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Slayers - Volume 16 - Chapter 1




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1: Shadows Circle the City of Smiths

Five loud bangs rang out. Then, once the commotion settled, I sat back down in my seat and took a sip of my still-warm tea.

“Ngh... hng...” On the floor before me lay one of the roughnecks I’d just decked. He was on his back, twitching, but managed to lift his head to look up at me. “The hell... do you think... you’re doing?”

“What am I doing?” It was an understandable question, but I blinked once, then replied, “Self-defense?”

“How...? I didn’t do... nothin’... to you...”

“Excuse me?” His utter lack of compunction brought a sigh from my lips. “You see a traveler enjoying his meal and use the old ‘haven’t seen you around here before’ excuse to surround him with four other guys and start badgering him. Then when a nearby delicate beauty calls you on your BS, you reach out to grab her. I’d say darn good and well that’s something.”

Stopping for a bite to eat, getting accosted by roughnecks, and being forced to pound them down after one thing led to another... It was pretty standard fare for me while on the road, to be honest. Needless to say, I didn’t enjoy it one bit.

The only silver lining was that, since the chaos started before the food arrived, my lunch hadn’t been compromised in the conflict.

“Nearby delicate beauty? Who the—” began my traveling companion, who was standing nearby, in an attempt to derail my narrative with filthy lies. I shot him a glance. Taking the hint, he quickly clammed up. “Ah, never mind.”

Moreover, my dude was talking like what had transpired was none of his business... but after I’d laid out the first hooligan, he’d taken out the rest of the irate band before they could rush me. See, because of my companion’s handsome face, long blond hair, and casual demeanor, some folks presume his conspicuous longsword and light mail are just a front. But the dude in question, Gourry Gabriev, was truly remarkable with a blade. The roughnecks, whom he’d taken out in a flash without so much as drawing said blade, had undoubtedly learned the hard way that he was the real deal.

“Anyhoo.” I turned my gaze back to the laid-out roughneck arguing with me. “If you don’t wanna be in the business of losing fights, try not to pick them in the first place.”

But alas, my sage advice just caused the man to dig in his heels. “We didn’t pick a fight! We were just doing our job as the local security force!”

“Hmph. Is that what you call the neighborhood ruffians going around harassing people?”

“They really are local security,” said a new voice. I turned to see who it was.

We were in a rather large lodging house called the Silver Leaf Inn on the city’s main thoroughfare—more specifically, we were at the eatery on the first floor there. The place was probably packed with old drunkards at night, but with the afternoon sun streaming in through the open windows, the only souls there were me and Gourry, the five members of the so-called security force, a scattering of customers in nearby seats, and a bearded fortysomething man with friendly eyes behind the counter. The latter was who had spoken up.

“Really?” I asked him.

The old man nodded. “Really.”

“See?!” the roughneck—er, local security force member—said smugly, still on his back.

But the old man didn’t even spare him a glance as he replied, “Still, Randa, the fuss only started because you comported yourself like a hooligan.”

“Ergh...” The man on the floor groaned in chagrin.

Aha. You see this from time to time—guys who get a little authority and take it as a license to be a dick to everyone around them. This Randa dude apparently fell into that category. I mean, surrounding our table with his little posse and opening with a “haven’t seen you around here before” line? Talk about archetypal hooligan behavior.

The eatery’s owner shifted his attention away from the despondent Randa. “Now, you two seem to be quite skilled,” he said to Gourry and me. “And I assume the young lady there is a sorcerer?”

“Well, y’know...” I responded noncommittally. I just knew he was gonna try to wrangle me into some pain-in-the-ass hired job.

“I was wondering if you might be willing to stay here for a while as mercenaries and help protect the city from bandits.”

Yep, called it!

Gourry was dressed like your typical swordsman, while I wore a long cape, a black bandanna, and jeweled accessories. In spite of the shortsword on my hip, I was clearly a sorcerer. Plus, given the fact we’d just laid out five guys, we were obviously strong. It was perfectly natural to presume we were a mercenary duo.

And, yeah, okay. Gourry and I did have a history of taking on work in our travels, but we weren’t hurting for funds at the moment, so I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of a side quest. Yet before either Gourry or I could respond...

“Wait a minute, Master MacLyle!” Randa objected. “We don’t need their help! We’re—”

“Randa,” MacLyle said. His tone was quiet, but it shut Randa up immediately. “Could you please pipe down?”

“S-S-S-Sorry...” he replied apologetically, trailing off.

I was surprised to see the roughneck—er, local security guy—so cowed. Just who was this MacLyle guy?

“To tell you the truth, our town has been plagued by bandits of late,” MacLyle began before I could even ask.

Oh... that’s right.

I was reminded that I’d sensed someone watching us as Gourry and I entered the city. They hadn’t seemed hostile, so I’d just pretended not to notice. Could that have been the bandits MacLyle was referring to? Except their presences—aura, whatever you’d call it—hadn’t felt particularly bandit-y...

“It’s been weeks of nasty business. Goods en route to nearby towns stolen, workshops and mines sabotaged... We rustled up a crew to take care of the problem, but they don’t seem to be making any progress.”

“What about soldiers?” Gourry asked.

“There aren’t usually any stationed here in town,” I answered, taking a nearby seat now that it seemed the trouble had passed. “Though a few might stop by.”

“Why not?”

“Various reasons.”

“Like what?”

“Er...” I didn’t want to say “don’t ask,” but I also had doubts he’d really understand even if I spelled it all out for him. “As you saw when we arrived here in Atessa, the city’s smack dab in the middle of a buncha woods. It’s known as the Celcelas Forest, and it stretches from the Kingdom of Zephilia to the Holy Kingdom of Saillune, with breaks here and there where you can mine high-quality gold. So with both lumber and mineral resources aplenty, Atessa developed as a hot spot for smithing, but... Hey! Don’t fall asleep in the middle of my explanation!”

Bang! I gave Gourry a swift chop to the head.

“Mmah?” He looked up suddenly and craned his neck around.

“How are you not listening? You’re the one who asked!”

“Oh, no, I was listening. I heard the whole thing. There’s stuff going on in town, right?”

“Liar! I wasn’t even finished! And if ‘stuff going on’ is enough of an explanation for you, don’t bother asking for the details!”

Ah, I knew that’d be a waste of time! After screaming my heart out, I slumped over on the table, and...

“We produce a lot of weapons and armor in this city, you see,” MacLyle continued. “If either kingdom set up a garrison here, the other might see it as a prelude to war. So to prevent that, neither has soldiers officially stationed in Atessa. We run our own security locally.”

“Ah, I see.” Gourry nodded in understanding, then looked over at me. “That would’ve been a much simpler explanation.”

“You spaced out before I got to that part!”

“Well, if I may...” MacLyle reinserted himself into the conversation. “I said they were bandits, but they don’t seem to be any ordinary brigands. Our local task force can’t track down their hideout, and the offenders seem more interested in petty spite than money. In that sense, perhaps I should call them raiders instead. I was hoping you could offer some new insight into the situation.”

“I see...” I nodded vaguely in response.

To be honest, Gourry and I weren’t strapped for coin, and this job sounded like it was shaping up to be a real pain. It would’ve been one thing if it was just a couple days’ bodyguard work, or just going to the baddies’ hideout to give it the ol’ kaboom. But a vague objective like “do something about a band of thugs we haven’t even tracked down” was the kind of work that could become a huge time sink.

Assuming I did take the job... If the bandits made a straight charge at the village and I wiped ’em out with a flashy spell, that’d put a pretty quick end to things. But on the other hand, if the raiders had already abandoned Atessa and gone elsewhere, I could end up waiting around forever for nothing.

Not that I had anywhere special to be, mind you. I was simply out on a rambling journey after my big sis back home told me to go out and see the world. I’d seen more than my share at this point, however, so I’d decided it might be time to pack it up. Thus, me and Gourry—who I’d picked up along the way—were currently headed for my hometown, Zephyr City, capital of the Kingdom of Zephilia. So it wasn’t like it’d kill me to get held up here for a few days, but... I didn’t really want to get stuck waiting indefinitely for a raid that might never come.

Atessa was also part of Zephilia, though, and I did feel a little obliged to my countrymen, so I was hesitant to just turn them down. That said, I had a feeling the locals could probably handle this well enough even without me and Gourry getting involved...

“Are you suggesting that I’m incompetent?” came a new voice steeped in naked anger.

The woman who rose slowly to her feet was a random customer sitting some seats away—or so she’d appeared to be until now. She was dressed in a brown outfit with pants that looked easy to move in, and she wore a gray pageboy cap low on her head. The ensemble was rather mundane at a glance, but she had hair like spun gold and a face so lovely that it would make any man do a double take. She looked about twenty or so—or, she would have if she were human. Her true identity was betrayed by the large pointed ears poking out from underneath her hat.

Elves were beings who lived in harmony with nature, with longer lifespans and greater magical power than humans. I’d had a few dealings with them in the past. I’d even fought alongside one against a mutual enemy. They generally didn’t get involved in human affairs, but this woman’s words indicated she was in the city’s employ.

“Oh, no, of course not. We’re happy to leave the forest to you, Mistress Alaina,” MacLyle assured her.

His words caused the elf girl, Alaina, to purple with anger. “Then why are you trying to hire these people?!”

“Isn’t it obvious? Having an outside perspective will give us more options. You know the forests, and these two seem to have experience with such affairs.”

“Experience? These two?” Alaina narrowed her eyes at us as she spat out the words. “They look more like children playing sword-and-sorcery dress-up to me!”

Children...?

“Hey!” I shouted. Obviously, I couldn’t let that one slide. “Children? Dress-up? You can whine to the old man or bad-mouth Gourry all you like, but you’d better not drag me into it!”

“What a terrible thing to declare... and so proudly,” Gourry whispered in disbelief. I ignored him.

Alaina didn’t even look at me as I addressed her. She simply paled and strode forward swiftly. I rose from my chair, expecting trouble, but she wasn’t heading toward us; she was heading for the man behind the counter, to whom she immediately began whispering.

He listened for a while, then turned to us. “She says, ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.’”

“...Huh?” I scowled in noncomprehension.

MacLyle smiled with a wince. “Well, Mistress Alaina has a great deal of pride, but it’s tempered by extreme social anxiety.”

“Sounds annoying!” At least I knew the type! “Is this one of those things where she’s nervous about working with us because her social anxiety means she won’t be able to talk stuff through with us?”

At that, Alaina leaned in and spoke quietly to MacLyle a while longer, sometimes shaking and sometimes nodding her head. At last, MacLyle turned to us and said, “She denies it in no uncertain terms.”

“I’m so right!”

Great, so Atessa was in the hands of a “security force” of hooligans and a proud-yet-introverted elf... What a mess.

As I was genuinely starting to get worried, MacLyle spoke up again. “Well, I know you’re just passing through, and I wouldn’t want to keep you here for too long. How about this? We’ll contract you for ten days at first. If you can finish things in that time frame or at least make serious progress, we’ll throw in a bonus. If ten days pass and nothing’s looking any closer to resolution, we can renegotiate then.”

Alaina seemed to be desperately arguing with him about something as he spoke, but MacLyle didn’t bat an eye.

Hmm. This little arrangement seemed designed so he could stiff me if nothing happened, but it had the benefit of not tying me down for an extended period of time. That being the case... I gave a little nod to Gourry and then approached MacLyle.

“Okay. Under those conditions, let’s give it a try for ten days.” I extended a hand over the counter.

The old man reached out to shake it. “Thank you very much. Oh, and let me introduce myself. My name’s Gene MacLyle. I’m the owner of the Silver Leaf and the leader of the local task force.”

Aha. That’s why he had Randa shaking in his boots...

“I’m Gourry,” my companion said bluntly.

“And I’m Lina. Lina Inverse. A sorcerer, as you surmised.”

Following the introductions, we got right down to business—negotiating our fee!

The city was surrounded by greenery. Birdsong drifted by on the wind, and the sounds of life were rich all around us. But if I turned my gaze just a little, I could see a rock wall taller than a person running around the whole town.

Things were peaceful right now, but Zephilia and Saillune had locked horns over Atessa a long time ago. The sturdy rock wall encircling the city was a relic of the conflict. Of course, it was also useful for keeping out the bears and boars of the forest, not to mention the occasional goblin gaggle that came sniffing around. (This was all stuff MacLyle had told me earlier, by the way.)

Gourry and I were currently walking through the roadless forest, but we weren’t there to sightsee. We were trying to get the lay of the land. Though we were in the woods, there wasn’t much underbrush to impede our movement.

“Say...” I began as I walked along—obviously, to Gourry who was walking beside me. “Remember how someone was watching us when we first came to town?”

“Yeah, I remember sensing someone. I didn’t pick up any malice, though. And I figured you knew and were ignoring them, which is why I didn’t say anything.”

As I’d suspected, Gourry had sensed them too. “They didn’t strike you as bandits, did they?”

“Yeah, not really,” Gourry agreed.

Now, I’m sure some of you are wondering, “How could you possibly know that based on something as nebulous as someone’s presence?” But what can I say? You can just tell. Granted, sometimes I imagine things, but in this case, Gourry was in agreement. I had a feeling I was on the money.

“Or could it be a different entity from the people causing trouble in town? Seems unlikely, of course, but... hmm...” I muttered to myself.

Gourry spoke up in mild surprise. “Unusual to see you so serious. I’d expect you to be going on about how you can’t wait to blow the bandits up.”

“I mean, sure, that’s definitely where this is going in the end. But if they were just your average bandits, the locals would’ve been able to clear this up themselves. The fact that they haven’t tells me these bandits have some brain and skill going for them. And...”

“And?” Gourry prompted me as I paused.

I didn’t want to admit it, but there was no arguing with cold, hard facts. “I’ve got a lot fewer spells at my disposal than before.”

That comment led Gourry to look upward in thought, but before he could open his mouth...

“Let me warn you!” I interrupted him. “It’s not because of my physical condition! It’s just that I lost my magic-amplifying talismans in the last battle, and that’s done a number on my repertoire!”

“Oh yeah?” Gourry said casually.

Yup, without those talismans, I couldn’t use my old void blade spell. And as for the spell that let darkness consume a given area... I could technically use it if I wanted to, but bad things would happen if I lost control. Let’s just say I didn’t care to test that out. And going into a situation like I could still pull those spells out if I really had to was pretty damned foolhardy, so to put the kibosh on that, I’d decided just to act like they were off the table. Saying it out loud was less about explaining things to Gourry and more about reminding myself.

Of course, it was also entirely possible the local security force was just that crappy. We could indeed be dealing with ordinary bandits that would fold like a cheap towel the moment we found ’em. I wasn’t about to bet on that, though.

“At any rate, we need clues as to their whereabouts... and I’m not seeing any here,” I said.

In this mountainous area with nothing but animal trails for paths, you could find footprints and broken branches that indicated people had been through the area—too many, in fact. Townsfolk came out to collect firewood, the security force did patrols... Even if the raiders were around, it was impossible to tell which tracks were theirs.

“Clues, huh?” Gourry thought for a minute. “Why don’t we just ask?”

“Ask who?”

“Oh, what’s-her-name. You know. Her,” he said and pointed casually. I followed his finger and saw a figure observing us from a tree branch a ways away.

“Alaina?”

At my unexpected call, a twitch ran through her body and she quickly ducked behind the tree trunk. It wasn’t a particularly large tree, so despite her slender frame, she couldn’t hide from us completely.

“Have you been following us this whole time?” I asked.

She didn’t respond.

I have to confess... I hadn’t detected her presence at all until now. Even granting that she exuded no hostility toward us, that was surprising. I knew that elves lived in harmony with nature, but I never knew they could blend in with the forest to this degree.

“Did you want us for something?” Gourry asked.

Alaina remained silent.

In that case...

“Well, you wouldn’t be following us if you didn’t want something. I know you’re not happy that Master MacLyle asked for our help... but I sure hope you’re not planning to kill us in the wilderness to cut us out of the picture.”

In response to my intentionally provocative statement, she silently dropped down from the branches. Even though there wasn’t much underbrush around, to land from that height without making a sound was truly impressive.

With her eyes fixed solidly on us, she pulled something small from her pocket, placed it on the ground, and pointed at it. Then she plucked up one of the two coiled whips mounted on either hip (she hadn’t been wearing those in the eatery) and unfurled it, snagging the branch of a tree behind her with a lazy wave-like motion. Then she kicked off the ground, pulled, and—drawn by the whip—landed lithely atop a new branch. The entire thing was executed with unbelievable quietness. I wouldn’t say it was soundless, exactly, but if I hadn’t been watching, I wouldn’t have been able to distinguish it from the general sounds of the forest.

I don’t know what she’s up to, but...

Keeping my eyes glued on Alaina, I walked over and picked up what she’d left on the ground. It was about the size of a fist and wrapped in some kind of paper. The paper was thinner than parchment, presumably made from some plant or other. I opened it up and found a small scrap of wood inside akin to a simple paperweight. The paper wrapper was scrawled with ink: “I didn’t know how to approach you.”

“So annoying!!!” I found myself shouting. I glared up at her, causing her to duck behind a tree again. “I get that you’re anxious, but can you at least make an effort to talk like a normal person?”

At this, she pulled something else from the pocket of her high-collared jacket and tossed it my way. It was another small parcel. I opened it up. The wrapper this time read: “When I get nervous, I can’t get my voice above a whisper.”

“...”

The fact that she’d produced these puppies straight from her pockets told me they weren’t spur of the moment. She’d actually drawn up a bunch of notes in anticipation of questions she expected to receive. Talk about dedication to a gimmick!

“Argh...” I mussed up my hair in frustration. “Okay, Alaina! I’ll ask, and you answer. For a yes, give me a thumbs-up. For a no, wave your hands. If you can’t answer either way, palms out in a ‘stop’ sign. How does that sound?”

A thumbs-up—in other words, a yes—poked out from behind the tree trunk.

Excellent. But still annoying!

I was already feeling exhausted by this point, but instead of admitting it, I pressed on. “So the skinny is that you followed us because you have something to say, but you don’t know how to break the ice, so you’ve just kept mum all this time?”

Another thumbs-up.

“Now, as for what it is you wanted to tell us...”

Let’s see... How do I phrase this as a yes-or-no question? As I was mulling that over, Alaina once again retrieved something from her pocket and tossed it to me. This was a bigger parcel than before.

I opened it and found... a hand-drawn map? It featured a large asymmetrical circle that looked like Atessa, with lines that looked like the roads to Zephilia, Saillune, and Kalmaart. On the opposite side of the big circle from the roads were four smaller circles. There were also small Xs strewn about, primarily concentrated either along the lines or between the big and small circles.

“Is this for us?”

Another thumbs-up from behind the tree.

“So the big circle is the city. The small circles are mines. And the Xs are points where attacks happened. Is that correct?”

Another thumbs-up.

“Thanks! But why give us this map?” Back at the restaurant, she’d made it sound like she didn’t want us involved. “Well, I guess you can’t answer that one with a yes or a no. In that case...”

As I was pondering what to ask next, there came a commotion among the birds. Alaina reacted immediately. She peered into the forest, took a whip in each hand, wrapped one around the trunk of a tree in the direction she was looking, and began swinging from tree to tree in that fashion.

“Something’s happening,” Gourry said. He immediately started to take off running, but...

“Wait!” I called out.

Alaina was moving deeper into the woods far faster than we could on foot. Given her direction, she was probably headed to one of the mines. I could only assume she’d determined something was going on there based on the sound of the birds, but...

“This way!” I began to run in the opposite direction.

Gourry, right behind me, asked, “Why this way?!”

“Instinct!” I replied. It would’ve been too much trouble to explain, but there was a rationale behind it.

Basically, assuming it was the raiders who’d just struck the mine, it was unlikely we would cross paths with them if we made a beeline to the scene. They’d managed to elude the local guard all this time, after all. So instead, Gourry and I were heading back to where we’d sensed someone watching us when we first hit the city.

Given the timing, it seemed likely that the presence we’d sensed had been the raiders on the way to mess with the mine, who had just happened to spot us on the way. Which meant there was a good chance they’d take the same route back.

Using my swift-flight spell would’ve sped things up, but maneuvering in the forest was difficult. There was a nonzero risk of slamming into a tree. And going up over the canopy would’ve only slowed us down and exposed us to the enemy. So, with little other choice, Gourry and I were left running through the woods. And after a while of that...

“Lina,” Gourry said. “They’re here.”

I slowed down and looked in the direction Gourry was staring. The sunlight filtering through the trees dappled the ground covered in moss and grass, but it made the darkness of the forest beyond seem all the more impenetrable. I couldn’t make out a humanoid form, and what I felt wasn’t quite pronounced enough to be called a presence, but I did have the palpable sense something was off. More importantly... If Gourry said that someone was there, they definitely were.

We both stopped in place. “Heya! I think we’ve met before,” I called out, raising my voice.

The atmosphere changed. Whoever was near probably hadn’t realized we’d sensed them before, and they probably didn’t think we’d sensed them now.

“I know you’re no run-of-the-mill bandits! But since you keep going after Atessa... I bet you’re really after that, aren’t you?”

And by “that,” I obviously meant... something I’d completely made up! I was trying to sound smart about it, but I actually hadn’t the faintest clue what they were after.

Nevertheless, my claim left the opposing party with three possibilities to think over. One, I was bluffing. Two, I really knew what they were after. Three, I knew something they didn’t know and had incorrectly assumed it was their objective.

If they went for Option One, they were better off ignoring me. If they went for Option Two, they were still safe to ignore me. But if they went for Option Three... Well, who knew what might happen then?

“What are you talking about?” came a man’s voice, unable to discount the possibility of Option Three.

Yes! Sucker! There was a stirring in the dark forest, and five humanoid silhouettes appeared from within.

Aha... No wonder we couldn’t see them. They were dressed in dull green tunics and pants, fastened here and there with sand-colored string. Their faces were also wrapped in similarly colored cloth, revealing only their eyes. They showed no skin—even the exposed area around their eyes had been thoroughly stained with grass extract and mud. With camouflage like that, so long as they stood still among the trees, you’d never spot them even from fairly close by. They blended in so well with the foliage that I couldn’t identify their ages or sexes. I couldn’t even be entirely sure there were only five of them.

“What do you know?” asked the one farthest to the right—the same one who’d addressed me before. The voice suggested male, but I couldn’t be sure if it was his real voice or put-on.

“We’re on the same page, buddy,” I said.

“Talk.”

“Not sure that’s the best strategy for getting info out of someone. Maybe if you bow, hand over a hundred gold, and ask nicely—”

My snark was interrupted by almost a dozen Flare Arrows! They’d appeared from the outstretched palm of the leftmost figure, who must have used our talky time to chant the spell. It was an attack spell, of course—one that let you conjure and fire multiple flaming bolts. The exact number was determined by the skill of the caster.

Gourry and I quickly leaped to each side! Ba-bwoosh! The arrows struck the ground in a flurry.

Are they trying to separate us?! Over the tumult, I could hear the sound of steel against steel. Gourry was apparently crossing swords with someone. In that case...

Before I could move, I saw a flash of a blade myself. I leaped back, put a hand to the sword on my belt, and quietly began a chant. I could barely make out the attacker through the smoke. All I could really see was a faint light coming from the blade in their hand. I drew my shortsword, blocked the blow, and evaded away. Soon, I completed my spell and...

Suddenly, I felt a familiar sensation. Isn’t this...

I aborted the spell I was chanting, turned around, and started chanting a new one as I ran. I was trying to go full tilt, but my opponent caught up with me immediately. He struck out with a knee, but I leaped back to dodge it.

With a tree to my back, my opponent and I glared at each other awhile. Then I charged with all my might, unleashing my spell at my assailant! “Lighting!”

There was a brief flash of white in the thin forest. Normally all the spell did was provide light, but I’d made a few adjustments to give it maximum brightness in exchange for minimal duration. Taking it square in the face could blind you for some time.

I thought my opponent had run right into the spell, but if my hunch was right, it probably wouldn’t make a difference. I started chanting my next spell while running.

Zing! There was a tiny whistling sound on the wind, and I came to a dead halt.

My shadow trailing behind me on the sun-dappled ground was impaled with a small knife. I knew this trick. Shadow Snap was a spell to bind a target’s movements from the astral plane. Being able to pin someone in their tracks might sound powerful, but it wasn’t too effective against anyone who knew how to counter it—like I did!

“Lighting!” Using the same spell as before to conjure up a ball of light, I freed my shadow from the binding. And just as I turned to face my opponent...


Fweeeee! A whistle echoed through the forest.

Apparently they had a lookout who’d called them off. Hearing the signal, the men around me immediately turned and ran deeper into the green. Even the guys tangling with Gourry began to withdraw.

“Should we go after them?” he asked from some distance away.

“Let’s not,” I said, joining back up with him. This wasn’t any ordinary bandit gang. They knew the terrain, and we didn’t know their numbers. Pursuing under these conditions was a bad idea. “But I wonder why they retreated so suddenly...”

When I looked around, the answer became clear. Two men unlike the ranger bandits had appeared from the side of the forest nearer to the road. They wore fine silver armor that sparkled in the sunlight through the trees like fish flitting past the surface of the water. They were a matched pair, equipment-wise, suggesting they were probably soldiers.

“Who are you people?! Who were you fighting?” one of them demanded as he caught sight of us.

Aha...

They’d most likely been passing nearby and come to investigate when they heard the sounds of battle. The bandits—rather, the raiders—had sensed their approach and retreated.

“We were hired as mercenaries!” I held up my hands as I spoke to show that I meant them no harm. Gourry also sheathed his sword. “We ran into some raiders and got into a skirmish! But they turned tail when you arrived! You can confirm our story in Atessa yourselves!”

The soldiers looked at each other, then exchanged some hushed words. Then at last, they said, “Very well! Will you accompany us to the city?”

“Sure thing! Can I put my hands down now?”

“If you like... but don’t try anything,” said the cautious soldier.

“I won’t,” I replied breezily.

The two soldiers then escorted me and Gourry out of the woods and back to the main road.

“Ohh?!” I exclaimed.

There were a few dozen others dressed in the same armor as the soldiers. And, at the center of their neat ranks stood three fancy horse-drawn carriages and two equally well-made wagons. It was a bigger force than I’d expected.

And I gotta wonder...

I raised my voice a little to ask Soldier No. 1, “Hey, are you guys bigwigs?!”

“We’ll check your credentials first, then talk,” he responded.

But just then, one of the small carriage windows opened and a familiar face emerged...

“Lina! Master Gourry! I thought I recognized those voices!”

“Hey, been a while!”

“Yeah! It sure has!”

Soldier No. 1 blinked in surprise at our exchange.

The carriage door opened wide, and a girl dressed in white vestments—

“Stop, stop! Don’t make trouble for your guards! We can talk when we get back to town, Lady Amelia!” I called, trying to prevent her from busting out of her carriage.

She simply responded, “Just Amelia is fine! See you later, then, Lina!” And with that, she pulled back inside.

The soldiers around us all looked stunned. At last, Soldier No. 1 turned back to me, his armor clinking awkwardly. “It seems that you... er, that you’re an acquaintance of our princess, miss?”

“You could say that,” I replied with a wink.

The girl in the carriage was Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune. Given her name, you can probably guess that she was part of Saillune’s royal family. Gourry and I had traveled with her for a while some time back.

And in the event you’re wondering if we were her escorts, the answer is no. Amelia was a little younger than me and still had a bit of a childish air about her, but she knew shamanistic magic and white magic and she was a crackerjack bare-knuckle fighter. She’d joined us as an equal in battle. After a real rollercoaster of adventures together, we’d parted ways when she had to return to Saillune.

During one of the aforementioned adventures, Gourry and I made the acquaintance of quite a few members of the Saillune royal family. I’d recognized the nation’s soldiers by the crests on their armor and, given how the group was acting, correctly guessed that the carriage contained a VIP. I had an inkling it might be someone I knew, which was why I’d spoken up so loudly. But I’d never expected it to be Amelia herself!

And so me, Gourry, Amelia, and the Saillune brigade headed back to town.

Atessa, the city of smiths...

I’d stopped here with my mom while traveling once long ago, and I knew the general history of the city. This blacksmithing mecca, built on both the big forest and the local mines, had once been the subject of a territorial dispute between Zephilia and Saillune. At that time, the city had had a lord and a considerable guard, but now that the kingdoms had made nice, any military presence was kept to a bare minimum and security was mainly handled by locals. The lord had also been transferred to another domain, and the town now had a mayor to represent it. (Though, apparently, the mayor was a relative of the former lord.)

Of course, that didn’t mean there were no soldiers in Atessa. The mansion of the former lord was now used as a guesthouse, and there were about twenty Zephilian soldiers posted there under the pretense of “administration.” Two of them greeted us at the city entrance, then escorted Amelia and the Saillune group (plus me and Gourry) to the mansion.

Now, I call it a mansion, but it had clearly been designed to act as a fortress if need be. It was made of sturdy rock, and bare in its decoration.

When we entered the front gate, we found about a dozen people—seemingly local bigwigs—among the soldiers, all standing in front of the front door in a neat row. One of said bigwigs was MacLyle in a dress uniform. When he saw us, his eyebrows rose a bit, but he was in no position to say anything.

As all assembled stood at attention, an attendant placed an unnecessarily ornamental stepping stool at the foot of the carriage, and the finely decorated door opened. The person who exited was none other than...

A gasp of astonishment came from the crowd.

She wore a pure white dress decorated with gold thread and lace, and her simple ceremonial silver tiara was striking against her black hair. Obviously, she’d worn traveling clothes when we adventured together, but when she dressed like this, you could tell she was an honest-to-goodness princess. She looked like she’d gotten a little taller since last I saw her too.

As she stepped down onto the flagstone entrance path, she turned to face the bigwigs and lifted the hem of her skirt in a curtsy. “I am honored to meet you, people of Atessa. I am Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune, special envoy from Saillune. I apologize for imposing on you, even for this brief time.”

Following Amelia’s introduction, the mayor of Atessa stepped forward. After a long and self-aggrandizing speech, he said, “I hope you’ll enjoy your stay in our guesthouse after your long journey. I’ll show you around if you wish, but... ah...” He cast a glance to me and Gourry. “Might I ask who those two are? They don’t appear to be part of your retinue...”

“They’re my friends,” Amelia said with a smile. “We happened to run into each other in the forest. I hear they’re helping out the local security forces. I have a great deal to discuss with them, so would you mind if I borrow them for a bit?”

At this, the mayor said, “Yes, certainly. Go right ahead.”

After all, what else could he say?

After that, Amelia and her retinue were assigned accommodations, and the intervening downtime before the night’s banquet was all we were allotted to catch up with her.

“The truth is, I came to Zephilia as a special envoy to deliver a message—and it concerns you two,” she said, sipping her aromatic tea and letting out a sigh.

“Um... is it okay to talk about that here?” I asked, reflexively keeping my voice down.

Amelia had been given a comparatively large room. Naturally, since this was a guesthouse, it was finely decorated with a thick carpet, tapestries on the walls, large tables and desks, and a beautiful canopy bed in the back... Though they did all look a little on the old side.

The table where Amelia, Gourry, and I sat had been set with tea for three, served by the guesthouse’s maid. She stood nearby, along with six soldiers accompanying Amelia—one in each corner and two at the door. Obviously, if Amelia explained her business here, they’d all overhear it. I was wondering if that was okay, but...

“Oh, no worries,” she declared with a smile. “The more people who know, the better. The kingdom wishes to share this information far and wide... for it concerns the existence of high-ranked demons.”

“High-ranked demons?” I whispered.

I’m sure I don’t need to remind you, but demons were monsters that fed off the negative emotions of living beings and sought to destroy the world. Lesser demons and brass demons were common fare, but there were stories of higher-ranked demons—namely an entity known as the Dark Lord (who’d been split into seven parts according to legend) and his five lieutenants, Hellmaster, Chaos Dragon, Dynast, Greater Beast, and Deep Sea.

And... Well, I guess I should just say it outright. Me, Gourry, Amelia, and another friend of ours had actually destroyed one of said lieutenants: Hellmaster Fibrizo.

Yeah, I know. I’m perfectly aware. Make a claim like that, and everyone’ll think you’re running a scam.

Some sorcerers didn’t even believe the Dark Lord and his lieutenants were real. They used spells that invoked the demons’ names, but rather than calling upon the beings themselves, they interpreted the practice as channeling a more nebulous source of power—or perhaps the laws of nature themselves. The idea that we’d met a lieutenant of the Dark Lord and actually destroyed him... I couldn’t blame anyone for doubting that.

In fact, when I’d reported it to the sorcerers’ council myself, I’d expected to be met with disbelief. And the reaction I’d been met with was... Yeah, exactly that. Whole lotta raised eyebrows. The questions I got were less “is that true?” and more “is she bragging, grifting, or crazy?”

Their perturbation was understandable, of course. I would’ve felt the same way in their position. But I swear it really happened!

“This is about... Hellmaster, right?” I asked Amelia. “You think anyone’ll believe you?”

“It’s important that people know high-level demons really exist, and that one of them has been destroyed,” she replied. “But most won’t believe it based on my word alone, so I explained things at home and asked the sorcerers’ council to prove it.”

“Prove it? How?”

“They verified that spells which call upon Hellmaster no longer work. That should be proof enough that the power source known as Hellmaster is no longer accessible. Granted, it doesn’t prove that high-ranked demons are independent beings that take human form, much less that one of them was destroyed by a human. But no one can dismiss the idea out of hand anymore. Our future depends on as many people as possible knowing what threats exist in this world and what form they take, so I’m going around to various kingdoms to present our findings. But because the testing took quite a bit of time, I’m only getting around to it now...” Amelia then smiled and said, “I was worried that it might take so long that you guys had already defeated another high-ranking demon in the meantime, you know? Ahaha...”

“Ahahahaha,” I laughed hoarsely.

“Ahahahaha.” Amelia laughed along with me. Then, still smiling, she said, “I see you no longer have your talismans, Lina... It made me think you might have run into some kind of trouble. And I think your laugh just now confirmed it.”

Erk! Curse your powers of observation, Amelia! You really have grown!

There was no way I could play dumb after that. I scratched the back of my head and confessed, “Yep, sure did!”

“Take this seriously!” she shouted out for some reason, and I felt a little abashed.

“Hey, calm down, Amelia. It’s not like I went out and picked a fight on purpose. Anyway, this isn’t like the Hellmaster thing where it renders particular spells unusable, so it shouldn’t have any effect on your message. Don’t worry.”

She gazed at me in silence for a while, then gave me a strained smile. “So, Lina, what exactly did you do?”

I averted my eyes. “Ah, well... We dealt Dynast Graushera a pretty heavy blow and defeated another avatar of the Dark Lord...”

I heard a dull thud, and when I turned to look, I found the princess slumped over the table.

“Hey! A-Are you okay, Amelia?!”

“Well... I think...” She sat up unsteadily and pressed her fingers to her temples. “I’m going to pretend I never heard that... Okay, I can’t do that, but it sounds like a long story, so we’ll save it for later. There’s something else I want to confirm first. Who were you fighting in the forest?”

“Hmm... To be honest, we only just took on the job today. Apparently some weird raiders have been attacking Atessa for a while, causing all kinds of mayhem.”

“Raiders?” Amelia parroted dubiously.

“The guy who hired us called them bandits, but...”

“They can’t be,” she said easily, her expression unchanging.

“What makes you think so?”

“Well, obviously...” Amelia responded in surprise. “If there had been any fatalities, my soldiers would have brought them in or reported it. The fact that they didn’t tells me there were no such casualties, and for those people to have escaped a fight with you two alive tells me that they cannot be mere bandits.”

Her logic was sound. I smiled awkwardly and shrugged a little. “Well, we’re in agreement there, but...” I glanced over at Gourry. “What did you think of the guys we fought in the forest?”

“Hmm...” Gourry sipped his tea as he thought. “Boring fashion sense.”

“I’m not asking about their clothes! I mean, what did you think of fighting them?!”

“Oh, that? Aside from the ones who came right at me, the others were throwing knives from a distance to keep me in check. I had my hands full dodging that...”

Needless to say, Gourry’s skills were on another level for him to hold his own in a four-on-one fight. But normally, he still would’ve been able to find a weakness in the opponent’s defenses and break through. The fact that he hadn’t this time told me his opponents had quickly taken his measure and countered accordingly.

“Well, it was four against one, but even so, it’s pretty impressive they could go toe-to-toe with you,” I remarked.

“I suppose this is all going to be rather complicated...” Amelia frowned as she listened to our story.

The sun hung in the western sky. When Gourry and I left the guesthouse, it was too late to be called afternoon but too early to be called evening.

We’d explained the rough particulars of the story to Amelia, and that was that. We hadn’t had time to go into depth about Dynast and the Dark Lord, and we didn’t know much about the situation in town either. We had plenty of smaller stuff to chat about, but we didn’t want to stay too long and annoy her bodyguards, so we’d decided to cut things short.

“So, what do we do next?” Gourry asked.

“Hmm... I think something happened earlier, so I’d like to find out what, but...” I said thoughtfully in response. We still had a while before sunset, but not long enough for us to leave the city and investigate. “Okay. Let’s get back to Master MacLyle’s place and—”

“Eat?”

“That too! But first, I have some things I want to ask him.”

For our lodging, we were staying at MacLyle’s Silver Leaf Inn. Part of the reason was that, when we decided to take the job, he’d offered to let us stay for free and given us 20 percent off our meals. But MacLyle was also the head of the local security detail, which made the inn our home base for reporting our findings. It was just convenient for us to set up camp there.

It was now the hour most folks were out and about shopping for dinner, so people were coming and going all through town. The sound of pounding metal from near and far was a natural part of the ambiance in the city of blacksmiths. The people who lived in towns like this tended to be the blustery sort, but the atmosphere right now was far from jolly. The raiders’ presence must have cast a pall on everything.

On our way back to the inn, I was struck with an idea and took a detour for some shopping myself. When we at last returned to the Silver Leaf...

“Hey,” MacLyle greeted us as we came through the door. It was still a bit early for dinner, so there were no customers in the first-floor eatery. The indoor lamps weren’t lit yet, and the weakening late afternoon sun streaming in the windows painted shadows from the aged pillars, chairs, and tables. MacLyle was set up behind the counter. The aroma of delicious stew, or something like it, wafted through the restaurant as he prepared for the dinner crowd. “Welcome back. Did you finish your talk?”

“More or less. We didn’t get to go into details, but we covered the gist of things. You’re not attending the banquet, Master MacLyle?” I asked.

He shot me an awkward smile as Gourry and I took seats at a table. “Nah. Only a select few big shots get to attend. They just rolled me out for the welcome to make it seem bigger. Gotta say, I had no idea you two were friends of the Saillune royal family...”

I gave him a pained smile back. “And I had no idea a Saillune VIP was going to be stopping by... Though, as head of local security, I’m guessing you knew.”

He busied himself with something behind the counter and didn’t seem particularly abashed by my insinuation. “Yeah, sorry I didn’t mention it. I was worried that word would reach the bandits if I did.”

“What? You think someone in town is leaking information?”

“They’ve anticipated our plans a few too many times to think otherwise. It’s probably best to assume that that’s the case.”

Aha. Can’t blame him for being cautious, then...

“By the way, Master MacLyle, speaking of the bandits... We ran into them in the forest.”

“What?!” he cried in shock.

“They ran away when the Saillune guys came, though,” Gourry added.

“H-H-Hang on a minute!” MacLyle launched into a flurry of activity, then came out from behind the counter carrying three wooden mugs—drinks for us, apparently. He placed them down in front of us and took an empty seat at the table. “You ran into the bandits?”

“Something happened today, right? An attack, maybe? This was shortly afterward, so I’d bet they’re related,” I petitioned.

“Could you tell me more?” MacLyle asked. “What did they look like?”

“They hid their faces so I couldn’t even tell if they were men or women, but...” I took a swig of the drink, some kind of apple-based juice. I then gave a summary of our encounter with the raiders and concluded, “That about covers it. Now, we assume something happened out there, but we don’t know what. We were wondering if you’d heard anything, and if you had, if you might clue us in.”

“I’ve only heard bits and pieces myself so far. There was a cave-in at one of the mines, and people thought it might be the bandits—rather, the raiders—using an attack spell. I received the report and sent my crew for search and rescue, but none of them have returned yet, so I don’t know—”

Ra-ring. The door chime interrupted MacLyle. We all looked over at the open door to see...

“Mistress Alaina,” MacLyle greeted her.

The elf opened her mouth... then noticed me and Gourry, moved her lips silently, and closed them. She’d probably said something. Her voice was just too quiet to hear.

“Welcome back. Perfect timing. Care to tell us what happened out there?” MacLyle asked.

After a moment’s hesitation, like a cautious stray cat investigating offered food, she timidly approached—her eyes locked on me and Gourry—and whispered something behind MacLyle.

“Er...” MacLyle, seeming to find it embarrassing, turned to face her. “Could you please say it so that everyone can hear?”

Whew... Alaina sucked in a trembling breath and began rummaging through her pockets.

“Ah. Hang on a minute,” I said, then pulled what I’d bought in town out from my tunic. To most people, they’d just look like two rather large coins of unfamiliar currency. I cast a simple spell on one and handed it to Alaina. “You can have this. I bought it at the local sorcerers’ council. It’s a magic item known as a Regulus Disc, and it’ll make it so we can hear your voice just fine. You seem to have a hard time speaking at a normal volume face-to-face, but if you just whisper into this, we’ll still hear you.”

Alaina timidly extended a hand... then snatched up the Regulus Disc and burrowed under the nearest table in a flash. “Test. Test... Test, test. Oh, I’m audible!” I heard her voice emanating from the Regulus Disc still in my hand. “You humans do make useful tools from time to time! If you had one of these, why didn’t you give it to me earlier?!”

“Heh. You’re entering domineering mode, but keep it in check or I’ll haul you up by your collar and make you talk at point-blank range, okay?”

“Ah... I’m sorry... I didn’t mean... I’ll try to be careful, so please don’t make me talk at point-blank range...”

Huhhh... She had very extreme ideas about keeping her distance from others.

“But... this really is very convenient. Could I keep it? I’ll pay, of course.”

“Hmm...” While I was contemplating whether to sell it at cost or rip her off...

“I’m sorry, but could we negotiate this later? Right now, I want to hear what happened at the mine,” Master MacLyle interjected.

“Ah, yes. Go ahead,” I agreed.

He then said to Alaina, “Now, I believe you went to the scene yourself. What did you see?”

At this, she spoke smoothly. “The site was the second mine. There was a cave-in. There were injuries, but no dead or missing. I returned early to report, but Randa is leading the rescue operation and the entire security force is pitching in. They expect the operation to wrap up before nightfall, but it’ll be at least a few days before the mine is back in business. And an inspection of the scene suggests clear influence over bephemoth earth spirits caused the landslide.”

It was an excellent summary of the situation. Too bad she had to give it while hiding under the table...

However, I did have one question. “Who’s Randa?”

“The man you knocked out when you first arrived here,” MacLyle informed me.

Ahh, the roughneck-looking security dude. I’d totally forgotten his name. But if he was the one running the show... Boy, they must be short on people. Or maybe that was the one thing he didn’t suck at?

“Just to be sure, is there any chance that one of the miners cast the spell that caused the landslide?” I asked, considering the possibility it was an inside job.

“No,” Alaina responded firmly. “I found the spell’s point of origin, and it was on the outside, some distance away.”

“You found the spell’s point of origin? You can do that?!” I found myself shouting.

There were some spells and situations where you could track the magic back to where it was activated. Except this one had caused a landslide, which would ordinarily get rid of all traces...

But she just said, as casually as could be, “Well, it’s obvious if you look for traces of interference with the bephemoths, though?”

“Traces of interference...?” I said, mouthing the unfamiliar phrase.

“Yes. It’s possible that humans can’t see them.”

“You mean elves can?!”

“We sense them more than we see them, but... yes.”

I was friends with an elf, but this was the first I’d heard of it... Granted, it’s not like the subject of how elves perceive their surroundings had ever come up between us. I knew humans and elves differed greatly in magical ability, but I didn’t know that they straight-up saw things differently.

“But I still couldn’t find the bandits in the end.”

“Ah, about that,” MacLyle said. “Our two friends here seem to have encountered them.”

“What?!” I could feel Alaina tremble under the table. “You met them, Elder Lina?!”

“Yeah, kinda. Wait, what’s with the ‘elder’ all of a sudden?! Just call me Lina.”

“Lina... but if you go without a title, does that mean that I outrank you?”

“You can still think of me as your elder. Just drop the title.”

“Ah... I will. I’m sorry.”

Her sense of distance regarding interpersonal relationships was also annoying! Why did one of us have to outrank the other? I just figured we were equals... Though I was pretty sure if I said that, Alaina would go into domineering mode again.

“So... what were they like?” she asked.

“There were at least six of them, I think, covered in cloth from head to toe. I couldn’t even tell if they were male or female.”

“Did you sense anything else?”

“They were pretty good fighters, and they gave us the slip in the end. Despite everyone calling them bandits, I don’t think they can be just any bandits.”

At this, Alaina went silent.

“If they’re not bandits... who are they, and what are they after?” MacLyle spoke in her place.

I shrugged. “Wish I knew. They didn’t seem like the spill-all-our-plans-to-folks-we-just-met types. I have a rough idea of the direction they ran in, but I doubt we’d find their base by just beelining it.”

“Still, this is a big step in the right direction. We haven’t been able to get a bead on them before this. Keep up the good work tomorrow, would you?”

“Sure, we’ll do our best.”

Or so I said, but it felt like things were getting kind of out of hand. It had only been a day—rather, half a day—since we’d arrived in Atessa, and it had been pretty damned eventful.

I took another sip of my apple juice, resisting the urge to sigh.

Morning came early in a city of blacksmiths—by which I mean to say I was awoken by the sound of smiths striking their anvils. Had it been birdsong, I’d have gladly slept through it. But hammers on steel? Yeah, I couldn’t ignore that. The townspeople were probably used to it, but I sure as heck wasn’t.

Unable to go back to sleep, I got up, climbed down to the eatery on the first floor, and found Gourry already there. The sound must have woken him up too.

Following a light breakfast of salad, bread, bacon, eggs, mashed potatoes, minestrone soup, risotto, gratin, apple pie, fruit, milk, and juice, I took a quiet sip of my after-meal tea. And just as I was letting out a deep sigh... I heard the shop’s door chime ring loudly.

“You! There you are!” I turned toward the panicked voice and saw a familiar-looking older man standing there. He was walking straight toward us. “You know Princess Amelia, don’t you?!”

Suddenly I remembered him. He was one of the men who’d welcomed the Saillune delegation to the guesthouse yesterday. The mayor, I think.

“Er, yes?” I replied.

The mayor then looked around, ran up to our table, and spoke in a hushed voice, “Princess Amelia isn’t here, is she?”

“No, she isn’t...”

What a peculiar question that was. Amelia was a special envoy from Saillune, after all. She should’ve had bodyguards with her at all times, and just because we knew each other didn’t mean she could just come by to hang out whenever she wanted. The mayor undoubtedly knew that too, so the only reason he’d ask me such a thing was...

“She’s not... missing, is she?” I asked, keeping my voice down.

At this, he turned visibly pale. “Mm.” He opened his mouth to speak, then changed his mind and closed it. He tried this another time or two, then said, “...I think she’s been kidnapped...”

...

“Say whaaaaat?!” The simultaneous cry from me and Gourry sent a shockwave through the morning air around us.



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