Only moments later, Alec and Red heard the door being janked open and heavy footsteps clomp in and rush up the stairs like a stampeding bull.

“Hold it right there, you dirty rats!” George shouted before they could hop out through the wind.

But what got them to stop wasn’t his voice. It was Millie’s groans of pain.

George held her by the neck like a chicken with one hand.

George had a round stomach with a wider circumference than his shoulders. But there was no denying the grip strength of a man who had kneaded dough for hours every day for several decades.

Between George’s hand and Millie’s skinny neck, there could be only one winner.

Alec and Red froze stiff as they looked at Millie in George’s hand.

“Ha! That’s right! You lot care for your own, don’t you! Close the window and get back here,” He ordered Red.

Red hesitated. If he fled, he would be fine. Alec had even told him to do it if the chance arose. But right now, if he fled, it was likely that Millie would be in trouble—the lethal kind.

After a moment, he slowly pulled his foot back inside and closed the window.

It was no mystery why he wanted the window closed. He didn’t want any interference when dealing with the rats.

“Hmph. Stupid vermin.” Old George’s grip on Millie tightened, and she groaned hoarsely.

A moment later, Old George blinked like someone had thrown dust in his eyes. He stared straight ahead in a daze for a moment before his eyes narrowed, and he looked at Alec, who wore a robe that covered most of his body.

“You…HA! You’re a mage?!” He asked with a booming voice.

“What, did you get expelled from the Academy or something?! HAHA! And you ended up on the street?! As expected of a dirty rat. Even after learning magic, you’re still useless!” Old George’s mouth twisted into a grin.

“But for once, you aren’t worthless. Surrender, and I’ll let these two go.”

“Alright. Let her down first.” Alec nodded toward Millie.

“Sure.” Old George dropped her to the ground.

Millie sank to her knees and let out a series of hacking coughs as she clutched her throat.

“Don’t move a muscle.” Old George didn’t take his eyes off of Alec as he shifted to the side and opened a hidden side compartment in the desk to take out a pair of Nilver handcuffs.

‘Of course.’

That was why Alec’s Sleep hadn’t worked on Old George. His earrings were probably Nilver. And if Alec had to guess, he probably had Nilver around his torso. Given how easily it had reflected his spell, it was probably high-quality Nilver.

Alec quietly drew a spell formation behind his back. He stopped right when it was about to be completed and drew another. It was the exact same.

“Hold out your hands and catch. If you drop them, I’m kicking your head off your body.” Old George’s eyes were narrowed cautiously as he looked at Alec.

“Understood.”

Instead of holding out his hands, Alec ducked down below his spell formations right as two pebbles shot out of them at George’s ears. He started on a third spell formation at the same time.

He had been worried about frying Old George’s brain, so he had used a normal Sleep spell before.

But since he had even better resistance than a monster, thanks to the Nilver adorning his body, there was no need to hold back. Alec pulled out the Sleep spell he had started working on in case Rita ever woke up ahead of time.

It devoured his mana, but it was a lump of condensed mana that hit like a truck.

The headache afterward was one of the worst things Alec had experienced.

Old George flinched, so only one Pebbleshot landed and took out a Nilver earring. But it had opened up a gap, and the improved Sleep landed on his forehead.

Alec was the only one who could see the lump of magic, so he was the only one who saw it seamlessly slip into Old George’s head like a ghost. A moment later, Old George collapsed like someone had yanked him to the ground.

He fell into a pile of limbs with a loud thud.

Red and Millie looked at the scene in shock while blood slowly flowed from Old George’s ear and nose.

‘Ah, whoops.’

A nosebleed wasn’t a good sign, so Alec hurriedly stripped Old George of all the Nilver he could find.

“Uh, see if you can find rope or anything,” He asked Red. Red didn’t answer, but he set off and scoured Old George’s house for anything he could use. He came back with a chair and the type of rope that was used to tie wares to carts. Old George wouldn’t be able to break free.

Alec could tie him up with magic, but he didn’t want to risk it in case he missed some Nilver.

For all he knew, Old George could have stuffed it inside his body for occasions just like this. He had already shown he was prepared for mages, after all. He just wasn’t prepared for Alec.

Two heavily reinforced magic circles, the ability to rewrite spells and adapt them to suit his needs, and experience with powerful magic resistance. Alec was a Nilver user’s worst nightmare.

Besides, Old George wasn’t even a mage or a warrior. The Nilver was all he had. Without it, he was useless against Alec.

With Red’s and Millie’s help, Alec raised Old George onto the chair and tied his arms and legs tightly.

“What now?” Red asked.

After making sure that he didn’t fry his brain with a quick Mystic Scan, Alec answered,

“We wait for him to wake up. I have two spells I want to test, and this might just be the perfect opportunity. In the meantime…” He turned to Millie.

“Are you alright?”

She didn’t answer immediately. She took a pen from the desk and stabbed Old George’s hand.

“Better now.” Although that’s what she said, she said it with a hoarse voice and tears in her eyes. She had been scared for her life an completely powerless to do anything about the hand around her neck.

Merely stabbing a pen into that hand wouldn’t do much, but it was better than nothing. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much Alec could do for her right now. He hoped she would get better as Old George got worse.

After the spell Alec hit him, there was no doubt he would suffer.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep