Became the Unjust Contract Slave of the Archamage’s Book

The merchant caravan had traveled a considerable distance.

Binaeril scrutinized the crystal orb, gauging the distance between them and the pursuit team.

“Inyakan, it would be better for us to disembark here and head east on foot.”

They informed Pavel of their decision to leave the caravan.

“You’re leaving here?”

Pavel had treated them with utmost respect.

There was a reason for Pavel’s behavior. In exchange for solving the Belos Fortress problem, Inyakan had demanded ‘half of the gold’ they possessed, but what they received was less than a quarter of that amount.

The caravan mostly carried a large heap of silver coins for general transactions.

The weight of the three-digit sum of silver coins was dreadful, and Binaeril’s pockets were almost at capacity.

Ignoring Inyakan’s grumbles, Binaeril took only a practical amount of silver coins.

As much as Inyakan’s lips turned downwards, Pavel’s lips turned upwards, which was evident without saying.

“Safe travels!”

Pavel and the subordinate caravan members bowed deeply to see them off.

Until the moment they parted, Gillian’s odd behavior remained unnoticed.

The other caravan members, including the guards, had tried to avoid Gillian, and Pavel was simply content with Gillian being quiet.

“Why has Lord Gillian been so quiet these past few days?”

“He’s been quiet ever since I saw him talking with that mage a few days ago. Maybe he got a good scolding for his boastfulness.”

“Really?”

Pavel thought,

‘How delightful.’

Only the newbie caravan members who followed Gillian noticed something was off, but everything passed without issue.

Thus, Binaeril and Inyakan departed from the Bemes caravan’s procession.

“Where do we go now?”

“According to the crystal orb the headmaster gave me, we should head directly east from here to meet the pursuit team.”

“But aren’t they moving as well?”

“They’re likely tracking Bernstein. However… I’ve been checking consistently for the past few hours, and something seems off.”

“What’s off?”

“The pursuit team’s location has been almost stationary. Could it be that they’ve encountered Bernstein?”

Inyakan rubbed his chin with his fingers.

“If they’re staying still, that’s a strong possibility.”

“Then we need to move quickly.”

The location indicated by the crystal orb was not far from here.

Binaeril and Inyakan began to run.

***

“Ugh…! Senior! Please stay with me…!”

“Avia, just leave me and run. How many times do I have to tell you?”

“Do you really think… I would listen to that…? If you were in my position, you’d do the same….”

Avia Flynn stubbornly carried Pierre Blanchot over her shoulder, struggling to keep moving forward.

Pierre had lost a lot of blood, making his vision blurry and his mind foggy.

The only reason he hadn’t lost consciousness yet was thanks to Avia, who was carrying him and panting heavily.

“Just a bit more… just a bit further…”

“Avia, give up hope. If I remember correctly, the village is quite far from here. It would take at least half a day to reach it while carrying an injured person. Moreover…”

“Kyaaa—!”

In such a situation, it would take even longer.

The remnants of Bernstein’s mana had left a trace on the two professors.

Now, Avia and Pierre were like appetizing prey that could be smelled from afar by the demons.

“Senior, be quiet.”

Avia dismissed his words and carefully laid Pierre’s exhausted body on a flat surface.

“Just wait here for a moment.”

She stood up and caught her breath. Then she opened her eyes and scanned the surroundings.

“Do you think an Elfenbine mage is easy to mess with? Even if dozens of you small-fry demons swarm, you won’t stand a chance!”

The demons couldn’t understand her words.

Nonetheless, she spoke as if ranting to herself.

I am an Elfenbine mage. These demons before me pose no threat….

Such self-encouraging words were effective as self-suggestion to enhance the power of her magic.

“Skreek!”

The creatures that appeared were demons known as ‘Skullhorns.’

Their skulls, the size of a human head, had horns, and their bodies were small and disproportionate to their heads.

Among the smaller demons, they were particularly resistant to magic, making them tricky opponents.

Avia counted about fifteen of them.

She completed the incantation for her spell and made her decision.

“A rain of ice that shatters to pieces—”

As Avia’s voice spread, the surrounding air grew cold.

“A lonely winter storm!”

Whoosh—

A cold wind blew.

Ice magic was her specialty.

The spell she had chanted was one for a snowstorm.

This was the highest-tier ice magic Avia could chant.

After completing the incantation, her face turned pale.

It was because she had used such a powerful spell while already exhausted from carrying Pierre.

The Skullhorns’ movements noticeably slowed under the onslaught of the icy storm.

Their skulls collided with and shattered against the whirling ice fragments.

As the Skullhorns’ skulls broke and crumbled, the dropping temperature caused Pierre’s consciousness to fade further.

In his fainting awareness, Pierre sensed a menacing presence approaching them.

He mustered all his strength to warn Avia.

“Ru…n… awa…y…”

But his weak warning got lost in the snowstorm and didn’t reach Avia.

After defeating all the Skullhorns, Avia, with a pale face, returned to Pierre.

Panicking, she checked for his breath by placing her finger under his nose.

Thankfully, he was still breathing.

It seemed he had just lost consciousness.

As Avia was about to lift him again, she sensed the same thing Pierre had felt.

“This is…!”

Avia quickly hid Pierre in the bushes.

After a moment of waiting, a chilling sound approached, crawling on the ground.

“Ssssaaaahhh—!”

Avia knew the name of this creature.

“Echidna…!”

A massive snake-like demon.

While not comparable to a nine-headed Hydra, it resembled a Hydra in appearance and temperament, thus classified as a Hydra subspecies.

The problem was that an Echidna was a top predator among mid-sized demons.

Even in her best condition, Avia couldn’t guarantee a victory against it.

She glanced sideways at where she had hidden Pierre.

A direct confrontation with the Echidna wasn’t feasible. If she got entangled in a fight, Pierre could get hurt.

‘What if I run away? I could lead the Echidna far from here and then shake it off before coming back.’

It seemed the best course of action.

‘Alright.’

As Avia resolved to leave and started to prepare, she sensed another massive presence in her detection range.

Another powerful mana source was rapidly approaching them.

She had no time to lure the Echidna away before it was too late.

‘Run…!’

Boom! Crack!

The newly arrived presence was approaching with a tremendous roar.

Even the Echidna was distracted by the sudden noise, turning its attention in that direction.

Breaking through rocks, and bending grass and trees, appeared none other than…

“A person?”

It was a person. He had a long scar over his left eye, a shiny bald head, and a fierce look.

The man was hunched over, with his hands clasped behind his back.

‘Is this the source of the mana I sensed?’

It didn’t seem so.

What Avia had sensed felt closer to a demon’s aura, but this man looked more like a battle-hardened mercenary or warrior.

“But the mana…”

“Professor Avia?”

A young man, who seemed strangely familiar, peeked out from behind the man’s shoulder.

She could feel a strong mana from him. However, it was a clear, human mana, unlike the ominous demonic presence she had sensed earlier.

‘Was I mistaken?’

Avia, bewildered, asked while feeling a bit relieved, and the young man jumped down from the man’s back, introducing himself.

“Binaeril Dalheim. I don’t know if you remember me.”

Avia recalled the name from her memory.

Yes, she remembered. He was a student who had graduated from Elfenbine a few months ago.

He had a peculiar nickname, ‘The Eternal Failure,’ and it wasn’t hard to recall due to his performance in her classes.

“How did you…?”

Binaeril cheerfully inserted himself between Avia and the Echidna.

“Ahem, ahem. By the order of Elfenbine, or rather, the Tower Master, I’m here to assist in the pursuit of Richard Bernstein.”

“…You?”

The Binaeril Avia remembered was a boyish student who had barely lost his baby fat.

She knew he had taken the Scholar’s exam and graduated, but he still seemed far too young to be given such a mission.

“Yes. Both I and Inyakan here are the support force.”

It seemed the man’s name was Inyakan.

“Where is Professor Blanchot…? Ah, there he is.”

Without Avia pointing it out, he quickly located Pierre.

“Is Professor Blanchot injured?”

Avia had many questions, but she was quickly swept up in Binaeril’s pace.

“Yes, he was injured in the battle with Bernstein.”

“What about Bernstein?”

“We lost him. He summoned demons. You can assume there’s no humanity left in him anymore.”

Binaeril leaned his chin on his fingers, appearing to think for a moment.

But this wasn’t the time for such leisure.

The ignored Echidna, drooling green saliva, roared at the humans.

“Hisssss!”

“Binaeril, this is no time for that. I’ll distract it; you take the professor and run!”

“Run? Why?”

Avia was bewildered.

The Binaeril she remembered wasn’t this obliviously dull.

He acted as if the giant monster before them didn’t exist.

“Why? Because—”

The Echidna couldn’t wait for the humans’ idle chatter any longer.

Its sharp, venomous fangs lunged at Binaeril’s head.

Avia screamed and immediately gathered her mana to intercept the attack.

“Pierce and tear apart.”

Binaeril’s one-word chant was faster than Avia’s incantation, formulation, and execution process.

Without even turning around, Binaeril uttered his spell.

The Echidna, advancing toward him, suddenly froze. No, it wasn’t frozen.

Avia hadn’t noticed, but countless holes appeared along the length of the Echidna’s body. These were the marks left by Binaeril’s magic bullets.

Soon, the wounds from the magic bullets began to tear open.

“Don’t worry, Professor Flynn.”

“We won’t be a burden.”

The Echidna’s hide was ripped open, and its innards were exposed.

Like a giant tearing apart a demon piece by piece, the Echidna’s limbs were severed and shredded.

“The Bernstein pursuit team is now fully assembled.”

Without even glancing at the collapsing monster, Binaeril spoke.

Avia thought the scene before her eyes was surreal, almost like magic.