Verlin Merlin
patreon
Chapter 27- The important thing is how much one gets.
🕑 Added 2022-06-06 14:44:28 +0000 UTCRay
Ray immediately moved to block, drawing his wand as he spread brown glitter in a concentric manner. A wall of earth met the fire, absorbing the attack. But Ray wasn’t done, he brandished his wand, pointing it at the disciple, what did Anita say his name was? Corris or something.
A line of glitter emerged, shooting towards Corriss as he laughed.
“So the bigger mouse joins the smaller one. Did you think your sneak attack would work?” he said, laughing as the glitter hit a shield of some kind. “I borrowed the battle shield from my brother. The professors won’t help you, and neither will your fellow students. I made sure of that.”
Ray paid him no mind, thinking about his next step instead. To keep on attacking him the same way would be foolishness, but what else could he do? Run away? The gate was bound to be guarded by the guy's friends. At least they weren’t participating in the attack. Marcus had run away somewhere, that Ray was glad of. The poor guy had no combat power, he would only be a burden.
Ray conjured more brown glitter, defending himself as he ran towards Corriss, a closer distance would probably help. Ray sent yellow glitter towards the guy's shield, attacking it around one spot.
“Do you think your glitter can really break this shield? The shield was stolen by my father from a Dwarven commander!” he boasted.
‘Ok.’ Ray said, pointing his wand at Corriss. A spiral of glitter emerged from the tip, drilling into the shield as Corriss counterattacked.
Ray found himself surrounded by fire, barely able to keep the earth walls up and the attack at the same time. To make things worse, Corris had more mana than him, he would come out winning if it became a battle of attrition. The fact that he only had to attack and not defend gave Ray an even bigger disadvantage.
The battle continued in stalemate, Corris grinning as Ray’s attack failed to do anything. Ray kept it up, it was his only way to win this. And his chance came. A rock hit one of Corriss’s lackeys in the head, making him bleed.
“So you do bleed!” Ray heard Rena shouting as more rocks began hurtling, but he didn’t have time to worry about what was happening. Corriss, however, got distracted, turning towards the commotion, and Ray took the chance to add to his attack. A hundred mana went into conjuring a wave of glitter that attacked the shield, and this time, it cracked.
A loud splintering sound emerged as the glitter passed through the barrier and towards Corris, who conjured flames to defend himself in a hurry.
“Well, it would seem that the match isn’t as one-sided anymore.” Ray said smiling.
Cirrus grimaced, surrounded by flames, “So you still have enough mana? No, you don’t, do you?” A gout of flame shot towards Ray as he countered with some yellow glitter.
The yellow glitter and fire met in the air, locking in a competition of elements as glitter fought against fire…and won. Though not by much, fire was losing, little by little.
Skill gained!
[Glitter combat]: 50 mana + 2 to Combat
“What the heck” Ray cursed in his head. Fifty mana at level 0 meant that someone with this skill could gain half the mana to Tier 1. The mana was next to nothing to Ray at this point, but it would still help.
Ray watched as the two forces collided in the air, glitter’s advance had slowed considerably, as Corris seemed to be directing more fire towards him. But one curious thing he noticed was that the fire had the tendency to spread out. As if it wasn’t supposed to be in a single funnel.
Ray smiled, Corris’ fire element must be something that did not favor this type of combat, and it was hurting him. Though special elements were the ones that were most restricted in this, sometimes the normal elements were also restricted in some manner. Uncle Trevor could only make weapons with his metal element, though he’d made that an ability rather than a disadvantage.
Ray put more force into it, drilling into Corriss’ mana, forcing him to think his fire further. Corriss could just shield himself and attack Ray with full force, but Ray was counting on the noble holding saving his life as more important than killing Ray.
The others weren’t losing either, Ray could see numerous flashes as pillars of books collapsed in the library. But the ones losing were the nobles. The College had too many commoners for the under prepared nobles to put up a fight, even with their higher Tiers. After all, numbers mattered.
But just as Ray was about to win, a voice yelled in the library, “What is going on here?”. The sound of something banging against the floor emerged as all the attacks disappeared. Not countered, not stopped, just gone.
“Now, who’s gonna pay for all of this damage?” the voice of an old mana sounded out as he floated in the air, looking down at them.
Ray shifted as he sat in his chair. The old man had teleported them all into what could only be a courtroom, already populated with teachers sitting on either side of him on what could only be called a judge panel. Ray had been teleported to what would usually be occupied by the defendant in a case. The prosecution's side was held by Corris and his gang.
“I must say, I am very disappointed by what I just witnessed today. The library is a very important, and very valuable resource for the College. The books destroyed today alone are worth thirty million mana coins, and someone must take responsibility for their destruction.
The books may only be copies, but that does not diminish their value one bit in my eyes, and thus in the eyes of the court. In addition to that, under College criminal law, the College is to be paid the exact amount of the fine as Court charges as they are fined.” An impassioned speech rolled off the Dean’s tongue, but it just made Ray cringe. The entire focus was on the books destroyed, what happened to the assault charges?
“The total fine in question here is fifty million mana coins, which with court charges translate into a hundred million mana coins. A nice round figure. I have already called your guardians, since they will be the ones paying the fees, and to serve as witness. Now, who would like to tell me what has transpired here?” the Dean said.
Ray wondered if his ears were mistaken. Did the fees just balloon? No, wait. The damage was thirty million, this was the first time the Dean had mentioned the fine… But where did the extra twenty million come from?
“Yes, Dean. I, Corris Fartallis, would be glad to tell you what actually transpired in the library.” Corris began before Ray could get a word in. “The filthy commoner scum got into his head that he could get away with circumventing the College's fees,, so I decided to carry out my duty and warn him.
But instead of following my well-intentioned advice, he decided to attack me! The filthy whore son even destroyed-” Corrin began spewing lies at lightning speed until he suddenly found his hair on fire.
“I think my ears have some sort of infection. After all, I couldn’t have just heard Mr Fartallis call me a whore? Or do I have a noble house to burn?” Aunty Ariana’s silky sweet voice sounded out, making them all turn back.
Aunty Ariana was sitting at the last row on his side, and a row of scary looking men and even scarier weapons were sitting on the other side.
“I wa-was just making a point, Marchioness. Ray is but an orp-” Corriss began.
“I request that the audience not interfere in the process of the trial.” the Dean inturrepted, “The guardians have been invited as a matter of courtesy, they are not to interfere.”
Aunty Ariana just ignored him and turned to the men. “Mage-Warrior Erklard, I thought you were in jail for a large variety of causes, and so were your compatriots. Did something happen that I am unaware of?”
“The good Duke have seen fit to deem us innocent of all charges. I assure you that we will find and bring this Scholar to justice for her crimes.” a man that vaguely looked like Corriss replied. What? Rena had said that the proof against them was undeniable, even if it was insufficient, the Duke wouldn’t release them so fast…unless he’d been influenced somehow.
“Oh? I wasn’t aware that presenting evidence was a crime.” Aunty Ariana said.
“The Scholar is suspected of having treasonous intentions.” the Mage-Warrior stated in reply, his arrogance palpable. The man did not consider anyone in the room his equal. Ray frowned, Ma probably did have treasonous intentions, but how did this guy know about it?
“I see.” Aunty Ariana said, seeming to contemplate something for a second before turning back to him. “Does your release have anything to do with the fact that you just helped the Duke hunt down a rather ferocious beast and reach Tier 21? I hear you made a rather large fortune from it.”
“Is the Marchioness so eager to oppose the Mage-Warrior order? I do hope you realize we have the support of the Duke now.” the Mage Warrior said, clearly irritated.
“Oh?” Aunty Ariana said as fire started to twirl around her. Ray could not figure out what had happened, but the Mage-Warrior’s face paled at it.
“I suppose congratulations are in order, after all, it is not everyday we are in the presence of a Tier 23.” the Dean said, his voice actually sounding jovial somehow.
