Slayers - Volume 3 - Chapter 1

1: Attack on Sight!

The afternoon sunlight glinted off of naked blades and clanging silver armor. My companion Gourry and I shared a deep sigh at the sight: just under a dozen fully-armed warriors blocking our path ahead.

“We’ve tracked you down at last, evildoers!” their leader proclaimed, pointing straight at us.

Hoo boy... This was the fifth band of wannabe heroes come to “vanquish” us today.

“Heed me, abominable criminals Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev! Your heinous legacies come to an end forthwith!”

Yeah, yeah. Whatever, man... With my cape fluttering in the wind, I let the wannabe hero’s words go in one ear and out the other. These guys had already pegged us as history’s worst villains or whatever, so I knew there was no point in arguing with him.

In case you’re wondering, this mess all started a few days ago.

I woke up to find myself captured. “Yep, pretty much your standard abduction scenario” was the first thought my fuzzy head could manage. My hands and legs were thoroughly bound, and my captors had made sure to gag me too. The cool floor felt kinda nice against my cheek, but the smell of mildew grossed me out more.

I seemed to be in a storehouse of some kind. I looked toward the door and saw two men in front of it, presumably guards. They were standing bolt upright but holding bludgeoning weapons of some kind—a pretty silly look, if you ask me.

“You up, Lina?”

When I heard my name, I looked around again to find another man lying nearby. Like me, he was bound up tight and had been stripped of his sword. The only difference seemed to be that he wasn’t gagged.

Reader, meet Gourry: blond, handsome, unassuming. He was also a master swordsman, but he probably had less brain activity than your average zombie. Ha, good one, Lina! (Okay, maybe that was going a little far...) Anyhoo, it looked like Gourry had been captured too and—

Wait, captured?!

Guh! Stupid Lina! This is no time for leisurely scene-setting!

“Mmmrmph! Hrmrgh!”

I struggled in a panic, but they’d tied me up good. The best I could manage was flailing and wriggling like an energetic caterpillar.

“Ah, sounds like the girl’s awake too,” said Guard A.

“Y-Yeah,” Guard B replied, a slight tremble in his voice. He cast a nervous glance my way. “But... she doesn’t look too dangerous to me.”

“That’s what makes her so scary. She looks all innocent so you let your guard down, and then... You catch my drift?” Guard A said knowingly, even though it was nonsense.

Guard B nodded somberly.

“Hey, guys,” a voice interrupted, sending a comical jolt through the guards. They looked toward the speaker—Gourry—in a panic. “Would you mind telling us what’s going on here?”

He asked so casually that it was hard to tell if he had any real appreciation for the gravity of the situation. The guards simply stared at him, their eyes full of trepidation. At last, Guard A broke the silence.

“H-Hey! Don’t play dumb with us, or else! You catch my drift?!”

More nonsense...

“C’mon, d-don’t waste your time with scum like him,” Guard B scolded.

“Yeah, you’re right..”

At that, Guard A went quiet again. If I could’ve spoken up myself, I might’ve been able to wheedle some good info out of them, but...

“Now...” Guard A said, his eyes falling on me.

W-Wait a minute! Don’t look at me like some perv! Is this really how it’s gotta be?! 

“As for the girl, it’d be kind of a waste to just hand her to the authorities, wouldn’t it?”

Yup, here we go again! I know I’m as lovely as the day is long and all that, so I can understand that I stir certain urges in most men. But this is seriously getting old...

And wait! The authorities?! Hang on! I know I’ve been called Bandit Killer and the Queen of the Dead, but only by the villains deserving of my wrath! What could the authorities want with little ol’ me?!

Wait a minute. Could it be... Gourry?!

Had Mr. Unassuming here had a bounty taken out on him at some point? Come to think of it, we’d only been traveling together a few months. He rarely talked about himself, so I had no idea what kind of life he’d led before we met.

Really, it wouldn’t be that surprising if he had some kind of a past. Yeah, surely this was all Gourry’s fault! Yeah, yeah... That had to be it. Made perfect sense to me!

I knowingly looked over at Gourry... only to find him eyeballing me! “What did you do this time?” his gaze seemed to say.

Grr... Don’t you look at me like that!

Unfortunately, my gag kept me from giving him a piece of my mind. One thing this little farce made clear, however, was that Gourry was every bit as clueless as I was about our current predicament.

“A w-waste? You mean...” Guard B breathed, staring into the middle distance as he tried to grasp Guard A’s meaning.

“They’re just gonna hang her or something once we turn her over. Who’s gonna complain if I have a little fun with her first?”

Gee, I dunno, bro! Maybe me?!

These dolts had clearly mistaken us for dangerous criminals, and I wasn’t exactly gonna accept a measly “Oh, sorry about all the groping!” once the misunderstanding came to light.

“M-Maybe you shouldn’t,” Guard B fretted.

He was clearly concerned out of fear rather than the goodness of his heart, but if he could get his friend to lay off, then I wasn’t going to hold it against him. Rah, rah, B! Keep it up, B! You tell that nasty ol’ Guard A!

“Don’t be a wimp. Just stay back and keep watch. If anything happens to me, you come bash her damned head in.”

“O... Okay...”

Agh! No, don’t fold! Stand up for yourself, man! Be strong!

“Anyway, it’s not like I’m gonna untie her or ungag her. I’m just gonna strip her down a little. No big deal, right?”

“I... I guess not. In that case... maybe I’ll join you...”

Whoa, hang on there, fellas! Don’t both of you go giving me those lecherous grins! Hey! Stay back, dammit!

Easily holding me down as I struggled, Guard A cupped my chin in his hand. I might have speed and skill on my side, but I tend to lose out in terms of sheer strength. Obviously, as a brilliant swordsman-slash-sorcerer, I could take care of this with a little magic... except the gag in my mouth made that impossible.

“No hard feelings, okay? I bet you’ve done a lot worse than this...”

Have not! Have not!

“Now... Shall we?”

The man slowly reached out, and then...

“Stop.”

Oh, sweet salvation! That was Gourry’s voice! The two guards, intimidated by the aura he was now projecting, unwittingly recoiled.

“Don’t touch her. If you do...” he said, glaring at the two guards with violence in his eyes that would send an ogre running.

If... If Gourry could intimidate these guys into backing off, I’d be saved. But if not... Well, let’s just say I didn’t have the utmost faith that Gourry could talk them down.

A tense silence hung in the air for a time.

“Ha!” Guard A scoffed, dashing the last of my hopes.

Alas, poor Lina Inverse! Would she be subject to the men’s abuses after all?! Er, this was no time to get swept up in cliched narrative conventions! This was seriously bad news!

“You don’t s-scare me!” Guard A declared.

Your voice is trembling, dumbass!

“You can’t do squat all tied up like that. But I’ll humor you, so go on... What’s gonna happen if I put my hands on her, huh?”

“I’m going to say it again: Do. Not. Touch. Her. If you do...”

“If I do?”

Gourry answered him in a quiet, clear voice: “You’ll catch what she’s got.”

Chk!

I could hear the air in the room turn subzero. After a very long pause, the two men, frozen in place, turned their eyes on me...

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle!

...And scooted back in a hurry. If I hadn’t been gagged, my jaw would’ve hit the floor.

“Come to think of it...” A strained smile appeared on Guard A’s face as he turned creakingly toward Guard B again. “Y-You might be right. It’s not nice to touch people without their permission.”

“Yeah... everyone knows that.”

They shared a hoarse laugh and then stared at each other for some time before letting out a big sigh.

“Say, why don’t we stand watch outside?”

“Y-Yeah... She might be contagious even from here.”

Hey!

With that, the two guards left through the door, casting sidelong glances at me as they made their exit.

“Whew. Looks like they’re gone now, Lina,” Gourry said.

Shing! I turned a glare set to kill in his direction, then silently began wriggling my way over to him. His lips drew into an awkward smile.

“L-Look, it was the best thing I could think of...”

Wriggle... Wriggle...

“What matters is you’re safe and— Hey, wait! Lina!”

Wham!

I planted a double-footed kick square into Gourry’s face.

“So, what exactly did I do to deserve being kicked like that?” Gourry griped as he pulled my gag off with his teeth.

“Blugh! Seriously?! You couldn’t’ve thought up a better excuse?! You made it sound like I’m... grumble, grumble.”

“What else was I supposed to do? Just sit back and let them feel you up?”

“Erk... Well...” I faltered, unable to come up with a reply.

“See?”

“Okay, fine! You have a point! But... hmph! I’ll accept that I was in the wrong just this once!” I conceded in an honest apology—a rarity for me.

“Gosh, who brought you up to be this way?”

“You shut your mouth! Now... we need to figure ourselves a way out of this jam. Granted, that should be easy enough with magic back on the table.”

And so I set to chanting a spell. Obviously I didn’t want the guards outside overhearing, so I kept my voice in the same hushed whisper I’d been using to talk to Gourry.

“Bram Fang!”

This was a spell that fired a cutting arrow of wind, but it wasn’t very powerful. It was only enough to produce a light scratch, and not even that if your opponent was wearing so much as leather armor. I’d learned it from a sorcerer lady I’d met in a town once as a way to drive off gropers, but that was about all it was good for... although you could also focus several of them in one spot to cut through rope.

Once Gourry was free, I got him to untie me too.

“I guess we’d better find our swords next, huh?” he asked as he worked out his stiff shoulder.

“Yeah,” I replied, shaking out my cape as I got to my feet. “And an explanation, while we’re at it.”

The sun had dipped below the mountains by the time we’d first arrived in town. The locals regarded us with suspicion, but we didn’t pay them much mind. The route we were taking, the Falcon Road, had only been extended through the area about five years ago, and a small, isolated village wasn’t going to go from pegging all outsiders as thieves to welcoming them just like that. Figuring we’d be fine as long as we were out of town at dawn, I’d gotten Gourry and myself rooms at the inn, but...

After a few bites of dinner, I found myself hit by a wave of sleepiness. And the next thing I knew, we were tied up in a warehouse.

“Now, why don’t you tell us exactly what’s going on here? Oh, and no screaming, okay? One peep out of you and I swear...” I threatened, glaring right into the eyes of the man Gourry had pinioned.

“Eeeek! P-Please spare me! Don’t kill me! I’m begging you!” wailed Guard A like a baby.

Guard B was already collapsed in the doorway. It had only taken Gourry one poke in the back of the neck to knock the guy unconscious once we stepped outside.

“Hey, no need to be scared,” he said in the tones of a soothing parent as he held Guard A fast from behind. “Your buddy isn’t dead or anything. He’s just sleeping.”

It was presently the middle of the night, so our only light came from the stars and the sliver-thin moon above. As I’d expected, we were being kept in an old storehouse on the outskirts of town. The village was likely fast asleep by now, as there wasn’t a single light on in the distance. All I could see were the faint silhouettes of rooftops in the dark. Unsurprisingly, there was no sign of anyone else around.

“So spill it. Why did you capture us?”

“B-Because of the bounty on your heads, of course!”

“What?!”

Gourry and I looked at each other.

“I’m sure this is just a case of mistaken identity. I’m Lina Inverse, and he’s...”

“G-Gourry Gabriev, right?”

Gourry and I exchanged another look. Either there were some wily evildoers out there who’d stolen our identities, or someone had put a bounty on our heads in bad faith... Either way, we were gonna have to do something about it.

“Who put the bounty out on us?”

“D-Dunno... There are wanted posters going around promising good money for bringing you in alive...”

Alive, huh? That made things even more strange. Who could possibly want to capture me and Gourry alive? I figured Guard A wouldn’t know anything about that, however, so I decided to focus on more pressing matters.

“Now, where’d you put our swords?”

“They’re... in the mayor’s house... I think...” he said hesitantly.

I figured he was telling the truth, though. He seemed too frightened to do otherwise.

“And where’s the mayor’s house?” I asked.

Once again, he answered readily. If we really were villains, he’d be putting the mayor in serious danger by ratting like that, but he was solely concerned with his own survival at the moment. He seemed like your typical bully—acts tough when they have the upper hand, but crumples quickly when the tables turn.

“Hmm, I think I get the picture. C’mon, Gourry.”

“Okay.”

Gourry released the man, then poked him lightly in the back of the neck. That was all it took to knock him out cold. We then left the two sleeping guards to nap under the starry sky as we headed for the mayor’s house.

“Keep quiet.”

“No loud noises, okay?”

The old man didn’t seem especially surprised by our sudden visit. He merely sat up in bed and looked at us in the dim lamplight.

“Oh, it’s you two...” he said as though he’d been expecting us. His casual attitude caught me off-guard.

“Do... you think we could get our swords back, perhaps?” I found myself asking politely.

“The top shelf over there,” the old man said with a ready nod. “Help yourselves.”

Gourry reached for the shelf he indicated in search of our objective. (I wasn’t tall enough.)

“Why are you being so cooperative?” I couldn’t help asking.

“It was I who told the innkeeper to drug you, I confess. But when I caught sight of you sleeping, it seemed to me that there might have been some kind of mistake.”

You think?!

“You just didn’t look like villains to me. Of course, there are wicked ones in this world who don’t look the part, but they still tend to have a certain air about them... An air that you two do not possess.”

“And it didn’t occur to you to tell your flunkies this?”

The old man forlornly shook his head, then turned to Gourry.

“Young man, that shelf holding your swords... there’s a drawer at the very bottom. Yes, that one. Bring me the paper in there, would you?”

Gourry did as he was asked and handed the paper to the old man, who held it up to the lamp so we could see it... and when we did, we gasped.

“This is...”

It was a wanted poster, and two of the three faces on it were clearly ours. Beneath each of them was an absolutely absurd sum of money. Not even a renegade king-killer would fetch a bounty like that.

And those portraits... They were drawn with bloodthirsty, murderous expressions, but they were unmistakably me and Gourry. They were even labeled with our names.

But what surprised me most of all was the third wanted man on the poster. There was only one incident all three of us had been involved in together. Could it be...?

“H-Hey, Lina. This guy here,” Gourry called, pointing to the third face. “Do we even know him?”

Argh! I felt my whole body go limp.

“You stupid... How could you forget someone that memorable?!”

“It was the bounty,” the elder sighed. “We could easily make it through the coming winter with money like that. The people were so happy... How was I to tell them, ‘I don’t think this is right. We should release them’?”

For that, I had no answer.

“As another matter, the man who sponsored the bounty isn’t the type to make false claims... I’ve never met him personally, but his upstanding reputation precedes him.”

“You know who put the bounty on our heads?!” I asked, impassioned.

“I’m sure you know of him too,” the mayor replied with a firm nod. “The modern-day saint... The wandering holy man Rezo the Red Priest. Do you know what he would want with you?”

Okay, this was going to take some explaining... No, scratch that. If I actually explained our history with Rezo, it would just sound like a tall tale. If someone else told it to me, I sure as heck wouldn’t buy it.

If I boiled it down to the more believable bits, then it would go something like this: Two months ago, right around the time I first met Gourry, I ended up in possession of a certain item. There was another group who wanted this item, however, so we ended up clashing over it. Said group included the so-called saint, Rezo the Red Priest, and a spellsword named Zelgadis in his employ.

Zelgadis was the third person on the poster.

After some back-and-forth between our groups, Zelgadis turned on Rezo, but the item in question nevertheless fell into Rezo’s hands. The Red Priest then underwent a wicked transformation, and Gourry, Zelgadis, and I worked together to finally defeat him.

In other words, Rezo should be gone now.

“Sir Mayor, the offer on that poster must be null and void,” I said. “I may be mistaken... but I heard that the Red Priest died two months ago.”

I left out the part about how we’d actually killed him, as that would only complicate things. Nevertheless, the mayor looked at me suspiciously.

“Curious, but I do believe you’re mistaken. The authorities only brought these posters to us last week. They said that they were issued about half a month ago.”

Half a month ago? That couldn’t be possible. Gourry and I looked at each other again.

“Th-Then, Sir Mayor... would you happen to know where the Red Priest is at this particular time?”

“I’m afraid not,” he said with a slow shake of his head. “But if you two are truly innocent, you should head for the town of Crimson to the west. It’s where the poster says the bounty is to be paid, so you might learn more there. Perhaps you can even speak to the Red Priest and clear up this confusion yourselves.”

This was way worse than just a simple case of confusion, but I nodded dutifully anyway.

“Misunderstandings... truly beget nothing but sorrow,” the mayor said with a long sigh and a distant gaze.

I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of complicated past he himself had.

“Thank you, sir,” Gourry said quietly. It mystified me how normal he could act at times like this. “I’m sure we’ll only cause trouble if we linger here too long, so we’ll be taking our leave now.”

“Of course,” the old man said with a small nod.

And so Gourry and I put the sleepy town behind us.

“What do you think is really going on, Gourry?”

It was the next day now, somewhere around noon. We’d made camp that night after slipping out of town. We’d enjoyed a late breakfast, and were now on the road to Crimson.

“You mean about Red Priest Rezo being alive?”

I nodded firmly.

“I feel like there’re a few possibilities,” he said, folding his arms as he walked. I kept a little ways behind him to the side, waiting for him to elaborate.

The cobblestone road stretched out before us. Green mountains rose in the distance. The grassy field swayed in the wind. Songbirds twittered all around.

Hang on a minute...

“Gourry, was that actually all you had to say?”

He scratched his head, a shy smile on his face.

“Heh...”

Don’t “heh” me!

“Darn it... You gotta work those brain muscles of yours and actually think for once, or your whole head’s just gonna turn to tartar sauce!”

“What the heck is tartar sauce?”

“Anyway, there are indeed a couple of possibilities. The first is that this ‘Rezo’ is a phony. Given that the bounty is for the three of us, it’s most likely the handiwork of one his subordinates trying to avenge Rezo... Though in reality, I doubt this is an actual revenge plot so much as it is a ‘make-a-name-by-killing-his-killers’ plot. That’s why they want us brought to them alive.

“The next most likely possibility is that this is all simply a case of bad timing. When I bolted with Zelgadis, we were on the run for a couple of days before we met back up with you. It’s possible that, during that time, Rezo asked one of his men to put out a bounty on us. Maybe there was some sort of a delay and the posters have just come out now. Though if that were the case, there was no reason for him to specify that he wanted us alive...”

“There’s one other possibility,” Gourry said, his expression grave.

I found myself scowling. I knew what he meant, and I wasn’t thrilled at the prospect. I turned my gaze upward to the heavens.

“Rezo the Red Priest might really be alive. And if he is...” I whispered to the cloudless blue sky, “I can’t beat him this time.”

If only that grim speculation could have been the capper to our day... But alas, there’s always more crap to deal with. The wannabe heros lining up to “vanquish us” had been increasing in number ever since our capture. We were six days out from Crimson, and if the local do-gooder brigades kept proliferating at this rate, we’d be dealing with about three hundred of them a day by the time we got there.

Well, okay, that was pretty implausible. But still, they were getting annoying as hell. Is this how it felt to be a dark lord? This endless cavalcade of fully-armed warriors coming at you out of nowhere, following the same corny old script? Just like the guys we were dealing with now...

“We are the Eight Silver Knights of the Principality of Lenos, ordained by heaven...”

If they were just some random baddies, this would be where I slammed ’em with a spell and kept walking. But things were a bit more complicated here, seeing as these guys thought we were the baddies. I mean, I was still going to put them in their place, but I’d at least show a little mercy, you know?

Rather than murdered, they might just end up crippled or maimed. Listen, I’m not great at this whole mercy thing, okay? Don’t laugh! Where I’m from, they say, “Even when you hold back, hit like you mean it.” That’s right. I grew up with a bunch of huge badasses. My big sister, for example. Boy, she might be quieter than me, but she... No, I won’t say it. If it ever got back to her, I’d be dead.

“...Our story begins ten years ago...”

I cast a glance over at the knights, who still weren’t done with their introduction. I quietly incanted a spell, and...

“Bomb Splid!”

Ba-ba-boosh!

“Gyaaah!”

My very merciful strike—if I do say so myself—sent the seven knights flying. Huh? There were eight, you say? Look, does it even matter at this point?

“You know, Lina... sometimes I wonder if you even know what ‘mercy’ means,” Gourry grumbled, looking slightly disgusted.

“Of course I know what it means! If I hadn’t shown any mercy just now, those seven knights... or was it eight? Whatever! They would’ve been blasted to bits, armor and all!”

“I suppose they are alive at least, but...”

There, Gourry cast a piteous look over the scattered knights, who were lying on the ground twitching and groaning to themselves.

“Ahh... is this the end?”

“W-We should’ve just gone after those bandits instead...”

“Hang in there, men... Don’t die on me...”

Okay, yeah, so I might have overdone it.

“Explain to me how this is any different from the way you normally treat bad guys again, please?” Gourry asked wearily.

I clicked my tongue, waggled my finger at him, and proclaimed, “I used a different spell.”

He let out a big sigh.

It was a quiet night. I was tossing in bed, unable to sleep. Despite our wanted status, large enough towns always had plenty of inns willing to take us in for the right price.

But something was stirring deep in my chest. I’d felt it more and more lately whenever I ended up alone at the end of the day.

I’d been having a lot of sleepless nights these days, and I knew just what was causing it. I was thinking of Gourry in the room next to mine.

Things had been like this since the day I first met him. Was he awake right now? Every time the thought ran through my mind, the pain in my chest grew stronger.

Hahh...

I gave up on sleeping and crept out of bed. I moved over to the thin wall that separated our rooms and pressed a hand to it, then my cheek. I couldn’t hear the slow, measured breaths of him slumbering... Did that mean he was still awake after all? If so, then...

“Sleeping!”

I sent a spell through the wall! Come dragon roar or banshee wail, nothing would wake him up tonight!

Okay! I grinned and started making my preparations.

I donned my white robe and black pants, tied my bandanna around my forehead, and slipped on my boots and long, black gloves. A night-black cape hung from my shaved-down great turtle shell pauldrons, and a shortsword from my belt.

Locked! And! Loaded! Mwahaha... mwahahahaha...

A big smile spread across my face. That’s right! Why deny myself? Ever since I met Gourry, I’d been too worried about his judgment to engage in my usual bandit bullying, which had left me with a major case of blue balls.

It was especially bad tonight. The knights I’d zapped this morning had mentioned something about bandits, and it was all people could talk about at the restaurant once Gourry and I got to town... Now I couldn’t help myself. I was aching for action.

Thus I slipped out of the inn unseen and headed off toward my destination. I could already imagine the location of the bandits’ base courtesy of the rumors I’d overheard at the inn. Only an idiot wouldn’t have been able to find it.

The forest was silent at this hour. I followed a vague path that looked a bit like an animal trail, cutting through the underbrush as I ran.

I was dead on. This was definitely the right way.

Near some dilapidated ruins, I could see a red and orange fire burning—a bandit bonfire. Several men were lazing around it, looking bored as they occasionally took swigs of booze and laughed at nothing in particular. Each one carried a scimitar and was dressed in a black tunic.

I had to wonder. Why do these guys never showcase any originality in their wardrobe? Not that I really care, but... would it hurt them to at least try?

The ones by the fire were probably lookouts, with the real base hidden in the ruins behind them. It looked like it’d be pretty easy to force my way in, but a too-powerful attack spell could knock down the whole shebang and bury whatever treasure was inside.

So if I didn’t want to ruin the whole point of this trip... first things first, I’d have to lure everyone out into the open. I took off my swordbelt and pauldrons, and rolled them up in my cape. Carefully cradling the bundle in my arms, I walked a little ways back down the path. Then I took in a deep breath, and...

“Help!” I shouted as I broke into a run.

The bandits quickly came to see what was going on. I ran right up to them and made a big show of tripping. Of course, I kept my cape bundle clutched close.

“Help... *gasp* ...Help!”

Breathing heavily (acting, of course!), I clung to the nearest bandit. They all seemed confused by my sudden arrival.

“H-Hey, what’s this all about?” one asked.

“He’s coming! He’s... Please, help! We have to escape! He’ll kill us! He’ll kill us all! Just like he killed him!” I panted, saying all kinds of evocative yet ambiguous things.

The lookouts shared a glance. One of them announced he’d check things out and then darted off into the forest.

While quaking in the closest bandit’s arms, I quietly whispered what would have been indecipherable to an ordinary person... Yup, it was a quick attack spell.

“(Hushed) Mega Brand!”

Blam! A swath of ground nearby exploded with a loud sound, sending the bandits into an immediate panic.

“Bwahh?!”

“He’s here! He’s here!” I screamed, pointing randomly into the forest.

“What?!”

“Where?!”

I quietly recited my next spell as ten or so men poured out of the ruins to investigate the commotion.

“What’s going on? What’s all the ruckus?”

And just then...

“(Still hushed) Vice Flare!”

Ba-boom! The bonfire the lookouts had been stoking suddenly exploded.

“What?”

“What’s happening?!”

The bandits were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. I had them right where I wanted them.

“Heh heh heh! That worked out even better than I hoped!”

I’d neutralized the bandits who’d come out of the ruins, and I’d now located their treasure deep within. It wasn’t exactly piled to the ceiling, but there was plenty of gold and silver to be claimed. I held up my cape and pulled a bit of linen lining from a hidden interior pocket. I then tied the edges together, and voila! A simple knapsack!

The remaining conundrum, then, was what to take. If I got too greedy and loaded my bag down with too much gold, it would be heavy and conspicuous. If I was really careless, I might even bust the strings on the way home and lose it all. So, should I go for gemstones, works of art, or magic items?

As I was contemplating my options...

“Hey, what are you doing there?” an angry voice called from the door.

Urk! I cringed.

If it were just another a bandit, I would’ve zinged him in the face with a spell and been done with it. But that wouldn’t work against this man. I slowly, warily turned around, and sure enough...

“Ohhh, Gourry! Fancy running into you!” I cooed as I balled up my fists under my chin and batted my eyes at him.

“Nothing fancy about it,” he said, scratching his head in a troubled fashion. “Why in the world are you here?”

“Teehee! Not telling!”

“Don’t try to joke.”

Fine... If you insist. 

I puffed out my chest and declared, “I’m huntin’ bandits.”

“Don’t try to justify it.”

Then what do you want me to do?!

“Forget it! We’re getting out of here.”

Without any room for objection, Gourry grabbed my hand and started to drag me away.

“H-Hey! Wait! My treasure...!”

“C’mon, you’re makin’ a big deal out of nothing!” I berated Gourry as we walked side-by-side down the road.

“‘Nothing’?” Gourry asked without even a glance my way.

Yeesh, he was really mad...

“Slipping out of the inn in the middle of the night... What were you thinking?! For pity’s sake!”

“I was planning for my brilliant future,” I answered without hesitation. “Besides, what’s wrong with beating up a bunch of bad bandits? Those guys loot treasure, you know! If I let them be, they’d just keep stealing from people!”

“And you were gonna take a commission for yourself, I’m sure,” he said with a great sigh.

“Well, it’s not like I know who it originally belonged to! And if I just left all that treasure lying around, the local lord would eventually confiscate it! Or worse, people would start fighting over it! So me taking it and spending it is the fastest way to get the economy back on track!”

“You’re a real spin doctor, you know that?”

“Anyway, I thought you were asleep at the inn, Gourry...”

What I really wanted to ask him was, “Didn’t my Sleeping spell work on you?” But I couldn’t ask that. Nope. Not a chance.

“I hit the latrine and on my way back, I heard some noises coming from your room. So I went to mine and opened the window in time to see you use a Levitation spell to hit the ground and run off.”

Go figure. That explained it.

Tch. Lucky bastard...

“Welp, on to more important matters,” I said as Gourry and I both came to a stop.

Insects were calling in the trees, and a faint bit of starlight streamed down through the dark leaves.

“Why don’t you come out already?” I said in a low voice, glaring deep into the brush.

At that, Gourry placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.

“You really don’t do subtle, do you?” asked someone from behind me.

Impossible! No one had been there a minute ago. I was sure of it. Gourry and I both whipped around... and stood there stunned.

There he was, a cleric clad in robes the color of blood like he was shrouded by crimson shadows. His cape drifted in the wind. Most of his face was hidden, but two eyes peeked out from a hood pulled low... Two tightly-closed eyes.

“Rezo the Red Priest...” I whispered, almost in falsetto.

“It’s been quite some time... I’m glad you’re both well,” he said brazenly, his expression completely unreadable. “It must not be easy, being beset day in and day out.”

“Thanks to a certain someone distributing those lovely little wanted posters,” I shot back.

In that moment, I realized something strange. I still couldn’t sense Rezo’s presence at all. There was no reason for him to mask it when he was standing right in front of me, so what was going on?

“Oh, you mean my invitation... I’m currently staying with the High Priest of Sairaag, you see.”

Sairaag was about five days north of here. It had been known as the City of Magic, until it was destroyed by the beast Zanaffar over a century ago. People accordingly called it the City of the Dead for a time, but the hero who slew the beast planted a tree in the middle of the fallen city. As that tree grew, so did the rebuilding efforts, and it now stood as a symbol of the newly thriving metropolis.

But... if Rezo was in Sairaag, then what were we talking to now?

I finally recalled the name of the spell: “Vision.” It let you manifest your likeness across long distances as though you were actually there, allowing you to have a conversation with someone from afar. It was one of the most convenient spells out there if you knew how to use it. But in order for it to work, you had to have a sorcerer on location acting as a relay for your projection... meaning Rezo had a lackey skulking around nearby.

“So... you want us to come to Sairaag, huh?” Gourry asked.

“Only if you care to,” the Red Priest replied mockingly. “But if you don’t, you’ll live as fugitives the rest of your days. That’s all.”

“That’s all, huh?” I found myself wincing. “Gourry might not mind, but I’m not eager for the experience.”

“C’mon, I don’t want that either...”

“Then I shall await your arrival. As trite as the phrase may sound, I do desire a reckoning,” he said, then disappeared in a flash.

Gourry and I just stared at each other for a while.

“Was that—” I finally started.

“You heard him,” a mysterious voice interjected, cutting me off.

Gourry and I whipped around again to see a man of medium height and build, dressed in your run-of-the-mill sorcerer getup with a black cape and hood. About his only distinguishing feature was a ruby the size of a thumbnail embedded in his forehead. He was standing right where we’d originally sensed the presence, meaning he must have been hiding there the whole time as he relayed our conversation with Rezo.

“Aha...” I gave the guy a once-over; I could tell at a glance he was a hack. “Rezo’s flunky, I take it?”

“Silence, brat,” he snorted. “You won’t be causing any more trouble for Lord Rezo... for I, Vrumugun, shall now administer your last rites!”

Wait a sec! Didn’t Rezo want us in Sairaag? Was this guy going over his head?!

I guess you run into his type from time to time... People who act impulsively because they think it’s for the best, even though they’re just ultimately causing trouble for others.

“I wouldn’t try it if I were you,” I said, waving at him in dismissive annoyance. “You really don’t stand a chance. Credit where it’s due for tracking us down, though.”

“I appreciate the compliment, but after that ruckus you caused in the middle of the night, finding you was child’s play.”

Well, excuse me.

“Now, let’s see who doesn’t stand a chance!” he cried, reaching his right hand behind his back. “Hah!”

I immediately ducked, dodging something black that came streaking toward my head.

Thunk! With a dull sound, a tree about twice as thick as one of Gourry’s arms just behind me split in half down the middle.

“A chain whip?!” Gourry exclaimed, identifying it at a glance.

As its name suggested, it was a whiplike chain with a small weight at the end. Its power was plain to see, too. If used correctly, it could be more dangerous than any sword.

And while dishing out combo attacks with it, Vrumugun began chanting a spell. It sounded like... a Fireball?!

Fireball was an indiscriminate attack spell. The caster unleashed a ball of light that would explode when it hit something, spreading flame everywhere. Was this idiot serious? Using one here in the middle of the woods would mean a forest fire on our hands... He might even end up roasting himself!

Ugh! I began a chant of my own as a red ball of light formed in Vrumugun’s left hand. We finished our spells at nearly the same time.

“Fireball!”

“Freeze Bullid!”

Our differently colored spheres of light collided head-on.

Zing! There was a high, clear sound like something metal splitting, and both orbs were extinguished.

“What?!” Vrumugun yelped in surprise.

It seemed he didn’t know spells could cancel each other out. It was something I’d discovered by accident on a job with a fellow female sorcerer once.

But just so you know, it didn’t necessarily work with all spells of opposing properties. There were also ways to combine spells to produce something far more powerful. It just so happened that I knew Fireball and Freeze Bullid would negate each other. I would have liked to study more combinations, but even a genius like me needed a partner for that kind of thing, and the sorceress I knew ran off on her own some time before I met Gourry.

Anyway, most practitioners of magic didn’t know about the mutual cancellation phenomenon, so it didn’t surprise me that Vrumugun was so taken aback. He stopped in his tracks for a moment, unable to comprehend what he’d just witnessed. Gourry didn’t fail to seize the opportunity. He closed in on the sorcerer in a flash and sent the dangerous weapon in his hand flying.

“Tch!”

Vrumugun quickly leaped backward. Gourry pursued. I began to chant a spell. The sorcerer reached his right hand behind his back again like he was going to grab something... but Gourry kicked him in the solar plexus before he could.

“Ugh...”

The sorcerer buckled in half and fell to his knees just as I finished my chant.

“Elemekia Lance!”

Vrumugun folded like a cheap suit. The spell I’d just used directly damaged a target’s astral form. It wasn’t fatal to a normal person, but it would drain their spirit and put them to sleep for a while. Lucky for him, I’d used a low-powered version.

Why the kid gloves, you ask? Well, I didn’t want to knock him out cold. I had questions for our little friend Vrumugun here, see.

Just as I’d hoped, the sorcerer in question was collapsed on the ground, barely able to move. He was still conscious, but in no position to make trouble.

“You should’ve known it was reckless to take us both on at once,” I said while scowling into the sorcerer’s face. “It’s important to know your own limits... But enough with the lecture.”

Gourry was cautiously listening in on our conversation, close enough to lop the sorcerer’s head off the instant he tried anything funny. Knowing he was behind me gave me the confidence to go no-holds-barred with our sorcerer friend here.

“So, who was that?” I asked.

“Who was who?” Vrumugun asked in turn, his thin eyebrows twitching slightly. “Don’t tell me you don’t know Lord Rezo...”

I spoke again, enunciating every syllable: “We killed Rezo. Two months ago.”

After a moment, a cold smile appeared on Vrumugun’s face.

“Ha! What a preposterous lie... If that were true, then who offered you an invitation to Sairaag just now?”

“That’s what I’m asking you, buddy,” I said.

He seemed to be under the unfaltering impression that the guy we’d spoken to was the real Rezo, meaning it was pointless to press him further about his true identity.

“Don’t be absurd. Puny creatures like you could never defeat Lord Rezo!”

A rich line, coming from a guy whose ass we just kicked.

“Aww, you’re funny. How exactly am I puny?”

The sorcerer looked me straight in the eye and said, “In the chest department, for starters.”

“Oh, shut up!”

I snapped and sent the sorcerer flying.

Gourry and I departed the inn just before dawn the next day and walked side by side down the road thick with morning fog. We were still a little sleepy, but the enemy knew where we were and where we were going. That meant we had to move fast.

We’d left Vrumugun tied to a tree in the forest. Part of me thought we should eliminate him while we had the chance, but not even I could justify killing a helpless opponent.

“So... what do you think? About Rezo last night, I mean,” I asked.

“To be honest,” Gourry replied with a rare thoughtful expression, “I thought it might just be a lookalike.”

Fair, but...

“It’s possible that wasn’t him, but rather something close,” I mused.

“You mean... like a family member?”

“Well, that’s also a possibility, but I’m thinking he’s some kind of copy of Rezo.”

“Copy?”

“Remember all those homunculi running around Atlas City?”

“Hmm... The name’s kind of familiar, but I never really got what their deal was.”

It suddenly dawned on me that I’d never actually explained to Gourry what a homunculus was.

“They’re artificial life forms created with magic. You can use a person’s blood to make one, and it looks just like them with all of their abilities and stuff.”

The word “homunculus” originally referred to an imp created from a man’s bodily fluids, but these days, the definition was a little broader. You could mix together powdered animal bones with dozens of other ingredients in certain ratios, combine them with human blood, and then through various procedures and rituals... The end result was an artificial human identical to the blood donor.

They were made with a totally different process and yielded totally different results than the original kind of homunculus, so you’d expect them to have a different name, but the sorcerer who’d come up with them threw his hands up and said, “Why don’t we just call them homunculi?” And it stuck. So, it was a little annoying, but we now had the old “small” homunculi and the newer “copy” homunculi.

The copy kind were generally used as guinea pigs and security guards, but lately, folks were raising ethical questions about their treatment. They looked and functioned just like people, after all, but unless their creator specifically bestowed them with it, copy homunculi had no will or memories of their own; they were effectively flesh golems.

“So if somebody made one with my blood, they could create a warrior with my skill?” Gourry asked.

I shook my head and explained, “It would be identical to you in terms of musculature, speed, reflexes... but a homunculus based on you wouldn’t have your sword technique or battle instincts. See, you can replicate someone physically, but you can’t replicate their learned behavior, habits, way of speaking, et cetera. A creator would have to imprint those specifically... and even then, there are limitations. For instance, homunculi don’t come with a personality. But if you can teach one how to talk and act...”

“Then you could make something like what we saw last night?”

“Yup,” I answered with a firm nod. “Besides, it’s not like we ever got to know the real Rezo all that well. So even if that was a clone or a twin, how would we tell the difference? We only saw him through a Vision spell too, so who knows about his aura?”

“So, basically, you’re saying it’s a fake either way?”

“Yeah. I mean, even if he’s a real person, he’s not Rezo.”

“Then what the heck’s going on here?”

“Well... this is just my running theory, but I think one of Rezo’s people made a copy of him, and is now using it to rally his underlings and lure us to Sairaag. Probably to avenge Rezo, or like I said earlier, to make a name for themselves.”

“Hmm...” Gourry hummed, looking into the distance with a hand on his jaw.

“You don’t buy it?” I asked.

“Well, you’ve kinda been batting zero on the sharp deductions thing.”

Ugh...

“L-Lay off, okay? Whatever the truth is, our only option is to proceed to Sairaag. Things should become much clearer there.”

“We just have to go, huh?” he whispered unenthusiastically as he gazed into the fading morning mist.

“Guh!”

Gourry buried his fist in the man’s solar plexus while I took out one of his friends with an Elemekia Lance. This was our sixth group of wannabe heroes today.

“I really wish we could do something about this...” Gourry said in annoyance. “It’s not even noon yet, and we’ve already fought six bands of self-proclaimed do-gooders. Just how many are we going to have to fend off before we make it to Sairaag?”

“Wanna pick up some disguises in the next town? It might be our best bet.”

“Maybe, but first...”

“Yup. Looks like team number seven is already here,” I said as I looked down the road.

The blue cobblestones trailed up a low hill before disappearing over top of it. The old innkeeper we’d spoken with before leaving this morning told us we’d find the next town on the other side.

There was a small stretch of woods on the right side of the road that stood over a wheat field. Above it and the hill, I could see the peaks of distant mountains. But right now, the dark figure at the forest edge had my attention. He was dressed in black sorcerer’s robes with his hood pulled down over his eyes.

“Okay, let’s do this already!” I declared, marching forward a bit recklessly.

“Thanks for last night,” the sorcerer said. He sounded young.

But wait, we’d only fought one sorcerer last night...

“Have you forgotten Vrumugun already?” he asked.

“Hmm...” I scowled at him.

Gourry, beside me, reacted the exact same way. I certainly hadn’t forgotten about Vrumugun... but this guy gave off a totally different vibe from the guy we’d encountered before. His voice seemed different, even...

Still, if he said it was him, surely it had to be, right? I couldn’t see any benefit to impersonating the dude. But in that case... how had he caught up with us?

“All right... I give, but...” I said as I scratched my head. “You should really learn your lesson. You can’t have forgotten how easily we beat you.”

“Oh, but I brought some help today. Come on out, boys.”

“...Okay...”

“Ugh, bossing me around...”

At Vrumugun’s order, two figures emerged from the forest.

“Wait, it’s you guys?!” I found myself shouting.