VEDR – Chapter 16

The Birthday Celebration of the Duke of Fritillaria 7

“What’s with the smoke?”

As soon as I saw the purple smoke approaching from all directions, I felt a shiver run down my spine for no reason.

Picking up on my mumbling, Lakash raised his eyebrows lightly in bewilderment.

“Smoke?”

It was as if he couldn’t see this unnatural purple smoke.

Normally, I would feel uncomfortable with such a Lakash, but I was unaffected about it at this moment.

Without blinking, I stared at the purple smoke as it began to form a thin film on one wall.

The sight was truly horrifying that sweat dripped down my back.

“Miss Dianthus?”

Lakash called out quizzically, seemingly suspicious of me as I stared at the wall in horror.

But I couldn’t bring myself to look back.

I felt fear at the predator on the wall in front of me, as if it would attack me the moment I turned my back.

—There was a painting of a green two-headed snake on the wall.

From what I heard later, it was the picture of a demon that one of the Dukes of Fritillaria killed.

In order to pass on the valor of their ancestors, the walls of each basement room were covered with paintings of demons that had been killed by members of the Dukedom.

As I stared at the painting with fear, I felt the black eyes of the snake glint.

“Wh-!”

I shrieked uncontrollably.

―――Instantly, the wall on which the painting of the snake had been painted collapsed with a crash.

“Kyaahhhh!”

Was Celia’s scream caused by the collapse of the wall, or by the creature that emerged from the wall?

As Celia fell to her knees screaming, neither Lakash nor I moved.

Not moving was probably the best way forward, and so I just stared at the crumbling wall amidst the screams and hiss.

—In between the crumbling rubble, a two-headed snake demon appeared – so large that I had to look up.

The two-headed snake was coiled up and leaning on its sickle head, but the two heads were taller than mine.

An unnatural shallow breath escaped from my mouth.

In a word – fear.

The black eyes of the demon were staring at me from the closest distance.

When those cold eyes stared at me, I couldn’t move as if my limbs were bound.

And in an instant, I realized our power relationship.

The two-headed snake was the predator, and I was the prey.

I began to tremble, and I couldn’t bring myself to use magic to resist.

I could only assume the worst, that the snake would swallow me before I could move a finger. Then I heard an usual chilly voice.

“I see. So you used the pictures on the wall as a medium to transfer the same kind of demon. This is … It’s quite interesting.”

As Lakash spoke, he took off the white gloves he was wearing and threw them on the floor.

Then he raised his hands gracefully, as if conducting an orchestra.

“Magic Circle Reveal!”

With Lakash’s command, a black magic circle with a radius of about two meters appeared at his feet, with Lakash in the center.

“Fire Magic <Hatsu 2> hya, hya!”
Then, with a fluid motion, he held up his right hand and shot two magic arrows at the two-headed snake.

The flaming arrow flew straight from Lakash’s hand towards the two-headed snake, scorching the snake’s scales.

“I see. It doesn’t even penetrate scales. It is indeed a high-level double-headed green snake, Siamese Serpent.”

After Lakash nonchalantly confirmed this fact, he held up his right hand again.

“Fire Magic <Shu 2> Flaming Spear!”

―――It was an intermediate magic that a student could not possibly use.

Magic could be divided into three main categories.

Beginner magic <Hatsu>, Intermediate magic <Shu>, and Advanced magic <Ii>.

In addition to these three categories, magic was divided and numbered by attributes such as fire, wind, earth, and water.

For example, “Fire Magic <Shu 1>” means “Beginner Magic of the Fire Attribute, Number 1”.

The numbering was based on the order in which the technique was associated with the world as magic and organized, and has nothing to do with its power.

The power was identified only by the three categories of Hatsu, Shu, and Ii.

And the magic learned at the school was only in Hatsu range, and only a handful of students could master all of it by the time they graduated.

In spite of this, Lakash activated an intermediate magic so effortlessly.

A spear of red-hot flames from Lakash’s right hand pierced the throat of the two-headed green Siamese Serpent.

――― But although the flaming spear sliced some of the demon’s scales, it did not pierce it through.

“Tough. I can’t even penetrate it with intermediate magic.”

Lakash scrutinized it and spoke plainly.

I swallowed a scream of fear in the back of my throat.

…Ahhh, I don’t know the level of this demon, but it must be a high-level demon if it could withstand intermediate magic.

The two-headed green snake, Siamese Serpent, standing five meters in front of me, was large, and each of its scales were shining brightly.

It was proof of a cunning and shrewd demon that had survived for decades and grown to a large size.

The green Siamese Serpent turned one of its heads toward Lakash while the other head continued to stare at me.

Its mouth cracked open and a long, two-pronged tongue emerged.

It flicked its red tongue to confirm my position, then moved its head while spitting its tongue and staring at me squarely.

At that moment, I was so helplessly terrified. I managed to thrust my hands, which should have been stiff, forward and used the only magic I could use.

“F-Fire Magic <Hatsu 1> Fireball, hya!!”

In hindsight, I could have calmly judged how powerful the magic I used was without any deployment of the magic circle because I was so upset. But at that time, I was so terrified that all I could think of was to attack as much as I could.

In the first place, magic was to activate a technique using magical power as energy.

And my magic power was incredibly low for a high-ranking aristocrat.

The fireball that I activated flew towards the demon at a slow speed. Moreover, it passed by the demon and hit the wall behind it before bouncing off.

“… Hah, huh, huh.”

But that one shot took my breath away.

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