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"Rise, Assistant."
With a dazed expression, Dennis took Davian's hand and stood up.
Davian whispered to Dennis, who had naturally gotten closer.
"What would happen if Professor Kinesis found out about this?"
"Wh-What? You..."
"An assistant who almost killed a student with mana acceleration. Are you going to tell the professor it was a mistake too? Like you did to me at first? But do you think the professor will believe that?"
"I-I'm sorry. Please, let's just forget about this..."
"Not for free, Assistant. I almost died just now."
Dennis's face visibly crumpled.
"Wh-What do you want?"
"What would a student want from their assistant? It's obvious."
"What is it?"
"Guidance. Please give me proper guidance. Assistant Dennis."
"What?"
Davian brought his face closer.
A voice only they could hear.
"During practice, I want you to reveal all the psychokinetic magic know-how you have. Without missing a single detail. You need to understand me at a glance. How can you be so slow on the uptake?"
Dennis wore a dazed expression once more.
"Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Y-Yes..."
Davian turned his head and looked at Latia and Roman.
"Alright, let's practice."
"Huh? Okay."
"I thought something else was going to happen."
The three moved to the center where the targets were to start practicing.
Davian stared at Assistant Dennis, who was still standing there blankly.
'Whether you become my ally or not, I'm going to extract all the psychokinetic magic know-how you have.'
Lunchtime, student cafeteria.
Davian was only able to meet Liber now because the psychokinetic magic class in the morning was divided into two groups.
"Liber."
Liber Specula looked dejected.
"Yeah..."
"How did it go? The thing about going to your family to get permission for the expedition."
"The family... said I'm still too young. And the party members who would go on the expedition together are also first-years..."
"So you couldn't get permission?"
Liber hung his head low.
"That's..."
"Why are you hesitating? Tell me quickly. If you couldn't get expedition permission, you should have at least stopped your older brother's expedition. Saying you'd do it later."
"It just so happened that my eldest brother returned to the family for a bit and attended the meeting..."
If the eldest son was present while Liber was claiming the expedition rights...
There was a high possibility that he wouldn't have been able to obtain them.
This task was easier and cleaner than monster subjugation, and the eldest son wouldn't readily give up this chance, where he could achieve great merit, to his youngest brother.
"That won't do. Let's all go together next weekend. Let's all go and get the expedition rights. If nothing else, we can show them our skills there."
"There's no need for that..."
"Are you giving up already without even trying?"
"It's not that..."
Liber paused for a moment, then suddenly lifted his head.
His voice had changed 180 degrees.
"They told me to try if I want to! Steal the trail, take it, do whatever I want! That's what my father said! The head of the family gave me a chance!"
Luna clapped her hands.
"Wow! That's great, Liber. Your father and eldest brother acknowledged you!"
Liber smiled bitterly.
"Not really... It was more like they were completely ignoring me. Like, what can you do? Try if you want. Something like that?"
"Oh..."
"Especially my eldest brother, he was openly sneering."
"I see..."
"But so what? They said I could do it anyway! I will find the last trace of the great mage with my own hands!"
"Ye-Yeah. Anyway, that's great, Liber."
"Thank you, Luna. Thank you, everyone. If you guys weren't with me, I wouldn't have dared to say these things in front of my eldest brother or the head of the family."
Bonita asked.
"So, what's the plan from now on? Are we going to barge into the expedition camp on the weekend and cut down your eldest brother?"
Luna looked at Bonita with surprised eyes.
Bonita was fiddling with the handle of the sword she had placed next to the table.
"Eek! B-Bonita!"
"Just kidding."
"Ah..."
This time, Davian opened his mouth.
"Even if we don't kill him, if a battle breaks out, we should crush him completely."
Luna was surprised again.
"D-Davian! You're joking, right?"
"No, I'm serious."
Liber waved his hands.
"Haha. There's no need to go that far. On the way back to the academy, I already hired a private informant with my own money. I told him to find out the schedule and location of my eldest brother's expedition team in detail."
"Can a private informant tail them without being detected? It's an expedition team led by the eldest son of the Specula family, after all?"
"Heh, don't worry. When hiring an informant, the most important thing is whether you have the eye to recognize an informant who can carry out the job."
Latia tilted her head.
"Are you saying you have that eye?"
"Haha. No. I just hired the most expensive informant. I poured all my allowance for several years into it."
"...O-Oh, okay. Good job."
Liber looked at Davian.
"How did it go with Professor Shirims? Our expedition team."
"What do you mean, how did it go."
It was Shirims, the head of the Magic Department, who first suggested that they go on a quest to find the 12 traces of the Great Mage with Liber.
There was no way he wouldn't give permission.
"Of course, he gave permission. Anyway, we have to go to the professor's conference room together this afternoon. They said we have to have an expedition team launching ceremony or something."
Bellum asked in surprise.
"Really? Are they really doing a full-fledged launching ceremony? With all the professors gathered?"
"Yeah. That way, the cause becomes more substantial. Even if something happens during the competition, Elton Academy will be behind us."
"Oh. A quest competition between 'Specula Family' and 'Elton Academy'?"
"That's not it. We have Liber on our side, after all. Liber is also a member of the Specula family. He even got permission from the family for the quest competition. So now the Specula family is neutral, and it's 'Elton Academy' versus... Hey, Liber. What's your eldest brother's name?"
"Leonel. Leonel Specula."
"Right. It's 'Elton Academy' versus 'Leonel'."
Bellum clapped his hands.
"Oh! I feel like our side is cooler!"
"Right. Now the cause is perfect. The important thing is our skills. The other side isn't some second or third-year student from the academy, after all."
Latia nodded slowly.
"Sounds fun."
Bonita started fiddling with the handle of her sword again.
"I know, right?"
Liber smiled brightly and shouted.
"As expected! You're not intimidated at all, even though the opponent is an adult? Amazing! I'm glad I stuck with you guys!"
"Hmm... Stick? I knew it. You planned to approach us all along, didn't you?"
"Huh? No, no. Bellum. Why would friends do that to each other? We just got closer while eating together. Right?"
"Yeah, right. You suddenly waddled up to us while we were eating."
"Tha-That's..."
"Tell me honestly. It's okay."
"...Right. It was my judgment that it would be good to become friends with you."
"You're a very calculated guy, huh."
"You said it was okay! You told me to be honest!"
"Who said anything?"
"O-Oh, okay..."
That evening.
The first-year professor's conference room.
One side of the long oval conference table was cleared, forming a U-shape.
The professors sat around the U-shaped table, and the seven members of Davian's group stood in front of it.
Professor Mateo was finishing the long inaugural address.
"...Therefore, the validity of participating in the Specula family's expedition project has been secured. Furthermore, this endeavor to uncover the possibility that the old legend of the Great Mage might be true is indeed a task that Elton Academy, the continent's premier educational and research institution, must undertake. Thus, we grant full authority over this expedition to the 'Grey Bear Expedition Team,' composed of first-year academy students who have been interested in and have been investigating and analyzing this matter from the start. And with the unanimous approval of all first-year tenured and associate professors gathered here, we hereby authorize the launch of the 'Grey Bear Expedition Team' for the 'Twelve Traces of the Great Mage Expedition.'"
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Professor Shirims slowly clapped his hands together.
"I've been at the academy for a long time, but this is the first time a first-year student has formed an expedition team and held a launching ceremony."
Professor Wendy chimed in.
"Isn't it because this year's first-year students are exceptionally outstanding?"
"Anyway, it's something to look forward to. I'm a bit worried, but Professor Shirims, the head of the Magic Department, told me to trust and entrust them. I guess we'll have to see."
This was no longer just an adventure where friends gathered and set off.
It had become an official expedition with the name of Elton Academy on the line.
The officially launched expedition team had the duty to enhance the honor of Elton Academy, and Elton Academy would take responsibility for all situations that might arise during the expedition.
As long as they did not do anything that directly threatened the royal family, no one could arbitrarily detain or bring Elton Academy's official expedition team to trial.
It was literally an area of extraterritoriality.
This was the position and influence that Elton Academy had within the Kingdom of Alcancia.
Professor Shirims looked around at the seven members of the expedition team.
"Now, you have become an expedition team representing Elton Academy. Whatever you do during the expedition, the academy will clean up after you. But that doesn't mean you have no responsibility. The academy will resolve most of the things you do externally, but at the same time, we can refer you to the academy's disciplinary committee at any time. Don't forget that you ultimately bear the fundamental responsibility."
"Yes!"
This time, Professor Stella, who was serving as the acting head of the Swordsmanship Department, stepped forward.
"Also, an expedition is an expedition, and academics are academics. There should be not even a slight neglect of academics due to this expedition. Understood?"
"Yes!"
Professor Mateo said.
"The expedition should utilize weekends and the summer vacation period that will begin at the end of next month. You know that all first-year students are assigned special summer vacation assignments. This expedition is in place of the special summer vacation assignment for you seven. Make sure to produce meaningful results before the vacation ends."
"Yes!"
Finally, Professor Shirims looked intently at Davian.
"Be sure to succeed."
"Yes."
There are several detailed subjects in the Elton Academy Magic Department.
Four Elemental Magic.
Psychokinetic Magic.
Healing Magic.
Summoning Magic.
Spiritual Magic.
And...
Mental Magic, which all students find the most difficult.
Of course, the other subjects aren't easy either.
Psychokinetic magic can only be started if you can read mana, and the mechanism of healing magic is also incredibly complex.
Summoning magic can only summon a lower-level monster if you completely master the complicated magic circle formulas, and spiritual magic cannot even be attempted if you don't have an affinity for spirits in the first place.
However, the subject that torments the 1st-year students of the Magic Department the most was Mental Magic.
Wednesday.
Mental Magic class.
While most of the students were looking gloomy, the professor in charge opened the door to the lecture hall and entered.
Billian Discipulus.
A man in his late 40s with long, black hair tied back.
He was quite handsome, but the content of his classes was too difficult to make him popular with the female students.
Most students just made a disgusted face inside whenever they saw Professor Billian.
Davian looked at Professor Billian, who was standing at the podium.
'...The culprit of that lich mental magic incident.'
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