A Death Row Convict Teaches at a School of Magic

“Your downfall, young lady, lies in your self-conceit, which stems from your talent.”

Atop the church roof stood Hunter there, his canine teeth bared with a ferocious grin plastered on his face. Not a speck of dirt was on his cloak, and neither did Hunter himself exhibit any signs of injury.

On the other hand, Fina, his antagonist, was in tatters and panting profusely. The Selbeth Academy uniform was ripped open by several holes the size of a fist and was drenched in Fina’s own clotted blood. Each time penetrated by boulders or shot by arrows, Fina had forcibly closed the wounds with medical magic, but nothing could be done to replenish the blood that had flowed out. While her right hand gripping the magic sword remained firm, her left hand was slumped, not even twitching.

She was truly packed to the brim with wounds. Facing her like this, however, a frown formed upon Hunter’s brow.

“…What are you smiling at?”

“Haha, no… I am now reaffirming that what that teacher said was true. I have a talent for making myself laugh.”

Perhaps Fina’s remark was interpreted by Hunter as regret for her past haughty behavior toward herself.

A faint tinge of sympathy flashed across his face.

“Nothing about you merits shame. You are indeed an exceptional magician. Even the adults out there are put to shame by you. The only thing is, you are simply a little bit too quick to take me on. I commend you for your efforts so far. Lay down your weapons and you will have an easy death.”

“…What incomprehensible utterance are you spouting?”

“Huh?”

That was when Hunter became aware of the wounded girl in front of him.

Admittedly, her whole body was awash with wounds, and even her physical strength was depleted. But―that was all to it.

After all the diligent preparations this hunter had undertaken over the past number of days, and despite he was fighting seriously, he had yet to inflict even a life-threatening wound on the girl in front of him.

The best approach to kill her after the assaults were successful would be to slowly drive her into exhaustion. However, this was a story of a battle of strength alone. Right now, Hunter had the edge over the girl in front of him because of the “trap”.

―But what should be the case in the scenario in which the trap would be nullified?

“Perhaps it’s about time―”

“!”

By the time his concentration snapped back to the girl in front of him, she was charging toward him.

A while has flown by since the battle kicked off, but the girl’s speed has not faltered as ever. Having enhanced her legs with sorcery and subtly manipulating the air currents in her surroundings, Fina accelerated as if swept by the wind and approached him.

“As if it would be that easy!”

Such a simple rush, nevertheless, would not be enough to reach him.

Watching for the right moment for Fina to place her foot on the trap, Hunter activated his magic.

The trap, which was triggered instantaneously by Hunter’s will, was supposed to skewer Fina, who had lunged at him thoughtlessly.

Fina evaded “Rock Icicle” nevertheless, as though she had read it. Almost without any time loss, her ferocious advance was maintained.

“What―”

For the first time after entering this battle, a lifted voice of dismay was emitted from Hunter, but he successively launched a series of traps on the path that Fina would take.

Yet, none of these traps could capture Fina.

One after another, rock icicles sprouted from the ground, and Fina twisted and turned her body gracefully to dodge them, like a dancer.

Even “Mud Swamp” was futile, as she leaped over an obstacle just ahead of it.

Hunter’s arrows were likewise intercepted by the magic barrier deployed at precise spots in the front.

“Damn it! What the hell!”

“Hah!”

At last, the distance between the two, which had been 20 meters, was narrowed down to the range of her sword.

A dagger was pulled out by Hunter in a haste, but his movements were less refined than when he was drawing his bow.

At the third juncture, Fina struck down his dagger and slashed Hunter unmercifully with her own sword in return.

Hunter screamed briefly and stumbled backward a few steps. The back of Fina’s sword landed perfectly in the pit of his stomach, which finally sent Hunter falling prostrate.

“…My attacks… how did you…”

He probably already ran out of strength to sustain further combat. To Hunter, whose voice was like that of an incoherent muttering, Fina answered in a flat tone of voice.

“―I have ascertained the location of all the traps, and the types of traps as well. I wasn’t convinced that I would be able to step through all of them in one piece, so I only made a prediction based on the pattern of trap locations for about 30% of them.”

For a moment, Hunter’s eyes widened at the plain answer. But his eyes were soon closed.

“What is it that allowed you to block my arrows so effortlessly?”

“Are you not content until you hear all the answers? Well, let’s simply put it this way: I calculated that too.”

“Hah… What a haphazard young lady you are. Even Rain Aldar would not be a match for you.”

“…At the moment, that’s still not practical.”

Her words that were released after a short pause mysteriously did not sound pessimistic.

“However, I will undoubtedly overtake him and become a knight worthy of serving Lady Karen in the future. Defeating you today is nothing but a small step in that path.”

“Hah… In the end, I am used as a stepping stone huh… What a thoroughly expensive young lady you are…”