Overpowered Archmage Doesn’t Hide His Talent

Chapter 30 “Ah, r-really? Since we held hands too?”

There is never anything ‘wasteful’ in Flan’s actions.

Perhaps even in his thoughts or decision-making processes, such things don’t exist. Fear, dread, tension… The factors that sharply reduce human efficiency don’t apply to the boy.

At least, that’s how Becky felt.

Even in crisis situations, it doesn’t seem like a crisis. It was never arrogance. Flan’s actions always had sufficient grounds.

…Yes, it had been that way since the first time we met in front of the Agora Board.

“Pay special attention to this part. At your level….”

One by one, the formulas Becky had haphazardly scribbled transformed into correct answers, taking on new forms.

The difficult problems Becky couldn’t understand turned into mere easy challenges under Flan’s touch.

It was a remarkably impressive feat, but… Becky still didn’t grasp those formulas.

Even as the explanations were being wrapped up, the girl only gazed at the boy’s profile.

That softly glowing profile seemed somewhat peculiar.

A model magician.

Unwaveringly following his intuition, exploring logic, and if the path to truth lay before him, he would charge straight through, even if his entire body burned.

A maverick who never doubts himself, doesn’t rely on anyone, and carves out his own unique domain by sheer will.

“……”

All of that was encapsulated in the boy’s graceful profile.

Simultaneously, Becky unknowingly reached out her hand. Flan, who was right beside her, felt unbearably distant.

Just as her palm was about to touch that statue-like profile—

“Did you understand?”

That question snapped her out of it.

“Ah, th-that’s….”

She quickly shoved her hand into her pocket and stuttered without realizing it.

Despite having a dedicated teacher explaining everything, Becky remained dazed.

“Sorry….”

“What’s so difficult about this?”

After letting out a deep sigh, Flan grabbed Becky’s wrist.

“Ugh… What?”

Becky’s shoulder trembled slightly. But Flan’s gaze remained fixed on Trivia’s memo page.

“If you don’t understand, shouldn’t you try drawing it yourself?”

As Flan moved his hand, Becky’s hand naturally followed suit. This time, Becky also tried to focus on the formula.

“…First, set the framework.”

Circuits drawn along Becky’s fingertip began to glow blue. The girl’s eyes, watching this, also lit up naturally.

“Next, outline the core.”

“Wow….”

Could a dull formula really be drawn like this? Becky couldn’t help but gasp at the sight of a scene like a night sky unfolding on the memo pad.

“In the detailed work, you need to pay attention to density.”

By then, Becky understood Flan’s teaching.

At the same time, she felt her dormant thirst for knowledge slowly rise.

“Impossible… doesn’t exist….”

Becky muttered Flan’s words absentmindedly.

She wanted to express the surge of emotions building inside her with words.

Just as she turned towards Flan and parted her lips to speak, the two were engulfed in a white light.

Hailey, who had been perched on a rock far away, also started glowing. Only then did Becky suddenly remember Hailey’s presence.

‘This is so infuriating.’

To Becky, Flan was just someone she was grateful for. What was Hailey’s problem, that she kept sneering at everything?

Becky conjured a non-elemental orb in her hand.

If she forgoes form and maximizes output as she just learned, then…

BANG—

A dull sound echoed, and Hailey’s head snapped sharply as she was struck directly in the forehead.

“Eek?!”

…Oh no, I hit her harder than I intended.

◈

Right after being teleported, I looked around.

“This evaluation is temporarily on hold.”

“Martin says he saw a skeleton.”

“A skeleton? He’s showing off again to pick up girls. That’s way out of line. Why would that appear in an artificial labyrinth?”

As Violet mentioned, Becky and I seemed to have been the last in line, as there were already many students gathered nearby, buzzing with noise.

“Kyaaaah—!”

Hailey’s sharp scream rang out.

“Why is my face—my face like this—!”

Hailey, with her face swollen with lumps, hurriedly covered it with both hands and collapsed.

While the students chattered noisily, Violet was busy counting the absentees.

Although real demonic beasts and unexpected variables had appeared, luckily, there were no casualties or missing people.

Due to the unstable internal observation, the scoring of the exploration evaluation was ultimately postponed.

I sighed deeply, wondering if the artifact had been wasted in vain when suddenly, Becky approached me.

“Hey, Flan.”

“What is it?”

“Well… thanks.”

I gave her a casual nod. To be honest, I wasn’t in a position to receive thanks.

It wasn’t as if I had done all that just to save her, and Becky had only survived because the magic was wide-ranging.

But it seemed Becky still had more to say. She held out her Trivia towards me.

“I should’ve explained enough.”

“No, it’s not that….”

Becky’s gaze shifted slowly to the side. I couldn’t fathom what was so important that she was hesitating.

“Trivia code. Wanna exchange with me?”

“Code?”

“What, y-you don’t want to? No… if you don’t, that’s fine. I just thought it’d be nice to exchange info about tests and stuff occasionally.”

Becky hastily rambled on, having merely asked out of curiosity.

“And we’re friends… aren’t we? Hey, you might not know this, but friends usually, you know, exchange things like this. It’s not a big deal.”

“So.”

Why was she so fidgety? I succinctly summarized her words.

“You want to stay in touch with me regularly. That’s it, right?”

“Yes… yeah, something like that. We’re friends, right?”

“We’re not friends.”

I dismissed Becky’s words lightly.

First, there’s the age difference between her and me, and second, I’m not the kind of person who makes friends.

“…Huh?”

Becky’s face was filled with disbelief.

“What? Wait?”

She tilted her head from side to side, rolled her eyes, thinking deeply about something, and then—

“Huh?!”

Suddenly, her small face turned as red as her own hair.

“Then… Ah, s-so, really? Since we held hands? Ah~ that’s what you were thinking. Then, w-want to go perfume shopping with me next time?”

Since she was talking nonsense that I couldn’t make sense of, I ended up listening to her words halfheartedly.

A regular communication relationship, huh, I did know of one like that.

“Do you want to keep in touch with me?”

“Hmm?”

Becky still couldn’t look me in the eye.

She fiddled with her fingers for quite a while, then nodded very slightly.

“…Since I want to, that’s why I asked to exchange codes.”

“Fine.”

I decided to give credit to her eagerness to learn.

I tore out a memo page from Trivia. Using telekinesis, I floated it in the air and began jotting down notes.

『 How Healing Magic Became a Controversial Topic. 』

That book soon landed in my hands.

Coincidentally, I was just thinking that having someone’s assistance would make dissecting it much easier.

『 Magic and Healing 』, 『 Magic Healing Studies 』, 『 The General Theory of Healing Ethics 』, 『 Healing Ethics 』… After jotting it all down, there were about eight books. Fortunately, it wasn’t too many.

Once I finished the memo, I handed it to Becky. She blinked her wide eyes.

“What’s this?”

“Summarize the key points of these books.”

“Summarize?”

Becky tilted her head.

“Well… I appreciate that you’re thinking of my studies, but all of a sudden?”

“You said you wanted to keep in touch with me.”

What’s sudden about it?

A daily, regular communication. No relationship fits better than that of an assistant.

“Well… that’s true, but….”

Becky alternated between looking at the memo and my face.

“Isn’t this too much content? To summarize the key points, I’d have to go through all of it.”

“I don’t expect much.”

It’s not that I plan to delegate everything to Becky and rely on her.

Even if it helps just a little, that’s beneficial enough to entrust her with it.

That’s all there is to it.

“If I do it, by when…?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?!”

Becky jumped in surprise.

This is already a significant concession. After all, I’m getting Trixie’s books tonight.

“If you don’t want to, forget it.”

“No, no! I can do it!”

As I moved to take back the memo, Becky slyly pulled her hand away, still holding it. I had no intention of forcing her.

“Hey, Flan….”

Tears welling up in her eyes, Becky continued.

“If I do

this, we’ll keep in touch and go perfume shopping, right?”

I suppose that’s a fair reward. I nodded readily.

“Sure.”

“Gosh….”

Becky, holding back tears, headed towards the library.

I’d picked out what seemed to be nutritious books. Surely, this process would greatly benefit Becky as well.

I’m not expecting any thanks in return.

Before long, I also started walking towards the training room.

◈

Late at night, the Fritz Family’s private training room, located next to the dormitory, was still brightly lit.

Trixie had just finished her ballet practice.

Normally, she would’ve sunk into the tub right away, but at the moment, she was engrossed in examining her Trivia.

[ ▶ Here’s the problem for the next Agora Board. ]

[ ▶ Please take a look! ]

[ ▷ Do you have the page with the formula on it? ]

[ ▶ Yes! ㅎㅅㅎ ]

[ ▷ Tear it up and throw it away. ]

If it had been anyone else, she would’ve gotten furious, but Trixie obeyed the instructor’s words without a fuss.

By the way, ‘Mr. Guidance’ is a nickname for the Guidance Auction. Trixie made it up on a whim this time.

[ ▶ Did you have dinner? ]

[ ▷ Is this part of the guidance too? ]

[ ▶ I’ll give you a gold coin! ㅅ! ]

Gold coins were abundant for Trixie anyway.

While she diligently replied to each of the slow incoming messages, Mr. Guidance asked Trixie a question.

[ ▷ When will you send the books? ]

[ ▶ I’ll send them right now. ]

After sending the reply, Trixie immediately checked the condition of 『 How Healing Magic Became a Controversial Topic. 』

It was pristine like a new book, neatly wrapped with a ribbon. Surely, it would be to his liking.

“…Hmm.”

On an impulse, Trixie suddenly conjured a few small fire ants.

Given her exceptional skill with fire elements and her ability to adapt them into ‘summons,’ it wasn’t a difficult task.

The five ants hid in various parts of the pages. They would report their positions to Trixie in real-time.

Who exactly is Mr. Guidance?

Trixie swallowed hard.