It was Serafina after all.
“But even if you can read it, simply knowing the word isn’t enough to use it. Memorizing it doesn’t mean you understand it. The only one who could truly understand this word was…”
“Was it King Solomon Noelle?”
The one who interrupted the professor’s lecture was Miona, the star student sitting next to Erika. Upon hearing Miona’s words, Professor Balan nodded and erased the drawings on the blackboard.
“Yes, exactly. It was the Demon King Solomon. Only he could manipulate the 72 Ancient Magic Circles at will. Ah — truly marvelous. He was almost like a god…”
Professor Balan’s blood-red eyes flashed with an eerie light. Although his gaze was directed at Miona, Erika felt for some reason that he was also watching her. The young girl lowered her head and focused on her notes.
‘Just ignore it.’
Erika recorded every detail of the magic circles and the illustrations.
***
Perhaps because it was the first day, the class ended much earlier than scheduled. Once the other students flooded out of the classroom, Erika packed her things and left as well.
Several people still lingered in the hallways. Some boys intentionally raised their voices to play around as she walked past, while some girls whispered amongst themselves upon seeing her. Erika ignored them all.
The girl headed for the empty lot behind the teaching building. It was a secluded spot where trees and grass swayed in the breeze, looking at first glance like a place that was rarely visited and difficult to disturb.
Erika walked deeper into the area and pulled a piece of chalk she had swiped from the classroom and the notebook she had used for her sketches from her pocket.
“Mm.”
Squatting on the ground, Erika roughly traced the pattern Professor Balan had drawn earlier. Although it was difficult to draw a perfect circle like the professor had, she managed to replicate it reasonably well.
Having finished the scrawled ancient magic circle, the girl pointed her hand toward it and spoke.
“Serafina…”
*Whoosh—*
Immediately, the magic circle began to emit a faint light.
In that instant, the runes written upon it burst with a blinding radiance, as if to pierce through her eyes and strike the depths of her soul. Immediately after, the girl felt a certain ‘concept’ smash into her mind like a heavy hammer.
**[Serafina: A chant that nullifies magic. It renders spells of a lower rank than the caster ineffective.]**
‘Oh my!’
The text before her felt incredibly novel, like a long-standing, difficult problem suddenly being solved by a flash of inspiration.
If it can nullify anything lower than the caster’s rank, didn’t that mean she could just announce her rank before a fight, and anyone lower wouldn’t even be able to fight back?
“Serafina.”
When she recited the spell again, she could clearly feel a certain change occur within her body even without drawing a magic circle this time.
*Sizzle, sizzle.*
Her hands and feet felt a bit numb, and a slight dizziness washed over her mind. Erika instinctively realized that this was the sensation of using magic. It was likely thanks to the Noelle blood flowing through her veins.
**[Approaching the mystery, exploring the mystery!]**
**[Mage Job Experience Points gained: + 50]**
‘Just as I thought.’
Wait, did the ‘Halcyon Roost’ mentioned during the duel also mean something?
“Ahem.” The girl cleared her throat and slowly recited in a moderate voice, “Halcyon Roost.”
Immediately, text surfaced before her eyes once more.
**[Halcyon Roost: A bird-taming spell. It is used to tame birds. The higher the caster’s rank, the more types of birds can be tamed and the longer the duration lasts.]**
‘This is amazing. No wonder there were birds flying all over the place.’
Are there any birds nearby? Let’s test it…
Erika looked around and saw several pigeons perched in a tree. She hadn’t expected there to be so many pigeons in the Academy.
The girl shouted toward them, “Halcyon Roost!”
*Flutter, flutter.*
Suddenly, over ten pigeons from the tree flew toward her, landing on the girl’s arms and shoulders. Just as she began to giggle, the group of pigeons suddenly began to express their ‘affection.’
“Ow! Don’t peck at me! You’re messing up my hair! Go away!” Erika waved her arms crossly to drive the troublesome birds away.
“Commoner.”
“Eh?” It seemed someone had arrived without her noticing.
“Commoner Erika Angelina, what are you doing here? And what was with those birds that just flew away?”
‘Why is it always you?’
“Miss Miona, what would bring you to a place like this…? Those birds weren’t anything special.”
Erika suddenly grew tense, worried whether her actions just now had been discovered. Miona Draco’s gaze swept over the chalk on the ground and the drawn magic circle. Then, her nose wrinkled slightly as she let out a long hum.
“So that’s how it is.”
‘How what is? What does she mean? Am I exposed?! Did she find out I’m the successor of Demon King Noelle?’
In an instant, Erika thought of many things. her thoughts expanded rapidly like a marshmallow in a microwave.
Her emotions were a tangled mess, ranging from thoughts like ‘the Draco Family were originally loyal subjects of Noelle, so if I handle this well, it should be fine’ to the fear of ‘if my true identity is exposed, will I be executed on the spot?’
However, as a veteran actress, Erika decided to act as if nothing was wrong and asked, “What are you trying to say?”
“Stop playing dumb, Erika Angelina. You seem to be more studious than I thought. I can’t believe you’re already eager to review after class.”
“Eh?!”
“It seems you are very interested in ancient languages like these spells?”
“Yes, I’m very interested!”
It seemed she hadn’t seen what happened just now. She likely just thought Erika was an honor student who liked Death Speech and was enthusiastic about reviewing after class, which was why she showed interest.
However, the silver-white eyebrows on Miona Draco’s face furrowed slightly, and a few fine lines appeared between her brows. “Why are you interested in Death Speech? You are clearly neither a Necromancer nor a Black Mage. You’d best not even think about lying to me.”
‘After all that, is she still suspicious of me?’
Erika’s mind raced as she thought about what to say to get through this. If she handled it correctly, she might be able to turn this crisis into an opportunity, just like during her duel with F-junior.
“Well? Why?”
“That’s because… this is the power of King Noelle.”
“King Noelle’s… power?”
“Although he was called a Demon King and was overthrown, the power of Demon King Noelle is true, supreme power. It’s only natural to admire and revere his great strength.”
“Hmph, that is true. It’s just like how a commoner like you would admire and pay attention to me, Miona Draco.”
“Eh? So I… admire and pay attention to Lady Miona Draco…?”
“I am just that eye-catching; there’s no need to lie about it now. The reason you’re taking this Death Speech class, the reason you’re putting on this performance here despite knowing I pass this way every day!”
‘Someone please translate this into plain English for me.’
Erika was silenced by this train of thought, while Miona Draco added, “Isn’t it all because you want to get my attention? Those pigeons just now were the same.”
*Snap.* Miona, the noble lady in her school uniform, covered half of her face with a black fan.
Rather than saying “No, you’re overthinking it” and being labeled as stubborn, it was better to go along with this great lady’s ideas. It wouldn’t be bad to make her happy, so Erika simply closed her eyes.
“So you noticed? You’re right. I’ve always wanted to have a chat with Lady Miona of the Draco Family.”
“Hmph! A mere commoner with no small amount of ambition… All that commotion you caused at the Ark yesterday was probably to get my attention too, wasn’t it?”
“…You are… correct.”
“Erika Angelina, you’ve half-succeeded. You should feel honored that I’ve spared you an extra glance.”
*Whoosh.* Having finished her nonsensical speech, Miona left of her own accord without even waiting for the girl’s reply.
‘She really is arrogant and sharp-tongued. By contrast, her younger sister Vivian is a simple and kind little angel.’
Oh! At that moment, a memory flashed through the girl’s mind.
Today was Wednesday of the first week of school. This was the day she had agreed to meet her twin sister, Vivian Draco, at the Temple once again.