Prina stepped forward and removed the hood covering half of her face.
With a recognition-obscuring spell in place, there was no worry about revealing her identity, yet her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
She shook her head once, then undid the braids and pins holding her hair in two sections around her neck.
As she tied them between her slender fingers, she spoke with disdain.
“Look at them, fools who disregard everything except the magic they’ve learned, frolicking in front of their opponents. Even idiots should know that the petals I scattered with my own hands still exude fragrance beneath their feet.”
Snap!
With a swift hand movement, a black hairband seized a doll’s leg.
Upon this action, the Fluvia magicians, who were entering the arena, slipped simultaneously, as if on cue.
Moments ago, they had slipped on the rainwater she had sprinkled on the ground, diving headfirst towards the slippery floor.
Thud! The crowd, unable to comprehend the situation, murmured in confusion.
“Rainwater pools and causes chaos for those with narrow vision. If it were me, I would have checked under my own shoes before entering. The floor of the Magic Tower is all bedrock, not dirt.”
Attempting to rise, they lost balance again the moment their hands left the ground.
As Prina pinned a hairpin to the doll’s nose, blood spurted from the fallen magicians’ noses.
The essence of adding misfortune to misfortune.
To onlookers, it might seem comical to see the two adversaries in such a predicament, but my lips did not curve into a smile.
“Encountering even one of the three disasters is the misfortune of humanity, where even one’s legs may buckle. You lot don’t even deserve to walk out of this arena.”
A curse refers to magic that catalyzes resentment and sorrow, resulting in calamity and misfortune.
Its power and effects vary greatly, but if misused, one might end up spending a lifetime as a refrigerator or a measuring stick, subject to its recoil.
Moreover, the most terrifying aspect of curses is that overuse can attract recruitment offers from specialists in that field.
I gazed at the swirling pinkish mark, taking the form of ‘eyes’ in the sky as the clouds began to part.
Witch.
The remnants of one of the Four Great Calamities, the Great Witch, left on the continent along with the Enemy of the Sun and the King of the Abyss.
They seemed rather busy, crawling all the way to the Magic Tower to find allies.
“Why are you two flirting around in a sacred arena like this? Holding hands tightly while it’s raining, you’re bound to fall together!”
“Ahem, please stop that, Senior.”
“Who, who at this age… I’ve never done such a thing…!”
“I’ll hold your hand for you for now. Put that away first. And wear your hood properly.”
I sensed the aura of the curse and glanced at the witch’s eyes, who had been looking around, then lobbed the top part of the spear towards them.
Before it could touch the gummed blade, the smoke scattered with a startle, and immediately after, judgment declared our forfeit victory.
“They forfeited. Well done.”
“Don’t overuse curses. I’ll take care of it next time.”
“Interference? Ah, I told you. That’s only for defense. No matter how great the Mystery, don’t expect more than one person’s worth from you.”
With just one victory, her confidence soared to its peak, and as soon as the next match began, she couldn’t keep her mouth shut.
*
“Why, why aren’t you affected by my flames?! M-Monster!”
“Didn’t you tell me? With that magic, you burned your colleague’s precious thesis, and he’s still suffering as a graduate student in the underground labyrinth.”
“N-No, I didn’t do such a thing. I never told anyone! I-I wrote it where only I could see…!”
“Fool, snap out of it! The magic is breaking!”
“Aaaah!”
Activating the Curse Name using the Witch Note, she neutralizes the opponent’s magic with the interference device.
The flames, now cooler, were merely illuminating the grandeur of the stage, casting a magnificent light.
As the wins piled up, the forum began to fill with stories about us.
The fortunes of those who failed to bet and those who succeeded in betting against us changed several times a day.
====
[How many consecutive wins do those lunatics have?]
My hard-earned points are gone again!! Damn it!!
— Goodbye~ I ate well~
— Who would’ve thought the Haeju School would be this strong lol
— Still can’t trust our favorite hiding Prina? So harsh~
— You can’t predict victory by trusting the Haeju School, nor can you bet on victory without trusting the Haeju School.
====
====
[Is this… the power of Haeju School?]
All the trash hybrids I’ve seen so far…?
— Surprisingly strong lol
— I thought the first match was just luck, but Haeju magic is definitely intimidating when used against magicians
ㄴ Seriously, from the middle onwards, other schools catch on, and they never give curses, but they themselves can’t do anything because of the interference
ㄴ But why does Gonic always win? Isn’t having more mana an advantage in a stalemate?
ㄴ Ah, if they mess up, the magician throws a spear, how can they win? lol
====
====
[Prinana is slowly revealing her face]
Whether they’re on the male or female side, at this rate, they’ll all be sent away with curses.
— If it’s Prinana, she’s definitely a woman.
— Judging by how they gossip about her being a man, she’s probably a woman. If she were a man, they’d just call her gay.
ㄴ Prinana the gay~
— Whether they’re male or female, the fact that they came out holding hands is just…!
ㄴ Weren’t all the users here friendless losers? Maybe it was just me being sincere.
====
“Hey, you’re here? I saved you a seat.”
“What were you up to?”
“Oh, nothing, just looking at the forum as usual.”
As I entered the campus cafeteria after my usual dormitory patrol, Prina greeted me.
It seemed she had relaxed her guard against me at some point during the Magic Festival, as she didn’t hide the fact that she was browsing the forum.
At one point, I had worried about being exposed if she ever asked for my username like Shien, so I had carefully considered my 23rd alternate account that hadn’t been discovered by forum users yet, but fortunately, it wasn’t necessary.
Seems like was a sin? Instead, some of Prinana’s posts were deleted.
“Look at this? They seem to think we’re a couple.”
“Like the Fluvia School? It could be.”
“Don’t tell me you’re confessing all of a sudden!? I really hate such misconceptions!”
“…”
I listened with one ear to the gonic’s solid wall of 27,000 posts, even after achieving seven consecutive victories.
Honestly, I was so preoccupied with what was happening in the forum now that I didn’t even know if food was going into my mouth.
Both Rupert’s plan to change the perception of the Haeju School and my thoughts of strengthening Prina’s Curse Name to secure victory seemed to be spot on.
However, as the fervor of the Magic Festival heated up and we became the main focus of the forum’s discussions, there was one unintended consequence.
====
[Mom, I want to become a Haeju magician when I grow up!! I want to become a Haeju magician when I grow up!! I want to become a Haeju magician when I grow up!! I want to become a Haeju magician when I grow up!!]
Do you just go to the counter on the 2nd floor to become a Haeju magician?
I’m going to apply for membership now.
— No, one of them is clearly a curse magician lol
— What a complete failure lol
— I heard if you ask there, the Security Department will come after you?
ㄴ Then where the h*ll do you sign up?
====
With the soaring popularity of the Haeju School and the skyrocketing application rate of the Aitar School, most of them were undoubtedly trapped in the temptation of becoming curse magicians.
I didn’t wish for this kind of future.
It felt like becoming a scientist who discovered the formula to wipe out humanity.
“What, what’s going on? Are you… really?”
“Huh? Oh, I was just thinking about the next opponent.”
Even though victory was already assured with overwhelming performance, with just one win left before reaching the semi-finals, it was time to put a stop to it.
We needed to lose smoothly at this point.
I had to let everyone know that the Haeju School was nothing special, and if chosen, they’d end up climbing the tower in tears from the third floor onwards.
Then, as I pondered over the match schedule, I saw a familiar participant’s name.
*
“Whew, let’s not forfeit here.”
After achieving seven consecutive wins, Lilibel took out her favorite dagger with little enthusiasm.
Revealing one’s prowess in such a festive atmosphere only meant more losses in the future.
The prize for winning the Magic Festival was a high-grade Spirit Stone used in the production of high-level magical equipment.
It would undoubtedly be a significant reward for small Schools, but for them, who belonged to the Intelligence Department, it was an item they weren’t particularly greedy for.
“Lately, the Security Department has been so busy that we’re getting hit hard. What’s with those weirdos ringing the bell at the information desk? We’re completely paralyzed because the 2nd floor is constantly on standby for emergencies.”
“…”
“Senior Shien, are you listening?”
“No.”
Dragging her along halfway, Shien, who had been forced to participate in the Magic Festival, shook her head.
According to the Witch Note, the chances of being matched with the desired opponent increased as the number of participants decreased from the next round.
Lilibel couldn’t understand why Shien, who had been frantically searching for that name on the forum, was so engrossed.
Just after returning from a late-night date, she was staring at the Witch Note as if she were possessed.
“Let’s stop here. It’s good that we were able to participate due to the qualification restrictions for the Magic Festival held for the first time in five years, but isn’t this enough?”
“Lilibel.”
“Yes?”
“I told you before, I once lost to someone while wielding this sword.”
Five years ago, when Shien was still an inexperienced trainee.
She had challenged a fellow trainee sitting next to her all day, absorbed in the Witch Note.
Despite being from the same commoner background and sitting next to her showing interest every time, she was infuriated by the trainee’s lack of interest.
What could have ended like any other squabble between men and women completely overturned her life.
“Lucky enough to qualify?”
Five years later.
Shien, who had not climbed a single floor of the Tower since joining the Intelligence Department, was looking for an opportunity to get revenge once again.
“I’ve been waiting for that person all this time.”
“No way…”
“I believed he would come up.”
At the final juncture leading to the middle floors.
On the 39th floor.
