Chapter 235
Chapter 235
There was nothing for him to learn at the Academy.
However, as the sole heir of the Lisitoel family, he had to graduate from the Academy.
He did not feel any need to inherit the position of count, but in any case, as one who bore the name ‘Lisitoel,’ it was a duty he had to fulfill.
The benefits he had received by being born as Lisitoel’s son must have been for that as well.
“If a problem arises at the Academy, call me.”
In the ten years that passed before Evan entered the Academy, the relationship between father and son did not improve.
Perhaps that was only natural.
Count Lisitoel cherished his heir, but he had no interest whatsoever in ‘Evan Lisitoel.’
Evan knew all of that.
But he did not feel that there was any value in taking further action there.
Since no one acted, the relationship neither progressed nor worsened.
The two merely existed that way as father and son.
“Yes.”
At that brief one-syllable answer, Count Lisitoel glanced down at Evan, who wore the Academy uniform, then abruptly turned his head and headed toward his office.
Evan, too, did not give such a father so much as a handful of attention and simply turned his head toward the Academy.
His footsteps as he walked alone were even light.
Evan had not the slightest intention of wasting six years on this pointless life.
In the Academy’s case, if all procedures were advanced quickly, three years would be enough.
Once he finished everything within that time, he would travel for a while.
Lost in thought, Evan moved forward.
No one dared even think of approaching Evan.
The name of Count Lisitoel’s son was lofty, but what was more famous than anything was, no matter what anyone said, his foul personality.
The occasion that made his name famous among nobles his age was a certain party.
It was a party Evan Lisitoel had attended at fourteen years old, in place of Count Lisitoel, who had been busy with work.
Evan was in a considerably foul mood.
It was fine to fulfill his duty as the son of a count family.
But he did not particularly want to waste time on strange things.
Especially if it was a gathering for useless socializing.
“Tch.”
People seemed to have plenty of time.
Looking at those who conversed while laughing elegantly, Evan finally put down the glass of juice he had been drinking and decided to return to the mansion.
In any case, he had attended, so his father would not be able to say much.
Just as he was about to return, disaster struck.
“Are you that ‘Evan Lisitoel’?”
Evan’s name was already quite famous in noble circles.
Some rumors related to his father, such as that Count Lisitoel did not like his son much, or that the Emperor had scolded the count for it.
Most rumors were about Evan’s magic, such as that he possessed Inscription and a special magical talent worthy of leaving a mark on imperial history, or that by ability alone, no mage in the Empire could follow him.
Evan Lisitoel was a celebrity to the point that no one in the Empire’s central circles did not know him.
It was only natural that people would take interest in the appearance of a boy who had been surrounded by nothing but rumors.
Upon hearing that Evan Lisitoel would attend, a certain young lord had half-forced his father to let him attend the party. Seeing Evan, who was shorter than him, he burst out laughing.
Evan looked at him with a cold gaze, but regardless of that, he spoke with a smile.
“What? Are you really a man? Looking that pretty, I think you’d suit a dress better than a tailcoat.”
A blatant sneer, followed by an insult that came as naturally as breathing.
“There were so many rumors, so I wondered how amazing you’d be.”
The man let out a snicker and placed a hand on Evan’s shoulder.
At the hand blatantly trying to press him down, Evan’s eyebrow twitched.
“What? Are you offended?”
The Emperor had not yet come to the party hall.
Causing a disturbance in front of the Emperor was something one should avoid as an imperial noble, but before that, it did not matter, did it?
Evan made his judgment quickly, and once he reached the conclusion that ‘it was fine,’ there was no reason anywhere for him to hesitate.
BOOM—!
The man’s body flew through the air of the party hall and crashed into the far wall in an instant.
“I can’t hear the voice of a bastard weaker than me.”
A gaze looking down upon something insignificant.
The man, feeling killing intent, stopped breathing for a moment.
In the party hall that had gone silent in an instant, only the sound of Evan’s footsteps rang out coldly.
“Say that again. What did you say?”
Press.
His shoe pressed down hard on the man’s shoulder.
“Nghhh.”
The gaze that mercilessly crushed the one suffering without even being able to scream was indifferent.
Under a gaze that did not contain even a handful of killing intent, the man writhed like a bug beneath the foot of a child younger than himself.
Only after the Emperor came did Evan lift his foot. And thanks to Evan’s attitude of confidently insisting that he had done nothing wrong to the Emperor, who admonished him that his response had been too excessive, the rumor about him gained the added detail that his personality was quite foul.
Unfortunately, Evan was not the sort of disposition to go around correcting rumors about his own personality.
And to a certain extent, he himself agreed with that point.
He had no desire to go out of his way to correct the truth.
Thanks to those rumors, on the day of the entrance ceremony, no one went anywhere near Evan.
To be precise, they almost did not go near him.
“Are you that Evan Lisitoel?”
The woman with red hair and red eyes was like a living flame.
“I’m Beatrice Belfiare.”
A smile too beautiful to believe she was sixteen years old rested on her lips.
Beatrice Belfiare. She, too, was something of a celebrity in her own right.
Though she could not be compared to Evan Lisitoel, it was fairly famous that since childhood, she had possessed special talent in elemental magic, especially flame magic.
“Have you heard the name Artemia? She’s a girl from the Baelin family, and she specializes in Healing Magic. She’s going to become the greatest in the Empire when it comes to Healing Magic!”
“I see.”
“What is that reaction?”
Beatrice frowned prettily.
“Must I show the reaction you expected?”
Evan instead asked Beatrice back with an attitude that said he did not understand.
“No, not exactly, but….”
Still, if a person greeted him, was it not proper to show a slightly more reasonable reaction?
Moreover, unlike other magic, Healing Magic depended most on aptitude.
It was high-difficulty magic to the point that someone with no talent at all might become crippled simply by attempting it.
“I do not know how I am supposed to react when you boast and act proud about a complete stranger who is not even yourself.”
At those words, Beatrice felt as if her face was burning.
He was right.
He was one hundred times right, but it seemed Evan Lisitoel, who was surrounded by rumors, had a talent for saying things in a more irritating way.
“Beatrice, the entrance ceremony is still going on. Where are you wandering off to?”
“Artemia! I tried talking to Evan Lisitoel once and got utterly destroyed!”
Beatrice raised her voice as if wronged.
Seeing her childhood friend like that, Artemia held out her hand toward Evan.
“I’m Artemia Baelin. I enrolled as a Healing Magic major.”
“Is that so? Impressive.”
At that compliment of impressive, which held not even the slightest emotion, Beatrice felt her already burning face grow even hotter.
He was definitely praising her on purpose.
To mock her!!
“…Bess, you’re a remarkable mage too. At your age, I think you’re the only one who can use advanced fire magic, aren’t you?”
As if she had sensed the strange atmosphere, Artemia praised Beatrice.
Though Evan Lisitoel, who could be called the cause of it, no longer showed any interest and leisurely left just like that.
“Wow, he’s seriously obnoxious.”
“Bess….”
“My chances at valedictorian are ruined now.”
Beatrice let out a sigh.
Evan Lisitoel was remarkable.
Even if she did not want to admit it, she had no choice but to do so.
“Don’t tell me you?”
“I tried using magic once.”
That noble who had been subdued by Evan in just one second was also a mage who was fairly famous in his own right.
That noble, who had been expected to become a promising mage in the future, was now said to shudder and avoid even the sight of white, shutting himself inside his room in seclusion.
People who wondered why he had been subdued at once without being able to put up any meaningful resistance kept seeking out that noble student.
The man, who suffered just from recalling the memory of that time, nevertheless managed to answer a few of their questions with difficulty, perhaps because time was medicine.
“I tried to use Protective Magic, but the mana scattered before it could even gather.”
When asked how on earth that had happened, the answer came out with difficulty.
“The flow of magic was distorted. I tried somehow to maintain it, but the mana escaped my control.”
Then the man had said this.
“Evan Lisitoel is a monster.”
With that answer, he chased people away as if he did not want to have any more conversations.
That was why she was bothered and curious.
Just how remarkable was he, for a person to break that badly?
“So how was it?”
“He figured out exactly what magic I was trying to use and picked out only the weakest parts of the spell one after another to cut them off.”
Should she admire Beatrice’s persistence in trying to use magic even while feeling embarrassed? Or should she marvel at Evan Lisitoel, who had subtly irritated his opponent while also dismantling her magic?
Either way, they were both quite insane.
And madness was one of the most important virtues of a mage, so the two of them would surely become great mages.
“This is why mages are….”
“You’re a mage too, you know?”
“I know.”
Artemia would become the greatest healing mage in the Empire.
This was not arrogance.
There was no healing mage as outstanding as Artemia, and for someone to surpass her, they would need to be at least a Saint chosen by the God of Light.
Since such a being would not easily appear, it was close to a certain future.
But in the future, a healing mage who surpassed Artemia would appear.
Perhaps a Saint truly chosen by the God of Light would be born and display a miracle that saved hundreds of people with a single gesture through vast Holy Power.
But at least one thing was certain.
“No human mage will appear who surpasses Evan Lisitoel.”
This, too, was surely a confirmed future.
To surpass ‘that,’ one would have to exceed the limits of the species called human.
In other words, Evan Lisitoel was pressed right up against the limits of humanity.
At Artemia’s words, Beatrice firmly closed her mouth.
“I’m not saying you aren’t remarkable.”
Beatrice was remarkable enough.
It was simply that Evan Lisitoel was too far outside the standard.
“I know that too.”
Beatrice, who had stuck out her lips in a pout, looked at the place where Evan had been standing until just now.
“Still, I’m not jealous.”
“Why?”
“Because he looks lonely.”
A life understood by no one—wouldn’t that be far too lonely?
At Beatrice’s words, Artemia slowly nodded as if she understood.
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