CHAPTER 86
A Demon King Awakens?
“Okay, the magic activation phrase is ‘Eumuro Yang Eul sansuehara!’
But honestly, with your level of mana and focus, even if you say it correctly, you probably won’t be able to cast the spell.
So please test it inside the safety barrier.”
Baroness Bulem warned the students to always stay inside the protective barrier while practicing this magic spell.
One boy from the Zephyros dorm confidently raised his wand.
“I memorized the phrase already.
Sure, the structure looks complicated, but magic should work once you say the spell, right?”
“Oh, is that so? Even so, please cast it inside the barrier,” said assistant Clarisse with an empty smile.
“Hmph, this barrier might actually interfere with my casting.
I may not have had the best entrance score, but back home, people called me a genius. I’m probably right behind Isolde and Prince Rudolf in skill.”
He was full of himself and started casting, but Clarisse grabbed his wand and shook her head.
Then she whispered into his ear.
“I’m asking nicely—cast the spell inside the barrier.
I haven’t slept for 40 hours.
So please don’t get on my nerves.”
“Wait—do you even know who I am? I’m the second son of the Furlong family! That’s so rude!”
“I’m being respectful to the Furlong family.
If I let you die and you end up as a roasted lump of meat, that would be the real disgrace to your family.
Unless they sent you here hoping you’d die.”
“What did you just say—?!”
“This spell is impossible to cast.
If you manage to pull it off today, I’ll become your servant—or even your slave.
So just cast it inside the barrier.”
Clarisse pushed the arrogant student into the safety barrier.
Grumbling, the student raised his wand inside the barrier.
“You’re rude, but fine. I’ll succeed and make you my slave.
Honestly, that might be better than your current job, working 40 hours straight.”
“……”
“What?”
“…Just for a second, I was kind of tempted. I’m reflecting on that now.”
Clarisse closed her eyes and started dozing off while standing.
How horrible must it be to work as a teaching assistant?
Then the boy shouted,
“Eumuro Yang…!”
As he started the spell, his mana was immediately drained and his knees buckled.
“Gah?!”
The spell used a lot of complex magic, and the mana cost was so high that he couldn’t handle it.
Even though he hadn’t finished the phrase, the spell continued and kept pulling his mana, risking his life.
Luckily, the safety barrier activated and forcibly canceled the spell just in time.
“Cough! No way—I failed?!”
Even though he nearly died, the student still acted cocky.
“Of course you failed,” said Baroness Bulem proudly. “This high-level freezing spell isn’t something you learn in normal academy courses.
Even teaching assistants don’t learn it in their first year.
If any of you could cast this spell, I’d call you a true genius and give you 50 points—no, 100 points.”
Baroness Bulem seemed pleased watching the arrogant boy collapse.
“Now, let’s move on to a more practical freezing spell using the Ice Spirit Realm.
It’s not perfect magic, but it works well with fewer side effects.
Normally, Professor Magram would teach this, but since he’s a fire spirit mage, I’ll take over this part.”
Since she believed none of the students could master the original freezing spell, she simplified it into a more practical version for everyday use and projected it on the illusion board.
But Idnia felt something strange.
‘Huh? I feel like… I could actually do this?’
Unlike the other students, Idnia had studied science on Earth.
So she had a different understanding of how magic worked.
‘The activation phrase is “cancel the positive with the negative,” right?
Using negative energy to cancel out positive energy… That concept shouldn’t even exist, and yet it’s working in magic?
And this is only being used to lower temperature? This concept has endless potential!’
Idnia was amazed by the spell and deeply analyzed its mechanics.
At that moment, Baroness Bulem called on her.
“Idnia.”
“Y-yes, ma’am?”
“You seemed distracted in class.
Please come up and show us how well you understood the freezing spell.”
“Uh… the freezing spell?”
Idnia panicked.
She had been so focused on the original freezing spell that she hadn’t paid attention to the Ice Spirit version that came afterward.
But Baroness Bulem misunderstood her focus as daydreaming.
“Please, demonstrate it now.”
Baroness Bulem smiled slyly.
‘Flora’s daughter… I can’t treat her badly due to her status, but if she fails in class, I can take points off.
Her scores are probably too high anyway—it’s time to teach her some humility.
All in the name of education, of course!’
Baroness Bulem convinced herself she was being fair.
But just by targeting Idnia and planning to penalize her, she had already stepped away from fairness.
Still, seeing Idnia nervous filled her with joy.
“I just have to cast the freezing spell, right?”
“Yes. However you like.”
“Okay. Then here I go.”
Idnia took a deep breath and walked toward the safety barrier.
“?!”
Everyone was shocked when she stepped inside.
“No way…!”
Even Isolde was surprised.
Was Idnia going to attempt the original freezing spell?
That kind of spell was practically legendary—no first-year should be able to use it.
‘If anyone could do it, it might be her… but if that’s true, then—’
Isolde even felt a bit afraid.
“Um…”
Assistant Clarisse nervously approached.
“You really don’t have to do the hard one.”
“I thought that too, but I realized… if I don’t try it while I have this safety net, I might regret it forever.”
Clarisse was startled.
Regret?
Did she not understand the consequences?
“Even though the barrier protects you from injury, it doesn’t block pain.
You’ve never experienced mana exhaustion, have you?
It feels like every nerve in your body is being sprinkled with salt and pepper.”
“Thank you for the warning.”
Idnia raised her wand inside the barrier.
She aimed at a bowl of water and cast the spell.
“Cancel the positive with the negative!”
Her wand began to glow.
“W-what?!”
“No way!”
“Hmm?!”
The assistants and Baroness Bulem were stunned.
She had spoken the entire activation phrase.
That alone was incredible.
Normally, most people would collapse after saying just the first few words as their mana drained.
Without the barrier, she might have died.
But Idnia was fine.
And the water in the bowl… was also fine.
“What just happened? Let me check.
Everyone stay calm.”
Baroness Bulem stepped forward to investigate.
She gently touched the water with telekinesis.
No reaction.
Maybe the water was supercooled?
She tried lifting it—but still, nothing happened.
“It’s not supercooled. If it were, the moment I touched it, it would’ve frozen instantly.
But maybe the temperature did drop.”
A few students laughed.
“Pfft, even market magicians can freeze water instantly.”
“You call this high magic? It barely cooled the water.”
Baroness Bulem scowled.
“You’re so uneducated, it’s disgraceful.
How can you say something so stupid?
If a first-year student succeeds with this magic, it’s beyond being a genius—they’d be a Demon King!”
“What?”
“Demon… King?”
Everyone was speechless.
The term “Demon King” wasn’t used lightly.
It referred to someone chosen by the god of another world—also called a Chosen One.
Because it implied divine authority, the Church of the Trinity rejected the term and replaced it with “Demon King.”
It became a taboo and ominous word.
Because anyone could awaken as a Demon King, people feared even saying it.
Finally understanding how serious the situation was, the students went quiet.
Baroness Bulem carefully approached the bowl and tested the water with her hand.
It felt a bit cool—but not unusually so.
She brought out an old-fashioned mercury thermometer and checked the temperature.
There was no change.
“It seems you failed, Lady Idnia.”
“Yes, I guess so.”
“Then, please return to our current lesson and show us the freezing magic using the Ice Spirit Realm.”
“Yes.”
Idnia stepped out of the barrier and used her wand again.
This time, she successfully summoned ice and wind from the Ice Realm, and froze the bowl of water.
“……”
Baroness Bulem had been so focused on checking the bowl earlier, she hadn’t noticed something important.
But the other students had.
While the baroness was distracted, Idnia had sneakily adjusted the illusion board and caught up on the lesson she missed.
Even after the baroness brought up terrifying words like “Demon King,” Idnia had calmly found the spell on the board and cheated.
A Demon King… who cheats in class?
It was so ridiculous that everyone struggled to hold back their laughter.
