I'm a court magician. Recently, I’ve been worrying about the princess staring at me. - Chapter 13

“I got no sleep…”

It was early morning.

As per usual, I was on the roof of the Imperial Palace’s annex, searching for demons near the capital. Holding back a yawn, I adjusted my visual enhancement. A dozen blades of lightning floated next to me.

I could hardly sleep a wink after the events of last night. The princess’s parting words and smile were vividly stuck in my head. Not to mention there was still the matter of the demons and the chimera. Since I couldn’t fall asleep, I ended up doing some much-needed weapon maintenance and also actually cooked a proper breakfast for once.

“Well, it is what it is.”

Oh, there’s another one.

I saw one last demon, and after taking care of it, I dispersed the remaining lightning. As expected, there were fewer targets today: about a third of the usual.

I had a meeting planned after this. Milena-san took some of the magical stones to the lab for analysis, and I was anxiously waiting for the results. The researchers here were top-tier, though, so I didn’t expect it to take very long. 

Still, I wasn’t all that excited. During meetings I more or less just make tea while the seniors talk. The longer the discussion takes, the more they drink… This was another one of the downsides of being a newcomer. Well, someone else will be in my position someday.

“…Maybe I can squeeze in a nap before everyone else comes—Ah!”

The moment I began heading back, a shiver went down my spine. Violent killing intent—from somewhere in the city. Almost instinctively, I flicked my rapier in front of me. Metal scraped against metal, and then I felt a sharp pain running along my cheek. Warm blood trickled down my chin.

“…What?”

I turned and saw a knife on the floor in two pieces. It looked like one of those common fruit knives.

Obviously, someone must have thrown it at me, but who could throw a knife this far? This was the highest point of the tallest building in the royal capital. From here, even the forest was visible. And as if just making it this far wasn’t a big enough feat, the knife would have cleanly struck me had I not cut it in half. Whoever threw it was definitely using magic.

I doubt it was a mistake or a missed target. This person was seriously trying to kill me. 

I picked up the knife (or rather, its pieces) and looked in the direction from where it came. With my enhanced vision, I could just barely make out a suspicious figure in a black robe entering an alleyway.

“I won’t let you go—Finger’s Light Bullet.”

I pointed in front of me and used the long-range intermediate spell. Light emerged from my fingertip before condensing into a small bullet. In an instant, it bounced on a window of a house down below and reflected onto a different path, towards the alley where the figure had disappeared.

Long-range magic doesn’t necessarily have to go in a straight line. The best magicians know how to take advantage of the terrain and other objects. As for me, I had experience from hunting demons every morning. Don’t look down on a man who gets used by other people. 

…That’s pretty sad, now that I think about it.

“I should hurry up.”

The bullet definitely went into the alley, but I couldn’t confirm a hit visually. I can’t let him escape. Risk factors should be taken care of.

Making haste, I activated a physical enhancement spell and ran towards the entrance of the royal palace.

***

“It should be around here…”

I took the shortest path to the alley I knew, straight out of the palace and down the capital’s main street. During the day this area is always crowded, but right now it was almost deserted, apart from a few coffee shops setting up early.

Unlike the main street, the alleyway was dark and gloomy. A stray cat slept on a dusty barrel with its head tucked into its paws.

The walls very clearly had not been cleaned for a while. Looking around, I saw a bloodstain, still fresh atop the dirt and grime.

“I hit his leg…”

I could discern this from the location of the bloodstain. Had I hit his torso, the stain would have been higher up on the wall.

It wasn’t perfect, but at the very least I slowed him down.

I cautiously made my way deeper into the alley.

It was possible that he had magic to see through invisibility, so I did the bare minimum of quieting my footsteps. Using invisibility would get in the way of using other magic, anyways. The burden of having terrible close combat skills was painfully clear to me.

“Is this…?”

I nearly stepped on a knife as I was walking, similar to the one from earlier. The handle had a grip, and it looked rather light.

Did he drop it? It was entirely possible that he had collapsed from the pain and dropped an item or two. 

“He’s unexpectedly careless…!”

I laughed to myself a little as I picked up the knife—and immediately froze. In the blade’s reflection, a man in a black robe brought his axe up behind me.

“Tch!”

I clicked my tongue and drew my rapier in a defensive stance, reapplying the physical enhancement spell.

Sparks flew as the axe collided with my blade. I don’t know if it was a cheap weapon or something, but I could tell by the sound of the impact alone that it was vastly inferior to mine. I used my sword to redirect the force of the blow, letting the axe slide away from my body, and maneuvered myself in between the man and the main street. 

This should prevent him from running into anyone else. There still weren’t many people out yet, but the streets would soon be crowded.

Sweat ran down my face and my heart thumped rapidly in my chest.

He and I were horribly incompatible.

Long-range combat is extremely specialized. Even if I were to fight at a closer range, I would still need someone to keep my target occupied. My job was always to stay alive, observe, and make accurate shots from a safe vantage point.

On the other hand, the man in front of me seemed to excel in close combat. He wielded an axe, maybe with some kind of reinforcement magic, and didn’t hesitate in closing the distance between us. Despite his large build, he was quick on his feet and used whatever he had at his disposal.

At least his leg wound was still fresh. The blood loss would cripple him if I wasn’t able to.

Suddenly, the man pulled out three knives from his waist and threw them at me. There was enough distance for me to parry two of them and dodge the third, but I could tell that he was experienced. And I don’t often compliment someone who’s trying to kill me.

As soon as I cut down the knives, the man rushed towards me with his axe ready again. Likewise, I lunged forward, aiming for his throat with the tip of my rapier. He twisted to the side just as it barely sank into his flesh. I brought my arm back and kicked at him, but he took a couple of steps back and avoided me. This guy sure is agile…

I flicked my rapier to remove the blood from its tip. At that moment, I noticed a cut on my forearm. I guess I didn’t completely dodge that last knife earlier.

“Of all the times to screw up…”

The man kicked up one of the knives on the floor, grabbed it, and rushed in again to attack my right side. I barely blocked in time with my injured arm and jumped back.

He’s strong as hell!

At first glance he seemed more brawn than brain, but it was clear that he had thought through the situation and had a plan. 

On guard, I pointed my rapier at him.

“What are you trying to do?”

“……”

His face was as empty as his words. I doubted he would confess to anything even if he were caught. My only option was to finish him here—

“Wh-what?”

All at once, my body lost its strength. My vision blurred, and I dropped my rapier and fell to my knees. Crap—!

“Poison…?”

It must have been when he cut my arm. 

This is bad. My body wouldn’t listen to me, no matter how hard I tried. I clenched my teeth and stared defiantly at the man. He approached me with confidence, dragging his axe on the ground behind him.

What can I do? My muscles weren’t moving, and I was running out of time.

But I was more than just my muscles. I was a court magician.

I had to buy time with all the magic I had at my disposal.