Chapter 22 – The mysterious boy

This chapter is told from the enemy’s point of view.

Some time passed after Labrys scarlet was captured by the Sorcerer Association.

Three of the first-class mages infiltrated the town of Almana. They crept as they ran through the shadows of deserted places in Almana.

They reached the home of the town’s feudal lord, the Moonhart residence.

It was a simple residence with a modest courtyard and a flower bed.

From the outside, it was clear whoever lived there was kind-hearted and loved peace. But that mattered little to the first-class mages.

“Fourth Mute (Silencing field Ⅳ).”

One of the mages quickly set up a soundproof barrier over a diameter of ten meters.

No matter how much noise was made inside it, no one outside could hear it.

They could talk, they could torture, and no one would know.

“Is this the home of the supposed ‘hero’?”

Asked one of the mages, after checking to see if no one was around.

“Yes, I hear the girl who lives here is supposedly a ‘hero’. She could even be the same person as ‘that’ hero.”

“Now that I think about it, I’ve also heard that the servant of this house can use strange magic.”

“Holy sword isn’t here right now, so we should capture them all and dissect them while we have the chance.”

“A ‘hero’ would get in the way of our plans. We should capture her if possible, and if not, kill her. And if even that is impossible, we should at least prevent… Are you listening, Fuse?”

“Yes… It’s all very boring.”

The youngest mage, the man called fuse, then ripped the mask off his face and tossed it.

He was a prodigy of fire magic, and became a first-class mage at a young age. But with his power came a little bit of overconfidence.

“No one’s going to beat us first-class mages anyway. Even that girl that could use level five had no chance against us. So stop with the boring talk… Let’s uncover this ‘hero’ already.”

Fuse said as he held his staff high.

“Six Flame! (Fire Ball Ⅵ)”

A large ball of flames appeared above Fuse’s head.

Heat began to swell from it with a loud noise, as if scorching the air around it.

It was level six magic, a height that only a few prodigies could reach after a lot of training.

“Hey Fuse! You’re drawing too much attention!”

“It’s too powerful! Are you trying to burn everyone to death!?”

“Ha. That hero or whatever will come to the rescue, right? And if everyone’s burned, that means we were wrong.”

Fuse pointed his staff at the Moonhart residence as if taking aim.

“Burn!!”

With that scream, the light of his magic circle intensified.

Woosh.

The large fireball disappeared, almost as if extinguished by the wind.

“…Ah?”

“What? Did you fail?”

“N-no… No way.”

There was no way a first-class mage would fail at casting his specialty.

At the very least, it didn’t feel like he failed at formulating his technique.

It felt strange, almost as if he didn’t formulate this technique in the first place.

This feeling made Fuse very confused.

“Is there anything you need with us?”

Someone called out to them, and right from in front of the trio.

“…!?”

Fuse immediately held his staff, ready to use it.

There shouldn’t be anyone there, but in the space of a second…

A boy wearing a hood suddenly stood in front of them.

“Who are you?”

He felt weird.

What was even weirder was the fact that they felt no magic energy whatsoever coming from his body.

Even the magic energy that normally flowed naturally in the air… Wasn’t there.

Fuse had his magic energy detection active as usual, but it felt to him like there was a hole there.

“…Are you from the Sorcerer Association? I actually wanted to ask you something, so it’s convenient for me that you came to me instead.”

The boy casually approached Fuse, into the soundproof barrier.

“I received word that my childhood friend, Labrys, didn’t return home…”

The boy smiled, but an intense bloodlust radiated from his body.

“…That was your doing, wasn’t it?”