Chapter 74

“[Mana Phase Transition: Signal — Coagulate]!”

It was a spell that could very well have been the final act of my life.

My mind certainly wavered, but my body moved first.

A vision had flashed before my eyes—a vision of Adele Simoni collapsing after taking an arrow in my stead. Someone like her might have been able to dodge it. But if there were even a one-in-a-million chance, a truly microscopic possibility of losing her…

I didn’t have the confidence to accept that risk. She was a card dealt to me by a stroke of luck that would never come again.

‘Even if the crystallization climbs all the way to my shoulder, I can’t lose Adele.’

If I were to die, at least I would have decided my own ending, so I would have no regrets. After all, I was the protagonist of this story.

That thought finally pulled the trigger.

“Fire.”

The thug who was about to shoot the crossbow dropped his arm. The crossbow he let go of discharged aimlessly, the bolt grazing a comrade’s ankle.

“Dammit! What do you think you’re doing?!”

By the time the thug who was nearly hit shouted, three of the group had already face-planted into the dirt. Adele had taken down two, and the remaining one was the fellow hit by my magic.

Blood leaked from the fallen man’s eyes and nose.

“It actually worked…”

[Mana Phase Transition: Signal — Coagulate]

That spell was supposed to work only on the monsters in the dungeon. They were the ones whose blood was made of mana.

But I had given it some thought. My own blood-mana concentration was hanging right at the threshold of the crystallization limit. I had hit the ceiling once and barely returned to a precarious normal level. I was likely a particularly severe case.

However, the situation of the average citizen of Denabi wouldn’t be much different. These were people living in a fief where the Mana Plague was on the verge of spreading, after all. Especially for those whose bodies hadn’t partially crystallized yet…

‘They might react to this spell.’

People in Denabi whose bodies hadn’t crystallized would have particularly high mana concentrations in their blood. My spell coagulates all the mana in such a person’s body, turning it into crystals. It wouldn’t result in an explosion like a dungeon monster, but it would certainly cause a massive disruption in blood flow.

My life and the accuracy of that hypothesis—the double gamble I placed on both was a success.

“Adele! Let’s go!”

I shouted, pointing at a gap that had opened in the thugs’ formation. Beyond it was an alleyway.

Adele finished crushing the head of the man she was dealing with. She ran to me and grabbed my hand. I was pulled along by her into the alley.

Naturally, the thugs followed us. I had to admit their courage was impressive. To see what had happened to their comrades and still pursue us—I suppose they were Denabi warriors in their own right.

Suddenly, Adele yanked me hard toward her.

“Whoa!”

Using the momentum to send me forward, she swung her mace, demolishing the walls on both sides of the alley we had just passed through. Then she turned back to me.

“Go!”

“Ugh, right. Going. Yeah.”

I clutched my head and started running again. As I ran, I said, “We have to get to the gate! We need to see what happened there.”

“…”

I looked back at Adele, who hadn’t responded. She was staring at me with a pouting face. I apologized immediately.

“I’m sorry, for now.”

“What are you sorry for?”

I felt like I’d had this conversation somewhere before. Was it just my imagination?

“I’m sorry for everything.”

“And what is ‘everything’?”

“Even if you ask me that… I said I’d grant you a wish, but here I am just piling on favors…”

“Look ahead. You’re going to crash.”

“Aaaagh!”

I almost broke my nose! I hadn’t even realized we’d reached a fork in the road. I managed to veer right just in time thanks to Adele’s warning.

However, she said, “You should have gone left just now.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Oops.”

“An ‘oops’ doesn’t cut it!”

“It was just fun seeing you think so hard about what you did wrong. I did it without thinking.”

“…”

‘Seriously, this lady.’

I swallowed my frustration. “…Where do we go from here?”

“Right, and then right again.”

“Thanks. But can you let go of my hand now?”

“By the way, that thing just now—how did you do it?”

I knew it. She was changing the subject. Since I didn’t have the strength to resist her grip anyway, I had no choice but to answer.

“It’s magic. I learned it from my mother.”

“Oh… so there’s a spell that makes the target die while bleeding from every hole in their body, and you never even mentioned it? You’re scary.”

“It’s the first time I’ve ever used it on a person! And he’s probably not dead. He likely just fainted from thrombosis (the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel).”

“Thrombosis?”

“It’s a thing. Anyway, I can’t use magic much. It’s like a gamble I only pull out when I think I’m actually going to die.”

So, I really hoped a situation where I had to use it again wouldn’t come up. I didn’t want to play a game of death-defying coin tosses twice in one day!

“Haa… but how much further do we have to run?”

“You can stop if you want. We’ve shaken off the pursuers for now.”

“What? Then why didn’t you say something sooner?”

“Didn’t you say we have to reach the gate?”

Dammit. She was right. Still, not everyone in this world has the iron-clad stamina of a monster like you! I forced my exhausted legs to start moving again. But as we neared the gate, I finally realized that the situation was far more serious than I had imagined.

The gate was closed.

“This is…”

We hid in an alley to scout the situation. It didn’t look like the gate had been captured, exactly. However, the area in front of it was a mess of burning junk, and there were armed men holding the line. They looked like the same pack that had surrounded us in front of Malik’s building.

“What should we do? Can we break through…?”

I started to speak but stopped myself.

“Of course I can,” Adele said, stepping forward.

I grabbed her, pulling her back. “No. I misspoke.”

“But if we don’t use that gate, we can’t return to the castle, can we?”

“True, but that doesn’t mean I can let a massacre happen against the residents of my own fief. They are also people of Denabi.”

“They tried to kill you.”

“They were likely following orders. There was probably nothing personal in it.”

“A crime isn’t only a crime if there’s personal feeling involved.”

“That’s a valid point, but there’s no law saying I should kill them all by association just because of that. Anyway, let’s just stay quiet and think for a second.”

“Ugh…”

She reluctantly stood close to me again. “I could suppress them and bring them to their knees without killing them all,” she offered.

I glanced outside again and shook my head. “No, even so, there are too many. If you try to process them while holding back your strength, Adele, you might get hurt.”

“I am an Emperor’s Hunter.”

“Now, you are my hunter. I won’t permit such dangerous acts unless it’s truly unavoidable.”

“…”

She looked away, dropping her head. Seeing no further protest, it seemed she intended to listen to me. I leaned against the alley wall.

“Haa… since we’re stranded anyway, let’s rest a bit. And you can let go of this hand now.”

She had been holding my hand the entire time. All the way here.

“I don’t want to.”

“Are you going to use your wish on this?”

“No, not that.”

She quickly let go and leaned against the opposite wall. “So, what happened back there? Was that Malik person not the culprit?”

“Didn’t you eavesdrop on everything through the door?”

“Of course I did.”

“Then why are you asking?”

“Because I want to hear your thoughts?”

“Sigh…”

I let out a heavy breath. I hoped there was only one person like Adele in this world. The world couldn’t handle more than one of her. Actually, I wouldn’t be able to handle it.

“…Malik was likely telling the truth. It seems the ones bothering us were other influential figures of the lower district who were pissed off by my actions.”

“Influential figures?”

“It’s not just the powerful ones. My policies can’t be perfect, so there are bound to be disgruntled citizens. Those who ran the moonshine business or… as Malik said, many who lived off the lower district black market.”

I continued. “Even so, I assumed all of this was the scheme of just one man, Malik. It was stupid. Truly… stupid.”

I wiped a hand over my face. Only now did I feel I understood Izack’s heart—why he had spoken to me like that, and why he hoped I wouldn’t provoke Malik.

‘I should apologize when I get back.’

But since there was no way back right now…

“Anyway, thank you for saving me. I’m always receiving help from you.”

“Ahem.”

She tilted her chin up, looking quite proud of herself. “If you’re grateful, do that for me. You know, that thing.”

“That thing?”

“Saying I’m the only one, that you only trust me.”

“Is that a wish?”

“Hmm… that’s mean.”

“I’m a man who lives and breathes being mean.”

“You say those things to others so easily, though. It sounds like you say it to all your employees.”

“You aren’t my employee.”

“Then what am I?”

“Well… at the very least, not an employee.”

“Can I use my wish to decide what ‘that’ is?”

Something felt ominous. I avoided her gaze. “…No.”

“You said ‘anything’.”

“What if you say you want to be my master? That’s no different from wishing for a hundred more wishes.”

“You really are mean. Only using the wish as a threat. One would think it’s your wish, not mine.”

“Haha. Let’s get moving. Somewhere…”

I tried to change the subject and move, but Adele grabbed me and pulled me in.

“That’s why I need to use it right now.”

“Mmph…”

I closed my eyes.

‘…’

After a sufficient amount of time had passed, I pushed her away. She was looking at me with eyes that seemed somewhat lingering.

“Ah.”

“…Honestly, I still don’t quite understand.”

I asked her, “Why did you accept my proposal?”

“Oh my, I thought you knew. Didn’t you propose while predicting all of this?”

It was true that I expected her to accept. However, I didn’t know why she had to do it. ‘Why does she have feelings for me?’

Adele spoke. “I like your mouth.”

“Pardon…?” I felt my face flush hot.

“Your mouth only speaks the truth. It’s different from other people.”

“I tell plenty of lies.”

“See? You’re doing it again.”

“…”

“I know you know how to lie. I know you’ve lied to me, too.” She seemed to struggle for the right words. “But… hmm… how should I put it? The ‘truth’ I’m talking about isn’t that kind of truth. It’s more of an emotional kind…”

“What on earth is that?” I grumbled.

Adele laughed and leaned her face toward mine. “I think I’ll remember if we do it one more time.”

“…You already used your wish. No. We’re busy. We don’t have time to idle around like this.”

I turned around and kept walking the way I was going. She complained, “So stingy.”

“If I weren’t stingy, I couldn’t save this fief’s economy.”

“But where are we really going now?”

“Since I don’t know anywhere else… I suppose we have no choice but to go there.”

“There?”

I nodded. But then, Adele spoke up.

“Before we go, there’s something I have to say.”

“What is it? I told you we’re busy.”

“But I thought you’d want to know.”

“Know what…?”

“The Sword of Four Seasons.”

My breath… felt like it stopped.

Adele said, “You’ve already found it, haven’t you?”