"As always, the space magic is very interesting…" the governor commented, looking at the trapped dark wizard, "Not only it can contain anything, the magic can also block any other magic. Looking at the man
inside, even if he's given a chance to perform his dark magic, it will be useless."
"You know a lot of space magic, governor…" Princess Riquel replied, "It's indeed much stronger than any magic, but it's very rare. Only the royal can inherit this kind of attribute, but not anyone will be blessed
with this magic."
"Yes, this space element is very rare. I heard even you have this element; you can't just directly use it because there is a need of hard training to grasp the knowledge. That's why only the royalty have the access into it."
Princess Riquel only smiled, "By the way, why you always call it space element and not space attribute?"
The governor squinted his eyes, knowing that the princess tried to divert the conversation, "Well, I found many people like to call it as element which can be converted into magic or aura based by the people's wish. If I call it attribute, only the wizards will recognize it more."
Baston who heard the conversation through the puppet also knew about it. In Prius Academy, the students very much only focused on magic training so they liked to call it attribute. Most likely, this term seemed
exclusive to the wizards. Even though so, common people generally didn't think it thoroughly because they had a little knowledge regarding magic. They preferred
to call it element or elemental which could be further classified into magic for wizards and aura for the knights.
Somehow, if Baston told people that he had an ice element inside him, people might then think he could be a wizard or a knight. It would be different if he told them that he had an ice attribute. With just one different word, people could assume that he was a wizard then. He himself didn't care too much, but since he was a wizard, he would likely to use
attribute as a choice of word then. Doing so would signify his talent.
"You might be right…" the princess replied, looking at her catch, "It's just a different of word, but it shows that the wizards are more
popular than knights."
"I can't deny it. Magic has a good development for daily routines. Even the carriages at present day are transformed into magnificent vehicle with no horses involved anymore. Because of this, the wizards have more say in the kingdom."
"Governor, you are also a wizard, right? Your fire snakes are quite fascinating."
"I'm also fond of the way of knight. You can say that I have 2 talents of being wizard and knight at the same time."
"The training must be very hard. If only you chose one among the options…"
"It's alright. I just want to take care of myself. If there was a time when I couldn't use magic, then I could just use my physical force from knight training."
Listening to more conversation, it seemed both of them were taking a leisure time despite there was a captive nearby. Since they didn't move from the place, Baston had an idea regarding this rare opportunity.
Although there was no guarantee it would succeed, but this was the only option he had. He summoned another puppet, turned him into a clown man named Joker. It had been already a long time since he used this identity. At first, he just wanted to fool a few people of his drama, but unexpectedly, it came handful in this kind of situation.
It first transformed into a bird, flying through any open window at nearby building before the bird changed into a man. The clown expressionlessly stared at 2 people not far away. There was a distance between the princess and magic cube. It was good because Baston was afraid the magic would graze the royalty, making him as the number one villain then. Everyone knew they would be hunted down by the kingdom relentlessly once they dared to harm the royalty.
Baston could only try it once. If he failed, there would be no second chance. As soon as everyone saw his magic, the people below would think someone dared to assassinate the princess. Although his mission was to kill the dark wizard, but the magic would come close to the girl, making a big misunderstanding. Fortunately, it wasn't the real him who would be doing this attack because if replaced by himself, he would be very nervous and started to hesitate. It was different for the puppet since this thing was calm and stable without any fluctuation.
While Baston was preparing the combined magic, Princess Riquel and the governor of Luminos City were still chattering, waiting for the people below to bring special instruments to lock the dark wizard. Because the man was excellent at explosion magic, they had to make sure he couldn't mobilize any surrounding mana so there would be no future troubles.
"I wonder what Princess Riquel is doing in my city nowadays…" the governor started.
"It's not much. I'm just in need of vacation. Because I'm bored, I go here to stroll around."
"If you want, I can let my own people to accompany you during the time you stay here. They can interest you with anything this city offers. Furthermore, they can also protect you from behind."
"I'm happy you take care of me but there's no need since I have my own bodyguards. Besides, too many people will attract attention."
"Well, it's quite true. Then I hope you will have pleasant trip here."
"I might have pleasant trip before but the incident today bothers me…" the princess glanced at the dark wizard, "Not to mention I failed to poach a certain person here."
"Poach?" the governor pondered who was the person meant by it, "Is it Tasco?"
"Of course, not. That old knight is too stubborn. Whatever I say is meaningless."
"Then, could you please enlighten me who is this lucky person you want to poach?"
"It's just a fat boy…"
"Fat boy?"
"Yes, I couldn't comprehend what he was thinking at that time… Huh?"
In the middle of the conversation, a laser-like magic burst from one of the buildings into the magic cube. It was fast, penetrating the
space magic before it hit the dark wizard. Princess Riquel could only see her magic
was destroyed by something she never had seen before. There was a hole on the magic cube and when she saw the dark wizard, she frowned because his head was blasted into smithereens. There could be no way the man could live anymore. The governor was also shocked and before he could react, the princess beside him suddenly disappeared.
"Yes, it's a success… Now, let's get out of here…" Baston thought.
Before he could make any movement, Princess Riquel was already behind him. Baston had a hunch that he would have difficulty to escape from here so in the end, he made the puppet changed into Joker. In case that he got caught, no one would associate this matter to him. Joker was the right man for the job since he had bad reputation, although it was just in a small town before. Now, he confronted the royalty in front of him. He could only jump out of the window since fighting back would be useless.
"Don't ever think you can run from me…"
Princess Riquel hummed before casting another space magic to contain the man. After the man fell down harshly, he wasted no time and just rushed into deserted area. While he was running, he could see there was a magic cube on the process of manifesting. Before it could fully enclose the space, Baston made a radical move to leap beside him. Since the puppet was nimble in
movement, the fat boy could shift the body just like an athletic person. Once the magic cube erected, he already got away from it.
The princess didn't mind of the failed action. This game of cat and mouse was quite interesting so she gave a chase. The man must run but the princess only needed to teleport a few times before catching up. Surely, the space magic was too strong to match. Once there was an obstruction, he
would fail to avoid the magic cube and got caught in the end. In the meantime, the
fire snakes suddenly appeared again from behind. He could counter it with ice magic, but casting it at the moment was impossible because it would provide an important clue. Investigating people with ice element was easy for the governor to do in Luminos City. He would be thrown many questions by then which he couldn't answer.
The fire snakes slowly caught up with him while avoiding the magic cube from any direction. Sooner or later, he would be captured. Perhaps, because Princess Riquel became agitated, the wide of magic cube increased much more, leaving no space for the man to avoid. The size was just like a house and by the time it enclosed perfectly, the size decreased until it was on ordinary
size like before. Baston knew the puppet couldn't run again anymore so he faced
Princess Riquel and the governor who caught up soon.
Princess Riquel panted, looking aggrievedly at the stranger, "Who are you? What your purpose? Did someone send you to kill me?"
"Three questions at the same time, huh?" Baston thought before answering, "My name is Joker. As you can see, I'm here just to kill the dark wizard. As for your final question, I don't know why I have to kill someone like you. In my eyes, you have no price."
"You! How dare you!" Princess Riquel was angry.
"Keep your mouth shut. You should be grateful the princess let you talk in here. Unlike the dark wizard, you are still given a chance…" the governor replied back.
Baston thought that what the governor said was right. The dark wizard at the beginning seemingly made a commotion inside the magic cube, yet no sound was heard. The man wanted to provoke her, but unfortunately, she herself didn't let him caught her attention. He could still speak so should he be grateful toward her? With radical behavior from the clown, there was no way he had a proper manner. Let them saw how crazy the man named Joker then.
"I have my own mouth so it's my freedom to use it. If I want to talk all day, how could you stop me? Rather than me, it's better for this
little girl to stop talking. She was panting from start until now…"
"Who did you say a little girl? My name is Riquel. You will address me as Princess Riquel!"
"Alright, little girl…"
The man like a clown kept agitating everyone which making Princess Riquel became angry. Before the governor could say anything, she made the space became smaller and smaller. From the position of standing, the space around kept getting compressed until he had to squat down. It was very uncomfortable but Baston who was inside the old book didn't feel anything. At
the moment, Joker was just like a turtle trapped in his own shell.
"Now, what will you say…"
"Hmmm… I wonder what should I say?" the clown pondered before looking at Princess Riquel, "What do you think I should say, little
girl?"
"That's it…"
The space was compressed further until a sound of cracked bones were heard. It should be painful and the man should scream loudly, but strangely, he only sneered at them without much to say. The governor wanted to advise the princess to stop but he didn't dare to do it. He was just a leader on this city while the princess had authority over the kingdom. Rather than being in bad side of her, it would be better to be on good side. If not, acting neutral was also good. The cracking sound continued before the clown laughed.
"Ha… ha… ha… Is this the best you can do? If it's true, then I'm very disappointed…"