Chapter 30 (1/2)

Chapter 30

The easiest way to define Bercht was to call it a village built on the ridge of snowy mountains or an independent country with no borders with a population of about 1 thousand people in the heart of a snowfield.

It was divided into 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th borders, each having its own entrance, residences, and restrictions.

The first border was open to civilians, including knights and adventurers, but only wizards could enter the borders that followed it.

Sylvia had already spent two nights at the second border.

“…”

She was bored.

She thought there would be something special. But aside from the occasional magical phenomenon, there really was nothing to see.

There was still time until the Bercht conference, so all she could do was study.

“… Information…”

But, her father’s words kept bothering her. There was apparently a planned ambush on one of the trains heading to where she was. She questioned if it was really a secret.

If it wasn’t, then what would it be?

By any chance, wasn’t it an instigation?

“My lady, 14 Families have already arrived.”

Syrio went inside the cabin then, enjoying his specialty snowfield ice cream.

“Who has arrived from the 12 Families?”

“Hmm? Oh, everyone has arrived aside from Yukline and Riwaynde. That aside, I heard many of the chaperones are the same age as my lady. Of course, there are more who are three or four years older than you, but would you like to meet them? There are also people from the kingdom. It’s an opportunity to broaden your horizon~”

Yukline.

She paid attention to that family more than anything else. “There’s no need for that.”

Sylvia shook her head, pretending it was insignificant. “I’m going to get some fresh air.”

“What? Oh, okay. Do with this information what you will, but the assistants are enjoying tea time at a cafe called ‘Snow and Rain.'”

Sylvia left the hotel without listening to Syrio.

Walking out, she hid somewhere with no human traces and rummaged through her pocket, enveloping a blue pebble with her hand.

It was the mana stone given by Deculein as a reward for passing the test.

“… With this…” She closed her eyes and released some mana, causing the mana stone to coagulate each of the released pieces together.

Mana gathered around it, forming a specific outline. At first glance, it was a silhouette that was hard to identify.

Sylvia colored the empty line. Her ‘red, blue, green’ colors spread like smoke and soon breathed life and perfection into it.

It was tied up.

For the first time, she completed a creative activity. Dizzy, Sylvia stumbled for a moment but still admired her creation.

‘As expected, I’m a genius, but I can’t get careless.’

The hawk could flutter its wings and blink its eyes, and it could even move by itself. However, the most important aspect of it was its function.

Sylvia took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

She surely couldn’t see anything beyond her eyelids, but gradually, a completely different landscape appeared despite the darkness.

She was watching the world through the hawk’s vision.

Sylvia opened her eyes, satisfied.

“Fly high and show me what you see.”

The hawk nodded as if it understood.

“Follow the train tracks and show me what’s going on.”

Whooooosh—!

The hawk’s wings flapped, and it then soared.

Sylvia looked at the figure of fluttering sleet flying high for a while.

*****

… 30 minutes later.

It didn’t take long for the express train to pass the fourth station.

They looked at the ground as they sat in the mountain range, igniting a bomb attached to the bottom of the train.

It was the appointed time, the appointed place.

Booom—!

The explosion broke the train’s frame and caused it to shoot up.

Due to the explosion, the train got derailed, rolled into the cliff, and was crushed when it slammed against the bottom.

Or at least it should have.

“…!”

Instead, the train stopped midair, with a total of 3 carriages remaining suspended in space.

That was as expected.

He was a little surprised by Deculein’s ability, which far surpassed his imagination, but Deculein’s magical talent didn’t catch him off guard.

He agreed to do the job, knowing full well he’d have to deal with him, after all.

There was also no need to kill him.

They only needed to hold him back from attending the Bercht conference. Not long after, they received the order to charge.

Dozens of them rushed into the train midair, smashing the windows for a swift entry.

At that moment, however, an unknown metal rose.

Ting ting ting ting—!

Like stepping on a trap, a fragment-like awl appeared and pierced their vital points, penetrating through their flesh too easily.

Their numbers quickly dwindled down to five. However, those survivors were the core, the strongest, of their team.

“…”

Deculein sat down relaxedly and looked at them. His valuables were unscathed, and the terrorists couldn’t hastily approach him.

He looked off-guard, but they couldn’t be fooled. They never knew when metals would break out again.

“Huuuuuuh….?”

Allen opened his eyes then, looking at Deculein groggily. Deculein put into practice what he learned from the martial art book.

That was, he pressed the acupressure point on Allen’s neck to knock him out, causing him to fall asleep again along with the sound of a balloon being deflated.

“…?”

Deculein felt some sense of incompatibility at that point. He was so disparate and had seemingly forgotten the situation he was in. He looked at his hand.

The sense of his fingertips….were too soft. It was tender. The acute sense of his [Iron Man] ability allowed him to distinguish even the faintest differences in his skin.

Allen.

He already expected one of his secrets, but the other…

“…”

Deculein looked at his unconscious Assistant Professor and looked outside the train again. From far away, Veron was approaching.

The situation had already been wrapped up to some extent, though.

“It’s over.”

At Deculein’s words, his enemies laughed, then swiftly ran out the window again. He wanted to catch them, but he lacked mana.

“…”

Only then did he stand up. It was time to get off the train, after all.

“Did you say you were Roen?”

“…!”

As he was about to crawl out, Roen felt a jolt course through him. Sweating profusely, he looked back at Deculein. “Y-yes. That…”

“Take this kid with you.”

“Oh, yes, yes! Sure!”

Roen got up quickly and carried Allen and was about to get off the train when he paused. The distance between the train in midair and the train track was too far.

“Uhm…can you lower the train a bit…..” Deculein shook his head.

Despite its enormous weight, the train was mainly composed of the ‘metal’ attribute, making simple ‘stops’ possible.

But no further movement was possible.

“Get off on your own.”

Just in time, Veron jumped onto the train.

“Oh, Sir Knight!” Roen was overjoyed.

Veron held him, who had Allen on his back, like an object. “I’m going to jump.”

“What? No, Sir Knight! I’m not prepared yet—”

“That’s okay.” He jumped off.

“Gaaaaaah—” Roen, shrieking strangely, fainted as soon as he landed on the ground. The knight placed the two unconscious men on the train track and jumped back onto the train.

“…”

He then stood still as he looked at Deculein, who thought he was here to pick him up. An important truth entered his mind soon enough, however.

This was it for Veron.

He came ‘walking.’

Deculein calmly called his treasure, and the knight looked inside the train that was floating.

“… The front of the train already departed for Bercht, but a follow-up countermeasure will come up soon.” Veron explained.

Deculein replied. “Are they safe?”

“Yes. There’s only the two of us in this carriage now.”

Deculein glared at Veron. Beside him, a blood-thirsty finishing move was rising. Was he off-guard?

Or was Veron too perfect?

Whatever it was, it was truly amazing. He managed to even fool his character’s eyes.

“Veron.”

“We’ve rescued the rest of the passengers,” He continued as if telling him not to worry. “So, it’s now your turn to die.”

Deculein laughed in vain at the weird flow of his reasoning. “… I’ll give you a chance to think deeply about this.”

“I’ve thought about it hundreds of times. You have to die.”

He couldn’t count the reasons. Veron kicked the ground and pounced on him. The treasure arrived just in time and blocked his way, but he quickly unsheathed his sword and swung it 180 degrees.

Claaang—!

With one swing, the treasure with ten handles tumbled down.

The sword that bounced off floated and continuously attacked Veron in every direction.

Clang—! clang—!

The frictional sounds of swords clashing thundered through the place like raging fires.

There wasn’t any gap in his refined swordsmanship, and his defense was reaching a certain point of mastery as well.

“…”

There was a clear difference in their class.

At this rate, Deculein knew he would be defeated the moment he used up all of his mana.

Hence, Deculein recollected his treasure. Veron, still on alert, attacked with all his might again. However, even with such a violent attack incoming, Deculein didn’t close his eyes.

It was all to cancel out his psychokinesis.

It was a much better choice than being hit by that blade.

“—Uugggh!”

Kuuuuung—!

Their drop, which had been suspended midair, continued again, the train swiftly being swept down by the gravity.

*****

… It didn’t fall all the way to the bottom, however.