I Possessed the Heroine’s Teacher

The righteous thief Olag—or rather, Pellinore of the Black Round Table—stood confidently, ready to face the grand mage Werner Alten. Despite knowing my reputation and achievements, he dared to confront me.

“Hmm, it’s unexpected to see someone of your stature wielding daggers instead of a longsword or a blunt weapon,” I remarked.

Pellinore smirked and adjusted his grip on the dagger, responding boldly.

“A longsword is the weapon of a swordsman! A blunt weapon belongs to warriors and knights! Even as a righteous thief, I am still fundamentally a rogue. The weapons of a rogue are daggers and hand-to-hand combat—nothing more, nothing less!”

“How romantic,” I admitted. “Alright, I’ll grant you—it’s a little cool.”

“Go ahead, Grand Mage, chant your spells! Since I hold the advantage in numbers, it’s only fair I give you the first move. Attack with honor!”

A thief fighting openly in such a spacious area, fully visible, was already putting himself at a disadvantage. But to forgo the first strike, simply because of a numerical superiority—how absurdly honorable could he be? A thief valuing fairness to this degree was almost laughable, but somehow, I didn’t dislike him.

Moreover, the fact that he refused to use weapons better suited to his physique simply because he identified as a rogue… His unwavering adherence to his ideals was truly thrilling.

“Very well. I, Werner Alten, as a grand mage, will fight you with my full strength.”

He intended to face me with the pride of a rogue. The least I could do was reciprocate by fighting him as a mage.

I took out my magic tome, Enoch, from my robes.

“Page 104, Chapter of Thunder,” I commanded.

The book flipped open, revealing a page etched with the image of a lightning bolt and a dragon.

“O thunder that shakes the heavens and earth—”

“Everyone, prepare for battle!” Pellinore’s subordinates gripped their weapons tightly and glared at me. They could have increased their odds by throwing their weapons at me, but they refrained from employing such cowardly tactics.

“Swim through the earth like a dragon.”

A massive bolt of lightning split apart, transforming into the shape of an oriental dragon that scattered around us. As soon as I finished chanting, Pellinore and his subordinates charged at me. Yet, all were swallowed by the maw of the thunder dragon. It was a spell far more powerful than the Thunder Serpent I typically used. Surely, they had all perished.

As I let my guard down for a moment—

“Something this trivial… cannot defeat a righteous thief.”

“What the hell… You’re still standing after that? Not just alive, but on your feet?”

Pellinore stood upright, and his subordinates were unscathed as well, looking as though nothing had happened. Only Pellinore bore scorch marks on his body and was panting heavily. It was incomprehensible. The thunder dragon had consumed everyone, yet only Pellinore—the strongest among them—had sustained injuries. What on earth was going on?

“It seems you, like the others of the Round Table, have some peculiar trait.”

“Indeed! Just as the late Gawain had a body that exhaled flames of extreme heat, I have the ability to absorb the impact inflicted on my marked allies!”

“Hahaha! And you just explained that to me? What a fool you are!”

“Of course! If I weren’t a fool, I wouldn’t be a righteous thief—I’d just be a common one!”

Explaining his abilities in detail was foolish enough, but to bear all the impact on behalf of his subordinates… Pellinore was undoubtedly the world’s greatest fool.

Once again, Pellinore and his subordinates charged at me. All armed with daggers, they made a surprisingly threatening advance.

“I’ll admit it. You’re tougher than that bastard Gawain.”

Here, rather than reverting to my old habits of countering with martial arts, I needed to defend myself as a mage. That was the least I could do to honor these fools.

“Wings of steel, shield me.”

Large steel wings sprouted from my back, folding and unfurling to blow them away. Although they slammed into the walls, none were seriously harmed. Only Pellinore coughed up blood, despite keeping his feet firmly planted.

“At this point, the damage dealt should’ve been enough to kill everyone here… but you’re still standing? You said your trait was absorbing impact—did you also gain indestructibility?”

“A leader with no talent for daggers or speed must at least have a body capable of enduring anything. No matter how much it hurts, all I can do is endure with grit.”

“Well said. That’s the correct answer.”

It was indeed troublesome. Even when I counterattacked with magic while dodging their strikes, Pellinore’s subordinates wouldn’t die. Moreover, Pellinore himself, with his impact-absorbing trait, was several times more vexing. He endured damage that would have killed a man hundreds of times over, yet remained unyielding, his flesh and bones intact.

“I’ll propose this once again! Join me and the others in reforming the Black Round Table from within! The Black Round Table isn’t an organization that can be easily dismantled from the outside!”

Pellinore pleaded earnestly, almost as if begging me to join the Black Round Table. But I had no intention of compromising. As my mentor Helmut had taught me, negotiating with terrorists was not an option. The Black Round Table were the worst among terrorists, vile trash.

“How many times do I have to say no? No matter how small the crime, I refuse to tolerate the atrocities of the Black Round Table I witnessed today.”

“Why can’t you see the bigger picture? If we combined our strength, we could prevent even greater tragedies!”

“Are you ignoring the lives of those close at hand to prevent future tragedies? In that case… I’ll save those abandoned by thieves who’ve cast aside their righteousness.”

If stopping a greater evil meant overlooking a smaller one, I couldn’t bear to witness those sacrificed in its name. As Emperor Xiaolie once said, one must not commit evil simply because it seems minor.

Pellinore, his expression resigned, swung his dagger at me. Dodging the sickles and throwing knives from his subordinates was hard enough; now I had to contend with the massive brute’s sharp dagger strikes. I wanted to save this spell for later, but survival demanded otherwise.

“101st page…”

Avoiding Pellinore’s dagger strikes was becoming increasingly difficult. As a mage, there was a limit to how much I could rely on evasion techniques to dodge his attacks. My body bore numerous cuts where his daggers had grazed me. My robe was completely shredded, and the shirt beneath it had long been stained red. Though there were no deep wounds, the sheer number of shallow cuts was overwhelming.

“Open the Chapter of Flames.”

“Give up!”

“O flames of judgment, punish the sinners of hell━━━━”

As I chanted the spell, Pellinore seized the opportunity to attack. I had anticipated this and managed to dodge his assault, but an unexpected attack from behind—a thrown dagger—pierced my shoulder. It went clean through, but I endured the pain.

“Cleanse those consumed by evil.”

Flames erupted from the ground, engulfing Pellinore’s subordinates. It was a spell I developed in my youth—designed to burn only people, not objects.

As his subordinates burned, Pellinore coughed up blood. He was taking the damage inflicted by the flames several times over, so it was no wonder he wasn’t unscathed.

“How’s that? Your loyal subordinates can’t move anymore. Even if they’re unharmed… there are moments when people simply can’t move.”

Pellinore’s subordinates screamed as they burned, even though he was absorbing all the damage.

“…It seems you’ve figured out the weakness of my trait. As expected, a grand mage is different from us ignorant fools.”

“I grew up an orphan too, so we’re both unrefined and uneducated. Besides, I only figured it out because you insisted on boasting about your abilities so proudly.”

Pellinore himself had revealed the limits of his powers. That left me with only one course of action: to burn as many rogues as possible at once. Targeting one or two would only put them on guard, rendering further attacks useless. Moreover, if the building caught fire, not only I but the other children here could perish.

Thus, I had no choice but to use the Hellfire spell I developed. It was the ultimate fire spell, capable of incinerating multiple enemies at once without spreading flames to the surroundings, making it ideal for indoor use. Though it was regrettable that spells recorded in the tome Enoch could only be used once, this was a worthy trade-off.

“Hang in there, everyone. It’ll hurt, but I, your boss, will save you myself. You won’t die, so think of this as grit training and bear with it a little longer.”

“I have to admit,” I said, though he was my enemy, “you’re the most impressive member of the Black Round Table I’ve ever encountered.”