Iris (René) walked through the city, probing the emotions of the people around her.
The cold hostility was moving at a certain distance, as if it was tracking Iris (René).
–Are they after me? Thes guys might be the jackpot all of a sudden.
But why would they target her in this situation?
Either they already knew that the Earl had requested “Dragon’s Throat” to do some work for him, or else they are after René…
In any case, she had to find out what they wanted.
–I don’t want to be in the public eye. Diana might get wind of it. Then maybe I should invite them…
Iris (René) dared to walk into the narrow, deserted alleyway.
The pursuers increased their speed and approached rapidly. They seemed to see this as an opportunity to make a move.
Iris (René) had a feeling that they were different from those knights.
If they were crazy about justice, they would rather challenge her to a fight in public.
The fact that they would go out of their way to set up a fight in an uncrowded place…
“Who is it?”
Iris (René) stopped and looked back.
Two men in ordinary traveling clothes were standing in front of Iris (René). Even in front of her, they maintained a relatively flat hostility. No fear, no anger, no contempt. Just a cold willingness to ‘attack’.
With her hands behind her back, Iris (René) crossed her fingers in a mark, replacing the chanting, and piled several sustained enhancement buffs on herself.
What she did was seemingly simple, but without high magical power, this would not be a magic of decent power. In fact, it required a high level of skill.
“What can I do for you?”
“Back out of the Earl’s affairs.”
One of the men said in an intimidating manner.
When Iris (René) heard this, she was inwardly elated. The whereabouts of “René” had not been discovered.
In addition, the Night Pythons’s clues had jumped in on their own. The duck carried not only the leeks, but also the pot and broth.
After going to the trouble of threatening her, the men pulled out their swords.
Were they going to hurt her as a warning and leave her alive? Or would they send her head to her friends after she died?
The men gradually closed the distance between them. Iris (René) backed away with her staff at the ready, thinking about how to deal with the men.
For the time being, she would try to stop them from acting in a way that might make them realize that Iris was not Iris. What she could do was to use magic to repel them and have them run back, and then chase after them.
If they leave the city, they would stand out. They would probably try to escape to their hideout in the city.
–Benedict’s nose would be troublesome. Even if she didn’t get spattered with blood, if he smelled blood from afar, he would probably notice that she smelled of stranger’s blood. Then it was not a good idea to smash their hands and feet off… Hey, what’s this unreasonable bondage play.
The fact was, the magic «Deodorant» existed, but if she went back home magically deodorized, that would be suspicious in another way. She had to get out of the situation in a way that would not attract Benedict’s nose.
Even if you look at the attack magic that Iris usually uses, there are many things that might cause the attacker to bleed. Fire magic will leave the smell of burning human bodies on you. To deal with these guys without leaving any smell and without any traces of the fight, she need to use…
――Shall I go with that?
Iris (René) used her magic while there was still some distance between them.
“≪Ice Lock≫”
A blast of freezing cold air was directed at the two of them.
The magic did not work. She felt the magic power being repelled.
The men did not resist the magic. It seemed to be protective charms.
In this world, there are disposable magic items that protect against magic.
They are called “charms”, and they protect against magic in place of their owners.
–…I knew it! Of course they have them, since they’re coming to deal with a magician.
Perhaps their plan was to catch Iris (René) while defending themselves with the charms.
Seeing Iris (René) make a move, the two men close the distance between them at once.
“≪Ice Lock≫…≪Ice Lock≫! ≪Ice Lock≫!”
Iris (René) abandoned her chanting and struck the approaching pair with her magic in tiny increments.
The moment she felt a change in sensation, Iris (René) lowered the power of her magic and fired it with a power close to that of the original “Iris”.
“≪Ice Lock≫!”
The charms protecting the two assassins lost their power, and ice fell onto their hands.
And then…
“Geehhh!”
With an audible sound, both of their arms were covered in ice.
The ice on both arms attracted to each other like magnets, and they adhered to each other, transforming into a single constraint.
This was a low-grade water elemental magic, «Ice Lock». It is a spell that creates shackles of ice to restrain the target.
It was intended to bind the target without inflicting injury, but if left unchecked, the frostbite would gradually become more severe and eventually lead to necrosis of the hand, which in itself was frightening magic.
With their arms encased, the two stood in front of Iris (René).
They seemed unable to decide what to do next due to the unexpected situation.
-Okay, I’ll take that as a no-brainer! Let’s just assume that the charms were defective!
Iris (René) had exerted her true magical power and burned through the protective charms in one fell swoop. Then, after stripping off the protection, she restrained them with enough magical power that they would not be suspicious.
This may have seemed a little strange, but no one would suspect that she was the most powerful Undead inside.
–Now, they wouldn’t say, ‘I’m going to fight using capoeira because my arms are shackled’, would they?
(TLN: Capoeira is some sort of a Brazilian martial art that uses mainly feet.)
Or if they were prepared to tear off their arms, they could fight by slamming the ice blocks on their shackles. However, it seemed that they had no intention of battling to that extent with any abandon, and the two of them easily turned on their heels, hit the run, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
They ran into the back of the narrower alley. Their movements were quick. It would be difficult to catch up with them in a chase. But with her Abyss Spirit’s ability to read feelings and moods, it would be easy to track them.
Iris (René) concentrated her spirit and widened her search area as much as possible.
Eltaref was not that large a city. If Iris (René) was serious, she could bring about half of it under her observation.
Like a noise screen, Iris (René) perceived a large number of emotions stirring in the air. Ignoring the irrelevant population, she focused on the two fleeing individuals.
The hostility was no longer there, perhaps because they had given up on the attack. Slightly confused, slightly puzzled, slightly terrified. The pain was evident, perhaps because their arms were encased in shackles of ice.
After a moment of pause, the pain disappeared from both of them.
The assassins did not seem to be able to use magic, but if so, they would at least have potions for healing. They would have recovered when they took distance and hid.
–You think you’ve covered it up. Thanks for your efforts. So, the destination to which you flee is…
Just as there was a branch of the Adventurers’ Guild that governed the territory in this city, there must be some sort of base of operations for the Night Pythons.
Pests are best swatted from their burrows. Iris (René) searched for the place they were fleeing to.
＊ ＊ ＊
Adan and Jonas returned to the room in the apartment complex they were using as a temporary base and slumped against the wall.
Silence reverberated through the room, with only their ragged breaths echoing noisily in the air. Adan was the first to open his mouth.
“We’re screwed…”
Jonas remained silent. Adan knew that they had failed.
Adan took a piece of metal from his pocket and threw it carelessly on the floor.
It was shiny like gold, but was entirely blackened and smoked white like it had been burnt.
This was a charm. It was a disposable item that temporarily protects against magic.
The opponent was a fourth-grade Guard, a magician. Although they thought it would be a somewhat troublesome job, all they had to do was catch her while the magic was being withstood by the protective charms.
However, the charms broke in less than a quarter of the time that had been expected.
Even though she was a fourth-grade Guard, she was still just a kid. There was no way she had this much magic power. If so…
“Night Pythons, they gave us second-hand goods.”
“I bet they did, damn it.”
Adan spit it out, and Jonas agreed. They thought they had been provided with charms that had already been used to a certain extent and whose durability was already diminished.
The two are only in the position of undertaking a dirty job for money.
What they were concerned about was the compensation and the penalty for failure of the mission. If the cause of the failure was on the side of the Night Pythons, they could come on strong in negotiations. In fact, they thought they could make a debt by putting their lives (or arrests) in danger.
If that’s the case, so be it. Whether or not the Night Pythons would be in trouble for their failure was of no concern to them.
“The next contact was tonight, right?”
“Yeah, the usual place.”
“All right. We’ll take turns resting until then.”
They nodded to each other. Never dreaming that they would be caught.
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