Ivanâs Fireworks
Ivan woke up to the sounds of swords clashing outside. He was drinking up until two hours ago, so he was still a little groggy, but he needed to get up.
ãIvan! We got company!ã
A knight, one of the men Alexei sent for reinforcement, stormed in through the door. Just like Ivan, he was drinking a while ago too, but while his face was red, he was already armed.
ãS-Sorry! Iâll be right there!ã
ãYou can bring your sword, but donât use it. Youâre drunk, itâll only get in the way. Either tie up enemies, or help our comrades!ã
ãG-Got it!ã
The knigh bolted through the hallway. As Ivan stood up, he tripped on the sheets and tumbled down to the floor.
ãOuch...ã
Covering his face, he caught sight of his bag propped against the wall, a thin rod sticking out of it.
ãO-Oh, right. I need to call Hikaru.ã
It was given to him by Hikaru to use if the enemy attacked at night. At the tip of the rod was a chrysalis-shaped object with a small string extending from it.
ãLetâs see... A vase...ã
Ivan shoved the rod into the empty vase with the chrysalis pointed upwards. As he opened the window, a chill breeze rushed in, and he could clearly hear men shouting as they fought. I need to join them soon. Why did I even get drunk? Ivan thought.
He shook his head.ãI gotta do this first.ã
A small candle still burned on the candlestand on the table.
ãUh, he said to light it up.ã
Ivan took both the candlestick and the vase to the window. As he brought the flame close to the string, it made a hissing sound and gave off sparks. Ivanâs eyes widened as the spark quickly consumed the string.
ãWhat the?!ã
He thought the chrysalis would explode, but instead it let out a shrill noise as it launched high into the night sky along with the rod before going off with a bang. It was a so-called skyrocket that, of course, Ivan knew nothing about.
ãWh-What was that...?ãHe stood there, dumbfounded.ãI-I gotta go, too.ãHe then bolted out of the room.
Hikaru slept alone in his room. Right now, Catherine was in the apartment as well. She couldâve slept at the mansion where she stayed when classes were in session, but the servants werenât around during winter. He couldnât let her stay in a huge mansion all alone.
Suddenly, light coming from a magic item illuminated his entire room. Created by Katy, it functioned by lighting up once the skyrocket exploded. Through some sort of a radio wave, the explosion would cause a mana reaction that would trigger the device. His place might be close to the academy, but he couldnât possibly hear the explosion.
Hikaru explained about the radio that they discovered in the Zubura ruins to Katy, and she made progress in her studies about it. As for the skyrocket, Katy herself learned about it from the catalog of artifacts. The fact that she could create this with little information just proved how incredible she was as a Magic Item Specialist.
ãTheyâre here, huh?ã
Hikaru quickly got out of bed and changed. After wearing his cloak and fastening the wakizashi on his waist, he was good to go.
ãHikaru.ã
He was met by Lavia and Catherine in their pajamas in the living room. The magic lamp emitted only a faint light, and he couldnât see clearly, but he thought Catherine was surprisingly blessed around the chest area.
ãSorry I woke you up. Iâm going.ã
ãOkay. Weâllâã
With his mobility, it would be much easier if Hikaru went alone, and Laviaâs forte was large-scale magic against a large number of enemies. She wouldnât be able to do much this time.
ãYou can go back to sleep.ãhe said.
ãKay.ã
ãW-Wait! How can you be so calm about this?!ãCatherine exclaimed.
ãYou can stay up, then, if you want. Anyway, Iâm in a hurry.ã
ãBye.ãLavia said.
ãHm... Take care, then.ãCatherine added, still not convinced if this was the right idea.
Both Hikaru and Lavia were already used to urgent situations, while Catherine was not.
Hikaru ran down the stairs and out of the building. Up in the sky, the bright moon illuminated his snowy path. With five points on Power Burst, it actually made it harder to dash at full speed in the snow. Even so, the academy was close. He made it there in less than ten minutes after the magic item in his room went off.
Hikaru slowed down as he neared the dorms. The knights from Jarazack, slightly injured, had the assailants surrounded. A few severely-injured ones gathered in a corner, tended to by Ivan.
There were less than ten assailants, while twenty menâdouble that of the enemyâsurrounded them. But the knights, their weapons on the ready, couldnât get closer.
The assailants were stained in deep red. Blood oozed from their bodies. One of them even lost his arm. But each and every one of them still stood. They were willing to fight to the bitter end.
ãKeep your guard up.ãMikhail said, his great sword on hand.
ãYes, Sir!ãthe men replied in unison.
Looks like I can just leave this to them, Hikaru thought. Is this all of the enemies?
Hikaruâs Instinct spoke to him. Claude was not here. He was in lecture building C with Luka.
What if an elite team headed there? A cornered rat will bite a cat.
Claude hadnât fought someone who was prepared to throw their life away. Even the knights who clearly outnumbered the assailants couldnât take them all down immediately. Tenacious enemies with such firm determination were tough.
Hikaru deactivated his Stealth as he approached Ivan.
ãIvan.ã
ãH-Hikaru?! Whereâd you come from?!ã
ãWhere are the other knights? Over at Claude?ã
ãWell...ã
Ivan explained things to Hikaru. There were supposed to be fifty men, but about twenty of them took a request from the guild and went monster hunting.
ãThose idiots!ã
Monsters surging forth at this point in time couldnât possibly be true. Pretending to go hunt monsters and then come back was one thing, but actually going out on a hunt for real was utter foolishness.
ãThat means...ã
A chill ran down Hikaruâs spine.
Right now, only Claude is protecting Luka...
Claudeâs sword deflected the sword of the blue-haired man. It wasnât as though Larks Lordgrad Ludancia wasnât strong enough. Claude was just that much stronger.
How?! No one told me Claude Zahard Kirihal was a skilled swordsman!
Larks couldnât hide his agitation.
ãNow you know the difference in our abilities. Youâll have to bring more people if you want a chance of defeating me.ã
Claude sounded calm, but he was anything but that. He was up against three people. If he took down Larks, the other two would surely attack. To make matters worse, the lanky man was a short-bow user.
Claude just needs to buy time and he wins, Larks thought. So he doesnât need to kill his opponent...
Utter humiliation. He expected to lose against a man from Jarazack, but not someone from Kirihal.
Contrary to Hikaruâs expectations, Claude managed to defend himself.
ãOh, whatâs this?ãThen all of a sudden, Larks heard an indifferent voice.ãCome on, Sir. You should at least be able to kill Claude. I know we didnât expect him to be this strong, but I thought you were quite strong yourself.ã
The lanky bow-user, Ray, suddenly started speaking. His words took Larks by surprise. It wasnât the same Ray he knew. It wasnât the young man who expressed how much he respected his commander.
Somethingâs wrong, Larks thought. Though he couldnât exactly tell what exactly. The other man, Larksâ right-hand Joseph, noticed Rayâs strange behavior.
ãYou moron! Keep your mouth shut!ãJoseph yelled as he grabbed Rayâs shoulders.ãWe have an enemy right before usâã
Ray stabbed Josephâs arm with something. Joseph quickly pulled away, his face twisted in pain.
ãWhat are you doing?!ã
Ray smiled. On his hand was a syringe, its needle as big as the ones used by smiths in sewing. Blood dripped from Josephâs arm.
ãWeâll surely lose if this goes on longer. So how about we use the ace up my sleeve?ã
His mouth curved into a smile, but his eyes were dead serious. The next instant, Joseph let out a scream.