The Mysterious Men

The carriage Vim and his companion were riding in came to a sudden halt. For Rolf to stop without saying a word, something must have happened.

“What’s the matter?”

“The road is blocked.”

Vim poked his head out of the carriage window and saw several men standing in the middle of the road.

“What a pain,” Vim muttered as he stepped down from the carriage. Hana followed close behind him.

“Just standing there… are you that bored?” Vim projected, his voice laced with a low, menacing edge.

“How strange. I was certain I had deployed a People-Clearing Barrier here,” said a well-dressed man at the front, pushing up his rimless glasses with his middle finger.

“Too bad. A barrier that feels like child’s play isn’t going to do you any good.”

Vim pulled out his S-rank guild card and presented it.

“Ho… so you are the ‘Magician of the Abyss’ everyone has been whispering about lately.”

A People-Clearing Barrier is, to put it simply, nothing more than a basic mental interference spell. It works by influencing the target’s psyche to steer them away from a specific location. Therefore, anyone with resistance to mental interference is unaffected. In Vim’s case, he possessed a skill that jammed mental interference magic. That effect extended to Hana and Rolf, which is why the carriage had ignored the barrier.

“I’d like to say something to you people doing things out here that require clearing the area: could you please move? I’d like to get back to the capital.”

There had to be a reason they were casting such a barrier in the middle of a road.

“I’m afraid we can’t do that. Since you’ve seen us, we’ll have to do something like… erasing your memories.” The well-dressed man at the front stated coldly.

“Are you saying you want to fight us?”

“I’d rather not trade blows with an S-rank, to be honest.”

Realistically, even if they had the advantage in numbers, we held the overwhelming advantage in raw combat power.

“I’d recommend staying out of our way too,” Vim replied.

At that moment, an arrow flew toward the back of Vim’s head. Vim caught it with his right hand and hurled it straight back at the man in front.

“Isn’t an ambush a bit cowardly?” Vim let a dark smile play across his lips.

The thrown arrow pierced the man’s left shoulder.

“Hana, take the ones in the back.”

“Understood!”

Entrusting the enemies behind them to Hana, Vim focused on the ones in front. He didn’t know who they were, but if they were going to point their blades at him, he would simply respond in kind.

“You lot, do it!” The man ordered his subordinates, the arrow still lodged in his shoulder.

The men lunged forward, drawing swords and knives.

“Too slow.”

Using magic against these guys would be an insult to magic itself. Vim dodged a knife thrust by shifting just half a step and drove a knee into the attacker’s solar plexus.

“Gah…!”

The air escaped the man’s lungs. He collapsed to the ground and didn’t get back up.

“Y-you… aren’t you a mage?!”

“I’m a mage through and through.” Vim let his robes flutter for emphasis. This was his way of maintaining the “mage aesthetic.”

“Don’t mock me!” Another man swung his sword downward.

“I told you, don’t leave yourself so wide open.” Vim grabbed the man’s wrist and used his momentum to throw him.

The man slammed into the hard ground with full force. He hadn’t even attempted to break his fall, so the impact knocked him unconscious instantly.

“Pathetic…” Vim muttered, looking down at the fallen men.

Yes, Vim was also skilled in martial arts. Well, “skilled” might mean he was just a bit better than the average person. He had picked it up after coming to Leoria so he could handle situations where magic might be unusable. Since Vim was a fast learner, he had mastered it in no time.

“I’ve never heard of a magician who picks a fistfight!”

“Is there a law saying a magician can’t use martial arts? If you want to be defeated by magic that badly, I can accommodate you.”

Thunder Ball.

Three orbs made of lightning shot toward the man. Taking the hit head-on, the man collapsed, paralyzed.

“Oh well. Too bad for you.”

Now, the only one left facing Vim was the man with the arrow in his shoulder.

“Master Vim, I’m finished.” Just then, Hana returned, sheathing her sword.

“That was fast. Good work. How many were there?”

“Two.”

Hana had neutralized both of them. Truly a partner worthy of Vim.

“Now, what’s your move? It looks like your friends are all gone.”

“Damn it…!!” The man pulled a smoke bomb from his coat and smashed it against the ground.

By the time Vim cleared the smoke with wind magic, the man was nowhere to be seen.

“He got away.”

Technically, Vim still had a lock on him with search magic, but he felt no obligation to chase him down. Vim dispelled the People-Clearing Barrier and returned to the carriage. The men on the ground were tied up; the guards would likely find them and take them away eventually.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Let’s hurry along.” Vim said to Rolf as he and Hana boarded.

“Understood. We are departing.”

The carriage began its steady roll once more.