There was a man who was a bit of a legend among a certain graduating class of students at Arthlia Academy of Magecraft, and his name was Blade. Ever since he was little, he’d been better than others. In school, he placed first on every test—a first in Arthlia Academy’s entire history. And his superiority didn’t just stop at his grades; he was student council president, and was very popular among his peers. Upon graduating, he decided to join the Royal Capital’s Knight Order. He himself was from nobility, and so it was his desire to join and protect the weak commoners.
“Great job, Blade!”
“You’re the pride and joy of our country and order!”
As a knight, he was competent in every aspect of the job, and so became the youngest knight commander in history. Up until then, his life had been nothing but smooth sailing. He was living the picture perfect life of an elite mage, but that all changed when he was summoned by his superior officer.
“The...Numbers?” Blade asked.
“Right. It’s a very honorable position,” his superior explained. “If you become one, you’ll be the first knight in history to have done so.”
Blade fell silent. He’d heard of them before. The Numbers were Chronos’s twelve strongest mages. The organization itself was said to have been around for over two hundred years. The Numbers were sent out on the most difficult of missions that the knights could only dream of. Despite Chronos being a private company, they held the government’s complete trust.
“I understand. I will accept this request,” Blade said.
He was confident that no matter what kind of environment he was in, he’d thrive. Wherever he went, applause was sure to follow.
But of course, Blade had no idea that this would be the decision that would change his life forever.
✦ ✦ ✦
Two weeks had passed since Blade joined the Numbers. On his first mission as the number XII member of Chronos, he was sent out on a large-scale expedition.
“So this is the Chinogras Archipelago? Uncharted territory for humans.”
The mission Blade was currently on was to hunt down the large magic beasts that lived in the Chinogras Archipelago. Though he’d been a part of the knights, he’d never fought a large magic beast before. Over the past two hundred years, humans had been steadily decreasing the population. The Numbers had taken on this responsibility at the behest of the government.
After a little while of searching, he heard the sound of something’s footsteps. In the next moment, a magic bearlike beast—over three meters tall and towering over the average human—burst into view. Blade had never dealt with an opponent of this size in the royal capital.
“Don’t falter. I’m the legendary man known as Blade. There’s no reason to fear a mere beast,” Blade said, psyching himself up as he unsheathed his sword to courageously face the magic beast. But even though he’d put the full force of his body into his attack, the large magic beast easily deflected it.
“What?!”
Blade was in disbelief. He’d trained in the way of the blade, and had earned high praise for his noble-like technique.
“Eek!” he cowered from the magic beast’s roar.
He found himself falling to the ground, trembling in fear of death after being cornered. He couldn’t comprehend how things had ended up like this. But just as he was asking himself this question, Water Magecraft enveloped the magic beast’s body, sealing its movements.
“Come on, seriously. What’re you doin’ old man?!” a young man said exasperatedly.
His name was Bruno—the member with the Roman numeral XI, and also known as the Demon Dragonfly.
“Eliminating target.”
Then in the next moment, he heard a young woman’s voice, and a single arrow pierced the large magic beast’s head, killing it in one blow. Having its brain pierced, the magic beast collapsed to the ground.
“Seriously, you’re one of us, right? You can’t be this pathetic,” the woman, Kanaria, called out to him, also exasperatedly.
She was in her late teens and had recently joined the Numbers. She’d been given the Roman numeral IX, and was known as Hawkeye Kanaria.
“H-How did you two...”
After witnessing these two people who were younger than him so easily take down the powerful magic beast, Blade felt even more shocked.
“I-I can’t believe that you were able to take something that powerful out in a single shot! Is this the power of the Numbers?!”
At this point in time, Blade saw these two as incredible prodigies, but in reality, they were on the lower end of the Numbers.
“Kanaria, we’re retreating!” Bruno cried out.
“I know,” Kanaria acknowledged. “Seems wise.”
It confused Blade at first—why it seemed like these two changed their tune so quickly and left the battlefield so soon after joining it. But he realized their reasoning not too long later.
Suddenly, a huge—over twenty meters long—lizard monster dropped in front of Blade. It was a magic beast called a Salamander, and many stories were told about how they were so powerful that just a single one of them could raze an entire city to the ground.
It opened its large mouth and went to eat its prey, the weakling who’d been too slow at getting away: Blade. The evil aura it released was incomparable to the bearlike beast earlier, and it served to completely paralyze Blade.
“Yay! Dibs!”
At the very last second, Kuina saved him. A young man with blond hair, Kuina was known as the strongest modern mage alive, and had worked his way up the organization to achieve the Roman numeral III—the fastest ascent in the organization’s history.
“All right! That’s number thirty!”
After dispatching the Salamander in a flash, he immediately ran into the forest to find his next prey.
“Kuina’s the same monster as always...” Bruno muttered.
“We can’t fall behind. Let’s hurry up and find the next magic beast,” Kanaria suggested.
Bruno and Kanaria discussed their next steps in front of Blade, but without any acknowledgment that he was there.
Wh-What’s going on... Nobody’s paying me any attention. It was then that he realized the truth: he was a small fish in a big pond. When he was with the knight order—considered the capital’s elite fighting force—his strength was seen as above average.
Ha ha... So this is the strength of real prodigies, huh? In general, Blade’s abilities were not on the lower end of modern mages whatsoever. But in Chronos—a gathering place for all the best mages in the world—they were. It was on this day that Blade lost any and all confidence he had.