"Even, huh?" the Crimson Mage grunted, cracking out his neck. "Guess I have to take that."
Lily would still scoff at his words, but she didn't say anything until—
"Weren't you in a hurry, by the way?" Gabrielle pointed out, and the little ginger gasped.
"Ugh. Right, um. Keep an eye on things here," she mumbled. "But like—for real, this time."
And while she aimed that stern look at the angel, even Konrad had to straighten his back.
"Hmm? What are you—" And that's as far as the Crimson Mage got before the demoness actually disappeared. "Huh? Where—how did she do that?!"
"Ah. Guess I should have mentioned that Lady Liliana is a portal expert," the old wizard offered.
Which was, well, Konrad wouldn't deny it, but—
That was only the tip of the iceberg of who Lilith the Greater Demoness was.
Anyway. Once the angel's Time Bubble collapsed, they had a smoldering Zoltan to look after.
"Will he be all right?" Konrad asked, noticing that the entire audience was holding its breath.
"Can only hope," the old wizard said. "Those were quite the lightning bolts you fired at the end there. By the time I'd step in to stop the duel, you shattered both layers of my barrier."
"S-sorry about that," he muttered. "When those outsiders attacked me, I—"
"Ah. Speaking of which," the Crimson Mage grunted, turning around.
And before the audience so much as even gasped—
Two people stepped forward, their movements rigid as if they were robots.
Greyhair and Shiftyeyes.
"Are we talking about these two?" the wizard asked, forcing them onto the ground.
And unlike Lily, he didn't use his hands.
Well, Konrad had a vague idea of what must have happened to their minds, though.
"Yes," he said. "And turns out they used a raw mana attack."
Since then, Paula shared this little detail with him.
Raw meant they didn't control or summon any elements, but forced the essence itself to do the job. Not the most efficient way, but it was still annoying enough, and—
Turns out, it let them remain undetected the entire time.
"Guards," the younger wizard barked, snapping his fingers. "Take them away for interrogation."
And that's when the audience finally regained their voices.
"How dare you?! That one's my retainer," a minor noble claimed, puffing his chest.
"Oh?" Crimson paused, crossing his arms. "Good. Then take him away, too."
And, um, did he say the crowd regained its voice?
Now it was more like it exploded in gasps and murmurs.
"What was that?!" a noble demanded.
"They took away one of us," another grumbled.
"Huh? But I don't even know that man."
"And whose retainer was the other one?" Now, that was something Konrad wanted to know, too.
"What about you, Ser? Did you see what happened?"
"Only those terrifying bolts. When I thought that beastman would beat the upstart, he—"
"The Duel's over now," the Silver Mage boomed, his voice reinforced by magic. "Lord Halstadt had won, but we have an injury here. Please clear the courtyard."
Ugh. Was it that bad?
But before he'd actually ask, the illusionist finally opened his eyes.
"Fuhh," he coughed, trying to sit up. "My tonhh ih numm. Iss buhhing."
Ugh. For the love of the spirits, did Konrad give him a stroke?!
"That much is fine," the old wizard noted, pushing him back down. "You fought well, Ser Zoltan, but please—wait for the stretcher and don't strain your muscles right now."
"S-sorry," Konrad mumbled, too. "I might've panicked a little."
"Yeah, that was one hell of a bolt," Zoltan muttered, too. "I still can't feel my fingers."
But the way he shaped those sounds was already a little better.
"For real, though," Crimson scoffed, too. "How much of your power did you squeeze into those strikes at the end? And to fire off four lightning bolts in such a quick succession?"
"Ugh, 'bout a thousand mana total?" Konrad guessed, watching the guards clear the area, and—
"What? A thousand?" the wizard repeated, furrowing his brow.
"Ah, you see, Lord Halstadt has a neat little measuring system," the Silver Mage offered. "The Green Mage started using it for his new lessons as well, and—"
"Wait, he's actually holding lessons, then?" Konrad interrupted, blinking.
"I asked him to help teach Stella," Gabrielle interjected. "And he was already educating Zoltan, then Yuki wanted in, too. And now the Silver Mage is also visiting us every other day, so—"
Huh? They somehow forgot to mention all that.
Even Yuki-chan was learning magic?!
No wonder the Silver Mage recommended Strelok to visit him, too.
"But what is this measuring system?" the Crimson Mage demanded as the guards hauled off his captives. "What do you base it on? Is that thousand mana a lot, or nah?"
Hah. Now that he thought about it, it sure used to be a lot—but now?
"I base it on the basic fire summoning magic," he explained. "A flame the size of a candle, sustained for a given amount of time, equates to one mana point."
He even drew the rune and the correct equation on the ground, making the wizard scoff.
"That's not the most efficient way of doing that by far."
"Well, it was for me at the time I came up with it," Konrad noted, shrugging it off. "And as an added benefit, I got nice round numbers when using it as an example."
Which had also lost its meaning by now.
To think that he squeezed so much mana into a series of attacks?
He was lucky he didn't actually kill his former master by accident.
"So wait," the Crimson Mage counted on his fingers. "When you say you used a thousand mana for the four bolts combined—"
"Hey," Konrad protested, holding up his hands. "The Silver Mage said his barrier was strong."
And when those strangers attacked him, he wanted to end the fight, clean and fast.
"Yeah, my bad," the old man said. "Since I already knew those measurements from the Green Mage's lessons, I should have used them. My barriers were both five hundred mana strong."
Uh. Yep. Overkill.
Now Konrad knew it, too.
"Hmm. And that witch?" the Crimson Mage pondered. "Now it kinda makes me wonder how much mana she has?"
"Wouldn't you like to know, huh?" Konrad scoffed.
As if he had any idea, but oh, well.
"At least tell me where she had gone," he pleaded, this time for the Silver Mage. "It could be, you know, a national security issue. I didn't even know the kingdom had someone strong like that."
"Ah, um, that," the old man muttered again, glancing at Gabrielle first this time.
"Uhh, you know what? Go ahead," the angel sighed. "He's the only one who doesn't know yet."
Heh. At that, Konrad had to suppress a little laugh.
So not only did they keep Helena in the dark, but not even every Mage knew of the invaders?
"You what?!" the Crimson Mage scowled once they explained the basics. "And you never came to me for help?! Like, sure, I'm not on your level yet, but—"
"Oh, don't get me wrong," the old wizard coughed. "I'm way too weak to fight in that as well."