“You’ve got quite a mouth on you, kid. Want us to grab you too and have some fun?”
“You, on the other hand, seem remarkably bad at using yours. Were there complications in your linguistic development?”
“You little bastard!”
Unlike the guy who immediately lost his temper at my provocation, the one whose face I had glimpsed earlier remained calm.
One look was enough to tell me he was their leader.
Well, of course he was.
Gilbert Ellimore.
The eldest son of the Duke of Ellimore and the Student Council President of the Imperial Magic Academy.
He was someone I had been deeply connected to in my previous life as well.
A bad relationship was still a relationship.
***
Ruben Seirin stared coldly ahead.
Standing before him was a mage who seemed to have suffered a tremendous shock. The man staggered as he glared at Ruben with bloodshot eyes.
“You... do you even understand... what you’re doing right now...?”
“Perfectly. You, on the other hand, don’t seem to understand what’s happening to you, Gilbert Ellimore.”
The man standing before Ruben was Gilbert Ellimore.
Head of one of the Empire’s mere seven ducal houses.
An 8th-Circle Mage.
And Chairman of the Magic Tower Council.
He was a man who stood at the very pinnacle of political power.
Yet in front of Ruben Seirin, his tremendous political authority and his achievement of reaching the 8th Circle amounted to nothing more than illusions.
‘I tried to get rid of him as quickly as possible for exactly this reason. But I was too late.’
A Grand Magicmaster who had appeared for the first time in centuries.
At first, Gilbert had attempted to win him over.
But Ruben Seirin had been an uncontrollable madman from the very beginning.
As Ruben became an increasingly dangerous threat to the Ellimore Duchy, Gilbert concluded that he would have to destroy the Seirin County first if he wanted to eliminate him.
But before he could properly lay a hand on the Seirin family, Ruben moved first.
“You think you’ll get away with destroying a ducal house like this?!”
“You started this fight. I didn’t have any particular grudge against you.”
Ruben slowly approached him.
“And do you really think the Emperor can cast me aside? The Empire needs power.”
The Duke had no choice but to retreat in fear.
An 8th-Circle Mage against a Grand Master.
It could hardly even be called a battle.
FWOOSH!
“Aaagh!”
A light arrow created through Ruben’s hand seals pierced Gilbert’s thigh, dropping him to the ground.
Now he could no longer even retreat.
Fear far greater than anger filled his eyes.
“Gilbert Ellimore. Do you honestly think you have any allies left in Imperial politics?”
Ruben’s voice was ice-cold.
“You trusted that petty authority of yours and committed far too many atrocities. The people you killed. The people you trampled on. It has all come back to you.”
Ruben slowly pressed his foot against Gilbert’s injured leg.
“In the form of an arrow named Ruben Seirin.”
“Aaagh! Stop! Stop it, you lunatic!”
Pathetic as it was, Gilbert could do nothing but scream.
As one of the Empire’s highest-ranking nobles, he had never experienced pain like this in his entire life.
“Yeah. Let’s finally put an end to this, Gilbert Ellimore.”
Ruben quietly studied the face of the man who had tried to destroy the Seirin family.
It was also the face of a monster who had taken countless lives and possessions for amusement, profit, or sometimes for no particular reason at all.
“Die.”
At Ruben’s signal, another arrow of light struck Gilbert down.
***
...A memory I really didn’t want to revisit came flooding back.
More importantly, did this bastard always have such disgusting tastes?
So this was what he had been doing every weekend when he disappeared.
Good grades and a rotten personality.
Apparently that was the same in both lives.
“Fine. I clearly gave you a chance.”
Seeing no reason to keep talking, I formed familiar hand seals.
Unfortunately, with my current martial ability, there was no way I could subdue all four of them.
Just as Admuasil had advised, I had no choice but to use magic.
The spells I was about to use weren’t particularly advanced, so there was little danger of exposing myself as a Grand Magicmaster.
Besides, everyone was wearing casual clothes today.
There was little chance they could identify our affiliations.
And I was even wearing a mask.
So there shouldn’t be any problem teaching them a lesson.
“Sleep!”
Glittering particles left my hand, passed through their Magic Trap, and settled over Anna, Karen, and Tyr.
Anna and Tyr immediately fell asleep.
Karen shot me a suspicious glare before closing her eye and collapsing as well.
“Huh? What the hell was that?”
“He’s a mage? Why was his casting so fast?”
“Obviously Memorize. Must be some low-level loser. Who the hell memorizes a Sleep spell? He even missed his targets. Heh.”
Yeah, sure.
Glad you’re having fun.
I hope you can keep smiling.
Good luck.
Once they confirmed my companions had fallen asleep, the four stopped maintaining the Magic Trap and turned toward me.
Apparently, they intended to fight.
It had been a long time since I’d fought other mages.
In my previous life, there hadn’t been any mages foolish enough to challenge me, so opportunities like this had practically disappeared.
And these weren’t even fully qualified mages.
They were cadets from a Magic Academy.
It was so boring I almost wanted to die.
“Silence!”
The hand seals formed by both my hands manipulated the Ether within the air.
Silence.
An area-control spell that prevented magic from being cast through spoken incantations.
Until I allowed otherwise, no one within this space could produce a voice.
Except me.
“...!”
The horrified expressions on their faces as they opened and closed their mouths without making a sound were priceless.
One of them, realizing he couldn’t use an incantation, hurriedly began forming hand seals.
Judging by the elements shifting around him and the movements of his hands, he was probably trying to throw a Fireball.
“Sure. Then I’ll just stop you from breathing.”
I altered the movement of the air that I had previously manipulated merely to prevent vibration and sound.
This time, I stopped it from flowing around their mouths and noses.
“Ghk...!”
All four immediately clutched their throats and collapsed.
Watching them writhe helplessly on the ground almost made me laugh.
“Good grief. You pathetic mages should exercise once in a while! Exercise! Huh?! Haven’t you ever heard that a strong mind resides in a strong body?”
After roughly thirty seconds, I released the air around them.
Color slowly returned to their pale faces.
Their expressions, however, were completely different from before.
Fear.
Despair.
Frustration.
Things along those lines.
They crawled across the ground, desperately trying to get away from me.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
I casually raised my free right hand and formed another series of seals.
Earth, water, and air elements combined.
“Entangle.”
It was a binding spell that accelerated the growth of plants beneath the ground.
Vines erupted from the earth and tightly wrapped around their ankles.
Utterly restrained, the four could only scratch helplessly at the ground while I walked toward them.
“You little brats really learned nothing except how to be rotten.”
I clicked my tongue.
“Surely the Imperial Magic Academy doesn’t teach you this sort of thing? ‘We nurture the light and illuminate every corner of the Empire.’ Isn’t that your motto?”
Gilbert’s mouth dropped open.
His entire face was practically shouting:
‘How the hell do you know where we’re from?!’
Amazing.
Apparently some people could actually talk with their faces.
Then again, Gilbert was both the Student Council President of the Imperial Magic Academy and the eldest son of a duke.
The moment this disgusting hobby of his was exposed, there was a very real chance he would suddenly suffer a highly convenient “accident.”
The higher a noble’s status in the Empire, the more they valued appearances.
There was no way Duke Ellimore would let something like this slide.
So of course Gilbert was terrified now that I knew who he was.
That’s what you get for going around committing crimes.
The bastard was even reasonably handsome, and in terms of noble status, he probably ranked among the top ten people in the entire Empire.
So why the hell was he playing criminal in back alleys and targeting women?
Was he an idiot?
“Anyway. Earlier, I told you to apologize ten times, and you refused.”
I smiled.
“So this is going to hurt a little more than just breaking your fingers. Got it? If I ever catch you doing something like this again, you’re really going to regret it.”
I quietly raised my right hand.
More vines slithered out of the ground.
Their destination was obvious.
“Looks like sitting down might be unpleasant for about a week.”
My hand dropped.
The vines struck all four of them painfully from behind.
“Aaaagh...!”
The four pathetic bastards trembled and shed tears, whether from pain or remorse I couldn’t tell.
Once they passed out, I used Memory Manipulation Magic on them.
Then I gathered my companions with Fly and left the alley.
***
“Mmm....”
Karen opened her eye with a faint headache.
The instant she awakened, she quickly scanned her surroundings, remaining vigilant in every direction.
All she saw, however, was an ordinary main road in the capital.
There were no threatening presences nearby.
Except Ruben.
Damn Ruben Seirin.
Just how much magical power did he possess if he could put a demon to sleep?
“Where are we?”
After checking on Anna and Tyr, who were still asleep, Karen spoke to the irritating mage sitting beside them on the bench.
Only then did Ruben glance at her.
Without even taking his eyes fully off the book he was reading, he answered.
“Can’t you tell? We’re in front of the Teleport Station.”
He was right.
It was the same Teleport Station where they had arrived earlier.
The sun was already sinking beyond the western mountains, casting long orange rays across the capital and bathing the city in a melancholy glow.
‘Did he carry all of us here by himself?’
Anna, Karen, and Tyr.
Not to mention the ridiculous number of shopping bags they had bought.
Moving all of that alone couldn’t have been easy.
Yet Ruben showed no sign whatsoever that it had been difficult.
His expression was almost indifferent.
“It couldn’t have been easy carrying everything alone. Why didn’t you wake me?”
Only then did Ruben finally look away from his book and stare directly at her.
His black hair, the same color as Karen’s, reflected the sunset.
His unfathomably deep black eyes seemed to shine even more brightly.
“You haven’t slept properly once since coming to Lion Heart, have you?”
“What...?”
Karen’s eye widened.
Ruben wasn’t wrong.
Ever since entering Lion Heart alongside her master, Karen had not slept properly even once.
She was a demon.
Humans were naturally beings who stood on the opposite side from her.
There was no way she could comfortably lower her guard and rest while surrounded by them.
In fact, thanks to Ruben’s magic earlier, she had experienced truly deep sleep for the first time in years.
But how did Ruben know that?
And even if he knew, why would he show her this kind of kindness?
“Stop being so unnecessarily suspicious.”
Ruben turned back to his book.
“You’re Anna’s closest friend, right? Anna is my friend. Don’t overthink it.”
He shrugged.
“Call it a whim. Kindness. Consideration. Something like that. Humans are naturally pretty fickle creatures.”
For just a moment, the sunset spilling out behind Ruben almost looked like a halo.
“I doubt your demonic pride would ever let you ask, but if things get too hard, tell me.”
Karen stared at him.
“I can at least help you sleep. As long as you keep behaving yourself, that is.”
A whimsical kindness and consideration....
Since entering the human world under her father’s orders, had Karen ever received even something as small as whimsical kindness?
Other than Anna Camille, no human had ever treated her that way.
“...Thank you, Ruben Seirin.”
“Huh. Never thought I’d live long enough to hear a demon thank me.”
You’re only sixteen yourself.
Karen had thought it before, but Ruben was absolutely not an ordinary human.
His unfathomable thoughts.
His inexplicable magic.
The fact that he could even sense her demonic energy.
For the first time, Karen felt the hostility she held toward Ruben begin to change into curiosity.
Just what kind of person was he?
Why was he so powerful?
And why had someone like him entered Lion Heart?
‘I want to know.’
Fundamentally, Ruben was still clearly an enemy.
He had used Glyph of Warding to hold her life hostage and placed troublesome conditions upon her.
He was a terrifying mage who could kill her whenever he wanted with a single motion.
And yet....
Perhaps someone like him could save her.
‘If it’s this man... maybe he could....’
“Mmm... Karen...? What happened?”
At that moment, Anna slowly opened her eyes and called for Karen.
That pulled Karen from her thoughts.
“My Lady. It seems Young Master Ruben Seirin rescued us. We are currently in front of the capital’s Teleport Station.”
“Huh...? Ruben did?”
“You’re awake? You looked like you were sleeping so comfortably that I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Ruben saved all of us?”
“Well, it just sort of happened. Haha.”
Anna’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Ruben the instant she woke up.
They practically had hearts blooming inside them.
Ruben merely smiled gently back at her.
“Ugh... Young Master. What happened?”
Finally, Tyr woke up as well.
With everyone awake, the group was finally ready to return.
They gathered their shopping bags and entered the station.
As they stepped onto the platform bound for the Academy and the announcement began its countdown, Anna suddenly realized that the badge representing the Camille Barony was missing.
‘Did I drop it in that alley?’
None of them knew that such a tiny mistake might eventually bring about an enormous storm.
And with that, their chaotic first weekend outing finally came to an end.