In A Noble Magic Academy, The Only Spell I Know Is Scan

(I've decided to retire the chapter title theme. Yall are getting normal titles now)

The year in Graneveria passed with little incidents to speak of. Before long, the day came for the humans abroad to return to school. And that day was a tearful one.

"I'm going to miss you all!" Reaumur sobbed as she hugged as many of the girls as possible.

"We'll keep in touch!" Helena cried as they all gathered in a big group hug, "Don't forget to use the public phone we set up at the castle to call us whenever you want! That's what it's there for!"

"It's a shame we couldn't set one up in Duskwald but you're free to stop by anytime if you want to use it." Brook said as she stood behind the soon to depart girls.

"You'd all show up without warning anyway." Rivera sighed, "At least announce yourselves before dropping in so you don't cause another stir in the populace. Romer, I'm counting on you to make sure they actually do that."

"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do that, queen, but I'll try I guess?" Romer shrugged.

"Aaahhh, the inn's going to feel so empty without all of you." Treesa sighed.

"What, are you not planning to open it back up to the public?" Mistral smirked, "I can show up and help out if it ever gets too troublesome for you."

"I'd probably lose business while you're around."

"Why? Because I'm a dark elf?"

"Because you're a pain."

"Am I really so much trouble? Alright, I'll leave Spark at home next time. That should solve things."

"Don't you dare." Treesa growled softly.

"Where's the old man and Eresh by the way?" Momo asked.

"They're busy preparing for Eresh's little trip to Memoria Auspice herself." Helena explained, "No point in saying goodbye to them just yet."

"I forgot that was happening."

"One last chance to thank you for all your help." Polaris walked up to Roko and offered a handshake, "It's been an honor working with you this past year."

"It's been an honor to be a part of this culture." Roko replied as he returned Polaris' handshake, "I trust you to steer elves and dark elves into a new age of harmony."

"You might be expecting a bit much from me." Polaris laughed, "Elf and dark elf relations remain tenuous outside of this one forest. But if we truly can get these races to cooperate then we'll catch the eye of the rest of elvenkind soon enough. I can only pray we're both ready when that day comes."

"When that day comes give me a call. I'll see what I can do if I'm not busy."

"I'm counting on you should it come to that." Polaris nodded solemnly.

"That goes both ways." Rivera cut in as she floated up to them, "The elves might need your help in the future as well. A level head like yours is a rare find indeed."

"Of course, my alliance is to both sides, no matter how they identify themselves." Roko said, offering a handshake to the queen as well, "Even should the rest of elvenkind consider you enemies, I'll lend my skills for the sake of peace and unity."

"When you speak like that, it feels like a war against our own races is bound to happen." Rivera sighed as she returned Roko's handshake, "And given a human's lifetime, if it's a war that needs your help then it would have to happen worryingly soon. Still, you need not worry about us. As your teacher of sorts throughout this short year, I should be reminding you to continue your studies. Though...now that I say that, even that feels unnecessary given what we know of you. All I can do is wish you luck for your future endeavors. Good luck with that third spell of yours in particular."

"That third spell..." Roko chuckled anxiously, "I don't think it'll ever see the chance for any real use. It's just...too much of a spell for me."

"I've never heard of an unusable natural spell like that." River smirked, "Is it really too much for even a hero like you?

"I'm no hero. You should know that, Rivera."

"Then what's with this giant welcome party?"

Polaris, Rivera and Roko looked out to the road to Arbrea which was packed full of murmuring humans speaking among themselves, taking up the entire road and generally just being a nuisance.

"Oh, that's just Corissa's fan club."

"Oh, the humans have a fan club for her too?"

"Well the human one came first if that even matters." Roko sighed, "But we're just as happy to see them as we are with the elven ones."

"I mean, are you sure they're her fanclub?" Polaris asked, "I mean there's a lot of people, they can't all be for her right?"

"Well, everyone's here except for Corissa and thus far, none of them seem to be interested in any of us, human or otherwise. If they were in fact a welcoming party, they'd have interacted with us by now. What's more, our so called 'travels' amount to just traveling to the nearest human village to pick up teleportation scrolls back to Memoria auspice. Absolutely no need for an entourage like this."

"Astute observations as always, Roko."

"No, this is more just experience."

"You've dealt with them before?"

"A small group of them when we first left Memoria Auspice. This is like triple the size back then though."

"What are they here for?"

"Well if I had to guess..."

"Hey guys!" Corissa called as she walked out of the forest with Varis, "Sorry I'm late! I was busy-"

"SHE'S HERE!"

A crowd cheer that was as loud as an entire plaza full of people celebrating the new year deafened everybody's ears.

"YES! YES! YES!"

"THE FIRST SIGHTING OF THE PRINCESS IN OVER A YEAR!"

"I WAS HERE! I WAS HERE!"

"WOOOOOOOO! YEAH BABY! THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR, THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT! OOOOO-"

The only other thing that could be heard over the cheering was the sound of what could only be impossibly loud music as a familiar band stumbled up to the front and started playing love songs again. Flashes of light blinded the onlookers to the onlookers who were snapping an uncountable amount of pictures of their idol.

"O-Oh gosh..." Corissa smiled nervously as she waved at her adoring fans.

"I can't believe all these people are here to see one girl." Brook said.

"WHAT?" Helena tried yelling over the deafening cheers.

"I SAID I CAN'T BELIEVE ALL THESE PEOPLE- ah, nevermind." Brook sighed.

"Yeah, I think this band is surprisingly good too!" Helena gave a thumbs up.

"I've been stuck now so long. We just got the start wrong. One more last try. Ima get the ending right. You can't stop this. And I must insist you haven't had enough, you haven't had enough."

"Just don't pay attention to the lyrics is all." Helena shrugged.

"So...how do we plan on getting past them?" Momo asked, "We can't just fight them all. I like a good fight and all but even I'm kinda iffy on turning weapons on civilians."

"You say that like most people are used to attacking civilians." Roko muttered, "Still, I don't see a way past them aside from force. First thing we have to do is get their attention so can you-"

Roko's plan was interrupted by a stir in the fanclub, members being pushed aside as a short portly man shoved his way to the front with a veritable army of experienced looking mercenaries followed him.

"So! We meet again, Roko!"

"...Who are you?" Roko said.

"It's me! Eiam Badguy!"

"Never heard of you."

"I know you know me!"

"Nope. Not at all."

"Ah screw it! All you need to know is that I'm here to get revenge on you for ruining my life! My mercenary business has gone kaput and now we're nothing more than petty bandits! We're being targeted by the authorities everywhere we go! We've been on the run, stealing where we can to survive and running before we get hunted down! I've lost more friends than I can count this past year!"

"Wow. Sounds rough." Roko said, his voice lacking any hint of sympathy, "Who could've done something like that to you?"

"IT WAS YOU! YOU DID THIS TO ME!" Eiam shouted, "You even took me hostage!"

"Actually that was Kaguya who did that."

"So you DO remember!"

"Nope. Never seen you in my life."

"That's it! Seoul, Uther, Anoter, everyone! Today's the day we get our revenge! Get him!"

The fanclub started screaming in shock and running away as the mercenaries all started charging towards them.

"You want me to help out?" Rivera asked, unamused.

"Nah, we can probably beat them with just us humans." Roko replied.

"I got this." Momo grinned as she stretched her body in preparation, "I'm heading in first!"

And in an instant, Momo closed the short distance, sword still in its sheath, and struck with her fist at the first mercenary, stopping her strike inches from his armored body. Without even making contact, the mercenary she "struck" was sent flying straight up into the air, soaring over everybody's heads as he was thrown far far over the horizon much to the Badguy Bandits' shock and horror.

"S-She's just one woman!" Eiam shouted, trying to rally his troops once again, "Get her!"

The valiant, loyal mercenaries all cheered, albeit somewhat uncertainly, as they all tried to gang up on her. But no swords could reach her, no arrows could pierce her protection magic and Momo simply took her time swinging her fists and sending everyone who stood in front of her to the skies without even touching them.

"Momo's getting scary..." Brook said.

"I blame this all on Roko." Reaumur nodded.

"I just gave some advice." Roko frowned, "It's her natural talent for fighting that brought her this far."

"Momokamians be built different I guess." Helena shrugged, "Anyway, it's your turn to get in there now, Roland."

"If I must." Roland sighed as he drew his swords, "Can't let Momo take all the spotlight now can we?"

"Mikado, if you could help." Kaguya asked.

"Of course." Mikado bowed.

"Go easy on them Varis." Corissa laughed nervously, "I kind of feel sorry for them."

Varis nodded and headed off, following his fellow knights into battle.

"Oh my god!"

"It's not working! Nothing's working!"

"What the hell are these people?!"

"Calm down!" Uther Badguy called, trying to keep his army under control, "We have the numbers advantage! We can overwhelm them!"

"Even if we ignore the absolute monster that is the girl, we're still no match for the black knight!" One of them cried out in response.

"Forget those two, this fancypants white knight is crazy skilled too! We can't land a hit on him and every time we attack, he attacks back!"

"How dull." Roland sighed, his swords singing around him in a perfect dance of simultaneous offense and defense, "This isn't even worth bragging about."

"This last guy's super strong too!"

"I don't remember fighting this guy before!"

Mikado slammed his shield into the torso of another enemy, shoving him into another enemy as his sword slashed through the armored enemies around him.

"Hold the line!" Uther ordered, "Soon our secret weapon will be ready! Keep Eiam safe until then!"

"Not gonna fight, Roko?" Reaumur asked.

"Doesn't really seem necessary." Roko replied, "Besides, we have a bigger problem."

"Yeah..."

The bystanders all looked up, past the ground combatants at the absolutely enormous fireball building up over the Badguy Bandit leader. It was even larger than the last time they had attempted this. This one fireball was starting to dwarf an entire town block. If it wasn't dealt with soon, it'd destroy even a good part of the forest behind them.

"So does Arbrea have any fire insurance?" Helena asked.

"Not exactly insurance but we do have fire prevention and isolating measures." Rivera replied, "Magical ones. Should protect the majority of the forest but that fireball will still take out a good chunk of the forest with sheer mass alone."

"Then why aren't you doing anything?"

"Why aren't YOU doing anything?"

"That freakishly big 15 year old is in the way. Can't get a clear shot."

"Why don't I believe that?"

"Yeah, I can see why you won't believe that but would you believe me if I said he's probably 16 now?"

"That was not my point."

"Look, if you're so scared, you can always run."

"You expect the queen to run?"

"I mean, have you seen the size of that fireball? You guys too. All of you can run too."

"Please." Brook scoffed, "If we ran then we'd be taking him seriously."

"Yeah, WE don't take him seriously but you don't even know the guy."

"I've seen enough."

"Yeah he's quite the character."

…

"So we're just gonna stand here?" Brook said as she stood there in front of the fireball.

"Roko's got it." Helena replied as she stood there in front of the fireball.

"Yeah, Roko's got it." Reaumur agreed as she stood there in front of the fireball.

"Huff...huff..." Eiam gasped as he held up his greatest masterpiece of magical ability, "That's it. I'm done. Boys! Sound the retreat!"

"Men! It's time! Retreat!"

At Uther's orders, the large mercenary army quickly withdrew, leaving the knights and Momo standing there as they looked up at the fireball.

"You will never survive this!" Eiam cried, "This is the perfect product of my genius! My greatest spell! None will ever find your singed bones! You'll-"

"Just throw it before I snipe you." Helena said, forming a small sliver of ice as a threat.

"...Fine. Then die like pigs."

Eiam threw his arm forward, throwing the titanic fireball he made at the monsters that ruined his life. His fireball lurched forward. Stopped. Then turned around, slamming down over its caster and all of their mercenaries, immolating them before any of them could even notice the spell's betrayal.

"Wow." Helena said as he small ice spell evaporated from the heated gusts that blew through them and shook the trees behind them, "They never saw it coming."

"So this is your new power huh Roko?" Rivera said, "What did you call it again?"

"Spell Hacking." Roko grimaced as he released the magical seal he had painstakingly recreated, "It's not that well developed yet."

"How does it work?" Reaumur asked.

"All spells are formed using a spell seal that exists in the caster's head. Even the caster isn't aware of this aside from a vague feeling. An extension of this seal is what constitutes item enchantments. By perfectly recreating this seal, I can take control of the spell for a split second, letting me redirect their fireball like I did just now."

"You can do that perfectly?" Brook asked.

"Well, my scan spell displays the exact seal the spell is using." Roko explained, "It's the recreation of it that take a while. Way too long for this to be actually useful. Changing the spell slightly so that the seal changes even the slightest bit makes the initial scan useless too. And god help me if a spell seal just overly complex. But the construction of it is the problem. Though that's a skill issue on my part. Magic just doesn't come to me naturally."

"Still, this is a unique ability." Polaris said, "You said your scan spell is what allows you to do this? Then it's a skill that's wholly yours."

"One that might be served better in anyone else's hands." Roko sighed, "But whatever. At least it's more useful than my third spell."

"So uhh..." Reaumur spoke up, "What do we do about the bodies in the way?"

"You can just leave them." Roko shrugged, "Or call the local hospital to pick them up. That fireball was mostly hot air. They should still be alive."

"Still, we're probably just going to step over their corpses and head to the town like we planned." Helena said.

"They're not dead."

"They might as well be." Helena shrugged.

"Anyway, even the fanclub has disappeared so the road's clear." Kaguya said, "We should probably take our leave before it gets too late and we overstay our exit."

"Right. Then...bye." Roko waved goodbye to the elven cast..

"Bye."

And with that the two parties left on an awkward note, having said their goodbyes already earlier.