Book 7: Chapter 14: Barneys Lie (1/2)
Eugene Pittman was a professor who taught range magic in Minerva and was also the advisor to the Chess Club. With his mild personality, he was somewhat indecisive. The typical unreliable gentleman.
But that Pittman—or rather, the person who had been impersonating Pittman—was grinning, with his mouth curved up like a crescent moon.
”Wow, I guess Minerva's kids are really smart, huh?”
His voice was distinctly different from that of Pittman. It was too low for a woman and too high-pitched for a man, almost sweet and sticky, like burnt honey simmered in a pot.
The person who took the appearance of Pittman grinned with a mouth like a crescent moon and lifted one hand to chant quickly.
He's a magician!
When it comes to the magic battle, Barney, who can use shortened chanting, has the overwhelming advantage. But just as Barney began to chant a shortened spell, the fake Pittman was chanting as well as he lunged at Barney. His hand moved like holding a whip and struck Barney in the stomach.
”Gah…”
The fake Pittman then pointed the tip of his finger at Barney, who winced as he held his stomach.
”Be bound, lightning chain.”
Upon completing the last verse of his chant, an electric shock shot out from the fake Pittman's fingertips. It bound Bernie's entire body like a chain, causing him a sharp pain all over his body.
”Guhaaaaa…”
Unable to bear the intense pain, Barney convulsed on the floor, wincing.
The fake Pittman put his hand over his mouth and chuckled.
”Oh dear, an assassin doesn't necessarily use magic as his only weapon, you know? Magic sure is useful, but not very efficient.”
Assassin. That one word was enough for Barney to understand the purpose of this man. Perhaps this man has switched places with Minerva's teacher and infiltrated Serendia Academy to assassinate an important person.
And of all the important people, only one person who will always show up at this chess tournament came to mind.
… his goal is to assassinate the second prince, Felix Ark Ridill.
Should the second prince be assassinated, it would definitely destroy the political balance in the country. That alone must be prevented. More importantly, his pride would not allow this guy who talked like a fool to continue to beat him up.
Barney silenced his voice and tried to do a shortened chant. However, the fake Pittman caught on immediately and stomped over his head. Which stopped Barney from chanting as his face slammed into the floor, and his glasses cracked and tumbled across the floor.
His nose and mouth are in pain, with some blood coming out of them.
”Don't you think magic is inconvenient? They are quite powerful when activated but the need of using chants each time used makes them inferior to simple violence like this. I do like guns, but they make a lot of noise, so they aren't really suitable for assassination.”
Following by twirling his fingertips, the fake Pittman chanted some line. It was a water spell.
”Death by drowning is awful, you know? The corpse is going to be soggy… just like this face I borrowed.”
Barney turned pale as he realized what he meant by those words.
The real Eugene Pittman had been drowned in this same water ball, unable to escape.
”You can't chant in the water… what better way to kill a sorcerer? Now, go die in a water cage, helpless and struggling.”
Just as the fake Pittman was about to swing his finger down, the door to the waiting room opened.
A small figure could be seen behind the door, it was a frightened-looking Monica.
”…Barney!?”
Monica screamed at the sight of Barney lying on the floor covered in bruises.
The fake Pittman clicked his tongue and directed his fingertip where the water ball had been floating from Barney to Monica. It was impossible for the dull Monica to avoid it, which naturally, lead her to be trapped in the water ball helplessly.
”…It would be a problem if you start screaming. Unfortunately, you're going to die right there, little girl.”
Inside the water ball, Monica was struggling, breathing air bubbles out of her mouth.
This water ball has ”a strong inward barrier” which made it easy to enter but hard to escape. Once a person was trapped inside, it would be difficult for that person to escape.
No matter how skilled the magician was, without the ability to chant, there was nothing she could do but wait for death.
—Right, if she was a magician who needed to chant.
There was a cracking sound like glass breaking. When the fake Pittman turned around, he was startled looking at the water ball barrier that trapped Monica had a crack, and now it was leaking out of water.
”How did you…!”
As soon as the fake Pittman shouted, the barrier shattered completely, leaving Monica fell to the floor, with water spraying all over her. After coughed heavily, she then cast a spell without chanting.
She created an invisible mass of wind, then swung down over his head, slamming the fake Pittman's body down on the floor relentlessly.
”Guha… wha… how… who did…”
In the state where his body was pressed down onto the floor, the fake Pittman was scanning his surroundings with bloodshot eyes.
I see…
Looking at the fake Pittman's behavior, Barney was secretly convinced. The fake Pittman hasn't realized that the wielder of this wind magic was Monica.
After all, people believed that one cannot use magic without chanting, that much was common sense.
And yet, the sole abnormal magician in the world who had ignored that common sense— and that abnormal [Silent Witch] was such a tiny girl, who could imagine that?
When the thought of Monica was the user of the no-chant spell slipped off from his mind, what left for the fake Pittman was perhaps wary of the magicians lurking in his surrounding.
Monica slightly raised her head to look at the fake Pittman. With just that gesture, she cast her next spell. It was an elementary electric shock spell. The power was not very high, but it was enough to render one person unconscious.
The fake Pittman jolted convulsively and stopped moving as his eyes went white.
Monica let out a sigh of relief and slowly stood up to look at Barney.
”…Um, are you okay?”