Genius Wizard Hides His Sword Skills [EN]: Chapter 19

19. Welcome. Is this your first time at the Magic Tower? (3)

“Ian. To think I was beaten by a guy like you, it really pisses me off! You’ll have to keep your head down in the Magic Tower. You’re finished now.”

McDuff sneered at me the whole way.

“Using Academy demerits to be petty? What are you going to do now? There are no demerits in the Magic Tower.”

The guy who was as quiet as a mouse in the Academy revealed his true colors. But there was one thing McDuff didn’t know.

[Keep it up… Keep running your mouth. You’re going to die.]

I, too, had been holding back a lot within the Delema family.

‘They said no one would interfere here.’

Whether it was Bureygun, who dared to pick a fight with me, or the chattering McDuff.

‘Now I can finally give them some proper family education.’

I was planning to give them the family education they never properly received.

[But aren’t you the younger one? Family education, you say.]

‘Who cares? If family members educate each other, that’s family education.’

Making sure the water doesn’t leak inside or outside the bucket. Isn’t that the duty of a family member? I’ll fix their minds today.

“Hey. You, stop there.”

Burey’s steps stopped in a secluded alley near the Magic Tower.

‘There won’t be anyone watching here.’

Burey had found a dark back alley with no streetlights.

“Look down.”

He glares at me.

“What if I don’t want to?”

Burey’s eyes were trembling at my insolent attitude.

“You really want to die!”

Eventually, Burey’s right hand was raised. He looked like he was about to slap me.

‘Just what I wanted.’

Rather, a smile appeared on my face.

“Are you laughing again? You’re dead today!”

Soon, Burey’s hand began to approach my face.

‘This is nothing.’

There was no need to read his movements. The trajectory of a seventeen-year-old boy who hadn’t even learned martial arts was clear to me.

I only slightly tilted my head back.

Whoosh!

Burey’s right hand awkwardly cut through the air.

“Eek!”

His posture collapsed, and Burey staggered ridiculously.

“What are you doing?”

I omitted the honorifics, which were the minimum courtesy. After today, he wouldn’t even be able to look me in the eye.

“You just got lucky dodging that!”

Then, Burey reached out with his left hand. Similarly clumsy movements.

“How foolish.”

I tilted my head slightly to avoid it. His center of gravity collapses rapidly. I wouldn’t miss such a timing.

Thud.

Just by slightly tripping him.

“Ugh!”

Burey ended up becoming one with the pile of garbage in the corner of the alley.

“Birds of a feather.”

The fallen guy got up in a panic.

“Wh-what?”

“You fit in well with your garbage friends.”

Then Burey’s face crumpled like crumpled paper.

“You little bug!”

Whoosh!

Mana gathered at his fingertips.

“Hup… !”

Unlike Drew, who was horrified by the sight, I wasn’t flustered.

‘Yeah. You should start using magic soon.’

It was exactly as I had expected.

‘Was Burey’s innate attribute earth?’

The ground beneath my feet began to writhe.

“Let’s see if you can keep talking with that glib mouth of yours.”
A bitter smile appeared on Burey’s lips. It wasn’t difficult to recognize the magic.

‘At his level, it would be Hand of Earth.’

A technique where a hand made of earth pops out to subdue the opponent. It was a magic mainly used to grab ankles and block movement.

‘How slow.’

The solution was simple. Just move before the hand pops out.

Before Burey finished casting.

Thud!

I kicked off the ground and rushed forward.

“Wh-what!”

The guy was greatly embarrassed. It was a natural reaction. He was just a kid whose only fighting experience was magic duels. He hadn’t expected this kind of response at all.

‘He must have thought I would respond with magic!’

That was the way magicians fought, but there was no need to do that. There was a much faster and easier way than magic, so why bother?

“Keuk!”

I ran up and kicked the guy in the stomach, and Burey buried himself in the pile of garbage again.

“I told you to just lie down, why did you get up? That spot next to the garbage suits you best. Or do you want me to recycle you instead of throwing you away?”

“…What?”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s see if you’re worth recycling from now on.”

“Yo-you son of a bitch… !”

Burey spewed out curses at the unheard-of insults.

[Using psychological warfare too. Aren’t you going too far?]

‘If I’ve decided to educate him, I have to do it properly. You have to crush the pride of a guy like this to make him come to his senses.’

I calmly watched Burey get up again. The guy, full of anger, gritted his teeth. He must have been even more angry because McDuff and Drew were watching.

‘What kind of magic is he going to use this time?’

Following his gestures, five fist-sized stones floated up. The stones swirled violently around Burey’s body.

‘Oh, he’s already learned Stone Twister.’

It was a type of defensive magic. The stones spin quickly around the caster’s body, preventing the opponent from approaching.

Even a thousand years ago, it was a technique that magicians used as essential to fight against knights. There was no way I wouldn’t know it.

‘That level is perfect for practice.’

If you were an accomplished magician, you could operate dozens, no, hundreds of stones. But Burey had just reached the 4-star level. It didn’t seem very threatening.

As I took a step towards Burey. Rather, the guy was embarrassed.

“Yo-you! If you come any closer like you did before, you’ll get hit by the stones!”

I didn’t care about that.

[Why does that guy have to use that magic of all things…]

When I was the Sword Emperor. It was my hobby to break through the Stone Twister and see the astonished expressions of the magicians.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve stretched my body.’

The stone flying from the right twists the upper body to avoid. Then another stone rushes towards my left cheek.

‘No way.’

I lightly lowered my head and took another step closer.

“Yo-you crazy bastard!”

The embarrassed Burey releases more mana.

Whoosh!

Then the stones get even faster.

‘It’s already too late.’

The stone flying towards the ankle.

Thud!

Avoid it by taking one more step closer to Burey.

Whoosh!

I didn’t bother responding to the stone flying towards my side.

Thwack!

Because my hand was striking Burey’s abdomen even faster.

“Ugh!”

As his body bent over.

Thud. Thud-.

The stones lost their way and fell to the ground.

[Tsk. He should have been more selective about who he picked fights with.]

It was the moment I was about to approach the fallen guy.

‘What is it?’

A sense of foreboding enveloped my back. Instinctively, I turned my head.

Whoosh-.

McDuff was conjuring flames on his hand.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, uh?”

The flustered guy quickly extinguished the flames, but.

“Your turn is coming soon, so wait a bit.”

He couldn’t avoid my coldly hardened gaze. From then on, it was a one-sided situation.

[……Go easy on him.]

My merciless fists massaged Burey’s entire body. He seemed unaccustomed to physical pain.

“Kkyaaaak!”

He let out a bizarre groan.

“Shut up.”

Of course, I wasn’t one to be fazed by that. The situation ended when he knelt down and begged for his life.

“McDuff.”

At my call, McDuff cautiously approached. He naturally went and stood next to Burey.

“S-sorry.”

“Your Burey *hyung* [older brother/male friend], who you followed so devotedly, is kneeling, but you’re standing tall?”

“Ah? Ah!”

McDuff quickly knelt down beside him.

“Guys like you can’t be reformed with words. Do you know how many chances I’ve given you?”

“Y-yeah. I was wrong.”

Burey nodded incessantly, his face covered in tears and snot. McDuff could only alternate between looking at Burey and me, trying to gauge the situation.

“McDuff.”

The guy looked at me with trembling eyes.

“Now. Who’s having a rough time in the Magic Tower life?”

I gave McDuff the most wicked smile I could muster.

* * *

“Burey *hyung*. Where is that excavation site in Ias?”

He wasn’t completely useless.

“Ah… The excavation site?”

Burey had come to the Magic Tower two years earlier, so he knew some information about Ias.

“It’s not far from here. Go out the alley and go a little further to the right, and you’ll see it.”

Whether it was because the education had worked well, he listened obediently.

“Okay. *Hyung* and McDuff, go back to the Magic Tower first.”

“Ah, okay. But why are you asking about that?”

“Just because. If you keep trying to find out, you’ll get hurt.”

Then Burey hurriedly covered his mouth.

‘Now he’s finally learned some manners.’

It was strangely new to see him get scared even with just a slightly scary expression.

[I guess. Can he be salvaged?]

‘Well, I’ll have to watch and see. Whether he’s recyclable trash. Or if I should just incinerate him.’

Whether Burey and McDuff knew my thoughts or not, they were running out of the alley.

“Wow…! That’s amazing. How did you move like that?”

Drew, who had watched the whole situation, couldn’t help but be amazed. The scene must have been a fresh shock to Drew.

‘Gibson’s blood must be boiling.’

As expected, Drew was shaking his upper body left and right, as if replaying the fight.

“If you follow what I tell you, you can become like that too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Because you’re a more talented kid than anyone else.”

It was time to start teaching Drew the movements of a knight. I left the alley with him.

“Drew. You go back to the Magic Tower first too.”

“Huh? Aren’t you coming with me? Where are you going?”

Having been with me, Drew felt that I had many secretive aspects. Since some time ago, he didn’t question my actions.

“Yeah. When the time comes, I’ll tell you about this too.”

“Okay! Don’t come back too late!”

Watching the receding figure of the guy.

Whoosh!

I activated mana.

[Oh, are you going to use that ring?]

The place where the mana flowed was a small ring on my finger.

‘It’s too restrictive to go around with red eyes.’

I couldn’t risk being seen by someone at the excavation site. I couldn’t go around with red eyes in a restricted area. The risk of exposing my identity was too great.

[Your eyes have turned black. You can definitely hide the Delemain [ability to see/sense magic].]

The effect was certain as it was an artifact that Liu had made himself.

‘Then let’s go.’

I took off the robe provided by the Magic Tower on one side of the alley and came out of the alley.

Had it been about five minutes? An area covered with barbed wire came into view.

‘This is where Burey was talking about.’

Across the barbed wire, only a faint light shone, and there was no sign of people.

‘Is it because it’s night? It doesn’t seem like anyone’s here?’

I couldn’t be sure if this was where I had hidden my things. Because the entire structure of the city had changed, it was difficult to grasp geographically. Then, I had no choice but to look into it myself.

‘I should go in since I’m here.’

[How are you going to get in? It looks like there’s an electric shock magic on it.]

Oberon’s concern was natural.

Fzzzt.

Occasionally, threatening currents jumped over the barbed wire. There was no way the magicians would have just put up barbed wire.

‘Aren’t these barbed wires meant to be jumped over?’

[That high? Is your current body capable of that?]

It was a natural question, as the barbed wire seemed to be at least 3 meters high. It would have been easy with the Sword Emperor’s body, but it was impossible with my current body.

But I had a different trick than when I was the Sword Emperor.

‘Oberon, I can use magic now, right?’

I immediately controlled the mana. The mana flowing through my body naturally gathered at my toes.

Whoosh!

I felt a breeze fluttering around my ankles. The increasingly faster wind was soon lifting my body slightly.

‘How is it?’

One of the Aren family’s techniques, Air Walker, was appearing here. Although it was a magic that required tremendous mana and concentration to operate.

‘If I can apply it well, I thought I could use it instead of most footwork, so I practiced hard.’

It was clear that it would be useful as a swordsman if I got used to it.

[Hmph. There’s no way that *japgi* [雜技, acrobatics/tricks] can replace footwork!]

Oberon was just nitpicking, but his eyes were shining too. The level of footwork that could lift the body was a realm that could only be reached at 9 stars.

‘Let’s go. Let’s see if this is where my babies are.’

I jumped towards the barbed wire.