Chương 48: Water-Drop Blade

The royal mage who had been pushed back could not touch Kichan or the queen's confidant right away. The patient securing procedure had stopped. The sealed key was still in Kichan's hand. The royal mage stood before the control board by the mana storage. His expression remained polite. His fingertips did not. At first, he only gripped the edge of the control board. The next moment, he failed to hold back and struck it with his palm. Clink. One glass pipe beside the control board broke.

Water poured onto the corridor floor. It was not just water. Holy water, cooling water, and mana from the underground storage were mixed together. From that water, Kichan remembered the strange water drop from the holy water bowl at the temple lodgings. Inside the broken glass pipe, one small drop of water fell late. The drop did not touch the floor. It stopped in the air. First it became a blade. A very small, sharp water blade. The next moment, it spread like a round shield.

Inside the water drop, two points that looked like eyes flashed open. People in the treatment center shouted.

"Water magic?"

"Is it a holy water reaction?"

"A magic beast!" The words tangled together. The royal mage looked between the broken glass pipe and the sealed key in Kichan's hand. Anger moved first. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Something like a short magic arrow shot from his fingertips. Toward Kichan. Before Kichan could lift the wake-up rod, the water drop spread its body like a round shield. Thud. The magic arrow struck the water shield and scattered.

The shield surface split like a blade for one instant, then joined round again. Kichan blinked.

"Are you... helping me?" Instead of answering, the water drop stood in the shape of a blade. Then it spread into a shield again. The water drop stiffened the edge of the shield one more time. Kichan looked at it for a moment. A thank-you did not come out right away. Instead, he slowly looked at the royal mage.

"You just shot at me, didn't you?" The royal mage could not answer. Kichan adjusted his grip on the wake-up rod.

"Take one hit." Ren opened his mouth, then froze. Without even looking at Ren, Kichan said,"Don't translate that." This time, he did not hit a person. The end of the wake-up rod struck the wall the royal mage had been leaning against just once. Boom. A hole large enough for one person to pass through opened in the wall. The royal mage froze beside the hole. It had been one hit, not to his body, but to the wall he had leaned on and to his dignity. Only then did Kichan feel tired.

The water drop bounced once with a pop. Blue light was leaking from under the broken control board. The water drop did not go toward a person. It split thinly like a blade, flew toward the crack leading to the underground storage, scratched at the place where mana was leaking, then made a water barrier again. Something the royal mage had broken was being sealed by something the royal mage did not understand. The royal mage's clerk moved his pen first. A person from the queen's side took out another sheet of paper.

The healing assistant sent from the temple looked between the broken glass pipe and the water drop and drew a sign of prayer. The crack in the underground storage was blocked for now. But one water drop remained in front of Kichan. It was shaped like a small shield, then quickly changed into a blade. The water drop held its point in the air and trembled. From that moment, the pens inside the treatment center began moving in different directions.

Someone wrote foreigner isolation, and someone wrote additional ability. On the temple paper, a different phrase came first. Possibility of sacred magic. Meanwhile, inside the treatment center, Kichan looked at the child and parents, and at the patients who had nearly been dragged away in the name of protection. Whenever Kichan moved, gazes followed toward the patients too. The child's mother held the child's hand tighter. Now they had to disappear without anyone noticing.

Kichan asked Ren,"Which door is the quietest way out of here?" Ren could not answer right away. Then, in the end, he pointed toward the city's back gate.