Chapter 3: The next day, Kynemeia stared blankly at the boy sitting in the underground prison.

The next day, Kynemeia stared blankly at the boy sitting in the underground prison.

"...Why?"

"I got caught."

As Eian stated that in a cutesy voice, Kynemeia turned her head, palming her face in both hands.

What's with this brat? Is he that determined to be coiled up in resentment against me?

It was uncertain whether he knew what she was thinking of or not but Eian merely smiled and asked,

"You gonna kill me?"

"No!"

Kynemeia held onto the bars tightly. The prison guard was in the midst of explaining how the boy trespassed into the fief again. After he'd been barred by the knights, he simply strolled into the prison on his own legs without any particular act of raising a white flag.

'What is it? Does he want me to kill him?'

"Just release him..."

At Kynemeia's orders, the prison guard entered the cell and as soon as he unlocked the shackles, Eian jumped up. As she studied that obnoxious guy who kept on committing mischief, the middle of her forehead crinkled.

'This should be the last, right? This should really be the end!'

That was what she thought. Until she kept discovering Eian in the underground prison for a week straight!

* * *

Looking at Eian who'd become all chummy with the guard and were even sharing snacks together, Kynemeia could only lean her forehead against the wall.

"Are you perhaps harbouring some malice against me? Maybe you resent me or..."

"Me? Have we ever met before, though?"

"No way."

"Then there's none."

Eian smiled sweetly as he fixed her tousled hair. She'd been asleep and immediately ran over here after waking up, so she'd just brushed her hair haphazardly with both hands.

Then what is it? She rolled her eyes. Right now, he wasn't shackled and the prison was unlocked, allowing him to come and go as he pleased. Eian exited the prison on his own feet and stood in front of her.

"Then why do you keep getting yourself caught?"

The nonchalant Eian bit into an apple and munched on it relaxedly.

"Young Lady, I heard you're looking for a bodyguard knight?"

"No."

"I heard from Mister Guard, though."

"Oh!"

The prison guard gasped, wearing an expression of shock.

So he told him...

The knight who was acting as her bodyguard was about to retire soon, so she was in the midst of searching for a new one. There's only been some talk of it but to think that the rumour has reached the underground prison already...

How rapid. Kynemeia inclined her head, a sulky expression etched on her face.

"And so?"

"I'm volunteering myself. As a bodyguard knight."

"Is the Magic Tower inactive?"

"As you can see."

"Even though you're a Rikasha?"

"It's because I possess outstanding talent."

"What if I don't allow you to be my bodyguard?"

"I'll just show up at the underground prison again then."

"It's a temporary position."

"That's just right."

Just right?! Why! Maybe I should've said that it was lifetime employment.

I can probably change what I said just now but what if he says 'it's just right' again? As the terrifying imagination arose in her mind, she found she couldn't open her mouth with ease.

'Right, let's not say anything that I can't take back. But letting THAT be my bodyguard?

I feel like just standing beside him makes the resentment float around. Should I tell him to defeat our knights if he wants to be my bodyguard?'

'No, I can't. That obnoxious munchkin would definitely defeat the knights of our castle...!'

And it was more terrifying to know that the obnoxious guy actually possesses the ability to do so.

'Eventually, it'll be like digging my own grave. And Kynemeia isn't supposed to be that stupid. But I'm sure he has a hidden intention.'

Even if she glared at him in suspicion, Eian simply kept on smiling without care.

'There won't be an answer if we continue having a staring battle like this.'

"Fuu—"

'And isn't there something else I should be doing right now?'

"Alright..."

Hearing Kynemeia squeeze out those words, Eian's smile widened.

"... It's just for a while."

Just a while. I'll keep him next to me as he protects me, and after some time passes, I'll chase him out. No matter how!

* * *

Across the transmission sphere, Eian's teacher was tapping on the table vigorously as if he was playing the piano. It was a sign that he wasn't pleased in the slightest with the current situation.

"I wasn't the one who started it."

The corners of Eian's lips lifted up.

"Are you talking about me?"

That answer of his was more awful than if he had obediently admitted to it. Eian's notoriously wicked reputation in the Magic Tower and the injuries he sustained from being attacked by the magicians were all brought upon himself.

'... It would've been fun if that were the case.'

"Then I'll just kill them all. Is it that hard to do?"

"It's a joke, Teacher."

Eian said as he softly chuckled.

"That's why there's no need to look so serious."

But that man knew that Eian was truly capable of doing that. And he really couldn't figure out whether the words he claimed to be a joke were truly a joke or not.

"Well, that was already my plan anyway."

Eian smiled as he remembered Kynemeia, and the Teacher knitted his eyebrows as he felt there was something behind that smile.

He's being so obedient?

Eian Krosch was someone who doesn't avoid a fight. He wasn't someone who would be considerate of other people either. It wouldn't even be strange if he went to make a wreck out of the Magic Tower right now.

"I met someone who can see the pattern despite having no mana, you see."

The pattern was supposed to only be visible to those who owned superior mana. If they possessed no mana, they weren't supposed to be able to see it.

It was in a magician's nature to be incapable of containing their curiosities. That was why it was obvious that the Teacher would soon ask who the person in question was and request to meet them.

And so...

"I don't want to. I won't show you."

As Eian disconnected the transmission with those words, the Teacher slammed the table with his fist.

"Eian...!"

I'd overindulged him as I raised him— No, actually, I never overindulged him while raising him. He wouldn't listen because he'd been living as he pleases all this time.

"No mana..."

There was no way that a Rikasha with an unrivalled ability like Eian would fail to perceive mana.

"Ho. Gosh. I really want to meet that person once."

* * *

"Master, that Einsane—I mean, Eian, isn't coming back?"

Benjamin, his assistant who had been listening from the side, spoke up quietly. The reserved Benjamin who usually had no presence, went out of his way to ask even though he heard all that because he really wanted to get a confirmation. The confirmation that Eian was currently out of the Magic Tower.

"That seems to be the case."

"...!"

The Teacher stared at Benjamin who briefly pumped up his fist.

"I see. Hm, as expected—Hm. Now's the time when Eian should, ahem, be outside the tower. Ahem."

"Benjamin. The corners of your lips keep on rising."

"Ahem, you're—ahem, you're mistaken."

The Teacher shook his head. This will spread like wildfire.

His guess turned out to be right. The fact that Eian—no, Einsane, was outside the tower was spread amongst the magicians through word of mouth. He knew that because soon afterwards, he could hear the din of people cheering in the tower.

"If that Einsane had stayed for three more days, I would've abandoned my post as a magician."

"Good job. You've endured well!"

Close friends consoled and hugged each other.

"So there's a God in this world... To think that Einsane would ever leave the tower. Oh Lord, thank you so much."

Only

And there were even magicians who kneeled and praised God in the Magic Tower that was ordinarily hostile towards religious practices.

I don't blame them. It's to the point that the phrase 'Go meet Einsane tomorrow' is used as one of the most repulsive swears, after all.

Ever since Eian arrived at the Magic Tower, he'd been tormenting the innocent magicians with his genius ways. The most notable one among them was cleaving his opponent into two and warping the upper body to the desert and the lower body to the snowy fields.

The other magicians couldn't figure out the principles of the feasibility of performing that sort of magic. The fact that a magician who hadn't even completed his second awakening could perform such obscure magic had gnawed away at the other magicians' mentality.

Not only that, but he also possessed bizarre magic that caused extreme pain to the body. People didn't even consider why he would do such things anymore.

It's probably something petty.

It's Einsane's doing, after all.

It was some time before the sounds of celebration from the joy of seeing Eian take a trip outside died down.