Since When Did You Have The Illusion That You Don’t Have Magical Powers?! - CH 12

Characters in this chapter:

Sapphiras Perfectio, 2nd son of the Earl of Aldridge

Percival Belisario, 3rd son of Margrave of Vanderwall on the Eastern Frontier

Aurora Steinfeld, daughter of the Duke of Bloomfield

Clawis Garcia, beastman

Rivera Hernández, beastman

Liliana, daughter of a Viscount, Aurora’s lady-in-waiting

Casey Morgan, son of Viscount Stuart

Martin, an Earl’s son

“It’s different from what I heard! Why are there so many beast snakes!”

“Of course there are! We burned the snake incense! You’re the one who told me to do it in the first place, Casey! You said you were going to scare the shit out of them……”

I overheard a conversation I couldn’t ignore. Burned snake incense? I don’t understand what you mean. Why would you do such a thing in the academy forest? And this voice sounds familiar.

It’s Casey and Martin, who was entangled with me in a depressing way just a few minutes ago. What the hell are they doing?

“Ne, what the hell was that all about? Can you explain it to me?”

“Sa, Sapphiras!”

Seeing my face, I bound the legs of the two who were trying to escape in a hurry with magic ivy. Did you think you could escape? I asked them again, who had fallen on the ground awkwardly.

“Did you burn snake incense in this academy forest? While knowing that we are going to do a field exercise today?”

Snake incense is an incense that attracts snakes and is one of the tools used by adventurers. Adventurers often hunt for snakes’ skin, which is used to make shoes and belts, to earn some extra money. Although non-poisonous, these large snakes are fast-moving and strong. If you let your guard down and become entangled with one, you will be strangled to death in a matter of seconds. It is certainly not prey for beginners. If an incense that attracts such things is burned in the forest where students are practising, one cannot help but doubt the conscience and nature of these guys.

“Ah,……no,”

“You two, what happened to the rest of the people in your team?

“Tha, that’s…….”

“It has nothing to do with me! In, in the first place, Casey brought it up! I have nothing to do with it!”

“What the hell? You thought it’d be fun too, and you were happy to burn the snake incense!”

This is no good. They’ve done something terrible, but they’re all about pushing the blame. Rather than hearing the details from these guys, it seems better to go to protect the academy students first.

“You’re guilty of the same things when you work together. You guys summoned magic beasts yourselves, but when you realised it got out of hand, you ran away with your tail between your legs. Are you still of magician lineage? Na, Casey?”

I shot Casey and Martin a look of utter contempt. I have so much to say to these guys.

“You ah, you’ve severely ridiculed ‘me’ for having no magical power, haven’t you? And yet you’re a magician, but you can’t even reap the seeds you’ve sown, it’s laughable.

“Wha, what did you say?”

‘It’s true, isn’t it?……You guys didn’t think about the consequences of your actions, did you?”

I grab Casey by the collar. Sadly, I wanted to grab him, but my strength was too weak, so I just pulled him close.

These fools didn’t have much guts and deliberately summoned the magical beasts for their own petty self-esteem. They even involved the students of the academy who had nothing to do with it. They can’t even take responsibility, but they did something dangerous that could have cost people their lives. If he had any brains to think at all, he wouldn’t have done such a stupid thing. I let go of my hand and shove him away in frustration.

“Bu, but I didn’t expect so many beast snakes to gather!”

“’Do you want to try dying once1?’

“……Hee!”

When I glared at him, Casey and Martin gasped and cowered.

If you confess and repent for what you did this time, maybe the goddess will prepare a new life for you. I don’t know when you’ll be reincarnated, but this time, live a life of service to others.

“Sapphiras sama, now is not the time to be concerned about them.”

Aurora interrupts the argument between myself and Casey. Certainly, I don’t care about these guys right now.

“……Hey, you guys, where did you burn the snake incense?”

“I, I don’t know anymore…”

“Ha?” Are you kidding me?”

The two cower in fear. Did they run away so blindly that they don’t even know where the traps they set up are? They are irredeemable. It would be best if I could transfer to the places with the incense, but I don’t know this forest. How can I find the snake incense in this vast forest?

I look up at the sky and see the stars twinkling in the darkened sky after the sun has completely set. This is normally a safe exercise. No one would think that their lives might be in danger.

We have no choice but to search from above. Beast snakes should be gathering where the snake incense is thick.

…If they are not chasing after prey.

“Miss Aurora, will you come with me? If any of the students are injured, I can’t heal them myself.”

“Of course. That was my intention from the start.’

“Thank you……Clawis, Rivera. I’m sorry, but I need you to stay here and keep an eye on these guys to make sure they don’t run off.”

“No, but…”

Rivera glanced at Clawis. For sure, it’s dangerous to stay in a place like this forever, where you never know when a beast snake might come out.

I draw a barrier magic circle on the ground with a radius of 2 metres from where Rivera and the others are standing. The ground glows faintly, so that they won’t accidentally leave the magic circle.

“If you stay inside, magical beasts won’t be able to enter. Stay here unless a dragon comes. If the beast snakes wander around and gets restless, feed those guys to them, fill their bellies, and they’ll go somewhere else.”

“Mphm!”

Casey and Martin let out a muffled scream. But you guys did what you had to do to be used as bait.

“All right. We’ll stay here and keep an eye on them. You guys take care.”

“Thank you, Clawis.”

I’ve wasted so much time on kids who can’t think, I’d like to get to the place where the snake incense was burned as soon as possible.

“Holy wings of heavenly flight, Unisus2!”

I call out, and in the blink of an eye, a summoning formation spreads across the ground, and with a burst of white light, a pure white Unisus dances out, neighing.

“This is……!”

Aurora, who is unfazed by most things, exclaims in surprise. It seems that Clawis and the others were also completely taken aback. After all, a 14-year-old child who can not only freely manipulate magic, but even use summoning techniques, so I know it’s a bit unusual.

“Sapphiras-sama, you can also summon……I’m amazed.”

“Come on, get on,”

I quickly straddle Unisus and pulled Aurora up from the horse and put her in front of me.

“Clawis sama, Rivera sama, please take care of Liliana.”

“Leave it to us,”

The two nodded firmly. I’m sure they’ll be fine here.

“Hold on tight.”

“Yes!”

Aurora makes sure she holds on to Unisus’ neck, it runs up into the sky in a single breath.  Just about as far as those guys could run to and fro. They should not have gone that deep into the forest.

“Please look over there!”

Shortly after ascending into the sky, Aurora pointed in the direction of the sunrise.

A few kilometres ahead of where she pointed, the trees are swaying. The occasional yellow glow must be flame attack magic. Apparently there are students who could counter with magic. I put the issue of the snake incense aside for the time being and drove Unisus in the direction Aurora pointed, and was surprised when I reached the sky above the commotion. Although what was rampaging there was a beast snake, it one that was magnitudes bigger. It was as tall as a small tree.

“What is that, a giant tree?”

It’s not often you see a beast snake like that. Where on earth did it come from?

“Sapphiras sama! It’s Percival sama!”

It was Percival who was casting magic at the giant snake.

He is protecting several students behind him. They are all academy students who are new to real combat. If you see that giant snake in front of you, you’ll be terrified and won’t be able to move. However, Percival faced the giant snake without fear. As the snake raises its head like a scythe to attack, he releases magic as it opens its mouth. It is a tactic that, albeit slightly, steadily reduces the attacker’s attack power. It’s a solid way of fighting that proves your skills. As expected of being trained in the frontier. But it’s tough to take on a giant snake like that by yourself.

“Percival! Get down!”

“……!”

Percival instantly retreats from the snake and instructs the students behind him to get down as well.

“Thunder of the goddess! Just kidding.”

I shouted the somewhat cool-sounding words and dropped an oversized lightning bolt on the snake’s head. The flash from the heavens illuminated the forest as if it were midday, and the roar that shook the air rose, and the giant serpent fell, mowing down the trees of the forest. The earth shook with a tremor, and dust and bits of wood flew up around the area.

……Are Percival and the others all right?……

I looked down at the devastation below as if it were someone else’s business. Sweat trickled down my temples.

“Sapphiras sama……Um, is everything alright down there?’

“Ah~……well, let’s go down for now. There might be injured people down there.”

I swallowed the words ‘at the moment’ for now.

“Yes, that’s right.”

By the time Unisus descended to the ground, the dust had settled down considerably. Percival and the others seem to be safe.

“Percival, are you hurt?”

“I’m fine, but there is someone who is seriously injured.”

Percival’s gaze fell on a student lying in a pool of blood. He is the son of a baron who said he wanted to become a knight earlier. He must have been driven by a spirit of chivalry and jumped in front of the beast without knowing his own skill. However, the spirit of trying to protect someone is truly that of a knight, and it is a noble and admirable act that cannot be compared to Casey or Martin.

But this is not good. The broken bone in his right bicep has pierced through the veins and arteries in which blood circulates3. If this continues, he will lose his dominant arm. He is bleeding badly and seems to be unconscious. If something is not done quickly, he will even lose his life.

Everyone’s face turned pale as they looked on.

melon: sorry I left the ‘ne’ and the ‘na’ as it is because I really couldn’t think of an English equivalent with the same nuances.

some Jigoku Shoujo vibes here although he says ikkai instead of ippen

a unicorn with wings

I took some liberties with the translation here, the exact words of the author here is ‘pierced through the tubes which flesh and blood circulate’