the academy.
"...ngh."
He, likewise, was streaming blood from wounds all over his body.
"...Just as he declared... he really did put a serious hurting on me."
Of course, he had wrested results worth the cost. Judging from the man's tone and the content of their exchange, there was no doubt he held a considerably important position within the organization. Putting him out of commission for a while would certainly have consequences going forward. Being able to roughly deduce their objectives was also a gain.
But it was equally true that he had been made to pay the exact price the man had promised. He hadn't even managed to achieve his original goal of capturing the target.
The wounds themselves could be healed gradually with Enhanced universal magic.
From there, Ermes's thoughts turned not to his own injuries, but rather to the man's magic.
"...That magic..."
It was magic of an entirely different caliber—powerful and versatile. The man's footwork and technique were impeccable; as a human combatant, he was the most formidable opponent Ermes had faced besides his master.
The proof was that Ermes had fought without letting his guard down and still ended up in this state.
But more than that. What was most shocking to him was—
"Your magic..."
"...analysis..."
"...I..."
"...couldn't..."
"...do it."
After his time at the academy, his ability to understand Bloodline Magic had improved dramatically.
He had believed that by now, he could read at least fragments of any spell.
Yet, as if to flatly deny that notion, that magic had refused to yield a single thing to Ermes's perception.
There had always been magic that Ermes couldn't fully analyze. The third Bloodline Magic that his master, Rose, possessed was the foremost example.
But that was different.
That magic... had felt like something else entirely—not quite the same thing.
Just as the man had said, it was fundamentally different from any magic Ermes knew. He had sensed something improper, something he could not put his finger on.
"...So the 'depth' of this country isn't as shallow as I thought, huh?"
He chewed on the man's words.
On that point, too, he would certainly need to reassess his understanding.
"...Haha."
Even so, he laughed.
Rather, he should be grateful to the man. For having shown him firsthand what that truly meant.
That there were still unknown magics out there—for him, that was a cause for exhilaration if nothing else, never a reason for despair. It simply meant there were heights still left to reach.
Surely from here on, he would be fighting things far greater than that man, starting with him himself.
He burned with fighting spirit, thinking exactly that. By now, the bulk of the healing had finally been completed, so he quickened his pace just slightly—when he noticed.
"...Ermes, sir."
He saw a golden-haired girl walking toward him from ahead.
"Lady Sara. What are you doing here?"
"I was worried since you weren't around... Are, um, you all right?"
Naturally, she had noticed that he had been injured until just moments ago.
He smiled to reassure her, and Ermes continued.
"I was tracking the mastermind who set Lord Clyde on me. ...I'm sorry—I let them get away. But I did manage to extract some results and information, so I'll fill you in on that later—"
"W-Wait, what!?"
"Regardless, let's calm the chaos at the academy first. The surveillance on Lord Clyde too—oh."
Sara looked visibly startled, bombarded with information beyond what she had imagined.
Hardly paying attention to her shock, Ermes moved to head back to the academy—but then, his body swayed.
He must have lost too much blood. As he pitched forward, about to collapse, Sara hurriedly caught him.
"...Ah, sorry about that. Actually, come to think of it, this kind of situation keeps happening, doesn't it?"
Perhaps it was a consequence of the nature of her magic, but it seemed that whenever he was around Sara, he had a tendency to let his guard down, banking on her recovery to handle things.
With that thought in mind, Ermes tried to push himself upright, but—
"Hk—!"
"...Sara?"
At that moment, she did something unexpected.
Far from letting go of Ermes... she tightened her embrace around him.
"If it's alright with you, I'd appreciate it if you could release me and also provide some healing. With your magic, I can still move, so—"
"No... it's fine now."
In response to his request, Sara gently refused.
"The academy situation is under control with Katya at the center, and the B-class members are cooperating as well, so there's plenty of help."
"Huh...?"
"So... you can rest now. Because of the change you made, there's no longer any need for you to carry this burden alone."
"!"
Her words succinctly captured everything he had gained by coming here.
"Leave the rest to us. I'll provide healing as well... so please, rest easy."
"...Right."
Her words, and the unmistakable trust behind them. He let go of the tension he had been holding. But it turned out he was more depleted than he had imagined, and his consciousness began to fade almost immediately.
Through the haze, he could hear her voice.
"Thank you, Ermes."
"Um... for what, exactly?"
"I'm sorry. There's just... so much that happened, I can't put it all into words properly, but... anyway, truly... truly, thank you so much...!"
Her voice was faintly unsteady, slightly damp.
From there, she tightened her arms around him with a new kind of strength.
"So, um... just for now. Please, let me stay like this for a little while."
After hearing those words through her dissolving thoughts—
Wrapped in warm magic and a soft fragrance, Ermes let her consciousness slip away.
With this, the School Arc draws to a close.
What's left are the epilogue and the bridge to Chapter 3—most likely two more episodes to wrap up Chapter 2!