Time to Leave
The investigation that had been supposed to end quickly dragged on far longer than expected when the illegal money changers and the violent thugs gave statements that didn’t match James’s account.
...This is boring. My precious time is being wasted.
Only after James could no longer stand it, planted false information in the money changer’s head, and cast the spell that forced the truth out of the rest of them did the investigation finally come to an end.
“A three-thousand-dollar exchange. Yes, that’s right. I was mistaken. The missing money was taken by me...”
After the money changer, the others began to speak as well.
“We got a call from the tank who handled the exchange... I mean, Danny, and went after that guy...”
“We’re just low-level guys. There’s someone above us managing everything...”
“What? Explain that in more detail.”
“...There are clan branches all over England, and the headquarters is near London City Hall...”
“Who’s your clan boss?”
“Toby Taylor... ugh... I’m not supposed to say that...”
He didn’t want to speak, but his mouth kept moving on its own. It was James’s truth magic, forcing him to spit it out.
“Stand by, riot police! This is our chance to sweep them all up at once!”
This is getting bigger and bigger...
However things turned out for them, their statements matched, and since the victim, James, had not suffered any serious harm, it was not difficult to leave the police station. It had taken a long time, but in the end, that was that.
For the time being, you can be a person who tells only the truth. Steadily.
He left the spell that compelled truth in place.
* * *
“...I only closed my eyes for a moment and then opened them again.”
He really had waited for James until dawn, but without realizing it, he had dozed off a little.
“Tch.”
James went to the teleportation countermeasure magic circle he had set up and pulled out several stacks of cash, setting them aside.
Thud.
He added another twenty thousand dollars to the twenty thousand dollars Colt had lost, and on top of that, he added pounds for use in London. Colt’s wallet, which had been lying there all the while, went with it too.
“Take care of this properly.”
“Uh...”
While Colt was busily gathering the stacks of money, James stored away the local cash and gold bars scattered across the floor into the warehouse.
“This isn’t being divided up.”
“...I didn’t ask for it, did I?”
Since he was the one who had sinned, Colt couldn’t be greedy. He had lost money returned to him twice over, and they were even throwing in pounds on top of that, so it was more than enough.
“I handed them over to the police. If I took revenge myself, it would only create more problems.”
“...Tsk. Can’t be helped. But how? Did James call the police?”
“Magic is impossible except for impossible things.”
“...What the hell does that even mean?”
“It means I handled everything with magic. Haa.”
Worn out by the investigation, James flopped down onto the sofa beside Colt.
“I’m going to rest, so don’t touch me. It was a terribly exhausting night.”
“...Got it.”
Colt even held his breath, worried he might disturb James’s rest.
“......”
But James still couldn’t relax.
“Damn it!”
When Colt saw James suddenly spring to his feet, he rushed to defend himself. “Why, what? I was being quiet.”
“...I just remembered something I need to do.”
The superior magic book he had almost forgotten because of Colt’s call and all the trouble he had been handling had suddenly come back to him. The moment he closed his eyes, it seemed to beckon to him. For a magician, the lure of superior magic was stronger than anything else.
“You haven’t gone to Stonehenge yet? Want to go together?”
“Hah! Now? I already went.”
“...Really? I was thinking I might go with you if it got a little late...”
James smiled faintly at the suddenly timid Colt and said, “I found out who my master was there.”
“James’s master? Didn’t you say you learned from a book?”
Colt had thought James had encountered a magic book and learned magic from it. He didn’t even know the name Mercia Lynchberg to begin with.
“The name in the book was real, but... in the past, he used another name.”
“Oh. Is it someone I’d know too?”
“You’d know him well, Colt.”
“Who is it?”
“Merlin Ambrosius.”
“M-Merlin?”
“Yes. Merlin, the strategist and magician of King Arthur... he was my master.”
“Whoa!”
Colt had heard the name countless times too. He appeared often in films and dramas.
“...But wasn’t that fiction? I thought I’d heard he wasn’t part of real history...”
“He said he had erased all the historical records on purpose. I guess he didn’t want traces of himself left behind.”
“Ohhh. Magic can make anything possible.”
“Except the impossible.”
James tapped Colt on the shoulder. “Now cheer up and let’s go outside.”
“...What for?”
Colt was sick of England and London. All he wanted was to leave this place as soon as possible.
“To hook up with women and clear our heads, of course.”
“Hey. After what happened, and you want to do that in London again?”
“You’re so ridiculously handsome that women would come to you just from watching you eat.”
“Pfft. That’s true enough.”
But women had always been Colt’s greatest weakness.
“There seemed to be plenty of decent restaurants nearby. Let’s go have a simple meal and maybe a glass of wine with a steak.”
“...Fine.”
Magic was magic, but first he had to soothe the heart of his old companion, Colt.
* * *
After finishing dinner with Colt and returning to the hotel, James thought of the lover he had not contacted overnight. But James’s phone was turned off.
“Oh no. Suzy must be furious.”
In a hurry, he turned it on and connected the call, and Suzy answered at once.
“James?”
“Suzy.”
“What on earth happened yesterday? Your phone was off. Are you really going to do this? I’m allowed to be suspicious, right?”
He had turned off the phone because he was worried there might be trouble while dealing with those men.
“Don’t even ask. Colt ran into a pickpocket in London... no, that’s not right. A robber. Colt got mugged on the street in London.”
“What? A robber?”
“So I looked around, found the guys, reported them to the London police, got the stolen money back... and in the middle of all that, I didn’t even realize the phone had gone off.”
It was an excuse with more than enough substance, so Suzy had no choice but to accept it.
“Is Uncle Colt okay?”
“He got a little hurt, but...”
“What did you just say, James!”
That wasn’t Suzy’s voice. It was Hojung’s.
“......”
It seemed Hojung had been listening beside Suzy.
“Colt got hurt? He was robbed? How badly was he hurt?”
“...He wasn’t badly hurt. He’s fine now. We were just coming back after dinner together.”
“Phew.”
“Why are you worrying about your ex-boyfriend? Colt is doing just fine, even without your worries.”
“...I know. I know.”
But it was still hard to forget him in a single stroke.
“Put Suzy back on.”
“...Right.”
“James?”
“I didn’t know Hojung was there beside you, Suzy. If I’d known, I’d have been more careful with what I said.”
“We were packing together because we’re leaving for Korea soon.”
“Ah. I was planning to leave soon too, now that everything here is done.”
Only after James had finished reading all of the superior magic book.
“Really?”
“I’ll look into flights soon and let you know when I’m arriving.”
“We’re leaving next week. Monday next week.”
“We haven’t booked yet, so it might be a little later.”
James still needed more time to master the superior magic book. Once he started spending time with Suzy, he didn’t know when such time would come again, so his departure might be delayed.
“Hmph. Come quickly.”
Her clinginess was a tremendous temptation, but for a magician, magic came first.
“Flights aren’t easy to get, though...”
“Don’t make me wait too long.”
“Go ahead and get used to the time difference first in Korea. We’ll be there soon too.”
“Mm-hm. James.”
Only after he finished speaking with his lover did the magician’s time begin. Because of the trip that had started with Colt’s problem, he had wasted nearly two days.
“Hoo. Now I can see why my master erased the records of history.”
If he had erased all traces of himself, he would have been able to devote himself to magic in peace.
“Still, I’m not going there, Master.”
Traveling through dimensions to his master’s homeland was something James could not even imagine.
* * *
It was a week later that James finally finished reading all of the superior magic book. After sorting out the book and his luggage in the hotel, he went to meet Colt. It was time to get the flight arranged.
“...James?”
“Uh... you could at least call before coming.”
Colt opened the door with his upper body bare, and behind him, on the bed, someone could be seen wriggling around. He had picked up another woman in the meantime.
“Now I’m starting to think I shouldn’t have given you that money back.”
“...Tch.”
“I’ll wait at the hotel cafe. Come down quickly.”
“Got it. I’ll be there soon.”
Colt had said he’d be down soon, but it wasn’t until James was ordering his second cup of coffee that Colt finally came into the cafe, shaking out his wet hair.
“...Sorry.”
“Your stamina is impressive for your age.”
“Why do you think I work out and keep myself in shape?”
“So you can do that stuff, not for work.”
“A bit of both... and since I don’t work anymore, there’s only one reason left for me to keep exercising. So yes, that’s the right answer. Man. But young people these days don’t seem to get tired. It’s a bit much.”
“...Honestly.”
James shook his head at Colt’s unapologetic words, then lifted his coffee as Colt pulled out a chair and sat down.
“It’s been quiet for a while. What’s up?”
“It’s time to leave England. Let’s go to Korea.”
“Uh...”
“Do you need time?”
“I’ve only spent two days with my cutie.”
“......”
He meant the woman who had been lying on the bed just now.
“Book a ticket to Korea and you can see her a little more until we leave.”
“Hmm. Then I’ll probably have about a week from now, right?”
“Is that enough?”
“A little short, but not bad.”
James had been worried about Colt, who always met women briefly and then parted from them. So he carefully began to voice what he had kept to himself until now and had never quite managed to say.
“...I think it’s about time Colt settled down and lived somewhere.”
“I’m still young, you know.”
“How long exactly is that youth supposed to last? When I was in Las...”
He couldn’t say in public that he had once robbed the casino vault in Las Vegas.
“...There was a reason your age came into it when I was wrapping up the work there.”
“......”
Colt was still handsome and, in fact, not all that old, but he was too old to keep hosting the show. Of course, there were cases where people kept on hosting into their mature years, but that was a distant matter for Colt. The only time Colt could take the role of host was when he performed as part of a pair with James. The fact that in recent years Colt had not once hosted a show alone without James proved it.
“You don’t have to worry about old-age money either. Meet a good woman, have a child, and think about settling down in one place. I’m saying this for your future. When you get older and your body starts breaking down here and there, who do you think will take care of you then?”
“...I refuse to be treated like a relic.”
“......”
Colt didn’t know it, but over the years James had received countless offers. Sweet offers that wanted to raise James’s pay while leaving Colt out and bringing only James in to perform. If James had accepted that offer, Colt would have been unemployed from that moment on.
Uncle Colt... you really were a relic, you know.
But James couldn’t bring himself to wound Colt’s heart.
“Who are you calling a relic?”