EP.178 Sign, Battle Mage! (4)
Hound, the royal hunting dog.
Soldiers who swear to remain loyal to the royal family for life are trained from an early age. The education they receive is different from that of knights. There is no honor. There is no pride. You only learn techniques to kill people.
Throwing, stealth, camouflage, infiltration.
You learn skills that knights wouldn’t learn. There are more cases where it deals with memorization rather than with the sword. They perform tasks that knights cannot. Mainly, the dirty stuff. Dirty but practical things.
Hounds that endure such grueling training become excellent soldiers. They perform shady missions that knights cannot do. It’s things like assassination and stalking. Their operational capabilities are astonishing.
A master of close combat.
The natural enemy of wizards.
Although they are not proud of being the royal hunting dogs, they are confident in their abilities. The Hounds had thought that if many of them gathered together, they would be able to withstand, even if they were not superhumans of the sword, against wizard-type superhumans.
“Those eyes.”
And now.
“You are blessed by the stars.”
The Hounds realize it was an illusion.
The madman, Kelhalm.
The voice of an old superman is low. Although it is faint, there is anger in that voice. The madman revealed his feelings. That was the situation the Hounds were most wary of.
‘If a madman shows emotion, he must be suppressed immediately. We have to rush in, fill up the magical tools that suppress mana, and hold out until the madman comes to his senses.’
There is an instruction I heard before.
Following instructions is the virtue of a good soldier. However, at this moment. No hound can think of following directions.
“one.”
The air becomes heavy.
It feels like my breathing is being constricted. I can hear the sound of the magic tools being equipped malfunctioning.
“Let me warn you.”
Kelhalm extends his hand.
Although they know they have to block it, the hounds even feel like their feet are tied to the floor. It’s the fear of encountering a wild beast. Cold sweat runs down their spines.
And, that is the moment.
With a thud, someone kicked the ground.
One of the hounds, who had been hiding in the grass and between buildings, leaps towards the madman. Even in the oppressive air, there is no hesitation in its movements.
Tracker, Kalt.
He is not a person who became a Hound during his training period, but a soldier on the battlefield who was selected as a Hound in recognition of his contribution on the battlefield. He is different from other hounds. Having survived despite facing four disasters, he is not afraid of such pressure.
Therefore, Kalt’s movements are smooth.
Okay, I pull out the dagger from my waist.
Hiding the dagger in the gap of the sleeve of his long-length coat, he silently hits the ground. Approaching the madman. And, it wasn’t just Kalt who moved.
“hey.”
I don’t know at what moment or at what point it came.
There is a person who approaches from a blind spot of vision or from outside of perception. She snatched Kelhalm’s hand.
“What are you doing?”
Gray hair flutters.
The blue eyes of a girl who exudes a more sinister aura than that of a madman are shining.
sudden!
The mana that was weighing down the surroundings disperses in an instant. Only then did the hounds begin to move belatedly. The royal hounds have one question.
Who on earth is that girl?
2.
“What are you doing?”
Raniel opened his eyes and glared at Kelhalm. She knows that madmen hate the stars. That’s why she felt some kind of sinister feeling when the madman and the star-blessed Resty were attached.
However, it was just a feeling.
Even though he is called a madman, Kelhalm acts with strict principles.
So, I was thinking of watching from a distance.
That was until right before he showed his emotions.
“Those eyes.”
“You were blessed by the stars.”
There was clear emotion in that voice.
It is anger. It is the emotion that Kelhalm buried deepest, and the only emotion left to him. And it wasn’t a good thing that he showed his emotions. never.
‘The shaking of constraints.’
There was emotion in his voice, and his restraints were shaking.
The restrictions were loosened and the mana that flowed out for a moment took hold of the surrounding air. At that moment, Raniel was kicking the ground and running.
“Are you crazy?”
The grip holding Kelhalm’s wrist strengthened. This was a situation that even Raniel could not have imagined.
‘Why all of a sudden?’
In response to the star’s blessing?
No, that wasn’t it.
I have already told Kelhalm that there are some people who have been blessed by the stars. The madman was not particularly emotionally disturbed by that fact.
From the beginning, although Kelhalm hated the stars, he cooperated with the warriors and carried out operations several times.
Kelhalm is such a person.
A person who understands his madness and is more careful than anything else to control it.
‘Why is Kelhalm like that all of a sudden?’
Raniel even feels embarrassed.
“What are you doing all of a sudden?”
“······.”
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Kelhalm was silent in response to Raniel’s question.
He looked at Raniel holding his wrist, and then saw Resty sitting across from him. Resty was scared.
“···Phew.”
Kelhalm let out a short breath.
The mana leaking out disappears, and the flames shaking beyond the gray eyes die out. Kelhalm, who had tightened the restrictions, glanced at Raniel.
“···sorry.”
He said.
“You made the situation complicated.”
“···Tsk.”
Raniel clicked his tongue briefly.
The surroundings were noisy. There are many students watching this place. Their murmuring rang in Raniel’s ears. There were many eyes watching.
-what’s the matter?
-No, suddenly here and there…
-Who are all those people?
-Why Professor Letia and Professor Rania…
Grass, rooftops, gaps in buildings.
Hounds that had been hiding in various places suddenly appeared. All of them are aiming their weapons at Kelhalm.
“···sorry.”
A voice was heard so small that it only rang in Raniel’s ears. It was the voice of Kalt, who was standing behind Kelhalm. Even in an urgent situation, Kalt hid his weapon and approached without any trace of his presence… but not the other Hounds.
Their breathing is heavy.
In a moment of panic and realizing that their response was delayed, they even forgot to remain calm and broke the rules.
As a result, attention is drawn. The students’ clamor grows louder. It wasn’t a good situation. Raniel muttered to Kalt with a wrinkled expression.
“···Speak appropriately.”
Kalt nods and takes a step back.
He looked at the hounds and gestured.
“get off.”
He said in a cold voice.
“There is no problem with the distinguished guest. “I think the professor here briefly misunderstood.”
Raniel let go of Kelhalm’s wrist. Kelhalm rubbed his wrist and received the words in moderation.
“I did something that could have been misunderstood. “I apologize.”
Words made up on the fly are exchanged.
The students look at them with interest. The hounds who had gathered to subdue Kelhalm suddenly transformed into Kelhalm’s bodyguards.
“Are you okay?”
“No problem. but···.”
Kelhalm answered Kalt’s question.
“It looks like this professor still has something to say to me.”
“Then, we will guide you to a separate reception room…”
“There’s no need for that.”
Raniel interrupted Kalt.
She stuck her finger into the gap between my glove and my wrist and pulled it roughly.
widely!
Raniel’s gloves are thrown down on the table. It’s like some kind of signal. Kalt’s pupils shake. Kelhalm’s eyes narrowed.
“It’s a duel.”
Raniel said expressionlessly.
“I won’t refuse.”
With the students’ attention focused, Raniel challenges them to a duel. Cold sweat runs down Kalt’s spine. Of course you would refuse, right? With that in mind, Kalt glanced at Kelhalm…
“···I agree.”
Kelhalm agreed to the duel.
Kalt felt dizzy.
3.
“Senior, are you crazy?”
“You seem to be speaking a bit slurred these days?”
“No, senior. “Didn’t you click your tongue and say, ‘Think about it appropriately?’”
“It did.”
“That’s why you talked about it. The situation passes smoothly! Let’s pretend it never happened! “Let’s make it known that madmen are of ‘precious status’ and prevent them from approaching students!”
Wasn’t the picture good? Argh!
Kalt screamed into my ear. I frowned and covered my ears. Of course, blocking the sound did not mean that the voice could not be heard.
“But a duel?”
Kalt opened his eyes wide.
“A duel with a madman. Looking at what you declared in front of the students, are you planning on holding it in Aplia? I believe you won’t be like that. really.”
“I guess so.”
“Aaaahhh!”
In the forest a little far from Aplia, while Kalt was screaming and tearing out his head… I sat on a tree stump and clenched my chin.
“···Phew.”
Kalt seemed to have finally calmed down, caught his breath, looked at me again, and asked a question.
“Why didn’t Kelhalm refuse?”
“Because that’s the contract.”
“yes?”
“It’s one of the conditions of the contract I signed when I came to Aplia. In the unlikely event that the restrictions are shaken, accept my proposal as long as it does not go against the principles.”
I muttered, resting my chin.
“I thought about just kicking them out like this, but it didn’t seem like they would accept that.”
“···What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you see the look in his eyes? There’s something. “Even if I tell them to leave like this, they won’t listen and they will attack me… and that’s an ambiguous situation.”
There was something I was aiming for.
There was something, a plan.
“And, now is the time to find out.”
“What are you talking about?”
“purpose of visit. And, what you’re aiming for.”
“How do you find out that by a duel?”
There is a way. I repeated clenching and clenching my fists while sparing my words. Lately, I feel like I’ve been having a lot of fights with superhumans.
“······.”
When I slowly turned my head, I saw Kalt looking at me with a complicated gaze. He had a very thoughtful expression. Well, from the child’s perspective, the situation is probably a mess.
“Don’t worry, I won’t fight to the death.”
“···yes?”
“Do you really think I would achieve the highest order within the university grounds? At best, we’ll just exchange basic orders. “We will put restrictions on each other before the duel.”
“…Is there any meaning to such a show-off duel?”
“I’ll do it because I have it.”
Kalt still didn’t give up his questioning look. I sighed and continued speaking.
“It’s useless to tell you this because it’s knowledge you don’t know, but if I were to explain it as easily as possible, it would be roughly like this.”
I snapped my finger.
The mana blooming above my fingers flickered.
“I’m going to approach and read the flow. “As we fight, we will see the information engraved on the chain he has on his body.”
“···Seeing it?”
“You can think of Kelhalm as a well-made mechanical device. Because it moves according to the ‘command’ entered into the chain tied to the body. “I will read the entire statement.”
It was something I had done once before.
The difference is that at that time, I had to read it against Kelhalm, who had all the restrictions lifted.
“If you just check what the differences are from what you saw in the past, you will know exactly what you are aiming for.”
“Uhm…”
“If I explain it in more detail, you won’t understand. Why should I at least teach you how to read circuit patterns here? “Do you want to try it?”
Kalt said, shaking his head.
“No, I think there is some other intention. Isn’t that right, senior?”
“···I don’t have one.”
“···I guess it’s there.”
“I said there isn’t one.”
“If not, why did you ask for a duel ‘openly’ in front of the students? “Wouldn’t it have been better to just quietly retreat and have a duel in the woods?”
“Tsk.”
I clicked my tongue briefly.
‘f*ck, look at how quick this guy is.’
I was silent.
Kalt looked a little more suspiciously. I turned my head slightly. Kalt’s eyes narrowed.
“Seniors.”
“···what.”
“No way.”
“no.”
“I haven’t told you yet.”
“No matter what.”
It was not a proposal that came from such a shady desire to show in front of the students the ‘superiority’ of a battle mage who overpowers a wizard. never.
“It might help if you show the kids.”
They say you should only use basic spells, but the fundamentals lie in the most basic things. Just watching the duel where basics collide will be helpful.
“Since we already have to duel, it would be nice to show it to the kids. You probably don’t know, but I’ve been giving special lectures lately? What is dealt with there…”
There was a lot of explanation here and there. After listening to my explanation, Kalt sighed and felt like the ground was falling.
“If you are a senior, then it must be like that…”
“yes.”
“But you will have to bear it.”
“···what?”
I opened my eyes wide.
Kalt answered harshly.
“As you said, aren’t there a lot of eyes watching? Do you plan to advertise in front of the Hounds that I am the Gray Wizard?”
“···No, that’s it.”
“If you win even against a superhuman, there is no way to turn away. “Why didn’t you already get caught by one of your disciples like that?”
Kalt said clearly.
“Isn’t this a problem that can be solved with appropriate instructions?”
“······.”
“Wasn’t the purpose to read the command attached to the constraint or something? Then it won’t matter if you win or lose.”
It was a correct opinion.
“Or do you have another purpose?”
Kalt glanced at me.
I muttered helplessly.
“…No, nothing… “I originally planned to lose…”
“Well, you probably had your own thoughts, but it looks like I meddled for no reason.”
“huh···.”
