I Became a Civil Servant Who Can Use Magic

Karin Franz’s failing child-rearing endeavor achieved a dramatic reversal and great success.

In other words, she hit the jackpot belatedly.

Upon hearing the news of Loen’s early promotion, noble ladies continuously offered her words of congratulation.

“Congratulations, Duchess Franz.”
“You must be relieved of your worries about your child now~”

Karin Franz, who said it wasn’t such a big deal to celebrate while fanning herself, couldn’t stop smiling.

“That child Loen, she showed promise from a young age, you know.”
“Of course, of course.”
“I thought the same thing.”

Indeed.
She showed promise from a young age.

The promise to make her parents’ lives utterly miserable!

She had no interest whatsoever in etiquette lessons or heir training,
and whenever they took her to banquets or social gatherings, she would always hide away in a corner.

And what’s more, what?
How to quickly start a campfire? 100 useful facts to know when adventuring?
When she got excited about learning such things, it nearly turned their stomachs inside out.

She even staged a protest by lying on the floor once.
It was when they were pushing for an engagement with the 1st Prince.

They were so shocked then too.

Of course, for Loen, that’s quite an embarrassing memory as well.
But compared to actually getting married like that….

In the end, the Franz couple decided to take drastic measures.

And that measure was:

Putting their daughter into the Imperial Inspection Corps.

And the result?
A great success.

In fact, they used all the family’s influence to secure an interview spot with the Inspection Corps, but passing was a separate matter.
However, Loen passed with flying colors.
And into the Inspection Department at that!

Even this alone would have been a satisfactory result.

But the recent news was quite extraordinary.

‘Loen got an early promotion in just half a year?’

My daughter?
What on earth happened?

“This is something I heard from my husband. As you know, he’s an inspector, right? So I learned this fact.”

Everyone’s attention focused on the noblewoman who was subtly boasting about her husband while bringing up the topic.
Karin Franz also opened her ears.

“Can you believe it? They say she completely uprooted a huge noble faction in the frontier.”
“Is that really true?”
“Oh my.”

The surroundings buzzed at the news that a duke’s daughter, just half a year after joining the Inspection Corps, had single-handedly carried out a great purge.
It was such unbelievable news.

Hearing this, Karin Franz was shocked.

‘I don’t remember Loen having such a ruthless personality…?’

After the gathering ended and she returned home, Karin immediately summoned the butler.

“You called?”
“This letter, make sure to deliver it to Loen.”
“Understood.”

The day after Seraphine froze at Loen’s joke that wasn’t really a joke.

Two people stood facing each other in the underground training grounds of the Inspection Headquarters.

“It will be different from last time.”
“I look forward to it.”

Loen silently smiled at Seraphine’s boastful words.

Soon, the duel began.

It wasn’t a public duel in front of people like before.
It was a light duel with the purpose of checking each other’s skills and strengthening their friendship after a long time.

As always, it started with casting magic bullets.
Being the most basic magic, the process was as natural as flowing water.

Mana condensation, attribute assignment, property assignment….

Seraphine went a step further.
To counter Loen’s characteristic of shattering opponent’s magic, she altered the trajectory of her magic bullets.

“Magic Bullet.”

Soon, 4 magic bullets were fired.

The magic bullets, divided into straight and curved paths, poured towards the opponent.

Because she strongly imbued them with lightning attributes, their speed was very fast.
So fast there wasn’t even enough time to cast defensive magic.

Loen’s eyebrow twitched slightly.
Seraphine smiled with satisfaction.

Since the paths don’t overlap, you’ll have to defend against at least 1 of the 4 magic bullets no matter what.
Because Investigator Loen can only make 3 magic bullets.

‘I wonder how she’ll respond?’

While wondering, Seraphine was also preparing to cast her next spell.

Soon, Loen moved.

Loen, who belatedly cast magic bullets.

Pop pop pop!
3 magic bullets were fired, each shattering Seraphine’s magic bullets.
What remained was one magic bullet flying straight on.

3m, 2m, 1m.
Now.

Loen, who had been timing it, quickly rolled diagonally.

The magic bullet grazed Loen’s shoulder as it passed by.
Her body tingled due to the electric property imbued in the bullet, but it was bearable.

I knew you’d do that.
Seraphine immediately stretched out her hand and fired her next spell.

“Lightning Lance.”

Crackle.
A spear of lightning with blue light flashing shot towards Loen like a thunderbolt.

“Mana Shield.”

Immediately, Loen tilted the angle of the shield to narrowly deflect the lance and attempted a counterattack right away.

“Mana Blade.”

An invisible blade slashed through the air towards Seraphine.

“Barrier.”

Seraphine cast the defensive magic she had prepared in advance to block the blade. Crack. A fissure appeared in the barrier.

In the end, the barrier broke under Loen’s magic bullet that flew in right after.

Seraphine’s defeat by a narrow margin.

Seraphine let out a wry laugh.
She thought she had practiced hard enough.

Still a formidable opponent, I see.

“I didn’t expect you to cast a shield while rolling on the ground.”
“It was possible thanks to my experience in the Barrier.”
“I see.”

The corners of Seraphine’s mouth trembled.
She was dumbfounded by Loen speaking as if it was nothing special.
However, her pride was too hurt to act surprised, so she tried her best to act nonchalant.

Casting magic requires a high level of concentration.
That’s why mages stand still on both feet when casting.

But Loen continued casting magic while rolling her body.

That was something not just anyone could do.
Even Seraphine, who was called a genius, still couldn’t do it.

Loen said it was possible because of her experience in the Barrier,
but if it was possible with just a few months of experience….

‘I would have done that long ago too.’

More than that, for a 5-star mage to be on par with a 4-star mage.
It couldn’t help but be a significant scratch to her pride.

However, because it was Loen.
Seraphine, trying hard to calm her mind, asked.

“By the way, what was it you wanted to talk about?”
“Hmm.”

After pondering for a moment, Loen opened her mouth.

“What is Investigator Seraphine’s goal?”

Seraphine immediately grasped the intention behind the question.
After all, it hadn’t been long since she reached 5-star.

A cunning thought of ‘Should I just not tell her?’ crossed her mind, but she shook her head to dispel it.
It wouldn’t be right for her, a genius mage, to use such a cowardly tactic.

Seraphine answered honestly.

“It’s nothing special~ Making everyone look up to me. That’s the path I’ve chosen.”
“I see.”

Is that really a path? Isn’t it basically just a dream?
Loen was inwardly taken aback.

Anyway, the sentiment is similar.
She soon accepted it.

“Don’t tell me, you still haven’t decided on your path?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“That’s unexpected. I thought someone like Investigator Loen would already have a firm goal. Rather, I was wondering if I was still at 4-star because I hadn’t completed my fourth star yet.”
“That’s usually the case.”

Seraphine’s eyes widened at the unexpected answer.
She couldn’t help it.

To reach 5-star, you don’t need some tremendous enlightenment.
You just need to firmly decide on your own path.

That’s why everyone passes this part without much difficulty.
There’s no need for a grandiose goal, just enough to quell the confusion in your heart is sufficient.

Rather, the biggest hurdle is whether you can complete the fourth star near your heart.

Star.
A mana condensate that absorbs and stores magical power, and a special bodily organ that allows humans to use magical power.
To explain it simply, it’s similar to the mana circles widely known in the previous life.

When an ordinary person generates a star near their heart through painstaking effort and completes it,
Only then do they become a being capable of utilizing magical power.

Naturally, the star rank is determined by the number of stars.
The more stars, the higher the ability level and magical power output.

Anyway.

To reach 5-star, you need to complete the fourth star.
Usually, this part takes a long time.
Because the process of completing it is never easy.

But Loen completed her fourth star a year ago.

The reason she still hasn’t reached 5-star despite this.

Since this is a world based on the original novel, she’s probably contemplating what stance to take.

Loen, who had been lost in thought, soon relaxed her expression and extended her hand to Seraphine.

“Would you like to come along?”
“Where to?”
“A light walk.”

“This is quite different from the walk I know.”

Seraphine expressed her doubt towards Loen, but Loen remained silent.
She was just quietly looking down below.

Whoosh.
A strong wind brushed past them.

The place they were standing was the rooftop of a 5-story stone building on the outskirts of the capital.
Despite standing at the edge of the railing, neither of them showed any signs of fear.
They were just curious about Loen’s intentions.

“I just came to clear my head.”

At Loen’s words, Seraphine made an incredulous expression.

“Usually when people say they’re clearing their head, don’t they go for a ‘real’ walk or have teatime? Not raid a criminal organization.”

Psyche just wagged her tail excitedly.

“How dare they traffic drugs in the capital!”

At first, she was flustered when suddenly dragged out, but soon after learning it was a ‘walk’, she completely changed her attitude.
Whether it’s a real walk or this, if it feels good, that’s all that matters.

For reference, the investigation into this organization had already been completed by the Support Department earlier.

As a result, they were deemed too insignificant to even warrant deploying personnel,
so no separate meeting was necessary.

It meant they could take action first and report later without issue.

Turn.
Loen turned her body and stretched out both hands.

“Let’s wrap this up quickly and return to headquarters.”
“……Alright.”
“Yes!”

Psyche and Seraphine each grabbed one of Loen’s hands.
In that state, Loen lay her body down.

Due to gravity, they naturally started falling.
While falling and feeling the air resistance.

Loen shouted.

“Flight.”

At that moment when they stopped in mid-air.
Loen changed direction and charged towards the window.

Crash!
Three intruders suddenly burst in, shattering the window.

“Who the hell are these bastards!”
“We’re under attack!”

The organization members who were bonding inside the building were startled.

“You’ve got some nerve attacking this place! This will be your gra-”

Oh shit.
The faces of those who recognized the intruders’ uniforms turned pale.

They may be small fry from the Inspection Corps’ perspective.
But they’re still a sizeable criminal organization operating in both legal and illegal realms.
As such, their executives have a certain level of knowledge.

Of course, they recognized the Inspection Corps uniform. As soon as they realized, they hurriedly retreated. Life is more precious than anything else, after all.

On the other hand, the regular members, knowing nothing, charged forward with loud battle cries.

“Attack!”
“Don’t kill them, just crush their arms and legs!”

Psyche, who had been quietly chanting enhancement magic activation words, raised her head.
Then she responded to their intense welcome with a sweet smile.

Crunch.

“I won’t kill you either, just crush your heads, okay?”

Then, lightning spears and gray beams flew towards the organization members.

A short while later, having finished what was literally a light walk, Loen’s group returned to headquarters and dispersed to their respective positions.

As quitting time approached, Loen, who had been writing reports, greeted the Team Leader and then made her way home.

It was time to make a decision.