Chapter 232 (1/2)

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Chapter 232 – Ivan's Fireworks

Ivan's Fireworks

Ivan woke up to the sounds of swords clas.h.i.+ng outside. He was drinking up until two hours ago, so he was still a little groggy, but he needed to get up.

「Ivan! We got company!」

A knight, one of the men Alexei sent for reinforcement, stormed in through the door. Just like Ivan, he was drinking a while ago too, but while his face was red, he was already armed.

「S-Sorry! I'll be right there!」

「You can bring your sword, but don't use it. You're drunk, it'll only get in the way. Either tie up enemies, or help our comrades!」

「G-Got it!」

The knigh bolted through the hallway. As Ivan stood up, he tripped on the sheets and tumbled down to the floor.

「Ouch…」

Covering his face, he caught sight of his bag propped against the wall, a thin rod sticking out of it.

「O-Oh, right. I need to call Hikaru.」

It was given to him by Hikaru to use if the enemy attacked at night. At the tip of the rod was a chrysalis-shaped object with a small string extending from it.

「Let's see… A vase…」

Ivan shoved the rod into the empty vase with the chrysalis pointed upwards. As he opened the window, a chill breeze rushed in, and he could clearly hear men shouting as they fought. I need to join them soon. Why did I even get drunk? Ivan thought.

He shook his head.「I gotta do this first.」

A small candle still burned on the candlestand on the table.

「Uh, he said to light it up.」

Ivan took both the candlestick and the vase to the window. As he brought the flame close to the string, it made a hissing sound and gave off sparks. Ivan's eyes widened as the spark quickly consumed the string.

「What the?!」

He thought the chrysalis would explode, but instead it let out a shrill noise as it launched high into the night sky along with the rod before going off with a bang. It was a so-called skyrocket that, of course, Ivan knew nothing about.

「Wh-What was that…?」He stood there, dumbfounded.「I-I gotta go, too.」He then bolted out of the room.

Hikaru slept alone in his room. Right now, Catherine was in the apartment as well. She could've slept at the mansion where she stayed when cla.s.ses were in session, but the servants weren't around during winter. He couldn't let her stay in a huge mansion all alone.

Suddenly, light coming from a magic item illuminated his entire room. Created by Katy, it functioned by lighting up once the skyrocket exploded. Through some sort of a radio wave, the explosion would cause a mana reaction that would trigger the device. His place might be close to the academy, but he couldn't possibly hear the explosion.

Hikaru explained about the radio that they discovered in the Zubura ruins to Katy, and she made progress in her studies about it. As for the skyrocket, Katy herself learned about it from the catalog of artifacts. The fact that she could create this with little information just proved how incredible she was as a Magic Item Specialist.

「They're here, huh?」

Hikaru quickly got out of bed and changed. After wearing his cloak and fastening the wakizas.h.i.+ on his waist, he was good to go.

「Hikaru.」

He was met by Lavia and Catherine in their pajamas in the living room. The magic lamp emitted only a faint light, and he couldn't see clearly, but he thought Catherine was surprisingly blessed around the chest area.

「Sorry I woke you up. I'm going.」

「Okay. We'll—」

With his mobility, it would be much easier if Hikaru went alone, and Lavia's forte was large-scale magic against a large number of enemies. She wouldn't be able to do much this time.

「You can go back to sleep.」he said.

「Kay.」

「W-Wait! How can you be so calm about this?!」Catherine exclaimed.

「You can stay up, then, if you want. Anyway, I'm in a hurry.」

「Bye.」Lavia said.

「Hm… Take care, then.」Catherine added, still not convinced if this was the right idea.

Both Hikaru and Lavia were already used to urgent situations, while Catherine was not.