“Have you forgotten that I can use Resurrection Magic? It doesn’t matter if you kill the Prince. There’s no value in that hostage.”

It sounded cold-blooded, but that was just a simple fact.

Jane Ursula was also here—an expert at Soul Magic. With both of us present, there was no way we would be bothered about something as trivial as death.

Plus…

“You really think your attack is faster than me?” Serah Crimson grinned, staring at the cornered man.

Before he would kill the shivering Prince, Serah would simply take his life.

Damien was surrounded by powerful members of each race—a situation I created for the very purpose of exposing him.

“What now?” I sneered at Damien, leaking the condescending smile I had been saving for this moment.

Fabian was paralyzed by his assaulter’s Magic, and could only whimper like a dog. His expression morphed into betrayed surprise as his whole world came crumbling down.

To be honest, I didn’t resent the Prince. He probably turned out the way he did because of Damien’s influence.

“Tch!” The man in question clicked his tongue, darting his eyes around.

‘He’s probably thinking of escaping, but simply running away won’t do. Come on, Damien. Show me…’

In the end, there was only one thing he would be able to resort to.

“Original Magic…” The man growled, glaring at all of us as Mana burst from within him.

Serah glanced at me—same as Elrich—and I smiled at them.

For Serah, I shook my head to prevent her from acting. However, since I already knew what Elrich wanted to do, I let him make his move.

“… Ad Tandem”

>FSHUUUUU<

Space distorted around him, and his hand held the hostage.

I figured he would try to escape with Fabian in tow. The Prince could still make a nice bargaining chip. However—

>SNAP<

With the snap of his fingers, the Court Mage instantly caused Fabian to appear beside him—and out of Damien’s grasp.

“W-wha—?!”

Before he could completely react to the situation, his Spell was done, and the sniveling rat had no choice but to abandon the Prince and escape for his dear life.

>FWUUUUUUUUSSSSHHHHH!!!<

He instantly vanished from his position, leaving something behind.

The item that replaced Damien in his position was a crystal—and it kept shining brighter by the second.

‘Ah, I see…’

Before it reached its critical point, Dulum—The Dwarf Chief—approached it in a flash.

“Break!”

Instantly, the Mana Crystal shattered, losing its charge.

“Looks like Damien left a farewell present for us.” I smiled, turning to everyone who were still trying to keep up with the rapid events that occurred.

The answer was simple.

If my guess was right, then Damien had some sort of teleportation ability that let him go to his determined location.

The thing, however, was that he always left something behind any time he did this.

Even when he went to communicate with the Demons about me, the Automaton that was observing him captured the very same thing.

‘Could it be that he swaps location with items? Is that the nature of his Original Magic?’

It was certainly interesting.

In battle, it could prove quite troublesome.

Imagine trying to catch someone who could swap locations with items—probably people too.

‘Considering he didn’t use it here, there has to be a limit, though.’ I smiled.

As for the crystal he swapped with—it was a mine that would blow us up. The sly man most likely wanted to deal a fatal strike to at least one of us.

Unfortunately for him, I was ready to defend everyone.

It was a good thing that the Dwarf Chief was an expert on ores, and his Magic allowed him to dismantle the Mana Crystal Damien left behind for us.

“Master Dulum! You truly are amazing. You handled it in seconds. I couldn’t even react in time!” A shriek pierced the air and someone appeared before the stubby Dwarf.

Yep, the man screaming was none other than the Human Head Of Research—Bradford.

According to what I was told, he had now become a loyal lackey of the Dwarf Chief after seeing the wonderful technology of the Dwarf City.

He was now working hard to convince the Chief to take him as an apprentice.

While it would certainly be entertaining to watch how things unfolded, I knew that it would only be a matter of time before our Nations unified.

Once that happened, we would begin to share information and technology with one another. Bradford’s wish would eventually be fulfilled, so there was no need for such humiliation.

“Hohoho! You know it, human! This is the Original Magic I’ve cultivated due to my incredible experience with Ores!” The Dwarf Chief rubbed his beard as he laughed heartily.

The Chief wore exquisite dwarven armor, and as expected of their race, he was a short dude.

Definitely not even up to four feet in height—but his stature didn’t seem unnatural in the slightest.

Dwarves simply looked like plump humans, but in actuality, they were ripped to the core.

Their glistening muscles, chiseled abs, and gleaming skin only testified to the experience they had in handling their everyday tasks of developing wonderful technology and raw minerals

Of course, when it came to Innovations, they couldn’t best the fairies. But, the Fairy Race got their materials from the Dwarves.

The Dwarven Race also built whatever tough blueprint was sent from their Fairy neighbors, so both sides were happily in an Alliance.

“Master! I am truly in awe!” Bradford pressed on, appearing genuinely pleased with Dulum’s display.

“Hahahaha! This much is nothing!”

I smiled wryly upon witnessing the sight. It seemed Dulum had a weak spot for praise.

Maybe he was a narcissist, or perhaps Bradford was just that good at making someone’s head swell.

Either way, it seemed the both of them made a lovely pair.

“Was it fine to let Damien get away?” Elrich Lendertwale asked, looking concerned.

I glanced at him and shrugged.

“It’s better that way.”

I had already put a tracker on him, anyway. If I was fortunate, he would lead me to even bigger fish—perhaps another member of the Organization he was a part of.

Ultimately, I was still going to win.