Assignment (3)
Lawrence propped his chin on his hand.
To pass the assignment, he would have to kill a slave.
If the examiners at the magic tower truly intended to ask for that, then he would kill one without hesitation.
Of course, he felt sympathy.
It was also true that he did not want to do it if he could help it.
But neither did he want to be on the receiving end of a slave’s suffering.
Slaves were slaves.
The ones captured by mages were forced to endure magical experimentation disguised as torture. If anything, ending their pain at once might be the kinder act.
At the cowardly way he tried to justify himself, Lawrence gave a wry smile.
“If I can use magic against a slave, then passing is basically guaranteed. Depending on your intent, staying at the magic tower shouldn’t be difficult either.”
“I don’t know if things will go that smoothly. People are one thing, but monsters are hard to kill. If, say, an orc were to resist desperately, I don’t think I’d be confident I could kill it this way.”
“Not confident? Have you fought orcs before?”
“Does anyone not know what an orc is? I even saw one being treated like a slave just now.”
That barely even counted as a slip of the tongue.
“I don’t understand why you’re worried about that,” Lawrence said, as calmly as ever.
The man designated as Number 14 went on.
“To put it bluntly, we’re not going to be fighting the orc one-on-one. It’s enough if you support from the rear with magic. Like that Water you handled earlier—if you just make breathing difficult, that’s enough. Unless they’re idiots, the rest of the party will seize the opening.”
“But you won’t always have a party, will you?”
He was speaking as though every battle involved fighting alongside someone else.
“You’re saying something amusing. What kind of addled mage fights monsters alone? Mages shine in large-scale conflicts—many against many. There’s no need for them to face a small number of enemies. In fact, they shouldn’t.”
There was a trace of laughter in Number 14’s voice.
“There’s nothing more foolish than using a butcher’s knife to catch a chicken. Everything has its proper place. If a lord uses a territorial mage that way, then he’s just a foolish noble who doesn’t understand the value of a mage.”
The boy, who had been about to argue otherwise, closed his mouth.
When he thought about it, the man wasn’t wrong.
All the mages who settled at the magic tower did so on the assumption that they would serve as territorial mages.
If you stood under a noble, having private soldiers was only natural.
And any lord who understood the value of a mage would certainly pay attention to the bodyguards as well.
So that they would never be exposed to danger.
And so that, if the worst came to pass, those guards would use their own lives as shields to protect the mage.
In no uncertain terms, Lawrence was the odd one out.
He was the one fighting monsters alone.
Was that why there had been no mages among the mercenaries?
At the thought that suddenly came to him, the boy covered his mouth.
It wasn’t a matter of pay.
A mage working alone as a mercenary was simply too dangerous.
The blind blades of fellow mercenaries were frightening enough, but mercenaries were a profession that always came face-to-face with monsters.
Unless you could trust a party like comrades in a mercenary company, you often had to stand alone against multiple monsters.
Even Lawrence had narrowly escaped death more than once.
Only then did he fully understand why Cedric had spoken so highly of the Shadow Mage song.
Lawrence had crossed the line of death time and again in real battles.
He was utterly different from the ordinary mage, those who belonged in a garden like ornamental flowers.
* * *
Lawrence followed his guide deep into the magic tower.
The room where the assignment would be carried out was neither upstairs nor below.
They headed straight down a circular corridor that spiraled around and around.
Portraits hung at intervals along the hallway.
It wasn’t imagination that made them feel vaguely familiar.
They seemed to be the same sort of paintings he had seen along the path from the magic tower’s entrance to the counter.
“May I ask who these people are?”
“They’re the former tower masters and deans.”
The guide answered readily, as if there was nothing to hide.
“All of them?”
“The tower’s history is long. Some lived short lives, some lived long ones, and some left their mark on history itself. If you were to name the most famous among them… yes, there’s the first tower master, Leono, whose statue is being erected this time.”
Leono?
The name was familiar to Lawrence as well.
A famous legend. They say that whenever the Archmage Leono used magic, tempests would rage and sparks of fire would fall from the sky. According to the tale, that was how the Anabram Desert of the Sultaniya Kingdom came to be.
It was a story Lenard had once told him.
Lawrence remembered it clearly because he had scoffed at the idea of believing such a thing.
“That’s right. As expected, Leono is the most famous.”
After hearing Lawrence’s answer, the guide nodded.
“Then is it true that Leono created the Anabram Desert?”
“It is. You know there was a war between the Sultaniya Kingdom and the Lian Kingdom in the past, yes?”
“Yes, well… I understand it was a long time ago.”
It was, quite literally, a story from before Lawrence was born.
He didn’t know the details, only that many people had died.
Still, a great deal of time had passed since then.
The scars of war could probably be said to have all but vanished.
Hadn’t Morris said as much?
That craftsmen from Albrade Port City sometimes moved on to the Sultaniya Kingdom.
If the two nations were still enemies, then they would never have accepted people from the Lian Kingdom.
“Strictly speaking, the desert was not created because someone wanted to create a desert. In the place where the desert now lies, there was once a prosperous capital of the Sultaniya Kingdom.”
“You mean the capital turned into a desert?”
“The capital was called Mera. They say it was a city where the culture of foreign lands bloomed in splendid brilliance, but well… now that it has become the Anabram Desert, there’s no way to know what it was really like.”
The guide continued, “If you were to excavate the dunes, who knows what might turn up?”
“That’s why the people of the Sultaniya Kingdom always say the same thing over and over: Remember Mera. They say the hatred of that day has grown a little weaker now, but the history written in blood and more blood left an irreparable scar on the Sultaniya Kingdom.”
“Remember Mera….”
Short, but powerful.
Just a few words, and yet they carried the pain of the Sultaniya Kingdom within them.
“If you ever meet someone from the Sultaniya Kingdom, be careful. A normal subject of the kingdom is one thing, but people from Mera have a pathological hatred for the kingdom’s mages. Some will try to kill you without a second thought, so if you let your guard down, you may die on the spot.”
“……”
Lawrence nodded heavily.
He followed the guide into the room.
The room for the assignment was similar to the one he had seen underground.
Bookshelves and tables. A fairly spacious room. Across from the door, a familiar mage stood waiting with paperwork in hand.
“Long time no see, Number 13. I never expected you’d solve the assignment this quickly.”
It was Malcolm.
His face was still deeply shadowed by dark circles.
“It’s been a while. I thought I was late, but I suppose that isn’t the case.”
“Hardly. You came only two months after receiving the assignment, which is very fast compared to the others.”
That matched what Number 14 had said.
Even after two whole months, Malcolm was still calling him fast.
“Of course, whether you solved the assignment well is something we’ll see now.”
What each of them wanted was to use their time efficiently.
There was no need to keep waiting.
Malcolm got to the point.
“Number 13. The tower’s assignment concerns the practical utility of the Water spell. If you’ve prepared a manuscript in advance, please submit it now.”
“I haven’t written one. I intend to prove the assignment in practice.”
“In practice. Good. That will make it easier to demonstrate the utility of Water. Very well, then, show me.”
This entire room was the examination hall.
Steeling himself, Lawrence said, “If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to request a target.”
“A target?”
“Yes. I’d like to use a living goblin as my target.”
In other words, he was making his move first.
If he had to use magic on a slave, then better a monster than a person.
And considering how Water was best used, a goblin was better than an orc or an Under Wolf.
“Your confidence is refreshing to see. I never expected you’d request a living slave right from the first assignment.”
As though he found it genuinely entertaining, Malcolm burst into laughter.
“Very well, Number 13. I’ll commend your enthusiasm and request a fresh goblin slave. However, if the result is unsatisfactory, you’ll be paying for the slave yourself.”
A short while later, a goblin in a cage was brought into the room.
Compared to the ones commonly encountered on the road, it was rather small.
Perhaps slavery only worked while they were still young, because the creature never stopped gnawing at the cage bars.
“A fairly useful goblin. It hasn’t yet been subjected to mental magic, so its wildness is still intact. Number 13, I don’t know what method you plan to use with Water, but you should be able to see a reaction similar to that of a wild goblin.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
“Consideration? Not at all. I’m a mage before I’m an examiner. I simply want to see the abilities of a promising junior mage as soon as possible.”
They had plenty of room.
Since the goblin was small, it could even run about if it wanted.
He would make the Water larger than the one he usually practiced.
But not too large.
He would make it broad enough to account for the goblin’s head, while still giving it a shape that could move swiftly.
At last, he caught hold of the finished image in his mind.
“Water.”
The moment Water rose, Malcolm’s hand moved.
Apparently, the paperwork had been the scoring sheet for the assignment.
For now, he had no intention of showing his first approach.
If he failed to pass the assignment with his second approach, he would have to use it, but if possible he wanted to avoid that outcome.
“Please continue.”
Water, following his will, drifted toward the cage.
When the goblin saw it coming, it became wary.
Baring its sharp teeth, it crouched low, ready to spring.
Not yet.
Having confirmed the reaction, Lawrence halted the Water.
He had no intention of attacking immediately.
He would wait until the goblin’s guard slipped.
A dull stretch of time followed.
The goblin glared at Water, and Lawrence maintained the spell.
Eventually, the goblin’s wariness shifted into curiosity.
It stretched a hand toward the water inside the cage.
Water was no different from ordinary water.
The goblin brought it to its mouth, and its expression changed.
Maybe it had been too tense to notice its thirst. Once it tasted the water, it pressed its face into the Water and began to drink greedily.
He had been waiting for this.
Lawrence moved his hand.
Water swallowed the goblin’s head.
-!?
No one could hear the goblin’s scream from within the water.
Startled by the sudden turn of events, the goblin flailed its arms.
But no matter how wildly it moved, the Water would not come away.
What maintained that shape was not ordinary water.
The Water Lawrence created would never scatter.
Only then, perhaps realizing the truth, the goblin began to thrash in an attempt to escape.
Bang! Bang!
Its body slammed against the cage bars.
It didn’t care that bruises were blooming all over it.
But resistance was meaningless.
Water clung viciously to the goblin’s head.
It did not take long for the poor creature’s struggles to cease.
It no longer moved.
Even after seeing it stop, Lawrence kept the Water in place for a while longer. A moment later, when he saw the goblin’s complexion had turned blue, he withdrew the spell.
“I’ll confirm it. Please wait a moment.”
Malcolm approached the cage.
He touched the goblin inside here and there.
He lifted its arm to inspect it.
He jabbed its leg.
Then he burned its body with Fire before stepping away from the cage.
“This is truly astonishing. Excellent skill.”
“You flatter me.”
“No, really. You said you would prove it in practice, and to be honest I was concerned. Maintaining Water is difficult enough as it is, but there are few who can manipulate it with this degree of precision. Among the four elemental attributes, water is the most troublesome to handle.”
He wrote something on the scoring sheet, then set down his pen.
“Number 13. You’ve passed the assignment. I’d like to invest in your future. The exact answer will be given to you by Dean Androf, of course, but I’d like to arrange a place for you in the tower right now, under my own authority.”
Malcolm added that this was a highly unusual matter.
“Thank you. But I’d rather not give you my answer on the spot. I’d like some time to think.”
“Of course. I’ve probably surprised you by saying this so suddenly. Since you’re at the workshop anyway, there’s no need to enter the tower until after you’ve finished there.”
It was the answer of someone who hadn’t even considered the possibility of being refused.
“Since I passed the assignment, I’d like to learn a new spell.”
“Why stop at a new spell? You should also be eligible for research funds now.”
Come to think of it, they had said he would receive money too.
“That’s welcome news indeed.”
“Ahaha. Of course, if you want to borrow magic books, you’ll end up spending almost all of that research funding.”
“Wait. You mean even after passing the assignment, I still have to pay money to learn magic?”
At that absurd thought, Malcolm laughed.
“You say such obvious things. The magic books of the tower are forbidden from being taken outside the tower. You should remember that they aren’t bought outright either, but managed by paying a fee to borrow them for a set period.”
Those damn bandits.
Lawrence barely managed to swallow the curse rising to his lips.
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