Even though it’s nighttime, the town is noisy. It’s dark and there are confused or curious people in the streets, awoken by the noise. The sound of violence gets louder as we get near the north-west district. The five of us slip through the confusion with agile movements. We all have experience with stealth it seems, not that I expected any different. This is Asher’s own team so it makes sense that the members are the experienced. I’m the only one who isn’t.

We reach the area of the conflict, near the town’s granaries. A number of town guards wielding spears, swords and wooden shields are being pushed back by a large mob of people. The mob is armed with shovels, pitchforks and other farming tools. Only a few of them have actual weapons. The guards should be stronger but they are too outnumbered. Behind them, other people are carrying sacks of grain out of the building and loading them onto horses. I can’t see their faces in the darkness but their auras are weak even for peasants. They must be desperate.

“Those are all villagers. This isn’t an enemy attack; it’s a goddamn food riot!” I exclaim.

At my left, Gamo frowns and adds “This is troubling. The captain told us not to harm civilians but it doesn’t seem like that’s an option right now.”

“They brought it on themselves by carrying out this foolish raid. If we eliminate a bunch of them, the rest of the mob will disperse after they accept that they have no chance.”

“Yeah, let’s cut them down!”

At Gamo’s remark, Inaya responds coldly and Mikel licks his lips in anticipation of battle. Qasim is silent and unreadable. Unable to wait a moment longer, Mikel takes out the large claymore he was carrying on his back and charges into the fray. That musclehead… Is fighting the only thing they’re capable of?

It’s true that there are a lot of opponents. It would be difficult to stop them all without harming anyone, especially with the town guards being useful only as shields. However, there are two top-of-the-line mages here and I can use advanced dark magic. This should not be hard for us.

“We don’t need to kill them. You’re both elite mages, aren’t you? Can’t you use magic to stop the attackers without killing them?”

“What are you yammering about?” Inaya snaps. She’s acting as if I offended her merely by speaking out. Unfazed, I continue.

“I’m saying that ‘Mind Flay’, ‘Mind Freeze’, ‘Psychic Lock’ and ‘Asphyxia’, any of these spells can bring down a human without serious injury. For multiple targets it’s best to use ‘Asphyxia’ or ‘Mind Freeze’. Even ‘Dark Fog’ might be able to stop the fighting, although it would attract too much attention.” With obvious disappointment in my voice, I explain to the other three. It was already confirmed during our travel that using arcane magic isn’t a problem if you can control it properly. Dark magic should be fine too. I’m pretty sure I saw her use it a few days ago.

“I’m not too familiar with dark magic. Do you know what he’s talking about, Inaya?” Gamo asks. She doesn’t seem to hear the question.

While staring daggers at me, she demands “Newbie, are you implying that you can use all of those spells?”

“Yes and we need to move fast. Someone please stop Mikel’s rampage. I will go prepare the spell.

I immediately run out of sight between two nearby buildings and climb onto the roof with wind magic. Just like in the previous battles, it helps a lot if I have a good vantage point from which to observe the situation. Since I will be using non-lethal means, it doesn’t even matter if I hit the town guards along with the rioters.

Mikel is focused on his slaughter. Because of his great strength and fast movements, they are unable to take advantage of their numbers. With each horizontal swing, two or three go down. He uses the town guards and buildings as cover, jumping in and out of combat while whittling down his weak opponents. It seems like he’s showing off his strength to break their spirits, but this is still a sorry sight. The villagers just want food. Killing them will only cause their friends and family to come looking for revenge. If this is what ‘move like a shadow’ means, then there should be no problem with what I’m about to do. Inaya, Gamo and Qasim did not follow me and I can’t see them from this position. Hopefully they will do like I asked.

It’s been a while since I used dark spells on a human. The last time was during a private match with Alex at the Magic Academy. He was the only one I trusted to keep quiet about the use of forbidden magic. It’s largely thanks to his cooperation that I became proficient at it.

Scope: a circular area 15 meters in diameter. Goal: make targets unconscious with minimal injury. Begin emission.

Power is drained from the circuits in my outstretched arm and sent above the target area in a directional wave. The higher the density, the higher the damage will be. In this case, it won’t be very high. I don’t want to give anyone brain damage. Using the same principle as ‘Lightning Spire’, I generate the spell in the air and aim it downward for maximum area of effect. Mana starts building up into a dark purple orb which is visible to the naked eye, one of the unavoidable drawbacks this spell has. The darkness outside compensates by making it very difficult to see. A pretty large amount of mana is required for an area of this size. Dark magic comes with problems such as nasty backlashes and side-effects when executed poorly. The mana oscillates violently which causes the spell to easily lose integrity. I counter this by making it flow in a circular motion, which gives it the liquid globe shape. Activation is tricky because it must spread out evenly over a large area, otherwise some people will get hit much harder than others. Consistency is important.

Mikel notices the attack and backs away. Good, this much should be enough. The mana is oscillating at the correct rate for the effect I need. Activate!

“Mind Freeze”

The orb rapidly changes shapes in an instant and then pops like an inflated ball. The mana that is emitted is invisible to the untrained eye. Oscillations cause the air to vibrate when released, giving the spell a fairly loud and unpleasant shrieking noise for a few of seconds. The startled rioters don’t see it coming. With the full blast bearing down on them from above, most of the crowd loses consciousness immediately. A few people who were more resilient staggered for a few moments before finally collapsing. As I thought, no one was able to resist. They’re all untrained peasants.

“Splendid! Not even a hint of magical backlash. I wish you mentioned knowing the dark arts earlier.”

While I was busy casting the spell, Gamo came up on the roof to check what I was doing.

“As you already know, it’s considered an illegal practice in many places. Discretion is required.” I reply. “What are the other three doing? We can save more lives if we coordinate.”

His mouth forms a wry smile and says “You’re rather compassionate for someone who slaughtered a band of barbarians by himself. I thought you would be more like our Inaya.”

That comparison makes me cringe. The less I resemble that spiteful woman, the better. We jump down from the building and see Qasim and Inaya checking the people I just knocked out.

“All of them are alive and uninjured” confirms Qasim in a quiet voice that I can barely hear over the noisy town around us.

“Of course, that was the whole point. ‘Mind Freeze’ can alter specific brain functions without causing damage to the organ itself. You could call it an illusion.”

Inaya approaches with a serious expression. “Where did you learn to do this?”

“Amisos Magic Academy.” I answer curtly. There is no need to hide it after all.

“They taught you the dark arts at Delos’ magic academy? I find that hard to believe.”

“No one taught me, I taught myself. It’s a long story. How about we complete our task here first?”

“Rigel’s right, we don’t have time for this. I know you’re very curious, Inaya, but we have orders to follow.” Gamo interjects. She opens her mouth, wanting to say something, but closes it immediately after. At least she understands the priorities here.

After that, the riot is quickly suppressed with the five of us working together and the town guards helping with whatever they could. There must have been three or four hundred people taking part in the food riot. I use ‘Mind Freeze’ a few more times within a large area, bringing down dozens of them each time. The rest of the team complied with my request and did what they could to avoid killing anyone. Qasim and Mikel are both warriors with no spellcasting ability, so they used their bare hands and the blunt sides of their swords to knock people out.

Gamo used lightning enhanced with his arcane skills. Arcane magic seems to be his specialty. It’s hard to guess from the limited number of spells I saw, but he’s probably as good as me or better. In particular, the ‘Cinder Blast’ during our duel showed just how much experience he has with it. I don’t think I can manage that kind of attack. Not surprising since I am much younger than him.

As it turns out, Inaya knows some dark spells too. She used ‘Mind Freeze’ and ‘Asphyxia’ to whittle down the rioters. Her spells aren’t as elegant as mine, which explains her reaction earlier. She was stunned by the fact that someone considerably younger knows something she didn’t. In other words, it’s jealousy. I wasn’t even trying to show off. I simply used the most effective tool for the situation. People who care too much about their ego are annoying. She has that in common with the nobility. If anyone here ends up trying to sell me to the Council, it’s probably her. Not that it’s going to hurt me; I’m prepared to abandon this group at any time.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

Captain Asher returns to us almost half an hour after the disturbance ended. He is accompanied by a group of people in expensive clothes, along with their personal guards and escorts. They are laughing at each other’s remarks like they don’t have a care in the world. What the hell has Asher been doing this whole time? Was meeting with a bunch of aristocrats really more important than helping his team? Or is this his way of saying he trusts us? Either way, this doesn’t sit right with me.

He puts his hand on my shoulder and says “Well done, Rigel. I heard you were instrumental in suppressing the riot with minimal casualties.” The look in his eyes is sincere.

“Thanks, I suppose.”

My attention shifts to the group that he arrived with. A pompous aristocrat is talking with a man wearing chainmail and a sword on his hip, whom I assume is the captain of the town guards.

“… and then I want you to arrest all the incompetent fools who let that mob into the town. They will be executed tomorrow at dawn along with the rest of the rabble. That will serve as a warning to the rest. If something like this happens again, your jobs will be the least of your worries.”

Did I just hear that? The idiot dares to say that to the people who spared his town a lot of bloodshed? Maybe the guards have no choice but to submit, but I do. Walking toward them with an aggressive pace, I grab his attention.

“Wait a moment… You want to execute the people that we worked hard to protect? Are you being serious right now?”

The aristocrat turns to me with a displeased face. He looks like he can’t believe that someone is challenging his orders.

“Huh, you’re part of Asher’s group then?” He scoffs.

“Rigel—” Asher tries to intervene but is cut off.

“You should have slaughtered everyone in that rebellious mob and saved me the trouble. I have no need for peasants who bite the hand that feeds them. Who do they think owns the land they eat from? Ungrateful animals need to be taught.”

“And you’re going to execute the guards who helped stop them?” My breathing becomes rough.

“There is no room for incompetents under my rule.” He says it like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Behind my back, I squeeze my fists so hard that blood appears under the nails.

So that’s how it is. The thing standing in front of me isn’t a man, it’s just another parasite. There’s only one thing to do with a parasite, isn’t there?

I squeeze my fists ever harder. An incredibly high concentration of mana gathers in my arms, making them go numb. As I’m about to unleash it onto the trash standing in front of me, something grabs my right arm from behind. I twist my body around and see that Asher is the cause. My arm is held in place by the bone-crushing grip of a warrior’s sword-arm. It hurts but anger overcomes the pain as I resist his strength.

“Why are you stopping me?” I whisper through my teeth, even though I already know.

He doesn’t say a word. With a somber expression, he shakes his head from side to side. I lower my own head as an exasperated sigh escapes me. My muscles begin to relax.

“I should have expected this… Let’s talk somewhere else.”