TL : I have changed Frenche to Franche which seems more appropriate
A tingling sensation spread throughout my body.
Fortunately, it wasn’t as severe as what I had felt with Kalasta in the past, where I couldn’t move my body at all.
I looked down at my body.
Everything in the world except my body seemed to be already under the control of that mage.
And that control was pressing against my entire body, threatening to take over.
I instinctively knew that there was nothing I could do with my psychokinesis right now.
But I shouldn’t let that feeling dominate me.
After all, psychic power is an invisible force.
The boundary between what’s real and what’s illusion is blurry.
I gripped my staff and magic book tightly with both hands.
“Move.”
As I muttered softly, I felt the pressure ease a bit.
That’s when the mage spoke.
“My name is Keren. By the way, that staff you’re holding. Isn’t it just a whittled piece of wood? You’re still an apprentice, aren’t you!”
I nodded in response to that question.
“That’s right, Senior Keren. I’m Ran, an apprentice.”
Keren smirked.
“Don’t tell me my magic was blocked by an apprentice? Even if I’ve been trapped in water for over a month, my magic couldn’t have weakened this much! Ran, was it? Are you a mage from the New Continent?”
“I suppose so. My master is from the New Continent.”
At those words, Keren’s gaze softened a bit.
Master Avana had taught me several ways to survive in the cruel and merciless world of magic.
The first was to mention one’s master.
Just look at the case with Speria, you can see how well it works.
Even if they were about to kill you, it makes them think twice.
Keren looked back and forth between me and the Count, then said:
“Hmm, I didn’t expect to encounter a mage when I came out into the world after so long.”
He folded his arms and glanced behind him.
The screams of what might be soldiers or pirates could be heard from time to time.
At that moment, Count Furst stepped forward.
“I’ve heard you’ve been hired by Franche. I’ll offer you better terms in Baritone. What do you say?”
Keren turned his head back to the Count and growled.
“Do you think I took this job because I needed money from ordinary people?”
“Then what do you need?”
“It goes without saying. Something you ordinary people can’t even obtain. Franche Kingdom happened to get it and promised to give it to me.”
“Even so, just in case, if you could tell me, I might be able to…”
Keren swung his right hand sharply. At that moment, I extended my staff to the side, shielding the Count.
Pashht.
A collision of psychokinesis powers that could only be sensed mentally occurred in front of us. And it created a small shockwave, making Count Furst step back slightly.
I could block it.
“You blocked it again? Are you sure you’re an apprentice?”
Hostility rose again in Keren’s eyes.
I spoke politely.
“He’s my employer, so I have to protect him.”
“Ha. Is that so? What, are you trying to get paid? You’re certainly an apprentice alright. Just looking at you, I can tell you’re a failure who gave up the path of magic and returned to the ordinary world.”
Look who’s talking, employed by ordinary people himself.
“……”
When I didn’t say anything, he slightly raised his head and asked.
“I get how you blocked the first one. You probably gathered moisture. But that second one. What was that? You used water magic, right? That’s why the ship sped up?”
“Yes.”
“How did you do that? I’m not completely ignorant of water magic, but your magic seems a bit strange. It doesn’t seem to be mixed with wind magic either.”
Is this why he appeared like this?
I answered in a low voice, not relaxing my tension.
“I minimized water resistance as much as possible.”
“Wouldn’t the ship sink then?”
“I left the surface tension.”
Keren tilted his head once and said.
“Is that even possible? No, even if it were possible, it would just slip. It wouldn’t get that fast.”
“I only did that for the parts of the ship touching the water. I left resistance for the oars.”
“Really? How do you distinguish that?”
“The oars are dipped into the water once and then pulled out. That’s how you distinguish it.”
Keren opened his mouth slightly and said.
“You controlled all that?”
“Yes.”
He quietly looked at me.
It was probably possible thanks to the herb water I had been taking frequently, but there was no need to tell him that.
He soon spoke in a low voice.
“I’ll be honest. It would be a waste to kill you. So, come under me willingly. I’ll spare your life. Walk the path of magic again under me.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s difficult, senior. I already have a good master.”
“Don’t lie. Working for ordinary people just for money is a disgrace to mages. If you really had a master, they wouldn’t have allowed such a thing.”
“It’s not because of money. It’s because of a connection, just like you.”
“Your lie is clumsy. Are you just saying whatever comes to mind based on what I said? Besides, using water magic while being human. It’s obvious you awakened magic on your own. Even if it’s true that you have a master, they’re already insignificant for teaching you water magic.”
“My master is an elf.”
At those words, Keren’s face contorted as much as it could.
“Enough. There’s a limit to bragging. It’s because of that poor character that you couldn’t get past being an apprentice and gave up the path of magic. I’ve changed my mind. I’ll just kill you.”
Keren extended his staff forward. Then, a powerful psychic force shot out from his staff towards me.
I likewise extended my staff forward, countering his psychic force.
“Kuhp.”
Immediately, blood gushed from both my nostrils
It felt as if someone was furiously pressing my brain from the inside.
Keren smirked and said.
“I could just increase the psychic force and crush you to death like this, but since you’re a mage, even if an apprentice, I’ll let you die by magic. This is the price for making me use my hand troublesomely.”
As he extended his left hand forward, his magic book appeared with a poof. It was overall red, with small flames rising from its four corners.
As he looked at the book, its pages flipped back and forth rapidly. It seemed he was looking for the desired magic to kill me.
Still, the fact that I can see well means it’s a bearable level of psychic power.
When I was studying psychic power against Psyche or Speria, I often collapsed with my eyes going dark.
I also looked at my magic book.
There, fire magic was written.
I read the incantation while extending my staff further forward, and soon a fireball was summoned in front of my staff and shot towards Keren.
Keren frowned upon seeing my fireball.
“Where did that spark suddenly come from?”
As the fireball approached, Keren stopped the incantation he was reading and swung his staff.
Puk-!
That magical fireball explodes the moment it touches an object. But Keren’s staff deflected the fireball as it was, and the fireball flew far away into the sea.
With that, the spark disappeared into the sea.
Keren walked towards us and said.
“So you were hiding fire magic! Hmph. I guess you at least made a proper contract with a familiar. Come on, bring it out! I need to feed it to my hungry familiar!”
He seems to have mistaken the spark given by Kalasta for something received from a familiar.
But come to think of it, why isn’t he bringing out his familiar?
He could have crushed me more easily than now if he did.
Perhaps due to the month-long sea voyage, he can’t carelessly bring out his fire familiar?
At that moment, blood gushed from both of my nostrils again.
“Kuhp.”
Now the world is spinning a bit.
Count Furst looked at me and spoke. His hand was already on his necklace.
“Ran. Perhaps…”
I cut off his words.
“Keren won’t let us go just like that. I’ll try to buy some time.”
Alright.
Shoulders broad.
Chest out.
I paid no heed to the blood gushing from my nose. And I looked at Keren.
As he got more than halfway closer, the pressure doubled with each step he took.
Should I run away?
I gritted my teeth and forcibly suppressed the thoughts creeping up in my mind.
This is the true form of psychic power.
Psychic power is an invisible force.
Force includes not only the psychokinesis that moves objects but also the mental force that moves hearts.
Master Avana said that a mage’s confidence, dignity, initiative, and magic itself are all just different forms of psychic power.
And that psychic power stems from will.
Afraid?
Scared?
In my short but eventful life, I’ve been in countless frightening situations and scary environments.
And every time, what I chose was to move forward towards that fear and terror.
I barely parted my lips that wouldn’t open.
“Here we go.”
As if my words were a signal, my legs began to move forward.
Step.
Step.
My feet, which seemed like they’d never move, started advancing towards Keren.
Then, Keren’s eyes widened as he watched me.
“You? How on earth?”
Keren’s body stood still in that spot.
Psychic power is an invisible force.
Being invisible means it has no objectivity and exists only subjectively.
Regardless of the objective difference in level between Keren and me, as long as there was some mutual recognition between us, that becomes our difference in level.
This is a simple principle.
No matter how powerful a force one possesses, if there’s no faith in one’s own power, it can’t be used.
Originally, I should have died unable to overcome not just Keren’s magic but even his simple psychic power.
But at this moment.
As I’m walking forward, and he has stopped, just for this moment.
I have the upper hand.
Of course, Keren will soon come to his senses and send a powerful psychic force to me again.
But I won’t give him that time.
I extended my left hand forward while simultaneously swinging my staff widely.
Then Keren floated up from that spot and flew far away into the sea.
“Huh? Huuuh!”
Drawing a large arc as he flew, he fell straight into the sea.
Splash!
In the place where he was originally, only his robe, which I had fixed with my left hand, remained.
I sat down on the spot, grasping his robe in my left hand with psychokinesis.
At the same time, I turned my head towards the Count.
“Count, now… quickly!”
Although Count Furst’s expression was full of confusion, he acted quickly. Noticing that I couldn’t even walk, he came to my side with Oshalo.
Count Furst brought both hands to his necklace, inserted his fingernail into the groove inside it, and opened it wide.
Then a golden light shone brightly from inside, completely engulfing us.
What’s this, it looks like a human shape?
Whoosh-!
The sea burst open, and Keren floated up in that spot.
“You bastard!”
Three fireballs were floating above his head and both shoulders.
And with that scene as the last, we flew up to the sky with the golden light.
Everything visible suddenly changed into lines, then into dots. It felt like the world was infinitely contracting.
But in an instant, as if that contraction had gained elasticity, it quickly started to return to its original state.
At the same time, the surroundings became long lines and started flying quickly in one direction.
When the world returned to normal, we were awkwardly stuck near the coast of Marshal Harbor.
“Whoa!”
“Ugh!”
“Guh!”
The three of us rolled around on the sandy beach.
I quickly came to my senses and looked around.
“Are you alright?”
When I asked, the Count barely got up from his spot and answered.
“It seems we made it safely. Phew. An experience I never want to have again.”
Looking at his necklace, it had turned completely black as if burned.
Anyway, we seem to be safe now.
I lay flat on the sand.
And I held up Keren’s robe in my left hand.
To think I managed to grab this in the midst of all that.
I really am amazing.
“Get up, Ran. You can rest once we reach the company building.”
But my body wouldn’t move.
As I struggled to move, the Count had Oshalo carry me on his back.
Ah, this is a bit embarrassing.
Still, it’s comfortable thanks to his unnecessarily large build.
I clung to my fading consciousness while being carried on Oshalo’s back.
And only after a long while were we able to arrive at the New Continent Company building.
Now I can finally rest.
But my expectation evaporated immediately.
Because from the building, noises reminiscent of the battlefield were ceaselessly heard.
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