Chapter 76
Eugene Pitman was Minerva's teacher of applied area magic, as well as the chess club's advisor.
His personality was gentle and somewhat indecisive; he was the very embodiment of a mild-mannered, unreliable-looking gentleman.
But Pitman—or rather, the person borrowing Pitman's appearance—was grinning merrily, his mouth curved upward like a crescent.
"Oh, my, the students at Minerva really are clever, aren't they?"
The voice was clearly different from Pitman's.
It was low for a woman and strangely high for a man, a sweet, cloying voice like honey boiled down and scorched.
The person wearing Pitman's appearance grinned with his crescent-shaped mouth, raised one hand, and began chanting rapidly.
(A mage!)
In a magic duel, Barney, who could use shortened incantations, had an overwhelming advantage.
The instant Barney began chanting a shortened incantation at high speed, Fake Pitman charged at him while chanting.
His hand bent like a whip and struck Barney in the throat.
"—Ngh, guh... gah..."
Even after Barney's chant was interrupted, the enemy did not let up his attack. Fake Pitman continued chanting, placed both hands on Barney's shoulders, and drove a knee into his solar plexus.
"Gah... ugh..."
As Barney crouched, clutching his stomach, Fake Pitman pointed a fingertip at him.
"'Bind, Thunder Chain.'"
At the same moment as the final phrase of the chant, lightning burst from Fake Pitman's fingertip. It bound Barney's entire body like chains and sent sharp pain through him.
"Gii... u, aaaah!"
Unable to endure the agony, Barney convulsed and curled up on the floor.
Fake Pitman covered his mouth with one hand and chuckled.
"Oh, please. It's not as though an assassin is limited to magic as a weapon, you know? Magic is convenient, but it's so inefficient."
Assassin. That single word made Barney understand the man's purpose.
The reason this man had replaced a Minerva teacher and infiltrated Serendia Academy was presumably to assassinate an important person.
And when it came to important people certain to appear at this chess tournament, only one person came to mind.
"...The target is the assassination of Second Prince Felix Ark Ridill, then?"
If the Second Prince were assassinated, the country's political balance would undoubtedly collapse. Barney had to prevent that at all costs.
More than anything, Barney's pride would not allow him to be beaten helplessly by a man with such a ridiculous way of speaking.
Barney tried to chant a shortened incantation under his breath. But Fake Pitman noticed immediately and stomped on his head. The instant Barney's face was slammed into the floor, his chant was cut off, and his glasses were crushed and went skittering across the floor.
His nose and mouth hurt. He was probably bleeding from both.
"Don't you think magic is inconvenient? It's powerful once activated, but since you have to chant every time, it can't compete with simple violence like this. I like guns too, but they're so loud that they're not suited to assassination."
Saying this, Fake Pitman twirled his fingertip and began chanting something else. That was water magic.
"'Sleep within the cage of tranquility.'"
A huge sphere of water appeared at Fake Pitman's fingertip, large enough to leave room even after enclosing Barney.
"Drowning is awful, isn't it? The corpse gets so terribly... gruesome... That was what happened to the man whose face I'm borrowing, too."
Understanding the implication of those words, Barney went pale.
The real Eugene Pitman had been enclosed in this sphere of water and drowned without being able to escape.
"You can't chant underwater... Perfect for killing a mage, don't you think? ...Now, struggle and suffer in that watery cage, and die without being able to do a thing."
Just as Fake Pitman was about to bring his finger down, the waiting room door opened a crack.
The small figure visible in the doorway was Monica, her face filled with fear.
"...Barney!?"
Monica cried out when she saw Barney lying on the floor, covered in bruises.
Fake Pitman clicked his tongue and shifted the fingertip holding the water sphere from Barney to Monica. There was no way the clumsy Monica could evade it, and she was helplessly trapped inside the sphere.
"Screaming would be such a nuisance... Sorry, but drown to death right there, little miss."
Inside the sphere of water, Monica struggled, bubbles escaping from her mouth.
This water sphere was a "simple barrier reinforced inwardly," easy to enter but difficult to escape. Once someone was trapped inside, they could not easily get out.
Even a mage could do nothing but wait helplessly for death, unable to chant.
—Yes, for a mage who needed to chant.
There was a sound like cracking glass. By the time Fake Pitman turned around with a startled expression, cracks had already appeared in the water barrier enclosing Monica, and water was leaking out through them.
"Impossible!?"
At the same moment Fake Pitman shouted, the barrier shattered, and Monica fell to the floor amid a spray of water.
Monica curled up and activated chantless magic while coughing violently.
An invisible mass of wind came crashing down from overhead, slamming Fake Pitman's body mercilessly into the floor.
"Guh... wha... where... who..."
Pinned beneath the pressure, Fake Pitman frantically looked around with bloodshot eyes.
(...Ah, I see.)
From Fake Pitman's behavior, Barney quietly reached an understanding.
Fake Pitman had not realized that Monica was the one using the wind magic.
Magic could not be used without chanting. That was common knowledge.
There was only one mage in the world who ignored that common sense—the utterly unconventional 〈Silent Witch〉. Who could have imagined that this 〈Silent Witch〉 was such a tiny girl?
Fake Pitman was probably wary that a mage was hiding somewhere nearby. He did not know that Monica could use chantless magic.
Monica raised her face slightly and looked at Fake Pitman. The movement of her gaze alone activated the next spell: a beginner lightning spell. It was not very powerful, but it was more than enough to knock a single human unconscious.
Fake Pitman convulsed violently, rolled his eyes back, and stopped moving.
Monica exhaled softly, slowly stood up, and looked at Barney.
"Um... a-are you all right?"
"It's nothing. It's not a serious injury."
In truth, it hurt enough to bring tears to his eyes, but Barney put on a brave front and wiped the blood from his nose.
He also picked up the glasses that had fallen to the floor. The temples were bent, but they were better than nothing, so he forced them onto his nose. Through them, he could clearly see Monica's worried face.
Ah, he never would have imagined that the day would come when Monica saved him like this.
As Barney grimaced as though chewing on something bitter, he heard a tapping sound from the window. A yellow bird was perched on the window frame. When Monica opened the window, the bird flew inside and transformed into a human the next instant.
He recognized that appearance. It was a handsome man with golden hair and a flamboyant formal suit that was completely out of place. Apparently, he was not human but a high-ranking spirit.
"Excellent work eliminating the assassin, 〈Silent Witch〉-dono."
"...Lin-san, this person might have been a diversion, so please keep watch for suspicious conversations elsewhere too. And please tell Nero to stay alert for unusual magical signatures in the area for a while."
"Understood."
Hearing the exchange between the spirit and Monica, Barney finally understood why Monica was at the academy.
To begin with, there was no way that the extremely shy Monica would have enrolled at Serendia Academy of her own accord.
It was probably a guard assignment for the Second Prince—one that was highly classified. That must have been why Monica was at the academy.
The spirit disguised as a golden-haired handsome man produced a rope from somewhere and tied up Fake Pitman.
As she watched, Monica glanced at Barney and opened her mouth.
"...Um, Barney..."
"What is it?"
When Barney replied curtly, Monica gave him a somewhat lonely smile.
"...It looks like my pretend school life is ending now."
This attempted assassination would surely be treated as a major incident. There had already been a casualty among the people from Minerva. It could not be covered up.
Monica's identity, as the person who had captured the assassin, would soon become widely known. If that happened, Monica would no longer be able to remain at Serendia Academy.
Footsteps could be heard in the distance. Someone was probably coming to check on the waiting room.
Barney instinctively opened his mouth.
"Turn that spirit back into a bird. Quickly!"
"Huh? Oh, um..."
While Monica fumbled, unable to understand what he meant, the humanoid spirit quickly transformed back into a bird.
Barney hid the spirit disguised as a bird behind something. At almost the same moment, two people arrived in the waiting room.
They were Serendia Academy student council members Cyril Ashley and Neil Clay Maywood.
"What is this!?"
"Whoa! Are you all right, Miss Norton!? You're completely drenched!"
The room was in disarray, Pitman was sprawled unconscious with his eyes rolled back, Barney had injuries on his face, and Monica was soaking wet... No matter how one looked at it, this was not a normal situation.
Cyril took off his jacket, draped it over Monica, and asked Barney,
"Barney Jones, Minerva's captain. Explain the reason for those injuries."
Cyril was looking at Barney suspiciously.
Given the circumstances, it was understandable. It looked as though Barney had harmed Pitman and Monica.
Barney answered calmly and confidently.
"Eugene Pitman appears to have been replaced by an assassin. When I saw through his identity, he attacked me, so I defeated him. Miss Monica Norton happened to come into the waiting room at that exact moment and was an innocent victim caught up in it."
Cyril and Neil's eyes widened at Barney's confession, and they were rendered speechless.
Barney adjusted his crooked glasses and looked down at Fake Pitman.
"This impostor may be using magic that alters not just his disguise but his actual body. He also made remarks implying that the real Eugene Pitman had been killed. Contact Minerva immediately."
Magic that altered the body was forbidden in the Kingdom of Ridill.
That meant there were only a limited number of places where this assassin could have acquired the technique.
—The first place that came to mind was the Eastern Empire, which had lifted its ban on medical magic that directly applied magic to the body.
If the Empire was involved, the situation would become serious all at once.
Perhaps sensing that, Cyril gave Neil instructions with a grim expression.
"I will secure the scene and take a detailed statement from Barney Jones. Maywood, report this to His Highness."
"Yes!"
"Also, take Norton, the treasurer, to the infirmary. Several of her friends came to watch, didn't they? Let them stay with her."
Neil nodded and asked Monica, "Can you stand?"
Still wearing Cyril's jacket, Monica glanced at Barney.
"...Barney... um..."
Her eyes seemed to ask why he was keeping quiet about the fact that she had defeated the assassin—and that she was the 〈Silent Witch〉.
Barney wore his usual fearless smile and muttered as he lifted his crooked glasses with one fingertip,
"You can spend the rest of your life thanking me."
Cyril and Neil did not understand what he meant and regarded him with puzzled expressions.
Monica bowed deeply to Barney, then left the waiting room with Neil.