"Hah!" With a yell, Saito cut the spear of the opposing guard in half. That made six.
Despite the repeated destruction of weapons, the guards continued to use their spears. Aselith could understand a mortal's perspective on this. Derf was thick enough to at least break bones, if not cut off limbs entirely, so of course they'd want to keep as much distance as possible. If they had any idea what Saito was really capable of, they wouldn't even be in the room anymore.
Regardless, the ones who lost their spears switched to one-handed swords. Not their own; Mott created them from the ground of his manor with magic. The man was quite versatile.
"You shouldn't look away!" Mott called out, launching an icicle.
Aselith smashed it with his fist, barely giving the noble more than a glance as he continued to observe Saito's fighting. The battle with this so-called mage was far less exciting than seeing what Saito was capable of.
The swordsmen, who seemed competent enough with the secondary weapons, were still no match for Saito. A few slashes here and there came almost close to hitting him, but were still very far from ever hitting him. Aselith didn't think Saito was aware of it, but the boy wasn't using many unnecessary movements. Some were, but that might have been due to Saito's own thoughts on how to fight conflicting with whatever instincts were entering his mind.
The sounds of battle from the past short while drew in more guards from the property. A few of them brought these strange winged dogs with them. Most likely, they served the same purpose as normal ground dogs. Whatever the case, Aselith threw fire at them before they could engage Saito. No need for him to take on too much at once.
"Hmph! I thought so! A fallen noble. My guard said you punched the other one so hard he slammed into the wall, but you just used wind magic to trick him. Hiding your implement and whispering spells won't work on me!" Mott declared. It was a rationalization based on what the man knew, so Aselith couldn't fault him for being completely wrong. But he could blame him for what led to that conclusion.
The man was truly arrogant. He ignored what he saw in favor of what he believed to be true, of what he already knew and could not be any different. This stranger using strange magic? Just another noble with a gimmick.
More ice spears were thrown at Aselith. He smashed them easily, his fists more than enough to swat them out of the air. At the same time, Saito was dancing around the guards, knocking away weapons from some while shattering others. The magic that coursed through him gave him a huge edge in battle.
"Is defending all you can do?" Mott called out mockingly. He did so while throwing more magically made icicles.
"Is he really a triangle mage?" Aselith wondered. This fight was just pathetic. Guiche, a dot mage, put up a better fight, and he was still young. Sure, Saito defeated him quickly after picking up a sword, but Saito was an enigma. Guiche was also part of a military family, so perhaps the comparison wasn't the best, but that would mean training over a short time had a large impact on skill with this magic. That would make Mott look even worse, since that would mean he hasn't trained.
Aselith had taken on Mott himself and left Saito to the guards because a triangle mage should have been much more powerful. Tabitha and Kirche were definitely stronger, and he had only seen them using magic in their classes. Mott clearly didn't earn his position as palace messenger due to his magic.
"Ugh!" Another guard fell to the ground. Saito wasn't having any issue with them at all.
There was one critique Aselith had with how the boy fought. He wasted actions. Once a guard lost their weapon—due to it being broken or knocked away—Saito would strike their head with a blunt side of Derf. He had the speed and skill to do so once an attack missed him, but he chose not to.
"Ice Javelin!" Mott chanted out his spell once more. While he had been growing agitated before, a smile appeared on his face.
Aselith leapt to the side, following the path of Mott's wand. The spell was launched right at Saito, but Aselith easily intercepted and destroyed it.
"Let's see how long you last like this!" Mott laughed, chanting another spell.
Aselith was truly baffled. Did this man really think things changed? He was able to block all his spells up to this point, and Saito didn't move around that much.
It was becoming abundantly clear that Count Mott, the triangle mage, was a poor example of a competent mage. Aselith made some serious miscalculations regarding magic. Every mage had an affinity for an element, which allowed them to cast spells with that element more easily. The more elements layered onto the spell outside of that affinity, the harder they were. As such, Aselith thought Mott making swords like Guiche did—who was an earth mage—but making many more at once, meant he was that much stronger.
Instead, it seemed more like Mott was versatile, but weak. Not necessarily a bad thing, but that made the man look all the more arrogant.
So, Aselith decided to end this farce of a battle.
He lowered himself and then sprang forward toward the noble.
"What the—" Instead of attempting another spell, Mott wasted his breath on surprise. Aselith drove his fist into Mott's stomach, making the man double over in pain. With his club-wand in Aselith's hand, Mott was effectively powerless.
"The count!" One of the few remaining conscious guards yelled, though he was quickly brought down. Only two more guards remained standing. Then one. Then none.
Aselith looked over the work the two of them accomplished, though mostly Saito. Most of the guards were knocked out, with a few nursing head wounds. A few cuts on them here and there, but no deaths.
"You…You lowly bastards!" Mott yelled from his position on the ground. "Do you think you'll get away with this!?"
Saito rested Derf over his shoulder and walked over, his expression stern. "We beat you. Now, give back Siesta."
Mott viciously glared at the boy. "Never! The two of you will hang for assaulting a royal messenger of Tristain!"
"Pity." Aselith shrugged. "I guess we'll have to kill them."
"W-What!?" Mott's head snapped up to him. "Fools! You think you can get away with this? You'll be found and killed. Your families, too! You have no hope, except what I grant you!"
Aselith sighed. It wasn't his intelligence that gave Mott his position, which seemed rather high up. The way he was able to easily acquire Siesta made it seem like Mott was quite important. Was he really? Perhaps he was loyal to the royal family of this country. Or maybe he came from a prestigious family.
Whatever the case, it wasn't going to matter soon.
"What do you think, Saito?" Aselith directed his focus to a more worthwhile line of questioning. "Kill all of them? It doesn't look like this man is going to let you live peacefully."
"I…" Saito paused. He tilted the talking blade slightly. "Derf, what do you think?"
"Not sure, Partner. I've been asleep for a while, and I don't remember nobles much before waking up. But from what I've seen, I don't think these nobles are trustworthy, especially this one."
"Then we're in agreement!" Aselith clapped his hands.
"Murder!" Mott shouted. "This is murder!"
Saito, however, didn't look sure. "Do we really have to?"
"He said it himself." Aselith gestured to Mott. "We're dead no matter what. You don't have any family here, and I can take care of my end, so eliminating everyone is the safest." He wasn't going to give Tabitha's name or any specifics, just in case.
"Y-You…" There was fear mixed in with Mott's fury.
"However, I gave my word I wouldn't kill unless it was for self-preservation, or for some great offense. This worm is only at the level of annoyance to me, thus it falls on you to end him." Aselith stepped toward Saito. His next action practically made the boy's eyes bulge out of his head.
With his hand on his midsection, Aselith dipped his hand into his body. After a few seconds, he pulled it back out, an athame in his hand.
"Kill him with this, if you would." Aselith held it up to Saito. "One thrust threw the heart will suffice. I will consider this the repayment for my help."
While he could have held a favor over Saito for longer, giving it up right away was certainly going to go farther in earning the boy's trust and appreciation. That was especially true since this was the likely outcome the moment Saito drew Derf outside the manor.
"I don't like the feel of that knife, partner." Derf voiced his concern.
"How did you…" Saito looked between Aselith and the offered blade.
"Later, if you're interested." Aselith didn't want to spend the time explaining it now. The trip back would be long enough. "Kill him and the guards. Leave no witnesses to what happened here if you want to live a peaceful life."
"That's…" Saito stepped back.
Now, what would he chose? Would he follow Aselith's advice and murder everyone? Would he spare them all, including Mott? This part of the night was just a test, no reward or punishment from Aselith for any answer. A curiosity really.
"Ice Spear!" Mott called out.
"Look out!" Saito shoved Aselith to the side before he could react.
"Damn. If the boy dies, then it'll be that much more difficult to figure out this void magic. I need to—" Aselith's thoughts halted.
Mott, holding a smaller wand he must have had hidden, launched the icicle. Saito stepped forward, Derf in one hand. The icicle flew the short distance between them. Saito moved Derf to intercept the ice, and then…
The ice disappeared. It didn't vanish instantly, instead swiftly disappearing as if Derf took it into himself.
"Oh." Saito let out.
"Huh." Aselith was further intrigued.
"Oh yeah! I forgot I could do that!" Derf rattled out.
That left the two standing next to each other and Mott still on the ground, pointing his wand up, and looking absolutely scared.
"It seems as though Mott has made a suggestion." Aselith said, holding the athame to Saito.
Saito looked at it, then looked at Mott. From the expression on Mott's face alone, Aselith knew what Saito decided.
Author's Notes:
He dead!