Tomb Raiders (2)
A bunch of humans who looked for all the world like a band of thieves had seized Mersius and Caesius. Judging by their gear and bearing, they were almost certainly a tomb-raiding crew after the treasures stored in the lair.
But how the hell did they get caught?
Even if they were still young, they were dragons. I turned the question over in my mind and the answer came almost at once.
Mersius had probably been resting after her treatment and simply hadn’t been able to resist. Caesius, bound by the clause in our contract that forbade her from harming humans without my express order, had been unable to move at all.
On top of that, both of them had their hands bound with some kind of cord. There was definitely something special about those restraints.
Grade: B+
Usage Conditions: None
Effect: When worn, an unknown force suppresses the wearer’s mana. Temporarily renders the wearer unable to use mana.
Just as I thought—mana-suppressing gear. With sharp blades pressed against their vital points, they couldn’t risk thrashing around either. Their quiet compliance made sense.
Gergius let out a soft sigh.
“…I made a mistake. I should have sealed the entrance completely.”
Letisia flinched at his words. The slight opening she had left so she could receive reports from the spirit she had sent to the front lines must have been the cause.
Which means this lair was being watched the whole time.
The moment the entrance cracked open, they had slipped right in. Thorough bastards, these tomb raiders.
“All of you—if you value these two lives, stay right where you are. Don’t even think about resisting. Don’t even think about trying anything.”
“How dare you, in my own lair—”
“Ah-ah, Elder Dragon. Move and I can’t guarantee your daughter’s life.”
The edge of a blade kissed Mersius’s throat. Gergius’s brow furrowed sharply, but I quietly held him back.
“For now, we do as they say.”
“…What are you talking about?”
What was I talking about? That if he lost his temper we would never get them back alive.
“…Albrecht is right. Let’s stay calm and handle this carefully.”
Letisia spoke up.
“Just until we find an opening. Otherwise both of them are in real danger. They know these two are dragons, yet they’re threatening them with ordinary daggers—those blades must be able to wound a dragon.”
“….”
“You lot over there! What’s all the whispering about?”
The man who looked the least like he had any openings among the raiders flicked the dagger in his hand.
“You two come over here and sit down too. No funny ideas.”
“….”
That one was either the leader or the strongest fighter in the crew. Letisia seemed to share the same assessment; she studied him carefully.
“I said get over here!”
Letisia and I approached together. The raiders looked us over once and one of them spoke.
“This guy I don’t know, but that face over there… I’ve seen it somewhere.”
“Hmm… take her hat off.”
Letisia flinched, but she quickly resigned herself to the situation and offered no real resistance. One of the raiders yanked the hat away, and her cat ears sprang free.
The tomb raiders’ eyes went round with surprise—then, one by one, they started laughing.
“What, a half-cat-kin? So that’s why she was wearing the hat?”
“Kwahaha! Four ears—look at the half-breed, Boss!”
“Total monster. Ugh, disgusting.”
…I had heard discrimination against half-breeds was severe. Now I was getting a firsthand taste of what that actually meant.
The one silver lining was that they clearly hadn’t recognized Letisia. The fact that the spirit mage traveling with Hero Erinn was a half-breed must not have been widely known.
“Still, she’s pretty enough. The nobles with weird tastes will like her. Handle her carefully—don’t damage the goods.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Tie them both up.”
Letisia’s brow tightened slightly; she was clearly angry, but she held herself in check. The raiders bound our wrists with the same cords they had used on the dragons.
“Do we even need this one?”
“They’re together, so he’s connected somehow. We can loot the vault first and kill him later. No rush.”
The casual way they talked about murder made it clear these were genuine scum. I sighed quietly and examined the cord around my own wrists.
Just as I thought…
The mana-suppressing property felt similar to my own mana. That meant I might be able to push back against it with my own power and break free.
Especially since the item description only said it suppressed mana so it couldn’t be used—it never claimed to drop the mana stat to zero. Ordinary mana would be crushed, but…
“Bring the daughter over here. Elder, it would be real nice of you to open the vault for us.”
“….”
Gergius glanced at me. I gave him a small nod in answer, and he spoke.
“…Very well. Just don’t harm my daughter.”
“Of course, of course. As long as the Elder cooperates nicely, we’ll be on our way without any trouble.”
“…Follow me.”
“Bring one of them.”
A raider hauled Mersius to her feet. She looked at Gergius with anxious eyes, then turned toward me. I gave her a small nod, silently telling her it would be all right.
Her eyes widened a little in surprise. Some of the fear left her face as she was dragged away after the others.
“You three stay and guard them.”
“Yes.”
“Got it.”
“Sure.”
Three raiders remained behind; the rest followed Gergius. The man who had looked like the real threat left with them as well.
“….”
I quietly met Letisia’s eyes. I needed someone to buy me even a few seconds so I could raise my mana. Asking Caesius felt pointless—that blunt dragon didn’t seem like she would pull it off properly.
Letisia’s eyes went round as she caught my look. Then understanding dawned and her gaze turned resolute. She scanned the area and spoke.
“…Um, excuse me…”
“What?”
“I… need to use the bathroom…”
Letisia’s face flushed with shame. She was almost certainly faking it, but the effect was excellent. She looked genuinely mortified.
“…Hah, a monster girl needing a bathroom? Just piss right here!”
“Eep—th-that’s too much, isn’t it…? Even to a lady, saying something like… sob…”
When Letisia spoke like that, on the verge of tears, the scene became almost heartbreaking. The raiders’ eyes locked onto her and for a single crucial moment they couldn’t look away.
Whether they despised half-breeds or not, a pretty face still pulled a man’s gaze. That was just instinct.
Their attention left me for that instant. The second it did, I raised my mana.
Rip!
Exactly as I had expected. The moment the mana-suppressing cord tried to crush my own mana—which already possessed a similar suppressing nature—it rebounded hard.
The cord, which hadn’t looked especially durable to begin with, tore clean through. The raiders heard the sound and snapped their heads toward me.
“Wha—?!”
“You—what the hell did you—!”
But—
Flame Chains
It was already too late. This wasn’t just any magic—this was fire-element magic taught to me personally by Agresia, Lord of the Red Magic Tower and the greatest flame master on the continent. I could cast it fast.
Clatter-clatter!! Clank!!
“Mmmph!!”
“Mmph!”
Flame chains sealed the raiders’ mouths and bound their arms and legs in one motion. The scorching chains of fire began slowly melting flesh from their lips, arms, and legs outward.
“Grrraaaaaagh!!!”
…It was a pretty gruesome sight, but these men had been planning to kill me. Mercy wasn’t required.
I left them thrashing and turned to Letisia and Caesius, cutting the cords that bound them.
Letisia’s face went bright red.
“…M-making me do something like that is too much, Albrecht.”
“Yeah… sorry.”
I just hadn’t thought Caesius would be able to pull it off properly.
Honestly, I hadn’t expected the bathroom excuse either. I had only meant for her to stall for a few seconds somehow.
“Caesius, you okay?”
She answered in her usual flat tone.
“I was unable to resist because of the contract with you.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“I was not seeking an apology… I was merely explaining why I was captured.”
“Still, you couldn’t have liked it. An experience like that.”
Caesius tilted her head slightly.
“Not particularly. Do you feel offended when an ant crawls briefly across your leg? You simply brush it off.”
“…Ah. Right.”
I had wasted words on a chuunibyou dragon.
“Anyway, we need to save Mersius now.”
“Don’t rush in immediately. Wait until Gergius opens the vault.”
“Hit them when their eyes are full of treasure, you mean.”
“Yeah.”
I looked at Letisia.
“Can you call your spirits?”
“Of course.”
Letisia smiled sweetly and drew the whip from her waist. I flinched a little at the sight; her expression turned almost blissful.
“Haa… finally I get to use this again. I couldn’t whip Elysia last battle and it was driving me crazy with how much I wanted to…”
Seeing that look after so long reminded me exactly why I had hesitated about accepting her feelings.
“…You can’t make any noise right now, okay?”
“I know. I’ll just summon the spirits and follow. You go on ahead. Hehe……♥”
“Uh… yeah…”
…If we really ended up together, I might have to take a beating from Letisia in bed someday.
I had no such tastes. I was absolutely not confident I could handle that.
Avrun, leader of the tomb raiders, tossed his bare dagger into the air and caught it again and again as he followed Gergius.
Gergius led them to a massive door. The moment the raiders saw it, cheers broke out one after another.
“Whoa, this is huge…”
“See? I told you a lair this big would have tons of stuff.”
“Everyone calm down. It’s not over yet—don’t get careless.”
Avrun snapped his men back to attention and turned to Gergius.
“Open it.”
“….”
Looking thoroughly displeased, Gergius placed his hand on the door. With a deep rumble the enormous portal rose, revealing the vault beyond. He had just warned them to stay sharp, but the instant they saw the gold inside, their eyes went completely wild. There was no helping it.
“Holy shit, how much is all that worth?!”
“Grab it all—hurry!!”
An ocean of gold and jewels filled the dragon’s vault. Even Avrun felt his gaze snagged for a moment. More than the gold itself, the various treasures glittering among the piles looked valuable at a glance—though proper appraisal would be needed later.
“Take everything.”
“Yes!”
“You got it, Boss!”
The raiders swarmed in and began looting Gergius’s vault. The elder dragon clenched his fists and forced himself to watch in silence.
Having his carefully gathered collection stolen was a deep wound to a dragon’s pride—but it still mattered less than his daughter’s life.
There was so much that even after filling bag after bag the end was nowhere in sight. The raiders grinned from ear to ear as they worked.
“Damn, there’s really a ton!”
“With this much we could live it up for the rest of our lives, Boss!”
While his men were lost in the treasure, Avrun kept his eyes locked on Gergius. An ancient, powerful dragon could kill them all the moment anyone looked away.
It was a careful measure—but Avrun had failed to consider one other possibility. He had not realized that the humans he had seen earlier were members of the Hero’s party…
Crack!
“Kyahat♥”
“?!”
…and therefore he had never imagined that those same humans would snap the Mana Blocks he had carefully bound them with and wipe out every one of his capable subordinates.
Spirit Mage Letisia activates Storm
“Gyaaaah!!”
No matter how skilled a tomb-raider leader he was, he stood no chance against a single strike from one of the greatest genius spirit mages of the age—a full member of the Hero’s party. Avrun’s body was launched like a rag doll, smashing into walls and pillars throughout the lair.
“B-Boss?!”
“Shit, this is going sideways—!”
The moment Gergius saw it, the rage he had been holding back exploded.
Crunch—!
The raiders who had poured into the vault were instantly crushed under Gergius’s overwhelming mana, reduced to bloody pulp atop the golden piles.
In the sudden chaos Mersius looked around in mild confusion—then spotted the figures approaching her.
“Mersius, are you all right?”
“Ah…!”
It was Albrecht and Caesius. Albrecht came straight to her, concern clear on his face, and snapped the cord around her wrists in a single motion.
“You must have been terrified. It’s okay now.”
Tears welled in Mersius’s eyes. The instant her hands were free she threw both arms around Albrecht and clung to him.
“Benefactor…!”
“?!”
Perhaps it was only natural.
“Thank you… truly, thank you so much…!”
The man who had already saved her life had once again rescued her when she was in danger.