I stepped back a dozen paces to leave an appropriate amount of space, fearing I might hurt these important people in a moment. I said, "If you don't leave now, don't blame me for getting physical."
At that moment, whether because of my retreat or my small stature, the oldest ones among them charged forward. They swung fists the size of sandbags toward my face.
Without being overconfident, I directly cast a basic Wind Magic spell in front of me, Wind Gale. A sudden gust of wind appeared out of nowhere and blew the brats charging in front directly onto the ground.
Of course, I held back, and no irreparable major casualties occurred. Seeing me easily blow down the older kids with magic, several children in the back also pulled out impressive-looking wands and began casting spells.
To the place thou cravest, may the great protection of water descend! Manifest here now as a cool, murmuring flow—Water Ball!
The great protection of water devotes itself to the place thou cravest, the murmuring clear stream manifests once more—Water Arrow!
Fierce spirits of fire, transform into the flames that incinerate thorns—Fire Ball!
Spirits of the earth, condense into the rock that pierces through falsehood—Rock Strike!
They knew quite a variety of magic. Seeing the various magical lights flashing, I gave a casual wave of my hand. An earth wall about my height and one meter wide appeared before me. Just in case, I placed my hand against the earth wall and used Earth Magic to secretly reinforce its structure, making it harder and thinner, forming an earth shield.
As expected, all the spells hit my earth shield without leaving a single mark.
Standing behind the earth shield, I raised both hands, combining the earth and fire elements from the shield into a glowing red magma ball nearly half a meter in diameter, with molten lava pulsing on its surface.
This move doesn't have a name yet, as I just threw it together to scare people. Let's call it Magma Bombs for now!
I launched the ball toward them. Seeing me fire this magma ball, the children must have been stunned. They probably expected me to deal with them, but they certainly didn't expect Princess Ariel to be within my range of attack.
The magma ball flew toward them at extreme speed. Surprisingly, most of them didn't run. Those standing near Ariel bravely stood in front of her, prepared to take the spell with their own bodies.
However, things didn't take a turn for the worse. The massive magma ball passed over their heads, singeing the hair on top of a few of the taller children's heads, and then fell into the lake behind them in a perfect arc.
The high-temperature magma boiled a portion of the lake water, causing white smoke to rise from the lake.
I hope I didn't scare these little kids too much.
I walked up calmly, and this time, no one dared to block me.
Walking into the courtyard, I looked calmly at the people standing in front of Ariel, Luke being among them.
In a relatively level tone, without mockery or irony, I said: "Your courage is commendable, but you don't even have the qualifications to be meat shields. You wouldn't last even a second against an enemy. What use are you, exactly?"
Acting cool feels great. I've wanted to do this for a long time.
Walking up to Ariel, I prepared to kneel and salute again. But seeing a puddle of slightly yellowish liquid on the ground, I felt a bit disgusted. In the end, I didn't kneel.
I performed a common noble's salute and said to Ariel, "Princess Ariel, seeing that there are so many people willing to protect you with their lives, I am relieved. I have been feeling dizzy lately and must rest at home for a few days, so I am requesting leave. If there are any issues, you can send someone to my home to contact me."
Without waiting for the Princess's reaction, I turned and left without looking back.
Those lackeys following Ariel gathered around again once they saw I was far away. Ariel stood in the crowd, her lips pursed in silence, looking as if she had suffered a great grievance. She hadn't said a word today and had been so scared by me that she wet her pants; although she felt humiliated, it seemed an unusual thought had also been awakened.
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