...then I noticed the king's eyes looking in my direction. I guess I was the only one seating comfortably and looking calm in this situation, so he thought that I might have a reason to not care. Mainly a way to deal with all of this, which was actually true. But, if it wasn't so, the next, risky action taken by king Leonard would basically mean death for both of our families here:

-Sir Alexander! Lady Lucilia! (that's mine and my wife's full names) I know you are new to our Blackhill kingdom but could you help us? At least save our daughter Sabrina! I'm begging you, me, a king! - Leo Strongline pleaded loudly and the boss of the bandits started walking towards us, finally realizing that someone was still in their seats after their threats and even enjoying a cake at that! My wife shrunk on her seat and hid behind my shoulder while I calmly answered king Leo:

-Wait a bit.

...and continued to eat. After all, I can't leave it like this, all alone. No way. And who would be afraid of some thugs who just made you stronger, instead of - as they believed - disabling the use of your magic force?

Exactly.

Actually, I'd like to know the trick they used to compress the mana in the atmosphere like they did. Should I ask them or maybe figure it out myself? It shouldn't be too hard to find out, now that I know it's possible. And it may be the best if I just get this 'device' they mentioned and analyze it. Well, it's bound to have some safety measures but no matter what it is, I'll easily deal with it in my laboratory.

Right now, 'the bandit king' is less important than my cake, so obviously I concentrated on the latter - my favourite activity of tasting this... chocolate masterpiece that flew from my hands in a big arc and landed on the floor?!!!

Who would dare?! My icy cold, purple eyes met another, similarly cold pair of eyes owned by the man in black right in front of me, glad that he finally got my attention by slapping the food I was eating to the ground.

A mistake. A BIG mistake. I WILL DESTROY HIM!!! THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN STOP ME!!!!!

Ignoring the ugly face before me I turned my head towards the king and asked calmly while hiding my wrath under a stony face and a deceivingly normal tone of voice:

-I'll take care of this mess if you swear to give me your best chef once every 3 days.

-No more than once a week! - oh, so now you decide to act like a dutiful wife - even scared, she is still in charge of our house and meals and won't let me get my beloved chocolate more often than my body could handle without getting sick - which was one of my biggest problems in the past. Repeatedly using healing formulas won't always work in such cases, especially excessively used. This is one of the main reasons I have Lucy with me, so she can help me find a limit of the chocolate I can eat before the healing will eventually stop working.

-Like she said. - I easily agreed, looking straight at Leo's completely surprised face.

-Y-yes, of course! Whatever you want as long as you deal with these people!

-Some money would be good too. - quickly added Lucilia. Oh, I didn't think of that! Money's always useful. Even if you have lots of it, you always end up needing more. Thanks dear. Also, I still find it hard to believe how fast money can just disappear when you don't pay attention. I always suspected there is some magical influence that makes it so.

-Definitely! I will also give you a title of a noble of our glorious Blackhill kingdom! I'll get you some land and a house to your liking! No, a mansion instead! - the king was desperate, trying to bribe us with anything he could think of. After all, we were his only hope right now. Either we or death. At the same time, it's admirable that at this crucial moment he actually thought of tying us to his kingdom with land and privileges. Good thinking in this situation for a small king.

-Deal.

-Oh, and just what can you do without magic, damn little wizard?! - shouted the thug leader and ordered:

-Men! Kill these two!

They surrounded us, aiming at our bodies. My wife immediately started screaming. There is absolutely no reason at all to act like that, my dear. Seriously.

-As if a broken toy could work.

After I said that I got up and spread my hands wide, waiting for their move as if I'm an actor in a theatre, right in front of the audience.

-Alex, no! Don't do it! Let's just leave and we'll be safe! We don't even need the money or a small piece of land which we'll probably never visit again!

My poor short-sighted wife, too often she resembles the rest of humans, clueless about the world and how it works. But mostly, her knowledge about biology and other things that I don't seem to understand too well is more than enough to make up for it. Things like emotions and common sense, no matter how much I study this topic, it still seems as incomprehensible as always.

The black shirts pulled the triggers almost simultaneously, multiple times to make our covered in holes and blood bodies more intimidating for the rest of the guests that still has not left and could try something against them. But...

Nothing happened.

Loud clinking noises reverberated in the huge palace hall but somehow none of the guns fired.

-Now is the time you should ask yourselves 'What the hell is happening?!'. I was wondering when you would figure out that I broke your toys while you played your shouting and threatening game. And by toys, I obviously mean your toy guns that just don't seem to work... Well, I wonder what could have happened? - I started stroking my chin, pretending to be deep in thought.

-What did you do, you bastard?! You're definitely a wizard, you can't even use your magic! Our device prevents every mage from creating spells, so what trick did you use?! - the bandit leader was angered and his lackeys threw the now useless pistols to the floor and pulled out their swords instead. Guess they brought those just in case something doesn't work the way it should.