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Chapter 105: Interlude – Thunder God
A translucent orb tore through the wall of lightning and was fired forward.
"Arghhhhhhh!"
Boom!
Laios' body, hit by the magic bullet, was lifted into the air and slammed violently into the wall.
Beeeep!
[Warning.]
[Anomaly detected in the shock absorption barrier. Please cease the sparring.]
With a warning sound, red lights flickered inside the training hall.
"Ugh, ugggh!"
Laios, lying on the ground, writhed like a worm as he vomited.
"...Ah."
Berald looked at the collapsed Laios with a bewildered expression.
He had just used the martial arts technique Dale had taught him, thinking he needed to fire the magic bullet as strongly as possible.
But the outcome far exceeded his expectations.
"Hah."
Berald wasn't the only one surprised.
Even I, who had been watching the duel, couldn't help but let out a gasp at Berald's strike.
'It wasn't just about hitting the magic bullet hard.'
True to Berald's martial arts, which only reaches its pinnacle when combined with magic, a strange phenomenon occurred the moment his punch connected with the magic bullet.
'Aura enveloped the magic bullet.'
Of course.
It was impossible to envelop magic, which is generated by releasing energy from the external world, with aura that primarily draws from the inner world.
'But Berald succeeded in wrapping magic with aura.'
I clenched my fist, recalling Berald’s strike from moments earlier.
The inner world and the outer world.
Magic and martial arts.
Two entirely separate domains, fused into one martial art.
'So this is the path you've been walking, Berald.'
The idea of enveloping magic with aura was something I had never considered.
'If you can envelop magic with aura...'
I felt a thirst tickling at my throat as I ignited a tiny flame.
'That means I could also use my ashen flames wrapped in magic, right?'
At that moment, a thrilling realization shot through my entire body.
It felt similar to when Yurina had once told me that my swordsmanship was "inefficient."
A bolt of inspiration struck the top of my head.
"...Ha."
Just like with Yurina.
'You're still guiding me, aren't you?'
In this life, I thought I would only be leading them.
But before I knew it, there they were, standing in front of me, offering me a hand.
This way, they seemed to say.
There is a new view you've never seen before.
"Haha."
Suppressing the heat that coursed through me, I turned my head toward Berald and Laios.
I could think about this new realization later.
For now, it was time to focus on their duel.
'Well, though it seems the result is already clear.'
I looked at Laios, who was still on the ground, retching.
"Gasp, gasp, gasp!"
After retching for a while, Laios breathed heavily and staggered to his feet.
"You... damn... bastard...!"
Glaring at Berald with ferocious eyes, Laios' legs suddenly gave out, and he collapsed into his own vomit.
"Are you alright?"
"Shut... up!"
Laios bit his lip in frustration, his face contorted with shame.
The pain of his internal organs twisting made it impossible for him to even stand.
"I... I lost to that brute..."
Trembling, Laios couldn't believe his defeat.
Berald approached him and asked calmly,
"You’ll keep your promise, right?"
"Promise...? What the hell are you talking about?"
Gritting his teeth, Laios raised his head.
"I said you should defeat me with magic!"
"So I didn’t use magic?"
"Don't spout nonsense! You call that magic?"
A magic bullet launched like a cannonball by punching it.
That was something no one had ever heard of, anywhere on the continent.
"I don't recognize that as magic!"
"...Senior."
Berald’s expression began to harden when—
"Enough."
A low voice echoed through the hall, and a man entered.
His hair was half black and half blue.
Despite his youthful appearance, his eyes carried the weight of experience.
This man was Lionel Ryu, the current headmaster of the Lionel Hero Academy and ranked 3rd in the Tri-Nation Hero Rankings.
The "Thunder God."
"Wh-What? Grandpa? How are you here...?"
Laios' eyes widened in disbelief, as if he had seen a ghost.
Lionel slowly walked to the center of the training hall and infused mana into the Hero Watch on his wrist.
"Berald sent me this photo."
A floating screen appeared, showing Berald and Laios fighting.
"W-When was that taken...?"
"...No way."
Berald turned to look at me.
Before entering the training hall, I had waved the Hero Watch Berald had given me and shrugged.
"So... what were the two of you doing here?"
Lionel's icy gaze turned to Laios.
"Gr-Grandpa, that’s..."
"As far as I remember, I told you two to get along."
"It was sparring! We were sparring! I was, uh, teaching Berald magic!"
Laios pointed frantically at Berald.
"Sparring, huh."
Lionel narrowed his eyes and examined the hall.
The battle scars were evident everywhere.
To leave such marks, even inside a training hall with a shock-absorbing barrier, would require quite powerful magic.
Magic that could have easily resulted in serious injury.
"From where I’m standing, it doesn’t look like you were teaching him anything."
"That’s, uh..."
"Or have my eyes grown too old and dull?"
"..."
Laios averted his gaze, cold sweat running down his face.
"Berald."
"Y-Yes! Grandfather!"
Berald straightened up, stiff as a board.
Lionel frowned slightly.
"How many times have I told you? Call me 'Grandpa,' not 'Grandfather.'"
"Well, but..."
"Even though you come from a branch family, we are still part of the Ryu clan."
"A-Alright, Grandpa."
A faint smile tugged at the corners of Lionel’s lips.
"Now then... Care to explain what happened between you two?"
"That’s..."
Berald and Laios exchanged glances.
Laios, pale as a ghost, gave Berald a silent plea with his eyes: Don’t say anything.
"I can explain, if you like."
"And you are...?"
"Third-year Warrior Division candidate, Dale Han. I’m a close senior to Berald."
“Oh, so you’re the candidate Professor Elisha mentioned.”
Huh?
“Did Professor Elisha say something about me?”
“Hahaha. She told me not to get any ideas since she’s already claimed you.”
“What?”
What on earth is she telling the headmaster?
“Anyway… was it you who sent the picture?”
The headmaster, Lionel, glanced at the Hero Watch I was holding, which belonged to Berald, and asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
I nodded and explained the events that had taken place to Headmaster Lionel.
“Sigh… Cutting off the support funds for the branch family, you say.”
The headmaster frowned as he sighed.
“Laios.”
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“Yes, sir!”
“Since when do you have the authority to decide whether or not to give out the support funds?”
“Well, uh, that’s… um…”
“The funds for the branch family were specifically provided because I personally insisted on it. Are you saying you’ve decided to cut off what this old man approved?”
“M-Misunderstanding!”
Laios, now pale, hurriedly explained.
“I was just, um, giving him a scare as part of his education…”
“Education? You call that education?”
Headmaster Lionel chuckled sarcastically.
“What is Berald supposed to learn from someone like you?”
“……”
“Pitiful.”
Lionel glared at him as he continued.
“I’ve told you time and again, getting there fast isn’t as important as not stopping.”
“…That’s…”
Laios opened his mouth as if to say something but hesitated.
Lionel clicked his tongue and spoke again.
“What? Do you think it’s just the rambling of an old man?”
“N-No! I would never think such a thing…!”
“Don’t forget, you brat.”
With a light step.
Boom!
The struggling Laios was slammed back onto the ground, right into the vomit he had just spewed.
“Argh! A-Ah…”
The terrifying pressure from the mana weighed him down.
It wasn’t magic or even the power of a ‘blessing’ that Lionel used.
It was just pure mana release.
That alone made Laios crawl on the ground like a crushed insect.
“Remember who your grandfather is.”
Lionel Ryu, the Thunder God.
Ranked third among thousands of heroes.
His unique background was that he was the hero who entered the rankings the latest.
He barely made it into the top 100 in his 40s, yet within just five years, he soared to third place.
A hero who started later than anyone but climbed higher than everyone.
That was Thunder God Lionel Ryu.
“I-I’m sorry… I’m really sorry.”
Laios stammered as he gasped for breath, unable to handle the overwhelming pressure of the mana.
“Hmph.”
As Lionel retracted his mana, Laios finally exhaled deeply, panting.
“From now on, the allowance you get will be added to the branch family’s support fund. Keep that in mind.”
“…Yes, sir.”
“And if I hear you say anything foolish to Berald about this again… this old man won’t stand idly by.”
“I-I’ll be careful.”
Laios, on the verge of tears, nodded furiously.
“And Berald.”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
Headmaster Lionel patted Berald on the shoulder with a sigh.
“Sorry for suggesting you should get close to him. I thought since you’re all around the same age, you’d get along well…”
“N-No, sir! It’s my fault for being rude to my brother!”
“You little rascal. Are you trying to trick your grandpa of all people?”
Lionel chuckled and turned his head away.
Then, as he looked at the deeply indented wall of the training grounds, he asked,
“By the way, is that your doing?”
“Uh… y-yes, sir.”
“Hm. What kind of magic did you use to destroy even the shock-absorbing barrier?”
“That, well…”
Berald awkwardly scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed smile.
“I-It was a magic bullet.”
“A magic bullet? How does a magic bullet…?”
“I combined the martial arts I learned from Brother Dale with magic.”
“Martial arts?”
For a moment, Headmaster Lionel’s expression stiffened.
He seemed to ponder something, his lips tightly sealed, before shaking his head.
“No, it couldn’t be…”
“Pardon?”
“Never mind, don’t worry about it.”
Headmaster Lionel turned and walked toward me.
“Candidate Dale.”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
“Thank you for looking after Berald.”
“Oh, it’s nothing… I’m getting help from him, too.”
It wasn’t just empty words.
In fact, thanks to Berald, I’d gained a new insight recently.
“Still, it’d be nice if you could balance spending time with him and keeping up your grades.”
“Ugh.”
Out of nowhere, grades?
“Haha! I’m just teasing.”
Headmaster Lionel burst into laughter (his laughter sounded just like Berald’s) and left the training grounds.
“Ugh.”
As I stared after Lionel’s retreating figure, Berald approached me.
“Brother Dale! Did you see at the end? I hit the magic bullet with my fist, bang!”
“Yeah. Good job, man.”
“Hehehe. If it weren’t for the martial arts you taught me, I never would have pulled it off!”
Berald’s excited tone then shifted to a more somber one.
“…Brother Dale.”
“Huh? Why’re you getting all serious?”
“Thank you.”
Berald bowed deeply.
“You’re my benefactor.”
“Benefactor, my foot.”
I lightly smacked Berald’s head, who was being uncharacteristically serious.
“‘Colleague’ sounds better, man.”
“Colleague… colleague, huh… Heh, got it.”
Berald smiled wide as he nodded.
“Oh, and one more thing.”
“Hm? What else?”
“Your father. You mentioned he’s been suffering from dementia due to battle injuries, right?”
“Ah… yes.”
“When the semester’s over and things calm down, I’ll ask Iris for help and we’ll visit your house.”
Whether or not Iris could treat dementia was uncertain, but…
“Still, you never know what kind of miracle the Saint, blessed by the Seven Gods, might pull off, right?”
“…Brother…”
Berald looked at me with teary eyes.
“Brother Da-a-a-a-a-ale!!!”
“Ahh! Wh-what the hell, man!”
Berald, with his burly arms, grabbed me in a tight hug and started bawling.
“You really are my benefactor!!!”
“Argh! You stink! Get off, man!”
“I, Berald, will follow you for the rest of my life!”
As Berald hugged me, his muscles swelled so much they looked like they might burst.
Crack.
I heard sounds coming from my body that I shouldn’t be hearing.
“Ahh! My bones! My bones are breaking, man!”
Pop.
“Oh.”
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