The Wandering Priest in Dark Fantasy

[Translator - Peptobismal]

[Proofreader - Max]

Chapter 47: Dancing with the Puppet (2)

"...The students of the Magic Tower are quite passionate about their studies."

"I wish they were always like this."

When Ono said this with a frown, Agnes gave a stiff smile.

The Tower Master on the platform chuckled as if he had heard a funny joke and stroked his beard.

"That would be difficult, wouldn't it, Professor Agnes?"

"You..."

Agnes stared at him with a hardened expression.

She was still confused.

She couldn't believe that the old man in front of her wasn't the Tower Master she knew.

Agnes bit her lip.

Meanwhile, Hamel quietly looked at the Tower Master standing in front of the lectern.

White beard and hair.

A kind expression, just like always.

But it was the monster hiding behind the Tower Master's mask that was controlling the students standing in the lobby as if they were possessed.

That thing was definitely a monster acting like a human.

As Hamel reconfirmed that his guess was correct, the Tower Master smiled and spoke to him.

"You're back sooner than I expected. What happened to the children there?"

"The children?"

"Of course, I mean..."

The Tower Master trailed off and then said with a grin,

"My cute little bugs."

"..."

Agnes's face turned pale at the answer.

Even though she had prepared herself, a faint glimmer of hope had remained in her heart.

And that hope was now cruelly crushed.

Noticing this, Hamel took a step forward in her place.

"I killed all those bugs."

"Oh dear... It's a shame, I worked hard to gather them."

The Tower Master shook his head with a regretful expression.

"If they had just had one more month, they could have overrun the entire Magic Tower."

"Was that your plan?"

"One of them, I suppose? I've prepared many ways to bring down the Magic Tower. I thought I had easily dealt with the biggest obstacle, the Tower Master, but..."

The Tower Master stopped speaking and looked at Hamel.

Then he sighed lightly and shrugged.

It was a rather feminine gesture for an old man.

His tone also had a hint of flirtation.

It was a very strange sight.

"I didn't expect you to come. As expected, you never know what will happen in life."

"It seems you know me."

Hamel asked calmly.

The Tower Master chuckled and replied,

"Of course. Exorcists are always a thorn in our side."

"..."

Hamel fell silent.

‘Our side?‘

Did that mean it wasn't acting alone?

At the unexpected words, Hamel simply stared at the Tower Master.

He looked into Hamel's eyes and said,

"Well, I still like you."

"Why?"

"Because you taught that idiot David a lesson?"

"...!"

Hamel's eyes widened.

He never imagined he would hear that name here.

"...You know David?"

"Of course. That idiot is both a rival and a comrade in the same boat."

"Comrade?"

Hamel unconsciously repeated the word.

The Tower Master chuckled, amused by Hamel's reaction.

"You... really know nothing, do you? And yet you've ruined David's plans twice. On top of that, you've come here and ruined my plans. What a fateful connection."

"..."

Hamel didn't answer.

There was too much of an information gap for him to even try and pry something out.

The Tower Master, also seemingly unwilling to speak further, snapped his fingers lightly.

The students simultaneously gathered mana at the tips of their staff.

"Well, it doesn't matter. Even though the plan went slightly awry, once I deal with you, the Magic Tower is as good as mine."

Hamel finally noticed something strange.

The surroundings were too quiet.

For everyone to have been defeated, there were no key members of the Magic Tower present, including the professors.

There was no way they wouldn't have noticed such a significant anomaly in the Tower.

Seeing Hamel looking around, the Tower Master shook his head.

"I wouldn't expect any backup. The professors should all be busy running to the mandrake farm by now. Though they'll return empty-handed, of course."

"...You deceived them."

Hamel finally grasped the situation.

The Tower Master, realizing that Hamel and his party were returning from the Ancient Tree Forest, had spread false information about an attack.

The Tower Master smiled proudly and tapped his face.

"That's why I took the Tower Master's face, isn't it? Now then,"

He then ordered the students with a benevolent expression,

"Kill all the intruders."

The students didn't answer.

They simply waved their staff silently.

Mana gathered at the tips of the staff of over a hundred students.

Flames bloomed in the air.

Moisture condensed into sharp icicles, and small grains of sand clumped together into hard stones.

Each one wasn't that powerful, but there were hundreds of them.

Even small flames, when gathered in hundreds, would become a wildfire.

Hundreds of streams would become a river,

And hundreds of stones thrown together could be called a landslide.

It was not a force to be taken lightly.

"..."

Hamel's hand on his sword twitched.

The first rule of dealing with mages is to prevent them from chanting their spells.

The top priority is to cut off the fingers they use to form seals and pull out the tongues they use to chant.

But the opponents were students.

Hamel couldn't bring himself to swing his sword and froze.

And that moment of hesitation was enough to decide the outcome of the battle.

Whoosh!

Hundreds of spells rained down on them.

"You idiot, move!"

Just as Ono hurriedly placed his hand on the ground to erect a plant barrier,

Someone suddenly stepped forward.

A low voice echoed through the lobby of the Magic Tower.

"Bind, vanish, eliminate, become fiction."

Agnes.

She stepped in front of Hamel and swung her staff.

The hundreds of incoming spells vanished into thin air like a mirage.

She hadn't even drawn her specialized magic sword.

She had dispelled hundreds of students' spells in the blink of an eye by reversing their calculations.

An overwhelming difference in power.

"..."

No one could speak, staring at her in shock.

Her cold, hardened expression was something they had never seen before.

Even Hamel swallowed nervously at her chilling gaze, devoid of any of her usual warmth.

The Tower Master, watching Agnes, gave a shaky, awkward smile.

With a bewildered expression, the Tower Master asked,

"Aren't you... a high-ranking mage?"

"That's right. This is what a high-ranking mage is capable of."

Agnes pointed her staff at the Tower Master and said,

"So you should be grateful for your luck. If you were facing the real Tower Master, you would have been turned to dust by now."

An archmage.

The weight that title carried was not to be taken lightly.

If the poisoned Tower Master had noticed anything amiss, the imposter standing on the platform would have been killed in the blink of an eye.

The face of the one impersonating the Tower Master twitched and trembled.

But then, as if he had realized something, he smiled brightly and nodded.

"I see. I really am lucky. I never thought this would be so helpful."

"...What do you mean?"

Agnes asked with a frown, and the Tower Master flicked his hand.

The students simultaneously raised their staff.

Seeing this, Agnes sighed.

"It seems you don't understand the situation. I alone am enough to handle the students' magic..."

"No."

The Tower Master shook his head.

At the same time, the students' staff shifted direction once more.

The tips of their staff were now pointed at their own heads.

"...!"

Agnes gasped in shock.

The Tower Master continued with a sardonic smile,

"Even you can't stop this, can you?"

Even Agnes couldn't stop hundreds of students from taking their own lives.

The Tower Master spoke kindly to the frozen Agnes,

"Let's make a trade. If you willingly succumb to my 'Marionette' spell, I'll release all these students unharmed."

"How can I trust..."

"Let's make a mana pact. Despite my appearance, I am also a mage."

A mana pact.

A vow that binds all of one's mana with the opponent's.

It was a powerful spell that could take one's life if broken.

Agnes's eyes fluttered nervously.

She turned her head with a creak and looked at Hamel.

Hamel easily read the emotions in her eyes.

Guilt and apology.

She had already made up her mind.

"That's avoiding responsibility."

Hamel said calmly.

She simply hadn't chosen the option where the students died by her own hand.

But the fate of the students, now without a countermeasure, would likely be no different.

Agnes nodded, avoiding Hamel's gaze.

"Yes, I know."

"..."

Then Hamel had nothing more to say.

He, who couldn't bring himself to strike down the students, had no right to call her a hypocrite.

Hamel swallowed a sigh and said abruptly,

"Then it's settled. I'll leave the rest to you."

"...!"

Her eyes widened at the unexpected answer.

Then, with an even more apologetic expression, she lowered her head.

"I'm sorry. Please take care of it."

"Yes."

Hamel replied curtly and let her go.

The Tower Master sneered at Agnes as she approached with her head bowed.

"You've made a wise decision."

Agnes didn't answer.

She simply spread her arms calmly, ready to receive the spell.

The Tower Master pointed his staff at her.

"Weaving Magic: Marionette."

White threads extended from his staff and connected to various parts of Agnes's body.

And the next moment,

Thud!

Agnes's head slumped, and her limbs went limp.

At the same time, hundreds of students collapsed.

As promised, they were freed from the mind control spell.

Hamel supported one of the students and checked their condition.

They were breathing.

There were no unusual external injuries on their bodies either.

They probably wouldn't even remember what had happened once they woke up after a good night's sleep.

Then, what Hamel had to do was simple.

He looked up at the limp Agnes.

Twitch!

The next moment, her still limbs twitched as if jolted by electricity.

She clenched and unfurled her five fingers as if testing her movement, then slowly raised her head.

Beneath the brim of her pointed hat,

Her vacant eyes glowed red.

***

"That's a familiar magic."

Hamel said with an expressionless face, and the Tower Master chuckled.

"If you're referring to David's Necromancy, it's just a cheap imitation of mine."

The Tower Master's tone was overflowing with confidence.

He flicked his hand, and Agnes' staff swayed.

Three blue swords suddenly appeared behind her.

Seeing that, Hamel quietly gritted his teeth.

Agnes, being controlled and using her full power, was the worst-case scenario Hamel had envisioned.

His strongest card had turned into his worst nightmare in an instant.

"What are you going to do?"

At Ono's whisper, Hamel replied in a low voice,n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"I'll deal with Agnes. In the meantime, Ono, please subdue the Tower Master."

"...Can you handle her alone?"

At Ono's worried question, Hamel simply picked up the flask from his waist.

The red blood sloshed inside like fire.

Then, emptying it in one gulp, he replied,

"Yes."

Blue sparks flickered in Hamel's eyes.

Scales covered the back of his hand, and his steps were light and silent.

Clang!

As Hamel drew his sword, a chilling resonance filled the silent space.

Watching this, the Tower Master muttered with interest,

"Oh? That's the form that crushed David. A dragonkin, was it?"

"..."

Hamel didn't answer.

He simply stared at the Tower Master with an impassive gaze.

That was all, but the Tower Master unconsciously stepped back.

Cold sweat trickled down his back.

Pressure.

It was like the aura emitted by a natural predator.

The Tower Master hurriedly manipulated Agnes to shoot magic at Hamel.

"...Kill him!"

The three blades floating around Agnes shot out like rays of light, leaving blue afterimages.

Even the Tower Master couldn't properly see their trajectory.

A speed that even knights with exceptional reflexes couldn't react to.

A faint smirk appeared on the Tower Master's lips, as if he had already won.

Clang!

A sharp, metallic sound rang out, and the Tower Master's expression hardened.

Hamel narrowly dodged the incoming swords and then lightly deflected the last one.

The swords struck the walls behind him fiercely, creating vibrations, but that was all.

They couldn't harm Hamel.

Hamel, holding his sword, lightly stomped on the ground.

And the next moment,

Crack!

His figure vanished like the wind.

[Translator - Peptobismal]

[Proofreader - Max]