Miriam (3)
Lawrence was the first to catch the slightest hint that something was wrong.
The group had been setting up their meal at the campsite.
Out in one corner of the woods, they saw them.
Heads half wolf, half dog.
Goblins, with their lower bodies covered in animal hide.
There were three in plain sight, as if to make their numbers known.
Two carried swords.
One carried a spear.
Nothing especially impressive about their equipment.
A pack of goblins was heading toward the carriage.
“Lawrence?”
“Shh.”
No one in the group could have missed what that gesture meant.
“They’re goblins. The two of you should get inside the carriage. Don’t come back out until I say it’s safe.”
Above all else, the client’s safety came first.
Lawrence sent the two of them into the carriage before anything else.
First, he counted the enemy numbers exactly.
The goblins he’d seen through the trees were only three.
But he couldn’t assume that was all of them.
There was always the chance he’d missed another goblin somewhere.
And that suspicion proved correct.
One more emerged from behind a tree.
The one with the rusty bow slung across his back was idly fingering an arrow.
Relief flickered in Lawrence’s eyes.
It had been the right call to keep watching carefully.
The others weren’t much of a problem since they were carrying melee weapons, but bows were different. Anything that could attack from a distance was far more dangerous.
There was nothing more humiliating than dying to a stray arrow.
Four goblins in total.
Because they were spread out, he couldn’t wipe them all out at once.
That left him with a choice.
Go after the three with melee weapons?
Or take out the one with the bow?
The answer was obvious.
Once he’d confirmed their positions, Lawrence raised a hand.
“Shadow Spear.”
The spear of shadow manifested.
He didn’t even need to hold it himself.
Once the Shadow Spear was lined up, it shot through the air.
A small explosion burst open.
The first prey was the goblin with the bow.
When the others saw their companion driven to the ground by a sudden strike, they let out warning cries.
One of them was pointing straight toward him.
Just as he’d expected.
There was no need to panic just because his position had been exposed.
Lawrence was already casting the next spell.
“Shadow Spear.”
Goblins weren’t idiots, either.
The three who saw the second spell scattered in every direction.
One ran on all fours.
One ran with a sword clamped in his mouth.
One scrambled madly up a tree.
They were surprisingly fast.
The one running on all fours was simply fast, so Lawrence ignored him for the moment.
The one climbing the tree in a blind panic was impossible to target.
That left the Shadow Spear to go after the goblin with the sword in his mouth.
There was no scream.
The goblin caught in the explosion could no longer move.
That left two.
One of them was already right on top of him.
Lawrence drew his sword.
The moment he pointed the blade at it, the goblin that had charged on all fours stiffened into a fighting stance.
It had no idea it was making a fatal mistake.
“Fire Tail.”
There was no reason to miss the opening.
Fire Tail swept over the startled creature.
It was too late to pull back now.
Fire Tail set the goblin’s body ablaze.
Keekyeng!
A horrible sound rang out as it burned alive.
The goblin that had hurled its spear rolled across the ground, desperately trying to put the fire out.
Lawrence put it out of its misery.
The body, stripped of its head, burned quietly.
That left one goblin.
The one that had been darting between the trees.
It was running without looking back.
A wise decision.
A dead companion would not save its life.
There was no reason to court death in a fight that couldn’t be won.
Unfortunately, it had chosen the wrong opponent.
“Shadow Spear.”
The distance was long.
Between the trees, the goblin was hard to make out.
And the obstacles were obvious enough.
Every tree in sight was an obstruction.
Still, he didn’t need to be deceived by what he could see.
Lawrence closed his eyes and focused.
A pale thread of smoke rose within the blackened clockwork of his mind.
All that remained was to follow the line and strike.
Opening his eyes, Lawrence threw the Shadow Spear.
Krark!
Trees weren’t enough to buy time.
The spear of shadow struck the goblin in the back as it fled.
-!?
A short, cut-off cry rang out.
The goblin tumbled from the tree and then vanished from sight.
Lowering his hand, Lawrence checked the area around him.
It was still too early to relax.
Given that goblins usually moved in packs, there might be more nearby.
As he looked around, he suddenly felt a gaze on him.
Not from the front.
It was coming from behind.
He turned to find the two of them peeking out from the carriage.
“I told you to stay in the carriage. I didn’t tell you to stick your heads out….”
He had no idea what they thought they were doing, exposing themselves like that.
“You’re even more impressive than the rumors said! I never dreamed you were such an incredible mage, Lawrence!”
Lionel’s voice held genuine admiration.
“I had no idea magic could be this beautiful. Do all mages handle magic the way Lawrence does?”
Miriam seemed just as amazed.
From the look of it, they must have watched the entire fight from start to finish.
“Please stay inside for now. There may be more goblins around.”
“Then couldn’t you just protect us if they show up?”
“Arrows don’t have eyes. If an attack comes that I can’t react to in time, I won’t be able to protect the two of you.”
There was no harm in being careful.
At Lawrence’s warning, Lionel, who had been about to climb out of the carriage, stopped.
“…….”
Apparently he had no intention of pulling his face back in, though.
Lawrence kept checking the surroundings.
Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any other goblins nearby.
The buzzing of insects slowly drifted in on the breeze.
With one worry set aside, Lawrence looked at the goblin he’d burned black.
There was nothing there worth money.
He knew that already.
From the beginning, he hadn’t been thinking about harvesting anything.
The only goblin byproduct worth money was the hide.
If he’d wanted to preserve the hides, using Bind would have been better than Fire Tail.
But the situation hadn’t allowed for that kind of patience.
This wasn’t like the time he’d hunted an orc by himself.
Lawrence was here on an escort request.
The client’s safety had to come first.
The goblins’ speed had been the issue.
If he’d tried to catch them with Bind and missed, it could have turned into a serious accident.
He wasn’t going to risk needless danger just to earn a few more coins.
Besides, goblin hides stank terribly.
There was no guarantee Lionel would buy them on the spot, either.
And even if he did, they only had one carriage.
Stuffing a carriage with foul-smelling goblin hides would have been miserable in more ways than one.
The road to the Magic Tower was still long.
He had no desire to spend the rest of the journey breathing in that stench every time he turned around.
Just in case, he checked the heart—but, as expected, there was no mana stone anywhere to be found.
“You can come out now.”
As if they’d been waiting for those exact words, the two of them emerged.
“I think we’ll need to set up camp somewhere else.”
No matter what, they couldn’t eat here.
The smell of goblins burning alive was enough to turn the stomach.
“What a pity. This spot was close to the river, so water was easy to get.”
“For now, let’s use what water we’ve already secured, and I’ll make up the rest if we need it.”
“What do you mean by that?”
At Lionel’s question, Lawrence lifted a hand.
“Water.”
A fairly large sphere of water rose into the air.
It was more than enough to quench their thirst.
So surprised was Lionel that he couldn’t answer right away.
“Is this safe to drink?”
“It’s fine. I can’t make a lot of it, though.”
In response to Miriam’s question, Lawrence drank from the Water.
It was safe.
After wetting his throat, he sent the Water over to Miriam.
She carefully brought it to her lips.
“It’s delicious!”
“Water tastes like water. What else would it taste like?”
“Real magic really can do anything.”
“No, no. Not every mage can do this. This fellow is special!”
Lionel said, jogging over to Lawrence.
“Hey. Have you ever seriously considered going into business with me? If you can make water with magic, you could make a fortune just selling water in the Ulbazar Swamp.”
His hot breath was intimidating.
Watching him snort like an overexcited ox, Lawrence quietly took a step back.
“I’ve thought about it myself, but I don’t think it’s a good idea. Water isn’t easy to use in large amounts, either. And if you wanted to make money selling water in the Ulbazar Swamp, you’d have to go during the dry season. In a place that parched, making water is even harder.”
Magic was affected by the surrounding environment.
That was one of the lessons he’d learned in the Witch’s Forest.
Using Water in an arid place and using it near the sea or a river were two completely different things.
And on top of that, Water already placed a heavy burden on his body.
It wasn’t one of the primal spells he’d learned in the Spirit World.
Magic learned from a grimoire had to be approached with caution.
“You know the swamp’s dry season too?”
“Well, that’s an odd thing to ask. Didn’t I tell you I’d been there before?”
“No, well, yes, you did, but… mercenaries hardly ever visit the swamp during the dry season. I just assumed you went during the wet season. After all, you can barely see an Eligator any time other than the rainy months.”
Lionel wasn’t wrong.
The swamp’s dry season was the off-season. The wet season was when business boomed.
“I had some circumstances, so I ended up experiencing both the dry and wet seasons.”
“Ho ho. That must have been rough. The swamp in the dry season is a truly awful place.”
“And yet people still live there.”
“Exactly. There’s always a reason people gather and live in the same place.”
Looking back on it, it was all memories now.
Of course, if someone asked whether he wanted to return to the swamp, he honestly had no desire to go back.
Dry season or wet season, it was all the same.
He felt like he’d already spent an entire lifetime in that swamp.
“But when did you become so strong? Surely you weren’t already this incredible a mage when I first met you?”
“I’ll leave that to your imagination.”
Lawrence answered with a smile instead.
* * *
The towering Magic Tower slowly came into view.
Mistra’s walls had been tall, but they couldn’t compare to this monstrous height.
Lawrence could only stare when Lionel told him it was still another week’s journey.
In the end, by the time they reached the area around the Magic Tower, the only monsters they had actually fought were the four goblins.
It wasn’t as though they hadn’t seen any monsters at all.
Every so often, he caught sight of goblins or other creatures, but they would just skulk away as if they were avoiding notice and flee.
Was this also the Magic Tower’s influence?
The monsters seemed to fear the possibility of encountering a mage.
Thanks to that, the road to the tower was pleasantly uneventful.
Listening to Lionel’s endless chatter was easier with Miriam sharing the burden, and strangely enough, it left Lawrence less tired than he’d expected. If he paid attention, most of what Lionel said came from real experience and was valuable information.
Of course, as a traveling merchant, he was also heavily influenced by rumors of uncertain reliability. Still, even that told them something about the way the world worked.
“You mean the Raynald Territory?”
“Yes. I heard that’s the family where the Sword Saint lives.”
At Lawrence’s question, Lionel hummed thoughtfully.
“It’s fairly far from here. Since it’s a family famous for its swords, I’d say they probably don’t get along well with the Magic Tower, either. Still, if you want to go, I’d recommend stopping in the royal capital first.”
“You mean Royal Capital Corintos. If I go from there, is the Raynald Territory at least somewhat closer?”
“Not really. Even if you traveled without so much as glancing sideways, it would still take three or four months, easy.”
“It’s that far even from the royal capital?”
“The Raynald Territory borders the Sultaniya Kingdom, after all. There’s no helping how far it is from the center. In fact, it might be closer if you left from the Holy See.”
Lionel really did know a great deal.
For every question Lawrence asked, he got back more than ten answers.
“The Raynald Territory is called the homeland of knights. There are plenty of knights who come seeking the Sword Saint’s honor. The local security is good, and the people there are kind-hearted too.”
“So Miriam has been to the Raynald Territory before.”
“Yes. It must have been about a year ago. I’d love to go again someday. The Sword Saint’s castle is impressive, of course, but the temple outside the city is truly beautiful.”
“A temple, you say….”
“She means St. Sophia Temple,” Lionel said, joining in as he listened.
“If you ever get the chance, you should absolutely go there. It’s a building so beautiful it can’t even be compared to the monasteries you see in ordinary towns. I don’t exactly believe in the church, but the moment I stepped inside, I felt like I was one of the goddess’s servants.”
“Mr. Lionel….”
“Honestly, now. Do you think I’m lying? I mean every word. If I felt that strongly, then you’ll probably feel even more than I did.”
Once his business at the Magic Tower was finished, going to the Raynald Territory sounded like a good idea.
He had only heard about it from Chief Priest Ignatius.
He still hadn’t met Priest Benedict, the one who had once blessed his vestments with a miracle.
“But would it really be all right? The Raynald Territory is the homeland of knights, after all. I’m not sure they’d welcome a mage.”
“That depends on the mage, I suppose. From what I’ve heard, there are quite a few mages in the territory itself. If they truly hated mages, why would they hire them?”
Lawrence quietly nodded.
They probably didn’t hate them as much as the rumors claimed.
He could be sure of that much.
After all, Lurizisa of the Raynald family was a mage.
But a mage in such a famous house of swords?
It made him think that Lurizisa was no ordinary woman.