[V16C17] Human Slingshot

The mansion of Mary Harvey was always full of young boys.

She took in many boys with circumstances. Some lost their parents, and others had been abandoned by their parents.

Clarence Hall was one of the boys taken in by Mary. The very first boy she ever adopted.

All of those children worked as Mary’s attendants in her mansion, then left at the age of sixteen. That was the promise they made with Mary.

Mary paid them proper wages, wrote letters of recommendation for those leaving, and even sent them to school if they so desired.

Clarence was one who chose to study, because he wanted to stay by Mary’s side for as long as possible. His goal was to become a mage who could support her stargazing.

His birth mother was a woman who detested working and only thought of her child as a tool to make money, but Mary was different. She was far more of a mother to him than his birth mother ever was.

When Clarence was doomed to spend the rest of his life helping his parents commit fraud, Mary gave him a new future.

Calling her “Mother” felt too presumptuous, so Clarence referred to her as his beloved “Milady”. The one and only woman in his life.

Once, shortly after being taken in, Clarence built a castle out of sand and showed it to Mary.

“Mary-sama, Mary-sama, look!”

Little Clarence took Mary by the hand to show her, but then, he turned pale in realization. His dirty hands had soiled her fair skin.

However, Mary maintained her usual smile. She pulled out a handkerchief and gently wiped the mud from Clarence’s cheek.

“What a splendid castle. Maybe I’ll live there from now on.”

She picked up a small red berry that had fallen nearby and placed it on the sandcastle.

“This is me.”

Then, she giggled like a young girl.

A single red berry, sitting alone atop a magnificent castle.

For some reason, it looked so lonely to Clarence. He decided to gather a bunch of pebbles and place them on the castle to keep her company.

Mary Harvey was loved by many, yet somehow, she always seemed to be alone. No matter how many people followed her, that air of loneliness remained with her.

This was surely the fate of being Ridill’s foremost prophet. She alone could read the stars and see the future of the nation.

——No one can see what she sees. No one can stand beside her.

Perhaps there was one man who might have been able to. Her former fiancé once foresaw the future of the nation by controlling politics… but he had already chosen a different path.

Clarence knew that he could not stand at Mary’s side, but he still wanted to support her. Even if it reduced him to one of the many pebbles next to the bright red berry.

The days where he was a boy who looked good in shorts had long passed, but his feelings for her had never changed since then.

When Mary started bringing home other boys, Clarence offered to take care of them, essentially becoming their tutor. This, he believed, was his duty as the first boy taken in.

And now, Mary asked Clarence to assess the strength of the other Sage disciples.

As the eldest, it had always been his job to look after the younger ones.

＊　＊　＊

Clarence opened a fresh pouch of sand hanging from his waist.

He tried to retrieve all the sand he used, but it was impossible to gather every last grain. Naturally, he would lose more and more the longer the match dragged on.

(I need to wrap this up soon…)

Hugo was hiding behind a tree to his right, while Glenn was floating in the air to his left.

(Walker-kun doesn’t seem to be nearby…)

Clarence glanced at the water threads spread throughout the trees and the wet ground left by them snapping.

Isaac had time to prepare plenty of traps in this area, so he didn’t want to linger for too long. A change of location was preferable.

(I should try to dry off the ground…)

Clarence was about to send a portion of his sand for this job, but then he saw Glenn jump into the air and start chanting. It was longer than his previous incantations.

(This must be double reinforcement!)

Hugo also seemed to realize Glenn’s chant was for double reinforcement. He tried to interrupt the chant with flame arrows, but Glenn dodged with flight magic.

“Gaaah!” Hugo groaned, clutching his head. “I can’t hit him at all!”

He sent a dozen arrows, and all of them were dodged. This was a testament to Glenn’s skill with flight magic. Not many people could maneuver around at such a high speed.

Next, Clarence split his sand into thin, whip-like strands and sent them at Glenn.

The rules of this match prevented Glenn from going above the trees, so he had to avoid bumping into them while flying. And yet, Glenn easily weaved between the trees while dodging the sand whips.

“Compress and…”

Glenn created a fireball between his hands.

He dodged the sand whips with a sharp turn while maintaining full speed. This left him floating in the air upside-down, but that didn’t matter. He twisted his torso and thrust his hands forward.

“Boom!”

To defend himself, Clarence compressed all of his sand into a wall in front of himself.

The mana density of the sand wall would block any ordinary spell without taking a scratch, and yet, Glenn’s fireball easily blew it into smithereens.

The gem of the armband on Clarence’s left wrist flashed red. His mana was exhausted.

＊　＊　＊

Right after Clarence got hit by Glenn’s fireball, the voice of Raul Roseberg echoed through the forest.

“Oh! His armband is glowing. Clarence Hall the Astronomy Mage has been eliminated. We’re down to three! Keep it up, everyone!”

“Alright!” Glenn shouted, pumping his fist as he returned himself to flying rightside up.

When there were multiple opponents, Glenn always struggled when deciding who to target.

He understood that factors such as elemental affinity, strategy, and positioning should go into the decision, but thinking had never been Glenn’s strong point. His head was already full with all the magical formula calculations.

And while Glenn paused to hesitate over his target, his opponents would take advantage of the delay to dodge.

Thus, Glenn came up with a certain solution.

——When in doubt, go for the oldest one first. Older people seemed more formidable, after all.

Simple, yes, but Glenn found it easier to act based on simple rules.

As a result, his lack of hesitation allowed him to land a clean hit and eliminate Clarence.

The next target was Hugo. But if Isaac shows up, he’ll go for the older one… or so he thought, until it hit him.

(Wait, aren’t the President and Hugo-san the same age? Uh… well, whatever. The President isn’t here right now.)

While pondering those thoughts, Glenn twisted his body to dodge a flaming arrow from Hugo on the ground.

The precision of Hugo’s spells was nothing special, so Glenn didn’t find them too hard to dodge.

Also, most of the water threads in this area had been blown away by the doubly-reinforced fireball.

Glenn glanced at the few water threads still hanging between the trees, and he noticed something.

(The President probably can’t put the water threads very high.)

Previously, Isaac had adjusted the threads to block a fireball, but his control over them seemed limited. In other words, he couldn’t launch them very far.

Perhaps he could string them manually if he tied the thread to a throwing knife and threw it at the top of a tree, but that would obviously take more time. Thus, there were fewer threads the higher you went.

Once Glenn floated above the height of an adult man, there were barely any water threads to deal with.

In that case, flying right at the altitude limit would reduce the chance of getting caught by the threads.

Glenn remained careful not to exceed the altitude limit as he dodged Hugo’s spells.

(The sound from the doubly-reinforced fireball should have given away my location…)

If Isaac realized Glenn’s location and saw him using flight magic, then it should be coming right about now.

Bang! A gunshot from Isaac rang out.

However, Glenn was already on guard for a possible sniping, so he twisted his body to dodge. The sting in his left leg meant he failed to dodge completely, but it was only a graze.

(There you are, President!)

Glenn spotted Isaac’s bright blonde hair peeking out from a tree.

Apparently, Hugo had also shifted his target. He fired offensive spells at Isaac from behind the cover of a tree.

Should he go for Isaac or Hugo? Glenn hesitated for three seconds, then chose Isaac. After all, Isaac seemed more intimidating in a one-on-one.

Glenn started an incantation as he chased Isaac down with flight magic.

Then, the fleeing Isaac suddenly turned around and fired a water shotgun round. However, Glenn noticed the barrel aimed high and immediately dropped altitude to dodge it.

“You’re mine now!”

Hugo also caught up and fired a series of flame arrows at Isaac. Unable to dodge, Isaac took several hits to his left arm. Since the water threads in the area had been blown away, he could no longer use them to shield himself.

Isaac dropped to one knee. Right at that moment, Glenn finished his incantation.

“Compress and…”

Glenn compressed the fireball in his hand. Now, all he had to do was release it. A single hit would be enough to defeat Isaac.

Just as he thought that, he noticed something rising from the wet ground.

——A net made of water.

An ordinary net spread across the ground would have been easy to notice. But a net of water on top of wet ground? That was not so easy.

Glenn sensed the danger and canceled his fireball spell just in time. But that was all he managed to do.

The water net ensnared Glenn, who was flying low, as well as Hugo, who was standing on the ground.

Then, Isaac made a pulling gesture, and both of them were dragged across the ground along with the water net. The force of the pull was tremendous.

Manipulating water already required a decent amount of mana. Just how much mana was required to pull two adult men like this?

Unlike the thin threads from earlier, this net was thick and durable. There was no way to tear it by hand.

Isaac reeled in the water net with a confident grin.

“Now, let’s end this.”

＊　＊　＊

Isaac set a trap by weaving the threads into a water net over wet ground. Once his foes moved into position, he could pull the net and capture all of them in one fell swoop. But that was easier said than done.

Though frustrating, he lacked the ability to reinforce the water threads and pull the net at the same time.

Isaac would need to cast a spell for reinforcing the threads, else they break on contact, and an additional spell to pull the net with enough force. Since he was already maintaining the water thread spell, that would be three spells at the same time.

However, there was one way for Isaac to reinforce the threads without using a spell. He could pump them with water from a water source.

There was a limit to how much water Isaac could generate with his magic, but he could get more by using water from the nearby river. And since drawing water was not a complicated action, he could do it with the minimal control granted by the initial water thread spell.

That said, this method consumed a ton of mana, so it would not last long. At first, he laid the groundwork by dipping the tips of his threads into the river.

Then, once he was prepared to end the match, he placed a water net and waited for the moment. Once his opponents fell for the trap, he would pump the water from the river into his net, and cast the thread manipulation spell to pull them down.

…Or at least, that was the plan.

Isaac ended up failing at the crucial step of drawing water. He was simply too far away from the river, and he never practiced moving water this far during training. But that wasn’t really an excuse. It was all due to his lack of skill.

There was one other option. Isaac could cast a support spell to assist in the drawing of water. But if he did that, he wouldn’t be able to pull the net.

Isaac had to make his decision in a split second. The spell for drawing water, or the spell for pulling the net. It was one or the other.

He immediately chose the spell for drawing water and used it to reinforce his net. Then, the moment Glenn and Hugo moved into position, he yanked it with all his might.

At the moment, Glenn and Hugo were terrified of the immense mana in the spell dragging them across the ground.

But in reality, this was no spell at all. Isaac could not cast a third spell, so he simply pulled them down with brute strength.

In place of an incantation, Isaac let out a grunt of “Hmph!” as he reeled the two in.

“Now, let’s end this.”

Restraining someone with water was very convenient. It made it easy to cover their mouth.

With their incantations sealed, any mage was rendered powerless. There was only one person in the entire world who could cast magic without chanting, and that was his master, Monica Everett the Silent Witch.

That said, Isaac didn’t have the mana to maintain these restraints forever.

Even if he blasted the defenseless Glenn with offensive magic, Isaac would run out of mana first.

“I considered covering your mouth and nose until you fall unconscious… but suffocation is painful. So I figured I’d go with a more peaceful solution. I’ll make you lose by ring out.”

“Eh? Walker-kun, are you seriously going to drag us all the way outside the barrier? That’s pretty far, you know? Doesn’t seem possible.”

As Hugo said, they were a great distance from the edge of the arena. Dragging two adult men that far did sound pretty difficult.

But that was not the only way to move them out of bounds.

Isaac transformed the reinforced water net into a wide band and stretched it taut between two large trees.

“Have you ever played around with a slingshot when you were a kid?”

Isaac raised a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun, as he looked up at the tallest tree in the forest.

Or more precisely, the marker flag at the top of that tree. Going above that flag would result in disqualification.

Glenn realized the implication and turned to Isaac with a pale face.

“P-President… You can’t be serious…”

“I can adjust the elasticity of this water band, so you’ll fly really high.”

Isaac dragged the restrained Glenn into position, placing him at the center of the stretched band of water.

As Glenn started trembling violently, Isaac smiled in reassurance.

If this had been the face of the Second Prince, it would look like a gentle smile to comfort a child. But on Isaac’s face, it was the smile of a hunter about to finish off his prey.

“If you don’t make it high enough, we can just try again. Don’t worry, I’ll catch you with water.”

“Gyaaaaah…!!”

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