Upon further observation, it was clear that he was quite skilled. In spite of his lost sight and hearing, his magic energy was tranquil and steady. In fact, it was so quiet and composed that you could almost hear him saying “I’m only doing this because I have to—may I help you with something?”
I knew that victory wouldn’t come to me so easily… I raised my fist like I was winding up to throw a stone and imbued it with magic—obviously of the Light variety, which I was suited for. Then I bundled the energy into an orb, the most obvious shape I could think of, and threw it!
My Light Magic Lump—it didn’t even have a proper name—hurled toward the man like an arrow. It wasn’t tremendously strong, but it was exactly as fast and as powerful as the object it resembled: a rock about the size of three clenched fists.
The guy might put up a magic shield, but if my attack hit his head, he wouldn’t be able to stay conscious. And the unfamiliar magic attack was moving so fast that he wouldn’t be able to dodge it on perception alone.
…Yet my magic bullet did not meet his head.
Instead, a sudden wall of ice blocked my magic orb. A crashing sound like that of shattering glass filled the room. His thin ice shield had shattered to powder, but my magic orb had also exploded on contact, rendered useless. One could say the lone windowpane had served its purpose well.
“Shit…,” I cursed, unable to hide my frustration.
He had seen my attack not with his senses but with his magic perception. And on the spur of a shield of just the right magnitude, he showed an intuitiveness for battle on a minimal scale. I had known the man was good, but I didn’t expect him to be this good.
“Albert, get Colette.”
“Y-yes, my lady!”
The prince had done as he was told. And at my signal, he sprang into action. Meanwhile, I held my glare on the man who had cast the ice wall. By directing my obvious bloodlust toward him, I could both hold him back and keep Albert safe.
“Yah!” Albert swung his sword and cut Colette free from her chains. “Princess Colette, your hand, please.”
“Er—hmm. Is that you…Albert? What in the world happened…? A flash of light came out of nowhere, and then I…”
Colette’s hearing still seemed gone, but her sight was returning to her. She questioned Albert but followed him just the same.
“There’s no time to explain, Princess. Come with me.”
He tugged her by the hand and ran with her over to me. Now we had avoided the worst-case scenario of our enemy using our hostage against us. It would be tricky for Colette to help us out, but that was always part of the plan.
Meanwhile, the skilled man pressed a hand to his face and muttered bitterly, “The Hair of Sulberia… It’s you…Mylene Petule…!”
I guess his eyes are working again. Which means he should hear my voice anytime now.
But…speaking of voices… My face twisted with scorn at the sense of wrongness I got from the sound of his.
“So what if I am?” I answered.
“Hmph… I didn’t think God’s Bitch would find her way here. You truly are an insufferable girl.”
Okay. He can carry on a conversation no problem now… Noted.
The effects of my spell had worn off much sooner than I anticipated. Could a person block the sound and the light with basic defensive magic? Alternatively, it was also possible that his recuperative powers were stronger than the others.
The spell I’d used when we stormed into the storehouse was called Dazzle Sonic. It was an original spell that temporarily incapacitated anyone whose eyes and ears were burned by the explosive flash of light. I’d come up with it to mimic the effects of the huge explosion you heard in your ear when a magic spell was cast. Rather than inflict pain, it immobilized whoever it hit for little while. I guess you could say it still had room for improvement.
I would have liked its effects to last longer. More concerningly, it took a while to charge up the power of sound, so it was a significant problem that the orb of light took so long to form.
This all was to say…I couldn’t use the same move twice.
Then again, if my opponent was that perceptive, the effects would have been flimsy regardless.
“Ya don’t strike me as a typical dealer. Who the fuck are you?” I asked, swinging my rapier high. Not like I was holding my breath waiting for a proper answer.
“You want to know who I am…? Aha. Now, how should I answer that?”
Sounded like our boy was gonna play ball.
Yeah, religious zealots did tend to talk your ear off even when ya didn’t ask them a question. And that went double for cultists.
The Gods of the Moon bastards were excessive in that regard. Ask them how the weather was, and they’d respond with “The God Eltania is evil” this and “The bearer of the Hair of Sulberia must die” that.
Suddenly, a memory returned to me. I almost let a waterfall of thoughts sweep me away, but I was on a battlefield. I couldn’t let myself lose focus.
“N-no, Mylene! You mustn’t fight him…!”
But Colette’s unexpected cry created a faint rift in my focus. It was a heart-wrenching scream, filled with genuine concern for my safety. Aside from me, Colette knew better than anyone just what I was capable of. At the very least, she had deemed me near the level of the commander in chief of her own country. Yet here she was, telling me to let our enemy go. The unexpected response caught me totally unaware.
But there was a silver lining. The man, who hadn’t taken the opportunity to attack in the meantime, chuckled in amusement and said, “We are devotees of the Gods of the Moon. As a follower of Dia Milus, the serpent deity of icicles, I am one of many loyalists who has gathered here for a glorious cause.”
As the man spoke in exaltation, he removed his hood. And when I saw his face, my jaw dropped in astonishment. Simultaneously, I realized what had been so wrong about his voice earlier.
“I thought you sounded familiar—but I must’ve been mistaken. I never would’ve imagined I’d see your face here.” However, my astonishment lasted only an instant. I glared into the middle-aged man’s smiling eyes and asked, “You sure do love lecturing me on how I should behave, so why ain’t ya at school? Eh, Professor Pearlman?”
Behind the hood was the tranquil, smiling face of the gentle yet strict teacher of the first-year class at the Zelfore Academy of Magic.
His past was shrouded in mystery—but who would have thought that the man who taught at a boarding school for rich kids was actually the leader of a cult? I definitely hadn’t seen that one coming.
Then there was the Gods of the Moon he named. What the hell were they doing in this era? Just how far did their claws reach? I felt cold beads of sweat form on my brow, but I held my cool, cynical smile.