"Whoa, whoa, wait a second... If I’m not mistaken, aren't you that Seventh Prince!?"
The large, bald man's eyes went wide as he stared at me.
"You know who I am?"
"Know you? Please. The whole reason Ren sneaked into the castle was because of you, kid. Word is you've been doing some pretty flashy things lately, haven't you?"
The woman in the white raiment wore a faint, mocking smile.
"Raising Magical Beasts, mass-producing Magic Swords... Other princes might be the ones physically doing the work, but you, the Seventh Prince, are always at the heart of it. You're playing the part of a mediocrity, but in reality, you possess considerable power and ambition... You're quite the celebrity in these circles, you know? Heh."
The man with the squinty eyes stood up, knocking over his tower of dolls.
"…………"
The man in the beak mask remained silent, turning only his head toward me.
"Just who exactly do you plan on going to war with?"
Ren glared at me with cold, professional eyes.
Hmm, it seemed I was being misunderstood in several ways.
"I don't know what you've heard, but I have absolutely no intention of starting a war. I've simply been researching magic."
"Liar. Magical Beasts and Magic Swords have nothing to do with magic research."
"But they actually do..."
Most phenomena in this world have a connection to mana, and by extension, magic. That said, I suppose explaining that to someone who isn't a Mage wouldn't do much good.
"Still, I'm surprised that even people like you know about me. I thought I was being quite discreet..."
"Master Lloyd, are you actually being serious right now?"
For some reason, Grimo looked completely appalled. Why? That seemed rather unfair.
"Whatever the case, now that you've found this place, we can't just let you leave in one piece."
"That's right. Naughty children who break into people's homes without permission need to be punished."
"He might be the seventh, but he's still a prince. Maybe we can demand a ransom? Heh."
"Don't let your guard down. This is the opponent my poison didn't work on."
"…………!"
The five of them spoke up one after another as they surrounded me. Well, that was fine. I actually welcomed a battle. I would take this chance to see their techniques in action.
"Grimo, stay out of this."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it, Master."
Their techniques were, so to speak, the products of the unique constitutions they were born with. Since they weren't controlling them through Spell Formulas, I should assume they couldn't use things like Magic Barriers as ordinary Mages did. If Grimo stepped in, he might accidentally kill them in one hit before they could even defend themselves.
"Quit your yapping!"
While I was speaking, the bald man lunged at me. Despite his hulking appearance, his movements were as agile as one would expect from a seasoned assassin. His fist thrust out, aiming for my solar plexus as I moved to dodge.
However, an automatically triggered Magic Barrier blocked the strike.
"Hoh, a Magic Barrier, eh? But..."
The man grinned and pulled his arm back with all his might. Simultaneously, the active Magic Barrier was dragged along with it. Looking closely, I saw something sticky attached to the point of impact.
"They call me Galilea of the Thread Spider! I can produce incredibly powerful mucus from my body! Just like this!"
I blocked the threads released by the man who called himself Galilea with another Magic Barrier, but that too was pulled and flung away. Moving a Magic Barrier that had been fixed to specific coordinates... It was a technique similar to Ren's, but since it lacked poison, its sheer physical strength was overwhelmingly superior. Fascinating.
"W-Why are you smiling?! You're creeping me out!"
Galilea's eyes went wide as he saw me inadvertently break into a grin. He didn't need to be that disturbed.
"『Sink』!"
While I was thinking, my body suddenly became heavy. When I looked toward the voice, the man in the beak mask had removed it, revealing his face. He looked like a surprisingly pleasant young man. Spell Formula tattoos were engraved around his mouth. Those were... meant to give directionality to mana, weren't they?
"Crow of the Dark Raven has a constitution where mana hitches a ride on his words. Usually, he restrains his speech to prevent accidental activations."
At Galilea's words, the man called Crow nodded. It wasn't that my body had actually become heavier. It was an effect on the space itself. A type where mana is placed directly onto words... Rather than a spell, I suppose you could call it Cursed Words. Perhaps it could even be considered the ancestor of all incantations.
Splurt! Suddenly, my right wrist began to bleed. And that was despite there being no warning signs at all. Looking ahead, blood was also flowing from the right wrist of the woman in white.
"Talia of the Hundred Scars... Hee-hee, when I self-harm while staring at an opponent, I can inflict the same wound on them."
Oh! What an incredible ability! I wonder what the logic behind it is. This is getting exciting. When I focused my vision, I could see bands of mana stretching from Talia's gaze toward me. Had she linked my body with hers through that mana? It was somewhat similar to using Control System Magic to copy an opponent's movements. However, to inflict a wound, the connection would need to be much deeper. I wonder what the actual principle is.
"W-Why is this boy looking at me with such sparkling eyes while his arm is bleeding...? Normally, a person would be terrified..."
For some reason, Talia looked completely appalled as she watched me. More importantly, it seemed she was dealing damage to me through self-harm, but I wondered what would happen if I dealt damage from my end.
Alright, let's try it. I unleashed the Earth System Magic 『Earthball』 toward Talia.
"Heh..."
The squinty-eyed man gave a low chuckle and pulled Talia out of the way. The Earthball that should have hit Talia bore down on him instead—but he dodged it at the very last second.
...No, could I even call that dodging? The Earthball that should have hit him flew right through the space where his body had been and slammed into the wall. The man had dodged by contorting his body into a posture like a broken doll.
"Babylon of the Giant Rat. I was born with very loose joints. I can dislocate every joint in my body and slip through tiny gaps just like a rat."
Even while his neck was bent 180 degrees, Babylon wore a composed smile. I thought I understood how much power mana could exert over the physical body... but for a human body to bend like that? This was a technique in a different direction from Transformation System Magic, which used mana to shroud the body and change one's appearance. Was he numbing his joints with mana? No, perhaps mana was filling the space where joint fluid should be, and by moving that, he made his body abnormally flexible.
This was truly the height of unique constitutions. ...I kind of want to dissect him to see how it works. No, I'm not actually going to do it, of course.
"...!? I just felt a chill... Kid, are you perhaps a bit of a dangerous person?"
Babylon, too, looked completely appalled for some reason.
"Your inner thoughts leaked out, Master Lloyd."
"Whoops."
Don't mind me. Having my inner monologues escape when I get absorbed in something is a bad habit of mine. Regardless, these were some interesting people. I intended to enjoy this to the fullest.