The Invincible Aloof Yandere Princess Falls in Love with Her Younger Court Mage's Fatherly Warmth! ~She Clung to Him So Much That the King Fired Him. When He Made Marriage His Official Reason for Resigning Under Royal Order, the Light Vanished from the Princess's Eyes~ - Volume 1 - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Heaven’s Wrath

It’s been a while since I’ve felt even a little angry.

The princess clings to me, and of all places, there’s a burn scar on her cheek. She doesn’t seem to care at all… in fact, she’s desperately rubbing and squeezing my body.

Still, putting a scar on a beautiful girl’s face. Even if the commander carried it out, there’s no way he could have laid a hand on royalty on his own—so the one who gave the order has to be His Majesty without a doubt.

Just like when he wiped out Cole Village, he keeps his own hands clean…

“—Princess, just… let go for a second, please.”

“Mmm! Wait? Just a little longer…”

“Come on, the situation is what it is.”

She’s strong… The princess has been keeping her body enhancement active the whole time.

Here we go.

“Ahh. Nn, Papa’s being mean…”

She’s started calling me Papa like it’s normal…? I’d really prefer she stop that, since it’d socially kill me.

…I’ll ask her about that later. Right now, what’s important is over there—

“—Why are you still alive, Albert Cole! After taking that much magic straight to the body…!”

His Majesty seems awfully worked up. …Is it really that scary for him? To see someone from a village he ordered erased standing in front of him now as an enemy.

“What’s with that look? Bow your head—I’m the king! Stop… stop looking down on me like that!”

“Your Majesty, please calm yourself! That man is unpredictable…! To take only that level of burn from my Black Flame. And to regrow a severed arm like nothing—!”

“…Hmph. But you… you could kill that cocky brat, couldn’t you!? —Do it!”

“Yes, sir. —All of you, prepare yourselves! Mages, match me and strike down Albert Cole! Knights and shadows, use your own judgment to hold back the enemy’s close-combat forces!”

I see. He’s not sending the knights straight at me—he’s trying to take me on purely with his mage group centered on himself. The commander really is one of the old-school mages.

He has absolute confidence in his own magic, and in mage-versus-mage fights, he believes victory should be decided by magical skill alone. Getting help from melee fighters or close-combat specialists is shameful… something like that.

“But it’s not one-on-one anymore, is it?”

Maybe it’s just insurance, but the fact that he’s calling on his subordinate mages too makes his pride seem kind of half-hearted. He got caught off guard earlier too.

Well, whatever. Let’s get this over with quickly.

I started gathering magic inside my body and was about to step toward the enemy when—

The knight big brother, who had been watching His Majesty the whole time without interrupting me and the princess, finally spoke up toward me.

“…Kid. Hold on a second.”

“? What’s up, big brother?”

“Being called that by someone your age feels kind of weird…”

Weird how. …Oh, the commander and the others are already starting their spellcasting. Better keep this short.

“I can tell you’re worried. Listen, it’ll be quick. Straight to the point—kid, take Her Highness and get out of here.”

“Huh?”

“I know you’re strong in both magic and close combat. But even you can’t take on a whole group led by the head of the Court Mages, right? We’ll hold them off here, so you young ones hurry up and run.”

With that, the knight big brother said “See ya,” grabbed his knight sword in one hand, and charged toward the commander and the rest.

…I was totally ready to fight, though. Is it really okay to leave it to him?

“That man’s one of the four division commanders in the knight order—Maguire. In my faction, he’s the strongest. …Ah, except for Papa, of course?”

“Putting aside whether I’m the strongest or not… Do you think Maguire could beat our commander?”

“Hmm, well…”

The princess tilts her head cutely, resting a hand on her chin.

Oh, the fight’s already started. Sure enough, Maguire is proving he’s no amateur—stepping in to take over the fight himself. He’s cutting through the commander’s magic with ease. The knight division commanders really aren’t to be underestimated… but still.

While pinching the scorched edge of my robe with her fingers, the princess answers.

“—In the current situation, I don’t think he can win…”

“…”

“In a straight one-on-one between equals, the knight would almost always win… but right now it’s not like that. He won’t lose immediately, but eventually…”

Hmm. Whether in politics or combat, if she’s judging based on solid knowledge, then what the princess says is probably right.

But just as I opened my mouth to reply—

The princess grabbed my hand with a deeply anxious expression.

“So… hey… let’s do what Maguire said and escape together…?”

…The place where my arm was severed once still has a white line from the new skin even after healing it with magic. The princess’s white, smooth fingers trace that line, and she looks up at me with eyes that seem almost pleading.

Looks like getting badly hurt that one time really scared her. She’s afraid I’ll get hurt again, or even die. I can see that fear swirling in her eyes.

But… wait. That means… the princess thinks that even if I fight them head-on, I’ll still get injured. Or maybe she thinks I’ll lose?

I thought she understood. —That there’s no way I could lose to them.

In that case… it’s probably faster to just show her.

I gently untangled her arms from me and began refining the magic inside my body more carefully than usual.

I gathered it in my dantian and compressed it tightly. Then I filled the empty space with newly generated magic.

—Compress, generate, compress, generate. Over and over.

When the density got so high it felt like it might burst, I divided the magic mass into tiny grains and wrapped each one in a moderate layer of compressed magic to stabilize it. Then I gathered those high-density grains together and compressed them even further…

What I end up with is… a state where there’s a blazing furnace of magic inside my body.

Then, if I run that internal magic furnace at an even higher load—

—The magic leaking from my body starts sparking like fireworks. Sparkle, crackle, pop.

This is the volatilization phenomenon of magic—you don’t get this just from raising magic power normally.

“! Wh-what is this? I’ve never seen magic behave like—”

The princess shows a rare serious expression as she examines the magic in surprise.

Good. Now then—time to give those worthless power-hungry people a little lesson.

I started walking toward them… but even then—

“W-wait! It’s dangerous—!”

Even after showing her this much, the princess still clings to me.

Running away while letting myself get beaten by people who crossed the line with His Majesty won’t improve the situation. …And above all, I can’t accept it.

So I gently pressed my finger to the princess’s forehead and said softly.

“Disciples don’t talk back. —Just watch quietly.”

“…”

After a brief pause, the princess stopped moving, her face somehow dazed and relaxed. I took the opening and stepped forward.

“…Ah.”

Pretending I didn’t hear the princess’s small voice, I deployed a double-layered magic circle. The pure-white magic it was woven from grew to a size matching the scale of the spell I was about to cast.

I poured the super-high-density refined magic into that circle, which reached all the way to the high ceiling. The magic flowed smoothly through it, emitting a blinding white light, and then—

Finally, I spoke the key words.

“【Flame】 and 【Wind】 —— Sky God’s Thunder Spear Keraunos.”

Immediately after.

Rising up from the magic circle like an apparition was a funeral procession of spears made of lightning.

The number that filled the area around me————two thousand.

Every single tip was pointed toward the commander and the others—

———

The image is from that one stylish manga… the cherry blossoms scene with the guy…