How a Wizard Survives (16)
How a Wizard Survives (16)
The journey with the Einhold family and the Heretic Inquisitors was uneventful, though Angelica, the little Einhold brat, kept a sharp eye on Reinhardt and me the whole way. I pretended not to notice, just as Reinhardt did.
Two days of hard riding later, we finally entered the ducal territory by the main road. The sight of the wheat fields surprised me a little; they felt unexpectedly abundant. Given that this was a territory ruled by mages, I'd formed a poor impression, but it wasn't much different from any other land I'd traveled through so far.
'The Einholds use Gravity Magic, right?'
Gravity. I'd listened carefully to my teacher's lectures, but the force itself remained hard to grasp. They say it's invisible, like Destruction Magic, yet drags opponents around at will. Still, since it was the magic that made the Einhold family the King's Mages, it had to be formidable.
When we reached the ducal castle, it looked every bit as large and wealthy as its reputation suggested. I did my best to put on the same disdainful sneer the other Inquisitors wore.
"Heh. For mere mages to live like this..."
"Jaeger."
Katrina's voice was curt, a clear warning. I reluctantly reined in my act, and she added quietly, "The Wizardvein family castle far surpasses this one."
"Is that so..."
That made sense. They were continental-level mages, not merely a national power.
While Katrina hesitated oddly, the Einhold vassals came out to meet us. Reinhardt politely but firmly declined their offer of a celebratory banquet and immediately requested information on the mages. It seemed he hadn't been properly briefed on the ones reported here either.
"The arrest of heretics is best done swiftly and quietly. We'll enjoy the banquet after the work is done. Who are the mages we're dealing with?"
"We will guide you to the relevant information inside at once."
Setting aside the impression of wealth and prosperity that rivaled the capital, the Einhold castle itself had a suffocating atmosphere. Even Angelica, who had spent the whole journey glancing around, was now completely subdued. In truth, the mood during the ride had been far brighter and healthier.
'Well, even if they're state-sanctioned, this is still a mage's den...'
As we moved deeper inside, the head of the Einhold family finally appeared. He was slightly thin and frail-looking. He didn't radiate strength at a glance the way Reinhardt did, but the kin guarding his side was no less formidable than the Lion of the North himself.
"Reinhardt of Wizardvein, and Lady Katrina. Thank you for coming to our aid."
"Where are the mage bastards?"
The family head smiled bitterly at Reinhardt's bluntness and moved to stand before a large table. On it lay a miniature map, a scaled-down replica of the entire Einhold Duchy. It was probably an item rarely shown to outsiders. He jabbed a finger at a village far from the castle and began the briefing.
"Three mages have been confirmed so far. I understand all of them are registered on the Wall of Shame. They are hiding in this very village."
"Share everything you have."
"The composition is as follows. First, the Plague Mage, Morel."
I barely stifled a sound. When they said all were on the Wall of Shame, I'd braced myself for the worst, but a heavy hitter right from the start. Plague Mage Morel. He was a former front-line soldier who had made a demon contract and had a history of collapsing defensive lines. He was presumed to have made additional contracts since, and because his magic was far more dangerous when loosed among civilians, a Kill-on-Sight Order had been issued. Mages who receive that instead of Permanent Sealing aren't exactly common.
"Next is the Destruction Mage Lucas, and the Death Mage Dresden. All three have been definitively confirmed."
Three outstanding criminals, any one of whom would be notorious. Worse, Death Mage Dresden is a Permanent Sealing Target. We don't actually have to capture him alive, do we? As we all looked at Reinhardt with the same thought, he gave a flexible answer.
"Dresden is a Permanent Sealing Target, so we will attempt capture first, but killing him is acceptable if necessary. Morel is here, so we'll manage one way or another."
"Understood."
"Family Head, the sooner we move, the better. Please make a swift decision..."
"Depart as soon as you are all ready."
Maybe it was because everyone was a professional, but communication was smooth. We hastily began donning our armor.
When the family head stepped aside briefly, Angelica, who had been standing silently behind him this whole time, approached the man himself. It was the kin who had been guarding the family head, the one whose physique rivaled Reinhardt's. Angelica leaned in.
"Father, earlier I saw..."
He looked older than the others. So this must be Angelica's father. He listened to his daughter's whisper, and for some reason his face twisted like a man who'd just been stabbed. As soon as we finished putting on our armor, he couldn't hold back any longer and stepped forward.
"Reinhardt! You bastard! How dare you hand over an Adamantite sword to some whelp—have you lost your mind?"
"Lord Hector!"
The Einhold vassals tried to dissuade him, but it was useless. Reinhardt's reply came from inside his helmet, cold and level.
"It is not yours. What business is it of yours?"
"It is my business! Is this boy really on that level?"
"We'll find out soon enough."
The ever-rising expectations were a burden. I'd covered the sword with my cloak to avoid attention, and she went and tattled everything. I shot a small glare at Angelica before following Reinhardt out of the castle. Her father, Hector, soon arrived in armor and sortied at the head of a huge body of soldiers.
I'd hoped to witness the Einhold family's Gravity Magic with this chance, but Reinhardt put some distance between us and them. He intended to surround the village from both sides. To begin with, the Rejection Magic the Wizardveins use doesn't mix well with other magic.
When we reached the outskirts, Reinhardt stopped his horse and deployed the troops borrowed from Einhold as widely as possible.
"Once Hector begins the assault, we will catch anyone who tries to flee this way."
"Understood."
Alongside Katrina, I steadied my breathing, which the hard ride had left ragged. A horn blasted once, and flames and smoke billowed up from the village.
Bwooo!
"...It's started."
I felt sorry for the villagers, but with Plague Mage Morel's presence confirmed, 'disinfection' was mandatory. In the worst case, the entire village might already be the mages' minions. The Einhold soldiers were horrified by the gruesome sight, but they were elite troops brought from the ducal castle; none of them deserted their posts.
How long had we watched the village burn fiercely? The horn rang out again from that direction.
Bwoo!
A single short blast. That meant one mage had fled this way. True to their reputation as battle-hardened criminals on the Wall of Shame, Hector's troops had not managed to catch them all.
Reinhardt raised his newly acquired sword high and invoked Rejection Magic. "Reject all heretics!"
Whenever the Wizardveins have to wield magic this openly, they make excuses by calling it a 'miracle.' Reinhardt's 'miracle' instantly enveloped our armor. It was far weaker than the Adamantite sword I was holding, but it still granted a bit of resistance to magic. Even the Einhold troops were enhanced.
"Ooh, this is..."
"Shh!"
To bestow magic on so many people at once. Reinhardt truly was strong, even by a mage's standards.
"Incoming!"
A cloud of dust rose high from the village. A single mage fled frantically with the flames and smoke at his back. His face went pale the moment he spotted us, but he didn't change direction.
"Who is it?"
"The Plague Mage! It's Morel!"
Jackpot. Plague Magic is terrifying in terms of its ripple effects, but in direct combat, it's nearly the weakest. It has the worst possible matchup against the Wizardvein family's Rejection Magic.
'Looks like I can just sit back and watch this.'
I was cheering inwardly when Reinhardt tensed and stared at the dust cloud. That's when I noticed: the cloud was definitely too large for one person on horseback. A strong vibration even came through the ground.
"Wait, don't tell me—!"
"Marcus, Dugel! Get to Katrina's side—"
Reinhardt grasped the situation a moment too late and tried to assign his two adjutants to cover Katrina and me, but a wall of rock split us apart before the words were out.
An immense barrier, impossible to overcome. Katrina and I were completely cut off from Reinhardt's party.
"Damn!"
"Wh-what's going—"
"Lady Katrina! A fourth one!"
"What?"
I'd barely finished shouting when an unimaginable fourth opponent revealed himself from underground: the Earth Mage Yaul. The Lion of the North, Reinhardt, was skilled enough to handle two like them simultaneously, but the Earth Barrier had separated him from them.
'And on top of that, the Plague Mage Morel is on the other side? Did he use his comrade as bait?!'
With Reinhardt and Hector both charging in, there had never been any chance for them all to escape. The Earth Mage must have judged as much and abandoned his comrade without a second thought. As expected of someone who could swim through the ground, he likely hadn't been detected beforehand.
While the pale-faced mage stretched, screams rang out from beyond the wall.
"Yaul! You son of a bitch! Tear this down right now!"
"Don't make me laugh. While you were taking it easy in the village, I was digging tunnels like a rat. Go on—try holding out against the Lion of the North."
Ah, the tear-jerking friendship mages are so famous for. The Earth Mage tried to dive underground again to flee, but Katrina interfered. With a spirited shout, her Rejection Magic erupted, and the tunnel collapsed with a roar.
"Where do you think you're going!"
"Urk—there was another Wizardvein!"
Now he couldn't slip away easily. Even if he managed to shake us off, he'd be tracked the moment Reinhardt discovered his escape route. Having concluded that, the mage resolved to finish us off quickly.
"If you're going to interfere, then die!"
The mage charged, clad in thick mud that clung to him like armor, a technique similar to what Fire Mage Loren had shown before. I'd like to dismiss it as overly cliché, but protecting your body is the most basic of basics. It's natural for similar techniques to appear like this.
"Fire!"
Shlik!
The Einhold soldiers loosed their crossbows in unison, but the bolts barely damaged the mage's armor. If Reinhardt's magic hadn't been cast on them beforehand, even that much would have been impossible. Startled that part of his armor had broken through, the mage retaliated with stone fragments that flew like arrows.
"Ugh!"
Clang!
The Einhold elites dropped like sheaves of straw. They wore armor themselves, but he'd exploited the gaps in that brief moment. Rock projectiles came for me too, but my armor held. I hurriedly steadied my stance and stepped in front of Katrina.
"Move, you little brat, or I'll—huk!"
A single slash at the fool charging in a straight line, trusting his mud armor. The high-purity Adamantite disassembled that armor in an instant, but the mage wrenched his body away just in time. Earth Mage Yaul was also a mage registered on the Wall of Shame, not an opponent who could be finished off with one swing.
"That sword—don't tell me... Kuh!"
He tried to cast again, but this time Katrina interrupted him. Katrina might have been considered weak, but she was still a Rejection Mage. When she exerted herself like that, she could temporarily impair an opponent's magic.
I swung again, and blood sprayed from the nape of his neck.
"Eek!"
"Jaeger!"
"It's not over yet!"
I clicked my tongue at the feel of a far too shallow cut. The attack had only grazed him. It should have landed cleanly, but the ground beneath my feet collapsed right as I executed the slash. This bastard was a master at screwing over ordinary fighters.
'I definitely can't hide my skills against this one. If the distance widens, it's dangerous!'
Craaash!
Just as I was seriously considering using magic, the ground between us split deep and wide. I scrambled and barely escaped the chasm.
"Haah... haah..."
Behind me, Katrina had already expended considerable mana. The Earth Mage had chosen the most effective attack against a swordsman.
"I have no time to waste on the likes of you!"
The earth screamed, and the ground tore apart jaggedly beneath us. Katrina, who had been concentrating on my footwork, began to fall the moment her focus slipped. Such a wide area collapsed all at once that there was absolutely no way out.
'Damn it!'
Truthfully, the solution here was already settled. Just let Katrina die. Then the watching eyes would vanish entirely, and I could use my magic freely.
But that calculation never reached my body. My body was already faithfully drawing up mana.
I don't even want to imagine a tomorrow without Katrina.
'Gravity—does it feel something like this?'
As I began to free-fall alongside her, my teacher's lecture finally clicked. The next moment, I reversed gravity and soared into the air with Katrina.
The mage who had torn open the earth to swallow us glared upward, eyes wide.
"H-how—!"
To even successfully pull off a magic I'd never attempted before. I truly am a genius.
I was smirking at the thought when Katrina, beside me, shuddered from head to toe. She hadn't flinched even before the Earth Mage, but now she was severely shaken. The eyes looking at me from inside her helmet were deeply troubled.
"Jae... ger?"
"I'm sorry for deceiving you."
Who knew I'd be found out so soon. I clicked my tongue and decided to vent my anger on the one responsible for this mess. The Earth Mage screamed a war cry and fired a volley of rock projectiles.