Chapter 13 (1/2)
Mightiest Melee Magician
Chapter 13
After the end of , I saw an unexpected person after exiting the testing grounds.
“Professor?”
Professor Hydel, without an expression on his face, walked up to me.
“Seems you’ve had an accident.”
“…accident?”
“Come with me.”
The way Professor Hydel was going was towards none other than the stairway entrance to the Basement.
It wasn’t hard to guess that the ‘accident’ Professor Hydel was talking about was related to the points I got.
“I’m genuinely curious. How did you get in good favour with Kingram?”
“Ah, that’s…”
“It was a rhetorical question. Magicians have the right to keep their own secrets.”
I jokingly asked the professor,
“Are you going to tell this to my father as well?”
“Why? Do you not want me to?”
“No, but if you’re going to tell him, you should tell him soon. Since he’ll be worried.”
“Heh. This kid.”
Professor Hydel had an odd expression that said he was enjoying this.
He pulled out a parchment from his garment and held it up.
It was an entry permit with the stamp of Director Tirion on it.
He called out to the ‘Mana Guardian Spirits’ that looked impenetrable while they guarded the stairs to the artifact room.
“This is the entry permit of the director. Please authorise our entry into the artifact room.”
After the Mana Guardian Spirits had confirmed the authenticity of the entry permit,
Check! Check!
They moved in perfect order and turned their bodies out of the way.
Professor Hydel continued to walk forward, and down the stairs into the basement.
I hurriedly followed behind him.
“Woah… This is my first time here.”
“Of course it would be. This is one of the only places in the academy that is off-limits.”
An ever-present cold atmosphere rested on my skin.
But the area looked well managed, as the stairs had not even a speck of dust.
The warm glow of the lamps illuminated the stairs and the hallway.
At the end of the hallway was a huge steel gate that looked to lead into a room.
It felt quite weird thinking that this spacious underground area only had one room, but Professor Hydel gave an explanation that let me understand instantly.
“They haven’t activated as we have received the permission of entry, but the traps installed in this hallway exceed 100 types, so don’t touch anything carelessly.”
“…Oh.”
The hallway was a field of traps.
They activate in response to trespassers and can detect ‘Stealth’,’ Invisibility’, and other such types of magic.
No matter how strong the intruder was, they would be stopped before reaching the artifact room.
The place that was restricted from students.
The place that completely stopped unwanted individuals from approaching.
What treasures lay inside that warranted such tight security?
I felt a little nervous as I followed the Professor deeper into the hallway.
At the entrance to the artifact room closed by the huge steel door, Professor Hydel stopped to retrieve a cigar from his pocket.
“You’ll be the only one going into the room.”
“…I’m going alone?”
“Yes. I’m only allowed up to this point. Go. I’ll wait for you here.”
Professor held the cigar in his mouth and clicked his figures to create a flame.
I was going in alone…
“Then, I’ll be back.”
I breathed in a deep breath and opened the heavy doors to the artifact room.
Creak~
The steel gates created a strange sound as I opened them.
They weren’t heavy, they were light, as if light-weight magic was cast on them.
On the other side of the steel gates, deep darkness covered everything.
I gulped a little and stepped in.
Step… Step…
Creak─ Click.
The steel gates closed and simultaneously, a bright green glow nearly blinded me.
The artifact room, now illuminated by the green glow, was the definition of a treasure room.
“Woah…”
Staffs, magic wands, robes, pendants.
Just the weapons hanging on the walls numbered well in the double digits.
Multiple seals were here, as well as some rings and necklaces that looked like some high-ranking magic had been cast on them
In one corner of the artifact room, numerous magical books that, at a glance, looked precious were tightly stored in bookshelves.
A scene that inspired awe.
Could this be called the storage room of the archmage Frolian Ignit?
However, even amongst these treasures, the most precious artifact was by itself.
“You look like a fool, looking around like that. Not even knowing the true value of yourself.”
“…Kingram, sir.”
The living artifact, Kingram.
His worth was priceless, unable to be measured in gold.
But… something was a bit off.
Kingram, who should be inside his specially enhanced platinum statue, was standing there in his physical form.
That’s right.
He was currently a living ogre.
“Wha- How?”
Hearing me stutter, Kingram spoke to me.
“This place here is a unique place. I’m allowed to use my physical body.”
“Ah…”
A thin trace of ancient mana had filled the artifact room.
Thanks to this ancient mana, Kingram could exist not as the ‘artifact Kingram’ but as the ‘ogre Kingram’.
Even though I spent 6 years at the academy, there were a lot of things I still didn’t know.
“…So it’s like that.”
I gulped at the imposing aura emanating from the ogre.
A large form that was twice as big as the average ogre.
The aura exuded from just an imposing build.
Most people would have been crushed without a chance to resist.
Even I could only barely resist, but I remained standing.
Because I had a question that must be answered.
* * *
* * *
So, I asked,
“Just then, you said I don’t know my own ‘true value’.”
“I did.”
“What did you mean by that?”
The phrase that Kingram had thrown at me while I was looking dazed at the artifacts.
‘Not even knowing the true value of myself.’
It was like he knew my power came from an artifact.
What Kingram said next proved my hypothesis.
“Draka… because you and him both use the same artifact.”
My power.
An ancient artifact named ‘Player’.
Kingram knew exactly about my condition.
“It’s a one-of-a-kind artifact. I only said what I said because I was frustrated and annoyed. Even though you possess such a powerful artifact, you were impressed by those useless, trash items.”