Mightiest Melee Magician

Mightiest Melee Magician

I had some shadows trailing me.

If three horses were rented out today, it was plausible that there were at least three people.

However, I maintained my composure and acted natural.

After all, even though I could still feel their persistent gazes as they followed me, I couldn’t directly confirm who the people trailing me were.

I asked the stableman,

“Is it fine if I return by tomorrow morning?”

“Yes. That’ll be enough. Even if I look like this, all the horses around Tercian are worked on by me at least once. I’ll prepare a horse for you to ride by tomorrow morning.”

“Ok. Then, I’ll leave it to you.”

“Thank you. Please, take care.”

I had no choice but to stay a night in Tercian.

That was why I went to the inn at the center of Tercian.

I flinged five gold out of nowhere to the attendant and said,

“A room for one night, and one serving of your fastest meal.”

A meal was usually four silver, maybe five if it was expensive.

Even if I were to take into account the lodging fee, five gold was an excessive amount that exceeded more than ten times the price.

The employee became shocked beyond belief and tried to hurriedly bow his head.

But I stopped him.

“I don’t need your greeting. Rather, I want something from you.”

“Yes? S-something… Ah, yes. Please tell me.”

“Soon, someone will come and ask about me. How long I’m staying here, what room I’m in, and so on. When that happens, make something up and come and tell me how many people came for me, what they were wearing, and how long they’re staying. If you do, I’ll pay you another five gold.”

“F-five……!”

“I’ll promise you, neither you nor this inn will suffer any harm.”

He was a normal inn employee, but since this inn was in the center of the city, it would’ve experienced a whole lot of different situations.

The quick-witted employee understood my intentions immediately and nodded his head.

“P-please rest assured. I’m an expert in this sort of thing.”

“……”

Just what did he mean by an expert?

In any case, most become honest in front of money.

I sat myself down at a decent looking table and ate the scrambled eggs the employee got for me, checking my surroundings inconspicuously.

However, I couldn’t feel those sticky and persistent gazes that I was feeling before at all.

It seemed that they wanted to maintain a certain distance between us and hide.

If that was the case, I should start moving.

“Thanks for the food.”

“Ah! Is it to your liking?”

“It’s impressive. I’ll go out for some sightseeing, so can you look after my belongings?”

As I gave him a look, he moved with recognition and lifted the baggage I brought.

“Ah, yes! Please leave it to me. I’ll move these to your room.”

The employee, who was apparently an ‘expert’ in this sort of thing, feigned innocence while moving my bags to the second floor.

The stalkers that were trailing me were definitely watching me from afar.

If they confirmed that I ostentatiously left my bags here and left the inn, they were sure to come here to question the employee about me.

However, I was the one who cast the bait.

Now, they just needed to bite.

* * *

Who was it?

I wouldn’t ask the same lame question twice. I knew the answer.

The Raynac Empire.

It was the obvious answer.

They treated me with kindness on the outside, but they would definitely turn their backs on me as I wouldn’t stay under their control.

It was probably the king of magicians, who held intense curiosity about my powers.

If not, it could be the crown prince with his peculiar tastes who sent someone to do a background check on me.

In any case, I wouldn’t want it to be either of them.

I had to catch the stalkers.

I needed to resolve this situation before the horse arrived and I left for Sky Mountain Summit.

I couldn’t let them follow me after knowing they were there. If I let them be, it would become problematic.

I checked the time.

It had already been an hour since I started aimlessly wandering around the uninteresting town of Tercian.

They should’ve finished gathering information about me from the inn around now.

That was why I turned back toward the inn.

However, when I finally arrived there, the situation I was waiting for hadn’t happened.

“No one came.”

“……What?”

“I-it’s the truth. After you left, I was nervous about who would come…… but no one came.”

“……”

He didn’t look like he was lying.

There was a chance that the employee could’ve been paid off by the stalkers, but it wasn’t that either.

Because I could tell that there was a different reason.

“However, something odd did happen.”

“What was that?”

“For a span of about 3 minutes…… I have a gap in my memory.”

“……”

“It’s like that no matter how hard I try. While I was cleaning the tables, I fell unconscious, and when I came to be, I was laying down on the ground here.”

As I heard this, I could think of only one spell.

Mind Control.

* * *

* * *

Mind Control was a high-ranking 6th class spell that could dominate a person’s mind and control them.

The controlled person lost all memories of being controlled, and the dominator could peek into the memories of the dominated.

There was a high chance that they used this magic to learn all about the conversations I had with the employee.

Yeah.

They had confirmed that I knew I was being trailed.

As soon as I confirmed that a more cautious and powerful magician was after me…

“……Alright.”

I had to find another plan to capture my pursuer.

What method would be the best?

As I entered my room while contemplating this question, something caught my eye.

“……”

A neatly folded note was in the room.

On the note,

[I have no intention of bringing you harm, so don’t waste your time searching for me and resume your mission.]

Scrunch scrunch.

I scrunched up the note in my hand.

“They secretly came into my room…… and now they dare to ask me to not care?”

The fact that they left this note in my room was a threat saying that, if they wanted to, they could bring as much harm onto me as they wanted.

“……Alright. Go and try it.”

Rip rip.

I ripped apart the crumpled note, took all my belongings, and walked outside the inn.

Then, I just started running directly toward the place with the most people.

Straang asked me,

“What are you thinking of doing?”

“I’ll need to find them.”

“How are you going to find them like this?”

“Did you forget? I was 1st place in the triathlon. I won’t lose to anyone in running.”

The plan was a little dumb.

However, that was why I was that much more confident.

“It’s the start of tag.”

Tag.

For now, I was the one running from ‘it’, but that would change very soon.

Why?

“Open the minimap.”

“……You’re thinking of charging them head-on.”

“Of course.”

Because I had my two sturdy legs and a minimap.

* * *

“Magician of Screams, sir. Ruin Ardell is currently running away.”

The three magicians were observing Ruin from a ways away.

All of them had a crushed skull tattoo on the back of their necks.

Crushed skull tattoos.

They weren’t magicians that were officially members of the magic tower, but the tattoo symbolized them being a part of the ‘wicked mage’ magician group that remained in the basement of the Magician’s Tower and directly received the Fire King’s orders. 

“Should we chase him?”

“……”

The man called the Magician of Screams, who was in the middle of the group of three, said with a tired tone as he closed his eyes,

“Since we know what that guy’s objective is, we don’t have to strain ourselves. However…… if he wants us to play with him so much, it’ll be hard to decline. Also, I’m a little curious about this little magician who won the Grand Festival.”

“Then, what should we do?”

“Chase him. But don’t kill him.”

“Understood.”

With the order from the Magician of Screams, the two magicians next to him both jumped down from the rooftop and started chasing after Ruin.

However, Ruin was so fast, it was impossible to chase him without using teleportation magic.

On top of that, since he was moving around the busiest part of Tercian, without using pursuit magic, it was nearly impossible to chase Ruin’s trail.

“We’re about to lose him.”

“Use pursuit magic.”

“We’ll leave behind traces. Is that ok?”

“Well, it’ll be more fun that way.”

“Understood.”

They evidently had to use pursuit magic. 

The biggest downside of pursuit magic was the fact that the spell’s mana became imprinted in the area, so a magician like Ruin could use it to locate them.

But there were no other options.

If they went on like this, they would lose him.

“Trace Ball.”

A purple glowing mass appeared from the palm of the wicked mage, and this sphere started to follow Ruin’s tracks.

The two wicked mages that were following after the sphere stopped immediately.

It was because the sphere had suddenly stopped in place.

“……The trail has stopped.”

Looking at this, the Magician of Screams, who arrived late, spoke.

“No, the trail didn’t stop.”

“……What?”

“The guy was waiting for us.”

This was the truth.

“……!”

Bang!

Because, with the sound of something crumbling, Ruin had lept out from behind a wooden plank and ambushed one of the magicians.

Crack!

“……Uhk!”

One of the magicians had his chin before he realized what was going on, collapsing then and there. 

Ruin then grabbed the collapsing magician’s arm and broke it while they were falling.

Crunch!

“Uaaaack!”

With the sound of bones being shattered, Ruin shifted toward the next magician.

“……Hup!”

The magician tried to protect their body by creating a protective layer, but the fist launched by Ruin broke that barrier immediately and struck them in the middle of their forehead.

Crack!

They were flown back spewing blood as soon as the fist made contact.

After the two magicians were instantly decommissioned, only the Magician of Screams was left.

Even though he lost both of his subordinates, he only laughed, as if not feeling any danger from this situation.

“Hah…… Hahahah! So there was a reason the tower master told us to be cautious. I was curious as to what kind of person you were, so I played along…… but aren’t you a total monster?”

“Who are you guys?”

“Why ask if you know already? The tower master sent us to protect our junior.”

After hearing the word ‘protect’, Ruin’s expression instantly worsened.

“I have no recollection of having seniors like you. And this wouldn’t be protection, but rather surveillance.”

“Tomayto, tomahto. Same thing.”

“So, what are you going to do now?”

“I should complete my mission.”

As Ruin asked the question, the Magician of Screams pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and ripped it.

“I’ll see you later.”

Then, he disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

——