The Unfilial Heir Who Tries to Kill Me Tempts Me - Chapter 55

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 55

I raised my hand to draw a Defensive Magic Circle.
But Kaius was faster. He burst forward in a flash and slashed the Magical Sphere in half with his Sword Aura.
Zing!
“Kaius!”
What the hell—why are you blocking that?
Kaius turned his head and shouted at me.
“Why are you just standing there?”
“Excuse me?”
“Trying to get yourself killed?”
What is he talking about?
He throws himself into the fight and then has the nerve to yell at me?
“I was trying to cast Defensive Magic? You just charged in without warning!”
Some reckless fool body-blocking a Magical Sphere.
Pushing past my bewilderment, I quickly checked Kaius for injuries. Thankfully nothing fatal, but both his arms were drenched in blood from taking the full force of the Magical Sphere.
I’m not going to survive this.
I kept saying these Black Mages are nothing like the ones I’ve fought before, and look what’s happening!
I was about to protest further when another massive Magical Sphere came flying.
Boom!
“Hey! Do you have no manners?”
I burst out shouting without thinking, but it made no difference. They gave me no breathing room, launching a coordinated barrage of attacks.
I could feel their iron resolve to kill me and extract every last Magic Crystal I’d absorbed.
These infernal Crows.
“Your Highness, step back.”
“What?”
“You’re in the way.”
He’s making that bewildered face like I’ve said something outrageous.
“Stay behind me and don’t move.”
I gave Kaius a firm warning and condensed Mana at my fingertips. Hundreds of razor-sharp Magic Needles erupted toward them like a storm.
The Crows leaped from their positions, evading my attack.
Screech! Crash!
The Magic Needles that continued on struck the far wall and shattered it to pieces. One side of the Basement collapsed in a thunderous roar.
“…Huh?”
Why is it so strong?
I didn’t mean to fire it off with that much force.
I couldn’t help but feel stunned as a warning attack brought down half the Basement.
I’ve been drawing on Eden’s power like a backup battery lately, but that just now was purely my own Magical Power.
The Crows looked equally shaken.
Their faces weren’t visible, but I could clearly sense that my attack had rattled them considerably.
Someone muttered.
“Could it be the power of a Magic Crystal?”
“A Black Mage won’t be able to digest Magical Power of that caliber…!”
“Silence. Once we kill her and extract the power again, that’s all that matters. Attack!”
“Yes!”
This time five of them launched upward and charged at me simultaneously.
But something strange was happening.
Even though the Crows were rushing toward me at tremendous speed, I could see their movements with perfect clarity. More precisely, I could sense the flow of Mana within their bodies far too well.
Before they could reach me, I thrust stones from the ground up around them, trapping them.
Rumble!
“Ugh!”
Holy crap.
I really have gotten stronger.
My body even felt lighter than before.
To be precise, I could feel my Mana reservoir expanding in real time within me.
“Damn it! Who the hell are you?”
They ask quickly.
“I’d rather not say.”
If I were going to tell them, would I have changed my hair color?
Ignoring the Crows’ belated protests, I thrust upward once more, heaving the stone beneath them higher still.
Four of the Crows found themselves trapped in the crevices, pinned and helpless, but the one who appeared to be their leader managed to expel enough magical power to tear himself free from the rocky tomb.
“Oh, wow.”
He actually made it out.
Having freed his subordinates, he bellowed at them.
“Target the man first. Take him hostage!”
“Seriously? How low can you get?”
So this is how a villain acts—petty to the core.
You should be fighting me!
I’m a Mage!
You’re a Mage!
He’s a swordsman!
Granted, he’s absurdly powerful, but still!
Anyway!
My objection fell on deaf ears as the Crows redirected their focus to Kaius, unleashing torrents of black magical power.
With himself now their target, Kaius honed his Sword Aura to razor sharpness once more.
There he goes again, throwing himself in front of everything.
Look at that arm—caked in blood. A normal person would’ve collapsed by now, clutching at torn flesh.
Stubborn as iron, that one.
Before Kaius could charge headlong at them again, I darted in front of him.
“Hey!”
The Crows’ attention snapped toward me.
“You said you wanted the Magic Crystals I absorbed back, right?”
I conjured a Black Sphere, waving it before their eyes—a form similar to the compressed magical power of a Black Mage crystallizing dark power.
“But before that.”
I smiled wickedly.
“Know what this means?”
I raised my middle finger squarely at them.
The moment confusion flickered across their masks, I rapidly traced a Magic Circle across the ceiling.
“It means go to hell.”
Crash!
Stone and rubble rained down onto the Crows’ heads.

***

“Wow, we almost died there. Right?”
We nearly got buried alive together.
My plan had been simple: bury those Crows cleanly beneath the stone. But the moment I activated the spell, the entire Basement ceiling came down at once.
I didn’t think my control would slip like that.
Thankfully, Kaius wrapped his arms around me at that critical moment, giving me the chance to deploy Teleportation Magic.
Otherwise, we’d have been reduced to dried jerky down there with them.
My heart still hammering, I lifted my head. Beneath the pitch-black night sky, a massive three-story Theater Building stood half-collapsed and ruined.
Well.
It’s completely destroyed.
“…Saldbitch’s Slave Market won’t be opening for quite some time.”
Feeling oddly embarrassed, I said it aloud—and Kaius fixed me with an incredulous stare.
“Did you not tell me yourself that this matter should be handled quietly?”
“…Ahem.”
“So who is the reckless one here?”
He’s really going to lecture me? How was I supposed to know my magical power would explode like that? And this coming from someone who went underground and smashed the floor to pieces.
Ignoring his piercing gaze, I turned my head away.
“Anyway, we got out alive, so that’s what matters—right, your arm, your arm! Give it here!”
I hurriedly grabbed the hem of Kaius’s robe.
The sight of his arm, skin flayed away and blood dripping steadily, made my expression darken involuntarily.
This is infuriating.
“What is all this?”
A long sigh escaped me.
“I told you to be careful. Don’t you understand Black Mages? There are spells to block and spells to dodge. Why would I have left you with the Slave Merchants and gone in alone otherwise?”
“It’s barely painful.”
Pure bravado.
“If you’d blocked even slightly wrong, it wouldn’t have been your arm—your ribs would’ve been torn clean off. Did you see their Magical Power? They’re nothing like ordinary Black Mages.”
“But it didn’t get torn off in the end.”
“Are you seriously calling that reasoning?”
At my reproach, Kaius shrugged with infuriating nonchalance.
I nearly twisted his wound out of spite, then thought better of it and channeled Healing Magic instead. A blue radiance rippled outward, and his injury knitted closed bit by bit.
“Your Highness.”
“What.”
“You saw back there, didn’t you? I’m stronger than you think.”
“Oh, is this the part where I’m supposed to shower you with admiration?”
“No—I’m saying you don’t have to shield me every single time.”
In the prison, before the Crows, everywhere. He’d sworn once that he’d kill me, yet these days he couldn’t help but thrust himself between me and danger.
Did he truly trust me so little?
I suppose I can understand not being impressed. But I do have some renown—the worst witch in the realm, they called me once.
“I don’t want you endangered because of me.”
“…Do you worry like this too?”
“You think I’m some heartless creature? Look at this arm. It could’ve scarred.”
I frowned without meaning to, watching the fading wound on my arm.
It infuriated me.
Thank the gods my Magical Power was flowing abundantly—otherwise that scar would’ve been permanent.
“It must have hurt…”
“You healed it. That’s enough.”
“Yet you said you didn’t trust me before.”
“I trust you.”
What?
I lifted my head and met Kaius’s steady gaze.
“So do something about that pathetic expression, will you?”
Kaius flicked my forehead with his other hand—a sharp, audible crack.
“Ow! That hurt!”
“You’re back to normal.”
Damn it, and here I was being considerate.
I brushed myself off and stood, falling back into habit.
“Right. Where are the Slave Merchants and buyers we arrested? You didn’t just leave them lying around somewhere, did you? Handing them over is what matters most.”
“When did you start nagging me like this?”
Why indeed.
Because their security had to be guaranteed so the story would unfold properly, just like the source material—more or less.
In the original, Leoni doesn’t capture all of them, but now we must, or the Palace will never understand how serious this matter is.
Kaius rose from his seat and gestured for me to follow with a jerk of his chin.
We crossed a dark alley opposite the Theater Building. When we reached the abandoned Plaza at the far edge of the Redevelopment Zone, I had to blink twice.
The Slave Merchants and buyers were bound hand and foot, their faces pressed to the ground, while a familiar figure played atop them as though they were cushions, utterly delighted.
The creature spotted me and leapt up, scrambling over in a frenzy.
“Eden! You’re safe!”
“…Eden?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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