‘’You’re certain he’ll be fine, master? He rejected the tome, after all, on top of insisting on trying that triplet’s technique. I don’t think he’ll be fine after the first usage,’’ Rosa talked from behind the noises quietly, listening to the small remains of the flames spark and pop in the hallway. ‘’He chose t do it, I didn’t order anything. If he’s gonna die, it’s not my problem from her on out. If he wants to out himself out there and try to look cool, who am I to stop him?’’

‘’That’s really unlike you, master. You’d usually say something like, ‘’I’d probably look cooler, so let him embarrass himself before helping’ or something along those same lines,’’ Rosa pouted at Hiona. ‘’Same thing, really. I just feel a little less annoyed anyway, so let him have a minute of self-praise.’’ It was at that moment that Rosa thought she was talking to a completely different person. ‘’A-also,’’ Rosa pointed at the completely asleep Yohiro that Hiona was carrying around like a luggage bag, ‘’why did you make him touch the gem and go to sleep in that room?’’ ‘’Obviously, ‘cause it’ll be easier to move around; he lucked out in his first battle and he’s inexperienced, so taking chances by leaving him to do whatever he wants is too much even for me,’’ Hiona laughed under her breath, holding the boy under her right arm with...well, almost with care.

‘’This is kinda bad, isn’t it…? Fire and ice seem fine and doable, but if they pull out a thunder in here, how do I cut or run through something like that?’’ Clous began to wonder, shaking it off and charging in head first, mainly so he wouldn’t have to excounter that problem at all. ‘’Article 13! Connect!’’ The men shouted together again, releasing a strong gust of wind from their tomes, stopping Clous before he could reach Daron, beginning to push him back. ‘’Ha-- Haha! He can’t do anything if he can’t reach and without a long-range weapon, he’s pretty much useless as long as we can maintain the wind!’’ Daron laughed, sweating due to the fact that Clous had almost reached him.

‘’The hell is this…? What game are these guys playing?’’ Clous asked himself as he began breathing in and out, alarming Daron. ‘’Could’ve dropped a thunder on me, could’ve used illusion magic! Don’t you lowranking pieces of shit have that written in those training tomes?!’’ He shouted at them, stiffening up completely as his vins began pulsating. He stomped, shattering the floor and stopping himself from getting pushed back with his foot inside the floor. A switch clicked inside Daron’s head that one moment, ‘’It’s the perfect scenario!’’ He yelled, opening the tome he was given by the king, which had a white, almost silver-looking color to it. ‘’Omo yo tsuyoi: article 0. Connect!’’ The incantation was made, the tome beginning to shine brightly, blinding the mages behind Daron.

‘’Feel the heaviness of your sins, filth!’’ Daron said, as if ordering Clous, watching as he uncontrollably began sinking into floor, breaking it completely and falling to the lower floor in a confused scream, continuing to break through the castle rapidly. ‘’H-HA! It worked! It’s perfect!’’ Clous’ descend only stopped as he slammed directly into the sewers below the castle. That was the only technique written in that tome given to Daron: the ability to take someone’s power and actively turn it into weight. If the opponent is is strong, they will sink down until their mind can’t take the pressure anymore. One could essentially call it increasing the gravity around someone a few folds depending on their strength. For Clous, while using God Muscle, this means immediate plummet into the floor; a result that shocked the other mages and Rosa, who was peeking from around the corner. This powerful spell, however had more than one weakness! For one, if the opponent isn’t strong at all, it becomes a waste of energy for you. Second, if the person it is used for dies, so will the user. Seeing as Daron was confident in Clous’ survival then, he didn’t hesitate. This also left him unexpectedly tired; he felt his legs considerably weaker and his palms begin to sweat, which was a problem, since he didn’t want to ruin the tome.

‘’Alright, that was kinda funny, I gotta say!’’ Hiona began clapping loudly, walking into their sights from around the corner, winking at the already exhausted group in an attempt of sounding cute while also looking like a homeless homewrecker with her messy hair and exposed skin, which ruined whatever idea she was having. The men didn’t say a word, instead beginning to flip through their tomes so slowly, Hiona thought they were amateurs. ‘’Clous!!!’’ Hiona shouted after running up to the hole he left behind, ‘’What’s it gonna be next time, losing after winning against a cabbage alien?’’ She mocked him, chuckling innocently. She embarrassingly didn’t realise he had been knocked out because of his hubris and stupidity, pretty much stuck to the floor and lying in the sewer water. She still found it hilarious.

‘’Are you the beastman’s leader, woman?’’ The responsible man asked the irresponsible woman. ‘’Yeah, in a sense his sugar mommy, if you wanna exaggerate,’’ she looked up at him, leaving the men to blush as she deliberately left her cleavage handing in front of them, all the while Rosa was internally screaming, ‘’KILL THEM! Just kill them!’’ while holding Yohiro in her arms. ‘’Y-you’re despicable…!’’ Daron raised his voice at her. ‘’And you’re a tightass, what of it? Your noble, reliable attitude pisses me the fuck off. A lot. You’re also responsible for one of my lackeys being about fifty meters below me, so I guess I’m supposed to kill you all,’’ she said grumpily, having hoped that Clous would take care of the baggage that time. ‘’Article 0. Conn-’’ ‘’Nah, not dealing with that,’’ she told him, whispering in his ear as she took the tome out of his hands. Her movements were too fast for Daron’s sleep deprived eyes. ‘’You give that back!’’ He swung at her, trying to take the tome back from her hand, getting tripped by her. As he began falling down the hole wide-eyed, Hiona grabbed the back of his clothes, gripping them and beginning to hold him over it.

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‘’I don’t feel like killing pathetic no-names. So let’s play a game, eh?’’ She smiled. ‘’You there, with the dripping nose, get over her quickly, buddy.’’ She waved her hand. The other mages pushed the poor lad out of their formation and in front of her. ‘’A-um… Please don’t drop Mr. Daron down the hole…?’’ The man sounded less than genuine, which scared the endangered man even more. ‘’Jeez, can she not procrastinate an assignment for once…?’’ Rosa asked herself, not realising how much she was shaking Yohiro in her arms.

‘’Okay, so… I’m gonna guess things about your life, ‘kay? If I get three things right, you’ll all move outta the way. If I get even one wrong, I’ll give this guy back and let your fire off one spell. How about that?’’ The men looked confident among themselves, trusting their comrade. ‘’Guess number one: You’ve been having a cold for over a week now. Guess number two: You’ve been overeating and gaining weight for the past week or more because of that cold. Guess number three: You’re depressed because A, your wife left you or B, your comrades are making fun of you behind your back!’’ They all went silent. She was pretty much right about all of them, even if her guesses were a little loose. The men became bewildered as the poor guy that had been sent out nodded, ‘’You’re correct...about all of them.’’

‘’Are you fucking serious?!’’ Rosa thought, feeling as if her jaw hitting the floor wouldn’t express her annoyance. ‘’Well then, I don’t need this now, do I?’’ Hiona smiled as she looked at Daron, removing her pinkie finger and scaring him. ‘’Help me, you guys! Please!’’ He yelled at them for health, his tucked in shirt coming out of his pants, scaring him even more. Rosa stared as she began to lose patience, about to come out. Confused, she noticed Yohiro push her hands aside and jump onto his feet. With a half-asleep look of urgency, he rushed around the corner, running towards Hiona as fast as he could. ‘’Shit, he touched the gem in his sleep again!’’ Rosa realised as she watched him stumble with his feet.

‘’Cut it out…!’’ Yohiro yawned as he wrapped his arms around Hiona’s waist, looking like he was actually stopping her while he was doing less than nothing, essentially. ‘’A...kid?!’’ Daron distracted himself from his potential death by looking at the boy standing an arm’s length or less away from him. ‘’Yohiro~! Go to sleep~!’’ Hiona whined, humouring his sleepy, cute expression. ‘’Don’t drop Daron down there… He’ll die!’’ Hiona’s and Daron’s eyes widened in shock. ‘’Come one, it’s rude to guess people’s names, you know.’’ She scolded him, despite having done something even worse not not five minutes earlier. ‘’I’m not guess...ing! My gem told me about him! He’s a kind-hearted person, so he doesn’t need to hurt!’’ Yohiro began kicking her ankle while continuing to hold her stomach. ‘’Gem…? What is this boy saying?’’ Daron thought, almost forgetting about the situation.

‘’It told me other things, too. If you set him down safely, I’ll tell you what I was told inside the room, so listen to me!’’ He had fully shaken the sleepiness. ‘’Is it even relevant? Do I care? Should I care? Why should I care…? Eh, whatever!’’ Hiona smiled, dropping Daron in front of her without a care about his well being. ‘’Ah, you’re okay,’’ Yohiro gladly said as he kneeled in front of the pretty much traumatised man. ‘’It told me you weren’t really suited for this job; you’re too hardworking compared to your peers and don’t get enough for it. You’re also a coward! You should consider your own life!’’ The young boy spoke so kindly and softly in spite of the depressing things he was telling the man. ‘’Why the hell would it waste its breath talking about that pathetic excuse for a mage?’’ Hiona asked. Yohiro shrugged, not being fully sure himself.

‘’Don’t… Don’t mess with me! That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!’’ He began yelling. ‘’But I-’’ ‘’Yes, I work more than them, sometimes overtime for days! Yes, I’m not suited for combat due to my stress building up quickly! But I worked for this job for over--’’ ‘’Three and a half months, including weekends for over fifteen hours a day...was it?’’ Yohiro interrupted him, shocking him and the men behind him. ‘’I only had to try for half a month; I had a halfway decent affinity for magic.’’ ‘’Yeah, I only worked on my application and forced it for a month before getting accepted for the position of a standard guard,’’ they began talking among themselves, filling Daron’s head with desperate thoughts on the spot. ‘’Didn’t we have an objective? No, did we? We sidetracked so much that I forgot,’’ Hiona muttered to herself.

‘’You’re ill suited for this.’’

He said, sending the grown man into a black void inside his mind. ‘’Rosa, come out, we’re going to meet the king~!’’ Hiona shouted and clapped, causing Rosa to come from around the corner, a tear in her eye. The story depressed even her. ‘’Coming, master…’’ She told them in a disinterested smile. ‘’Hang on,’’ Hiona looked through the hole again, ‘’on second thought, go keep Clous safe down there. Can’t be sure if they won’t just go down there and kill him or something, right?’’ She laughed nonchalantly, creeping the men (who would never murder anyone) out immensely. ‘’Ill suited…? Bullshit, utter bulls--’’ ‘’It isn’t. You’re consciously overworking yourself. It’s not the king making you. We have to go kidnap his daughter, so see you later, Daron!’’ Yohiro stood up, starting to walk after Hiona after she snapped for the mages and guards to make space. They were about to meet the king himself in his own castle, let alone his own bedroom. Frankly, Hiona felt like a celebrity for some reason, and Yohiro walked forward obliviously, leaving Daron watching Yohiro’s back specifically as they walked off, ready for their final confrontation.