“Don’t tell me that the Supreme Rulers of Evil haven’t done anything but lame pranks, generation after generation?”
“Nah, like I said, just look up the news articles. Prior Supreme Rulers of Evil have had a hand in some pretty awful crimes up to Mia’s grandfather’s generation. Gas accidents due to unknown causes, mass abductions, monsters from the deep, eldritch abominations from space, some of the battles have even rearranged the landscape in a few places. It all changed since Mia’s father became the new head of the family.
“Ever since then, the Supreme Rulers of Evil would only cause weird mischief unfit to be called evil deeds. It wouldn’t even get picked up by the media. Not that most people even pay much attention anymore—from what I remember, one of the spells they cast makes everyone view the Supreme Rulers of Evil and anything related to them as normal. Or some such nonsense.”
Ren narrowed his eyes, touching a finger to his chin. That actually explained a lot about the lack of reactions he had seen. The behavior of Supreme Rulers of Evil had changed, starting from Mia’s father’s generation. What could have been the reason for it? The tracking system he gave to the chief before becoming the family head… Why did he hand over such a thing to his enemy? It was as if…
“I can’t help but think…he gave a tracker to you so that you could always find him.”
“That’s right. I think he wanted me to stop him. He never said that, of course.”
“…Stop him from doing what?”
The evil deeds? No, that couldn’t have been it. The evil deeds themselves were so out of place, after all. Mia’s father must’ve wanted something else prevented.
The chief, having smoked his cigarette up to the filter, was rubbing what was left of it out in his pocket ashtray. A thin wisp of smoke rose from his pocket before being snuffed out.
“I still don’t know what he was really thinking. We just fought whenever we stumbled upon him. He kept saying something about how completing the world conquest after defeating us was ‘their’ long-cherished desire or something.”
“Mia was saying the same thing. When she defeats us, she’s gonna activate the great magical art of darkness and stuff. What is this great magical art of darkness? Is it a spell that can’t be used without beating us first?”
“Most likely so. You know, every time he ran away from us due to running out of magical power, he had this strange expression on his face, looking suspiciously close to relief. After seeing it, I became convinced that magic can’t be anything good. That was probably why he wanted us to prevent him from using it.”
Mia’s father, the man who made the chief come running at the slightest hint of trouble and battled until he ran out of magic. It was as if he was using those fights over nothing as an excuse to avoid using the great magical art of darkness. It was strange. Ren felt the same kind of contradiction in Mia’s father’s thinking as he did in Mia’s—the man had ostensibly wanted to activate the great magical art of darkness, while, in reality, he hadn’t tried to do so, not even once.
Out of habit, Ren’s hand crawled towards his breast pocket, almost taking his box of cigarettes out, but then he remembered that this was a nonsmoking area and clicked his tongue in frustration.
“Come on, you can have a smoke. You’ve got your pocket ashtray. The window and fan will take care of the smoke, who’s gonna notice?”
“I’m not smoking! But seriously, you’re useless. I can’t rest until I understand the crucial parts of the story, which I still don’t get.”
“Hahaha, sorry about that. If it’ll improve your opinion of me, I’ll investigate this matter a bit further. But why are you so hell bent on uncovering the truth? Could it be that you’re feeling something for our little Mia?”
Ren’s expression clouded over in an instant—a wrinkle formed between his brows, his face radiating annoyance. Do I really have to explain myself to you? was written plain on his features. Chief chuckled at Ren’s reaction.
“You have a crush on her, huh? You, at twenty-six, crushing on a seventeen-year-old girl? I didn’t know you had a thing for young girls! You know there’s a word for that?”
“Wha—Shut up! When Mia turns twenty, I’ll only be twenty-nine! This much of an age difference is normal in our day and age!” Ren barked back reflexively, and bit his tongue in frustration, realizing what he had just said.
It was as good as admitting his feelings. Just as he thought, the corners of the chief’s mouth jumped up in a grin. How about a fist in your smug face, you incompetent bastard of a boss, ran through Ren’s mind. However, before he could act on that impulse, the chief’s face changed, the grin making way for a relieved, serene smile.
“What? What are you smiling like an old geezer for?”
“Like an old geezer? How so?”
“You know, a creepy smile, like you’re about to say something only obtained through age and experience, some profound nonsense like, ‘what a fine young man, don’t you think, dove?’”
Chief laughed, as if to say, “that’s harsh”. Then he muttered, “I’m fine with it, if you’re the one by her side. But be careful with that girl. She, or rather, all sorcerers of her bloodline, only have a certain amount of magical energy they can spend in a day. If they spend too much, it puts a great toll on them, physically, from which they can only recover in a deep sleep.
“But you mustn’t let her use more magic than the limit allows. If she looks tired, make up a random excuse and let her get away. The top brass are fine with anything as long as Mia is stopped, but if you don’t want to lose her, do as I said. And no matter what, don’t let anyone threaten her life. You do not want to see what happens if a sorcerer’s magic feels its host is threatened.”
Ren’s eyes flew open at the chief’s words. He remembered how Mia looked when she used a lot of magic; she looked exhausted afterwards. The day they had met for the first time, Mia had escaped in a hurry, probably because she felt her magical power reserves depleting. But what would’ve happened if he hadn’t let her go, but had given chase instead, fighting her further or just pulling a gun out and shooting her? What if he had driven her to use even more magic? …What would have been the consequence of that? Cold sweat started dripping down Ren’s spine.
“…And what will happen if she continues to cast magic despite being tired, and used all of her magical powers up or we threatened her life?”
“When her magical power reserves are drained till the last drop, she will die. If she tries to use more magic than she can, it will wear away her very soul, and she will be erased from existence… At least, that’s what her father said would happen to me once when we were kids. As for a threat to her life, well there’s a reason why the government hasn’t just sent a black ops team to assassinate the entire family line and it goes by the name of Ozone Layer. Let’s just say when an attempt was made, scientists around the world feared Earth might no longer have an ozone layer anymore and so we ended it there.”
Ren was at a loss for words. Chief continued to speak in a subdued tone of voice, his eyes cast down, his words steeped in deep regret and a bit of fear, “As for using up all their magic, we actually think that’s how Mia’s father died. He was fighting us, and I could see he felt the strain of it getting to him. He would usually run away when it became too much, but that day, he didn’t. And then…he activated a great magical art of darkness of his own creation, pushing through the exhaustion, and died because of it.”
Ren reeled, feeling as though he had taken a blow on the head. If she continues to use magic, Mia will… Mia will die.