The Water Magician

CHAPTER TEXT:

((Five people... and those same five from before...))

((Yeah... what do you want me to do with that information...?))

((I thought that someone as experienced as Abel would provide some great advice, which is why I brought it up!))

((Oh, right... If it were me, I would somehow create a one-on-one situation and take them down one by one.))

((So you're suggesting we take them out individually? It’s conventional wisdom, but it’s a hassle, so I’ll deal with them all at once!))

((... There’s really no point in asking me, is there?))

((I respect Abel's opinion! Let’s just say it wasn’t meant to be this time...))

Ryo said something that sounded like a line from a human resources officer.

In a slightly open area on the outskirts of the city.

Ryo stopped there and turned around to say,

"All five of you, come out."

Five people dressed in military-like robes, centered around Cesare, stepped forward.

"Did you realize we were following you?"

The man to the left of Cesare spoke.

"You were discovered? Nonsense..."

The woman to the right of Cesare murmured.

(That’s right, I'm very interested in that. What kind of technique is it... is it magic, alchemy, or perhaps some method I'm unaware of?)

Ryo was very curious about their "concealment" technique.

Yes, "the technique of 'concealment' as well."

Additionally, they must have something valuable, and he was interested in that too.

In this context, being "interested" obviously meant wanting to acquire it.

To do that,

(I need to secure them without killing them...)

The troublesome part was that all five of them were mages.

Mages cannot be frozen in an ice coffin.

It’s not completely impossible but quite troublesome.

Even if I capture them alive, if they retaliate or escape, it would be meaningless.

The most reliable method is to knock them out.

However, in reality, knocking someone out is very difficult...

Even if I hit the carotid artery with a chop, they don't faint easily... I don’t have chloroform on hand... a punch to the stomach causes agony but doesn’t knock them out...

The most reliable way to knock someone out is with a chokehold.

This is certain.

In judo or mixed martial arts, and sometimes even in professional wrestling, they can be knocked out by squeezing the carotid arteries and vertebral arteries... this is確定的 but... one against five is difficult.

As Ryo pondered such things, he faced the five individuals.

He had a plan for what to do after incapacitating them...

"I guess I have no choice but to try."

Ryo murmured.

"Cesare, I'm going in."

The man to the left of Cesare stepped forward with those words.

Is he going to fight one-on-one?

"No, Bartolo, we’ll all attack together."

Cesare declared in a monotonous voice, just as before.

Bartolo, the man referred to, looked surprised.

"Huh? That guy is a mage from the Central Nations, right? Mages from the Central Nations are hardly any good..."

"It was blocked last time."

"Well, that may be true, but that was because of the tools from the Special Agency..."

Mages from the Central Nations are thought to be of lower level compared to those from the Western and Eastern Nations.

If they need to chant spells and can only produce low-power magic...

Once, a mage from the Hero Party that came from the Western Nations said just that...

All of this is exactly as the Lord Ancestor of the vampires envisioned...

To keep the magic culture of the cultural sphere at the level he set... to put it bluntly, it's absurd.

Ryo knew of no one in history who had succeeded in such a feat... of course, in the history of Earth.

However, that Lord Ancestor went out of his way to make the magic used by the people of the Central Nations, spells that require chants and yet are of low power, so that vampires could live comfortably there.

Incredible...

Well, as a result, they are being treated this way.

"The man before us is strong. Don’t underestimate him, attack with full force, all together."

It seems Cesare has a high regard for Ryo.

"What Cesare says is correct."

Ryo provocatively said.