Chapter 190: Zenis Cal Hurensia
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 190: Zenis Cal Hurensia
As I've said before, just because this is another world doesn't mean everyone is exceptionally good-looking.
In fact, most people were rather plain.
But the word ‘gorgeous’ wasn't enough to describe the man before me.
His purple hair and eyes, reminiscent of expensive wine, and his androgynous, pretty-boy looks.
At first, I thought he was a woman. But the prominent Adam's apple made it clear he was a man.
‘Why is a mage popping up in a border region?’
Not that I was one to talk.
Still, I never expected to meet a mage who had reached a higher realm than me in a place like this.
‘Is he around the 5th Circle?’
It would be great if he just went on his way, but the man's magic was wild, as if itching for a fight.
No matter how I looked at it, he didn't seem like he would back down quietly.
He made no effort to hide his magic, and the air around us grew noticeably heavy.
I, too, raised my magic power to shield Iris and Amelia from the pressure.
“Withdraw your magic right now, unless you want your head blown off.”
I had no intention of acting high and mighty in front of a mage whose intentions I couldn't read.
I issued the threat while simultaneously spreading my own magic into the surroundings.
I wanted to just blast him with a spell, but I didn't want to deal with a 5th Circle mage when we still had a long way to go.
Without letting my guard down, I observed the man carefully.
I would have to adjust my response based on his next move.
But the man's reaction completely surpassed my imagination.
“How old are you?”
“...What?”
“Answer me.”
For a moment, my mind went blank.
It wasn't enough that he'd picked a fight out of nowhere, but now he was asking for my personal details?
Only then did I realize the true nature of the unsettling emotions in his gaze.
It was curiosity and longing.
“Thirty-five.”
“...? You look young for your age.”
“I get that a lot.”
Hearing my lie, Sylvia gave me a look that said, ‘What kind of bullshit is that?’
But it was necessary to avoid trouble.
If he was a mage who, like me, had reached a high realm at a young age, there was a high probability he was wrestling with similar concerns.
‘He’s probably hoping to find a clue for his own advancement from me.’
I could sympathize with that.
I had often thought that someone of a similar age and realm might be able to provide what I was currently lacking.
But a talent capable of reaching the 4th Circle in their twenties was not easy to find.
The number dwindled even further if you limited it to the early twenties. It was an achievement impossible for anyone but a born genius, someone with the talent to become the master of a Magic Tower.
“Now, if you could just state your business and get lost, that would be great.”
“Prickly, aren't you.”
“I have a habit of not speaking kindly to psychos who try to intimidate people with their magic upon first meeting.”
“I agree.”
“...?”
What?
For a second, my brain froze at the man's attitude, as if he were naturally excluding himself from the description.
I was dumbfounded by his shamelessness, his unwavering belief that he had done no such thing.
“Did you say business?”
But soon, every sense in my body went on high alert as my instincts began screaming warnings.
His lax attitude vanished without a trace, replaced by a storm of magic swirling around him.
“A duel.”
The man's magic erupted in all directions.
There was no physical threat. It was a procedure to establish one's space, the most crucial step in a battle between mages.
You construct your own domain so you can deploy magic quickly and powerfully, unhindered by your opponent's magic.
It was paramount in a fight between mages.
‘...Should I have said I was in my forties?’
0.01 seconds.
That was how long it took me to raise my magic to counter his domain.
Even so, I instinctively knew I was already too late.
[Thought Acceleration]
Everything except me slowed to an extreme degree.
Thanks to that, I could calmly observe the situation.
‘When did he even pull out that staff?’
The man was holding a staff, as if to show it off.
Well, he was a 5th Circle mage.
It wouldn't be strange for him to have an artifact that could store weapons.
As the magic stone on his staff began to glow, dozens of spells came flying toward me.
It was an unbelievable calculation speed, especially for someone who didn't have a skill like Thought Acceleration.
‘...So this is a 5th Circle mage.’
Of course, strictly speaking, he had merely deployed spells that had been calculated in advance.
Memorize, a 5th Circle common magic.
It was a spell that allowed you to store pre-calculated magic and use it whenever you wished.
Not all spells could be stored, of course, but the ones unfolding before me were all 2nd Circle or higher.
Even if I blocked them with a barrier, it clearly wouldn't last long.
‘I could dodge, but...’
There was something I wanted to test.
I had a skill that was like chicken ribs—a bit of a dilemma.
[Weakness Insight]
[Grade: Epic
Allows you to identify weaknesses.]
It was an Epic-grade skill, but I used it far less frequently than my others.
After all, a creature's weak points—the neck, heart, and brain—were obvious without anyone needing to point them out.
Of course, some magical beasts required special strategies, but I rarely encountered such creatures, so the skill had limited use.
But what if the target wasn't a living creature?
The skill description didn't specify that it was limited to living things.
‘...I see it.’
Magic is fundamentally protected by security measures to prevent other mages from interfering. Breaking through that security to seize control of a spell is called reverse calculation.
However, not many mages attempt it. In fact, they are an extreme minority.
The reason is simple: it's more advantageous to dodge or counterattack in that time.
Reverse calculation is a mentally taxing process of finding the 'core' at the center of the security.
Unless there's a significant difference in skill level, attempting it is considered suicidal.
But what if you knew the location of the core from the start?
Shatter!!
The magic circles filling the sky shattered like pieces of glass.
The fizzled spells vanished into tiny fragments.
“...Huh?”
The man stared blankly into the air, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
His expression didn't change, but the turbulence in the magic surrounding him betrayed his emotions.
Bewilderment, confusion, denial, and disbelief.
For a mage, whose physical senses are duller than a hunter's or a knight's, a single break in concentration is the end.
[Haste]
He didn't even realize I had approached him.
There was no particular technique involved.
I just controlled my strength enough not to kill him and threw a punch.
Thwack!
“Keuk?!”
My fist landed squarely in his solar plexus.
It was an ordinary punch, containing neither aura nor even magic.
Thud—
Nevertheless, having taken the attack in a defenseless state, the man collapsed without any resistance.
I stared down at the man sprawled on the ground.
I nudged him with my foot a few times, but he didn't even twitch.
He looked like he was unconscious, but since this was the first time I'd tried to control my strength like this, I couldn't be sure.
“...He's not faking it, is he?”
The thought occurred to me that he might be feigning unconsciousness to launch a counterattack.
But it wasn't like I could kill him just to make sure.
“Haa...”
With no other choice, I placed my hand on the left side of his chest.
It was where the mana circle was located—a vital point for any mage. If he weren't truly unconscious, he would have jumped up and slapped my hand away by now.
But in the end, the man didn't get up.
My first battle with a mage of equal skill ended just like that.
It was an anticlimactic conclusion, almost disappointingly so.
“...Is he dead?”
Amelia peeked out from behind Sylvia.
“I didn't kill him.”
I don't particularly enjoy killing, and I try to avoid taking lives unless absolutely necessary.
Besides, there was a reason I had bothered to control my strength.
‘A 5th Circle mage. There’s no way he doesn’t belong to an organization.’
Whether it was the Continental Magic Association I'd heard about, some noble family, or even a nation, it didn't matter.
We already had a long journey ahead of us.
I didn't want to create any more grudges.
On top of that, we were already being pursued by plenty of groups.
There was Peledeia, which would hunt us on a national scale once they learned of Iris's prison break, and the Noble Alliance, which was still searching for Amelia with fire in their eyes.
Tug—
While I was lost in thought, someone grabbed my sleeve.
“Hyun-woo, what was that just now...?”
Iris was looking at me with wide eyes.
Her bewildered expression was tinged with intense curiosity.
“Are you talking about the reverse calculation?”
Iris nodded vigorously.
“It wasn't me. It was thanks to a skill. Plus, it was only possible because he was the type to be careless with his spell security.”
Above all, if he hadn't panicked at my reverse calculation and had responded calmly, the fight would have lasted much longer.
Of course, I still wouldn't have lost.
If things got really tough, I could just ask Sylvia for help.
“What are you going to do with him?” Amelia asked, poking the man with a stick she'd picked up nearby.
“We can just leave him here.”
“What? Is that really okay...?”
“He'll wake up soon enough. A 5th Circle mage isn't going to be in any real danger just from being knocked out for a bit.”
I wanted nothing more to do with this madman who threw spells at people on sight.
“We need to hurry if we want to arrange for a carriage tomorrow.”
“...Do we have to take a carriage again?”
“Of course. The Gallian Mountains are huge. A carriage is essential to get through them.”
““...””
Iris and Amelia fell silent.
Ignoring their pleading gazes, I walked on silently toward the next city.
*
Not long after Kang Hyun-woo's party had left.
“Master.”
A green-skinned woman appeared from somewhere and poked the cheek of Zenis, who was sprawled on the ground.
Fortunately, she used her finger, not a stick.
“Are you perhaps dead?”
Contrary to her hopes, Zenis slowly opened her eyes.
“...Where is he?”
“He left a while ago.”
Covered in dirt, Zenis used magic to wash her face and tidy her hair before slowly getting to her feet.
Staring blankly at the sky, Zenis wondered.
How many years had it been since she'd last rolled around on the ground like this?
“Master, Master.”
“Quiet. My head is pounding.”
At the voice calling her name repeatedly, Zenis scowled and glared at the green-skinned woman.
But the woman simply smiled as if this were a common occurrence and continued.
“Your magic has been dispelled.”
Her purple hair, shining even more brilliantly in the sunlight, scattered in the timely breeze.
As she swept back her hair, which was long enough to reach her waist, the elegant curves of her body were revealed.
Her androgynous appearance was gone without a trace, and in its place stood a beautiful woman with sharp features.
“...I know. Just give me a hair tie.”
Zenis Cal Hurensia.
The eldest daughter of the Hurensia family and one of the candidates for the next president of the Magic Association, she had a simple reason for hiding her gender with magic.
She found the gazes and attention of men disgusting.
Born into the Hurensia family, whose power was so absolute that even the birds in the sky would bow their heads, she was also blessed with overwhelming magical talent reminiscent of the family's founder.
Naturally developing a sense of elitism, Zenis no longer saw non-mages as fellow human beings.
“...You're not planning on chasing after that man, are you?”
“Of course not.”
As if she didn't have a single lingering attachment, Zenis turned and headed for the checkpoint.
But she soon stopped in her tracks.
Seeing this, the green-skinned woman felt an instinctual sense of dread.
“Liz, do you know something?”
“...No, and I don't want to.”
“Shut up and listen.”
“...”
Liz's attempt to preemptively shut down a pointless conversation went up in smoke.
Only when she looked into her master's eyes did she realize it.
“Men have something called responsibility.”
“Responsibility...?”
“Yes.”
Her master was not in her right mind.
“He touched my chest while I was defenseless. What do you think that means?”
That's right.
She had never been unconscious; she had only pretended to be.
She had remained perfectly still even as a stranger touched the left side of her chest—a mage's most vital point.
Any other mage would have heard this and lamented, "Are you insane?" a hundred times over.
“...Sexual assault?”
“No.”
A smile suddenly spread across Zenis's lips as she paused on her way to the checkpoint.
“By carelessly touching a virgin's body, he has incurred the responsibility of marrying me.”
It was madness.
Zenis Cal Hurensia.
She was a madwoman of legendary proportions who, despite being engaged to the Second Prince, had slapped him on their engagement day and rejected the union simply because he wasn't a mage.
“There's no need to rush and chase him. I plan on visiting him once this business is concluded, anyway.”