The Strongest Villain Sets Out: Reincarnated into a Merit-Based Clan, I Become the World's Strongest Swordsman - Chapter 30: The Beginning of the Event

The day after I stole the demon Astaroth that Ilario had summoned. I attended classes as usual, then stepped into the training grounds.

Along with Cornelia, who had also come to train magic, I began magic power control and manipulation training.

“…You’re the demon Luka was talking about?”

“Yes. My name is Astaroth. I’ll even deign to speak to livestock-like humans.”

“I’ll kill you.”

“Wait wait wait wait.”

I grabbed Cornelia’s shoulder as she tried to start rampaging.

Astaroth was with us today too. At first Cornelia had been staring at Astaroth, but as soon as she suddenly spoke to her, this happened.

Please don’t start pointless fights in front of me.

“Luka, I hate this thing.”

“Astaroth was definitely in the wrong just now, but don’t you fight either. It’s a waste of time.”

“A waste⁉ Did you just say I was a waste, Luka-sama⁉ Aahn!”

“Don’t get excited, idiot.”

Just dealing with Cornelia alone was exhausting enough, but with Astaroth added to the mix, my headaches had multiplied.

Since it was troublesome, I had her return to her original world for a while. The master who formed a contract could send demons back.

When Astaroth disappeared like smoke, Cornelia puffed out her chest in satisfaction.

“Hmph. Impudent demon. I’m definitely more useful to Luka than someone like that!”

“Even someone like that is the highest-ranking demon. Forgive her.”

“Muu. Can’t be helped. I’ll allow one or two concubines. I’ll kill her eventually though.”

“You can’t win against her as you are now.”

Also, what’s that concubine talk? I don’t remember marrying you. We had become close enough to speak casually, but I hadn’t permitted that much.

“Tch. I felt it firsthand. That demon is considerably strong.”

“She’s the highest-ranking existence among demons. Since she contracted with me, she’s close to her original power.”

“Even so, I’ll win in the end. If I can’t win now, I just need to get stronger and kill her.”

Saying that, Cornelia grinned. A very much to-my-liking answer.

“Then train for that purpose. I’ll show you something interesting today.”

“Something interesting?”

“Since you can use aura, you should be able to do the same thing as me. It’s difficult, but if you learn it, it’ll definitely be useful.”

I demonstrated the enhancement magic I hadn’t shown her yet right in front of her. The magic I used was flame. I wrapped it with aura and boosted its power.

The fireball I released in that state—blew the target set up in the training grounds to smithereens.

Its power was far greater than ordinary magic.

“Wh-what’s that…”

“I call it enhancement magic. It’s like using aura’s properties to strengthen magic power itself.”

“Amazing! I’ve never seen that before!”

“As far as I know, no one else uses it. You practice too and get stronger.”

The stronger Cornelia became, the more I could beat her up and get stronger myself. She’d helped me in various ways during aura training, and I’d rely on her in the future too, so this much was no trouble at all.

Cornelia’s emotions visibly heightened. She hugged me and desperately tried to convey her feelings.

“Thank you, Luka! I’m so happy… I’m special, aren’t I?”

“Well, you could say that.”

Actually, there was someone else I’d taught that enhancement magic to. Sheila Calera.

I’d keep it secret since Cornelia would probably start talking about killing again if she found out.

“Um, enhancement magic with aura… strengthen!”

Right away, Cornelia floated flame magic in her palm and simultaneously activated aura.

She’d been training aura with me since long ago. At that time, we’d tried simultaneous activation and other techniques, so her skill level was quite close to mine.

She could manage simultaneous activation of aura and magic, but… the result was obvious.

“—Kyah⁉”

The magic floating in Cornelia’s palm exploded, unable to withstand the aura enhancement. Her right hand was blown off.

This was considerably better than my time. It was good that I’d told her to lower the power. Even so, blood dripped steadily and her skin was slightly burned and festering.

It looked painful. However, Cornelia didn’t writhe in agony. She wore a beaming smile.

“This is enhancement magic! Amazing, Luka! The power jumped up several times! It properly hurts!”

As expected, she had sensibilities similar to mine.

That’s right. If you’re serious about it, this is where you should be happy. Even if your hand gets blown off, it’s still delightful.

While nodding internally, I healed her hand with prayer.

“Right? You should be able to control it soon. Keep perfecting it more and more. At first, if you just train enhancement magic, you’ll get stronger quickly.”

“I will! Thanks, Luka. I love you.”

Chu, Cornelia kissed me. This time on the mouth.

“Yes yes. You keep feeding me useful information too, Cornelia.”

“Yeah. Speaking of which, there’s an interesting story~”

“Oh?”

Looks like I could receive compensation right away.

“What kind of story?”

“Related to the aura Luka was looking for—”

GOOOOOOOOON!

In the middle of Cornelia’s words, the training ground door was suddenly destroyed.

It was blown away by tremendous impact. Everyone, including us students who were there, looked toward the entrance after crashing into the wall.

From within the smoke, multiple suspicious groups wearing masks appeared. A group clad in black. They declared while holding weapons:

“Academy students, we’re going to kill you. If you don’t want to die, obediently crawl on the ground. We might specially let you live if you don’t interfere.”

“Those guys are…”

This development and the enemy’s attire. I had quite distinct memories of it. This seemed very similar to the beginning of the event I’d been waiting for. Finally came, you terrorists.

While the men made a fuss noisily, I grinned ferociously.

Then I could see students near the entrance readying weapons. Apparently they’d chosen to resist. They swung swords at the intruders one after another, but their level was low.

Instead, they were counter-attacked, and several students were easily killed. From there was a storm of screams. The resisting students disappeared, and everyone crouched down on the spot.

Except for me and Cornelia.

“Hey! You two also hurry up and crawl… hmm? Your face, I’ve seen it somewhere.”

One intruder came toward me. He stared at my face, trying to remember something. In the meantime, I drew the magic sword Muramasa from its sheath.

“Ah! That’s right, Luka Salvatore! Perfect timing. You’re our target—”

Whoosh.

In the middle of the conversation, I quickly swung my sword. The man couldn’t even react and was bisected horizontally across his torso.

The intruder collapsed with a dull sound. Looking down at him, I said briefly to Cornelia:

“Anyway, we’re killing all the enemies here.”

She smiled sweetly and answered:

“Okay~”