Thanks to Noxia, the mocking atmosphere eased slightly, but mockery still gleamed in the eyes of those who continued to stare at me.

The academic festival was mostly attended by those with powers, and there were very few ordinary people like me, so it was inevitable that I would be ignored.

‘Huh.’

I almost laughed in disbelief.

‘You want to go at it with me now, don’t you?’

I was not one to avoid a fight that was coming my way.

I glared straight back at Leyana, who locked eyes with me. She shrugged casually, a leisurely smile on her face.

A blatant provocation.

It seemed that I would have to adjust what I initially said to Askan when I first arrived at the academic festival.

I had said that I wouldn’t care about what others said, and that I determined my own worth…

Those who disregarded me needed to see exactly who I was.

As the gauge of my anger piled up inside me, the person who was to measure my magical power led me with a word.

“Please enter.”

I moved my gaze from Leyana and walked confidently through the magic power measurement passage.

Beep

The machine sounded and when I looked up, as expected, I had zero stars.

“Hohoho!”

Leyana burst out laughing as if she had been waiting for this, and a few of the nobles with powers joined her in laughter.

I remembered each of their faces one by one.

Because soon they would pay the price for disturbing a sleeping lion.

After the power measurement ended, the second order of business was to show off the abilities one possessed.

It was crucial to prove to the judges how much your abilities had improved since the last academic festival.

This time, too, Noxia was in the early lineup.

Just as she had trained in the Brelof mansion, Noxia manipulated water finely, distributing it appropriately from small to large glasses.

The sight of water freely moving in the air was astonishing enough to make anyone gape.

But that wasn’t all.

Even if they had the same powers, people’s abilities varied greatly depending on the amount of magic they possessed.

Noxia couldn’t part the sea or reverse a river, but she could test how much water she could move.

“Haa.”

Noxia took a short breath and raised her hands, which were neatly placed on either side.

In response to her movements, the water that had been in the aquarium slowly rose into the air.

It was as if the water, which was supposed to be at the bottom, was defying gravity and rising up in reverse.

At a glance, it was a quantity of water large enough to envelop the entire academic festival venue.

“Wow─”

Sounds of admiration were heard from all around, and someone even clapped.

I couldn’t compare since I didn’t participate in the last academic festival, but I could feel that Noxia’s abilities had improved significantly since then.

With the cheers of so many people, Noxia’s turn ended.

Around midway through, I could see Leyana walking towards the stage.

Leyana, who had the ability to control wind, was tested on moving a tied up iron plate in the air to a designated spot drawn with lines.

Leyana, with a tense face, stared at the iron plate and clenched her fist with a shout.

The first few attempts at gathering her energy failed, but soon after, the energy of the wind began to gather in her hand according to Leyana’s will.

With her eyes tightly closed and her focus concentrated, Leyana slowly moved the tied up iron plate in the air to its destination. It wasn’t fast, but she didn’t lose direction, so she could succeed even if it took time.

“Nice!”

Leyana shouted with a bright face.

A few young nobles came to congratulate her on her success.

I watched Leyana and the young nobles’ interaction blankly, then I heard my name being called and got up from my seat.

The academic festival was usually a place to test powers, so when it was my turn, the overseer provided an unusual additional explanation.

“Lady Brelof has been recognized as a genius in the field of magic engineering and has thus come to this stage. She is said to have developed a new magic engineering weapon to showcase here, so I ask for your attention.”

I took out the prepared K01.

The weapon had already been tested with Barnen, and it was not a difficult task since all I had to do was pull the trigger in front of people.

People began to murmur at the sight of the smallsized K01. Not only the participants of the academic festival, but also the eminent scholars sitting on the judging committee were the same.

“Is that small thing a weapon?”

“I heard that two expensive magic stones were used, but I’m not sure if it will have enough power.”

“Did the Breloff family allow someone unqualified to participate?”

I didn’t care about people’s murmurs. After all, it was something I could show directly in front of me.

However, there was one person who couldn’t ignore such comments.

There was a sound of a pen hitting the table lightly.

Everyone who saw who made that sound couldn’t help but shut their mouth.

It was Orland who had come to watch the academic festival.

“Why is it so noisy when my daughter is about to show the weapon she made?”

Despite Orland’s words containing no threatening content, no one dared to respond.

Because there was no one here bold enough to make the Breloff family an enemy.

Orland glanced around with his icy blue eyes. Then he spoke in a quiet voice.

“Zen.”

Zen, who had been waiting behind him, stepped forward at his call.

“Yes, master.”

“Note the names of those who spread false facts without evidence. After the academic festival is over, they will all be dealt with according to the law.”

“Understood.”

With that, the judging seat became as quiet as a mouse.

I felt awkward and solid at Orland’s unexpected care because I always had to go through such situations alone.

As I looked at the judging seat for a moment, I saw Barnen looking at me with eyes full of anticipation.

And there I was, holding K01 and waiting to show its power…

“Young lady Breloff, you just need to aim and fire over there.”

The supervisor pointed to a wooden board hung for shooting arrows or something.

Without anyone telling me, I could feel how much they underestimated the power of the K01 I developed.

“Do you want to see the firepower of my weapon with that mere wooden board?”

I sneered and aimed the K01 at the iron plate that Layana had moved using the wind energy.

Everyone watched me move with the K01 in my hand without any thought.

Only Barnen on the judging seat and Askan sitting in the waiting seat were watching my actions with tense expressions.

Click, I pulled the trigger without any signal.

Whoa!

A tremendous flame swirled and rushed towards the iron plate that Layana had moved.

The heat, enough to fill the academic festival venue, was felt.

Bang!

In the end, the iron plate couldn’t withstand the power of K01 and started to roll.

The flame didn’t stop there but blackened the empty space behind the venue before it finally stopped.

In a word, it was an astonishing destructive power.

Startled, Orland stood up from his seat. And Zen was seen blocking him in case of any danger.

The judging seat could be said to have flipped over. Some people even fell back in their seats as they were.

Participants born with abilities were hastily protecting their bodies or stepping back in case they got hurt by the flame shot by K01.

‘That’s right, it should have been like this from the start.’

If they had known about the firepower of K01 from the start, they couldn’t have been sitting calmly in their places.

As I watched the faces of people who were more astonished than surprised, I blew the smoke rising from the muzzle of the K01, puff.

Personally, it seemed cool, like a scene from a Western movie.

“This is the magical engineering weapon, K01, that I developed.”

The quiet venue turned noisy in an instant with people’s murmuring.

It was the day when K01 was unveiled to the world for the first time.