The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 48.1

Eliza, watching the training, was slightly bored.

She couldn’t see what was happening because it was too far away.

She could enhance her vision using mana, but she hadn’t learned how to yet.

She didn’t feel the need to learn it.

There were more important spells she needed to master.

Gaston was nowhere to be seen.

It wasn’t the right time to strike since there was no concrete evidence.

“Hermes.”

Hermes and Lia were also by her side.

“How does it look to you?”

Hermes could see the battlefield with enhanced vision.

It was difficult to describe what she saw.

It wasn’t just because of the clear defeat of Room 13.

What was happening there was more violence than a battle.

Eliza asked for one reason.

She was curious about how Judas was doing.

She didn’t care what happened to the other candidates.

Hermes knew this, so she hesitated to answer.

The situation seemed very difficult and challenging for Judas.

“Well, Room 13 is in danger….”

Eliza turned her head away before hearing the rest of the answer.

A signal had come from the alert spell she had set up.

A hemispherical mana barrier enveloped the entire area in three layers.

It was similar to a type of barrier.

She had recently learned it.

Normally, it would be a single layer.

For a beginner, the size would barely cover a small shack, but Eliza’s barrier was much larger.

In that wooded forest.

On a slightly higher hill.

Something alien had invaded from that direction.

It didn’t feel like a simple wild animal or a lost traveler.

There was a strange aura.

It was also the direction Gaston had left after the training started.

‘…A mage?’

Eliza sensed a strange flow.

Someone had used magic in that direction.

“Huh…? What is that…?”

Hermes was startled.

Vinyl was pulling out a hidden stone knife.

There was no time to report this serious issue.

Eliza suddenly grabbed her wrist.

“Yes?”

At that moment, the scenery changed.

They were on a hill with a good view of the plain below.

The surroundings were dark with dense trees.

Hermes, in a daze, looked ahead.

He met the surprised eyes of Gaston, the instructor overseer of this training.

And next to him, a mage with a similar expression.

“What happened?”

Unlike Hermes, Eliza asked casually.

It was then that Hermes realized.

Eliza had teleported her along.

Her knees buckled at the realization.

Teleportation, a top-tier spell.

It’s a dangerous spell with many mages dying during the learning process.

It becomes exponentially harder when moving with another person.

Many fail to cast it properly, or end up in completely wrong locations.

There’s a famous case of a mage accidentally teleporting someone to the middle of the ocean….

Eliza had just performed that spell as effortlessly as breathing.

And of course, the mage next to Gaston realized this too.

‘This makes no sense…. That child, who just awakened a few months ago…? Wait, more importantly, how did she even notice?’

He was too shocked to speak.

Gaston remained silent for a different reason.

He never imagined Eliza would appear so suddenly.

Few people know that she can teleport over long distances.

Eliza’s soft voice echoed again.

“Do I need to assist you in the effort of opening your mouth?”

A strange light shone in her red eyes.

Like waves trapped in a round marble, orange flames flickered within her irises.

The center glowed a bright gold.

A golden color that slightly resembled yellow.

Pupils like the sun.

Flames rose in a circular shape around them.

The flames shooting up into the sky looked like a golden typhoon.

Hermes, who vaguely grasped the situation, also drew her sword.

She had to be ready to fight if necessary.

Or to protect Eliza.

Gaston’s mage felt a chill down his spine.

A precarious sense of danger, as if standing on the edge of a cliff.

A pit of fire lay beneath his feet.

He had to escape from the looming death.

A surge of instinct to survive took over.

His next action was purely reflexive.

Without realizing it, he cast a spell.

With a short wave of his staff, several massive ice shards formed in the air.

They quickly took the shape of spears.

The fastest and most powerful attack spell he knew.

Multi-shot Ice Spear.

The target was Eliza.

“Miss-!”

Hermes leapt in surprise.

Gaston watched the situation closely.

If Eliza was struck, she would flee immediately.

However, Eliza defied everyone’s expectations.

Those multiple ice spears were sucked into her grasp.

The massive ice absorbed into her small hand disappeared without a trace.

As if dispersed by the wind.

“What…?”

The mage uttered in disbelief.

A small sun floated in Eliza’s hand.

The tiny orb of light had absorbed the spell.

“Hmm.”

Eliza looked indifferently at her hand before clenching it.

The orb crushed, its light scattering with a flash.

“Is this it…?”

Eliza was curious about her level compared to other mages.

But the opponent’s level was utterly disappointing.

Of course, she knew she couldn’t assume this mage represented the average of all mages.

“Well, what, uh…”

Unlike the composed Eliza, the mage was astonished.

The technique to control and absorb another’s magic could be mastered by only a few.

Those few are talents that appear only once in a historical period.

Eliza knew.

Her talent was extraordinary.

Any magic was too easy for her.

She just hadn’t had the chance to realize it.

Eliza didn’t suddenly admire her talent.

She spoke calmly.

“Whose mouth is lighter, I wonder?”

In that short moment, Gaston made a decision.

He drew his sword and rushed towards the mage.

“This suspicious fellow dares to threaten the lady!”

A voice scratched with genuine anger.

A murderous sword strike.

But the sword didn’t reach the mage’s neck.

Hermes stepped in and deflected the blade.

A swift and precise defense.

Gaston unconsciously dropped his sword.

Hermes held her sword to Gaston’s throat.

“Your performance is quite poor. It’s insufficient to destroy the evidence.”

Despite the sharp rebuke, Gaston was shameless.

He immediately showed his empty hands and apologized to Eliza.

“Apologies, miss. I spotted a suspicious person and got delayed while questioning him.”

“Hah, hah…!”

The mage let out a dry laugh in disbelief.

“This crazy guy is spouting nonsense! Don’t believe a word he says! I’ll tell you everything!”

The mage, forgetting his astonishment at Eliza’s power, began to babble frantically.

“This piece of trash asked me to take out someone named Judas or something! I came here listening to this scum’s words!”

“Miss, if you believe the lies he’s spouting to save himself…”

“Quiet.”

With a single gesture, Eliza silenced both of them.

The surrounding firestorm had diminished by now.

The flames that had been raging rose to Eliza’s hand.

She looked down at the swirling storm in her palm before extinguishing it.

“Though you will pay dearly for daring to mess with what’s mine, I suppose I should hear you out first.”

Eliza ordered another knight and Hermes to imprison the two in the underground jail.

Even as they were led away, the mage glared at Gaston as if he could kill him.

“I wanted to see what you’d do, but I never expected this kind of behavior…”

This wasn’t just simple tyranny.

A magical assassination attempt on Judas.

Moreover, the magic had already been used.

“I must stop the training immediately.”

But there was no need.

When Eliza returned to the place where Lia was, she was met with unexpected news.

A knight who had been reporting to Lia delivered the same news to Eliza.

“The training has ended with Room 13’s victory.”

***

Dyke and Argon walked briskly.

They wanted to run, but they didn’t have the strength.

They had sprinted at full speed to escape.

Argon looked at the banner slung over Dyke’s back.

A black flag drooping lifelessly.

It seemed to symbolize defeat.

Dyke, who was shaking his head in an attempt to rid himself of the thought, asked,

“The others… they’ll be okay, right?”

“We have to hope so.”

The strength of Room 5 exceeded their expectations.

At the time, sending the two of them to flee while guarding the flag was the best decision.

It was Dylan’s judgment and command.

However, guilt kept creeping in.

Even if it was their assigned role, the fact that they left their comrades behind didn’t change.

“Is anyone chasing us?”

“I can’t see anyone now, but… they must still be following us.”

As soon as they fled, Room 5 had dispatched a pursuit team.

Leo and Cooper.

Fortunately, those two were no longer in sight.

But they couldn’t feel relieved.

They had entered the forest by now.

Their vision was obscured by trees and bushes.

Whether the pursuers were far away or hidden by the terrain was hard to determine.

“Feels like we’re going around in circles…”

Dyke’s mumbling stopped.

Rustling, the bushes ahead rustled.

Both of them tensed up and drew their weapons.

Soon, two people emerged from the forest.

Pursuers from Room 5.

Leo and Cooper.

“Huh?”

Their reactions were odd.

They should have been pleased, but instead, they looked perplexed.

Frowning as if frustrated, they scratched the back of their heads.

“Damn it…”

Then they spoke.

“Just go.”

“What?”

“We’ll pretend we didn’t see you, so just go quickly.”

Argon and Dyke looked at each other.

Their eyes asking if they had heard correctly.

“…Why on earth?”

Dyke and Argon couldn’t believe it.

They might stab us in the back after saying they’d let us go.

The response was simple.

“I don’t like what that bastard Sallaman is doing.”

Cooper nodded in agreement.

“And that guy, Gaston, or whatever his name is, he gives me the creeps. I don’t like fighting like this.”

Even though they had tried to fight Judas two against one, it was in a fit of rage.

They never intended to from the start.

They just wanted to confirm.

What kind of person Judas, the subject of rumors, really was.

They weren’t the type to badmouth someone behind their back based only on hearsay.

But Judas’s personality was no pushover, so it turned into a rough physical fight. That was then.

Since then, they hadn’t encountered Judas, but the truth was, Leo and Cooper were quite impressed with Judas’s response.

A crazy guy with no regard for anything.

That’s how a man should be.

Not living cowardly like Sallaman or Vinyl.

That’s why ten people bullied Dylan together.

Leo and Cooper didn’t participate in that.

“Sorry, but we’re the kind of guys who care more about winning than pride, so we’ll gladly take the offer if you’re letting us off?”

Leo smirked at Argon’s words.

“Please do. Hurry up and get lost before someone sees.”

“Gladly.”

Dyke and Argon quickly left in another direction.

Leo and Cooper laughed as they watched them go.

It was a laugh of relief.