* * *
15 minutes.
Cadel sent a signal and waited exactly 15 minutes, but Van didn't show up. That ant, in other words, a situation where Van couldn't see the signal or a situation where he couldn't find it even after seeing it. Both were bad assumptions.
Eventually, the two resud exploring the forest. This ti, instead of splitting up and scattering, they chose to move together.
“Lun, you're really Lun, right?”
“I've been next to you the whole ti, so how can I be fake?”
“It's because you've never been affected by illusion magic. It's so perfect.”
Staying on your toes and thoroughly exploring your surroundings while walking was never easy. And then there was the matter of whether or not the comrade next to you was an illusion or not. Cadel didn't think it would be surprising if he had a nervous breakdown at any mont.
Lun shook his head in disbelief at Cadel, then grinned mischievously.
“If you’re feeling anxious, hold my hand and go. They can’t change the hand you’re holding into a fake one, right?”
“Should I?”
“……Huh?”
“I think it's a good idea. Give your hand.”
Lun paused at the unexpectedly simple acceptance, perhaps purely ant to tease. But Cadel was serious. It was more terrible for him to have the comrade next to him beco an illusion in an instant than the act of holding hands with a man. It was like walking into a haunted house at an amusent park and finding yourself hugging your normally cursing and teasing friend to get through the crisis.
Finally, Cadel, who snatched one of Lun's hands and even laced his fingers, breathed a sigh of relief.
“Never leave my side. Understand?”
“……You're bold, Leader.”
“Don’t talk nonsense. Understand?”
“Got it.”
Lun looked down at their clasped hands and smirked. As traumatized as Cadel was by the death of the illusion Van, he didn't mind doing this.
And thus they walked like that for quite a while.
A flash of recognition flashed through Lun's eyes, which had been relaxed the entire ti, in contrast to Cadel's grim expression. He pulled on their interlocked hands to stop Cadel from walking, and then slowly loosened his fingers.
“Get behind , Leader.”
“I let you go, and now you're back on your own? What the hell was wrong with you humans?”
It was Aiden who appeared in front of them. He glared at Cadel with his arms crossed with a sullen look on his face, then turned his gaze to Lun, who stood in his way.
“I haven’t seen him. A new subordinate?”
“This is the first ti I see fairies. Leader, is he the one that used hallucination magic to tornt you?”
Lun gestured toward Aiden while holding the handle of his sword. Cadel quietly shook his head.
‘Aiden's the first one you've t? Not bad.’
If he had t Lydon from the beginning, a fierce fight would have started imdiately without any preparation. It would have been hard for Lun to find a way to deal with the fairies.
But Aiden would be a piece of cake.
“Hmm, can I kill him then?”
Lun licked his lips and asked. He had the arrogant attitude that he would slice the little fairy to pieces in a heartbeat if given the green light, and it seed to irritate Aiden, causing his cute little face to turn a variety of shades of red.
“Who is killing whom? You human? ?”
“Are fairy languages a little different from humans? Why can't you understand it at once, little thing?”
When Lun, who smiled lightly, glanced at Cadel as if asking for permission, Cadel briefly rolled his eyes. From a long-term perspective, it would be better to subdue him without killing him, but it reminded Cadel of the past when he was swept away by their hallucination magic.
“Just cut off one wing.”
The corner of Lun's mouth quirked upward at the clear answer.
“You're making do sothing difficult.”
Blue eyes followed Aiden's movents. Aiden couldn't stand the idea of being treated like an insignificant power that they could kill him if wanted to, so he let out an odd sound and stretched out his hands.
“Don't get cocky you humans!”
With that, seven ice spears shot out at once, along with a vast amount of mana that was hard to believe coming from such a small figure. They were aid precisely at Lun.
“What……!”
But before the ice spears could reach him, Lun's new form disappeared leaving behind a blurry afterimage. In place of the missing Lun, Cadel, who was hidden behind, was exposed to the attack range. As if he had expected it, Cadel naturally opened a fire barrier to block the attack. Ice spears that touched the hot flas shattered and scattered.
Aiden, who was rolling his round eyes to locate Lun, quickly turned around. There, he saw Lun, whom he did not know when he had moved, with his sword half-sheathed.
“You little rat bastard……!”
Aiden was about to launch his next attack directly at Lun. However, before the magic in his hand could be fired, his small body tilted sharply once.
“……?”
Stunned by the unbalanced sensation of flight he'd never experienced before, Aiden spurred his wings, but his body continued to tilt. Lun smirked at the panicked Aiden and pointed downward.
“Don't you think you dropped sothing?”
Aiden's gaze, not yet letting go of his guard, flicked to the direction Lun had pointed, and there it was.
Fluttering.
A single, familiar wing, dancing and falling as softly as a fallen leaf.
Translucent wing as dainty as the body. Upon discovering it, Aiden's eyes and mouth widened. Almost reflexively, he descended towards the wing and grabbed it as it fell to the floor.
“This, this, this is…… ridiculous…….”
“Don't worry. I'll cut one more and make it the sa for both sides.”
One of the four wings fell off. Aiden couldn't even figure out at what point he was attacked. What the hell was with this speed?
Aiden, still in shock, clutching the severed wing in his arms, suddenly began to fly.
He must retreat! Unless he could fly properly, this fight was at a disadvantage. He'd been attacked first, so he could call on his kin for help. Revenge would co later—
“Where are you going?”
But before he even dread of a complete escape.
A fierce wind raged around Aiden. A wind that made it impossible to move forward or backward. All he could do was stand there, pinned down by the force of the wind as it squeezed his body.
Cadel approached the distressed Aiden. He poked a cool face at the fairy he had trapped and said crookedly.
“I told you. Your friends in hiding, either you’re going to drag them out or make them stay put. Do you think I'm kidding?”
“You, you filthy human bastard……! You dare to touch a fairy in the Forest of Enchantnt and think you can walk away unscathed!”
“I captured you so that I could survive.”
Aiden's face turned pensive as he spoke irritably. Cadel glanced at Aiden, trapped in the [Wind Prison], and the one wing he held so dearly, and then stepped back with a quick click of his tongue.
“I don’t want to talk any more, so I’ll ask you one question. Do you know where my subordinate you created as an illusion is?”
“Why, why would I…….”
“I see you do. Tell . Where is he?”
“Do you think I’m stupid? How do I know what you'll do to if I tell you?”
A sigh ca out. Cadel exhaled as deeply as it ca out, then thought vaguely. No matter how this played out, his chances of getting Aiden to join the rcenary corps were zero.
“This spell that trapped you is called a wind prison. It's a binding spell that uses wind pressure to trap a target…… If I reduce the binding range to the limit, you will not be able to withstand the wind pressure and will explode and die.”
“…….”
“How about it? Do you have any idea what I'm going to do to you if you don't obey ?”
Once again, hiccups ca out of Aiden's mouth.
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