Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Silver Rookie Theo #9
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[Chapter 59] Silver Rookie Theo #9
The man who appeared out of nowhere was wearing a bright red shirt and an octagonal cap.
On his chest was a brooch indicating his cadet ranking.
Silver 321st place. And on his thick arm was a yellow armband with the bold red characters "Discipline" emblazoned on it.
"I'm the Silvers' discipline officer, Conde. You know why I've come all this way, don't you, Theo Gospel? Be honored that I, Conde, have personally come for a low-rank like you. Heh heh."
"Let go of Marmar right now...! Pull that hard and my tail'll come right off, y'know...!"
Marmar flailed about, her slender, long tail gripped tight in his brutish fist.
I didn't have a tail, so I couldn't know for sure, but getting a body part yanked like that must hurt like hell—Marmar was clearly in agony.
"This fine tail's a gift from Lady Angmar...! If it gets yanked off, an imp like me's no different from some worthless nymph, y'know...!"
"Shut up, you little shit. What's this obsession with your damn tail?"
But the man paid no mind to Marmar's protests at all. His eyes were fixed solely on me.
"Hey, Theo Gospel. Didn't you hear me? I asked why the hell you're here instead of at the Silvers' opening ceremony."
Two other guys flanked me from both sides, boxing me in. Clearly to keep me from running.
Marmar caught on and shouted.
"Comrade, run away now...! I'll hold them off here, so you live on and achieve our great dream, y'know...!"
"Don't even think about running, Theo Gospel. If you do, this imp friend of yours becomes our intern."
Intern?
That oddly familiar word made me ask.
"Intern?"
"Yeah. It's the polite term for slave. Run, and this one's our Silvers' office intern from then on!"
"Eek...! No interns for me, y'know...!"
Marmar started thrashing even harder, like a mouse caught by the tail by a cat. She'd nearly been burned at the stake before, then fallen to slavery—so the idea of becoming an intern for the unpredictable Silvers must've terrified her for real.
Conde in his octagonal cap didn't stop there, piling on the sinister threats.
"Our interns are infamous for the harsh conditions. Pay's just 10,000 coins an hour."
"T-Ten... thousand coins...?"
Marmar shuddered at the horrific sum, and the cap-wearer growled like a bully senior who loved tormenting underclassmen.
"That's right! Barely scraping the academy staff minimum wage! But it gets worse. Our interns only get tea time once a day!"
"T-Tea time too...?"
"Yeah! Brutal, right? And the real nightmare? Paid leave once a month. All minimum regs—the harshest grind out there. That's intern life."
"Leave once a month...!"
Marmar went speechless, utterly petrified by the awful conditions.
Even to me, it sounded pretty nightmarish.
"Urgh..."
If I ran, Marmar'd be stuck in that hellish internship. My feet just wouldn't move.
Normally, I'd have bolted without looking back to save my own skin.
But after everything, Marmar and I had grown attached. This was why I tried not to get close to anyone.
Yet even terrified, Marmar shouted bravely to reassure me.
"Run away now...! Marmar really wants to be an intern, y'know...! So don't worry about me and get outta here quick, y'know...!"
She was looking out for me, making sure I wouldn't feel guilty. Even with her own huge crisis looming.
I hadn't realized Marmar had such touching camaraderie until now—which only made it impossible to abandon her.
For once, it felt like I had an "ally" in this world.
"Run away now...!"
The octagonal-cap guy chuckled at Marmar.
"Touching camaraderie. But too late. We'll teach you some manners. For trash like you, this has always been the teacher and professor."
Swipe.
The two guys surrounding me drew clubs from their belts.
Thick and sturdy—getting hit with those would leave me a total mess.
What now?
Run?
"Comrade...! Run away now, y'know...!"
"Try running, Theo Gospel. And shut that thing up before it spouts more nonsense. Don't get played like those Epside idiots."
As problems closed in around me, I suddenly recalled the spell I'd picked up at the nymph festival.
「Paimon: High-rank physical destruction spell. Power and mana cost increase with caster's circle.」
It might be my ace to escape this mess.
No clue on activation or power, but "high-rank physical destruction" stuck in my mind.
Yeah, I figured I needed to test these abilities anyway. First try on people felt iffy, but no time to be picky.
So I thrust my palm out toward Conde.
"Put Marmar down and run now. Last warning. I don't even know what'll happen next."
Half genuine threat, half bluff. But I half-hoped they'd just scram without trouble.
They laughed.
"Theo Gospel, everyone knows you're useless in a fight. Bluff all you want—we know you've got nothing."
No choice now.
I shouted with all my might.
—Paimon!
Zzzzt.
Baaang—!
An intense surge burst from my body through my palm.
Like every ounce of my energy and stamina getting ripped out and fired like a cannon.
Literally.
A head-sized air cannon shot from my palm with unimaginable force, the recoil slamming me backward onto my ass.
"Urgh."
As I grimaced from the fall, in that split second—
The air cannon tore up the grassy ground and smashed straight into Conde.
"Gaaargh—!"
He flew back with a pathetic yelp, tumbling to the dirt. Marmar slipped free from his grasp and hid behind me.
"Comrade...!"
"Stay behind me for now!"
My eyes locked on the remaining two guys.
They gawked, wide-eyed and panicking at their leader Conde down.
"What the—? Didn't he know magic? What was that power just now? What?!"
"No idea! What kinda spell was that!?"
"Urk, Conde's down! Hey, snap out of it!"
"Grraaah, hurgh..."
Conde spat blood, eyes rolled back white. No worries about him waking soon.
Paimon's punch must've been brutal. Straight to the gut—no way he'd be fine even if he came to.
Serious power. High-rank destruction spell indeed.
I felt it myself.
Throb, throb—
My casting palm burned and throbbed, tears welling up. Felt like cracked, broken bones.
But I couldn't show it, so I hid the swelling hand behind me and thrust out the other palm at them.
"That spell? Got more where that came from. Hand over your brooches and cash now, nice and quiet. Do that, and you're free."
My level 9 Actor talent shone here—bluffing through the pain like a pro.
"W-What do we do?"
"No clue! Nobody said he could use magic!"
Mages were dangerous in this world.
Only elite few could cast.
So facing one meant gearing up or planning thoroughly.
These two hadn't, so they hesitated big-time. I growled to press them.
"Now!"
"And hire Marmar as that intern thing, y'know...!"
* * *
"Comrade! Got all the spoils, y'know...!"
Marmar handed over the loot from the guys.
"Nice. Silver 321st brooch. 250,000 coins. Seven meal vouchers."
I grinned at the haul; the guys looked miserable.
"C-Could we get the vouchers back...? We'll starve without 'em..."
"When you steal from others, be ready to lose your own. I'll spare your lives, so take your buddy and scram."
"Scrammin', y'know...!"
Our growls spooked them into fleeing.
"Hey, c'mon, together!"
"Urgh, damn it! He's heavy as hell!"
Watching them haul off the passed-out Conde felt damn satisfying. Marmar growled after them.
"You stamped the contract, y'know...!"
Only once they vanished for good did my legs give out, and I slumped to the ground.
"Urgh."
Head foggy, pounding migraine. Nosebleed brought some relief.
Classic mana exhaustion.
But that wasn't all.
Srrk.
I looked at my right hand.
Swollen to twice my left's size—looked gruesome. Bones definitely shattered.
"Urgh—."
Tension gone, pain hit hard—tears nearly spilled.
Who knew Paimon had such kickback.
Still, without the new spell, it'd been worse than a broken hand. Not bad against three thugs.
Yeah.
I'd held my own.
"I won!"
I raised my good left hand high, purely thrilled by the victory. How many times had I been helpless against assassinations and beatings?
But now I had a stinger to fire back.
Huge difference.
Joy and satisfaction overpowered the pain, getting me back on my feet. Marmar approached.
"Comrade! I told you to ditch Marmar and run. Why didn't you?"
"'Cause we're comrades. More importantly, why volunteer for intern duty? Kills the point of fighting."
"That's... not important, y'know...! Your hand's wrecked bad, y'know...!"
"Couldn't be helped."
"Such massive recoil from a destruction spell... That's why you need a wand or staff, y'know...!"
"Tools?"
"Good ones absorb the spell's backlash, y'know...!"
Marmar grabbed her wildly wagging tail.
"Stay still, y'know...!"
Wag, wag.
"Be good, be good, y'know...!"
Suddenly, she wrestled with her own tail. Bizarre sight left me stunned for a sec.
"Out nice and easy, y'know...!"
With a grunt, she yanked it right off—pop!
The gruesome scene nearly made me scream.
"Why pull your tail!"
"To an imp, the tail's like a lifeline... But you saved me big, so take it, y'know...!"
Srrk.
She offered her orange tail.
Weird and creepy, but her eyes were so earnest I took it.
Srrk.
Unlike expected floppy mess, the imp tail was rigid, stiff.
Like a stick.
Imp tails make great wand material, right? With this, maybe I could cut the backlash on my spells.
"But... pulling your tail. You okay?"
"Tails regrow if you chug milk hard enough, y'know... Worst case, gotta lop it off to escape sometimes, y'know..."
"Gotcha."
Learned something new about imps. Like lizards, they ditch tails to flee.
"Whew."
Anyway, victory was mine.
Actor and Mage XP notifications popped up.
No level-ups, sadly, but I felt like I'd shed a skin and evolved.
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