Chapter 53

"Hey, isn't this... by any chance, the Seventh Prince!"

The bald giant man looked at me with wide eyes.

"Do you know me?"

"Of course, the reason Ren sneaked into the castle is because of you. I hear you've been making quite a splash lately?"

The woman in white robes smiled.

"Raising monsters, mass-producing magic swords... While the other princes are the ones actually doing it, you, the Seventh Prince, are always at the center of it all. You pretend to be ordinary, but in reality, you possess considerable power and ambition... You're quite a celebrity in these parts, aren't you? Hehe."

The man with the doll tower collapsed it and stood up.

"..."

The man with the beak mask silently turned his head towards me.

"What are you planning to go to war with?"

Then Ren glared at me.

Hmm, it seems there are quite a few misunderstandings.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I have no intention of going to war. I was just doing research on magic."

"Lie, magic research doesn't involve monsters or magic swords."

"That's just how it is..."

Most phenomena in the world are connected to magic, and by extension, to magic itself.

But explaining that to someone who isn't a magician would be pointless.

"Still, I'm surprised that even people like you know about me. I thought I was being low-key..."

"Lord Lloyd, are you serious?"

Grimo was inexplicably taken aback.

Why? It's absurd.

"Whatever, now that you know this place, you won't be leaving without a fight."

"Right, we need to teach intruders a lesson."

"Even though you're just a prince, we might be able to demand a ransom. Hehe."

"Don't get complacent. I'm immune to your poison."

"..."

The five of them surrounded me, speaking one after another.

Well, fine. I welcome a battle. I'll see their skills in action during the fight.

"Grimo, stay out of it."

"Sure, sure, I understand."

Their abilities are the result of their unique physical conditions.

They don't control them with magic, so they can't use magic barriers like a regular magician.

If Grimo were to intervene, they might not be able to defend themselves and could be killed in one hit.

"What are you blabbering about!"

As he spoke, the bald man lunged at me.

True to his assassin nature, his movements were surprisingly agile.

I tried to dodge, but his fist struck my sternum.

However, an automatically activated magic barrier blocked it.

"Hmm, a magic barrier. But—"

The man grinned and pulled his arm back.

At the same time, the magic barrier was pulled.

I could see that something sticky had adhered to the impact point.

"I'm called 'Silk Spider Galileo.' I can produce super-strong adhesive from my body! Like this!"

I blocked the threads Galileo produced with a magic barrier, but it was pulled away again.

Moving a fixed magic barrier like this is similar to Ren's technique, but without the poison, this one is much stronger. — Interesting.

"Why are you smiling? That's creepy!"

Galileo stared at me with wide eyes at my unexpected smile.

There's no need to be creeped out.

"Sink!"

As I thought, my body suddenly became heavy.

Looking at the source of the voice, the beak-masked man had removed his mask, revealing his face.

He looked more like a good-natured young man than I expected.

His lips were tattooed with a spell formula.

That... it must be something to give direction to magic.

"I'm called 'Dark Crow Crow.' My magic is embedded in my words. Normally, I restrain myself to prevent accidental activation."

Crow nodded in response to Galileo's words.

My body isn't actually heavy.

It's an effect on the space. A type of magic that directly embeds power into words... not a spell, but a curse, perhaps.

It might be the ancestor of spells.

Suddenly, my right wrist started bleeding.

Without any warning.

I could see that the right wrist of the woman in white robes in front of me was also bleeding.

"I'm called 'Hundred Wounds Talia.' When I stare at my opponent and injure myself, I can make the same wound appear on them."

Wow! What an amazing ability! I wonder how it works. I'm getting excited.

Focusing, I could see a band of magic extending from Talia's gaze to me.

She must be linking our bodies through magic.

It's similar to control system magic that copies an opponent's movements, but to cause injury, a deeper connection is needed. What's the principle behind it?

"Why is this boy looking at me with sparkling eyes while bleeding from his wrist...? Normally, people would be creeped out and scared..."

For some reason, Talia was taken aback by my reaction.

More importantly, it seems she can cause damage to me by injuring herself. What would happen if I caused damage to her?

Let's try it.

I cast an earth system magic, 'Earth Ball,' at Talia.

"Hehe..."

The man with the thread eyes smiled and pulled Talia's hand.

The 'Earth Ball' that was supposed to hit Talia approached the man with the thread eyes— but he narrowly dodged it.

...No, did he really dodge it?

The 'Earth Ball' passed through the man's body and hit the wall.

The man was in a position that looked like a marionette with broken joints.

"I'm called 'Giant Rat Babylon.' I was born with very loose joints. I can dislocate all of them and move through tiny gaps like a rat."

Babylon, who could bend his neck 180 degrees, smiled confidently.

I thought I understood the power of magic on the body... but can a human body bend like that?

This is a different technique from transformation magic, which changes the body using magic.

Is he paralyzing his joints with magic? No, maybe his joints are filled with magic instead of fluid, making his body abnormally flexible.

This is the pinnacle of unique physical conditions. ...I'd like to dissect him a bit. No, I won't do that, of course.

"...!?! A chill... Are you a bit of a weirdo, maybe?"

Babylon was also taken aback.

"Your thoughts were leaking, Lord Lloyd."

"Oops."

My bad. I tend to talk to myself when I get excited, which is a bad habit.

Still, these are interesting people. I'll enjoy this as much as I can.