Never a Dull Moment (3)
Riana, Celia, Carotin, and Leon were enjoying a multi-course meal at the restaurant. Once they had finished dessert, an elegant pot of fragrant tea was set before them.
With a smooth motion, Leon casually drew out a cigarette and put it between his lips. Carotin and Celia, equally unbothered, each produced one of their own.
Fssst.
In near-identical motions, like triplets of the same habit, the three of them lit up.
For the first time all evening, Riana—who had been driving the conversation—fell silent.
"Uh… uh…?"
Her face went blank with pure bewilderment.
"?"
"?"
"?"
They all exhaled smoke and looked at her as if to ask what the problem was.
"…W-why are you all so shameless about it!?"
"…What are you talking about?"
Celia tilted her head, genuinely lost.
"We're on a balcony."
They had taken over the entire second-floor balcony for their meal. Leon reminded her that this was outdoors, not an enclosed room.
"Leon, for someone like you, you're surprisingly dense about these things. Surely the lady simply finds the smell unpleasant."
"Ah."
Convinced by Carotin's point, Leon pulled out a smoke-filtering scroll and set it in the center of the table.
"What's this? …Oh!"
Celia had been watching with a skeptical eye—until she saw every wisp of smoke get drawn cleanly into the scroll. She was thoroughly impressed.
"Well? Impressive, isn't it? I never even dreamed something like this existed until this fellow showed me."
"Why are you the one looking so proud?"
"Leon, where did you buy this?"
Having found a shared interest, the three of them launched into an excited, noisy chatter.
"…"
Riana watched the whole spectacle, her large golden eyes blinking over and over.
No—you're students!
A-am I the weird one here?
The lone normal person trapped among weirdos, Riana felt a rare pang of alienation and slumped in her seat.
Whether she sulked or not, Leon was leaning on the railing, taking in the night view of Elaim.
"…!"
By pure chance, he spotted a man vanishing down an alley.
Oh, shit.
Even from a distance, that face was unmistakable. His name was Billy.
Thump! Thump!
Faced with pure disaster incarnate, Leon's heart started hammering wildly.
…This is weird. Things keep changing.
Billy was not the type to leave the academy alone and wander around like that. Later on, circumstances would force him out more often—but not yet.
Somewhere along the line, the original story had started twisting, and Leon's head was getting more complicated by the minute.
At any rate, Billy stepping outside like this was as good as a guarantee that some incident was about to go down. There was no way the world would simply let an opportunity this rare slip by.
"Hmm."
Leon rolled his eyes thoughtfully and smacked his lips.
Should I bring these three along?
Carotin would rank inside the top ten. Celia was no slouch either, from what he knew…
Riana was probably around the fourth circle?
Truth be told, a mage's combat ability varied so wildly by individual skill that circle rank barely meant anything. Still, if they used the artifacts they were wearing properly, each of them could more than hold their own.
After a brief deliberation, Leon decided bringing them was the better call.
Even with a demon's talent, talent only mattered if you grew into it. This world still had plenty of people stronger than Leon. He was a long way from being able to solo everything in sight.
He put on a deliberately grave expression.
"Carotin."
Seeing that look, Carotin immediately went serious as well.
"Don't tell me… again?"
Leon gave a short, grim nod.
"W-what is it? Why did you two suddenly get so serious?"
As the atmosphere turned ice-cold in an instant, Riana whipped her head back and forth with wide eyes.
Leon opened his mouth with solemn gravity.
"I think a classmate is in danger."
"Damn it! Let's go!"
The moment Leon finished speaking, Carotin shot to his feet without a second of hesitation.
"What, a fight? I'm coming too."
Celia read the room, smiled as if this sounded fun, and stood as well.
That easy?
Leon was briefly thrown by how completely the two of them trusted his word—then he grabbed his sword and rose to his feet.
Only Riana was failing to go along with the mood.
"No no no!! How do you even know that!? Why is everyone just going along like it's obvious?!"
"This way!"
Ignoring her frantic peeping, Leon vaulted over the balcony railing.
Whoosh! Thud!
Startled cries rose from passersby as a man dropped out of the sky in front of them.
"Eeeek!? W-we should at least tell someone first…!"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Carotin and Celia jumped down to the ground floor after him.
No one paid any attention to the miserable look on Riana's face.
"…"
For the first time in her life, a curse word clawed its way up her throat.
She was the young lady of a great house. When had she ever run into lunatics like these?
"…Fine!"
Whoosh! Hop.
Abandoning rational judgment at last, she swung over the balcony railing and used Fly magic to settle lightly onto the street below.
"I-I'm coming with you!!"
Five minutes later.
"That place looks suspicious as hell, doesn't it?"
"Hmm… Maybe they just closed for the night?"
"It's not closing time yet, though."
After racing through the alleys, Leon, Carotin, and Celia found a shop with its shutters down and approached it.
Leon pressed his face right up against the shutter and listened.
Tch. No sound at all… Wait?
"There's mana flowing through it."
"What?"
"For real?"
Carotin and Celia pressed their faces to the shutter the same way and focused their senses.
Ziiing.
Sure enough, beyond the wall they could just barely feel mana layered on with meticulous care. Not the kind of setup you'd find in an ordinary clothing store.
"See? I told you it was suspicious."
Leon was a hundred percent certain Billy was trapped inside.
"Hah… hah… What is it? What's over there?"
Riana, a mage with terrible stamina, arrived late and gasping for breath.
"Oh, perfect timing. There's magic on this place—take a look for us."
"Hah… hah… Okay…?"
Still short on oxygen to the brain, Riana followed Leon's instructions without thinking. She closed her eyes and cast a detection spell.
"…You're right! There's a double layer—noise-blocking magic and a protective barrier!"
High-grade magic far beyond anything a clothing shop should have. Even Riana grasped how serious this was.
"Can you break it?"
"It'll take some time… about ten minutes?"
"…Too slow."
Carotin gave the shutter a few experimental kicks, as if ready to boot it in right then and there.
"Can't we just smash our way in?"
"The protective magic is pretty high-level. Even if you try to break it physically, you'll hit the same wall."
Leon rummaged through his coat and pulled out a subspace pouch.
"Everyone, step back."
What he drew from the pouch was Creek's mana bomb—casing stripped off.
Riana narrowed her eyes and gave Leon a deeply suspicious look.
"…What is that?"
"Oh! Looks like Leon's thought of something! Come on, Riana—get behind us, quickly."
Carotin, whose trust in Leon was abnormally absolute, dragged Riana back. Celia watched Leon with expectant eyes.
"All right. Ready yourselves."
Once he confirmed everyone had put a safe distance between themselves and the shop, Leon took a short breath.
"Hup!"
He fed a thin stream of mana into the bomb and hurled it hard at the shutter.
Whooosh!
KRAAAAAANG!!!
An enormous shockwave erased the shop entrance. Flame, debris, and a thunderous boom erupted outward.
It was only one bomb from what had originally been a set of six, so the blast wasn't that large—but it was more than enough to shatter the protective magic on the doorway.
Like a curtain rising at the start of a play, the dust settled.
Inside, five thugs lay sprawled across the floor—along with one student in academy uniform.
"Are you out of your mind!?!? You can't just throw something like that in the middle of the city!!!!"
"I knew it! Leon, you were right!"
"Leon, I'm starting to like you."
Leon savored his friends' reactions as he drew his sword.
"Never a dull moment!"
The first to recover from the blast was, of course, Billy.
Even with his head ringing, he took one look at the academy uniforms and immediately identified the newcomers as allies. He pulled himself together in a hurry and joined Leon's group.
"You came to help. Thank you."
Even in the middle of this chaos, his tone didn't rise or fall by a single degree—perfectly flat.
The others, meeting Billy for the first time, felt a brief chill of goosebumps. Leon, who knew that machine-like personality well, wasn't fazed in the slightest.
"They're all Expert-class martial artists, but so are we. If we coordinate our attacks, we should be able to win."
Billy steadied his presence as he eyed the four enemies who had already scrambled to their feet and bunched together.
Leon dumped cold water on that plan.
"What are you talking about? Billy, you go get the instructors."
"…?"
Billy turned a puzzled look on Leon.
"Wouldn't it be better to make use of our numerical advantage?"
"We'll be fine without you. Go. Now."
Leon had no particular desire to hand Billy a chance at real combat experience. Especially not a life-or-death fight against Expert-class Reconnaissance Bureau agents—that kind of opportunity was hard to come by.
"I am the strongest person here. If someone has to go, it would be more efficient to send someone else."
Carotin and Celia's brows twitched slightly at the hit to their pride. But Billy hadn't put a shred of emotion into it. He had simply stated a fact and raised a reasonable question, calm as ever.
Leon spun his thoughts fast and came up with an excuse.
"Well… that explosion just now left you with some aftereffects, didn't it? It makes more sense for those of us in good condition to stay."
So get lost already.
Leon barely managed to swallow the rest of that sentence. One more round of this argument and he was going to snap.
"Mm. It's true my shoulder isn't moving well."
Fortunately, Billy seemed to accept it.
"Understood. I'll go request assistance at once."
Tap!
Watching Billy take off and leave afterimages in his wake, Leon let out a long breath.
While Leon and Billy had been exchanging those few words, the Reconnaissance Bureau agents finished their own discussion.
Four ducal heirs instead of the first-year top student?
To them, it felt like a gift set of targets.
They had already burned their bridges. Backing down now would accomplish nothing. It was win or die.
The male squad leader spoke, thick killing intent rolling off him.
"We finish this fast."
The priority was to deal with them quickly and escape before the instructors arrived.
"…"
A four-on-four standoff. Everyone raised their weapons, tension coiling tight.
Leon and the squad leader's gleaming eyes locked at the same instant.
"Shall we begin?"
"Move!"
As if they had rehearsed it, both sides kicked off the ground at once.