In the era when magic was just dawning. A time when the word "mage" had not yet entered the dictionary.
Those who wielded the mysteries of nature were met with both reverence and fear.
They were wise and wealthy, eccentric yet useful. Their mysterious sorcery was a ray of hope blooming in this harsh, frigid land. Domains forged by twisting the laws of nature protected people from the brutal environment.
In the northern reaches of the continent, they became the center of humanity.
However, this world harbors an emotion called inferiority. Humans are creatures capable of nurturing feelings akin to hatred simply because someone else excels.
Mages were typically scholars who had devoted significant time to their studies, leaving their qi cultivation unrefined. Consumed by inferiority, people attacked mages to their hearts' content, unconcerned about retaliation.
If a toe succumbed to frostbite and had to be amputated, it was the curse of the Ice Witch.
If a spark from a campfire burned a house to the ground, it was the arson of the Flame Witch.
If a boat moored by the river was swept away by the wind, it was the prank of the Wind Witch.
If my shameful, secret indiscretion became the talk of the village, it was the doing of the Sound Witch.
Every misfortune was disguised as the work of magic, serving as justification to hunt mages. Trials were held consecutively in the villages, and witches were dragged into the square to endure all manner of torment. Witch hunters roamed every city, continuing their hunt.
Until Saint Rene wove the land together and drew the map.
"The term 'ignorant masses' refers to the foolish majority. You call them that simply because they do not know magic, but from my perspective, there is no difference between you and them. Even if a bee buzzes around asserting its difference from an ant, they are still just bugs, aren't they?"
Witch hunts were an atrocity committed by the ignorant masses that must never happen again. The very reason a mage's 'duel' is a contest of knowledge, and why one cannot be convicted of a crime without proving the existence of magic, all originated from this.
'Black mana for white magic? Without using a gem as a medium, nor employing alchemization. Where did the mana come from? How did you weave it so invisibly?'
Temprus struggled to interpret my magic. It was a futile endeavor, but as the Executor of the Celsius family, he could not bring himself to accept defeat.
For a fool could never be allowed to judge their superior.
'It's certain he drew a magic circle into that card! But the issue is the mana! The reason he could convert that black mana into white mana is—!'
"An Innate Magic Tool! You drew out mana using an Innate Magic Path! You're a Sorcerer!"
"Is that what you think? Hmm. It's quite the convenient deduction to fall back on when you don't know the answer."
It was a rational assumption. In a sense, an Innate Magic Path wasn't entirely wrong.
"I don't know why you dabbled in black magic despite awakening an Innate Magic Path, but you're sorely mistaken if you think you're the only one who possesses one! The Celsius family, with its long history, boasts four Sorcerers, all trained in the family's exclusive magic combat arts! Do not think you are the only special one!"
"Oh. Those are my exact sentiments."
I appreciate him summarizing it so neatly. Saved me the trouble of saying it myself.
"It was truly sickening to see you act so high and mighty, pretending to be special while merely scavenging the scraps of magic! Mages are a dime a dozen, and you aren't particularly special among them. You merely climbed a tower that someone else built."
"You...!"
"Being part of the order doesn't make you the order itself. Everyone deludes themselves far too much. Then again, it's because they are foolish and ignorant that they are human."
I let out a sigh and shuffled my cards in front of him.
"What are you doing! Seize him at once! You are authorized to kill!"
The guards, snapping out of their daze, attempted to move. However, Hilde was a step ahead. Before they could even adjust their grips on their spears, Hilde had already stepped into their midst.
"Haaah. I knew I'd be the one having the hardest time here~."
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
Hilde's footprint was planted squarely in one guard's chest. As the guard's body crumpled, Hilde used him as a springboard to leap and strike another. In the blink of an eye, all four guards collapsed.
The Magical Federation is a nation where magic equates to power. There was no power to spare for qi practitioners who foolishly honed only their bodies. Naturally, both the quantity and quality of qi practitioners paled in comparison to other nations.
Even so, Hilde's feat of felling four men in a single breath was a testament to her extraordinary skill.
Temprus was aghast.
"A mere housekeeper defeated my guards?"
Hilde untied the bandana wrapped around her head and spoke.
"A professional housekeeper is expected to possess the combat power of four warriors~. It's just common sense, isn't it?"
"Where in the world is that common sense! So you were a bodyguard disguised as a housekeeper. Tch, useless fools! This is why ignorant masses who rely on their bodies are so hopeless!"
The fallen guards were merely vanguards. They were hired solely to buy time for spellcasting. In that time, Temprus completed his incantation and drew a magic circle from the gemstone at the tip of his staff.
The magic circle illuminated the empty air. Hilde moved to attack before Temprus could complete his spell, but halted her actions upon seeing my nonchalant demeanor.
"Master of Permafrost. Tuner of the Upper. Celsius Archive, Set! Magic Circle Abbreviation, Incantation Omission. Mana Control Backup!"
In that brief window, Temprus completed his magic circle.
The rule of the Celsius territory. With that backup, he could partially omit the incantation and simplify the magic circle. He skipped the condensation conversion phase in the magic circle, redirecting all the mana that would have been used there into raw destructive power.
In that fleeting moment, Temprus flooded the magic circle with mana and struck his staff against the ground, bellowing the spell.
"Freeze. Al Asuth!"
An omnidirectional freezing spell. The air extending from his staff turned white with frost as a violent cold rushed toward me. I huddled my body against the freezing chill.
Frost crept over my skin, freezing solid. My shoes were already encased in ice, rendering me immobile. It felt as though my entire body had been turned into a massive icicle.
"This is the magic of Celsius!"
An attack without the slightest concern for his own guards getting caught in the crossfire. Hilde managed to evade the magic by using two of the guards as shields, but I took the full brunt of it. A quick glance showed jagged spikes of ice sprouting out behind me.
However, I could still speak.
"Celsius's magic may resemble ice magic, but it is actually magic that controls the phase transition between solids and liquids. Crystals may appear cold, but they are surprisingly disconnected from actual freezing temperatures. Its essence lies in the storage and discharge of heat and mana via forced phase transitions. It may look like you're freezing, but it doesn't actually cause any severe physical harm."
"Enough of your arrogance! That ice is a solidified mana crystal. You won't be able to move a single fingertip now! If you try to forcibly break it, the backlash will tear your body to shreds!"
Is that so? I simply shrugged in response.
"You need to think a bit harder. I already saw through your magic. Did you truly think I would come unprepared?"
Crack, crack. Shards of ice came tumbling down. Though my body was still covered in ice, I began to walk as if it were nothing.
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Temprus stared in horror as I approached, still dragging the ice along with me.
"...What? How are you moving?"
"That's for you to figure out. How do you think I did it?"
"W-What Innate Magic Path is that?! You didn't even cast another spell...!"
"What? You couldn't even see what I was doing? Hah, and here I had expectations for a mage who walks around with his nose in the air..."
Temprus faltered, retreating step by step. The ice he created had undoubtedly engulfed me, and I had frozen just as he anticipated. Yet, contrary to his calculations, I was still capable of moving.
"Can't you figure it out? Can I take this as your declaration of defeat? I'm not exactly endowed with patience, so I won't wait forever."
"K-Keugh! N-Not yet! It's not over yet...!"
'What spell should I use? Crystallization won't work. Then Crystal Explosion? No, he's already seen through my crystal magic! Should I use a different system? But without the Archive backup, it won't be enough to take down a Sorcerer...!'
"You're too late."
Your deliberation took too long. Though I suppose it can't be helped for a mage whose thoughts dictate their prowess.
Trudging forward, I reached out toward Temprus's staff. Panicking, Temprus hastily cast a spell. A trail of ice formed beneath his heels as a gust of wind propelled him backward. It was an escape spell that every mage, inherently weak in close combat, kept on standby.
However, right before the spell could fully activate, Temprus tripped over something and tumbled ungracefully. A single card was lodged beneath his feet.
"Hah, hah! Since when—!"
"Knowledge isn't quite as important as you think. This world is overflowing with the unknown, after all. You may be squirming about, but you're entirely ignorant of the real truth, aren't you?"
Temprus knew nothing. He didn't know what spell I had used, nor how I had managed to walk while encased in ice. He didn't know when that card had sprouted from the ground.
He didn't know why he had become an Executor, why he was so highly regarded, or why he was tasked with dealing with black magic.
It was only natural.
Because he had been deceived without even realizing it.
"The mages of the Magical Federation aren't merely a group of the powerful. If power were truly that precious to them, they would hoard and monopolize it, never sharing the opportunity with the ignorant masses of the frontier academic districts. If that were the case, would their goal be to spread magic far and wide to enlighten the masses? I wonder. If so, there would be no reason to so harshly abandon the unranked and frontier academic districts, would there?"
"Keugh...!"
"Black magic may not be virtuous, but there's no need to exhibit such an allergic rejection to it alone. Mages don't even believe in religion, nor do they favor the Holy See, do they? Yet when it comes to black magic, they all maintain a unified stance. This, despite having once suffered persecution from witch hunts in the past."
"What is it you're trying to say...!"
I reached out with my frost-laden hand and grabbed him by the throat. I didn't even apply any force, yet the ice around my hand constricted his neck, causing him to choke.
"It means that you, who merely follow orders like a scarecrow, are nothing more than an ignorant mass who knows nothing."
The crushing sense of defeat from failing to comprehend the magic, the overwhelming pressure of my existence, and the primal fear.
It was too harsh for a frail mage to endure. Unable to bear it, Temprus's eyes rolled back as he promptly fainted.