[V5C19] Something’s Watching
Translated by Jodas 5: The Magic BattleThe Ancient Magical Artifact ‘Eurydice, the Cackling Foam’ was a terrifying weapon that captured mana-filled objects with its bubbles, then made them explode.
According to Frederik, while the bubbles would generally seek out objects with high mana on their own, Helena could control their targeting to a degree.
“But in that state, Helena is more or less in a blind rage, so I don’t think she’s going to come after me with that much accuracy right now.”
“Do those bubbles not have a very large range?”
To Tia’s question, Frederik nodded.
“Mhm. Also, Helena moves slowly, so if you just run as far as you can, she’s not that much of a threat.”
The bubbles seemed to be well suited for intercepting a mob of many enemies.
With his focus on speed and penetration, Frederik was the exact opposite of the ideal target.
At the moment, Frederik held Tia under his arm as he flew around the bubbles towards where Oliver had collapsed.
It was worrying that Oliver was currently collapsed nearby to Helena, and in a relatively open clearing. They couldn’t count on trees or other obstacles to protect them from the bubbles.
Eventually, after weaving through the trees, the site of their previous battle came into view.
Bubbles floated in the air, from the ground to above the height of the trees.
—In the middle of them, they saw Oliver, lying on the ground.
“Oliver isn’t getting kaboomed by the bubbles.”
“Fortunately, his mana reserves were depleted… Well, we don’t know when one of those bubbles might hit him.”
At least, they should try to move Oliver to a place where the bubbles wouldn’t reach.
As Tia thought about how to approach him, Frederik spoke up.
“By the way, my rival.”
“Piyo?”
“How were you planning to carry Oliver by yourself?”
‘Now that you mention it,’ Tia’s mouth fixed in a diamond shape.
Tia was strong. During the entrance exam, she’d walked through the forest carrying both Wren and Sevil.
However, Oliver was quite tall. His limbs were especially long.
Could Tia, unaccustomed to her human body, really carry him the whole way?
“Pevuvuvuvu… I’d hold his hands and feet, and drag him…?”
“Ooh, I’d like to see that. I recommend dragging him with his face on the ground. Since we’re in a magic battle barrier and all, I’m sure the scraping wounds would be nullified anyways.”
Tia went quiet in response to his casual, unsettling statement. Frederik continued with a concerned expression.
“But you’d be in danger if you did that. I’ll handle Oliver and bring him out with flight magic. Can you run away on your own?”
“Then I’ll be bait! I’ll draw the bubbles away from you!”
“No. I can’t let my junior do that kind of thing.”
Tia twisted her lips and grumbled ‘vuvuvu…’
That would mean there wasn’t any point to Tia coming here!
“Frederik, if you used flight magic, all the bubble are gonna come at you like ‘waah!’ You need a bait!”
“Helena’s bubbles are slow. I can get away from them with flight magic.”
“No way. Oliver’s big and heavy. If you carried him, you wouldn’t be able to fly so fast.”
Tia’s words were absolutely correct. Frederik’s worry showed on his face as he fell silent.
He wasn’t a good liar.
He wouldn’t try to convince Tia to back down with a convenient lie, and he was always honest about the things he couldn’t or wouldn’t do.
“Pefu! You need bait!”
“Then I’ll be the bait, and you drag Oliver into the bushes…”
As he spoke, Frederik’s eyes suddenly snapped to the side. Tia also immediately noticed what was wrong. The bubbles were flying in just about the opposite direction of Tia and Frederik.
At the same time, they heard a resounding voice.
“Here I am! Come as you may, catch me if you can!”
“Over here! Over here!”
Those were the voices of Sevil and Agniol.
While Agniol had returned to the ring earlier, she had reappeared to allow Sevil to ride her once more.
Agniol was a very powerful spirit, so naturally the bubbles would drift towards her location.
“Tia!”
Another voice came from behind. This time it was Wren who came running in their direction.
Frederik’s expression darkened slightly.
“I told you to run away…”
“How were you expecting to carry Oliver with just the two of you? Oliver’s huge, so Frederik won’t be able to fly very fast if he carried him.”
He pointed out exactly the same issue Tia brought up just before, prompting Frederik to curl his lip.
Wren glanced in the direction Sevil’s voice was booming from.
The majority of the bubbles were already headed in that direction.
“Sevil’s riding on Agniol’s back, trying to get as many of the bubbles as possible to follow after her. Everyone else is running away with Rikard, so you don’t have to worry about them.”
If they were worried about safety, it might have been better to just have Agniol run around by herself, but if allowed to run wherever she wanted, there was a decent chance she’d end up running straight towards her allies.
Therefore, Sevil stepped up to keep her in check.
“Then, I’m here as a messenger ‘cause I have the lowest mana reserves so I’m least likely to be targeted. She says ‘I shall charge South, then wrap around to exit from the West. You should head North.’ — That is all.”
“Piyo! Wren and Sevil, you’re both so clever!”
“That’s because I’m a brainy pretty boy! That handled, once the bubbles have gone a little farther ahead, let’s go retrieve Oliver!”
As he watched the exchange between Tia and Wren, Frederik murmured bitterly.
“…Sorry I’m not clever.”
“It’s okay! I’m not clever either!”
Tia puffed out her chest with a proud huff.
Frederik followed the flow of the bubbles out of the corner of his eye, then frowned slightly.
“Perhaps we were the ones being tested with this magic battle.”
Tia and Wren exchanged glances.
While this magic battle was instigated by the conflict between Frederik and Oliver, Hegelich had proposed it as a means of promoting the Apprentices’ training.
It seemed prudent to assume that it was a way of testing the Apprentices.
But Frederik wondered if it was him and his teammates who were really being tested.
“Neither myself, Helena, nor Rikard are all that good at using our heads.”
All three of them individually boasted high combat prowess, so they’d managed just fine up to this point.
There were some Monsters that were renowned for their cunning, but most such Monsters tended to use that cunning simply to find new ways to make humans suffer, not to form strategies.
There were some, like wolf Monsters, who fought by divvying up responsibilities among their pack, but they never used any advanced tactics either.
Due to their overwhelming individual strength, Monsters had no need for tactics.
“You guys strategized, you used tools… And I assume you manipulated information as well?”
“Ehehe.”
Wren stuck out his tongue.
All this business about information manipulation referred to how they managed to surprise their opponent by spreading rumors that Tia and Ella couldn’t activate inscription magic.
“Us in the Extermination Office have been fighting nothing but Monsters… so they wanted to have us experience what it’s like to fight against an opponent who employs strategies we’re not used to.”
Whether or not they were cautious of their opponent’s strategies would decide whether they won or lost the battle.
If the Extermination Office had been more attentive to the Apprentices’ strategies, perhaps the outcome would have been different.
Frederik sighed as he continued.
“That’s why they had Rikard and Helena join in the magic battle as well, I guess. They were supposed to watch what the Apprentices were doing and take some lessons out of that… I bet all of us are gonna end up tied up in the debriefing room after this.”
Tia could sympathize with Frederik’s feelings.
Harpies never made complex strategies. Most of their opponents could be disabled with songs, and if push came to shove, all they had to do was run away.
In this magic battle, however, Tia ended up on the side executing the plans.
It felt strange to be included as part of a strategy, and she hesitated to a point, but she didn’t hate the way it felt.
(I just always thought that using tools and making strategies were things humans did.)
She’d resisted using the Magical Flying Device at first, but once she thought of the kindness of the person who made it for her, that resistance went away. All thanks to Ella.
She hadn’t paid any attention to strategies in the slightest, but watching Wren’s brainy pretty boy act, she came to realize how crucial strategies could be.
Over time, both tools and strategies graduated from ‘I don’t hate them’ to a feeling of ‘I’ll do everything to make this work.’
As Tia embraced the emotions budding in her heart, Frederik lifted his spear up and muttered.
“It’s about time. There’s still some bubbles around Helena, but we should be fine as long as we don’t provoke her.”
The three of them exchanged nods, then leapt out of the bush, carefully stepping towards Oliver.
Helena had her back towards them, and as she stood there, she hunched over and covered her face with both hands. They could hear a faint “I’m so sad, I’m so sad” from her, so she was probably still conscious.
However, as if to overwrite that voice, Helena’s necklace cackled.
“KYAHAHAHA! KYAAHAHAHA!”
Long before Tia was born, in the distant past, the flock of Harpies were attacked by an Ancient Magical Artifact called ‘Star-weaving Mira’ that wiped out half of their population.
‘Eurydice, the Cackling Foam’ which appeared before her eyes was similarly well-suited for Monster extermination, and she guessed that it might have been originally made with that in mind.
(I wonder why… For some reason, my neck feels all tingly.)
As they headed towards Oliver’s position, Tia looked at Helena — then, she felt as if she just locked eyes with someone.
Helena was hunched over, and Wren and Frederik were running ahead of Tia.
Yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was looking at her.
“KYAHAHAHA! EXPLODE! EXPLODE!”
Then, some of the bubbles floating around Helena suddenly started heading towards them.
A cold sweat ran down Tia’s back. Tia realized what was wrong.
What Tia had locked eyes with, was the Ancient Magical Artifact ‘Eurydice, the Cackling Foam.’
(Those bubbles are headed for… Me. The Monster.)