As Suimei began his chant, the air around him began to stir like a draft was blowing. Paper and other light objects began flying across the room while all the curtains and lace doilies began flapping noisily. Before long, the air had condensed itself within Suimei’s hand, which he’d thrust out towards the floor.
“I can’t say I’m pleased you’re using that kind of magicka,” Hydemary muttered.
“Says the girl who trapped me in here,” Suimei responded in kind.
Hydemary finally sounded a bit exasperated as she held her tophat in place. But Suimei didn’t relent, and neither did she.
“Clauneck’s Wind!”
Suimei unleashed Clauneck’s Wind, a violent spell that contained a devil. As the compressed ball of air in Suimei’s hand exploded, a tremendous shockwave shot through the room, sending dolls and furniture alike all crashing into the walls. In the middle of all the commotion, a portion of the flowery tapestry behind the bed flipped up.
“...”
Suimei caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of his eye as he kept his attention focused on Hydemary. It was now her turn to make a move, and she swiftly charged at him. She had some distance to cover after being blown all the way back to the wall, but she closed in on Suimei in the blink of an eye. She was almost blindingly fast. It was somewhat unexpected considering the way she’d been moving thus far, but it seemed she was now intent on ending things in close combat. She dashed right at Suimei’s side, thrusting her wand out towards him.
“Schockenstab!”
[Shock Wand!]
Suimei moved to evade, but he hadn’t properly anticipated what was about to happen. The moment he thought electricity was about to shoot out of her wand, a dazzling current electrified their surroundings and began lifting objects into the air. And it didn’t stop. Antique chairs, teacups, floral cushions... Anything and everything the current touched began flying around the room, sparking as it went. It was almost like the current was grabbing things and flailing them around like a sticky hand. Judging from this and everything else he’d seen so far, Suimei surmised that toys were the basis of her magicka just as a chair came flying at him. That was dangerous enough as it was, but the chair was now electrified too. Suimei tried to dodge it, but...
“Ugh!”
The teddy bear still holding on to his left hand was pulling on his arm as if attracted by the electricity.
Wait, it’s not just heavy, but it can pull me around too?!
With his mobility restricted by the teddy bear, it was all Suimei could do to throw himself to the ground to dodge the chair. He would be vulnerable this way, but he had no other choice.
And as soon as he dove for it, the teddy bear began dragging him over to a part of the room that seemed to be free of electrified objects... making it the perfect place to send them all flying at him at once.
The term “standalone” popped into Suimei’s head. The teddy bear and the dolls were all moving on their own in accordance with their master’s will, like cute little soldiers. Not that Suimei thought they were cute in the moment.
Since he couldn’t move as he wanted to, he instead tried leaping in the direction the teddy bear was pulling him. Getting there sooner would give him more time to prepare for the incoming attack, and he immediately put up his defenses accordingly.
“Primum et secundum moenia, expansio localis!”
[First and second ramparts, local deployment!]
As the electrified toys and furniture came flying at Suimei, he deployed a magicka circle around his outthrust hand like a shield. This was an accumulated area-type barrier. The moment it took form, the magicka circle unleashed a golden radiance.
The brilliant fortress, the Golden Magnale, repelled every attack that came raining down on Suimei. The electrified objects were flung back at Hydemary or into the walls.
“So you finally showed me.”
“Reluctantly, yes.”
Now then, what to do?
Now that he’d used Clauneck’s Wind and the Golden Magnale, the mystical entropy in the area was approaching its limit. Suimei now had to avoid using powerful magicka for fear of triggering the magicka melt phenomenon, but at the same time, lesser magicka didn’t seem appropriate considering his opponent’s capabilities.
No, hang on...
He’d seen it just moments ago—a glimpse of victory revealed by Clauneck’s Wind. Taking a shot at seizing it, Suimei went on the attack. He once more gathered mana in his right hand and charged at Hydemary.
“That again? Don’t you think it’s a bit silly for a magician to charge straight in from the front?”
Suimei indeed looked like he was rushing into a fistfight with Hydemary, which she was rather critical of. It was a simplistic plan, and a most ineffectual one.
But rather than engaging Hydemary, Suimei thrust out his right hand like he was aiming to fire his next spell directly at the dresser in front of him. As he did, Hydemary’s dolls grappled him.
“How unfortunate,” she said. “What were you hoping to accomplish firing magicka over there? Were you aiming for a draw?”
“Sorry, but no. I win.”
“What are you—”
Suimei was still standing there, ready to fire at the mirror over the dresser. But it wasn’t like the mirror was precious to Hydemary or anything. She couldn’t figure out why he was smiling so confidently... until she looked up at the mirror for herself.
Reflected in the mirror was the flowery tapestry by the bed... Or rather, the enormous flask that it was hiding. And turning to face it, Suimei put his hand to his chin.
“That’s your flask, right? Meaning this is checkmate.”
“Hmm... So your spell is the type that can be reflected in a mirror, and that charge was just a bluff?”
“Wasn’t that obvious? It was an oversight on your part for not considering otherwise.”
Suimei’s charge wasn’t embellished or overacted to try and disguise the bluff. He’d been hoping Hydemary would misread him, but that wasn’t exactly a novel trick.
“What? And you were ready to get struck down at the same time?”
“I can take a hit. I can just heal myself afterwards anyway. That said, it’s not something I’d prefer to do if I don’t have to.”
But you’re not so easy, are you?
As Suimei indirectly praised Hydemary, she finally nodded in understanding.
“Not bad. Okay, I guess you pass for now.”
“Pass what?”
“I wanted to make sure that the person I’m to assist is worthy of me. I was testing you.”
“Testing me...? Is that the reason you had me come in alone?”
“Yup. You get it, right? All of a sudden I’m supposed to be the assistant of someone I’ve never met before. I can’t just blindly agree to that. That’s why I asked my father and sister for this opportunity.”
Hydemary explained herself rather matter-of-factly, to which Suimei grimaced in response.
“Well...”
He could at least understand where she was coming from. Magicians generally preferred to choose who they learned under and who they did their research with, after all. But even so, Suimei took issue with this sudden little “test” of Hydemary’s. Just as Annaliese had warned, she was certainly selfish.
But as Suimei stood there scrutinizing her, Hydemary took the opportunity to remove her tophat.
“My name is Hydemary Alzbayne. And you are?”
“Yakagi Suimei.”
“Suimei-kun, then. Hmm... Do people tend to tell you that you have a strange name?”
“How did you know?”
“I have most names up here in my head. Yours is quite uncommon even in Japan, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is.”
It was true that Hydemary contained vast knowledge within her. Upon their creation, homunculi were granted intelligence commensurate with the mysticism poured into them. And what Hydemary was showing off now was just a nugget of her natural wisdom. Realizing this, Suimei hummed in admiration.
“By the way, on a completely unrelated note...” Hydemary said next.
“What is it?” Suimei replied casually.
There, Hydemary suddenly looked rather sullen.
“Your face is rather plain, you know?”
“Excuse me?!”
“Oh my, how scary.”
Hydemary’s neutral expression didn’t at all indicate that she was actually scared. Instead, it rather seemed like she was teasing Suimei. She wrapped her arms around herself and stepped back, but her expression remained unchanged in spite of her theatrical behavior. Coming to the conclusion it was because she was a homunculus, Suimei pointed to his left hand and let out a grand sigh.