Chapter 20
Norman clutched his head and trembled, choking back sobs as he wondered how things had come to this.
The tavern was a complete disaster. Among the wreckage of tables and chairs lay the unconscious Jeffrey and Gordon, sprawled on the floor.
The red-haired traveler who had wrought this carnage hummed as he flexed his knobby hands. Every time a ring on one of his fingers gleamed, bolts of lightning rained down. Those rings were probably all magical tools.
Greg, whose face looked villainous but who loved children, stood in front of Norman, gripping a chair as a weapon while glaring at the red-haired man.
"Who the hell are you?!"
At Greg's angry shout, the red-haired man rested a hand against his narrow chin and grinned slyly.
"Mmm, mm-mm-mm... Hey, why don't you scream a little louder for me? ...Actually, if somebody's going to scream, I'd rather it be the kid. Even that coward will come crawling out of the hole at the sound of a child's screams."
Under the red-haired man's menacing stare, Norman's throat tightened with fear.
＊ ＊ ＊
Monica ran through the night, panting heavily.
The barrier she'd cast on Isaac wouldn't last for hours. She had to find the village chief and finish negotiating peacefully before the barrier's effect wore off.
She was heading toward the tavern with a light on, intending to ask where the village chief's house was, when she saw a young woman rush out of it. The beautiful woman wore an outfit with a deeply plunging neckline. She was the woman who had played the fifth 〈Silent Witch〉 during the day.
When the woman noticed Monica, she shouted,
"You! This place is dangerous! Take shelter inside the building right now!"
"...Huh?"
The woman ran past the dumbfounded Monica and disappeared somewhere into the night.
As Monica stood there, unable to understand what was supposed to be dangerous, she saw several radiant bolts of lightning burst through the door of the tavern before her and fly off into the night sky. Someone inside the tavern had used attack magic.
(W-what's going on...?!)
She knew only that something was happening in the tavern before her. Judging from what the woman who had fled had said, it was probably a dangerous situation.
Normally, Monica would have avoided the danger and run away.
But today, Monica was filled with the determination to be a master worthy of Aike's respect.
So Monica steeled her expression, put on the dignified face of a fine master, and stepped into the tavern...
"Mmm, mm-mm-mm... Took you long enough, Moniiica."
The dignified face of a fine master promptly crumbled.
The tavern was in disarray, with chairs and tables overturned. The 〈Silent Witch〉 and the villagers who had been playing villains were lying on the floor.
And standing in the center was a tall man with blazing red hair: Hubert Dee.
"D-D-D-Dee-s-s-senpai...?! W-what are you doing here?!"
"I had to come see you, didn't I? I've missed you, my queen."
Monica let out a despairing sigh.
Monica kept the fact that she lived in Southdoll hidden from everyone except the Seven Sages and a few close acquaintances.
This was partly to prevent people interested in the 〈Silent Witch〉's research, as well as would-be disciples, from flocking to her. But the main reason was to avoid attacks from Hubert Dee.
Hubert's uncle, the 〈Shelling Sorcerer〉, had even promised that he would not tell Hubert where Monica lived.
Thanks to that, Monica had encountered Hubert only a handful of times since graduating.
...And so, she had completely let her guard down.
She should have anticipated that if there was a village with a 〈Silent Witch〉, Hubert would sniff it out. But she had been too distracted by Isabelle and Isaac's rampage.
(Aaaaaah... I'm such an idiot!)
Three men were lying on the tavern floor.
The bald giant Monica had met at the village entrance, the man who had played the villain who accosted Monica, and the dashing man who had played the role of defeating that villain.
"D-Did you do something horrible to these people too, Dee-senpai...?"
"It's your fault for not coming out sooner."
"...!"
As Monica stood speechless, Hubert grinned slyly and snapped his long, slender fingers.
One of his rings glowed gold, and bolts of lightning appeared. They were about the size of forks, so their power had probably been kept to a minimum.
However, there were more than ten of them. They rained down on Monica like a storm.
Monica hurriedly blocked the lightning bolts with a defensive barrier. The weak bolts ricocheted off the transparent wall and vanished in crackling bursts.
...Their power was hardly great. But the attack showed no sign of stopping.
Because the lightning bolts continued raining down without end, Monica had to keep maintaining her defensive barrier. This was an extremely bad situation.
Monica could use only two spells at once. In addition to the defensive barrier, she was currently using another barrier to hold Isaac back. Under these circumstances, she could not use any other magic.
As Monica began to panic inwardly, Hubert pulled a small knife from inside his coat. Its thin, delicate blade did not look like something meant for combat, and the handle was decorated with a large gemstone.
"I made a new toy so I could play with you. Enjoy it, will ya?"
Hubert raised his arm high and drove the knife deep into the floor at his feet.
At once, a magic circle spread out from the knife. It was a massive one, large enough to encompass not only the tavern but the entire surrounding area.
Monica's eyes widened when she saw the spell formula inscribed in the magic circle.
(This...!)
The defensive barrier Monica had been maintaining wavered and warped.
Like carefully woven fabric coming undone, Monica's barrier began to fray. A lightning bolt stabbed into the floor at her now-unprotected feet.
"Eek!"
Monica shrank back in terror and looked through tear-filled eyes at the knife stuck in the floor at Hubert's feet.
That was no ordinary knife.
"T-That magical tool..."
"Pretty neat, huh? When I use this, I can disrupt the flow of magic throughout this entire area."
Magic was the art of weaving mana based on spell formulas. Therefore, when the flow of mana was disrupted, one could no longer manipulate it as intended, and spells would fail to activate.
In other words, within the range of this magical tool, even one of the Seven Sages could not use magic. The same ought to have been true of Hubert.
...And yet Hubert waved his hand, covered in rings, with a thoroughly confident smile.
Crackling noisily, bolts of lightning appeared around Hubert.
In this space, where the flow of mana was distorted, humans could not use magic—but magical tools were another matter.
Hubert snapped his fingers, and a small bolt about the size of a fork flew toward Monica.
Monica tried to activate a defensive barrier. She could construct the spell formula, but she could not manipulate mana as she wished and weave it according to the formula.
The lightning bolt Hubert had fired pierced Monica's left leg.
"Hii...?!"
The shock was not strong enough to send electricity through her entire body. Even so, pain was pain.
Unable to support herself with her paralyzed left leg, Monica crumpled to the floor. Tears welled up in her round eyes from the pain and fear.
As Monica choked back sobs, her throat trembling with whimpers, Hubert looked down at her with a delighted grin.
Pain and fear sent Monica into a panic. Even so, she did not escape into the world of numbers. Somehow, she tried to resist with magic.
But no matter how many times she tried, she could not manipulate the mana as she wished. It felt as though she were knitting, only for the yarn to start moving on its own.
Contrary to Monica's wishes, the collapsing mana spilled from her hands.
"I've been looking forward to this day... Taking down the strongest prey with a tool I made myself—what could be better?"
Hubert moved right in front of Monica, crouched down, and met her gaze as she crawled along the floor.
His eyes as he looked down at Monica were ecstatic, filled with intense pleasure.
"I'll have to render all four of your limbs completely useless, take you home... and savor you nice and slowly."
A crescent-shaped smile split his mouth, revealing sharp teeth.
(I'm going to be eaten.)
Feeling like an animal caught with a foot in a tiger trap, with a hunting rifle aimed at it, Monica sobbed helplessly, tears streaming from her round eyes.
Hubert pointed a ring-covered finger at Monica.
Three lightning bolts appeared directly above her and took aim at her remaining limbs—the two hands and her right leg.
Hubert snapped his fingers. The lightning bolts rained down in straight lines from above, intent on piercing Monica.
But before the lightning bolts could strike Monica, her body slid sideways across the floor.
"Huh—what?"
Someone had hooked the handle of a mop into Monica's coat and reeled her in.
The person who pulled the wide-eyed Monica into her arms had slender but firm, powerful arms.
"I'm sorry for rescuing you so roughly."
It was Agatha, Isabelle's maid, gripping the mop and supporting Monica.
Behind Agatha stood Isabelle, her hair unbound and her clothes hastily changed.
"Big Sis! Oh, how wretched...!"
Isabelle hugged Monica's unsteady body tightly, then glared at Hubert.
Hubert did not seem bothered by the unexpected intruders. He rose with a mocking grin and cricked his slender neck with a sharp crack.
"Mmm, mm-mm-mm... So you've brought friends today... Fine by me. The more prey, the merrier."
With that, Hubert casually raised a hand.
The ring on his finger gleamed gold. But before it could produce any lightning bolts, something flew through the air and pierced Hubert's hand.
The silver object glittering in the air was a table knife.
"Ah, I really should have brought the hunting rifle. Then you could have experienced the fear of being hunted."
Isaac murmured the words coldly.
The barrier that had been holding Isaac back was supposed to have kept him there, but when Hubert's magical tool activated, the barrier imprisoning Isaac was also dispelled.
Now free to move, he had apparently circled around from the back of the tavern.
Isaac twirled the knife he'd lifted in his hand and glared at Hubert.
Despite the hostility in Isaac's gaze, Hubert did not flinch. Humming, he pulled the knife from his hand and tossed it onto the floor.
"Did you sneak around from the back entrance? That's just the sort of thing a former servant would do—someone who won't hesitate to use any means necessary for his master."
At Hubert's words, which hinted at Isaac's past, Isaac smiled sweetly. It was a beautiful smile, yet so cold that it froze the hearts of all who saw it.
As Hubert and Isaac faced each other, both ready for battle, Agatha readjusted her grip on the mop and looked at Isabelle.
"...My lady."
"Yes, Agatha. I know."
Isabelle nodded slightly and spoke as though savoring each word.
"I never dreamed the day would come when I would say that famous line."
What line could she mean? When Monica looked up at Isabelle, Isabelle stared at Hubert with a dignified expression. Then she brushed back her orange curls and declared in a clear, ringing voice,
"Agatha... 'Go get them!'"
"At once!"