Hearing her, he turned around — and at that moment a second man pounced on him, meaning to hit him over the head. He ducked, and the idiot tripped over his own foot and fell.
Ian looked down at him. It did not look as though her fiancé had sent them. Just some small fry.
The other men were already behind the fence. They grabbed Lucy and rushed away with her. Ian started after them, but the man on the ground scrambled up and blocked his way.
"Do you think you can just walk off?"
He touched his head tiredly. What a hassle this was.
Those men had already run off. He used magic. Streams of light swirled around the man, frightening him.
With his current power, Ian thought, he could not do magic the way he wanted. In that case, out of all the mysteries within his power, he only needed to find the one he could use.
A voice spoke up over the people and exclaimed that their light was fading. Just enough time to have a little fun.
Ian recognised that voice at once. It was darkness.
He raised his hand and called out to the darkness. Shadows began to thicken around him, and the man fell down in fear.
"Why has it gone so dark? I can't see anything at all!"
Ian picked up a stick and walked towards him threateningly. When he used the art of shadow, he alone could see. He hit the man a couple of times, and the man called for help.
Ian heard footsteps approaching them, dispelled the darkness, and ordered the man to tell him where they had taken her.
Finally seeing light again, the man was so happy that he did not care about the pain from the blows. Because of this Ian got angry and hit him over the head again, ordering him to answer.
Suddenly a dagger flew past his face and buried itself in the fence behind him.
An old man came towards him, accompanied by other men, and told him to stop. "This is darkness. Did you create this?"
His name was Elder. He was the commander of this detachment of the Holy Knights of Santiago.
Ian confirmed that he controlled the darkness. The old man frowned in a certain way, and Ian immediately felt his thirst for blood. Who is he?
The man in tears rushed straight to the knights and begged them for help. That magician had tried to kill him for no reason.
The old knight asked what he had done, and Ian threw a furious look at the fellow.
The old man smirked. He had understood everything at once. "Since he's a magician, then it's quite possible."
Ian did not understand what exactly he meant.
"Aren't all magicians like that?" the old man asked. "After all, they do whatever they want."
That made him very angry. What did they take a magician for?
He lost his temper and ordered him to stop talking nonsense. This man had attacked him first. Did he think he would hit someone for no reason?
He cursed loudly and realised that he had just raised his voice in the heat of the moment. If this old man got angry and reached for his sword, he would be in trouble.
But the old man only laughed and said that he had such a sharp tongue. He was a very unusual person for a magician. In this world everything was simple. A sharp tongue is a sign of skill.
Another knight, Dietrich, stepped forward. "However, that does not give him the right to use evil magic."
Ian did not like the way he named it, and the man came closer and said, "To plunge everything around you into darkness means turning away from the sun, the eye of heaven. Hiding in darkness is the lot of cowards."
Darkness is cowardice, because it rejects the sun, Ian thought. These men speak in religious metaphors of some kind. They are probably followers of the Church of the Sky God.
He cleared his throat and asked calmly, "Isn't it by the will of heaven that day and night both exist? If the will of heaven lies in the light, then why does night exist at all?"
The knight was at a loss for an answer, and Ian raised his voice. "The light of the sun creates darkness. That is simply the way this world is."
He had not created something that did not exist. He had merely revealed this law from within the great mystery. What was wrong with that?
Dietrich looked away, unable to find an argument, and then all the others began to discuss it among themselves. In the end they came to a unanimous opinion, and admitted that he was right. Without heaven's will he could not have created darkness beneath the light of the sun. That too must be the will of heaven.
Ian mentally called these medieval fanatics complete lunatics, and asked whether he could go now. His sister had been kidnapped, so he needed to find her.
The man beside them became nervous at once, and the knights turned and asked the magician: so he had attacked this fellow because he was one of the kidnappers?
He confirmed it, and the man bowed his head guiltily and began denying everything. After that he was taken away.
Elder ordered Dietrich to stay there and look after him, and then approached the magician himself and apologised for wasting his precious time. As an apology, he wanted to offer him his help.
Meanwhile, Lucy had already been thrown into a boat and was being carried away.
But Ian arrived with the knights just in time, and pointed to the pier. "This is the very place the witness spoke of."
The knights were furious that they had left by boat, and began calling them cowards.
Now, after sunset, sailing on a boat is dangerous, Ian thought — and his thoughts were interrupted by the elder's cry. The old man clenched his fist and punched the air, exclaiming that for the sake of saving one nameless soul they would break through this darkness together. They were the knights of the Order of Santiago, defenders of the weak. It would be an honour for them to accompany the magician.
Ian looked at them in surprise. So they really are a knightly order, defenders of the weak. That sounds pretty cool.
He went up to the old man and said politely that getting into a boat at such an hour was quite dangerous.
The old man waved a hand, telling him not to be so formal with him, and to speak more simply.
He answered in confusion that he was speaking as he always did, and the old man laughed and asked him to stop.
Ian said that he had found a hook. It would pull the boat, so let them hook it when it floated closer.
The old knight was surprised by the idea. "Don't you know the art of shadow? How can you use water art?"
He answered that he had mastered the basic levels of several different schools, and the old man looked at him in surprise. That was strange. All the mages he had seen on the battlefield mastered only one type of magic. Besides, if he had only mastered the basic levels, did that not mean he should not be able to cast spells yet?
But Ian proved everything to him at once. He turned to the river and asked it to grant them a path, and the water began to rage.
The old knight was greatly surprised by this sight, since it surpassed any water art he had seen on any battlefield.
The kidnappers became nervous. The current changed sharply, and then a huge wave rose above them unnoticed and covered them completely.
Eventually the boat washed up at the pier. The knights seized the men and took them away, and Lucy immediately threw herself into Ian's arms. At first he even shuddered, and tried to push her off him.
But the old knight asked what he thought he was doing. He had brought his sister to tears.
To avoid angering him, Ian patted the girl on the back and began to comfort her, which made her cry even harder.
He was already feeling really bad. He just wanted to get back to the inn quickly and take a bath.
However, at that moment he did not yet know that in this world he was not destined to take a peaceful bath.