Chapter 354

“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!! THIS is what you’re having me help with!? You can’t be serious, Master!”

“Hahaha, no need to scream so loud, Pochi. I’m recalculating the magic formulas properly right now.”

“Why would I NOT scream!? I know I’m strong as all hell, but I’ll still get seriously hurt if I hit the ground after falling from this high up! Right, Master!? Hey–! Why are you laughing!? WHY!?”

There’s this little mountain near Eddo… which contains the cliff famous for being a suicide spot. And the very edge of that cliff is where Pochi and I are standing right now.

The sun is starting to set, so the view up here is really pretty. Truly the perfect weather for magic experimentation.

Looks like Pochi’s cheering me on as she holds on to an edge of my mantle. Hehehe…

“Your inner voice is coming out on your face, sir! And no, I’m NOT cheering you on! You should see yourself in a mirror, Master, because your eyes are looking really scary right now! Hey! Are you even listening!?”

“Nahhh, this is fine! You’re perfectly safe! I mean, I’d just cast a normal Whirlwind if things go south. Besides, this cliff is only a couple hundred meters high. It’s a piece of cake for a Heavenly Beast like you!”

“Gravity and physics are NOT a piece of cake, sir! Look at my face! I’m not enjoying this at all!”

Aww, look how happy she is. Hehehe, she actually can be cute sometimes.

“I’M! NOT! HAPPY! AHH, NOOOOOO! I’m gonna be sent to another world!!”

“Ugh, okay, fine…”

“Huh!? Are you actually changing your mind!?”

I picked Pochi up with one hand.

God damn, she’s sweaty as hell. How come? It’s pretty cool right now because of the wind up here.

“…M-Master?”

And her voice is shaky. Did she catch a cold?

Well, that’s not good. I’ll let her get some rest when we get home. After completing this experiment.

“C’mon, Pochi. I’ll jump down together with you — and then, fail or succeed, we head straight home! Hahaha!”

“GYAAAAAAHHHHHH!?!?”

“LET’S GOOOOOO!!”

“I’m falling! I’M FALLING! FAAALLLINGGGGGG!! I have to unlock my Heavenly Beast power! POWER! C’MON! NO, NO, NOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

“HAHAHAHAHAHA! And… Rise, A-raise, Levitation!”

In an instant, my body’s speed of descent sharply decreased.

“Hwuh–!?”

Pochi let out a weird noise as a result of the sudden change.

I proceeded to manipulate the flow of arcane energy to maintain the Levitation Spell Circle under my feet and control the direction of my glide as I held Pochi in one hand.

“……Huh?”

“See, Pochi? I can even change directions! The speed can be adjusted according to the amount of arcane energy I put in, and I can ascend or descend whenever I like! The only thing left to do now is getting used to the controls! …Hup!”

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!? W-we’re actually flying!?!?”

“This is it, Pochi! It’s complete! This magic spell lets its caster fly through the sky — and I’m the first ever human to do it! It’s THE Levitation spell!!”

“This is amazing, sir!!”

It worked, as expected.

By using a Boundary magecraft to force a connection between Gravity Stamp and Whirlwind, I was then able to draw up the final formula and build up the Circle. That’s it — Boundary Magecraft CAN lock in magic spells. I have definitely used it in fights before — it’s a very convenient and effective method of defense against attack magic.

I never imagined that it could be applied to the process of Circle drawing, though. It’s nothing complicated, either — just connect the parts that… well, need connecting.

Knowing that it’s possible to do this, maybe I can finally start working seriously on that other spell…!

“Hehehe, I knew you could do it, Master! I never doubted you for a second! Totally! You’re the kind of guy who always comes through when it matters, after all!!”

“Yeah! If you hadn’t been cheering me on, maybe I wouldn’t have succeeded! Hahaha!”

“Ngh–!? W-well, looks like your memory isn’t quite in touch with reality… Whew…”

“Hmm? Did you say something?”

“N-nothing! Yes, nothing at all! Totally nothing! Everyone perfectly fine, sir!”

“HAHAHA! Of course! I’m in a good mood now — how about we get something delicious on our way back?”

“Y-yes– Oof…!”

Hmm? Pochi looks like she’s in pain — more specifically, that’s the expression she makes when she’s struggling with… moral choices.

“Mmph–! Ugh…! Hah… A-actually, I’d like to just go home, sir.”

“WHAT!?”

Now that’s not what I’d hear from Pochi every day. Is she actually sick, after all?

“Uh, you all right?”

“W-well, I feel like it’d be unfair otherwise… actually, don’t worry about it, sir…”

“Oh yeah, did you just catch a cold or what? C’mon, let’s hurry home, then you can get some rest.”

“Y-yes, sir! A… achoo! Achoo!”

Pochi made a face like she was in pain, complete with tears in her eyes — the kind of face she’d make when making difficult decisions. She proceeded to step onto the Teleportation Spell Circle that I had drawn.

Back in my room in the Eddo mansion, Pochi collapsed right onto the floor, exhausted.

Looks like she’s just about accustomed to the T’oued way of sleeping on a mattress laid out right on the straw mat floor, with no bed frame or any of that fancy stuff.

Apparently, I was exhausted too, because I also fell asleep right then.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“Gwah!?”

In the morning, I woke up to a powerful impact and weight on my abdomen.

Opening my eyes a little bit, I saw a… woman… straddling me.

She’s grinning, sticking out her tongue. Oh, I know that devilish grin all too well.

It’s one of the Silver members… But who is it, again? Oh yeah, it’s the little sister of the pair of siblings — her name’s Betty. She’s always playful, so much so that one would think she’d been spending her whole life fighting and joking around. Yeah, I remember her.

What does she intend to do now, though? I have no idea — and this is exactly the time when Betty is at her best.

“Hehehe…!”

Betty’s voice changed from a girlish giggle to a low chuckle of a middle-aged man, and she placed her hands on my sides.

“W-what in the–!? Hey, s-stop it, Betty!”

“Tickle tickle tickle~~!!”

“Wha– whoa– hey! BETTY!? Haha… ahaha… hey! Ngh… heh… ahahahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

My scream-like laughter echoed through the mansion.

And apparently, Betty’s scheme is contagious… because other people are joining in as well.

The first one to join is Pochi. Seeming to have sensed Betty’s goal and my suffering the moment she woke up, she immediately pinned down my right arm.

“You’re not going anywhere, sir!”

Next up is Bruce — ever the playful guy, his sensibilities are practically the same as Betty’s. He held my left arm in an armlock. Looks like he’s been in this room since the beginning of this scene.

“ORA! I’ve locked down the Holy Warrior’s left arm!”

And here comes Reid. He slid open the door to my room and saw the chaos unfold, and he proceeded to grab my right leg.

“SHAAA! Gotta catch ’em all!”

In a corner of my eye, I saw a small silhouette darkened by the contrasting sunlight behind it. They seem to be calling other people over with a wave of their hand, and then…

“BOOM!”

They shouted out and sat on my left leg.

I recognized from the voice that that was none other than Natsu.

As for the people who were called over…

“Hup!”

One was Mana, Lina’s older sister and Reid’s little sister.

She helped Natsu pin down my left leg, because of course Natsu wouldn’t be able to do that alone — and then she added to Betty’s tickling attack.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA! Ngh…! L-let go…!”

“–! Holy hell, he’s strong!”

Bruce shouted as I flexed up my muscles and attempted to break free from everyone’s hold.

But Team Silver still has other powerful warriors.

One person’s right foot is placed on the right side of my chest — and another person’s on the left.

“R-Ryan!? And Blazer!?”

“Looks like you’re having fun, Sir Asley.”

“Hey. We just got back.”

With my chest being pushed down, my back was firmly held in place, so I could not move at all.

In a corner of my left eye, Reyna is sitting on her knees, putting her hand over her mouth — She’s probably surprised, and should help me out of here–

“Hehehe… Hello, Sir Asley.”

…NO!?

“I’ll be cheering you on back here, Sir Asley!”

Then there’s Adolf standing to her right.

Boy, if you think I can get out of THIS situation, then you’re expecting WAY too much from a Holy Warrior!

Still, why do I feel threatened by those two, even when they’re staying on the sidelines!?

Okay, there’s one more person I could get help from. Tifa and Tarawo should be back in Beilanea and going to the University now, but there’s still one kind-hearted flower left among the ranks of Team Silver!

That girl who stayed home like me, going her best to take care of the kids — the voice of reason of this team!

“Excuse me.”

And there she is! Haruhana!

…She pushed her back against Betty’s and sat down on my abdomen.

This isn’t right. NONE OF THIS IS RIGHT!

“Okay, now I’m going all out… Asley!”

Betty turned to me, looking even scarier than a Devil.

My excellent Familiar, the one pinning down my right arm right now, has inadvertently taught me just the thing I need in this sort of situation.

Ah, yes, the perfect thing to go with my expression of sheer terror… A SCREAM!

“GYAAAAAAHHHHHH!?!?”