CH 1

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「Burn, the breath of the old dragons! Devour! Flame of purgatory!」

As a man dressed in a blue robe finished casting, a whirlwind of fire arose.

All sight was dyed red instantly as the forest turned into a terrifying, burning hell.

「You did it, right!?」

「I don’t know! but he should have been eaten by the flames!」

Two people voiced their thoughts after seeing the destruction the flames brought.

One was the man with the blue robe, the other was a young man in thick leather armor.

What was once filled with lush green forest trees had been turned into an unnatural, burnt void by that spell.

The burning of the flames that the man had summoned had stained many trees black.

Together, they stood amongst the smoldering dust and embers.

But the silhoutte that should be there could not be found

Only flames remained, there was no sign of human life.

They had expected a carbonized person to appear on the ground, but such a thing was not found within the newly created burnt area.

「Search!」

The man with the blue robe raised his voice.

The battle had not ended yet, the men remained vigilant.

If they were not cautious, they may become the hunted rather than the hunters.

「You’re late」

A bored voice spoke up.

At that moment, the man in the leather armor was suddenly attacked from behind.

He quickly turned around and managed to prevent the attack using the broadsword in his hands.　

The sword that was moved subconsciously managed to catch the enemies blow before it connected with his body.

The sound of colliding metal resonated.

After preventing the attack, the man was astonished to see the enemy’s appearance.

Within the line of sight of the man there was….nobody.

However there was proof that an enemy had attacked, the weapon that had attacked him, a shortsword, was still there.

A strong force was pressing against the man’s sword.

「This is..sword magic!?」

Although they had been informed in advance about the target, it was quite different to see it in person rather than hear it through a contact.

A sword could leave a person’s hands, dance in the air and kill someone ruthlessly.

Most people would laugh at the absurdity of such a story.

The man himself had been dubious of this until a while ago.

However at this moment, the man understood that the information heard from the client was the truth without a doubt.

「Ku, quickly!」

The short sword returned to dancing in the air.

As the man with the leather armor breathed out, the sword attacked again with tremendous speed, not giving him chance to catch his breath.

He was immediately put on the defensive again.

「Coward! Show yourself!」

Seeing his friend close to collapse, the man in the blue robe screamed.

「Coward? I don’t want to hear that from someone who attacked so suddenly with flames」

The owner of the voice laughed.

「But, if you want me to come out then I will」

At the same time as he said that, a man appeared in the shadow of a big burnt tree.

Medium build, with black eyes and hair. A fairly common appearance.

Excluding the violet colored cloth wrapped around his head, it was a boy with the atmosphere that you could lose him in a crowd.

He was wearing a light-weight purple robe.

The light gear made him seem like a magician at first sight, yet for some reason there was a broadsword on the belt at his waist.

On the other hand he didn’t seem to possess a cane, so he might not be a magician.

「You finally show yourself!」

The blue robed man raised his cane and began chanting right away.

He aimed to finish the boy whilst the man in the leather armor fought the floating shortsword.

As long as he was manipulating that sword with magic, he can’t use any other magic.

「Eat this!」

The blue robed man released a cluster of fireballs after a short chant.

Both hands ablaze, burning fireballs appeared in the space pointed by the cane and rushed towards the boy noiselessly.

Since the boy was controlling the shortsword with magic, he could not afford to cast magic to protect himself.

The fireball attacked with tremendous speed.

It was not something a magician who has never trained in body arts could avoid.

「I’ll receive it!」

The man was convinced by his victory, however what he saw next caused his jaw to drop.

Just before the fireball collided with him, the boy shook his arm and the fireball immediately disappeared.

「Wh, what!? What is this!?」

It was quite incomprehensible for the blue robed man.

The shortsword was still being operated by the boy, skillfully fighting his companion.

Conversely, the boy should not be able to use any other magic whilst controlling the shortsword.

Nevertheless, the fireballs released by the blue robed man had disappeared. No, they were erased.

「I did not do something particularly extraordinary though?」

Contrary to the blue robed man’s shocked voice, the boy spoke clearly.

「Well, whatever」

As the boy muttered a shortsword suddenly penetrated the blue robed mans chest from behind.

「Ah….why…?…hahaha」

The blue robed man turned his head towards his companion who was still fighting the shortsword, then looked down at his own chest,

Blood filled his lungs and spilled out of his mouth.

「Two….swords..?」

He did not expect that the boy could control two at the same time. The blue robed man collapsed as the shortsword passed through his defenseless body.

「He…hey! Keep it together!」

His companion spoke up, however there was no reply.

The shortsword suddenly came out of the body of the blue robed man and began attacking the man in the leather armor.

It was already difficult to defend against one shortsword.

If another sword was added, it would be impossible to defend against.

「Damn it!」

The man in the leather armor realized his disadvantage and rebuked himself.

Leaving his companion behind and escaping seemed to be the correct choice in this case.

From the beginning of the fight until this point, the initiative had always been in the hands of this boy.

He finally understood their overwhelming difference in abilityHowever, it was too late to notice. Originally the best choice would have been to be non-hostile towards the boy.

He had missed his chance to turn back.

With the two shortswords controlled by the boy, the man was driven into a corner.

His state was desperate, like a herbivore being hunted by a carnivorous beast.

A shortsword immediately appeared at the back of the man.

It would seem that the man’s life would be extinguished at any moment. Yet all of a sudden, a strong killing intent appeared above the boy.

「Even if you’re a magician it won’t matter as long as I get close!」

A fellow swordsman who was hiding since the start of the battle within the treetops chose this timing to emerge and struck the shortsword away, approaching the boy.

The shortsword controlled by the boy regained stability and flew towards the man in the leather armor yet again, ignoring the other man.

There was no way for a magician who hardly ever learnt the arts of self-defense could resist this overhead attack.

Even if his magician companion was killed and another driven into a corner, he still saw a great opportunity to attack the boy.

It took less than the time of a blink.

The man who was convinced of his victory was shocked.

「How are you planning to sneak attack someone when your blood thirst leaks so much?」

The man’s eyes reflected the figure of the boy blocking the overhead blow with his broadsword.

「Wh, when did you…?」

He probably did not think his attack would be blocked. The man’s eyes were wide open in shock.

He could not even tell when the boy took out his sword.

「Damn it! What can a mage do at this distance! No matter if you’re the user of sword magic, as long as we’re this close I have the advantage!」

The man declared, followed by repeated attacks from his sword.

These attacks were not standard sword attacks, this man had trained extensively in swordsmanship and had buried several named merceneries.

His attacks were not something a normal swordsman could reach, let alone a magician.

Yes, that’s how it should be. However…

「Strong…!」

Those words spilled from the man’s mouth.

Slash from the side to the shoulder, add power.

Fast stabs, feint to confuse the opponent. The swordsmanship that had been drummed into him during training was showing it’s full effect.

Yet all were received calmly by the boy.

「Who are you, bastard!」

The man began to show impatience.

From his viewpoint, the ability of the boy who he had exchanged swords with made him feel fear.

A cold sweat flowed down his back as he stared at the boy calmly receiving his full power.

「Magician…there’s no way you can have such skill…!」

Seeing the man ceased his attacks, the boy did the same.

「Even if you say that, it can’t be helped」

The boy opened his mouth and answered, somewhat annoyed.

At that moment, the broadsword shimmered and the man’s neck was torn apart horizontally.

「I don’t remember saying I was a magician」

As his sight became dark like haze, the voice of the boy sounded out.

Those were the last words he ever heard.

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TLN: A quick note about the leather armored man, it wasn’t mentioned if he died or not and it’s only briefly mentioned that he’s dead in the second chapter. I’ve bought the LN, but haven’t read it yet so I can’t tell you if this plot point was fixed.