The Academy’s Hard-Headed Swordmaster

The Academy’s underground Grand Library.

Having entered the Great Magic Cave, a hidden opportunity within, the group successfully reached the end of the dungeon after defeating the ghosts.

According to Sera’s plan, they were supposed to solve the riddles posed by the spectral Magician at the end using the Player’s knowledge and receive his reward—Double Casting.

Not like this, cutting down the spectral Magician in one blow and discovering his secret laboratory.

“This is….”

Beyond the collapsed dungeon wall, Yuri let out a gasp of wonder as she saw the revealed Magician’s laboratory.

Sera, a pseudo-Magician who used magic through the system and status window, didn’t know, but to Yuri, who had purely studied and mastered magic—it was nothing short of a treasure trove left by a sage of the past.

“Amazing—.”

As if possessed, Yuri naturally walked into the laboratory.

As Sera watched, she warned Yuri to be careful.

At the same moment, a magic circle inside the lab glowed, firing an intercepting spell towards Yuri—.

“Whoops.”

‘Kwaaang—!’

Kyle, who swatted away the incoming magic with his hand, told Yuri to be careful and entered the laboratory with her.

Sera, who was staring blankly at them from behind, belatedly came to her senses and followed.

Inside the laboratory, Kyle saw a plethora of documents written in ancient runic characters he couldn’t read.

“What does it say?”

“Hold on.”

However, there was no need for Kyle to read the characters himself.

Just as he swung his sword and cut down the ghosts in place of his companions who couldn’t fight, the Magicians who could read would decipher the text for Kyle, who couldn’t.

Yuri, who began to examine the Magician’s research materials, let out a hum and started to focus on them.

“This is… I see, so that’s why… Is it possible to do this here…?”

As Yuri muttered incomprehensible words, Magic Power began to leak from her body.

The leaking Magic Power gently enveloped her, then began to rotate.

Seeing the swirling Magic Power, Kyle realized he had seen this somewhere before, and immediately began to guard the surroundings, protecting Yuri from any interruptions as she gained her enlightenment.

“—I got it.”

‘Paaaat—!’

The moment Yuri opened her mouth, the Magic Power that had been emanating from her body burst forth in all directions.

While Sera and Arthur, who had rushed over after seeing the intense beam of light, stared blankly at Yuri, she spread both hands and calculated the spell.

“Aura, the Resonance of a Thousand Autumn Thunderbolts—.”

“Run, run, run—.”

As if she had a motor in her mouth, Yuri chanted two spells simultaneously and finally succeeded in manifesting two spells in both her hands.

A rumbling spear of lightning, and a blazing sword of flames.

Both were the mark of a 3-Star Magician, meaning she had become an Expert-level, 3-Star Magician.

“Congratulations, Yuri.”

“……Yeah.”

Yuri, who was staring blankly into space with dazed eyes, deactivated the magic and collapsed.

Kyle, who caught her, realized she had collapsed from Magic Power depletion.

The moment he lifted Yuri, the world began to crumble.

“Ah, no!”

Along with Sera’s panicked shout, Kyle was swallowed by the dungeon.

***

“Ouch, ouch….”

“Uh, uhh—.”

When I opened my eyes, we were back in the Academy’s underground library.

Seeing Yuri unconscious in my arms, I knew that what we had just experienced wasn’t a dream.

“Oh, noooo…!”

Sera, realizing we were back outside, placed her hands on the floor and began to lament.

Watching her in the OTL position, tears dripping down her face, I asked why she was crying so sorrowfully.

“What? Why are you so sad?”

“We didn’t get anything!”

“Yuri became a 3-Star and even did Double Casting.”

“That’s because she read the research materials written by that Magician! We didn’t bring any of the actual research materials back!”

Listening to Sera’s outburst, I tilted my head and asked.

We didn’t bring back any of the research materials? What’s the problem?

“We can just ask Yuri to write it down again.”

“What?”

“Since Yuri saw it and gained enlightenment, she’ll probably remember the general content. She can just copy it down.”

Why was she agonizing over such a simple solution…?

As I looked at Sera with a pitying gaze, she finally seemed to understand and began frantically searching for a pen and paper.

She intended to have Yuri write down the research materials she had seen as soon as she woke up, before any damage or errors occurred in her memory.

Almost at the same time Sera found a pen and paper, Yuri opened her eyes with perfect timing and stared blankly into space.

“This is….”

“Yuri! I’m sorry to ask you this as soon as you wake up, but please write this down first!”

“……What?”

Yuri, just waking up, glared at Sera, who was shouting at her while handing her paper and a pen, then, realizing what she wanted, immediately began to scribble something down.

Since she was so engrossed, I couldn’t interrupt her, so I quietly slipped away with Arthur.

“Really, considering we can’t even understand the characters, it seems like they called us to just hunt ghosts.”

“I guess so.”

“……By the way, I understand why they called me, but—why did they call you, Arthur?”

“W-well?”

Unlike me, who could mercilessly cut down ghosts or golems with my Aura Blade, Arthur was just a student at the Aura User level, despite having a large amount of Aura.

The Academy was overflowing with User-level students, so there seemed to be no need to include Arthur…….

‘Does she have another secret I don’t know about?’

I don’t know. I couldn’t save her in the game. Of course, I didn’t bother with a second playthrough.

I shrugged at Arthur.

“Since we have nothing to do, should we pick out some books to read here?”

“……Kyle?”

“Yeah.”

“You haven’t forgotten where we are, have you?”

“Huh?”

I glanced around, shrugging as if it didn’t matter where we were.

The underground library, filled with countless vengeful spirits, curses, sealed magic, and demons lurking in the books?

Who cares, I’m an Aura Master.

It wasn’t a forbidden book completely sealed with chains, preventing anyone from reading it.

The books on this floor, with their weak curses, weren’t particularly frightening.

As I casually opened a book, Arthur looked at me in horror—but then tilted her head, seeing me unaffected.

“……Why are you okay?”

“You should be fine with the books on this floor, too.”

“Me too?”

“Yeah, if what you have is real.”

I tapped my chest as I said that—Arthur picked up a random book as if she would give it a try and sat next to me.

‘Kwaaang—!’

After a roar like a dragon’s cry resonated, Arthur looked at her unharmed body with wonder and glanced at me.

Realizing she was fine, I grinned as if I had expected it.

‘It really works.’

I didn’t expect it to actually work.

I had her try it as an experiment, thinking I could save her if she got cursed—it seemed the Dragon Heart had more abilities than I thought.

With such random thoughts, we continued reading.

Although we weren’t cursed, honestly, most of them were textbooks that I couldn’t understand.

“I’m done.”

After some time—Yuri finally succeeded in transcribing all the contents of the research materials she had seen onto paper.

Only then were we able to leave the underground library.

***

The retrieved research materials were immediately taken to the principal.

The principal welcomed Sera as if she were his own granddaughter, then his attitude changed like a professor facing a graduate student submitting a doctoral dissertation as he looked at the materials.

“Hmm…… How can I be sure this is real?”

“—Like this.”

Yuri immediately double-cast two 3-Star spells simultaneously.

Watching Yuri succeed in Double Casting 3-Star spells, which was known to be impossible even for Duke Walter, a Six-Star Magician, the principal’s eyes sparkled.

Now that he knew the research materials were real, where they were obtained from became less important.

This was something that would overturn current magic theory, and thus, something that would lead the future of academia.

“Good. I will personally deliver this to the Imperial Family and the Magic Tower. It’s too dangerous for either side to monopolize.”

Saying so, the principal smiled brightly at Sera and Yuri.

“You two will—be rewarded. Look forward to it. A discovery like this doesn’t happen often. Miss Sera might even be granted a noble title.”

“A noble title!?”

“Yes, a Baronetcy, but……”

Hearing the principal’s words, Sera began to jump around with joy at the possibility of becoming a noble.

Seeing her like that, the others smiled warmly.

The group, having safely handed over the research materials, left the principal’s office, thinking there wouldn’t be any problems. Security wouldn’t be an issue with the principal, a Master-level Magician, possessing the research materials.

—Or so they thought.

The next day, the principal quietly informed Kyle and his group that the research materials had been stolen.