>>6075901You didn’t get this far into the city to get caught now! A small chant and a bit more mana spent and a double, triple(?), of you, Marie, and the Stranger, is put in your place. As you grab the duck behind the rubble, grab the Stranger, and sprint away. Hopefully, the three fakes will fool them long enough that they can’t follow you, the spell gets progressively less powerful the farther you get until it completely disappears, hopefully, it’ll be enough. An invisibility spell would be an amazing benefit during your retreat from the estate’s garden if only a spell such as that was possible and didn’t solely exist in the realm of fiction, or Stranger magic.
It is rather vexing that those people are the ones who get all the ludicrously powerful magic just handed to them without needing years of studying. “Oh, I have a magic sword that lets me pilot and vehicle and gives me free clothes!” Insanity, plain and simple. It took you years to memorize all those formulas, prayers, and incantations, it’s unfair! Why can’t magic fall into your lap, you deserve it!
You don’t look back once you pass the fence, nor when you retreat down alleyways without any sense of direction, nor when you get looks of shock and confusion from commoners as you evade guard patrols with an unconscious man over your shoulder. You do cut it close quite a few times trying to evade the many guard patrols, some you’re pretty sure are looking for you specifically. It’s rather taxing, all things considered, seeing as you need to use quite a lot of illusion magic to trick your way across the city.
You finally catch your break when you spot a large stone bridge that goes over a particularly large portion of the river that the city was built on. A mixed district is put on top, stores of artisans and taverns on the bottom of large buildings while residents are crowded on the upper floors. It’s very crowded with the city on lockdown and people forced to return to their homes, and a few spells get you past the overworked guards and into said crowd. It only takes a little bit of maneuvering and climbing to find yourself under said bridge, in a little nook where the boats that pass below shouldn’t be able to see what’s about to happen.
“Alright, good job, Marie,” You say as you put the unconscious stranger next to the wall and tie him up with the same spell you used on Sally, barely taking anything out of your remaining mana.
“I didn’t do anything though?”
“You followed me and obeyed my orders, that deserved praise,” You say with a resolute nod at your handiwork.
“Go to Hell, Lorina,”
“No. By the way, I have a question.”
“Hm?”
“What is a Tsundere? And what can I do to not make a wretch,” You kick the unconscious man to emphasize your point, “like this, call me one?” You state with the utmost seriousness.
