Water Magician

Chapter 95: Test of Strength

After leaving the Imperial City in the morning and having a lunch break on the way, the Hero party arrived at the Third Magic Training Ground after 2:00 in the afternoon.

The Imperial Guards who escorted them from the Imperial City quickly turned back without saying a word after the group of carriages entered the grounds of the training ground.

The heroes didn’t know but there were rumors that the magic training ground was a place that was strictly restricted except for those with special authorization and that all others who enter would be bombarded with magic, no questions asked.

Of course, it was just a rumor.

Although it’s true that Oscar, who has a bad mood and gets annoyed by little things, fired at the Imperial Guards before … but there are many kinds of people in the world.

When Hero Roman opened the carriage door and got off, there were already three men and women standing there.

“Hero Roman-dono, welcome to the Magic Training Ground. I am Fiona Rubin Bornemisza, the chief of the Imperial Magic Division. We welcome Roman-dono and his delegation.”

Fiona placed her hand on her chest and gave an imperial salute.

“T-thank you for welcoming me.”

Roman could only squeeze out that greeting in return.

Maurice, the scout, noticed that Fiona’s eyes dulled.

Then he nudged the flank of the priest Graham, who was the negotiator, with his elbow.

“Graham, Roman.”

It seemed that was sufficient for Graham.

“My name is Graham and I am responsible for negotiations. I am grateful to Her Royal Highness for welcoming us in person.”

Graham stood next to Roman and returned the greeting.

“Eh … a princess?”

Such a mutter could be heard from behind Graham. From the voice, it was Alicia, the Wind-Attribute Magician.

Graham sighed in his heart, but his expression did not fluctuate.

“This is not a court, but a military training ground. As such, there is no need for any formal speech. Behind me are my adjutants Marie and Jurgen. They will take care of your needs. However, since this is a training ground, I believe there will be many inconveniences, so I apologize for that in advance.”

With a different tone, Fiona continued and introduced Marie and Jurgen behind her.

“Of course. We are the ones who are requesting guidance from the Explosive Blaze Magician. Don’t worry about any inconvenience. So … where is Oscar-dono …?”

“Oscar is making adjustments to the training menu. He’ll be reporting to me tomorrow morning and I will announce your visit at that time. Can you wait until then, Hero-dono?”

The Hero Roman was flustered as he was suddenly addressed at the end.

“Y-yes, don’t worry about us.”

“I see. Thank you for your magnanimity, Roman-dono.”

Fiona thus glossed over Oscar’s absence.

(Roman … you’re still too young.)

Graham was the only one who noticed that and sighed in his heart.

“Everyone is probably tired from being shaken in the carriage for half a day. We have prepared rooms in the annex so why don’t you get some rest? Marie shall guide you.”

“Princess, please wait.”

It was the Hero Roman who interrupted Fiona’s offer.

“Roman-dono, is something wrong?”

“If possible, could you allow us to watch the exercises?”

“Ho …”

Fiona squinted a little at Roman’s request.

“I heard that His Majesty allowed the mock combat with Oscar. Did he also permitted to watch the division’s exercises?”

“Ah … no …”

Roman backed down unintentionally. Emperor Rupert VI certainly only allowed a simulated battle with Oscar.

“Pardon me … His Majesty permitted us to enter the training ground. That is to say, I interpret that as His Majesty allowing us to observe the exercises.”

It was Graham who chimed in.

Of course, they did not have an in-depth discussion within the party, but it was a shame if they came so far but did not watch the exercises.

And with no telling when they could have mock combat with Oscar, it won’t be easy to kill time.

“Hmm … Let’s do this then. We will have a magic battle between your representative and our representative, and if the results are satisfactory, we will show you our exercises. That way, I can tell my division members that you are people who deserve to watch our exercises. What do you think, Hero-dono?”

Fiona directed the question to Hero Roman once again.

Although they announced that Graham was the negotiator, it was obvious that the Hero Roman would be the center of the conversation as long as it was the ‘Hero party’.

And Roman was in a state of being quite unsteady with the lack of experience and Fiona’s beauty.

(This princess thoroughly pokes at Roman’s inexperience. How troublesome.)

Graham had already sighed in his heart several times today.

However, another person answered without permission, faster than Roman, and before Graham could.

“That’s more my language. I’ll go.”

It was Gordon, the Fire-Attribute Magician in the Hero party.

(As if I will allow these inferior Central Nations Magicians to make a fool out of us? I’ll show them the overwhelming difference in power and make this princess speechless.)

Gordon was confident. And when that happens, he can’t be stopped anymore.

“So this Magician is the representative. We accept. Let’s go straight into the training ground.”

Fiona smiled and started walking at the forefront.

The Hero party was completely caught up in Fiona’s pace.

But only Graham was aware that they were caught.

On the contrary, some of the other members were even looking interested.

That made Graham’s emotions even more frustrated.

At this point, Graham could no longer hide his inner feelings and he had a sour expression on.

(Not only Roman, but Gordon too! In the first place, why should we have such a magic battle? To demonstrate to the division members? That logic is flawed! But … it’s already too late no matter what I say now.)

This would likely expose a lot of the Hero party’s hands. Graham thought so.

At this point, his stomach was already hurting.

In any case, everything was secondary as long as Roman became stronger.

“Our representative will be … hmm … Klimt, you will represent. It’s a magic mock combat.”

“Yes!”

Fiona nominated a 20-year-old young man from the Second Company.

“Gordon is a Fire-Attribute Magician. Our Klimt is also a Fire-Attribute Magician. I think there is something we can learn from each other. Graham-dono is also a recovery type and we have excellent recovery Magicians too so it will be safe unless it is instant death.”

Apart from Gordon and Klimt, and the judge, everyone else watched from the spectator seats.

The two stood at a distance of about 20 meters.

“I, Jurgen Bartel, will be the judge of the battle. Instant death attacks are not allowed. The match will end if one party surrenders, loses consciousness, or it is determined that they can’t continue the battle. Gordon, are you ready?”

“Yeah.”

Gordon bluntly answered Jurgen’s question.

“Klimt, are you ready?”

“Yes, please guide me.”

Klimt nodded and replied.

“Then, the match begins!”

Gordon was the first to start.

“<Fireball>”

In the first place, he didn’t think that Magicians from the Central Nations could be his opponent.

He planned to take the lead and finish it quickly.

But …

“<Fireball>”

Klimt struck the fireball released by Gordon with his own fireball and extinguished it.

“Hmm, so you do at least cast without chanting? But how about this? <Fireball> <Fireball> <Fireball>”

Gordon fired three fireballs.

But even then …

“<Fireball> <Fireball> <Fireball>”

Similarly, Klimt greeted him with a triple fireball.

“This …! <Fire Javelin> <Fire Javelin>”

Gordon shot out two fire javelins with high penetrative power.

Even then …

“<Fire Javelin> <Fire Javelin>”

Klimt also retaliated with a double shot of fire javelins.

That was when Gordon snapped.

“That’s it! I don’t care what happens after! <Blade Lang …”

“<Fireball>”

Klimt shot a fireball before Gordon finished chanting his trigger word.

“<Barrier>”

Gordon interrupted his large move and intercepted the fireball by deploying a magic barrier.

Although he could cast by saying the trigger word without chanting, it took a certain amount of time to activate the trigger word of a big skill.

The reality was that a fireball could be generated and fired in one second while it takes three seconds to generate and fire off a big skill.

Even so, that duration is almost unnoticeable compared to chanting a long chant … but Klimt could fire fireballs in that short time, which hindered Gordon’s big moves.

If Gordon tried to release a big move, he would be disturbed by a fireball, and if he used spells with fast generation speed such as a fireball, it would be intercepted by a similar spell … It was a situation that Gordon had never expected.

(How is it possible that he can match my magic? It should have been over the moment I started to generate my spell … His magic generation speed is faster than me …? Impossible! It’s common sense that the Central Nations’ magicians can only use weak magic with long chants! But this guy, not only can he perform no chant, he can generate magic faster than I do? I can’t accept that!)

However, the reality was that all of Gordon’s magic was intercepted or blocked.

Gordon was impatient in his heart, and so was Klimt.

No, Klimt was even more flustered.

It was from a lack of experience compared to Gordon.

It has only been six months since he joined the division and it wasn’t until he joined that he was able to use decent magic.

His usage of magic itself was made as natural as breathing by the blood-spitting training in the division, but his experience in interpersonal combat was woefully lacking.

Of course, division training mainly revolved around interpersonal combat, but that was still training.

He had not faced a division member who wouldn’t blink an eye if he killed him like Gordon this time … well, except for the deputy chief.

Although the division had only been formed for half a year, there had been actual battlefield experiences and many monster subjugations. Klimt also took part in monster subjugations.

However, as for actual battlefields … he was injured during the prior training and shed too much blood at that time … The injury healed quickly with the help of Extra Heal, but the blood loss took some time to recover so he could not participate in the war.

In other words, he had less experience of facing danger to his life compared to the other members of the division.

Klimt was aware of it and wanted to do something about it, but the division did not participate in battlefields often.

In fact, it has not been dispatched to a large-scale battle since then.

His experience was lacking …

That was why Fiona chose Klimt.

For Fiona, it didn’t matter if he won or lost.

Because what they were scheduled to do wouldn’t change no matter who won or lost.

In that case, a battle that would benefit the members of the division would be good.

Klimt lacked the experience of a serious match.

Then, he could gain that experience here.

That was the reason why she chose Klimt.

Klimt, who lacked experience, had no idea how to break through the deadlock.

However, he couldn’t increase his number of moves any further either.

Their magic generation speed was equal.

If Gordon used a big move, he would probably lose and might even die … In that case, he made sure that Gordon could never use a big move.

Klimt made a decision.

While unleashing magic, he began to walk step by step toward Gordon.

(Wh-what is he think, this guy? Why is he approaching? His magic generation speed is faster so he wants to compete with that? What a joke!)

Gordon mumbled internally.

It was a complete misunderstanding and he was just trying to close the distance because he didn’t want to give him room to activate a big move …

“<Fireball> <Fireball> <Fireball> <Fireball> <Fireball> …”

Klimt was no longer focused on casting just a single fireball.

He fired fireballs at Gordon and approached him step by step.

The distance between them was already less than 10 meters.

At that time, the ground between the two suddenly exploded and smoke danced through the air.

“Huh?”

Klimt exclaimed but immediately laid flat on the ground.

A moment later, a spear of fire passes through the place where Klimt was.

Klimt stood up in a hurry, but Gordon, who looked like a demon with a spear of fire, stood in front of him and was about to swing the spear of fire down onto Klimt.

“That’s enough!”

The sharp call from Jurgen pierced the still in the air.

“Winner, Gordon.”

Klimt’s life was saved.

Gordon barely managed to return to the Hero party in the spectators’ seats while being out of breath.

Replacing Gordon, Fiona, the division chief, left off the audience seats and entered the training ground.

“Klimt, good work.”

Fiona called out to Klimt, who remained at the same spot he was defeated and couldn’t move.

“His Highness, I’m sorry I didn’t meet your expectations.”

Klimt stood up in a hurry and apologized for losing.

He was vexed that Fiona nominated him as a division representative but he lost.

“It’s okay. Look at Gordon.”

“Ha?”

Klimt did as he was told by Fiona and turned to see Gordon who had returned to the spectator seats.

However, he didn’t notice was anything in particular and couldn’t understand Fiona’s intentions.

“Gordon-dono is already panting, but Klimt, can you still fight?”

“Yes. I can do another match right now!”

“On the battlefield, survival is the most important thing. To do that, you need endurance. The most important thing for a Magician on the battlefield is endurance. It is endurance that supports the ability to continue the battle. And you have shown that you are superior compared to the Magician from the Hero Party. Well done.”

Fiona praised Klimt.

“Th-thank you!”

“All you need is experience. Slowly accumulate more experience.”

Then Fiona returned to the spectator seats. Following her, Klimt also returned to the second company at the spectator seats.

Compliment to develop. That was Fiona’s teaching method.