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Hmm, the Bloodletting Spell seemed to have worked all right just now. It was only a spell that drew all the blood out of a person, so it hadn't sent guts and brains flying everywhere or left any severed limbs and remains that looked painful. It seemed nobody had reacted badly to it.

If even that wasn't acceptable, should I add a mosaic myself to tone down the gore?

Come to think of it, that would be too much trouble, and it would look silly. I'd heard Moli complain that a new game had forcibly made people's blood black to tone down the gore. That did make it less bloody, but it was stupid. Moli said she felt as if all the enemies had turned into octopuses, and she was a cook cruelly tormenting them.

So, should I use Hellfire instead? It didn't look too horrifying, and I wouldn't have to draw their blood one by one.

The cyborgs climbed rapidly up the back of the building. When one of them saw that they'd been discovered, he even openly pulled out a flying device, strapped it to his back, and charged straight at me.

I raised a hand and opened a Gravity Field. The cyborg plunged headfirst into it and fell straight back the way he'd come.

-This was why I'd insisted that Moli master the Flight Spell. Magitech flying devices really did have an unavoidable drawback.

I compressed air into Gravity Balls and sent them flying at the cyborg. One accidentally caved in his chest, so I had to cast Feather Fall on him too, letting him drift down toward the ground.

Um... sorry, I hadn't meant to cave in your chest. It was just too hard to aim for your limbs-there had been a few public security incidents before, and the media had criticized officers for shooting suspects whose crimes didn't warrant death. But I really wanted to argue: hitting someone in the limbs was hard! Legs were so thin, and when someone was waving a knife around, their limbs moved unpredictably and were even harder to aim at. So many reporters would always cry out compassionately, "Couldn't you have shot him in the leg? Couldn't you have incapacitated him?"

-No, I really couldn't! I wasn't an elven archer! If my aim were that good, I could have joined the Elven Sanctuary's Guard Corps!

Huh?

They'd climbed up the building and stopped paying attention to me, only to rush straight at the bomb as if their lives meant nothing? Magitech cannon fire struck my Absolute Protection, and I had to take it seriously. The power of a magitech cannon was not to be underestimated. A high-powered one could even approach the power of a forbidden spell, and my Absolute Protection would start to shake and crack after withstanding more than three shots.

I immediately tried to move the bomb sideways, but I found it was attached to the floor slab. Moving it would be the same as applying external force and detonating it. So I had to try another method. The situation was urgent, and I trusted that Lusien wouldn't blame me for damaging public property—I moved the bricks in the building's outer wall, detached the section of wall the bomb was attached to, and used an Anti-Gravity Field to send the slab and the bomb flying into the sky.

Boom-

I'd canceled my Absolute Protection after sending the slab skyward, so a magnificent, enormous firework burst across the sky... Hmm, I'd used too much force and thrown it a little too high. Otherwise, it would have looked even better.

Just as I'd thought! Lusien was a reliable knight. Even while foaming at the mouth, he could still assess the situation correctly. This bomb really was powerful. If it had gone off in the building, it would certainly have sent dust and rubble flying everywhere, and Mel was still inside.

I heard another round of camera shutters clicking below.

"Ciprins?"

I turned around in surprise and saw Reynold standing at the hole in the building, his hair tousled by the wind. He gripped the exposed rebar at the broken edge to steady himself, but the strong wind still blew him this way and that. Even his well-fitted formal clothes looked disheveled, as though he'd been through something terrible. We were high up in the building, after all, and the wind was strong—but Reynold, couldn't you even cast a shield?

He pointed at me, looking utterly stunned, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open-oh, that expression was actually a little cute. He looked a bit like a fluffy animal called... called... an alpaca?

...Come to think of it, there should be room to keep a pet in the mage tower, right?

"Ciprins! What are you doing here!?"

I came back to my senses and saw Reynold glaring at me. This was apparently a hall, and I could see rows of seats beyond his shoulder. Everything behind him was in chaos, and a muffled voice was shouting something through a loudspeaker, roughly along the lines of not panicking and letting the guards handle it.

I noticed that Reynold's face was pale, and he was staring hard at me with a strange look in his eyes-

Oh, how had I forgotten again? Reynold liked Mel. Of course he'd be surprised to see me wearing Mel's clothes. Speaking of which, I was even more surprised. How on earth had Mel torn my mage robe while washing it? He didn't look that strong.

"What are you... why would you do this..." Reynold had a complicated, sorrowful expression, his eyes full of anguish and self-reproach. Honestly, he rarely showed his emotions so plainly.

Uh, still, I really wanted to put a hand to my forehead. Chairman Reynold, what strange drama had you written yourself into this time? That expression of his made me think of Moli, mostly because of the strange novels she read.

"Ciprins, you're an outstanding mage. I've always said so." Reynold looked at me with unusual seriousness and held out his hand. "So you don't need to do this at all. One day you'll achieve something in academia, and you'll win honors of your own..."

Of course I'd achieve something in academia. I looked at Reynold in puzzlement, but he continued on his own, "Ciprins, don't do this. Stop making a scene. Let's get back together. I said, let's get back together. You really don't need to-"

He pointed at the robe I was wearing, looking as though he wanted to say something but couldn't bring himself to. Then he kept looking back over his shoulder, as though searching for someone.

"Go, hurry up and go, before anyone sees you!" Reynold looked around but apparently found nothing. He turned back and hurriedly said to me, "Once it's over, I'll wait for you at the restaurant where we usually meet."

No, I was going to see Mel tonight. Reynold and I had broken up long ago, so I had no need to waste time eating with him anymore. Before, I'd only made time to eat with him because I knew couples had to go on dates. Every time, Reynold took ages to eat, lit candles, and drank some brand of wine or other. It was a huge waste of time, and the main thing was that the food at that restaurant wasn't even very good. They served such tiny portions and refused to bring more than one dish at a time. I'd finish it in one bite, then the waiter would come take the plate away, and I'd have to wait for the next course. They slowly brought out a whole pile of plates like that, and by the end I couldn't tell whether I was full or not.

"I-"

But before I could finish, the cyborgs pulled out magitech hand cannons and aimed them at me. I immediately used an Air Shield to bounce Reynold back into the room. The chairman of the Magic Council was fragile goods. I'd only just realized that he apparently couldn't even cast a shield—that was what came of his refusal to discuss academics with me before. With such pitiful magical ability, wouldn't a single hit from a magitech cannon smash him to pieces?

I spread my hands and chanted a spell. Pure black flames spread out in a fan along the side of the building. These were Hellfire summoned from the void, cold magic fire with no heat at all, so there was no need to worry about burning the building and getting arrested for damaging public property. It burned only the souls of living things.

Oh, no, that wasn't right. It could burn undead creatures too, and when it did, it burned their bones along with them. It was very clean and convenient. In my early years, I'd fought a necromancer who tried to steal my book, so this had been confirmed.

The cyborgs tried to dodge the black fire, but I guided the flames around to surround them from all sides. Several cyborgs saw that things were going badly and immediately turned and ran downward. Once the black fire touched someone, it couldn't be put out by patting it. I nodded and watched my flames surround the slowest cyborg. His figure was silently swallowed by the black flames, then reappeared intact moments later and fell from the great height.

"Cipr..."

Oh... why was it Reynold again? With no other choice, I took a moment out of my busy work to toss a Silence Spell at him. Why did he keep calling me? Couldn't he see I was busy!?