Novel I Didn't Even Want to Live, But God Forced Me to Reincarnate!

Great, as always! I just keep wanting more! Keep up the good work, but don't burn yourself out!

 

Boop!
Good chapter as always! ^^

 

Thank you for your kind words, guys :"D
I'm glad you're still enjoying this~ the plot's started to get more complex (or deep?) hereon ^^

 

Chapter 31

Chinosato City​

Spoiler: chapter 31

The next morning, we commenced the plan accordingly. After we prepared ourselves, we’d return to our “designed” rooms and went outside as the Rashad family. We would take the spacious table and sat just like a real merchant family, enjoying the breakfast.

And shortly after that, Mom and Meredea’s figure could be seen. Seeing that the dining hall was quite crowded, Mom and Meredea noticed the empty spaces at our table, enough for them to join in—that’s how the scenario works, and then, they would join us.

We would chat for a while and got friendly enough that we wanted to take walks together—as we have the same destinations, sightseeing to popular sites in Chinosato City.



...At least, that’s what other people should be thinking when they saw us.



Well, not that it really matters, I mean, Mom and Meredea aren’t wearing their robes, and we are not that flashy. We can just walk the streets while most people would ignore us and continue with whatever they are doing.



Now that I can take a closer look at the people here—most of them have dark hair color. Some even have small horns. Since this city is next to the Oni country’s bordering town, I guess it can’t be helped that the people here have mingled with Oni.

I never really see Oni or halfbreeds with Oni when I was Reinst, given I lived in the Western area that’s closer to Elven country.

I feel like I’m observing a totally different culture here!







***





“Let’s play shadow tagging: police and prisoners version!”



When we came to the nearby park, I could see some small children—eeh, they are around six to ten years old. They formed a group of around 10 people and seemed about to play a game. Shadow tagging, eh? The one where one person shall be “it” and must step on others’ shadows? But what’s it about police and prisoners version?



“Eeeh, what is police and prisoners version?”

Oh, a child seems to be as confused as I am and stated her confusion.

“Ah, you’re new here, so I guess you don’t understand how we do it?”





“Let me tell you, one person will be the police or “it”, and the others will be the prisoners, with one being the leader of prisoners. The police should chase the other prisoners and step on their shadows. Once stepped, the prisoner should not be able to move! And the leader of prisoners shouldn’t get caught as having him getting caught means an instant loss for all prisoners. At the end of the game, when there’s only the leader of prisoners, he would get the privilege of facing a shadow-stepping showdown with the police. It will be cool!”





Now, that’s an interesting version of shadow tagging.



I noticed that Rupert—“my mother” came back with ice creams and gave me and Altaire one each.

“Eeeeh, Mommyyyy, I wanna ice cream, too! Gimme oneeeee~!”

“...”



Gale—as Robert, the eldest son, demanded his share of ice cream, only for Rupert to throw a sharp glance at him.

Their interaction is funny.



Dad said that the ice cream I’m eating is this town’s famous matcha ice cream. Hmm, it definitely tasted better than the matcha ice cream I’ve ever had.







“Okay, so... to decide who’s it... hey, who can do [Dark] magic?”

I almost choked on that remark.







Will they simply bully the Dark magic user and decide that they are “it” even when they don’t want to?

...wait no, this is Chinosato... but why did he throw that sudden question?



“It’s me!”



...I definitely didn’t expect that cheerful and boastful answer, but the little boy with a bandage on top of his nose jumped in the middle of the circle and raised his hand proudly.



“My top affinity is Dark! Hehe!!” He announced happily.

...uh?




“Eeeh, that’s cool!”

...what?

The boy that proudly announced himself as a Dark magic user got praised by the other children.



...A dark magic user, being praised and admired?

I was exasperated.



Although I know this is a town where interactions with Oni often happen—but I didn’t expect this kind of treatment.

I thought that other people would still be judging to those who are closely related to Oni... given the fact that Naraka, the Oni country is more hostile compared to Cielle, the Elven country.



“Are you surprised, Murphy?” Mom, who’s sitting next to me, silently asked.

“Uh, uhm, yes...”

“This is Chinosato city. Most of the people really admire [Dark] magic, given the influence of the neighboring Oni country.”

“I, is that so...?”



Those children didn’t even think that having a dark magic is a nasty thing. Instead, they gave the same reaction that my acquaintances as Reinst had, upon finding out that someone’s got light magic affinity.



It’s as if...

As if the standards between the West Area and the East Area are completely reversed.

Could it be that some people are still inclined to support Naraka despite their hostility?

As a former West Area civilian, it’s something I can’t really fathom.

Could it be that I was also biased?



“Then, I will be the leader of the prisoners, as I also have an affinity to [Dark]! We are allowed to use shadow manipulation for the showdown of police vs leader of prisoners, right?”

Another boy with a small horn on his forehead raised his hand.

“Whoa, perfect! Let’s get started!!”



“Are you interested to see the last showdown?” Mom asked.

“Uhm...”

Honestly, I am a bit interested in this version of shadow tagging that I have never heard before.

“It’s okay, let’s stay here until their shadow tagging match is over, then,” Dad said, he seemed to be listening in on us.





--while Rupert is still bickering with Gale.

“...go and buy your own ice cream, won’t you? R-o-b-e-r-t, my dearest eldest son?!” Rupert smiled—an icy smile.

“But I want Mommy to buy it for meeeeeee!”

Those two are amazing.

Their acting is very good, I wonder why haven’t they become actors already?!





“Wow, that’s interesting. Ah, well...,” Alt-nii jumped from the bench after gulping down the cone of his ice cream.

Before I noticed, he ran full speed towards the other children.



“Hey, can I join, as well?”

The children that were about to start their game got surprised by Alt-nii’s sudden request.

Alt-nii... you’re really something. You don’t even know any of these children, but you daringly wanted to join them...



“Fine, but you will just be a regular prisoner, is that okay?”

“That sounds good!”

And that’s how he just suddenly fitted into the group.



“You’re not going to join them, Murph?” Rupert asked.

“Ah... No, I think I will just look at them.”



As the game started, the boy with bandage who became “it” quickly chased after his friends’ shadows. He quickly stepped on the slowest girl’s shadow while saying something I can’t quite hear—and in that instant, the girl’s movement stopped.

Wow, the girl’s good at acting, eh? She can even notice that her shadow’s being stepped and stopped her movements immediately.

Soon, the other children were caught—and now it’s down to Alt-nii and the leader of the prisoners.



“Newbie, you’re good at this, but I’m going to catch you!”

“Hehe, thanks for your compliment~”

The moment when Alt-nii’s shadow was about to get stepped on, suddenly his shadow shrunk and the child who became “it” failed to step on his shadow.

“Huh, wha, how could it be?”



I can see that he’s confused. Alt-nii, on the other hand, smirked even more.

“...He is definitely using his Void magic to erase part of his shadow,” Mom deducted.

...Alt-nii, seriously? In a game?





As he ran around the park, he managed to see the other children whose movements are completely stopped. Really, the children are so good at pretending to be paralyzed. One of them had an amazing balance, as one of her legs were crossed to the back. Or did she wobble when I wasn’t paying any attention to her?



Alt-nii seemed to be thinking when he saw the other children. And at the moment he slowed down, the child who chased him was about to step on his shadow. I was sure that Alt-nii would pull out his trick again, to erase the presence of his shadow, but... for some reason, his shadow wasn’t shrinking at all. At that moment, the child managed to step on Alt-nii’s shadow, and Alt-nii also immediately stopped.



Wait what, Alt-nii, you’re also as good as the other children in immediately stopping your movements? Wait, could it be that the children of this generation often play games like this that they are so used to it? Did Alt-nii play this kind of game often at school?





The long-awaited moment is finally here. The bandaged child—the police, versus the half-oni child—the leader of prisoners. Instead of one being the chased and one being the chaser, the two of them seemed to be going after each other, and as their shadow was about to get stepped on, they would utter something and their shadow was manipulated in such way that the foe won’t be able to seize it.



...Could it be, a chant?

They agreed on shadow manipulation during the final showdown, after all.

The chase continued on until the bandaged child seemed to get exhausted, and the game ended when the half-oni child stepped on his shadow.





“Alright, police, free my underlings!” The leader proudly announced.

“—kh, can’t be helped then. I lost this time, but let’s play again next time. I’ll definitely win the next game!”

The bandaged child snapped his fingers and said something I couldn’t really decipher what, and at that cue, the other children moved again.



“Rye-nii, how did you manage to stop as soon as your shadow’s stepped on? That reflex is cool!”

“Huh? Ah, no, Murphy. The boy who became “it”—he’s a dark magic user, you see? So, he always chants a spell to stop the others’ movement once he steps on their shadows. That’s how we can keep our last position without moving. That’s pretty convenient, we don’t get all wobbly although it is still quite tiring to keep our position~!”



Eeeeeh?! You can do that? That’s actually cool...



“So, when are you going to train and use that move too?”

“Eh, ehhh?! N, no, I mean... the dark magic users here are free from any prejudice because it’s Chinosato... but if it’s me, uh... we are not living in Estrada island and Chinosato, so... Uhm, no... not now, at least? I don’t feel like I’m ready to learn it right now.”

“Eeeh? Come on, everything’s gonna be fine~”



“Rye, it’s fine. Murphy, we won’t force you, but we just want you to understand that not everyone will always judge the dark magic users. See the children that just played here. If no one was a dark magic user, I think they won’t be able to enjoy their game as much as they did,” Mom said.



...that’s right.

Even so, I still shuddered and stiffened my body at the mention of dark magic user—as I was often bullied because of it as Reinst...

But just so you know, I properly learned how the dark magic circle is like. Even when I haven’t properly trained my dark magic. Just in case it is needed.



“Well, it’s normal for magicians to have their own preferences on what affinities they like to use and which ones they don’t really use, so we won’t force you about that. But at least I don’t want you to be prejudiced against any affinity,” Mom explained her concern.

“Eh, really?”

“Yeah. One of my subordinates excels in both fire and water magic, but he put more efforts towards his fire magic just because he likes it better, but that’s not because he’s prejudiced against the other one.”



‘The first step required for Lyra is for her to be free from the prejudice,’ Cassie thought.



“So... it’s also okay for me to not...?”

“As long as there’s no problem, yes. But it depends on the result of your second test plus some certain circumstances.”





“O-okay...”

I don’t know what that circumstances Mom mentioned might be about, but... if Mom insisted that I should do it regardless, then I believe it would be for my good, too. As she is the Head of Royal Magician, I don’t have any reason to doubt her judgment, right?



***



Before long, we managed to see several places that are Chinosato’s tourism spots, such as the museums, restaurants that sell Eastern and Oni country’s foods, cultural exhibits, and so on. I came to understand how East and West have different culture and preferences. As someone who lived all her previous life in the West Area, this is a nice change.

Then, we visited a traditional medicine store before going back. I saw lots of medicines that I never came across. It’s interesting! I think Dad bought some medicine and potions, for stocks, I guess?



“Dad, why are you taking that medicine? Shouldn’t it be this one?”



A clear voice of a girl could be heard. I was somehow attracted to that clear voice—not to mention that she spoke quite loudly. Her voice rings like a clear bell. I think she will be a good singer in the future!



I glanced at the source of the voice—a girl who’s around Alt-nii’s age. Her light green hair is a bit long and it’s kinda wavy. The hairpin that she wore kept her hair from falling to her eyes.

But that also exposed... her slightly pointed ears. I glanced at the other person next to her—her father, out of sheer curiosity.

My hypothesis was right. Her father also has pointy ears—and the father’s ears seem to be longer and more pointed than the girl.





“Well, the doctor instructed your mother to change her medicine.”

“Heee... so, will she finally get better with this medicine?”

“Let’s just pray so, Fiona. I want to believe that she would get better.” The father gently patted the green-haired girl’s head.

“Okay, hey, can we visit the pastry shop on our way home? Let’s buy Mom some cherry pies!”

“That’s fine, but you actually want to buy your favorite cinnamon roll there, right?”

“Oof!!” The little girl quickly covered her mouth with her hands.

Busted!

“Haha, alright, alright. One cinnamon roll for naughty little Fiona, and some cherry pies for Mom and Dad, then.”

“Yaaayyy! Thank you, Dad!” She raised her hands in happiness.





“Eh, elven descent?”

I can hear the auntie besides me slightly whisper to her friend.



“Ah, yeah, I know that family. The mother opens up a flower shop near my house, I know her, she’s a human originally from Chinosato. Maybe that’s why they are living here.”

“Hee, it’s so rare to see elven descent here. I wonder if it’s not a harsh living condition for them? I mean, some may pick on that girl, especially those naughty children. I am worried especially for that girl’s future.”



“...”

The same condition as how Oni descents are treated in the Western area.

Guess it’s confirmed that the East and West are really polar opposite, I mean—in terms of culture, too?



...could it really be that it was a contributing factor to my bullying as Reinst?

So, this time... it could be different...

As I’m Lyra, and I live in East Area... and I can also do Light magic...





But, I know... Dark magic is also associated with the darkness of one’s mind, of one’s heart—and if one is not careful, they might get corrupted by its power.

Besides, I don’t really like the nature of Dark magic itself, most of its spells are manipulative. They manipulate other people’s mental condition, like inducing fear to them, and such.





Still, Mom said that I might need to train my Dark magic, even if it’s for a bit... Maybe... maybe that’s why she let me saw all those things with Dark magic, in order to help me develop a neutral view towards it.

That’s seriously a good strategy. I feel calmer upon seeing how they treated Dark magic users here. Though it isn’t enough to erase all my fear and insecurities, at least it’s reassuring.



I closed my eyes for a little bit, to send my thought to God---though I don’t know if that little light would be able to hear my thoughts.

God... I wonder why are you giving me something that I don’t like at all? I think it’s useless to give me something like this... It’s quite bothersome, even. It’s wasted on me, don’t you think so?







When the part-elf girl and her father were about to leave the store as they have finished their purchase, the part-elf girl seemed to notice me staring at her and she glanced back at me with her emerald eyes and slightly smiled.

I was surprised at her sudden ambush—I mean, smile, and awkwardly replied her smile.



Although she is still young, perhaps due to her elf lineage that manifests quite strongly, I can see that she has the aura that screams, “beautiful!!”.

Being (little) part-elf myself, I may have inherited several characteristics of elves, for example, the case with my magic power, but I don’t think the elf characteristics manifest quite strongly in me and Altaire.

My mom’s doll-like beauty might partly be due to her stronger elf blood, but even my mom has lost the pointy ears characteristic of an elf, causing her to look more like a human.







In the evening after we shopped at the medicine store, we finally decided to go back to the inn.

Immediately afterward, Mom and Meredea went out, heading towards the Chinosato Magic Association. After all, they are here for work—come to think about it, what about Dad, Gale, and Rupert? Now that we are all gathering in one room, I think I should ask them about it.





“Dad, what about your work?” I asked—he couldn’t have forgotten about it, right?

“Don’t worry, Phyllo is keeping a watch on the harbor where the illegal trafficking will take place—so far he hasn’t seen any suspicious activity, so for now, we’ll be under our disguises and take turns to patrol and uncover the other illegal trades, such as black markets.”

“Heee, I see. Seems like it’s quite a roundabout way, eh, we can’t really face the criminals head on right from the start?” Alt-nii asked.

“Well, if you were to face them head on, they would be hiding their crimes very well, so we have to lead them on with our disguises and then strike them once they’re vulnerable—and they won’t be able to escape that way!” Gale answered.



That explains why Dad couldn’t just come here as himself to patrol... They would be alert and Dad wouldn’t see anything.



“Alright, then I’ll be going this evening,” Rupert said, as he quickly cast a spell that changed his appearance to be Ruby again.

“Be careful.”

“Take care, Rupert!”

As Rupert in his beautiful disguise left the room, he slightly looked at us and smiled. Uwaa—nobody would suspect that he is actually a man that way, right?

It can be quite risky for Rupert himself, right?





***



Night time. It is a perfect time to do all the undercover work—as the darkness of the night sky would be able to hide whatever it is you’re doing.

In the broad daylight, people would also have their usual jobs to do—to display that they are nothing but ordinary people, who worked a normal job and lived a normal life.

But once night falls, they ceased to do their outward jobs and they would have the chance to do their transactions, trades, and other activities. Secluded alleyways, dark roads with a high prevalence of crimes and hooligans might be the perfect place to walk at.

The bars that reeked the aura of suspicion, yet with no apparent proof that they are hosting some black trades would be found not too far away from the said road.



A beautiful slim woman, with her brown complexion that made her silky silver hair stood out even more, is walking around the street, hiding near the small alley and leering at the noisy bar next to her.

Her ruby eyes are keenly observing her surroundings. Upon seeing a certain nobleman entered the bar, her eyes showed a spark of determination and then she followed suit, her hands already on the door’s handle.



[Gliderung, sâwolhord wendan]

As she chanted that spell, her silky silver hair turned into a beautiful light purple, now with slight curls, yet her ruby eyes remained the same.



[Ferhð cêape, fylnes]

As she murmured another incantation, she entered the bar and walked directly through the swarm of men and women who are all sitting in their seats, laughing, with some drunken people.



Her alluring beauty stood out among them, with her sexy lips and seductive aura—somehow... her pheromone and charm got very strong that it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that she was irresistible.

Unable to resist the aura that she has, most of the men are already staring at her with eyes full of lust. It should be apparent because the noisy drunk men and other boastful men who contributed to most of the noises—suddenly became quiet to observe the walking beauty among them. However, the woman seemed that she didn’t notice it—or did she notice it and pretended not to notice?



“Hey there, beautiful lady! Would you mind accompanying me tonight?”

The woman just walked pass by the drunken man that flirted her just now.

“Hey, forget about him, try me!”

The surrounding men suddenly got so noisy.



“A woman of your caliber shouldn’t even be here in the first place. A fine lady just like you should be at the castle, being treated as a princess you are.”

The nobleman that the woman had her eyes on before entering the bar stood out and reached out to her.



At his words, the ruby-eyed woman finally stopped walking and turned to look his way. She slightly smiled—followed by the exasperated gasps the other men had from witnessing that sexy smile she just displayed.

“Whoa, as expected of the noble young master! He managed to capture her attention!”

The man smiled. Rupert immediately confirmed the target’s identity. A young nobleman in his bachelorhood—rumors have it that albeit engaged, he still remains a playboy.

And the spies have already taken an interest in him—since he’s suspected of being majorly involved in slave trades. Perfect target, easy to get.


I’ve got him.

Rupert smiled.



“Oh? Then, would you mind showing me how I should be treated and entertain me with things that I have never witnessed before?”

At that cue, the young man let Rupert—sit next to him.



Rupert smiled in satisfaction. He is getting closer to expose the slave trades and all involved parties. And he will do anything to make sure that this foolish young master will lead him to the secret slave auction that’s rumored to be held regularly in close proximity.

If we can catch them, too, then this will be a bonus.



Rupert tried to forget the horror that he would have from having to seduce a man and would risk himself to go on a few dates with the man before he finally could get what he’s aiming for.

I am as straight as an arrow, straight, yes...

He kept saying that sentence in his mind as if chanting some kind of spell that he seems to be used to.



Nobody is more perfect to handle assignments involving seduction techniques than Rupert, after all.

[Ferhð cêape, fylnes]—the spell from earlier, it’s a spell to manipulate others’ minds—to seduce them.

Sorry for not updating here, guys!
I've been feeling quite down these days... well, I don't want to bother anyone with my rant, but here is the spoiler if anyone wants to read my rant.

Spoiler: rant

Well, I was contemplating these few days if I'm still writing an enjoyable story or not ^^; I felt like giving up sometimes especially when you see someone who doesn't seem to be enjoying your story, but it happens in any story as everyone's preference is different. I just hope that there are still people who enjoy this story despite the flaws it might have ^^ and thanks for reading my rant, really needed to get it off somewhere.

 

Thanks for the new chapter~ I always enjoyed your story. It's endearing when it's cute, and really poke on your eyes when it needs to be sad. I think you did a good job in trying to convey Lyra's feelings in the story, and I'm always waiting to see what's going to happen to her in the future. I hope you won't give up on the story, because I know that a lot of people actually also like your story and wants to read this until the end. Do your best~!!!

 

If people don't enjoy your story, then you have to ignore them. I know a group of us love your work and we support you, but it isn't like I don't understand where you are coming from. I myself get some (self claimed) interesting ideas, but not only am too worried how people would see them, I also can't write good stories for the life of me.

 

Thanks as always for the new chapter
As far as I'm concerned your stories are enjoyable. Theres no sudden jump of emotions that make things awkward nor do I find it forced in any way. Totally worth all the time waiting for it
I would love to read till the end!
You have my support!

 

Thank you guys QvQ
After taking a breather (and reading comedy novels) I feel better now.
I was determined to finish this novel, so I should try to keep my determination til the end! Hope you will enjoy the story despite any flaw it might have!

 

Willpower Infusion Successful!

 

Moral support is of the success!!!!

 

And chapter 32! Note that this chapter has the most POV switches... I hope you'll still be able to enjoy this chapter despite the POV switches--as I will put the warning whenever the POV switches.

Chapter 32

Trouble, Troubles Everywhere​

Spoiler: chapter 32

“Bwaahahahha, bwahahhaa, Rupert, you were so close to be kissed by a man, hahahaha!” Gale’s loud laugh echoed in the room.





It’s been a few days since we first arrived in Chinosato. So far, we have seen lots of interesting attractions in Chinosato and we have eaten lots of delicious Eastern foods.

...And seems like a lot has happened to the working adults, too.





Mom said that the barrier reparation’s been taken care of, but she has other businesses to attend, along with Meredea. And that’s why, there are only me, Alt-nii, Dad, Rupert, and Gale right now.

Rupert was pissed off with Gale’s remark. As per usual, seems like their relationship is full of bickering—like a cat and a dog, perhaps?

Apparently, Rupert somehow managed to make the man invite him over to a big slave auction event last night. He managed to notify the local officers in advance, and that was how the parties involved were caught.

At that time, Gale was tailing Rupert as a back up, and he witnessed that moment where that man tried to make a move on Rupert...





“Oh, could you be quiet? At least I managed to get my hand on a big target, unlike you,” Rupert’s words have quite the thorns that could hurt the receiver of the words—but Gale... only laughed it off.

“Right, right, and that’s why you are my senior, after all! That’s a given!” Gale cheerfully said that, which caused Rupert to get even more upset.

“Well, thankfully, that hellish torture has ended,” Rupert stretched his hands up to the air.

“Are you okay, Rupert? Would it be too much if I asked you to come with me to the harbor tonight? Should you be the one to stay here instead of Gale?” Dad asked.





Yes, it seems that they finally found the right timing to ambush the ones involved in the illegal cells trafficking—or illegal human trafficking.

Since Mom and Meredea are still out for work, it’s decided that Gale would stay behind for stand-by and for taking care of us.

“It’s fine. Let’s proceed with the plan,” Rupert replied.





“Alright, Lyra, Altaire, please be careful and don’t wander off somewhere if it’s not necessary. Stay with Gale and obey his words, okay?” Dad put Alt-nii and I on the bed and knelt down, making sure that he’s speaking to us while looking at our eyes.

It’s about time for them to depart.

We nodded.

“Okay, Dad.”

“Please take care.”

And so, we are left alone with just Gale.





***





Normal P.O.V



There is a tall and modern-looking building near the border of Chinosato. Although it can be classified as tall in comparison to the other buildings nearby, it might pale in comparison to other tall buildings in Capitol. Still, the building stands out against its surroundings, and one can understand that the building is not just any ordinary house, store, or inn.



Inside the building, there is a room dedicated for inspecting materials and item testings. A few people wearing robes could be seen inside, with two women wearing different-styled robes. Besides them, there are also other people wearing white long coats. They seem to be gathering near a certain table, with their expressions all tense.

The said building is a joint base for Chinosato’s Magic Association and Border Protocol. They are working together to maintain the border of Chinosato that’s prone to danger and illegal cross-border activities. As such, there are facilities to inspect materials, and if the materials are deemed safe, they can be brought inside Riviera’s region safely.

Truthfully, they were built to protect the bordering city from the neighboring country’s attacks, but ever since the ceasefire treaty a few years ago, there doesn’t seem to be any significant attack from Naraka towards Riviera. Though it’s not the same case with Naraka and Cielle...





“...what is this?” Meredea tried to readjust her glasses while staring at the object located on top of the table.

“This is the only object left near the breached barrier... It has burnt marks, and from the looks of it, we concluded that the object suffered that damage from the barrier’s defense mechanism,” said one of the men wearing the white coat.

“As suggested, the barrier we built is incorporated with counter mechanism... so anyone who purposefully tried to breach the barrier would get electrocuted or attacked, and so they could cease their intention from proceeding,” one of Chinosato’s magicians explained further.



People who want to enter Riviera’s region from outside should enter from the designed path, going through inspections in the border. The barrier is built in order to prevent them from sneaking without being inspected. Besides, it is built so that monsters and beasts can’t enter and raid the city. No trespassers are allowed.





“The horrifying thing is that... we found the remnants inside the barrier, not outside.”

“Huh?!” Cassie was surprised by the magician’s words.

“In other words, whatever it is, it has managed to trespass the barrier, even with all of the counter system implemented?!” Meredea raised her voice reflexively.

“Yes, on the expense of this part being all left of whatever it should be... We can’t identify what it is, though...”





Their attention shifted once again towards the object on top of the table. The object is a small, mechanical part that’s severely damaged. The circuits are burnt that it can’t even function at all.

Still, the fact still remains that it actually managed to enter the barrier after breaching it!





“We are having trouble in identifying this part... we are unsure whether it is a part of a weapon, or even that of a monster’s...,” the young researcher said, dejectedly.

“...whatever it is, I don’t think it’s a living being... I mean, what kind of living being would insist on injuring themselves just to damage a barrier? With that kind of damage, there is no way one would want to proceed... Even a person on the brink of their insanity would withdraw at once after being induced with this pain...”





Nobody had any idea what it is.

A robot? No robot could withstand such magical attack and still had that kind of remnants. A monster’s part might be strong enough, but what kind of insane monster would proceed despite all the odds that are against it?





“...Anyway, I think we should apply more defensive mechanism to the barrier,” Cassie broke the silent.

There is no use thinking about what we don’t know, so we should keep aiming forward.

The analysis would still continue, but after the complete details are out, there is nothing else they could do. It’s horrifying to think that something like this might happen again, but in case it happens again, then perhaps they can further analyze what exactly has attacked the barrier.

The magicians there have properly fixed the form of the barrier with the help of Cassie’s life magic, and all of their known life magic users. All that’s left is for them to strengthen its defensive mechanism...





Cassie sighed a bit.

Seems like she would be able to return back late at night...





***





In the meantime, at the main harbor of Chinosato city...

[Scua rifte] (Shadow Cloak)

Rupert quickly chanted a spell that enabled himself to be camouflaged as long as he is in the darkness or shadow. That spell is one of his forte, even more so when he’s doing his spy activities at night like this. Well, most of underground activities like spying are done during the night, after all.

He managed to enter the ship just fine. Now, he has to find the cargo that contains the undeniable proof of the illegal activities they are doing. The cargo should contain either a human being—alive, or their organs and cells. Either one would be good.





Phyllo is keeping watch of Rupert from nearby area, and Cyan is on standby as his true self—the Duke of Hartmann, along with the members of the local guards.

Once Rupert gives the signal, they would raid and capture every single person involved.

Cyan focused on synchronizing with Phyllo.





[Synchronize].

A technique that a familiar owner can use. By utilizing this technique, the familiar owner can synchronize their own senses to their familiar’s. Thus, it enables Cyan to view whatever Phyllo is seeing right now.

This leaves the user vulnerable, though, as he won’t be able to see what his own body is seeing in exchange of seeing his familiar’s view.





Before long, Rupert sent out the long-awaited signal.

“Now!!” Cyan commanded, and broke his synchronization.

The guards ran along with him, raiding the ship and capturing each personnel.

Once they have finished with their inspection, turns out that the amount of illegal cargo loaded into that ship is not that significant...

Cyan felt uneasy, as this uncovering seems way too easy...





The captured personnel are tied by ropes and gathered in one room. Each of them seems to be a minor personnel among the illegal organization that leads the activities of human trafficking and inhumane organs and cells harvesting.

However, no matter how minor they might be, any information can lead them towards the root of the organization.

“Speak!” Cyan demanded.

“Speak, and your punishment will be less severe.”

Still, no important information is being leaked.





Tch, these damned persistent people!

“I... I don’t know... I don’t know anything...,” a man tied by the ropes is shivering in fear. Since his body and his other colleagues’ bodies are tied up by the ropes and are lying on the floor, Cyan’s angry expression and his low tone looks very intimidating from down there where they can see him.

Moreover, the shivering man looks to have less nerve than the rest of his friends.

He seems to be telling the truth, but who knows?





“Cyan, let me take over,” Rupert touched Cyan’s shoulder and stepped in front of him.

The man’s shivering calmed down as he observed Rupert’s calm demeanor and his soft voice, unlike that of Cyan’s. He seems to feel relieved now that the one who’s going to interrogate them has changed into someone much more calming.

The other men also thought the same, as they let their tense expression loosened.

However...

That short moment of composure they regained will soon be overthrown by something much more frightening.





[Fyrhtnes êacnian!!] (Fear Inducement)

Rupert suddenly raised his voice, and as soon as he finished his words, all of the men trembled in fear. The most cowardly man seemed about to wet his own pants. Some even clenched their teeth. Their body shivering is very, very clear to anyone there.

“Now, you’d better tell me everything you know, or you will regret it,” Rupert said softly, but his tone contains something for those men in fear.

To be frank, the government of Riviera is against an interrogation by torture, and their crime is not enough to warrant them a death penalty. However, since those men are overcome with fear, they cannot think straight. They believed that their life would be over. In that way, they can’t defy the spell user’s demands.

Rupert gazed at their pitiful trembling bodies with a disparaging look. The fact that his magic was way too effective on them indicated what little magical defense and mental strength do these men possess.





In the end, as expected, they came to understand that the captured men were just insignificant pawns that didn’t know anything. Pawns that could be disposed of, at any time. Worthless bunch of cowards who acted tough.

Which means, the intel they received, about a major transaction happening that might involve the heads of the organization they’re pursuing, is blatantly wrong.





Could it be... a set-up?

But... what for?

What exactly do they gain by sacrificing the small pawns like them?

Why go that far to trick them?

While thinking about it, Cyan and Rupert walked back to their carriage.

Even if Cyan concluded that it was something useless, he couldn’t let go of the uneasiness he has been feeling. His mind tried to trail off from the very beginning of it all. Then, he recalled something.

We first believed that it could be a set-up to make us leave the children alone... But they can’t do anything now that the children are with us... Or... can they?

As a matter of fact, Gale is with them, and they are renting an inn with a good reputation. If something were to happen, surely the inn’s staffs along with the other travelers who spent their nights there would notice it. Gale would be able to fend any intruder off while the other people in the inn got notified of the occurence.

It’s supposed to be safe, yet...





Cyan noticed that they have arrived at the crossroad before arriving to the inn. The path they are supposed to take is straight ahead, a long path, yet the safest option. The right path leads to a dark and unsafe path, yet it’s a shortcut that will enable them to arrive faster.

“Rupert, I can’t get off this feeling of uneasiness... This might be dangerous, but...”

Rupert takes a look at Cyan’s expression, and nods as he understands his junior’s concern.

“Alright, let’s take the other way to arrive faster.”

With that said, they quickly instructed the carriage driver to change their course—and tried their best to assure the driver that should any danger happen, they would take care of it.

“Phyllo, please check the condition of the children... if there’s something wrong, please quickly notify me, okay?” Cyan summoned Phyllo and quickly commanded him to go ahead of them.

“Piii!” Phyllo jumped to the air and quickly went away, as if swimming through the air.





***



Lyra’s P.O.V



“And you know what? There was also this priceless expression the calm Rupert made by incident when Cynthia—ah, Cynthia is one of the spies, too, but her method’s different than us who are using magic... and she’s just a brat who’s obsessed in ‘defeating’ Rupert... but anyway, Cynthia did this...”



While Dad and Mom are both out for work, we are all alone with Gale. We asked him to tell us stories about him, Rupert, or even the royal spies.

Though he can’t disclose anything that’s related to work as it’s very confidential, he can disclose the funny moments happening and other foolish incidents. We are very entertained by his stories.

His stories made me see that the royal spies are a bunch of funny fellows. As I haven’t seen them in work mode, plus the stories he told me, I couldn’t really perceive them as spies.





“Also—“

Gale suddenly stopped talking, and his wide grin disappeared from his face. His body went completely stiff, too.

“...Gale?”

“What’s wrong?”

We are staring at him in our confusion.





“...you two, stay right here. Go and hide somewhere. I sense something wrong with the air outside. I’m going to go and check on it. Just... hide.”

Gale went down from the bed and instructed us to hide.

His tense expression indicated that he was serious. It was no joke.

The change from his friendly attitude and childish expression to his “work mode” is quite drastic, I must say.

Sensing his seriousness, we only nodded and complied. We chose to hide in the small closet. From the closet, we can take a peek at the room, but we should become unnoticeable from the outside.

Gale made sure that we hid perfectly before he then touched the handle of the door and went outside.





***





Normal P.O.V



Upon going outside, Gale noticed the eerie air and atmosphere the hall is having right now. Sure, when night falls, the surroundings will be more serene and way quieter than it was during the day, but something was odd.

It’s as if he is isolated from the others...

Gale keenly observed his surroundings and made sure to sharpen his hearing.

“I know you’re in there. Show yourself now. It’s no use hiding from me.”





Gale threw a stern glance at the left corner of the hallway, and soon, a man clad in black showed himself. He wore a full black clothing from the tip of his head until the tip of his toes, rendering it impossible to identify him.

In the instant he showed himself, he ran full-speed towards Gale. At the same time, he swiftly took out his push dagger from his clothes and pointed it towards Gale. All of this happened very quickly, which displayed the man’s expertise in his combat skills.

Unfortunately for the man, Gale managed to grasp the situation quickly and tried to dodge him to the right—when he noticed another man appeared from the other side and pointed the same weapon to him, as well.





“Tch!”

Gale had no choice but to retract his movement and now, he’s positioned in the middle of his two attackers. He swiftly lowered his body to avoid the first man’s slash and quickly dashed forward and jumped to avoid the second man’s attack.

As expected, the two men quickly attempted to deal another blow to Gale.

“As if I’d let you!” Gale also swiftly took out his hammer that he hid beneath his coat. The hammer’s handle is quite short, and the blunt end of the hammer is only as big as his fist, but since it’s made of a heavy metal, it can deliver fatal blows if one handles it right. Moreover, the size of the hammer seemed to be increasing from its former portable size as Gale took it out. It is a magic hammer!

As the magic hammer’s size has become big enough in a short moment’s notice, he quickly hit the first man’s head, causing him to suffer a contusion and the impact of it caused the man to fall unconscious.

To defense the second man’s upcoming push dagger, Gale threw his hammer away and grabbed the man’s hand.





[Leoht sprengan!] (Light zap)

A burst of light energy appeared from Gale’s hands, making its way to the man’s body. As the man was surprised with the sudden surge of impact his arm felt, Gale used that opportunity to do another attack. He stretched his free hand towards the man’s eyes and suddenly chanted—

[Leoht lîxan!] (Light flash)

A flash of blinding light appeared in front of the man’s eyes, causing him to temporary lose sense of his vision. Gale quickly took his hammer back and hit the man to cause him lose his consciousness.

Just as the man was collapsing and as Gale straightened his body, he suddenly felt a presence behind him, really, really close to him—and an electric shock running towards his back.





“Gotchaa~,” A woman’s voice could be heard.

“Gwah?!” He tried to turn his head behind but he couldn’t—his body was paralyzed. However, he could still stand up and slowly moved to the direction of that voice he heard just now.

From what he could comprehend, his attacker used a tool to help them conceal their presence until the very last moment. The electric shock that caused his body to be paralyzed in an instant—it would be a type of electric magical attack specialized to induce paralysis.

“Ara? How could it be? That spell should have induced a paralysis to you...,” the woman seemed to be confused.





“Blâcern tin—“

Before Gale could finish chanting a spell for his light beam attack, two more shadows appeared and hit his head, causing him to lose his consciousness. Just how many people are tasked for this attack?

More importantly, if they went to such an extent to use a tool to hide their presence—then they are not a simple group of intruders. Gale managed to notice their presence regardless—but it was when everything was too late.

Soon, footsteps of several people echoed through the hallway, heading to the direction of the room where Altaire and Lyra are hiding.





Now that things have turned like this, the last thing that Gale thought to himself before collapsing was, ‘Ah... looks like this is their real objective... that intel about illegal activities might just be a decoy... After all, they went all out here...’

But who would have thought of it before this happened? Why would anyone specifically target the children? Only the perpetrators could answer that...





***



Lyra’s P.O.V



I heard some weird noises from outside, and that made me shiver in fear.

The fact that Gale’s voice couldn’t be heard anymore—and that there seems to be several people heading this way, made me sweat profusely.

“Lyra, let’s hide,” Alt-nii covered my mouth and silently cast his magic.

“With this, they shouldn’t be able to detect our presence,” Alt-nii explained.

His [Void] attribute really lives up to its name, enabling him to erase anything into a void.







“Ohh~? It’s empty?”

An unknown woman’s voice could be heard.

Wait, who are you?!

Luckily enough, the closet’s door is shuttered, so we can take a little peek outside, but since it’s dark here inside, they shouldn’t be able to see what’s inside. Not to mention, with Alt-nii’s presence erasing spell, we should be safe.

Please, just go... Go away...

I can’t figure out this woman’s intention. Did she come here to steal? Why us? Because we look like a wealthy merchant?

Or could it be that she knows who we truly are, and for some kind of reason, is targeting us?

But... what for?

No matter how hard I tried to recall everything, there is no clue on who might have a grudge or motive against Hartmann family. Dad never told me anything—but that’s to be expected. After all, I am just a four-year-old girl.





“Could you be hiding under the bed?” The woman walked closer to the beds.

I held my breath. She wasted no time and walked very quickly—seems like she’s also afraid that time is running.

“Peek-a-boo!” She exclaimed as she looked under the bed.

“Aww, wrong guess, eh?”

...We are not playing peek-a-boo or hide and seek here, but the way she said all that feels like she’s thinking that we’re playing a game...

She started to examine every nook and cranny... and lastly, she turned... this way! Yes, there is only one place left that she hasn’t checked—perhaps she put the closet down at her “to-check list” since she thought we wouldn’t be hiding in a very-easy-to-guess spot, a spot that is commonly used when one plays hide and seek.





“Ohhh, you children must be in the closet, then! Don’t worry, let’s play with big sister!”

“!!” I contained my voice—wait, it should be okay as long as Alt-nii’s spell is cast.

The closet door is opened—and I can clearly see the figure standing in front of me. She is just a few inches away from me!!

She is wearing a tight black outfit from the tip of her head to the tip of her toes. She’s wearing a black mask that only lets her eyes be seen. I can see that the other intruders are wearing the same get-ups as her. Her brown eyes are full of killing intent though—definitely not the kind of person that would ask us to play with her. But because of her mask, I can’t identify her at all—not even her approximate age.

Her eyes widened as she examined every corner in the closet, and then she turned away after she realized she couldn’t find us there.

Is it over?

Was it a success?





Just as when I was about to sigh in relief...

“...Oi, you, bring me that,” the woman dropped her ‘playful’ tone, and demanded the other two people something in a conceited manner. Seems like her position is superior from the other two.

One of her underlings quickly handed over a round object to the woman—and from her eyes, I could understand that it was exactly what she needed.

In other words... It’s something disadvantageous to us...?

The woman turned over back to us, smirked as she carried that round object with the color that reminded me of a grey cloud—just before a big rain.





“That’s...!!”

Alt-nii raised his voice right when we got a better look at the object the woman is holding.

The issue right now is not about how Alt-nii carelessly raised his voice. He certainly has erased our presence, along with our voices, from the intruders. However, I am concerned by his surprised voice—just what on earth is that woman carrying?

The fact that Alt-nii seemed to be surprised and raised his voice indicated that he knows what item it is, and what it could do in this situation.

Before I can even ask Alt-nii, the woman dropped that round object with such a powerful impact—that smoke filled the room in an instant.

I reflexively closed my eyes and put my hands over my nose and mouth—as Alt-nii also has retracted his hand from my mouth and covered his own nose and mouth. Sadly, since we inhaled a bit of the smoke, we coughed. The intruders seem to be fine as they are also wearing masks that cover their noses and mouths—I believe that the masks have some kind of smoke filtering function.





When the smoke subsides, I’m looking nervously at the three black figures standing in front of us—what’s even more shocking, they seem to be making proper eye contacts with us!

That item just now, could it be that it dispelled our presence erasing magic?!

...moreover, how could they enter our room, unnoticed by the other people, despite all the noises they made?!

“Found you~!” The woman’s eerie voice echoed within the room. Her eyes which reflected our figures seem to be very ecstatic.

This woman... something is wrong with her mind. I’m sure of it—she appears to be quite psychotic for me. Or is it just because I am her prey?





Somehow, this family vacation in Chinosato city—one that I hoped to be a peaceful, normal vacation, ended up in me and my big brother in this kind of dangerous predicament.

I closed my eyes to calm myself down a little bit.

Back then, I didn’t even want to live, but that god ignorantly forced me to reincarnate. Now, I have regained back my will to live... god, you aren’t going to ignorantly force me to die with this kind of situation, right?

 

Thanks for the chapter!

 

CLIFFHANGEERRRR MY HEART!!!!

 

OBJECTIVE COMPLETED!
Achievement unlocked: Learned how to do a cliffhanger XD

 

I have come to the conclusion, that now most things will end up becoming game related. Anywho,
|CONGRATULATIONS! TITLE GAINED!|
[CREATOR OF CLIFFS]


...please, though, this is killing me.

 

Please bear with the cliffhangers :"D


Chapter 33

Crisis During Vacation​

Spoiler: chapter 33

A small sea dragon with a body made of water is floating outside the building, trying to get inside a certain room, but his effort is useless, as something else is preventing him from coming inside.

The small creature is quite intelligent, as he quickly understands the situation. It was very likely that a magical barrier was raised around the vicinity in order to prevent anyone from taking notice of the unfolding events inside the barrier.

Phyllo quickly dashed back—to report to his master.





In the meantime, the master of the small familiar is facing yet another obstacle—but it’s actually very predictable, with the path that they chose.

A group of thieves has appeared in front of them. The carriage driver was shivering in fear because he didn’t possess any single quality that could make him survive in front of danger. Cyan and Rupert casually stepped out of the carriage, not even bothering to put on grand disguises. Rupert was being himself—while Cyan simply manipulated his hair and eyes color to blue—in order to disguise his identity that’s way too easy to guess only by his real appearance.

The disguise he’s using right now, a man with a pair of sky blue eyes and a darker blue resembling the color of the deep sea—is a disguise that he’s been using a lot back in his youthful days. He’s been so used to it that he has no difficulty whatsoever in keeping that kind of appearance, regardless if it’s just an illusion or transformation.

The ignorant bunch of thieves didn’t seem to be a smart group—as they clearly overlooked the wide gap between their power.





“Rupert, let’s finish this quickly.”

“Of course.”

There are around 9 thieves, all ganging up on the two spies, forming a circle. They are all grinning, thinking that these two men must be foolish enough not to surrender.

“Give up now, or you will regret,” said the most influential man among the thieves—seems like he’s the leader of the gang.

“...”

Silent.

His merciful offer is greeted back with silence.

Actually—the ones running out ouf their luck are the thieves, not the other way round. But they couldn’t have imagined it. They are overwhelmed with the sense of victory and have already begun thinking about the items and amount of money they will gain.





Cyan and Rupert have positioned themselves in their combat position, ready to strike back whenever their opponents make their first moves.

The leader gritted his teeth in anger.

“Fine, let’s finish them off!” He commanded—and at the same time, all of the thieves are charging at Cyan and Rupert!

Four of them quickly targeted Rupert, while the other four targeted Cyan. Each of them is wielding a weapon—some are using knives, while some are using swords.

Rupert and Cyan also wielded their weapons—Cyan with his trusted scimitar, and Rupert with his dual katar.

A man was about to attack Rupert from his right side, but he quickly dodged it using his right katar—and simultaneously moved his left katar to block the upcoming slash in front of him. The other two men are ganging up from his left side, ready to attack him, thinking that he’s unable to dodge their attack as both of his hands are now preoccupied.

But Rupert was not foolish enough to not think of their plan ahead. Since the two men were approaching, he could see that their shadows, reflected by the beautiful bright moonlight, are overlapping. All he needed to do was to position his left foot and chant.





[Sceadwian geweald, forsettan!]

In that instant, their movements are blocked. Rupert then lifted his right leg and kicked the man on his right, freeing his right katar, as he rapidly swung his right katar to the man in front of him. All this happened in the blink of an eye. Blood splattered from the man’s shoulders, as he was too late to realize what was going on.

This movement caused Rupert’s left foot to step away from the other two men’s shadows, causing them to quickly move in order to defeat him.

However, Rupert used his left elbow to hit one man’s chin, while his knee hit the man’s abdomen. The impact was so powerful that it caused him to fly in the air for a short moment, before his body fell back to the ground.

The other man tried to take advantage of this by swinging his knife towards Rupert—only for Rupert to dodge it sideways—making the knife lightly grazed his bang, cutting it a bit. He then rewarded the man’s attack with another attack using his katars, cutting through his limbs.

At the same time, Cyan also blocked the man in front of him with his scimitar, while extending his left hand to the two other rushing men.





[Holm nicor!]

In that instant, a swirling water appears above his left hand, rapidly getting bigger in size with furious movement, as it is approaching the two men on his left side. The swirling water finally approached the men as it formed a straight line of water with its tip forming the shape of a head—it’s as if there’s a dragon made of water.

The water in shape of a dragon quickly hits the two poor men with great speed, dragging the two men meters away from their previous location before the water evaporates. Needless to say that the impact was more than enough to cause them unconscious.

Cyan then swiftly let his scimitar back away from the thief’s sword, slightly causing the thief losing his balance to the front, becoming a bit wobbly. Cyan quickly slashed the man’s chest using his scimitar while dodging the fourth man’s upcoming dagger attack.

The fourth man still didn’t want to give up, so he stepped forward and aimed at Cyan’s chest again. Cyan quickly blocked it with his scimitar.





At that time, Phyllo appears in front of Cyan.

“Pi, piiii!!!” His voice indicated the danger he sensed.

“What?! Phyllo, quick, go to Cass and inform her!!” Cyan didn’t proceed to attack the fourth man, he only continued to hold him back with blocking his movement as he commanded Phyllo.

The little sea dragon quickly obeyed his master’s words without any hesitation. Even though he was being commanded to go here and there in quick succession, he didn’t show any sign of fatigue at all. He diligently does what he’s commanded to do.





His opponent felt upset because Cyan was ignoring him, so he balled his left fist and aimed at Cyan’s head, but Cyan brought his head downward in order to dodge the upcoming punch. The fourth man thought that Cyan wasn’t paying him any attention at all during when he communicated with his familiar, but Cyan’s used to dividing his attention.

Since the fourth man put all his power into his left fist, he lost his balance when the fist didn’t meet its target. Cyan then swung his scimitar to discard his opponent’s knife, purposely let go of his scimitar, and grabbed the target with his two arms. He made use of the man’s loss of balance and added to it, throwing the man’s body forcefully on the ground.





Seeing all his men falling down in such a short moment’s notice, the leader of the thieves dashed forward and pulled out his knives endowed in poison, swinging them at both Rupert and Cyan. The fact that he didn't run away in fear was worthy of praise--he was indeed their leader! He dashed forward with a rapid speed, confident that he would be able to poison the two men who defeated his underlings.

At the same time, the last man whose body was thrown on the ground suddenly rose up again to assist his leader, ignoring all the pain that was running through his body.

Cyan sighed and made an eye contact with Rupert. Rupert only nodded a bit and then threw his body in front of Cyan, perfectly blocking the two poison knives using both of his katar. When the other man approached him, Rupert quickly used his leg to hit the man’s solar plexus.

The man howled in pain and took a few steps backwards.





[Holm nicor!]

Another magic attack that formed a rushing water dragon approached the two thieves who just formed a nice row, and that marked the end of their battle. In the first place, there was a clear gap in their power. Too bad that none of the thieves could notice it.

“Vines, restrain them all!”

Cyan concentrated his mana and vividly imagined the magic circle of [Plant] attribute while loudly exclaiming his command.

Their surroundings were covered by plants and trees, so not too long after Cyan exclaimed those words, there were vines coming out of the ground, making their ways to the thieves and wrapped their bodies.

As the conscious men continued to growl in pain, Cyan already commanded the carriage driver to drive back full speed to the inn. He’s supposed to deal with the group of the thieves and handle them to the authorities, but right now, he’s got no time for that.

There is only one thing in his mind. His children.

Please, please be safe...





***



Lyra’s P.O.V





This situation that I am facing right now—it’s definitely not the kind of situation I’d expect from when I heard the word, “family vacation”.

“Now then, you’re all nice, good children, right~? Hurry up and come with Onee-chan~!”

The context of her words, when you combine it with her expression and tone—it’s definitely not convincing.

We tried to step back, but there is no more room for us to go...

“Lyra, I’ll be distracting their attention. You run and ask for help,” Alt-nii quietly whispered to my ears.





...eh?

In that moment, Alt-nii stood up straight and moved so that he could be in front of me. He quickly took out his dagger—ah, he must have picked it up from the closet. I remember that he put it in the closet, but I didn’t even see it when he was picking it up again! Just when did he...?

He put the dagger in his right hand, clutched tight—and suddenly I see 4 daggers each on his hand—this technique... no, could it be, an illusion?

The two men in black are taken aback by this sudden turn of events. It’s clear that they are misunderstanding Alt-nii and I.





“My, my? Onee-chan is really disappointed... If only you remained a good kid, then Onee-chan will not hurt you...,” the woman who is the leader of the intruders—she is now showing a distorted face.

“Go!” Alt-nii shoved the daggers towards the three of them, while giving me the cue to run.

As the intruders are preoccupied with Alt-nii’s sudden attack, I dashed through all of them and quickly reached the door.

In front of the door, just a few meters away, I can see the unconscious Gale...

While I feel bad for neglecting him for the moment, I gotta prioritize looking for help.





“Aah!”



--then suddenly, I heard Alt-nii’s scream.

...Three adults are ganging up on a 7 year-old child.

Though Alt-nii’s magical abilities might far exceed them, he is still at a disadvantageous situation. Is it alright for me to run, leaving him behind?

Sure, finding help is important, but I don’t want to imagine the probability that my return along with someone’s help is too late. Who knows that by the time I got back, Alt-nii is...

Alright... I will go and try to fight along Alt-nii first!







When I returned to the room, I saw the two men crouching down on the floor with their hands covering their abdomens. Though they were struck by nothing more than illusion, it was quite good at inducing pain to them. As a reflect, they would try to calm down the throbbing pain they felt with their sensation which was manipulated by the illusion.

Meanwhile, the female leader is standing firmly, Alt-nii’s dagger lying on the floor just right before her, and Alt-nii is... the female leader is roughly holding Alt-nii’s collar, lifting him up in the air!

I can feel adrenaline rushing through my veins.





No, no, no... Alt-nii!

At the same time, I can feel that the atmosphere around me is making me sick. Is this my brain’s suggestion upon seeing this bad, bad condition?

I know I have to do something really quick... but I’ve yet trained any combat magic... so, what can I do?





***





Normal P.O.V



“Phyllo? What’s wrong?”

Just as Cassie set her feet outside Chinosato’s Magical Association, she was greeted by her husband’s familiar who rushed out to her.

“Piiiiii!!”

Phyllo’s high-pitched voice indicated that something... is not right.





However, Cassie couldn’t understand his words.

Realizing this, Phyllo quickly rushed to Cass’ head, aiming his own forehead towards Cass’ forehead.

The moment their foreheads touched each other, Phyllo closed his eyes and concentrated on sending his message via magical essence.

[Danger... the children!]

...is what Cassie sensed through Phyllo’s transmission of magical wave.

Because those two are not master and familiar, they won’t be able to communicate fluently, so that is the message that Phyllo could transmit to Cassie. If it’s Cyan, surely he would be able to understand what Phyllo wanted to transmit to him.

Still, that is enough for her to understand the whole situation.





“Teleportation magic, destination: Sakura Inn’s magic portals, ,” Cassie murmured those words with focused eyes and mind. She poured her mana to cast this spell.

However, nothing happened...

Cassie becomes flustered as she realized that something was preventing her from teleporting there... Cold sweats started to run throughout her body.

An isolation barrier?!





“Meredea, let’s go quickly! There’s something wrong!!” Cassie quickly rushed Meredea and the two of them entered the carriage.

Although Meredea doesn’t know anything, she is able to comprehend that something very urgent is happening, causing her superior—who’s normally calm even under difficult matters—is completely in panic. She quickly followed Cass into the carriage.

“Please, hurry back to the inn!” Cassie instructed the carriage driver. Sure enough, the driver managed to pump out all of the horse’s maximum stamina to go back to the inn.

By this time, Phyllo has already returned back to where his master is—back to Cyan, who is also en route to the inn.

But, not long after the carriage’s started to move...



“Aaaargh, too slow!”





Cassie suddenly signaled the driver to stop.

As soon as the carriage stopped, Cassie jumped down and started to run.

“Eh, Ophelia-sama, what are you—?”

Meredea was very surprised by her superior’s abrupt decision and rash behavior, but she decided to jump down and follow her.

“Ophelia-sama, I think going by the carriage is still faster—,” Meredea was actually surprised that her superior would shutdown her thinking system in time of panic. It’s not like the superior she knows and admires.

Just as Meredea was about to catch up to Cassie, suddenly Cassie shouted.





“O Magical Beast that has— tch, too long! I summon thee, [Hippogriff]!”

“W-w-w-what?!”





Upon hearing Cassie’s chant, Meredea was astonished. Astonished by the fact that Cassie would suddenly chant a summoning spell out of the blue.

So, this is why she ran out of the carriage?!

But she was more astonished by Cassie’s line of words.

--tch, too long!

...Just... wow.





Of course, almost every magician is more used to utter the long version of the chant rather than the shortened version of it. Using a shortened chant—and Nonspraec chant... is way too mana consuming and too tiring! Even more so for a high level spell such as summoning spell! That is why almost all magicians who can use summoning spells are used to chanting the complete version of the chant. Even Cassie is used to utter the full chant, although she prefers to use the Nonspraec incantation rather than Spraec incantation.

But cutting through the incantation midway plus flying your complain before changing it to a shortened version is something uncalled for! And that sort of behavior comes straight from the Head of Royal Magicians, one of the most powerful or influential magician in Riviera!

Meredea understands that Cassie is in a panic, yet it was still something unexpected. Even until this moment, she is still baffled by what she just witnessed.





A light green magical circle appeared in front of Cassie, shining brightly with a very strong gust of wind. Meredea covered her eyes and squinted in reflex. Soon enough, the figure of a summoned beast appeared in front of them.

The summoned beast’s size is not very huge, but it is not a small beast, either. True to its name that Cassie just yelled before, its front body is that of an eagle’s, while its back is that of a horse’s. One pair of strong wings is there on its back, currently flapping with all its might, causing the strong wind to envelop its vicinity.



“Gwaaah!” The hippogriff growled.



Without any words, Cass quickly hopped onto the hippogriff’s back and commanded it to start flying, all the way back to the inn. The two of them swiftly soared high in the sky, and...





Standing just right behind the spot where the hippogriff appeared was a lone woman. She barely recovered from the strong gust that suddenly blew up due to the summoning magic, blocking her movement and sight. In the end, she couldn’t make it in time to hop on the hippogriff’s back before it flew away.





“Ophelia-sama, wait for meeeeee---!!”





Meredea’s pitiful voice echoed through the entire road, as Cassie has totally forgotten about Meredea and already took off with her summoned hippogriff.





***





“You sure have a lot of nerve, eh?!”

The female leader is currently lifting Altaire up in the air, holding him up so that their eyes can meet one another.

Before they got into this kind of position, Altaire managed to send the daggers flying to the three of them—not the real ones, but the illusions. There was only one real dagger amidst the total of eight flying daggers. As they flew towards the intruders, the number continued to multiply, in order to confuse them.

The woman who proclaimed herself as a big sister that wanted to play with them—managed to dodge the illusions and protected herself by using her electrical shield, dissolving the illusionary daggers directed towards her—and since Altaire aimed the real dagger at her, the dagger met the electrical shield and fall down.





Taking advantage of the short time when Altaire got surprised, the ruthless woman advanced forward and sent an electric shock towards the seven-year-old boy, causing him to yelp in surprise as he collapsed to the floor.

The merciless leader didn’t hold anything back and grabbed Altaire by his collar in a very rough manner. She was so upset at Altaire that she couldn’t help but to intimidate him.

Realizing the current situation he’s in, Altaire couldn’t think straight. The woman’s glaring eyes were intimidating enough that the usually fearless Altaire would feel fear this time.

Maybe, if they didn’t try to make any kind of resistance, the intruders would just take them as ransom, to make some kind of one-sided deal with his parents. But, there is also the probability that they would just get killed anyway. He wasn’t sure of the intruders’ intention.





But at least... Altaire felt kind of relieved that he managed to send his sister off. He just wishes that at least, she won’t get caught.

The little sister who seemed way more mature than him, always relenting before he picked a fight with her. The little sister who would never touch anything that he wanted to have for himself, be it toys, foods, and other things—so that they won’t get into fights over things. The little sister who seemed to take the role of the older sibling instead. The little sister who got upset when he played pranks at her, but never really bawled herself and tattled to their parents.

At least, with how he braced himself to let her run, finally he felt like he could play the role of the older sibling. After all, isn’t that the role of an older brother? A little sister must be protected by her older brother, not the other way round. With that in mind, Altaire felt relieved that Lyra has escaped.





However, unbeknownst to them, there were people stationed at each end of the corridor, just before the barrier’s wall that separated their rooms and nearby hallway from the outside world. If Altaire knew, perhaps he wouldn’t have asked Lyra to run by herself.

Currently, he is unaware of his little sister’s split-second decision, which should benefit them more in this condition.

Currently, he can only focus on the lunatic woman in front of him—although he can only see her mad eyes.





“At first I just planned on taking you away... only that... but now you’ve got on my nerves, so...”

Not good, not good. He can still feel the electric shock running through his body, how can he dodge this one?



“Onee-chan will mess you up real good, then, until your soul is tainted in black!”



The maniacal laugh she let out after uttering such words towards a mere child echoed through the room.

Surely, something is amiss inside this ruthless woman’s mind.

Altaire closed his eyes in fear of what is going to happen to himself.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
ANOTheR CLIFFFFFFFFFFF
NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
MY HEART MAN MY HEART
WHY
THE SUSPENSE
I KENT


ok reactions aside: THanks for the ChapTer!!!!!

 

P, please bear with the series of cliffhangers for a while QvQ/
And thanks for reading!

 

Chapter 34

[ ]​

Spoiler: chapter 34

Lyra’s P.O.V



Alt-nii is in danger!

There is no more leeway to think about a strategy. There is no more time to think about consequences of my next actions. After all, my big brother’s future is at the stake here.

If I haven’t yet mastered powerful combat magic spells, if my magic attacks’ power output is not yet at a strong level... then there’s only one answer.



The one thing that I’m good at.

Or the one thing that I was good at.

Though it has been years since I last practiced it... at least I know that I’m more confident with my combat skills in terms of that.





“Ice sword,” I muttered, as cold breeze started to flow from my right hand. I formed a firm grasp on my right hand—grabbing the forming ice sword.

Of course, I’ve adjusted the size so that it would be good for my current body to use.





As soon as the ice sword was fully formed, I dashed forward and quickly closed my gap from that crazy lady and—

With all the power I have, I jumped up. With my current power and height, I only managed to jump as high as her lower back, but it should be good enough.

Using all the power that my arms have, I grasped the handle of the ice sword with both of my hands, and swung it forward.





“Aaaaaah!!”



The crazy woman seemed to be very surprised by my ambush, as the ice sword successfully sliced through her clothes and slightly injured her back. More than anything, I’m sure she’s surprised by the cold sensation that she suddenly felt at the same time as the sensation of pain. After all, there wasn’t only laceration on her back, but a small portion of her back was covered by the ice!

It’s as if I was using a sword imbued with ice attribute, and the effect of freezing the enemy. In other words, a magic sword that’s quite pricey and hard to get.

Magic is convenient. I wonder if there are people who specialized in using magic to form some weapons and then used the weapons in a close-ranged combat?





Simultaneously as she screamed, she also dropped Alt-nii.

With a thud, Alt-nii landed safely on the floor—the impact must be quite painful, but Alt-nii seemed not to mind it and opened his eyes in surprise.





“Lyra, why are you here? Didn’t I tell you to run?!” Alt-nii asked in disbelief.

“I couldn’t run while leaving you in the hands of the enemies, Alt-nii!” I quickly grabbed Alt-nii by hand and was about to run outside with him when—





“What the hell are you useless men doing?! CAPTURE THEM!” The woman who’s knelt down and is grabbing her injured back shouted. Her voice clearly indicated her anger. She... seems to be using some kind of ointment to heal her wounds...

At her commands, the two men who were crouching down are forcing themselves to stand up. They seem to get used to the sensation of pain they felt—or that they have gotten over it by now.

I stopped my track as all my paths are blocked by them.





“Lyra,” Alt-nii whispered softly in my ears.

“Let’s fight together.”

I slightly nodded at his suggestion.





When the two men are rushing off towards us, we are already prepared to fight back. Alt-nii is handling the man to the right, while I’m handling the man to the left.

The man I’m fighting is using two knives and his agile movements to fight me.

Meanwhile, the man Alt-nii’s fighting seems to be using a short sword.

Wait—Alt-nii’s dagger is over there, what will he do?!





But I wasn’t given any chance to worry about Alt-nii, as the man in front of me is aggressively trying to attack me.

...I am just a four-year-old child, but you’re this aggressive?!

I was quite exasperated, to be honest. Their enemies are only small children, yet they showed no mercy and attacked aggressively.

Of course, I managed to block and dodge each slash. I guess I’m still accustomed to my old fighting habit—but my body isn’t all that trained... yet. I think I will surely strain my muscles after this excessive use of them, but let’s think about that minor consequence later on.





I’m trying to recall the Grabberton’s fighting style that I have learned in the past with some of my own style added into it.

We are mainly focused on attacking with force rather than speed—but that’s exactly why we are trained in blocking enemies that depend on speed. However, I have more advantages with my current condition, especially the ability to use magic.

When my enemy is using both of his knives to attack, that’s my cue! I blocked the two knives with my ice sword and imbued it with more mana—causing it to emit a colder breeze that froze the knives.





Normally, I should be blocking the two knives and identified a weak spot quickly, then I should force my body to that direction and powerfully hit it with my sword—yup, a sudden movement to get closer to the enemy’s weak spot and strike it at once. It is kind of a suicidal move that I developed for not really caring on what would happen to me.

After all, if I am not careful enough and if the enemy is clever enough, the enemy could also strike me the moment I threw my body at their direction. It was like a bet on who would succeed with the attack, and which side could injure their enemies more severe. Injury? Hah! What mattered the most was if I could win the battle anyway. Any wound would worth the victory, and if I was severely injured because of my rash style, then it would only mean that I was fated to die as a warrior, or during a match. Quite a cool death, to be honest.

This rash trick I mentioned was my own improvisation added to the Grabberton swordsmanship style I used to use in battles.





But now, the situation is different. More or less, I should probably develop a style where I could fight with less injury—so that my life won’t be in danger. So that I won’t cause my family to be worried.

Lucky I could use magic.

The man was surprised because the ice quickly traveled to his hands. As he wanted to drop the knives so that he could fight with other means, I quickly slashed my ice sword towards his legs, causing him to drop into his knees—which have already started to freeze.

With this, he isn’t too far away from my reach and I quickly performed another slash to his body—after taking some distance, as I only intended to freeze him, causing him to be immobilized. I don’t intend to be a murderer at the age of 4 if possible.

After making sure that he was immobilized, I quickly turned my gaze towards Alt-nii.





He was erecting magical barriers in order to defend himself from the enemy’s attack!! He seems to be having trouble to keep it up, so he hasn’t had the time to cast an offensive spell. He has been going full defensive all this time!

But the man’s movement seemed to be slowing down, and Alt-nii quickly—

“Disappear!”

--shouted while lightly touching the man’s blade from his barrier, causing a pitch black area to appear from the tip of his hand, slowly devouring the man’s blade into nothingness. Of course, the man was surprised, but he was quick to react and submissively let his blade to disappear.



And this is where trouble comes.



Okay, Trouble is my nickname for the troublesome crazy lady-leader.





Trouble seemed to mutter something as electric sparks started to fly at Alt-nii’s direction—she’s casting magic!!

The electric spark hit Alt-nii’s barrier, causing Alt-nii’s attention to be divided as he glanced towards Trouble who’s ambushing him.

...could it be that they were aiming at Alt-nii all along?

“Alt-nii, careful! Switch!”





As the man started to switch his battling style and formed a fire ball that’s directed to Alt-nii when he wasn’t looking, I dashed forward and positioned myself between them, and blocked the man’s flame in exchange. The flame managed to cause my ice sword to be melted.





“Lyra!”

Alt-nii turned over at me, and I shouted.

“Alt-nii, just go and fight the lady-boss, I will block him!”

Alt-nii didn’t say anything else and quickly faced his opponent.





Though we are fully aware that the man I’m facing is specialized in fire magic that naturally can win over my ice magic, the fact that Alt-nii didn’t protest also indicated that we considered Miss Trouble as the most dangerous out of the two, and that it would be better for Alt-nii’s Void magic to be used to fight against her.

As for how I could fare against this fire user... We’ll see!





***



Normal P.O.V



“What is this? Sibling-y love-y? How cute-y~ ♥ Makes me feels more excited to love you reall-y good!!” The female leader’s voice shook as she laughed uncontrollably, and her crazed brown eyes peered deeper at the two siblings, as if she’d burn them with her piercing gaze.

She then proceeded to chant in a low voice, and an electric spark appeared on top of her palm. Altaire looked at her, full of precaution.





Meanwhile, Lyra’s fight with the fire user has already started. Now that the man’s weapon was gone, he had to resort to fighting with magic.

Somehow, perhaps due to the influence of her past training as a swordswoman, her movement was still fast, albeit her current body has never undergone any similar training. She managed to dodge each fire ball aimed at her. Occasionally though, she would use her formed ice sword to block the fire, causing it to melt.

But worry not, as Lyra quickly regenerated the ice sword and proceeded. The man also managed to dodge the icy slash Lyra delivered by using his fire magic to form a flame shield, though his flame shield was quite weak.





Lyra soon realizes why this man didn’t directly use his magic to fight. Because the man was not good at magic! It has just been a few minutes and a few fire balls and shield, but the man’s already sweating and his breathing became ragged.

Lyra smiled once she knew she was going to win. She launched another jump and swung her ice sword—the man barely managed to cast his fire shield and blocked the sword.





In the meantime...





“Damn you, Void user!!” Miss Trouble clicked her tongue when she realized that her battle was following the same pattern, as Altaire would either erase her thunder balls or cancel her spell in case she wanted to cast a powerful magic.

Altaire grinned widely, forgetting the pinch that he barely evaded.





[Hlynrian trinda] (Thunder ball)

“Again?” Altaire said mockingly. However, with just a little bit of sliding right, he managed to evade the attack.

“Huh, have your eyes gone blind, Onee-chan? It was a total miss!”

But he was greeted back with a wide smile.





“...no way...,” Altaire quickly knew what was going on and turned to look behind him—the thunder balls were aimed at Lyra!!

The woman's main target of the day was Altaire--but at that time, she didn't know that Lyra would cause her so much trouble. Now that she knows it, she thinks that she should get rid of her first.





“Lyra, be careful!!”

“Oh~ you dare ignore Onee-chan?!”





The crazed woman quickly closed in her distance to Altaire, and Altaire was shocked to realize that the moment he faced her again.

Lyra noticed Altaire’s warning and quickly turned behind her to see the incoming thunder balls while the man behind her cast another magical flame again—and Lyra was aware with the man’s movement, as she could feel the fire’s heat closing in on her.

If she dodged the man’s fire, she would get hit by the thunder balls. If she dodged the lady’s thunder ball, she would get hit by the man’s fire. Dodging sideways didn't help as she could only make a small movement to the left or right--and the size of the fire blast and the area that the thunder balls could reach were quite wide. In other words, she was completely trapped.





“Nooooo, stoppppp!!”





Lyra spontaneously closed her eyes and screamed—unable to think which side she should dodge, as she also noticed Altaire’s bad predicament. She was simply frozen in fear of what was going to happen.

At that moment, cracks started to form rapidly at Lyra’s magical stone pendant. In no time, the stone was shattered to pieces with a loud crack. In her heart, she wondered, 'what was all this cracking sound?'





Moments later, Lyra realized that the pain she expected to feel wasn’t there at all. When she opened her eyes, she realized that the thunder ball stopped right in front of her. The man’s fire blast didn’t get any inch closer to her. Not only that, the man’s movement also ceased to work, along with the lady’s ambush on Altaire. Even her brother didn’t move.





“Eh...?” Lyra was taken aback with this sudden turn of events.

It's as if...

As if time has completely stopped, except for her time.



Just when she thought that time was indeed stopped for anyone else but her...



“Y, y, you little runt! What the hell... did you do?!” Miss Trouble’s body couldn’t move, but her facial expression could twitch in anger and her mouth could still curse Lyra.

“Lyra...? Is this your doing?” Altaire was also surprised.



No... It's not that time has stopped.

Only their body movements stopped.





“W, what is going on?” Lyra stared at all of them in confusion.





No, wait, I didn’t do anything…

At that time, Lyra noticed that the weight she felt was slightly lighter—so she cast her gaze downward and noticed… that the magical stone on the necklace her mom gave her has been shattered to pieces!!





What could this mean?

I certainly didn’t use any sort of magical forces—I didn’t even feel any mana leaking out!!

But how would that explain my necklace breaking and how the others’ movements stopped?



With her past self being completely foreign to the magical world, Lyra couldn't comprehend the phenomenon happening right in front of her.

 

This was amazing! It is likely that she finally used her dark element and stopped all of the shadows!