Chapter 73: Collapse

When I returned to where the count and the others were, he was shouting at the knights, demanding they do something about whatever was trapping him—but the moment he saw the butler’s face, he fell silent.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Before we part ways, I’d like you to write a letter of apology.”

“Fine. I’ll write it—but in this condition I can’t. At least give me a potion.”

It was true. His clothes were scorched in several places, his groin completely exposed, and his heir was on pitiful display.

I glanced briefly at it and said, “I’ll give you a potion, but you’ll go to your office dressed like that and write the apology there.”

Realizing his current appearance, his face went pale with despair.

“At least let me clear the people away. If I show myself like this, my honor as a noble will be utterly destroyed.”

“What nonsense. Remember what you were about to do to me. Still, I don’t particularly want to see that either. Have the butler lead the way and clear people out as we head to your office.”

Led by the butler, the count followed behind, clutching his groin and shuffling along in his burned clothes.

Whenever they ran into servants, Wiles shouted.

“Get into the nearest room and don’t come out for a while!”

I hadn’t expected things to go that smoothly, so whenever someone peeked out at his shouting, I forcibly shoved them back inside with a [Whirlwind].

“What’s all this noise?!”

“Who are you—”

“Sir! What is that indecent appearance?! And who is that man?!”

“Who is she?” 

I asked.

“That is Her Ladyship.” 

The butler replied.

“The wife of Marquis Fleming and the count’s mother.”

“Olga… what an obscene state you’re in…”

The count was bright red, trembling, his head bowed.

Out of a warrior’s mercy, I wrapped the noisy woman and knights in a [Whirlwind], added a [Spin!], and shoved them back into their rooms. Screams and breaking sounds echoed, but I didn’t have time to care.

“Hurry up. If you don’t, you’ll just embarrass yourself even more.”

“Wiles, walk faster! Are you trying to make a spectacle of me?!”

Completely unreasonable, honestly. “Serving at court is misery,” they say—and it’s true.

Dragging his feet, we finally reached the second-floor office.

“This is the office… the key is in my pocket,” he said, close to tears.

I took the key from Wiles’s pocket, opened the door, pushed both of them inside, and locked it.

“I can’t write unless you remove this restraint. Please, give me a potion.”

“This is a lower-mid potion. Drink it and write the apology. If the wording’s strange, you’ll burn to death.”

“I understand.”

He splashed the potion over himself before downing the rest in one go. After checking his burns, he briskly walked to the desk—then pulled a tasseled cord behind him.

Laughing triumphantly, he said.

“You fool! Now you’ll be punished for your countless acts of insolence!”

What a troublesome idiot.

“I was going to spare your life,” 

I said calmly.

“But that’s it.”

“Don’t bluff. Kneel and beg, and I might show you some mercy.”

Hearing the rush of footsteps and sensing the crowd, his face flushed with joy at what he thought was a reversal of fortune.

Too bad.

Savor that joy while you gaze into the abyss of ruin.

I trapped the count in a [Dome] and spun Wiles violently with [Whirlwind].

The door was slammed repeatedly.

“My lord! What is happening?!”

I formed a [Vertical Ring Spin] about four meters across, tossed in a head-sized stone, and underhand-threw it.

A direct hit—right at chest height.

BANG!
The door folded inward and blew away.

I anchored a [Dome] to the floor and commanded, [Whirlwind! Rave!], adding more mana.

The whirlwind swelled rapidly, roaring as it blew everything away. Those hiding behind the broken door tried to flee, so I helpfully created a [Large Whirlwind] in the hallway to push them along.

Turning at a strange presence, I saw the count pointing at the whirlwind, babbling incoherently as he wet himself.

If the building collapsed, he’d be caught in it—but that was fine. I added more mana.

All the furniture was pulverized and hurled out the windows. The stone walls remained—solid enough.

I aimed at the weakest-looking section near where the door had been, firing head-sized stones into it on the wind.

BOOM! BOOM!

On the sixth hit, part of the stonework gave way. I wrapped the fallen stone in the whirlwind and smashed it back into the breach.

Stone-on-stone impacts echoed again and again.

When the area above the doorway collapsed, I transformed the whirlwind into a tornado, increasing its height and power.

The tornado swallowed the falling stones, turning them into a vortex that shredded the building. My footing grew unstable.

Time to evacuate.

The count, crouched with his head covered, would survive a while under the rubble—but once his mana ran out, he’d be crushed.

I hollowed out the center of the tornado like a chimney, sent a balloon up through it, and launched myself.

The acceleration slammed me against the balloon’s underside, but once I cleared the tornado, I rode an updraft into the sky.

Below, massive clouds of dust rose from the whirlwind and tornado, darkening everything.

Positioning myself at a forty-five-degree angle above the building, I slowly moved the tornado, shaving the structure down piece by piece.

“What’s happening?!”

“We don’t know! A violent wind erupted inside the building, and then this!”

“The ladies’ salon has been completely destroyed!”

“Destroyed?! What do you mean?!”

“Furniture, people—everything is in chaos. We can’t even enter, and the wind is still raging!”

“What is this—what happened?!”

“Captain of the Knights, please do something!”

“Where are the lord of the manor and the butler?!”

“We don’t know what’s going on either—we were just trying to escape!”

“The mansion’s going to collapse—run!!”

Amid the roaring, swirling wind, the sound of the building breaking apart could be heard.

“Look! The mansion…!”

“What is that?”

“That looks like the lord’s residence…”

“Idiot, of course that’s where the mansion is!”

“Then does that mean the count’s place is turning into that?!”

“Who knows! More importantly, let’s go see!”

“Hey, I’m coming too!”

“What on earth is that?”

“But it looks incredible…”

“Something’s being blown straight up with terrifying force…”

“Ever since the lord changed, everything’s been nothing but trouble. I don’t want any more problems than this.”

“Right? I heard a lot of people who worked there were fired.”

“My uncle was thrown out too—called useless, he said, and he’s been complaining nonstop.”

***************************

“Guildmaster, the count’s residence—!”

“Huh?! What about the count’s—…what the hell is that?”

“They say something is blasting upward from the count’s mansion!”

“I’m going to take a look.”

“Sounds interesting—I’m coming too!”

“Looks more fun than a mock battle.”

“We’d be laughingstocks if we missed this.”

“Ha! Those guard soldiers have been acting all high and mighty lately—serves them right.”

“They must be panicking too.”

Debris of all kinds, torn apart by the tornado, began to be hurled skyward. It looked like the limit of what the tornado could hold had been exceeded.

Well, I intended to reduce that rotten mansion to splinters anyway, so I didn’t care—but if it died down now, suspicion might fall on me.

I should add a bit more mana and rig things so the tornado stays over the area for four or five days. In the meantime, I’ll head beyond the royal capital and establish an alibi.

The issue is the guards at the gate and people like Gains, but it’s probably best to stay away from the capital for a while.
I’ll likely run into them again someday—but when I do, I’ll just play dumb.

With that decided, I might as well destroy all the buildings on the count’s estate, then anchor the tornado near the main entrance.

That way, the guards and knights will scatter into the city just to survive, their testimonies will be fragmented, and it’ll be harder to pin down who did this.

Even as I was sucking up the count’s estate and blasting it away, people were swarming in from the city.

From up here it’s hard to tell, but they look like adventurers and gawkers from town… and some seem to be picking up whatever flew their way—looks like a few looters mixed in too.

I returned to about midway between Rosenne and Meroden, landed in the forest, and took a break inside a hut.

Savoring the count’s favorite wine, I offered a prayer for the peaceful sleep of the count, whose remaining time was short.

Tomorrow I’ll observe Berna again from the air. If the tornado hasn’t moved, I’ll head beyond the royal capital and focus on laying low and solidifying my alibi.

“It’s gotten noisy.”

“Hm? They’re pointing toward Berna.”

“Berna… what the hell is that?”

“That’s a tornado, right? But in the middle of a city? No way…”

“No, no. Even if Leon’s wind magic is impressive, something like that—”

“I didn’t see anything. Let’s hurry back to the capital and report to the guild master—”

“It’s better to crush trouble at the seed stage. Leon said Jaeger and the guildmaster—wasn’t he just trying to draw us away from Berna?”

“Looking at that… it does feel possible. But still, that’s not something a human could do.”

“Then it’s settled. We didn’t hear anything, and we didn’t see anything. We just stopped by Berna about four days ago.”

“Right. I don’t know a single thing.”