After riding in the carriage for quite some time, a massive mountain range revealed itself outside the window.
'...What the?'
The shape was a bit strange.
It was because the peaks were bizarrely sheared off.
'Does weathering occur creatively in fantasy worlds too?'
While it wasn't an erosion pattern that was entirely impossible from a fluid dynamics perspective.
No matter how I looked at it, it was far too artificial to be called the work of nature.
As if she had sensed my gaze, Evelyn, who had been stiff the entire time, opened her mouth.
Fortunately, she seemed to have relaxed a little.
"Those are the Estall Mountains, the symbol of our house. They're also the lifeblood of our family, endlessly producing high-quality magic crystals."
"The shape is really... unique. Like someone carved them."
"According to legend, our progenitor was conducting a magical experiment and blew away several mountain ridges whole, which is why they look like that."
"...."
No way.
This is fantasy, but changing an entire mountain range with human power?
"It's probably just unusual weathering. Legends tend to be exaggerated."
I brushed it off on the outside, but.
What if the legend was true?
If the progenitor was a monster capable of reshaping mountains.
Then this doll in my arms, yawning and nibbling away...
Just how powerful is Elenore?
They say a master is followed by a disciple of similar caliber—I can't even imagine this doll at her prime.
'Should I ask?'
The moment I tried to speak up to ask.
Bang—!
The carriage's shaking stopped.
"We're here."
Evelyn murmured, slowly releasing my sleeve which she had been gripping.
The carriage door opened, and the moment I stepped outside, my jaw dropped.
'What is this scale.'
It was too big to be called a mansion.
It looked almost like a castle.
'Are ducal households normally on this scale?'
Magic towers piercing the heavens and outer walls finished with the finest marble.
Facing it in reality felt completely different from reading about it in a novel.
I could viscerally feel what it meant to be rich.
'Evelyn, you were really no joke.'
It seems you can only pull off villainess antics in a romance-fantasy novel when you're on this level.
I'm starting to think I should be even nicer to Evelyn.
Soon, the massive iron gates opened, and dozens of figures poured out.
"We greet the Lady!"
Knights kneeling with discipline and maids bowing their heads.
Evelyn descended from the carriage with a cold, arrogant expression.
She naturally accepted their escort.
As I was lost in a daze over her imposing figure.
A large man who appeared to be the Knight Captain scanned me and furrowed his brow.
"My Lady, what is that... creature behind you? A laborer?"
Creature?
Isn't that a bit harsh?
"He is my master. He is a valuable guest invited by Father, so don't be rude."
At the cold rebuke, the Knight Captain's eyebrows twitched.
"...I understand. My apologies."
'So she really does think of me as her master.'
I'm actually quite touched.
I should repay her later by teaching her some quantum mechanics.
Thanks to Evelyn's rebuke, the explicit mockery died down, but the surrounding gazes remained ice-cold.
Even the mages who had been training in the training grounds gathered and began murmuring openly.
"That's a mage? His mana is at commoner levels."
"I heard the Duke personally called for a researcher. What was he thinking, bringing such a worthless nobody here?"
No direct insults, but.
They don't even acknowledge me as a mage.
I was just going to ignore it and move on, but Elenore inside me couldn't stand it at all.
[Puhahah! Rihan, do you see? The eyes of those fools. They only know to measure the quantity of mana, unable to even grasp how compressed its quality is.]
'...Senior, I'm being completely looked down on right now, you know?'
[There is no need to be angry. Would a lion rage at the antics of ants? This one simply cannot wait to see their faces contort in shame!]
Easy for you to say.
"This way. Follow me."
At Evelyn's urging, I shrugged my shoulders and moved my feet.
***
Walking down the corridor, Evelyn was like a cat with its fur standing on end.
Is she watching her surroundings?
'I thought she relaxed earlier, what's with her again?'
You weren't the type to watch others' moods like this in the novel.
The original Evelyn I knew was a typical villainess who'd smash anything she didn't like without regard for consequences.
Is it because it's still early and she hasn't gone dark yet?
That was when.
She dismissed the following maids with a single glance.
Then she grabbed my sleeve and pulled me into a dark corner of the corridor.
"...Hey, Rihan. Don't mind what they said earlier."
"What? That I'm not on their level?"
"Yes, that!"
At my nonchalant answer, Evelyn became emotional and continued.
"They're just idiots who ignorantly pride themselves on large mana pools. They don't know how much of an unparalleled genius you were in our lab, or how perfectly you understand magical structure... they're idiots who know nothing."
Is she worried about me?
She's somewhat different from the Evelyn I knew.
Maybe she's the type who definitely takes care of those she considers her people.
"You, don't ever leave my side. Don't move a single step until I permit it."
A desperate look to protect me.
At times like this, she has a surprisingly dependable side.
'Quite impressive.'
***
The moment I entered my assigned room, I threw down my luggage.
As befitting a ducal household, the room was spacious and classically elegant.
"Ugh... it's nice, but something feels suffocating."
But while it had dignity, it lacked the warmth of human habitation.
I missed my messy lab where various books and mana scanners were scattered about.
"...Senior, what about surveillance magic in the surroundings?"
I lowered my voice in case of eavesdropping.
The doll in my arms answered, stretching as if flexing, while finely manipulating mana.
[Whom do you take this one for? This one already disabled such a crude detection network long ago.]
As expected of a capable senior.
Only then did I get to the main point.
"So, did you find it? That ring."
[Hmph, powerful seals were layered upon it. It seems this one's disciple hid it with great determination. But none can escape this one's eyes. It is fifty meters underground here. This one has roughly mapped out the path.]
"Oh! As expected of a capable Tenth-Tier mage! Senior is amazing!"
[Worship this one with more sincerity!]
Though it was a bit funny seeing the doll's body puff up with pride, the information was certain.
My heart began to race as I started mapping out the infiltration route in my head.
'Honestly, I've always wanted to do something like this.'
Isn't this one of modern people's dreams?
Like phantom thief codes.
Or Mission: Impossible.
I never thought I'd actually be breaking into a ducal treasure vault.
"Was it for this day that I studied the Tom Cruise series?"
[Rihan. What is Tom Cruise?]
"Ah, he exists. A very capable infiltration specialist."
It was while Elenore was reacting incredulously to my nonsense.
Knock, knock—.
A heavy knock shattered the silence, striking the door.
"Professor Rihan, Duke Cassian summons you."
A maid's voice.
I opened the door with the feeling that what was bound to come had arrived.
"Let's go."
Following her, I arrived at a massive indoor training ground inside the mansion.
***
The training ground was already filled with the heat emitted by hundreds of mages.
The mages of Estall, called the strongest magical legion in the empire.
Even the mana they leaked without restraining themselves was enough to make one's skin sting.
A short distance away, I saw Evelyn standing near the VIP seats.
Her usual confidence was nowhere to be seen.
She was staring at me with a worried expression.
'What is this? Was this not a welcome ceremony but an initiation?'
Then, the air at the training ground's entrance rippled, and Duke Cassian revealed himself.
Each time he stepped, the noisy training grounds fell silent as if water had been poured on them.
An overwhelming silence like the descent of a monarch.
Cassian pierced through me with his characteristic hollow gaze and opened his mouth.
"I've prepared a small event. Professor Rihan, I wish to verify firsthand whether that otherworldly talent of yours is genuine..."
Cassian's voice was polite, but the intention hidden behind it was cold.
"Spar with our house's Chief Mage, Delmar. A Fourth-Tier mage. Considering that you hold a research position, I've instructed him to keep it safe, so I hope you'll give it your all."
The moment he finished speaking, the surrounding mages sneered mockingly and whispered.
"Some random researcher is going to face the ducal house's Chief Mage?"
"Sir Delmar, go easy on him. What would become of the Lady's dignity?"
"Hah...."
A hollow laugh escaped me in disbelief.
Fourth Tier.
According to the imperial legion's ranks.
A Fourth-Tier mage possessed the power to annihilate a platoon of seasoned elite knights single-handedly.
The starting point of walking strategic weapons that could change the tide of battle.
But shit, they're telling me to fight a monster like that?
Me, a pathetic 0th Tier?
Shouldn't they at least give me a chance to refuse!
But Elenore snorted.
[Hmph, that brat? You could win with a mere breath. Rihan, fear not. Is this one not beside you? Magic is not for fools who merely pour out mana, but is perfected in the hands of those who understand the laws of the world.]
It's a cool line, Senior.
But doesn't he have a whole extra digit in mana capacity?
****
The man called Delmar who walked out to the center of the training grounds revealed open hostility.
Especially the way he glanced at Evelyn before looking at me.
That was clearly an emotion of jealousy.
"I've been quite displeased that the Lady brought such a worthless man, calling him her master. That paltry mana and those dead-fish eyes... truly pathetic."
Delmar adjusted his grip on his elaborately decorated staff and smiled nastily.
"Since it is the Duke's order, I shall oblige you as an opponent, but you must be prepared to have your true colors revealed. If you do not wish to be utterly humiliated before the Lady, you had best kneel and beg even now."
His tone made it clear.
'Aha, this bastard. He has a crush on Evelyn?'
Not content with harboring filthy desires for my disciple, you dare mess with my steel mentality honed by graduate school?
He doesn't yet know the terror of a graduate student seasoned by society.
Is it finally time to show him?
The power of a physicist.
"Very well. Let's have a good 'look' at the Chief Mage's amazing magic."
The moment my words fell.
The nasty smile hanging at Delmar's lips vanished in an instant.
He stared at me stupidly for a while.
With eyes like he was looking at a beast that couldn't understand human speech.
Soon, boiling killing intent flickered within his pupils.
"...A look?"
Delmar's brow contorted viciously.
Strength entered his pale fingers gripping the staff, and his knuckles protruded.
A Fourth-Tier mage who receives the utmost respect wherever he goes in the empire.
For a 0th Tier mage to utter such words as 'have a look' to him must be a humiliation greater than being slapped.
"Indeed, it is a realm that a lowly being like you could never dare to comprehend..."
Delmar muttered in a voice low enough to send chills down one's spine.
Kwaaaang—!
At the same time, mana erupted from the tip of his staff as if running wild.
The magical power of the Fourth Tier.
Expanding with a momentum that seemed to devour the very oxygen of the training grounds, beyond simple pressure.
"...I wonder if you can withstand that 'look.' I shall see if you can still flap that insolent mouth while your bones burn in agony."
Heat like shimmering haze rose around him.
The mana Delmar exuded had already far exceeded the level of a safe spar.
Even the watching mages faltered at his fierce killing intent, but.
I didn't blink a single eye in the center of that storm.
[Kehehe, excellent! Rihan, that is the spirit! For fools, the best lesson is not teaching with words, but shattering the thing they are most confident in!]
Elenore's joyful laughter echoed in my head.
I slowly reached out my hand.
"If you're ready, let's begin. I'm a busy man."
Delmar's face contorted beautifully.