ESL Chapter 4

“So you were hiding there.”

Lea let out a low laugh as if amused and shot forward like an arrow. The flustered assassins moved to block her, but she instead used their flying swords as stepping stones and lightly leaped over their heads.

“Hiiiek!! Fi…Fireball!!!!”

The mage hiding in the tree panicked at the sight of the robed figure rushing toward him and hastily chanted the Fireball spell. Three fireballs flew toward her with terrifying momentum. They came from such close range that no matter how agile one was, it would be impossible to dodge.

“Mwahahaha, die!!!”

The mage’s face, which had been bursting with laughter confident that his Fireballs would hit, turned deathly pale with terror in an instant. The robed person had split the Fireballs he had fired far too easily with her sword. A Sword Master could deflect them by imbuing their sword with sword qi. However, it was a method rarely used because one couldn’t predict what damage the deflected Fireballs might cause to the surroundings. But she hadn’t deflected them—she had sliced through the magic with her sword as if cutting through objects.

“Im…impossible… how can this…!!!!”

The mage, unable to believe what he was seeing with his own eyes, unconsciously gaped at the incredibly beautiful girl’s face that appeared before him. A pair of enchanting red eyes reminiscent of blazing flames stared coldly at him, and rose-petal-like plump lips had one corner lifted slightly in mockery. Though her sword swing appeared to move slowly, the mage couldn’t move at all. And in an instant, death covered him.

“……!”

The three remaining assassins were shocked at the sight of the mage’s severed head falling from Lea’s sword. It was already astounding that she had identified their stealth technique in one go and found the mage, but she had sliced through the Fireballs far too easily with her sword. Bewildered by this unbelievable sight, the assassins helplessly lost their lives to Kaid’s sword, which had approached before they knew it.

“…Should I thank you for helping?”

At Kaid’s words as he returned after dealing with the last remaining assassin, Lea, who had been looking down at the extinguished campfire, raised her head to look at him. Red eyes and golden eyes collided head-on in the air. And it was the golden eyes that wavered.

“………..”

Kaid, confirming the face within the robe, doubted his own eyes. He hadn’t thought the person who had been wielding a sword moments ago would be such a beautiful girl. Despite wearing no makeup, she had spotlessly white skin, an oval-shaped slender and small face, a straight nose, plump pink lips reminiscent of rose petals, but what captured his gaze most were the jewel-like eyes shining red between long, thick black eyelashes. The moment he saw those enchanting red eyes reminiscent of blazing flames, he unknowingly admired their beauty inwardly. And he thought they were very similar to the eyes of someone he knew. Of course, this girl’s eyes were far more attractive.

‘Come to think of it, it’s not just the eyes that are similar… The appearance is also quite similar. If you put them together, I’d believe they were blood relatives…’

Lost in thought, he emerged from his thoughts at the girl’s voice.

“What are you going to do about this?”

Though slightly irritated, it was a quiet yet pleasant clear voice. His gaze went to where the girl was looking and then returned to her, with a slightly bewildered expression.

“…You mean this campfire?”

Though he had used informal speech during the battle out of urgency, Kaid spoke formally after confirming the face within the robe. From the dignity felt in her behavior and manner of speech, she didn’t seem to be a commoner, and even if she was, he thought it wouldn’t be proper to speak informally to someone hiding their identity upon first meeting.

“Yes.”

“…It seems the Lady is more interested in the campfire than those dead people over there.”

Meeting the golden eyes that now showed interest rather than bewilderment, Lea answered expressionlessly.

“They are your guests, so it’s not my concern, but this campfire is something I lit. It wasn’t you who gathered these branches one. by. one, was it?”

Looking down at Lea, who spoke with strong emphasis on the words “one by one,” Kaid unconsciously lifted the corners of his mouth slightly. Though her words clearly had barbs, far from being annoyed, he somehow felt pleasant.

“So what do you want?”

“Well, what can you offer?”

Oh my. It seemed this charming young lady was quite upset that the campfire she had personally lit had been ruined. The answer would probably be to light the campfire again, but… the place and timing weren’t appropriate. This lovely young lady surely knew this well too.

“How about we move locations? There’s a suitable place not far from here where we can light a campfire, and I’ll make you a bigger campfire there than the one you made. Will that do?”

Seeing the girl’s slightly raised eye corners finally lower, he let out a low laugh imperceptibly. The two began gathering their respective belongings that were rolling on the ground.

“…It’s all tattered.”

Kaid, grumbling while looking down at his bundle with several footprints on it from being stepped on at some point, looked around for Lea when he didn’t see her gathering her things nearby as he shouldered his load. Then, with a somewhat surprised expression, he walked toward where the dead mage’s body was. There, Lea was crouching and searching through the dead mage’s body.

“…What are you doing?”

Kaid asked with his handsome face slightly frowning. He didn’t quite like seeing her searching through the clothes of a corpse that hadn’t just died but had its neck severed, without batting an eye. No matter if they were enemies, wasn’t this disrespectful to the dead? However, Lea, seemingly not caring at all about his expression, searched thoroughly and then smiled when she seemed to find what she wanted. It was a very pretty but somehow sinister smile.

“I knew he’d have it.”

What she stood up holding was a small brown pouch the size of a palm.

“What’s that?”

As Kaid asked without releasing his displeased expression, Lea opened the pouch and took something out. Then she approached him and held it out.

“Take it.”

“….?”

He looked down at what she held out. It was something like a nameplate made of thinly flattened metal with writing on it.

“To work as a mage, you must register with the Mage Tower. Then the Mage Tower receives a registration fee and gives out a token proving registration. The token has the mage’s real name written on it along with when they registered. This is that token. It will probably help you find who’s behind this.”

“…..”

Kaid took the token Lea offered and confirmed the writing on it. The token had the name [Lester Ludian] written along with the registration date. Certainly, having this would make finding who tried to ambush him much easier. After a moment of silence, his expression softened.

“..You were trying to find this?”

“Well, among other things.”

Lea answered with a light laugh as if it was nothing special. In truth, her purpose was the mana stone that mages basically carry around. The mage she had dealt with appeared to have about 3rd Circle level skill. Then he would have a fairly usable mana stone.

A mana stone was a type of special stone that amplified mana when carried, varying in size from finger-joint-sized to palm-sized. Since they were transparently see-through with a reddish tinge making them pretty in color, they were generally carried as accessories like necklaces or bracelets, but occasionally when they couldn’t be made into accessories, they were put in pouches and carried in one’s clothes. And the mage whose neck she had severed was the latter type.

Mana stones’ mana amplification varied not by size but by purity, so the higher the purity, the more expensively they were traded. And happily, the mana stone she had obtained was small in size but quite high in purity.

‘This should fetch about as much as the bounty on those brothers I caught last time. Or well, it might be good to give it to Abel as a gift. Though I’m not sure if that guy needs something like this.’

Having gained unexpected profit, she was in a good mood and decided to be generous. The result was the mage’s token placed in Kaid’s hand. But unaware of these circumstances, he felt sorry for misunderstanding her and apologized.

“I’m sorry for misunderstanding.”

“Well, it happens. More importantly, which way should we go?”

Seeing Lea shrug her shoulders, Kaid took the first step. Then she too began walking following him. After walking for some time, where he stopped was in front of a small cave not easily visible to people’s eyes. Following him as he entered without any hesitation, a cozy yet spacious area appeared. It was space enough for five or six people to sleep comfortably even with a campfire lit. Moreover, luminous stones were embedded here and there on the walls, making it bright enough to recognize each other’s faces.

“This is a place I often use when crossing the Krauzen Mountains. As promised, I’m going to light a campfire here for you—is that alright?”

“Yes.”

Answering without much thought while looking around for where to put her things, Lea noticed that Kaid was quietly staring at her and looked at him.

“Do you have something to say?”

“You seem too unguarded. Aren’t you scared to be in an enclosed space alone with a man you don’t even know well? What if I did something to the Lady?”

Of course, he knew from direct experience that her sword skills were excellent. Probably most men wouldn’t be able to lay a finger on her, but still, wasn’t she a bit too fearless? In a situation without a sword where one had to rely only on physical force, it was impossible for a woman to beat a man innately. Moreover, wasn’t she not yet an adult?

Kaid looked at the beautiful red eyes staring straight at him and thought perhaps he should scare her a little. Of course, he had no intention of actually doing anything, but it wouldn’t be bad to make her a bit more alert. However, he soon lost his energy at the words that came from the girl’s mouth.

“Because I know you won’t do that.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Surely the 3rd Prince of the Yurasen Empire wouldn’t do such a shameless thing.”

Kaid’s expression hardened instantly and he drew his sword at an imperceptibly fast speed, bringing the sharp sword tip to the girl’s neck. His entire body was already emanating a murderous aura that seemed ready to crush his opponent.

“…How do you know who I am?”