GalaxyTL
We tensed up at the sudden appearance of Gordon-san. I’ll give him my best glare!
“Hah, you call that a glare? This is how you glare…”
“Oww…”
Gordon-san must have thought my expression was impudent. He stomped over to me and roughly grabbed my chin. This chin grab is quite rough!!
“Like this…!”
“Meg! Stop it, Baldy! Let go of Meg!!”
Forced to look at Gordon-san’s intimidating glare up close, I was on the verge of tears. My chin and cheeks hurt. But I won’t cry! Licht calling him Baldy was a bit funny, so that distracted me somehow. I don’t think he’s actually bald, but he’s bald in spirit!
But that seemed to be enough to irritate Gordon-san. He suddenly stiffened, then violently let go of my chin, and then…
“Mh!?”
“Meg!!”
Suddenly, my cheek was assaulted by heat and impact. Ah, I realized a few seconds later that he had slapped my cheek with all his might. For a moment, even the surrounding sounds were drowned out, so I was shocked. I was more surprised than anything, but now my cheek is starting to throb painfully. And the taste of iron spreading in my mouth. It must have cut the inside. I didn’t even have time to grit my teeth.
“Hey, Baldy! Don’t mess around! Don’t mess around!? Wh-why… I can’t use magic…!?”
With my hands chained above my head, I can’t even fall down, so I hang my head. I didn’t pass out, so I must have gotten a lot stronger. Tears are streaming down physiologically, but I’m not sad or scared. Because next to me, Ronny is fussing over me, worried, and Licht is getting incredibly angry on my behalf. But what does he mean, he can’t use magic…?
“You bastard… You don’t seem to understand your place!”
“Guah…!”
But this time, he went over to Licht and kicked him hard in the stomach. Stop it!
“What are you doing!? Stop it, Gordon!!”
Gordon continued to kick Licht several times. The impact of the blows left me unable to shout for him to stop, and then… Ravi-san’s voice stopped him.
“He’s an important power source! Don’t waste his energy!”
I’m grateful she stopped him, but she’s still talking like we’re tools. It makes me even sadder.
“And here I thought I wouldn’t have to see your faces for a while… I came to check because of the loud noises, and this is what I find. Get a grip on your short temper!”
“Shut up, let me take it out on them a little! We finally got the teleportation circle working. They gave us so much trouble to get our hands on them.”
“You were just waiting. I’m the one who went through the trouble.”
Ah… Stop talking like that. Every time Ravi-san talks about us like that, it’s like a stab to the heart.
But I didn’t miss it. For a moment. Yes, just for a moment, Ravi-san had a pained expression. Those amber eyes wavered just a little.
“Well, whatever. We’ve got a large number of power sources now. We’ll activate the spell right away.”
Gordon said that and roughly grabbed Licht’s hair. That’s horrible, he’s still groaning from being kicked in the stomach! Licht looked pained, being forced into an upright position. Then the iron collar around his neck was temporarily removed. Could that be…?
“Now, hurry up and channel your magic power into this magic circle. Until I say it’s good.”
“W-Who’d… listen to you…!”
“Hah. Well, I figured you’d say that. It’s just as I predicted, that you wouldn’t obediently do as I say. Hey, Ravi. …Do it.”
Gordon gave an order to Ravi-san with just his eyes. Ravi-san made a face like she had bitten into a bitter bug… and then started heating the chains Ronny and I were bound with, with fire. The chains are made of iron. So if they keep being heated like this…
“S-Stop… Stop it! Ravi!!”
“Shut up! If you want me to stop, hurry up and channel your magic power like I told you!!”
Slowly, my bound arms and ankles started to feel warm.
“What… will happen… if that spell is activated…!?”
I don’t want to hear it. But I have to ask. I asked, feeling my heart pounding. Then Gordon grinned and answered gleefully.
“The same thing that brought you here. It’s a spell to summon children with magic power. Even if the castle tries to interfere again, they can’t keep doing it forever. After all, the magic power required is enormous, but there’s a limit to that magic power, right?”
I knew it, a teleportation spell…! Wait, interfere? The castle? Could it be that the people at the Eastern Castle were interfering from the start to protect the children who were teleported?
So we’ve been running away from the people who were trying to protect us all this time?
Ugh, I can’t deal with this. It must be even worse for Licht.
“But we have plenty of magic power. Even if it runs out, we have spares, and if we let them rest, their magic power will recover. Hahaha! How’s that? Little miss?”
We really are batteries. It’s frustrating, it’s infuriating, I can’t find the words. Uu, Licht! Please don’t let it get to you! You can’t think about the past now.
“How does it feel to know that innocent demi-human children will be teleported to this continent because of your magic power? And then they’ll be sold… Thanks to your power!”
What a scumbag…! How could he say such a horrible thing! Children are so precious, especially on the Demon Continent. And the way he said it? He’s deliberately saying it in an irritating way, ugh!
I mean, if they keep doing that, the enraged people from the Demon Continent will come rushing in. It could lead to a war between the continents. Even on the human continent, many innocent people might be sacrificed.
They’re blinded by their own profit… They don’t understand the repercussions of their actions!
“Absolutely not, Licht! Absolutely don’t channel your magic power… Ow, hot!”
The sensation of my wrists and ankles being burned slowly assaults me. Hot, it hurts…! But if I cry out, Licht will worry. Next to me, Ronny is also biting back his voice.
“Stop it, Ravi! You… How can you not feel anything when Meg and Ronny are suffering so much!?”
Licht shouts desperately. Then Ravi-san’s expression went blank and she answered flatly.
“…I don’t really want to do this either.”
“Ravi! Then…!”
“Don’t get the wrong idea.”
Ravi-san cut off Licht’s hopeful words. She was still holding the torch, and the chains were still getting hotter.
“You’re important merchandise, after all. I don’t want to damage you, and if I take away your energy when you need your magic power… It’ll be a problem if you become unusable.”
“…!”
At Ravi-san’s words, Licht finally fell silent.
“Ngh… Ah…!”
Finally, a sizzling sound started as my hands and feet burned, and I couldn’t help but let out a groan. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts…!
“…Got it. I got it! I’ll channel my magic power! So… Put out that fire right now, Raviii!!”
Licht pleaded, crying out. No, don’t! If you channel your magic power here, there will be more victims!
“Channel your magic power first! If you care about them! You should have done it right away!!”
“Damn iiit!!”
Shouting, Licht channeled his magic power into the magic circle at his feet. He held nothing back, giving it his all.
Immediately, the magic circle began to glow, and by the time it subsided, several small figures had appeared there.