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Slayers - Volume 11 - Chapter 1




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1: Insurrection?! The World’s a Dangerous Place These Days...

“C’mon, lady. Why don’cha give us all you got while we’re still bein’ nice?”

“If ya don’t—”

It was a pleasant morning on the main road. The handful of bandits who’d popped out from the trees were interrupted in the middle of their usual cliches... by my attack spell!

Or, at least, that’s how this would usually go. What had actually quieted them this time was the sudden appearance of a presence deep in the woods. Hatred, sorrow, rage, hostility... It was like a mix of every negative emotion humans possessed. Miasma.

“Wh-What the...?”

It popped up so abruptly that even the bandits, a notoriously slow-witted lot, hushed up as they began scanning the area around them. And while they were doing that, I was quietly reciting a spell.

“You... You think our ears’re playin’ tricks on us?”

“No... There’s something there! An’ it’s close!”

The bandits whispered to each other in tones bordering on shrill as the presence drew nearer. Then came a rustle of underbrush, and...

“Hraa—”

“Blast Ash!”

Fwwsh! Before it could even finish its roar, the brass demon diving out of the forest was reduced to dust... by my attack spell.

“Boy, this stuff keeps happening lately, huh?” my companion Gourry pondered aloud as he gazed up at the clear blue sky overhead.

After blasting that brass demon, I’d blasted the cowering bandits (natch) and helped myself to their spoils of the day. We’d since continued down the narrow road through the forest.

“You mean the demon I blew up?” I asked.

“Yeah. That stuff,” Gourry replied, glancing over his shoulder. I looked back as well, but the spot where we’d fought the demon was well out of sight by now.

“I guess it is happening a heck of a lot more than it used to...” I whispered with a sigh, unable to hide my gloom at the thought.

Lesser demons, brass demons... They were bottom of the barrel as far as demon species went, and I’d beaten that last one lickety-split, but that didn’t mean they should be taken lightly. Any demon at all was a major threat to even your run-of-the-mill swordsman or sorcerer. And yeah, in isolation, they were easy pickings for someone of my prowess... But even I might end up in real trouble if they caught me off guard or swarmed me.

You used to be able to count on the fact that they rarely appeared in large numbers—operative phrase being used to. For the past half year or so, it was just as Gourry had said. They seemed to show up wherever we went, wreaking their particular brand of havoc.

For instance, we’d be staying at an inn, they’d suddenly attack, I’d kill them all with a spell, and then I’d end up having to pay for the damage to surrounding buildings. Or I’d go to raid a bandit base for fun and funds, only to find it already ravaged by a roving demon horde, thus forcing me to huck a Dragon Slave at a nearby mountain to vent my rage about the lost income, only to end up dealing with complaints from the locals. Just all kinds of terrifying attacks.

And for some reason, this was all happening more and more often. I still didn’t know why. But...

A kind of nebulous anxiety—Something’s happening out there—was taking root in people’s hearts.

“Huh... Guess something’s up,” I remarked, stopping just as I was about to pass through the town gate.

We’d arrived at Telmodd City on the border of Lyzeille. It was a pretty big place and had been developed in a planned manner... which sounds nice and all, except that “planned” basically equates to “boring.” About the only distinctive feature Telmodd had going for it was the fact that it was totally walled off, which wasn’t especially remarkable as cities went. But, eh, enough of my thoughts on urban planning.

“What’s wrong, Lina? Why’d you stop?” Gourry asked, puzzled.

“Look.”

I pointed at the rightmost stone gatepost, which was affixed with a sign that read: “Attention, all traveling sorcerers. If you have no other urgent business, please report to the local sorcerers’ council immediately.” It was signed by the sorcerers’ council at large.

“What’s that mean?” he asked, still baffled despite the simplicity of the message.

I’ll concede that, on the face of it, it just sounded like a request for visiting sorcerers to check in. But what got my attention was the wording. It wasn’t asking for us to stop by the Telmodd City council, but the local council. That suggested this was a mass-distributed request. In other words, they were in the market for a lot of traveling sorcerers. Plus, the message didn’t contain so much as a hint about the reason for the request, which told me it was serious enough that the council didn’t want the general population to know about it. In fact, I’d seen a similar notice once before...

“I guess we’ll just have to go check it out,” I said, passing through the gate.

Gourry and I got the lowdown at the sorcerers’ council, enjoyed a light lunch at a local eatery, and were just setting out for our new destination when...

“Excuse me... Might you be Lina Inverse?” called a voice from behind us as we walked down the main drag.

“I might be. Why?” I responded.

I turned to see a girl standing there. Well, I say “girl,” but she was probably my age. Maybe even a little older. She had short, blond hair and green eyes, and was really quite beautiful... though her charm was somewhat dampened by the black hat and cape she wore, marking her as a sorcerer, as well as the troubled expression on her face.

“Um... I overheard your name at the council. You’re the Lina Inverse everyone talks about, aren’t you?”

“Depends on what they’re saying. Uh, not that I’m about to ask for quotes.”

“Well, just a lot of rumors that... I’m not sure I could exactly define as complimentary.”

Twitch.

“That’s probably me, then, yes...” A vein in my forehead throbbed as I processed that unflattering choice of words, but I managed to respond quite calmly.

“I need a favor from you! Please, take me to Crimson!”

“Hey!” I squawked, seizing her hand and pulling her into a nearby alley. I lowered my voice so that no one else could hear us. “Keep it down! If you’re asking for an escort to Crimson, you must know what’s going down there, yeah?”

“Yes, of course,” she responded firmly, trying to hide the desperation in her eyes.

So, what’s going down in Crimson Town, you ask? Attempted insurrection by a branch of the sorcerers’ council.

When I said I’d seen a notice similar to the one at the front gate before, I wasn’t kidding. That was when a sorcerer, serving as a minister in a small kingdom called Lagd, staged a rebellion using the local sorcerers’ council. I’d helped put that to bed with a fellow sorcerer, and together we’d saved the king. The minister was punished, and the whole thing came to an end without much harm done, but...

This time insurrection was brewing in Crimson at the edge of the Empire of Lyzeille. The chief conspirator was the head of the local sorcerers’ council, a position without much political power at all. Apparently, however, he’d killed the local lord and seized control of the city. When news of this reached the capital, the emperor had dispatched his army to quash the rebellion.

Now, in practical terms, it was really only a matter of time before they put the whole thing down. But in a show of good faith and in the interest of reinforcing trust between institutions, the sorcerers’ council was hoping to handle it first.

Thus they were instructing all battle-ready sorcerers to make for Crimson. Except, with all the unpleasant rumors swirling around these days, they’d asked that we go in secret so as not to raise any alarm. Clean things up quietly and make an official announcement after the fact—that was both the council’s and the empire’s preferred policy.

In other words, this was definitely not something we should be talking about while standing in the middle of the city’s main thoroughfare. The way this girl was looking at me, though, suggested she definitely had her reasons.

“Okay, well... let’s hear your story. First, what’s your name?”

“Aria Ashford...” It wasn’t she who responded, but a cracked, aged male voice from nearby.

I turned in surprise to see a shadowy figure standing deeper down the alley. He was dressed in unadorned black, with a dark cape and hood pulled so low over his eyes that it was difficult to make out his face. He was short—shorter than me, even—possibly owing to his hunched posture.

“Who... are you?” Aria asked uncertainly.

“I see,” the old man said, ignoring her. “So this is one of the assassins you’re hiring... to destroy Lord Kailus.”

“Wait a minute. Are you...?!”

“You may call me Zonagein. Now... show me what you can do.”

Fwee... A sharp whistle echoed through the sunless alley. I couldn’t parse all the details of the situation in the here and now, but there was one thing I was damn sure of—that sound was this old man’s declaration of war.

I began to recite a quiet spell, Gourry drew his sword, and then...

“What?!” Gourry and Aria shouted in unison, stunned.

The darkness was... writhing. It was an unsettling sight. The umbra of the alley seemed to pulse and shiver around Zonagein. No, wait, it was...

When Aria realized it herself, she let out a soft shriek, for what had looked like writhing darkness was actually dozens of rats pouring into the shadows! There was no way they’d been there the whole time. They must have responded to the old man’s whistle.

“Does that mean... this guy’s a beastmaster?!”

Still, it wasn’t like a bunch of rats—not even a whole dang mess of ’em—could be any threat to me in this situa—

Krik. Interrupting my train of thought was a soft sound from the back of the alleyway, like a door straining on its hinges. Beside me, Gourry, who was about to charge forward, stopped in his tracks. And then... Crack! Krika-crack!

“Ah...” Aria quietly groaned as the sound grew louder and louder.

It was coming from the dozens of rats gathering around Zonagein. Although... was it really fair to call them rats anymore? The no-longer-really-rats were transforming before our eyes. Their flesh and bones snapped and burst, forming new ones in their stead. Creatures once small enough to hold in my hand were now the size of my arm span and growing.

To be honest, I was pretty curious about what they were gonna turn into, but this clearly wasn’t the time for idle speculation. Instead...

“Freeze Arrow!” I swapped targets, taking the spell I’d meant for Zonagein and unleashing it on the transforming rats. A dozen or so icy bolts froze the creatures one after another.

At least, that was the plan. But—Fwifwifwish!—every one of my frigid projectiles dissipated anticlimactically on impact!

“No way!” I shouted, shocked.

What kind of creature could brush off Freeze Arrows like this? I only knew one answer. Demons.

“Heh heh... What do you think? A rare and beautiful sight, hmm?” Zonagein said, as if to confirm my suspicions. He smiled at me confidently, surrounded by the lesser demons he’d forged from the rats.

Krakoom! There was a sudden burst of fire and explosions, followed a second later by the screams of bystanders.

Gourry, Aria, and I had just leaped out and to the side of the alleyway as a hail of Flare Arrows (courtesy of the lesser demons) shot out into the main avenue. Fortunately, collateral damage was kept to a minimum, as—maybe due to the time of day—there weren’t many people around.

“Everyone run!”

No sooner had I yelled that than the lesser demons emerged onto the street. This started a new wave of screams, and the few passersby still present quickly took off in panic.

Okay! Now that we were out in the open, we could fight!

“Gourry! Back me up!” I began reciting a spell.

“Right!” Gourry charged, sword drawn, at the lesser demon horde.

“Hraaagh!” Seeming to realize the incoming threat, one of the lesser demons let out a howl that conjured a dozen Flare Arrows. But before it could fire them...

Swsh! Gourry leaped in, slicing his sword through the creature’s stomach!

“Graaagh!” The demon cried its last and fell, its flaming arrows dissipating into nothing.

One down!

“Amazing!” Aria remarked from the sidelines, marveling at Gourry’s swordsmanship.

But this was no time for wide-eyed spectating! There were plenty of lesser demons to go. In fact, they were still spilling out onto the street.

Gourry cut through a second, and by the time he felled a third, I’d finished my spell.

“Bram Blazer!”

This was a spell that sent a blue light piercing through its target. It felt like a shockwave to living things, while dealing some serious damage to the undead and demons alike. It’d normally put the latter in a whole world of hurt, but this baby was amplified. The blue light I shot forth flew through several demons poking their heads out of the alley and...

“Graaaaagh!” They collapsed with a scream. This little stunt caught the attention of several other demons that had previously been focused on Gourry.

“Aria! Get away!” With that, I drew the shortsword from my hip and sprang forward while chanting quietly.

“Hragh!” howled a lesser demon in my path, producing a volley of Flare Arrows that rained down on me in a shower.

I dodged them with a light leap to the side, and... “Elemekia Lance!” I released the spell I’d been working on. While watching out of the corner of my eye to make sure it met its target, I turned and began my next incantation.

Lesser demons were strong and tough with magical power to spare, but teamwork was beyond them and they were pretty stupid, so their attacks were fairly rote. Gourry and I always had to stay on our toes against a swarm of ’em, but on the flip side, they weren’t too scary as long as we were cautious.

Soon enough... “Assher Dist!”

Kra-pash! My spell vaporized the final lesser demon. That just left that Zonagein guy!

“Oho... You made quick work of those lesser demons. Impressive indeed,” came a voice from above.

Surprised, I looked up to see the petite black figure perched on top of a nearby roof. He must have used Levitation or something to get up there while we were cleaning up the demons.

“Why not stop watching and come on down?” I called. “You wanted to test us, right? If the lesser demons didn’t do the trick, doesn’t that mean it’s time for you to fight us yourself? Or did you climb up there because you’re scared?!”

“No, no... I merely seek great heights. You know what they say about smoke and fools.” He brushed off my provocation leisurely enough, even throwing a little self-deprecation into the mix.

Dang... I guess age really does come with experience.

While I was staring up at the old man, Gourry took a smooth step forward. “Then why don’t we come up there and join you?”

“Don’t do it,” I said, my eyes still locked on Zonagein. Gourry seemed to think he was just small potatoes... but I saw him differently.

Lesser and brass demons were created by summoning low-tier demons from the astral plane into mindless small animals, transforming them in the process. Earlier, Zonagein had called the local rat population to him first—fodder for an instant swarm of lesser demons. Even your average “pretty good” summoner could only muster up a handful of demons at a time, which suggested exceptional skill on Zonagein’s part.

It would be easy enough for us to fly up to the roof, but our actions would be limited severely while we were in the air. Zonagein potentially had talents beyond just summoning, and he’d no doubt want to use them while we were compromised. That was why I’d hoped to bait him down, but he wasn’t biting. In that case...

“Well? Not coming?” he taunted.

“No,” I said flatly.

“Hmm... I see. What a pity. Well, it makes little difference to me,” he said with his usual leisure. “But are you sure you can say the same for yourselves? If I wished, I could turn all the rats, cats, and dogs in this city into demons.”

“Oh yeah? Well, whatever floats your boat. No skin off my nose.”

My casual reply finally seemed to rattle Zonagein. “Eh? You think I’m bluffing, do you? Or do you think you can handle thousands of lesser demons at once?”

“Neither!” I declared, raising a finger decisively. “What I’m saying is that we’re just gonna ignore whatever you do and walk away!”

“What?!” Gourry, Aria, and Zonagein all cried in unison.

“W-Wait a minute now! What in the world...” the old man on the roof fretted.

But, true to my word, I turned away and launched into a brisk walk. “C’mon, Gourry, Aria. Let’s get outta here. While the old man’s playing up on the roof, we’ll head to Crimson and beat that wicked council chairman.”

“Hey, come back here! If you won’t, I... hrm... I’ll destroy the whole city!”

“I think he’s trying to tell us something...” muttered Gourry.

“Oh, just ignore him. Standard old guy ranting.”

“You sure about that?”

“But... he said he would destroy the city,” Aria objected.

“Don’t worry about that, Aria. He’s just talking to hear himself talk,” I said without turning back.

Truth is, I wasn’t bluffing either. I had my reasons for thinking this way.

The fact that he’d brushed off my earlier attempts at provocation suggested that Zonagein wasn’t the type of guy to lose his cool and act rashly. Plus, at the very start, he’d said that he wanted to see what we could do. That meant his real goal here was to take our measure. He wouldn’t destroy a city in a fit of pique.

“W-Wait! Come back here, I say! You can’t really be so irresponsible! Young people these days...”

Without another glance at the griping old man on the roof, the three of us left Telmodd City in the dust.

“Okay, Aria. What’s the deal, exactly?” I asked.

“Well, I’m happy to explain, but... why here?” Aria quietly asked in return.

Just outside the city limits, we’d departed the main road and entered a forest of moderate size nearby. I hadn’t stopped to ask questions until we were fairly deep inside it.

“Why else? It seemed pretty obvious that that Zonagein guy was gonna come after us once he got off the roof. His most likely course of action would be to search the road from Telmodd to Crimson, meaning he’d eventually catch up to us if we’d stayed on said road. Of course, we’re still going to Crimson... We’re just gonna hide out here for a bit first and chat, and then go at our own pace once he’s breezed by,” I explained, spreading my cape out on a patch of grass and taking a seat.

“Ah... I see,” Aria said agreeably.

By contrast, Gourry was skeptical. “But Lina, if that old man doesn’t come after us, aren’t we just wasting time?”

“Let me put it to you this way, Gourry. Would you prefer to head straight for Crimson and risk ending up with lesser demons a-go-go?”

“Well, no...”

“Right? So here we are. You ready to dish, Aria? Why are you itching to get to Crimson, and why is that Zonagein guy after you?”

“Well...” She spread out her cape and took a seat herself. She looked down for a while, deep in thought, and when she finally looked up again, she spoke very frankly. “I need to save my big sister.”

Her sister’s name, she said, was Bell. She was a kind, beautiful woman that Aria was proud to call family. Bell had met a man and fallen in love. If this were a fairy tale, they’d have gotten married and lived happily ever after... but unfortunately, reality rarely played by the rules.

One day, Kailus, the once-married head of the Crimson sorcerers’ council, fell in love with Bell on sight. Kailus had a great deal of influence, and his management of the council and abilities as a sorcerer were indeed prodigious. But he was considered lacking in what some would call the human graces. Despite his prestige in sorcery circles, he wasn’t especially well-liked. There was a reason his wife had left him.

On top of all this, Bell was nineteen while Kailus was well over forty. Nobody thought he stood a chance at wooing her, yet Kailus pursued her nonetheless. Bell refused him because she was engaged... but it wasn’t long after that her fiancé died under mysterious circumstances.

Rumors spread that Kailus had killed the man to take Bell for himself, all while making it look like an accident. Nobody knew who started the rumors, but people assumed that Bell would never find it in her to care for a man with such suspicions hanging over him. Except...

“Shortly thereafter, my sister married Kailus,” Aria whispered, her eyes cast downward. She spoke without detail, haltingly, as if not particularly pleased to be sharing this information. “I asked her why, but she wouldn’t tell me... She only gave me a troubled look. And soon after, she stopped seeing me. But from what I’ve heard, she’s not happy in the slightest.”

Go figure, I thought to myself as I listened to her story. I had no idea why Bell would have agreed to marry this Kailus person. Sure, you couldn’t rule out that she might’ve fallen in love with him somehow, but... From what Aria’d said, Kailus seemed like that kind of guy. You know, the type that makes a grab at whatever strikes his fancy but loses interest the minute he gets his mitts on it. Whatever Bell’s motives for marrying the guy might have been, I couldn’t imagine her prospects for happiness were good.

“I’ve been doing research at the Crimson council,” Aria continued, “and one day on my way there, a messenger stopped me. He said that my sister wanted to see me. She’d never contacted me like that before, so I quickly went to meet her. That’s when she told me...”

“That Kailus was plotting an insurrection?” I asked.

Aria nodded firmly. “Probably with the intent of getting the council involved. She told me to go and alert another council office. Sairaag used to be home to the largest council closest to Crimson... but it was mysteriously destroyed two years ago.”

“Bwuh?!” Gourry and I found ourselves shouting.

Aria cocked her head to the side. “What is it?”

“Oh, er. Nothing, nothing...”

In truth, me and Gourry had maybe-sorta-kinda been involved in the destruction of Sairaag... Actually, I never actually reported all that to the sorcerers’ council, did I? O-Of course, I’ll totally get around to it... sometime...

“So your next best bet was Telmodd City?” I urged Aria on, sweeping the part about Sairaag under the rug.

“Yes... It’s possible there were others closer by, but Telmodd was the only city I was certain had a council branch and that I knew I could reach.”

“I see...”

I could imagine it’d be pretty dispiriting, under the circumstances, to head to a city you didn’t know well and get lost on the way, or to arrive only to find it didn’t have what you were looking for.

“But... Kailus seems to have made his move before I was able to spread the word. I managed to make it here and report to the council... But the very next day, I heard that Kailus had assassinated the local lord and that the emperor’s army had mobilized.” She let out a soft sigh. “It seems the town is fully under Kailus’s control now. I don’t know what forces he’s mustered, but if the imperial army is taking action, it’s only a matter of time before the city is retaken. And if that happens, my sister might be drawn into it...”


“I think I follow. You want to beat the army to Crimson and do something about Kailus?”

“Yes... Of course, I’d handle it myself if I could, but while I can use some attack magic... it’s really only at a ‘better than nothing’ level. I have no proper combat experience either.”

Her story checked out. During our tussle with the lesser demons, she’d just dithered around, unsure of what to do. Jumping into a fight took a degree of experience, guts, and abandon... that Aria just didn’t seem to have.

“So you were waiting for someone to take you back to Crimson... and that’s when we showed up?”

“I know I’m asking a lot. I know that I’ll be a burden and that things might not work out even if we make it there, but...” she started, then stopped.

“But... you still want to save your sister?” I asked.

Aria nodded silently.

Hmm... I see...

I had my own big sister back home... although she was way stronger than me, frankly. Even if trouble found her, she’d break her own way out with a smile. That made it kind of hard for me to relate to Aria’s concern for her older sis.

“Well, I will say,” I began, scratching my head, “hearing your story does make me wanna sock this Kailus guy one, but...”

“But what?” Aria looked at me nervously.

I shot her a wink in reply. “But I dunno what he looks like, so I’ll need someone to point him out to me.”

“You mean...?!”

“We’re going to Crimson. Together.”

“Thank you so much, Mistress Lina!”

“Just call me Lina. Now, let’s camp out here for a bit and then head back out.”

“Of course!” she agreed with a smile.

I had to wonder if she realized that I hadn’t pressed her about why Zonagein was after her.

Kailus likely knew that Aria had left town, but he shouldn’t have known that she was in Telmodd. Nevertheless, Zonagein had found her here. It was possible that Kailus had simply sent a lackey to every city in the area... The part that struck me, though, was that Zonagein wasn’t there to capture or kill Aria, but rather to test the mettle of the sorcerers she’d hired—in other words, me. This was further evidenced by the fact that the lesser demons hadn’t even spared her a glance during our throw down in the city.

There had to be more to this than met the eye.

At first, our journey went smoother than expected. From what we heard in the villages we stopped by, old Zonagein had indeed passed through ahead of us, just like I’d hoped.

Ha! Sucker! I thought smugly to myself.

At least, I wished I could just be smug about it... The truth was, we couldn’t put off a fight with Zonagein forever. We might even end up facing him in Crimson Town, where he’d have plenty of buddies to back him up.

There was another kink in my tricky little scheme too. According to intel we’d picked up on the road two days after leaving Telmodd, the imperial army’s vanguard had also moved through not long ago. It was only a unit of two hundred soldiers, so they probably wouldn’t attack Crimson outright, but it was a sure sign we needed to hustle.

And then, on the fourth day of our journey...

“It can’t all be smooth sailing, I guess...” Gourry said, coming to a stop on the forest road we were traveling.

“Huh?” Aria likewise halted and gave Gourry a questioning look.

“He’s saying we’ve got company,” I said dryly. “Company that’s not great at hiding its presence.”

“...Well, I don’t exactly make a habit of this kind of thing,” came the voice I expected from the woods. With the rustling of brush, the same black-clad figure that we’d met in Telmodd emerged.

“Hey, Master Zonagein. Super tracking skills you got there. Funny how you didn’t notice us taking a break in the forest after leaving Telmodd.”

“Now, now. I found you in the end, so let’s let sleeping dogs lie,” he said, easily brushing off my mockery once more.

He really did seem like a pretty smart guy. His strategic choice of location suggested good judgment too. The forest was great for ambushes, what with all the cover around. But it played to Zonagein’s strengths in a more specific way... The thick greenery. The sprawling wild. Woodlands teemed with small animals, each one a potential vessel for Zonagein’s demonic summoning powers.

That said, I wasn’t exactly helpless here.

“I guess you have so little faith in your own abilities that you’re gonna sic your lesser demons on us again?” I asked, trying to bait him once more.

I figured he’d brush this off too and move right to the summoning. Then I’d use the time I’d bought to whip up a big spell of my own! However...

“Oh, not at all. Sorry to disappoint if that’s what you were counting on,” Zonagein replied, casually quashing my plan. “Having witnessed your fight in the city, I know that lesser demons would be nothing more than a nuisance to you. Not that I mind that, of course... My companion informed me that they would get in the way of his fight anyway.”

“Your companion?” I asked with a frown.

“Oh, yes. Allow me to introduce him. You hear that? Stop hiding and come out, Graymore,” the old man called.

A chilling hostile presence rose up behind us.

What?! I quickly turned back and saw... more of the forest? No. There was definitely something moving in the shadows of the canopy. Soon enough... a figure stepped out from the trees and into the afternoon sunlight.

“A lizardman?!” Aria shouted in shock.

It was an adequate description. He was covered in scales the color of dead leaves and had a long tail, both typical traits of lizardfolk. But there had to be more to this Graymore guy. Zonagein was putting more faith in him than the dozen or so lesser demons he could summon, after all. Plus, apparently Graymore had been hiding behind us this whole time—and we hadn’t sensed him.

“Now then, Graymore... Which would you prefer?” Zonagein asked.

“The swordsman,” Graymore replied simply.

Then—Fwsh!—the claws on both of his hands extended. Ten in all... and pretty long. The longest one was the length of a full sword, the shortest that of a dagger. Were those his weapons of choice? I slowly turned back to Zonagein.

“I see,” he said. “Then I’ll be fighting you, little miss.”

“Looks that way. But y’know, if we’re gonna chat like this, you should have the decency to show your face.”

“Oh? I didn’t realize I was hiding it,” Zonagein replied, unceremoniously raising his lowered face.

“Huh...” I murmured when I caught a peek of the visage beneath the hood. He was a white-bearded old man who might’ve even been pretty good-looking in his younger years. “You look pretty normal.”

“Were you expecting something monstrous?” He gave me a wincing smile.

“Well, kinda...”

“I’m very sorry to disappoint you. Not that I came here to please you, of course...”

“Yeah, fair point.”

“But we could talk for ages like this if we wanted... Shall we begin?”

“Sure thing!” I said, drawing the shortsword from my belt, reciting a spell under my breath, and charging straight for Zonagein.

In that instant, he turned around and retreated into the forest. His hands were still hidden under his cape and he showed no sign of brandishing a weapon, but I couldn’t let my guard down. There was always a chance he could produce a knife from its folds to throw at me.

Zonagein kept his back to me and maintained some distance as he fled. But I wasn’t gonna run this game of tag forever!

“Freeze Arrow!” I released my completed spell at Zonagein.

It wasn’t a one-hit-kill number, but it would be quite disabling if I nailed him. Even a glancing blow should slow him down some. As my frigid bolts rained down, Zonagein easily dodged them by taking cover behind a tree.

Hmm... Figured that would happen.

In a forest full of obstacles, I knew it would be hard to land a decent hit with projectiles. Frankly, I’d have considered it a lucky break if a single arrow had found its target. My real plan was to fire off a few simple Freeze Arrow barrages and get Zonagein to write me off as the win-through-force type. Then I’d spring a Van Layl, which conjured tendrils of ice along the walls and ground, to freeze him over before finishing him off with a bigger spell! So to keep up the ruse, I began chanting another Freeze Arrow, when just then...

“Van Layl!” It wasn’t my voice that echoed through the trees, but Zonagein’s.

What?!

Frosty vines spread out in all directions from Zonagein’s current location, letting out an icy crackle as they went. And, of course, “all directions” included toward me!

Crap! He got the drop on me! I sprang back, but the tendrils continued to spread.

Darn it! I cursed to myself as I thrust my shortsword into the ground. Zonagein’s icy vines crawled up its blade. That bought me a little time, which I used to do an about face and flee the scene.

I emerged from the forest, arriving back where we’d started. Gourry and Graymore were already locked in combat.

Shing! Cling! Clang! The striking of metal against metal rang out over and over. It seemed like Gourry was the one on the defensive!

From what I could tell, Gourry had the superior skills... but Graymore had ten claws of varying lengths on his side. His movements seemed sporadic at a glance, but they came in nonstop waves. It was all Gourry could do to keep dodging him. He wasn’t getting a chance to turn the tables. Every time he tried to put distance between them, Graymore would close in to keep the upper hand.

We believed Gourry’s new blade to be a powerful magic one, though I didn’t know exactly what it did. Between it and his skills, though, Gourry easily should’ve been able to cut through Graymore’s sword-claws. But...

Graymore took a step forward and—Zwee!—something whistled through the air. It was his tail! Graymore lashed at Gourry’s feet! Thankfully, Gourry leaped back at just the right time. That left Graymore off balance and immobile. Gourry’s sword flashed!

Ting! Ta-ting! Ting! Several of Graymore’s claws moved to block it, snapped, and went flying!

Now’s your chance! I thought, but instead, Gourry took another step back.

Fwsh! The broken-off claws returned to their former length.

Aha... Definitely a tricky opponent. I would’ve liked to offer a little spell-based support, but anything I fired off ran the risk of hitting Gourry. More importantly, I doubted Zonagein was gonna give me the leeway. I could feel his presence just behind me even now!

Okay then!

“Van Layl!” Without stopping, I placed a hand on a nearby tree to unleash my spell and kept running. The spreading vines of ice froze their way down the trunk to the ground, then the grass...

But when I looked back, I saw no sign of Zonagein. Nevertheless, I could sense his presence looming nearby.

Where is he?! I quickly scanned the area and... “Above?!” I looked up and saw a figure hovering high between the trees.

“Freeze Arrow!” It was now Zonagein’s turn to rain down icy bolts.

“Fireball!”

Fwoosh! A flaming globe met the icy arrows and burst into a shower of red fire.

As for who’d cast it, that honor went to... Aria?! The burst of flames scorched the treetops and Zonagein among them.

“Harrgh!” came a pained voice beyond the fire.

Okay! Now!

I quickly chanted a spell... “Bram Blazer!”

And I fired it into the flames! I couldn’t see Zonagein amidst the blaze, but I didn’t see any escape for him either! My blue bullet pierced the inferno... but yielded no sign of a hit. Had I missed?!

“Freeze Arrow!” Zonagein’s voice came at me from another direction.

When did he— I reflexively ducked behind a nearby tree. But...

“Augh!” Aria cried out.

Damn! I could see Aria crouching on the ground some distance away. She’d taken a direct hit from the Freeze Arrow, leaving her left leg iced over from the shin down.

Zonagein was standing not too far off, at the edge of the forest. How had he gotten over there? A Levitation spell wouldn’t have moved him that quickly...

“A Fireball in the middle of the forest? How reckless,” he remarked, slowly approaching Aria. The quiet muttering that followed was definitely a chant.

Oh crap! Is he going for Aria?! I had to save her, but my spell wasn’t gonna make it in time! And the sword I might have used to slow him down was currently frozen in the forest! In that case...

“Bram Blazer!”

Bwoosh! Suddenly, with no warning at all, a shockwave of blue light sent Zonagein flying. He fell dramatically to the ground, but managed to get up again. He glared in the direction of the spell’s caster...

“Now, now, old man. It’s a man’s duty to be kind to beautiful ladies.”

Our new arrival was an unfamiliar face. He struck a rather pretentious pose as he stared down Zonagein.

“Ngh...!” The old sorcerer looked between me and the new guy and, perhaps realizing he was now at a disadvantage, cried out to his companion. “Graymore! We’re leaving!”

Shing! Claw and blade clashed.

“Guh!” Gourry toppled, either overpowered or off balance, in a way that exposed his back to his opponent. Graymore raised his claws. But at that exact moment...

“Graymore! We’re leaving!” Zonagein’s cry echoed from the forest.

This gave Graymore the tiniest bit of pause, which Gourry used to twist around and strike at him with the sword in his right hand! Clink! Graymore was unfazed. Gourry’s slash, executed from an unstable position, was easily swept aside by the lizardman’s claws. However...

Following the momentum of his slice, Gourry kept twisting. A streak of light flew from his left hand!

“Gah!” Graymore let out a quiet cry, then fell onto his back and lay motionless. A razor-sharp something was stuck deep between his eyes.

What was it, you ask? It was one of the claws that Gourry had snapped off earlier. He must have scooped it up when he toppled over, and then used that feint with his sword to create an opportunity for the deadly throw.

Was that planned or improvised, man? Either way...

Upon seeing Graymore fall, Zonagein silently retreated into the forest and disappeared. I’d have preferred to finish him too, but incautious pursuit was the root of all injury. Besides, I was way more worried about Aria at the moment. I ran over to her and inspected her frozen leg. Fortunately, her boots and pants offered a degree of protection, but we still had to do something about it, and fast.

“First, we need to warm up your leg.”

“Hey, is she okay?” the unfamiliar man asked in concern.

I turned to him and replied, “Treatment first. Introductions later.”

“My name’s Dilarr,” the man said as he dumped some sticks onto the fire we’d started to warm Aria up, right around the time the adrenaline of the fight was wearing off.

This Dilarr fellow looked a little over twenty. Black hair, black clothing, a little on the scrawny side... If he put a little more effort into grooming, he might pass for handsome, but his scraggly facial hair and dirty clothes put the kibosh on that.

“Ah... thank you for saving us,” Aria said, bowing her head to him as she warmed her leg by the fire.

He waved his hand dismissively. “Hey, it’s nothing. It’s a man’s duty to save a beautiful woman in distress,” he replied lightly. “By the way, may I have your name?”

“I’m Aria.”

“Are these your assistants?”

“Hey,” I barked with a glare.

“More or less,” she replied.

“Hey!”

“I was just kidding,” Aria said, waving her hands defensively as I turned my glare on her. “But they are helping me. I’m on my way to Crimson.”

“Crimson?!” Dilarr’s eyes opened wide. “Then... you’re also answering the council’s call for aid?”

“‘Also’? Is that what you’re doing too, then?” I interrupted.

He cast a sidelong glance my way. “Just so you know... when highly attractive men and women are talking, it’s not polite for the ugly to butt in.”

“Excuse me?!”

“Ahh, Lina! Calm down!” Gourry quickly held me back before my rage could pick up steam.

“Oh, let me introduce them. This is Mistress Lina Inverse and Master Gourry,” Aria said with a smile, when just then...

Steppa-steppa-step! Dilarr scuttled back dramatically, gazing at me in terror. “L-Lina... Inverse? Er, I mean... Mistress Lina Inverse?”

“Yeah?”

“The Mistress Lina Inverse?”

“I’m not sure how I feel about that definite article right there... but yeah, I’m probably the gal you’ve heard stories about,” I answered with a glare.

“Yeeeeek!” Dilarr suddenly prostrated himself on the ground. “Please forgive me! I didn’t know! I meant no offense! Forgive me! Don’t kill me! I’ll give you all the money I have!”

“Hang on now!”

Just what kind of stories are people spreading about me?!

“Er... Master Dilarr, there’s no need to be frightened. She’s not as bad as the rumors suggest,” Aria said with a wince. Unfortunately, that didn’t make me feel a whole lot better.

Dilarr quickly scrabbled up to Aria, seized her shoulders, and whispered earnestly into her ear, “It’s not worth it, Aria! I don’t know what circumstances brought you to them, but keeping such company... Aren’t you afraid you’ll catch the Lina Inverse?”

“I’m not a disease!”

“Ack! She heard me!” Dilarr quickly scuttled away again.

What’s with this dude?

“C’mon, don’t worry so much. I’ve been traveling with her for a while and...” Gourry began cheerfully enough, then petered into silence. After a lengthy pause, he scratched his head and concluded, “Actually, I got nothin’.”

“Don’t sound so hopeless! You’re acting like nothing good has happened to you since we started traveling together!”

“But Lina... has anything good happened to me since we started traveling together?”

Guh... Well... okay, maybe not, but...

“A-Anyhoo...” I turn away from him and back toward the other two. “Aria has to get to Crimson. For reasons.”

“Reasons?” Dilarr inquired.

“Yes...” Aria launched into her halting explanation again.

“Hmm... I see.” Once Aria finished her story, Dilarr (who had returned to the fireside) scratched his chin with his thumb and said, “But Aria, if you’re headed for Crimson, let me give you a warning. Don’t take the main road there.”

“What? Why not?”

“Well... as you can probably imagine, I’m a fellow sorcerer. I’m heading to Crimson myself at the council’s request. The reward’s a pittance, but I’m low on cash and it’s usually best to do what the council says. There’s just one problem... The imperial army’s squatting a half a day’s walk down the road. Seems they’ve been held up by guerrilla attacks from lesser and brass demons.”

Demons?! I found myself scowling at this news. I would’ve assumed the attacks to be Zonagein’s handiwork, but as far as I knew, he’d been out looking for us. That meant Kailus had another summoner of his caliber working for him... which in turn meant that the imperial army might not have such an easy time taking the city back after all.

But while I was contemplating all this, Dilarr went on. “As a counter against demons, they’ve been drafting every sorcerer that passes by. In a ‘volunteer capacity,’ if you know what I mean. They almost got me too, but like hell I’m going to take orders from some military hard-head. So I went on the run, and that’s how I bumped into you guys. If you want to get ahead of the army, you’ll have to go around them.”

Aha... Makes perfect sense.

“Still... taking the scenic route is really going to set us back. It’ll be days before we hit Crimson,” I mused, folding my arms thoughtfully.

A detour to avoid being drafted might mean we arrived after the whole thing was over.

“I wonder...” After a brief pause, Aria whispered, “I think there might be a way.”



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