“Oh, looks like things are getting quite lively over there,” Luzer Fischer said, feeling the roar and the shaking ground. He knew Laurentz Herring, who wasn’t present, was in a full-blown battle.
“I wasn’t much of a decoy, so I’ll just finish everyone off quickly.”
Already, manipulated students and members of the Royal Mage Corps lay at Luzer’s feet. All of them had been knocked unconscious by lightning strikes.
He had silently neutralized about thirty enemies without killing them, and Luzer himself had not sustained a single scratch, nor was he even out of breath. His skill was equal to, if not greater than, Jared, who had defeated him.
“Ufufu, fufufufufufufufufufu—”
“A new customer, huh? Welcome.”
“Oh, my, how strange. Aren’t *you* the customer?”
“Precisely.”
Emerging from the mansion was a girl with black hair tied to both sides, a sadistic smile playing on her lips.
“Hellooo. Luzer Fischer. I’m Avril Gallagher, the daughter of Leonard Gallagher. It’ll be a short time, won’t it? Please be nice to me.”
Luzer’s expression stiffened at the appearance of the girl, Avril Gallagher, who spoke with a lisp.
“Why do you know my name?”
“I investigated everyone around Jared Murphy as much as possible. That’s why I know about the dragon living in the mansion, and about the two assassins from Waalthe living together. I found out everything.”
“I see. Well, that’s only natural. Knowing your enemy is the most basic of foundations.”
The fact that Almeida’s name wasn’t mentioned by Avril might suggest she hadn’t accounted for her.
Master Jared, whose age was unknown, appeared outwardly young, but his power was immeasurable. Luzer had sparred with him several times under the guise of training, but he had been completely outmatched and defeated.
Luzer was frankly bothered by her absence from the mansion. Why had Almeida, who was normally responsible for defense, left the mansion open during the attack? Or was the mansion attacked precisely because Almeida was absent?
“I looked into you a lot too. Though, I couldn’t find out much.”
He wasn’t sure if there was any point in talking here, but if the girl, who seemed like a troublesome force until Laurentz and the others found Olivier, would keep him company, then that was fine.
Luzer decided to prolong the conversation.
“Belonging to Waalthe—sounds good, but you were pitiful puppets, manipulated. Your Lightning Element and combat skills are… perhaps even better than that troublesome Jared Murphy.”
“I’ll graciously accept that as a compliment. However, Jared is stronger than me.”
“—Ufufu, fufufufufu. Then, we win who captured that Jared Murphy, don’t we? Understand?”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, it is. I don’t know what kind of situation that man is in right now, but he’s probably not having a good time.”
Her father, Leonard, had told Laurentz at the academy that he would use Jared as a pawn. However, his daughter did not elaborate on the details. Did she not know, or was she deliberately not saying?
But judging from her condescending way of speaking and the sadism evident on her face, if she knew, she would say it to try and shake him. Thus Luzer reasoned.
—Then there’s no need to waste time trying to extract information.
Buying time was important, but from her seemingly careless attitude, he judged it would be faster to just defeat her.
“Hmm? What is it? Are you angry? Are you going to fight? Alright. —But you don’t think you can fight me one-on-one, do you?”
As Avril’s mouth distorted, at the same time, boys and girls in the uniform of the Royal Academy appeared from behind her. One, then another, followed, and ten students fixed their unfocused eyes on Luzer.
“I see. You’re the one manipulating them?”
“Correct. Using curse techniques, I manipulated these brats who have no power but just spout things beyond their station. They’re truly pathetic. They have no real skill but all the pride in the world. They happily followed Papa’s words, but they immediately got scared and tried to run away.”
The students slowly extended their hands toward Luzer.
“Do you intend to lift the curse technique on the students?”
“No. These pawns will continue to move for me as long as they live.”
“Is that so? —Then I’ll try to take their consciousness.”
The moment the students were within Luzer’s reach, a thunderclap echoed, and blue lightning struck the students.
“—Wh—”
Avril was speechless at Luzer, who had unleashed lightning without moving a finger. It wasn’t just that. She hadn’t anticipated him attacking the manipulated students so readily.
As the students fell to the ground noisily, motionless, Luzer smiled at the girl who had lost her composure.
“Even if you can use the rare magic called curse techniques, you can’t manipulate someone without consciousness, can you?”
“Why, why did you know?!”
“Hey, hey. Your tone of voice has changed. Was that lisping speech just an act?”
“Shut up!”
“You’re losing your composure too much. Well, it doesn’t matter. Anyone would realize if they thought about it. If you could manipulate someone using curse techniques regardless of consciousness, or even death — you would have done so from the start, wouldn’t you?”
If she could control the dead, it would have been difficult to deal with. However, that wasn’t the case. Avril could only control the living who had consciousness.
He didn’t understand the mechanism of curse techniques, but knowing that she couldn’t control them without consciousness was enough to fight.
“Whether it’s curse techniques or magic, they all have their limits.”
As a Jutsushi, Avril would excel in modern times. But she wasn’t a threat. To a human who could only manipulate others — Luzer Fischer would not lose.
“Now, with my guards gone, — it’s your turn, Avril Gallagher.”
“—Hic!”
Avril, who let out a short scream, acted quickly.
Instead of confronting him, she foolishly turned her back on the enemy and fled into the mansion.
“Wh-Whoa, no way?”
Even Luzer was surprised by her actions. Because of that, his magic strike was delayed by a step.
In that brief moment, Avril ran deeper into the mansion.
“Aaah. I messed up.”
To pursue Avril, whose figure had disappeared, Luzer chased her into the mansion.
