Chapter 69: Chapter 69: Escape Trick

Translator: ShiroiKaze/Soyokaze Translations

We restrained Livyatan, and upon handing her over to the knight order’s headquarters, we were publicly relieved of our burden.

The members of Forest Bear had their relief clearly written on their faces.

We received our reward and were leaving the headquarters behind us.

Livyatan was securely restrained, and is now being shoved into an underground prison.

It’s always under watch, so she shouldn’t be able to get away so easily this time.

Though I do have a guess at how she pulled off her vanishing act last time.

“What’s going to happen to her I wonder?”

“Who knows? But we did catch her before she caused any major damage, so I don’t think she’ll get too heavy a punishment, right?”

I lightly replied to mister Jack’s slight worry.

The only real damages would be the costs of hiring security. And as a bit of peace on that part, she only targeted the treasures of rich people who had neglected their security anyway.

If they had been a little more strict, this case would be… Hum?

“Unexpectedly, maybe that was her aim?”

“What was her aim?”

“To warn the rich people who had relaxed their guard and could have been attacked at any time.”

Thanks to her running amok, the unprotected treasures now have guards posted to them.

The people she didn’t target, and the ones who have similar things also became more cautious.

Since this city was originally built up from a magnanimous fishing village, they had little reason for caution before, so this new trend could be considered a good thing.

Moreover, we also… We let Yig rely on his own powers of self-defense, and probably were a little too free in leaving him to himself.

“Well, this is all based on hindsight though.”

With light steps, I left the headquarters.

~*~

Now, this may be a bit abrupt, but let’s talk about [Enchanting] a bit.

Weapon and armor enhancing [Enchanting].

The ability to radically and temporarily raise their effectiveness is a realm magicians are most questioned about.

Well, I leave unfinished holes in magic tools and make their effects persistent when I create them, but anyway…

Magic used for [Enchanting] can be roughly divided into five things.

[Toughness], [Strengthening], [Sharpness], [Acceleration], and [Reinforcement].

First, about [Toughness].

Needless to say, it’s magic that increases how solid a material is.

If a blade becomes more solid, it cuts more easily, and there’s no more worry of it deteriorating. If it’s cast on armor or shields, it can even increase their defensive power.

It could be considered the most convenient [Enchant] out of them.

But in exchange, its effect is not quite as high.

Next is [Strengthening].

It’s magic that grants flexibility and durability to a material that is normally hard.

It’s easy to understand if you look at the [Enchantments] on “Third Eye”, but with this magic, even crystal can become bendable.

Like I said, it raises both its ability to bend and its durability.

If this is cast on a brittle steel or crystal sword, it will be entrusted with flexibility, and demonstrate a tremendous cutting edge.

However, there are many swordsmen who don’t like how it feels subtly off, so there are parts of it that aren’t well received.

For leather armor and the like, rather than using [Toughness], this would probably be the better enhancement.

Next is [Sharpness].

It’s magic that could be considered an [Enchant] within an [Enchant].

Limited to bladed items, it strengthens the blade’s cutting ability, making it a truly orthodox strengthening magic.

If I cast this on an ordinary knife, then it ends up able to cut through a dragon’s flesh.

The big drawback is that it has no effect on weapons without blades, such as maces, war hammers, and other relatively easy to use classes of weapons.

A more novel one is [Acceleration].

This doesn’t directly enhance a weapon’s power, but [Accelerates] its velocity when the weapon is swung, resulting in a large display of power.

In terms of simple power enhancement, this could be considered the top among them all.

However, the sudden [Acceleration] normally throws off a person’s balance, giving it an incredibly quirky utilization.

That quirkiness may very probably cause fatal openings.

In pursuit of power, “Cleaver” and my “Modified Iron Arrows” are [Enchanted] with this.

And lastly is [Reinforcement].

My trump card, [Body Reinforcement] is actually derived from this magic.

Its effect is to “[Reinforce] the target object’s abilities.”

With this, a weapon’s power, an armor’s defensive power, and even a bow’s propelling force can be reinforced.

Long hammers, war hammers, bows and the like will probably have to be improved using this magic.

However, only one aspect can be [Reinforced].

For example, if a gauntlet’s defensive power is [Reinforced], punching attacks made with that gauntlet won’t be strengthened.

It’s magic that doesn’t lend itself to situational adaptation.

Now, as for why I’m thinking about this right now…

~*~

We were just leaving the headquarters and with that exact timing we heard a ruckus from inside the building.

“We’ve got a problem! Livyatan got away!”

“Again?!”

“She vanished like smoke!”

Just as I thought… Except it seems a little too early. She’s surprisingly impatient.

It probably would have been safe if she ran away just a bit later, too. This really must have something to do with her intentions.

“Boy oh boy. Should we head back?”

“Back? Our job is already done.”

“Eh, let’s just call it aftercare.”

With a quick spin, we change directions and go into the headquarters.

We asked the uproarious knights to take us to the underground prison.

“You guys! My apologies. You managed to catch her for us, and yet here we are in this predicament…”

There stood the knight, sir Byzak, practically crying tears of blood as he trembled in disgrace.

I really do feel a little sorry for him.

“It’s okay. You haven’t opened the prison yet, have you?”

“N-no. We must verify it first of course.”

“Then lead us there please. It’s quite possible that she’s still in there you know?”

“Eh?”

I could think of a number of possible ways she could have gotten away.

—The first possibility: She can use teleportation magic like us.

Except I can only say this is barely a possibility.

Teleportation magic is something Haster and I developed based on a trap pulled out of a labyrinth.

Even if she’s a “Peerless Magic” holder, developing it on her own would be difficult.

—The second possibility: She used optical magic to make herself disappear.

This isn’t impossible, but executing it would probably be a bit difficult.

Using optical magic to make yourself disappear is simple, but when you move, the magic process can’t keep up.

In other words, you would have to move very slowly.

The knights opening the prison, going through the door and looking around would be incredibly tough to avoid.

—And the last possibility: That is, she used [Reinforcement] on herself.

After heading down the underground stairs and coming to the cell, I confirm that the door is still locked.

There was no trace of the lock having been broken open. It was indeed still nice and fine.

When I took a look through the latticed prison cell, there was no trace of the distinctive distortions of optical magic.

“Very nicely done.”

“I have no excuse for this disgrace…”

“Well, it’ll be fine. I’m going to use a bit of magic, okay?”

Saying so, I create a [Heat Ball] within the cell, without waiting for a reply.

The temperature is a nice high 100 degrees. It’s like a little sauna.

We set some chairs in front of the prison, and drink some cold tea with sir Byzak.

“Umm… What’s this about?”

“Yuuri, what the hell are you doing?”

“Well, sir Byzak, mister Jack, don’t be in such a panic, please. If my guess is correct, then she’s still in there.”

“What?!”

Yes, there’s a possibility for her that doesn’t involve teleportation or optical magic.

And that is—

“She may have [Reinforced] her “Recognition Blocking” gift.”

“[Reinforced] a gift?!”

“[Reinforcement] magic can only enhance one ability. What would happen if that one ability was a gift I wonder? What if her “Recognition Blocking” was strengthened even further, and it didn’t just block out her face, but her entire self?”

“Is something like that even possible?”

“Gifts are powerful enough on their own. It’s probably hard to even consider what it would mean if they were strengthened further.”

“But her gift should have been sealed.”

“She has “Peerless Magic” you know? If she really wants to, she could probably cancel it out whenever she pleased.”

It’s not as if the gift sealing shackles sealed her magic away too, so she should be able to detach them whenever she wants.

And if the gift is enhanced, it’s possible for her to “become unseen” without having her movement restricted.

Most of all, her abilities aren’t as off-kilter as mine, so she can probably only keep it up for about ten minutes at best, but for her, that should easily be enough time to open the lock, too.

Naturally, she probably couldn’t open it while under the gazes of the knights, so she should still be hiding.

“Seeing as Haster produced [Body Reinforcement] from his long life on the battlefield, it would not be strange for her to think up [Gift Reinforcement].”

“If ya know all that, then could ya stop roastin’ me, gosh darnit?!”

Miss Levy unexpectedly appeared in a corner of the room with sweat steadily dripping from her.

Her clothes are sticking to her from the sweat. It’s kinda sexy.

“Good evening, miss Levy. I think it was very upstanding of me not to launch a [Fireball] in there instead.”

“Huuu… Orc fluids are on the table for ya, roastin’ me as punishment is on the table for ya; that there is playin’ dirty, Yuuri…”

“I didn’t even sell you over to a slave merchant while you were still in heat. That’s pretty humanitarian of me, right?”

“Are ya the devil?!”

“Oh, real hell isn’t anything as simple as that…”

I glared at her with crazed, bottomless eyes.

They’re eyes I can make by recalling five years ago… Haster gave his seal of confirmation that my dead fish-like, or perhaps shark-like eyes had an impact which couldn’t be laughed off.

Now then, there’s something more important for now.

“Sir Byzak, could I ask a favor of you?”

“Wh-what is it?”

“This girl. Could you hand her over to me?”

“Huh?”

“It would seem that she has something to talk with me about. It’s probably related to this series of disturbances too.”

“… Ya saw through that too, huh?”

Notices and behavior that indicate she has no intention of stealing anything. Attempting a prison break before waiting for us to even leave. This is full of inconsistencies.

“That is something that really is not within my discretion…”

“I suppose not. Then could you pass this along to your superior? The [Sage of Wind’s Successor], Yuuri Albine wants this girl.”

“Wha-, you’re?!”

“People usually think of an old man or old woman when they hear “sage”, so I guess my image doesn’t really fit.”

“Yeah, I had heard your predecessor took a wife and let her succeed him, so I expected a beauty who was more of age…”

“Hey, leave off! Yeah, I’m a loli, okay?!”

And an eternal one at that!

I have a cliff without dreams or hope or romance to it, okay?!

“Uh, well, yes, I will try discussing her situation. I think it should work out.”

“Yeah, probably. A prisoner who can hide her existence is hardly manageable.”

“As such, could you wait a bit without hiding for me?”

“Sure can. If ya’ll are gonna let me out, I can wait as long as ya need.”

She was released early the next morning.

They really didn’t want to deal with her, huh?