[V8C5] Sinking the Strongest Master and Disciple Combo

After returning to reality from the world of mathematics, Monica lifted her still-dizzy head and looked around.

The crew members, despite looking tense due to the approaching water dragon, showed no signs of panic. Each one had taken their position and was performing their respective duties.

The dark-skinned man——referred to as the vice-captain by those nearby——was scouting out the front with a spyglass, and began shouting angrily.

“Whoa, what the hell is that!? I’ve never seen one so huge!”

The vice-captain had gone pale at the sight of the dragon’s silhouette. Monica could not see it from her position in Isaac’s arms, but the size of the dragon was likely to be exceptionally large.

“Ike.”

Isaac had already started the incantation by the time Monica called his name.

Currently, his right eye was closed since reconnaissance magic was designed to project information onto his closed eyelid.

Monica had always found it difficult to process the information from reconnaissance magic and her naked eyes at the same time. And yet, Isaac performed the feat effortlessly.

Now having grasped everything about the target’s movements, Ike muttered a quiet, “I see.”

“Ike, have you noticed something?”

“I think it would be faster to show you directly. Your hand please, Master.”

While holding Monica in his right arm, Isaac took Monica’s hand with his left.

This was the connection required for the sharing spell. Magical circles began to appear on their overlapping fingertips, allowing Isaac to share the reconnaissance results with Monica.

Monica closed both eyes, and dots of light began to appear in her darkened field of view.

One excellent feature of Isaac’s newly developed underwater reconnaissance spell was that it allowed the caster to distinguish between enemies and non-enemies by color. Underwater enemies were marked by dots of light with a bluish tint.

If they had used normal detection magic, their target would likely have been rendered as a large mass of light. However, the high-precision reconnaissance spell revealed the truth.

This was not a single water dragon, but a school of them. There was one slightly larger light at the center, surrounded by a cluster of thirty or so smaller ones.

It was then that Monica understood why the dragon sightings were so inconsistent.

(The smaller dragons formed a school around the larger one.)

As a result, many mistook the school of dragons as an exceptionally large one. The contradictory witness reports were likely due to the school changing formation, which resulted in the shadow of a long neck or huge fins.

“Ike, increase the precision of the reconnaissance spell.”

“Roger that, Master.”

This was the second outstanding feature of the underwater reconnaissance spell developed by Isaac.

As the precision of the magic increased, the dots of light indicating the water dragons transformed into the shapes of individual dragons.

By reading the currents, it was possible to get a clearer reading on the silhouette of each individual dragon. And once you had a vague understanding of its shape, you could narrow down the dragon’s species and more easily identify the position of its weakpoint, the forehead.

When dealing with water dragons, it was common to repel them with cannons or pull them to the surface with harpoons. Few considered aiming for the forehead of a dragon hiding underwater, so such precise information had never been necessary.

However, Monica’s magic excelled in accuracy rather than power, so the detailed information provided by Isaac’s underwater reconnaissance spell was extremely useful.

(This silhouette… the one in the center is a crustacean species. I have to avoid the protected back, but the scales on its belly are relatively thin. The smaller dragons surrounding it are small but resilient, so they won’t go down unless I strike their foreheads.)

Slaying the larger dragon should be enough to scatter the smaller ones. However, it was difficult to target it directly with the smaller dragons surrounding it.

“First, let’s disperse them,” Monica muttered.

Hearing this, Isaac immediately understood her intent and began shouting to the crew.

“It’s gonna shake! Everyone, grab hold!”

Isaac pressed his body against the mast in preparation for the shaking.

Monica closed her eyes again to double check the reconnaissance results, before setting her sights on the dragons, and weaving a fire spell without any incantation.

Shooting a fire spell directly into water was practically pointless unless the spell contained immense power. Thus, Monica enveloped the flames in a thin barrier before launching it at the dragons.

Her composite spell looked like a ball of fire contained within a bubble, which burst upon touching the first dragon, exploding with a sound as loud as cannonfire. The waves rose, causing the ship to sway.

Confused, the smaller dragons began to scatter in all directions. Some simply fled, but a few charged in the direction of the ship, so Monica covered the ship’s hull with a defensive barrier. Even smaller dragons were sometimes capable of poking holes through unprotected ships.

While maintaining the defensive barrier, Monica deployed ice magic underwater, summoning ice spears to pierce the foreheads of the small dragons that had gotten too close to the ship.

Her underwater accuracy was not perfect, since the trajectory of projectiles was affected by many unknown factors. Even so, Monica managed to shoot down five dragons, which began sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

(Recalculating deviation… complete.)

Taking note of the misses on her first try, Monica recalculated the trajectories and launched another volley of ice spears. Again, several of the smaller dragons ended up shot through the forehead.

Compared to her flashy fire magic at the beginning, all of the subsequent spells were incredibly quiet. Monica continued to shoot down the remaining small dragons while keeping the ship protected.

As such, Isaac was the only one who could understand what Monica was doing via the reconnaissance spell.

Watching the lights indicating the dragons flicker out one after another, Isaac let out a sigh of admiration.

“…Amazing.”

However, Monica’s concentration on shooting down the dragons caused her to miss her disciple’s murmur.

After losing a great number of its posse, the large crustacean-type dragon suddenly changed its movement patterns——turning tail in an attempt to escape.

Monica opened her eyes to look at her disciple.

“I’m glad you’re here, Ike.”

“…Huh?”

“Thanks to you, I can do so much more.”

Monica closed her eyes again to check the reconnaissance results. At the same time, she released the defensive barrier that had been protecting the ship. With this, Monica could cast two spells at once.

The decorations of Monica’s staff made a light and crisp jingle. In an instant, she had invoked a spear of flames boosted with a multiple reinforcement formula. This appeared right beneath the large water dragon, enveloped in a thin barrier.

Crustacean-type dragons boasted tough armor on their backs, but their bellies were not as well-protected. And now, the small dragons protecting its belly were all but gone.

The flaming spear shot upwards, piercing the belly of the dragon and, with great momentum, pushing it to the surface. A giant body with rough, rock-like scales and spines appeared from the water along with the scattering flames.

The crew members began to stir at the appearance of the massive dragon, but Monica remained calm.

In chess terms, this was already checkmate. The water dragon was as good as dead the moment it surfaced.

“Open the gate.”

Monica muttered a few words, and a gate formed from particles of light opened in the sky. A sparkling wind swirled up from its depths and took the form of a spear.

“Come forth from the edge of silence, Spirit King of Wind, Shefield.”

This spear of wind was a manifestation of the Spirit King’s might, giving it power incomparable to ordinary magic.

Leaving a cloud of light particles in its wake, the shining white spear pierced the forehead of the water dragon.

“We got ‘em! The Silent Witch took down the water dragon!”

The crew began roaring with cheers.

Unable to conceal the joy on his face, Isaac also turned to Monica.

“My Master truly knows no match.”

“…Not yet.”

“Huh?”

“Expand the reconnaissance range, please. It’s probably getting closer.”

Given his quick wit, that was enough for Isaac to understand what Monica intended to convey.

While muttering a small acknowledgment, Isaac expanded the range of the reconnaissance magic. As expected, a large bright spot was visible at the very edge of the spell’s range, approaching with incredible speed.

Isaac passed on the warning to the crew.

“It’s not over yet! Another one incoming!”

The slain crustacean-type dragon had been leading a school of smaller dragons to make itself look bigger and intimidate its enemies——in other words, there was an even bigger water dragon in the vicinity.

Just as Monica had predicted, he found another water dragon approaching at an astonishing speed. Isaac managed to identify the species even without increasing the precision of the reconnaissance spell, as the dragon had lifted its head above the water to growl at the ship.

One of the crew members screamed as he witnessed the sight through the spyglass.

“A plesiosaur-type! And one of gigantic size!”

Plesiosaur dragons were known to be extremely aggressive, often going out of their way to chase down any ships they encountered, even ones bigger than themselves. As such, all of the sailors understood how much danger they were in.

“…So it seems, Master?” Isaac turned to Monica.

Rather than replying, Monica looked up into the sky, where the summoning gate for the Spirit King was still active.

To her, any water dragon exposing its head above the surface was little more than a sitting duck.

“It’s over.”

Monica raised her staff, and following a slight jingle of its decorations, a shining spear shot through the forehead of the newly arrived dragon.

＊　＊　＊

The water dragon subjugation mission that began early this morning came to a rather anticlimactic ending. That said, the cleanup and post-processing was far from finished.

The general practice was to recover the corpses of defeated water dragons, but towing two huge creatures with a single ship was clearly not going to work.

Therefore, they decided to drag back the corpse of the larger plesiosaur-type, along with a portion of the crustacean-type’s scales and horns.

Honestly, the efforts to tie the plesiosaur-type to the ship and carve up the crustacean-type took much more time than the battle itself.

Meanwhile, the seasick Monica slept in her cabin like a corpse, as Isaac was busy negotiating with the captain. He wanted the sailors to keep quiet about the Silent Witch’s involvement in the water dragon subjugation.

If rumors spread that the Silent Witch was hunting water dragons in Sazandol, they ran the risk of bumping into chess enthusiast Robert Winkel or the battle junkie Hubert Dee.

Eventually, the two returned to Sazandol Harbor and completed various administrative procedures such as reporting to the Mage Association. By the time they returned home, it was already evening.

Monica, who had slept like a log on the ship, still felt wobbly after landing and kept saying, “The ground is shaking…” so Isaac immediately started carrying her on his back.

“I can walk by myself…”

“You still look deathly pale. Please, just rest for now.”

“Ugh, but this makes me look so uncool…”

Monica, who aspired to play the role of a cool master, looked dissatisfied, but Isaac simply shook his head, saying, “Not at all.”

She had woven her magical formulas with terrifying precision, all without uttering a single word. Isaac’s chest had been filled to the brim just for being given the opportunity to view this enchanting miracle firsthand.

Be it her composite spell for enveloping flame magic in a barrier, her accuracy in shooting through the forehead of dragons hiding underwater, or her summoning of the Spirit King of Wind——each was a technique only possible by a handful of advanced magicians.

Yet she had done all of them without even an incantation. Such could not be described as anything other than a miracle.

“About that composite spell of fire and barrier magic you used to scatter the smaller dragons… Simply maintaining a composite spell is a feat on its own, and you managed to trigger it remotely with such precision. You really never cease to amaze me…”

“Ike, Ike.”

As Isaac was about to start another round of praises for his beloved Master, Monica gave a light tap to his shoulder.

Isaac turned to see Monica making the most serious-looking face she could manage.

“Ike, I want to praise you today, so please listen up.”

“…Huh?”

“First, your reconnaissance magic was perfect. The sharing formula also gave me a burden-free connection. I give it a hundred points.”

To the speechless Isaac, Monica continued.

“I also appreciate how you informed the crew in advance like when the ship was about to rock, since I always forget to do those things.”

“Yeah.”

“And it’s thanks to your thorough research on water dragons that I was able to identify them so quickly.”

“Yeah.”

“Oh right. After defeating the first large dragon, you kept the reconnaissance spell going instead of immediately deactivating it; that was really commendable. We managed to discover the second one quickly.”

Isaac, who was known for his ability to maintain a prince-like smile no matter the situation, found the edges of mouth twitching upwards. He turned away to avoid showing Monica this face, and quickly covered up the joy in his tone before responding.

“It’s an honor to be of service to you, Master.”

Along with the sun’s gradual descent, the color of night spread across the red-tinged evening sky. White stars were starting to twinkle in the azure of the distant heavens.

The days had been growing longer recently, and the wind brushing against their cheeks felt distinctly spring-like.

Isaac glanced up at the spring sunset while savoring this happy moment. But then, he turned the last corner before Monica’s house and widened his eyes at the surprising figure waiting for them there.

Monica also let out a small gasp from her position on Isaac’s back.

Illuminated by the evening glow, the guest in front of Monica’s house swayed back her black hair as she turned to look at them. Her fair-skinned face and eyes the color of lapis lazuli once marked her as one of the three most beautiful women in Serendia Academy.

“Claudia-sama.”

Monica murmured the name of the guest.

With a travel bag in her hands, Claudia Maywood glanced alternately at Isaac and Monica being carried on his back. Her beautiful face wore an equally beautiful smile, but for some reason, it stirred up unwarranted anxiety in anyone who saw it.

“…Rather than master and disciple… you look more like parent and child.”

This statement gouged the hearts of both. Monica since she was aware of how young she looked, and Isaac because he wanted Monica to notice him.

＊　＊　＊

Excluding the coachman, the carriage headed for Sazandol carried only one passenger. Yet for some reason, the voices of four people could be heard from within.

The sole human, Cyril Ashley, was repeatedly muttering something related to the old library laws with a strange fervor. His complexion was paler than usual, and distinct dark circles lingered under his eyes.

Meanwhile, two weasels darted about the visibly fatigued Cyril’s knees and shoulders as they chatted with each other.

“Is Cyril really okay? His face looks terrible.”

“Thule, the humans call this being ‘at death’s door.’”

“So Cyril is dying?”

“Humans die if they don’t sleep.”

“Uh-oh, that’s not good. Cyril, how about taking a nap?”

The white weasel, Thule, jumped onto Cyril’s shoulder and gently brushed his fluffy tail against Cyril’s cheek.

Cyril, who had been reciting old laws, relaxed his shoulders slightly upon feeling the soft sensation. He began rubbing the corners of his eyes with his left hand.

“No, I’m fine. I already took a nap. There’s no problem.”

“That wasn’t a nap. You fainted.”

Upon hearing the retort from the golden weasel Pikeh, Cyril fell silent for a few moments before clearing his throat.

“It was a nap. I’m fine… Sorry, but I’m trying to review, so be quiet.”

Almost as if they were mirror images of each other, Thule and Pikeh immediately turned to look at Cyril’s right hand.

“Quiet?”

“With this annoying thing here?”

As Thule and Pikeh had pointed out, there was another voice coming incessantly from under the black leather glove covering Cyril’s right hand.

Judging by the strong tone of this voice, one might expect that it belonged to a middle-aged gentleman. However, this voice had been causing a commotion for several days now, the main cause of Cyril’s sleep deprivation.

“Where is Claudia! Let me see Claudia!”

Cyril glared disdainfully at his own right hand, then took out a thick cloth from his baggage and wrapped it around his right hand. After this, the voice became muffled and somewhat quieter.

Cyril moved his right hand as far away as possible, pressed his temple with his left hand, and started muttering the old library laws again.

“Come on! Hurry up and bring me to Claudia! Just wait, I’m coming for you, my beautiful Claudia! Claudia!”

The two weasels nodded at each other, saying, “He’s noisy,” “Very noisy,” and began smacking Cyril’s right hand.

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