NOVEL NEXT Chapter 25
Frecia, who had been surviving in the back alleys, had never learned magic.
Recently, the most she had done was accept a professor position at the Academy, and in her spare time, she had just flipped through magic books in the library, studying on her own.
If Frecia were to have a magic master, it would be the little star sparkling in the night sky.
Thus, Frecia didn’t follow any particular magic system; she merely wished. The girl’s talent allowed her to unleash her own magic just by wishing upon a star.
Wizards who had seen her magic even once would never dare to replicate it. Regardless of their ability to do so, they wouldn’t even try. This was because her magic showed no semblance of a framework—no incantations, no magic circles, and no observable movement of mana.
She simply wished.
However, what seemed like chaotic magic to others had its own order to Frecia. There were rules.
If you wanted to catch a glimpse of her unique order, you’d have to keep up with her talent.
Could you truly keep up?
*
Even as Balikan wobbled to stand, Frecia merely observed with her noble demeanor.
And Frecia’s silence was a greater humiliation for Balikan than any insult could be.
“This brat…”
True to his name, Balikan relished looking down on others. Hence, the fact that a mere girl, not even a teenager, was looking down on him was something he could not tolerate.
But while he was arrogant, he wasn’t foolish. He acknowledged that the little girl before him had an unexpected move up her sleeve.
He assessed the damage his body had sustained, judged the possibility of continuing the fight, analyzed the impact and the direction from which the attack had come, and ensured that the magical barrier he had spread here hadn’t collapsed.
Amidst all those considerations, the option to retreat did not exist for Balikan. That’s why he was an arrogant individual.
While Balikan acted cautiously, Frecia simply extended her hand lightly to the side.
However, in that moment, Balikan doubted his own eyes.
The small starlight that had floated behind the wizard seemed to be held in her hand.
But it wasn’t just a figment of Balikan’s imagination. One of the countless starlights decorating the sky had actually entered the girl’s hand.
Whether it was realistic or fantastical didn’t matter. What mattered was that Frecia wished for it.
Frecia tightly grasped the starlight she had caught with both hands.
With a flash.
A light so bright it was blinding spread out and then disappeared in an instant.
As the light enveloped Frecia, the wound on her forehead, which had been bleeding from hitting a rock, healed, and the broken bones rolling on the ground began to mend.
The light that had swept over Frecia then embraced the unconscious Elysia. Suddenly, the fading breath and the growing pallor began to return.
Unlike before, where it was merely a first-aid treatment, this time it was a complete healing. However, Elysia, having completely lost her strength, showed no signs of regaining consciousness.
Frecia hadn’t hoped for Elysia to join her in the first place. The demonic race before her was something she could handle on her own. She merely wished to alleviate Elysia’s pain as quickly as possible.
Arrogant Balikan, having once again witnessed Frecia’s magic before him, slowly began to realize that something was off.
Now, the dilemma of whether to maintain his arrogance here or to flee disgracefully while promising to plan for the future settled in Balikan’s mind.
But Frecia kindly decided to help Balikan not to think.
“Alright. Then let’s wrap this up.”
With the girl’s words, the countless starlights scattered across the night sky began to take shape.
They formed arrows made of light. Each radiated a different brightness and size, but all the starlights in the sky had coalesced into arrows aiming at Balikan.
Fwoosh!
The first arrow was shot.
Balikan swung his hand to deflect the arrow, but the light arrow was not like the previous ones.
Swoosh!
The arrow dutifully fulfilled its role. It pierced Balikan’s hand at just the right arrow size—not too big, not too small.
Normally, a wound of this magnitude would be nothing. However—
Bababababam!
Countless arrows of light swarmed towards Balikan like stars in the night sky. There was no grandeur; only the occasional sound of wind and the faint noise of piercing.
“Still alive, huh?”
Balikan’s condition, after being struck by dozens and hundreds of arrows, was pitiful.
Balikan, now resembling a porcupine, saw Frecia approach him.
However, Balikan merely squirmed like a bug, showing no signs of retaliation, not even a twitch.
“I need to take Elysia with me, so I’ll finish this now.”
Despite Frecia’s tone sounding merciful, the magic swirling from her fingertips was immense, wild, and brutal.
The magic blooming from her fingertips called upon the brightest star among those floating high in the night sky.
“Heaven’s Punishment!”
A divine punishment from the heavens.
Kwaaaang!
The brightest star that had been hovering high in the sky, the largest meteor, crashed down upon the motionless Balikan.
And the once-arrogant Balikan, known as the Demon, no longer existed there.
*
“This way! You look up, and the rest follow me!”
At the outer walls of the castle, the guard stationed at the main entrance, along with the patrolling guards and those taking a break, rushed toward the commotion coming from the slums.
Though most of the guards couldn’t use magic, they couldn’t accurately decipher what had happened; nonetheless, the overwhelming noise hinted that something serious had occurred.
As the guards formed ranks and entered the depths of the slums, they discovered two girls—specifically, one unconscious girl and a smaller girl carrying her. It looked like a classic princess carry, but with the girl being carried being taller, it created a peculiar picture.
“Stop right there!”
One guard who was ahead aimed his spear at Frecia to warn her.
However, Frecia had no time to heed Guard A’s warning. Her focus was solely on Elysia, one person.
Even though she had already healed all of Elysia’s wounds and knew she was no longer in danger, Frecia carefully moved Elysia as though dealing with a patient.
“Hey, hey. Lower your spear. That’s her, you know? The one who’s been restoring the barrier since a few days ago.”
Fortunately, some guards recognized Frecia, and Guard A’s spear was pointed back up to the sky.
The senior-most guard, Guard B, approached Frecia and spoke.
“Ma’am Wizard, could you tell us what happened here?”
Only then did Frecia react to his immediate proximity. However, even though she acknowledged him, she had no intention of accepting his request.
“Come find me later at the Academy.”
She passed by the guard in front of her, moving past the soldiers being deployed further back, taking no time to spare with her steps.
Tap tap.
It was as if she was walking up stairs in thin air.
Frecia stepped, one step at a time, walking through the night sky, and then, cradling Elysia, she returned beyond the castle walls to the Academy.
*
Of course, the higher-ups in Felches and the Academy were in turmoil.
There were several reasons for this. The biggest reason was that a student in the Academy had been injured, followed by the hole in the barrier through which demonic beings had infiltrated, and the overwhelming mana felt from the slums was the fourth.
Each factor, regardless of its urgency, undoubtedly troubled the heads of the Academy.
First and foremost, Elysia was admitted to the Academy’s hospital. Thanks to Frecia’s magic, it was confirmed there were no significant wounds, but since she hadn’t regained consciousness yet, the precaution was taken. She was forcibly admitted until at least her vitality recovered.
The hole in the barrier, through which the demons had intruded, was checked by the old magic faculty members who had been called from sleep at midnight. Even though they found no suspicious traces, they decided to impose penalties on the previous restorers.
Yet, an uneasy feeling remained.
Then came the emergence of the mid-level demon and Frecia’s subjugation of it.
According to Frecia’s testimony, the demon was a mid-level being known by the name “Arrogance.” Unlike the numerous and chaotic lower demons, mid-level and above demons act with a degree of order under the Demon King’s command. Therefore, the targeting of the Academy by a mid-level demon indicated that the Demon King’s army had begun to move in earnest. This was not an issue to be taken lightly.
Moreover, Frecia, who had completely obliterated the mid-level demon without leaving a trace behind, astonished the professors of the magic faculty. In truth, they hadn’t known the exact extent of Frecia’s capabilities. They merely knew that she had received a noble title from the emperor.
Her magic was a bit unusual, but that was all. Therefore, it was only natural for them to assume that a young girl like Frecia might have some capability, but more so they believed she received the title due to her potential and the Academy professorship she was offered. Yet, the emperor’s acknowledgment was not something to be taken lightly.
The fact that she had annihilated a mid-level demon without leaving a corpse and the residual mana remained in the slums was enough to awaken them to their misjudged assumptions.
While the higher-ups were troubled by all sorts of matters, Elysia, comfortably lying in the bed of the Academy hospital, awoke feeling flustered for another reason.