[V16C19] ...Hmm⤴︎

Isaac arrived at the spectator room with the other disciples, and he was cheerfully greeted by the Thorn Witch, Raul Roseberg.

“Hey, Isaac! About your alias, which would you prefer between ‘Storage Mage’, ‘Big Catch Mage’, and ‘Blast-Off Mage’?”

Honestly, Isaac would have preferred to be greeted by his beloved master instead.

Said master was looking at Isaac with eyes full of anticipation. Beside her, Silas faced him with an expression that practically said, “You know which to pick, right?” The former was adorable; the latter, annoying.

Most likely, the three of them had come up with these aliases together.

(I’ve only mentioned the chantless storage magic thing to Monica and Silas-niisan. The ‘Big Catch’ one has to be Silas-niisan because of his weird fixation with the sea. And ‘Blast-Off’ doesn’t sound like Monica’s style. Which means…)

  • Storage Mage = Monica’s idea

  • Big Catch Mage = Silas’s idea

  • Blast-Off Mage = Raul’s idea

Isaac reached this conclusion in a matter of three seconds, then answered with a smile.

“None of them really seem to fit.”

Monica and Silas flinched back with visible shock on their faces.

Meanwhile, Glenn quietly approached them with drooped shoulders. Apparently, he was too scared to see his own master Louis, so he decided to talk to Monica instead.

Isaac wondered why Glenn didn’t come to him instead, but the answer became obvious once Glenn moved behind Monica and whispered in her ear. Or rather, it was intended as a whisper, but his naturally loud voice made it perfectly audible to Isaac.

“Monica, Monica.”

“What is it, Glenn-san?”

“The President’s been mad at me all day… Did I do something wrong…?”

Apparently, he had bullied Glenn a bit too much.

Isaac didn’t want to go that far, but he couldn’t afford to hold back during the match.

He was about to say ‘Sorry, Dudley-kun’, but Monica ended up beating him to it.

“Glenn-san, Ike looks a little down right now. That’s his ‘Sorry, Dudley-kun’ face.”

“Eh!? But he just looks really angry to me…!”

“You can tell by reading the angle of his eyebrows!”

Monica and Glenn started staring at his eyebrows, but Isaac raised his hands to cover them. The two let out a dejected gasp at the exact same time, which was a little amusing.

“Disciple of the Silent Witch.”

A cold voice cut into their conversation. Isaac paused his teasing of the younger two and straightened his posture.

Louis rose from his sofa to glare at Isaac while pressing down on his monocle.

“I hope you have prepared a paper detailing the magic you used today.”

“I have it with me.”

“Good. I’ll review it later.”

With that, Louis sat back down on the sofa.

From behind Glenn, Monica raised her fist lightly in triumph. That was her ‘You did it, Ike!’ face.

It seemed he received a passing grade from the Barrier Mage, Louis Miller.

He was still far from receiving a passing grade from Monica, but at least he had accomplished his goal for today.

(Next is…)

There was only one last thing he wanted to confirm.

——Where did that blockhead go?

Just then, a pained groan from said blockhead came from the adjacent room.

Monica and Raul both turned pale and dashed out of the room.

“Cyril-sama…!”

“Cyril…!”

The other Sages watched with faces that seemed to say “Here we go again”, so it didn’t seem to be anything too serious.

Isaac followed them out of the room at a leisurely pace.

The door to the next room was left wide open, so he peeked in to see Cyril and the Abyss Shaman, Ray Albright, sitting face-to-face at a table.

Cyril always wore stiff formal clothes, but today, he was draped in an oversized robe. And for some reason, a shaggy wig and a fake beard were lying on the table.

Did he actually use those as a disguise to sneak in? Only an idiot would do that.

Cyril was drinking a huge mug of tea with an anguished grimace. At a glance, it looked like ordinary black tea… until he noticed the purple curse mark on Cyril’s tongue.

(Ah, I see. A curse affecting his sense of taste.)

“Everything you put in your mouth will taste sour, then spicy, then unbearably bitter… Now, suffer…! Suffer…!”

“Urgh… Urouuugh…!”

Cyril took a sip of the tea and choked, coughing violently as he writhed in agony. The teary Monica cried out, “Cyril-sama…!” in panic.

Apparently, drinking that entire mug was the punishment given to him.

(What a peaceful punishment.)

Isaac continued spectating as Raul clung to Ray in desperation.

“Ray! Hold on, I thought you said you were just going to talk!”

“…We did talk, then I got the urge to curse him… He’s lucky I settled for the ‘sour-spicy-bitter’ curse…”

“Like I keep telling you, he got Mary-san’s permission!”

“Having permission to be here doesn’t mean he’s allowed to lie to me… You will know my despair…! Now, suffer…!”

At that moment, Glenn caught up to Isaac and looked in from the doorway. He took in the scene inside the room and shrank back like a scolded puppy.

“President…”

“Yeah?”

“Is the Vice President getting punished because he cheered for me…?”

“Well, no, I don’t think there’s any problem with that.”

Isaac believed that if something as trivial as the cheering of a spectator was enough to change the outcome of a match, then the win was not deserved to begin with.

That said, Isaac was still exasperated. He had no clue why this blockhead came here in the first place.

Suddenly, a pair of gold and white weasels appeared out of nowhere and jumped onto his shoulders.

Pikeh and Thule whispered softly into Isaac’s ear.

“Cyril got scolded.”

“I guess we weren’t good muscles.”

“…You’re only making me more confused,” Isaac replied.

The weasels climbed down Isaac’s shoulder and scurried around Cyril’s feet, seemingly in an attempt to cheer him up.

In any case, Isaac decided it was best to stand back and watch the idiot receive his punishment.

“Um, Abyss Shaman-sama…” Monica cried out. “I’m sure Cyril-sama has his reasons…”

“No… that’s not it…”

After downing about half of the mug, Cyril spoke in a hoarse voice.

He turned to Isaac, who was standing with his arms crossed at the doorway, and bowed his head.

“I tried to play a prank in a sacred place of battle. I will accept any punishment I am given.”

“A prank? You?”

Isaac couldn’t help but ask. He was that surprised.

The ever stiff and serious Cyril Ashley, playing a prank? This was no small matter. Monica and Glenn seemed just as stunned.

Cyril confessed his sins like a criminal about to be put to death.

“I was a fool… I thought to play a prank on you as payback for the other day…”

“You tried to prank me?”

“Yes… I was going to secretly cheer for you, then surprise you with my presence…”

Isaac had vivid memories of giving Cyril an elaborate makeover on the last day of the sleepover.

But to think that the blockhead Cyril saw that as a prank, and even planned a prank of his own in return!

Isaac found his lips curling into a slight smile.

“…Hmm?”

＊　＊　＊

“…Hmm?”

Cyril was unsure of how to interpret the rising tone in Isaac’s voice.

He knew Isaac long enough to tell that this was not anger. When Isaac got truly angry, his voice went icy cold, signaling a complete lack of interest in the other person.

Cyril hesitantly lifted his head to meet Isaac’s stare. His beautiful eyes, aqua-blue with a drop of green, seemed to contain a hint of amusement.

As Cyril wallowed in confusion, Isaac glanced toward the hallway. The other Sages and their disciples were looking curiously in their direction.

Right as Cyril started to feel really awkward, Isaac suddenly raised his voice.

“The Library Lord will be treating us for today’s afterparty!”

“Woohoo!” Hugo cheered, raising his fist. “I don’t really get what’s going on, but that’s super generous of him!”

As Cyril stood dumbfounded, Isaac turned his back on him and reached a hand to the flustered Monica.

“Come on, let’s go, Monica.”

“Eh? Um, but what about Cyril-sama…?”

“May I have your hand, Master?”

Isaac placed himself in between Monica and Cyril, as if to shield her, and took her small hand into his.

At that moment, something snapped in Cyril’s head with an audible crack. Before he realized it, he had grabbed Isaac’s arm from behind.

On the other side of Isaac, Monica watched with her eyes wide in surprise.

(What am I doing? This is incredibly rude to Isaac. Even Monica is shocked. I’ve already made a fool of myself, so I have to avoid further embarrassment in front of my juniors… No, that’s not it. I need to stop running away. She is not just my junior, she is also the woman I have feelings for.)

Cyril had realized the emotions Isaac held for Monica.

Now, he finally understood the true meaning of the ‘rivalry’ Isaac mentioned after the Gluttonous Zoe incident.

—— “Are you going to just stand in the same place forever, without facing your feelings head-on? At this rate, I can’t even consider you a rival.”

How could he be so stupid and pathetic?

Either way, he could not deny it any longer.

(I respect you more than anyone else… but this is one area I cannot yield.)

At this point, Cyril’s face was completely red.

Isaac turned his back to Monica and glared at Cyril. His lips silently formed the words, “Come on, say something.”

It felt like a blade driven into his heart.

Cyril glanced at Monica behind Isaac’s shoulder.

He didn’t want to be a coward in front of her. He needed to stand tall. Her eyes were essentially the ‘charm for courage’ to Cyril.

Cyril raised his head, met Isaac’s glare, and shouted.

“I… I humbly accept your declaration of rivalry!!”

＊　＊　＊

It wasn’t just Monica and Glenn. The other Sages and their disciples watched as Cyril Ashley shouted out his declaration of rivalry. Isaac couldn’t hold back his laughter. His shoulders were shaking.

(Finally, the starting line.)

Meanwhile, Monica and Glenn looked at them in thought.

“Ike and Cyril-sama as rivals… That makes sense, they can talk about magic now.”

“Ah, so it’s a rivalry between mages? So that’s why the Vice President came to watch the President’s magical battle… I guess the Vice President has always been dedicated to his studies.”

They seemed to have the wrong idea, but at least they recognized Isaac and Cyril as rivals. That was good enough for now.

“Now then,” Isaac said. “I’ve decided to eat and drink to my heart’s content today. You should be worried about your wallet.”

“Y-Yes, but before that…” Cyril trailed off, his eyes drifting to the mug on the table. “Please give me a moment, I need to finish drinking this first…”

“Yeah, you better,” Ray muttered under his breath.

“So, what kind of blunder did you make to anger Lord Albright?” Isaac asked.

“I… I…”

Cyril lowered his gaze in embarrassment.

“I told him a lie… that talking to your muscles helps them grow…”

“…”

This guy really needed to stop challenging his resistance to laughter with nonsense like that.

Isaac let out an exaggerated sigh and shrugged his shoulders.

“What a cruel lie. Hurry up and finish that tea so you can atone for your sins.”

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