A Death Row Convict Teaches at a School of Magic

“Aah!?”

Gato was near the stairs on the first floor when the sound of the bell resounded throughout the building.

[Excuse me! We couldn’t break through the barrier in the book storage room, so we had to forcefully destroy it! We will now immediately retrieve the desired object and then retreat! Mr. Gato and Ms. Mira, please come to the third basement floor while stalling for time after you meet up with us! The path has already been made!]

“Tsk!”

[Roger that.]

Gato responded with an expletive before storming straight down the stairs. Footsteps were already on their way, coming from all over the library as if they were hectic. By the looks of it, they seemed to have figured out where the barrier had been breached.

“! Oraa!”

“Guo!”

The moment he descended to the second basement floor, he thrust a dagger into the neck of a man who appeared to be a security guard. There was no staircase leading down, but there was a hole near the staircase. That must be the path Kanaki was referring to.

“―Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Whoa!”

Mira abruptly fell through the ceiling, and even Gato was stunned by this.

“Don’t just drop out of nowhere! I thought you were an enemy!”

“Hahaha, even you can make a face like that.”

As usual, Mira concealed her mouth with a fan, but her figure was shrouded in “Mist Veil,” and like Kanaki, she was not recognizable. But as he recalled, Mira’s face was already on the wanted poster…

“Why are you obscuring your face, too?”

“You fool. If the culprit who committed such a major crime is found to be me, my rate will rise again. I am getting old. I want to spend my old age in peace.”

“Hah, why would someone like that accept a job like this then?”

“…An apprentice’s misbehavior must be dealt with by her mentor.”

“Heh! How kind of a mentor you are!”

He hurled the knives he had taken out at the heads of the men with canes who had descended from the stairs. It was not something he had particularly thought about, but since there was only one route for the hostiles to arrive, it was significant to have the ambush set up here. Unless, of course, there was a hidden passage somewhere, in which case he would have Mira intercept them.

“Hey, Eraser! Haven’t you found what you’re looking for yet!”

[I am sorry, but since there is no catalog in this storage room, I have to search one book at a time, so it may take longer than expected!]

“Hurry up. For now, things are still under control, but from now on, if they come in well-prepared, even we will be at our limits. Even more so if the chief magician himself shows up here―”

“―Did you call me?”

“!?”

From behind, a scorching magical power could be sensed on their backs.

At the instant they leaped to the side, multiple layers of Rock Icicles were streaked across the place where Gato and Mira were.

Turning their bodies in that direction, they noticed that the person they had assumed would be here had landed ahead of their anticipation.

“Hey, hey, hey, old man… how did you manage to get here so quickly when you were supposed to be on the top floor?”

At Gato’s words, Anblaus, the chief magician, touched his long beard and remarked, “Hmm―I slipped through.”

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“What, Anblaus has shown up!?”

I unconsciously looked up at the ceiling of the storage room. Right now, just above me, there was a first-class magician.

[It seems that he can’t pass right through to the next floor, but this is only applicable while we are pinning him down in this location. Make haste!]

Even that Mira sounded as if she was in dire distress. The battle over there must be extremely fierce. I would love to escape at once, but I still can’t find the all-important book.

“Ms. Felt! How’s it going over there!?”

“I am only halfway through! How many thousands of books are there in this storage room!?”

On top of that, most of the books in there were dummies, and the moment I picked one up, it converted into a messenger demon and tried to bite my hand off. Thanks to them, my right arm was the first to be devoured.

Anyway, we were short on manpower. After finding the book I was looking for, I would search for magic that can create clones.

I finished checking the twenty-seventh bookshelf and promptly turned over the next one.

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“Mira! Give me ten seconds!

“Roger!”

Nodding to Gato’s instructions, Mira stepped forward to replace him. At present, it was still only Anblaus, but eventually, a wave of guards was bound to flood in from the staircase. In any case, the researcher’s space on the sixth floor and above was packed with talented magicians who doubled as both researchers and security guards. Dealing with more than thirty semi-second-class magicians level would certainly prove infeasible in this situation with Amblaus.

“Hmm… I have heard that voice before. Well, who was it again?”

“Hmph, you don’t need to be reminded of it!”

When Mira waved her fan, the guards that Gato had just killed rose in droves. It was the magic that Alice also specialized in manipulating corpses, but their combat ability was not promising, however, since they used to be allies, it might be a little harder for the enemies to strike them―

“Hmm.”

Anblaus struck his one-meter-long cane on the ground with a thud.

In that instant, a plethora of Flame Blades sprang into existence around him.

Even Mira, if she were dead serious, would be able to conjure up at least 40 blades, but Anblaus’s blades were easily more than twice that number.

“Oh, by the way, this is a library.”

“Damn!”

She had been naive.

The very second Mira realized her blunder, she abandoned her attempt to conceal her true identity.

“‘Wall of Time and Space’.”

Mira waved her fan forward, creating a space about 10 meters long.

Of the Flame Blades that were unleashed immediately afterward, the blades that penetrated the wall of that different space instantly became sluggish in their movements and ultimately extinguished.

“Oh, I remember now. Was that magic yours, Mira Frymer? The explanation was that it was a magic to create a different space where the flow of time is much faster than reality and is much more vast than what can be observed from outside, wasn’t it? It was a rather controversial magic at the conference for the approval of special magic, but in the end it was designated as forbidden due to its being too perilous, and you were driven out of the royal palace, right? After that, your story was frequently mentioned in the royal court, but it seems that you have led a fairly eccentric life.”

“E-Enough of the old tales! Gato!”

Mira exclaimed, a little embarrassed, and called Gato behind her. All the corpses here have already been obliterated by Anblaus’s magic from earlier.

“―Oh, that’s enough.”

“Muh.”

Mira stepped back, and soon a mythical monster―a gargoyle―emerged in front of Anblaus.

Scales of pearl, long, piercing claws, and a long, protruding mouth lined with innumerable teeth. Its tail, covered with scales, pounded and gouged the floor as if brimming with bloodlust.

Anblaus, too, rubbed his beard and stared at the transformed Gato.

“Oh, ‘Cryptic Transformation,’ huh? I have not witnessed such a magic practitioner in a long time. Are you guys some sort of group of forbidden magicians or something?”

“Heh, you seem to have plenty of time to spare, you know!”

Gato stamped on the ground vigorously the following moment and then approached Anblaus with dazzling speed.

“Oh.”

While exhaling a breath of admiration at his speed, Anblaus evaded with magic, “Flow”. It was even more rapid than Rain’s instantaneous “Flow,” who was not present here.

“I won’t let you get away with this!”

Gato, on the other hand, was not finished with this feat.

Once his claws were dodged, Gato’s tail writhed like a snake, aiming for Anblaus’ heart.

“―Let’s have a little fun, shall we?

“Tsk!”

The swiftly erected magical barrier, though, thwarted even that strike from succeeding. Furthermore, while creating the barrier, Anblaus simultaneously launched “Mud Swamp” at Gato’s feet, impeding his movement.

“Penetrate―”

“This is bad…”

“‘Psychokinesis’!”

On the verge of emitting a high concentration of magical power, almost to the brink of killing, from Anblaus, Gato’s body was pulled backward under a mighty force, extricating him from Mud Swamp. Soon later, Gato felt an invisible jolt delicately pierce the ceiling’s concrete and caress his cheek.

“Oh, I have done it now.”

The ceiling hole closed up on its own in the blink of an eye when Anblaus promptly invoked some sort of magic, and within seconds, it had been perfectly sealed up as if it had never occurred.