I Became a Civil Servant Who Can Use Magic

“Let’s go, miss.”
“You’re always working so hard~”

Seraphine got into the car with the escort of her dedicated butler.
The car smoothly moved away from headquarters towards the residential area.
After a while, the car gradually slowed down and then stopped.

The place where she got off was the entrance of a luxurious private house that her father had personally prepared for her.

Upon arriving home, she changed clothes with the help of maids and immediately threw herself onto the bed.

In the soft blanket, Seraphine quietly closed her eyes, mulling over the Inspection Department rookie she met today.

“Loen Franz.”

A 4-star mage with dual attributes.
To be honest, it’s impressive.

Of course, I’m more impressive though.

A smile appeared on Seraphine’s lips.

“A mage who mastered double casting at this age is historically rare~”

The self-proclaimed genius mage’s brain started working furiously.

The battlefield of the upcoming duel was drawn in her mind.

Herself casting spells while modulating the flow of mana, and Loen facing against her.
As their magic collides, mana storms swirl around.
An intense battle of wits ensues.

And the winner is?
Of course, me, Seraphine.

After simulating various other situations like this, the result:

No matter how hard she looked, defeat was nowhere to be seen.

Loen’s powerful magic imbued with two attributes?
It’s enough to continue casting existing magic with one hand while using attack magic for check with the other hand.

The possibility of Loen, who has to choose only one between attack and defense, beating me? Absolutely none.
Seraphine was confident in her victory.

The situation after the duel was already drawn in her mind.

The image of easily defeating Loen and receiving people’s cheers!
And even the victor’s composure of extending a merciful hand to the loser lying on the ground!

“Hehe.”

Laughter escaped from Seraphine’s mouth.
Before she knew it, she was rolling around on the bed, her golden hair scattering here and there.
It was behavior with no trace of dignity, but this much was fine since no one was watching anyway.

She spent quite a while like that, immersed in happy delusions.

After work, Loen returned home and sat at her desk, falling into contemplation.

“It’s my first time dueling a mage of the same level.”

Comparing Seraphine’s and my strengths, we’re at almost the same level.
Seraphine’s star rank is higher, but since I’m a dual attribute holder, there shouldn’t be much difference in magic power. Plus, we’ve both mastered double casting.

It’s truly a golden balance.

That’s why I need to be even more certain.
In the training room, I maintained a “so what” attitude no matter what Seraphine said.

But that doesn’t mean I’m taking the duel with her lightly at all.
If I had such an attitude from the start, I wouldn’t have accepted the duel in the first place.

Once I’ve started.
I’ll see it through to the end for certain.

The reason I headed to the training room in the first place was to bring my body condition to its peak.
And now it’s time to hone my magic skills.

Before that, let’s organize things first.

“First, the reason I can exert power beyond my star rank.”

This is entirely due to attributes.

The five origins that make up the world.
Similar to Earth’s Five Elements.

However, Earth’s Five Elements are just part of fortune-telling.
It’s limited to interpretations like “Fire and Wood get along well, Metal and Wood clash” and so on.

On the other hand, attributes here are different.

Every being is born with one attribute. There’s no one without an attribute.
Very rarely, some are born with two attributes, and they are treated specially as dual attribute holders. I fall into this category.

Attributes are not just something you’re born with.
Nor do they determine personality or temperament.

More important than that is power and skill.
Attributes influence all powers and skills that a being manifests.

For example, Inspection Department Team Leader Ead.
One born with the flame attribute.

Everything she handles is imbued with flames.
The power of flames that is hot, intense, and burns everything.
That’s why Ead’s sword burns.

Then what about me?
A dual attribute holder born with light and darkness attributes.

While flame, cold, and lightning are common attributes derived from nature,
Light and darkness are higher attributes derived from the distant universe.

Higher attributes are on a different level from common attributes.
They touch on much more fundamental aspects.

For instance,
Light contains the power of regeneration and amplification,
Darkness contains the power of extinction and absorption.

And I can imbue all these powers into magic as much as I want.

This is also why I was able to win when I had a magic bullet duel with the 5-star elf mage.

My magic bullet was imbued with the power of amplification and extinction. These were bestowed from the light and darkness attributes respectively.
Thanks to this, the power of the magic increased greatly and even gained the property of decomposing the opponent’s magic.

That’s why I could overwhelm the 5-star mage’s magic bullet despite being 4-star.

For the same reason, my magic power will overwhelm Seraphine.
Because while she’s just a lightning attribute holder, I’m a light and darkness attribute holder.

Anyway.
The reason why I can demonstrate power beyond my star rank seems to be roughly organized.

“Next, double casting.”

The time when Seraphine and I mastered double casting is similar.
Right around the time when I went on vacation to my home and learned double casting from my father.
Our proficiency should be similar too.

However, the opponent doesn’t know that I’ve mastered double casting.
This will act as a huge advantage in the early stages of the duel. Because it will draw out the opponent’s carelessness.

So, to summarize my duel with Seraphine:

“A duel between double casting mages of similar levels.”

Tap.
Loen put down the pen she was holding on the desk.
Then she closed her eyes and traced back her memories.
To recall her father’s teachings.

In a duel between mages who have mastered double casting? From this point on, the psychological warfare of reading the opponent’s next move becomes most important.

Don’t be bound by rules.

“Rules, huh..”

Mages are rare beings.
People who use swords are abundant, but not mages.

Because of that, mages’ pride is generally sky-high.
Their pride in magic is also enormous.
They consider themselves special beings who value intellect and principles.

Perhaps that’s why.
They are mostly bound by unnecessary rules.
These rules can be seen as similar to medieval chivalry.

Here are a few representative examples:

Mages must be elegant.
Rolling on the ground or fighting roughly are behaviors unbecoming of a mage.

Mages must be righteous.
Using vile tricks in a fair duel is an act that sullies a mage’s pride.

Just hearing these rules is suffocating.

Fortunately, my father wasn’t bound by such things.
Rather, he valued efficiency more than anyone else.

Don’t be swayed by such nonsense, Loen. What use is it to die worrying about rules? Remember, it’s not the strong who survive, but those who survive are strong. Understand?

This was the belief of my father who survived until the end and reached the level of an archmage.
Loen fully agreed with those words.

That’s right, father.
Who cares about rules.. Isn’t winning by any means enough?

Inheriting my father’s will, I decided not to discriminate between means and methods in this duel.

Standing still and just exchanging magic? Of course, that’s not even in consideration.
Unconditionally quick and decisive. And like actual combat.

I plan to use magic that can be cast quickly, even if it’s less powerful, rather than flashy and powerful magic.
Even better if I can cast while running.

“Let’s imagine.”

Loen closed her eyes.

In her mind, she drew out the duel with Seraphine.
She imagined the numerous possibilities that could unfold there.

Tens, even hundreds of times.
Synthesizing all of that, my probability of winning is about 70%.

“It’s ambiguous..”

This time, she excluded projectile magic.
Magic like magic bullets, judgment, etc.

Not only does it take a long time to cast, but there’s a possibility of the attack missing or being deflected if the opponent adjusts the angle of their mana shield.
Although it requires high-level magic manipulation skills, Seraphine might be fully capable of it.
No, we have to assume she’s capable.

After running the simulation again.
The probability rose from 70 to 90.

“90%…. Not bad, but.”

This time, she changed the combat style.
By forcing close-quarters magic combat by approaching the opponent.
It’s also the combat style of practical mages active on the frontlines.

Of course, I’ve never seen it in person.
I’ve only seen it over the shoulder when my father’s acquaintance visited the mansion and had a duel with him.

As a result of simulating like that.
The probability of winning increased significantly.

“This should work.”

The goal is set.

To raise the proficiency of magic to be used in the duel to a level where it can be cast while running,
And simultaneously extremely shortening the casting time.

Loen nodded lightly as if strengthening her resolve.
And immediately stood up and began training.

Afterwards, magic training continued throughout the night.

The next morning.
Ead, who got into the passenger seat of the car, glanced at Loen and opened her mouth.

“You look very tired.”
“Ah…. Do I?”

Indeed, dark circles had settled under Loen’s eyes.
Anyone could see she was steeped in fatigue.

Burning with enthusiasm, she lost track of time while training…
When she came to her senses, dawn was already breaking.

‘I should sleep on time today..’

“Don’t overdo it.”

Ead threw out words of concern in passing.

“I have to be certain.”
“…”

The car arrived at headquarters.
After parking, Loen entered the office with Ead.

“Good morning, Team Leader~ And youngest..? Eck? What’s wrong with your face?”
“Just, you know.”
“Don’t overdo it too much!”

Senior Ria throwing out the same words of concern as Ead.

“You need to maintain your condition well and win the duel to make money! I’ve already set up the perfect scheme! Since no one except us knows that you’ve mastered double casting, most people will bet on the Enforcement Department’s youngest. In that situation, if you just win? Wow, the payout will be no joke!”

It turned out to be concern not for the youngest, but for the profits to be earned from the upcoming duel.
The team members were at a loss for words seeing Ria spout words like a machine gun. Even the Team Leader.

“Loen.”

Ead called Loen, who had sat down.

“Yes?”
“I forgot to tell you in advance. Go to the Director’s office right now.”
“The Director’s office?”
“Oh~ Looks like the results have finally been decided?”

Ead silently nodded.
Loen stood up from her seat again.

Loen arrived at the Director’s office.

Sure enough.
The door opened without even touching it.

“Come in.”

Director Muston’s voice was heard.
As Loen entered, she saw the Director lying on the sofa.

‘He’s still lying on the sofa as soon as he comes to work.’

“It’s been a while, Inspector Loen.”
“Indeed it has.”

Ugh.
Muston got up from the sofa and sat in the desk chair of the Director’s office.
He tilted his head.

“Don’t stand, sit in that chair.”
“Yes.”
“You know why I called you, right?”
“Early promotion review..”
“That’s right.”

Muston made eye contact with Loen.
Somehow I had a feeling since the interview. As expected, my eyes weren’t wrong.

Hehehehehe.
Muston, who suddenly burst into laughter, then suddenly turned serious and announced the result to Loen.

“Early promotion to Senior Inspector. It’s essentially confirmed.”
“Oh.”

Loen’s reaction was ambiguous.
Partly because everyone around had been making such a fuss, but mostly because she was too tired.

By the way, essentially confirmed?

“Already a promotion. As expected, you’re a talent perfectly suited for the Inspection Corps. Don’t you think?”
“That’s right.”

Muston narrowed his eyes.
A reaction as if hearing expected news.
Is this what makes an Inspection Corps rookie different?

“You’re not being appointed as Senior Inspector right away. You’ll only be officially recognized after going on a solo assignment with an aide and successfully completing the mission.”
“I see.”
“We need a plausible justification to prevent gossip. That’s why we’re asking you to accumulate one more achievement.”
“I understand.”

Loen understood right away.
So I’m a Senior Inspector (provisional) now, and I’ll be officially promoted after going on one more assignment?

Muston grinned and brought up a new topic.

“While we’re at it, let’s conduct the aide interview right now.”
“Here?”
“The first round of interviews within the Inspection Corps has already been passed, so we just need to check if you like them or not.”

Snap! Snap!

Muston snapped his fingers and called someone’s name.

With the sound of approaching footsteps, eventually a woman with light sky-blue hair appeared inside the Director’s office.
Loen couldn’t help but be surprised at the two goat horns protruding from her head and the dragon tail fluttering wildly.

Wait a minute.
My aide is a dragon person?

“Hello! I’m Psyche!”

It was Loen and the aide’s first meeting.