(O3O)/ – Here is Ch-18.1!
(-.-) – I"ll edit this latter, so feel free to point out any errors.
(‘-.-) – And I changed the name of a spell Leo used in Chapter 15-1
(O3O)/ – Magic Crystal ⇒ Spy Crystal.
(O-O) – It makes more sense ⇑ in my opinion.
(OwO)/ – Right? Enjoy∼♥
While being escorted by Albert, Leo managed to reach the auditorium without any problems.
The auditorium is a place inside the school where a huge stage was set, and an even bigger mirror placed on the wall behind the stage.
And although they where supposed to be at an auditorium, Leo had hollow eyes just by looking at the walls of this place, fully decorated with gold and other expensive stuff that he didn"t even know the name of. Just one of the chairs could buy the entire orphanage were he used to live.
Colorful ribbons were hanging around the ceiling, but not any cloth, a really expensive kind cloth. Just a piece of cloth, of the size of his hand, could buy a month"s worth of food for the orphanage.
The first half of the presentation would be a magic exhibition, and the second half would be a ball. But for now Leo would sit at the VIP area near the stage.
And of course, Albert was sitting by his side. But for now, Leo was paying attention to the presentation, in order to forget about the gold coin.
“Are you paying attention to it seriously, Leonora?”
Albert asked.
Though the first half would be a magic exhibition, the beginning of the exhibition was only the theory behind the spells that would be used today.
Therefore, most of the students would sleep or start to chat with the person by their side.
The one on the stage was Harlet, the teacher of the normal and advanced magic cla.s.ses.
And seeing his granddaughter, that was listening with the utmost focus and wasn"t looking to the sides or sleeping, the heart of Lord Harkenberg, Leonora"s grandfather, was filled with joy and affection.
Lord Harkenberg and his wife where sitting on the auditorium"s balcony, a VIP area reserved for high n.o.bles. Leo and Albert where sitting at the front roll of the normal seats.
Even Harlet-sensei up there on the stage was impressed with the little girl"s serious face.
“…Of course, I am.”
Leo answered with the less amount of words possible and a serious expression.
As the presentation kept going, many more people stopped paying attention to it seriously. And as Harlet explained a lot of theories on the stage, the one that cached Leo"s attention the most, was a new discovery on magic casting. If you had enough people, you could cast any spell without the use of magic power.
Leo could make a lot of money with this information.
“…Many people can, use magic, even if they, don"t have any, magic power.”
“…Yeah.”
Albert narrowed his eyes and listened to the little girl with sparkly eyes in front of him.
(Instead of thinking about herself, at a time like this, she is worrying about the common people instead)
“Yeah, Harlet"s team of magicians have been working on this research for a long time now, saying that it will benefit the common people and that it"s the church"s duty to help them. But if you are interested, ask the monks… do you want to know their names?”
“Thank you, but, it is, alright.”
Leo turned down his proposal.
I"m interested, but I"ll leave this academy today, so I can"t attend these cla.s.ses anyway.
“Ohh, right, I forgot… You might already be their acquaintance, since you go to the church everyday.”
“Huh…?”
When Leo turned to look at Albert, he had a serious face and he was close, very close. Leo almost let out a shriek.
“Did you think I wouldn"t notice? Especially last week, you would always go to the church right after school.”
“…Uuh….”
Leo"s face was red and hot from the fear, anger and awkwardness.
The only good point about me and Oscar meeting at the church, was that it"s always empty, so it was the best place to meet in secret. If I knew the prince was spying on us, I could"ve escaped the day after I gave my hair to Oscar! “I"m dead” – Leo thought, with tears in his eyes.
(F***!!! It was all for nothing…! Hic… hic… uwaaah! I don"t wanna die!)
Albert smiled towards Leo, who had cold sweat and was on the verge of crying.
“Oops! We have to pay attention at the presentation. But, well… if you"re going to the church after this… I could go with you… I think.”
The last part was said close to a monologue, so he didn"t think Leo would hear.
“It"s alright, we don"t, need to go.”
“But… aren"t you going there after this? To meet the monks and everything… I thought you liked the church… but well, if you say you"re not going I won"t push you to do it.”
“I like, the church… it"s just.”
Leo was trying to forget.
Leo was trying to forget about it as much as possible when he went there with Oscar, but when he heard they where going to the church, he covered his crotch by reflex.
“That place, is scary. The try, to rob people, of their, precious things.”
“Leonora…?”
Seeing the girl who showed faint sadness, made Albert slightly worried.
“What are you–”
“–Ah, I need to go! It"s almost time!”
In order to stop the conversation, Leo stood up and left.
(Oh no, oh no! It"s dangerous!)
And while moving slightly faster, Leo was cursing the prince inside his head. Leo remembered something he didn"t want to, because of Albert.
‘If we were friends back then, two years ago, would he panic with me, give me gold coins and stay by my side?" – Leo thought. (Tl/n: Leo is talking about the church incident, when he almost lost his little bro down there)
No, maybe the prince already knows about my ident.i.ty, but he doesn"t have any proof, so he can"t put me behind bars.
He would torture me by showing-off a lot of different coins, and then spending them in front of me.
(Brute! Jerk! The worst! If it"s the royal family, one, two, or even a thousand gold coins would be like a drop of water for them! And what is the dragon mark anyway! It doesn"t make sense for us, the common people!)
When Leo reached the backstage, he was trembling with anxiety. According to the introduction, the next one to go on stage was going to be Leonora von Harkenberg.
And after waiting for a while, it was finally Leo"s turn.
Leo didn"t practice any other kind of spells since the day he used the “Spy Crystal” to spy on Harlet, because it was decided he would partic.i.p.ate out of nowhere. And Albert was going to escort Leo, so it was impossible to simply turn him down and say no.
And by the way, after it was decided that Albert would escort him, Leo"s head turned completely white and he couldn"t think straight. (Tl/n: (OwO) – Su∼ke∼be∼♥)
(If only we had practical lessons… haaah… how can someone learn a new spell like this!)
Leo who had lived all his life without any magic power, didn"t understand what he had to do to activate it that well.
After all, the only thing Leo knew how to do, was to replicate the spell Leena used at that time.
However, the other students were awesome, one manipulated fireb.a.l.l.s, the other a ma.s.sive ball of water, and together they made a rainbow appear on stage.
And as it is, it would be bad to simply say: “I didn"t prepare anything.”
But for some reason, the teacher replaced him with another student who couldn"t partic.i.p.ate, leaving Leo in the middle of the stage.
The entire auditorium was visible from his position, which made Leo a lot more calm, since he could stare at expensive stuff.
Leo could see all the audience seats. Close to the stage, near the middle of the front roll, Albert, Bianca and Natalia were siting there. The balconies where huge and Leo could see a lot… no, not just that… but, A WHOLE LOT OF: Emperors, kings, princes and princesses, wealthy merchants, high n.o.bles………… and the Harkenbergs……… waving like crazy to their supposed granddaughter, making a scene at such an important event.
(Yabai… muri-desu!!!)
Everyone in the auditorium was staring at Leo with bloodshot eyes.
(Ugh… so much pressure)
In fact, right now Leo was the most beautiful person inside this auditorium, his appearance was so pure that he looked like one of the spirits… but he didn"t notice.
And on the second floor, near the balcony, Harlet was there, smiling towards Leo.
Seeing his benevolent face, Leo made a tough decision.
(Sorry, Harlet-sensei. This is the only spell that I know. I didn"t want to stalk you, or reveal your secrets in front of everyone)
If it is the gentle and caring Harlet-sensei that I know, he will definitively forgive me.
And, as Leo was casting the spell that Leena taught him, the only thing that Leo could think of was: “Since I"ve been here for about an entire hour, I think it"s good enough to play it back just a little….”
Leo decided to play back, what Harlet was doing, about five minutes ago.
“Spy Crystal.”
When you raise your right hand and cast it for a short time, the surrounding wind will gather in a whirlpool, and eventually the crystal will appear as it emerge from your hand.
(Please, I hope you were not a strange face!)
If someone recorded my face and I were making a strange face, I would be overwhelmed with shame.
‘If my time alone with Ayase were to be seen… awawawawawa!" – Ayase is the name of one of Leo"s copper coins, his favorite one!
However, Leo, who continued to expose Harlet even further, was afraid that his escape plan would be destroyed if he didn"t use any magic here.
“Harlet Reviér, five minutes ago.”
It was supposed to be just a feel images of a popular teacher, five minutes ago.
Leo closed his eyes tightly and when he opened it, the crystal was s.h.i.+ning.
The s.h.i.+ning was normal, but….
“Huh…?”
For some reason, the crystal, which is usually smooth enough to reflect him, began to swirl.
“Why…?”
The crystal continued to rotate and began to cast light on everyone, in spite of the panicking Leo.
The surroundings became really bright as if they were illuminated by a huge lamp.
(A membrane of light appeared?)
It was hovering in the air like a huge mirror.
The people started to question, why a normal student like her, alone, could cast such large-scale spell, without even breaking a sweat.
And Leo, who couldn"t stop the spell in time, decided to improvise, and leaked a grin.
(Well, the spell became like this, but, what about the n.o.bles?)
They could sense the amount of magic power spent in this unique spell. Without a doubt, Leonora"s magic power could amount to at least one hundred, or two hundred mages.
But Albert and Natalia noticed something different, Leo"s necklace, the decorative ribbon, was s.h.i.+ning and the spirit cloth hanging on the ceiling were fluttering vibrantly. For a moment they thought: “Am I crazy, or the spirit cloth is reacting towards her?”
However, the truth is that, Leo without a care, decided: “I"ll just continue expanding my magic power, until Leena can cast that spell again. Thank you, magic school!”
Before long, the image of Harlet appeared in the light mirror.
“Huh?”
However, he wasn"t smiling, or dressed up like usual. He was using normal clothes and was sitting on a couch.
If you paid attention, he wasn"t in the auditorium. He was in his room, located at the back of the church.
(Huh? What is this, what does that mean?)
At the same time, answering Leo"s questions, the voice of a person who seemed to be opposite to the couch, spoke.
“–Are you sure, Harlet? The Academy"s best sorcery teacher, is leaking information of important events such the magic presentation.”
“I don"t need to hear your nagging, Ahim.”
Apparently, said person was someone named Ahim.
His voice tone was even more deeper than Harlet"s own voice. Maybe he was older than Harlet.
They both were using Eleand, probably because someone could eavesdrop the conversation otherwise.
But what shocked Leo and everyone else, were the words Harlet said while smiling.
“I"ll ruin that stupid party of the students. And after that they will all be my slaves.”
(Wow!!! I hit the jackpot!!!)
Tl/n: Things are getting more and more interesting, like Harlet"s evil side.
(OwO) – Well, I hope you guys enjoyed the Chapter.
(‘-.-) – I can"t end this on a cliff, so I"ll try to finish the next one faster.