How to Survive as a Dungeon Manager in Another World

29 – Luke Richter (1)

Inside the carriage heading from the Imperial Palace towards Blackmore.

“…”

Selena Lugrite sighed, her face a mask of utmost caution.

For some reason, she felt on the verge of tears, biting her lip lightly to restrain them.

It had to be an Imperial Edict, descended directly from the throne, leaving no room for refusal, no matter the reason.

‘Why me, of all people…!’

Luke Richter. It was impossible she wouldn’t know him.

She’d watched him for five years at the Academy where she served as Headmistress.

A full five years. Not a long time, perhaps, but neither was it short.

Enough time, at least, to be certain of the kind of man he was.

And to her, Luke Richter was…

‘A madman…!’

He’d turned the Academy upside down for five years, then, as if nothing had happened, claimed he was going to suck down honey, took a position as a Crown Official, and burrowed his way into the most infamous Demon Realm in the Empire.

Selena vaguely suspected.

Just what was he planning to do this time, that he’d crawl all the way into that dreaded Blackmore?

Perhaps becoming a Crown Official had been about setting something in motion in the Demon Realm from the very beginning.

Because the Luke Richter she knew was a freakish oddity, acting like everything was normal while perpetrating all sorts of insane acts.

“Are you alright, Headmistress?”

“How could I be alright?”

“I mean, he’s just a Crown Official, isn’t he? The investigation turned up nothing, apparently.”

“You’re so dense. Why do you think those notoriously vicious Internal Affairs bureaucrats are making such a fuss over bringing in just one Crown Official?”

“Isn’t it just that they’re dumping a tedious task?”

“No, that can’t be it. Those people know it too. That messing with Luke Richter, that deranged fellow, will make your life miserable.”

She had been surprised when Derrick Baldwin, the Commander of the Special Forces, came to see her, but now even the Emperor himself was personally requesting him.

Selena shook her head, dumbfounded.

Just what had he been doing to get to this point?

She sighed and recalled events from five years ago.

A memory she didn’t want to revisit, but she would soon have to face him.

Inevitably, she had to retrace the past, piece by piece, as it related to him.

The Academy’s departments were broadly divided into Swordsmanship and Magic.

Of course, other subjects like Social Studies, Liberal Arts, and Linguistics also existed.

However, the two fundamentally classified departments were Magic and Swordsmanship, and other subjects were added on for students to earn credits.

In this world where monsters were real and rife with all kinds of threats, where a single transcendent being could rival an entire nation, what was the fastest and most efficient form of power?

It is, of course, force.

The noble houses, the very heart of power, their foundation rests on the same.

What *is* a noble, then?

Countless answers circulate regarding that familiar question, but their essence remains that of warriors.

Those who defended the nation, staining their blades with blood.

Legendary heroes who severed the necks of unnumbered foes.

These very monsters, their ancestors, forged the noble houses of today, generation after generation.

The heart of power has always been strength.

Therefore, the Academy was both a sanctuary of learning and a field of opportunity.

A chance even for commoners to grasp power.

This was the very fruit borne of the law of strength.

Talk of scholarship and research were, in the end, merely superficial.

The Academy’s true core was singular: the manipulation of mana, the very source of strength.

That was why innate mana capacity determined a student’s ranking.

What could one with meager mana possibly accomplish within the Academy?

They would be fortunate to avoid expulsion for academic failure.

Of course, most Academy entrants possessed remarkable talent, making such instances rare. However, should such a thing occur, that family would become a laughingstock for generations, that much was clear.

Thus, possessing enough mana to avoid ridicule became the bare minimum unwritten rule before entering the Academy.

And yet.

“Luke Richter?”

Selena read the document, a touch of discomposure upon her face.

“The Richter barony, hm…”

The Richter barony.

A venerable house, practically a magic lineage.

Those born of that house were fundamentally envied.

But…

“A b*stard, is he?”

He was a b*stard.

A b*stard born of a commoner mother, no less.

Though his birth was flawed, one couldn’t necessarily assume his abilities were as well.

If he inherited the thicker blood of his father’s side, then surely, something hidden dwelled within him too…

“Let’s see, the grade is… Neophyte…?”

When evaluating magic, three criteria exist: the speed of spell deployment, accuracy, and power.

However, in truth, these are merely formal standards; the absolute measure encompassing all else is nothing other than the amount of magical power.

The greater the magic, the stronger the power, the higher the accuracy, and the faster the deployment.

And the grade of a magician, thus divided, numbers five in total; the lowest among them being precisely Neophyte.

“What, a dud?”

Selena spoke with a face of disappointment.

The reason was simple enough.

She had harbored a certain expectation, being a Richter, but it turned out the kernel within was utterly wretched.

“Tch.”

And so, Selena erased him from her memory.

For Selena, who ruthlessly judged people by their abilities, Luke Richter was a human not worth remembering.

Thus, time flowed on, and the entrance examination day arrived.

“Lady Selena! This way!”

Guided by the vice-dean, Selena headed towards the examination hall.

“Lady Selena, have you seen it? The list of this year’s entrants.”

“I have. A golden generation like no other, wouldn’t you say?”

From the kingdom’s princess to the empire’s, not to mention scions of distinguished families.

Truly, it was a lineup that deserved to be called a golden generation.

“Please take these as well. The entrance examination papers submitted up until yesterday.”

“Why are there so many?”

“Of course there are many. You should have made the exam easier. Solving the drought, something we can’t do ourselves, how could the students possibly manage?”

“That exam wasn’t meant to be solved in the first place, you see?”

The Academy is an educational institution under the Imperial Family’s aegis.

Naturally, the Imperial Family’s influence inevitably holds sway in matters large and small, and this year’s preposterous entrance examination was no different.

To ask students to resolve the continental drought that even she, who had achieved the 3rd Circle, could not solve – was that a sensible thing to ask?

Therefore, the core of this entrance examination was conception.

Is not collective intelligence the greatest of all intellects?

The ideas derived from the finest talents gathered at the Academy would surely prove of considerable assistance to the Imperial Family.

Selena slowly scanned the documents.

“Still, there are quite a few worthwhile ideas here.”

“They don’t call them the Golden Generation for nothing.”

“Filter out the useful ones and send them to the Imperial Court. Ah! Before sending them there, send a copy to the Scarlet Magic Tower.”

“Ugh, what a bother.”

Indeed, the offspring of well-bred families were different, somehow.

Unlike herself, whose mind had hardened with age, they had quite a few unique concepts.

Of course, it was woefully insufficient to solve the empire’s overall drought, but these trivial ideas gathered together would give birth to new discoveries.

“…Luke Richter?”

While skimming the documents, Selena paused abruptly at a familiar name.

A name from her memory.

If it was the Richter family among this year’s freshmen, there was only one.

“Is that the b*stard?”

“b*stard?”

“There is one. A Neophyte.”

“Oh my, what’s he been doing that he’s still a Neophyte?”

“How would I know?”

…But why is his thesis so thick?

There’s always someone like this.

They try to cover their shortcomings with theory since they lack ability.

“…What is this?”

Selena stopped skimming the thesis and let out a hollow laugh.

“An artificial sun at an altitude of 3km… raising the surface temperature of the Allad Sea behind the Academy to 27 degrees… updraft… operating a low-pressure amplification device with a magic circle to create a pressure difference… cumulonimbus clouds with steam supply…?”

Selena’s expression hardened, and the vice-chancellor next to her glanced at the thesis.

Of course, she didn’t understand it either.

“Controlling plasma-state energy using earstone… creating an ultra-high temperature, ultra-high pressure environment with a mana crystal as the central core…?”

“Ha, we’ve got a real lunatic here.”

“Recreating a Tokamak with magnetic field magic? What even is a Tokamak? He says he’s making a sun with it?”

“Why are you even reading it seriously?”

*Thwack!*

Selena clicked her tongue, closing the thesis with a frustrated snap.

“So, topping the entrance exam grants a free pass to the next grade?”

“Yes, regardless of practical skills or written test, they automatically advance to the next year as the top student.”

“Hah, that little weasel is pulling every trick in the book because he lacks confidence in his practical abilities. If he spouts nonsense during the demonstration, just disqualify him. I’m getting a headache already.”

“Is that alright? He’s still a student…”

“Then you go ahead and keep listening to that rubbish.”

“Well, I certainly don’t want to do that!”

A rather excessive response, perhaps, but no real harm would come of it.

In the first place, such a preposterous thesis could never be realized. Disqualifying him for spewing nonsense was within her discretion as the Dean.

And yet…

Selena was soon forced to abandon that line of thought.

“…Huh?”

A colossal orb of magical energy rose, radiating heat that could melt even steel.

It was a miniature sun – no, something resembling one – concocted from a high-purity magic crystal for nuclear fusion, five anti-magic stones, a wind control artifact, and resonance stones for spellcasting, all prepared by Luke Richter for the entrance exam.

It slowly ascended into the air, its heat causing the very air to shimmer.

The space around it rippled, like heat haze on a summer’s day.

Then, he activated the wind-manipulating artifact, releasing a surge of power, and the air currents began to change, a rising vortex taking shape.

Selena and the other professors stared, speechless, their gazes fixed on the sky.

Clouds were slowly gathering overhead.

How long had passed?

Rain began to fall.

No, it wasn’t a lie, rain was truly falling.

But.

“…”

Selena felt a growing unease in the face of the surging wind pressure.

The clouds were gathering too quickly, their scale expanding at an alarming rate.

“Wait, this is going a bit…”

*Swaaash!*

Before she could finish speaking, a sudden gust of wind slammed into them, engulfing everything in its path.

A gigantic whirlwind was forming in an instant.

A tempest, a veritable miniature typhoon, swept across the examination grounds.

Trees were ripped from their roots, hurled skyward, while the roofs of nearby buildings peeled away and windows shattered into shards.

“This is f*ing insane…”

That was her and his first encounter.