[Estimated Lifespan: 28 days, 12 hours, 52 minutes.]
Due to Rian’s magical talent, what was supposed to be the most basic fire spell had evolved into a roaring mass of flames, barreling through the sky towards the masked attackers.
Clearly, they were not prepared for such firepower coming from a thin-looking boy. Three of them managed to dodge aside, but the last one, who was on the bigger side, was unfortunately not fast enough.
BANG—!
Fire crashed across the rooftops, blasting tiles and fragments of bricks everywhere. When things came to, what used to be a masked assailant had been burned to a crisp.
"Th—that guy’s a mage! He must be at least 4-Star! Call for backup!"
But just as the words got out of his throat, the man’s head suddenly started sliding. A second later, a large wound appeared, sputtering blood like a geyser.
Alicia merely stepped back, watching the man’s body fall from the roof. It dropped down to a nearby terrace, bounced off its railing, then struck the cold streets below.
The rest of the attackers saw what happened and lost whatever courage they had left. All of them turned and fled.
"Alicia, after them! Leave one alive!"
The remaining three scattered across the rooftops, but Alicia managed to catch the first before he reached the next building.
She simply struck him in the knee with a kick, driving him face-first into the tiles and plunging her dagger into the back of his head.
The second attempted to change direction, only for a shadow to coil around his ankle.
〈Blind Shade.〉
The man was dragged backward. But before he could cut himself free, Alicia had struck him across the temple before finishing him off with a stab to the chest.
In a desperate attempt, the final attacker reached beneath his cloak and produced a small metal tube.
Rian’s eyes widened, realizing what he was trying to do. "Alicia, stop him!"
But it was already too late.
By the time Alicia heard Rian’s command, the masked man already had the tube aimed skyward...and pulled on the cord.
FWIIIIP—!
A flare erupted into the sky, high above Eisenbran before exploding into the shape of an iron sword. Alicia appeared next to the man a second later, knocking him out in one go.
"I left this one alive."
"Not the worst of our problems right now!"
Bells began ringing. Knights stationed several blocks away abandoned their posts and began moving towards the location.
’Of course they gave their people an official distress call...’
Normally, knights approaching would be a good thing. But with these corrupted knights...Rian knew this was going to be a hassle.
The black carriage carrying Otto had already vanished deeper into Eisenbran. Worse, at least a dozen knights were converging upon their position from different streets.
"Tch...we need to hide our identities somehow."
His eyes searched the market below. Most merchants had abandoned their stalls after the fireball and flare. Among the vacated stalls, rows of carnival-looking masks were being sold—the ones that were usually expensive tourist traps.
But well, it’ll have to do.
"Alicia, take us down!"
She looked at the approaching knights, then at the unconscious prisoner beside her. "What about this guy?"
"Take him too!"
Without hesitation, the maid grabbed the back of his coat with one hand. Her other hand simply lifted her Young Master off his feet, tucked nicely in between her lower arm.
The three of them then crashed through the canopy of the carnival stall, sending merchandise flying everywhere.
Rian quickly got up and searched through the pile of masks. Eventually, he found two, accompanied by hooded black cloaks.
The first was a black raven with silver markings around its eyes and a short beak extending over the nose. The second depicted a white wolf, its narrow gray eyes matching Alicia’s almost perfectly.
Rian tossed the wolf mask toward her.
"Put this on."
Alicia caught it with one hand.
"A wolf?"
"Would you rather the rabbit or the house cat?"
"..."
Rian fastened the raven mask over his own face before pulling up the black hood. Alicia did the same, concealing most of her white hair. Before leaving, Rian tossed several coins onto the ruined counter.
"Do you really need to do that?" Alicia frowned.
"Well, I’d rather not be a thief."
"Young Master, didn’t you steal a relic from an ancient goddess—"
"Don’t sweat the details."
But before they could argue back and forth any longer, the first group of knights had already appeared between the surrounding stalls with their weapons already drawn. More arrived from the opposite street, quickly blocking every visible exit.
Their captain looked toward the unconscious attacker in Alicia’s grasp. "Release that man if you don’t want any trouble."
"This man participated in the kidnapping of an Eisenbran citizen," Rian said.
"I won’t repeat myself, vigilantes." The captain raised his sword. "Release him and surrender."
"Then send your men after the carriage," Rian said. "The abducted citizen is still inside. We’ll oblige if you do so."
"The black carriage never went anywhere near the port."
"Ahh, but I never said it was black?"
"...Tch, get them!"
Whatever happened, they couldn’t allow the guards to detain them here. So as the guards surged, Rian simply adjusted his raven mask before reaching into his bag and pulling out something.
The guards suddenly stopped, thinking that it’d be some kind of weapon. But instead, he produced a green-looking book.
"A book? What, are you going to read us a bedtime story?" one of the guards laughed. "Maybe bore us to sleep so you can get away or something?"
"Hah..." Rian simply sighed, opening up the book. "This is why nobody understands geniuses..."
He had prepared this book before they had left as a precaution. Rian wanted to save it for later. But well, better to be safe than sorry.
〈Compendium of Intermediate Magic.〉
With a single flip of the page, Rian’s eyes darted at lightning speeds. His brain took in every single piece of information the page had to offer, processed it, and made the knowledge his own.
And just in a fraction of a second...
[Chain Lightning has been added to Known Spells]
"O restless current, divide without end. Bind all beneath the heavens."
〈Magia Volt — Mille Tempestatis.〉
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