Chapter 15 | The Assassin Shares Some Mana
My preparations took little time, but I arrived at the gathering point to find everyone else already there.
Epona was so strong that she didn’t need equipment, but the others were dressed for battle.
Naoise had a magic sword, and while Tarte, Dia, and I looked no different than usual, we were wearing special undergarments.
They’d been made from monster tissue that had been extracted using Tuatha Dé medical secrets. The material guarded exceptionally well against slashing and bludgeoning attacks, as well as heat. It was quite malleable, too. Tuatha Dé assassins wore outfits made of this wondrous stuff when entering a rough combat situation.
“This is uncomfortably tight on my chest.”
“…Do your best to hang in there.”
Evidently, the undergarments hadn’t been designed with the chest size of someone like Tarte in mind. While they had some amount of elasticity, it was not without limit. I felt bad for Tarte, but there was nothing to be done.
“What? That’s cr—I mean, y-yeah… Lugh, I don’t think it’s gonna be easy for me, either,” Dia piped up.
“I-is that so?”
Dia was clearly lying. Her chest fit just fine.
Before long, it was time for us to depart. We all climbed into the wagon and took off for our destination.
The horde of orcs didn’t seem like it was going to be too much of a problem. I only hoped the army’s information was correct.
We arrived at the ravine where we were going to ambush the orcs. Some soldiers were gathered there, too.
Non-mages were unable to fight in battles against monsters. Still, they could serve as lookouts, scouts, or guards. Other tasks like making camp, assisting with villager evacuation, procuring supplies, and delivering messages to and from command could also be entrusted to them.
Their presence enabled mages to focus on battle.
A scout returned and reported to Rachel. The woman nodded, then looked like she was contemplating how best to convey this new information to us. After considering for a moment, she sauntered over.
“The orcs will arrive in four hours. We don’t know how, but their numbers have increased. The estimate has increased from one hundred to one hundred and fifty,” she told us with a calm voice. An increase of 50 percent was not good news. Typically, the proper procedure would’ve been to cancel our operation and retreat.
I waited for Rachel to say something else, but she remained quiet. Tarte then broke the silence by hesitantly raising her hand.
“Um, is there a plan for this?”
“The plan is simple. We use this ravine to kill all the orcs. To be more specific, those who are skilled in close combat will fight hard up front, and those who are skilled at using mana will fire spells from the rear,” Rachel replied.
Doesn’t sound like much of a plan. That said, giving us a complicated strategy when we held no real organized combat training was impossible.
“Miss Rachel, I have something to say. The canyon is a suitable place to engage the orcs, but the road leading into it is too wide. Fighting an army of one hundred and fifty head-on would be suicide,” I observed.
The entrance into the ravine was wide enough that five to six orcs could enter at a time. Handling that many was an impossible task for our vanguard. It would lead to our rearguard getting surrounded, which would keep them from casting spells. In the end, we were just too few.
“But we don’t have any better options,” Rachel protested.
“Perhaps if you consider the map to be stagnant, but what if we change the terrain? Dia and I can use our earth magic to narrow the road. We can make a gently sloping dirt wall so no more than two orcs will be able to pass through at a time,” I suggested.
I drew a simple picture on a piece of paper. Just as I’d explained, we’d alter the landscape by creating a slope in the earth that connected the walls of the canyon. This would make a choke point that reduced how many orcs could get through. The barricade would also keep enemy projectiles out. The mages in the rearguard would be safe to hurl spells over our wall.
In truth, I would’ve preferred to close off the ravine entirely, but that would incentivize the orcs to look for another way around, so the opening had to be kept wide enough that they still wanted to go through.
“That’s an interesting plan. But do you have enough mana to create a dirt wall of this size?” Rachel inquired.
“That won’t be a problem for Dia and me. You said we have four hours until the enemy arrives, right? We’ll build the wall and still have enough time left over to recover any lost mana,” I declared.
“I agree completely,” added Dia.
Rachel looked at Professor Dune.
“I’ll allow it. Lugh, Claudia, give it a try.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Lugh, let’s do our best.”
Dia and I nodded at each other and immediately got to work.
The mages and the non-mages alike looked on in wonder.
“This is magnificent. I’m always amazed by the beauty of Lugh and Dia’s magic,” said Naoise.
“Yes, Lord Lugh and Lady Dia are geniuses when it comes to magic,” responded Tarte.
“Whoa, that’s incredible. I can’t believe those two are students. I wish I could hire them into my service right now,” Rachel admitted.
While we weren’t using any spells of our own design, our near-perfect execution despite the massive scale and our seemingly endless supplies of mana must’ve made us look inhuman.
But that aside, are Rachel and the professor right in the head? If I hadn’t said anything, the fight could’ve gone very badly. Everyone but Epona undoubtedly would’ve died.
Once again, I was left to wonder if they’d done this on purpose as a way to gauge the hero’s strength.
After our construction project came to an end, we left the watch to the troops and went to rest in our tent. To have Dia recover mana more quickly, I induced sleep using a Tuatha Dé secret drug that caused muscle relaxation and an accelerated stamina recovery rate.
“I’m getting nervous, my lord,” Tarte said, her hands shaking.
“Are you scared?” I asked.
“No. I’m never scared when I’m with you.”
“Is that so? I have one piece of advice for you. Make sure you don’t hesitate. Act with certainty.”
“Okay!”
Tarte gripped her spear. Expecting a tough battle, she was reinforcing the weapon’s joints.
“Also, um, can you give me a little? I’ve run out again,” Tarte admitted.
“You still can’t control your eye?” I inquired.
“Yes, I’m leaking mana constantly. So please give me some of yours, my lord.”
I glanced over at Dia. It looked like she was fast asleep. That meant we didn’t need to move somewhere else.
Tuatha Dé eyes had a disadvantage. While they strengthened your vision by gathering mana, you needed practice to keep yourself from unconsciously feeding mana to them. If you weren’t careful, they could run you dry.
For that reason, I had to use a spell to refill Tarte’s mana.
I pressed my lips against Tarte’s. Using that as an entry point, I poured mana into her. It was easiest to transfer mana through contact of mucous membranes.
When my lips touched hers, Tarte collapsed into my arms. She closed her eyes and pressed hard against me. When mana began to flow into Tarte’s body, she shivered, and her breathing intensified.
The spell was one of my own design. Connecting mana wavelengths was an extremely advanced technique. I don’t think more than a handful of people had ever attempted it.
…I didn’t really want to use this method, but ever since I’d used it to save Tarte from mana depletion one time, she’d gotten into the habit of pestering me for it.
Truthfully, I suspected that Tarte had been able to control her eye for a while, and she was just using this as an excuse. She looked adorable when she asked, however, so I allowed it. Plus, holding her tight and pressing my lips against hers was enjoyable.
“Is that enough?” I asked, breaking away from Tarte.
After the spell, Tarte always seemed to grow more amorous than you might’ve expected of someone like her.
“Yes, I’m full of your mana, and I feel so brave now!” Tarte brought a hand to her lips with an ecstatic expression on her face.
…I kept this method of recovery a secret from Dia. If I told her about it, it would likely mean trouble.
The camp suddenly grew noisy. The enemy had arrived.
“Sounds like it’s time. Dia, wake up.”
“Mmmm, good morning, Lugh.”
“I did tell you to rest up, but sleeping that soundly in this kind of situation takes some guts.”
“I guess so. But thanks to that nap, I recovered a lot of mana.”
Dia was acting no different than normal. It didn’t look like she’d seen what Tarte and I had just done.
“Then let’s go. Dia, you still have what I gave you, right?” I asked.
“Of course.”
Dia pulled five Fahr Stones filled to their critical point out of her pouch.
They were the last resort in case she ran out of mana. Fahr Stones were something I really wanted to keep secret, but Dia’s life was more valuable.
“Tarte, are you ready?”
“Yes, I won’t let them beat me.”
The soldiers came to get us. The time had come for battle.
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