~Chapter 67~
“Hey.”
I muttered with an annoyed face.
“Excuse me.”
I pushed away the face stuck close to mine.
“Can you please let go?”
“Uuuu~”
The magician whined like a child, shaking her head.
She kept pressing her cheek against mine and patting my head, ever since we first met again.
“It’s been so long since I felt this.”
“…”
Sigh. I let out a deep breath. My head was spinning.
This was no time for this nonsense!
“Asha Drukan.”
“Yes!”
Asha answered with a bright smile.
Of course, she was happy…
The carriage jolted loudly, probably hitting a rock.
“It’s fine to enjoy this reunion, but we’re kidnapped right now!”
When I shouted, Asha put a finger to her lips. “Shh.”
When did she untie her ropes?
“If they notice you’re awake, it’ll be troublesome. Be quiet.”
She untied the tight rope around my wrists. My skin was red and swollen where it had been tied.
It was dark all around, only faint light slipping through the cracked window.
Damn it. To be kidnapped like this.
Pathetic, Rubian.
Infuriating, Rubian!
“I didn’t know there would be another group aiming for these ladies…”
Asha mumbled, dragging her words out.
I held my uneasy stomach and looked around inside.
Unconscious Titi, Liv, and Licht.
I carefully traced back this ridiculous situation.
Titi and Liv had been the real targets from the start.
They thought they looked like commoners, but honestly… they only looked like low-ranking nobles’ children.
When the kidnappers lured them into the alley, Asha happened to follow, so she became a target too.
Then, while Asha was confused at their sudden disappearance, I arrived.
And then Licht got dragged into this mess as well…
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
No one could resist the sudden ambush and knockout gas.
And with so many black-clad men jumping out at once, we had no chance.
Weren’t the knights supposed to have captured all of them already?
I had praised them so much—how could they let this happen?
“Oh no, I used up all my emergency wake-up devices…”
Asha tossed aside a small circular tool. So, that was how she woke up and then woke me up too.
“So. How have you been? You came to Babylon, so why didn’t you contact me?”
I rotated my sore wrists and stared at Asha.
Her seventeen-year-old face hadn’t changed from my memory.
That small fang peeked out when she smiled, and her short curled hair gave her a cute, innocent look.
I never thought we’d meet again like this.
Asha Drukan had been a lower-rank magician in my unit, making magic tools alongside me.
Not really a close friend, but…
Once, when we had both collapsed from mana exhaustion, she had asked me something.
“When this war ends, what will you do?”
“Of course go back to the kingdom. You’ll return as a stationed magician. What else?”
“Ahh…”
She had looked oddly disappointed. Then stared straight at my bare face, my collar loosened.
“I just thought… you might choose something different.”
“…Why?”
“My grandmother used to say… people always gaze toward the place they truly want to return to.
On hard days, you often looked north, toward Babylon.”
That was our last real conversation.
After that, I avoided her—partly because she had noticed a habit I didn’t even know about.
Later, I got reassigned elsewhere, and that was that.
If I hadn’t saved a young magician named Drukan at Kanalan Canyon—
If I hadn’t become her unintentional lifesaver—
I probably would’ve forgotten her entirely.
“Hey, if you see your sister… tell Asha that grandmother’s words were right.”
I never expected her to actually come searching for me.
“Do you know how worried I was? I was terrified you’d get caught by a tracking magician before I did. But… to meet like this, all at once—it’s lucky.”
Asha whined again, snuggling against me.
I narrowed my eyes.
“Damn. That doesn’t mean you should go kidnapping girls!”
“What? Kidnapping? No! I just wanted to check if they had mana. What if you were disguised again? I even brought bread to share…”
She looked sadly at the cream bread crushed on the floor.
“I was just trying to protect you, finding you before the tracking magician did…”
I sighed deeply.
Unbelievable. She really…
Rumors said only noble girls were targeted.
But others claimed it was any noble children, boys or girls.
Both were true.
One group really was after ransom money.
But Asha’s suspicious behavior, sneaking around with magic tools, had tangled her actions with the real crimes—
and that confusion spread as wild rumors.
And wearing a black robe? That made her look even more suspicious.
“Of course the girls would be scared if a stranger talked to them!”
“I greeted politely! I wasn’t scary at all!”
Asha pounded her chest, frustrated. She pouted, scanning me up and down.
“I never imagined you were disguised as a boy…”
I closed my eyes, trying to calm my dizziness.
The carriage swayed. Motion sickness hit harder.
Asha leaned closer again.
“But really, how did you even think of disguising yourself as a boy? You always surprise me, Seventh!”
“Don’t call me that! Call me Rubian!”
“What’s the problem? Everyone else is asleep.”
She rubbed her cheek against my head and glanced sideways.
“Should I wake these three up?”
I shook my head.
“Let them sleep, until we figure out a way to escape.”
Otherwise, it would just get noisy.
“Ugh, what a mess.”
I pressed my ear to the dark carriage wall.
The coachman’s voice was muffled by the rattling wheels.
The carriage shook violently again—it seemed we were going up a steep mountain road.
“Looks like Ipsun Mountain.”
So, in the end, Titi and Olivia were heading to the mountains like they had wanted… though under terrible circumstances.
“Rubian, your lips are pale.”
“Motion sickness…”
“Oh my. If only you had ridden a Blue Horse, it would’ve been smooth.”
“This isn’t sightseeing!”
The carriage slowed, then stopped completely.
Outside was quiet, light rain falling.
I put a finger to my lips, signaling Asha to be silent.
I heard men’s voices outside.
“Are we really doing this? Kidnapping high nobles too… That blond kid looked unusual. I even thought I saw the Jebert family crest…”
“Shut up and wake the brats! No turning back now!”
Footsteps approached. Suddenly, the door burst open.
“What? Some of them are awake!”
“How did the ropes come loose?”
The sudden light made Titi, Liv, and Licht stir.
I leaned close to Asha and whispered.
“Can you keep them asleep?”
“Of course.”
Asha released her mana.
Their faces relaxed, falling into peaceful sleep again.
Right then, rough hands lunged to grab me.
“What are you whispering about? Get out—ugh!”
The man’s hand was suddenly bound tight—by a long shadow stretched across the floor.
“I won’t forgive anyone who bullies my friend.”
Asha stood tall and firm.
She might have been a low-ranking magician, but not weak enough to lose to ordinary thugs.
“Asha, how’s your mana?”
“It feels like both my nostrils are stuffed with thick snot.”
“Do you really have to say it like that?”
“Then it’s like troll slime blocking my nose—”
“That’s even worse!”
“Still better than someone like you, with no nose at all.”
“…Now you’re just rude.”
Hmph! Well, I had Khal anyway!
Together, Asha and I jumped out of the carriage.
“Mmmph! Mmm!”
The bound man struggled on the ground. The other kidnappers stepped back nervously, holding dangerous weapons.
“W-what the hell are you?! What kind of magic tool can do that?!”
“It’s not a tool.”
Including the man who had spoken first, there were ten of them.
I gauged the mana inside me, then glanced back.
The three kids were still asleep.
Around us was only the deep forest, rain falling in eerie silence.
“I even saved up some mana… Looks like it’s the perfect time for a fight.”
I crouched, placed my hand firmly on the ground, and shouted without hesitation:
“Hyaaap!”
