Ch. 20

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"Well, thanks for explaining that in such detail... but Benjamin, you seem kind of unusual."

Wondering what she was suddenly talking about, I turned my head, and there was Aria, watching me with a tilted head.

"How should I put it, the way you look at a sparring match? It really seems different somehow."

"How do you think about this match, then?"

"I'd say it's kind of disappointing, honestly? If I'd been Eomed, I think I would have done things a bit differently."

"Huh? Differently?"

"Yeah. So in this match, the spells Eomed used were Spread Flame, Burning Hand, Fire Worm, and the conditional spell, Blooming Crimson Thorn, right?"

"Right."

"Since he could use his Talent to cut off the opponent's attack somehow, and the opponent didn't know that yet, I don't think he even needed to use Burning Hand to create distance from the start."

"Oh, he didn't need to create distance?"

"Right! And think about it in reverse order too. With Spread Flame already having created an environment favorable for Fire-attribute magic and set up at least a minimal synergy effect, right? Then, rather than deliberately using another spell to create distance, he should've pretended to let his guard down to bait an attack, and then cut off the flow with his Talent instead. And then, once his opponent was thrown off balance, what if he'd used Burning Hand followed by Blooming Crimson Thorn in that order?"

Of course, the outcome would depend on the opponent's resilience against each spell, but it definitely would have dealt significantly more damage than what actually happened.

"Something like Burning Hand tends to deal fairly heavy damage even compared to most Fire-attribute spells, right?"

Sure enough, the Crown Prince had cut through every other spell with his sword, but chose to step back specifically to dodge Burning Hand.

"Given that he even bothered breaking through and closing the distance against a spell as ignorable as Spread Flame, he seems like the type who cuts through whatever he can and moves on, so him choosing to dodge Burning Hand specifically probably means simply cutting through it felt too risky for him."

Finding it too risky to just cut through meant that, if it landed, it could deal considerable damage.

"Of course, part of it is that we already know it could deal damage since we just watched him dodge Burning Hand... but if he'd truly trusted his own Talent, I think he should have focused entirely on landing spells the moment his opponent was thrown off balance, rather than keeping distance and holding back."

Using his own Talent to catch a startled opponent off guard, then landing an explosive burst of magic in that instant to finish it.

Her assessment was strikingly close to the Eomed I remembered from before the regression.

"So if he hadn't wasted a spell like Fire Worm just for keeping distance, he could have conserved mana, and if he'd used that time to land even one more offensive spell instead... couldn't he have won?"

Of course, having good instincts didn't mean every battle would go exactly as planned, but it was clear this would have significantly raised his chances of winning.

"Impressive."

Honestly, there were plenty of things I could have nitpicked, but for a kid with absolutely no real combat experience to be able to think this thoroughly deserved genuine praise on its own.

"Anyway, that's why I think you're kind of unusual, Benjamin."

"Yeah, go ahead and explain that too. What exactly is so unusual about me?"

"Usually, if you ask someone what happened, you get an answer like mine: 'they lost because they didn't use this spell in this situation,' that kind of thing, right?"

"Wait... don't you not even have anyone to ask?"

"Benjamin!"

Judging by how she snapped back, I must have hit a fairly sore spot.

"That's what all the combat preparation books say! There are plenty of recorded cases of battles between knights and mages, but whenever they analyze the process, it's always interpreted from the mage's perspective!"

Just as she'd said, given that I'd been a swordsman, it was hard to deny that I'd focused entirely on how the crown prince had overpowered the mage.

Did that mean what I actually needed was a mage's perspective?

Now that I had a body capable of using magic, albeit conditionally, I probably needed to start valuing a mage's judgment as much as thinking purely as a swordsman trying to overpower enemies.

"Next up, the Knight Department's Neb Pound!"

While I was deep in conversation with Aria, a voice rang out, and looking toward the center of the field, I saw a man walking forward, his hair perfectly groomed, his stride sharp and precisely measured.

There was something almost unnervingly composed about this man, expression completely blank as he sized up his opponent.

I'd never actually seen the Pound family in person, but I remembered their name well enough, having heard it mentioned time and again across countless battlefields before the regression.

'If we had just supported the Pound family back then, the front lines wouldn't have collapsed to this degree...'

That was the anguished lament of some strategist, watching helplessly as the front lines kept crumbling further and further.

'We're clearly being abandoned too, just like the Pound family was!'

That was the desperate cry of some soldier, surrounded on all sides by demons, waiting hopelessly for reinforcements that never came.

'If Count Pound were still alive, things wouldn't have gotten this bad.'

That was the bitter murmur of some knight, unable to hide his sorrow watching lives crumble away in an endless war of attrition.

The Pound family had once guarded the southernmost edge of the Southern continent, and had been wiped out entirely by demonkind, save for a single survivor.

The Pound family had been the very first to be attacked by demonkind, and though they'd requested reinforcements to stop the assault, at a time when no one had ever encountered demonkind before, the request had been dismissed as unimportant and naturally ignored.

This had, in turn, led directly to the Pound family's downfall, and marked the exact moment the strongest bulwark against demonkind finally crumbled.

Once they collapsed, having fought alone and desperately for two whole months without any outside help, it took less than a single week for half the Southern continent to go up in flames.

This alone was enough to demonstrate just how immense their true strength had been, and even now, before any demonkind attack had occurred, public opinion of the Pound family remained quite high.

The one family that could genuinely go toe to toe with the Snowtier family, home to the Sword God himself.

While it was true that Duke Snowtier's active involvement in politics gave his family a significant edge in terms of influence, the Pound family was widely regarded as one that would never fall behind in a pure contest of strength.

"The Magic Department's Jeffrey Allard!"

Just then, a man walked out yawning, heading toward Neb, who stood utterly still, unshaken as a doll.

Showing not the slightest interest in this match, merely rubbing his sleepy eyes as he stood there, he still somehow gave off the impression of standing there as if he himself were a work of art.

If the Crown Prince was handsome in a way that could almost be mistaken for a woman, delicate and pretty, then this guy was, I suppose, handsome in a distinctly masculine way.

"Then we begin the match!"

At Anna's shout, Neb drew his sword and took up his stance.

Just from taking that stance alone, he gave off a solid, immovable impression, like looking at a high fortress wall, but there was no way I could win against that guy.

Jeffrey Allard.

Someone I'd crossed paths with across countless battlefields, a monster wearing the mask of a human being.

Before the regression, his nickname had been "The Disaster."

Technically, "The Flood" might have been more accurate, but that hardly mattered.

Just his stepping onto a battlefield alone was enough to completely flip the tide of war.

"I surrender."

But just as the tension began to build, as if something were about to start, Jeffrey abruptly declared his surrender.

"...What?"

"I surrender. Can I just go take a nap now?"

At his words, not just Anna, who was overseeing the match, but everyone gathered around looked at him in complete disbelief, yet all he did was stretch.

"You're actually surrendering, seriously?"

"Yes. I've lost. Ahh~"

At his words, delivered with all the enthusiasm of someone whose eyes were practically half-closed, Anna scoffed.

"Jeffrey, at least show a minimum amount of respect toward your opponent."

Jeffrey let out a sigh at her words, clearly finding it a bother.

And the moment he sighed, strands of his emerald hair began rising, one by one, into the air.

[Water Droplet]

Being called the foundational spell of Water-attribute magic, it was the very first basic spell most people learned.

Simply thrown at an opponent, it was too weak to deal any real damage, but since its formula tended to complete quickly, it was often used as a setup for other conditional spells linked to it.

But even a spell as weak as Water Droplet was said to be, use enough of them to fill the entire sky, and the story changed completely.

"What is that..."

Someone let out a gasp, looking up at the sky, and everyone else turned their gaze upward too.

Wow, just how many of those things were there, exactly.

Just as everyone realized the droplets that had instantly blanketed the sky had stopped multiplying any further.

Jeffrey's floating hair strands dropped down all at once, and the countless droplets filling the sky began falling with them.

It looked like rain falling... no, more like a torrential downpour crashing down.

The strange part was that this downpour seemed to be aimed directly at a single person, raining down as if fired straight at him.

"How is anyone even supposed to block that..."

Along with Aria's hollow voice, a series of splattering sounds rang out as droplet after droplet burst, and soon, a massive spray of water rose up centered on Neb.

[Waterspout]

It was a conditional spell that could only be used if the area was submerged in ocean water, or otherwise sufficiently covered in water.

The spray of water quickly formed into one enormous whirlwind, spinning as if to tear its target apart.

Just as Anna, sensing the spell's power was more formidable than expected, was about to step in, the violently spinning spell suddenly began breaking apart.

"Nine hundred and fifty droplets."

A quiet voice muttered from within the whirlwind.

"Two hundred for distraction. One hundred fifty for direct impact. Six hundred for area control."

It was a small but clear, distinct voice.

"Is that all?"

Jeffrey unleashing that overwhelming volume of magic had been astonishing enough, but Neb's ability to grasp it all and ultimately break it apart was more than enough to send chills down anyone's spine.

Before the regression, the only survivor of the Pound family had been a single person, Odelia Pound.

Though calling her state at the time "surviving" would have been a bit of a stretch...

Anyway, Neb had appeared in Aden's life before, but he'd never left this much of an impact back then.

That was because he'd simply been one of Aden's easier opponents.

What if his Talent had actually leaned heavily toward the defensive?

Aden's Talent, Ignore, was a one of a kind ability capable of piercing through even the ancient being's protection, something no one else had ever managed, which was surely exactly why Aden had found him so easy to deal with.

In short, it had simply been a matter of compatibility.

But seeing him now in person, he was actually only weak specifically against Aden, and could otherwise objectively be considered quite a powerful individual.

I suspected the people who'd appeared in Aden's life had probably all been evaluated relative to Aden's own standard, which was likely the source of this error in my judgment.

"Can I surrender now?"

Despite having his spell completely blocked, Jeffrey didn't even look surprised, simply asking Anna if he could surrender.

Seeing her expression, utterly dumbfounded at his attitude, he continued.

"I mean, seriously, how am I supposed to win if he can block that?"

It was, in a sense, a reasonable point, but since Jeffrey had used such a grand, elaborate spell without so much as losing his breath, Anna, thinking there was clearly room to continue the match, hesitated to answer, and Marey, standing nearby, stepped forward instead.

"This round's winner is Neb Pound."

"Professor Marey...!"

"Jeffrey, I'd like to see a bit more enthusiasm from you next time. Now then, let's clear this area before the next competitors come up."

Even with the winner formally declared, the students still couldn't quite close their gaping mouths.