Never Die Villain

"A Fallen Wizard... And you’re telling me this as a student from the Knight Department?"

"Yes."

"No... that doesn’t make any sense."

Anders leaned back in his chair, one hand going to his temple as he tried to piece together the contradiction before him.

"You’re a Belozersky. Your family has produced knights for generations, not wizards. According to your records, you’ve never formally enrolled in a magic course, nor have you studied under any member of the Department of Magic."

Anders fell silent as he tried to make sense of the contradiction before him. The more he considered the facts laid out in the documents, the less they aligned with the answer he had just received.

None of it fit together at all.

"A Fallen Wizard is, by definition, a wizard whose Domain has gone out of control," he continued. "A Domain is not something that simply appears overnight. It is the culmination of years of study, countless hours of mana control, and a gradual understanding of one’s own magic."

He stopped.

"No..." Anders slowly shook his head before dismissing his own train of thought. "That’s beside the point."

He looked directly at Ilya, the calm composure he had maintained throughout the interview finally giving way to genuine disbelief.

"Are you telling me... you’ve already constructed a Domain?"

"Yes."

"At your age?"

"Yes."

"...."

Unlike ordinary spells, a Domain was not something that could be taught through lectures or replicated from a textbook.

It represented the complete manifestation of a wizard’s understanding of both magic and themselves, a pinnacle that countless accomplished wizards spent decades pursuing without ever reaching.

Yet the young man seated before him claimed to have already arrived there.

"Mr. Belozersky... do you understand the weight of the claim you’ve just made?"

"Sir, it would be easier if I just showed you."

"Very well then, let’s—"

Whoosh——!

Ilya quickly recalled Vera’s words.

——Overwhelm him. Don’t give him time to think. Keep his interest piqued. And if you think you’ve gone too far, then even better. The Department Head is nothing more than a junkie who craves quick stimulation.

Inside the Department Head’s office, winter arrived.

Frost spread across the floor before completely swallowing the rest of the room. Within seconds, the room had become unrecognizable.

Anders blinked once.

"...."

Then he blinked again before looking around the room and turning back to Ilya.

"...Are you multitasking right now?"

"Pardon?"

"You’ve manifested your Domain while maintaining another technique." Anders frowned as he continued observing the room. "No... that’s heat."

His gaze fell upon Ilya.

"The Ring of Fire?"

"Yes, sir."

Anders stared at him for a long moment before letting out a disbelieving laugh.

"The Ring of Fire isn’t even considered magic anymore. It’s a primitive mana circulation technique from centuries ago. And yet you’re maintaining it while projecting your Domain into reality."

He shook his head.

"You’re using one of the most outdated techniques known to wizardkind to sustain one of the most advanced manifestations of magic."

The more he looked at Ilya, the more contradictions he found, and each answer only seemed to raise another question.

"You don’t seem to be stumbling through this blindly," he said. "You’ve clearly thought through your condition, and you’ve already developed methods to compensate for it. Tell me, did you discover all of this on your own? I find it difficult to believe House Belozersky would hire a magic tutor, considering their rather well-known prejudice against wizards."

Ilya let out a breath.

——Never mention me. Ever.

Vera’s warning echoed in the back of his mind.

"It’s all self-taught, sir."

"All of it?"

"Yes." Ilya nodded. "As a Fallen Wizard, the world I see is nothing but winter. Maintaining body heat has become a necessity. So I devoted nearly all of my efforts to heat-based techniques."

"I see."

Anders nodded slowly.

"That explains the Ring of Fire. As a Belozersky, your body shouldn’t be suited for flame-based techniques in the first place. So rather than forcing yourself to learn modern flame-based techniques, you settled for the most primitive technique available and refined it into a means of survival."

He looked back at Ilya.

"But you’ve misunderstood one thing."

"...Sir?"

"You said you wished to transfer into the Department of Magic in order to survive. I assume you believe that receiving a proper magical education will somehow improve your condition."

"Yes."

Anders slowly shook his head.

"Then you’ve come here under a false assumption."

"...."

"Fallen Wizards always die," Anders said. "That is not a theory, nor is it speculation. It is a conclusion written in the lives of every Fallen Wizard who came before you, and it is not a fact I expect you or anyone else to overturn."

"...."

"Even so..." Anders paused for a moment before a smile appeared on his face. "I’d like to see where your story leads."

He looked at Ilya for a few seconds before asking another question.

"I assume your family knows nothing about this. About your condition, I mean. Judging from your disposition, I doubt you would have been permitted to leave the Grand Duchy if they did."

"...No."

"I thought as much."

Anders gave a nod before leaning back in his chair.

"Then for your sake, this interview is confidential, Mr. Belozersky. What you’ve told me today will remain between us unless you give me a reason otherwise."

"...Thank you."

"Don’t thank me just yet." Anders waved a hand dismissively. "I’m not doing this out of kindness. You’ve presented me with something I’ve never seen before, and as a scholar, I have no intention of letting such an interesting case disappear before I’ve had the chance to study it."

Anders reached for one of the drawers in his desk and pulled out a thin folder, placing it on the table before flipping through its contents. After confirming something within the documents, he closed it again and set it aside.

"Though that’s beside the point."

He gestured toward a door at the far end of the office.

"Proceed to the adjoining room. Your interview is over, but your transfer application is not. What comes next is the entrance examination."

He stopped in front of the door before looking back at Ilya.

"Let’s see whether your aptitude is enough to justify everything you’ve told me today."

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