Interlude The Old Man and The Witchy Little Ladies
“Loooser, loooser.”
…Why in the world am I being mocked by a six-armed little lady riding on a spider, hm?
Whew. Let’s calm down.
First, I suppose I should look back at how I got here.
My name is Ronandt.
I was born… Ah, no, I suppose that’s going too far back.
But I ended up in this here elf forest because Prince Hugo ordered me to come.
Despite how I might seem, I am still the head mage of the imperial court, and I cannot refuse an order from the crown prince.
Even if I was less than enthused about the prospect, to say the very least…
Well, can you blame me?
Here we are in the height of the war against the demons, and suddenly we’re declaring war on the elves and heading out on the offensive. It makes no sense whatsoever.
There has to be something going on behind the scenes.
But knowing that doesn’t mean I can do a single thing about it by myself.
Folks may call me the strongest mage in all of humanity, but there is still much I’m incapable of.
Which is why I am being forced to throw myself into this battle against the elves, as ordered…
But that was all well and good at first.
I was put in charge of a separate troop from Prince Hugo and instructed to proceed on a different route.
Obviously, I took advantage of that situation to put on a show of proceeding slowly and carefully, delaying the march as much as possible.
It simply seemed beyond foolish to put my life on the line for such a senseless battle.
But once we made contact with the enemy, of course we had to fight, and I will admit that a part of me did always want to try fighting the elves one day.
After all, the legends say that elves excel at magic above all else.
I may be the strongest mage in all humanity, but folks still often compared me to the elves, wondering whether their strongest mage would be stronger than me.
Unfortunately, I haven’t the slightest idea who the strongest elf mage is, and elves rarely use magic in front of humans at all, leaving me with no way to truly compare.
Will my magical prowess make any headway against the elves?
I must confess, I was always curious.
…But I never expected that I would be the one with the overpowering advantage.
Elves excel at magic, my foot.
They can’t even deal with my magic sniping properly!
Hell, my apprentices could do better than this.
Disappointed in the baseless rumors, I foolishly proceeded to take out my anger on all the elf soldiers I could find.
Next thing I knew, we’d gotten ahead of Prince Hugo’s battalion.
Dear me, how very careless!
If only I had known where that carelessness would lead…
The elves may have been a letdown, but then I found a strange, gigantic metal golem of sorts blocking my path.
Golems are humanoid monsters made of earth and stone, but what stood in front of me was more like metal armor.
I compare it to a golem for lack of any better description, but it was clearly something else entirely.
Since it was inside the limits of where the elves’ barrier stood, it must have been a creature that worked for the elves, not a wild monster.
It was when I tried to Appraise it that everything changed.
<Cannot Be Appraised>
“All units, retreat!”
The second I saw that result, I gave the order to withdraw.
In all my life, there have been very few creatures that I could not Appraise.
Indeed, with the Appraisal skill at level 10, it was strange that there was anything at all that could resist my Appraisal.
I suppose that is why when I cannot Appraise something, I must assume that it is far stronger than anything I can handle.
And as if to confirm my fears, the metallic golem pointed a strange pipe-like shape in my direction and fired something.
I was only able to dodge it in time because I was already on highest alert.
Even then, the shock wave still threw me aside.
But the soldiers directly behind me were not so lucky.
They were blown away, blood spraying everywhere.
It looked as if they had literally blown up.
Their limbs flew in every direction, holes gouged through their torsos.
Each time one of these mysterious objects that I couldn’t even see flew past, more of my subordinates died horrible deaths.
I immediately fired magic at the metal golem.
Without holding back at all.
But the metal golem easily dodged my flame arrow.
Hrm. Just as I feared.
Sure enough, the metal golem was too powerful to defeat by any ordinary means.
I was the only one of us who stood a chance.
I would just have to bring up the rear and buy my soldiers time to escape, it would seem.
I constructed a spell.
Throughout my life, I had polished my magic fundamentals to the best of my ability, especially after encountering that master.
These fundamentals also served as a secret technique.
I created ten arrows of flame.
Each one flew at full speed, completely under my control.
But the metal golem evaded more than half of them.
And even those that hit didn’t appear to deal much damage at all.
It likely had high defense, true to its armor-like appearance.
It had high-speed mobility, too, and those mysterious long-distance attacks.
Whatever it was, it was strong.
Strong enough to remind me of the earth dragons in the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
A shiver ran down my spine.
But by bathing it in magic, I had at least bought a small amount of time.
My surviving subordinates had all started to run away.
But with this metal golem’s speed, it would be all too easy to catch up.
Just buying time would not be enough.
I had to take out a single leg at least, even if it cost my life.
I teleported, landing behind the metallic golem.
Immediately, I wove magic.
It froze the golem’s foot.
Then I used Wind Magic for a follow-up strike.
The frozen metallic foot cracked halfway.
Only halfway.
But even so, halfway.
That should’ve brought down its mobility a fair amount.
The metal golem swung its arm back in a direction that defied how any joints should naturally function.
I froze for only a second, then dove to one side.
This creature was no proper living being, so of course it could move its joints however it wished.
But I didn’t understand that until I saw it for myself.
And the cost was my right arm and both legs.
I didn’t dodge in time.
But I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Grimacing through the pain, I constructed another spell.
I managed to complete it before the metal golem could point its strange pipe at me again.
Inferno Magic level 4: Heat Haze.
A small ball of flame forms, no bigger than my fist.
It struck the metallic golem’s body.
The effect only lasted an instant.
But in that instant, the flame consumed everything.
Heat Haze is a spell that compresses the power of a massive blaze into a small flame.
Fire-related magic is my specialty, and this was the strongest fire spell I could use.
Even the metal golem could not stand up to Heat Haze: its sturdy frame burned up, melted, and was utterly destroyed.
Got you.
I smirked, but the expression faded a moment later.
Not far away, I could see several more of the same metal golem approaching.
…I suppose this is where it ends for me, then.
Just as I began to give up hope, four shadows swooped down and attacked the metal golems.
They destroyed all the golems in a matter of seconds.
Then one of them turned in my direction.
Much to my surprise, it turned out to be a little girl riding a spider.
“Loooser, loooser.”
And then she began mocking me…
Hrmm.
No, it still makes no sense even if I go over it from the beginning!
I assume those metal golems must be monsters or something that work for the elves in some fashion, but then what in the world are these little girls?
Based on the fact that they have six arms, I assume they are not human.
Experimentally, I use Appraisal on the girl directly in front of me.
The result informs me that they are a species called puppet taratects.
So, just as I thought, they are monsters.
Taratects are a famous race of spider monsters.
That makes sense, given that they are riding giant spiders as mounts.
But stranger still is the fact that this little girl has a name: Fiel.
Named Monsters…
They are said to be incredibly rare creatures that serve the mightiest of monsters.
After all, since they have a name, it must have been given to them by a superior being.
But this Fiel has stats that are several times higher than the earth dragon I once faced, and on which I couldn’t make a single scratch.
Those metal golems seemed just as strong as said earth dragon, and this “Fiel” creature is clearly far stronger.
And such a powerful monster serves an even greater being?
How horrifically strong must that monster be…?
Only one creature comes to mind.
The legendary spider monster known as the Nightmare of the Labyrinth, which once showed me how truly ignorant I was of the world.
And these are spider-related monsters, too.
It is too strange to be a coincidence.
Could it be true…?
This “Fiel” character is staring at me.
Her eyes are oddly cold and inorganic, impossible to read.
She may have destroyed those metal golems, but there is no guarantee that she’s an ally.
Indeed, I have already used Appraisal on her, which could be taken as a hostile act.
I would have no right to complain if she cut me down on the spot.
…Even if she is the one who insulted me first.
As I wait with bated breath, another one of the little girls smacks this “Fiel” on the shoulder.
Then she shakes her head.
…Though she didn’t say anything out loud, that clearly seemed like a scolding, “don’t say that, even if it’s true…” type of gesture.
“…Geeezer?”
After the other girl’s intervention, Fiel appears to have amended my title.
It’s certainly much milder than “loooser,” but isn’t that still just her appraisal based on my appearance?
“Loooser… geeezer… Loo-gee!”
“You combined them?! Isn’t that even worse?!”
…Oh dear. My old heart is about to break here.
Why am I being mocked by a little girl I’ve just met, even if she is actually a monster, and being consoled with an even worse mockery?
Whatever have I done to deserve this?
Just then, the trees part, and even more of the metal golems from before appear.
“Nngh!”
I immediately get to my feet.
I’ve been using Healing Magic all this time to cure the wounds I sustained before.
I could hardly even take a single metal golem on my own, but I refuse to die lying on the ground.
I do have my pride, you know!
“Loo-gee…”
…The “Fiel” girl speaks to me in a tone that seems to say “don’t push yourself.”
“Aaargh! I am not a ‘loo-gee,’ confound iiiit!”
Like I said, I do have my pride!!
I construct a spell.
Inferno Magic level 1: Scorched Earth!
It’s a wide-ranged attack spell that covers the ground in flames.
Still, while its area of effect is larger, it’s not nearly as powerful as the level 4 spell Heat Haze.
It won’t be enough to deal a fatal blow to the golems.
But I’m just getting started!
Next I put together my second spell!
This time it’s Hoarfrost Magic level 1: Frozen Earth!
This one’s a wide-ranged attack spell that freezes over the earth.
What happens if you suddenly heat up a bunch of metal golems with Inferno Magic, then hit them with Hoarfrost Magic that drops the temperature in the opposite direction?
When something gets superheated and then immediately supercooled, it becomes incredibly fragile.
They withstood the Scorched Earth, but they couldn’t handle the Frozen Earth immediately after.
Cracks begin to form in the robots’ armor, and they fall apart.
“Hyooo-ho-ho-sho! How was that?! Did you see that?!”
I puff up my chest at the little girls.
To be honest, using magic of this level twice in a row is difficult even for me; my head throbs with the pain of being pushed to the limit, and the sudden loss of MP leaves me dizzy.
But sometimes a man has to be proud!
“Oooh!”
Fiel applauds with her six arms.
Heh. Looks like I proved that I’m not a loooser after all.
“Loo-gee!”
“I told you, I am not a ‘loo-gee’! I’ll have you know that I have a very fine name. It’s Ronandt!”
The other three girls watch me interacting with the “Fiel” girl.
Under their gaze, I get the creeping feeling that I am not being particularly mature.
But I forget all about that shame when Fiel starts teasing me again.
“Loooser?”
“Why are you going back to that now?!”
To make matters worse, even more metal golems start approaching, possibly attracted by my yelling.
The little ladies prepare their weapons to fight the golems.
It’s as if they’ve already forgotten I exist.
Now, I scarcely have any MP left after that showy battle.
It would be difficult to take on any more golems.
If these other girls are as strong as this “Fiel” child, they should be able to fight off the metal golems without my help.
But can I really give up now?
Should I shamelessly back down after being called a “loooser”?
“Yaargh! Just you watch! I’ll show you who’s the loooser!”
I have my pride, I tell you!!
Even if I cannot use such big moves any longer, I can at least support these little girls!
I’ll prove to them that I am no loser!
…Hrmm? What did I come here for again?
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