Slayers - Volume 10 - Chapter 4

4: The End of a Lost Kingdom’s Dream

Brr! I felt a chill run up my spine. I was in real trouble here.

Zain was close. I wouldn’t have time to chant a spell. No sooner than I opened my mouth to chant, he’d leap into sword range and slice right through me. I probably couldn’t out-fence him, and escape was out of the question. The second I turned to run, I’d get a blade in the back for my trouble.

My best hope was Gourry and the others picking up on my predicament and coming to my aid, which left me with only one recourse in the moment—buying time!

“I see... You’re the only one with the ability to blink through space, then?” I asked.

“You’re free to think that, if you wish,” Zain responded coldly. (Which was fair. It would’ve been weirder if he’d responded cordially.)

“If there were others with the same ability, they’d have shown up with you. Strength in numbers, right? But the fact that they didn’t means that they can’t. I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume you’ve all got shared basic properties like magical resistance and simple no-chant spells, and then each one of you has a little something special on top, right? You can teleport, that Zord guy can create shockwave blades without incantation... et cetera.”

Zain remained silent, refusing to take the bait.

“Boy, you really have changed. Is that the demon fusion at work?”

“No,” he whispered quietly, his voice filled with rage and hate. “It’s because I learned the name of the person who destroyed our kingdom.”

The person who destroyed his kingdom? I was about to scowl in confusion, but I held my face steady. The way he was going on made this sound like a buildup to a classic “It was you, Lina Inverse!” reveal. But not even my magic could wipe out a whole kingdom. Still, if I hinted that I was about to respond with a classic of my own—“Dunno what you’re talkin’ about!”—in a sweet li’l thing voice, he’d probably rush me on the spot.

“It was after the Bezeld incident that I learned of it... and it was then that I decided to forsake my humanity.” Zain’s aura of malice swelled.

Would you guys freakin’ catch on already? Gourry, Luke, Mileena! Someone!

“Now...” Zain whispered, almost as if to steel himself, then made a slight movement.

He’s coming! I thought. But just as I braced for it...

“Lina!” Gourry burst through the door and flew to my side. But it didn’t seem like he was rushing in to save me. “You’ve got your hands full too?!”

“Too?” I asked.

Before Gourry could even respond, Luke and Mileena entered the room, backing toward us as if cornered. Luke cast a glance our way.

“More on this side, huh?” he spat out. Which meant...

“It seems our reinforcements have arrived,” Zain said.

As if on cue, more men in black appeared behind him, beyond the broken wall. There were five or six of them in total.

Zain turned his cold eyes on me. “You thought you were delaying me long enough for your comrades to arrive... but I was buying time for reinforcements as well.”

Geh! We were totally surrounded now.

“Galzard,” Zain called.

“Sir,” one of the men in black standing just outside the broken wall responded.

“Throw a Fireball into the room. Don’t be afraid to hit me too.”

“Sir.”

“What?!” the four of us called out at once.

“Carmine, a barrage of Freeze Arrows. Jake, a Dug Haute. Release them all on my signal,” Zain continued to order.

I heard someone start to chant from beyond the wall, and someone else behind the door. Not good! I didn’t have a defensive spell strong enough to protect us from all of those puppies at once, and Zain’s presence would keep us from finding cover without posing any risk to himself. He was taking pretty clever advantage of his demonic magic resistance.

“Not so fast!” Gourry charged the men at the door. But...

“Diem Wind!”

“Grh!”

A spell from one of the black cloaks kept him at bay. And just as the others finished their chants...

“Blast Ash!”

Fwom! The men past the hole in the wall were all annihilated in one hit.

“What?!” Zain turned back, aghast.

“Pardon the intrusion. I thought it might be time for a showdown, is all.” Walking slowly to where the men in black had just been standing... came the masked man.

“You!” Zain hissed.

“Oh, calm down. What kind of self-respecting royal guard has such a short temper?”

Oho? “Royal guard”? The mention of those words sent a note of panic running through the black cloaks. And just then...

“Arc Blas!”

Crackle, crackle, crack! The spell Mileena shot over her shoulder zapped the guys clustered around the door. It was an area-of-effect lightning number that wouldn’t kill in one hit, but rather would paralyze its targets and render them briefly immobile.

Next up... Whoosh! Luke ran at the men in black and felled them one after another.

“Most would call this ‘the tables turning,’ wouldn’t you say?” the masked man said airily.

At the very least, we only had Zain left to contend with now. He was no slouch, mind you, but there were five of us and only one of him. Pretty good odds for our side!

“Who are you?” Zain whispered, his eyes locked on the masked man. He seemed to be shaken more by the callout than by the loss of his comrades.

“If I said I was your fellow countryman... would you understand then?”

Zain chuckled. “Aha. Of course...”

“Someone wanna fill me in?” I asked.

The masked man replied flippantly, “Do you perhaps recall a country named Ruvinagald?”

Ah! Ruvinagald... That name snapped everything together in my mind. The Ruvinagald Republic was a country on the edge of the Alliance of Coastal Nations. Most people knew that it had been a monarchy until a few years ago, but very few knew the reason for the royal family’s dissolution.

You see, the kingdom had embarked on some secret research. That is, using humans as hosts for demons. Their objective was to strengthen their army through the mass production of demidemons that could be controlled by people other than just their summoning sorcerers. To serve as guinea pigs, they kidnapped people with an underdeveloped sense of self—in other words, children—and summoned demons from the astral side to possess them. This horrific plot was easily crushed by me (in pre-Gourry times) and a few others. This, in turn, led to the royal family’s evil deeds coming to light.

I hadn’t kept abreast of what went down afterward, but I’d heard rumors that when other countries caught wind of the incident, the Ruvinagald monarchy was dissolved and the country was reestablished as a republic. But what if the royal family behind the plot hadn’t learned their lesson? What if they’d just gone underground? The Solarians said that Lavas had appeared out of nowhere... What if he was reviving his old ambitions here, even bigger than before? That would also explain Zain’s comment about how I’d destroyed their kingdom.

In other words, Lavas hated me. It was misplaced resentment since, if you ask me, he was just reaping what he’d sown... but I wouldn’t expect a guy trying to fuse humans and demons to be the self-reflective type. The fact remained that he hadn’t resorted to the easiest method of getting rid of me and Gourry (putting a bounty on our heads to drive us out of town), however. He’d even gone so far as to try to hire us. Why? Probably to keep us close at hand for our inevitable slaughter. As for why he’d hired Luke and Mileena... it could have been mere caprice. Or a similar desire for revenge over the whole Bezeld debacle. I couldn’t be sure either way.

“I see you’ve finally caught on,” the masked man said, a smile in his voice as he noticed my expression.

“I’d say so, yeah. The only thing I can’t figure is how he got in the lord’s good graces.”

“The man calling himself Lavas is a distant relative of Lord Langmeier. I suspect he offered him asylum.”

“Impressive intelligence,” Zain whispered, confirming the masked man’s words.

“Despite appearances, I’m known to the local ladies as the sharpest inspector in the land.”

“I see... That explains why you were hiding your face like a freak, even after coming so far to pursue us,” Zain continued.

“There are many of our brethren here. Some will likely recognize me. And if you’d known who I really was, you likely would have focused your efforts on me rather than them,” the masked informant said with a glance toward us. “To be honest, I was struggling to find hard proof, so I’m grateful that their meddling brought out your true colors.”

What am I, your stalking horse?!

“Heh.” Zain chuckled at his words. “Then I suppose it’s time for a showdown indeed.” With that, he immediately began chanting a spell.

Not that I was gonna let him get away with it! I unleashed my own spell, which I’d been chanting while they were talking. “Blast Ash!”

“Void!” But a split second before it hit, Zain vanished. My spell struck empty air where he’d just been standing.

More blinking?!

“Where’d he go?” I asked, scanning all around me.

“To the castle, most likely,” the informant responded. “To report to Lavas about us.” There, he reached for his mask. “Sorry for the delayed introduction.”

Behind the mask was the face of a man in his early forties, with short, brown hair and a stern but distinguished countenance. One that I recognized, natch.

He rummaged around in his pocket and eventually produced a pendant with a crest on it. “I am Wizer Freion, inspector for the Ruvinagald Republic. I’m pursuing its former king, Belgis, and his royal guard for illegal magical experiments... Just as you surmised, Lina Inverse.”

“I see. So that’s Lavas’s real name. It’s been a while, old man. You really are pretty strong, huh?”

“You know this guy, Lina?” Gourry asked.

“A little, yeah,” I answered with a wink. He was one of the people I’d worked with to bust the operation in Ruvinagald. “I’ll tell you the whole story some other time. For now, let’s get our butts to the castle!”

The city that night was totally silent as the five of us quietly walked the empty streets toward the towering castle. After the immediate commotion died down earlier, we’d tied up the (living) sorcerers still snoozing in a corner of the room despite all the ruckus. We’d then set out for the city center. I was expecting some resistance along the way from the men in black, but we had yet to detect any.

This was all feeling... not super great, honestly. Zain had probably reported the evening’s events to Lavas, which meant the lack of attacks thus far indicated he was concentrating his forces in the castle. Forces which included demonoid fusions.

“Hmm...” I hummed, still walking. “Seems to me it’d be pretty easy to just blow away the whole castle with a Dragon Slave from here. Whaddya think?”

“No way!” Gourry shouted, apparently thinking I might be serious. “The real lord is in there, remember? And probably a lot of soldiers who are just following orders without knowing any better!”

“Yeesh, chill out, man. I was just joking, okay? Though I wouldn’t have minded if someone gave me the go-ahead...”

“You mean you’d do it if they did?!”

“Well... uh... Anyhoo, the big question on my mind is what happened to the lord’s real son, Veisam.”

“It stands to reason that he’s dead,” Mileena replied, as monotone as ever. “The lord himself is still useful to Lavas. He could shift responsibility to the old man if things get hot, for instance. But Lavas would have had no such reason to keep Veisam alive. In fact, he was probably the first to be killed.”

“What difference does it make?” Luke said, coming to a stop. We all did the same, for we’d arrived at the castle gate. “It don’t change what we’re here to do—beat the crap outta that Lavas asshole.”

Fwooom! An indiscriminate boom disrupted the dead quiet of the night. The oak planks of the wooden gate scattered like scrap paper in the face of my amplified Dam Blas. We then floated over the not-so-wide moat with Levitation and descended into the castle grounds.

I know what you’re thinking. “If you could levitate, why smash the gate?” Silly reader! Did you forget that we’d come to pick a fight? It’s best to open with a bang! Unless your opponents are especially clearheaded or just way out of your league, scaring the pants off of ’em is a sure path to victory!

“Wh-Who are you people?!”

“Where’d you come from?!”

Guards began to gather in a panic, apparently none the wiser to what was afoot. There were about ten of them in all—none of which were our old pals, the guys in black. These dudes were just an appetizer before the main course.

Okay! Time for a little warm-up rampa—

Before I could get off my spell, Luke and Mileena dashed in and... “Sleeping!” All the soldiers were out like lights.

Seriously, guys, that was... anticlimactic. What was I supposed to do with my chant now?

“Look! Above us!” Gourry’s voice rang out.

Above us? I looked up like I was told, and... just managed to keep from shouting. Standing atop the outer walls and castle roof were dozens of men in black. Their hands were outstretched, crimson orbs of light forming in them—Fireballs!

Of course! Their plan had been to fill the courtyard with ordinary soldiers to mask their own presences. Then after waiting for us to reach the center of the courtyard, they were all going to fire at once... even if it meant killing the collapsed soldiers in the process.

“Fireball!” came a chorus of incantations. Burning balls of light rained down on us en masse.

They were going to firebomb the entire area! There was no way to escape it. At least, there shouldn’t have been. But luck was on our side! The spell I’d been casting happened to be...

“Bom di Wind!”

Whooooosh! My words of power conjured a massive gale. I had originally meant to blow the soldiers away with the explosive blast of wind this spell conjured, but I’d now released it overhead instead.

Krakakrakroosh! The fiery orbs scattered, buffeted by the wind. My spell had knocked them all off course, sending them in various directions... and exploding on impact. Several of the men in black were blown away in the ensuing firestorm, while all we felt was a slight prickle of heat against our skin.

Before the flaming winds could fully die down, the five of us made a dash for the main castle’s front door.

“Hah!” With a cry of exertion but little actual effort, Gourry tore through the oak planks with his sword.

“Don’t let them escape!”

“After them!”

The men in black on the castle wall jumped down into the courtyard and poured toward the entrance after us. I know they were panicking over the fact that we trashed their super cool trap and all, but seriously, guys! Think for a minute!

Pwash! Fwoosh! Pah! Mileena, Wizer, and I unleashed a one-two-three punch of Blast Ashes at the men in black rushing toward us. Polished ’em off with no problem.

But we barely had any time to catch our breath. The guys on the roof would soon be pouring inside to head us off. I was hoping to get straight to the Lavas-punching, but there was just one holdup—we had to find the guy first!

“Luke! Mileena! Do you know where the audience chamber is? Take us there!”

“The audience chamber? How come?” Luke asked suspiciously.

Heh. He still knew so little about people!

“Isn’t it obvious? That’s probably where Lavas is!”

Wham! When we kicked in the door, we were met with a long, narrow room flanked by lines of stone pillars. A red carpet extended ahead of us, and at the end of it...

There sat a man, not a hair out of place. He had about twenty men in black around him. It was hard to believe he’d keep any in reserve at this point, so I assumed those present represented Lavas’s total local fighting force.

“Oho,” the man on the throne murmured in interest. “You arrived from the front gate faster than I expected. You must have come straight here.”

“We did. I knew you’d be here,” I said, then took a smooth step forward.

“Oh? Do tell me, then. What gave me away?”

“What else?” I pointed straight at Lavas. “Cheap little villains like you love this kind of drama!”

My insult caused an air of hostility to flare among the men in black.

But Lavas himself simply flashed a cold smile. “Cheap villains, eh? Call me whatever you like... You know nothing about me.”

“Which suits me just fine.”

“Any further conversation is pointless, then.” He rose from his throne and snapped his fingers. The men in black fanned out, forming a wall between us and Lavas. “I’ve paid my respects, so I needn’t waste any more time here. I shall continue my research underground. You lot handle the rest,” he said, and turned right around.

“You won’t escape!” Wizer shouted, rushing after him.

With that, the battle began.

“Freeze Arrow!” Mileena, rushing into combat a second after Wizer, released a pre-chanted spell.

Several of the men in black swiftly moved to dodge, creating a slight break in their formation... which Wizer charged right through!

Swsh! His sword now drawn, he sliced through any of the men in black who hesitated, then dashed onward in pursuit of Lavas.

Dang, not bad for a middle-aged man!

Still... I felt a pang of anxiety. It was about why Lavas had holed up in the audience chamber. What was his game really? The answer was obvious if you thought about it.

He saw no further benefit in holding back against us at this point, so he wanted to concentrate as many black cloaks as possible in one spot. Within the castle, the only places fit to hold dozens of people were the courtyard, the entry hall, and here in the audience chamber. So rather than hiding away in a closet before the battle started, Lavas had decided this would be the safest place for him. That was the real reason I’d assumed he would be here. My little joke earlier was just meant to provoke him... But he hadn’t taken the bait.

In other words, Lavas might’ve been a weird sadist, but at least he wasn’t stupid—and he probably still had a few tricks up his sleeve. I wanted to go team up with Wizer... but the men in black standing in our way weren’t going to let that happen.

Gourry was fighting two black cloaks simultaneously. They slashed at him in turn, but Gourry deflected both sets of attacks with speedier swordplay. There was a second clash, then a third, and one of the men suddenly lost his balance with Gourry’s parry.

Gourry didn’t miss the opening. With an upward slash, he cut through... I was about to say the man in black, but instead, Gourry leaped back and swung his sword through the air next to him.

Fwish! A small sound rang out from seemingly nothing.

“Ohh?! You can cut through them, eh?” one of the men in black said from afar in an almost gleeful voice—it was Zord!

Shing! Luke blocked a strike from above with his sword. As he did...

Slash! Mileena, slicing up from below with hers, cut open the off-guard black cloak’s stomach. She then channeled her momentum into a strike at another. Just as their swords collided...

“Bram Blazer!” Her spell knocked her new opponent down. In that moment, a silver flash came at her from the side.

“Dam Blas!”

Clink! Just in the nick of time, Luke’s spell pulverized the silver needle streaking toward her.

“You son of a...” he hissed, glaring at Mileena’s attacker—another man in black.

Silver claws grew from each of the guy’s fingertips for a full set of ten. Tink-krackle! When they touched together, sparks danced between them. Were they metal claws enchanted with some kind of lightning spell?

“Another guy who went an’ threw out his humanity, eh?” Luke whispered, then smiled boldly.

Meanwhile, my shortsword drawn, I took a defensive stance and began chanting a spell. But before I could finish it, a dark figure appeared before me. Zain again!

Shing! I just barely blocked his blade with mine, but his empty left hand continued to sail toward me. This was no ordinary punch, though. There was a magical light shining in his palm.

Not good! I thought, and in that instant, I let myself fall backward.

This seemed to catch Zain off guard. He lost his balance and had to catch himself. The stumble must have wrecked his concentration, because the magical light died in his hand as it moved through empty air.

While on my back, I kicked up at Zain’s stomach! “Guh!” He let out a small groan. Forsaken humanity or not, I guess that still had to hurt!

I let my momentum roll me back across the floor. Then as I got up, I unleashed the spell I’d recited... Not at Zain, but at another man in black!

“Flare Arrow!”

“Ugh!”

He clearly never saw it coming. My spell nailed him head-on, and the dude collapsed in place. Zain then rushed at me again, quickly closing the distance between us.

I readied my blade... then thought better of it. I had no business getting into a swordfight with a guy who could give Gourry a run for his money! Instead, I pivoted on one leg right in front of his eyes and dashed off to cross swords with another man in black.

Zain, apparently not expecting me to up and skedaddle, was slow to react. By the time he actually did, I was already deep in the fray.

Vrum! Nruum! The sound of a collapsing vacuum accompanied each slice of Gourry’s sword as he cut through the invisible blades Zord threw his way. And if Gourry’s current sword could do that, it was proof Zord’s attacks weren’t magical, but physical.

“Ohh! Very impressive!” Zord shouted gleefully as he continued to hurl his invisible blades. “I thought the first one was dumb luck, but very impressive indeed!”

Vrumm! Another soft ripping sound. And then... Fwsh! A small cut appeared across Gourry’s side.

“Yet not even you can catch them all!”

He was right. Gourry continued to counter Zord’s invisible blades, but even with my dude’s instincts and skill, it was impossible to deflect each and every invisible attack perfectly. Some of the blades Gourry cut through were breaking into shards that needled his arms and legs. The wounds were far from fatal and would probably heal on their own given time, but they were a serious drain on him in the heat of battle. They’d hurt for one thing, and for another, they’d be distracting. What would happen if he lost his focus and failed to intercept one of Zord’s invisible blades entirely? I shouldn’t even have to say it.

Seeing Gourry bloodied up and thinking it was a good opportunity, a different man in black quickly closed in on him...

“Guh!” But before he could reach Gourry, the man suddenly pitched over. One of Zord’s invisible blades had speared his chest!

“Ahahahaha! What are you, stupid?! Why did you run to your death?” Zord laughed as he watched his own comrade die.

That was the reason Gourry had remained in place, swinging his sword instead of dodging. Zord was tossing invisible blades all around, not just at Gourry. It was impossible to predict where they might go.

“Gwahahaha! How long can you hold out?!” Zord’s maniacal laughter echoed through the room.

Whk-krash! The spell Mileena unleashed obliterated the electrified claws on the black cloak she was facing. Luke lunged at the guy now that he was basically unarmed. Yet suddenly, the man’s claws grew back to the length of swords!

Tink-krackakrackle!

Electricity raced through Luke’s blade where it met the claws. It was easily enough to kill him... if he’d been holding his sword at the time, that is. Fortunately, Luke had released it the moment before making contact. And then...

“Dolph Strash!” he incanted, bursting the head of the clawed man in black! “Figured you’d try that. You guys are too freakin’ obvious,” Luke spat as he picked up his sword.

Meanwhile, Mileena unleashed the spell she’d finished casting. “Sight Frang!”

Fwsssh... Mist began to billow out from around her, filling the room. But that was all it did. Sight Frang was a nifty spell for blinding an enemy, typically to retreat, but...

“What are you doing?!” one of the men in black howled as he slashed at her.

Swsh! One slice from my shortsword took out a guy in black. Guess he’d underestimated my swordsmanship! The others quickly took their distance, swords at the ready.

Zain was coming at me from behind too. I was practically surrounded now. Time to make tracks!

“Lei Wing!” I suddenly cast my high-speed flight spell and, clad in a barrier of wind, barreled through the men-in-black blockade! I then changed course midair, turning toward Zord, who was distracted playing with Gourry. But long before I could reach him, Zain reappeared. He was standing in my flightpath, his blade leveled right at me.

Geeehhh! An old memory of a certain fishman getting filleted in exactly this way came to mind. I took desperate control of my spell and changed course again.

Huh. Wait a minute...

Struck by a crazy idea, I stuck my sword out of the wind barrier. I thought that if I cruised through some guys like this, I could take ’em all out—bam, bam, bam—but...

“Wugh?!” The second I held my sword out of the barrier, it was swept away by the wind! I also completely lost all balance and control, and...

Crash! I plowed into a nearby man in black. My spell instantly dissipated, sending me rolling across the ground. I thankfully managed to get up okay.

Yeah, probably shouldn’t have tried that... Still, it seemed I’d mowed down three or four guys in the process.

As I got my bearings, Zain dashed at me again. This was right around the time Mileena conjured her mist.

“Guh!” A shard of an invisible blade pierced Gourry’s left arm. It didn’t look like a deep cut, but it wasn’t shallow enough to just ignore either.

“Bwahaha! Reached your limit, eh?!” Zord’s laughter rang through the room... right before everything went white, courtesy of Mileena’s mist. “What?” he whispered.

Whoosh! Just then, Gourry took off at a run.

“Fool!” Zord cried, unleashing more invisiblades.

“Hyah!” Gourry swung his sword, scattering them all flawlessly. Vwssh! Pwing!

“What?!” Zord released more in a panic, but Gourry cut down every last one without the slightest splintering. It was as if he could see them coming now. “The mist?!”

Indeed, each invisible blade left a very visible trail in the mist, allowing Gourry to spot them. Of course! Mileena set this up to help him!

“Damn you!” Zord cried in panic, letting fly more blades. Gourry easily closed the gap, however. “Ngh!”

Zord reached for the sword on his belt to defend himself, but... Fwssh! Gourry’s sword, coming faster than expected, cleaved the demon-man vertically.

“What?!” one of the black cloaks swinging at Mileena cried out in surprise.

It probably looked to him like Mileena had suddenly disappeared, but in reality, all she’d done was crouch down. The mist was causing his eyes to play tricks on him. And in his confusion... Pssht! Mileena’s strike from below pierced his gut.

Luke struck down a second confused man in black, then locked swords with a third. The black cloaks were nothing to sneeze at skill-wise, but seeing one of their demon-fused allies felled thanks to Luke and Mileena’s efforts had done a number on their morale.

“Dam Blas!”

Crash! And there went another. A man in black throwing out halfhearted attacks to keep Mileena in check ended up on the wrong end of her spell.

I was now fleeing from Zain, chanting under my breath.

“You won’t escape!” he shouted after me.

When I looked back over my shoulder, I could see him in hot pursuit. Guess the grudge ran deep! He conjured a spell in his palm without an incantation and chucked it at me. Unfortunately for him, I was too far away for it to hit. I evaded the magical orb with a lithe movement. It sailed past me, disappeared into the mist, and...

Crash! I heard the sound of something breaking. It must have found one of the chamber pillars.

I continued running and ducked behind a row of the pillars lining the room. Zain was still on my tail. He was faster than me too, and quickly caught up. Magic began accumulating in his left hand again.

Now! I placed a hand to my neck and undid a small metal fastener.

Whoosh! My cape billowed off my back, and...

“?!” Zain charged right into it!

When he did, I whipped around and thrust my sword through the cape. I didn’t hit anything. Moments later, I felt a presence appear behind me. He’d blinked through space—just like I expected!

“Blast Ash!” I cast the spell behind me. Bwush!

Blast Ash didn’t require line of sight, see. You could also do things like this, reliant purely on instinct.

Clang! I heard a sword hit the ground. It was the one Zain had been holding. I turned around, and all I saw was black soot drifting in the white mist—the remains of demonoid Zain, who hadn’t even let out a scream before dying.

Wham! A handful of armed guards were on the other side of the next door we kicked in. Some were leaning against the wall, some were sitting. Some were even gathered around a table playing cards. All stopped what they were doing and looked our way as we entered.

After we’d beaten the three demonoid fusions, the rest had been easy. The men in black had completely lost their morale, and we’d polished them off with swords and spells. A few had gotten away, but we were in no position to chase them around right now. We needed to find Lavas and Wizer at once!

At least, that was the plan. Problem was, we had no idea where they’d gone. We’d set out in the direction they originally ran off in, but we eventually hit a fork in the road that stopped us cold. Thus, our group of four began searching the hard way.

Lavas had said he was going “underground” for “research.” I’d asked Luke about it on the way, but he didn’t seem to know anything about a basement research facility. Of course, a castle like this had to be full of secret passageways and hidden dungeons. There was no doubt that’s where Lavas retreated. But since Luke and Mileena didn’t know how to find the one we were looking for, we were stuck with the least efficient method possible—scouring the place room by room.

“Tch. Not here either,” Luke spat, and was just turning away, when...

“Hey! Hang on a minute!” one of the guards called out. “What the hell is going on here? When can we leave this room?”

He seemed more annoyed than anything, and genuinely ignorant of the situation. Judging from his and his comrades’ expressions, they still saw Luke and Mileena as allies... Did that mean they weren’t consciously in on Lavas’s scheme, and were being deceived themselves? I couldn’t be sure, but if they thought we were on the same side, we were definitely going to exploit that.

“You dunno what’s goin’ on at all?” Luke asked.

Another guard responded, annoyed, “Of course not. They suddenly told us to stand by until we received new orders, and that we weren’t to come out no matter what. But we’ve been hearing all kinds of ruckus for a while now...”

“We’ll explain later,” I said, speaking up.

“You were Lord Lavas’s dinner guest earlier, weren’t you?” the guard asked.

“Yeah, but we can dish about that some other time. If you know of any kind of passage to a hidden room in the basement, tell us now! We have to find Regent Lavas before something terrible happens!”

At that, the guards shared a look. I wasn’t technically lying. I’d just failed to mention that it was the lord regent doing the terrible things.

“Fine! We’ll join you!” A middle-aged man serving as their commander grabbed his sword and stood up. The others followed suit.

Of course, we didn’t really want them tagging along, but it’s not like they were gonna stand down on my account. So the four of us plus about ten soldiers, their commander at the fore, ran down one hall and then another. Soon, the commander stopped at a dead end. I exchanged glances with Gourry, Luke, and Mileena, and we stepped back from the soldiers’ ranks. The commander twisted a candlestick on the wall, pushed in a certain brick, and...

Clunk. The ostensible dead-end wall suddenly opened, revealing an entrance large enough for one person to pass through.

“Here it is,” the commander said, turning back to face me.

Nice. Good boy!

“Sleeping!” I incanted, putting the guards to sleep on the spot.

“Lighting!” With Mileena’s spell guiding the way, the four of us walked through the opening in the wall.

In short order, we found a staircase leading downward.

“Bingo!” Luke cried as he stormed down it with Mileena, Gourry, and me in tow. We hit a door at the bottom. Luke reached for the knob. “Tch! It’s locked! Hang on, I’ll—”

Before he could start a chant, Gourry stopped him and walked up to the door. Then... “Hyah!”

Cha-king! In a flash, the door fell to the floor in diced-up pieces. Ha! Who needs a key when you got Gourry around?!

The four of us stepped through, and...

“Whoa!”

I stopped and stared. Illuminated by a magical light hanging over the door was a room glittering in gold and silver. It was quite large, and filled to the brim with ornamented armor, swords, and accessories. Not just for decoration either. Anyone with an eye for sorcery could tell at a glance what they were.

“Holy crap! These’re all magic items! Oho! This necklace would look beautiful on Mileena!”

“Wahoo! Can you frickin’ believe it? Oho! This necklace would fetch a great price!”

“Is now really the time?” Mileena asked evenly.

Ah! Luke and I snapped back to our senses. Right. That whole Lavas thing... That said, there was no sign of him or Wizer around. And, I mean, we had come to the castle in the first place to swipe a magic sword. There were enough of ’em here to make a real killing on the market. Too bad we couldn’t exactly leave the inspector and the regent to their own devices while we tallied up our haul.

“Fine!” I declared firmly while filling my pockets. “We’ll save the rummaging for later!”

“You’re actually going to do it later?” Mileena whispered with a wince.

Now, if this wasn’t the underground lair we were looking for, then Lavas had to have some other hidey-hole. Did this mean going back to the “search for hidden passages” game? Just the thought made me groan.

But as I was thinking that—Crash!—part of the wall burst inward!

Say whaaat?!

When the dust cloud settled down, we saw...

“Ah... you’re all here...”

“Old man?!”

Indeed, staggering out of the dust came Wizer, the old inspector who’d ditched us to chase after Lavas. It wasn’t exactly a triumphant return either. Our guy was pretty black and blue, and he was sporting some cuts that, while not fatal, were definitely serious.

“He’s coming...”

His words brought our gazes to the busted-in wall... where a shifting figure was slowly approaching.

A demidemon?! It certainly looked like one at a glance, but it wasn’t the lesser or brass kind I was familiar with... It had the eerily pale skin of a drowning victim and three twisted horns growing asymmetrically from its head. Its body was crooked and deformed, and emitted a choking miasma.

That said, generally speaking, the higher demons ranked, the more human they looked. Which meant, as freaky as this thing was, it probably wasn’t overwhelmingly powerful. Hard to imagine how it had given the old man such a hard time...

“Oh, there you all are. Looks like you came to the wrong underground room,” came Lavas’s voice from behind the demon. Then, with unhurried steps, he showed himself.

“You! Still not dead, huh?!” Luke scoffed, drawing his sword. “You think that one little demon can do anything against us?!”

“Hmm...” Lavas stared pensively at the demon for a time. “He has been asleep in lifewater this whole time. He was a failed experiment, you see, like the ones slumbering beneath the facility where Zain lured you two.”

A failed experiment?!

“Wait a minute! Are you saying those chimeras were all originally people you kidnapped too?!” I shouted.

“Yes,” Lavas responded indifferently, still peering up at the demon’s face.

The bastard!

“This demon is a rather special case, though. I carelessly piled on the abilities... and it put a tremendous strain on the body. That’s why he looks the way he does. He’s unstable and imbalanced, although he has a great deal of power to make up for it.” He paused for a moment, then turned to face us again. “Allow me to introduce... Half-Demon Experiment Mk. 1, Veisam Fritz Langmeier. The lord’s true heir.”

The four of us gasped. Now it made sense... I guess Wizer couldn’t attack the demon once he knew its true identity.

“This is Lord Langmeier’s castle and territory. There were plenty of people to stand in the way of my ambitions here. ‘Eliminate all obstacles’ is always good policy... But while it would have been easy enough to murder these particular obstacles, hiding the aftermath of a massacre can be difficult. So, I thought, why not use them as guinea pigs instead? They’re out of the way, it forwards my research, and once they’re no longer human, they can no longer denounce me. Logical, no?”

“No, not logical. Inhuman,” I whispered angrily.

But Lavas replied with perfect calm, “Cutting-edge pragmatists are never appreciated in their own time.”

“I don’t quite get what’s going on, but...” Gourry drew his sword and took a step forward. “I don’t think I can let you get away with it.”

“What he said,” I seconded, drawing my sword as well.

A smile appeared on Lavas’s face. “I see. If you insist... It’s not as if I intend to let you live either way. Go, Veisam.”

“Hraaagh!” The half-demon Veisam roared in response to Lavas’s command. Lavas seemed to have him completely in his thrall.

“Icicle Lance!” It was Mileena who cast abruptly at Lavas. Her projectile sailed by Veisam for Lavas, but...

Crash! A second before it hit him, Veisam raised his right hand and dispersed Mileena’s magic. Without missing a beat, he then charged right for us!

The rest of us quickly moved to dodge, but Gourry alone remained in place. He leveled his sword at Veisam and...

No way! He can’t just kill the guy!

“Hahhh!” He ducked under Veisam’s arm and lashed out with his sword! Swsh!

“I cut his heel cord!” Gourry informed us while turning his gaze cautiously between Veisam and Lavas. “That should keep him—”

Before he could finish... “Hraaagh!” With a howl, Veisam rushed him.

“What?!”

Crash! Gourry swiftly jumped aside, plunging into the mountain of treasure.

“Really now, try not to wreck the place,” Lavas laughed. “I told you, I gave him a variety of abilities. He can regenerate instantly from most anything you throw at him. Short of decapitation or lopping off a limb, he’ll just keep moving.”

He was right. As Veisam came to a stop and looked around as if evaluating his prey, we could see the back of his left heel stained red. It was where Gourry had severed a tendon, and it had healed almost instantly.

“Now, Veisam, get it together and finish them off,” Lavas ordered.

“Hraaagh!” Veisam again howled in response. A dozen arrows of flame appeared in front of him. They were aimed at Luke and Mileena... And Wizer!

Not good! The other two would be fine, but Wizer was in no condition to dodge a spell.

Ka-bwoobwoobwoosh! The flaming arrows rained down and...

“Wind Strike!” Luke swung his sword through the air, producing a shockwave to disperse the fiery volley.

“A magical sword?!” Lavas cried from the sidelines in admiration.

Indeed, the nameless magic sword Luke wielded could produce an effect similar to Diem Wind on command with a slash and some willpower.

After buffeting the arrows, Luke made a beeline for Veisam! “Nothin’ personal!” he called.

Slash! A swing of his sword sent Veisam’s right arm flying, and Luke kept up the momentum to charge at Lavas behind him. He had the right idea—if we could defeat Lavas, there would be no one left to control Veisam. That probably wouldn’t pacify the poor guy, though...

Luke took a swing at Lavas and—Shiiing!—with a piercing metallic screech, his sword shattered!

What?! Lavas didn’t appear to be holding a weapon. He’d merely deflected Luke’s blade with a bat of his hand. No way...

“Ngh!” Luke quickly leaped back. Crack! The armor on his right shoulder also broke into pieces.

“I see. You decided to go after me first, did you? A sensible plan. However—”

“Raaaaaaaagh!” A cry from Veisam interrupted Lavas. The skin around the arm that Luke had severed had begun to turn black and melt, the effect spreading quickly to the rest of his body.

“Hmm... The imbalance is even worse than I thought,” Lavas muttered calmly as Veisam’s screams continued to resonate. “Enough damage and his self-regeneration goes completely haywire.”

Soon, the howling turned to whimpering. Then came silence as Veisam’s melting body collapsed into a black puddle in the middle of the floor.

“Less useful than I expected, I suppose. Though this does save me the trouble of disposing of him.”

“How dare you...” Gourry whispered.

He readied his sword, but that was all. He must’ve realized the same thing I had. Given that she hadn’t tried anything, Mileena had picked up on it too. While we stood there, frozen in place, Lavas slowly turned his gaze on us.

“For an army’s leader to take to the field personally... is the worst of all possible strategies. Yet you’ve left me with little other alternative.” A glint appeared in his eyes. Was it a flicker of madness, or... “I need you all to die.”

“Dam Blas!” In that instant, I released the spell I’d been reciting.

But—Fwish!—Lavas raised a hand and dispersed it. No ordinary human could perform such a feat. This made his true nature all too obvious.

“Lavas,” I said to the man still smiling confidently despite the loss of all his pawns. “You’re also a demonoid fusion.”

“Demonoid, eh? What an amusing description.” Slowly, Lavas approached us. Luke took a hurried step back, awed by the hostile aura radiating out from him. “It’s rather difficult to fit such power into a human form, I’ll have you know. I only recently mastered the technique. You see, I needed to empower my underlings, but I couldn’t have them using their given powers against me. And the best way to prevent that? Simple. To make myself stronger than they were.”

Damn. I’d taken Lavas for a third-rate villain who always delegated to his goons. But the way that the mere mention of him had cowed even Sir Zord the Reckless... That wasn’t the behavior of a man afraid of displeasing his boss. It was fear of a far more powerful being’s wrath.

“I’m a novice in both the martial and magical arts, so this will be my first field test... of how strong I am!” As he spoke, Lavas’s left hand flashed. Two magical blades flew at me and Gourry!

“Rgh!” Gourry and I groaned in unison, quickly drawing back.

Fraaaaaaaash! The blades tore through the trove of magic items on the opposite side of the room.

Brr... I shuddered when I saw a magical helmet roll out in front of me, sliced in half like butter.

“Not bad, if I do say so myself! Or did I make myself too strong, perhaps? Bwahahaha!” With that, he threw his next attack at Luke.

Dude just managed to dodge and arm himself with a sword he picked up off the floor.

“Now, now! That’s not yours!” Lavas flicked his finger, producing another invisible blade of a shockwave. Shing! It hit Luke’s new sword and snapped it.

“Mileena! Get the old guy topside!” I shouted. It was too dangerous for an injured man to be hanging around during this fight.

Mileena nodded in response and began leading the man upstairs.

“Now, now! No running away!” Lavas made a seal with his hands. “Void!”

What?! In the blink of an eye, Lavas disappeared. Then...

“Wagh!” Mileena cried out, and moments later, both she and Wizer toppled down the stairs.

“Mileena?!” Luke cried as he ran over to them.

“I’m... I’m okay.” She managed to pick herself up, then pulled back with both Luke and Wizer.

“Hmm... was that one too weak?” Descending the staircase leisurely as he muttered to himself was... Do I even have to say it? It was Lavas, who’d phased through thin air.

“Elemekia Lance!”

“Futile!” Lavas shattered my spell with a magic bullet he’d unleashed. At the same time, Gourry dashed at him, sword drawn. “I told you it was futile!”

But with speed greater than Lavas had anticipated, Gourry closed in and took a swing!

“Ugh!”

Clatter! Dang, Gourry almost had him! Lavas had unfortunately managed to move right in the nick of time to break the sword. But... Fwsht! Lavas trembled slightly.

Gourry had another blade in his left hand—one he’d probably swiped up from off the trove on the floor. The instant his first sword broke, he’d drawn the second and thrust it into Lavas’s stomach.

Did he do it?! As I wondered that, Gourry released the sword and leaped back. Tink! An invisible blade cut cleanly through his shoulder guard.

“Impressive indeed!” Despite being run through, Lavas’s confident tone didn’t waver. “If only you’d been kind enough to assume I was defeated and let your guard down!” He pulled the sword out of his abdomen. Not a single drop of blood spilled from the wound.

It didn’t work?!

“Now, I’ll start with...” Lavas slowly turned toward Mileena and Wizer.

“Ruby-Eye Blade!” Howling, Luke charged at him. He’d picked up another sword that was now aglow with red light. Lavas looked over his shoulder, and... Vrum!

“Gwuh!” It was Luke who fell to the ground with a grunt.

Multiple somethings—lances or tentacles, it was hard to describe them—had erupted from Lavas’s back, piercing Luke’s shoulder and left thigh.

Holy crap! This guy really had sold out his humanity!

“Blast Ash!” Mileena threw a spell at him, but...

“Void!” Lavas, blinking again, appeared right next to her. “That was far too predictable!”

Wham!

“Hgn!” Mileena moaned when Lavas kicked her hard in the trunk. He raised his hand aloft, and...

“Blast Ash!” Then my summoned darkness started to envelop him from his left side. Bwom!

I wasn’t sure why myself, but on instinct, I leaped to the side. When I did...

Vwum! A pair of magical blades ripped through where I’d just been standing.

Pwsssssh! With the sound of air being let out of a balloon, the blackness of my Blast Ash swirled and disappeared.

“Graaaaaaaagh!” From within it, Lavas appeared with a scream.

This was a spell that could take out a brass demon in one hit, and he’d no-sold it with his magic power alone?! The way he howled in pain as the skin on his face turned a dusky ash color suggested it had done something... but for him to survive put him on a level above most pure demons!

After one of the blades Lavas unleashed passed me by, it had crashed into the stone floor and smashed the various magical items strewn about it... No. Amidst all the shredded remains, a single glint of silver lingered. The intact blade of a magic sword freed from its sheath?!

“Gourry! That sword!”

“Right!” Gourry leaped in response. Lavas threw an invisible blade after him.

He can’t dodge that! I thought, but a split second later—Swsh!—Gourry slashed aside the shockwave with the sword.

“Tch!” The slightest hint of panic crossed Lavas’s face. He leaped to the wall and grabbed a magic sword for himself.

Gourry dove straight at him. Lavas held the sword in his right hand and threw an invisible blade from his left. But one slash from Gourry’s sword rent it asunder!

“Rgh!” Lavas quickly readied the sword in his right hand.

It was probably a magical blade on par with the one Gourry had picked up. Lavas most likely meant to block Gourry’s attack with it, pinning him in place, and then hit him close-range with an invisible blade attack from his other hand. But if their swords were equals, this would come down to a contest of skill!

Clink! Gourry slashed through Lavas’s magic sword, hand and all—and kept going through his waist! But...

“Guh?!” Gourry, having sped past Lavas in his attack, quickly whipped around to dodge something. Lavas had unleashed spears from his back that sailed through the air just beside him! “You...!” Gourry took his distance and assumed a fighting stance once more.

For, even cleaved in two through his midsection... Lavas hadn’t fallen. At least, not completely. I wasn’t sure how he was doing it, but Lavas’s body was now gone from the waist down and the rest of him—his upper half—was floating in the air.

“How... How dare you ruin my body?!” The cross-section of his severed right hand was now swarming with tentacle-like growths.

Holy crap! How was this guy still alive and kicking?! Had he forced some powerful demon to fuse with him in his lust for power? Lavas turned back and tried to skewer Gourry with his right-hand tentacles. I could see the glint of Gourry’s sword as it moved, and though it looked like he’d sliced through the tentacles... they wriggled around his blade’s reach. Then—Crackle-krak!—they unleashed a shower of electricity on the big lug!

“...Khhh!” Gourry collapsed without a word.

He was clearly trying to get up again, but the hit seemed to leave him numb. All he could do was twitch. I wanted to throw an attack spell to help him out, except I hadn’t finished my chant yet. Lavas laid eyes on the fallen Gourry, and...

“Dynast Blas!” Crackle-krak!

Lightning appeared from thin air to encase Lavas’s body! As for who’d cast the spell... it was the heretofore silent Wizer! Lavas contorted in pain, his mouth gaping in a soundless scream.

We’d done it! Dynast Blas was easily enough to fry most pure demons. With a hit like that—

“Graaah!” Lavas howled, and the lightning burst away from him!

No freakin’ way!

“Annoying fool!” he hissed, swiping with his left hand. Fwoosh!

“Gwah!” shouted Gourry, Luke, Mileena, and Wizer as the shockwave blasted them all back into the piles of treasure.

“Tch! Not as strong as I’d hoped,” Lavas spat, gazing at his left hand. And then, slowly, he turned toward me.

I found myself dropping my chant in progress. I just stood there. The spell I’d been drumming up... It was the same one Lavas had just shaken off.

This was nuts. Even knowing he was either host to or fused with a demon for power, Lavas’s endurance was unreal. His attacks themselves weren’t so different from any low-tier pure demon’s... But no low-tier pure demon could just shrug off a Dynast Blas like that. And yet...

“Ah...” A sound of surprise escaped my throat as realization dawned on me. I peered hard at Lavas. “I see... I get it now. That’s why you’re so tough to kill...”

“Ohh?” Lavas narrowed his eyes in amusement.

“The clothing and accessories you’re wearing... They’re all magic items, right? For defense and recovery.”

That would explain everything. I’d been wondering why, with all these magic items lying around, he wasn’t using any himself. Why would a person (okay, not technically a person anymore) this self-obsessed not deck himself out in armor?

“Finally figured it out, did you? You’re exactly right,” Lavas admitted readily. It wasn’t his own magic power that had allowed him to resist a Blast Ash or sweep aside a Dynast Blas, but the power of the magical protection he was wearing. “So, what’s the plan now that you know?”

Geh... I didn’t actually know what to say to that.

“There isn’t one, is there? Your allies have fallen, leaving you all alone. What do you think you can possibly do?”

He was right in that my little eureka moment didn’t change my predicament. A Dragon Slave would take him out, but that wasn’t a realistic option in a place like this. That left me the option of amplifying a spell like Dynast Blas, which could defeat a pure demon at standard strength... But I had a feeling he’d just dodge it if I tried.

Either way, I still had to try! I started working on the chant.

“Futile!” In response, Lavas fired an invisible blade from his left hand.

His aim was poor and I saw it coming, so I speedily leaped aside. He seemed weaker now. Even with his magic protection in place, tanking an attack spell with only half a body was bound to bring some cracks to the surface.

Lavas next lashed out at me with his tentacle arm. Was he going for another electric shock?! I kicked a sword lying at my feet, sheath and all, at the tentacles. Crackle! The blade shorted the electricity from the tentacles. I followed up by kicking a nearby globe at Lavas. These were pretty petty attacks—childish, even—but I didn’t know how else to buy time. It’s not like you can just bring a sword to a tentacle fight.

“Ngh!” Seeming frustrated by my persistence, Lavas used his tentacles to smack down everything I kicked his way. “Enough!” He then raised his left hand and released an area-of-effect shockwave. It was weak but covered a wide range, making it impossible to dodge.

In that case... I took a big leap back. Just as I touched off the ground—Crash!—the shockwave hit me.

Even jumping back to ride the momentum rather than fight it, I really felt that one. Still, I managed to endure the pain and land upright, kicking aside some more scattered treasure in the process. Then I finished my spell!

“Dynast Blas!”

“Void!”

My voice and Lavas’s rang out in unison. He instantly vanished.

Knew it! He freakin’ dodged! The electricity I unleashed zapped empty air. As it did, I felt something behind me. Of course, I’d known this was coming... I simply leaped to the side as the invisible blade whizzed past me. Then I turned and leaped back. Lavas and I squared off from a distance again.

Damn it. This confirmed my worst fear. He’d always blink away the second I incanted words of power. If he were warping around at random, I could chant on the run and strike wherever he appeared, but... either Lavas realized that or he was just a little jerk, because he always reappeared behind me. If only there was a way to exploit that...

Casting a Dynast Blas over my shoulder was out, of course. I’d end up caught in the blast. Maybe if I could use the brief time lag between when Lavas disappeared and when he appeared to get around into his blind spot... No, he’d have a plan for dealing with that already.

Wait a minute... Yeah, that would work!

I pulled farther away from Lavas and began reciting a spell. This was Ragna Blade, a black magic number that called upon the power of void, capable of tearing apart even the kinds of pure demons that could soak a Dragon Slave. No amount of protection from magical items could save him from getting nailed with this baby. Its main drawbacks were its short duration and range, but it was my only ticket to victory right now!

“Curse you!”

Maybe he didn’t want any repeats of our earlier clashes, because Lavas was now avoiding lightning tentacle attacks and wide-range shockwaves. He continued to fire the smaller invisible blades, however, each strike scattering more and more treasure. The room glinted with flashes of silver and gold. I dodged every attack that came my way... then released my spell!

“Ragna Blade!”

“Void!”

As expected, Lavas phased away at the first hint of my words of power. But I now had my dark blade in my hands, and I made my move.

Lavas reappeared right behind where I’d been standing. He wasted no time throwing a shockwave in front of him and shooting tentacles from both his arm and his back. But I was nowhere to be seen.

He paused, alarmed by losing track of me. And in that instant, without warning...

My blade of darkness cleaved Lavas through.

Splut... Sluph... His left half hit the floor, followed by his right.

My dark blade vanished, and I looked over my shoulder to see Lavas’s further bisected upper body lying behind me. It was crumbling into white sand before my eyes. So ended Lavas, the mad king who’d made a demon of himself.

After determining that he was gone for good, I stood up.

Lavas had probably died unaware of how he was beaten, but the idea behind it was quite simple. The moment he’d blinked through space, I’d stretched my arms out and fallen backward. Lavas had then appeared right above me, oblivious as to where I’d gone. See, the loss of his lower half gave him a new blind spot—below him. I’d only had to flex my abdominal muscles and sit up to finish him.

“Guess it’s all over now,” I whispered to myself.

“Not... quite...” Gourry responded. With everyone else unconscious, he was the one of my allies who rolled over to face me. “Would you mind... patching us up?”

“Anyway, I s’ppose I should thank ya,” Luke admitted somewhat bashfully as we sat around the table.

It was now the day after our fight beneath the castle, and everyone had had a chance to recover. Fortunately, none of them had proven especially hard to heal. A little Recovery spell and a good dose of bed rest worked wonders. Of course, the latter also meant it was noon before the others could join me at the table, leaving us to enjoy a meal that wasn’t quite breakfast and wasn’t quite lunch.

“Thank me? For what?” I asked in response, stopping with a piece of bread halfway to my mouth.

“Well, we’d be dead now if you hadn’t beaten that bastard. So... I figured I oughta say thanks.”

“You can say it with a thousand gold coins!”

Bfft! Perhaps realizing I was serious, Mileena, who was silently sitting beside Luke, expressionlessly spat out her soup.

Luke tried to change the subject. “But all joking aside—”

“Not joking,” I interjected calmly.

“—Who do you reckon’s gonna take over here?” Luke continued, gazing into the distance as he tried to force the change of subject.

“That’ll be a grand, please,” I insisted, forcing it back.

“Think they’ll appoint another lord?”

“I’ll accept 999!”

Sweat began to trickle down Luke’s face. Aha! Almost got ’im!

“I’ll bet the guys in black are still around here an’ there, but I wonder if they’ll keep doin’ their thing, what with their boss dead an’ all.”

“Fine, you got me. Nine-ninety.”

“Argh! Shut up already!”

It was Luke who caved first. Heh. Simpleton.

“Anyway! Judgin’ by the look of things, I’d say we helped you out too! And you probably swiped a ton of treasure from that room! Includin’ that sword!” he barked, pointing with his fork at the new sword on Gourry’s belt.

He had me there. It was indeed the very blade that had survived Lavas’s attack and cut the guy in two. I didn’t know what its magical deal was, but it seemed like a pretty special item. Man... first the pauldrons I’d bought a little while back, and now this unknown sword. We were winding up with a lot of mystery equipment lately. But that was neither here nor there.

“I’ll admit plenty of trinkets from that trove found their way into my pockets.” I nodded in agreement to Luke’s observation. “However, my dear Luke, that has no bearing on this. Human greed knows no bounds!”

“Oh, c’mon! If you want money so bad, just head back to the castle and take whatever else you want from the basement!”

“Hey, that’s not a bad idea!”

“Not that it’s any of my business... but perhaps you should refrain from discussing crimes in front of an inspector,” Wizer interjected, a hot sandwich in one hand.

“We’ll save that for later, then. So, what are you two gonna do next?” I asked.

Luke and Mileena shared a glance. “Same as always, right?” Mileena responded.

“S’right. We’re gonna travel the world in search of treasure. Me and Mileena’s romantic journey continues!”

“He’s correct... aside from the ‘romantic’ part.”

“Excuse me, but aren’t you forgetting something?” The one who objected was Wizer. “There’s still cleanup to be done here, remember? All most folks know boils down to, ‘Something happened at the castle yesterday, and now Regent Lavas is gone.’ If no one steps in to clear things up, you’ll be taken for murderers!”

“Oh...” we all sighed in the same breath.

Dude was right, though. The castle guards had seen us searching out the hidden basement chamber and all. They probably knew our names too...

“Now, I can handle most of it myself, but I still need each of you to give a formal statement. First, I’ll ask the sorcerers’ council to get in touch with the relevant offices. Then we’ll hold an inquest and inspect the scene. It’ll probably take about a month. Sorry, but you made this bed... It’s time to lie in it,” Wizer informed us, a slightly nasty grin on his face.

Ugh...

And so we put Solaria City behind us... wasn’t something I’d get to say for a while.