Book 6: Chapter 12: The Bargaining Monica (1/2)
”Monicaaaa. Are you aliiiive?”
Monica, who was turned her body over in the fountain, responded in a faint voice in her heavy breath.
”…some…how…”
”Wow, that's amazing. You've drained almost all of your mana.”
”…yeah, I haven't… used this amount of mana… in a long time.”
Speaking of her combat style, Monica usually used minimum consumption of mana to shoot enemies down with precise control.
However, in order to destroy the barrier created by Louis Miller, she had no choice but to use the most powerful spell she could use.
Summoning the Spirit King had cost 70 to 80 percent of Monica's total mana. It's not something that can be used casually.
Right now, she just wanted to let this exhaustion take over and fall asleep, but she still had things to do.
”…I guess it was my loss…”
On Nero's shoulder, Casey smiled helplessly.
”Casey…”
Monica slowly raised her heavy body to look up at Casey.
Casey looked neither hateful nor angry, only smiling sadly as if he had given up on everything.
”Why do you look like that? I was the bad guy who's deceived you.”
The only reason Casey had been so nice to Monica was to get closer to Felix. And it had worked well. Because of that, she was able to find out the schedules that the student council planned.
That's how Monica had been taken advantage of by Casey.
”…even so…”
Monica squeezed the bosom of her dress and began to frantically wring out her voice.
”You are the person who had invited me… whenever it was eating lunch or visiting elective courses… and it makes me happy.”
Even if her reason was to take advantage of Monica, she still couldn't hate Casey.
The girl who put the fried fish in bread, then ate it cheerfully as if tasted so delicious.
The girl who would casually mediate Claudia and Lana when they got into a fight.
The girl who said that she was good at embroidery then spread out a beautifully embroidered handkerchief, only to smile bashfully.
”…Please don't look at me like that, Monica.”
Casey closed her eyes and shook her head gently.
”I was the evildoer who tried to kill His Highness… you should properly hate me for that.”
To what extent Casey's behavior was an act, Monica had no idea.
Still, she didn't think all of that was a lie.
After had attempted the assassination of the royal family, Casey and her family would end up being executed.
………executed.
Monica felt a chill run down her spine.
At that moment, Nero looked up at the sky and clicked his tongue.
”Hey, Monica. There's a bad guy coming here. I'll be hiding over there, you hear me?”
Nero placed Casey, who was still too numb to move, down on the ground and quickly running away. Perhaps he tried to disguise himself as a cat behind a tree.
She knew that sooner or later since she had messed with the barrier without permission, ”that person” would come.
Although Monica was staggering on her foot, she still stood firm and looked up at the sky.
Far away in the sky, a small black dot could be seen. It was approaching her way at a tremendous speed… did he even think about his landing?
Had a bad feeling, Monica took a few steps backward.
Then, just a few seconds later, two figures fell from the sky—spinning wildly as if they were going to pierce the ground.
One of the figures, a beautiful woman in a maid's uniform, spun around at high speed in an upright position and landed at a point where she was buried knee-deep in the ground.
On the other hand, the other figure behind her swung his staff and lifted his body just in time to avoid being buried into the ground.
”Daaaaaamn you, stupid maid! Didn't I tell you to fix that way of your landing?”
”I named it the Rotating Landing Method. It is highly offensive and very stylish.”
”There is no such thing as stylish when you're buried knee-deep in the ground, you damned maid!”
Louis Miller of the [Barrier Magician]—the man with braided chestnut hair with monocle—clicked his tongue loudly and stared down at Monica.
Then he put his finger between his eyebrows and let out a deep sigh.
”I thought my barrier was in trouble, so I came to see what was going on…it was you, after all, my colleague.”
”I-It's been a while, Louis.”
After Monica bowed her head, Louis bent over to look into Monica's face, giving her a quizzical look.
”…You've almost drained all of your mana? This is the first time I've seen you like this. Even when you've finished killing more than 20 wyverns hadn't made you in this state.”
Louis squinted his pale purple eyes behind his monocle and looked alternately at the destroyed fountain and the slumped-down Casey.
”Now, young lady over there, I take it you're a student at this school… Are you an enemy or an ally?”
When Monica clammed up, Casey said it with a casual tone.
”I am an enemy. A foolish enemy who tried to assassinate His Highness Felix, but failed.”
”I see… Lynn, restrain her.”
After Louis gave his order, the beautiful woman in the maid's uniform pulled her buried knee out of the ground and restrained Casey by her hands behind her back. Casey did not give any resistance as she meekly did what was told.
”Now, my colleague. Can you explain the situation?”
”A [Conch Flame] was set up in the west warehouse where the fireworks were being brought in.”
Louis frowned at the words of the [Conch Flame]. He, too, fully understood how terrifying that magic tool was.
Not to mention the terrifying sight if those fireworks were burning nearby.
”… I figured my defensive barrier wouldn't be able to completely defend against it, so I borrowed your barrier, Louis.”
”I am sure I had put up a decently sturdy protective barrier to cover the large-scale barrier.”
”… I summoned the Spirit King to destroy it.”
”I am sure I also had filled that the large-scale barrier themselves with dummy formulas to prevent anyone from tampering.”
”Um, actually, I'm pretty good at detecting such things… ah, but it took me almost a minute to spot those dummies. It's true!”
”… a minute? All of those things, you only took a minute…?”
Monica's words made Louis's face twitch.
He was silent for a while with a sunken face, but then he grunted with a bitter face.
”…If there are any incidents in the future where my barriers get altered, I will suspect you first and foremost.”