YM778.TV Chapter 746 253 - Attempt (Part 3)
"STONE WALL!"
"!!!"
*RUMBLE* *WHAM*
The first one to react was the elderly teacher, she raised her hand and clench it into a fist and at her command, the ground under the armored man\'s feet trembled and a vice-grip-like rock formation shot up like a maw of a monster and encased the fake knight.
"GET THE PRINCE OUT OF HERE AND CALL THE OTHER TEACHERS!"
Teacher Auequas roared getting the attention of everyone outside the Academy and dormitory buildings, knowing full well that her spell wouldn\'t be able to block a light magician in an enchanted armor for long...
"...ou..."
And she was right as the muffled voice of an unharmed but enraged man was already becoming audible from the binding of the cold stone...
*CRUSH*
"OLD BIIIIIIIIIITCH!"
The next moment the rock formation burst open as the armored man basking in the golden light of the light enchantments broke through with a curse.
"...!"
Zoemi was already in front of Kierul and Surou but the red-haired girl grabbed and hugged the blue-haired boy tightly, protecting him with her own body while pushing down his head to her chest with a furious expression directed toward the enraged intruder.
The armored man in dirty enchanted armor dented just the tiniest bit and reached out his hand towards the brown-haired woman and the specks of light flickered within his palm as he gathered mana...
*CREAAAAK* *CRUNCH* *SPLURT*
*WOOOOOOOOM*
But the ray of light shot up straight into the sky instead of the elderly teacher\'s face right after the black-haired attendant stabbed his fingers through the armor and into the intruder\'s flesh and twisted his arm together with the metal, wringing it out like a wet rag and unleashing a fountain of blood spraying out of the cracks in the ripped metal.
"Wh-wha-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...!"
For a duration of a single heartbeat, the armored man had no idea why was he bent in half facing the ground but soon enough the sensation of his flesh and bones being torn apart in a gruesome and failed attempt of fusing it with the enchanted armor and he let out a desperate howl of pain.
"See? He doesn\'t even consider teleporting! VIRGO!"
Zoemi laughed through his teeth, locking the man\'s head under his other arm and calling out the name of the star power he decided to use instead of the law of Aquarius.
Quite the funniest part of the situation was that the black-haired attendant wasn\'t having trouble with holding the armored man down – the most difficult part for him was not killing his captive accidentally by using too much strength.
"YOUUUUUU! YOU LITTLE FUCKER!"
"!!!"
But amid the struggle, Zoemi underestimated the tenacity of his opponent.
He expected the armored man to try teleporting away, but instead, the severely injured man reached out his free hand blindly and the light flickered in his palm and...
...HE HAD A CLEAR SHOT ON KIERUL AND SUROU...!
"DON\'T YOU FUCKING DA...!"
Zoemi growled, picking up the armored man and rising him in the air just to drop him onto his knee but he still was too late and the beam of light would shoot out uninterrupted...!
AND KERUL WAS PREPARED FOR IT!
The moment that the red-haired girl noticed the armored man reaching out towards her she began twisting her body reaching out with her right hand– the light of the fire enchantments on her forearm and hand condensed and formed opaque lines on top of her skin, immediately changing color from red to orange.
*WHOOOO-*
*KA-CHANK* *-OOOOOM*
*WHAM*
As the beam shot out of the armored man\'s palm, Kierul\'s arm was already swinging – the ray of light hit against the top of the red-haired girl\'s hand – AND WAS DEFLECTED BY THE MOST DISRESPECTFUL SLAP AND DISAPPEARED HIGH ABOVE THE ACADEMY\'S BUILDINGS WITHOUT HARMING A THING, just as the armored man\'s stomach met Zoemi\'s knee with a loud sound.
"GU-HUAGH!"
The light magician groaned and lost consciousness from the force of the hit, hanging down limply under Zoemi\'s arm.
"Hmph. See? You failed the challenge~"
Kierul smirked, scoffing at her attendant with a satisfied expression while still firmly keeping the second prince smushed against her body as the light of her enchantments faded away.
The chaos that ensued immediately afterward would be more appropriate if the kidnapping turned assassination attempt ended up with success.
The students began shouting in panic and confusion, some of them didn\'t understand the situation and misunderstood the whole thing, then more teachers showed up only adding to the panic...
"SILENCE!"
...that was subdued by the roar of teacher Auequas.
"Student Bellcephora, I take full responsibility for what just happened. I failed to recognize the danger in time and would not be able to protect you if not for the aid of your two friends."
"...I-it\'s not your fault, teacher! After all members of the King\'s Guard showed up for the first prince in a very similar manner before!"
The elderly woman lowered bowed her head to the blue-haired boy who hurriedly pulled away from the red-haired girl – the girl whose corners of mouth dropped down for a split second as she couldn\'t stop the upset expression from appearing on her face – and hurriedly shook his head and hands to stop the brown-haired woman from blaming herself.
"Thank you for your kind words, but I should be more vigilant. The years of living in peace have dulled my intuition. I will make sure that all the perpetrators involved will suffer the consequences. I swear on the name of the Aurquas family."
Teacher Auequas bowed her head even lower and assured.
"I take our word for it, teacher."
Surou\'s expression became calm and he agreed with an approving nod.
"Student Helterose, thank you for protecting your fellow student when I failed."
"What I did was the least a noble should do. I do not require praise for protecting a member of our kingdom\'s royal family."
Then, the brown-haired woman turned to Kierul and bowed to her too apologizing and thanking her, but the red-haired girl dismissed her words with a proud scoff.
"Young martial artist..."
"...?"
At least the elderly woman turned to the black-haired attendant, surprising him with how polite she was – especially in the way she addressed him. After all, she knew he was essentially a servant without a surname.
"I do have a question about the challenge..."
"...!"
Teacher Auequas furrowed her brows causing the boy to avert his gaze in embarrassment...
"...but I can\'t argue with the result. Could you do me a favor and help carry this individual to the dungeon and assure me that he will stay there? You can stop him from teleporting away by using the law of Virgo, can you not?"
The woman\'s expression softened and she asked in a much warmer voice.
"Yes, lady Auequas."
"Good. Follow me. And you, Shuze, tell the headmistress that I invite her to the dungeon for a little talk with our criminal. Her spells might come in handy in case he won\'t be too cooperative."
The black-haired boy nodded and picked up the unconscious intruder like a sack of potatoes while the brown-haired woman nodded to him and then called out to another teacher - an elderly man with golden hair.
"...tsk... to become an errand boy at my age... what is this world coming to...?"
Teacher Shuze rolled his eyes but ended up disappearing with a flash of light right after complaining.
------
"...that was an experience..."
The door leading to the dungeon opened and the black-haired boy emerged from the inside, breathing out after shaking his head to the sides like a wet dog.
"You got him to talk?"
"..."
As Zoemi closed the door it turned out that Kierul was hiding beside it, and the red-haired girl asked her attendant who closed his mouth and straightened his back.
"Oh, he was telling us stuff no one even asked him. Let me tell you – I do not want to be on the opposite end of lady Auequas\'s interrogation methods, that\'s for sure."
The black-haired boy scoffed and declared while pointing at the closed door with his thumb.
"Good to know, well then?"
Kierul nodded with understanding and started walking and her attendant joined her without any encouragement needed.
"Oh, you would not believe~! Yantherol Parrats, younger brother of the current head of the Parrats family~!"
"Are we thinking about the same Parrats family...?"
Zoemi livened up and chuckled making his master raise her brows in surprise at the revelation.
"Yes. He is your dear friend Senria\'s uncle~ A pathetic excuse for a noble who participated in the selection for the King\'s Guard but never quite made the cut and decided to invest his talents and time in paid foreign affairs~! Mostly by the Atreterve nation."
The attendant cheered, throwing his hands up for the better effect.
"Well, that\'s certainly a way to screw over your entire bloodline. The attempted kidnapping of royalty is already bad enough but that moron tried to kill prince Surou. Was there a plan of some sort or was it supposed to be a demonstration of some sort?"
Kierul scoffed, mentioning the obvious consequences of such a grave crime.
"It appears that the original intention was to kidnap the second prince to put our kingdom in the spot. They wanted to use him to weaken the position of the royal family – according to Yanthenrol\'s words, the Atreterve nation would propose some outrageous conditions that the kingdom of Bellcephora would have to abide by for the second prince to live. If the king would agree, most nobles would be outraged at the ruler who cannot sacrifice a single person for the good of the entire nation... Oh, but do you want to know the cherry on top? When the ransom would be paid the second prince was supposed to be returned, but dead."
"..."
The black-haired attendant revealed cutting off the funny act and became serious while the red-haired girl listened in silence.
"As you can see, our prince was never meant to stay alive that\'s why when we put our hired insurgent on the spot he was willing to hasten the plan on his own.... with that in mind, I don\'t think you will find it surprising that the magic examination for the first year students will happen tomorrow – the announcement will be made later today."
The boy shrugged his shoulder before adding.
"That\'s what I thought. Now then, escort me to the classroom, would you."
"Of course."
Kierul nodded with an unhappy sigh and her attendant offered her his arm.
"You know, circumstances can change, you are quite the cunning girl, why not adjust them to better fit what you want?"
After turning the corner and finding themselves in another empty hallway, the black-haired boy said with a worried look in his eyes.
"..."
...but Kierul didn\'t react...
"If you ask me, the second prince likes you, and if you are still worried about him not wanting to be chained down to a big family - thanks to us the Helterose family is just a shadow of its former..."
"...he pulled away from me as soon as it was safe, no hesitation or anything. I don\'t think he likes me anywhere near as much as you believe..."
"...oh..."
The red-haired girl said with an upset look in her eyes and the conversation ended right there.