The next morning, Aldis and the others cleaned up the camp.

'I hope to be in town by night.

　Ted's gaze turned to the twins.
　It's not that he doesn't intend to glare at them, but the girls' faces are still very young.

　The girls have a small stride to begin with, but even more problematic are the rings on their hands and feet that represent people.
　The rings attached to the left and right hands and feet are connected to each other by short chains.
　In the sense of preventing escape or rebellion against their owners, they are deprived of the freedom of their hands and feet.
　Inevitably, their strides are reduced and their already slow progress is further delayed.

"Well, it's impossible for them to keep up with us, isn't it?

　Darkly, Ted tells Aldis to carry you both on his back with his eyes.

'I'm going to make you walk on your own two feet for as long as possible.

So how are they going to do it with all those shackles on?

I'll miss.

　Aldis's words, as if it was no big deal, left the three of them momentarily taken aback.

You know what, Ardis. If it was that easy to miss, all the people would be running away by now," he said.　It's a circle that keeps things from escaping: ......, and you didn't hear that.

　Before Orphelia can stop them, Aldis moves closer to the twins.

　The girls are still frightened of Aldis and her friends, but instead of running away, they are just huddled together.
　Even if they want to run away, they know the position they are in, and they are unable to escape.

　Aldis once again observes the appearance of the two of them.
　They both wear hooded clothing that hides their faces, and even now their faces are turned down to escape the gaze of Aldis and the others.
　Slender limbs and skinny cheeks. His platinum blonde hair, peeking out from under his hood, looked dirty and dull.
　Slightly bluish shallow green eyes looked at Ardis as if they were watching her.

'Sit there,'

　The twins obey Ardis's cold words with fear, but they obey obediently.
　The fact that the girls, who are not old enough to question or rebel, simply obey what they are told tells us of the situation they have been in until now.

　Still, painfully, without showing it, Ardis observes the rings on the girls' hands and feet, which are easy to destroy.

(Easy to destroy. But of course that's expected or ....... The mechanism isn't that complicated, but ...... Oh, I see, it certainly can't be disarmed by the sorcerers of this world.)

How is it?　Can you take it off?

　As a sorcerer on the edge, I guess I was genuinely curious. Orphelia peeked out from behind Aldis.

'The rings of all the limbs are interlocked. If you remove any one of them, the rest will ignite.''

　It sounds like a minor ignition, but it was so hot in fact that it carbonized my limbs. The fact that it's not a fatal wound makes the quality even worse.

"You'll need to disarm all four at the same time if it's going to be safe.

Does that mean we need four sorcerers?

It's not simply a matter of having four people. If the quality of the magic power used to disarm is different, the timing will be off no matter how you adjust it. If you do this a thousand times, the timing might coincide once or twice, but it's impossible to aim for it.

　That's practically the same as saying it's impossible to cancel it.

You mean you can't deactivate it after all?

'Not really. If the problem is that the quality of magic is different, all one person has to do is release the four circles at the same time.

'How can I do that? I'm not asking you to cast four disarming spells by yourself at the same time. That's not even possible for the most talented sorcerers in the kingdom!

Of course you do. To the wizards of this world, you know.

　Leaving the frowning Orphelia to frown, Aldis made the girl sit down to hold her legs.
　When the circle of limbs was gathered in one place, she held up her hand.

(Analysis of the formula ...... traps release ...... triggered together ...... now!

　With a small click, four rings come off the girl's limbs.

''Heh?''

　Orphelia let out a dumb voice.

'What?　Wait, wait, wait, wait!　Aldis?　What did you just do?　Why is the circle off?!

Orphelia, shut up. You're next, sit down with your legs in the same way.

　Undeterred by Orphelia's agitation, Aldis sat the other girl down as well and released the circle.
　With the ring removed, the twins rubbed their wrists, which were no longer restraining them, and looked at their own wrists and Aldis in turn with curious eyes.

'Don't worry,' they said, 'we won't let them wear that thing anymore. I won't let you wear that thing anymore.

　Aldis tried to reassure them, but soon the twins pulled away and huddled together.

"Well, it's not like they're going to miss you that much.

　Beside Aldis muttering to himself, the members of "Byakuya no Meisei" were selfishly commenting on Aldis.

''You, you really are anything but.

'Haha, I knew Aldis was funny!　I don't get bored watching this!

　Except for about one red-haired sorcerer who was relentlessly biting down on me.

'Hey!　Aldis!　What do you mean by that?　Explain it to me properly, hey!

　It seems that for the sorceress Orphelia, what Ardis did was not something she could just say "wow" about.
　He caught both of Aldis' shoulders firmly and shook his body back and forth, as if he wasn't going to let her go until he heard a convincing explanation.

'I get it!　I'll explain it to you properly, stop!

　Apparently, the desire for knowledge is something worth losing one's sanity for the race of sorcerers.
　It has been decided that the sorcerer's spirit of inquiry will cause him to lose his grip on reason, just as a cat loses its temper with matrimony.

'I didn't do anything special. I just released four at the same time.

'What's not 'special' about that!　You're way past the point of regularity!　You can't use four disarming spells at once!　First of all, you weren't even chanting!

　That was the difference in perception that separated Ardis and the magicians of this world.

　If you ask Ardis, the magic in this world is not magic.
　In the first place, Ardis has no awareness that she is using magic.

Who decided that you need to chant to use magic?

'What?　That's what I can teach you when you learn magic and ......

That's just a bunch of sorcerers making up their own minds, in my opinion.

'But ......, how can you use magic without chanting?'

When a swordsman swings his sword, do you say things like 'Kesagagake no Nauten Tsuki' or 'Left Cleaver's Feint'?

There's a huge difference between magic that uses magic and swordplay that moves your body.

Really?　So let me ask you, what do you do when you move yourself?

That's ......, if you wanted to move it, it would work.

'So when you decide to 'move', can you explain how your body 'moves the way you want it to?'

It's .......

　Orphelia clammed up at the issue she hadn't expected to raise.

'Hmm, interesting.'

　I've been thinking about this for a while now, but instead of Orphelia, Ted interrupted me.

I'm a swordsman myself, so what you just said makes me think about it. Few people, including me, would want to question the fact that they can control their own bodies at will. It's true that, when I was told, I only took it for granted that the body could move, but the question was, "Why does it move? If someone said to me, 'That's just how it is,' that's all I'd say.

That's what I mean. From the point of view of the trees and rocks that can't move themselves, it would be like a mysterious magic that we humans move around in, wouldn't it?　That is, if the trees and rocks had a self, though.

I mean,

　Norris, who had been listening, said.

'Is it as natural for Ardis to use magic without chanting as it is for us to run and jump?

Well, that's about as rough as it gets.

You think it's easy to do four magic moves at once because it's uncensored?

I'm not saying it's easy, but it's possible.

'Haha. I knew I'd never be bored with Aldis!　Ted, this has to be in The Midnight Sun!　It would be a shame to let them take this substandard stuff away from you!

'I know that you don't need to tell me. Aldis, as I said yesterday, you should seriously consider joining the Byakuya no Moshi, because if you're serious about it, you're welcome to join the Byakuya. If you've got your heart set on it, you're more than welcome to join us.

Yeah, I'll think about it.

And Norris, Orphelia. Don't say a word about this to anyone. Aldis could attract more unnecessary trouble.

Okay, okay.

'...... Okay, I get it. I mean, if I said it, I think it would just make people question my sanity.

All right, then. Let's get the hell out of here to Trier. Aldis, you keep an eye on the twins, all right?

　So Ardis and the others began to walk northeast along the road with the twins back to the city of Tria.