Gradually the cloud of dust subsided. My blurred vision gradually opened and I was soon in contact with a towering earthen wall.
The pile of dirt that had blocked the scorpion lightning quickly scattered and collapsed. A woman with brown hair stretched out her hand over the crumbling dirt. It’s normal brown hair, so I wasn’t aware of it.
I quietly clicked my tongue.
“I didn’t know you’d bring an earth property wizard.”
“I thought you might have Fulgor’s Pumpkin. I’m well aware of the dangers of lightning magic.”
The electric system was at odds with the earth attribute. Fulgor’s Pumpkin could be considered useless.
“Holy Devotion” could only be used on the same party member…
It wasn’t that I thought I could completely subdue them.
Because there were more than 30 opponents.
I also know how to objectively see the situation.
I laughed sarcastically.
“You’re amazing, Crimson Prosecutor.”
“Don’t call me that!”
Fabian, enraged, shouted.
He was more furious than when he was called a “thug,” and his eyes were filled with anger and frustration at not being called a warrior.
Whether he thought he was too expressive, Fabian belatedly straightened his face. Raising his lips, he pretended to be relaxed.
“No matter how great you are as a supportive wizard, you are only a supportive wizard after all.”
“So, you brought these people to kill me, a supportive wizard? Isn’t it such a waste of manpower?”
“Me? You? Why would I kill such a talented person?”
Fabian shook his head curiously. I hated the way his red hair fluttered and scattered along with the leaning pass.
“I thought about it, but I think the Black Knights would collapse without you.”
Fabian said so and reached out to me.
“I’ll give you another chance, Jun. Not the Black Knight, but an opportunity to follow me.”
What?
I thought I heard it wrong at first. Or perhaps it was a mockery.
The expression of giving me a chance was as if it was very beneficial. Why do I have to follow him now? I snorted and asked.
“If I refuse?”
“Even if your parents and younger brother die?”
“N-no!“
The stepmother and father, who were held by their group, screamed. Only then did my father look at me and beg urgently.
“Jun! I understand that you can resent us. But your brother… What is your grudge against that poor little boy?”
They were desperate as if they would hang on to my feet right away if their arms were not bound.
But the desperate cry just passed by my ear.
“You took the wrong hostages.”
I continued without even looking at my parents.
“I don’t care if they die or not.”
“How can you do that, Jun! How can you be so spiteful!”
As soon as I finished talking, my stepmother screamed with a seizure. She opened her mouth to criticize me, but her father next to her was a step faster.
My father tried hard to stimulate my guilt and gain sympathy.
“You pretend to be calm, but I know very well that you are, in fact, deeply compassionate.
I know that you just said that because you are angry… Think about it again. Hm? It’s not a bad suggestion…”
“That’s right! Your life is not in danger and he appreciates your abilities!”
Unable to hold back a little, my stepmother cried out. Misery flashed across my father’s face as he looked at his stepmother, who was not only useless, but adding fuel to the fire.
I stared at them with dry eyes. My gaze didn’t even pass by very long.
Realizing that the weight of my heart in my gaze was as light as a feather, my father rushed to speak back.
“You still haven’t forgiven us, Jun!”
“Forgiveness?”
I burst into laughter quietly. Then I smiled at them and said,
“I can forgive you for deceiving me this time.”
Hope was about to rise to their faces. I poured cold water on the rising hope without hesitation.
“But I can’t forgive you for pushing me into a dungeon.”
I can forgive them for trying to screw me over. But the matter of pushing me into a flying dungeon…
If I had not been possessed, if I had been unlucky, “Jun” would have died. It was not for me to forgive.
It was the role of “Jun.”
My father, who didn’t even notice that someone possessed his daughter’s body, made an unreasonable excuse to persuade me somehow.
“T-That would bring you to the attention of the Black Knight, so it can’t be all bad. Hm? Please…”
I don’t have to listen to them anymore.
This is enough time to take time. I asked Fabian, facing his head again.
“Wasn’t it easy to bring my family?”
“Is there anything difficult about it? They’re just village bumpkins.”
“But in one way or another, they’re the parents of the Vice-Captain of the Black Knights. They might be used in this way, but did you think Meyer Knox would just leave them alone? Of course, he would attach people to them.”
“…”
Fabian’s brow wrinkled, my head would get complicated as to why I would bring this up. I chuckled and shook my head.
“But I dissuaded him. They’re not even worth using for me, so don’t waste time or money. That’s why you were able to easily bring those humans.”
So what you did was a waste of time and a waste of money.
I said, and the color of my stepmother’s and father’s faces turned pale. It was as if they finally admitted that I was not going to save them.
Fabian didn’t want to believe that I had guessed everything, so he deliberately asked back with a nonchalant look on his face.
“…If you did that in the first place, why didn’t you not follow them? Isn’t it proof that you’re being swayed by them?”
“I was curious. Of who was such an idiot.”
“Curiosity has got you by the scruff of the neck. It’s good that you’re not afraid, but that indulgence will catch you off guard one day.”
“You’re the one who should stop being so arrogant that I’ll hold your hand. You threw something away when you didn’t want it, and you’re still clinging to it after all this time?”
I sneakily… No, I couldn’t scratch Fabian’s insides openly, so I dug up the hook. I had to bring up all the information Fabian had.
Soon after, Fabian, who ran out of patience, gritted his teeth and flashed his eyes.
“…I made a final offer to you, Jun.”
His self-esteem seemed to be bruised.
I inwardly exclaimed with pleasure, but outwardly feigned unconcern. It was the most difficult double act I had ever done.
“So. Are you going to kill me now?”
“No. You’re useful.”
Fabian tingled his finger as soon as he finished talking. Then a man who had fallen behind stepped forward. It was the gloomy shield I had been paying attention to.
The shield shouted a magic starter at me.
“「Shackles of the Mind」!”
“… Keut!”
I felt a stabbing in my brain..
I wobbled and caught my head.
I was on my knees on the floor, scratching my head and writhing in pain.
Fabian came up to me, half-conscious, and murmured.
“I was definitely going to guarantee your freedom and will. You’re the one who refused.”
I clenched my teeth and tried to open my eyes straight, shooting at Fabian.
“A… brainwashing mental wizard!”
“Yeah. Countess Nerus has quite a wide network. I didn’t know she’d really hide a mental wizard.”
Fabian smiled with his eyes bent as if he were having fun.
Mental wizards were not as welcome as support wizards.
However, there are significant differences.
Support wizards are ignored, and mental wizards are feared because of the intense means by which they can harm others.
Brainwashing, confusion, enchantment…
Compared to other wizards, the social impact was greater when they made a bad decision.
Moreover, as they used mind-related magic, the magic was colorless. The color of their hair did not change.
That is why mind wizards were strictly registered and controlled in the empire. It was a capital offense for a mind wizard to conceal his or her true identity.
Of course, being a mind wizard did not mean that anyone could use brainwashing magic.
Because if they could have brainwashed anyone in the first place, they would have brainwashed the emperor and Meyer Knox right at the time they brainwashed me.
Brainwashing was used properly only against those who had lower magic defense than their magic attack power.
The Emperor had the blood of a hero and had a higher magic defense himself, and Meyer, well…. he was a monster.
Even with such conditions, there was much they did not like about them to take them easily to a dungeon attack, which was even just sensitive and cautious.
It was the same now. There was a secret look of disgust on the faces of those who looked at the shield.
Anyway, after being treated like that, it wasn’t easy for mind wizards to raise their level, and so they were all on the low side of the magic sky.
On the other hand, the shield in front of me was…
‘I see he’s reached roughly the 50th level. If he’s a mental wizard, I don’t think anyone would have let him in on the dungeon crawl. It looks like he fooled his way around the dungeon with his shield.’
Considering that his talent as a shield appeared to be decent, Countess Nerus must have put a lot of effort into secretly raising him to this level.
A mental wizard approaching the 50th level.
He leveled up with a shield, so his magical attack power shouldn’t be that high, but the basic magic coming from his level was formidable.
