---

“Prove your skills?”

Sure.

I’ll show you, you little piece of trash.

“Such vulgar language you choose.”

It seems you’ve thrown away any pretense, even your way of speaking has changed.

“They say those who are useless tend to yap the most, and you fit that perfectly.”

“Ugh… Really. Your provocations are top-notch, you damned commoner…!”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

Provocation is the best mental technique, huh?

It clouds the opponent’s judgment and prevents rational thought.

Commonly referred to as “wobble wobble” in my past life.

Right in front of me, the professor was just like that.

Those types usually can’t hold back and end up making fools of themselves later.

“As a token of appreciation for your compliment, I’ll show you a new meme I learned~”

From my inventory, I pulled out a cat ear headband made from the scales of the sea serpent I caught last time, along with a choker adorned with a bell that I bought from a nearby decorative shop.

“Wow, I didn’t expect to wear this.”

I initially intended it for Luna and Yui.

The expression on the uncle’s face when I said I’d make something out of such precious materials and Luna’s eyes when she looked at me like I was garbage brought out my hidden masochism.

The sad cat dance.

No.

It’s the provoking cat dance.

As I started dancing, the sounds from outside were absolute chaos.

“Ugh! What the heck is that?!”

“Get lost! Uuuugh!”

Still, the noise from outside was somewhat manageable.

The professor in front of me, however, was openly fuming, veins popping on his forehead, glaring at me as if he could shoot laser beams from his eyes.

“How far do you intend to mock me!!”

What’s the problem?

What mockery?

Is it that outrageous to show something nice?

Is this a meme that’ll get tons of views or what?

And hey, is it really okay to get that mad?

Even if the noise is somewhat blocked out, it’s not completely unheard.

Don’t you see the students who respect you outside?

“Die!!”

Oh my, what a fierce thing to say during a spar.

The professor spread his arms and slammed both hands onto the ground, causing a chill to sweep over, and a wave of ice surged forth.

The wave formed spikes, perfect for turning a single person into a corpse.

Indeed, he’s a professor; the range of his ice magic was broad and intense, capable of freezing the entire training grounds.

Excluding the area near the magic caster, the whole training ground was encased in ice.

Unless one dodged underground or in the air, there was no way to avoid such a cheat-like technique.

However,

“Tek-Kai.”

Weak! Weak! Weak!

For sure, it’s strong. It’s numbing and just a bit prickly where the spikes hit. But with that kind of magic, you can’t beat me!

If you want to win with magic, you at least have to be on Argo’s level.

“What trickery did you use?!”

“Trickery?”

Is using a skill trickery?

If that’s trickery, then I suppose it is.

But they say luck is also skill, so skills are definitely skills.

“You’re just weak, that’s all.”

“Don’t joke with me!”

To think someone like you exists, spouting lines like ‘Huzakeruna!’

Could it be, you’re doomed to suffer forever?

“Now, is it my turn?”

I pulled out a greatsword from my inventory.

Lately, I’ve noticed that the sword feels much lighter. Back when I made this sword, I had to wield it with two hands, but now it feels so light I could swing it around with one hand.

The professor looked a bit intimidated as he saw me wielding a sword of a size he’d never seen before in this world.

Holding a heavy sword should be possible for anyone if they use magical power to enhance their body, but the professor seems to know I have no magical power.

So seeing me lift the sword with pure strength seemed to confuse him a little.

Immediately after, I calmly kicked off the ground, launching myself towards the professor.

And just as the professor stepped into the reach of my sword, I turned my body sideways and hit the brakes.

Then, I got into an optimal stance.

One foot forward, opposing my upper body leaning forward. I extended the arm holding the sword straight back to assume my posture.

“You underestimated me just because I’m a mage! Close combat is essential for a mage!”

At that moment, the professor lunged straight at me.

Certainly, a magician who neglects close combat techniques is asking for trouble.

My movements were clearly big and obvious.

I revealed my weakness, signaling “please stab me!”

Yeah, they’re definitely big movements, but…

‘What can you do without a sword?’

The professor dove into my upper body and swung his sword.

‘That’s what I thought…’

The sword was ice made of magic.

Hey, hey… What are you trying to accomplish by hitting me with an ice sword?

That ice you made is ultimately just magic, you fool.

Magic won’t work against me!

Why is this professor so hopelessly slow to learn?

“…How?!”

Taking advantage of the professor’s shock, my preparations were complete.

What would be the best attack stance to leverage the advantages of a greatsword?

I could name two choices.

One is a spinning slash.

Using rotational energy for speed and smashing the weight of the sword into the opponent.

The higher the rotational speed, the stronger the attack, but there’s something even better.

That is:

“A non-lethal downward strike.”

A downward strike.

Weight, gravity, raw power.

A perfect attack melding three forces in harmony.

I pulled my upper body that had been drawn back and swung the sword upward.

My bent leg stretched back, the knee of the opposite leg bending.

The sword, drawn up in a crescent, began its descent like a new moon.

The professor, trying to defend with magic, quickly changed his judgment in an instant due to its overwhelming might.

-CRASH!!

The tip of the struck sword shattered the marble floor, creating cracks and small grooves all around.

“Ugh…!”

“Oh. Good judgment. I intended to slice you in half along with the magic.”

“You damn prick…!”

The professor hurled the ice sword he was holding at me, then conjured ice spears to shoot randomly at me.

Thud, thud, the ice pierced my body, dissipating into the air.

“Is that all you can do?”

Boring.

I wanted to mess with you because you were getting mad, but you’re just way too weak.

So I activated Manly Man.

“Graah! What!?”

The professor, who had been magic-spamming up front, knelt onto the ground.

I walked over to him and grinned.

“Let’s Show Time!”

*

Luke waved in the air, and a wooden box fell to the ground.

The box was square and long with a thin line cut straight down the center.

“W-What are you trying to do?!”

“I may not be able to cast magic, but I can do tricks, you know? I brought something good, so you have to be my assistant. Luckily, there’s plenty of audience around, right?”

Speaking while rummaging, I opened the box.

Then I shoved Dmitri inside it.

Despite the circumstances, his body remained still.

The more he tried to move, the more it felt like someone was forcibly holding him down.

The only part that could move was his mouth.

“Release this trick right now!!”

“Ah, don’t worry. If you die, I’ll store you like this and resurrect you later.”

Then the entrance closed.

Inside the pitch-black box with not a single hole.

The only sound was the voices from outside.

“Alright folks~ The professor will be performing a trick! It’s called the Body Cutting Trick! If he fails, he dies, and if he doesn’t want to die, he’ll have to escape on his own, right?”

W-What? Body Cutting Trick…?

He even said to escape on my own…?

As soon as Luke finished speaking, the pressure that was pinning down Dmitri vanished.

He immediately struggled to escape the box, but whatever mechanisms were in place, the entrance wouldn’t budge.

Dmitri’s brain was sounding alarms.

If he wanted to live, he had to take some measures right away.

The reason professors or Lucia didn’t intervene even in this situation was that any damage occurring here would retroactively disappear once they stepped out of the training ground.

Thus, they remained passive even in this situation.

Dmitri knew that fact as well but still didn’t want to experience the pain of being split in half during practice.

Should he defend with magic?

No, considering the last power he had seen, he would still be split in half alongside his magic.

Having finished that line of thought, Dmitri instinctively hugged his knees and curled up like a bug.

It was a position he could take because the inside of the box was bigger than expected.

And then—

-CRACK!

“Hah?!”

A horrifying noise cut through as a blade glided beneath Dmitri’s feet.

“That madman…! He really was trying to kill me…!”

He didn’t know that the one who had withdrawn from classes at the beginning of the semester had knowledge of the magic hanging in the training ground.

In other words, he really intended to kill him.

The box split in half from that strike, allowing Dmitri to escape.

“Oh…! Everyone! The trick was a success!”

Dmitri was flabbergasted by Luke’s gleeful laughter.

“Now, shall we move on to the next trick~?”

This time, the object appearing in Luke’s hands wasn’t wood.

It was a square fish tank made of glass.

The problem was, this tank was big enough to remind Dmitri of the previous incident.

Rather than being elongated, it was shaped like a perfect square.

Once again, he stepped inside.

Once again, he felt the sensation of something weighing down upon him.

He couldn’t move an inch, like a fish trapped in a drained tank.

“This time, the trick is an Escape Trick! You have to escape from this tank filled with water!”

After body cutting, is there going to be water torture?!

Dmitri’s body, knowing what was about to happen, felt heavy and unwilling to move.

“But oh, there’s no water.”

Phew…

In that moment, Dmitri sighed in relief.

“Oh wait, the leftover liquor from last time, huh?”

W-What?

From somewhere, barrels began pouring liquor into the tank.

How much liquor would it take to fill this tank?

But the liquor kept pouring endlessly.

Golden-hued liquid gradually filled the tank.

Eventually, the tank was genuinely filled with alcohol.

“Alright then, the countdown begins until the professor drowns! Ready~ Start!”

As his signal was given, freedom returned to Dmitri’s body.

“Ugh…! Ugh!!”

He couldn’t even open his mouth.

It was hard to even open his eyes.

But with the return of his freedom, this was small potatoes.

-Drip! Crash!

As Dmitri willed it, the liquor inside the tank began to freeze.

Soon, the tank fell below zero and started to crack; it wouldn’t take long until it broke completely.

After that, amid the shattered ice, Dmitri escaped.

“Gah…! Cough! Cough!”

“Ah… it’s a foul play to use magic. But what can we do? There’s still plenty of tools left.”

Again, Luke produced a long wooden box.

The box was similar in size to the one Dmitri had just been trapped in, but this time, it had square notches all over.

“For our next trick, it’s the Sword Stabbing Trick! I didn’t expect to use this, but professor, you have quite the knack for tricks!”

Looking at the longsword that appeared from somewhere, Dmitri thought.

‘Ah…’

He’d much rather have been cut in half at the start…

 

---