“That turned out to be a lot more trouble…”
The tense, suffocating atmosphere dissipated into thin air as if it weren’t there.
Lilea lightly pressed her temples as she finally let out the air she had been holding in her lungs with a sharp sigh.
“…But we gained a lot of information too.”
“What do you mean?”
“That knight wasn’t the supposedly dead magician that I knew. I don’t remember him being that talkative.”
“So that means that man used some means to imitate… or even steal that magic?”
“That would be about right.”
Which meant that it was more than possible that the ‘Magician Hunter’ himself possessed other kinds of magic, too.
“But our problem is that『Disorientation』magic of his…”
Even if we were wary of the possibility that he could use other sorts of magic, we still had no way of getting around his disorientation magic.
We couldn’t move forward without a proper countermeasure against it.
“And given the matter at hand, maybe those guys know the flaw in that magic that we can exploit.”
“Those guys?”
“Yeah. Until exactly two years ago, the magician who originally used the『Disorientation』magic belonged to the Order. So if we ask the knights, they might give us something useful.”
—However, it’s hard to imagine that the Order, which for some reason had remained silent amidst the magician killings, would cooperate with us even if we explained the situation to them.
I agreed with Lilea’s bitterly expressed rambling.
But then, a certain something suddenly flashed through my mind.
It was the ‘magic words’ that Fiole Islebark, the woman I met in Minaura, had taught me.
“If you ever find yourself in any trouble, you can ask her to help you out.”
And I believe the name she mentioned was— Zenoah Almerida.
“…I’ll see what I can do. I have connections, fortunately.”
The two girls gave me a hard, reproachful look, completely in surprise as to how I got such a connection.
Feeling uncomfortable, she turned away and agreed with a pout.
“Just so we’re clear, do you two not want to leave the capital?”
“I think we’re safer if the three of us stuck together.”
“Are we really supposed to take that man’s word now?”
Before Lilea could completely finish her question, Sofia and I already had our answers.
“…I just thought I’d ask since I don’t really trust that man either. I just wanted to say that if you are choosing to stay in this place out of concern for me, it’s a needless concern.”
“I see.”
“Yeah, and if that’s the case, isn’t it better to go our separate ways for the time being?”
“…Meaning?”
“As far as I can tell from what that man said earlier, as of today, he has no intention of killing any magicians, including us.”
He did say that.
The ‘Magician Hunter’ might’ve been wounded for all we know, but under the circumstances, he had an overwhelming advantage over us.
But despite that, he didn’t try to attack us in any way, completely justifying having no intention of killing any magician this time.
If that’s indeed the case, Lilea would surely say that we should do everything we can while we still have the time.
“I see.”
I thought it was reasonable.
We were in a completely disadvantaged situation, yet he didn’t harm us.
While there’s a touch of frustration in this fact, we should be making the most of it now.
Hence why we took Lilea’s suggestion into action.
“You use your connections to the knights, while Sofia and I will go around the place looking for people who might know something.”
“Okay.”
Regardless of whether we’d be the ones to defeat him or not, nothing would touch him until we could find something about his disorientation magic.
Therefore, the first and foremost priority was to find the flaw in that very magic.
***
Reaper Scans
***
No magic is devoid of any flaw.
There is no exception.
It is a well-known fact and an absolute rule.
And depending on the range of one’s abilities, the size of the defects that they have will also vary.
Thus, the best way to defeat a magician is to look for their flaws.
Because no matter how much magicians may be called “embodiment of unreasonableness,” it’s completely impossible to be spared from the providence of the world—
“—Or so I thought. I thought I could find something out after talking about magicians and all, but surprisingly enough, I can’t seem to find anything at all.”
That is, unless they are self-reported, said the woman with long silvered eyelashes, somewhat absent-mindedly talking to me about magic for unknown reasons.
It was about an hour later.
I left Lilea and Sofia to go on my own and reached the knight’s station.
But as I expected, the guards could only kick me out, preaching about how this isn’t a place for a child like me to be.
Until at the same moment, I happened to meet a woman dressed in a knight’s uniform.
And somehow, as soon as she stepped between me and the guards, everything suddenly settled down, and they finally let me inside the establishment.
“…Why did you invite me inside, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Unlike the guards, I only asked her to meet with a certain person in the Order.
Nevertheless, she granted my request and invited me inside.
…I kept quiet about it because it was in my favor, but it was almost eerie thinking about how convenient things had gone so far.
And before long:
“Because you know Fiole, don’t you? You’re here because you were told to turn to me in times of trouble.”
Her reply was so abrupt it made my mind go blank.
Indeed, she was right.
I came to this office to meet someone named Zenoah Almerida.
But that’s not something I had said to anyone just yet.
Her clear eyes shot through me.
I was under the illusion that she could see right through me.
“Yes, I can indeed see right through you. That’s my magical ability after all.”
Magic, again.
And judging from this situation and her previous statement, hers is probably—
“Apologies for my late introduction. My name is Zenoah Almerida, and my magical ability is『Mind Reading: Doctus』…To put it simply, I possess the ability to hear one’s thoughts. As for its flaws, when I try to use this magic, my sense of hearing becomes completely useless and the fatigue I get from it is ridiculous too, to boot.”
…I knew it.
Wondering if I should introduce myself as well as my magical abilities in detail too, I opened my mouth hurriedly.
“I’m Julius. My magical ability is—”
“—『Sword: Creation』Its flaws limit you to only being able to manifest it right next to your limb. And if it leaves your hand, it will disappear in less than ten seconds, correct?”
There goes my answer before I could even give it.
“I’m sorry. You had trouble with our knight guards, so I took the liberty listening to your thoughts, as well as your abilities. So allow me to apologize for the confusion, let alone the worries that I made.”
Hearing so, she gave me the impression of being a very serious person.
If she had kept quiet, I would never have learned about it, but she ventured out her way to tell the truth and apologize.
It also made a little more sense that Fiole gave me an opportunity to meet with Zenoah in times of trouble.
“If I kept quiet about it, Fiole wouldn’t forgive me… That’s enough idle talk. Time is running out, so let’s get down to business.”
Inside a guest room located in the station, the two of us sat across from each other at a long wooden desk.
Zenoah then looked out the twilight-colored window for a moment before speaking again.
“—The reason for your visit today was because you wanted to ask me about the ‘Magician Hunter,’ wasn’t it?”
Zenoah, who tipped her head slightly while swaying her long flaxen hair, contorted the corners of her eyes as she said so.
With a soft smile plastered on her face, she proceeded.
“A flaw to a magic called the『Disorientation』magic, the Magician Hunter’s abilities, and his identity. In addition to telling you everything I know at this point in time, I will also tell you how this happened. However, there is one favor— a request I would like to ask of you in return.”
“A… request?”
Why is the Order still not making its move despite all the information they have?
And if they know the whole picture, why are they not sharing information?
As she continued to speak, questions kept popping up in my head one after another.
And perhaps since she was a magician who possessed such an ability, she could probably see right through my inner thoughts without any wasted effort.
However, she didn’t answer my question and instead continued speaking.
And it was almost the same words uttered by the ‘Magician Hunter’ whom I had met just an hour before, by sheer coincidence.
“Yes. I need you to withdraw and not get involved in this incident.”
——
——
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