There Are No Bad Young Ladies in the World

Value (7)

‘By now, Diela must be in the middle of training.’

A grand mansion prepared separately for Aiselin. Numerous flowers swayed in the wind between the statues with pretty lily emblems engraved on them.

– Sarak

—

—

Aisellin, who was sitting in the garden reading a book, suddenly nodded her head, worried about her younger sibling.

Although the magic duel with Dinis was said to be held at Diela’s mansion, the news of its outcome would spread through rumors all over the Rosea Salon.

‘I hope nothing serious happens… I also hope there won’t be any unnecessary gossip…’

Lining up is a habit of the masses.

Even if it means nothing, they evaluate and compare, saying who is better or worse.

Before judging right or wrong, it was just something that inevitably happened, and if you wanted to receive everyone’s attention, it was something you had to endure. Aisellin knew this well enough.

Aisellin, who had started to receive some attention since she entered the Ebelstein social circle not long ago, had now become a figure almost synonymous with the face of the Rosea Salon.

Receiving the attention of numerous noble ladies and becoming the subject of whispers, being evaluated and compared became as natural as breathing. The figures she was compared to were, of course, all equally prestigious and excellent individuals.

If we were to name individuals who could be compared to someone like Aisellin, it would ultimately be Ellen and Dinis, the daughters of the three great noble families.

Ellen was a transparent person inside and out, but Dinis was the complete opposite.

‘She always maintains the appearance of a graceful lady, but her true nature seems lazier than expected…’

Aisellin’s insight was accurate.

Occasionally, when they met in the duel arena or during academic debates, there were times when she could read the underlying nature of Dinis.

She would sometimes have a disinterested look in her eyes, clearly showing she had no interest in anything.

Even the things she showed interest in were merely actions out of necessity.

From noble mtl dot com

Most noble ladies had no clue about the bottom of Dinis, but the sharp Aisellin had already noticed a bit of her essence through numerous gatherings and was considerate of her.

No matter what happened, she just wanted to handle it quickly and move on, and if the burden became too heavy, she wanted to shake it all off and live comfortably with her exquisite survival skills.

She had never thought about what would happen if Dinis gave her all.

“…”

Aisellin and Ellen always won against Dinis in magic duels.

Since Dinis had little obsession with winning or losing in the first place, once the magic exchanges reached a certain level, she would just appropriately lose and end the duel.

Not only Aisellin and Ellen, who were relatively close to her, but also any lady of the Rosea Salon had never seen Dinis give her all.

In other words, there was no one in this Rosea Salon who truly knew her real bottom line.

That fact strangely made Aisellin uneasy.

*

Watching Dinis simultaneously chant five first-class combat magic spells: ‘Shockwave,’ ‘Ice Spear,’ ‘Magic Arrow,’ ‘Rapid Freezing,’ and ‘Thorn Bush,’ she couldn’t help but be amazed.

Diela, who was furious to the core, intended to completely shatter Dinis’s defensive magic without even holding back.

If one of them got seriously injured, it could escalate into a problem between families.

That was something she would handle herself when the time came. Thinking roughly like that, Diela unleashed numerous spells as if pouring them down.

—

—

Despite the menacing momentum like a tiger charging, Dennis scoffed once and raised his left hand to establish a magic circle.

‘The magicians of the Duplain family all have strong personalities.’

Dennis had already gathered some information about the figures of the three noble families.

Compared to Aiseline’s magic, which follows a well-organized path, Diela’s magic is free-spirited.

Even if it’s a first-class magic that seems familiar, the way it freely changes according to Diela’s will makes it difficult to deal with.

However, Dennis’s specialty was to impose order on such chaotic things.

When Dennis glared once, he could clearly see that there was some order in the scattered magic.

No matter how free-spirited the use of magic is, personal habits or temperaments are bound to show.

– Boom!

He easily evaded the ice spears that struck down again and the ice pillars rising from the ground.

Avoiding Diela’s magic itself is not that difficult. However, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to defeat Diela.

– Boom! Boom! Boom!

Overwhelming firepower. The gap that comes from it is not easily bridged.

Dennis has an exceptional talent for handling magic delicately, but he is not as skilled at overwhelming his opponent with sheer firepower.

He simply senses the opponent’s magic, evades, exploits it, and finds gaps.

Dennis’s fighting style would be similar to that of a swordsman who has honed his skills to the extreme.

‘I can feel the intention of not giving me any chance to attack. It doesn’t seem like she’s aware of my aim… Did she just instinctively see through it?’

While Dennis analyzes his opponent with rational moves, Diela has a wild style like a raging natural disaster.

If it were an academic debate, reason and rationality would be the key factors for victory, but in a magic duel, momentum and intuition are much more important.

In the end, this duel on the magic training ground is an area where Diela has the advantage.

‘Hoo…’

A competent strategist never climbs into the opponent’s grasp. If he wanted to win, he wouldn’t have created this situation in the first place.

However, since the initial plan was to lose, the situation turned out this way.

Now that it has come to this, he just needs to find a way to win from this point on.

In the storm of raging magic, Dennis’s vision darkened once and then lit up again.

He grasps the flow of thoughts, considers every small detail as information, and closely observes the movements of that small beast.

Time slows down. For a moment, even the sound is inaudible.

His heart beats, his brain accelerates. He captures every thread hanging from the end of the fluttering frill dress, constructing a logic to defeat his opponent.

In those few seconds when Diela’s magic flies.

Diela’s figure visible through the gaps of countless ice spears and magic arrows.

—

—

She is short and petite. With her lush blonde hair, alabaster skin, blue eyes like Denise’s, a habit of dragging her right foot, a habit of taking a deep breath when manifesting magic, and a routine of clenching her left fist tightly when conjuring an ice spear.

– “Miss Denise.”

– “The ability to sense magic can be honed to a higher level through repeated practice. However, the eyes that instantly see through the habits and essence of the opponent before the magic is not in the realm of learning. It is closer to the realm of experience.”

The gleaming eyes follow the direction in which the magic is heading.

The frilled dress seems a bit large, and there is a slight discomfort in the movement of the left arm. The black rose-shaped brooch on her head occasionally obstructs her view, causing her to shake her head from time to time. When the storm-like wind rushes in due to the aftermath of the magic, she has a habit of gripping the hem of her skirt tightly with one hand.

Thus, from the tips of her fingers to the tips of her toes, the girl named Diela is entirely within Denise’s eyes, converted into information.

– “Miss Denise’s observational skills are a gift that cannot be learned from anyone. Isn’t this an era where countless mercenaries risk their lives to navigate the labyrinth to sharpen their senses even a little?”

– “Do not underestimate the value of that ability, Miss Denise.”

The words of Derek, which she heard so often during lessons that they stuck in her ears, gradually began to make Denise’s eyes serious.

While many vassals of the Beltus family were only thinking about the prestige of this great family, it was the advice of a teacher who truly saw Denise’s essence and tried to nurture that ability.

Although she always had a face like she was chewing sand, she engraved it in her heart while pretending not to.

– Whack!

Thus, Diela’s magic struck and dust rose, but… Denise’s protective magic did not manifest.

– Boom! Boom! Boom!

Rather, Denise’s magic began to emanate from within the dust that obscured her vision.

Instantly, the aftermath of the magic covered the area, causing the dust to scatter and disappear in an instant.

Denise, with her silver-gray hair fluttering, manifested the 2-star search magic ‘Surveillance’.

It was the sense of that search magic, honed to the extreme through exchanges with her teacher, Derek.

Denise’s magic circle, which spread widely across the entire training ground in an instant, completely dominated the area.

– Whaaa!

A spectacle like stars scattering unfolded.

Not only the servants but even Diela couldn’t help but open their eyes wide in surprise.

Denise is one of the three most respected young ladies in the Rosea Salon. Naturally, it was thought that her magical proficiency was at a certain level.

However, no one expected her to be at the level of 2-star proficiency.

Even the renowned Lady Aiseline barely mastered 2-star magic and received everyone’s congratulations.

However, Denise had already reached a level of magical proficiency almost similar to Aiseline, though she had not revealed it until now.

“What, what is this…”

Diela was astonished at the sight of Denise revealed from within the dust.

Denise’s condition was not intact.

Her skirt was torn, covered in dust, and the ribbon that held her hair in place had come undone and was rolling on the ground.

—

—

His face was covered in dirt, but what was more surprising was the stream of blood flowing beside his temple.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

In principle, high-level protective magic must always accompany magical duels between noble ladies.

This is because there should never be any scratches or injuries on their bodies.

However, looking at Denise’s condition, it didn’t seem like the protective magic was activated at all.

Diela’s eyes flashed as she sensed the aura of magic lingering near Denise’s body.

She could clearly feel the presence of a large protective magic. It must have been engraved on the jewelry she wore, so it wouldn’t be easily deactivated.

Then there was only one possibility.

‘She deactivated the protective magic herself…!’

In the midst of the swirling dust, she took off the jewelry engraved with protective magic and deactivated it.

The reason was obvious. After all, the outcome of this magical duel was determined by whether the protective magic was activated or not.

Since the rule was to win if the opponent’s protective magic was activated, she temporarily turned it off when no one was looking. And when visibility returned, she would nonchalantly hide within the protective magic as if nothing had happened.

It was an action that not only exploited the loophole in the rules but also seemed to mock the rules themselves.

Until now, no one had avoided defeat in a magical duel in such a manner. Of course, that was because each noble lady was precious, and even a slight injury could cause a big problem.

In the first place, how important is honor in magical duels between nobles? Relying on such tricks was meaningless.

Therefore, the idea of taking off the jewelry to deactivate the protective magic was impossible. However, Denise was not someone who was bound by such stereotypes.

Even if she won the duel in that way, there would be no honor or anything. Nevertheless, Denise used the trick without hesitation, even at the risk of seriously injuring herself.

The reason was obvious.

It wasn’t just honor at stake in this duel. The fate of her master, Derek, would be decided by this duel.

“A bug has been caught in the spider’s web.”

Denise, bleeding from a single stream of blood, smiled slyly as she implemented a large magic circle.

What does it matter if it’s a bit cowardly or dirty? In the end, what matters is how the victory is determined.

If Diela thought it was cowardly, she could also hide in the blind spot and deactivate the protective magic.

In fact, if Diela made up her mind, she might also unravel the protective magic. If the duel overheated to that extent, it would essentially turn into a bloody brawl beyond a legitimate magical duel.

Even so, if it came to that, the servants would desperately intervene and stop it. That wouldn’t be a bad thing, but Denise didn’t want to take any more risks than this.

Therefore, she activated the second-level magic ‘Surveillance’.

It didn’t work at all on her master, Derek, but it was completely different for a magician of a similar level like Diela.

Once caught in Denise’s magic circle, this realm would be entirely hers until Denise’s magic power ran out and the circle was deactivated.

Just like a spider’s web with deadly poison, once caught, there was no escape.

As if to prove that fact, Diela’s movements noticeably slowed down.

—

—

“What, what is this…”

A sensation as if the whole body had been pierced by some kind of energy.

Even the slightest movement of a fingertip, the slightest tremor of a toe, all felt like they were playing within Dennis’s consciousness, a chilling sensation.

Diela, startled, conjured an ice spear, but a magic arrow had already flown and embedded itself in the spot where the ice spear was to be formed.

The magic arrow had flown in before the ice spear was even formed. The implication was significant.

It meant that Dennis had already seen through all of Diela’s actions a few seconds in advance.

“Gasp…”

No matter what action was taken, the countermeasure was already established.

Dennis’s eyes, focused to the limit, were like those of a hunter who easily captures a clumsy wild animal.

“Huff… Huff…”

The owner of the spider’s web, who had been crouching to chant a spell, stood up. Her completely disheveled silver-gray hair flowed down her shoulders.

Her gaze resembled that of a creepy creature striding towards a pitiful prey caught in its web.

Diela quickly grasped the situation. At least within this magic circle, it was impossible to create a variable that played outside Dennis’s expectations.

She had to dash out of the magic circle and use the unique, irregular magic of the Wild School to offset all of Dennis’s advantages.

It was at that moment when she quickly turned her gaze to check the range of the magic circle’s influence.

“…This is ridiculous.”

─Unfortunately, Dennis’s magic circle covered the entire annex building.

Although Dennis had learned the 2-star magic ‘Surveillance’ quite some time ago, its range was only a few meters at best.

However, after continuously training with Derek in the art of magic exploration, Dennis’s limits had grown unimaginably larger.

‘Wizards taught by Derek all surpass their own limits.’

She knew that this rumor was already circulating among the salons.

And Diela had overlooked the fact that Dennis was also a disciple of that wizard.

“This… What is this…”

No matter how genius Diela’s talent was, she was still an unrefined gem.

However, her opponent was already one of the most prestigious figures in the Rosea Salon, and the most outstanding disciple of the best teacher Diela knew.

Dennis had always judged that he could never become someone like Aiseline, but in terms of magic level, he had already become a figure comparable to Aiseline.

By the time Diela understood this gap, the match was already decided.

– Bang!

“Ahhh!”

A single magic arrow that had exquisitely penetrated the gap in Diela’s consciousness activated the protective magic.

—

—

Diela couldn’t even react.

– Whaaack!

As the protective magic unfolded in an instant and embraced Diela, her pupils finally dilated.

It was Diela’s defeat.

“….No, no way…”

“How could she achieve such… a feat…”

The attendants who had been watching the duel were all sweating. They had thought that Lady Denise’s level would be high, but they never expected it to be this much.

In the void-like silence, Denise quietly brushed off the dust on her body and spoke.

“It was a good match.”

Denise, who had returned to her elegant self, smiled.

The silence continued for a while.

As the situation began to sink in, Diela bit her lower lip hard.

Tears began to well up in her sparkling eyes.

Such was the world of competition.

*