The moment Marfont realizes that I’m not deterred by his silly attempt at frightening me, he shoots the fireball straight toward me.

I dodge to the right, but he doesn't get deterred; he fires again and again.

I continue dodging and pull out the dagger I had in my spatial ring. The fireballs don’t cease coming, and it’s getting harder and harder to dodge. I can feel myself getting more tired by the second, and the alley I’m currently in is thinner than the one I fought the first wizard in, so it’s much harder to maneuver around.

I need to make him stop somehow; I can’t let this idiot drain my stamina. I pour mana into the shielding ring I am wearing, and my front gets a subtle blue tint to it. I don’t have long to stare at the shield as a fireball quickly crashes into it. It holds strong against the magic projectile. While I have time, I pick up a decent-sized chunk of rock off the disheveled ground of the slum alleyway, further damaged by the fireballs, and throw it at the annoying halfwit.

He manages to cast some shield spell, but unexpectedly, the stone I threw embeds itself into it. If the stone had continued, it would likely have given him a severe concussion. Not lingering on how the stone almost penetrated through the shield is remotely possible, I bend down to pick another rock up. There don’t seem to be more fireballs coming my direction, maybe because Marfont got a little shaken up by the first stone.

Although, looking back up, I find out why the fireballs stopped; he’s running away! Coward, how dare he do what I would in his place! Fortunately, his back is wide open, and I manage to pull him quite deep into the alley, so I have time to pull back my dagger and throw it. It flies fast, approaching him, the blade cutting through the magic shield he apparently had erected at his back and embedding itself at the crossguard, which was enough for the blade to stab into his upper pelvis.

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After my great display of skill, he falls to the ground, likely because of the pain or the dagger cutting some important muscle at the glutes.

I approach, and he starts pleading, likely realizing that I’m probably not some random commoner anymore, thanks to the display of magic. “Who are you? I-I don’t have any gold with me now, but I’m sure my father wo–” I don’t listen to whatever silly words he has to say and rush up next to him. I know the only real danger he is to me is all through his magic, so I grab some rope I had in my spatial ring and start tying his hands up.

After this, he is not much of a threat anymore. After inspecting the cut I delivered, I discover that it’s not really that serious. The dagger didn’t cut that deep down into the body before getting stuck in the shield, so I remove the dagger and bandage his cut with some emergency bandages I managed to just barely squeeze into my special ring.

I grab the three bags he was carrying and take him to the idiots I hired. I told them never to let his hands get free from the ropes, and I also left mere bandages with them and told them to replace them regularly.

I grab Marfont's robe and soul-bound necklace and head back to the academy, also bringing his bags with me.

Walking back to the dorms, I make Ustos put on the robes and the soul-bound necklace, and I also put a mask on his face, so nobody would notice that there are two Ustosis walking around. Also, I kept his gag in so he wouldn’t do anything annoying while in public and try to talk to people. I pick up my possessions, previously Ustosis, and make Ustos hold the three bags Marfont had with him.

We head out of the dorms, and I’m constantly standing behind him in case he tries anything annoying. I made sure to tell Ustos last night that if he tried anything, I would chop off his fingers and shove them down his throat because all I really need him to be is alive, not functioning.

We approach the exit, and there isn’t much of a line left anymore. Most of the people have left already, and the doorman looks tired and bored. I make Ustos walk up to him. Ustos looks at the doorman, looks back at me, and looks down at the necklace in his hand. He looks back at me again, and I give him a glare. I sigh in relief as he doesn’t do anything stupid and gives the necklace to the doorman, who lets him by without much of a thought.