Sola’s eyes widened at Head Merchant Kalt’s words.
“High Imperial?”
He had not recognized it himself.
“Ha ha ha. High Imperial is an accent naturally acquired from childhood. Thus, the people who use it often do not recognize it themselves.”
Perhaps reading Sola’s expression, Kalt added an explanation.
“Does that mean that child is a royal?”
Sola looked at the apprentice witch ahead of him. Her hair and eyes were gray.
“High Imperial is not used only by royals. High-ranking nobles use it as well. That is true even in Luhan, which has severed ties with the Empire.”
“In other words, that apprentice witch’s master may be a high-ranking noble and a high-ranking witch?”
“Yes. If you injure her, it could truly become a serious matter.”
“I understand.”
At Kalt’s words, Sola felt amusement for the first time in a while and urged his horse forward.
If this were a game, it was a quest with a challenge objective mixed in.
“D-Do not come! I told you not to come!”
As the blond, golden-eyed knight atop the large black horse slowly approached, the apprentice witch shouted while trembling. Even so, it was admirable that she did not take even one step back.
When the distance between Sola and the witch narrowed to ten meters, eight meters, then six meters.
“Eek!! I warned you! I warned you!!”
The witch screamed and unleashed magic.
FWOOOOOSH.
The surroundings darkened in an instant. The temperature fell as well. Even the ground beneath them turned black, as though it had been submerged in a black swamp.
“U-Uaaah!!”
“What is this?!”
Neigh!
The screams of people and whinnies of horses came from behind him.
Whether they were experienced and skilled mercenaries or knights, they could only tremble before the witch’s magic.
Snort!
“……?”
The only ones relaxed in this situation were Solacius and Manhattan Cafe, the black horse he rode.
‘Is this meant to scare us?’
Sola watched the black flames rippling all around him with indifferent eyes.
HISSSSS!
SKREEEECH!
Horrific-looking masses formed from black flames threatened them with savage force.
‘Despite their appearance, they are not very threatening. It does not seem to be an illusion either.’
“Why…… Why are you completely unaffected?!”
The witch looked flustered by Solacius’s reaction.
‘It also includes mental magic that provokes fear!’
She had intended to break his will to fight, just as it had done to the subjugation force trembling behind him.
“A haunted house like this?”
Sola gave a short laugh. Without Tae Gwang-hwi’s mental fortitude, he would have been shaken. But Tae Gwang-hwi was a veteran Hero who had fought the Demon King’s army during the Great War on Earth for more than ten years. There had been countless demonkin specializing in mental attacks within the Demon King’s army, and Tae Gwang-hwi had tempered his mind against them.
‘She does not seem like a bad witch.’
The fact that she could use fear magic of this level meant that she was exceptionally skilled for an apprentice witch.
In other words, even if Sola was unaffected, she was skilled enough to kill the people behind him. Yet she was only trying to frighten them with a method like a haunted house.
“Cute.”
For some reason, he found her cute.
“Cute? Wha…… Aaah! What nonsense are you talking about?! Do you want to die?!”
At the unexpected word from Sola, the witch was aghast.
A faint blush spread across her face beneath the witch hat, and two trails of sweat ran down her cheeks.
SHING―!
Watching the witch, Sola silently drew his sword. The beautiful, sharp blade said to have been made by a Dwarven artisan shone inside the witch’s haunted house(?).
“Eek! Hic! Hic!”
When Sola drew his sword expressionlessly, the blush on the witch’s face vanished and turned pale.
“You…… After you even called me cute……!”
“It seems you cannot multi-cast.”
Though he had drawn his sword, Sola saw that she could not deploy any additional defense or attack magic, and he made his guess.
‘N-No!’
Just as Sola had guessed, the witch could not do anything in her current state. Whether she wanted to defend, attack, or flee, she had to dismiss the magic she had currently deployed.
But this spell was a fairly difficult one for her. Dismissing it also required time and a sequence of steps.
An experienced witch would have hurriedly dismissed the magic and prepared defense or escape magic, even if she had to endure the aftereffects.
But as Sola and the subjugation force had guessed, she was an apprentice witch with almost no combat experience.
The sharp sword before her eyes threw her into panic.
Whoosh.
Then the blond, golden-eyed knight raised his sword high. If he swung it down, her upper body would be split in two.
‘Waaah! Master!!’
The witch tightly shut her eyes and called for her master in her heart.
“……?”
But even after time passed, nothing happened.
Since she felt no pain, the apprentice witch carefully opened her eyes.
“!!”
Before her, an utterly dazzling and radiant light was swirling.
***
Tae Gwang-hwi, Earth’s only EX-Rank Hunter, had six representative skills among the Sun Ability he had Awakened.
First and foremost was Sun Sword, the alpha and omega of the Sun Ability. Beyond that, there was Pursuit of Light, a long-range skill; Field of Scorching Heat, an area-of-effect skill; Shield of Light, a defensive skill; and Lantern of Dawn, a buff skill.
Lastly, there was an ultimate skill that clad him in armor of light, called Descendant of the Sun.
And the skill Tae Gwang-hwi—Solacius—had used now was the buff skill Lantern of Dawn.
It was an area-wide buff that greatly increased allies’ morale and fighting spirit. Beyond that, it removed various status abnormalities and possessed an exorcising effect, making it an exceptionally powerful skill.
SHAAAAAA.
Light swirled, while particles of light and warm heat poured down like a shower.
The skill Lantern of Dawn manifested from the tip of Solacius’s sword, which he had raised high.
Like a lighthouse illuminating a dark sea, it purified the space that had been filled with darkness and fear.
Everything was reversed. Darkness became light, and fear became courage.
Everything ended in an instant.
The surroundings brightly displayed the cool northern summer, and the ground that had been submerged in a black shadowy swamp became a lush green field.
‘This is my first time using a skill other than Sun Sword…….’
As he used Lantern of Dawn, another Sun Ability, Solacius tensed inwardly.
A skill with good effects meant its side effects would be that much more severe.
‘Before that.’
Fortunately, the side effects had not yet struck.
“This is impossible. Does this make any sense? A knight is using magic? Magic Swordsmen exist only in myths…….”
The apprentice witch ahead of him muttered.
Sola fixed his gaze on the apprentice witch staring at him blankly.
“Eek!”
Only then did the young witch turn her body to run away.
Grab!
Sola reached out and caught her so she could not flee.
“Where do you think you are running to?”
“Eek! It hurts! I said it hurts!”
He had intended to grab the back of her neck, but because she ran, he grabbed her by the hair instead. The witch’s gray hair filled one of Sola’s hands.
“Shall we have an explanation now?”
Why she was blocking the road here, what her name was, and who her master was for leaving her unattended like this.
There were too many things he wanted to know.
“Eeeek!”
Sola lifted the witch by her hair and seated her on the horse. The position made it appear as though she was held in his arms.
“Let go! Let me go!”
The small witch struggled in Sola’s arms.
“…….”
Sola briefly considered knocking out the witch who was screeching in his arms.
WHOOOOSH!
Then his face contorted at the aftereffect that belatedly washed over him.
“Ghk!”
It was the aftereffect of a skill that had removed debuffs from dozens of people and broken an area-wide spell.
‘My body feels as though it is burning.’
It was the worst aftereffect he had felt so far.
“W-What?! Why are you suddenly like this?!”
The witch struggling in Sola’s arms was instead the one who panicked.
“I…… I did not do anything? I-I only struggled a little. This reaction makes no sense, right? You did not seem like such a weakling…….”
The witch, who had been shouting noisily, instantly fell silent.
“Are you hurt? Do you have a chronic illness? What should I do? Your body is like a fireball!”
She then hurriedly examined Solacius’s body. In her mind, she recalled all kinds of healing spell formulas.
“Could it be…… Did I hit you there while I was moving? I heard men are half dead when they are hit there…….”
Her expression grew even more apologetic.
“Ghhh…….”
Instead of answering the witch’s scattered questions, Sola put his hand into his dimensional inventory.
He intended to set off the Ice Boom magical artifact he had received before.
“Sir Roan! Are you all right?”
“Sir Knight!”
Behind him, merchants such as Kalt and Dominic approached with concern.
But they did not come too close. Perhaps because they were quick-witted merchants, they seemed to have guessed that Sola intended to use the magical artifact they had given him.
Exchanging signals with their eyes, they prepared cool water, towels, and other things to give Sola afterward.
‘It feels wasteful to use one.’
After finding an Ice Boom in his dimensional inventory, Sola suddenly felt reluctant to use it.
At the same time, he saw the apprentice witch fidgeting in his arms.
‘This is because of her, is it not?’
He felt irritated.
“You.”
“Mm?!”
“Use some cold magic on me.”
“Cold magic?”
“Yes. Any magic that can make things cold will do.”
“Is it because you are hot? Is it an aftereffect of the magic you used earlier?”
“Yes.”
“Mm-hm!”
The apprentice witch immediately cast a spell like an obedient child.
SHOOOOO.
A cold wave soon washed over Sola’s upper body.
Achoo!
Manhattan Cafe, carrying both of them, sneezed.
***
The cold magic cast by the witch was highly effective.
After remaining like that for around thirty minutes, Sola’s body, which had felt as though it would melt, stabilized.
“Phew…….”
Sola sighed in relief.
“Pant, pant, huff…….”
The apprentice witch looked exhausted, perhaps from using magic for such a long time.
“Are you…… all right now?”
Even so, she carefully examined Solacius’s condition.
“Yes.”
“Still, an aftereffect like that. Well, if a knight could use magic without paying any price, that would be ridiculous.”
The two had dismounted from the horse.
Otherwise, Manhattan Cafe would have caught a terrible cold.
“But what price lets a knight use magic as well? Did you sell your soul? Or your heart?”
The apprentice witch chattered endlessly in front of him with curious eyes.
‘As expected, she is not a bad witch. Her skill is considerable as well. She is young and inexperienced, but her mana and magic are on the level of most fully qualified witches.’
Watching the apprentice witch withdraw her cold magic and examine his condition, Sola thought.
‘Still, I feel strangely familiar with her. Is she carrying a magical artifact with a charm effect?’
She was certainly a nuisance of a character, but for some reason, he did not feel any dislike toward her.
“Sir Knight and Lady Witch, you two seem very close.”
“There is quite an age difference. Is that all right?”
Teasing voices directed at Sola and the witch came from around them.
It seemed to be a sign of friendliness. Perhaps it was because of the Lantern of Dawn skill Sola had used. Thanks to it, their wariness toward him seemed to have decreased greatly. In contrast, their affection toward him had risen even more.
“W-What!”
At the teasing around them, the witch examining Sola’s condition twisted her face. There was a faint blush on her cheeks, but it was difficult to see beneath the witch hat.
The subjugation force set up camp in an appropriate nearby place. Since the sun was gradually setting, it seemed they would spend the night here.
Once the situation was roughly settled, Sola again asked the apprentice witch for her name and identity.
“Tell me your name and master. Why you blocked our path as well.”
Sola’s question.
“…….”
But the apprentice witch did not open her mouth. She merely wore a hard expression and deliberately avoided his gaze.
“Your name.”
“…….”
He asked once more. But she still did not react.
‘There is a reason she cannot speak.’
He studied the young witch before him.
‘I have an idea. She may be the disciple of a high-ranking witch who died in the First Subjugation Force.’
Sola made his guess. Her magical ability, her clothing, and the High Imperial accent in her speech all supported it.
‘An apprentice witch who has lost her master is easy prey for witch hunters.’
He could guess why she concealed her identity as well.
‘It is strange that she wants the subjugation force disbanded, though……. Is she preparing a great spell for revenge?’
In this case, there was no point in forcing the issue.
He decided it would be better to approach slowly. There was still time until they joined the Church and defeated the necromancer.
“Then from now on, your name is Air Conditioner.”
Having organized his thoughts, Sola spoke.
“Air Conditioner? What is that?”
“There is something like that. It is a name very well suited to the role you will play from now on.”
Only the apprentice witch, who had suddenly received a strange name, looked dissatisfied.
“It is strange! Is there not another name?”
“Carrier.”
“I do not like it!”
“Whisen?”
“I do not like that either!”
“Fine, from now on, your name is Carrier Whisen Air Conditioner.”
“!!”