The Cardinal Didn’t Understand

「Indeed. I am Georgis, the lord and the strongest of this land.」

I never expected that the man, who labelled advanced job classes as inferior and persecuted those who possessed them, was a Sage.

All this time, we thought they were persecuted because of how slow they levelled up and how there’s little information about these classes. We thought ignorance was the cause of it all.

Now that I know the person responsible is a Sage, it changes everything. There has to be a reason for the discrimination.

But it’s not like the Cardinal will answer if I asked him why. Either way, my current objective stays the same.

「Strongest? That was a weak spell, though.」I said as I showed that my body can still move.

Normally, the better tactic here is to pretend I can’t move and look for an opportunity to launch a surprise attack. Instead, I acted like I was careless.

「Hmm? You can still move, eh? Nothing less from a Sage, I suppose.」

「Yeah. I have quite the resistance—Deadly Pain.」

I chanted a spell in the middle of our conversation. Firing spells right off the bat would only make the enemy cautious. By casting magic like this, I can catch him by surprise.

But my spell had no effect. It seems like he’s using some sort of defensive magic. This is one of the weaknesses of Deadly Pain. It could be the most brutal spell in a one-on-one, but it can easily be rendered ineffective by defensive magic. This applies to all spells that cast an abnormal status on the target.

「Did you really think such a spell would work on a Sage?」Georgis said as his mouth curled into a smile.

I was positive it wouldn’t work, of course. But now I know I can win.

I ignored his words and analyzed the enemy’s capabilities. Conclusion: the Cardinal doesn’t know how to fight like a Sage. If he knew, I’d be long dead. The fact that I’m still standing here is proof that he sucks at fighting. If he really understood how to fight one-on-one, he wouldn’t have used Paralyze as a surprise attack.

I’m guessing his level — his magical abilities — is about the same as mine. He might even be slightly stronger since it hasn’t been long since I started grinding levels. What’s more, there’s a huge difference in our mana capacity.

Right now, I have about ten percent of my mana left, while he should still have a full tank. But if we clashed right now, there’s an eighty percent chance that I win. Having knowledge and experience makes for a big difference when fighting.

「You’re not attacking? You came to kill me, didn’t you?」Georgis asked as he watched me rooted on my spot.

He’s trying to bait me. Sages have plenty of counter-type spells. He probably plans to use one of them.

Now then, what will he do? I took a step forward. The Cardinal took one step back while raising his staff. As I watched his movements, I jumped back without casting a spell.

「What are you up to?」he asked.

He was probably wondering why I didn’t cast anything. I bet he has no idea about my plan, either. Out of kindness, I gave him an answer.

「Sorry, but I need to go. I don’t have to kill you here. I already won.」

I actually knew what he was about to do just from looking at his movements. It’s definitely not the best tactic. In fact, I’d say it’s a really poor one. If I took him on then, I had a ninety percent chance to win.

But honestly speaking, a ninety percent chance of winning against a guy like this is just not worth it. It means I have a ten percent chance of losing, after all. With my current mana, I just can’t be sure I will not lose.

Either way, Cardinal Georgis’ defeat is certain. I don’t have to take a risk here. Definitely not worth it.

I’m sure the opportunity to kill the Cardinal with full mana will come. Until then, I’ll let him live. Although, it might be better for him if he died now. Only suffering will wait for him if he lives as he watches everything he built fall into ruins.