Chapter 77 - Best Condition (5)

In the occult world, there is a standard that distinguishes first-rate magicians.

It isn't official, since magic wasn't meant for combat in the first place. It's the standard for combat magicians used by the mercenary industry, which has one foot in the magical world. Proper magicians dislike it, seeing it as the opinion of ignorant ordinary people, but it is simple: produce more firepower with magic than modern small arms, or stop gunfire, and you are a first-rate magician.

An automatic defensive spell, made possible by magically bringing down rain and filling the surrounding area with water imbued with Alphonse's power.

BUBBLE, BUBBLE...

A wall of water rises, catching and stopping the hail of bullets. Watching the bullets trapped in their watery prison, Alphonse's face twists with rage.

"You... vermin...!"

Magic is a special power reserved for the chosen few. Yet this magician with no pedigree has dared to draw a firearm, something only lowly ordinary people use, in a magical duel. He glares at him.

"How dare you bring out something so base!"

I didn't answer his shout.

"..."

I simply pull the trigger again.

BANG!

If your opponent gets angry during a fight, it means you're doing something right.

Keeping an eye on his attacks—the blades of water—I move and pull the trigger.

BANG! BANG!

Every bullet is stopped by his magic. Still, even without his water barrier, I never expected to hit him with a pistol while moving. I've never had professional firearms training.

... What matters is keeping him occupied while I move.

SPLASH! SPLASH!

SHHHH...

Running through puddles, I aim and fire in the rain.

BANG!

A gunfight in the rain beneath cheap streetlights.

It's not something I should be thinking when I could die, but it feels like a scene from a noir movie. It's so absurd I almost laugh.

Am I really in Seoul right now? This world has gone mad.

Of course, my opponent takes it a step further. His genre is fantasy.

Blades of water fly at me with each swing of Alphonse's enchanted sword.

WHOOSH!

A water cutter. Why don't I have any properly fantastical attack spells like that?

'Damn it...!'

Clenching my teeth, I push off hard and leap.

SPLASH!

Dodging stylishly like a noir protagonist isn't possible. I make big movements forward and backward.

SPLASH! SPLASH!

The blades of water barely miss me.

WHOOSH!

One slices through a streetlight behind me, sending it toppling at an angle.

THUD! CRASH!

The lamp shatters, scattering shards of glass.

"...!"

Misjudge the distance even slightly, and I'll be 'Yo/han,' too. Dead.

But I'm already running low on stamina.

"Hah...!"

Moving like this in the rain takes far more out of me than I'd imagined. I'm out of breath, and every step feels heavy.

The one saving grace is that all the masses of water he raises from below are being used to hold Grizzly back alongside the spearman. Otherwise, I'd have been done for long ago.

Apparently irritated by the standoff, he twists his body and swings his sword wide. Instead of the smaller blades he's been sending, an enormous blade of water flies horizontally toward me.

"—!"

I hastily roll and flatten myself against the ground to dodge it.

THUMP! SPLASH!

I don't care how I look. Scrambling up on all fours, I immediately aim the pistol at him to keep his next attack in check.

But unlike the attacks so far, a line of water lashes out like a whip following his swinging blade. It slices through the gun I'm aiming, then curves once more.

SWISH!

It cuts shallowly across my body. At least I backed away quickly.

"Gah...!"

It's only a shallow cut, but the spreading pain and the sensation of flesh opening and blood spilling make me stagger.

Still, I force myself to move. Backward.

... Just a little farther.

This isn't about gritting my teeth and telling myself I have to do it.

"... A king riding a doe."

It's because I've reached my destination.

Alphonse glared contemptuously at Yohan, who had stopped running and stood bleeding.

"Ha."

He must finally have realized he couldn't win. In the end, he was merely a magician without pedigree who thought a grimoire's ancient knowledge made him somebody.

As Alphonse raised his enchanted sword to finish him off—

"...?"

He furrowed his brow. Something began to reach his ears through the pouring rain.

"A boy, a huntress... a cow, a doe, a domestic duck."

They were words of an incantation coming from Yohan's lips.

"... O spirit of the moon."

For a fleeting instant, puzzlement crossed Alphonse's face.

The man was a typical ritual magician. He couldn't cast proper magic with an incantation alone, without a magic circle. So why? Was this a desperate prayer, leaving everything to chance?

He'd had no time to draw a circle while constantly fleeing his pursuers to begin with. And drawing anything on ground this soaked with rain was impossible...

"—!?"

... Then he looked at Yohan's feet, and his eyes widened.

Mixed with the blood running down Yohan's body, a magic circle carved into the concrete became visible. The rainwater had concealed it.

'What—!'

Only then did he notice what he'd missed by focusing solely on Yohan.

"W-we've been spotted, gnome!"

"Eeeek!"

Alphonse saw the gnomes who had been peeking out from the alley behind Yohan, watching the situation, scurry away.

'Earth spirits! Gnomes!'

A chill shot up Alphonse's spine.

Spirits that could move through and excavate the earth at will. The man had deliberately kept running, pretending he had no breathing room, while ordering the gnomes to carve magic circles into the ground wherever he needed them.

'Such a cheap trick...!'

Alphonse clenched his teeth and swung his sword, sending a blade of water flying, but—

WHOOSH!

The magic was already ready.

SHHHH...

Yohan's voice rang through the rain.

"Answer my call."

In planetary magic, the day changes at sunrise, when the sun comes up. Even if the calendar says Tuesday, before sunrise it's still the moon's day, not Mars's day. Mars's magic can't be used.

Black eyes gleam calmly.

Conversely, that means even on Tuesday, it's still Monday until sunrise.

The moon's magic was available.

Instead of the severed pistol, he grips a silver pentacle and holds it out.

The incoming blade of water loses its shape and collapses. It wasn't blocked by the outstretched pentacle.

SHHHHHHH!

The pouring rain simply broke it apart.

"...!"

Alphonse's pupils quiver wildly as he looks up at the sky. The rain comes down harder and harder.

Just as water flows from high to low—

SHHHHHHH!

The fierce rain devours Alphonse's magic. The water imbued with his power is swept away.

The rain is no longer on his side.

[The Sixth Pentacle of the Moon]

'Magic that brings heavy rain.'

If an opponent creates an environment suited to their magic, seize control of the entire environment.

Yohan and Alphonse.

SHHHHH!

The two magicians face off once more amid rain so heavy they can barely see.

He glares at me, the corners of his eyes twitching, his face mottled with rage. I stare back with calm eyes.

We're finally on equal footing. Now there's just one thing to do.

I shove the pentacle carelessly into my coat pocket.

SPLASH.

I take a step.

The ring: a rain-soaked asphalt road. No referee.

I run at him.

SPLASH! SPLASH!

No rules. No stoppages.

He raises his sword high, too. But it no longer holds any magic. It's just a wet sword.

A miserable hand-to-hand brawl between magicians with no magic left to use.

The real street fight begins.

Reaching toward the sword swinging down over my head, I summon the grimoire <Mysteries of the Worm>.

HUMMM!

Grimoires are generally difficult to destroy, but—

Its black iron cover gleams in the rain.

Even among grimoires, <Mysteries of the Worm> has the greatest physical durability.

CLANG!!

I swing the arm holding it like a hammer, knocking aside the flat of his blade.

"—!"

With his sword knocked away, Alphonse loses his balance and staggers.

I don't miss my chance.

Clenching my teeth, I step forward and drive out the fist holding the grimoire.

THWACK! CRUNCH!

The steel grimoire knocks the elite, pedigreed magician's fucking jaw sideways.

"Gah!?"

THUD!

Alphonse collapses from the impact. The blow to his jaw rattles his brain, and the sword drops from his hand.

CLATTER.

"—!"

You couldn't call it a stylish fight even to be polite.

Ugly. Desperate.

Staggering on exhausted legs, we tangle and struggle to grab the sword before the other can.

And I'm the one who gains the upper hand.

SHHHHH...

Battered by the pouring rain, I aim the sword at his heart and thrust. To stay alive, he grips the blade, heedless of the cuts to his hands.

"Ngh...!"

His battered face looks straight up at me. I don't avert my eyes.

To keep myself alive, I crush his will to live and push the sword into his heart.

"Hah... hah..."

I stand up in the rain and look down at the corpse of the long-haired magician whose name I don't know.

"..."

Come to think of it, this was the first time I'd killed someone with my own hands.

... But Grizzly is my ability. Everyone he killed was someone I killed.

So it wasn't really my first murder, or anything to get emotional about.

Anyway, the first part of my plan worked.

I turn my eyes to the elderly spearman desperately dodging Grizzly's attacks, then look back at the long-haired magician's corpse.

Time to prepare the presentation I need to set the mood.

I cut off the dead magician's head with the sword.

... The neck bones get in the way, making me wonder if I should give up, but I decide to finish what I've started.

Then, when the Invisible Vampire suddenly stopped attacking, Lee Munryong turned in puzzlement.

Seeing Yohan and Alphonse's head in his hand, he sighed.

"I see. I suspected as much when the masses of water suddenly vanished, but he lost, did he?"

Looking at the battered Yohan, he said,

"The rain changed partway through. Why didn't you use that earlier, while you were running? It would've been to your advantage."

"He would've noticed and run away. Couldn't have that."

I brush back the hair hanging over my forehead as I speak, revealing my calm black eyes.

"I had to kill him."

Blood drips from Alphonse's severed neck.

Hadn't I sworn it when I first ran away? Next time, I'd kill him for certain, even if it meant taking a risk.

There won't be a second mistake.

"My turn to ask questions. Your name... and what's your relationship with this guy? Colleagues? Or business?"

There was no chance of winning if he fought on, so Lee Munryong answered honestly.

"Lee Munryong. Nothing special. He's merely a client."

"I see. Then I'll hire you now."

"What?"

At the utterly unexpected words, Lee Munryong blinked, then his eyes sharpened.

"Ha! You're telling me to switch clien—"

I cut him off.

"That's not it."

I toss the long-haired magician's head to roll across the ground.

"You were incompetent and failed your assignment. I'm kindly giving you another job."

With that, I give a signal. The waiting gnomes bring over a briefcase.

"Master! Brought it from the workshop, gnome!"

Preparing this was another reason I'd come near the workshop.

"Your fee."

I push the briefcase toward Lee Munryong with my foot.

Lee Munryong opens the case at his feet.

"If you thought you could buy me with money—"

He speaks with a solemn expression befitting a master, then his eyes widen at the gold coins filling the case.

"I didn't expect you to give me this much!?"

The impact of gold.

These are the coins I got when I contracted with the gnomes. Buy off a useful enemy with gold coins.

I think this might be the proper use of gnome spirit magic: upgraded financial-power magic.

Lee Munryong nods and takes the case.

"Mm-hmm~ Right~ Right~ This isn't about money. It's about sincerity."

With the face of an unbending master straight out of a martial-arts novel, he declares resolutely,

"Now I know how highly you value me! I'll accept the job!"

Ta-da~ Lee Munryong has become a bodyguard!

Looking at Alphonse's severed head, Lee Munryong shrugs.

"I hadn't even had a drink with him, anyway."

"... A drink?"

"When I take a job, I have a drink with the client. Something like a pledge before the real work begins."

"... Put it that way, and I can't refuse. Would one drink suffice?"

At my words, Lee Munryong raises an eyebrow.

"Earlier you sounded ready to kill me. Now you're being polite."

I answer lightly.

"Earlier you were the enemy. Now we're doing business, so I should treat you properly."

"Good. Before that, then."

Lee Munryong rummages through Alphonse's corpse.

"One left."

He finds a vial filled with red liquid.

"It's called a potion. Drink it."

I narrow my eyes and give him a pointed look.

"Ha!"

Laughing, Lee Munryong drinks about half first. I see the small wounds on his body heal, then drink the rest.

I feel the cut from earlier closing, and strength returns to my body.

"Hah..."

Normally, I'd be itching to investigate such an amazing restorative, but I'm tired. I decide to think about it later.

Folding his spear and putting it into his fishing bag, Lee Munryong says,

"So, which bar are we going to? We can't keep standing here getting rained on, can we?"

I check the time. It's not quite four in the morning. We could find a bar open even at this hour if we looked, but... honestly, I'm too tired to bother.

First, I take what I need from the corpse of the long-haired magician—Alphonse, whose name I've learned from Lee Munryong—and dispose of it by feeding it to Grizzly. Then I pass through the alley onto the main road.

I immediately spot a convenience store's glowing sign on the dark, unlit street.

"... About that drink. Would beer be all right?"

"Whaaat~ Beeer! Are you buying?"

"Of course."

"Then that's fine."

Lee Munryong and I enter the convenience store.

"...?"

Faced with the early-morning combination of a rain-drenched man in a white coat and a well-built old man, the clerk is cautiously flustered, wondering what kind of villains we are.

I grab two cans of beer, choose a bag of snacks to go with them, pay, and head out.

I spread open the packet of squid-flavored peanut balls on the table outside and sit in a wet plastic chair.

I don't bother to toast Lee Munryong across from me. Watching the pouring rain, I open my beer.

HISS.

I drink immediately. The carbonation stings my throat, but I keep gulping without pause. Without taking my lips off the can, I tilt my head back and drink to the last drop.

Once it's empty, I set the can down.

"Phew."

I'm not particularly fond of alcohol, and it's a little questionable to think this after killing someone, but a drink after killing a man...

No, let's soften that. A drink after surviving—after a victory—was fucking amazing.

Listening to the rain pattering against the awning, I lean back in the plastic chair and let out a languid breath.

"Haaah..."

Then Lee Munryong speaks while drinking his beer.

"So, when does this rain stop?"

"I don't know, either."

"You're a complete mess, aren't you?"

Fortunately, the rain stopped when the morning sun rose.

Anyway.