Published: July 4, 2025
After Sue Koo left, Ryo and Abel remained in the crowd for a while.
They were continuing to generate the ice path in real-time beneath the feet of the attackers who were trying to get back on their feet.
“They keep trying to stand up without learning their lesson, don’t they?”
“Ah, yeah… it’s a bit sad to say they’re not learning their lesson.”
Ryo muttered while shaking his head slightly, and Abel felt a bit sorry for the attackers who kept falling down each time.
“But they are the evildoers who attacked the innocent daimyo in broad daylight, right? They should reflect deeply on their misdeeds.”
“True. What Ryo says is absolutely correct.”
Abel agreed and nodded, thinking that Ryo's point was entirely valid.
“However… I suppose they received such orders.”
“Are they willing to do anything just because they were ordered? That’s no good. They lack initiative. There are indeed bosses out there who treat their subordinates like disposable tools. One must protect oneself.”
“That’s completely true. You’re spot on.”
Ryo lamented the attackers’ lack of initiative, while Abel accepted Ryo's assertion.
Perhaps it was a time when even attackers were expected to have initiative.
“By the way, about the magic and throwing knives that got frozen earlier…”
“Yes, it was my Dynamic Steam Mine II. I had it laid out in front of them.”
Ryo answered cheerfully to Abel's question.
He had anticipated that they would likely use magic for long-range attacks anyway.
By the way, while they were talking, Ryo was continuing to generate the ice path beneath the attackers who were attempting to get back up.
“Even standing next to you, I can’t tell at all that you’re using magic, Ryo.”
“Right? Right? It may be that a time is coming when mages will require stealth. I practiced to get ahead of the times.”
“Stealth…”
“There was a time when I was in the Run Guild dormitory, and I secretly generated ice path like this while peeking out the window to punish the investigation team, but Phelps spotted me.”
Ryo recalled generating ice path while peeking out the window, intending to punish the investigation team.
After punishing them, once the people had left, Phelps came to the window to greet him...
“Oh, he can’t use magic, but Vice Captain Shena can use two attributes. He’s sensitive to the flow of magical power, or rather, the activation of magic.”
“Having two attributes! I certainly remember feeling that Shena was incredibly strong.”
“Well, she used to be an assassin. She’s strong.”
“Why does Phelps keep someone like that around him…”
“Because she’s strong? Originally, someone tried to assassinate Phelps and failed… and then became devoted to Phelps.”
“What’s with that protagonist-like backstory…”
Failing to assassinate the protagonist and instead serving them… that is one of the classic developments of a story.
However, that is strictly a classic development surrounding the ‘protagonist’…
“In fact, Phelps is the story’s protagonist…”
“Now, who knows? He has a good face, is smart, incredibly strong, popular, and is the heir of a marquis house, so he has a lot of followers. But that’s about it.”
“Yeah, without a doubt, he’s the protagonist.”
Abel enumerated Phelps’ traits while grimacing, and Ryo accepted the reality with a small shake of his head.
“The world is unfair.”
“Indeed. The world is inherently unfair.”
After a while, the crowd began to disperse.
After Sue Koo had left, they continued to watch the attackers trying to stand up, but it seemed they had grown bored.
Moreover, nearly all the attackers had given up on standing up, and it was likely related to that.
As the crowd began to disperse, Ryo and Abel also left the scene.
“It was a hassle to have to stick around just to keep knocking them over.”
“Well, it was necessary, but it can’t be helped. By now, Sue Koo should be at the mansion…”
“The generated magic is simple. The ice path only generates at the moment weight is applied. Once they slip and no longer apply weight, the ice path disappears. It’s just a repetition of those two things… I feel like it could be replicated with alchemy tools.”