Overpowered Archmage Doesn’t Hide His Talent
Chapter 66: I Think You’re Cute

Chapter 66 – I Think You’re Cute

“Uh? Hey, uh, hey…! Fl, fl, Flan!”

The next morning.

On my way back to the dormitory after finishing my usual personal training, I ran into Becky.

She was twice as noisy as usual.

“Did you, did you see? Yesterday…! Oh, never mind. Do I have to ask if you know? Do you? Yesterday, yesterday, yesterday, you know!”

Becky blurted out something that didn’t make sense.

Every time she swung her arm, a strong rose scent wafted over.

Surprisingly, I understood what she was saying.

I nodded slightly.

I was the one involved, so I couldn’t not know.

Hoo- ha- hoo- ha-

After taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down, Becky opened her mouth again.

“You’re working hard. Not just that, but you said you’d win, right? Is that true? Really?”

“Let me ask you one thing first. Why are you paying attention to that remark?”

Then Becky’s eyes widened. She clenched her fist and ranted.

“Of course, I’m paying attention to that! If you just said you’d do your best, I’d just think that’s that- and move on.”

“But.”

“If you nail it down that you’ll win, every department will have their eyes on fire! I think even the seniors are talking about you now.”

That’s it.

I nodded with satisfaction.

That was my intention from the start.

A simple determination to do my best would never attract everyone’s attention.

But now it’s different.

I nailed it down that I’d ‘definitely’ win, and the tournament is a competition that even second-years participate in.

I wonder what expression the knights are making right now.

Actually, their expressions don’t matter.

As long as they light up their eyes and clench their fists, looking forward to the tournament, that’s enough for me.

But then it happened.

“Hey.”

A low and calm voice.

At the same time, a jasmine scent blew over.

The owner of the voice was Trixie.

Her skin soaked with sweat and a towel around her wrist, even that everyday scene became quite noble when the subject was Trixie.

She seemed to have just finished her morning training.

“What are you going to do? Are you doing it today?”

“Huh, huh? What are we doing today?”

Becky looked at me with a questioning look.

What Trixie was asking was the ‘duel’ we had promised before.

I shook my head.

I had to get a report from Maiev, and based on that, I had to make a detailed plan. I had a lot to do right now.

“How about the day after tomorrow?”

“The day after tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”

She rolled her eyes silently a few times, and Trixie nodded and accepted it neatly.

But still, Trixie didn’t budge. Rather, she started to stare at me intently.

“Is there anything else you want to say?”

“…”

Trixie was still silent. Our confrontation grew longer and longer, and I hated wasting time like this.

“If you have nothing to see, go your own way.”

“Tournament.”

Tournament. Trixie muttered that bluntly.

“Tournament?”

“…You said you’re going.”

“That’s what I’m thinking.”

“The other three.”

Trixie seemed curious about the three people who would form the same team as me.

In fact, all three of them were decided.

As soon as I found out about the tournament, I decided right away.

And I observed them carefully in the sandpaper and confirmed my thoughts.

But it wasn’t something I could talk about right now.

Especially if the other person was Trixie.

“…”

She stared at me for a while, and then Trixie just turned around and went her way.

Becky looked at her back and said.

“Trixie is very interested in the tournament. Well, it’s natural, since she had that incident…”

“Is there a reason she has to be interested?”

There was silence for about three seconds, and then Becky suddenly jumped like a frog.

“Ah, ah, no? I, I don’t dare to say anything. And it’s not even certain… Just pretend you didn’t hear it. Okay!”

Was there something I didn’t know?

*

I decided not to care about it.

“Fine. I’ll go ahead.”

“Hey, hey? Wait a minute! How about some food…!”

◈

When I returned to the dormitory, I looked at one corner of my room.

There was a large picture hanging there that wasn’t there before.

The World in the Painting.

Maiev was currently living in this place. I entered the painting to meet her.

“I quite like it.”

The world that was all white before now had a decent structure.

From the office to the training ground, the laboratory… The branches of magic intertwined and created various buildings.

I sat down in the office and called her name.

“Maiev.”

She immediately appeared.

Her hair was like dew, shining silver, and her eyes were red, characteristic of blood demons. Her ears were sharp.

The graceful curves of her body would be quite attractive to others as a woman.

“Yes.”

“What did you do?”

“I did everything.”

She realized something was wrong a beat too late and quickly added more words.

“Uh. No, I did everything~”

She tried to force a gentle tone, but it was awkward.

She even tried to smile sweetly when our eyes met.

“…”

I glared at her sharply.

Several papers landed on the wide wooden desk, and I lifted them with telekinesis.

[ “Guaranteed victory.” Flan, unprecedented confidence ]

[ Eliminated two years ago, eliminated last year, magic department’s hunting competition is ‘hopeless’ ] . . .

“As you ordered. No, as you ordered, I only picked out what I felt was important.”

There were quite a lot of newspaper articles, even though it had only been a day since the interview.

I sifted and sifted and this was it.

There must be more in reality. They must be pouring out right now.

‘Enough.’

This was enough to get the attention. It was as I intended.

Maiev put more papers on the desk.

“Next is… the trivia reactions.”

“How did you sort them out?”

“Agree, disagree, indifferent. I divided them into these three categories… And I censored the ones that I thought were nonsense.”

That was acceptable. I nodded.

[ We won in the combat event, but we can’t do anything in the hunting competition, right? Let’s have some fun this year. ]

[ But isn’t it too dangerous… If you get hurt or die in the hunting competition, you really get hurt and die. ]

[ The freshman is too arrogant, he said something like you’re not a magician if you don’t follow his opinion ] . . .

Worry, concern, complaint, expectation… This was also going well as planned.

A storm would sweep through Merhen Academy. But it was a very good storm that would turn the barren land into a wheat field, not a wasteland.

I closed my eyes and thought quietly.

From now on, I just have to do as planned.

“Master.”

But Maiev’s voice interrupted my meditation.

I opened my eyes slightly and looked at the slave in front of me.

She avoided my eyes.

“Master… you, you, you…”

“Master is enough. Just get to the point.”

“Ah, master. Why are you doing this?”

Why am I doing this… I didn’t need to think much to answer.

“Because I need change.”

“I must have asked the wrong question. I’ll ask you this way.”

Maiev glanced at me. Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ N0ᴠᴇFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

“Is this… something you have to do?”

“Maiev.”

I released the telekinesis.

The papers stacked neatly on the desk with a rustling sound.

“If it’s something that can help the magic world a little bit, I’ll do it. I’ll do what I’ve always done, and I’ll do what others haven’t done. So this is…”

Our eyes met in the air.

In her red eyes, my reflection was full of conviction.

“This is something I have to do. Do you understand?”

“…Is that so.”

Maiev nodded, avoiding my gaze.

“As expected of master. You’re amazing.”

“I don’t need to know.”

I straightened my clothes and prepared to leave.

“That’s it for now. The data was quite impressive. From now on, focus on completing the training facility.”

“Of course.”

As I was about to leave the illusion world, something bothered me.

Clang─!

An intangible hand caught something that flew towards me.

I turned my head and saw that Maiev was holding a dagger in reverse.

She tried to use physical force since magic didn’t work.

It was a foolish idea.

That was probably why she was so lively.

“…!”

Maiev, who was caught with her arm raised, tried to pull away with all her strength as our eyes met.

“Let go of this.”

But there was no way her wrist would come loose.

In this illusion world, my mental power was far superior.

Maiev glared at me as if she wanted to kill me.

“Let go of this, right now─!”

But reality was harsh.

All she could do was shake her body with her wrist held.

“Human…. How dare you try to enslave me…! I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you! I’ll definitely…!”

I smiled.

I slowly approached her and grabbed her chin.

“Ugh…!”

“Maiev. I find you cute.”

“What are you babbling about, you human…. Ugh!”

As I slowly tightened my grip on her chin, I calmly recited.

“Also, I like you.”

“Uh…. Ugh….”

Maiev licked her lips several times.

Each time, her sharp fangs flashed.

“Rather than a slave who follows me obediently…. I prefer someone like you who tries to test me.”

“What…. What are you…. You, you human….”

“Doubt and verify me every moment. I’m always confident, and therefore, I’m not annoyed or afraid.”

Bang─!

“Uh, ugh!”

The intangible hand pushed her back, and Maiev fell to the floor gracefully.

“Test me a hundred times, a thousand times, and figure me out yourself.”

“Haa…. Haa….”

Maiev glared at me with heavy breathing. Her red eyes were full of hostility.

“….”

But soon she avoided my gaze and quietly put the dagger back in her pocket.

I couldn’t even imagine the shame and humiliation she felt. But I didn’t have to.

I left her alone and calmly left the illusion world.

◈

Knock─!

As soon as I left the illusion world, someone knocked on the dormitory door.

“Oh, student Flan.”

When I opened the door, an unexpected person was standing there.

White hair and purple eyes, and a witch-like pointed hat…. It was Professor Violet.

“Are you busy right now?”

She asked bluntly, then shook her head by herself.

“No, even if you’re busy, you have to do this first. You have to go to the Dean’s office. Right now.”

“The Dean’s office?”

Violet nodded urgently.

“Yes. The Dean is looking for you, student Flan. For now, for now…. Shall we talk on the way?”

We started walking side by side.

Violet looked at me with a strange eye and licked her lips.

“You blew up something big this time. Well, I expected that from you, Flan student.”

“I guess you understand me a little bit now.”

“Just a little. I wish I could know more.”

Violet was soaked in sweat, probably because she was in a hurry, but she gave me a faint smile.

It was more of a supportive expression than a worried one.

The dark circles under her eyes seemed to have faded a bit. Her face had some vitality.

“Oh, right. By the way.”

As if she remembered something, Violet opened her mouth again.

“Didn’t Professor Audrey ask you to come to the lab before?”

“Yes.”

“How did that go? Did any other professors make any suggestions? I’m just curious.”

Violet fiddled with the tip of her pointed hat. She must have been concerned about that.

I shook my head.

“I declined. There were no other offers.”

“Oh, really? I see. I see.”

She nodded with a faint relief on her face.

Three seconds later, she added hastily.

“By the way, just so you know, I’m not bringing this up because I want to make an offer. I’m not offering anything.”

“Okay.”

“I never asked anyone, and no one ever applied to be my assistant. My research is too weird for that.”

“…?”

I unconsciously furrowed my brows.

Even the most notorious professors have at least one assistant.

What kind of research is so strange that no one wants to apply?

I was naturally curious.

“What do you research?”

“Me? My research? Well, do you want to see it?”

She seemed oddly pleased.

At the same time, her pointed hat twitched.

Ribbit─

A moment later, a frog jumped out of her hat.

“Oops, this little guy.”

She caught the frog and handed me a piece of paper.

She looked like a real witch.

“…!”

And shortly after, I opened my eyes wide. Violet, who was watching, gave a bitter smile.

“You don’t understand what it says, do you? It’s a bit weird, I know.”

“It’s weird. Definitely.”

I answered without hesitation. I could say it with certainty.

…This is, ancient runes.

Ancient runes that didn’t exist in the previous world.

The same runes that were written in the ‘dream’.

“I admit it too. The other professors always criticize me…. Well, I have a taste for this kind of thing.”

“I’ll take a look at this myself.”

I put the paper in my pocket.

“…That? It’s a copy, so it doesn’t matter.”

By then, we had arrived at the corridor where the Dean’s office was. It was time to part with Violet.

Finally, as we reached the huge wooden door.

“Well, well…. I’ve been waiting for you.”

As usual, the Dean’s voice came through before we even knocked on the door.

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