The False Master (2)
The False Master (2)
After adding the prepared tea powder to the water pitcher set to one side of the room, he asked Piar and Mirisa.
"Are both of you wearing your necklaces properly?"
"Of course. I keep mine on even when I wash up."
"Yes. Me too."
The two of them placed their hands over their chests.
They were faithfully obeying their master's constant warning never to show the necklaces to anyone.
Satisfied, he handed the prepared tea to Piar and Mirisa.
"This tea helps you sleep. Since you have to leave early tomorrow, drink a cup each before bed. As I said earlier, you don't have to go back tonight, right?"
"Yes!"
"Still, it's a shame. I wanted to stay up all night talking with you."
"It can't be helped. I only dropped by briefly while passing through. I'll make time again next time."
The two nodded as they drank their tea.
"It's really delicious."
"But... this doesn't just help with sleep. Haam... I'm already sleepy."
"Right? Goodness... I feel so languid..."
As soon as they set down their cups, the two began nodding off.
Plop.
The next moment, they tumbled out of their chairs and sprawled across the floor.
"Dear me, what are you doing sleeping on the floor?"
Master Louis said to his two disciples, who lay on the floor, without rising from his seat.
Already fast asleep, the two disciples didn't answer.
He didn't bother moving them to the bed.
"As expected, dealing with kids is exhausting."
He sighed and laid Piar and Mirisa out flat on the floor.
Then he reached behind their necks and pulled out their necklaces.
They were simple necklaces set with sparkling gems.
Ordinary necklaces, with modest gems and simple craftsmanship.
They looked like the kind of keepsakes commoners could easily wear.
Yet Master Louis examined them with a serious expression.
"There doesn't seem to be a problem with the necklaces... What on earth happened during the entrance ceremony?"
He set down the necklaces he had been examining and scowled.
"Had I known this would happen, I should have planted a few more people at the entrance ceremony. Tsk, I thought it was too cruel to station people somewhere they'd die, so I pulled them out. And now it's caused a problem like this."
Sighing again, he shook his head.
"Things have been getting tangled up lately, and now even I've become a problem. Well, things went wrong the moment we decided to use the test subjects we painstakingly prepared as bombs."
Muttering to himself, he looked down at the sleeping boy and girl with a slightly apologetic expression.
"I suppose I should apologize to you two again. For dragging you into this business and causing you to die at a young age."
"I'll consider myself absolved by the fact that I let mere commoners gain abilities and enter the Royal Academy."
After spouting nonsense that would have left Piar dumbfounded had he been awake, he took the necklaces in both hands.
Hum.
His eyes began to glow, and the necklaces shimmered with a low hum.
"For morning classes, leaving about ten hours should be enough..."
As he murmured, he heard—
Bang!
—the sound of the back door on the first floor shattering to pieces.
The energy erupting from the shop's second floor startled me.
"Mana?"
Had I been too cautious?
Sensing mana surging from the second floor, I immediately kicked down the back door and dashed inside.
"Who goes there!"
Men rushed into the hallway from the back door.
Three in total. As expected, none of them was asleep.
What's more, they were fully armed.
This was definitely no ordinary shop.
"Would anyone who came to introduce himself smash down the door and charge inside?"
I shouted back, swinging my blade.
I swung my short dagger right in front of the eyes of the man blocking my way.
The bushy-bearded man looked bewildered as the blade cut through the air, but the next instant, his face split in two, spraying blood.
Shoving the collapsing man aside, I kept charging forward.
"Don't tell me... Sword Aura?"
"Damn it! Block him!"
They were definitely no ordinary bastards. Even after the first man went down in a single slash, the others moved systematically to block my way.
Their raw skill seemed to be around the level of an apprentice knight or a mid-rank mercenary, but their tactical movements had clearly been drilled into them by a proper organization.
Damn it, I wondered if I was following a tail only to run straight into a tiger.
Though those thoughts raced through my head, experience and training drove my body forward toward the enemies.
I ducked beneath a sword slashing toward me and drove my mana-infused dagger into the enemy's chest.
He wore iron plate reinforced over his leather armor, but it couldn't stop the dagger as it thrust inward, leaving a red afterimage.
The dagger, its blade surging with sword aura, bit through iron plate and leather and pierced his chest.
The last remaining man held a crossbow. He had clearly planned to fire a bolt while I was tied up fighting the others.
That proved how thoroughly prepared they were. If my skills had been any lower, I might have felt as though I were walking straight into a trap.
The crossbow swung toward me—and the man impaled on my dagger.
I didn't bother pulling the blade out of his chest.
Instead, I released my grip on the weapon, kicked off the adjacent wall, and launched myself upward.
Thunk!
At that exact moment, the crossbow fired—straight into the chest of his comrade impaled on my blade.
As expected, they were well trained. The bolt drove clean through his comrade's torso.
Had I wasted time drawing my dagger, I might have caught that bolt too.
But I was already soaring over the enemy's head, and my knee slammed directly into his face.
Thud!
The crunch of his skull fracturing beneath my knee echoed through the room.
Landing, I immediately doubled back, retrieved my blade, and sprinted up the stairs to the second floor.
I threw open the door to the room where mana was leaking out.
Piar and Mirisa lay on the floor, with a man standing at their heads.
Even now, mana churned within the room.
It was the very reason I had rushed in without hesitation.
A scent of mana like the one I'd sensed at the entrance ceremony flowed from the two students' chests, radiating from the necklaces protruding above their clothes.
The man's hands were outstretched toward the two children on the ground.
And the mana surging through the room, on the brink of exploding, was the exact same mana that had obliterated the entrance ceremony venue.
That was why I couldn't move immediately after entering the room.
"Who are you?"
The man standing at the head of the two students asked me.
Should I call him middle-aged, or still a young man?
The sharp-featured man scowled at me.
His expression was displeased, as though he'd made up his mind about something, yet he showed no sign of anxiety.
Instead of answering, I tossed a question back at him.
"And who the hell are you?"
It was already too late to rush him.
Judging by his expression, he had already finished his preparations.
With the mana swirling around them, I couldn't be sure that killing him instantly wouldn't make the two students lying there detonate.
'Is it Plan B in the end? I can only hope my mental power has recovered a bit...'
"The men stationed on the first floor were no pushovers, yet they failed to hold you off for even a second before you made it all the way here. Are you at least knight-class or higher?"
Ignoring my question, he muttered to himself.
"And yet, no matter how I look at you, you don't look like an adult."
I let him talk to himself. He didn't seem inclined to answer my question right now anyway.
Instead, I checked on the two lying on the floor.
Judging by their steady breathing, they didn't seem dead or unconscious, but rather sound asleep.
Considering the cups on the nearby table, it was highly likely they'd been given a sleeping draft.
Still, there were no signs of a struggle or marks of binding. Rather than being kidnapped, the two had clearly come here of their own volition.
Which meant they had some connection to this man...
He had brought acquaintances over, put them to sleep, and was manipulating them with mana.
In the end, did that mean Piar and Mirisa had been duped, just as I'd suspected?
But what kind of relationship did they have? I hadn't heard anything about such a person last night.
Well, expecting to unravel that whole backstory in a single night was unrealistic to begin with.
And then there were the necklaces around their necks.
Seeing mana pool directly into those necklaces, I knew there was some secret hidden in them.
Were they a catalyst or a conduit?
Nothing else stood out.
So probing him about the necklaces seemed like the best way forward.
"Were those necklaces the key to the terror attack at the entrance ceremony?"
It was a shot in the dark, but luckily, it seemed to land right on the mark.
"It's not as if an order of knights or soldiers stormed in. You seem to have raided the place alone—does that make any sense? Such a... What? The necklaces?"
The fact that he broke off mid-mutter and reacted to my words told me as much.
"Don't tell me... are you the bastard who ruined the plan at the entrance ceremony?"
"Not me, us."
I was alone, but there was no reason to let him know that.
"Hmm, seeing how you went out of your way to claim you're not alone, it seems you really are alone..."
Tsk, I shouldn't have opened my mouth. The bastard was sharper than I thought.
"By the way, how did you know these necklaces were the key?"
How did I know?
Because I could plainly see mana gathering in those necklaces and flowing straight into Piar's and Mirisa's necks.
But this was something only I could perceive, thanks to my abnormally sharp mana sensitivity.
"Well, hearing the answer won't change anything, so it's a pointless question. To think you'd break in at such flawless timing. If not for these kids, I'd have fought you head-on."
He clicked his tongue as he looked down at the sleeping kids.
I wondered why he hadn't attacked me yet. Was it because of the children?
"Dragging this out any longer is useless anyway, isn't it? Should I take comfort in dragging down the bastard who ruined our plan along with them?"
Muttering to himself, he began extending his hands toward the children.
At that instant—
I launched myself forward.
His face rushed into view in a split second.
At the same time, I pumped mana into my dagger.
Swish!
Red mana extended from the blade in a long arc.
I swung the weapon and severed both his arms.
Slash.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
Stepping deeper between his blood-gushing arms, I drove the blade into his chest.
Thunk.
Red mana burst out of his back.
Without pulling out the blade, I spun around and ripped the necklaces from the children's necks.
Mana whipped wildly around the room.
Yet the mana connection between him and the children remained unbroken.
"Gulp, it's useless. The moment you breached the house, I modified it to trigger the second the link breaks—either when I sever it or when I die."
As he spat blood and sneered, I clicked my tongue under my breath.
"I figured as much."
I was too late after all. Just as I'd feared.
"Cough... On top of that, you failed to pierce my heart cleanly. Not that it changes anything, but what a pity. I meant to save the mana to blow everyone up tomorrow morning when they all gathered... but..."
The blade remained lodged in his chest—just a hair lower than his heart.