“He sure got me good.”
The old soldiers sitting on the chair laughed. He was bleeding profusely from his shoulder.
“Don’t move.”
“Oh, sorry.”
Jed, Rille-nee and the other medical staff were nimbly bandaging up a dozen or so wounded soldiers.
This was the scene I saw when I entered a house to meet Gwen-san, who had fled to the village.
Gwen-san immediately noticed me and raised his uninjured arm.
“Hey, Jou-chan.”
“Are you alright?!”
“I’m fine. I’m sorry you had to see me like that.”
He didn’t seem to be concerned about his wound. Is it not as serious as it looks? That’s good.
“Were you alright? Was Giedt of any use?”
“Yes, he was very helpful. I just wish he would treat women a little better.”
“Shut up.”
I didn’t take back what I said even though Giedt snarled at me.
Gwen-san laughed.
“I see. I see. My bad, I’ll make sure to teach him how to treat a woman.”
“Please do. But first, we must take care of this troublesome situation.”
Enough bantering to lighten up the mood, we should get down to business.
“Did your negotiations break down?”
“Yeah. I don’t have the power to throw someone with peerage into jail… I thought we were having a peaceful conversation, but he almost threw me into jail.”
He fought back and was injured in the process. He must have been outnumbered. It’s fortunate that no one died.
“Is he really trying to kill all of us?”
“I don’t know. They haven’t moved since they surrounded the village which suggests that they are trying to lock us up in here so we can’t report to the palace.”
“Oh… So, even he doesn’t know what he should do anymore.”
It would be treason to kill all the palace soldiers. I don’t think he has the guts to go that far but he doesn’t want the King to find out about this, so he was stalling for time.
How annoying!
I don’t want to be stuck here when we’ve already completed the general framework for the magic circle and can solve the problem straight away by using some of the countless magic stones in the mine.
We should get this over and done with!
“Is the feudal lord in his mansion?”
“Probably.”
“If he won’t listen to use then we’ll have to apprehend him. Is there any way to get out of this siege?”
“It would be difficult with brute force since they outnumber us, but we can create a gap for you to sneak out from by attracting their attention with something.”
“Then I’ll do that.”
I offered to cause a distraction straight away and Gwen-san’s eyes twinkled.
“We just need to draw the enemy’s attention, right? Then I can probably do that.”
“Are you going to be the bait, Jou-chan?”
“I can easily distract them with magic, but it might be difficult for me to scatter them.”
“Oh…”
Many people don’t know much about magic and perceive it to be a terrifying power. Even someone as tiny as I should be able to scare the soldiers with magic.
“Ah, that’s dangerous!”
Gwen-san was about to agree but Rille-nee quickly objected. Well, I guess she’d be worried.
“Don’t worry, Rille-nee. I won’t rush at the enemy like a soldier. I’m just going to show them a little magic from a distance.”
“Really? Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”
“I can’t say it’s absolutely safe, but I can distract them.”
“But can you even use magic that’s flashy enough to attract the enemy’s attention?”
Giedt hit a sore spot since he knew I was bad at magic.
“I can use large scale magic too. It just takes longer for me to activate them, so it’s difficult to use it in succession.”
“You’re not good at magic, Aime?”
Lux-san the only outsider in the room joined in on the conversation. He also followed me into the room to get an update on the situation.
Is this person good at magic?
“Are you good with magic, Lux-san?”
“I’m alright with it. I haven’t used magic in a long time, but I do know some flashy magic. Should I help you with distracting the soldiers?”
Thankfully, he offered to help before I asked him.
“Can you?”
“I’d be happy to help, and we haven’t finished adjusting the magic circle that we made.”
“Thank you very much! I’ll give you half of my magic stone.”
I haven’t used it much so there should still be plenty of mana in it even if I halve it.
I’m sure we’ll manage to distract them with two mages. I’m glad Lux-san is here.
“Can you launch a surprise attack on the mansion while we distract the enemy?”
“Yeah, I’ll get ready right away.”
Gwen-san stood up and immediately gave instructions to his men.
“Aime…”
Rille-nee approached me while everyone was moving about. She’s still worried; I guess it’s impossible to make her feel completely at ease.
Rille-nee put her hand behind her back while I was thinking about what to say and held out the blue gem necklace that the general had given her.
“I’m sorry I’m of no use. Please wear this as a good luck charm.”
“No, it’s fine. You wear it.”
I pushed back her hand. I’m thankful for her thoughtfulness but I really don’t need the necklace.
“But…”
“It’s fine. It’s full of that man’s feelings… I mean, hmm, I don’t need it.”
I wanted to diss the general but held back and smiled brightly at Rille-nee.
“Say, I heard that mages are people who are loved by God, so nothing bad will happen, and Lux-san will be with me.”
“Alright… don’t do anything reckless, okay?”
“I won’t.”
I managed to get Rille-nee to take back her necklace. Phew.
In the meantime, Gwen-san’s strategy had been decided.
He said that the injured soldiers would stay in the village to guard it even though they could move and only the uninjured soldiers would go to the feudal lord’s mansion. So, Giedt was placed in the ambush team.
“Take care of the boss, Giedt,” I said as he went to get ready with the other soldiers.
“Make sure you hit him for me too.”
“Yeah, leave it to me.”
Giedt slammed his fist into his palm, he was ready to hit the feudal lord. He must have been pretty pissed off at the feudal lord as well. I do feel sorry for the feudal lord considering his position, but his actions are inexcusable.
“Don’t mess this up.”
“I won’t!”
After cheerfully answering and seeing Giedt off, I borrowed Lux-san’s tool and broke my magic stone in half. I don’t think this is a waste since we urgently need it to be broken.
“The opening spell minfairre, and the sealing spell is alma.”
He could find out the former spell without me telling him, but he won’t be able to find out the latter spell, so I just told him both of them.
“Minfairre and alma? That’s an interesting combination. What was the question for the sealing spell?”
“It was 《to see a dream》.”
“Really?” Lux-san sounded intrigued.
“《Is it men who see dreams on the day of extinction?》”
Then I giggled. It sounded ominous when I connected the two sentences together.
“You really are interesting.”
“I wasn’t the one who thought that.”
I don’t know why he was so amused by this. He really isn’t someone who knows what nervousness is.
The light of the torches floated around in the plains at night. A human wall had been formed around the village with about a 12 metres gap from the village fence.
“There are so many of them.”
I peeked out slightly so that the soldiers wouldn’t find me from atop a ladder that had been propped up against the fence near the closed entrance.
I assume that the village is surrounded on all three sides since there is a river at the back of the village, so how many hundreds of people are surrounding the village? Though this was good for us since there won’t be many people guarding the feudal lord’s mansion.
“Are you ready, Lux-san?”
“Whenever you are.”
Lux-san was sitting on the ladder next to me. I made sure he was ready before standing on the fence.
“――― El Alley soldiers!!”
I was confident in my loud voice. The soldiers started whispering to themselves.
I wedged my feet in the gap between the sharp fence tips and used my left hand to grip the post to stabilise my position, then I grabbed the torch from Lux-san, who had remained hidden, with my right hand and held it up, clearly indicating my position.
I wanted to give them a chance before I threatened them with magic.
“We have already found the cause of the plague and we know how to get rid of the plague! Despite this, will you still obey the feudal lord’s command?”
The soldiers’ whispers grew louder.
My actions were a bit risky; they could shoot me with an arrow.
But I wanted them to stop the siege at their own will if possible. Soldiers aren’t dolls who can’t think for themselves.
“Are you more afraid of your master’s blunder reaching the King’s ears than of losing lives than can be saved or having people who live on the same land as you suffer?!”
The whispers of the soldiers quietened down.
“Put down your weapons and stop this siege if you have the will and courage!” I said and waited.
But they didn’t move.
I believe they know that there’s no point in doing this, but they can’t obey a little girl who they don’t know. I kind of hoped that they would.
Fine.
“Then you are our enemies.”
I thrusted the torch in my right hand towards them as a warning ――― and released all the mana that was stored in my body.
“Invartica!”
The flames from the torch became a huge dragon which flew calmly in front of the soldiers.
The flames danced so violently that the loyal soldiers screamed and ran for cover.
Hmph, even I can do something like this if I have plenty of time to prepare! Sadly, I can only use crappy magic if I have to suddenly cast magic!
Of course, I wasn’t planning on hurting the soldiers. I just wanted to scare them with this.
I disturbed them until the flames died down and their siege loosened and moved further away from the village. I might be able to completely break this siege instead of just attracting attention at this rate.
“Your turn, Lux-san.”
“Okay.”
I passed the baton onto Lux-san since I needed to store up mana again.
Lux-san stuck his head over the fence and muttered a small incantation.
“Vulcantilla.”
The sky instantly exploded.
A fireball as large as the sun exploded in the sky behind the soldiers and scattered. Sparks of fire poured down to the ground like rain.
The flames spread to the grass and trees and the area was becoming brighter by the second.
“Lux-san! That’s too strong. Everything’s going to burn!!”
“Woah, sorry.”
The village will catch on fire at this rate!
I was trying to cast some kind of water magic, but Lux-san was quicker than me.
“Areus, toe.”
I heard a dreadful sound from behind me and when I looked up, I saw a large amount of water flow over the village.
Did he pull water from the river!?
It leaped over the village and fell onto the burning plains and even washed away the soldiers. The area became dark because the flames had been put out and the water looked like a black squirm.
It swallowed the soldiers’ screams. This looks too horrible.
“Lux-san!?”
“Don’t worry, they’re not dead. They aren’t.”
But they look like corpses after the water receded.
Are you sure?! Are they really not dead?!
“You broke the siege all by yourself…”
“I did too. My performance is better than usual.”
It doesn’t change daily. Alright, my ass.
This person is exceptional whether as a mage technician or a mage.
The raid team will be able to reach the feudal lord’s mansion safely now. I wasn’t needed.
“Did you make all those amazing spells yourself?”
“They’re based off the one I got from your master,” Lux responded to my innocent question.
I had a feeling it was like this since his eye colour, facial features, aura, and the fact that he was a mage technician all pointed to it from the beginning.
So, I wasn’t surprised by his unexpected words.
“So, you are Master Finn’s son.”
He neither confirmed nor denied this and continued as if talking to himself, “I thought he was your Master since I could see his habits in the magic circles you drew. I see, so he’s still in Traus.”
Lux-san whispered indifferently and didn’t ask me anything else.