Vasileo stared at the blazing flame before his eyes.
“So this is Hellfire...”
“Of course, the way you cast it is a bit different from mine. The result might look similar, but for most mages, resolving a formula’s collision is purely a matter of intuition. As long as the outcome is fine, they don’t really care about the process. So no one ever figured out the exact reason why it works.”
Strictly speaking, that’s the tendency of battle mages. Research-focused mages have a slightly different nature; at the very least, they try to trace causes from results.
But the “Stasis” formula was such a basic one that everyone had already judged it as fully analyzed.
Small discrepancies and errors exist all over the field. Even if someone had noticed something off about it, it would’ve been way down their list of priorities.
“Hellfire is a top-tier flame spell, isn’t it? Then does that mean Vasileo has mastered a top-tier spell?”
“Right. He succeeded in manifesting it.”
Elodie nodded.
Vasileo stared blankly at his own flame.
“It looks kind of terrifying.”
“Don’t be afraid of your own spell. Magic usually doesn’t harm its caster.”
“The idea that a combination of formulas I already knew could give birth to a top-tier spell... feels strange.”
“The number of formulas you and I know probably isn’t that different.”
When Elodie said that, Vasileo’s eyes widened.
“Really?”
“For a mage, formulas are like mathematical symbols. You need to know many of them, sure—but just knowing them doesn’t mean anything.”
Well, that makes sense, Vasileo thought and nodded.
If you know the symbols and how to calculate them, that only means you’re barely standing at the starting line.
When you face a problem, which symbols should you use? How should you combine them? Is your calculation quick and precise? For a mage, the challenges that follow are more numerous and more difficult.
“For now, this Hellfire is hard to use in real combat. As it is, it’s just an extremely hot flame. To hit an enemy, you’d need something like impact or trajectory control. And if it drains nearly all your mana in one use, that’s another issue.”
“Y-yeah, that’s true.”
Vasileo nodded, and not long after, the flame extinguished.
“That really burns through mana... I doubt there’s another spell that consumes this much.”
At his words, Frondier and Elodie exchanged subtle expressions.
There were, in fact, quite a few that consumed even more mana. Both of them knew it well.
“Anyway, that means I win the bet, Elodie.”
“Yeah, congratulations.”
Elodie shrugged at Frondier’s remark.
Seeing their exchange, Vasileo tilted his head.
“I’ve been noticing this for a while, but... you two seem pretty close.”
“Ah.”
“In the faculty room, you always act so stiff and formal, like you’re at odds.”
“Uh.”
They both realized their slip at the same time and looked at each other.
Frondier scratched his head.
“Well, you’d find out sooner or later anyway. Might as well not hide it.”
“...Find out what?”
Vasileo looked suspicious.
At school, the two were curt with each other, seeming to clash in values—but in truth, they spoke casually like old friends.
In other words, could it be that these two were...!
“Are you a couple?”
“No!”
Elodie denied it immediately.
“Then what, a con-artist duo?”
“Why are you making it worse! We’re not a couple and definitely not con artists!”
Beside her, Frondier looked thoughtful and said,
“Well, the ‘con’ part might not be entirely wrong.”
“Don’t make it sound worse!”
Vasileo’s face grew more bewildered by the second.
At this rate, he might seriously get the wrong idea, so Frondier decided to stop joking around.
“It’ll be faster if you see for yourself.”
“You’re actually taking him?”
“Of course. That was the plan from the start.”
Frondier nodded. Vasileo, of course, had no idea what he meant.
Frondier said,
“Alright, Vasileo. Let’s go to the next place.”
“The next place? Oh—come to think of it, you did say we were coming here ‘for now.’”
“You catch on fast.”
“So where’s next?”
Frondier pointed his thumb at himself.
“My house.”
Vasileo’s mouth fell open. He blinked several times, then for some reason looked toward Elodie.
Elodie gave him a look that said, Why are you looking at me? Vasileo looked flustered.
“I, uh, don’t really want to intrude on you two...”
“It’s not like that!!”
***
While the three were having that conversation—someone else was watching them.
“...Vasileo, that guy.”
It was Ias.
He wasn’t nearby, but observing from a distance as they walked away.
He saw Ias casting some kind of spell.
It was flame, but not an ordinary one. As a warrior, he couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but he could sense its immense power.
To use a strong spell, you have to know a strong spell.
Which meant Vasileo had mastered something.
“Those two...”
But what bothered Ias more than the magic’s power were the two people standing beside Vasileo—
Frondier and Elodie.
They were famous for not getting along, yet both were known as °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° top-class since their arrival. And now the two of them were standing together, watching Vasileo.
He was too far to hear their conversation, but there was no mistaking that Vasileo had just cast magic in front of them.
“Have those two set their eyes on Vasileo...?”
He didn’t know the details, but even from afar he could guess the gist.
Vasileo was receiving some kind of expectation from them. Whether that was as a mage or something else, it was hard to say—but since he’d demonstrated magic, it was probably as a mage.
Both Frondier and Elodie were mages—at least by Atlas’s standards.
So it was natural that the top mages of Atlas would take interest in Vasileo.
But—
'Then why haven’t I decided yet?'
Lately, that one question had haunted Ias.
The decision to become a hero.
'You still haven’t made that decision.'
He had pondered the meaning of those words. Even during finals, the question wouldn’t leave his head.
Because he’d been so consumed by it, he’d become unusually quiet—so much that those around him started to notice the change.
He was changing faster than he himself realized.
'If Frondier-sensei called Vasileo aside like that... does that mean Vasileo made his decision?'
He had felt enormous inferiority toward Pielot and Glaukos.
And now, even Vasileo.
Someone he had considered his equal—his rival—was now ahead of him.
If—
If Frondier hadn’t asked that question before, Ias might have exploded here.
Unable to endure the feeling of being left off the stage, he might have lashed out.
But now—
“Decision...”
Ias bit his lip.
He could feel its weight.
The weight of becoming a hero.
When he realized it wouldn’t happen on its own, when he realized he would have to choose it, and that once chosen, both success and failure would be his alone to bear—
“...So you’ve done it, Vasileo.”
His gaze wavered.
At first, when he heard Frondier’s words, he had thought it would be simple.
Just make the decision, and that would be that.
If you were only procrastinating, you just had to stop hesitating and move forward.
But reality wasn’t like that.
If he really was putting it off, then there must be a reason for that delay.
“This... is so heavy.”
Once you take that first step, the resolve you must carry afterward changes entirely.
The thought that you could still turn back is humiliating in itself—yet the resolve required to take that step is unbearably crushing.
If it happened naturally, it wouldn’t be like this.
A hero is never born naturally.
It’s the very pinnacle of the unnatural.
“Vasileo.”
Ias shook his head. When he opened his eyes again, they were clear, though filled with quiet sorrow.
“See you later.”
He turned away and walked toward his original path.
He hadn’t made his decision yet—but he understood now the weight and resolve that came with being a hero.
What he felt toward Vasileo, who had reached that point before him, was not inferiority.
There was no room left for inferiority.
“Amazing, Vasileo. To be able to make that choice.”
He was still frustrated, still restless, but—Ias could now walk forward with a somewhat lighter heart.
***
“No!”
Vasileo answered instantly.
Then he turned on his heel and started to walk away.
About three steps.
Clack!
He was caught by Heukcheon and struggled wildly.
“Ugh! No! I said no! I’m leaving! Let me go!!”
“I gave you the chance. I warned you that once you heard everything, you wouldn’t be able to turn back. You said you’d listen to it all and follow us no matter what happened. That was you, wasn’t it?”
Frondier looked at him with an exasperated face.
The determined expression he’d had before hearing the full story—where had it gone? Now Vasileo looked like all he wanted was to get as far away from this place as possible.
And indeed, that was the truth.
“I didn’t know it would be something like this!”
“Then what did you think it would be?”
“At least! I didn’t think it’d be about jumping straight into the middle of a war that gods and demons might start!”
“You should’ve been prepared for that much. It’s the path you chose.”
“Aaagh! I didn’t choose this! I never signed up for this!!”
Flail, flail.
Vasileo twisted and wriggled, trying to break free from Heukcheon’s hold, but with a wizard’s body it was impossible. The only reason he could even squirm at all was that the restraint wasn’t that tight.
“Ugh... damn it, fine then...!”
Vasileo’s eyes lit up.
“The shadow engraved in my eyes—flame of the deep darkness, light that knows not the end of shadow—”
Thwack!
Heukcheon smacked him square on the head.
“You little brat, you were about to use the spell you just learned from me on me?”
“A true wizard makes use of everything they’ve learned whenever it’s needed!”
He was applying sound logic in the strangest way possible.
Frondier was dumbfounded. What amazed him even more was that, if he had let Vasileo finish, the boy actually might have succeeded in casting Hellfire. The structure of his formula was moving through the exact right steps.
“...Hey, Fron.”
Elodie, who had been watching from the side, spoke up.
“You really intend to bring Vasileo with us? No matter what you say, it’s too dangerous. He’s still a student.”
Elodie’s face showed genuine worry.
Standing next to her, Riri raised her hand.
“I agree with Elodie. We’re not going sightseeing in the capital. Do we really have to drag along someone who’s not mentally ready?”
Frondier raised a finger.
“First, a rebuttal to Elodie.”
“Huh?”
“Vasileo’s only a year younger than we are.”
“...Ah, um. Huh? Oh, right.”
Elodie tilted her head, realizing that was true.
“The task I’m giving him isn’t any more dangerous than what we’ll be doing. You and I went through far worse things in our first year.”
“...Yeah. We did.”
“So excluding him from a mission just because he’s a student— that’s discrimination!”
“Yeah! You’re right!”
“And if we’d been spared dangerous work just for being students back then, that would’ve been unfair to us!”
“Right! You’re making sense!”
She was convinced.
“Elodie-sensei! Snap out of it!”
Vasileo shouted desperately, but his voice didn’t reach Elodie’s ears.
“And now, a rebuttal to Riri.”
“Hmm?”
“This guy isn’t unprepared.”
“He’s not?”
Riri looked at Vasileo.
“I’m completely unprepared!” Vasileo yelled.
Riri looked back at Frondier.
“...He says he’s not prepared.”
“No, he is.”
Frondier shook his head firmly.
“He’s just scared, that’s all.”
“...Wait, hold on, what?”
Riri was momentarily confused.
So—he’s terrified but still somehow mentally prepared?
That would mean...
“What does that even mean?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying!” Vasileo shouted, firmly siding with Riri.
Frondier spoke.
“I’ll show you proof.”
“Proof?”
“Listen carefully, Vasileo.”
Frondier looked straight at him. Vasileo, for some reason, didn’t look eager to listen.
“You heard about the war involving gods and demons. So of course you’re scared.”
“Yes! That’s right! I’m terrified! I’m a coward!”
“But you won’t be fighting them.”
At those words, Vasileo froze mid-struggle.
“We’ll be the ones fighting them.”
“...And me?”
“You’ll be placed somewhere completely safe. I’m bringing you along only for the sake of your growth.”
Hearing that, Riri thought to herself,
'What’s this? He’s basically saying it’s safe, so don’t worry. Like that’s really going to convince him.'
Vasileo rolled his eyes, thinking hard.
But then—
“...That won’t do.”
When he looked back up, his eyes had changed.
“If I hadn’t known anything, that’d be one thing. But now that I do, I can’t just stand by and watch.”
“You mean you want to fight too?”
“I don’t want to fight! I hate fighting! But—”
Vasileo bowed his head. He didn’t make a sound, but his lips mouthed every curse he knew.
Between clenched teeth, he muttered,
“I don’t want to be the only one who lives.”
“......”
Frondier didn’t reply. Instead, he turned to look at his companions.
The meaning in his gaze was clear.
