Father and Son
“Whew…… All cleaned up nicely.”
“Nihehe, I did great, right? Master!”
“Yes, you did well, Seolho.”
The bandits had been swept away by my wave of fire and Seolho’s rain of flames. No matter where I looked, there was nothing left but the charred remains of bandits who had either burned black or been reduced to ash without even a corpse remaining.
Fortunately, this was rocky terrain dotted with patches of grass rather than a dense forest, so there was no risk of our fire-element attacks starting a wildfire. Relieved by that fact, I turned toward Sigrun, who seemed to have just finished settling her own side of the fight as well.
“Sigrun, are you done over there?”
At my question, Sigrun stomped down on a bandit who had been crawling away while waving his hand.
“Just a moment. This one here…… Hup!”
Crunch───
She finished her answer by severing the bandit’s neck with her sword, its blade sheathed in Sword Qi.
“That was the last of them.”
With a cold cutting sound, the life of the final bandit Sigrun had been facing was completely extinguished. Unlike our side, which held nothing but burned corpses and ash, Sigrun’s ground was filled with cooling bodies and pools of blood. The sight was enough to turn anyone’s stomach if stared at too long, so I deliberately averted my gaze and walked over to her.
“No one escaped, right?”
“Right. Every last one of them has been dealt with. What do you plan to do with the bodies?”
“Burning them would probably be best. If we leave them as they are, it won’t just be insects and animals that gather—monsters could show up too.”
“Hmm. Burning them would indeed be the cleanest option.”
It was winter now, with temperatures well below freezing. If the corpses were left alone, they wouldn’t decay until winter ended—and even then, the process would take an enormous amount of time. Leaving undecayed bodies on the road would inevitably draw monsters. That would be a nuisance of the worst kind, so incinerating them cleanly was the best solution.
At my words, Seolho used her psychokinetic power to gather the more distant corpses while Sigrun dragged the nearby ones over. Before I even needed to do anything, the bodies were piled together. I didn’t bother raising my staff; I simply flicked my fingers lightly.
“Fire.”
Snap──!
With a crisp snap, intense flames swallowed the mound of corpses. For an instant a pillar of fire rose high enough to reach the clouds. When that pillar subsided in less than five seconds, every body that had been piled before me had turned to ash.
“Shall we go, then?”
“Yes. We’ve spent more time than expected, so let’s move on.”
With the bandits handled, there was nothing more for us here. Sigrun, Seolho, and I turned without the slightest hesitation. After helping Sigrun and Seolho into the carriage first, I set my foot on the step last and spoke to the coachman, who was still staring, dumbfounded, at the place where the pillar of fire had risen.
“Could you depart right away? I’d rather not linger here any longer.”
“Huh? Ah, y-yes, yes! Of course! We’ll leave at once!!”
The coachman hastily collected himself and nodded vigorously. Once I heard his answer and took my seat inside the carriage, it began to roll forward at once.
Leaving behind the small incident that had just occurred, we headed for our destination: the coastal city of Mineva.
About two days had passed since Elia left Himrave for Mineva with Sigrun and Seolho.
The streets of Himrave, normally filled with a boisterous atmosphere, were blanketed in an unusually heavy silence. The reason for that silence was the group currently marching through those quiet streets.
“Royal mages…….”
Someone’s murmured voice carried softly through the hush.
“Hey…!”
“……!”
The speaker realized only then that he had spoken his thoughts aloud and hurriedly clamped a hand over his mouth, but the procession of royal mages and the knights guarding them paid not the slightest attention and simply continued on their way.
The royal mages of the Lumina Kingdom. Alongside the Royal Guard Knights, they were called the kingdom’s right hand—a trump card that could tip the balance of any battlefield. Everyone knew that they appeared only when a city faced a genuine threat, or when something of equal importance demanded their presence.
And anyone who had been in Himrave for the past several days knew exactly what matter was serious enough to bring the royal mages here: the eruption of Bramante Volcano, and the cardinal of the Void Cult who had caused it. The citizens were certain that the reason the royal mages had come in person was to take custody of that cardinal.
Moreover, a widespread rumor that one might shed blood by simply rubbing the royal mages the wrong way while they were on official business had locked the mouths of Himrave’s citizens with the padlock of silence. Of course, that was only a rumor. The royal mages cared little about the chatter of ordinary people. Their sole mission was to take into custody Morana, the Void Cult cardinal captured this time. Unless someone committed a crime right in front of them, they had no reason to concern themselves with anything else. The present scene was simply the citizens frightening themselves into silence.
Still, the quiet is nice.
Even if the silence was unnecessary, the hushed streets pleased Henry Marenard, the royal mage who had come here today.
Morana Dorothea, was it?
The royal mission assigned this time was to go to Himrave and take custody of the Void Cult cardinal Morana. At first Henry had regarded it with nothing more than ordinary professional interest. Not long after, however, he had become the most eager volunteer for the assignment and had come to Himrave himself.
If one asked why he had been so eager, the reason was simple. The detailed report of the mission had contained a name Henry knew all too well.
So she put Elia in danger, did she?
Of course, this was a monumental distortion of memory on Henry’s part. Naturally the report had never said that Elia had been in danger. What it stated was simply that “Morana Dorothea of the Void Cult forcibly triggered a volcanic eruption, and Elia Marenard, together with the Sword Expert Sigrun, prevented the disaster.” Yet in the eyes of Henry—Elia’s family—the report read only as “Morana caused a volcanic eruption and nearly put Elia in danger.”
Fortunately his younger sister had been so capable that she had not only stopped the eruption but also subdued Morana. What mattered to him, however, was simply that Morana had been capable of endangering Elia. That this was not a distorted memory but fact was being proven by the other royal mage who had come to Himrave with Henry: Edgar Marenard.
If Elia had seen the two of them, she would have smacked them both upside the head—a tear-jerking scene of familial love.
Thud── Thud──
In any case, now that they had already arrived in Himrave, Henry and Edgar needed no further words. Escorted by knights, they made their way toward Himrave’s prison.
The prison of Himrave stood between the mercenary guild building and the militia headquarters. It was not particularly large, but its location made the security extremely tight. Standing before that prison, Edgar first raised a hand toward the guild master who had come out to greet them.
“No need for a guide. We will go down ourselves.”
“I-Is that so? Understood. If you take these stairs down, you will see her immediately. The key is right here…….”
At Edgar’s firm words the guild master offered no further protest, simply directing them and holding out the prison key. Henry accepted it in Edgar’s place. Then Henry and Edgar followed the knights who were already descending the stairs into the underground prison.
Their footsteps—knights, Henry, and Edgar—echoed through the underground prison, which was even quieter than the silent streets outside. After a short descent they reached the bottom of the stairs and at once saw the prisoner inside a single cell. Henry and Edgar both looked at her.
“So this is Morana, Father.”
“Yes. Exactly as her known appearance was described.”
Traces of an unconsciousness spell that had not yet fully faded still clung to her head, and near her heart a mana restraint stake had been driven in—one that would completely neutralize a target’s mana control if embedded. In addition she wore a gag to prevent any useless talk once she regained her senses, iron balls shackled to her limbs, and, according to the report, had even been forced to swallow a mana-binding drug. In that state, Morana was so thoroughly disabled that she would lose a fight against an ordinary citizen walking the street.
Looking at her, Edgar glanced sideways at Henry.
“Open the door, Henry. And dispel that magic as well.”
“Yes, Father.”
At Edgar’s words Henry immediately unlocked the cell with the key he held. Stepping inside, he interfered with the unconsciousness spell—most likely cast by Elia—and released it.
Clang───!
With the sound of shattering glass, the unconsciousness spell on Morana was undone. The moment the magic lifted, Morana, who until then had seemed dead to the world, slowly began to open her eyes.
“Mmph…… Mmph…….”
She made half-formed sounds through the gag as her eyes opened. Then, as if trying to grasp the situation as quickly as possible, she looked around with eyes clouded by panic. After a short while, having apparently finished assessing her circumstances, Morana turned a resigned, hollow laugh toward Henry and Edgar.
“Heh…….”
Soon she was looking back and forth between the two of them, a mocking sneer on her face as if to say, Go on, kill me if you can. It was only a look, yet the sheer shamelessness of that gaze made fury surge. Henry clenched his fist at Morana’s sneering eyes, but Edgar, standing beside him, merely patted his son’s shoulder and stepped forward.
“Yes, Morana, was it? No need to worry. We will not kill you. You are a precious source of information on the Void Cult—why would we kill you?”
“Mmph…… Heh heh…….”
Even at Edgar’s words, Morana kept her sneer and let out a derisive sound through the gag. Yet despite that mockery, Edgar still wore a leisurely smile as he slowly raised his hand.
“However…… it does seem a waste to leave iron balls on arms we no longer need.”
The instant he finished speaking, magic shot from Edgar’s hand.
Slash───!
It lasted only a fraction of a second, yet the cold cutting sound rang clearly through the quiet prison. Immediately afterward came Morana’s scream—a scream the gag could not fully contain.
“Mmmph!!! Mmph…!!!”
Bright red blood spurted from the stump of the arm that had just been severed by that cutting sound. Morana’s scream rose as desperately as the fountain of blood. Edgar, however, did not so much as blink at the scream or the spray of blood; he simply moved his hand once more.
“You will never need to hold a staff again, so those arms would only have been heavy, would they not?”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Morana’s other arm was severed as well. In less than ten seconds both of her arms lay on the floor.
“……!!!”
Looking at Morana, who could no longer even scream properly, Edgar kindled fire above his palm and spoke again.
“I will say it once more—there is no need to worry. We will not kill a precious informant like you.”
Immediately after, accompanied by the sound of flames consuming Morana’s severed arms—
───!!!
—a horrible shriek that could not even form into sound twisted through the prison.