Chapter 20: I Love Saying No to Those Who Are Full of Themselves

Roland couldn’t help but laugh at the foolish words before him.

“Don’t you realize your statements contradict each other?” he said. “First you say you won’t let us go, then you say if we hand over the ‘Key,’ you’ll let us leave. You so-called Apostles of Chaos—aren’t you all a bit crazy?”

The middle-aged man before him, Mr. Parker, didn’t seem angry at all. Instead, a clearly sinister smile spread across his face. “How could that be? You must have misheard,” he replied, spreading his hands in a seemingly sincere gesture. “Besides, you won’t be escaping anyway.”

“That witch’s innate spell is essentially just a way to enter the shadows through a magical formula. If I hadn’t been otherwise occupied at the time, I wouldn’t have let George and Orion, who are rather inept, chase after her.”

“Now, luck ends here.”

“Accept my proposal: hand over the ‘Key,’ and then leave. A fair and reasonable trade.”

“As for any previous unpleasantness, I’m willing to forget it. Isn’t that better for both of us?”

Kalia glanced nervously at Roland. This was the first time she truly felt the limitations of her abilities. She had thought that even if they were surrounded, and neither she nor Roland could defeat their enemies, at least her innate spell could get them to the city defense headquarters for shelter.

But unexpectedly… her innate spell was now being suppressed.

Yet Roland remained relatively calm. Though he regarded Kalia’s shadow escape technique as a trump card for critical moments, he hadn’t pinned all their hopes on it.

He moved to stand in front of Kalia, and although he didn’t look at her face, he could tell she was flustered.

Fortunately, Roland hadn’t had high expectations from the start.

After all, a recluse who had trained alone in the forest for sixteen years could evade pursuit for half a month only thanks to her innate spell’s exceptional escape ability.

Now that her escape skill was blocked, losing that fallback was naturally disorienting.

By shielding her from sight, Roland helped ease some of her pressure.

Roland looked at the middle-aged man before him. “I’m open to a deal, but we should introduce ourselves first.”

“You surely know my name; I imagine the Chaos Brotherhood has done their homework on me,” the man replied.

“And you, sir? How should I address you?”

“*Clap clap clap.*” Mr. Parker applauded, smiling broadly. “Impressive—someone who passed the Royal Capital Magic Academy’s assessment.”

“You can call me Mr. Parker. Now, what’s your answer regarding our deal?”

Roland closed his eyes to think for a moment, then spoke seriously, “Mr. Parker, you’re saying that if I take the ‘Key’ from Kalia and hand it over to you…”

“You truly will let both of us leave here safely?”

Hearing this, Kalia felt her blood run cold.

---

“Not a friend, why are you ready to surrender? And you didn’t even believe this guy would let us go at first, right?!” she thought.

How did his stance change so quickly?

But she had no choice but to trust him. Although Roland’s words and actions suggested he might be ready to betray them, she was just a newly awakened witch. What else could she do?

She couldn’t just lose control and go berserk. That might eliminate the enemy but probably wouldn’t leave their comrades alive.

Clutching her staff tightly, Kalia anxiously watched Roland’s back, hoping he had another plan.

“*Heh heh~*” Mr. Parker emitted a strange laugh, a hint of madness curling at the corners of his mouth. “Yes, I can promise you that.”

“This is a fair and reasonable trade—your lives for the ‘Key.’”

“Come on, hand it over~~~”

Mr. Parker was clearly delighted. He intended to keep his promise and let them leave. After all, they wouldn’t survive the upcoming divine plague anyway.

It was merely a matter of dying now or dying soon.

Once he broke the seal on the ‘Key,’ infusing its divinity and power into the plague known as the Blood of the Demon King, everything else would be irrelevant.

Rieskan would be transformed into a grand sacrificial offering to the God of Chaos!

It would be a magnificent slaughter!

Even though he would die in this sacrifice, Mr. Parker’s smile only grew brighter as he eagerly looked toward Roland.

Roland lowered his head, slightly turning to reach for something on Kalia.

“Yes, yes, exactly like that!” Mr. Parker grew more excited.

Having a witch present was risky—if she lost control and triggered her powers, he would lose many men. If the city defense forces caught wind of it or arrived in time, it would complicate his otherwise perfect plan.

The fools in his organization had already made things complicated enough. Avoiding unnecessary conflict was preferable, though he longed to tear these two apart limb by limb.

Ah, indeed. Letting them die in the plague was too merciful.

Those who defied the will of the God of Chaos and obstructed his plan deserved to be dismantled by his own hands.

After all, as an Apostle of Chaos, breaking promises was quite reasonable.

Roland’s hand now rested on Kalia’s shoulder. “Your proposal is quite generous.”

“But I refuse!”

---

“One of my favorite things to do is say no to self-righteous fools like you!” Roland declared.

“Go eat dirt, idiot!”

*Whoosh!*

In the next moment, Roland and Kalia vanished from where they stood.

Two seconds later, Mr. Parker, realizing he had been outwitted, clenched his fists, causing the ground within a hundred meters to collapse into a pit.

“Find them for me!”

...

After using his blink ability six times in succession, Roland finally escaped the harbor district with Kalia and returned to the streets of Rieskan.

Leaning against a wall, gasping for breath, Roland turned to Kalia and asked, “How is it? Can you use your innate spell now?”

“Mm, yes!” Kalia nodded quickly.

“Then what are you waiting for? Run!”

At his words, Kalia immediately pulled Roland into the shadows.

Within minutes of hiding, they witnessed a clash between the patrolling city defense forces and the madmen of the Chaos Brotherhood.

“Looks like we got lucky. Whatever was interfering with your innate spell was probably some kind of magical device. Once you’re out of range, it stops affecting you,” Roland said, still catching his breath. This had taken more out of him than expected.

Through the shadows, Kalia observed the city defense forces being pushed back, nearly suffering casualties.

She wanted to help but feared revealing their location.

“Don’t worry—go ahead. Besides, you don’t necessarily have to leave the shadows to cast spells,” Roland said, resting a hand on Kalia’s shoulder.

“Your potential is far greater than you realize.”

“I know what scares you—it’s the fear of reliving that night’s nightmare.”

“But suppressing it only invites a fiercer eruption.”

“Better to channel than to block. Embrace your power instead of resisting it. As you told me, your innate spell is an extension of your very body.”

“Accept it, control it… Only then can you truly break free from the nightmare you want to escape.”

Finishing his words, Roland smiled and gave a thumbs-up. “You can do it—just like when you saved me at the café, you can save those city defense soldiers too.”

“Now it’s up to you. I need some time to recover my magic.”