I'm a court magician. Recently, I’ve been worrying about the princess staring at me. - Chapter 14

“So you’re saying this guy attacked you?”

“Yes, I hit his leg from the royal palace… but I had to deal with close combat afterwards. Ahh, I can’t believe I was almost done in by an injured opponent.”

If I were any more ashamed, I’d be ending my life with my own hands.

I had just defeated the man in black, moments ago.

Elt-san had arrived soon after, and I was currently explaining the situation to him. The poison had induced some kind of temporary paralysis, but it was quickly wearing off. I didn’t feel great, but at least I was conscious.

In fact, I was glad. If I were paralyzed for a few hours more, I would have to be carried back to my office. Knowing my fellow magicians, I’d never hear the end of it. I have to preserve what little dignity I have left!

I took out a piece of knife from my robe pocket and handed it to Elt-san.

“Is this the knife that he threw?”

“That’s the one. To be honest, I still can’t believe it. That someone can throw this from here to the royal palace. I never really realized how far it was. And to think that I’ve been hitting even farther every morning…”

“It sounds sarcastic when you add that last part, you know?”

The man’s body lay at Elt-san’s feet. He had a hole in his chest that was scorched around the edges. I took a moment to appreciate the precision of the magic that caused it, but something further up caught my eye. What’s this…? Elt-san nudged me before I could speak.

“Look at his neck.”

“I see it.”

The neck was covered with magical runes that I had never seen before.

“This is…”

“Mental Domination.”

Elt-san answered the question in my head with an iciness that I didn’t expect from him.

Mental Domination… I had only ever heard of it before. As its name suggests, it forcefully takes control of someone’s consciousness and lets the caster manipulate the victim as they please. It’s forbidden magic of the highest level. According to law, anyone who learns or uses it is assigned the death penalty.

“He probably wasn’t even conscious. He just acted on a command to kill you. I can’t explain how he threw so far, but I’m absolutely certain there are other enemies.”

“That explains why he didn’t respond to me.”

“It has to be. I can’t give an exact measure, but from what I can see, the magic is strong. If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think he felt any pain when he died.”

Even so, I felt a little sympathetic. Guilty, even.

Even if he had physically tried to kill me, he wasn’t in control of himself.

I rested my hands gently on the body. At the very least, I pray that your soul will be saved.

“…In any case, you seem to be pretty familiar with this type of magic. Did you perhaps read something about it?”

“I can’t use it, but I’ve seen a similar magic formula. It’s easily recognizable.”

“Oh, that’s surprising.”

Elt-san wasn’t exactly the first person I’d have expected to be knowledgeable about this subject. Well, they do say to never judge a book by its cover. That doesn’t change the fact that he should really stop skipping work, though. I was saved this time, but…

“Is something wrong? You look serious.”

“.……….”

I don’t know if he heard me, but he didn’t respond. What the hell is going on? I’d never seen Elt-san like this before. He was at best easygoing and at worst annoying, but this was neither.

A few seconds later, he suddenly shook his head.

“I’m sorry. It’s nothing.”

“Are you okay? If you’re not feeling well, you should go home today.”

“Don’t worry about me. You’re still poisoned, aren’t you? You seem awfully eager to go back.”

“It’s not that. I’m just standing because it’s worn off already… although to be honest, I still feel a bit nauseous.”

“Don’t take me for an idiot, I know how strong that poison was. I’ll carry him for you, so let’s hurry back.”

After rapping me on the head, Elt-san took off toward the royal palace with the body slung over his shoulder. He didn’t seem burdened by it at all, so I assumed he was using physical enhancement.

Wait, I never said I could run. Wasn’t he just worrying about mea moment ago? All that talk amounted to nothing. I wanted to protest, but he was too far ahead.

In the end, I put up with the nausea and hobbled back to the palace on my own.

***

“I’m dying…”

“You look pale. How was the trip?”

Such heartless words, the moment I entered the lounge. Milena-san, Arina-san, and Elt-san were all looking at me, undoubtedly coming up with more creative jokes to make about the situation. I’m tired of asking this, but does no one here care about me? I did once speak highly of the workplace benefits, but considering everything else… Did I make a mistake in getting this job?

Or so I would have liked to ponder, but I had a bigger problem at the moment.

“Well, I’m sorry for… I don’t know, being poisoned?”

“I heard. Come over here.”

“What?”

I protested but did as Milena-san said. She put her finger on my chest.

It was the same feeling as when I met Her Highness the other day. I shivered a little.

“—Detoxification.”

When Milena-san said the spell, a pleasant warmth spread from her fingertip throughout my body. The headache that had been assaulting me a moment ago vanished, and I felt healthier than I had ever been in my life.

“Do you feel better?”

“Oh, thank you so much. That was amazing.”

“You can’t sway me with compliments.”

She smirked in that way that only a beautiful older woman could.

The magic she used on me is Light Attribute Short-Range Intermediate Magic—Detoxification. It’s healing magic that specifically targets poisons and other harmful substances within the body. I’m an attacker, so I can only use the bare minimum of healing magic. At best, I can sterilize a wound and maybe accelerate the regeneration. In other words, anything beyond a shallow wound is out of my hands.

I’ve tried many times to learn more advanced healing magic, but to no avail. Perhaps I just don’t have the talent for it.

Anyways, back to the matter at hand.

“I’m sure you already heard what happened, so I’ll be brief. There will probably be more attacks like this in the future. In my opinion, we need to come up with some countermeasures. Not just us, but the whole palace.”

“I know, I’ve already notified each department by communication stone.”

As much as I hated the jokes she made, I had to respect her competence as the department head.

But the problem was far from resolved. We had to find out who was controlling the man and why he was sent after me.

“But for it to be now, of all times…”

“I agree, the timing isn’t great.”

“What are you guys talking about?”

Elt-san and Arina-san chimed in with what sounded like meaningful comments, but I didn’t understand at all. Elt-san turned to face me.

“Raize, you only came to the royal capital a few months ago, so you might not know.”

“Oh, I forgot about that. Did you live in a remote forest?”

“A remote forest, in which hides a remote village. How poetic.”

“Stop making fun of me. I’ll have both of you know that it’s a very respectable village.”

My village wasn’t the largest or the busiest, and if I had to choose between secretive or not I’d pick secretive, but it felt weird to be saying it about my own hometown.

Milena-san laughed at our exchange and explained for me.

“In five days, there will be an anniversary celebration of the kingdom’s founding. This year is the millennial. The royal family will be parading around the city. But as you can probably tell, the longer they’re exposed to the public, the more liabilities there are. The Founding Festival is an exciting affair every year, but this time it’ll be on an entirely different scale. —I’m sorry, there’s a correspondence.”

Milena-san walked away with a device embedded with a luminescent communication stone.

The timing couldn’t have been worse. The royal family will be properly escorted, of course, but anything could happen. They had better think carefully about who to pick as guards. Only the strongest… Milena-san, why are you grinning at me?

“I just got a call. About the royal family’s guards on the day of the Founding Festival.”

“I don’t see why it matters to us. They hate us, so we’re probably maintaining public order or something on the day of, aren’t we?”

“Except for Raize.”

“…?”

Does that mean that I have another job? Could it perhaps be a mission to keep watch from the annex and deal with suspicious figures from afar? The idea was not unpleasant to me, actually. I much preferred that over working in crowds or with others.

I waited expectantly. Milena-san smiled mischievously and told me my orders.

“On the day of the Founding Festival, you are to—”

When I heard my task, my heart plummeted. 

I was sorely mistaken.