Vol 9 Chapter 17: The Immortal Phoenix

“…” “…”

I wordlessly brought a sweet pastry to the mouth of Lidia, who sat before me.

In turn, the crimson-haired princess wordlessly brought the same pastry to my mouth.

On my lap, Atra and Ria in their beast cub forms were curled up, sleeping soundly.

At my feet, Chiffon—having played to her heart’s content—had dragged over a slightly smaller basket, nestled herself snugly inside, and was also sound asleep.

In the seat beside me, Karen, exhausted from crying, had fallen asleep leaning against my left shoulder. And on a sofa brought in for her, Felicia lay down, lacking stamina as usual, while Stella tended to her.

As for Lily-san, she’d thrown her upper body onto the table, whimpering, “Fwaaah… I can’t eat anymore…” What a free-spirited woman.

Anko-san repeatedly tried to perch on my shoulder, but she was still struggling to break through the automatic defensive levitation spell.

Lidia and I silently fed each other pastries and gave each other sips of tea from our cups.

“U-Um… S-Sensei…”

“Auuu… A-Allen-sensei…”

“O-Onii-sama, O-Onee-sama!”

“…” “…”

We deliberately ignored the younger group’s flustered state.

…The matter with the ‘investigator’—it was probably these girls who teamed up with Cheryl to present the final proposal. That genius princess with pale blue hair was particularly suspicious.

I muttered quietly.

“…Hey, Lidia.”

“…Whaaaat?”

“…Why do you fall for Cheryl’s casual remarks followed by Anko-san’s dark prison every single time? And always at the worst possible moment?”

“…It’s not my fault! The one who’s bad is the girl who uses such cowardly tricks and, despite being pitch-black, shamelessly says ‘My heart is pure white, you know?’ with a straight face!”

“…Well, I agree with that.”

“Right? Right?? See, it’s not my fault! I even broke through the dark prison the fastest!! …But still, she called me stupid, she called me stuuupid!”

“Because it’s true.”

“Uuugh!!”

“But… Cheryl is the one who’s completely, totally at fault!”

“…The pitch-black princess is at fault!”

“L-Lidia! A-Allen too! I-Isn’t that a bit harsh… W-Well, um… I-I did go a little overboard, maybe… B-But I am reflecting on it, okay? I-I really am??”

“…” “…”

Nearby, the princess was mumbling something incoherently, but I didn’t know her, and neither did Lidia. She’s not our concern.

I switched from tea to red wine—even though it was daytime—and poured it into a glass.

“…What should we do now?”

“…Should we just exile them?”

“…Before that, there’s something we need to do.”

“…Right—we need to kill about four people.”

“!!?” “Eh!? W-Wait, me too!?”

Lidia smiled beautifully. Her tone returned to normal.

Realizing what was coming, the faces of the three men present besides me—the Professor, the Headmaster, and Ricardo—twitched, and Cheryl looked aghast.

Immediately, the Headmaster activated teleportation magic. His figure vanished.

As I fed Lidia the red wine, I raised one finger.

The Professor and the red-haired vice-captain of the Royal Guard swore.

“Ah! Y-You coward, old man!! If we’re dying, it should be in order of age!!”

“That’s right! In terms of order, it should be Lord Rod, then the Professor. And while you two serve as shields, I’ll choke back tears and survive—that’s the proper narrative!”

“…Oh my, Ricardo. I don’t mind settling this right here and now, you know? After all, wasn’t it your idea to place Allen near Princess Cheryl in the first place?”

“!? P-P-Professor!? T-To say that here and now!?!!”

A magic circle appeared in the air—the Headmaster burst out.

His face was filled with shock.

“I-Impossible!? An anti-teleportation barrier!? Y-You’re using elven secret magic…!”

“—…Gentlemen. You acted with full awareness of the consequences, didn’t you? Please be quiet.”

“…” “…” “…”

At my words, the men’s faces went beyond pale to completely white.

Anko-san, who had been trying to reach me repeatedly, finally broke through all the levitation spells and landed on my right shoulder. She let out a sigh and protested.

“Anko-san, this time was terrible… I’m deeply hurt… I might not be able to brush you for a month.”

The black cat familiar let out an uncharacteristically weak meow.

She then descended to my lap and curled up next to Atra.

Lidia brought the glass to my lips, so I took a sip.

I rested my elbow on the round table and propped my chin on my hand.

“…Alright. Shall we kill them now?”

“…Yes. We can go all out, right?”

“Yeah. Let’s go full power.”

“Roger that. Hey, hold hands?”

“Mm.”

“♪”

Without doing anything else, I connected my magic with Lidia’s.

Lidia and I lightly waved our right hands.

Still seated—eight heads, sixteen wings, pure white ‘Fire Phoenixes’ manifested in the air above.

They separated into eight and danced around us.

Furthermore, countless white and blue snowflakes danced throughout the inner courtyard, blocking any detection from outside.

The guards let out gasps of admiration. “This is…” “I-I’ve never seen magic like this…” “As expected of Allen-sama and the ‘Sword Princess’…”

I made eye contact with the guards I knew. They cheerfully retreated.

The faces of the three men and Cheryl grew even more twisted.

Tina and the others widened their eyes and held each other’s hands.

“Th-This is…”

“Auu auu, th-this is amazing…”

“S-So incredible…”

“Tina, Ellie, Liene, watch carefully. You too, Stella.”

“Yes. …Um, Allen-sama. Are you… angry?”

The student council president asked timidly, looking anxious.

I smiled wryly and shook my head.

“No… not particularly. I think it’s my fault for running away from so many things. Well, it can’t be helped. Karma just came around, so I’ll accept it. However.”

“However?”

“I cannot tolerate being laughed at by these three gentlemen as a matter of my pride. Also… Cheryl occasionally needs to be lectured, or she immediately gets carried away and escalates everything to the extreme. I haven’t lectured her since she graduated from the Royal Academy.”

“…” “…” “…”

“A-Allen!? Th-This is just a princess’s little bit of mischief!”

“Cheryl… even during your Royal Academy days, you used the word ‘mischief’ as an excuse when you opened a forbidden grimoire and blew up several buildings, didn’t you?”

“…Tee-hee ☆”

“Can I kill her now?”

Lidia swung her legs back and forth as she asked.

I nodded and gave the order.

“Lidia, go ahead.”

“Okaaay ♪”

The eight vicious birds immediately attacked the four.

As I listened to their screams, I placed three new glasses on the round table and called my students.

“Tina, Ellie, Liene. Come here.”

“Y-Yes!”

The three younger students, who’d been watching with stunned and excited expressions as two ‘Fire Phoenixes’ each assaulted the kingdom’s two greatest mages, a battle-hardened vice-captain of the Royal Guard, and—as far as I knew—the kingdom’s finest mage, came closer.

I poured fruit water into each glass and handed them over.

“What naughty children! Now, you can drink while watching. Watch carefully.”

“I wanna drink toooo.”

“Yes, yes.”

I poured fruit water for the crimson-haired princess who’d butted in, and being careful not to wake Karen, I gestured with my right hand toward the spectacle before us.

“Nuooh!? Th-This, these ‘Fire Phoenixes’!?!!”

“Y-Young man, do something!! They’re linked with an unknown teleportation spell!! E-Even anti-flame barriers don’t work!! Moreover—the magic formula itself is reorganizing its encryption every instant!!”

“A-Allen! Let’s call it even! Even!! Don’t you have that word in your vocabulary!?!!”

“W-Wait, A-Allen, L-Lidia!! Wh-What are these ‘Fire Phoenixes’!? Even when I attack them with magic or削 slice them with magic barriers, th-they regenerate!?!!”

“…” “…” “…”

Tina and the others were stunned and dumbfounded by the scene before them.

I rested my chin on my hand and stated flatly.

“That is—the real ultimate fire attribute magic, ‘Fire Phoenix.’ This is a simplified version. Ah, the firepower has been reduced to the absolute minimum, but everything else is at full power for what Lidia and I can currently produce.”

Ellie and Liene blinked rapidly in confusion.

The pale blue-haired princess looked at Lidia and me.

After thinking for a moment—she gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.

“S-Sensei… C-Could it be that ultimate magic is…?”

“Tina, what you’re thinking right now is correct.”

I smiled at the undeniably genius princess who’d grasped the truth fastest, and stroked the sleeping Atra’s head.

“True ultimate magic is, in a sense, alive. Once you release it, all it does afterward is fulfill its orders. Naturally, it requires an absurd amount of magic to deploy and activate—but once you release it, it doesn’t need a single drop more. After that, it recovers on its own. Yes… they recover on their own.”