Chapter 22 · The New Sprout Festival (4)

Since books were my only friends, I had read a few tactics manuals thinking they might help me survive. I wasn’t going to war, and even as I read them I wondered what use they’d ever be—but the day had finally come to put them to use!

‘See, the more books you read, the better.’

Two mages, one magic swordsman, one holy knight.

We had a tank, a damage dealer, and a healer all covered. I didn’t know how strong their combat abilities were or how great their magic was, but if all we had to do was run… I quickly worked my head.

The problem was that one of them was in a state of panic.

“P-P-Princess… the real princess…?”

“You said you’d twust Asha and hewp, didn’t you?!”

“Am I… going to be arrested? Then please, just don’t take my mother. My mother did nothing wrong.”

The girl groveled on the floor and begged. Flustered, I spoke urgently.

“I won’t take both of you! What do you take Asha fow!”

“Wait a moment, Princess. She still has to pay for her crimes. She took part in the crime too, didn’t she!”

“Awk, this sister is a victim too.”

I glared at Ark, who was being tactless, and soothed the girl.

“Sister, if we want to get out of hewe, I need youw help. Once we escape, Asha wiww pwotect you.”

She looked at me with disbelieving eyes, then burst into tears.

“I-I don’t know if I’ll be of any help, but I’ll do everything I can.”

“Wizen and Awk wiww do whatevew Asha says too, wight?”

“I await your orders!”

“Just tell me what to do. I’ll beat them all to a pulp.”

The sobbing girl was bewildered by the astonishing trust they had in me.

“Um… do they know too?”

“Know what?”

“You know, that the princess has…”

She probably wanted to say—that I had died and come back nine times. I quickly signaled her. They don’t know! They don’t know at all! She grew even more flustered and asked them.

“Um… the princess is still a young child. How can you trust her so unconditionally?”

“Because the princess is a genius.”

Ark answered glibly.

“At the very least, she’s a billion times smarter than us.”

Rizen answered quickly too, not to be outdone.

Two well-raised puppies—I wouldn’t trade them for a million soldiers…

“Fiwst, we need to untie the wopes.”

The three of us were still bound tight.

“There’s no knife or anything… wight?”

The girl shook her head helplessly. There didn’t seem to be anything useful in the storage room either. There was a cutting spell, but it was for offense and hard to control precisely—one mistake and it could sever your wrist.

Above all, I didn’t know how to do it yet. Damn it. When I get out of here, I’m learning that first.

“Sister, how much magic do you know?”

The girl’s face flushed bright red. She hemmed and hawed, then confessed.

“…Shamefully, I only know mental binding. I was dragged off right after my mana manifested, so this is the only thing the men taught me.”

“Hmm… to use that spell, you need a medium, wight?”

There are usually three ways to cast magic on a person like this. Direct contact with the target, using a medium like the roses we’d been holding when we collapsed, or casting without contact or medium.

“Yes, I heard that with more training you can cast without a medium, but I’m not there yet…”

The girl bowed her head deeply. There was no need for that at all. To cast high-level magic like that without a medium, you’d need professional training at an academy.

“That’s enough.”

I said with a grin.

“Sister, do you know what aggowo is?”

◇ ◆ ◇

“Brother Goros, the scouts outside have doubled… no, tripled! I think we need to leave right now.”

“Why the hell would they multiply?!”

“I don’t know. Could it be because of those kids from earlier? Maybe a missing person report was filed…”

Crash! Smash!

“What was that sound?”

“Sounded like the storage room.”

Thud, thud, thud—someone was walking over. At that moment, the girl burst out the door, a broken bottle in each hand, and shouted in a trembling voice.

“Hey, you f*cking bastards!”

G-girl…? I told you to draw aggro, but that’s too rough!

After that, she unleashed a rapid-fire barrage of unspeakable curses, and we, who had been watching the situation while cutting the ropes with broken glass shards, were appalled.

Rizen covered his ears at the vulgar curses he’d never heard in his life, and Ark was so stunned he just stared blankly out the door.

“I’m not going to live as your slave anymore, you dog-like bastards!”

Despite her face looking like she couldn’t possibly use rough language, she was the owner of a remarkably foul mouth.

“What, did this bitch suddenly go crazy…? Did you take something?!”

“You bald bastard! Your breath stank so much it scared all your hair away—you’re a cue-ball brat beyond saving even with magic!”

“Wh-what?!”

Snrk, saying such cruel things to a bald man. This girl is truly terrifying.

“Hey, what are you doing?! Grab her and beat her right now!”

The man who had been standing there dumbfounded finally snapped to and approached the girl. The moment he got close, she immediately threw the bottle in her hand.

Smash!

The man hit square in the forehead with the bottle staggered for a moment, then lunged at her.

“You ungrateful wench, really! After we fed you and gave you a place to sleep—!”

Thud!

He couldn’t finish his sentence before collapsing.

“That bitch used mental binding!”

“Grab her!”

As several rushed at her all at once—

“Igniárĭus!”

I, hiding behind the door, hurled a lit bottle at the liquor cabinet.

Crash!

The bottles on display shattered and rolled across the floor, and the high-proof ones began to catch fire quickly.

“Damn it! When did those brats—!”

“Put it out! If the patrolling knight order catches us, we’re finished!”

Amid the chaos, Ark darted out and drew the sword from the fallen man’s waist.

“Ugh!”

“Aaaah!”

He immediately activated his aura, striking down the three or four men nearby.

“Kuh…! That brat can use aura!”

The fallen man cried out, clutching the gushing wound at his waist.

Even an apprentice is a member of Dinitas. He was on a completely different level from street thugs who couldn’t even use aura. Ark took the lead, holding off several men and clearing an escape route.

“You insolent little brats!”

Thud!

The hulking Tanian, who had been upstairs, leaped down from the railing. When he swung his massive greatsword, a flash of black aura flew swiftly toward Ark.

“Ark!”

Thankfully Rizen blocked it with a shield of divine power, but the aura was so powerful that the tingling shockwave reached even me.

“You think you’re the only ones who can use aura, you arrogant young master!”

Clang!

His sword pierced through the shield, and though Ark barely parried it, the difference in size made his arms shake.

“Rizen, take the princess and go!”

“But…!”

What kind of death-flag conversation are they having!

“Awk, get back!”

“What?!”

“Trĕmor!”

I poured all my mana into casting the vibration spell, and the ground heaved violently, sending the massive liquor cabinet full of bottles crashing down onto Tanian.

“Kraaagh!”

“Wizen, this way, quickwy!”

The vibration magic was so powerful that the whole tavern was thrown into chaos, and several men slipped on the bottles and fell. We squeezed through the opening by a hair’s breadth.

“Állĭgo ánĭmus!”

“Sáucĭo!”

Curses flew at us from all directions as we fled. What on earth is wrong with this criminal organization?! People who can use high-level magic like this—why aren’t they royal mages instead of doing this?! Trying to understand criminals’ minds means you lose, but still…!

“Wait! Th-there…!”

In a pile of garbage heaped on one side of the shop, I saw my locket necklace and my seed pouch. You bastards, do you have any idea how precious those are?!

Ark darted toward them, and three or four men chased him all at once.

Clang, clang, clang!

The swords that couldn’t withstand his aura shattered and crumbled.

“Hey, you pathetic idiots! How many of you are there—and you can’t beat one little kid?!”

“Princess, hurry! Let’s just get out first!”

Rizen shouted, pulling me and the girl along.

“You want us to weave Awk behind?!”

“The only one who can use aura seems to be that one who fell earlier. He’ll be fine!”

I looked back worriedly, and then I heard the girl’s scream from beside me.

“Where do you think you’re going, leaving your mother behind, you treacherous little bitch!”

Goros was holding a woman who appeared to be the girl’s mother, a knife at her throat.

“Mom!”

“Put that bottle down right now. And you, the temple’s dog. You drop your sword and kneel nicely too. Otherwise I’ll cut this bitch’s throat right now!”

As a thin line of blood beaded on the trembling woman’s neck, Rizen dropped his sword with a pained expression. Just as the girl was about to set down the bottle she was holding,

“Die!”

Smash!

The bottle struck the off-guard Goros square in the head. As he staggered, Rizen quickly snatched the girl’s mother, and we ran out the door, leaving him collapsing behind us.

“They’ve escaped!”

“After them!”

Rizen blocked the doorway and spoke to the girl with grim determination.

“I’ll hold them here, so take the princess and go! Toward the crowded plaza!”

They’d known each other for barely a few minutes, yet they exchanged looks full of trust like ten-year war comrades, and the girl tucked me tightly under her arm and ran for dear life.

“Wizen, Awk!”

This can’t happen. We have to go together. So it really was impossible against dozens of them. My heart pounded anxiously. We must have run about three blocks when—

Whoosh!

“Kyaa!”

The girl and her mother were struck by an unidentified black aura flying from behind and collapsed. I tumbled onto the street with them.

“Sister!”

“Ugh…”

Blood was pouring from the deeply slashed wound on her back.

“Sister, sister…! No!”

And I didn’t even know the girl’s name yet.

“That’s why you shouldn’t have tried to bite the hand that feeds you.”

A mocking voice. It was Tanian. Had Ark and Rizen been taken down too? My heart dropped like a stone. Covered in blood from head to toe, he snorted and came over, grabbing me by the hair.

“It was surprising that a brat like you could use magic.”

I drew up every last bit of mana I had left, thinking of any way to strike him. But strangely, my mana was draining away rapidly.

“…?”

“It’s a magic stone that can absorb the opponent’s mana.”

On one raised hand, he wore a ring set with a dark red stone. A powerful mana energy rippled from the stone.

“It’s still a prototype, but it seems to work.”

“What…!”

I’d never heard of or seen such a thing! My mana was draining fast. At this rate…!

“You Santran noble bastards. You’re so damn arrogant and disgusting I wanted to wipe you all out—and that day isn’t far off. Come to think of it, are you a noble too?”

I gasped for breath, clinging to my fading consciousness.

“You seem like you’d be pretty useful, so I’m torn… but you’re the one who put me in this state and blew up my shop, and that pisses me off.”

He raised his thick arm and said,

“Just take a few hits. If you die, well, that’s that.”

And just as his hand was about to swing at me—

Whoosh!

I was thrown to the ground again. I couldn’t tell what had happened, and I was confused. Tanian, who had been holding me, was lying on the street. I carefully raised myself. What caught my dizzy, wavering vision was…

The father who had failed to save me nine times—no, who had never even tried to save me.

It was Paeon.