Year 141_Keireki Era_Summer/02
This battle has two troublesome victory conditions.
One is the defeat of the clumsy magician before me, Orfus.
The other is ensuring that I don’t sustain any further injuries.
Retilet said she could fight, but she never said she could move.
In other words, if I become too wounded to move, she will also lose any means of escape.
I need to fulfill both victory conditions.
I asked Retilet for only one action.
"When I throw something, take down the opponent with magic at the same time."
If my prediction is correct, we should be able to defeat Orfus before he launches his second spell.
"Run, Wild dogs."
The moment of truth has come.
I quickly draw and throw my hidden trump card from my pocket.
A piece of bacon, warmed to body temperature.
It is sliced apart in midair.
"Offer your blade, in exchange for blood."
She finished her incantation just before the bacon left my hand.
A red light flashed from her fingertip.
"You saw through the nature of my assassination magic?! No, but even if you did... ah, ah..."
It seems he finally sensed something off—his knees buckled.
A small dagger is embedded in his heart.
"Wh-why…? Lord Dopines said Retilet's immortal power was sealed…"
Those were his last words before Orfus stopped moving.
"Your magic reacts to body heat and flies toward it. Once you give it a rough directional command, it locks onto heat and rushes in, meaning you can’t choose a specific target. You tried to hide that flaw under the term ‘accuracy.’"
It’s an inconvenient trait, but since it can be used repeatedly, you just went for a numbers game.
And in that numbers game, my thigh and upper arm got slashed.
Orfus has no words to refute my prediction—because he’s dead.
With this, I can finally get Retilet to—
I let my guard down.
I’m a fool.
To lower my guard at the very end.
There was still someone else who could use Orfus’s magic.
A deep gash tears across my torso.
"I-I did it! My career change is now a success! I did it! I only copied it by imitation, but I could use it! I really must be a genius! I can even use this to promote myself! Hahaha! Hahahahahaha!!!"
The one laughing like a fool is a man who seems to be an assistant.
Damn it, if you’re going to job hunt, there are much more peaceful ways to do it...
"Gram… you…"
"Sorry… But look, there’s plenty of blood. If you need it for magic, maybe you can finally walk more freely? If so, take as much as you need. I don’t know where you’d sell it, but there’s more than enough to spare."
She placed her hand on my wound.
The blood vanished, and soon I feel an overwhelming surge of ink emanating from her.
"… Gram. You really are… ███—"
Retilet was saying something, but as my consciousness drifted into darkness, I could no longer hear her.
But I feel no fear.
I’ve seen her power firsthand.
If her magic needs blood to activate, then there’s more than enough to go around.
She will surely defeat that career changer and earn her freedom.
Just before I lost consciousness completely, I felt something soft behind my head.
A hand stroked my hair.
Ah, is she giving me a lap pillow? The situation is so surreal that I can’t even recall if this has ever happened before.
"We will meet again, Gram. Surely, definitely, even if by chance, just like this time."
Her voice held a nostalgic warmth, or perhaps a tender affection.
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"—And so! I, Keith, have protected Lady Retilet! Yes, all of this was the scheme of Dopines! A vile plan to use Their Excellency Wiminea! And that—"
Keith shouted grandly, both advertising himself and exposing Dopines’s actions.
His audience listened with their back turned to him.
Not because they refused to face him, but because they were too busy maintaining their weapons, and Keith took the initiative to approach them.
The one he spoke to wore an outfit that blended a dress with armor.
It is a garment permitted only to those of rank among the Holy Knights.
It signifies that she—Wiminea—either holds or once held such a position.
"The one who abducted Lady Retilet—who was it?"
"A random bandit walking the streets! A man young enough to be classified as a youth… and Lady Retilet seemed to call him Gram."
"… Gram…?"
She finally set down her beloved weapon—a hybrid of a blunt weapon and a sword—onto the desk and turned around.
"Tell me again, from the beginning."
Keith gulped unconsciously.
Wiminea was beautiful. She was so stunning one could be entranced by her, but Keith’s reaction did not stem from her beauty.
It was fear.
Wiminea should be human, and yet her presence was utterly unnatural—
(Wh-what… is this person…? Is she… really human? She feels as if she’s nothing more than ink taking human form…)
Keith once honed himself within the Magic Guild.
Not just against those stronger than him, but against all opponents, his sense of defeat was always linked to those who possessed greater ink than he did.
He was not a man who belittled himself, but he pursued magical studies relentlessly and even earned recognition in the academic circles of Imus.
Even so, he could never abandon his desire to be a magician of renown, and he chose to follow the greedy Dopines, thinking it would grant him more opportunities to shine.
In the end, the only things expected of him were his knowledge and calculations.
That aside, he had always used ink as a measure to gauge others.
Whether someone was superior or inferior.
Ink was his yardstick.
But what if the amount of ink before him was something he had never known?
What if it was something no human should possess?
Keith lets out a small scream and collapses to the floor.
"What’s wrong, mister Keith?"
"M-m-monster…"
He was so shattered that he couldn’t even hide his words.
Hearing this, Wiminea did not get angry.
She simply smiled, thinly.
What do you think about this chapter?
