Overpowered Archmage Doesn’t Hide His Talent
Chapter 103: No, no. Pretend you didn’t hear that.

Chapter 103 – No, no. Pretend you didn’t hear that.

“If you break that woman’s shoulder armor, you can get a huge amount of points.”

That remark alone was enough to tense up the faces of the representatives. I continued to speak.

“Since Scarlet joined the Hunting competition, no one has ever succeeded in doing that, or so I heard from everywhere…”

By the time I spat out those words, the faces of my companions were already pale. 

They looked at me with expressions of fear and worry, as if they imagined something dreadful.

“Wait, wait a minute! Before that!”

The first one to break the silence was Becky. 

She raised one hand up.

“Let’s decide what our plan is from now on! Let’s make sure of that first…!”

Becky looked back and forth between the direction where the knights had rushed out and my face several times.

“They all went to monopolize the shadow beasts… You must have a plan too, Flan. Right, right?”

She asked me that question while she couldn’t stay still.

She rubbed her thighs and sweated profusely, hoping that her guess was wrong.

“Let me ask you back.”

I calmly asked her back.

“What do we have to do from now on to win the Hunting competition perfectly?”

“Uh… Um, that’s obvious…”

She twirled her hair with her fingers and licked her small, red lips hard.

“We have to catch the beasts and earn a lot of points, right? And we have to keep the other teams in check… Oh, and we have to avoid the dangerous areas and go around them…”

“The way to get the most points. You should know that very well.”

“…!”

I nodded once at the three people who widened their eyes.

“You…”

This time, Trixie intervened.

“I’m asking just in case, but the reason why you mentioned the Knight of the Flickering Flame was…”

“It’s exactly what you think.”

Surprisingly, the item that gives the most points in the Hunting competition is not ‘killing the beasts’ but ‘breaking Scarlet’s shoulder armor’.

However, the reason why I became interested in this item was not only because of the big points. 

Rather, the points were a secondary reason.

The fact that there was not a single successful case yet. I paid attention to that point.

“It’s not a difficult thing to understand.”

“…”

Trixie swallowed a sigh. 

She licked her lips a few more times, but she couldn’t utter anything that I could understand. 

She just stuttered like a broken machine.

There was a moment of silence.

Trixie shook her head.

“Ugh…”

She put her hand on my waist.

“It seems a bit reckless. I’m curious about the reason.”

“That’s not something you should ask me right now.”

I didn’t need any hesitation to answer.

“Don’t forget that we are magicians.”

◈

Three hours after we left the square, we are now walking through the forest of Verkel.

We need a temporary shelter. 

The party is not a summoned creature that can act forever as long as there is mana, so we plan to make a place to rest before entering the dangerous area.

Of course, we don’t intend to make it roughly.

We hope to build it in the best place possible, as perfect as possible, even if it’s trivial. 

A place where the river is close and the mountain covers the back. 

The optimal terrain.

But the intelligent beasts also want such terrain. 

For example, the beasts named ‘Nameless’ that just showed up.

Becky stuck out her tongue.

“…They look really ominous. As expected, no one has touched this side yet.”

Nameless.

As the name implies, this beast does not have its own name or identity. 

It is famous for imitating the appearance of the enemy and causing discomfort when the battle begins.

I quietly called one name.

“Trixie.”

“…?”

She looked at me once and nodded.

“I can do it.”

Trixie wove a spear out of fire, and the Nameless that discovered us immediately copied Becky’s appearance.

Becky herself was naturally disgusted.

“Ack… Why did it have to be my appearance…?”

Trixie reached out without hesitation. 

The spear of fire that stretched out like a ray of light pierced the chest of the Nameless in a straight line.

“Ke… Ack…”

The Nameless disguised as Becky tried to resist, but its plan did not come true. 

Trixie stabbed three more spears of fire into its head.

“How dare you.”

Trixie snorted with a smirk.

“Hey… Trixie?”

Becky opened her mouth with a gulp of dry saliva.

“Um… how should I put this… they were in my form, but you killed them without hesitation, didn’t you?”

“They’re just monsters anyway.”

“Yeah. That’s true. But still…”

“Oh, of course.”

Trixie glanced at Becky once.

“Your face was so ugly, it was easy to k**l.”

“What, what did you say!”

The two girls exchanged a conversation that was hardly a conversation, and as they walked, killing a few more nameless creatures, they finally saw the terrain they wanted.

First, they saw a river. 

Behind it, there was a mountain, and above it, a forest. 

It was exactly what I had wanted.

“Be careful. You might get cut by the trees.”

I grabbed the nearby trees with telekinesis.

The mana inside my body, the design in my head. 

All these things create a beautiful miracle under the name of magic.

──!

With a loud noise, the trees gathered and began to be carved for their purpose. 

They soon joined together and built a small house.

I used the necessities I had bought at the store to make the inside comfortable, and added some aesthetic touches to some parts to make it look satisfying.

It was only natural that the mouths of my companions opened in awe. 

I stopped myself from telling them to close their mouths. 

They would get used to it eventually.

“Wow…!”

Becky’s eyes widened. 

She couldn’t resist and opened the door of the temporary shelter.

I grabbed her with telekinesis as she tried to go inside. 

Becky flailed her arms and legs as she was held by the collar.

“Huh? What? What’s going on…?”

“Don’t get the wrong idea.”

I put the distortion bag inside the temporary shelter. 

I stacked and organized the materials that hadn’t fit in the bag neatly.

I closed the open door and said to my companions.

“Make your own shelter.”

“…”

The expressions of my companions turned stupid.

◈

It had been 10 hours since we left the square.

The sun, which had been bright, had fallen asleep and lowered its head, and a thick curtain of darkness had covered Verkel.

“Hmm.”

I elegantly stacked the firewood and lit it, then sat down in a chair in front of it. 

I was currently looking over various materials while feeling the cool night breeze.

Many teams must be having a hard time getting food on the first day, but we had no worries thanks to the points we had earned early on.

‘I have about two hours left.’

I looked at the large circle I had drawn around the temporary shelter. Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ ɴovᴇlꜰirᴇ.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

This magic circle contained the formula for short-distance teleportation, which would be activated the next morning.

The destination was, of course, the dangerous area across the river.

I gathered the materials that Maiev gave me. I was trying to find some patterns by comparing the ancient rune map and the fantasy map.

Suddenly, I smelled roses tickling my nose.

“…”

I turned my head and looked to the right.

“Oh, Flan. Are you busy?”

The owner of the voice was Becky. 

She had leaves stuck all over her hair, but she seemed oblivious to it.

“Did you find a place to stay?”

“Oh, a place? Yeah, yeah. I made a very nice one.”

As soon as Becky answered that, something collapsed on the other side. 

It looked like a pathetic sculpture that wanted to be a house.

“…”

Becky made a face as if she had failed.

“Well, anyway.”

She coughed and dragged a log over. 

She put it next to me and sat down.

Becky twirled her hair for a while. 

She opened her lips after some time had passed.

“Flan, do you want to talk for a bit if you’re not busy?”

“I’m always busy.”

“Ah…”

Becky’s expression became slightly gloomy.

“But talking to you is not hard.”

It was true. 

Talking to Becky did not require high intelligence. 

In other words, it was possible to do it while checking the materials.

“Oh, really? Then let’s talk for a moment.”

Becky’s wilted expression bloomed again.

She started to gather mana in her palm. Soon, an ice flower bloomed there.

“Do you remember? This was it. The magic you taught me for the first time.”

“I think I taught you much better than that.”

Then Becky’s eyebrows twitched. 

The ice flower in her hand turned to dust.

“No, no! Anyway, this is what you taught me. I just made it hastily!”

“Tell me what you want.”

“Haaah…”

Becky sighed deeply and looked up.

In the night sky of Verkel, countless stars twinkled. 

The girl who was staring blankly at them smiled faintly at some point.

“You know. My dad worked at a construction site. But he only worked, you know? He never got angry even when he was treated unfairly… And when he got paid, he always bought me a magic book.”

I listened to her quietly.

“But my dad didn’t know any magic. He should have bought me 『The Basics of Elements』, but he bought me 『The Understanding of Elements』. He thought it was an easier book because it had the word understanding in it. Funny, right?”

“For a talented magician, skipping the basic books can be an effective strategy.”

I answered while looking at the materials.

“Hmm… I only did one thing. I barely succeeded in the formula on page one. But I remember how happy my dad was with that one thing.”

“That’s good. You learned magic, and your family was happy.”

“Happy… Yeah. That’s right.”

Becky’s eyes, filled with stars, deepened. 

She was probably painting her past on the night sky.

“Do you know how happy my dad was? He got so much courage that he didn’t have before, and he fought with his boss the next day. For the first time.”

“Did he win?”

At my words, Becky burst into laughter.

“Uh… Um… He didn’t go to work after that, so does that mean he lost…? It’s vague.”

The girl slowly lowered her head. 

She looked at her small feet and continued.

“Anyway~ I was so grateful and amazed that he was so happy with my little success. I always felt that way for my dad. So after he passed away, I relied on magic all the time.”

“Is that why you entered the academy?”

“Yeah? But the funny thing is, I wanted to quit magic. When I actually entered the academy, I felt so many walls.”

I understood what those walls were without hearing them. 

Talent, status, connections, life… Every single factor was a challenge for Becky, a commoner.

“So I closed my eyes and tried to quit everything, but then I met you. You protected my dream, right?”

After saying that, Becky looked at me with a curious gaze. 

She looked at the materials, then at me. 

She repeated that countless times and hesitated.

That restless behavior annoyed me, so I was the one who broke the silence first.

“What are you doing, hesitating like that?”

“Oh, uh? Ah… That’s…”

Becky flinched.

“Um, Flan. Um. Since we’re talking about it, can I ask you something? It’s not a hard question, though.”

She scratched her cheeks a few times and asked me with a very careful tone.

“Are you… Is your body not so good? How are you?”

“I have a pretty bad body in many ways.”

I answered briefly.

I was born with the bloodline of a knight. 

It was not a very friendly body for a mage.

Becky’s eyes widened.

“Brother, you’re in bad shape? Why? What’s that…?”

“Focus on your own growth.”

I cut off her words.

Becky’s talent was just starting to be polished. 

In other words, this was the time when she needed to pay more attention to herself than ever.

“Ah… Yeah. Okay.”

Becky scratched her head, looking awkward.

Silence flowed for a while.

“Hey, Flan.”

She suddenly called my name. 

She tapped the seat next to me with her small palm.

“Can we… sit side by side for a minute?”

“We’re already sitting side by side, aren’t we?”

“No, I mean sitting right next to each other.”

Our eyes met in the air.

Becky’s face turned slightly red, and she quickly changed her words as if making an excuse.

“No, no. Just pretend you didn’t hear that.”

“I have no intention of sitting on the log.”

“Oh, yeah. Me too. I just blurted it out by mistake.”

◈

Feeling awkward to leave right away, Becky sat on the log for a while without saying anything.

It was late at night.

Flan was focused, and it didn’t seem like a good idea to bother him by talking.

No, even if I tried to talk, there was nothing I could say right now.

“Hey, Flan. I’m going to go back to my shelter.”

“You mean that pile of rubble?”

“…”

I had nothing to say. 

She specialized in ice elements, so it was very hard for her to make a shelter.

Crack.

“Huh?”

Suddenly, the log that Becky was sitting on started to wriggle. 

It carved and bent itself, and soon transformed into an old-fashioned rocking chair.

The most annoying thing was that Becky’s rocking chair was placed right next to Flan’s chair.

“Just stay here.”

The girl blinked and looked at Flan.

“…Can I stay here?”

“As long as you don’t make a fuss.”

“Ah.”

His tone was cold, but his kindness of making a rocking chair for Becky was warm and gentle.

What was his condition, what did he think of Becky… There were still many questions.

Becky leaned back on the backrest.

The sound of paper materials being turned at a steady pace.

The warmth of the crackling bonfire.

Becky felt her body relax.

She looked up at the sky quietly.

The stars became the audience, looking down at the girl.

Someone prayed for the night to last longer.

The sound of grasshoppers crying was serene.

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