How a Wizard Survives (23)
How a Wizard Survives (23)
The palace party proceeded smoothly.
Reinhardt had worried a great deal beforehand, but with the parade, an outdoor event, cancelled, nothing serious was likely to happen.
Open to the public though it was, this was still the royal palace, teeming with knights and soldiers.
On top of that, Heretic Inquisitors were stationed everywhere.
Surely no mage would be fool enough to cause trouble here.
As I was surveying the garden, people soon began to pour out of the main palace.
The main event was apparently to be held here.
Beside the plump king, Reinhardt glared fiercely around the garden.
The palace attendants bustled about, guiding guests to their places.
"Where is Duke Duermin?"
"Might he still be sleeping? He is advanced in years, after all..."
"Even so, it would be best to summon him soon. The kingdom has only two dukes; he cannot be absent from the main event."
The nobles who had come out into the garden had no trouble recognizing Katrina in her armor.
Her distinctive appearance made her famous even within the Reshutal Inquisition Branch.
I had been worried about a mishap like the one on the eve of the festival, but...
Fortunately, Reinhardt had taken up position beside her in time.
Once the banquet began in earnest, my eyes kept trying to wander.
From the clamorous music to the acrobats' tricks and even a play reenacting the kingdom's history.
The guests themselves seemed to find it a little tedious, but to a first-time spectator, it felt nothing of the sort.
I was managing, with some difficulty, to keep my eyes fixed on the periphery when a light yet familiar presence approached from behind.
Among my acquaintances, only one person was that light on her feet.
"Lady Angelica. Where are you off to?"
"Wow, you know without even turning around?"
Angelica, holding a glass, sounded genuinely surprised.
She circled around me, teasing.
"Being a Wizardvein squire must be tough. The Einhold Family is much more comfortable and nicer."
"Someone has to do the job."
When I gave the most dutiful answer I could, a glass was suddenly thrust at me.
I shook my head and pointed to my duty, but she pressed the glass to my lips and poured it in anyway.
It didn't seem to be alcohol, but it was intensely sweet and delicious.
"Mmph—I said I couldn't... What is this, anyway?"
"They say it's made from a tropical fruit grown in the south. Good, isn't it?"
Just as I was letting out a chuckle at the unexpected gift, I heard footsteps trailing after Angelica.
Taking advantage of a lull in the party, the princess had left the head table and was approaching with a faint smile.
Angelica seemed oddly uncomfortable around her and tensed slightly.
"Lady Angelica. I saw you greeting each other earlier—are you acquaintances?"
"What... Your Highness, the Princess."
"I am Jaeger, squire to Lady Katrina. I am honored to meet Your Highness."
When I hastily dropped to one knee and paid my respects, the princess laughed, covering her mouth.
"Aha. So you are the one who has recently won the Lion's favor..."
Could she have heard about me?
Reflexively, I covered the scabbard at my hip with my arm, and the princess's gaze went straight to it.
But whether fortunately or unfortunately, she showed no sign of recognizing it.
Charlotte was Reinhardt's relative, but Angelica was an outsider. It had been strange for her to recognize the sword at all.
As I felt a faint pang of disappointment, Katrina shot me a glare from across the garden.
It looked like about thirty laps around the training ground were in my future.
"Kyaaaah!"
But just as the princess was about to continue speaking, a high, sharp scream suddenly rang out from outside the garden.
The Inquisitors in the garden reflexively stiffened and turned to look in that direction.
"What is it?"
"Heretic Inquisitors! All of you, guard the garden. Katrina and Charlotte, follow me!"
Reinhardt reacted as if he'd been waiting for exactly this.
With the Einhold people in the garden, there was no need to worry about the king's security.
As Katrina's squire, I quickly followed after him.
"Wh-where did it come from?"
"The guest quarters. It's where Duke Duermin's family was staying!"
It was a name I'd heard earlier in the attendants' conversation.
Duermin. So that was the noble who hadn't yet attended the party.
So there really was a mage conspiracy.
And they had targeted a high-ranking noble right from the start.
After a frantic run, we arrived to find the room awash in blood.
The reek of gore was enough to turn the stomach.
The duke's entire family, and even the servants, lay collapsed, drenched in blood.
The times of death seemed to vary; some of the corpses had already stiffened.
Most ominous of all was that the bodies and blood had been arranged to form a kind of magic circle.
At the center of the grotesque circle stood a white-haired old man holding a dagger.
He recognized Reinhardt and smirked.
Despite his age, his voice rang out with palpable force.
"As expected, the first to arrive is the Lion of the North. I shall have a splendid ending, at least."
"Duke! What in God's name is the meaning of this!"
Reinhardt drew the new sword he had been given and leveled it at him.
He was clearly regarding the Duke of Duermin as a mage.
The fact that the kingdom's highest-ranking noble had been a mage was shocking enough...
But committing an act like this now made even less sense.
And to slaughter his entire family with his own hands?
The situation defied all reason.
The blood-soaked duke began explaining without prompting, as if he understood our bewilderment.
Unfortunately, he did not seem to have given up resisting entirely.
"Originally, I meant to go quietly, you see... but the demon proposed an Additional Contract."
"At this late stage, you would stoop to becoming a lowly mage who obeys a demon!"
A mage who enters into an Additional Contract is the lowest of the low even among mages!
A contemptible wretch despised even by fellow mages.
When Reinhardt seized on that point to condemn him, the duke let out a guffaw.
"What choice do I have? Waiting to die day by day, and it offered to return my soul!"
"R-return your soul?"
Reinhardt could restrain himself no longer and burst forward.
His judgment was impeccable.
Why did demons lend power to contractors in the first place?
Precisely to obtain the mages' souls.
The souls of accomplished mages were a prize so great that even powerful demons coveted them.
And now, an Additional Contract that promised to return that very soul?
I didn't know the specifics, but he was undoubtedly about to commit something truly monstrous.
The duke plunged the dagger deep into his own throat before Reinhardt's sword could reach him.
The magic circle, completed by the mage's own sacrifice, flared to light and activated.
I belatedly identified what it was.
'Is this... a Summoning Circle?'
This doesn't apply to an Awakened One like me, but...
Summoning Magic is fundamental for most mages.
Unless a demon is called forth, forming a contract is practically impossible.
Since the demon being summoned usually cooperates, Summoning Magic is relatively easy.
Most Summoning Magic, however, can call forth only a tiny fraction of a demon's power.
But this was different.
A circle activated by a powerful mage like the duke at the cost of his life and the lives of his kin could not be something so trivial.
Reinhardt, Katrina, and even Charlotte used Rejection Magic, but... the magic circle still activated.
With a low click of his tongue, Reinhardt spun around and shouted.
"Get out of the building! We don't know what will come out!"
"Aaaagh!"
BOOM!
No sooner had we rushed out of the annex than a gigantic figure burst upward, scattering shards of brick.
What surged out of the duke's Summoning Circle was a brawny giant, chains draped all over his body.
A face I had seen in the library's demon bestiary.
The Binding Demon, Chainfist!
'Could that be his true body?'
Chainfist himself could hardly be considered a High-Rank Demon... but a demon was still a demon!
If he had manifested here in his true body, there could be no greater calamity.
The creature gave a low roar in the middle of the kingdom and then, chuckling, raised his hand.
What he held was the duke's soul.
The contractual price he had originally been meant to receive.
I recognized it instinctively.
"Well done, you miserable wretch! Old and weak as you are, you still did your part once I promised to return your soul. A bit of a waste... but a contract is a contract."
The fiend smacked his lips for a moment, then released the duke's soul under the contract.
For mages, and even for demons, a contract is absolute.
Once he had finished his simple business and turned to face us, I felt a primal sense of danger.
It was as if every cell in my body was screaming at me to flee at once.
"Katrina, Charlotte, Jaeger! Get back there and evacuate everyone!"
"B-but, Your Excellency!"
Faced with a demon's true body, Reinhardt made his decision without hesitation.
His goal was not victory, but minimizing casualties.
I had never imagined seeing him give up on winning so quickly.
In the next instant, I was already turning away.
"Lady Katrina! Let's go!"
"Jaeger!"
The instant we fled, the demon raised his arm.
Countless shadows spilled from his body, then took shape and rose up.
The comparison is a bit crude, but...
Chainfist produced Demonic Beasts as easily as someone shaking off dandruff.
"A-all troops, hold formation!"
Soldiers who arrived as reinforcements formed a battle line, but it held little promise.
Reinhardt raised his sword high and shouted.
"We shall reject all heresy!"
The light of Rejection kindled on everyone's weapons, and they closed with the Demonic Beasts.
Chainfist, watching the soldiers put up a surprisingly good fight, smirked.
"So you're the leader. Good."
Clatter!
The iron chains coiled around the demon's body all shot toward Reinhardt at once.
Reinhardt swung his Adamantite sword and used Rejection Magic to resist, but... the chains hurtling at him from every direction had the momentum of a waterfall.
No swordsman, however skilled, could cut back a waterfall.
What about a mage, then?
Before the thought could fully form, the Head of the Einhold Family and Hector swept past us.
They joined Reinhardt without hesitation, using magic.
"Whoa, it's the King's Mages!"
"Reinhardt!"
Hector, sword drawn, clenched his free hand into a fist, and several of the demon's chains crumpled.
Gravity Magic, the pride of the Einhold Family.
The Family Head attacked Chainfist's true body head-on.
But only for a moment.
Chainfist responded to the two of them with another torrent of chains.
As befitted a Binding Demon, he excelled at tying down several opponents at once.
"Mages! How preposterous. Are your tricks not merely clumsy imitations of us demons!"
Regrettably, the fiend was right.
Reinhardt, the Head of the Einhold Family, and Hector were barely managing to avoid being crushed to death; they couldn't shake off his restraints.
But Chainfist, too, could no longer use magic.
"Grraaah!"
With the three mages still bound, the demon leaped into the front line with his bare fists.
The soldiers, and even the knights, fought back... but blades seemed to have no effect on him at all.
He withstood arrows, spears, and swords with his bare skin, butchering dozens in an instant.
At that level, he was a living storm.
Crunch! Craaack!
Amid the horrifying noise, flesh and bone were pulverized, and the formation finally collapsed.
I clicked my tongue softly and turned around.
I had been told to evacuate the people in the garden, but everyone was already fleeing.
It didn't look like they'd need my help at this point.
"Lady Katrina, the evacuation..."
"Jaeger!"
Just then, other Inquisitors also arrived on the scene.
Together with them, I blocked Chainfist's path.
The demon laughed as if we were ridiculous and swung his arm, but I evaded it and countered.
I carved a long gash into his arm.
"Huh?"
'As I thought. He can't use magic right now. He knows that if he slackens his power even a little, Reinhardt will escape!'
Reinhardt, Hector, and the Head of the Einhold Family accounted for more than eighty percent of our side's combat power...
But with the enemy's hands tied, this was a fight worth trying.
And that was far from the only favorable factor.
The Adamantite longsword I carried proved to be incredibly effective against the demon.
His skin, tough as steel, split apart the instant it touched the blade, as if collapsing on itself.
"Adamantite? An insolent whelp like you!"
The enraged demon lunged for me and me alone.
The previous attack had been no more than a gesture to shoo away an annoying fly.
Now that he was coming at me in earnest, a cold chill ran down my spine.
I raised my sword to fend him off, but the demon's strength and speed were no joke.
On top of that, he was far larger than me, and I could not possibly hold him off for long.
Shriek! Thwack!
Staking my life on a single blade, I swung it like mad.
I threw my whole body into dodging and countering over and over, but I soon reached my limit.
A single grazing blow to my armor sent a shock through me as if my whole body were being pulverized.
The demon moved to deliver the finishing blow, only to be stopped by reinforcements arriving just in time.
"Die, you miserable fly... Urk!"
"Jaeger!"
"Damn it, are you insane? After we barely got out!"
"Be crushed!"
Blades and magic flew at the demon from both sides.
Katrina and Charlotte, who had fallen back, had finally rejoined the battlefield.
The daughters of Wizardvein pressured the demon, coordinating their movements with practiced ease.
From above, Angelica's Gravity Magic added to the assault.
With help from the Holy Knights and the three women, I managed to disengage and clicked my tongue in frustration.
The Demonic Beasts had already been wiped out, leaving only one enemy, but... practically none of our attacks were doing meaningful damage.
'With this many troops, we're reduced to this against one demon? This isn't working.'
Until now, we had managed to trade blows only through sheer luck.
If we delayed any further, Katrina could be killed or wounded.
Why had the demon manifested his true body in the heart of the royal palace to begin with?
He must have come here intending to beat every last person here to death!
Which meant he had been confident he could at least flee alone, even in the worst case.
Left with no other choice, I resolved to use magic and steadied my breathing.
Katrina, sensing my resolve, widened her eyes.
But before I could properly draw up my mana, a familiar voice, one that had no right to be there, cut me off.
"That won't do."
"Huh?"
It was faint against the roar of battle, yet somehow impossible to ignore.
Ulysses's pleasant voice cut across the battlefield.
Even Chainfist, who had been rampaging unchecked, paused for a moment and stared at him.
My master stood atop the palace spire, having revealed his true appearance.
Ulysses, the Wizard of Change, looked as confident as ever.
"You picked the wrong venue. Reshutal must not fall just yet."
"Th-the Wizard of Change!"
With a groan that was almost a scream, the demon ignored us entirely and turned to face Ulysses.
I felt like screaming myself as I fixed my eyes on my master.