How a Wizard Survives (8)
How a Wizard Survives (8)
Let's give credit where it's due.
The Heretic Inquisitors' uniforms looked damn sharp.
Since my plate armor wasn't finished yet, I'd put on the uniform over chainmail, and I could feel my back and shoulders straightening on their own.
The newly issued uniform had an unfamiliar but refined cut.
It even smelled good. And crucially, it was nearly pure white.
Anybody could see this was what the good guys wore.
The fabric had just the right stiffness, giving me the illusion it was correcting my posture.
The Inquisition's laborers had probably worked themselves half to death to produce it.
The citizens lining the streets applauded and cheered as the Inquisitors marched out.
It wasn't simply because they were afraid of us.
Whatever anyone said, Inquisitors were very, very good at killing mages.
After mages had slaughtered people in an alley only yesterday, the public welcomed us.
I exchanged nods with the neighboring blacksmiths and thought back to yesterday's special lecture.
I never expected to be heading out to kill mages barely a day later, but there was no slipping away now.
"Jaeger, when you have to kill a mage, just kill them with a clear conscience."
My teacher, Ulysses, had put it that way.
I'd never been one for pangs of conscience, but propriety demanded I ask back.
"Really?"
"Really. It's a little rich coming from me, but mages are fundamentally criminals, aren't they? Nine times out of ten they're the dregs of humanity, utter garbage. No need to feel bad about killing scum like that."
Standing beside us, Ash wore an extremely uncomfortable expression but couldn't bring herself to deny it.
Conscious of the two mages, I asked carefully.
"What about the one or two mages out of ten who aren't the dregs of humanity and utter garbage?"
"It's fine. People die anyway."
"Ulysses..."
Ash, who'd been briefly scandalized, chimed in from the side.
"But that's their own fault. If you're a mage and a Heretic Inquisitor catches you, you die. Simple."
"Ah, is that how it is..."
"That's how it is. So be careful and get back safely. Don't go doing something stupid like trying to spare another mage."
My teacher's lesson was correct.
Right then, I could have died at any moment myself. I didn't have the leisure to worry about other mages.
I convinced myself of that as I set out from the city with the rest.
As if every second counted, the Inquisitors quickened their pace the moment we cleared the castle.
Katrina, unable to stomach my appalling horsemanship any longer, offered terse advice.
"Put strength into your thighs and move with the horse's head."
"Understood."
The riding grew much easier, but the looks from everyone around grew far more uncomfortable.
With her helmet visor down, Katrina seemed not to notice and asked calmly.
"Can you use a bow or a crossbow?"
"My apologies. Neither, as yet..."
The truth was, I could use both, but it wasn't good to boast about every single skill.
The Inquisitors drove their horses without rest and reached Bearville before sunset.
As the name implied, the village was known for bears. It was fairly remote, but still far bigger than the hometown I'd come from.
Inside the village, troops sent by the local lord were already waiting, trembling.
The man commanding all the Inquisitors except the Holy Knights stepped forward and asked.
"Where are the mages?"
"Over there, hiding in the mountain behind the village! A child from the village happened to spot them..."
"You're certain they're mages?"
"Yes! The child reported clearly seeing them use magic."
If a report had reached the Heretic Inquisitors, it wasn't a case of mistaking them for some wild animal.
The Inquisitor who'd been grilling them about the mages approached Katrina and asked for her opinion.
"About six of them, and no particularly notorious mages among them, it seems. Shall we launch a night assault? The moon is bright tonight."
"Do it."
Katrina gave a short nod and checked her equipment once more.
The journey had eaten up enough time that the sun soon set.
Once the night was sufficiently deep, we began quietly ascending the mountain.
The commoner-born Inquisitors took the lead. Katrina and the other Holy Knights were deployed to the rear, still mounted.
I suppose things are the same everywhere people live.
It made sense. You need people ready to pursue them just in case.
Mages who run into Heretic Inquisitors prefer running away to fighting.
Ordinarily I'd have been at the front with them, but my injuries from yesterday hadn't healed, so I'd been placed in the rear.
The mountain behind the village where the mages were staying lay utterly still.
They hadn't even noticed we were coming.
A surprise assault under cover of darkness, at that.
For people who call themselves knights, there's no honor in any of this.
But then again, Heretic Inquisitors are strong as a group, yet individually they're decisively weaker than mages.
It wouldn't be strange to lose your life if you gave them any opening.
"Attack!"
The moment everyone was in position, Katrina shouted the order.
The soldiers mobilized from the nearby territory were first to charge, roaring battle cries.
I dismounted and advanced slowly with Katrina, but...
Already a rank stench of blood washed over us.
This wasn't the smell of combat.
'What is...?'
The source of the stench gusting down from the hilltop was none other than the mages.
Specifically, the ordinary people they'd seized.
'Don't tell me—an Additional Contract!'
My teacher's words came to mind again, and I clicked my tongue inwardly.
Ulysses never seemed to be wrong.
Mages are basically fated to be hostile to demons, but...
If you completely forfeit your freedom after death, your present life gets a little more comfortable.
You stop caring whether a demon grows stronger, so you can enter all sorts of Additional Contracts.
The classic example: a contract that grants Mana in exchange for killing or torturing people!
The vilest, most vicious kind of mage is the only sort who makes that deal.
These bastards had fallen completely and become the demons' puppets.
The Holy Knights, who'd smelled the blood the same as I had, openly recoiled.
"Garbage..."
"This is how they get spotted by a village kid."
"Did they deliberately kidnap from far away? A lot of wasted effort. Don't leave a single mage alive!"
Roused to fury, the Holy Knights threw themselves into hunting the mages.
I'd wondered if there might be a decent mage among them, like my teacher and me...
No need to have worried.
Trash like this, I could kill with a clear conscience.
But for all the eagerness with which I'd drawn my sword, it didn't look as though my turn would come.
They'd finished encircling them from every direction and struck all at once.
The Heretic Inquisitors' operation was absolutely flawless.
Thanks to that, the mages hiding in the mountain huts were eradicated in an instant.
"Is it over already?"
"The number of mages seems a little low... wasn't that only three?"
"Don't tell me some got away!"
"Maintain strict perimeter watch and free the civilians."
Katrina issued orders as she approached the pen where the people were being held.
I stayed at her side and racked my brain.
The earlier report had clearly said six. Why were there only three?
The villagers could have miscounted, but it was a little suspicious.
'Strange. If I were a mage... well, I am a mage, actually. In any case, if I'd been hiding in these mountains, how would I have escaped?'
The encirclement had been perfect.
The Inquisitors' main strategy was to leverage numerical superiority and superior equipment to steadily press the enemy.
If any of them had broken through, there would've been an uproar long before.
I was trying to think from the opponent's perspective, as Ulysses had taught, when I saw a man huddled inside the filthy pen and moved on reflex.
The one Katrina had been about to free had a particularly brawny build.
"Lady Katrina!"
"Wha—?"
Craaack!
The next instant.
The man's frame swelled in a split second, and the stout wooden bars burst apart.
He'd noticed the ambush before the other mages, disguised himself as a civilian, and hidden among the captives.
The mages who'd died earlier must have been bait.
"GRAAAH!"
Now transformed into a giant wolf, he swung his forepaw at Katrina, who had frozen for a split second.
I shoved her aside with all my strength and caught the thing's claws with my left arm.
The blow should have been enough to tear an arm clean off, but the transformation wasn't yet complete and I was wearing chainmail beneath the uniform, so I barely endured it.
"You think so?!"
Crunch!
Bearing the horrific sensation of metal shards grinding into flesh, I drove my sword into his forepaw.
The creature twisted in agony and tried to strike back, but Katrina's follow-up sword blow laid him flat.
That bastard's hide had to be tougher than ordinary leather armor, yet she'd cut right through it.
"Jaeger! Are you all right?"
"Fine!"
Katrina's voice was thicker with worry than I'd ever heard it.
Truthfully, her armor was so good she probably would've been fine no matter what... I may have overdone it a bit.
Still, seeing her go this far for me felt rewarding in its own way.
Once I'd verified my left arm still moved, I turned to face the remaining mages.
There had been three mages hiding in the pen in total.
The two survivors didn't hesitate. They tried to flee.
Holy Knights with spears moved to block them, but one of the mages used monstrous strength to hurl them aside.
"N-No! Don't leave me behind!"
The one remaining had spears driven through his body and couldn't get away.
I chased the fleeing mage, but when it became clear I'd never catch him, I struck the ground in frustration.
The speed of the mage who'd turned into a wolf was no joke. Even on horseback, I probably couldn't have run him down.
Thinking I might be blamed later for letting one escape, I bellowed at the top of my lungs.
"Don't run, you cowardly bastard! Don't you run!"
"Jaeger?"
"Heretic Inquisitors risk their lives every single time! Don't you run!"
A desperate, heartfelt scream echoed across the mountain in the night air.
At that, not only Katrina beside me but the other Holy Knights were visibly stirred.
"That fellow?"
"Gets lucky and joins up, and now look at him... an Inquisitor down to the marrow."
"The Captain doesn't choose people for nothing. Get up, now! A pursuit unit's already been formed—there's no call for that much regret."
I let the Holy Knights help me to my feet, and the sight of the ravaged civilian survivors fueled my outrage anew.
"Damn it, how can anyone do something this atrocious..."
"Calm yourself. We still caught five mages. It's as good as saving five hundred lives today."
"Filth like mages really ought to be wiped off the face of the earth, every last one..."
As I kept up a performance that impressed even myself, the ordinary Inquisitors grew visibly emotional too.
Katrina approached, still in her helmet, and gave me an order.
"Jaeger, take it off."
"Huh? Ah..."
I hesitated a moment, then rolled up the sleeve of my uniform. A small amount of blood was revealed.
Katrina's hand twitched briefly at the sight. While she stood there, a medic extracted the metal fragments, applied medicine, and wrapped it in a bandage.
We decided to simply remove the ruined chainmail.
"Ugh... how do I get bloodstains out of this uniform?"
"Don't worry. The workers at the Inquisition handle things like that very well."
"Civilian captives and wounded recovered. Mission complete."
"Return."
Katrina gave the order with no hesitation, then personally helped me onto a horse and hurried us back toward the capital.
Had she pulled some strings on her own?
After we returned to the Inquisition, the treatment I received was far too attentive for a mere squire.
I lounged around in the infirmary bed for about three days, and when resting grew tedious, I got up.
Actually, I should have absorbed the Mana from the mages who'd died during that last sortie...
But there'd been far too many eyes on me for that.
'A damn waste. Their Mana looked to be greater than mine, too.'
The last man who'd escaped the scene had been captured in the end.
I decided to attend the burning ceremony with Katrina.
Ordinarily, mages are executed on the spot because there is no telling what they will do, but every so often the citizenry must be provided a spectacle.
Today, for some reason, Katrina was in uniform and waiting for me in front of the infirmary.
I felt a sudden chill and dashed over at a run.
If I'd made her wait any longer, the other Inquisitors wouldn't have let me hear the end of it.
"... Are you feeling better?"
Her face was so expressionless I could almost doubt she was genuinely worried, but by her standards, this was the fullest display of emotion she could manage.
Mildly moved, I nodded vigorously.
"Already fully healed."
"Good."
We walked briskly and soon arrived at the Wall of Shame, a spot at the center of the Inquisition.
Row after row of famous mages' faces hung there... it was simply a giant wanted board.
I'd been casually looking for Ulysses when I spotted that the picture at the very top was blank.
"Hm?"
"What is it?"
"That one... has he already been caught? There's no picture. If he's at the very top, wouldn't that make him the most wicked mage?"
At my question, Katrina swallowed her words for a moment and, uncharacteristically, averted her gaze slightly.
"No one yet knows the true face of Ulysses, the Wizard of Change. To capture him before it's too late is my family's dearest wish."
"Ah..."
I'd wondered, but Ulysses really was number one.
"Lady Katrina, I'm certain you'll capture him."
"... Thank you. Let us go before we're late."
Her face was turned away, but she showed me something close to a smile. Then Katrina snapped her head back around and quickened her pace.
I pictured my teacher's carefree laugh and chuckled deep inside.