Chapter 89

Magicians were a privileged class.

However, not all magicians could become that.

Apparently, that referred not only to a magician’s skill, but also to whether they could possess the elite consciousness befitting a privileged class.

Commoners who could not use magic were little different from beastfolk who served humans.

Gerario had said that unless one could fire magic without hesitation at people who pleaded that taxes were too heavy, one could not do the job.

A magician who looked exactly that cruel was looking down at us from the top of the stairs.

“Filthy.”

The instant the magician muttered that, fire magic was released while he still had his arms folded.

The flames attacked Kururu, who was glaring up at the magician from the bottom of the stairs, but they veered away as if something like a barrier surrounded her.

She seemed to be protecting herself with wind magic, but the magic stone in Kururu’s hand turned to ash at a furious pace, and the rookie magician leapt back in surprise.

“Oh?”

While glaring at the enemy, whose eyes had opened slightly as if impressed, Kururu took out a new magic stone and held it forward.

Like pinching the tip of a hose with water flowing through it, a pillar of compressed air became visible even to the naked eye.

“Pointless.”

When the magician said that and raised his left hand, the pillar of wind immediately vanished. The explosive flames Kururu fired as a follow-up during that opening also disappeared as if by magic.

Kururu faltered, and the magician looked down coldly.

Then came a sound like a balloon bursting.

From the flash of light and blackout, as if a camera flash had gone off, I finally understood that someone had fired lightning magic.

To Kururu, whose tail was standing on end and who had frozen in surprise, Cole, who had his left hand raised, said,

“Cat girl, that’s annihilation magic.”

Without waiting for Kururu to turn at Cole’s words, Cole fired another lightning strike.

Right after the intense flash, faint smoke rose from the entire staircase before Kururu’s eyes.

The fourth-grade magic stone gripped in Cole’s left hand also vanished as deep purple smoke, and his hand immediately reached toward the ammunition belt hanging from my shoulder, grabbed a new magic stone, and cast magic without delay.

I understood right away.

It was the kind of thing often seen in battle anime.

“Kururu-san, keep firing magic!”

Though Kururu seemed bewildered, her hand moved before she could think.

Explosive flames rose from Kururu’s hand, filling the staircase.

The wooden parts such as the handrails instantly carbonized, turned to charcoal, became ash, and scattered.

However, once the torrent of explosive flames passed through, the magician stood there without even the hem of his clothes scorched.

Instead, the magic stone in his raised left hand vanished as thick smoke.

“You beast!”

The magician’s left hand disappeared into his bulging sleeve.

Immediately afterward, another lightning strike attacked from Cole’s hand, but the magician was faster in pulling his left hand from his sleeve.

Like a Tesla coil experiment, tiny bolts of lightning ran around the magician and scattered.

I finally understood. What he held was probably a magic stone that canceled magic.

But of course, it was not omnipotent. Thick smoke rose from the magic stone, and his right hand was already searching for a magic stone inside his sleeve.

There seemed to be a limit to the amount of magic it could defend against, and it also needed to be reloaded.

In other words, there was an opening.

And above all else—

“Keep firing! His magic stones aren’t infinite!”

That was right.

Because magic in this world was governed by the physical object called magic stones, the ways one could fight were heavily restricted.

Kururu ran up the stairs with cat-like agility, and we chased after her.

Then, right after Kururu suddenly crouched halfway up the stairs, compressed air passed over her head.

Because she was light, the aftershock blew her off balance, and just as she was about to topple over, I caught up and supported Kururu’s back.

Just when we thought the enemy was preparing an annihilation magic stone under his sleeve, it had apparently been wind magic.

Against a skilled magician, it seemed we also had to read what kind of magic the opponent would cast.

“Are you all right?”

“Y-yeah.”

Kururu, who had assumed the enemy was completely on the defensive, looked a little dazed.

After waiting for Kururu to steady herself, I slightly peeked out and looked down the corridor, where I saw the magician’s back.

“He’s gone on the defensive…”

Cole, who had been checking the situation in the same way, said in annoyance, and I asked him as well.

“Does magic only fly straight?”

If it could fly and then curve midair, we could defeat enemies hiding behind cover too.

“Basically, yes. That’s why this is troublesome. From here on is the aerial corridor connected to the tower. Since it was originally meant for confining nobles, there are several places for the defending side to hide in preparation for this kind of fight.”

As Cole spoke, he extended only his right hand slightly from the stairs and fired explosive flames to keep the enemy in check.

In a war movie, one would open a path with something like a grenade, but magic stones stopped working once they left the hand.

“Should we blow it away with every spell we’ve got?”

Kururu said that while rapidly removing magic stones from the ammunition belt on my shoulder and checking what kinds of magic they were.

“Think a little. If the aerial corridor collapses, the path to retrieve the captive noble will be cut off too.”

“…”

At Cole’s way of speaking, Kururu pressed her lips together in dissatisfaction.

“I see. And in the meantime, supporting magicians come from downstairs and catch us in a pincer attack?”

Kururu was surprised probably because she had forgotten that possibility.

The enemy was not only the magician before us, but definitely also included the magicians on the town’s defensive side, who had heard this commotion and were heading our way.

That was why, the moment the enemy magician realized he was facing both Cole and Kururu, he had quickly withdrawn.

“And we might also miss the ship.”

Even if the owner of Crape Myrtle House could be trusted, she had no reason to wait for us while putting herself in danger.

The time those evil Santa Clauses had to loot a mountain of presents was limited.

Their plan too would come to nothing if the defending side’s magicians arrived.

Time was on the enemy’s side.

Should we call Gerario?

But then there would be no one to secure our escape route.

No, was securing Iiria the top priority? If we could secure her person, would we still have a way to fight even if we were surrounded and isolated by the enemy?

As I examined every option with all my might, Kururu grabbed my arm.

Kururu, who was always harsh, bit her lower lip and relied on me.

Like when we defeated Nodon, and like when we defeated the dragon, she was asking me if there was anything.

Then Cole said,

“There’s no time. I’ll be the shield.”

From among the magic stones Kururu had sorted out, he picked up one with a magic circle I did not recognize.

“You, carry me and run. Cat girl, come from behind me and finish him off when I corner him.”

What Cole had picked up was the same magic that the enemy magician had used: magic that erased magic.

However, judging by its size, it was probably around fourth-grade.

I did not know how long it would hold out.

“The amount of magic it can erase depends on the size of the magic stone, right? Can this erase everything?”

It was a natural question from Kururu.

If the effect of magic annihilation ran out midway, we would become bowling pins in a long corridor with nowhere to escape.

“That depends on how fast this guy’s legs are and how much stock the other side has.”

The provincial capital of Roran was not some newly made town, but clearly a historic city.

This palace too must have been packed with wisdom cultivated through a long history of warfare.

The defending side should have a full set of countermeasures prepared against attacks, and assuming they had no defensive magic stones stockpiled would be a convenient assumption.

Rather, we should consider ourselves lucky that there was only one defensive magician.

“Then shall we keep exchanging magic like this?”

Time was on the defenders’ side.

Even as we stood here, the range of choices available to us was narrowing.

Cole’s plan was a gamble, but there was indeed a chance it could succeed.

The problem was that I was not muscular like Balan or Kengo, and only had the stamina Kururu often called weak.

Cole had also been beaten severely, so it would be impossible for him to run quickly down the long corridor on his own.

In other words, if I dropped Cole midway, everything would end there. It was difficult to attack down a long, straight corridor, and retreating midway would be even harsher.

Could I run the entire length of the long aerial corridor while carrying a person?

The more I thought about it, the nastier it felt that the place for confining nobles was not an underground prison, but the top of a narrow tower connected only by an aerial corridor.

If we attacked by brute force, the only passage would collapse, and then we would have no choice but to open a hole somewhere, even at the risk that the tower itself might collapse.

There was no time to hesitate.

The longer our decision was delayed, the lower the success rate of every option became.

That was when it happened.

“I’ll become the shield and erase the magic.”

At Kururu’s words, Cole immediately said,

“You will? How much more magic can you fire?”

Kururu only swallowed and did not answer.

“Can you stabilize your output? The opponent will vary the tempo. If he fires fragmented, heavy attacks, are you confident you won’t turn every magic stone in your hand into smoke just by defending against the first one?”

A magician’s ability was apparently something like the ability to ignite magic stones and turn them into magic.

With a huge magic stone, one could probably brute-force things with its large capacity, but when capacity was limited, one had to conserve it.

It had not been that long since Kururu had begun learning magic from Gerario. Cole had likely watched the way Kururu fought and noticed how rough around the edges she was.

“I can do it.”

That confidence of Cole’s was not the arrogance he had shown in the dealings with Nodon and the like.

It was courage shown for the sake of someone he wanted to save.

“Is this the only annihilation magic stone?”

Kururu said irritably.

“This magic stone is dangerous to begin with. In the middle of a chaotic battle where there’s no time to choose a magic stone, what do you think happens if, at the very moment an enemy raises a sword at you, you just happen to draw this one?”

Each magician had their own theory.

From long experience, fixed responses were formed.

And there were also times when that backfired.

“I can stop about three fourth-grade magic stones’ worth. That magician shouldn’t have that many attack magic stones on him either, because of cost cutting.”

The phrase “cost cutting” heard in the middle of an extreme magic battle.

True, since this was not wartime, setting up heavy security would be pointless. Magic stones were expensive, after all.

It was very realistic, but at that moment—

I realized that we knew a secret that could make expensive magic stones worthless.

“Kururu-san.”

“Hm, huh?”

I grabbed her slender shoulders and pulled her closer.

And then I reached toward the modest chest of Kururu, whose eyes were wide open and whose face had turned red.