How a Wizard Survives (11)
How a Wizard Survives (11)
Ending the fight with the Fire Mage was so stupidly easy my master made it look effortless.
If this had been a public spectacle, the audience would have rioted for a refund.
Torrential rain hammered down from the sky, halving the power of anything the other side tried to do.
Meanwhile, my master's every move turned utterly lethal.
After transmuting the bastard's flames into ice, my master strolled right up to him.
The Fire Mage Loren couldn't move a muscle, thanks to Immobility Magic.
"See? Easy."
"How on earth is any of that even possible..."
The gap in skill between the two of them and me crashed down on me, bone-deep.
I'd always known my master was so far above me I couldn't even see the summit, but... I'd never imagined the distance would be this vast compared to an opponent I couldn't even properly scratch.
At this level, I was just a brat dashing around cluelessly.
Ulysses grinned and led me right up to the man.
"It's fine. You were just short on mana. And what do we do when we're short? We take it, obviously."
"Yes, Teacher."
Magic had been blazing away in the middle of the city; the Heretic Inquisitors would be swarming here soon.
Exactly as I'd been told beforehand, I drained the opponent's mana.
The moment the Fire Mage felt his life's-blood mana being ripped out of him, he finally screamed.
"No, no! All the mana I've gathered! Graaahhh!"
Looked like it really did hurt.
The instant something like sympathy started to flicker at his wretched screaming, Ulysses let out a small scoff.
"Gathered it how, exactly? Through additional contracts, obviously. So, what—was burning down cities and people your contract with Agni?"
"What's so bad about that! They're all going to burn anyway! Aaargh!"
Thanks to my master's words, I didn't hesitate any longer.
This bastard was a Permanent Sealing Target anyway, so having mana left over was useless.
Once I'd fully absorbed his mana, power surged through every part of my body.
'This much just from absorption. How much was he even carrying?'
Honestly, what I'd absorbed was pitifully small compared to the guy's original mana pool.
First, a chunk had been drained during the earlier fight. Then the absorption process itself sheared off still more mana.
At the absolute most, I'd taken in maybe twenty percent of the original.
Yet even that much was still many times my own original mana capacity.
'So my starting mana pool was around twenty times smaller.'
The moment I confirmed the gulf between us, my face flushed red all over again.
Unable to endure the pain, the Fire Mage lost consciousness.
My master quickly whisked me away from the scene. Even before the fight started, he'd been working to deceive the eyes of the people around us.
"I'm heading straight back. I'm stark naked like this anyway. We stick to the plan. Understood?"
"Yes."
We ducked hurriedly into an alley. From a distance, a single figure ambled over and held out clothes to me.
A puppet Ash had sent.
Gratefully, I took the Inquisition uniform, then handed my mask over to the puppet.
"Thank you, Lady Ash."
Step. Step.
After watching the puppet retreat, I used Fire Magic to char part of the uniform.
I stepped out of the alley just as Katrina and the Holy Knights arrived.
"Jaeger! Are you all right?"
"Lady Katrina..."
I made a show of the burns I'd picked up fighting Loren, laying on the theatrics as hard as I could.
The blacksmith's forge where I'd been staying was close to the scene, so the cover story was that I'd heard the noise and arrived first.
"It was a mage. A masked mage was fighting him..."
"A—a mage?"
"What happened to him?"
"Rest easy. The Fire Mage has already been arrested."
Armored, Katrina half-supported me as she started hurrying back to the Reshutal Inquisition Branch.
Behind her helmet, her eyes were deeply shaken.
A long, grueling debriefing followed. When I was finally set free, I received treatment in the infirmary and managed to secure a short leave.
For now, I'd done it. And I hadn't come away entirely empty-handed, but... belatedly, the worry hit.
The moment I returned to the forge with some difficulty, I asked my master.
"Teacher. Is this really all right?"
"Hmm? What is?"
Ulysses smirked, as if he didn't already know exactly what I meant.
I spoke slowly, to get my own thoughts in order.
"The Inquisitors aren't idiots. Before they seal the Fire Mage away forever, they'll at least interrogate him, won't they?"
"That they will."
"Then won't they find out you're here in Reshutal?"
Sure, I was a nobody, some nameless mage with zero reputation to speak of. But Ulysses, the Wizard of Change, was different.
My master was ranked right at the top of the Wall of Shame, a mage of the highest caliber.
If word got out that he was in Reshutal, those Wizardvein bastards and reinforcements would come flooding in.
Ash, apparently done with watching me fidget in anxiety, let out a small sigh and spoke up.
"Jaeger, you don't need to get that worked up. Ulysses was the one who informed on the Fire Mage in the first place."
"He... he what?"
I was shocked by the completely unexpected truth.
My master had located Loren with terrifying accuracy, sure—but to think he'd been the informant!
A chill shot down my spine the second I saw my master laughing it off like it was nothing.
"So it was all part of your plan from the beginning. But why..."
"This is part of a plan Ash and I have been preparing for a long time."
"Isn't it too early?"
"No, the timing's perfect. And, conveniently, it helps Jaeger grow at the same time."
After a short back-and-forth with Ash, my master turned his head and looked directly at me.
"So, about time we heard our dear disciple's impressions. How was this fight?"
"Am I really as talented as you say?"
"Hah, no need to lose your nerve. Loren was several levels above you, after all."
"Exactly. Besides, you've already learned Fire Magic now, haven't you? Going forward, you just need to be a little more careful in picking your opponents."
At my side, Ash was genuinely trying to comfort me.
I took her advice to heart.
"Uh, Teacher... by any chance, are there any more mages hiding out in Reshutal? Reasonably strong, thoroughly evil types?"
"Ja... Jaeger?"
Ash actually stammered, like this was definitely not what she'd meant.
On the other hand, my master looked practically ecstatic, as if he might die of delight.
And sure enough, I'd given the right answer.
'He really did the same, didn't he.'
Ulysses possessed an immense amount of mana, but he hadn't formed any additional contracts with demons.
So how exactly had he climbed this high? Mull it over, and the conclusion was one thing.
Like me, he'd made meals of other mages.
Take down a mage bound by additional contracts, and the demon's power shrinks while your own mana pool grows.
Without a moment's hesitation, my master recommended a fitting opponent.
"Reshutal's a big city, so there's plenty of mages about. Next time, we'll hunt a Transformation Mage. The timing... say, once the Inquisitor bastards have loosened up a little. One month from now."
He fixed his eyes on me and spoke with uncharacteristic seriousness.
With his usual levity completely wiped away, it was faintly terrifying.
"Next time, you win. No excuses."
"Obviously."
"You'll plan your own attack and escape routes this time. I'll help a little, of course. Since you've memorized the Inquisitors' patrol routes, it shouldn't be too hard."
It hit me afresh.
I'd really, genuinely, picked the right teacher.
Ulysses had a plan for everything.
As ever, Ash worried about me.
She was partly looking out for her own safety, I knew, but to me she was already a second teacher.
"You've fought the Fire Mage, and you still want to keep fighting?"
"If you're weak, people will push you around however they like until you end up dead anyway."
"This kid's smarter than you. You should just go be the Idiot Mage."
"You seriously want to get hit?"
Dodging Ash's swinging fist, Ulysses laughed again.
A Puppet Mage like Ash belonged to the extreme non-combat branch, so it was only natural for her to look after herself.
After the battle with Loren, an already grueling daily schedule got even more intense.
By day, training and duties as a Heretic Inquisitor. By night, private intensive lessons with Ulysses.
Free time was almost nonexistent, but it wasn't especially hard.
Even Ash, absorbed as she was in her work down in the basement, showed her face from time to time to join in the teaching.
"Hold on. Aren't you pushing him too hard?"
"It's fine. Jaeger can handle it."
"...Really?"
"You might not get it, but diligence itself is a kind of talent."
Ash laughed at Ulysses's remark like she couldn't believe the nerve. Even so, she couldn't outright deny it, either.
As if he meant for me to hear, he continued his explanation.
"To put in effort, the first thing you need is stamina. And Jaeger—well, he was born with that."
"But he's literally working day and night. Once in a while, rest is also..."
"Why rest? Training's way more fun. This guy—the moment he does something like training, you can see the results right away. He finds this more entertaining than most people find their amusements."
He was right.
The truth was, I was only putting in as much effort as anybody else.
If other people had the same talent I did, there was no reason they couldn't work just as hard.
Already faintly sulking, Ash grumbled under her breath.
"Right, sorry for being a talentless hack who can't mind her own business."
"Come on. A talentless hack? I wouldn't even dare to try imitating Lady Ash's Puppet Magic."
"Exactly. Puppet Magic has to be mastered technically."
Pacified by our flattery, Ash turned her head slightly aside.
I finished what little training remained, then hurried off to bed.
@
Seeing Katrina's face in the morning was always a happy thing.
The Inquisitors in Reshutal spent their days praying that her armor would never get repaired.
Occasionally, some of them even snarled at the staff in the armory.
Eventually, the dreaded hour arrived.
Now the best any Inquisitor could hope for was to imagine Katrina's face trapped inside her helmet.
My situation, on the other hand, was a little different.
As Katrina's squire, I saw her bare face with some regularity.
Putting on her heavy armor and taking it off again was also part of my job as squire.
Plate armor.
They say an expert can put it on and take it off in ten minutes at most. Put another way, even an expert needed at least five minutes. It was a process of staggering tedium.
'Why does she keep insisting on doing it herself...? I'd better make sure I am not late today.'
I arrived at the Inquisition Branch early that morning, and it did not take long to realize something was wrong.
As a habit, I always stopped by the stables first to check on my horse and Katrina's.
The stables in question were now packed with unfamiliar horses.
'Well, the thing that had to come has finally come.'
Reinforcements, here to catch Ulysses, the Wizard of Change.
Among them would be members of the Wizardvein Family.
I decided to do my best to think positively.
My master wasn't the sort to die just because the Inquisitors tried to kill him, anyway.
And if some beauty like Lady Katrina happened to be mixed in among them, wouldn't my daytime pleasures double?
Even if I was stuck like a flower on an unreachable cliff, simply looking at a pretty flower was always a pleasure.
Contrary to my hopes, however, the reinforcements arrayed across the Inquisition branch's training yard were all dark, hulking men.
Even the officer, who I guessed was from the Wizardvein Family, looked like some kind of lion.
He had the same bright silver hair you'd expect from someone of Katrina's blood, but beyond that, there wasn't a shred of resemblance.
Although... seeing that blunt, icy face of his, maybe he was family after all.
"What... did you say?"
Katrina, who'd made it out to the training yard even earlier than I had, stood frozen in her armor.
The Wizardvein standing opposite her spoke flatly.
"The one who engaged the Fire Mage Loren was Ulysses, the Wizard of Change, and his disciple. Therefore, I, Reinhardt Wizardvein, will assume command of the Reshutal Inquisition Branch from this moment forward."
So, it's come to this.
I felt sorry for Katrina, but this time, the family's decision was the right one.
Just looking at him, this man Reinhardt was clearly far more powerful than she was.
The mere act of staring at him from a distance made every hair on my body stand on end.
As both a knight and a mage, comparing him to Katrina was probably impossible.
'That guy could swat away someone like Loren without even trying.'
Surely he wasn't stronger than my master?
I was thinking that, laughing to myself inside, when Katrina pushed back harder than I'd ever expected.
"The Reshutal Inquisition Branch is under my command!"
I couldn't believe she'd go that far in front of all the other Inquisitors.
Besides, strictly speaking, Katrina was Holy Knight Captain, not the commanding officer of the entire branch.
Of course, her authority was tantamount to command, but her formal position was separate.
The lion-like man, Reinhardt, scoffed openly at her words.
Looking closely, the man had even attached fur trim to his uniform.
Clearly, he was from some frigid region.
"Raising your voice won't change anything. And your rank is hereby reduced to regular Holy Knight."
"U-Uncle! You can't..."
"You were entirely unaware that Ulysses, the Wizard of Change, was operating right in your jurisdiction. Be grateful it ends here. Marcus—you are acting captain now."
"Yes, Your Excellency!"
The new commander installed a knight he'd brought with him in the captain's seat, then simply walked away.
Sensing that life was about to get very exhausting, I hurried over to Katrina.