Chapter 8: Tiptoeing around flith

The Magus glanced at Vevian and then at Savine. His eyes did not linger on her for long. He didn't seem to think Savine was the one he was searching for.

"Call for me this, Ney," the Initiate said. "I'm here to draft her for the Magicracy's military."

'Sigh…'

"Of course, of course," Vevian smiled. "May the Magicracy master the marvels! She's actually here already, a curious girl she is. Perhaps you can give her some time to prepare her belongings. While she's doing that, may I check her drafting papers in the meantime? My god, I wonder who we're fighting now? Feels like we're fighting a war every opportunity we get, eh, your mysticness?"

"Drafting papers?" the Magus frowned.

"Yes. It won't take long, your mysticness, just a glance will do. As a formality, I suppose, ohoho."

"What is that?"

'This guy…'

In response, Vevian laughed nervously.

"Surely you jest, your mysticness. Oho, you truly know how to put a fool like me on the spot. How can your mysticness come without a drafting paper?"

"What is this drafting paper you keep mentioning?"

The Initiate's voice was now laden with a growl.

Somehow, Savine found herself wanting to growl as well.

'What the fuck was I doing? Tiptoeing around dogs like these?'

Savine felt like an idiot, thinking of all the thoughts and effort she wasted to guarantee her safety.

"Uh- Umm…" Vevian continued. "Well, a drafting paper is a document needed to draft mages to the military, of course…? It's signed by either a general or the admiral when there's a battle imminent with enemy forces. Uh, perhaps they've described it wrong to you? It may be presumptuous of me to ask, but maybe you can check your belongings and see if there's any paper like that?"

The Initiate looked briefly flustered.

"How fucking incompetent are you?" Savine couldn't help but speak up.

The Magus was flustered even further. It was probably the first time he ever heard someone below him speak this way. In fact, Vevian seemed flustered as well, not expecting Savine to drop all pretenses.

"What??"

"What?"

"If you want to poach me, at least take it seriously. I don't mind serving my betters but I'd rather gut myself rather than stare at your dog face for more than two minutes."

"You-"

"Don't overheat your brain trying to form a sentence. Go back to your superior, suck his dick and maybe he'll forge a paper for you as a meet-me-again gift."

Finally, the idiot finished processing everything and realized he was being insulted. His face completely red and hands shaking, he reached into his inner pocket.

"I'll kill you!"

Savine ignored his words and focused greatly on the object he pulled out. At first glance, it only looked like a thin wooden wand. However, the feeling it gave off was definitely not organic. It was more like he was holding a cluster of mana.

She soon noticed another thing. The Initiate's heart visibly glowed, forcing his mana out into the open. It passed through his hands and entered the wand. Upon entering the wand, the mana seemingly disappeared, but Savine knew it simply transformed into something else.

Sure enough, lightning sparked at the tip of the wand.

'So that's how it works…' Savine nodded. 'But I guess I should stop him from finishing the cast.'

If it was a fireball or an earth shard, she could dodge it, but against lightning, it was better to not take chances.

'The chances of me dying are actually quite high,' she thought to herself.

She picked up a nearby candelabra and threw it at the Initiate's head. The latter ducked and looked behind at the object with a gasp. Cursing, he turned around, but was met with a stool flying at his head.

He raised his hands to block it, but he was too slow. The stool hit his right hand's forearm and then slammed into his forehead. The Initiate fell on the ground with a tumble. Savine hoped for him to drop his Vasa, but he wasn't that inadequate.

A second later, he screeched like some crazed animal and started casting again. It was the same spell as before. Lightning was deadly if one managed to cast it, but it usually took a long time to ramp up. It was completely inadequate in a close melee like this.

Savine snorted and dashed towards him. She kicked his wrist with all her strength, finally forcing the wand out of his hand.

"My Vasa!"

"Savine! What are you doing?!"

Ignoring their cries Savine picked up the wand. Touching it, she immediately frowned.

"Fucking hell…"

"You ingrate! Give me back my Vasa! NOW!"

Her mood sour, she glared at the Initiate.

"Vevian. Are there such things as Healing Magic?"

"What?"

"Healing Magic. Does it exist?"

"No… I don't think so," he replied. "But perhaps there are and I simply don't know about them."

"Since you, the head of the Merchant Union doesn't know about it, then it's basically no different than a myth. Perhaps there is Healing Magic, but no one would bother to use it on a worthless, crippled dog like him."

Savine's eyes shone in a cold glint and she smiled. She pulled out the new stiletto she ordered.

"No! Do you know what you're doing?! You're attacking a Magus of the State! You're going to get killed!"

"You really are a slow one, aren't you?" Savine chuckled.

The Initiate tried to run, but it was easy for Savine to kick his legs and send him sprawling. She sat atop his back and held her stiletto to his ears.

With how he didn't even bother to cast a spell, Savine knew that the Vasa they used was essential for spellcasting. Without their Vasa, a Magus was no different than a normal person.

"Now. I have something talk about with you. No, I have something to ask from you," Savine cleared her throat. "Since killing you will force the higher ups to come and find your Vasa, you're luckily going to survive today. But we don't want you running back to your Magi society and babble endlessly about me, now do we?"

"No! Release me this instant!"

"Shush, shush. Don't move," Savine held a stiletto to the inside of his ear. "You see, I don't like troublesome things. I'm sure you don't either. And I don't like constantly worrying about loose ends. I'm sure you don't either. So, for the sake of my good night sleep, I need to mess your brain a little bit, do you mind?"

Savine was about to stab the needle in, but a foreign energy swelled up inside her body. It materialized inside her heart and spread across her whole body immediately. Searing pain pulsed through her entire body, a force taking hold of her every cell, refusing to let go.

<<NO KILLING, NO VIOLENCE, NO THREATS… UNLESS YOUR LIFE IS AT RISK>>

Jibril's voice boomed through her cranium.

As her message finished, Savine received control of her body once more. She almost collapsed on top of the Initiate, but she managed to catch herself before that. She also made sure to clutch the Vasa as tightly as possible. She was, after all, God's Chosen. She rarely experienced pain as an angel, but her life as a mortal was not very pretty. She could still endure certain senses.

That's what she liked to think, but pain was still pain. She dragged herself off the boy and leaned onto the wall, breathing hard.

But she couldn't lose focus. The act must've loosened her control over the mana inside her, as it constantly threatened to take over her body. It took her some time to get it under control again.

When she found a breather, she could think of her own surroundings. Her body smelled burnt slightly, but Savine knew that was just the effects of Divinity. She then felt stares on her body. She eyed Vevian and the Initiate, and noticed the two of them staring at her like she was a mix between a monster and a god.

Savine guessed that Jibril's intervention was quite the spectacle.

Grunting, she straightened herself up.

"You're lucky," she laughed. "God's Oracle is feeling merciful today."