Chapter 249
Rain looked at the patrolling local guard who was summoned by one of the bystanders as he tried to speak with her while she lay in the cobblestone street. As she slowly got out of her daze, she could not help but mutter curses in a low, inaudible voice.
“Ugh… What am I even doing…”
After arriving at the town of Velheim and hearing about the trial issued by the matriarch of the Vest family, Rain could not help but entertain the thought at the back of her mind that maybe…
(Is that why I tried so hard to obstruct him?)
With a self-mocking expression, she quietly apologized to the two guards who had accompanied her and gently touched the blue crystal barrette that she received as a present to celebrate her reunion with her childhood friend when she went to the capital to serve him and closed her eyes.
At the same time, Azurite and the remaining guard had lost sight of the Lesser Buncle and the small fox in the crowded city, so they carefully probed the surrounding area with detection magic.
“… How is it?”
“There’s a reaction. This is…”
One came from the magical beast who had stopped moving on top of a house’s roof and the other came from another small creature that seemed to be prowling around and searching for something.
(I wonder if the creature holding its breath is the Lesser Buncle and the one moving about is the fox cub?)
Using a rough estimation, Azurite drew out the condensed water magic from the mana stone he had been carrying in his pocket and cast one of the spells written in his secret favorite book called Herculean Crushing and covered his thermal shoe-clad feet with cold air using Ice Magic which is a derivative of Water Magic.
“Please wait here for a bit!”
“What are…!?”
After moving to the end of an alley and calling out to his guard, Azurite moved with a speed not befitting a mage and ran vertically up the wall, leaving a trail of frozen footprints on its surface.
“Hup!”
Eventually, his gloves, which had been specially treated to protect against the cold, were also covered in cold air. This allowed him to grasp the wall’s surface to climb and reach the roof of the building which appeared to be a local bar.
Sparing no time to catch his breath, Azurite quickly looked around and located his prey. He thrust out his right arm and fired an Ice Bullet that focused on speed!
“Kuuh!?”
With a short cry, the Lesser Buncle evaded on instinct, but the ice bullet froze its surroundings on impact and caught one of its legs. Azurite followed up with another Ice Bullet and sealed the rest of its limbs.
“Kuaaaauh!”
“Alright, I caught… it?”
Just as he clenched his fists with joy, the silver-haired archer appeared in his field of vision as the man came sprinting across the roofs, leapt, and landed at the opposite side of the beast using Wind Magic.
“Tsk, I almost had it!”
Azurite grumbled as he hesitated to make the jump to the next roof which was a little further away. Meanwhile, Archer, who was a skilled Wind Magic user, easily reached the side of the small magical beast whose feet were frozen in place.
“Kuuuuu~h!!”
“Is it just me, or… Is it just my lucky day?”[1]
As I was moving along the roofs looking for my prey and my sister, I caught the scent of the magical beast that was mixed in the wind and hurriedly followed it… Only to find that the Dykebell heir had conveniently restricted the Lesser Buncle’s movement with his Ice Magic.
However, he looked extremely displeased and the atmosphere was somewhat awkward.
“I wouldn’t take it if I were you, Mr. Archer.”
“… Your people interfered earlier, so let’s call it even.”
By the way, my childhood friend Blazer once said, “I’d rather be a brute hungry for results rather than a hypocrite who chooses a safe method or a fool bound by his pride.” I wanted to follow his wise words, but…
It felt like there was a small bone stuck in my throat, and at this distance, I knew that the guy wouldn’t just sit back and let his prey be stolen from him.
“Hmph, shall we just settle this with a fight, Lord Dykebell?”
“Sure, but first… What happened to Rain and the others?”
“Them? They’re probably being looked after by the local guards as we speak.”
“I see, then I must do my best here…”
With a mutter, his focus shifted. The moment he thrust out his right arm which was wrapped in cold air, I avoided the place he was aiming for and jumped onto the roof in front of me.
I followed suit and raised my arm to use Air Burst to destroy the incoming Ice Bullets mid-air, which created beautiful snowflakes as it shattered and fell.
Having no time to appreciate such a fragile work of art, I jumped to avoid the next barrage of Ice Bullets. I landed on the side of a building and kicked the wall as I unleashed a burst of wind at my feet and jumped.
I landed on the same roof the Dykebell heir was standing on. I closed the distance in a single breath, and delivered a whirlwind-packed spin kick!
“Guuh!!”
“!?”
I immediately kicked away his raised arm to make him fall back, but the cold air around him instantly froze and became an improvised gauntlet, reducing the power of the kick.
“I’ve had my suspicions, but… You’re using a magic tool, aren’t you?”
“I’m acquainted with the Tempest Witch Ernesta, and I admire her skill. Unfortunately, my body couldn’t withstand the strain of the Adamantine Body technique, but there are plenty of ways to achieve similar results.”
Although he swayed a bit, the Dykebell heir quickly approached. Intensifying the cold air around his pivot foot, he unleashed a sharp blow to freeze my feet.
I reacted by releasing the whirlwind I had wrapped around my left leg to blow away the cold air. He then followed up with a water bullet which I diverted with a strike of my palm.
While defending, I counter-attacked with a whirlwind-covered palm strike, but he entwined his left arm to redirect the blow outwards and circled around to get behind me.
In response to the strange and anomalous movement, I launched another palm strike in the opposite direction. However, after the enemy also launched a similar palm strike, Wind and Water Bullets rained everywhere as we clashed with each other.
Translator’s Notes:
[1] Is it just me, or… Is it just my lucky day? – The original dialogue is これは…… 大和言葉で言うところの “据え膳” というやつか = “So this is… What they call “suezen” in the Yamato language?” The word “suezen” has several meanings, but the closest to this sentence is “to be handed on a silver platter”. I replaced the original dialogue for better readability
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