What Do You Want Me to Do?

The allied and Imperial armies, which had disbanded only thirty minutes earlier, gathered again at the midpoint.

Just as the Imperial army had learned, a report had reached the allied forces as well.

Together, they moved toward the portal that had opened in the sky.

What appeared within the portal was a girl who looked to be entering adolescence.

However, the kings who saw the girl turned pale as though they had seen the Grim Reaper.

She was the president of the Serdes Continent Magic Society.

Her other name was the Magic-Wielding Maniac.

Erdes Roton, who had reached the pinnacle among mages, had arrived.

‘I wondered why she hadn’t come until now.’

Black magic was involved in this demon-related incident.

Everyone found it extremely strange that she, who showed no mercy to demons, had taken no interest in the matter.

Nearly every king had realized that black magic was being used in the Kingdom of Heinkel. There was no way she had failed to notice.

Then why had she come now, leading such immense magical power?

Erdes’s eyes rolled downward toward the people below.

“Oh my, who do we have here?”

She welcomed them with an innocent expression, then

“A herd of pigs that can’t even tell shit from soybean paste?”

She looked down at them with an expression steeped in disgust.

Erdes’s fury made every king flinch.

Ureas stepped forward, presenting himself as their leader.

“It is an honor to meet you, President of the Serdes Magic Society. I am the Second Prince of the Arken Empire—.”

“Not interested, you maggot.”

But he was crushed before he could make even a sound.

She raised a finger and warned them.

“From now on, every bastard who opens his mouth will lose one finger for every syllable.”

Though Erdes seemed to speak lightly, she had never said anything without meaning it.

She was a woman who followed through when she said she would do something.

“You pigs have each tried to flatter me at one time or another, so you all know what my title is.”

“……”

“President of the Serdes Magic Society, Erdes Roton. The head of the institution that oversees every mage’s magic and protects the continent from black magic. Am I wrong?”

“……”

“Did you really think I was unaware of what was happening?”

Her eyes swept over everyone.

Whenever that mana-infused gaze reached them, it felt as though a hole were being bored through them.

“I watched quietly at first. I wondered if anyone would report this to me. Something like, Ah, Lady Erdes~ Those filthy demon bastards are doing all sorts of strange things with demonic magic~. If someone had, I was planning to say, There, there, my little shit puppy. Good dog, and let it pass.”

Her performance, with its wildly shifting emotions, was chilling.

“But not one of you pigs reported anything to me. Not that black magic was involved in this, nor that it was magic created by Gamigin, that damned skeleton bastard!”

And you’ve been scrambling desperately to get your hands on it, too.

Her fury reverberated in their chests and chilled their bones.

“So I came here because I found it so disgraceful that I couldn’t let it go.”

Erdes released the staff she had been holding.

“I came to shatter your disgusting dreams.”

The staff moved on its own and stood upright before her.

At the same time, Erdes’s body began to rise into the air.

Erdes’s staff was an object known as the Rod of Mage.

Only those who had reached the Seventh Circle, the Mage Lords, could challenge it, and even among them, only those who passed its demanding qualifications could use this ultimate artifact.

The mana contained within it was like a sky without a single cloud.

Though blue light spread across it, its depths could not be measured.

The mana within it gathered and condensed in response to Erdes’s gestures.

The portal she had ridden in began to open wide, and something appeared beyond it.

“Th-That……!”

“I-Is she insane!?”

Shocked cries burst forth like screams.

What emerged from it was enough to surprise even Ferda.

What came out was a meteor.

However, it was on an entirely different scale from the meteor shower Erdes summoned.

It was as though someone had torn an enormous mountain from the earth and dropped it.

It was descending toward the castle of the Kingdom of Heinkel.

“Watch closely.”

Erdes spoke in a chilling voice.

“I’ll show you exactly what happens to those who borrow the demons’ power.”

The gray Kingdom of Heinkel was covered by an enormous shadow.

The force of the impact was great enough to strike even the forward bases established by the allied and Imperial armies.

“Luri. Protective magic.”

“Yes.”

Luri commanded the spirit of wind and surrounded them with a barrier.

She spread it wide enough to protect all the leaders of the Imperial and allied armies.

Ferda also cast protective magic, preparing for the impact with a second layer of defense.

Meanwhile, the enormous meteor descended from the sky and drew near the Kingdom of Heinkel.

The moment that thing touched the Kingdom of Heinkel, everything within it would become dust and ash.

The history that had shamed humanity would vanish without a trace.

However, Ferda sensed instinctively.

Even magic that terrifying would not behave as intended on the land where the demons had taken root.

Why was that?

Ferda cast a telescopic spell and observed the castle of the Kingdom of Heinkel.

The land had turned gray.

Something was moving at the tip of the spire roof of the castle, where not a single living thing stirred.

It wore a gray robe, but the wind and heat blew the robe away and revealed its form.

It had skin as white as snow, something demons could never possess.

“That’s…….”

It was Gokma.

Though this was said to be land that had joined hands with the demons, Gokma was inside the Kingdom of Heinkel.

He looked up at the meteor in the sky.

Then his eyes shifted toward Ferda.

Just as Ferda was looking at him, he was looking back at Ferda.

He was smiling.

With an expression that seemed to tell Ferda to watch everything happening now carefully, he reached a hand toward the sky.

Then the meteor touched Gokma’s hand.

Kugugugug—.

Vibrations rose, followed by waves of shock sweeping toward them.

Contrary to expectations, the meteor did not bore inward from the spire. After that, it did not move at all.

The enormous meteor had stopped in place.

“By Alte…….”

“What…… What in the world is that……?”

The summoning of an enormous meteor was awe-inspiring enough, but it had been stopped.

The meteor that should have slammed into the castle and vanished still hung in the sky, while the Kingdom of Heinkel remained intact.

“What is that?”

Even Erdes, who had intended to end everything with a single strike, was bewildered by this turn of events.

Was her attack going to end just like that?

It did not.

Ferda could see it clearly.

A tremendous force was vibrating from within the meteor.

It trembled as though a new life were breaking out of an egg, creating cracks through its shell.

Ferda shouted.

“Take defensive positions! The meteor is going to explode!”

Kugugung!!

Just as Ferda had said, the meteor exploded.

However, the form of the explosion was unnatural.

The explosion resembled a volcanic eruption, and huge fragments shot up into the sky.

Anything that flies into the sky must eventually fall.

Along their trajectories were the forward bases of the allied and Imperial armies, and the place where Ferda stood was no exception.

The judgment meant to punish the traitor who had joined hands with the demons had become a calamity aimed at the fools.

“Everyone, prepare for the falling debris!!”

“Protect His Highness!”

The magic circles prepared against the impact would have difficulty withstanding the meteors, so they drew on every ounce of power to defend themselves.

However, less than ten seconds remained before the fragments fell.

There was no clever solution that would emerge simply because they moved now.

“You damned—!”

Erdes stepped forward again in fury.

Mana of an extremely high concentration poured from her body once more.

At her gesture, a barrier made of blue mana became a massive wall, blocking every path along which the meteor fragments were spreading.

Kugugugung!!

The meteors flying in parabolic arcs hammered against the wall Erdes had created.

Because it was a barrier meant to block a wide-ranging attack, it could not absorb the full impact of every fragment.

Erdes’s wall shattered.

It absorbed more than ninety percent of the attack, but the rest struck the forward bases in every direction.

Bang!

Kwaaang!

Even though ninety percent of the fragments had been blown away, the vibrations of the falling meteors traveled up through the ground beneath their feet.

The casualties would not be devastating, but they would by no means be few.

The bombardment ended, and silence descended.

Ferda raised his eyes and looked up at the spire again.

There was no one there.

Gokma had accomplished his purpose and left.

What would happen after that silence?

Everyone knew.

But Ferda knew before anyone else, and he also knew what had to be done.

“Luri.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ferda spoke quietly to her.

“……Must we?”

“We must.”

Luri considered it for a moment, then vanished.

She reappeared beside Erdes, moving with the gale-like speed unique to Silverwind.

“!!”

Erdes tried to react, but Luri’s movements were several steps ahead of her.

With one hand, she covered Erdes’s mouth, and with the other, she swiftly seized both of Erdes’s hands.

Click! Click!

Cuffs locked around her hands.

They were not ordinary cuffs, but mana restraints made to be used against mages.

They did not belong to Luri.

A knight from the allied forces, wary of Ferda making a sudden move, had prepared them.

“Aaaahhh!!”

Erdes strained to squeeze out her mana.

Normally, she would have overloaded the restraints and broken them as though they were laughable.

But after summoning the enormous meteor and erecting the wall to stop it, Erdes no longer had the strength to break the restraints.

The archmage Erdes Roton had been rendered defenseless.

“Erdes Roton, president of the Serdes Magic Society.”

Ferda walked before her and spoke.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to come with me for a moment.”

“You goddamn—!”

Erdes flared with anger.

Ferda spoke to her.

“The owner of a Blue Circle is being far too emotional. If you continue, your Circle will collapse.”

“Nngh……!”

Erdes bared her teeth, seething with anger.

Before she could understand everything, Ferda had settled the matter.

* * *

Shocking news spread.

First, Erdes Roton had intervened and used magic capable of devastating an entire kingdom.

Second, something inside the Kingdom of Heinkel had stopped even that devastating magic.

Third, while stopping the spell, that something had instead harmed the allied forces.

By setting up defenses along every path the meteor fragments could take, they had minimized the damage, but it was still far from negligible.

This incident had been caused by Erdes’s irrational and unilateral actions.

Ferda had restrained Erdes and, afterward, transferred her to his own camp.

The archmage Erdes was now no different from an ordinary girl.

“Would you like me to serve you a cup of tea?”

“Didn’t I tell you last time? If I drink the black tea you brew, I’ll bite my tongue and die.”

“That’s wonderful. In that case, I should give you a cup and usher in a change of generations.”

“I still want to live. And I can’t stand watching more weaklings keep appearing, can I?”

Erdes wore a relaxed expression, but behind her closed lips, her teeth ground together incessantly.

“……How long are you going to keep me tied up?”

“I’ll release you when the time comes.”

“How about this? If you release me right now, I’ll let you live.”

“Is that a threat?”

“I’m more than capable of making one. In ten minutes, I’ll break these, run away, and make full preparations. Then I’ll tear you apart.”

“Ten minutes, my ass.”

“In your current condition, it’ll take you an hour.”

“That sounds like a good plan, but for now, please remain quiet. If you wait a little longer, someone will be coming to take you.”

“Take me? Who in the world would that be?”

At that moment, Erdes’s body twitched.

Ferda knew what that movement meant.

He had felt the same thing.

“Hey. Don’t tell me……”

Before she could finish speaking, someone lifted the tent flap and entered.

The moment Erdes saw that face, she fell silent.

The woman who emerged was a dragon spawn with horns on her head.

Only the descendants of Iorga could possess horns with blunt tips like those.

She was the highest-ranking among Iorga’s descendants, and she was also acquainted with Erdes.

She was Erika Iorga.

“Welcome, Tower Master.”

“Thank you for calling me, Regent.”

She cast a glance at Erdes.

Then her eyes slowly lowered to the mana restraints.

“What an incongruous combination. To think the great Erdes would end up like this because of a single mana restraint.”

When Erika sighed, Erdes smiled fiercely and spoke to Ferda.

“How thoughtful of you. You even intend to humiliate me by turning me into a zoo monkey.”

Though Ferda had not properly explained the circumstances to Erika, she seemed to have guessed what had nearly happened.

Erika bowed her head toward Ferda.

“Thank you for saving Erdes.”

“Not at all.”

“Saving me? Can’t you see my hands?”

“Why don’t you stop whining now? You know perfectly well how many enemies you have.”

“……”

She would know, unless she was truly a childish little girl.

She could have suffered something far worse.

Erdes had expended a considerable amount of mana summoning the high-level spell, the meteor.

However, as an experienced mage, Erdes would have kept enough mana in reserve to prepare for any situation.

But an unforeseen moment had arrived: the meteor had been stopped, only for the attack to return.

To block the meteor fragments spreading in every direction, Erdes had drawn on every last bit of her remaining mana, and she had ultimately been pushed to the brink of mana exhaustion.

‘Erdes was defenseless.’

As befitted her nickname, the Magic-Wielding Maniac, she had many people who held grudges against her, and the allied and Imperial armies were no exception.

The only reason no one could touch her was her overwhelming power. Now that power was gone, and the opportunity for revenge had arrived.

Ferda had preempted them.

He had subdued her first and secured her safety so that no one could mistreat Erdes.

“So what? Do you expect me to thank you? I never will. I don’t even know what scheme that bastard has in mind, so how could I thank him?”

“Erdes.”

“Don’t tell me you like little girls? Is that why you saved me? Is that why you keep that childlike maid glued to your side?”

Luri’s gaze fell on him after hearing those words.

She was clearly trying to express her anger toward Erdes.

Ferda answered as follows.

“Of course not. I like voluptuous women.”

“……I see. Lord Ferda is…… that kind of person.”

Though he was certain he had given the correct answer, Luri’s eyes were stabbing into the back of his head.

The murderous intent was strong enough that it would not have been strange for her to grab Ferda by the nape and lift him up.

Thinking about it, perhaps he should have simply said Valdrova and left it at that.

“Voluptuous…….”

Erdes scanned Erika from head to toe and asked,

“Does this count as voluptuous?”

“Erdes……!”

Erika called her name in embarrassment.

Ferda drove the point home.

“You don’t even qualify.”

“……Regent?”

Erika glared fiercely at him as well.

Erdes looked at Ferda with pity.

“How have you managed to remain Valdrova’s fiancé?”

What do you want me to do?