19. The Road is the Path of Hell (1)
No matter how much I search, my left arm is gone.
It wasn’t a dream. The excitement from the battle has now completely subsided, and its aftermath finally engulfs Karla.
“Ahhh, my arm, my arm…!”
Karla emitted a scream mixed with moans as she caressed the area where her left arm used to be.
Even though she had once supported the very cross-section when her left arm exploded, seeing it again with her own eyes like this…
Karla, who had accepted the restriction that she could not emit magic power outside her body, instead used her entire body to walk the path of a martial mage.
For her, the loss of her left arm meant that she was no longer a proper mage.
Moreover, it also meant that she could not keep her vow to ensure incidents like the carriage attack from her childhood would never happen again.
“Aaaah…AAAAAAHHHHH!”
As Karla screamed while feeling her sleeve, someone embraced her.
“Karla, calm down! Calm down, Karla!”
A familiar voice.
A voice familiar to her ears.
When Karla turned around, she saw Ivan.
—Hey, Karla. I killed them for you. Are you satisfied?
Ivan, who smiled while speaking to Karla, the same Ivan who crushed people’s lives like swatting flies and tore apart their corpses.
And now, this very Ivan was telling her to calm down.
“I-Ivan… Ivan!”
Karla swallowed hard and desperately tried to suppress herself.
This Ivan was definitely the one Karla knew well, but the fear in her heart weighed her down.
“It’s alright, Karla. Calm down, we’re at the hospital.”
Ivan held Karla’s hand while speaking.
There was no longer any discomfort in his voice.
The usual, caring, and comforting voice of Ivan.
“…Let go, I’m fine.”
The restless heart began to slowly calm down.
Her breathing, which had become agitated, gradually settled.
Karla pushed Ivan’s hand away and looked around the hospital room.
Among the four members of the squad, excluding Karla, there was an unknown man instead of Instructor Albina.
“…Who are you?”
“An instructor scolded from the start with impolite words, huh? Nobles really are nobles, aren’t they?”
“Instructor? Where is Instructor Albina…?”
The man chuckled softly while stroking his chin.
The scruffy, unkept beards with uneven lengths made him look disheveled, and his droopy eyes radiated both fatigue and lethargy.
The leaning man, after stroking his chin, spoke to Karla.
“Anyway, since you’ve woken up, I’ll tell you. Karla Della Cascata, you woke up after two days.”
“Two days…?”
“That’s right, two days. It’s been two days since you were rushed here. To be precise, it’s been two and a half days. How are you feeling?”
“Feeling…?”
The man indicated Ivan several times with his chin.
“This guy diligently fed you porridge. Because of your left arm, neither healing magic nor recovery magic worked. If you had gone two days without eating, it would have gotten worse.”
At those words, Karla turned to look at Ivan.
Ivan, who had made an X sign near his mouth as if telling him not to say anything unnecessary, turned away after catching Karla’s eyes, coughing twice and pretending to be innocent.
“My name is Instructor Delegate Lorenzo, here to replace Instructor Albina, who is currently under disciplinary review.”
“Disciplinary review?”
“Of course,” Lorenzo said.
An accident happened during the academy’s lessons.
Moreover, it was a serious accident where her left arm was severed.
The victim of this severed arm was Carla Della Cascata, the eldest daughter of the Cascata family, the first pillar of this empire.
“There’s absolutely no way we can sweep this under the rug. Although the Cascata family hasn’t made any significant remarks yet, I don’t know if there’s a covert protest going on. But the academy has to conduct an investigation and release results. Since the eldest daughter of the Cascata family had her arm cut off, she has been damaged as a commodity, after all.”
“Commodity?! Instructor, your words!”
Ivan erupted in anger and stood up.
However, Lorenzo merely glanced at Ivan.
“It’s the truth, isn’t it? Isn’t it the destiny of noble daughters to be part of political marriages? The damage to her commodity value is a fact, isn’t it? Therefore, the academy must take responsibility. As part of that, Albina is under disciplinary review, and if things go wrong, everyone involved — from the security personnel to even the principal — may have to step down.”
It was an absurd and reckless statement.
What Lorenzo said was currently an insult to the nobility.
Although it’s neither entirely true nor false that noble daughters are mostly destined for political marriages, it is absolutely unacceptable to say such things outright or discuss them in terms of “commodity value.”
Even so, the noble children present here didn’t say much because Liam and Emil are noble sons, Regina is from the lower nobility and cannot oppose Lorenzo, and Carla herself has not yet realized that these words are an insult directed at her.
“…Tsk.”
Karla clicked her tongue and closed her mouth.
After all, talk of political marriages has nothing to do with her.
She hadn’t thought about it, and it’s unlikely that Enrico, the current head of the house, would have such thoughts either.
Most importantly — it’s about my arm.
Honestly, it’s not like she can say the incident wasn’t their fault, but ultimately, isn’t it because Karla herself was weak?
If she hadn’t given her wrist so easily, she wouldn’t have fallen victim to the erosion magic, and then maybe Berene wouldn’t have…
“Anyway, Karla, we’ll see the results of the academy’s response. What’s urgent now is your arm.”
“Yes.”
“Restorative magic, curative magic — none of it worked. It was as if a massive wall blocked everything, and your arm just didn’t recover. Moreover, there were traces of contamination on the amputation site other than what you did yourself. …By any chance, did you encounter a disciple of the Three Evil Deities?”
“What?!”
This time, it was not Karla but other squad members including Ivan who looked at Lorenzo with surprise.
The subject of the Three Evil Deities is practically taboo.
The Three Great Deities who, according to legend, toppled the Great Empire that existed before the foundation of the empire and ultimately led it to ruin.
Opinions about these evil deities still vary, but the common belief is that their reappearance will indeed bring about the fall.
“Joke. Talking about disciples of the Three Evil Deities? That’s terrible, right? Anyway, for now, I’ll serve as your instructor to protect you five. Let’s get along well.”
“…You don’t seem very reliable compared to Instructor Albina.”
“Huh? Is that so?”
Lorenzo scratched his head.
His head, which seemed to be unwashed for so long that it looked greasy, made Karla involuntarily wrinkle her nose.
“If only you could see to believe. Hey, Ivan, lend a hand.”
“Coming…”
Ivan reluctantly extended his hand, on the palm of which a pentagram-shaped magic array was drawn. While pointing at it, Lorenzo said:
“This is the essence of my magic. Remember it.”
After confirming that Karla was watching, Lorenzo lifted a pen high up.
He fiercely slapped it onto Ivan’s palm — the moment the pen pierced through, blood gushed out from Lorenzo’s palm.
“This is the magic of pain transfer. If the opponent with this magic array suffers magical damage, the damage will be transferred to me. That means, had this inscription been drawn on you, it wouldn’t have been your arm that was cut off, it would have been mine.”
“That…is amazing.”
Karla couldn’t help but say sincerely.
After all, the world of magic is vast and profound… There were so many things she didn’t know.
“So, since you’ve started using honorifics, it seems you’ve come to recognize me. I may look like this, but I’m quite capable. And by the way, there’s one more important piece of news. This decision depends on your will, Karla.”
“What is it?”
“In two months, there will be a midterm exam. I’m sure you’ve heard about the curriculum?”
Of course, she had.
There are two semesters in the school year, with a midterm and a final exam each semester.
Grades are evaluated absolutely until the second year, then comparatively for the third and fourth years.
“Normally, if you couldn’t use magic properly during the midterms, you’d be dismissed. In other words, your enrollment would be canceled.”
Karla’s expression stiffened upon hearing this.
It’s not being unable to use magic — if one can emit magical energy outside the body, minor issues are rarely problems. The important part is how one utilizes their magic energy.
“Karla, in your case, emitting magic is impossible because you are a martial mage.”
However, for someone like Karla, who is a martial mage, that restriction becomes a hindrance.
How can a one-armed person fight properly?
“But because this incident happened within the academy, there will be an exception. However, out of respect for your will, if you wish, you can be exempted from the midterm exam. It’s still not confirmed whether the final exam will be exempted, but if the situation hasn’t been resolved by then — say, if we haven’t caught the culprit by then — you’ll likely be exempted. In any case, your willpower is important.”
“…I don’t care about that.”
Karla’s response made Lorenzo raise his eyebrows with a “Hm?”
She was supposed to want the exemption, but her response was certainly unexpected.
“Ah, tests and all that? I don’t care about that. What’s important is my arm. Whether I get expelled or not is of no concern to me; what matters is retrieving my arm and regaining my magic.”
“Of course, that’s expected.”
Lorenzo crossed his arms and smiled.
“As an instructor, this isn’t exactly something I should say, but you’re definitely wise to see through what truly matters beyond this sort of academy thing. You really are a Cascata, aren’t you?”
“No, that’s not it.”
Karla breathed deeply and glared at Lorenzo.
“—It’s because I’m a mage.”
