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Chapter 69
“…Is Lady Semperion still running late?”
At the center of the banquet, Frillien, who had been greeting nobles and scanning the crowd, murmured quietly. Standing beside her, Leonard also looked around at those words.
“Lady Semperion was late last time as well.”
There was something in his voice, a shade heavier than usual, as if something bothered him. Frillien lowered her eyes sadly.
“Could it be… that she’s upset?”
Even though she had sent a letter. Still, perhaps Eligia was angry about having her partner taken away? Lowering her gaze in worry, Frillien looked so graceful that someone nearby let out a soft sigh of admiration.
“My goodness, you’re even more beautiful than the rumors said.”
“Indeed. The Saintess truly… her beauty surpasses the realm of mortals.”
Her gown, embroidered with countless white gemstones, reflected every bit of light dazzlingly. The radiance surrounded her like a subtle halo, heightening the impression of both splendor and divinity. Someone added in awe,
“Ah, no wonder Lady Semperion fainted from envy at such beauty.”
“…Lady Semperion fainted?”
The topic quickly shifted.
Those thinking of Eligia, who was absent from the banquet, began adding their own remarks.
“But wasn’t Lady Semperion perfectly healthy until recently?”
“That’s right. That’s why people are saying she’s only pretending to be sick. They say she was too upset about the Saintess’s arrival and faked her illness.”
“That makes sense. So she skipped the banquet just because of her little act?”
Now that they were sure Eligia wasn’t present, people began spreading sly rumors. If Eligia herself had been here, she would have shouted back, “What? Pretending? To call it an act when I literally coughed up blood?!” But since no one was there to defend her, the unconfirmed words spread further and further.
And then—
“That’s not true!”
A clear voice cut through their chatter.
Everyone turned in surprise. It was the guest of honor, Saintess Frillien, eyes glistening as she cried out toward the gossipers.
“Pretending? How could you say something so rude! Lady Semperion really collapsed because she was sick. I know because I personally healed her myself.”
“What?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You healed her personally?”
The crowd broke into a buzz of shock. But Frillien ignored it and pressed on.
“She really was ill. So much so that… I ended up coughing blood as well.”
“…!”
At her words, a chilling silence fell over the banquet hall.
Meanwhile, at that same moment—
Eligia was hurling magic stone bombs in rapid succession.
Boom!
Rumble!
Bang!
Each throw shook the carriage with light and thunder. Eligia hunched down, waiting for the explosions to pass. Luckily, she had closed the door quickly after tossing them, so the blasts were contained outside. The inside of the carriage felt almost cozy by comparison.
Beep! Beep!
Warning. The carriage’s protective magic has sustained 91% damage!
Danger! Extreme danger!
…Good. Not bad at all.
She had aimed carefully to minimize the impact on the carriage, but still, it was impressive that it endured this much. Smirking, Eligia gave the carriage high marks.
And the magic stone bombs worked pretty well, too.
They weren’t a skill, nor any special item. They were just ordinary magic stones stuffed recklessly with her overwhelming mana. After all, magic stones naturally had the property of storing magic.
Normally, if a mage player held one, this system window would appear:
Notice
Magic stone discovered! Would you like to set a spell?
Assign a skill: (Input)
Assign mana amount: (Input)
Confirm
If you didn’t select a skill and only pumped in mana up to the limit, then pressed confirm, the stone would eventually overload and explode. That was a magic stone bomb—mana packed to bursting until it detonated.
Of course, no sane player ever used them this way before. Dumping mana into them so crudely was terribly inefficient.
Truthfully, the mana she had just thrown away could have fueled several Meteors. Without a spell to give it direction and attribute, the raw mana blast was much weaker.
Still, if I can’t use skills, I have to make do somehow.
Eligia peeked out the window. For now, the nearby monsters had been mostly cleared.
“Phew, that’s a relief…”
She exhaled, turning her head—only to lock eyes with Finn across from her. She had ignored him completely while tossing bomb after bomb, and suddenly felt embarrassed.
“The carriage… isn’t broken yet, so you’ll forgive me, right? I can just reapply the barrier spell later…”
She tried to smile awkwardly, but at that moment—
Thud!
Crash!
Warning. The carriage’s protective magic has sustained 93… 94… 97% damage!
Danger! Extreme danger!
“Huh? What?”
Something had survived the bombardment?
As Eligia frantically searched for the source—
Riiiip!
The sound of the carriage being torn apart rang out.
Crash!
“!!”
The sudden shift in weight knocked her off balance, sending her sprawling.
“No!”
The carriage toppled sideways under the assault.
Darkness swallowed the view outside the windows. Eligia tumbled from sofa to floor, then into the wall, catching glimpses of splintering wood and dust streaming through cracks.
Screeeech!
From beyond, a beast shrieked, the sound drilling into her ears. Viscous fluid splattered across her face and hair.
At that moment—
“Excuse me.”
Eligia felt someone gently place a hand on her shoulder.
Finn? No… that was just an illusion, wasn’t it? How could an illusion touch me? It should’ve passed straight through…
Startled, she froze. Then light erupted all around—magic being cast.
Teleport?
Fwoooosh!
The instant she recognized it, her surroundings shifted.
In a blink, Eligia found herself outside the carriage. But it wasn’t far—they could still see the wreckage.
Thud! Thud!
Riiiip!
Screeeech!
The carriage was being smashed to pieces. From a distance, Eligia could finally make out the monster clearly:
A hulking body like a reptile’s, with an ostrich-like head, black eyes and a beak lined with grotesque, saw-like teeth, and twisted wings. A massive, unidentifiable beast.
It noticed the carriage was empty, then whipped its head toward Eligia.
Screeeech!
It roared upon spotting her. Eligia reached for more magic stones to fight back, but then—
Slash!
In an instant, something cut through the monster’s neck.
A sharp, clean flash. Only a moment, but Eligia realized it was compressed mana—like a high-density magical laser. Not a known skill, but definitely a magical technique.
Screeech! Screeeech!
The monster’s head slid off.
“It’s grotesque—don’t look.”
At the calm voice, Eligia turned.
Through the smoke and gore, stood a mage unmoved and steady. No longer an illusion, but truly before her eyes—Finn Ende.
“Still… shouldn’t we check if it’s really dead? What if it gets back up later and chases us?”
“…”
“In movies, that’s always when things get dangerous—the moment you think it’s over!”
“…Movies?”
“Ah.”
Right, there were no movies here. She nearly revealed she came from modern Earth. Embarrassed, Eligia scratched her nape.
And besides… that’s not even the real issue.
She looked between the fallen monster, the ruined carriage, and Finn. The truth was obvious—the finishing blow hadn’t been hers. And the only other mage here was Finn.
So…
“How did you do it?”
She fixed her gaze on him. When he’d teleported her, his hand had fallen away immediately, leaving him a few steps distant now.
But she still couldn’t tell—was this another finely crafted illusion, or his real body? Narrowing her eyes, she asked,
“Weren’t you supposed to be here as an illusion?”
“Hmm…”
Finn looked away, rolling his eyes as if unsure how to answer. His usual easy smile seemed strained this time, almost embarrassed. He quickly made an excuse.
“Well, it was an illusion at first.”
“And then?”
“Then I ran here.”
“You didn’t run here.”
“Then let’s say I came with magic?”
“Wait… what?”
As if teleporting is that easy!
Eligia bit back the words, not wanting to sound like she knew too much about magic.
“Killing a beast in one strike isn’t easy either… Weren’t you supposed to specialize in healing magic?”
“…”
At that, Finn glanced at the fallen monster, then back at her, and answered with feigned innocence,
“This is healing too, in a way.”
“…Healing? Like… physical therapy?”
Whether he missed the joke or ignored it, Finn only shrugged shamelessly.
“Well, truth is… healing magic isn’t really my specialty. Strictly speaking, there are no mages who make it their main focus. If I had to be precise…”
“Precise?”
“I’m a librarian. Sorting books is what I do best.”
“….”
His smug smile made him look infuriatingly cheeky.
