Chapter: 109
“…The Capital Knights Order?! I heard they were disrupted, but there’s still some left…?!”
At first, that was the only conclusion I could draw. However…
Whiiinng-!
Roderus’s ears picked up the odd sound. The engine noise was weak; when the Capital Knights Order goes into combat mode, it typically creates a noise that grates on the eardrums.
This wasn’t calm at all.
The only possibility I could think of was that the Magic Tower’s mage had reached into the Gold Tower’s magic. If they had sent an earth golem dressed in armor…
The power of the Capital Knights came from their power armor and the immense mana that operated it. Given the weak engine noise, they likely weren’t utilizing the armor’s functions at full capacity.
Then, they weren’t a frightening enemy after all. There were three of them, but I could handle it.
That’s what I thought until the armors started using the bizarre martial arts the mage employed.
Bummm-!
“Cough…!”
As if aware of where his rapier was aimed, Roderus watched as a hand extending from far behind altered its trajectory.
He wanted to retreat, channeling mana into his legs, but one of the armors expertly tripped him, scattering his strength. He swung his arm to shake it off.
Another armor slipped through the narrow space and pushed against his upper arm. His balance was compromised; he couldn’t deliver a proper hit. His punch landed with a thud, just slightly denting the helmet.
Puh-!
A gauntleted fist struck his jaw. It was nothing major. As long as he had mana protection, it was barely a concern. He reversed his grip on the rapier and lunged it toward the armor behind him.
At that instant, a low kick struck the back of his knee from behind, and a shoulder check from the front shoved him off balance. His trajectory faltered. A knee slammed into his side.
Grinding his teeth, he swung wide. The armors retreated like the ebbing tide, only to surge toward him again, catching him in a quagmire. Roderus was stumbling in the swamp created by the three armors.
Attack one, and the other two block. They precisely understood the human body’s structure and operating principles, neutralizing his attacks with minimal effort.
“How the hell…?!”
It was pure theoretical talk.
Three weaklings taking on one strong one was nonsense from those who knew not of battle. One plus one doesn’t equal two. Collaboration inherently leads to wasted strength, meaning there could never be perfect teamwork.
No matter how refined a combo might be, one mistake… If one domino falls, it’s over. It should have been that way…!
Three against one.
The armors embodied that phrase.
With seamlessly coordinated movements, Roderus was slowly forced back. Step by step, he was retreating…
He was being drawn away from the mage!
A chill shot through Roderus’s mind. He couldn’t allow the mage any time—especially not that mage!
Look, he had managed to create these golems in such a brief moment.
He turned his head. The mage’s hand was stretching out. Those glowing red eyes beneath the black hair were staring directly at him. Something was… coming. He didn’t know what, but it was something fatal headed his way!
Ignoring the armors’ attacks, Roderus dashed forward. The armors, determined not to let him go, extended their hands and grabbed his limbs, holding him back.
“Shadows cast beneath my feet.”
Roderus tore the arm that attempted to lock his joint, intercepting a punch with his forehead. He didn’t shake off the armor that caught his ankle but instead used it to propel himself forward.
“Darkness peering through the wardrobe’s gap.”
Unstable mana was swirling around. Should he stop his advance to focus on defense? No matter how powerful, magic was still magic. As long as he maintained his form, magic was merely a projectile.
“Loneliness of the pitch-black night.”
Attack or defend? At this crossroads, Roderus made his choice. Attack. That mage was no fool. If he prepared magic at the last moment, the calculations for hitting him would be set.
He had to take down the mage first! Before the spell was completed!
With all his might, Roderus thrust forward with his rapier. Just as the finely honed point was about to pierce the mage’s brow, the incantation ended.
“Shard-Heart Arrow.”
A black arrow shattered the mental barrier provided by the artifact—
…
===============================================================
What exactly just happened to me?
My head felt hazy. No, it felt as though half of it had been ripped away. I couldn’t feel anything. Or perhaps I was overwhelmed by an excess of feeling.
My ears buzzed, muffled sounds blocking my hearing. Roderus squirmed as the damp earth rubbed against his cheek. It hadn’t rained, had it?
“────!”
My body was convulsing. It was a reaction to extreme stress. I recalled the hellish training, the training aimed at breaking my mind before I succumbed to mental magic.
I thought since that day, the phrase ‘pain of the heart’ had vanished. Even after killing people in droves by the duke’s orders, I felt nothing more.
“──────!!”
My chest felt like it was ripping apart. My nails scraped the ground, and no matter how I thrashed about, it wouldn’t alleviate my suffering. The emotions filling my mind became self-evident, realizing they were resentment (恨).
At that moment, Roderus understood the source of the noise.
“AAAAAAAAH──!!”
That was his own scream.
I couldn’t save the ones I loved.
I was horrifically betrayed by someone I trusted.
I couldn’t save someone who was like a father.
The flimsy sense of justice that had held me together broke. Even the faint hope I had left turned to ashes.
In that tearing pain, Roderus felt an indescribable horror.
He had neither a loved one, a trustworthy brother, nor a kind and reliable father. No justice, no faith—none existed for him. While sobbing in sadness and pain, he didn’t even understand why he was screaming.
It was a torturous phantom pain caused by a source of anguish that didn’t exist. Since there were no wounds to heal, he couldn’t even hope for the terrible pain to ease.
If I have to live like this for the rest of my life, I…
“AAH…!! C-cough…!!”
The ring on Roderus’s finger emitted a faint light. His mind began to heal, and the pain lightened a bit. Hope emerged.
This damned magic surely wouldn’t last forever. Roderus shook his head roughly, trying to escape from memories that weren’t his own.
He began to cry silently while managing to rise to his feet.
He could see the mage’s limp figure. Since the first effective hit had landed, the mage must be in critical condition too.
He had to finish this. He needed to complete the mission. If he returned after failing, solitary confinement awaited him. While pounding his trembling legs with his fists, he took one step forward.
Ten steps forward.
Just as Roderus picked up the rapier to finish him off, a signal echoed. The news that the Tower Master had returned.
“…Looks like luck is on your side, commoner.”
Being caught by the returning Tower Master would spell trouble. Roderus grabbed his head and slipped away. He vanished into the shadows of an alley in an instant.
The mage, feigning unconsciousness on-site, muttered as he deactivated the magical traps laid seamlessly on the ground.
“Looks like the luck is on your side, you bastard…”
If Roderus had taken one more step closer, the battle would have ended in the mage’s victory. He would have been forced to divulge information while captured.
The mage struggled to keep his heavy eyelids open, mumbling to maintain consciousness.
“…I should probably check for armor or artifacts. That puppet master meta might work out pretty well…”
A hologram with weak physical power. It had enough physicality to wear equipment, so the thought was to supplement the lacking strength with item advantages.
The mage shrugged his shoulders.
“…Damn, it’s cold.”
He felt that he had enough power. But seeing the world’s oppressive nature, he thought he needed to be strong enough to overturn and escape from anyone.
That was a natural realization. Those aiming to harm the Tower Master would undoubtedly have sufficient power and influence to achieve their goals.
In a daze, he pondered various methods when…
“What’s going on? Are you okay?!”
The moment he heard that familiar voice, he lost consciousness.
===============================================================
The first thing I checked upon waking up was this.
“…Did the Magic Tower Master cause any trouble?”
“…You’re awake?!”
The Tower Master tightly gripped my hand, rubbing her cheek against my palm. Pink-Balrez, standing nearby, answered in my stead.
“He hasn’t left the hospital for nursing duties, just in case. Also, if they’re absent, there’s always the chance a mad mage might come after.”
Phew.
I opened my eyes and worried about the empire being on fire.
Now that I think about it, wasn’t Pink-Balrez hospitalized?
“…Did you get better?”
“Yes. The mad mage has been sleeping for about three days now.”
“Oh no.”
“Considering how severely the mad mage was injured…”
I waved my hand, signaling her not to say anything. I didn’t want to hear it, nor could I handle the thought of my palm getting damp.
It seems the red-themed prince’s side had quietly called a truce. They didn’t expect their assassin would come back only to face me.
As for the black wizards’ remaining hideouts, they were completely empty. Although they lost their tails, I decided to be content, knowing there was some benefit.
The priest mentioned I needed a few more days of recovery, but I just decided to head back to the Academy. Staying any longer at the Crownhall could lead to unforeseen circumstances.
Looking back, the Tower Master’s suggestion to leave was a brilliant one. If we had entered the mansion, who knew what kind of traps awaited us?
“…Damn it.”
It wasn’t like I got nothing out of all this. I secured a suspicious statue used by the black wizards, formed a clearer suspicion about the traitors, and confirmed that the red-themed duke was definitely an enemy.
That second son who got hit with the Shard-Heart Arrow surely wouldn’t be alright. So I hadn’t been playing into their hands…
Yet, I still ultimately feel like I’ve been played. I got beaten up, and Pink-Balrez got hurt.
Noticing my discomfort, the Tower Master’s eyes gleamed viciously as she said, “Shall we kill them all, Master?” but I stopped her. If we went to an all-out war… one of our allies would surely die.
Magic was a flower blooming with time as fertilizer.
Let’s see. Once they realize how far I can prepare, they’ll start trembling in fear.
So I returned to the Academy.
===============================================================
After a long carriage ride, I finally arrived at the Academy.
“…Need a hand to support you?”
“Oh yes, please.”
First, I completed the facility checks. There hadn’t been any power outages, a couple of intrusion alerts were thwarted, and all data was intact. Thank goodness.
The reason I performed the security checks first was that I distinctly remember there was a student with a red surname at the Academy. If the red-themed duke was using his sons like manpower, that student might well be operating under the duke’s direct orders.
They might try to extract information from my lab at the Academy or something.
I felt uneasy.
I was mulling over what session to hold upon returning and realized I wasn’t being proactive about upgrades or shady power struggles.
However, if I naively played without a care and got caught again, that would fall on me. I couldn’t afford to be unprepared.
If there was even a way to assess their… movements, I could feel a bit more at ease.
“…?”
“Um, Tower Master, what’s wrong? Is there a problem?”
“Just a bit… I’m picking up strange frequencies. You haven’t played any other TRPG games, have you?”
“Oh, no. I’ve only played with the Tower Master.”
I leaned forward to check through the monitor. As the Tower Master pointed with a finger, I indeed noticed some peculiar signals coming through. Two of them, in fact.
One was faith streaming to main NPCs like Centra, Pero, and Abraham.
The other was oddly flowing towards the giant mutant creature.
“…Hmm. Oh?”
“Wait, what?”
The Tower Master and I exchanged knowing looks simultaneously, beginning to voice our speculations.
“Since I shot the Shard-Heart Arrow at that guy, it seems some memories got mixed in, allowing him to recognize the existence of the main NPCs.”
“I… I hit the head of the Capital Knights Order really hard with a giant mutant, so maybe that left an impression…!”
Oh.
Hold on…
My thoughts spun rapidly. The Tower Master and I pressed our foreheads together, continuing our discussion.
“It’s faint but connected with faith—meaning, there’s a mana link.”
“If there’s a connection, that means it could be possible to trace back. Depending on the distance, of course.”
“Not just tracing, but I could probably send long-range illusion magic using this. We could leverage the massive magic circle in the Academy’s basement.”
“And then… if we can ask Yuri for help. Utilizing the nature of the Dreamer could expand the effective range significantly.”
What would happen then?
It meant I could knowingly mess with the one who had ambushed me. Not just that but, if the connections were reinforced, I might use him as a spy without him ever realizing.
I uttered the words filled with excitement and hope.
“Long-distance TRPG…!!”
“L-Let’s teach that Capital Knights Order Master a lesson too!”
Holding hands with the bouncing Tower Master, I spun around in delight, pondering what kind of session I should run. How could I set it up to lure him while pulling out information from him at the same time?
Visions of the Malevolent God (7% contained) screamed through my mind. I snapped my fingers.
“TS Magical Girl Session.”
“?”
A glimmer of anticipation sparkled in her eyes.
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