"They took the bait."
"Put your sword away at once, Young Master Klein! Otherwise…!"
"Otherwise?"
I could hear the mages trying to stop me, but instead, I pressed the blade harder against Cheleg's neck and tightened my grip on the hilt.
"Ghk…! Kghrk…!"
"Go on. Tell me. If I don't put the sword away, what exactly are you planning to do?"
The chilling gaze of Young Master Leinrant.
There was no way a bunch of bookworms holed up inside a magic tower could withstand the eyes of someone who had experienced real battle.
Well, unless they were battle mages from the homeland.
"Guh…!"
Right before he passed out, all of Cheleg's composure vanished, and he barely managed to squeeze out a voice.
"S… sorry…! P-Please… spare… me…!"
'That should be enough.'
A face smeared with saliva and snot.
Seeing that, I removed the sword pressing against his neck.
"Hahk—! Cough! Kghk! Haaah—!"
I looked down at Cheleg as he wheezed desperately for air.
Seriously, this was awful.
To think I had to put on this kind of act just to save one person.
But what else could I do?
Flirting with someone else's fiancée isn't exactly a crime worthy of death, is it?
"W-What was that just now…?!"
"He subdued a Fifth Circle mage without using even a shred of mana?"
Ignoring the whispering mages, I looked at Cheleg.
"Be more careful next time. Let's avoid making each other uncomfortable."
"Khk…!"
I was about to wrap things up there.
— Klein.
At Raven's voice echoing inside my head, I scanned the corner of the banquet hall.
'Well, well.'
A group of men entered my sight.
Just when things were starting to get suffocating, this party finally became worthwhile.
'What kind of rat crawled its way into this noble banquet?'
They wore the tailcoats nobles commonly used.
But the sloppy attire and mismatched accessories made me certain.
The assassin organization that had been tracking me—Falling Leaves.
It was them.
"Banshee."
The moment I released the Banshee above the banquet hall ceiling, their whispered conversation flowed into my mind.
— I thought he was just some babysitter for a brat, but it's Young Master Klein? Jackpot.
— I'm heading back to headquarters to report to the boss. You keep watching the Magic Tower Lord's son.
Even as he said that, the man kept glancing toward me.
'So there really is a headquarters?'
Crackle—!
The moment I heard the conversation, I moved my demonic energy.
The man hurriedly turned his head away and pretended to sip from his wine glass when our eyes met.
But the Ring of Tracking had already been planted inside his shadow.
'Good. Now I'll be able to track their movements.'
Thinking that, I looked at Cheleg, still staggering on the floor.
'So this halfwit is under Falling Leaves' protection…'
I thought he was just a fool blindly trusting in a tiny bit of talent.
Looks like he'd been hiding a backdoor like this.
'If I provoke him properly, he'd make perfect bait.'
As my eyes gleamed while looking at Cheleg—
"Young Master Klein!"
The father of this immature brat, Magic Tower Lord Galond Ran, shouted at me.
"What in the world is the meaning of this outrageous behavior?!"
Galond's face was bright red as he continued rambling.
Was it because his son had been humiliated at the banquet?
No.
'He planned to use me as a stepping stone to make his son shine, but the results weren't very satisfying.'
As Galond shouted loud enough for the entire banquet hall to hear, I thought to myself:
'I only stepped in to save someone, but I got unexpected information out of it.'
The Sky Magic Tower and Falling Leaves were working together.
Close enough that the organization directly protected the Magic Tower Lord's son.
'Protection? No. This isn't protection. It's surveillance.'
There was something inside this man's head.
Information deadly enough for the people trying to kill me.
Once I reached that conclusion, I shrugged and spoke.
"Yes, I'm sorry, Cheleg."
An apology completely devoid of sincerity.
At the same time, I mocked Cheleg lying on the floor.
"This is the kind of thing even the trainees in my household can block. Seems I failed to control my strength."
"W-What…?"
Galond flared up at those words, but Cheleg himself seemed too busy gasping for air to even process them.
"Excuse me."
With that short farewell, I turned around.
I'd already gotten all the information I wanted, and I'd thoroughly overturned the mages' banquet.
There was nothing more to gain here.
Just as I was about to leave—
Swish.
Siel walked up beside me and linked arms with me.
"…What are you doing?"
I asked while looking at Siel , but she simply pressed herself closer as if to show off.
"You're leaving, right? I'm going with you."
"Then just leave. Is there any reason you have to go with me specifically?"
I said that in disbelief, but Siel casually nodded.
"I'm Klein's fiancée, after all."
This is driving me insane.
At first, she just felt burdensome.
But now, every time she says fiancée, it feels like some kind of shackle.
"I get the surface-level reason. What's the real reason?"
When I lowered my voice and asked, Siel smiled brightly and answered:
"That man's mana felt strange."
Narrowing my eyes at her refreshing smile, I asked:
"What do you mean by strange?"
"His mana core is abnormally large. Like it doesn't belong to him."
As she said that, darkness spread around Siel 's eyes.
"And the technology for transplanting someone else's mana organs is Elfran's specialty."
Meaning, Cheleg wasn't just connected to Falling Leaves, but to Elfran as well.
'So their goals are aligned.'
Thinking that, I nodded and left the banquet hall.
"N-No, what is this…?!"
"L-Lady Siel ! Leaving so suddenly is…!"
Leaving behind the voices of the Felician nobles trying to stop Siel —
"Klein Leinrant…"
"Khrr…!"
—and the murderous stares of the Sky Magic Tower mages—
"…I'm pretty sure it hasn't even been two hours since I left like that."
The night had already grown pitch dark.
I slowly spoke while looking at the three figures blocking my path.
"So you rushed over here to gang up on me in that short amount of time?"
At my words, the three black-robed figures blocking my way laughed ominously.
Ominously?
I don't know.
They probably thought they were setting the mood, but to me they looked no different from street thugs.
"Pretending to stay calm won't help you, Young Master Klein."
"To oppress the Magic Tower Lord's son in the middle of a banquet…"
Hoo…
A sigh escaped me naturally.
'So there really was a tail following me… but what a disappointment…'
Their formation was awkward, like they'd never done this before.
And Cheleg was mixed in among them.
Judging by appearances, these guys weren't assassins from Falling Leaves.
They were complete amateurs.
"We'll make you regret making an enemy of the Sky Magic Tower!"
"This is a place beyond the reach of your family's power—!"
"Bullshit. Bunch of brats who still smell like milk."
Cutting them off, I activated two contract gates.
Rumble—!
Two undead emerged from the glowing blue gates.
Raven, the Death Knight.
And Anghel, the undead lich.
"Undead!"
"One's a Death Knight. What's the other one?"
"Doesn't matter. It's probably just some worthless undead trash anyway."
Listening to them, I started feeling stupid for summoning high-ranking undead just to deal with these idiots.
'These so-called mages can't even perform basic mana detection? Can't they tell it's a lich?'
That was the problem with people who only learned magic buried behind desks.
What was the point of having a high rank and many circles?
They didn't even take the most basic measures required in real combat.
"Move according to the plan! While I resTerein the undead, the rest of you seize Young Master Klein…!"
As they rambled on and stretched out their hands, multicolored mana burst forth.
Fwoosh—!
A massive fireball and dozens of mana bullets.
Clink—!
Chains made of mana wrapped tightly around me and the undead, completely restraining us.
"Got them!"
"Don't kill him! Bring him back to the Magic Tower so Father can—!"
The moment they shouted in certainty of victory—
KWA-BOOOOM—!
A massive explosion filled the deserted street.
"Nice!"
"No matter how powerful a necromancer is, there's no way he survived magic on this scale—!"
Just as they said that in drunken triumph—
— Fireballs, mana bullets, restraining spells. And even soundproofing.
Anghel's voice came from my left.
The magic that had bound us moments ago had vanished without a trace.
"Not even worth analyzing."
With the voice of the dead, I gave an order to the undead standing beside me.
— Don't kill them. Murdering people in a foreign country is a hassle.
FWOOOSH—!
Bursting through the smoke created by the fireball, Raven's figure shot toward them.
"W-What?!"
"What the hell?! How did he survive that—?!"
They reacted sluggishly, as though they couldn't even comprehend what had happened.
"Kgh…!"
Realizing the situation too late, Cheleg hurriedly cast up a barrier, but it was useless.
Crack—
"What? Why is the barrier breaking mid-cast—?!"
The barrier shattered pathetically the moment it formed.
Only then did realization hit Cheleg, his widened eyes turning toward Anghel.
"Dispel…?"
The moment Cheleg muttered that in shock while staring at Anghel's outstretched hand—
Slash—!
Raven's sword severed the arms of the two mages beside Cheleg.
"U-Aaaaagh?!"
"My hand! MYYYY HAAAND—!"
Watching the mages collapse in agony, I nodded to myself.
'Well, I said not to kill them. I never said they had to stay in one piece.'
This was exactly why long-term contracted undead were so useful.
Even without detailed instructions, they handled things perfectly on their own.
"H-Hiiiiiik?!"
Thud!
Was this his first time seeing blood?
Losing his balance, Cheleg fell flat onto his backside.
"This works out nicely. There were a few things I wanted to ask anyway."
Slowly walking toward him, I pointed my sword at his neck and spoke.
"Answer my questions. Otherwise, I'll kill you and turn you into undead."
A necromancer's threats always straddled the line between life and death.
There was no more resistance.
I looked down at the nodding Cheleg and asked in a chilling voice:
"The sewer rats watching you. What's their objective?"
"W-What…?!"
Cheleg flinched and tried to keep his mouth shut, but it was pointless.
— Speak.
The voice of the dead echoed right after a head rolled before his eyes.
With terror reaching its peak, he had no choice but to speak.
"T-They're people Father assigned to me! I don't know anything…!"
"The future Magic Tower Lord doesn't know what's happening in his own tower? At least make your lies believable."
"Th…!"
At those words, his face turned deathly pale.
But after a moment of hesitation, his lips finally trembled open.
"E… Elfran…"
At that moment, my suspicion became certainty.
"What does the former Duke of Aylasis have to do with an assassin organization? And what about you?"
The instant I asked that—
CLANG—!
Sparks burst behind me.
Raven had deflected something flying toward me.
Clatter!
What fell to the ground was a dagger coated in deadly poison.
It hadn't been aimed at me.
It had been aimed at Cheleg.
"Well now, I was wondering when you'd finally show yourselves."
I slowly looked around.
The quiet night street was now surrounded by dozens of shadows.
"So you knew we were coming?"
One of the shadows asked me.
"Of course. I figured it out a while ago."
With a grin, I drew Nordvind from my waist and said:
"The stench of rot was overwhelming from the moment I left the banquet hall."
"…!"
"Don't you agree? You filthy sewer rats."
At my words, the eyes of the surrounding shadows turned murderous.
Shiiing—
The sound of weapons being drawn echoed from every direction.
Confirming that, I looked up into the air and spoke.
"I was only testing the waters, but it looks like I hooked a whale."
After saying that, I called her name.
"Siel ."