Chapter 113

Episode 113 – A Hand Reaching Out (Petra’s Perspective)

A massive explosion rocked part of the dense jungle—the biggest one of the day.

Black smoke rose in thick plumes, and the air echoed with fierce roars that made it sound like a full-blown war had broken out.

But in truth, it was nothing close to a large-scale battle.

“Haaah…!”

“—!”

The longsword swung by the knight trainee sliced past my cheek by a hair’s breadth before soaring behind me as he leapt back to widen the distance.

He was the only opponent.

And I was the only one on my side.

Even so, he kept coming at me with all the force of someone hell-bent on killing.

“Ow…!”

It was no use. Dodging every single blow forever was impossible.

“Hah, that’s the spirit. C’mon, let’s hear more of those cute little screams!”

“Shut up…! I’ll never forgive you!”

As expected of a lapdog for that noble girl, the knight student was completely unhinged.

A genuine piece of garbage.

The thought that someone like him might one day become a knight sworn to protect the kingdom made me want to throw up.

“Tired already, aren’t we?”

The smug voice of the mage student echoed from behind, arms crossed as she watched like it was some kind of show. She only occasionally cast spells, but that alone made her more than enough of a threat.

Still, she didn’t seem in any rush to finish me off.

It was like she wanted to savor watching me struggle and squirm.

“Tch…!”

“Oops. Looks like I cut you a little too deep. Whoopsie.”

Compared to the knight, my physical ability was far inferior.

I had almost no experience dealing with enemies who closed in with brute force, and the longer this dragged on, the worse it would get. More injuries. And worst-case scenario…

—I might never be able to use magic again.

“Ohoho, that looks like it hurts so much.”

Their mocking voices clung to my ears.

With my vision blurred, I’d never felt worse in my life.

Blood streamed from the wounds slashed open on my body.

It dripped steadily from my fingertips and splattered onto the ground below.

Across from me, the noble girls giggled gleefully at the sight.

It made my blood boil.

“Buuut… even if you beg and cry on your knees, I’m not going to forgive you!”

They didn’t want mercy—they wanted to torture me to their heart’s content.

And there was no chance they’d show any leniency.

Which meant if I wanted to survive, I had no choice but to take down every single one of them myself.

I could barely stay standing.

Honestly, I wanted to break down crying.

But if I gave up here, I’d never make it as a proper mage, let alone a Royal Court Magician.

This kind of adversity would be a regular occurrence if I took on life-or-death missions in the future. If I couldn’t handle a simple skirmish between students, I’d never be worthy of that title.

—I have no choice but to fight.

I’m not going to lose to anyone.

I’m not going to bow to scum like them!

Clutching my wound with one hand, I forced my concentration to its peak.

“Ghh—!”

“Urgh…!”

The moment a knight student staggered forward without a care, I activated the spell I’d kept hidden and blasted him back.

He must’ve assumed I was too drained to fight back—he didn’t even brace for impact and crashed hard against the ground.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

“Ow… oww, I think… my bones are broken…”

“Ugh, this is why those meatheaded knight students are completely useless!”

By some miracle, I’d managed to put a few of them out of commission.

They still had numbers on their side, but at least I’d landed a blow.

“Hah. So this is what they call a disorganized rabble. Thinking you could win with sheer numbers—how naïve can you be?”

I put on a proud front, but in truth, my body was close to its limit from the damage it had taken.

Using my magic to simultaneously stop the bleeding and dull the pain had drained a huge chunk of my reserves.

If I ran out of mana completely, my only option would be to run.

I’d hoped I could conserve enough to keep fighting, but that naive thought was about to be violently blown away.

“If you run away with your tail between your legs, maybe we’ll let you live?”

“Don’t you dare patronize me! Just because I took down a few of you doesn’t mean I’m done yet!”

The noble girl standing in front of me raised her hand, and the knight and mage students waiting in the back all took up battle stances.

Guess I pushed too far. They were coming in for the kill.

In a way, I brought this on myself. But bluffing was the only card I had left.

“Do whatever you want—just make sure you don’t kill her. I want her so scared she’ll never speak again!”

Yeah. This was definitely bad.

Realizing that, I stopped holding back and began frantically weaving together my next spell.

More knight students than before charged in.

The mages stopped playing around and began casting seriously.

A rain of swords and spells came crashing down on me all at once.

I waited until the very last second, pulling them in close—planning to counter everything with the strongest spell I could muster.

Of course, that was basically impossible.

Blocking both physical and magical attacks at once was beyond the abilities of any ordinary student.

Still, my survival instincts screamed at my brain to push past the limits—do or die.

—Now!

Just as their attacks were about to land—

“ORAAAHHHHHH!”

A blur cut in between us, blowing the knight student away in a single stroke.

The clash of swords rang out, sparks flying.

We all froze.

Even I and the noble girls stood dumbstruck for a moment.

Looking closer, I saw a single knight student standing there.

A well-built guy with chestnut hair.

That was how I met Stiàno (スティアーノ / Stiàno).

“You okay?”

“Y-Yeah… I’m fine, I guess.”

“Good. Damn… all of you ganging up on one girl? And you call yourselves knights? What happened to your honor?!”

Stiàno planted himself firmly in front of me, raising his sword as if to shield me.