Sharlo said softly toward his back, “What are you still here for! Go! Hurry!”
“But, wait. Why? You have no obligation toward me anymore. And yet, why......”
“Obligation? That’s not it. I’m an adventurer. Although I was just your guide, I still have the duty to protect my client.” Despite it being a soft voice, the resolve contained inside caused Yuliana’s shoulders to jump.
“Go already! Run! Yuliana!” Yuliana leaped to her feet from hearing Sharlo call her name for the first time. After grabbing Hanna’s hand, she dashed off into an alleyway.
Lorelei squinted her eyes. “You rolly-polly old man... can you not make extra work for me? I really hate troublesome things, hm?”
“I am not an old man! I’m a 16-year-old teenager!”
“Eh, no way?! Seriously......?”
“What about yourself? Aren’t you trying pretty hard to look younger than your age? If I remember correctly, the elder sister of the Ketora siblings is at a ripe old age, aren’t you, Grandma?”
Lorelei’s eyes shot wide open. “I’m still only in my 20s!” Magic began whirling around her with an almost malevolent density.
“From the point of view of a teenager such as myself, that’s already plenty... OLD!” The sound of something snapping seemed to ring out. Lorelei was looking at the ground. Just when Sharlo thought she was shivering for some reason—
“Don’t you... DARE fucking underestimate me! You fucking brat with the face of a geezer!”
Although his knees were already shaking with fear, Sharlo decided to provoke her even farther. Poking someone where they hurt and making them fly into a rage was what he was best at. “The reason you lost against the dark dragon is because your age is catching up with you, isn’t it?”
A thin smile came over Lorelei’s face. Seeing as how the corners of her mouth were twitching furiously, she had apparently gotten so angry that she ended up smiling. “It never occurred to me that I would be subjected to such insults in this country......” She began laughing, “hi, hihihi,” like a broken record, immediately after which, “I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”
Sharlo chuckled from success. She had fallen for his provocation. That should have diverted her attention away from Yuliana and Hanna. Now all he had to do was buy enough time for the two of them to get somewhere safe, and then get away himself.
Or so he thought, up to the point when innumerable magic formations appeared all around Lorelei.
(Chantless?! As expected of a Platinum rank, I suppose.) Even though he was starting to get cold feet, Sharlo tightened his grip on his sword. From the magic circles rained a bombardment of magic. Balls of fire, shards of ice, spheres of light. He was honestly impressed at this feat of activating magic spells of so many different elements all at the same time.
“Whoa! Hah, hoh! Woachao?!” Sharlo disgracefully dropped to the floor, rolled about, and brought up his sword only barely in time to deflect the light sphere that was about to land where he was evading toward.
“Hmm, you’re managing pretty well. In terms of skill, I’d say you’ve got about one foot into Silver, hm?” Apparently having regained her composure, Lorelei directed her eyes toward the alleyway that Yuliana and Hanna had gone down. “It would be a problem if they get out of the city. It’s annoying, but work takes priority. Guess I’ll finish you off nice and quick first.” With a sadistic smile on her face, she brought her pipe to her mouth again. The purple smoke that she lightly puffed out almost instantaneously expanded into a gigantic wall.
Not good. Having caught his breath after the attacks let up, Sharlo now felt a shiver running down his back. The wall of smoke closed in. Then abruptly, a ball of fire flew through the wall, aimed straight at Sharlo.
“Fugyah?!” Despite barely managing to parry with his blade, the momentum sent him falling onto his butt.
Then he realized. (This is very bad. Now I can’t tell where the attacks are coming from......) Up till then, he had been able to manage somehow by keeping a close eye on the magic formations. Right before they shoot out an attack, they would emit a faint, telltale glow. The reason why he had been able to handle everything so far was because he could tell where each attack was coming from. However, with a wall of smoke literally obstructing his view, now he wouldn’t be able to cope in time. Not only that. Before he knew it, the wall of smoke had completely encircled him.
“Hmm, you’re done~ Now there’s nowhere to run to.” Accompanied by derisive laughter, magic flew at him from every single direction. With no hint whatsoever as to where each attack was coming from, Sharlo tried desperately to evade and parry, but—
“Guah!” A clean hit on his back. Right when he was leaned over, a spear of ice had stabbed his back. But surprisingly, it was not as damaging as expected.
(Even though she said she’d finish me off “nice and quick,” it seems she actually intends on slowly tormenting me to death?!) Abruptly, his room in the tower came up in Sharlo’s mind. He had wanted to live self-indulgently in there forever. Even if his sister took the throne, he wanted to just live his days indolently, and then to just quietly die when his time was up. (But now—) He still did not have any large goals. He still had no dreams nor hopes, nothing that he could put a name to. All he had was only—
“I will surpass who I was yesterday!”
Incoming attacks: left shoulder, right flank, straight on. The first two, he evaded with a backstep. As for the light sphere from the front, that he slapped down with his sword. He was beginning to get a handle on his opponent’s attack pattern. Almost certainly, Lorelei was aware of his position. That was why the attacks were not random. He could feel clear intention behind them. (She’s trying to prevent me from approaching the wall of smoke......) In that case—Sharlo lowered his waist, then dashed off toward his front. Even when attacks landed on him, he merely gritted his teeth and continued on, focusing solely on taking the next step.
“Oh wind!” As soon as he reached the wall of smoke, he swung his sword sharply in a mowing attack. The instant his sword sliced through the smoke, the walls all around immediately dissipated.
The figure of Lorelei with her eyes wide open became clearly revealed. “That can’t be! My Purple Smoke Technique can withstand even a squall......”
Sharlo started running again.
“That sword...... It can’t be the real Sylphid, right......? Haha, no way that’s true. That’s not something that a low-ranked adventurer would be wielding!” Lorelei lined up numerous magic circles in front of herself. She clearly intended to shoot a volley of magic at the charging Sharlo to send him flying away. “No more time for games. You will now atone for the sin of having insulted me!” The magic circles glowed.
He wouldn’t be able to evade them anyway! So the only choice is to continue charging forward, even if to his death! ““UUUUOOOOHHHHH!!”” Two differently-colored shouts of fighting spirit tore through the air. One was from Sharlo from the front, while the other—
Lorelei’s head snapped to look up. With the moon in the background, a lithe figure was dropping toward her. With blade in hand, Yuliana had jumped off of a nearby building.
“Shit!” Lorelei deployed a protective magic circle above her head in a fluster. Yuliana still thrust her sword regardless. A high-pitched kiin! rang out, and cracks ran throughout the magic circle. Instantaneously deciding that the magic circle was not going to hold, Lorelei made a big jump to the side.
“Pretty good. In swordsmanship, you’re already Gold class, hm?” But that said, there was no way that she, a Platinum, would lose. However, Lorelei was a pure mage. She would be greatly disadvantaged in close combat. She needed to take a bit of distance—
At this moment, with her attention fully directed toward Yuliana, Lorelei had completely forgotten the existence that would prove to be her biggest threat—
“......!” When she caught the round figure in the corner of her eyes, it was already too late. With the fighting spirit from before nowhere to be seen, keeping his voice muffled and footsteps silent, the well-rounded man had gotten close. It was none other than Sharlo, who had expended everything into Sylphid so that he was almost floating above the ground while moving.
“Y-You! You pork steamed bun!” She only had time to shout out an insult. The next instant—
BAM!
“Oof!” Sharlo’s shoulder tackle slammed into her straight on.