Chapter 9
We were mages, and mages should take responsibility for their spells.
"We're very sorry."
We spoke almost at the same time.
"The Central Grand Library of Holy Light City has a long history. It is a veritable temple of knowledge," Mel said apologetically to the captain. "This was my first visit here, and on top of that, I met an excellent mage, so I got too excited."
I sighed. "Yes, me too. Studying spells with Mr. Madsen has benefited me greatly... especially since it was so unusually quiet today. We damaged such a treasured place, and we're willing to accept punishment."
Thanks to our cooperation (of course we would cooperate with law enforcement; a dark mage really wasn't the same thing as an evil archvillain!)-and Mephistopheles Madsen's reputation—the members of the Shield of the New Star didn't give us too much trouble. They took the rings from Mel's fingers and mine... even though two of them were merely decorative. Mel had other enchanted accessories on him, and he removed them one by one. Mel put both our spell notebooks into a spatial ring, then handed it to the captain, explaining:
"Our notebooks have protective spells on them to safeguard important private information. I'm worried someone might trigger them by accident, so please don't mind my putting them in the spatial ring."
Since Mel's identity as a dark mage was an open secret, no one objected. No one wanted their family to collect compensation for their death in the line of duty because they had accidentally triggered a dark mage's spell, especially when that dark mage was so cooperative in admitting his guilt.
The captain carefully put away our magical items and continued, "Communication devices, including phones and personal smart computers. Small robots count too. Please turn them off and hand them over."
Mel held out his hands. "I don't have any."
"Me neither," I said.
To keep anyone from disturbing me, I had deliberately left my phone at my apartment.
The captain clearly found that hard to believe. He looked us up and down-mage robes counted as magical items too, so Mel and I were now rather indecently dressed in nothing but shirts and trousers, making it easy to tell whether we were hiding anything. As far as I knew, even the smallest holographic smart computers had to be worn on the wrist, though some more expensive models could be made into rings. But Mel and I were now as bare as brand-new notebooks: aside from the knowledge in our heads, we had nothing on us.
"All right." The captain nodded gravely. "Forgive the offense. Please hold out your hands, both of you."
Well, strictly speaking, his manner was very kind and not offensive at all—but then I realized he meant what he was about to do. Bulky anti-magic manacles were fastened around our wrists. This was what I had mentioned before, almost the only ancient runic knowledge that had been passed down to the present perfectly intact and was still put to practical use-oh my, the modifiers in that sentence were terribly long-winded... I thought it had also been combined with some magic technology to become the anti-magic manacles now used exclusively by modern law enforcement and the military, standard equipment for imprisoning mages.
Ugh, I had to say, this thing really was an instrument of torture!
Its main body was a high-composite metal plate with runes engraved on it, but the plate also had an inner layer containing a product of modern magic technology—a sensor-triggered shock device. Once the manacles were put on, they activated nanorobots that detected mental power. If the robots' programming detected the wearer trying to break through the anti-magic runes, they would release a momentary low-frequency electric current to punish the wearer. The peace officers had once proudly demonstrated this instrument of torture to the public, saying that no matter how vicious and terrifying an evil mage was, he would become meek as a lamb the moment it was put on him, and even if he didn't learn to obey right away, the shock device would teach him how to behave.
And my only thought was-it's too heavy! My wrists are aching and sore; they're going to be pulled off!
Mel looked awful too. No normal mage was good at carrying heavy loads, and having to bear such weight with our hands, which needed careful maintenance, was one of the most terrible things I had ever experienced in my life!
But somehow that still wasn't the end of it!
The Shield of the New Star brought out some more strange things, and Mel and I looked at them in shock almost simultaneously.
They fitted a pair of things, also made of metal, over our fingers-five cylinders joined together, separating and restraining each finger on our hands individually. Only a little of each fingertip protruded from those iron things.
This thing is probably a second safeguard to stop mages from casting spells with hand gestures, I guessed.
I understood the reasoning, but, heavens, this felt awful!
I had thought the captain of the Shield of the New Star was too kind for his vicious line of work, but now I decided to change my mind. Using such cruel methods to torture an excellent mage's well-maintained hands was utterly, fiendishly evil!
No, hold it in. Stay calm, show restraint! I can't turn him into a goblin on impulse! For one thing, I had learned my lesson: those little green-skinned, hairless monsters were so ugly I couldn't eat for days. Besides, if I turned the captain of the Shield of the New Star into a goblin, I would definitely end up on a wanted list. I would be classified as an evil mage, and then heroes would come after me in wave after wave!
Absolutely not. I still have so many good books to read!
As the captain adjusted the instruments of torture tormenting me-fortunately, he had enough conscience to make sure my fingers wouldn't be constricted so tightly that they lost circulation and became necrotic—he explained in a manner that could barely be called polite, "In the past, belts, hemp ropes, or iron chains were commonly used to bind mages' hands. You must know something about that history, so please forgive us. This is a practice based on experience dating back to ancient times, and it's also our regulation. Though personally I think blocking your magic would be enough... I still have to follow the rules. The higher-ups are worried that if we don't restrain your hands, you'll wiggle your fingers and be a thousand miles away!"
"No, we won't," I said. "The effective range of instant movement is limited to what the eye can see, unless a mage's eyesight is good enough to see the destination clearly from a thousand miles away, and there can't be any obstacles in between."
Mel added, "Transparent obstacles are fine, like glass windows. A mage can move instantly from inside a house to outside, as long as he can see it-where you can see is where you can go. If you can't see the destination, that's a teleportation spell. The vast majority of teleportation spells require positioning runes to be set up in advance as anchors... oh my, have you hung a dragon from my hands? It's so heavy."
"That's right." I nodded. I agreed both with what he said about instant movement magic and with his figure of speech afterward. Then I said, "That's why elven mages can move instantly farther than human mages."
"Right, elven eyes really might be able to see clearly a thousand miles away," Mel agreed, then added, "But given that the two of us are unquestionably full-blooded humans, you don't need to worry about us moving instantly to the next city."
"Even elves couldn't do it anymore. The buildings in the capital are too tall; they block everything."
"Hmm, to put it another way, we won't be moving instantly to the top of a television tower or onto an advertising airship. Rest assured," Mel promised.
The captain fell silent, much like other people who spoke with me. After chatting with me about the weather, lunch, and things like that, they would usually settle into a steady silence, because they didn't actually understand what I was saying.
They finally finished making their adjustments and checked everything carefully for a while, deciding that it was safe. Because we had been cooperative (or because Mel's reputation was too great), we weren't gagged. (It was also possible that the members of the Shield of the New Star thought it unnecessary, but I thought the captain had hesitated and only changed his mind after seeing the dangerous look on Mel's face.) I truly thanked all the benevolent gods for their blessing.
The captain let out a long sigh of relief and waved his hand. "Take them away!"
Chapter 9
The prison in Holy Light City was emptier than I had imagined. I had never thought modern people were well-behaved enough for prisons to be completely empty, so the overly quiet, brightly lit cells before me felt like a star-rated hotel (and I really didn't want to admit that these rooms had better facilities than my studio apartment)... Then the excessively kind captain answered that question for us:
"These are cells reserved for mages, but mages who need special cells aren't common these days. We've always felt it was a waste to maintain a building that sees so little use... uh, before we arrested you two."