Mistaken Kidnapping
The cracked screen confirmed something had gone wrong. Calion, the archmage, stared at the phone as it vibrated and spat out a bizarre melody, his hands fumbling helplessly.
“W-what in the world… What am I supposed to do with this?!”
He poked at the device until the call abruptly cut off. A low hum followed, and text began scrolling across the screen.
“……What in the world does this mean?”
He had no idea what lol signified, what “ignoring calls” meant, what an “autobike” was, or how “24-month full installment” worked. Though the characters were the empire’s common script, their meaning eluded him completely.
“It appears to be some manner of artifact powered by mana…… Hm?”
As the device continued to hum and display text, Calion’s eyes widened.
“……Wait a moment. Look at this?”
He sensed an independent magic circuit etched with unimaginable complexity. His eyes grew larger still. This was no mere precision craftsmanship.
“Embedding ultra-miniature circuits so densely they’re invisible to the naked eye? How far has the technology advanced?”
He could grasp that progress had reached heights once unimaginable. While Calion examined the phone with fascination, a sudden brrrrap-rap-rap echoed from outside.
Peering through the window, he saw a crowd of rough-looking youths on strange two-wheeled vehicles.
“Hey!! This is the hospital, right?”
“Get in there and find him!!!!”
Colorfully dyed hair. Bodies covered in tattoos. Calion clicked his tongue.
“Some things never change—youngsters with empty heads, then and now.”
Before he finished lamenting, the hospital room door burst open.
“You fucking bastard. There you are.”
“Didn’t know we installed a tracking app on your phone, did you, asshole?”
The tattooed thugs from the window poured inside. Calion stared wide-eyed—not at them, but at the objects in their hands. Short staves. Commonly called wands.
“These are illegally modified wands, you know? They can even cast lethal spells, you bastard.”
“Come quietly if you don’t want to die. We don’t want a scene here either.”
Nurses and patients screamed in alarm. Calion ignored them, eyeing the wands with interest.
“Youngsters. I’m curious. I sense no trace of mana from your bodies, no trained circles, no class signatures—yet you carry wands? Why is that? Are you mages?”
“Is this retard broken?”
“The accident must’ve scrambled his brain. Follow us now if you don’t want to die!”
With a click, the tip of a wand glowed red. In that instant Calion saw the wand autonomously rearrange and calculate mana to prepare a spell. His eyes widened.
“Technology truly has advanced. Greatly advanced. To think wands now come with built-in calculation functions. Hoho!! In my day, youngsters, we had none of that. We had to calculate everything in our heads before casting! How fascinating!”
Unable to tolerate any more, the thugs grabbed Calion by the collar.
“The retard’s finally lost it. The boss said to bring you back without a scratch so he can deal with you himself, so we won’t beat you. You fucking retard.”
Calion offered no resistance as they dragged him away. A fight here might harm bystanders, and these sorts of thugs were best dealt with at their own lair anyway.
“Very well!! Very well, youngsters!!! Release me. I shall follow of my own accord!! Let us depart quietly.”
“……What the fuck is with your speech? You really are crazy.”
“Why are you talking like some old fossil?”
“Old fossil? Another new word. What does it mean, youngsters?”
“Your fucking mom, you bastard. Move!!”
Thus Calion was abducted by the thugs without understanding a thing. Strapped onto the back of a two-wheeler, he was carried off amid the roaring engines.
“Haha!! It’s loud and fast!! How marvelous!! Youngsters! What do you call this mode of transport??”
“……Is this bastard actually insane?”
Even during the ride, Calion remained perfectly at ease. It would have been stranger to fear such small fry.
The Hellriders Crew. A massive syndicate that dominated most of Erental District in the Magic Empire’s capital, composed mainly of motorcycle-riding thugs. Their leader, Arcana, was infamous for his cruelty. A reckless bastard who had cycled through juvenile detention and prison like they were his own home since childhood. Once enraged, nothing could stop him—hence his nickname “Mad Dog.”
And right now he was angrier than he had ever been in his life. All because of one person: Dayman Calidos. That fucking bastard.
“They’re bringing him, Boss.”
“Drag him in front of me.”
Arcana fiddled with his illegally modified wand as he spoke. Twenty-four months of full installment payments. Even as crew leader, the latest-model bike had been so expensive he’d had no choice. It was practically his dream machine. Dayman, that bastard, had stolen it while drunk, sped off, and wrecked it.
Arcana had intended to kill him outright. Prison? He had no intention of going. He planned to tear the bastard apart and bury the pieces. If he erased the evidence thoroughly, no one would ever know. He truly meant to do it.
“Boss. They’re here.”
Arcana rose. Several motorcycles rumbled into the empty lot. He stood up again.
“Boss. We brought him.”
“Ah! Gently now! Youngsters! Gently!!”
Arcana was dumbfounded to see Dayman walking toward him looking perfectly fine despite the supposedly massive accident. What was with that confident attitude?
“Dayman. You fucking bastard.”
“I’m hearing that phrase an awful lot today. Listen, youngster. Speech reveals a man’s character. From your words alone I can tell your mother died young. Your upbringing must have gone straight down the drain.”
Arcana’s mind went blank at Dayman’s words. The sheer absurdity made him burst out laughing.
“Hey. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“We don’t know either, Boss. He must’ve gone crazy after the accident.”
“Unbelievable.”
Arcana raised his wand and activated a spell. With a hum, a blade of pure magic extended from the tip. Grinning, he looked at Dayman.
“I’ll cut off your arms and legs. Let’s see if you can still laugh then……!”
“Oho!! Is that not a magic sword!!! To think that spell is still in use!!! The hero party fellows!! They dismissed it as impractical when I developed it, yet they adopted it after I died!! I told them mages needed spells for close combat too, but no one listened!! Haha!!!”
Calion gazed at the magic he himself had once created, now manifested on Arcana’s wand, with pride.
“Quite clean. Perhaps thanks to the automatic calculation. A flawless deployment. The more I see, the more intriguing it becomes. I would love to study this properly somewhere. How the wand’s built-in automatic calculation is implemented is endlessly fascinating……”
“Has this fucking bastard gone insane!!!!”
Arcana roared and swung the magic blade. But Dayman showed no panic. He casually raised a hand and cast the 1st-circle spell Telekinesis—one of the simplest spells, executable instantly without wand or staff. With a swift, precise activation, the wand flew from Arcana’s grasp into Dayman’s hand.
“Huh?”
“Youngster. Is pretending to be a mage amusing? From what I see, you have never received magical training, possess no circle in your heart, and no class in your mind.”
Calion lightly examined Arcana’s wand. As expected, while it contained a built-in calculation system, its fundamental structure remained close to what he had originally designed. He channeled mana into the internal calculation system, overloading and destroying the circuits.
“I would like to analyze this calculation system in detail…… but now is not the time.”
“Hey!! That bastard took the wand!! Get him!!”
Arcana shouted while backing away in panic. At his command, the surrounding crew members drew their own wands.
“Has this fucking bastard lost it!!”
“Kill him!! Cast ranged spells!!”
“Magic Arrow……!”
Yet none of the spells reached Calion. Before they could finish casting, he flicked the wand lightly. Suddenly the air across the entire lot was sucked in at tremendous speed, then exploded with a deafening roar. Only two people remained unharmed: Dayman and Arcana. Calion had deliberately adjusted the spell’s range to spare Arcana.
“Eek!!!!”
Seeing his crew members flung away by the blast and shockwave, Arcana collapsed to the ground without even managing a scream.
Paying him no mind, Calion burst into laughter.
“Wahaha! Look at that amplification rate!! In my time we could only wind one or two amplification cores at most, but this is how many times greater!! Let’s see—one, two…… thirty-two!!!! Thirty-two!!!! Puhahaha!!!”
It was a blessed era. After laughing for a while, Calion turned his gaze.
“You there. Come here.”
After swinging the wand a few times, he looked at Arcana, who was staring at him with a pale face. The menacing aura Arcana had radiated moments ago was gone. Though a reckless thug, he was not entirely without judgment. Regardless of how it had been done, he had no intention of provoking someone who had instantly subdued dozens of armed crew members.
“Y-yes!! B-Boss!!”
Whatever this was, the being before him was not Dayman. That pathetic, loser bastard could never have pulled off something like this. Arcana hurried over. Dayman slowly pulled out his broken phone. Cold sweat began to trickle down Arcana’s forehead. Was he going to demand all the protection money ever paid? Even at a minimum, the money this guy had brought in over three years amounted to thousands of gold. Where was he supposed to get that much right now?
While Arcana stood frozen in thought, the question that flew at him was completely unexpected.
“This. What is the name of this artifact?”