An Ugly Squabble

DOOOOOON!!

At the sudden explosion and shaking, Emi stopped her finger in spite of herself.

She hadn't touched the blue switch yet.

“Hey hey hey, what's this, what's this......!? NGUGEEEH!!”

The impact had most likely come from outside the hideout.

This was because, while the interior had shaken, nothing inside had been destroyed.

Darakerus rushed to the window despite himself, peeked outside...... and let out a weird shriek.

Because, outside the window...... lined up on the small meadow in the forest, was a black-clad group wielding magic guns.

And the big shaved-headed man standing at their center was a member of the Dongozugozu Society, the underground organization that had tried to kill Darakerus!

It was none other than Badengaju!

“Hm!? Oh-ho, there ya are!! Finally found ya, Darakerus!! I missed ya, now DIEEEE!!”

The moment Badengaju spotted Darakerus's face in the window, he immediately leveled the giant magic gun resting on his shoulder...... and fired!

“Kuhyahya! HYAHAHAHAHAAA!!”

DOOOOOON!!

The strike from the giant magic gun hit the hideout's window dead-on...... causing a massive explosion!

But this hideout, in truth, was a secret laboratory left behind by the genius magic tool craftsman Gyashikinu!

The OOPArt-level defense mechanisms installed in the windows and walls absorbed almost all of the shock, leaving the interior unaffected except for the sound and vibration!

“AAAH!? What the hell is with this house!? You lot, fire, FIREEEE!!”

“““““Heheheh, HYAHAAA!!”””””

Infuriated, Badengaju stomped his feet and ordered his black-suit subordinates to open fire all at once.

The black-suits stared vacantly and drooled, and yet their shots at the hideout's windows were dead accurate!

They were slaves to drugs and violence, and the loyal servants of the executive member, Badengaju!

“Hey!! Don't tell me those are the Dongozugozu Society's men!? You vagrant wretch, what did you do!?”

“Th, there was a bit of trouble on a job, or I got set up, or somethin'...... ah, no, prob'ly a case of mistaken identity?”

“As if it could be mistaken identity!? He called your name loud and clear, didn't he!?”

Pan, pan!!

Chun, chuchun!!

Meanwhile, inside the hideout, with the sound of the outer walls repelling the magic gun rounds as a backdrop, Fret was shouting while clutching Darakerus by the collar, veins popping in his forehead!

“B, but, how'd those guys know where I was? Oh, maybe they were havin' a picnic? In the forest. If we talk it out, maybe they'll get it? Okay, you, go have a little chat with 'em. It'll work out somehow.”

“Why should I be the one to risk my life!? You go and die instead, you wretch!!”

Darakerus was pale, eyes averted, spouting whatever came to mind, and Fret shook him hard, back and forth!

And with the shaking, something like a black beetle dropped porori off Darakerus's back onto the floor.

In reality, it wasn't a living insect, but something like a brooch, and it was still blinking red at a steady rhythm......

“AAAH!? This is, a tracker!?”

Fret saw at once what the brooch really was!

“Kuhyahyahaha! Hey Darakerus, you, if you're thinkin' of runnin', it's no use, ya hear? 'Cause I know exactly where ya are!”

Just then, the gunfire outside stopped for a moment, and Badengaju shouted mockingly.

And what he drew from his breast pocket was a fist-sized machine.

On its LCD screen was something like a map, and a red dot right where Darakerus was, in sync with the red light of the tracker Fret had found, was blinking......

“Just as I thought, any way you look at it, it's YOUR FAAAULT!!”

“BUEEEH!?”

Fret finally couldn't take it anymore and punched Darakerus in the left cheek!

“Kuhyahya! Thinkin' you can get away after makin' me lose face!? Don't underestimate the Dongozugozu Society, PUUUNK!!”

DOOOOOON!!

DOOOOOON!!

Grinning, veins bulging, and bellowing all the while, Badengaju fired the giant magic gun again and again!

Violent vibrations assaulted the three inside the hideout!

“Hey, vagrant!! You wretch, hurry up, and get outside!! Go offer that grimy neck of yours to that trash!!”

“S, stop it, don't push! DAMMIIIT!?”

“The front door's lock, is broken!! Holing up in here is impossible!! You wretch, GET OUUUT!!”

In the midst of this, Darakerus and Fret were gripping each other's bodies tightly like sumo wrestlers, pushing each other desperately!

Fret intended to offer Darakerus as a sacrifice to the Dongozugozu Society to get himself out of this jam!

“AAAH!? How on earth, did it come to thiiis......!?”

“Like I said, that's!! Because of you, isn't it!? Now hurry...... and with your life...... settle up for this mess......!!”

Weakened by days of wandering the forest, his body couldn't hold out against Fret, who might not be used to rough stuff but was still young!

Gradually, gradually...... Darakerus was being pushed toward the entrance......!

And right then!

Outside, Badengaju, riding the high of spraying fire from his big magic gun, bellowed menacingly once more!

“Sweet, ain't it, this magic gun! It's the latest model, y'know!? Some rich boy wanted to be a Trade Association board member or somethin', so he just forked over the cash!! High-end magic guns, trackers, I can buy all I want, KUHYAHYAHAHAAA!!”

Hearing those words!

“......Huh!?”

Fret gave a twitch and went blank for a moment.

Seeing that reaction.

“No, it's YOUR FAAAULT!!”

“GUEEEH!?”

Darakerus, catching on instantly, unleashed the strength of desperation fueled by a sudden surge of boiling rage!

From the clinch, he threw Fret with something like a judo throw and slammed him into the floor!

Then he climbed onto Fret, now flat on his back, and straddled him!

“Hey, you, you bastard, you!! Just now, that ‘rich boy’!! That's you, ain't it!? That face you made!! That's what it means, ain't it!?”

“I, I needed it!! Power!! So I wouldn't lose to Success!!”

And then, Darakerus's fist came swinging down!

Fret managed to avoid it by twisting his body!

In the process, the momentum sent his glasses flying, but he was in no position to care about that!

Grabbing Darakerus as he lost his balance and fell, Fret now pinned Darakerus beneath him!

“Don't!! Go spoutin' stuff!! That makes no SEEENSE!!”

“A vagrant like you!! Understanding me!! AS IIIF!!”

““NUGOOOOOOOH!!””

Darakerus and Fret clung to each other, fighting for the mount as they rolled around the floor!

U...... ugly!

In this war zone ringing with gunfire, what an ugly, low-level squabble!

“......Haah.”

Emi let out a soft sigh as she watched the two adults.

She extended her right index finger.

She was about to press the blue switch...... when.

“Man, we sure are lucky!! Found that idiot Darakerus easy!! And we ain't run into a single monster on the way here!! So we ain't worn out neither!! We can shoot these magic guns all we WAAANT!!”

Badengaju's voice reached Emi's ears.

Come to think of it, she'd eaten all the monsters around here.

And in the first place, if she hadn't destroyed the barrier device, those guys wouldn't have come here.

Also, she was the one who broke the lock on the hideout's front door.

She had a few thoughts about all that.

“............”

She froze, in spite of herself.

When she snuck a glance at the two men, their eyes happened to meet.

“““............”””

Unable to take it, Emi looked away from them.

““So THAT was YOUR FAAAULT!?””

For all their ugly squabbling until a moment ago, Darakerus and Fret were quick to catch her reaction, and they roared at Emi in one voice!

“S, shut up! I, hunted the monsters! So you guys, got here safe! Right!? Don't complain!”

“But this situation, you wretch, is partly your doing too!!”

“Ah, right, you're obviously strong, ain't ya? Go take care of those guys outside real quick, would ya. I'll hold onto that iron box.”

“Quit screwing around, you wretch!! I'm the one who'll hold that controller!!”

“I won't give it! This box, I won't give it UUUP!”

Darakerus and Fret immediately closed in on Emi!

And in the confusion, they reached out to steal the iron box!

Finally, Emi too was dragged into the ugly squabble!

But, alas, this was Emi...... Darakerus's and Fret's arms, grabbing for the iron box...... would never reach it.

With athleticism and reflexes far beyond an ordinary person's, Emi swung the iron box right and left and fended off every one of their greed-soaked grabs!

Byubyubyubyun!!

Emi's arms, whipping around at high speed, filled the room with the whistle of cut air!

““Kuh!! Her movements are so fast her arms look like they've split into several!!””

Darakerus and Fret gritted their teeth in frustration.

The gap in ability between them and Emi was absolute.

For that matter, even the current situation, messy as it had gotten, Emi could have settled in an instant if she got even a little serious.

If Emi let loose her killing intent in earnest.

If she unleashed 【Intimidation】.

With just that, Darakerus, Fret, and even the Dongozugozu Society folks.

Would probably die without even knowing why.

But Emi didn't want to leave the flaw of a death on this hideout, the place she meant to make her home.

So, she was simply holding back in various ways.

And as for whether Darakerus and Fret, ordinary people, could take the iron box...... this house's controller, from an Emi like that.

The answer was no.

It was impossible.

Unless a miracle occurred.

But.

Darakerus and Fret had tenacity.

A tenacity that made them desperate to get their hands on this house.

......A tenacity enough to reel in a miracle!

DOOOOOON!!

Right at that moment.

Badengaju's giant magic gun fired yet another blast, who knew how many by now, at the hideout's window.

The defense mechanisms Gyashikinu had built blocked this attack completely, too.

The window was unscathed.

But a window was still a window, so the fierce light of the blast, it let through.

And at that moment, amidst the struggle with Darakerus and Fret, Emi was standing directly in front of the window.

The intense light assaulted Emi.

Emi couldn't help narrowing her eyes.

......In that very instant!

“【Crack】!!”

Before he knew it, Darakerus had used magic.

Unconsciously.

......Without chanting.

Ordinarily, the magic in common use these days would not activate without an incantation.

But using an incantation meant using the God of Magic's “assistance system for magic power manipulation.”

And if one kept that up.

One would come to learn...... how to manipulate magic power, and.

Eventually...... one would use magic without the system's help...... move the magic power oneself, in other words, use magic without chanting.

Elevating magic, into magecraft.

Even that, was not, impossible.

Though it was not widely known, since reaching that point took luck, talent and an enormous amount of training.

Darakerus could only use so-called low-level magic.

Because his total magic power had never been that large to begin with, and he'd had no drive to study difficult magic.

But Darakerus, to stay alive, had wrung every last use out of low-level magic.

Applying every possible trick in every possible situation.

All that, piled up over the years, had left the way of manipulating magic power settled at the very bottom of his soul.

And now, here, it had manifested as 【Chantless Magic】!

It was truly a miracle, and perhaps a one-time event that could never be reproduced.

But that was exactly why.

It was an unexpected turn of events, even for Emi.

For the record, 【Crack】 was low-level magic that did nothing but make a ‘Pan!’ sound.

But magic cast without chanting, with no wind-up and no incantation, took Emi completely by surprise, and.

Her attention was caught by the ‘Pan!’ that had sounded behind her.

And Emi turned around despite herself!

“......UOOOOOOOH!!”

Fret was the one who didn't miss that opening!

In that instant, Fret lunged toward the iron box Emi was holding!

“Ah!”

But Fret failed to snatch the iron box as intended.

Because in the middle of his scuffle with Darakerus, he had lost his glasses.

His hand, reaching out with no real sense of distance, bumped into Emi's arm...... and with the jolt, ever so lightly.

The iron box, went sailing into the air.

“NUORYAAAAAAAAH!!”

Next to lunge for it was Darakerus!

“OOOOOOOOOH!!”

A moment later, Fret lunged too!

“RAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

Caught up in the heat of it, Emi leaped as well!

And at the tips of three arms, stretched to their limit, was.

The iron box, twirling round and round, and round, in midair.

For the three of them, time felt oddly stretched out, so much that the iron box was all their eyes could see.

And so.

“““NUGWAAAAAAAH!?”””

The three of them, completely blind to their surroundings, collided in midair and flew toward the window like a clump of dumplings!

Emi's leaping momentum had been so strong that the other two were simply swept along with her!

The iron box, which no one had managed to grab, just kept falling, spinning round and round.

Gan.

It hit the edge of the round table.

As a result.

To their great misfortune.

......The red switch, the one they had been warned “must not be pressed until you have performed owner registration,”

Ended up, getting pressed.

Viiin, viiin, viiin!!!

Then, suddenly, red magic lamps lit up in the room, and a shrill alarm rang out!

【magic】

In this world, Ardyst, magic means any phenomenon brought about with the “assistance system for magic power manipulation” that the God of Magic provides.

Each time it is used, the God of Magic collects magic power as a system usage fee, so its fuel efficiency is poor.

But magic, which activates “if you chant and offer magic power,” is very easy to use, and it is widespread among the people of this world.

【magecraft】

Any phenomenon that runs on magic power and is brought about without relying on the God of Magic's system.

Where magic activates “if you chant and offer magic power,” with this one you have to do every step yourself, starting with manipulating the magic power.

In other words, it is hard to learn, and it has barely caught on in modern human society.

Magecraft research was well advanced in the age of the Super-Ancient Magic Civilization, but today, apart from a few pieces, that knowledge has been lost.

The word magecraft, and even its definition, are not widely known, so those who master magecraft by feel, through their own talent, generally call that power a special ability.

【Chantless Magic】

Chantless magic means casting magic without chanting.

In other words, it means wielding power without relying on the system, which makes it practically magecraft.

In the story, it was used in Arc 23 by the undead Gaston and Deyas.