WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Magic-Eating Wizard ◈

Chapter 7: More Dangerous Than Imagined

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“Damn it…”

Ruska muttered a curse under their breath as they looked down at the thugs crowding outside the inn.

The hand gripping the window frame trembled slightly, revealing their agitation.

Noticing this, Haren spoke as calmly as possible so the others would not panic.

“They’re looking for us. Let’s get out of here first.”

“R-Run away? Wouldn’t it be better to lock the door and wait until Master comes back?”

When Rim spoke in a frightened voice, Haren shook their head and pointed at the front door.

“A wooden door like that will break if they hit it with clubs a few times. And we don’t even know when he’ll come back.”

They had to consider the possibility that Cardin would not return at all.

Those thugs had suddenly come here to cause trouble, most likely because of something he had done.

Maybe he was being chased by mages hired by some underworld boss, or maybe he had already been caught and was being tortured. There was no way to know.

Judging by the skill and composure he had shown so far, Haren doubted he would be taken down easily.

“Should we fight?”

“Can you stop bullets with your body?”

“No.”

Nasrel, who had clenched her cute little fists, answered Haren’s question in a dejected tone.

To block bullets by covering one’s body with a Mana Field, a mage had to be at least Second Tier.

Even then, they had to focus the Mana Field on a specific area. Otherwise, there was a good chance they would die screaming from a stray bullet.

It was unclear whether those people would go so far as to fire guns in the street, but they could not act on the assumption that their enemies would be careful.

“Fine. We’re escaping.”

Ruska nodded after hearing Haren. Rim and Nasrel also agreed that they should leave.

The problem was how.

The inn’s entrance was already completely controlled by the thugs. Going downstairs would be suicide.

The lobby was wide open. Even if only a few of them had guns, the four would be turned into beehives in moments.

Haren recalled the inn’s layout and the surrounding area.

To break through the encirclement and escape from here...

“...Let’s go through the window at the end of the hall and cross to the next building.”

“This is the third floor.”

“We can make the jump. Even if we fall, we have Mana Fields, so we won’t be badly hurt.”

Without even collecting their belongings, they ran straight to the window at one end of the corridor.

From downstairs came the sounds of thugs yelling as they dragged out and questioned the guests.

“C-Can we really get across?”

“We can. I’ll go first, then follow me.”

Haren opened the window and climbed onto the sill.

They had suggested it, but their legs still trembled at the thought of jumping from a height of around ten meters to the building opposite.

‘The gap is a little over four meters...’

Perhaps fear made it seem farther than it was, but that was roughly how far it looked.

An ordinary person would never dare make the jump without a running start, but fortunately, Haren was a mage.

Their body had been enhanced with magic power beyond that of an average adult, and their light body allowed them to jump much farther still.

“Hup!”

Haren leaped toward the opposite building with all his strength, then panicked at the unexpected distance he covered.

They rarely had reason to do things like standing long jumps, so they had never accurately measured their own abilities.

Unable to control his strength, Haren smashed through the window and landed inside the opposite building.

When they brushed off their clothes, glass fragments blocked by their Mana Field fell away in a shower.

“I should’ve jumped a little more gently…”

Before the mutter had even ended, Nasrel vaulted over the broken window frame with one hand and landed as gracefully as a cat.

Perhaps thanks to her natural physical abilities, she did not even seem strained.

Had seeing the others succeed so easily given them confidence?

Ruska and Rim also leaped between the buildings and landed without much trouble.

But before they could even breathe a sigh of relief, a sharp shout rose from below.

“There! They crossed to the next building! Get them!”

Apparently, one of the thugs surrounding the inn had seen them jump across.

The sound of breaking glass had been loud enough that it would have been stranger if no one noticed.

“Get downstairs! Before they surround this building too!”

Following Haren’s order, the four ran out of what appeared to be a storage room and raced down the corridor.

They took the stairs several steps at a time. Just as they neared the first-floor exit, several thugs blocked their path.

They seemed to be the ones closest to this building, positioned outside the original encirclement.

‘Guns...’

Haren checked their weapons first.

Clubs, hammers, daggers.

They might have had guns hidden in their clothes, but none had openly drawn a pistol.

It was dangerous, but Haren judged they could break through.

Then Ruska shouted from behind.

“Move!”

Haren quickly threw himself sideways.

A flash of light streaked through the spot where they had been standing.

Two thugs blocking the door were hit by Ruska’s Lightning Arrows and collapsed with screams.

“Gah!”

The fallen thugs shook all over from the electric shock, unable to move.

Then Haren’s Flame Spray burned one thug’s face, while Rim’s Wind Blade cut another’s arm. The thugs surrounding them stepped back in panic.

What finally broke their morale was Nasrel’s charge.

When they saw one of their comrades sent flying as if hit by a carriage, the thugs recoiled in horror and completely opened the encirclement.

The young mages took that chance to run into a narrow alley.

Haren was running at the front when they glanced back and saw one of the thugs pull something from inside their clothes.

“Gun!”

Ruska hurriedly gestured behind them, and a rock wall rose from the ground to block the alley entrance.

Almost at the same time, several gunshots rang out from the other side. Fortunately, the lead bullets could not penetrate the wall.

“Damn it! Nobody said they were mages!”

“We can’t handle this ourselves! Get the bosses here, now!”

Leaving the shouts and curses behind them, the four young mages ran deeper into the alley.

* * *

How many minutes had they run to escape the sudden attack?

After passing through several alleys and reaching a main road, Haren stopped when the thugs were no longer in sight.

“Haa…”

Haren turned around as he caught his breath. The others looked to be in much better condition.

Nasrel and Ruska were understandable, but it was somewhat surprising that even Rim had more stamina than Haren.

‘Should I spend more time training my endurance from now on?’

Back when Haren lived on Elmin Street, exercise had been a luxury. They could not afford to waste energy when they were worried about going hungry.

Basic stamina was something that had to be built steadily over time.

Then Ruska asked Haren in a serious voice.

“Where do we go now?”

“First, we need to get out of the city. If we stay here, we’ll get caught.”

The people chasing them were gangs that ruled Moria at night.

And as Haren recalled the faces he had vaguely recognized, even the field leaders of gangs usually hostile to one another had joined forces.

That meant anyone passing by could be their eyes and ears. No matter where the four hid inside the city, they would likely be found quickly.

They could not rely on the police, either.

The fact that the police around the inn had vanished made it clear that the gangs, or whoever had hired them, had influence over them.

More than anything, if Cardin had gotten involved in a serious crime, his disciples could be dragged down with him.

Haren had no desire to end up in prison or be executed.

“I see.”

“T-Then Haren is right.”

“Yeah.”

After Haren briefly explained, his fellow disciples readily accepted the decision.

Above all, following Haren’s orders had allowed them to escape safely just moments ago.

Now they needed to decide which direction to flee. Luckily, an idea had occurred to Haren during their escape.

Haren looked at Rim.

“Rim.”

“Huh?”

“Use divination to tell us which direction we should go.”

“M-Me?”

Seeing Rim’s burdened expression, Haren smiled and lightly patted their shoulder.

“You don’t need to feel pressured. We have no basis for deciding where to run anyway, so we might as well trust our luck. Even if something goes wrong, I won’t blame you.”

After thinking for a moment, Rim picked up a wooden stick lying nearby, stood it upright, then let go.

The stick fell to the ground with a tap, rolled a little, and stopped pointing northwest.

“I think we should go in the direction this stick is pointing.”

“...Divination can work like that?”

“At least for now. I had a feeling it wasn’t a bad direction.”

It seemed suspiciously simple, but Haren decided to trust the Prophet’s ability for now.

A little later, they flagged down a passing carriage.

Everyone had rushed out so quickly that they had not had time to bring money. Fortunately, Haren usually carried a wallet.

It was a habit from living in the slums, where anything not kept on one’s person would be stolen.

“Please go that way.”

“Where’s your destination?”

“I’ll tell you as we go. For now, just head in that direction.”

Though the driver looked suspicious, they had been paid and obediently drove the carriage.

Haren leaned back against the seat to recover his strength, while keeping watch to make sure the carriage was not headed somewhere strange.

After they had traveled for about ten minutes, Rim gave a small groan and tapped Haren.

“Haren.”

“What is it?”

“Something ominous is coming. From behind us.”

Haren leaned out the carriage window and saw a carriage racing wildly toward them in the distance.

It was undoubtedly a pursuer.

Clicking their tongue, Haren opened the front door, climbed into the passenger seat, and spoke to the driver.

“Driver, please pick up the pace.”

“Hm? No. Do you know how much the fine is for speeding through the city...?”

The grumbling driver sucked in a breath when Haren produced a bright red flame above his palm.

Haren gave the order in a low, threatening voice.

“If you don’t want to burn to death, drive as fast as you can.”

“M-Mage, please spare my life!”

“If those people behind us catch us, we’ll die.”

Haren felt somewhat guilty about threatening an innocent driver, but their own lives were at stake.

If Rim’s intuition was warning them, their pursuer could not be an ordinary enemy.

“Hyah! Hyah!”

The terrified driver whipped the horses with all their strength. Startled, the animals that had been trotting leisurely sped up.

Pedestrians screamed and fled to the edge of the road as the two carriages began a mad race.

“Ahh!”

“What is this?!”

“You lunatics! Call the police!”

Watching the enemy carriage draw closer, Haren shouted to Ruska in the back.

Between the hoofbeats and the wind, they had to shout to be heard.

“Can you stop that with a Rock Wall spell?”

“I can’t use it while we’re moving this fast!”

“Then hold them off with another spell! You only need to take down the horses!”

Ruska leaned out the carriage window and fired several Lightning Arrows at the pursuing carriage.

But a Mana Field extending from the mage beside its driver wrapped around the horses and blocked them.

“This...!”

Ruska’s face hardened. After steadying their breath, they began unleashing spells in earnest.

Fireballs poured down like buckshot. Wind condensed into sharp spikes and shot forward. A hammer made of light flew through the air and came crashing down above the horses’ heads.

Yet the pursuer calmly blocked every spell.

The horses slowed from fear as magic flew at them, allowing the distance to widen slightly. But it was obvious they would be caught again before long.

Ruska shouted with a grim expression.

“That mage is much stronger than I am!”

A Mana Field normally lost strength and density the farther it extended from the body, but their opponent was comfortably blocking Ruska’s spells while extending a Mana Field from the driver’s seat to the front of the horses.

Considering Ruska, Cardin’s longest-standing disciple, had reached the peak of the First Tier, their opponent was clearly at least a Second Tier mage.

* * *

The chase that had begun in the middle of the city continued into the outskirts.

It seemed their enemy had no magic that could stop the carriage ahead of them.

The problem was that the road grew noticeably worse as they left the city.

Then the sun set, darkness fell, and the frightened horses could no longer run as fast.

As the carriage jolted wildly, the driver spoke to Haren with an anxious expression.

“M-Mage! This carriage is old. It’s dangerous to drive this fast in a place like this!”

Even so, they could not stop here.

At the very least, they had to get as far from the city as possible to shake off any other pursuers who might follow.

But before long, Haren paid the price for ignoring an expert’s warning.

One wheel, struck by a powerful impact, came loose. The carriage lost its balance and overturned.

“Aaaah!”

Haren grabbed the screaming driver and quickly jumped from the carriage.

Haren took the impact with their body during the fall, so the driver was only knocked unconscious from shock and was not seriously injured.

After setting the driver down, Haren groaned softly as pain seemed to crush his entire body.

“Ugh…”

At least nothing seemed broken.

An ordinary person would have suffered severe injuries at the very least.

A moment later, the carriage door flew off with a bang, and Nasrel leaped outside.

Rim and Ruska followed. They had been hurt from being thrown around, but neither appeared seriously injured.

“Damn it, that hurts!”

“I thought we were going to die…”

Haren was relieved that everyone was safe, but only for a moment.

They took a deep breath and looked behind them.

The carriage pulled by two horses, which had been chasing them since the city, had stopped directly in front of them.

“That was close. We almost really lost them. You don’t need to get down. This will be over quickly.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Why am I your boss?”

The mage who got down from the passenger seat while talking with the driver was a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties.

He tossed a cigarette to the ground, exhaled smoke, then looked over the young mages with a frown.

“They really are kids? I heard about it, but... how old are you, anyway?”

“Old enough. How about you?”

The mage looked dumbfounded for a moment at Haren’s cheeky reply, then laughed.

“I’m Voras of the Beltin School. I’ve left them now and work as a contractor.”

“I’m Haren.”

“Right, Haren. Are you willing to tell me where that old man Cardin ran off to? I don’t really like messing with children.”

As expected, the first thing Voras wanted was Cardin’s whereabouts.

Haren let out a heartfelt sigh.

“It may be hard to believe, but we really don’t know. It would’ve been nice if we could tell you, so you could kill that man for us.”

“Hm?”

Voras looked startled to hear a disciple wishing for his master’s death.

When even Ruska beside Haren nodded, his confusion deepened.

“Well, it seems you lot have a complicated relationship too.”

“That’s how life is. Honestly, we don’t even know what he did to be chased like this. Could you tell us?”

“Well? I’m only moving because I was hired. From what I heard, he stole some incredible treasure. The navy is chasing him too.”

Even junior mage officers were at least Third Tier.

Among field-grade officers, there might even be Fifth Tier mages.

For a moment, Haren felt hope that Cardin might not return alive, leaving them free.

Of course, that depended on escaping the mage in front of them first.

Voras shook his head.

“Anyway, will you come with me for now? I need to find out whether you truly don’t know.”

“If we go with you, will we get out alive?”

“To be honest, probably not. The person who hired me is very angry.”

At that remarkably honest answer, Haren burst out laughing despite himself.

Voras was an enemy, but Haren liked that he was not trying to lure them in with lies.

“Then I’m a little scared, so... get him!”

The instant Haren finished speaking, Ruska fired a Lightning Arrow.

But just as before, the attack harmlessly skimmed over Voras’s Mana Field and vanished.

“Stop resisting pointlessly. You’re only First Tier brats. How do you think you can beat me?”

Voras gestured as if the idea were absurd, and stone spikes burst from the ground.

They tore apart the Mana Field around Ruska’s body in an instant and pierced Ruska’s calves and knees.

“Aaaagh!”

“Ruska!”

Ruska screamed, unable even to fall properly. Rim cried out in shock.

Meanwhile, Haren and Nasrel charged Voras from different directions at the same time.

Nasrel did so because it was all she knew how to do, while Haren had his own plan.

‘The only way to win is close combat!’

Judging by how Voras had extended his Mana Field a long distance to block attacks during the chase, as well as by the magic he used, he was a shooter specialized in the earth attribute.

Shooters had the lowest Mana Field density and were weaker in hand-to-hand combat.

Of course, even a Second Tier mage would be far stronger than Haren despite that weakness, but Nasrel was a Great Strength.

If the two fought together while Rim kept the driver occupied, they might have a chance.

But only moments after charging in with that thought, Haren’s eyes widened as a fist flew toward his face.

‘Fast...!’

Haren’s reflexively raised arm was driven back by Voras’s fist and struck them in the face.

Even though he had blocked it, the impact made his mind go blank, and Haren was thrown backward.

It did not feel like being hit by someone merely stronger because he was an adult.

It felt as though he had been attacked by an entirely different species.

As Haren tried to get up, they realized the arm they had used to block had been broken in one blow. They groaned.

Meanwhile, Voras was trading blows with Nasrel, who had rushed in through the opening Haren created.

“Damn it...!”

For the first time, the relaxed mage looked flustered.

He had not been very wary because she was only a little girl, but her strength and speed were beyond anything he had imagined.

Even so, Voras was overwhelmingly winning the fight.

Their physical abilities were different to begin with, and his greater height and longer arms allowed him to beat her one-sidedly.

If Nasrel had not clung to him tenaciously like a hunting dog, the fight would have ended quickly.

Watching this, Haren realized why their calculation had been wrong.

Voras was not a Second Tier mage.

He was a Third Tier mage, two full tiers above them.

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