Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 03 - Nine Schools Competition (I) (36 page)

The laws of physics are very difficult to circumvent and, even when altered by illogical forces like magic, it will attempt to revert back to a logical outcome.
Thus, magic that does not break the law of conservation of energy remains a 'natural' phenomenon and from a magic perspective, it does not require high interference strength.

You should understand by now, right?
The magic used to accelerate the ice particles is based on taking the heat that is removed from the frozen particles and converting it into the energy of projectile motion, thus scamming the laws of physics.
While this runs counter to the law of entropy and is something that would never occur in nature, it’s a more logical explanation than simply constructing ice particles, accelerating the ice particles with magic, then applying thermodynamics."

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I get the feeling that I've just been conned."

"Leo, magic is an ability used to 'deftly deceive the world', remember that."

"In other words, we Magicians are con artists out to ruin the world?"

"The stronger the Magician, the more likely he’s a crook."

Tatsuya was utterly serious as he explained all of this, but at Erika and Shizuku's added commentary, he could only smile in response.

"Battle Board" was a contest where the participant used a spindle-shaped surf board that was 285 cm long and 51 cm wide to navigate an artificial waterway.
The surf board had no propulsion of its own, so the participants needed to use magic to arrive at the finish line.
During the course, attacks on other players themselves or their boards were forbidden, but magic was allowed to be cast on the water's surface.

There was no unified set of rules for this event.
This contest was originally designed by the navy to train Magicians, so with magic as a prerequisite, it was impossible for this event to be popularized enough to warrant a unified set of rules.

The Battle Board portion of the Nine Schools Competition involved completing three laps around a 3 km long waterway.
The waterway possessed straight courses and sharp turns as well as uphill and waterfall portions.

Men and women each raced on a separate track, but there were no notable differences in difficulty.

The preliminary stage contained six rounds with four contestants each, while the elimination stage contained two rounds with three contestants each, with the four eliminated players competing for third place.
The finals were held in a duel format.

The average duration of each round was 15 minutes.

The highest speed may exceed 30 knots — which is roughly 55~60 km per hour.
Atop the surf board, the players had no cover against the incoming wind.
Unlike other nautical races that could benefit from being downwind, Battle Board was entirely against the wind.
Just dealing with the air resistance alone quickly sapped the players' endurance.

"Female contestants usually have a hard time in this event.
Honoka, how are you physically?"

"No problems.
On Tatsuya-kun's advice, I've been undergoing physical training.
After being selected, I've also lengthened my hours of sleep."

Unrelated to the Nine Schools Competition, Tatsuya was concerned about Honoka's physical stamina from the first moment they met and thus advised her to not just undergo magic training, but also physical training as well.
Tatsuya merely mentioned this out of hand, but Honoka surprisingly took it to heart.

"Honoka really put on some muscle."

"Ew, Miyuki don't be like that.
I don't want to be a female body builder."

Hearing this two-sided conversation, even Tatsuya laughed aloud.

"You see.
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Even Tatsuya-kun laughed."

"He's only laughing because Honoka spoke in an odd manner."

"Now even Shizuku is saying so.
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Fine, I know when I'm being excluded.
I'm not like the two of you — Tatsuya-kun isn’t willing to take care of my event."

Honoka's sudden tantrum mystified Tatsuya so much that he couldn't laugh any more.

Exactly why was she gunning for him now?

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I'm responsible for Honoka's support and maintenance during 'Mirage Bat'."

At any rate, Tatsuya only responded to her literal complaint.

However.
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"So 'Battle Board' isn't included?
Plainly, both of Miyuki and Shizuku's events are within Tatsuya-kun's purview.
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This seemed to have achieved the opposite effect.

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Instead, I've helped you train and strategize, so it's not like I'm excluding you.
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While trying to justify himself, Tatsuya felt himself falling into a sticky predicament and started to stutter.

"Tatsuya-kun, Honoka-san isn't referring to that."

Upon seeing this, Mizuki interrupted, but it didn't sound like she couldn't stand this scene any longer.

"Onii-sama.
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I think you're being a little too slow."

Following Mizuki, it was Miyuki's turn.

"We've discovered Tatsuya-kun's unexpected weakness."

And Erika next.

"Blockhead?"

Shizuku also joined in on the attack.

Under siege from the women, Tatsuya was struck speechless.
He felt that they were being ridiculously illogical, but at the same time he felt that resistance was futile.

Not that he got any support from the guys.

Until the contest began, Tatsuya could only patiently endure this situation.

With the waterway ready and the contestants assuming ready positions, Tatsuya finally escaped.

On route, he understood what Miyuki and the others were driving at.

That being said, understanding another's proposal was entirely different from being able to act on it.

In the future, he needed to be more prudent and keep his mouth shut — Tatsuya inwardly promised himself as he watched the four contestants float towards the starting line.

Being that this is on water, there's no way to draw lines (not that anyone could even if they wanted to).

Four people lined up along the passage, with Mari standing in the middle.

The other contestants were kneeling on one knee or both to prepare to charge, only Mari stood straight.

This scene primarily reflected the difference in balance between the participants, but from another perspective, Her Majesty the Queen was lording over the other participants (not just the queen, "Her Majesty" the Queen).

"Whoa, that woman is just as arrogant as usual.
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Hearing Erika's whisper, Tatsuya felt that she was displaying her enmity "as usual".

Still, he had just vowed to "keep his mouth shut", so he refrained from commenting.

Leo and Mizuki, who were seated at Erika's sides, also seemed oblivious.

The giant screen hanging from the airship in the sky displayed all four of the contestants' names.

Only Mari revealed a fearless grin.

She truly is the perfect type to play the antagonist's role, Tatsuya thought.

However, many among the female high school students would disagree with him.

When the announcer responsible for identifying the participants proclaimed Mari's name, the stands — especially the front rows — fairly shook from feminine shrieks.

Mari waved in response, which only intensified the screams.

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Looks like our senpai has a crowd of diehard fans."

Compared to the young men who supported Mayumi, the insanity of this group was several times more intense.

"Watanabe-senpai cuts a dashing figure, so I can sympathize somewhat."

Miyuki agreed from a bystander's perspective.
Ironically, after the Nine Schools Competition, Miyuki would possess eternally loyal fans from either gender that far outnumbered Mayumi's male fans and Mari's female fans.
If she could foretell her own future, Miyuki may resonate with the same feeling lurking beneath Mari's mask as she smiled at her fans, but right now she couldn't care less.

"Battle Board" was a contest held at the height of summer, but the contestants did not wear swimsuits.

The bodysuits that tightly covered the entire body bore the emblems of each school.

As Mari stood above the water, her hair fluttered as it hung from the hair band keeping it in place, painting a picture that would not be out of place on the cover of a novel about young cavaliers.

Erika should have heard Miyuki's words, but she didn't immediately respond.

"Get set.
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The loudspeaker sent out the signal.

At the crack of a gun, the race was on.

"Self-detonation tactics?"

Erika murmured in disbelief.

Tatsuya was similarly struck speechless.

When the race started, the contestant from Fourth High detonated the water behind them.

She probably intended to create waves to disrupt the other players while riding the waves for further propulsion, but.
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"Ah, she stabilized."

Creating a giant tidal wave was useless if it disrupted your own balance.

Mari had successfully charged in the beginning, so she wasn't affected by the chaos caused by the contestant from Fourth High and was now completely in the lead.

Mari's surf board was sliding over the water's surface.

She probably wasn't using Move-Type Magic to steer, but treated the board and her physical body as one entity, or even casting magic on two objects simultaneously — her body itself and the board.

Regardless of which it was, this required precise target selection for magic.

The board clung to the water's surface and deftly rounded a sharp corner.

Her stability was so complete it was like her feet were glued to the board.

"So she's re-calculating Application-Type Fortifying Magic along with Move-Type Magic."

Tatsuya didn't need to dissect the Magic Sequence.
He saw through the mechanism based on Mari's posture and methods for maintaining balance as she coursed through the water.

"Fortifying Magic?"

Leo's ears pricked up at those words and immediately asked.

This was an area that Leo specialized in, so there was no way he wasn’t interested.

"What's the target for fortification?"

"Senpai stabilized the connection between herself and the board to avoid falling off."

Leo adopted a questioning look probably because he couldn't follow Tatsuya's meaning.

Naturally, Tatsuya never demanded that he catch on so adroitly.

"Fortifying Magic isn't only used for strengthening an object's durability, but to stabilize an object's corresponding location, do you understand so far?"

"Of course, because I use it myself."

"Watanabe-senpai cast magic to stabilize her position and connected herself to the board to form one object, then applied Move Magic to this now uniform 'body' that consists of herself and the board.
In addition, this isn't a sustained-type magic but alternating between Fortifying Magic and Move Magic at appropriate intervals based on the changes in the terrain to deftly avoid magic overlap."

Owing to the fact this was a magic he specialized in, Leo could understand this was an extremely complex technique.

"Wow.
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Leo sighed in amazement.

On the other hand.
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"Yet, this method seems to be lacking something.
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True, the target of Fortifying Magic isn't restricted to objects formed from the same material.
Hm, given that.
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