Chapter 12 - Interlude, Isabel
Chapter 12 - Interlude, Isabel
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Mid-level fire mage Lumine Witches had been in a very good mood lately.
Originally, she was a vicious woman who would immediately set anyone she didn't like on fire.
But look at her now! She had become as sweet as if she were a completely different person.
Some said that she had finally come to her senses.
Others pointed fingers and claimed she had gone crazy from being too obsessed with magic.
Her rivals made up the vast majority of the latter group.
'Two months left.'
Lumine was happy despite those arrogant gazes. She was so happy that she popped open dduk a bottle of wine she had been saving.
'In two months, I can have that small and cute porter for the rest of my life!'
Was his name Dennis?
He's a porter who has been receiving great reviews among adventurers lately.
He is so small, cute, and endlessly amiable that people unconsciously open their wallets for him, and that rumor turned out to be completely true.
Just like all the other adventurers, Lumine had fallen head over heels for him at first glance.
'It's a good thing he isn't as smart as he looks.'
Even though she handed him a contract that not even a passing stray dog would sign, Dennis gladly signed it at the mention of provided meals.
And everything went according to plan. She intentionally provoked a goblin cave to disband his party and forced him to pay the penalty for breaking the contract.
And thus, Dennis became a debtor.
20 silver coins.
It was an amount that no ordinary wealthy person could readily pay off.
'Before long, the day will come when I can keep him under this desk and make him live there.'
Lumine murmured, pulling her back tight against the chair.
'If it weren't for that crazy bitch Isabel, I wouldn't have had to use such a complicated method. Tsk!'
Despite his immense popularity, the reason Dennis wasn't kidnapped or forcibly violated was due to rumors that the A-class adventurer Isabel adored him.
Because word had it that anyone who touched him even slightly would instantly have their bones separated from their flesh, many rapists and kidnappers had no choice but to leave Dennis alone even though he slept rough in a defenseless state.
However, thanks to the 'legal' procedures she had devised over a long period of time, Lumine finally stopped wasting money in vain at the male brothel village.
"Great. Let's just keep going like this."
Warm sunlight washed over her body.
If things kept going like this, a rose-colored life seemed to be unfolding before her. Lumine poured the remaining wine she had been saving into her glass and savored its taste.
"Lu, Lumine-nim!"
What shattered that silence was the pathetic crying voice of her direct subordinate.
It was so urgent and loud that Lumine, who had resolved to take things easy, almost spat out the wine she was savoring.
"What is it!"
"Uhm! I think you need to come downstairs. A guest has arrived!"
Who the hell thinks they can order her around?
She was someone who controlled the streets of the area with powerful magic and even had gangs under her command.
If she put her mind to it, she was capable of driving even the territory of a minor lord based in the provinces to ruin, but...
"Who is it!"
"...It's the White Witch."
The White Witch.
There was only one person in this city who held that nickname.
'Isabel? Why on earth did that woman come here.'
Given that she was an A-class adventurer, it should be common sense for her to be a workaholic. Why would she visit such a shabby place?
Lumine picked up her staff and came out of her office.
"...It's really her."
Snow-white hair and a skin of white jade to match it. And red eyes that gave you chills just by looking at them.
Was that the characteristic of the White Clan? Lumine walked down the stairs with a nonchalant expression.
"Isabel-nim. To think you'd visit without any notice. If you had told me in advance, I would have greeted you at a much nicer restaurant than a rundown place like this."
It was empty talk. If Isabel had asked to meet, she would have found any excuse to get out of it.
"Seeing your sense in living in a building made by remodeling a rundown inn under the guise of a hideout... well? I doubt that nice restaurant of yours would be anything special either."
"...Surely you aren't insulting me."
"At least you aren't so dense that you couldn't catch that."
Isabel, who excelled at grating on people's nerves, smiled gently and put her hand inside her bosom.
"Anyway, I don't want to stay long in a beggar's den like this. So I'll get straight to the point. You know that bond you acquired recently? Sell it to me at twice the price."
"Pardon?"
Lumine had run various businesses in the city, and thanks to that, she had managed to earn quite a lot of money.
However, the bond business, which many people commonly did, was such a red ocean that she couldn't touch it, so the only bond she possessed was just that single one.
'This crazy bitch... Just where the hell did she catch a whiff of this!'
She definitely must have taken measures to prevent the information from leaking.
How on earth did she find out information that even the parties involved wouldn't go around talking about?
"It's a bond worth only twenty silver coins. It's too small for Isabel-nim to buy and make a profit..."
"Just sell it. Why are you talking so much? Should I just pull your tongue out?"
Isabel cracked her fingers, making a dduk sound.
"What? Why, you arrogant bitch! Should I smack that pale face of yours and cave it in right now!"
Misfortune or good fortune, Lumine had a lot of loyal subordinates, and they were even brave.
Lumine's red-haired subordinate flew into a rage and drew her blade from the scabbard.
"Get lost before I slice you up into sashimi, you fucking bitch!"
"Now that I look at you, you've become quite successful, haven't you? Having loyal subordinates like this and all."
"Ah, fuck! This is really—!"
The red-haired subordinate flared up in anger on the outside, but meticulously calculated on the inside.
The opponent is an A-class adventurer. A being renowned as a superhuman among superhumans.
However, she was dressed in a purple dress without a single weapon. She didn't look all that strong either.
On the other hand, she herself had a heavy broadsword that could split a person in half. If she smashed someone's head down with this, it would be crushed like ripe fruit.
"All right, go ahead and drop dead. This is all something you brought upon yourself, so don't go blaming anyone when you get to the afterlife!"
Buung—
The broadsword loaded with ignorant strength was swung without any technique right over the white hair.
A blade that had effortlessly split the heads of countless goblins. Even when faced head-on, not a single person had ever reacted in time.
"What is this?"
That just meant it had been that way until now.
The reason Isabel's head wasn't split open was simple.
She lifted her hand upward and reflexively pinched the flying blade with her fingers.
That was the end of it. There were no flashy techniques worthy of an A-class, nor was there any ignorant strength accompanying it.
She had simply caught it like catching a bug.
"Hmm."
Isabel, who did not have a gentle enough personality to just brush off provocation, raised her free hand and smashed it straight into the red-haired woman's solar plexus.
-Ppagak!
She couldn't even let out a groan. The woman collapsed right on the spot accompanied by a sound like bones shattering.
"Is that how you're gonna play? I tried to approach this peacefully, but you guys leave me no choice."
"Wait! Th-This is just that girl acting on her own!"
"All of you need to die."
Finishing her words, Isabel raised her hand.
"...Damn it! Since it's come to this, we have to overwhelm her with numbers. No matter how A-class she is, she won't be able to do anything without equipment... Hey! All of you, charge at her!"
The well-trained assassins rushed at Isabel the moment those words dropped.
Dozens of them gripped lethal weapons capable of easily ending a person's life if landed properly.
On the other hand, Isabel was bare-handed.
Yet what unfolded was completely unreasonable.
"Ugh!"
"Aah! Fuck, my eyes!"
"Aim from behind! From behind!"
Necks were snapped by flying knife-hands, and hearts were pierced.
Blade edges were utterly useless. They collapsed, suffering fatal wounds before even touching her.
Broadly speaking, Isabel's movements were straightforward: dodge, then attack.
And numerous assassins were killed by those straightforward movements.
They too mobilized all sorts of methods, such as swinging weapons from Isabel's blind spots or scattering poison, but it was useless.
When about three minutes had passed, half of the charging assassins had been killed, and Lumine realized something was terribly wrong.
"Fuuuuuck!"
She raised the staff in her hand.
Casting the simplest yet most powerful spell, Fireball, she fired it toward the spot where Isabel was standing.
"Bo, Boss! You aimed wrong— Uaaaaah!"
"Uaaaaah! Th-The fire is blazing!"
-Peueong!
A giant flame flickered and billowed.
It didn't even take a few seconds for the building, made by remodeling an inn, to be swallowed up by the flames in an instant.
The assassins who took the fireball head-on turned into ashes in an instant. Their shadows swayed like dancing flames within the fire before going straight to sleep.
"How does that taste? Huh? You arrogant bitch! This is the power of Lumine Witches-nim!"
Being a mid-level fire mage meant, in other words, that she was above a C-class adventurer, which also meant she was part of the superhumans.
'Got her.'
No matter how much of an A-class adventurer she was, there was no way she could survive taking a direct hit from a fireball that completely incinerated an entire inn.
Lumine lowered her staff in relief.
"Damn it! The loss of manpower is too huge. Dammit... Of all people, for that psycho bitch Isabel to latch on. Still, I was lucky."
"Are you sure? I think you were actually pretty unlucky."
-Puuk!
A long hand protruded from behind Lumine's back.
It was a fatal wound. Lumine vomited a mouthful of blood and felt her life force draining away.
"If you were lucky, you wouldn't have thought about approaching that child in the first place, you pathetic moron of a bitch."
"H-How did you get through the flames..."
"I just walked faster than you fired. Mages put up shields so they don't get caught in their own magic, right? So going behind your back was all it took."
For something like that to be possible, she would have to cover 10 meters in at least one second.
Yet Isabel spoke calmly, as if that were completely possible.
"Fuck."
She truly wasn't lucky. Of all people, for a woman like this to be her love rival...
"I'll be taking the bond documents. Thanks. For sparing me the trouble."
Damn it.
Lumine felt a deep sense of regret amidst her fading vision.