CHAPTER 1 A SCENE AT THE CAMP
“Guahhh…”
Lefiya was listless.
She still had Mind to spare, but her body was exhausted from all the Concurrent Casting.
“Good work, Lefiya!”
“You were a huge help out there. Here, dinner.”
“Ah, thank you…”
Tiona and Tione encouraged her.
A moonlit night had fallen. Loki Familia’s camp had been set up at the edge of the plain, a position that would let them stare down at the Rakian army. Ares Familia’s encampment was visible in the distance, but the surrounding tents lit by campfires and magic-stone lanterns all belonged to Orario’s familias.
Lefiya had been maneuvering around the battlefield to launch her attacks since the very start of the fight. All according to Finn’s plan. She had satisfactorily fulfilled her role by providing mobile fire support, blowing holes in the enemy’s defenses and their strategy as well as training her Concurrent Casting ability.
“But really, you were amazing today, Lefiya! As your roommate, I’m proud.”
“What are you feeling proud for? Well, this isn’t exactly making the best of a less-than-ideal situation, but I think the captain probably intended to use the battle to put Lefiya on display for everyone in and outside Orario.”
“You mean as ‘the successor of the city’s strongest mage,’ right?”
“Oooh, I get it. Like announcing to the world that Loki Familia’s still got it. Telling everyone ‘check out our future first-tier adventurer.’”
Some of the familia’s girls were sitting down together. Lefiya’s roommate, the magic user Elfie; the other human Narfi; the catgirl Anakity; and the elf Alicia all chimed in as Lefiya quietly sipped at her stew, looking down.
“What future first-tier adventurer?…I’m nowhere near that yet. I didn’t even manage to do everything the captain asked without messing up today…”
“You performed perfectly today, Lefiya. You did your job just fine.”
“But I couldn’t completely control my magic; the spells kept getting too big…And I think I accidentally got other familias caught in the cross fire as well…”
Alicia, the spotter for Lefiya’s support fire, started to smile.
Apparently, Orario’s merchants and merchant familias had made a mysterious request for them not to kill any of the enemy soldiers. This came as a relief for Lefiya, who had never killed another person, but it required a precise control on her spells. Finn had also issued his orders with the intent to force the enemy to fall back and withdraw.
Alicia was considered a veteran even when counting the entire familia. She gently tried to soothe the younger elf, but Lefiya was her own harshest critic.
Not to torture herself, but because of her intense drive to improve.
“I dunno about the details, but I thought you were amazing! You were flinging out spells with Concurrent Casting left and right like Riveria, and the other side just kept screaming!”
“Yes, it was amazing when you blew them away. Us front-liners didn’t even get to do much.”
“Um, I think Mister Gareth took on a whole squad of knights or something…” Lefiya countered.
“Well, Gareth’s a special case. Ahhh, to have the captain rely on you…I’m sooo jealous~.”
Tiona looked up with a smile, pausing between bites of stew, jerky, and fruits to speak while Tione seemed a bit sulky as they both reassured the young girl about her contribution to the battle.
While Lefiya had been in the spotlight with her eye-catching support-fire mission, Tione and the other first-tier adventurers had gone to work elsewhere, acting as a diversion and aiming for weak points, which, in a sense, had prevented the enemy from achieving their true objectives. It was clear that Finn had put a heavy emphasis on pursuing a strategy that would prevent the situation with Rakia from getting any worse, but that was irrelevant for the Amazon who had a burning desire to be useful to the person she loved.
Lefiya laughed nervously as Tione glanced over at the boys’ group, where there was one other person whom Finn valued highly—at least that’s what she thought.
“Bete, let’s have a meal together!”
“How about a drink?!”
“Shut it! Leave me alone! Don’t crowd me, you losers! The hell’s gotten into all of you?!”
“Give it up already, Bete. It was over once Loki tricked you. If ye don’t want to get along with the greenhorns, then give me a hand and get me seconds.”
Across from Lefiya’s group, the guys had formed a lively cluster around Bete.
“Don’t get cocky, old man!”
The werewolf howled as Gareth joined in on the fun.
“…They sure are in high spirits.”
“To think we’d see a day when everyone wants to be around Bete…”
Anakity was exasperated while Narfi’s response was filled with trepidation.
Since the recent incident, the other members of the familia had begun to idolize him. Men and women alike. Bete’s bluntness had not changed, but it was having the opposite effect on people now.
Lefiya was starting to feign a laugh when a certain girl suddenly appeared, approaching Bete from behind.
“Hwa! Lena arrives on the scene! Yoo-hoo, Bete Loga!”
“Gah?! The hell are you doing here?!”
“When armies are on the march, prostitutes always follow! I tagged along with Aisha and the others when they decided to go fishing for men. All I had to do was ask, and High Novice let me right in.”
“Raul! You dumbass! Don’t just let this thing come into our camp!”
“Sorry, because of the issue with the key, I couldn’t just turn her down…”
“Aisha and the others went hunting for Rakia’s knights, but don’t you worry—I’ve only got eyes for you, Bete Loga! If you’re all tense from standing on the battlefield, then just let me take care of you tonight…!”
“Beat it!”
“Hng-waaah!”
Lefiya’s false laughter faded as Lena cried out, her yelp tinged with an edge of pleasure. The girls lost the thread of their conversation as pandemonium unfolded on the boys’ side of the camp. Shaking their heads, one after the other, they wrapped up their supper and stood to put away their dishes. The last to finish, Lefiya stood to follow the others.
…If only I had more power…
Trailing behind Tiona and the others as they chatted, Lefiya pondered the conversation they had been having earlier.
More people might have been saved if only I…Leene and the rest might still be here with us.
She understood it was a presumptuous and meaningless hypothetical, but she couldn’t help herself from thinking about it. No, everyone else was surely thinking it, too.
And of course, the werewolf who couldn’t stand any weakness must have felt it even more keenly than she did. They were all simply holding themselves together in order to focus on the Rakian invasion as consummate professionals.
But because Lefiya was engrossed in her hunger to improve, she never noticed.
The old Lefiya, who used to respond nervously or withered and lost her nerve at any mention of her being Riveria’s successor, was gone. Her azure eyes only looked higher.
As the night deepened, she turned upward.
The starry sky and the beautiful, distant flickering of the heavens spread before her.
“…I want to be…stronger.”
Softly, she whispered this to herself.
Except for the lookouts, the camp fell into slumber.
The fragrance of the grassy plains, foreign to Orario, drifted on the wind as a dim darkness enveloped everyone.
And among the sea of tents, the light of a magic-stone lantern seeped out of one of them.
“Lefiya…Are you still awake?”
Sheets rustled as her roommate, Elfie, turned to glance at her.
The sound startled Lefiya, who had been on her stomach reading a book by the light of a magic-stone lamp.
“S-sorry, Elfie, everyone. You can’t sleep with the light, right?”
“Nah, I’m fine with a night-light, so it isn’t a problem, but…”
The book was a treatise on magic. As Lefiya dimmed the light, Elfie and the hume bunny Rakuta made odd faces.
There was no need to obsess over developing her skills in a situation like this.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login