I Want An Easy Life After Transmigrating

A Game Of Chess

"Angus," Ivan scratched at the hand that was choking his neck and hoisting him up in the air. 

"Snap. Out. Of. It," his voice was hoarse and he could feel his consciousness slipping away. Terry was desperately scratching Angus's pants, the boy was shrieking. The three that were chasing them were standing still. Probably allowing Angus to take the lead as they had concluded that he was one of them. 

Ivan looked into Angus's eyes, his eyes were a dimmer bright red than the other three, he assumed that the spell had less of an effect than the others. Ivan thought about it, the mage mentioned that the spell was applicable for a certain duration of time, which meant that these people were under the spell only at night! So what if the spell loses its effect when in contact with bright light? 

He had an idea, he reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a small marble-sized twig. Snapping it in half with his hand, a bright white light engulfed them and he heard various groans. Angus let go of his neck and Ivan swiftly dragged him and Terry past the groaning people and they made their way to the exit. 

Once he was certain that they were far away from the orphanage he let them down and caught his breath. His back thudded against the ground, he could feel the coolness from the grass on his back. He watched the starry night sky. It was a full moon he observed, the new moon will make its appearance soon. 

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Ivan pursed his lips as he looked at the kneeling man. 

"This subordinate has failed you young master, please punish me," He said, slamming his head into the floor. 

Swirling the cup of tea in his hand Ivan lazily replied, "So you remember what happened?" 

"Yes, young master." 

Sighing, Ivan gave him an order, "Stand up. I'm fine, at least you didn't kill me, or yourself."

Angus stood up but his head was still downcast. 

"Tell me everything that you remember when we separated," Ivan asked, picking up the notebook on the table and dipping his pen in ink. 

 With furrowed brows, Angus spoke, "I--I remember hearing the sound of bells. I also remember seeing some writing on the wall. It was foreign to me, I touched it and then I felt dizzy when touching it. Then I remember a voice telling me to go where I found you and told me to attack the outsider." 

Ivan nodded his head, just as he had expected, parts of the orphanage had runes on them to allow the spell to take effect, the area that he was in lacked them most likely because it was used to observe the strength of the rune. People as strong as the overseer probably have some part of the rune attached to them. He could never believe that a strong man like Solen would easily fall prey to such a rune. 

That leads him to the second point, people with a higher magical skillset are not easily affected by the general runes, like Angus, it was easy to remove its effect despite running out into the night.

Lastly, and most importantly, their enemy was not omnipotent. It was possible to defeat. 

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"Miss Rebecca, I'd like to hire you for a job," Ivan said, smiling at her cordially. 

She cocked her head to the side, "Oh, gettin' straight to the point are we? I like that."

He took the contract held out to him by Angus and passed it to her. 

"Those Miss, are the details of the job that I'm offering to you, please read it and consider the terms before deciding."