A C-Rank Magic Student Who Deludes Himself into Thinking He Is SSS-Rank - Chapter 21: Eliza Loredo

At Crawford Magic Academy’s first training room, the second-year A-Class students were engaged in mock battles during their class.

Two female students faced each other in one of the eight battlefields set up. One was Eliza Loredo, the third-ranked student of A-Class.

Opposite her stood a girl with extremely beautiful silver hair.

(──Today, I will win.)

Eliza glared with open hostility while the silver-haired girl, Yufia Queensroad, stood emotionlessly, giving a cold impression to all who saw her.

In Crawford Magic Academy, exceptionally talented students are awarded the A-Class title, proving their superiority.

Among them, students who surpass not only the A-Class threshold but also the realm of a typical magic student are exceptionally granted the S-Class title.

Yufia Queensroad, the silver-haired girl facing Eliza, was one such prodigy. She was the first student in the academy’s history to score all S’s in the basic attribute magic assessment during the practical exam, making her one of only three S-Class magic students in the academy’s history.

She was the top-ranked student in the second year at Crawford Magic Academy, and her abilities were regarded as the strongest in the academy’s history, with Eliza having never won against her.

“Here I come‼.”

“…Yes.”

Eliza spoke strongly, while Yufia, still expressionless, calmly replied.

“Vindictive Storm Lance‼”

“Raging Aquatic Dragon‼”

Eliza immediately started chanting, sending countless arrows of wind magic towards Yufia.

Yufia, in a very calm manner, slightly later, deployed a deep blue magic circle, releasing a massive water dragon spell.

The water dragon, faced with numerous wind arrows capable of pulverizing giant rocks, continued its advance towards Eliza, undeterred and with a roaring sound.

“Damn…‼”

As the water dragon drew closer, Eliza gritted her teeth and poured more magical power into her magic circle.

“…Aaaahhh‼”

Responding to Eliza’s roar, the barrage of wind arrows intensified, seemingly halting the water dragon’s momentum.

“…”

However, the water dragon suddenly opened its mouth wide, roaring and swallowing all the wind arrows, regaining momentum as it closed in on Eliza.

“…‼”

Eliza tried to counter with more magical power, but it was in vain as she was engulfed by the massive water dragon and slammed against the field’s barrier.

“…Cough!”

Unable to withstand the impact against the barrier, Eliza coughed out the breath she had been holding and fell to the ground.

However, gritting her teeth, she quickly propped herself on her arms.

“I’m not… defeated yet…‼”

“…”

Yufia, expressionless as ever, watched Eliza’s struggle.

Eliza, staggering to her feet, weakly raised her arm to deploy a magic circle. She intended to continue the match, but…

“It’s over, Eliza-san.”

Then, a teacher overseeing the mock match called out from behind and stopped her.

“…!”

“It’s clear you’ve lost, Eliza-san. The next pair is waiting; please vacate the field.”

The teacher, intervening in the match, urged Eliza to leave the field.

“I can still fight! I’m not done yet!”

“No. As the supervisor of this mock battle, I cannot allow it to continue. Continuing in an exhausted state significantly increases the risk of serious injury. There will be more mock battles, not just about winning or losing. Please, let’s end it here for today.”

“…!”

Despite her strong resistance, Eliza was persuaded by the teacher’s calm demeanor. Realizing that further protest would not change the decision, she acquiesced.

“I understand.”

She thanked Yufia with a simple “Thank you for the match,” and then, biting back her frustration, she left the field with her head down.

Yufia, still expressionless, also exited the field, saying, “Thank you as well.”

Eliza noticed a group of girls whispering and casting glances before exiting the mock battlefield.

“…How tiresome.”

She couldn’t hear them, but Eliza knew what they were saying. She had once overheard similar whispers: “Eliza always tries so hard,” “She can’t possibly win against Yufia,” “Doesn’t she see the talent gap?” “Eliza’s pride is too high,” “It’s almost pitiful how hard she tries.”

Eliza guessed they were probably saying something like, “Eliza’s at it again,” expressing pity or disdain.

While it was humiliating to be talked about this way, Eliza accepted it. She could easily confront them or demonstrate her power in a mock battle, but “that wouldn’t change the fact that I can’t beat Yufia Queensroad,” she reminded herself, vowing to prove them wrong by defeating Yufia.

Firing magic at the targets in the training room, she vented her anger until the teacher announced the end of the class. She then left for the changing room.

In her first year, Eliza often refused to acknowledge defeat against Yufia, insisting on continuing the match until stopped by a teacher.

Before joining Crawford Magic Academy, she was considered a prodigious magician but struggled to accept losing to a peer.

Born into the prestigious Loredo family of magicians, she had always surpassed other children and even adult magicians, fostering a strong pride. However, upon enrolling at the academy, she faced her first magical defeat against someone her age.

At first, she fiercely resisted accepting this, intensifying her training to defeat Yufia Queensroad.

But no matter how hard she tried, their gap only widened.

A year into the academy, as a second-year student, she stopped insisting on continuing the mock battles.

She began accepting what others said – that her innate talent fundamentally differed from Yufia’s.

Faced with a true genius like Yufia, Eliza reluctantly admitted her mediocrity.

No matter how much she tried, she realized she could never catch up to Yufia, let alone surpass her.

Recently, Eliza had given up on beating Yufia, accepting the gap in their talents.

However, she recently reignited her determination to catch up to Yufia, sparked by the words of a boy she dueled.

“No matter how much you’re beaten down, how vast the difference in skill, how desperate the situation, as long as you don’t give up, you haven’t lost.”

Though he often spoke in jest, those words carried an unusual weight, resonating with Eliza since that day.

For some reason, his words conveyed a strong will to surpass insurmountable barriers, even if crawling.

As his words haunted her, Eliza remembered the days she desperately tried to beat Yufia Queensroad.

“Just a little more; let’s struggle a bit longer.”

Although it irked her, she couldn’t deny that his words had rekindled her fighting spirit.

Since then, she has trained harder than before, renewing her efforts to surpass Yufia.

But today, after giving her all in the mock battle and having it easily brushed aside by Yufia, Eliza felt the crushing weight of their insurmountable talent gap, teetering on the brink of despair again.

(Yufia is just too strong… No matter what, I can never seem to beat her…)

…It wasn’t that Eliza’s resolve was weak.

It was that Yufia Queensroad’s abilities were overwhelmingly superior.

The chasm between their talents was something Eliza painfully realized afresh today, an unreachable realm, no matter how hard she tried.

Being talented in magic only made the difference in their abilities more painfully clear.

While walking down the corridor towards the changing room, head slightly bowed, Eliza saw a male student approaching.

“Ah,” she stopped and looked up as the black-haired, black-eyed boy also stopped, noticing her.