Dark Fantasy Normalized

39 – Heinya Ye Mastien (2)

A disciple too good for me.

It was a phrase that Marina, Heinya’s mentor, often had on her lips.

“I have a disciple who is too good for me.”

The mentor’s expression when uttering those words was filled with affection and pride for the disciple.

“I have a disciple who is too good for me.”

However, at some point, the mentor’s expression when saying those words began to change.

“Master, as I’ve told you many times, there’s no need for you to provide me with material support. If there’s something I need, just let me know. I can obtain it on my own.”

“This ring, the one you gave me. Do you remember? I don’t think I need it anymore. I’ve found something more suitable for me. I’ll return it to you.”

“I have a disciple who is too good for me.”

She was a disciple with impeccable conduct. The mentor would jokingly say that even if he wasn’t around, the disciple would never go hungry.

“No, Master. It’s enough. From now on, I’ll think and learn on my own.”

“I have a disciple who is too good for me.”

She was a disciple who, when taught one thing, would understand ten. The mentor would jokingly say that even if he wasn’t around, there would be no problem with the disciple’s growth, and that she might even grow faster without him.

“…My thoughts are a bit different, Marina.”

“Your opinion is certainly beneficial and interesting, but… in this matter, I think I need to apply my own method.”

“I have a disciple who is too good for me.”

“This book was kept in our family’s library.”

“What kind of book is it…”

“…Actually, it’s a grimoire dealing with an ancient branch of magic.”

“I’ve been secretly studying it since the day I first came to the tower.”

“The reason I’m revealing this now is…”

“Marina, I want you to help me with this research.”

“…Is that so?”

“It’s okay. Pretend you didn’t hear it.”

“I did hope you would understand, but-“

“I didn’t have high expectations.”

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“Heinya…”

The mentor muttered as he looked at the disciple’s grave.

There was no tombstone. Therefore, there was no name to be recorded.

It was a humble grave that would be forgotten as soon as the mentor turned his back.

The master remembered the last sight of his disciple before his downfall.

The image of the great wizard, forged in glory and honor, was believed to be etched in history and remembered forever.

“I never imagined you would be buried in such a humble grave…”

The master recalled the last sight of his disciple before collecting the corpse.

Amidst the chaos of the ancient spell’s rampage, there was one clean scar, like the disciple’s handwriting, standing in stark contrast to the wrecked body.

That scar was the mark of the third-level magic, Mana Drill.

Mana Drill was the first magic Marina taught to Heinya, the magic that awakened Heinya’s talent as a wizard, and the magic that bonded them as master and disciple.

Ironically, the disciple ended his life with that very magic.

As if to put a neat period on his body, stained with mistakes and shame.

Thus, the disciple’s death was a result of reflection and contemplation on past mistakes.

By showing respect that he couldn’t fully express through the master’s teachings, he reproached his own mistakes.

Reproaching the disciple’s mistakes.

That was clearly the master’s duty, yet…

It was always like that.

The disciple always did what the master should have done.

Each time, the master convinced himself.

“You were too good a disciple for me…”

So, it was inevitable.

Perhaps there was another way, but—

Now that everything is over, it’s just meaningless speculation.

The master placed his staff on the disciple’s grave.

And he abolished his own magic.

It was a grave without a tombstone.

Too humble to commemorate two wizards—

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▶ Incident 43: The Master’s Mistake

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Before the duel began.

Marina felt an extreme sense of discomfort from her disciple.

-Marina. Should we announce the duel and accept spectators?

-…No! Absolutely not!

-What?

She proves herself with her own strength and proudly boasts about it.

Heinya was someone who enjoyed that process more than anything.

Normally, before Marina could even hint at it, Heinya would have said,

“I’ve already announced the duel and accepted spectators, so don’t worry about it.”

But now, with the exact opposite reaction-

Marina, as her master, was left dumbfounded.

But now.

Marina completely understood the reason.

“My goodness.”

It was a sigh that burst from the mouth of Master Ladros, the only one observing the duel as a judge.

“Still at the 4th level, yet handling elementalization?”

“…Master Ladros, that’s not the issue right now.”

“Not the issue? What do you mean, Master Marina?”

Marina, still in shock, glared at Meltas beside her.

“Meltas, what on earth have you done?”

The old man was stroking his braided beard with a serious expression.

Interpreting his look, Marina continued, even more agitated.

“Remember clearly. That guy, Rishir. When I saw him yesterday morning, he had just entered the beginning of the 4th level.”

“…!?”

Master Ladros, already wide-eyed, looked at Rishir with even greater astonishment.

“I heard that guy, Rishir, drank an elixir-“

“Drank one elixir and jumped from the beginning to the end of the 4th level? What, did he drink dragon blood or something? I’ve heard about it too. It was a high-grade elixir made by the Gosralta shamans, right?”

“A high-grade elixir from the Gosralta shamans. It wouldn’t be easy for someone at the 4th level to handle…”

“Right. Not easy at all. But even if we generously assume he absorbed 50% of the elixir’s components.”

“…Maybe mid-4th level.”

“Right. Master Ladros, you think that’s reasonable too, right? That’s the best-case scenario, right? But what is this? That guy is now at the late 4th level? Meltas. Don’t think you can just brush this off by saying I was mistaken.”

The two masters turned their demanding gazes towards Meltas.

“…”

The two did not know.

The most surprised person here was none other than Meltas.

“You at least know that Lisir’s original rank was the 4th level…”

“?”

“?”

To top it off, when Meltas first met him, he was at the 3rd level.

Meltas suddenly recalled what Lisir had said and quoted it verbatim.

“Anyway, it’s nothing to be surprised about. He does that sometimes.”

“… What nonsense is that?”

“Don’t ask me anymore. I’m quite disturbed right now.”

As the three masters were comforting each other in their shock-

Lisir spoke.

“Heynia.”

The three masters’ gazes urgently followed them.

The duel had entered a stalemate as soon as it began.

Heynia was overwhelmed by the elemental magic Lisir had shown and froze in place.

An arrow of wind floated above Lisir’s hand, aimed at Heynia, waiting.

He instinctively knew.

If he attacked Heynia now, she wouldn’t be able to respond properly and would hand over the victory.

It would be a rather decent ending, taking the glory of victory without effort-

But it wasn’t the best outcome.

This duel was an important opportunity in itself.

Lisir wanted to use this duel to objectively assess his level.

Furthermore, he wanted to take the time to organize his rapidly growing power.

Both of these required Heynia to be a worthy opponent.

“Not bad. Ice magic, huh.”

So Lisir began to provoke Heynia with a mischievous smile.

“…What?”

“Oh? Wasn’t it? I thought maybe because you froze like ice.”

Lisir was more adept at provocation than he thought.

Heynia’s face flushed red in an instant.

“Oh, this time it’s fire magic. Is it that, multi-colored or something?”

“You, you! You!!!”

“Speak. I’m listening intently right now. I’ve even stopped attacking.”

“How on earth did you do it! Elementalization!!! It’s impossible! It’s the effect of the elixir, isn’t it!? I can’t accept it!”

“You can’t accept it? That’s a big problem. Now it means Heynia will thoroughly deny my wind magic. With the assimilation you proudly boasted about.”

Lysir was more adept at provocation than he thought.

Heynia, who had completely lost her fighting spirit, was now glaring at Lysir with clenched teeth.

However, even in that state, she couldn’t easily take action.

Because the existence of Lysir, an out-of-standard being, had thoroughly denied her world.

In the end, Heynia drove herself into a corner with stubbornness.

In her left hand, she held a book. It was an ancient magic book she had been researching since she came to the magic tower.

‘If it’s this-‘

It was at that moment when she focused all her mind on her left hand.

“Heynia, snap out of it!”

It was then that the stern voice of her master scolded the disciple.

“Are you planning to make everything I’ve taught you meaningless!?”

“…!”

“Recall my teachings! The answer is within them!”

Meltas and Radorus looked at Marina in surprise.

She is a disciple too good for me.

It was a stern appearance unimaginable for Marina, who usually lived with such words on her lips and was extremely cautious in dealing with her disciple.

Heynia’s appearance that followed was the same.

Heynia, who respected her master but insisted on her own way even more.

If it were the usual Heynia, she would have proven her point by sticking to her own way instead of following Marina’s advice.

“…”

But now. The disciple listened to her master’s words.

Heynia threw away the ancient book she had been holding tightly.

Following her master’s advice, she recalled her teachings.

Then, the overwhelming arrows of wind began to look different.

‘Unstable.’

It seemed that Rishir’s claim of not knowing homogenization was not a lie.

The result of the property transformation. There were several flaws that should not have been visible.

Rishir’s magic appeared flawless at first glance, but-

Upon closer inspection, it was riddled with gaps, barely maintaining its form.

It was like a building constructed without professional knowledge.

‘Is that even possible?’

Heynia couldn’t easily accept it.

It meant that Rishir had reached the stage of property transformation on his own, without professional knowledge.

‘That’s impossible.’

Heynia felt a chill down her spine and forced herself to tie up her thoughts.

‘In the first place, that’s not what I should be worrying about right now.’

Heynia shifted her focus.

From the irrationality of Rishir’s magic-

To the imperfection of Rishir’s magic.

“Finally.”

Rishir smiled bitterly.

A barrier of mana unfolded around Heynia.

The arrow of wind, as if waiting, immediately rushed towards the barrier.

Rishir’s arrow was the result of property transformation.

Compared to Heynia’s barrier, which was the result of homogenization, it not only had the additional advantage of properties but also a higher level of precision in magic.

Normally, Rishir’s attack would have ended in success, and Heynia’s defense would have ended in failure.

-Swoosh

The arrow of wind- its tip accelerated and burrowed into the barrier.

Heynia focused all her nerves on the barrier as if it were her own skin and felt it.

The structure of the elemental magic that Rishir had cast. Its imperfection.

The barrier responded to the caster’s will.

-Whoosh!

In an instant, a gust of wind spread in all directions.

The arrow of wind dissipated without fully piercing the barrier.

Heinya immediately reached out towards Rishir.

Multiple mana spikes formed around her hand and poured towards Rishir in succession.

“What the-“

Heinya couldn’t hide her astonishment at Rishir’s response.

Instead of deploying a barrier, he attempted to dodge the spikes directly using the acceleration of wind magic.

It was an incredibly inefficient method.

Not only did it show a lack of knowledge, but also a lack of experience.

As expected, Rishir felt the problem while dodging the spikes and belatedly deployed a mana barrier.

“Ugh!”

A flimsy mana barrier like an arrow of wind. In the end, one last spike embedded itself in Rishir’s arm.

Thanks to the sparring defense magic, there was no injury, but the impact was fully conveyed.

He clutched his arm, grimacing in pain.

“Got it!”

“Good job.”

Master and disciple simultaneously shouted in triumph.

Heinya encouraged herself inwardly.

‘I can do it! It’s possible!’

Heinya had partially regained her usual composure. As her shattered world began to regain its original shape-

“Is this how it feels?”

Rishir’s meaningful murmur reached Heinya’s ears.

Heinya felt a chill run down her spine once again.

That single mutter conjured up all sorts of ominous possibilities.

-Whoosh!

Once again, wind gathered around Rishir, taking shape above his hand.

“You-“

Heinya couldn’t hide her agitation.

It wasn’t just one, but multiple, and they were in the form of spikes, not arrows.

Rishir had replicated Heinya’s mana spikes with wind magic.

Heinya felt indignation at the impurity of his actions.

“Are you challenging me right now!?”

“I don’t intend to provoke.”

“Then what is your intention!”

Lishir answered with action instead.

The series of processes repeated.

The force of differentiation that sought to penetrate, and the force of homogenization that sought to repel.

The unstable magic, which had taken the form of an arrow, simply changed into the form of an awl.

Nothing was supposed to change.

“…!”

It should have been that way, but astonishment appeared on Heinya’s face.

Lishir’s wind awl was not merely an imitation that mimicked the form.

It was a reinterpretation of magic, containing an understanding of the principles and subtleties of the mana awl.

“You’ve learned something. Isn’t this the positive function of sparring?”

Rather, the imitation that only mimicked the form was the wind arrow.

Heinya did not know that the wind arrow was a creative magic that Lishir had crafted purely with his imagination.

Instead-

At this moment, Heinya was certain of one thing: Lishir was acquiring magical knowledge in real-time.

It was the moment when the ominous possibility that Heinya had desperately denied took shape.

“You, surely not-“

She recalled the conversation she had with Lishir before.

– One year. It only took me one year to get here. How about you?

-…A month?

Heinya’s pupils trembled uncontrollably. That tremor was transmitted intact to the mana barrier-

The mana barrier perished along with the wind awl.

“Ha…”

What came out was just a bitter laugh.

“What is this…”

Heinya muttered in a grumbling voice.

I can do it.

That inner cry was no longer heard.

The arrogant genius magician realized how to doubt herself.

After some time had passed.

Ladros raised his left hand and said.

“The duel is over. The winner is-“

*

Rishir waited for Heinya to collect her emotions before approaching her.

Heinya stared blankly at the approaching Rishir, then burst into a small laugh and said.

“Yes, you won. Congratulations. Are you satisfied now?”

Heinya, recalling her actions towards Rishir, acted gruffly for no reason.

Assuming he would mock her.

“…”

Rishir did not mock her. Instead, he shook his head and extended his hand to Heinya.

“Do you remember what I said?”

“…!”

Heinya was surprised.

“…Yes. We agreed to do our best by any means necessary so that there would be no hard feelings later.”

Heinya let out an awkward laugh.

“I’ll say it again. Rishir. I admit my defeat.”

And as she reached out to take Rishir’s extended hand-

“…Huh?”

She realized belatedly. The angle of his extended hand was somewhat strange.

The palm of his extended hand was openly facing upwards.

“Not that.”

“…What?”

“I told you, didn’t I? If I win, I’ll ask for all of Heinya’s fortune.”

Rishir extended his hand and murmured playfully.

“Give it to me.”

Rishir’s gaze was directed at the book Heinya had just thrown away.

“…”

The flustered disciple.

She looked at her master with a tearful face without realizing it.

The master looked at his disciple with a benevolent smile.

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▷Case 43: The Master’s Mistake – Deactivated

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