CH 48

It’s not like I came here knowing nothing about Anheim. There are elves living in Zenith that are originally from Anheim, and the country of elves I stopped by before has a connection with this country too, so I had a lot of opportunities to hear about it. At the very least, I could faintly imagine what kind of country it was.

And now I’m actually here, and it’s not that far from what I thought. There’s no doubt that Anheim is the best country in the empire when it comes to magic. One look at their streets makes that obvious.

That elf that got drunk and boastful in a bar in Zenith, and told me there are strong sorcerers in Anheim that could wipe the floor with me, probably wasn’t completely lying.

…But these guys twisting their ugly faces with reckless abandon aren’t it.

“Are ya ready bro!?”

They keep talking while taking things out of their pockets. They’re metal plates that dully reflect light. Those are entry-level tools that can cut, stab, and could kill someone if you hit them with them. They’re called knives, and it doesn’t feel like they’re really using any sort of magic enhancement.

“…”

What a disappointment. I thought everyone In Anheim could use magic.

I thought for sure they were going to use some new magic I’ve never seen.

“Hehe, too scared to speak, uh? Too late to apologize, after you barged into our bro’s territory.”

He holds that knife with an underhanded grip and smoothly brings it over to my neck. I’m sure he practiced that a lot.

“Kihi.”

This minion thinks my life is in his hands, and has a sadistic smile on his face. The other minions and their leader are all watching with creepy grins on their faces too.

They’re all wondering how to torment this nice gentle man in front of them… I guess even elves can have ugly bad guy faces.

“Hey.”

“Ahn!?”

“Have you… Ever killed someone?”

I’m not an expert on Anheim law, but I’m sure it’s against the law to kill anyone without a bounty on their head. We don’t need any more places like Zenith, where killers can go unpunished.

“Ah, you think this knife’s a bluff? Too bad, I’ve killed two times already. Killing more’s not gonna matter.”

He’s trying his hardest to sound threatening. Then he starts triumphantly cackling.

“You’re gonna be number three. Say goodbye to the kid…”

“No need to.”

This is already over.

“Ah…?”

He lets out that stupid sound with his eyes wide open. He’s looking at the knife that is perfectly still, and his hand that’s holding it.

“What’s goin on!?”

His knife was supposed to have cut my neck already, but I’m still alive, and he doesn’t understand why he can’t move his arm. It makes sense for him to be confused.

He didn’t think for a second he’d be the one to lose this. To him, he was just having fun hunting, and never imagined he’d be the one to be hunted.

And that carelessness is robbing him of his life.

“I’ll tell you one thing. Real killers don’t count the people they’ve killed.”

“…!?”

The small water ball I’m creating covers his head.

His face is dyed with fear, as he can’t hold his breath anymore and starts gasping.

“Gagobo, gabah!?”

He can’t control his body, and can’t even struggle.

With his knife still in his hand, and in the same position he was before, the man faints.

I check to see if he’s out, and disperse the water ball and undo the lock on his body. He falls to the ground like a marionette whose strings were cut, and so does the knife with a shrill sound.

“Gaha!”

I kick him in his completely unguarded abdomen, and he spits out water while still unconscious.

…If I made that water ball disappear a few seconds later, he’d be dead for sure. If this was Zenith, he’d be dead and I’d think nothing of it.

“Who’s next?”

I turn to the others, whose smiles have turned to terror.

“Y-you bastard! What did you do to George!?”

“Surround him!”

Every one of them, except their leader, rushes to surround me. But they don’t carelessly get close to me like that other guy did. Their hearts are bound by the fear of whatever I might do to them.

I could deal with them one at a time, but I don’t want to cause a fuss. We’re outside the main street, but it’s not like no one can see us.

I do the same thing I did to the last guy, and envelop their heads with water, until the only one left standing is the leader.

His face tells me he’s just barely containing his fear. I take one step forward, and his thin body trembles.

“Do you want to never come near this place again, or die? Pick one.”

“Eek…!”

I hold up my hand, and activate several magic circles.

Someone who knows this stuff would know most of them don’t make sense, but it doesn’t look like this guy’s an expert on magic, so his face twists with fear and he takes off running.

“Hey, you forgot something.”

“Guah!?”

I lift the unconscious men with magic, and throw them at the guy that’s running. They hit his back, and he lets out an anguished yell as they bury him.

“…I guess that does it.”

If this happened before, I would’ve probably just killed them, circumstances and law be damned. I didn’t hesitate to kill bad people before, and that hasn’t changed, but this time I feel like something inside me is stopping me.

Is raising Ririi making me soft? Is the capital taking away the influence from Zenith? I don’t know the reason, but it feels like this softness is pulling the rug out from underneath me.

This is what I think about as I head back to the bar, where two people are waiting for me.