“That’s a noble...?!”
The moment Damuel made his wand appear, both the toad and the High Bishop hardened their expressions. The High Bishop bore down on Delia, spittle flying out of his mouth as he yelled.
“Delia! Who is that?!”
“The knight assigned to guard Sister Myne,” Delia squeaked out in a quiet voice, too scared to think straight.
The High Bishop’s eyes widened and he pointed at Damuel. “That shabby-looking man is a knight?!”
The High Priest must have been hiding information from him; although the High Bishop knew I had been assigned a guard, he didn’t know that Damuel was a noble, nor that he was a knight, and the fact that he was still wearing his plain clothes for visiting the lower city had made that even harder to guess.
“We won’t have much time if the Knight’s Order is alerted. I will have to make him disappear as well.” The count had previously just been watching with a grin, but now poured mana into his ring with a grim expression before whipping his hand through the air. A light-blue ball of mana shot out of his ring, heading straight for Damuel.
“Look out!” I swung my hand as well, copying his motions. A whitish ball of mana shot out, hitting the count’s glowing blue mana and knocking it away. His mana struck the wall with a loud bang, but the wall itself was completely unscathed, as though it had just absorbed the mana.
“How dare a Devouring commoner oppose me?” the count said frustratedly, putting even more mana into his ring. I watched his hands carefully and did the same, taking care not to pour so much mana into my ring that it would break. The most I could do with a ring this weak was send a small burst of mana that would knock his mana off course. And yet I had to do something—Damuel was busy with two men already and didn’t have the leeway to do anything about the count.
...This is a lot better than physical combat, at least. If Bindewald leapt at me or came swinging I would lose in an instant, but in a mana duel I could at least buy some time.
“Just how long will you last using a pathetic amount of mana like that?” The count let out another toad-like cackle, launching ball after ball of mana at me, like a lion teasing a small animal.
“Eek!” I knocked them away using as little mana as possible, so as to not break the crappy ring on my finger. Damuel, Dad, and Fran were all busy fighting the people in front of them; the power balance would crumble in an instant if Bindewald started launching mana at them. Losing wasn’t an option, and realizing that made my breathing harder and cold, anxious sweat start running down my back.
“Hmph...” After knocking away so many balls of mana that I lost count, Bindewald stopped launching them and glared at me with disgust. I had probably lasted longer than he expected.
...I can keep going. Clenching my fist so that the loose ring wouldn’t fall off, I eyed Bindewald head on. It was then that his eyes fell on my ring.
“Hm...? What’s that I spy? To think you were already wearing a submission ring. Aha, what a joke. There was never any need to bother with this; I’ve already won.”
Bindewald burst into laughter. I was apparently wearing a ring given to those with the Devouring who had signed a submission contract which, once worn, made them unable to attack their master. Furthermore, it couldn’t be removed until their master—in this case, Count Bindewald—voided their contract. The rings were vile; the master could pour his own mana into them to inflict pain on any slave who disobeyed him.
Bindewald gave a smug cackle and looked down at me. “Obey me if you don’t want to suffer!”
I took the ring off right before his eyes. It probably wasn’t functioning as intended since we hadn’t signed a contract and it was already half-broken. “Just saying, it comes right off.”
“What?!” The toad widened his eyes. Behind him, the High Bishop’s balding head was bright red with anger.
“Insolent girl!” he shouted before ripping Dirk out of Delia’s hands.
“Ah!” It happened so suddenly that Delia could do nothing but stare, her eyes wide as the High Bishop forcefully drained mana out of Dirk using a feystone. The baby’s face paled, and he started convulsing in the High Bishop’s tight grip.
“Dirk!” Delia screamed, reaching out to take him back. But the High Bishop just clicked his tongue and knocked Delia’s hands away.
“...Babies never have enough mana,” he snorted after finishing stealing mana from Dirk. He then swung his hand and shot out a ball of mana. I hurriedly put the ring back on and deflected the shot, then glared at the High Bishop with clenched teeth.
“How dare you do that to Dirk!” Anger filled my entire body. But before I could Crush him, the High Bishop thrust the now-limp and exhausted Dirk out in front of him.
“Hmph! Are you capable of attacking this baby? Do you have it in you to ruin Delia’s life?”
“Stop! Sister Myne, please stop! I’m begging you!” Delia screamed in terror, her face contorting miserably as she saw Dirk being used as a human shield. I couldn’t Crush anyone with her begging desperately like that.
I sucked in an anxious gulp of air, not knowing what to do. And then it happened—one of the High Bishop’s shrine maidens grabbed me from the side, having stealthily walked over while everyone was distracted.
“Eek?!”
“Myne?!”
“Yes! Good job, Jenni! Keep holding her down!” the High Bishop exclaimed before throwing the limp Dirk at Delia. I could see Delia crying and hugging Dirk out of the corner of my eye.
“Let go of me!” I screamed at the shrine maiden.
“No. While I was taken in by the High Bishop and forced to offer flowers day by day, Rosina and Wilma were taken in by you and allowed to experience the
