The two n who had been in the sky descended.
One was a red-haired man wearing a black cloak, and the other was a black-haired man in a white robe.
The three were nearly crushed by the oppressive presence radiating from the white-robed man.
The three were special-rank adventurers.
They were the pinnacle of Darwei adventurers, beings even said to transcend humanity.
Yet even such people felt as if they were about to be crushed.
“They were the golems I placed to buy ti until we arrived.”
Those words were spoken from the mouth of the white-robed man.
They sounded calm... very calm... but that was misleading.
Abel, who stood beside him and was used to hearing his voice, understood.
It was a calm that concealed astonishing anger with the force of will.
With the slightest shock, that will would snap, and the anger would explode.
“You are adventurers. So you accepted the request to assassinate the Emperor and ca to carry it out. That is fine. On your way, you cut down Tin... and you destroyed my golems.”
His voice trembled slightly.
“That I can accept. My golems put their bodies on the line to buy ti— they fulfilled their roles admirably. But, you—!”
Ryo pointed at the fire-attribute magician Buon.
“You said this: that it was nothing more than a trifle.”
Ryo’s pointing finger began to tremble.
“A trifle? They fulfilled their duty admirably. Their role was to buy ti until we arrived! No one has the right to insult them with such contempt!”
He lashed out clearly and fiercely.
“I will not forgive you for insulting my golems!”
Faced with Ryo, full of rage, the three special-rank adventurers were silent.
Then, finally, one spoke.
“So what will you do, Duke Rondo?”
The speaker was Buon.
He had not introduced himself.
But it was obvious the man before him was the rumored Duke Rondo.
Such pressure... aside from Lord Rowon, this was a first for him.
“I will defeat you with sword and magic and avenge my golems’ grievance.”
Ryo said that, drew Murasa, and produced the blade.
Beside him, Abel also drew his magic sword.
But he seed a little flustered.
“Ryo... um, you’re fighting that fire-type magician, right?”
“Yes. He burned my golems. Abel, I leave the rest to you. Do as you like.”
“O-okay...”
Ryo looked at Abel with complete trust and entrusted everything to him.
Faced with that level of trust, Abel could not say no.
He could not say, “Am I to face two special-rank adventurers?”...
“Well, fine.”
From Abel’s mutter, the battle began.
“Haha... as expected of the fad Duke Rondo, that pressure is unreal.”
The fire-attribute magician Buon murmured as he took a stance with his sword.
“I’m also an adventurer in the kingdom. So I understand.”
“Huh?”
“When a person in power commissions you, it’s difficult to refuse.”
“...”
“But even so, there must be requests one should not accept.”
“A difference of opinion in principle, huh.”
Buon curled one corner of his mouth in response to Ryo’s words.
“I think requests that stray from the path of humanity are precisely the ones to accept as much as possible.”
“Excuse ?”
“Think about it. They pay high fees to adventurers because others won’t take the job. Of course, you refuse a job that would cost you your life, but if it doesn’t, then you should accept it, I think.”
“And even if that ans you can’t stay in Darwei?”
“If the new Emperor issues a pardon, it’ll be fine. Until then, I’ll go abroad.”
Prince Kouri had apparently promised a pardon after his accession.
“Sadly, we’re at an impasse.”
“Seems so.”
Ryo nodded slightly, and Buon /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ shrugged.
“I have sothing I want to ask you.”
“Ask away. Although I don’t feel obliged to answer.”
“If you answer, I will spare your life.”
“...Is that so. Duke Rondo, you’re confident, aren’t you.”
Ryo said with an expression of course, and Buon—who had never been spoken to so bluntly face to face—was surprised.
Of course.
He was a terrifying special-rank adventurer.
No one would tell such a person they would be spared if they answered questions...
“What I want to ask is about Lord Rowon.”
“Old man Rowon? What about him?”
“Lord Rowon is an alchemist, is he not? How capable is he?”
“How capable? How capable... how capable is he?”
“You are one of Darwei’s top-rank adventurers. Soone who reaches the top in any field sees things differently from others. Their recognition of top people in other fields differs too. Given that, I ask how capable Lord Rowon’s alchemy is.”
“Oh, if that’s the case, it’s simple. Old man Rowon’s alchemy is the highest in Darwei.”
“I thought so...”
At Buon’s words, Ryo nodded broadly as he had expected.
It was sothing he had to hear, sothing he wanted confird by soone else.
“Besides Lord Rowon, are there any water-attribute magicians in the Imperial Palace?”
“Huh? I don’t know. Rowon was in the military, the Ministry of War... there aren’t water magicians above general rank.”
“In the special-rank adventurers—any water magicians?”
“Ah... none there either. Probably none in the advanced hall either. Water magicians are valuable in comrce; in travel, water is always needed, so you don’t have to beco a dangerous adventurer for that kind of work.”
“So that’s how it is.”
One mystery in Ryo’s mind was solved.
Logically, there was only that conclusion.
“One more thing I want to confirm.”
“You think I’ll answer that too...”
“Who is stronger, you or Lord Rowon?”
“...What?”
Buon’s gaze took on a deadly look.
But...
“Answer honestly.”
Ryo said that and released the pressure he had been compressing to its maximum.
“Sunn...ava...bitch!”
It was trendous, so much so that even a special-rank adventurer felt physical oppression.
Ryo’s pressure was taught by Dragon King Ruwin and praised by forr king Robert Pirlo.
“You monster... Yeah, that’s right, Old man Rowon is a monster too! He’s stronger than .”
“I see.”
“The six saints are said to be nonhuman, but that old man is in a class of his own—a genuine monster.”
“I understand well now.”
Ryo nodded once and released his pressure.
“Damn it...”
“You destroyed my golems and spat abuse. A little answering questions doesn’t atone for that.”
“That’s enough!”
Buon shouted and began to chant.
“”
“”
Nothing happened.
“Impossible!”
Buon cried in surprise.
In his mind, the magic had been constructed and activated.
He perceived it as such.
From the ground beneath Duke Rondo’s feet, dozens of flas should have surged up.
Looking closely at the ground, sothing was laid there.
“Ice?”
“Yes. I made it an ice floor. That was the sa magic you used earlier to burn my golems, wasn’t it? The sa spell won’t work twice.”
At that mont, Ryo’s anger burst forth.
At least to Buon, that was what it looked like.
“”
Ryo, brandishing Murasa, manifested two more versions of himself.
“What is that...”
Buon involuntarily muttered.
“You skewered my golems with many flas, didn’t you?”
The words were spun out quietly.
“I will do the sa to you. ”
From the three Ryo figures—including Ryo himself—countless ice spears shot toward Buon.
At the sa ti, a fine spray of water burst from the rear of each Ryo and surged forward at the sa speed as the ice spears.
The impact of the ice spears and the slashes from the three Ryo converged in an instant.
What remained afterward was Buon, pierced by countless ice spears and impaled through the abdon by three blades.
“Ugh...”
“As promised, I will not take your life.”
Ryo said this, dispelled the avatars, and cast.
“ ”
Buon was frozen solid.
Beside that, a fight continued: one swordsman against two magicians.
The magicians tried to keep a distance, and the swordsman tried to close it.
A basic form of combat between the two, it seed.
When Abel tried to close on the wind-attribute magician Leo Lin, the dark-attribute magician Barda generated a between them to obstruct him.
When Abel tried to close on Barda, Leo Lin generated a between them.
It repeated like that.
anwhile, Leo Lin launched offensive wind-attribute magic at Abel.
But all of those attacks were deflected by Abel.
Many wind-attribute offensive spells are invisible, but not completely so.
The air distorts slightly, and a swordsman of Abel’s calibre can slice it accurately.
Thus, he suffered almost no damage.
However, he also failed to land a decisive blow.
In truth, Abel was troubled about how to break the stalemate.
Then...
“Buon has frozen solid!”
“What...!”
In the adjacent fight, the fire-attribute magician had been sealed in an ice coffin by Ryo.
Barda and Leo Lin were astonished.
But true to their status as special-rank adventurers.
They had no opening in their timing.
Even soone as skilled as Abel could not take advantage...
However, circumstances would not wait.
“Abel, thanks for buying ti. I’m finished here, so you can go finish them off.”
A water-attribute magician sowhere called out words like that.
“Hey...”
Abel let out a small sigh.
It wasn’t that he had been rely buying ti until Ryo was done.
He simply didn’t know how to defeat them.
Ryo’s words reached not only Abel.
They reached the ears of the two special-rank adventurers fighting Abel.
“Buying ti?”
“I’ve never been insulted like this before.”
Both Barda and Leo Lin—
“Of course that makes you angry.”
Abel understood their anger.
Ryo may not have intended to provoke, but...
“No, is it possible? He always says that— robbing the opponent of composure is the very basics of PvP...”
In truth, the two were raging.
It was obvious they had lost their composure.
“Dark-attribute magic barely has any effect I see!”
“Why—do you have to taunt more...”
Abel was convinced.
It was deliberate.
Ryo’s heckling must have been heard.
He could tell Barda’s expression had hardened.
“Sorry, my companion’s mouth is foul. Don’t mind him.”
“...I will not forgive you.”
Abel apologized, but Barda only grew angrier than before.
“It seems Abel’s talent for provocation surpasses mine.”
A water-attribute magician muttered that, but no one heard it...
Despite their exchange, Barda inwardly scowled.
From the start of the battle, he had been trying to put the swordsman to sleep.
It should have been several tis more powerful than the magic cast across the magistrate’s office.
Yet it had no effect.
“Damn, why?”
Barda spat and then made a decision.
“I will unleash everything at maximum.”
“Huh?”
Leo Lin was surprised at Barda’s words.
“Hey, wait—”
Leo Lin resisted the spell that was cast.
He resisted the unleashed at maximum power from Barda.
But it was not the sa performance as before.
His head spun, his footing wavered, and his spatial awareness blurred.
Of course, it recovered in an instant.
But for the swordsman before him, even an instant was too long.
Leo Lin received a blow to the back of the head and lost consciousness.
“Huh?”
Barda was likely the most surprised.
He had expected to affect Leo Lin’s performance.
He had thought that, in exchange, he could render the swordsman unconscious.
And that would be fine.
But the swordsman continued to move as before... while Leo Lin was knocked out.
And Barda too—
“ ”
He was sealed in an ice coffin.
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