LGHTNOVELBOOK 5 - Talk All You Want, Low-Level Fools.
As Jeff began to walk, Ariel, who was beside him, grabbed his hand and shook her head.
“Don’t do that, Jeff…”
“People who don’t know their place and act up like that need to be taught a lesson, so they won’t act up again.”
The security guard let out a mocking laugh and pulled out a huge restraining baton that was strapped to his back.
“That won’t work, you know?”
Jeff said, but the guard just wiggled his fingers as if he didn’t care. The security guard, Podrick, held the restraining baton in his hand and skillfully twirled it around like nunchucks.
“For magic tower people who are just stuck in their rooms doing research, no, for a fool who was even expelled from the magic tower, this is enough to deal with you.”
Despite having committed no crime, being disrespected and obstructed from entering the exam like this is clearly an abuse of power. I could roughly guess why Security Guard Podrick was acting this way.
The relationship between the magic tower and the academies has never been good. Those in the magic tower act as if only they are the lofty scholars at the pinnacle of magic and look down on academy instructors as inferior. It’s like they think they’re specialized professionals like doctors, while academy instructors are just manual laborers.
Because of this, those working at academies can’t view magic tower magicians favorably no matter what. After all, they’ve had a long history of mutual hatred and contempt.
It’s no different from the relationship between Hwasan and Jongnam in martial arts novels.
But even considering that, Podrick’s behavior is too extreme. Isn’t he acting as if Jeff is his mortal enemy? Well… I could guess that this guy probably has some bad blood with the magic tower, but that wasn’t Jeff’s concern. What mattered to Jeff was only the fact that Podrick had started the trouble first.
“I’ll beat you to a pulp!”
Podrick brought down his restraining baton. At the same time, Jeff also thrust the elemental sphere in his hand toward Podrick.
At that moment.
“Stop.”
A woman appeared, fluttering a brilliant robe and holding a massive staff. With just one word from her, who looked authoritative at a glance, Podrick froze.
“M-Mellin Inspector…”
Podrick’s expression stiffened. Mellin looked down at him and spoke.
“Podrick. I clearly told you that if you act like that one more time, it won’t end with just disciplinary action. I understand the conflict between your family and the magic tower, but from what I heard from afar, isn’t that man already someone who has left the magic tower? If you want revenge, go directly to the magic tower and do it. Why? Are you afraid of their retaliation if you attack the magic tower? If you need an emotional trash can, go hit the scarecrows in the training room. What childish behavior is this?”
“…”
Podrick shut his mouth and lowered his head.
Jeff shook his head and sighed. Just then, Ariel looked at the clock beside him and urgently shouted.
“Mr. Jeff…! We have less than 5 minutes left… if we’re late, we won’t be able to take the exam!”
Not being able to take the exam = The fee he could have earned through exam assistance would be lost.
‘Shit… my living expenses for a month.’
Jeff urgently picked up Ariel and ran.
“Kyaaak! Jeff, put me down!”
“That’s not important right now. Where is it? The way..! Quickly, the way…!”
“Right… you have to go to the right.”
In an instant, Jeff and Ariel disappeared. Mellin stood there with a somewhat surprised expression.
Mellin. She is an inspector at Riness Academy. Not only does she evaluate the entrance exams for new students and the recruitment exams for new instructors, but she also has a massive influence on her own lectures and even the monthly evaluations of other instructors.
Even without such titles, due to her innate magical talent, she had never been disrespected by anyone until now.
But just now. She was ignored.
Moreover, she was treated like a completely invisible person.
As Mellin stared blankly at the place where Jeff had left, Podrick tactlessly spoke.
“Inspector Mellik… thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, I could have killed an innocent person and potentially received a severe penalty…”
Podrick bowed his head in gratitude. However, Mellik sneered and said.
“What? Almost killed an innocent person? Look, Podrick. There’s something you’re misunderstanding, I didn’t stop you, I stopped that guy Jeff. Your restraining baton. Why don’t you check it carefully?”
Podrick tried to lift his restraining baton to check it. At that moment.
— Crumble
The restraining baton, made of a material so strong that even bullets would bounce off it, crumbled like sand.
“Huh…?”
Podrick tried to grasp his crumbling restraining baton with a confused look. But beyond Podrick’s fingers, the restraining baton, which had turned to powder, all fell away.
“Could it be… because of that strange magic that touched it earlier…?”
The bizarre mana energy that was felt from Jeff’s hand. The restraining baton had just slightly brushed against it. If it had the power to turn to ash just from a slight touch…
A terrible thought crossed Podrick’s mind. What if that mana energy had touched his body?
“Huh… huh….”
Podrick collapsed on the spot, clutching his heart. Cold sweat dripped from his face, and his body trembled. He almost died. Without even realizing it, his entire body could have turned to powder, and he would have truly died.
Mellin looked at the trembling Podrick with disdain and muttered.
“Jeff… was it? What kind of person is he….”
She became curious. The strange magic that man had used earlier… at a glance, it looked like a sphere mixing all five elements.
‘That can’t be. At such a young age, to have reached the level of the 5 elements. The magic tower wouldn’t have expelled a 5-element magician. Maybe my intuition is dying.’
She couldn’t figure it out, but she’d find out soon anyway. Judging by their appearance, they seemed to have come to take the exam.
“Well, I’ll find out soon.”
Mellin slowly walked toward the exam venue.
◈◈◈◈◈◈
Ariel and Jeff arrived at the exam venue.
Jeff, panting, spoke.
“Ms. Receptionist, we’re not late, are we? My fee… no, can we still take the exam?”
When Jeff urgently spoke to the receptionist, she smiled and replied.
“Next time, you must arrive 30 minutes early.”
The receptionist stamped the instructor exam application with a bright smile.
Ariel and Jeff sighed in relief.
“Phew… that was a close call.”
Ariel said as she looked around. Was it because of the commotion they caused at the main entrance earlier? People’s attention was drawn to them.
[Look over there… I heard that man was expelled from the magic tower? He was arguing with a security guard at the main entrance earlier. He couldn’t even handle one security guard and ran away.]
[What? If he was expelled from the magic tower, his level is obvious. As expected. People from the magic tower are all high and mighty but have no substance.]
[While pretending to be lofty, a magic tower graduate coming to take an academy exam, does he have no pride? Tsk tsk. Since the fields are different, that guy won’t be able to do anything anyway.]
[I heard he’s an assistant? I don’t know who, but I heard the woman next to him is the applicant.]
[That woman is pitiful too. Of all people, she chose a derivative magician expelled from the magic tower as her assistant.]
The magic tower trains people for research to unlock the ultimate level of magic, while the academy trains people for practical combat to climb the tower. In a way, the magic tower could be classified as an institution fostering office workers, while the academy fosters field workers.
People’s gazes were not favorable. Well, it was to be expected.
“Mr. Jeff… all because of me….”
Ariel looked at Jeff with apologetic eyes. But this wasn’t Ariel’s fault.
If anyone were to blame, the first would be those impolite instructor exam participants who openly criticize in front of others, and the second would be Jeff, who was expelled from the magic tower.
If Jeff hadn’t been expelled from the magic tower, they wouldn’t have dared to speak carelessly. After all, the magic tower has a habit of thoroughly retaliating against any action taken against them.
This is also why Jeff, despite having the skill ‘Movement’, chose a roundabout method rather than openly sabotaging the magic tower. To avoid retaliation, Jeff endured patiently until a ‘justification’ for his actions emerged. Even though the magic tower people are rigid, they value ‘justification’, so even if this incident is revealed, they won’t be able to retaliate against Jeff. It was their fault to begin with.
“It’s not Ms. Ariel’s fault. Of course, it’s not my fault either. If there’s any fault, it’s with those people who rudely speak in front of others.”
Ariel felt sorry, wondering if Jeff was being treated this way because she had asked him to assist with the academy instructor exam, but Jeff didn’t mind.
“Instructor applicant number 3. Please come inside.”
Following the guide’s request, Jeff and Ariel went inside. Then, they saw other instructor applicants lined up.
[Hey, hey… look over there.]
[Those are the ones who caused a commotion at the main entrance, right? Is that woman really that desperate for help? She’s using a half-wit expelled from the magic tower as her assistant.]
Similarly, the gazes here were not favorable either. Jeff somewhat regretted causing such a big commotion at the main entrance. Because it was causing harm not just to him but to Ariel as well.
“Everyone, thank you for your efforts in coming to take the exam. The process of selecting academy instructors this time consists of 3 stages. Stage 1 is inference, Stage 2 is cooperation, and Stage 3 is competition. We will score each stage, and only the top 30 who score the highest in stages 1-3 combined will be selected as instructors for Riness Academy.”
— Whoosh!
Suddenly. Hundreds of huge locks appeared in the air.
“All applicants, please hold the lock in front of you. Applicants are asked to use their magic to unlock the complex mana locks. At this time, it’s okay to receive help from your assistant.”
[What is this… I’ve never seen such a large mana lock before…?]
[Hey, sis. Do you know how to unlock this?]
[Brother… can we pass this time? The difficulty of this instructor selection exam is too extreme….]
Cries of despair can be heard from the applicants everywhere.
The guide paused for a moment. Then.
“The time limit is 1 hour and 30 minutes. If no one passes, we will restart the exam.”
— Bang!
A light like a firework briefly exploded in the sky and disappeared, and people urgently rotated the locks this way and that.
Ariel also quickly grabbed the lock and rotated it in various ways, but soon she spoke with a desperate expression.
“Mr. Jeff… this is seriously encrypted… it seems like it will take a long time to unlock. First, I’ll decode the surface encryption, and then you can decode the latter part.”
Jeff looked at it for a moment, then spoke to Ariel.
“No. That’s not necessary. Because I’ve already solved it all.”
At that moment, the gazes of other applicants began to focus on Jeff.
[What the hell is this guy doing? He says he figured out the mana lock without even touching it? That’s nonsense.]
[Is it a day or two since magic tower people started showing off? I’m sure he can’t solve it after all that.]
The sound of people mocking.
‘Talk all you want. Seeing you all struggle with just one lock like this. I can see your level too.’
Jeff slowly placed his hand on the lock.