《The Alchemist's Tale》


 0.1 - Prelude 1: 100 Years Ago

    Ever since I got a Ph.D in theoretical physics, I thought that I would be able to find a nice job and live comfortably for the rest of my life.


    Except I was wrong.


    I lacked the communication skills and connections to secure a decent job.


    My peers in academia ridiculed me for all my unsuccessful research.


    All my students and assistants quit working under me because of my horrible reputation.


    Worst of all, funding for my lab was about to get cut due to the lack of results, and I was about to get fired from my university researcher position.


    But not for long!


    Tonight, after years of hard work, I have finally succeeded in opening a wormhole to another world!


    To confirm that my research was successful, I stepped through the wormhole.


    It was a big risk, since there was no telling whether this other world was habitable or not. I took a few deep breaths and jumped up and down for a while, but found nothing wrong with my body.


    Looks like this place is habitable.


    Once I show this result to the rest of the world, I''ll be sure to get the Nobel Physics prize!


    I was currently standing on the edge of the woods in near a small city that was surrounded by stone walls and ramparts. There were a few horse-drawn carriages running on the gravel roads in the distance. Looking at the clothing and architecture in front of me, I concluded that this world was currently in what was the equivalent of the medieval era.


    Well, time to head back and report my findings to the world.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡­


    Crap.


    The wormhole is gone.


    I didn''t pay the utility bills for the past month, so it was only a matter of time until they cut the power of my lab building, but why did it have to be now?


    Damn it all! My life has been nothing but a mess even until now!


    There was the possibility that someone would come and restart the wormhole machine, but there were a few problems with that:


    <ol>


    <li> I''m a loner with so few connections and friends that nobody would ever go looking for me.</li>


    <li> I didn''t save my configurations for this trial run onto the computer yet.</li>


    <li> Nobody else was helping me with my research, so they wouldn''t know how to operate the machine in the first place.</li>


    </ol>


    And so I became quickly convinced that I was now stuck in this world.


    * * * * *


    This world didn''t use paper currency, so it was hard for me to get around, especially when I didn''t speak the language.


    Luckily, I was taken in by some sage a week ago after making a lot of attempts at drawing and giving him my pen and convincing him that this was an infinite usage quill that produced its own ink.


    He has been trying to teach me the language of this land, but the writing system is such a mess. The grammatical structure and vocabulary was very easy to comprehend at least, so I could understand and speak extremely basic sentences like "Hello, my name is Badoth," and "Goodbye."


    I''ve also learned that this place was in some ways similar to fantasy worlds in modern fiction, where monsters roamed the land, and a lot of people were able to use magic through the use of "mana". The laws of physics and chemistry slightly differed from Earth, hence why magic and alchemy were actually possible in this world. As a physicist, I would have been devastated if force did not equal mass times acceleration here, but thankfully that fundamental law seems to be the same here based on my makeshift experiments with some tinker toys I found.


    In any case, I''ll probably never master the writing system, but I think I''ll manage to understand and use this language after about a year. If I ever get the chance, I''ll definitely introduce a much simpler writing system. Maybe I''ll even be rewarded well if I introduce some modern discoveries and reforms here, too.


    I probably need to do that at some point, anyways. I want to go back to my world and get a Nobel prize for my wormhole discovery. To do that, I''ll have to advance science this world just enough to produce early models of computers and capable assistants that could help recreate my research.


    I think I have to study some magic and alchemy along the way in order to find ways to extend my lifespan, too, otherwise I''ll die long before this world''s knowledge advances enough.

 1 - Introductions

    "Welcome!"


    I greeted the giant in heavy armor as he came in. The giant made a slight groaning sound and waved his hand at me as he slowly made his way towards the back of my shop.


    I watched as he carried crate after crate outside to an ominous looking carriage. The crates were filled with supplies that one would find useful during a war: speed potions, strength potions, magic scrolls, enchantment stones, and so on.


    Aside from a few customers who would swing by for a while to buy some minor healing or stamina potions every now and then, I was usually alone in the shop, so it didn''t bother me how the giant took his time carrying all those crates outside. Even though he didn''t talk, just having someone else in the shop made me feel a lot less lonely.


    After loading the last crate onto his carriage, he left a large rucksack on the counter inside before taking off. I was expecting to hear the clinking sound of coinage, but the sack was filled with only paper money.


    "Thank you for your patronage!"


    I felt too lazy to count the amount of money inside the rucksack, but a quick glance at the contents tells me that he definitely overpaid. In fact, he could probably purchase more than twice as many supply crates with that amount.


    The giant never inquired about item prices here, nor did he make any motions that indicated he expected me to give him change, so I don''t think I was obliged to do so. I know where he lives and works, but strangely, I''ve never found him when I went there, so I can''t give him the change anyways.


    Nevertheless, I''m a merchant. I think it''s a wonderful thing if someone overpays for my items.


    It was already around noon, so I closed my alchemy shop and headed out for lunch.


    I could splurge a little because of all that extra money I received, so I picked a random fancy diner in town and asked for the special of the day. Every dish was named in a foreign language which I could read but not understand, so I had no idea what was in them.


    No matter what dishes I ate at the diners in town, I could never tell what went into them, since they all used some rare ingredients I had never seen or studied before. They all had a unique and pleasant taste though, so I didn''t really mind.


    After enjoying my mystery meats, I went around town buying materials used for creating the supplies I sold in the morning. Most residents in town were surprisingly strong, so there was always an abundance of rare monster drops and high quality crafting materials in the marketplace. As a result, I was able to buy just about everything I needed at less than half the price one would normally need to pay elsewhere.


    "Could you deliver these items to the alchemist shop on X street? I''ll pay an extra fee."


    "Certainly!"


    The armored giant bought a dozen crates of supplies earlier, so I needed just as many crates of crafting materials in order to restock. There was no way I could bother myself with hauling that much back to the shop, so I asked for a delivery service.


    After making my rounds through the marketplace, I went back to the shop to receive my deliveries. It took the entire afternoon and part of the evening to unload, craft, and restock all the purchased goods.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    I went to a nearby pub for a late meal and drank throughout the evening with the patrons there. They were out on the battlefield fighting every day, so there was no shortage of stories about their battles and of landmarks in other towns.


    Having heard these kinds of stories every day, I wasn''t very interested in hearing what the others had to say. The only thing I liked about being here at night was that I could have some interaction with others, since I spent most of the day inside my chronically empty shop.


    Of course, there was also the fact that I got free drinks. Most of the patrons at the pub were thankful that I supplied them with enough tools and potions for their battles, so they generously treated me to some drinks as thanks for indirectly increasing their chances of survival for the battles of that day. Seeing how they were so enthusiastic about it, it would be rude to decline their offers, so how could I not stay and drink with them?


    I walked back to the shop that doubled as my home shortly after midnight and placed supplies for the giant to pick up in the morning inside various crates, then headed to bed.


    This has been my daily routine for the past half year. I considered getting an apprentice at one point, but unfortunately there wasn''t anyone skilled enough in this town full of militants to help me with item crafting. I figured it was fine, though, since creating items was only time-consuming and not a difficult job. If I worked like this for another year or two, I should be able to save up enough money to retire and live comfortably for the rest of my life. Maybe I could find a significant other too, once I have free time in the future.


    I was satisfied with what I currently had: a high-paying simple job, a home in a nice town, and friendly townsfolk that respected me. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, as I had to cast away my identity and escape from town a few days later.


    Before I get to that part, I suppose it would be best to go back half a year and introduce myself first.


    My name is Blaze, an archmage who mastered magic that controls fire and heat. It''s quite a fitting name, isn''t it?


    I used to be an adventurer who took on quests for a living, but was forced to retire early. Given the destructive nature of the magic I used, it was nearly impossible to ever recover any monster parts to use as evidence of subjugation or to sell to alchemists and item crafters. Consequently, most adventurers avoided recruiting me unless it was for a quest that involved defeating a large dangerous monster whose body couldn''t completely burn up.


    It didn''t help that news about me spread throughout the kingdom just as fast as the fires I created, so most parties already knew what I was capable of doing even if I only came to a town for the first time ever. Apparently, people who were proficient at using fire magic were extremely rare. In fact, I think I was the only known person in the whole kingdom to have mastered it. After all, one only needed to learn the basics of fire magic for work at a waste dump or a crematory; anything beyond the basic level was too impractical for daily usage and certainly undesirable for questing.


    Regardless of where I traveled to, the population was nowhere near dwindling, so it''s safe to assume that the quests where I would ever be needed in were extremely rare. In the odd occasion that one large and powerful monster did show up, the subjugation party was more so a large expedition, so the payment for a successful hunt was divided into relatively small splits.


    Needless to say, my income was meager back then. I think I struggled with securing food for the day more often than with monster fights.


    As a mage, I was already very familiar with the theories and applications of magic. Consequently, it didn''t take too long for me to self study magic crafting and item creation. Since my prospect at becoming a successful adventurer was nonexistent, I decided to retire from being an adventurer at the ripe old age of twenty to become an alchemist and magic item crafter.


    Since I had almost no money, I had to start by selling minor healing potions and basic magic scrolls on the streetside. Thankfully, they were useful and popular enough that by the end of the month, I was able to rent a proper shop and expand my inventory. I was quite surprised at this result, as I earned more profits from a week of running an alchemy shop than the amount of money I made from a month of questing.


    Well, it''s not like I was able to do quests that often in the first place, so anything that guaranteed that I would have food to eat every day would have come as a surprise to me.


    And so, rumors started spreading among the adventurers in the kingdom about a weird fire mage who gave up on incinerating everything in order to run a simple alchemy shop. Thank goodness nobody spread word of what I looked like, or I probably would have been ridiculed every day...

 2 - A Strange Visitor

    It all began some time six months ago.


    "Good morning!"


    A seemingly cheerful girl came into my shop.


    "Oh? Welcome."


    While several different intelligent species existed in this world, humans took up the vast majority of the population. As a result, this girl who belonged to the race of cat-people easily stood out and caught my attention.


    Her ears and tail were white and had a few grey spots, like those of a snow leopard''s. She had silky white long hair and wore a frilly white dress that made her look very youthful. Combined with her pale complexion, one could probably mistake the girl as a ghost. As she was practically colorless from head to toe, any trace of color on her would stand out a great deal.


    Indeed, her amber colored eyes were captivating.


    She quickly walked up to the counter and introduced herself with a smile.


    "My name is Amber. Nice to meet you!"


    Of course. A cheerful girl with amber colored eyes named Amber.


    "Nice to meet you, Amber. My name is Blaze."


    "I''ve been told you made excellent potions and scrolls."


    I knew rumors about me have been spreading around, but I didn''t think anyone would have ever described my work as excellent.


    "Really? I thought the rumors were about me being a crazy mage that made basic healing potions."


    "That''s quite modest of you."


    She giggled at my response, then looked around the shop for a while. Although she never picked any items up for a close examination, she spent a bit more time looking at the shelves at the back than anywhere else. The girl pointed at one of the shelves.


    "I guess the rumors that I heard were right. These are some very advanced potions you have."


    I''m surprised she even knew that. Apart from the bottle shapes, the liquids inside each bottle were visually the same as those of cheap minor potions.


    "Why do you even keep these in the back, anyways? Wouldn''t it be better to put these on the display window so people know how skilled you are?"


    "I don''t get a lot of business here in the first place, and I''m sure people would be discouraged from coming inside if all they saw were potions they couldn''t afford..."


    The people here used gold, silver, and bronze coins for trading. Each type had small coins and large coins with a tiny hole in the center, with the large coin being worth ten small coins. A small gold coin was worth one hundred small silver coins, and a small silver coin was worth one hundred small bronze coins.


    A veteran adventurer could earn about five small silver coins a week. The potions Amber pointed towards were all priced at one small gold coin or higher. There''s no doubt that putting items worth almost half a year''s earnings on display would give adventurers a very bad first impression about my shop.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The girl giggled again at my response.


    "That''s a strange reason. Why craft such powerful items if you don''t plan on showing it to the world?"


    Come to think of it, why did I make so many expensive advanced potions and scrolls in the first place? They already cost a fortune to craft, and I never expected anyone to purchase them, anyways. Maybe that was why I had so many financial issues¡­


    "It''s just in case there''s an emergency that requires them, I guess..."


    This world has been at war against a powerful entity known as the Demon King for generations. The town I was currently in was only a three hours'' distance by horse away from the border with the Demon King''s territory. I thought that being so close to the battlefield would mean that the army and militia would mass purchase the potions and scrolls in my shop, but I was horribly wrong about that.


    On the battlefield, soldiers would either perish or get wounded enough that they would need to be sent back. There was no point in consuming an advanced healing potion to continue battling since the effect was not instant, as it only accelerated recovery, and wounded soldiers were seen as a liability to a battle''s outcome.


    My enchantment materials were much more useful to the army, but they were concerned that the Demon King''s troops would loot enchanted equipment from the soldiers and use that against them, so they stopped purchasing the materials after a couple days.


    As for the single-use scrolls imbued with my magic that allow the user to invoke powerful spells¡­


    There''s no doubt that powerful spells like "Inferno" or "Firestorm" would be useful in eliminating a large number of enemies. There was, however, one slight flaw: the area of effect was so large and hard to control that the spells would often cause friendly fire incidents to occur, the user included. Not only that, the force of impact would deform the terrain so badly that it became impassable, and the flames would linger for days, making it impossible for either army to advance.


    "Well, this isn''t an emergency, but what if I told you I knew someone who would buy your advanced supplies?"


    If she hadn''t so easily pointed at those expensive items earlier, I probably would have ignored her question.


    "I''d be interested in knowing who that someone was."


    "I can''t tell you that so easily, you know."


    I don''t know if she''s trying to tease me or not. The girl came back to the counter where I was standing and looked straight into my eyes.


    "How would you feel if a former enemy came into your shop one day?"


    "I might have cared a few months ago when I was still an adventurer. I''m essentially a merchant now, so as long as the person doesn''t cause trouble and buys something from me, then I wouldn''t mind having a former enemy in my shop."


    "And what if other people end up hating you for doing business with the former enemy?"


    "I''m sure a lot of people already hate me for destroying a lot of landmarks..."


    That was the other reason why other adventurers weren''t fond of my fire magic.


    "... Besides, as a merchant, it''s normal to have enemies."


    Be it competition or people who think my prices are outrageous, there will always be people who aren''t fond of me.


    "Do you feel attached to any of the towns you''ve ever travelled to?"


    "Not really. All the rumors about me made people treat me a bit differently, so I usually felt uncomfortable¡­"


    I wasn''t even sure why I was saying all these things. There was something about this girl that made me feel comfortable talking about myself.


    The girl kept looking into my eyes. It was as if she was peering into my soul. Yet for some reason, that didn''t bother me at all. We looked at each other in silence for a few seconds.


    "Would you throw away your dignity if, in return, you could have customers that respected you?"


    "I don''t think I have much dignity in the first place. My stock of items and poor finances are already the laughing stock of this town¡­"


    She giggled again at my response.


    She then gave me a warm smile as her eyes glowed bright.


    I suddenly felt drowsy, and my vision started to blur.


    My eyelids began feeling heavy, so I briefly closed my eyes.


    Then before I knew it, I lost my consciousness.

 3 - New Job Offer

    When I regained consciousness, I found myself lying on a bed.


    ... Wait a minute. A bed? I don''t even own one - I usually laid out a mat and slept on the floor.


    I quickly opened my eyes and sat up.


    "I see you''ve woken up."


    Sitting right next to my bed was the cheerful girl from the cat-people race named Amber. She gave me a familiar warm smile as she gazed at me with her amber colored eyes.


    "Where am I? What did you do to me?"


    "You''re currently in another town. I used a hypnosis spell to put you to sleep for the past eight hours, since I didn''t want you to know how we got here."


    I suppose I did give the impression that I didn''t mind starting my business again in another place. Why didn''t she want me to know where I was going, though?


    "It would have been nice if you gave me some time to prepare myself. I probably would have voluntarily gone with you, too. Kidnapping me and bringing me to an unknown town is just¡­ wrong."


    "I apologize for that. I did get a horse-drawn carriage to bring over most of your wares and belongings, though, so you don''t need to worry about losing anything important."


    I know I should at least feel some anger towards this girl, but why is it that I can''t seem to?


    "Anyways, would you please come with me to the dining room? You must be hungry after that much time. There''s also someone I''d like you to meet there too."


    "...Alright."


    I got out of bed and followed the girl through this unfamiliar house. It seemed to be a moderately sized wooden home with about four rooms on each floor. Apart from one small potted cactus by the stairwell, the hallway was undecorated. She led me downstairs to where the dining room was. Judging by all the dust gathered on the stairs'' rails and the creaking sounds that were made as we walked, it didn''t seem like the house was in use that often.


    "This isn''t an abandoned house, is it?"


    "Oh, no, it''s not abandoned. The owner lives on and only uses the ground floor, while the upper two floors are guest rooms. There usually aren''t any guests staying here because of the ongoing war, so the upper floors are a little poorly maintained¡­ Well, here''s the dining room."


    To my surprise, I saw a much grander sight than what was upstairs as Amber opened the door.


    The dining room was brightly lit, giving the gold plated long table and chairs inside a spectacular gleam. Its walls were decorated with fancy murals and paintings in art styles I had never seen before, along with cream colored silk curtains lined with gold and silver laces.


    At the very center of the dining room was a large hanging candelabra full of dangling crystals. As the crystals glistened under the candlelight, the dining room appeared to be much brighter than it actually was.


    As though she was able to read my mind, Amber smiled at me and explained,


    "This is more like a banquet hall than a dining room. It''s mainly used to reward those that had a great contribution to the war efforts."


    That certainly would increase the morale of troops. Although if this room really was used for that purpose, then this town was certainly relatively close to the battlefield.


    Now I''m a bit concerned about my safety here¡­


    "Please come inside. The owner is waiting for you."


    The owner of the house was sitting at the end of the long table.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    He looked like a middle-aged man and had several scars on his face. He had short violet hair and a pair of long black horns, and his wings, though folded, seemed to be slightly tattered. He wore a lustrous embroidered suit of black armor, suggesting that he was most likely a war veteran that held some prestigious position.


    Having seen that, I got a sudden revelation of where I was and why Amber didn''t want me to know how we got here. One of the reasons was that the road one would need to take could cause travelers to get killed or imprisoned on sight if they get discovered. Any knowledge of a secret road was of great strategic importance, thus leaking it out would certainly lead to getting silenced. As for the other reason, well... I''ll get to that later.


    I took a seat to the man''s left.


    "Welcome. My name is Mavuto, one of the commanders of the army. I sincerely apologize for approving your kidnapping, but there''s a great deal of secrecy that must be kept. I hope you understand that."


    "That''s¡­ fine. I figured as much after coming down here."


    "You''re surprisingly calm. Most people would either lose their temper over getting kidnapped or after seeing me."


    "I used to be an adventurer, so I''ve met all kinds of people and been through far worse situations. I''m a merchant now, so I can''t lose myself when I''m in front of anyone who looks like a potential customer."


    Especially when this person has a dining hall that looks as if it belonged inside a royal palace. I couldn''t care less if the world would end up hating me for doing business with him. He could probably pay me so much that I''d have enough money to live the rest of my life leisurely after a few months of work.


    "That''s certainly good to hear. Now, I''d like to cut straight to the matter."


    He had a sincere smile that seemed unfitting of his character.


    "You had some very interesting supplies in your shop. A lot of the potions and scrolls you sell may be undesirable for human consumption, but since the troops I command do not consist of any humans, they would benefit a great deal from those items. Will you be willing to relocate your shop to this town? I will purchase a large amount of supplies daily and personally guarantee your safety here."


    "I don''t have a choice here, do I?"


    "It''s a slight inconvenience for us, but if you refuse, we will return you to where you were in the same state as when you left. We''re not as cruel as you might think. You have my word on that."


    He does give off the vibe that he actually means what he says. I guess I''ll consider hearing him out.


    "What items do you need from me, anyways?"


    Commander Mavuto took out a sheet of paper and gave that to Amber, who then handed it to me.


    It was a list of items that boosted one''s performance in battle, most of which had a side effect of causing intense fatigue and exhaustion if one were to fight for too long. For humans, the limit was about five minutes. If my guess is correct about the races of Mavuto''s troops, then they should be able to withstand the muscle strain for about an hour.


    Except for a couple scrolls that would end up inflicting a heavy blow onto both sides of battle, these items wouldn''t turn the tides of battle unless one could finish a skirmish within an hour. Considering how the war has been going on for generations, I doubt any such short skirmishes would ever occur. I guess I won''t feel guilty about selling these items, then.


    "All of these items are of intermediate level at most. How come you need someone like me to craft and sell them?"


    "It''s quite unfortunate to say this, but almost all residents here can''t comprehend the basics of alchemy. That is why we have been looking for someone like you. We will even pay higher than the standard market prices, too."


    "I think I''ll take up your offer on relocating my shop."


    Screw ethics. I''ve been poor for so long. Who cares if I indirectly kill soldiers with alchemy products, anyways? Besides, daily casualty numbers that get reported are usually so low that I doubt any indirect killings would have been my fault anyways.


    "Are you sure you don''t need time to think this through?"


    "I don''t have any friends anyways, so I won''t be missed. Besides, most people in that town probably still hate me for accidentally burning down their scenic parks, so I think it''s great that I can secretly get away from there. I certainly wouldn''t want anyone tracking me down to demand compensation."


    "... Are you sure you won''t regret that decision?"


    The commander seemed uneasy about my willingness to work for him. I think it''s a splendid thing if I can finally escape poverty. Plus, I can brag later in life about making a devil feel uncomfortable.


    That''s right, commander Mavuto was a devil. He undoubtedly was working under the Demon King.


    To those thinking I deserve to be condemned: I never considered myself a good person. I grew up being told that the war had been going for generations, but nobody seems to know why the war started in the first place, so I don''t even know which side to consider the good side. Maybe working for the Demon King''s army might shed some insight on the justification that each side used.


    Besides, I never even got called to battle because of my bad reputation as an adventurer, so it''s not like I ever made enemies with anyone on the Demon King''s side to begin with. If anything, I had significantly more human enemies because of the countless things I''d accidentally burned before.


    That was why I had no qualms about switching to the other faction.


    I have no regrets.

 4 - Moving In

    It took a couple minutes to go over some more details about my work here, but I was basically expected to run an alchemy shop like before. The commander had to finish some paperwork, so he asked Amber to look after me for the rest of the evening.


    The commander said that I was being provided with a shop that doubled as a private home at the center of the market district, with no rent charge as long as I can complete the tasks I am given in the future. The district was on the other side of town, so Amber and I rode the horse-drawn carriage containing my belongings to get there, with Amber giving me general information along the way.


    Ignoring the matter of how she was able to load all the items onto the carriage, I felt like I really inconvenienced Amber and commander Mavuto. It''s not because I had too many belongings, but rather because everything I had was inside a wardrobe and two crates, which barely took up one sixth of the space inside the carriage. Two pack mules would have sufficed, yet they had to go through the trouble of smuggling a large and conspicuous horse-drawn carriage in and out of enemy territory.


    We were currently in the town of Sachiru, about three hours by horse north of the border. From the road pavement to the houses in this town, almost everything was made with stone, so the town generally looked dark and depressing during the daytime because of the grayish material. However, during this current sunset hour, the whole town was dyed in a pleasant orange color. It was a rather peaceful sight.


    The town population was varied between 15000 and 20000, with the majority being orcs and goblins who were mostly responsible for the production and maintenance of the army''s weapons and armor. I was the only human in town with a wholesome undamaged body since all other humans in this town were raised from the dead through necromancy, which prompted curious gazes from all the children that the carriage passed by. There weren''t a lot of zombie humans, though, so I think my presence would have been peculiar to the children regardless.


    "We''ve arrived."


    After some twenty minutes of travel and idle chatting, Amber stopped the carriage in the market district and pointed at what was to be my workshop and new home.


    "Isn''t this a bit too much?"


    The shop only had two floors, but it was unexpectedly large. The outside was about twenty paces wide and about thirty paces deep. It also stood out for being the only building in the area that made use of wood, bricks, and glass in its construction. Such a structure seemed lavishly out of place.


    "Orcs and goblins have very high strength but lack dexterity, so they can only work with sturdy rough building materials like stone or marble."


    "That explains why I only saw stone houses in this town. But this house isn''t made with stone or marble, though. Did the orcs and goblins mutate or something?"


    "Commander Mavuto had the minor devils in his army work on its construction, so it uses different materials from most homes in this town. It just goes to show how much he values an alchemist like you."


    While I appreciate how important the commander considers me, I''m worried I might garner jealousy from the neighborhood just because of this preferential treatment. I should make a mental note not to walk through a dark empty alley in the middle of the night. Or perhaps I should just avoid going outside in the evening altogether. A giant orc could just easily crush me if one were to "accidentally" trip and fall on top of me.


    Amber unlocked the door, then handed me a key.


    "This is yours now. I''ll leave the carriage here for now for you to unload your belongings. I''m going to go buy something for dinner while you take a look around."


    "Alright. Thanks, Amber."


    The front half of the ground floor was used as a shop space. The back of the ground floor had half the space designated as a work area, while the other half was divided into a kitchen with adjoined small dining room, and a storage closet.


    The work area had everything I needed: pots and cauldrons of various sizes, a workbench, and several useful hand tools. There was even an anvil and magic furnace, too, so a blacksmith could even work here.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    The upper floor had three small bedrooms, a study, a washroom with a small bath, and a common area. The bath was directly above the magic furnace to make heating the water be more economical, but in case the furnace was off, there was a magic heater in the bath where one could channel mana in to power it.


    After taking a look at all the rooms, I went back downstairs and outside towards the carriage to retrieve my belongings.


    "¡­"


    The wardrobe and two crates were heavy, probably about twice my weight or slightly more. I can cast a physical enhancement buff on myself to double my strength, but even then, it''s still too heavy for me to lift and carry.


    How in the world did that girl even manage to load these onto the carriage in the first place, anyways? Compared to humans, cat-people had significantly stronger leg strength, but their arm strength was weaker. The strongest known physical buff can only quadruple one''s strength at most, so the feat should still have been impossible for her. I''m inclined to think that she might be a warrior, but she was far from looking swole.


    Oh well, there''s no point trying to figure that out. I pried open one of the crates to search for a strength boosting potion. I doubt Amber used one of these in the first place since it would have made her pass out after a while, which would have been undesirable since she still had to guide the carriage for several hours earlier today. After finding the potion, I cast a physical enhancement buff on myself and drank it. Lifting and carrying the wardrobe and crates should be ten times easier.


    Since the exhaustion incurred after the potion expires was proportional to how long I made use of the super strength boost, I planned to run and drop the two crates in the workspace, and the wardrobe in the hallway upstairs and leave it like that. I could unpack and shove them in the right spots after the potion wears out since that wouldn''t require too much strength.


    In the end, I overestimated my strength. As an archmage, it was understandable for me to have a relatively low strength stat, but this was really just embarrassing. With both my self-buff and the strength boosting potion, the wardrobe and crates should only have felt as heavy as a five year old kid, yet I was struggling to move faster than one step every three seconds.


    It took far longer than I expected to carry those three items from the carriage. Given the amount of time I made use of the potion''s effects, I think I should be suffering extreme fatigue for about two to three hours.


    The potion effect wore out shortly after I finished carrying everything, and I felt a strong jolt as if a strong electric current was running through my body. Then my entire body ached so badly that I could not keep myself standing, and I dropped to the ground immediately.


    Amber came back after twenty minutes to find me lying flat on the floor with my head turned slightly to the side.


    "...I''ll just leave your dinner on the counter. See you in the morning."


    She walked out as quickly as when she came in. I was going to ask her to at least help me sit up, but she had already left before I mustered the strength to open my mouth. At least she turned me face-up earlier, when she was checking to make sure I wasn''t dead.


    Oh well, I guess I''ll just count the number of dark spots on the wooden ceiling while waiting to recover¡­ But there weren''t any spots like that. Damn it, whoever designed this house paid too much attention to details. I had already passed out for eight hours earlier today, so I couldn''t even force myself to take a nap to pass the time, either.


    Since I couldn''t get myself to the light switch to channel mana in, the lights went out fifteen minutes later, leaving me in darkness. I could only vaguely see the outline of the shelves next to me because of the moonlight coming in from the window. I think Amber locked the door on her way out, but I really hope nobody looks through the window and think that they were looking at the scene of a locked room murder.


    As I hummed to pass the time, there was a slight tickling sensation on my arm. I slowly turned my neck towards where it tickled to find what looked like a spider crawling on my arm. Before I could gather the strength to try to move my arm enough to shake it off, I felt another tickling sensation on my face. Looks like the spider had a friend.


    The second spider unexpectedly crawled into my mouth, and probably by sheer stupidity drowned in my saliva and lied dead on my tongue. In a panic after tasting something unappealing, my body reacted by immediately sitting up to spit the spider out.


    Unfortunately, as my body hadn''t recovered at all since the potion wore out, the muscle strain from unexpectedly sitting up proved to be too much to handle, making me pass out. Well, I suppose the spider encounter was a good thing, then.


    I regained consciousness about two hours later, and my muscles had completely recovered by then, so I was able to get up and turn the lights back on. I found that Amber had left me a very long sandwich on the counter, which I promptly heated up and ate. I spent the rest of the night unloading and moving my items around afterwards.


    The three bedrooms upstairs were identical when I took a look earlier, so I picked the one closest to the stairs, put a name label on the door, then headed to bed. It feels rather nice to finally have a comfortable bed of my own.


    And thus my otherwise uneventful first night in the Demon King territory came to an end.

 5 - Starting Over

    "Good morning!"


    The unusually cheerful Amber greeted me from the door first thing in the morning.


    "What the hell¡­"


    It was nice to see her smiling face, but the problem was that it was currently four o''clock and the door she was standing by was my bedroom door.


    "Sorry for waking you up so early, but commander Mavuto has to head for the battlefield soon, so this was the only time we could come over. He''s currently waiting for you downstairs... Eek!"


    I hurriedly got out of bed to put on some clothes. Amber probably hadn''t expected that I''d be wearing nothing but underpants and shrieked at the sight before going downstairs.


    It was too late to cover myself, so I just ignored her and continued what I was doing, then ran downstairs.


    The commander was wearing a full suit of lustrous armor like yesterday, and carried a large sword that was almost as tall as him. Standing next to him was a giant whose heavy metal armor covered the person from head to toe, while Amber was fiddling with some of the potion bottles on the shelves. Judging by the stature of the giant, I''d guess that it was an ogre under all that armor.


    "Good morning, Blaze. There was something I forgot to tell you yesterday, which is why I''m here now. Please excuse me for coming over at such an early hour."


    "It''s fine. I should really thank you right now for giving me such a nice home and shop."


    I can''t let myself show displeasure towards the person that was essentially my employer, especially when he just gave me a large house without charging any rent.


    "This is one of my supply officers. It''s a bit embarrassing to say this, but I don''t know his name¡­"


    "..."


    "He''s a zombie ogre, so his vocal chords are severely damaged, and he''s not dextrous enough to write legibly, which is why nobody has been able to figure out his name for the past few decades¡­"


    That just really makes me wonder how he was addressed and treated over the past few decades. Did people just call him "giant ogre zombie" and figure it out on their own or something? Did he even want to work in the army in the first place?


    "Putting that matter aside, if you recall that list of from yesterday, I''d like you to craft all the items written on it every day unless otherwise noted. Starting tomorrow, this supply officer will come by every day at ten o''clock to pick the items up and drop off your payment."


    "That sounds doable."


    "Also, please take this since you might need some extra supplies for item crafting."


    The commander took out a small stack of colored paper sheets and gave it to me.


    "I''m sorry for asking, but what is this?"


    "Ah, I almost forgot that you used metal currency on the other side of the border. By order of the king, we switched to using paper currency here about fifty years ago. It took us a while to get used to the switch, but the convenience of having a significantly lighter load on the battlefield was amazing. In terms of purchasing power, one small copper coin from where you came from is equivalent to ten units of our currency, the doviti."


    No matter how I looked at the money, it looked like some child randomly scribbled on some colored paper, though. Was this a prank?


    Perhaps having noticed my confused look, Amber giggled and explained the scribbles to me.


    "The writing on most signage and currency used here is in the Demon language alphabet. Our king has been trying to spread it recently, but because of the difficulty of learning it, we have to start with introducing the writing system and basic words first while the scholars figure out the best course of education for everyone. Unfortunately, most of the kingdom''s efforts are dedicated to the war, so their research is a bit slow..."


    If trying to spread a new language was really that difficult, then I truly am impressed that the ancestors of this world managed to get every single race to speak the common language we were currently using.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Could you tell me how much each of these doviti notes are worth, then?"


    "Of course!"


    There were nine different denominations of the currency: 1, 10, 50, 200, 1000, 5000, 20000, 100000, and 1000000; which meant the largest and second smallest denominations were equivalent to a large gold coin and a small copper coin, respectively. The smallest and largest denominations were colored white and black, while the remaining seven were colored red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. I couldn''t tell if it was intentional or not, but these were the seven colors of a rainbow. It''s probably best if I didn''t inquire about it¡­


    If I was still on the other side of the border, then the total sales price of what the commander requested would have been 1 small gold coin and 3 large silver coins, which was equivalent to 130000 doviti. When I counted the stack I was given, it added up to 182500.


    "This is half of your daily payment. The supply officer will pay you the remaining half tomorrow. I''m not too familiar with market prices, so this is only an estimate. Please do let me know if there''s a problem with it."


    While I''d love to add "ripped off a devil" to my list of achievements in life, I''d rather not run the risk of getting the commander and his followers to turn against me in the future.


    "You''re actually overpaying by a lot. I would normally only charge two thirds of what you gave me just now for the whole batch."


    "Is that so? Well, you can consider the extra money I gave you as a token of appreciation, then. If you''re uncomfortable with receiving so much, I can lower your daily payment to about 250000, too."


    "I''d feel really bad about charging triple the market price, so please do lower the payment as much as possible..."


    He briefly laughed at my response. Seems like it was uncommon for people to willingly ask for a pay reduction.


    To be fair, getting so much money for no reason really did make me feel uncomfortable. He was going to give me two small gold coins worth of money every day, after all. For comparison, the average daily wage for those in the working class was about half a silver coin, so two small gold coins would have been the same as a year of work.


    Besides, even if the commander was willing to pay so much, the same couldn''t be said for his followers. There was always the chance that some greedy individual would want to assault me for a robbery. I might have been an adventurer before, but there are far too many races whose members were naturally stronger than I was, so I wouldn''t be able to fend off an assault at all.


    But most importantly, there was the issue of door-to-door salesmen. I don''t want to be a target of those annoying people, so it''s best if my profit margin was lowered.


    "Well, I''ll be heading for the battlefield soon, so talk to Amber if you have any questions. She''ll also be teaching you how to read the Demon language every night, so make sure you leave at least half an hour in your daily schedule free."


    "I will, thank you."


    Learning how to read the Demon language sure sounds useful. I probably won''t understand a single thing, but I might be able to learn some new spells if I can at least read the chant. That''s assuming demon spellcasters even had spell books in the first place, of course. Even if they did, there was a limit to what I could possibly learn, since I only had an affinity with fire-type spells.


    Magic in this world required casters to convert mana through some unexplainable innate means into elemental spells. Basic magic that required very little conversion could be used by anyone that had good control over their mana, but intermediate and advanced magic could only be learned if one had an affinity with the elements required by it. I don''t know how affinities are determined, but apparently I''m only able to use intermediate and advanced spells involving the element of fire.


    Even if one had an affinity for a certain element, however, it was not guaranteed that the person could cast the spell for that magic. Some strange old people talked about the phenomena of "levels" and "skill points" before, but such ideas were disregarded since they could not offer any observable evidence. As a result, they were branded as lunatics and the mystery of what magic one could learn and use still remains unsolved.


    Oh well, I''ll figure out if I could learn demon magic later, if I ever get my hands on a demonic spell book.


    As the commander left, the giant zombie followed along. The giant made a groaning sound and waved at me as he went out the door. Amber was the only one who stayed behind in the shop, so I turned to her to talk.


    "Sorry for asking, but what job do you have in commander Mavuto''s army?"


    "I was an agent whose job was to gather intelligence and find an alchemist or potion maker that was willing to come work for the Demon King. Now that I''ve completed that task, I''m just a regular house maid. The commander has instructed me to look after you during your stay here."


    "So¡­ does that make you my personal maid, then?"


    "I''m a maid for the commander''s household, so no, I''m not your personal maid unless he adopts you. If anything, you can consider me a shop assistant and tour guide."


    Shop assistant, huh. She does seem to have some knowledge of magic, so it might not be too difficult to teach her basic magic crafting.


    "In that case, I''ll teach you some basic recipes in return for you teaching me how to read the Demon language."


    "That''s splendid!"


    She seems enthusiastic about getting to learn new things. I sure hope that she''d be a quick learner.


    "But I''ll do that in the afternoon, though. I''m too tired right now."


    "Oh, alright."


    It was a quarter past four right now. While I''d like to teach Amber some basic knowledge about magic crafting as soon as possible, I liked getting enough sleep more.


    I headed back upstairs towards my bedroom, then slept for a few more hours.

 6.1 - First Customers

    I woke up around eight o''clock and found that Amber had left me some eggs and sausages for breakfast on the counter. She may have said she wasn''t my maid earlier, but she sure acts like one.


    The girl came down the stairs shortly after I finished eating. She was yawning and had a slightly tired look on her face. I wonder if she just moved into one of the bedrooms and slept there.


    "Just curious, but where did you sleep last night, Amber?"


    "Hm? Upstairs, of course."


    Yep, she definitely moved in. What she said seemed a bit odd to me, though. The other two bedrooms appeared to be empty when I was unpacking my belongings late last night. I didn''t hear the sound of any doors closing, either.


    I guess she either sleeps much later than I do, or is very good at sneaking around places. I''ll assume it''s the latter, given how she managed to smuggle me and a large carriage across the border.


    I hung up a door chime at the shop entrance, then took the empty plate of food into the kitchen to clean it.


    *Ding!*


    Apparently it didn''t take long for the chime to ring. It really made me wonder if it was just Amber playing with it to mess with me.


    I dropped what I was doing and came back to the front of the shop to find two other people at the door. Looks like I have customers!


    One person was a male of the reptilian race, judging by his lizard-like face. He was one head taller than me, was covered in dark green scales from head to toe, and had a large long tail that resembled those of alligators. He was accompanied by a female of the bird-people race. She was only half as tall as the reptilian, which was around my chest level in terms of height. With a curved sharp beak and shiny black plumage, she resembled a large black falcon.


    "Welcome!"


    I gave a bright smile to my first customers since moving to this town.


    "Pay up."


    "I''m sorry, what was that?"


    What a rude way to start a conversation. The reptilian could have at least said hello or something¡­


    "You''re new here, right?"


    "That''s right. I just came here yesterday."


    "Then pay up the Neighborhood Safety Fee. One thousand doviti a day."


    I figured some delinquents would eventually come into my shop and demand a "protection" ransom, but I never expected that day to be my first day here. One small silver coin a day seemed cheap, though. Commander Mavuto was going to pay me over one hundred times that much, after all.


    "And what if I refused?"


    "Then we can''t guarantee that your merchandise would be protected against troublemakers."


    The reptilian replied to my question with a smirk, while the bird girl picked up a couple potion bottles and shook them around. I turned to Amber to ask,


    "Is this legal here?"


    "It''s technically illegal, but social status and civil disputes here are often determined by one''s prowess in battle."


    "What?"


    "People can fight to settle their differences if they both don''t want to take their matters to court."


    I had a feeling that somehow, these two had managed to start a fight with other merchants in this town and won those fights, resulting in any charges held against them, if any, being dropped. Goblins were relatively easy to beat because of their small sizes, but orcs weren''t. I''m surprised these two could defeat the orc merchants.


    "Has nobody ever tried contacting the authorities?"


    "Unfortunately, harassment isn''t considered a crime here since it doesn''t physically maim anyone. All the battles they fought against other merchants in town were with mutual consent, too."


    People often said that large creatures like orcs were all brawn and no brain. I''m starting to think that was true. Normally one would be wary after a couple of their companions get defeated in battle, yet all the orcs still consented to fight.


    "How long has this been going on?"The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "From what I was told, about a month."


    If they''ve been able to get away with extortion for a full month, then the authorities most likely didn''t care enough to deal with it. Or maybe they''ve been able to beat the authorities to a pulp to settle the matter. Who even came up with this kind of system that allowed using force to settle disputes, anyways?


    Oh, wait. I was in the Demon King territory. Of course this sort of system would benefit extremely powerful devils, since they would most likely easily win fights against any other individual opponent.


    "I don''t have a choice here, do I?"


    "I don''t think so..."


    Amber seemed to have an apologetic look on her face, as though she wanted to indicate that she was incapable of beating the two in battle.


    The bird girl put the bottles back on the shelf and pointed her talon-like hand at me.


    "You heard the girl. Now pay up if you don''t want trouble."


    "And don''t even bother bringing up commander Mavuto, either. He''s not in town most of the time, so you''re not going to be protected every day."


    The reptilian had a somewhat sinister smile on his face.


    "Hey Amber, would these two normally be able to defeat the army''s minor demons?"


    "I think they''re slightly weaker, but the two have significantly higher stamina. Because of that, they''d be able to win if time wasn''t an issue since they could just run around for hours to tire out the minor demons."


    So that means they could beat opponents that people stronger than me struggled against.


    And yet, I felt the urge to do something stupid for some reason.


    "In that case, I''d like to settle this dispute with a fight."


    "What?"


    I turned my gaze back towards the two delinquents.


    "If I win, you two will leave the residents of this district alone and give back what you took from them. If I lose, then I''ll pay you one hundred fifty thousand. I''ll take you two on right now on the street in front of the store."


    I could have wagered more, but I need to have a little bit of money left over to buy necessities.


    The bird girl raised one eyebrow at what I said, while the reptilian''s smile became even more sinister.


    "Hehehe... Deal."


    "Blaze! Stop! Don''t do this!"


    The two delinquents seem to have been too busy thinking about the amount of money I was planning on paying and kept chuckling. Amber, on the other hand, was desperately worried about me and clung onto my left arm, trying to prevent me from leaving the shop.


    In all honesty, I could have just given them what they wanted. One thousand a day was an insignificant amount compared to my promised daily profits. Yet for some reason, I felt a strong urge to stop these two. Maybe it was because I wanted to start on good terms with my neighbors. Especially when I was worried an "accident" might occur out of jealousy since last night.


    "Forfeiting now is the same as losing."


    It was now too late to take back what I said, so I took out a magic staff from behind the counter and headed outside.


    The staff was a standard magic item made from hard oak wood that I used back when I was an adventurer. I customized and strengthened it over the course of my adventures and self-studying of alchemy, using unsellable rare drops I obtained from the large expedition monsters, as well as other oddities from adventurers who found no particular use or sales value in them. As a result, my staff had a lower than normal power output and weird enhancements like "tougher than tempered steel," "awareness of measurement scales," "chance to avoid food poisoning," "lightning rod," and so on.


    On second thought, "chance to avoid food poisoning" was probably not a bad enhancement at all. I did have to eat other people''s leftovers on a few occasions before, and I never fell ill.


    In any case, to counter the low power output of the staff, I attached onto the staff''s tip a concentrated mana stone of the highest possible grade I could afford to craft, to concentrate the power. This allowed me to fire more powerful shots at the expense of reduced effective range. Most fire-type spells had a very large effective range to begin with, so reducing it a little wasn''t a big issue.


    The people on the streets seemed to have figured out what was about to happen as I stood face-to-face with the two delinquents. They formed a large circle to spectate the upcoming battle and started muttering amongst themselves. I could have sworn I heard some people placing bets on who would win, with horribly unfavorable odds against me.


    I considered saying something about that, but ultimately decided to ignore those people. Betting against me wasn''t a bad choice anyways, since humans were neither as physically strong nor fast as reptilians and bird-people. Heck, even I would bet against myself and lose on purpose if my money and pride as a shopkeeper weren''t on the line.


    "Hehehe¡­ You''re going to regret trying to pick a fight with us. See all these people gathered here? Once they see you get pummeled by us, you''re going to be the laughing stock of the market district. Even though that cat girl warned you about us, you still wanted to challenge us to a fight, so I''ll¡ª"


    "Flame pillar."


    The reptilian was interrupted by a powerful pillar of fire that shot out from under his feet. While the scaly skin of their race gave them high resistance to both physical and magical attacks, the biggest weakness of reptilians was extreme temperatures, which was due to their cold blood.


    The eruption caught the reptilian by surprise, so he took the full brunt of my attack and passed out while still burning. Unless people leave him to burn like that, the attack shouldn''t have been fatal, though, due to his thick skin.


    "First rule of battle: don''t talk unless your opponent can''t."


    I''m pretty sure such a rule didn''t exist. I only wanted to sound cool. If anything, the only rule of battle would have to be "hit him but don''t let him hit you back."


    In any case, the reptilian took too much time with his monologue earlier, so I had already easily completed the "Flame Pillar" spell chant while he was talking and delivered a devastating blow on him. One could say it was a critical hit.


    "I won''t let you get me that easily!"


    The bird woman said so after using her wings to blow the lingering fires away from her fellow delinquent.


    Individuals of her race had poor defenses, but landing attacks and spells was near impossible due to their naturally high agility.


    Now I have to quickly think about what to do in this fight against her¡­

 6.2 - First Customers (2)

    Under normal circumstances, I would probably be looked down on for picking a fight with a girl, but I don''t really care about that. I, for one, believe in gender equality: nobody should get treated differently because of their gender.


    I''m a merchant, after all, so I group people in two different categories regardless of gender: "potential customer," and "get the hell out of my shop."


    Amber mentioned that the harpy girl in front of me was the fastest person in this town, so it would be difficult to land an attack on her unless I used a spell with a wide area of effect. Since there was a large crowd gathered around us, using a spell like that wouldn''t be a good idea at all¡­


    Looks like I have to use physical attacks on her, or try to keep her in one place.


    "Flame Body!"


    I had already finished chanting this spell a while ago, when the harpy girl was busy blowing the fire away from her reptilian accomplice.


    This was a spell that changed the physical property of the caster''s body, reducing physical damage taken and giving a chance to burn an enemy that makes contact. It would probably be impossible to burn the harpy girl, though, given how fast she moved - her slash attacks wouldn''t make contact with my body for long enough to make her talons catch fire. I only used this spell as a precaution against being unable to avoid her attacks.


    The girl charged at me at full speed. We were ten paces apart, but she closed that distance in less than half a second. That only gave me enough time to move my staff in front of my torso, resulting in my right arm that was holding the staff getting slashed.


    Even though her strength was supposed to naturally be low, the harpy girl''s high movement speed greatly amplified her attack''s power. If I hadn''t used that spell earlier, my arm most likely would have flown off.


    I continued holding my staff close in front of me to protect my torso against the girl''s slashes as she repeatedly charged at me. She was moving at such a high speed that I could not counterattack or even get a clear grasp of her position.


    Crap. This was a bad situation. Her slashes weren''t deadly, but I would most likely get worn out from the repeated attacks and lose after a while.


    I started to get the feeling that I should have just let them get away with messing with the shop¡­


    Wait. The shop? It''s probably fine if I get my self-proclaimed assistant involved, right?


    "Amber! Help me!"


    "Huh?"


    "Use the sleep spell you used on me yesterday!"


    "But¡­ it only works on people of the opposite gender!"


    Who the heck invented a spell that only works about half the time?!


    "Then just use anything that would buy me time!"


    "I got it!"


    She raised her hand up high after her cheerful response, and it began to glow white. The light grew brighter and brighter, and it soon blinded my sight.


    "Ahhh! My eyes!"


    "I''m going blind!"


    "What''s going on?!"


    "I can''t see!"


    The spectating crowd was panicking after suddenly being blinded, and all I could hear were their cries. Whatever Amber used was strong enough to white out everyone''s vision.


    Even though I couldn''t see anything, neither could my opponent. The attacks from the harpy girl stopped for now.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Well, I suppose this does give me some time to chant a couple spells.


    "Blazing speed! Strength boost!"


    The light that Amber channeled faded away after I finished casting the spells that buffed my speed and strength. My body was lighter than usual thanks to the Flame Body spell, so the speed boosting buff was more effective than usual.


    I think I should probably be as fast as that harpy girl now.


    "I''ll make you regret doing that!"


    Having regained her sight, the harpy girl charged towards Amber, angry about getting blinded earlier. I swiftly dashed towards Amber and threw a left hook punch at the harpy girl.


    She was focused on trying to slash Amber, so the girl did not notice me coming at her and her face took the full force of the punch. She veered left as a result of the impact and hit the ground.


    I was a mage, so my strength was relatively low. Even with the strength boosting spell, that shouldn''t have been enough to knock her out.


    The harpy girl stood back up and glared at me with bloodshot rage.


    "Your opponent is me. Leave Amber alone."


    Furious, the harpy girl once again charged at me at full speed. Unlike a while ago, however, my speed was now on par with the harpy girl, and I was able to parry all of her slashes with my staff. I countered with a few punches and staff swings, but they were easily dodged or shoved away.


    Having realized that constantly charging at me was keeping the fight at a standstill, the harpy girl changed her tactics and flew up.


    Before I could figure out what she was doing, she dove down towards me with blinding speed. Her talons grazed my right arm as I jumped to the side to dodge.


    I see. She''s making use of gravity to make her attack speed even higher than when she charged at me on the ground.


    I chanted another spell while constantly sidestepping to avoid another two dives.


    "Heat wave!"


    "...!"


    The harpy girl swerved a little on her third dive and missed me. She tried to fly back up immediately after, but failed.


    As a user of magic that controlled heat and fire, I knew too well that cold air sank down and hot air rose up. The heat wave spell I released earlier manipulated the air temperature unevenly in a moderate area around me, completely disrupting the air flow and making it impossible for my opponent to fly.


    The crowd around me didn''t seem too happy about suddenly having their standing spot turned into an outdoor sauna and started booing at me, but I didn''t really care. Saunas were great for making one lose weight, and the large orcs in the crowd looked like they had a lot of excess weight anyways.


    "Don''t think you can win just because you grounded me!"


    She was not happy about losing her aerial advantage.


    I suppose it''s about time to end this battle.


    I dashed towards the harpy girl and kept my distance close to her, occasionally throwing a punch or kick that would easily get deflected.


    "Your attacks are too slow!"


    She would occasionally take a couple steps back at first, prompting me to dash towards her again. However, after realizing that my attacks were not dangerous to her, she remained put.


    As for me, I wouldn''t have kept my distance so close to her if I didn''t have a plan in mind.


    My staff did have that weird enhancement of "tougher than tempered steel," so I could use it like a pole weapon without having to worry about the oak wood breaking.


    I swung my staff a couple times, but the harpy girl easily sidestepped to dodge it.


    It didn''t matter if I couldn''t hit her, because after observing how she dodged a few times, I had a general idea of what her movement pattern was like.


    "Amber! Blind everyone again!"


    "Alright!"


    A blinding light shot out of Amber''s raised hand, completely whiting out the vision of everyone. The crowd once again panicked and screamed at the sudden loss of vision.


    This was good. Their loud cries would drown out the sound of my staff swinging through the air.


    I had already closed the distance with the harpy girl before Amber used her spell, so there was no doubt that she was still within range of the staff''s swing.


    I swung my staff with all my might towards where I predicted the harpy girl would be, aiming a bit higher than my previous attacks with hopes that it would hit the head and possibly knock her unconscious.


    I heard a thud, and the impact caused the staff to break free from my hands'' grip and fly away.


    Success!


    As the bright light faded away, the crowd was shocked to see that the harpy girl had fallen unconscious on the ground. There were a few grunts and moans from the people who placed their bets against me, but overall the crowd was speechless as they observed the unbelievable sight in front of them.


    I picked up my staff that was lying on the ground, and raised it up in the air in triumph.


    Amber excitedly announced to the crowd,


    "Blaze won! Those two have to give everyone''s extorted money back now!"


    All of the market district''s store owners in the crowd erupted in cheers after hearing that announcement, prompting the rest of the crowd to join in on the excitement.

 7.1 - Shopping For Supplies (1)

    In this territory, disputes could be settled through battle, and the losing side must act in accordance to the victor''s order, provided that they did not perish during the fight. While this system sounds like it can be abused by stronger races and powerful individuals, the orders for the losing party must be stated before the fight, and both parties must consent to settling the dispute through battle first. Repeatedly declining battle challenges wasn''t a great idea, however, since mysterious "accidents" often occurred to the declining party late at night.


    With Amber''s help, I had just won a fight against two delinquents that reportedly collected "protection" fees from merchants in the market district over the past month, and the order for these two for losing was that they had to give back all the money they took. As soon as they regained consciousness, all the merchants swarmed around them to collect their money.


    Given the number of people gathered around the two, and the forcefulness of the merchants, it looked more like a gang beating from loan sharks to me. Oh well, it''s not really my concern.


    A few merchants who wanted to wait for the crowd to disperse came over to congratulate me and shook my hand, and I would exchange greetings and introductions with each of them. The goblins aside, shaking hands with the orc merchants who were far bigger than me felt weird. My hands were only as large as two of their fingers, so I suppose it was more of a finger-shake from my end. I was also quite worried that they would give a firm handshake that would crush my own hand, though the lingering strength boosting buff helped prevent that from happening.


    "Thank you so much! They were taking half of our daily profits!"


    "If you ever want fresh vegetables, I''ll give you a good discount!"


    "I''ll be able to pay my rent this month thanks to you."


    The merchants that came to me were genuinely thankful. Looks like I''ll be able to save quite a bit of money if I ever need to purchase something from them. And I probably won''t need to worry about anyone acting out of jealousy... for now, at least.


    I asked the various merchants who came to thank me where to buy the alchemy ingredients I needed to craft commander Mavuto''s supplies, and received very detailed responses about the stores'' names, their locations, and their item price ranges.


    Well, time to begin my shopping spree.


    * * * * *


    The closest stores with some of the ingredients I needed were the florist and topiary shops two blocks away. There weren''t any herbalists in Sachiru town, so these were one of very few places where I could get specific flowers and herbs used for potion making. I chatted with Amber on the way there.


    "What kinds of magic do you know, Amber?"


    "I was mostly working in enemy territory, so I mostly spells that help with avoiding getting captured, such as Hypnosis, Paralyze, Blind, Slow, and so on."


    "And your Hypnosis only works on males?"


    "I don''t know why, but all the spells that directly affect another person''s mind or body seem to only work on people of the opposite gender¡­"


    "Do you know any offensive spells?"


    "None, unless you count claw sharpening as an offensive spell. I do know some basic defensive and healing spells, though."


    If she ever took part in an adventurer party, I suppose she would be a back-line support. She could occasionally disable enemies from far away with Paralyze and heal party members, and use an escape spell if things ever took a bad turn. Maybe that was what she did on the other side of the border to earn some money, since the paper money used here was unusable there.


    I don''t know how useful she''d be for any other purposes, though, considering how a lot of spells she knew only worked on males¡­ Well, I''m not an adventurer anymore, so I wouldn''t need to think too much about that anyways. It''s not like I''d be going on any expeditions or quests any time soon.


    "You didn''t do anything illegal that required you to escape from the authorities, did you?"


    "None. Nobody ever had doubts about me, so I never had to do anything in the shadows."Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "They didn''t even ask where you were from?"


    "Now that you mention it, it''s rather strange that nobody ever asked."


    Maybe people were so thrilled at having someone who wasn''t human around that they didn''t want to make her feel uncomfortable by asking personal questions. Humans did make up the majority of the population over there, after all, so any cute demihuman like her would have been a very welcomed sight. I knew a lot of guys that often fantasized about catgirls.


    We arrived at the street with the florist and topiary shops after that short conversation. Since all the signage was written in the demon language, I asked Amber to point to the shops I was looking for.


    There were only two such shops, so I just picked the larger of the two.


    "Ah, you''re that human who beat up the delinquents! Welcome!"


    The shopkeeper seemed very happy to see me.


    "Good morning."


    I tried my best to keep a straight face at the sight in front of me. All the plants and flowers in the shop were shoved onto multiple piles. The piles were at the very least separated by plant species, but they looked no different than green haystacks with random flowers sprinkled on top.


    Perhaps having figured out that I had a bit of culture shock, Amber whispered to me,


    "In this territory, only the devils have an aesthetic sense similar to humans. For the orcs and goblins, they consider anything that isn''t moss and grows naturally as a beautiful addition to their stone homes, so they simply decorate using heaps of random plants and flowers."


    I feel like this is more of a dumpsite than a plant shop now¡­


    "Feel free to grab anything you want. It''s only ten doviti for every handful you pick!"


    "Are we measuring with your hand size or mine?"


    My hand was significantly smaller than an orc''s, after all.


    "Haha! Good question! Alright, I''ll charge you two doviti for each handful. Your hand size of course."


    The commander wanted me to brew strength potions, speed potions, major health recovery potions, and mana recovery potions - a total of 1000 bottles. If I were to fit all of these into crates that measured five handspans on each side, then I would need ten crates, each weighing almost twice as much as me. The concentrate that gets brewed is generally poisonous, so the potions need to be diluted in order to be safe to drink. Given the quantity of potions, however, I''d still need about six times my weight worth of herbs and flowers.


    The plants and flowers were light, so it looks like I''ll need around¡­ three thousand handfuls.


    * * * * *


    "Your total is 6318 doviti. Since you got rid of those delinquents for everyone in this district, I''ll discount that to 6000."


    Even with the help of the shopkeeper and Amber, it still took us an hour to pick out the types and quantities of the plants I needed. My hands were horribly numb as a result, so it took a bit of time for me to take out my wallet and pay the shopkeeper.


    "Do you by any chance offer a delivery service? I''ll pay extra for that."


    "Sorry, I don''t. I''d love to help you myself, but I have to stay and keep an eye on this shop¡­"


    "Then do you have any boxes or crates we could put the goods in?"


    "I don''t have any of those either, sorry. I do have some wheelbarrows in the back if you''d like to borrow those."


    "You don''t mind carting all these plants back to the shop, do you, Amber?"


    "I don''t mind. I''m your shop assistant, after all!"


    "Alright, let''s go bring the wheelbarrows inside."


    I thought that the orc shopkeeper would at least have a wheelbarrow suited for human and demihuman use, but I was apparently wrong. His wheelbarrow was probably designed for orcs, so it was as tall as my chest level, and the two handles were so far apart that each of us had to hold one.


    What was supposed to be a couple of quick trips ended up being a weightlifting session, with each of us having to lift the handles up to our head levels and slowly pushing the wheelbarrow back two blocks.


    "On second thought, I think I do mind. Please don''t make me do this tomorrow."


    While it only took us six trips in total to get all of the goods back to the shop, each trip ended up taking fifteen minutes. My back was so sore from all the heavy lifting that I started to understand how old grandmothers felt. I really hope I won''t need to do this every day¡­


    "Sorry for making you work like this. It''s already half past noon, so do you want to go have some lunch?"


    "Sure. And let''s not go too far. I don''t think my back can handle that."


    I just came to this town yesterday, so I didn''t know any places to eat, nor could I even read the diner signs. I let Amber pick instead, and we entered a diner at the end of the street.


    I couldn''t read the menu, and didn''t want to bother Amber with reading out every item, so I just made a random order. Amber simply smiled at me and did not order anything.


    "I thought you were hungry."


    "You ordered a large meal meant for orcs. It''s impossible for you to finish even half the meal, so I figured I''ll eat it with you."


    "Oh, sorry about that. I hope I won''t ruin your appetite with what they''re going to bring out¡­"


    "Don''t feel bad. You ordered something tasty."


    Minutes later, the biggest meal I had ever seen was brought to our table.

 7.2 - Shopping For Supplies (2)

    What was presented to my eyes seemed more like a feast than a regular meal. We were given a pot of soup, a large pile of bread and steamed vegetables, and a mountain of grilled meat. Assuming Amber eats as much as an average human, I think it would take two sittings for the two of us to finish all of this food.


    "Come to think of it, this food looks the same as what humans eat."


    "You can thank the Demon King for that."


    "Hm?"


    "He imposed a lot of new cultures and practices in his territory generations ago."


    "Was the food before he imposed the changes bad?"


    "I was told the food used to be very unappetizing."


    Come to think of it, Amber did get me a delicious sandwich the day before. I guess it''s also thanks to the Demon King that this sort of food was also available here.


    Wait a minute¡­ Does that mean humans are similar to demons, or vice-versa?


    I''ll probably have to ask Amber more about that some day. I hope it won''t be some ridiculous answer like "humans are devilish creatures," or "a devil created humankind in its image."


    "Well, let''s eat while it''s still hot."


    "Okay, let''s eat!"


    I picked up a large piece of meat with my fork and took a bite. The roasted meat, which tasted like pork, was very juicy. It had a slightly sweet and smoky taste, reminiscent of barbecue grilled meat. I then picked up a loaf of bread to eat with the meat. It was still hot and had a very pleasant wheaty fragrance. When I took a bite on the soft, fluffy bun, I could feel the slight rich taste of butter.


    "This food is good!"


    Amber showed me her familiar warm smile again and giggled at my reaction to the food.


    The food wasn''t just similar to what humans ate, it was probably better. The serving size aside, if I could have food as good as this every day, I''d be elated.


    It took us almost an hour to stuff ourselves full. Amber seemed to prefer eating meat over anything else, since she hardly touched the bread, vegetables, and soup. Regardless, her appetite was only slightly larger than mine. There was still over half the food left, so I asked for a few boxes to take it home. Hopefully it won''t spoil by the time we have dinner.


    "That''ll be 1100 doviti, please."


    That was surprisingly cheaper than I expected. With the profits for one day of work as promised by the commander, I wouldn''t even need to worry about going hungry for an entire month! Well, more like a fortnight since I probably need to feed Amber too. She didn''t ask for a salary for being my self-proclaimed tour guide and shop assistant, so the least I could do is cover her food and housing expenses.


    Amber was probably still shaken by the wheelbarrow heavy-lifting this morning, so I sent her back with all the leftover food while I continued on with shopping for supplies.


    I needed a couple specific monster drops and minerals to make magic scrolls and enchantment stones. Adventurer guilds didn''t exist in the Demon King territory, so the only places where I could possibly find what I needed were souvenir and accessory shops.


    Apparently, unintelligent species of monsters were bred in masses for exotic meats, milks, oils, and leathers. Well, they were exotic to me, at least. Consumption of these products among the locals is probably as normal as the consumption of chicken on the other side of the border. Anyhow, inedible byproducts such as bones, nails, oils, and so on were often sent to various souvenir and niche specialty shops.


    However, due to certain special properties of monsters such as having wings, being made of liquid, or having an abnormal size, and sometimes due to poor cage and fencing construction, the monsters would occasionally break loose and run amok all over the world. Since these monsters would have had to feed on whatever they could find in the wild, their meat quality would then drop, resulting in very foul tastes and odors.


    In any case, I''ve finally learned why the number of monsters in the world were still considerably high despite the fact adventurers were actively hunting them for quests, and also why nobody ever tries to consume monsters for food.


    I had to go to three different shops to buy what I needed. Fortunately, they were all on the same street, so it didn''t take too much time. What surprised me the most was the price on all of the items: I expected to have to pay 110000 doviti or so, but the total cost ended up being 43800.


    The fact that all of the parts I needed came from monsters that were abundant in number meant that costs were less than a quarter of what I expected to pay due to oversupply. Some parts, such as tusks from a "deadly one-eyed boar", were so cheap that it was impossible to charge a single doviti unless one bought half a dozen. Speaking of which, that was what I apparently had for lunch. No wonder why it tasted like pork.


    Nonetheless, the only expensive purchases I made were for a small quantity of gems and minerals.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    All the materials I bought had to be grounded into powder form, and each item only needed a small amount, so I was able to bring all the items back to the shop in one trip. Without the wheelbarrow, of course. Someone lent me a rucksack.


    "Do you want to come with me to buy the remaining supplies?"


    "No, I refuse."


    The main crafting materials were already purchased, so all that was left was to buy ink and paper stacks, 1000 empty bottles, and 12 crates. Since the orcs'' and goblins'' hands weren''t gentle enough to be able to work with wood, the crates would have been made with thin stone slabs that were undoubtedly heavier than wood. I was hoping that Amber would come help me transport some of these items back to the shop, but she''s still not happy about this morning it seems¡­


    * * * * *


    Two hours later, I finished finished my twelfth and final trip of transporting the items back to the shop. The plant seller was nice enough to let me borrow his wheelbarrow again, so it wasn''t too difficult moving the bottles over to the shop selling crates for easier transportation¡­


    Ah, who am I kidding, the wheelbarrow was almost useless because of its massive size. The only good thing about it was that it had wheels. There was nothing fun about hauling a monolith back and forth like that, especially when I could only hold onto one of the two handles and had to frequently stop to regain balance.


    I really wanted to lie down for a while, but was already a quarter to four, so I had to immediately start working on commander Mavuto''s large order. I''ll treat myself to a relaxing hot bath later.


    I spent the rest of the afternoon explaining to Amber the basics of magic crafting while brewing potions and making enchantment stones. She enthusiastically watched me work and meticulously took notes, so I think she should be able to qualify as a shop assistant after a couple days.


    "These should be ready after brewing overnight. Now let''s start on the magic scrolls."


    Incantations and magic circles needed to be drawn on the papers, after which some mana converted to the elemental types needed to invoke the spell would be channeled in. The more advanced the spell was, the more complex the patterns that needed to be drawn, and the more mana that needed to be channeled in. There was also the risk of overloading the scroll with too much mana resulting in an explosion, so it was physically impossible to create scrolls for extremely powerful spells.


    I was a archmage with an extremely large mana pool, so the amount of mana needed to create the scrolls wasn''t an issue as long as I drank one or two mana recovery potions. The only problem was that I could only convert my mana for usage in fire-type spells, so there was a limit to the number of types of scrolls I could make. Thankfully, the scrolls that the commander requested were for explosive spells, which could be made through the use of either fire or wind magic.


    I noticed something about Amber''s notes after drawing on a couple scrolls.


    "Could I see your notes for a bit?"


    To my surprise, Amber had a knack for art. The incantations were nearly impossible to copy, but she copied down the magic circle perfectly.


    "This magic circle is perfect! Could you help me draw that magic circle on the other papers? It would save me a lot of time."


    I guess I could acknowledge her as a somewhat capable shop assistant now. I only needed to make thirty scrolls, but because of the intricate patterns, each of them required about five to ten minutes to make, about a third of which was spent on drawing the magic circle. With Amber''s help, I was able to save about an hour of work.


    "All that''s left is for me to channel mana into these. Could you get me a mana recovery potion and heat up dinner in the mean time?"


    "Sure."


    I brought the scrolls with me outside to the store area since I didn''t want to be distracted by the sounds coming from the kitchen. While channeling my mana into the scrolls, I looked at the window saw some familiar visages in the distance: it was the reptilian and harpy that I fought against in the morning. They were rummaging through the trash disposal site near the end of the street, seemingly trying to look for anything edible.


    Come to think of it, after being forced to return millions of doviti earlier today, these two likely had no personal assets left. If one were also to consider how they were jobless and likely already spent a fair amount of what they extorted over the past month, then they were definitely in massive debt and thus had no money to buy food.


    Watching them pick through food scraps for edible parts with nauseous looks on their faces made me feel slightly bad for them. They deserved it, though, so I tried my best not to pay attention to what they were doing. As long as I''m here, the two most likely won''t try to cause trouble for anyone anymore. They might not be able to get proper jobs due to their bad history here, but I''m sure they''ll be able to get by in another town or something.


    I just need to ignore what I''m looking at. I definitely can''t see them if I just turn around or look through the other window. Yep, totally not paying attention to them.


    ¡­


    Damn it. I can''t stop pitying these two for some reason¡­


    "Hey, Amber!"


    "Yes?"


    She quickly ran out of the kitchen as I called.


    "We probably can''t finish all the food from lunch anyways, so could you wrap some of it up, leave it out in front of the store, and pull down the window blinds?"


    She had a slightly confused look at first, but Amber seemed to have understood what I wanted to do after looking at the windows. She gave me a warm smile and said,


    "You''re a good person, Blaze."


    She walked back into the kitchen and came out with a nicely wrapped package not long after.


    The rest of the evening was rather uneventful. After treating myself to a nice relaxing bath, Amber taught me some basic characters of the demon language. It sort of felt like learning basic magic all over again, when I had to study all kinds of chants.


    There were a total of 42 different characters in the language, each corresponding to a specific sound, as well as 10 numeric digits and some special accent and punctuation marks. Each symbol could be written without needing to lift the pen more than once, so the writing system is theoretically very easy to learn, and saves a lot of time when one needs to read and write. Since the sounds indicated by the characters corresponded to most basic sounds that one could make, the Demon language alphabet could also be used to transcribe other languages. It was thus normal for books to transcribe the common language in the Demon alphabet in order to get learners to become more familiar with that alphabet.


    I still couldn''t shake off the impression that it was created by some child drawing random scribbles on paper, though¡­


    A diligent student could master the writing system of the demon language within a week, but I think it''ll probably take me slightly longer than that since I dozed off from exhaustion after Amber left me alone in the study.

 7.3 - Shopping For Supplies (3)

    After factoring in all the material, labor, and transportation costs, it only cost me about 55000 doviti to produce what the commander requested. And yet the commander was willing to pay up to 250000 per day after I requested to receive a lower payment. Seems like I''ll have to request another pay cut again, otherwise my conscience would feel bad¡­ That, and I don''t want traveling salesmen and burglars at my shop.


    The giant zombie came into my shop shortly after I finished filling and packing all the potion bottles and supplies into the twelve crates.


    "Good morning. I left the supplies in the back."


    He waved at me while letting off a slight groaning sound, then headed towards the workshop area in the back side of the shop. Must be hard not being able to speak full words. Or any comprehensible word for that matter.


    I tried asking him a couple questions to get to know him more, but I couldn''t understand whether his groans meant yes or no. His arms and legs could move just fine, yet his neck couldn''t seem to shake or nod, so I gave up on asking him questions and just watched him carry crate after crate out from the back.


    After loading the last crate onto a carriage waiting outside, the giant zombie came back in and dropped a sack of money on the counter.


    "Could you please take that sack back to the commander? The production cost ended up being really low, so I still have plenty of money left over even after the half payment yesterday."


    Groan.


    "Please tell him to give me only 100000 or something. 250000 is too much¡­"


    Groan.


    I can''t tell whether he understands what I''m saying or not. He''s not trying to leave, at least.


    "Could you wait here for a minute or two?"


    Groan.


    I''ll just assume he said yes, since he continued standing still.


    I quickly took out all my money and counted out 100000 doviti, then threw the remainder into the sack and added a written note to explain why the zombie would have come back with more money than when he came in.


    "Please pass the message inside the sack to the commander."


    The giant picked the bag up, waved at me, then took off on the carriage.


    "I think he likes you."


    I think Amber said something slightly disturbing just now.


    "He rarely ever groans more than twice."


    "Why is that?"


    "Because of the damaged lungs and vocal cords."


    "Is that so¡­ It must have taken him a lot of effort just to groan like that."


    I really can''t tell if the fact that a zombie likes me is a good thing or not.


    "By the way, please don''t make me heavy-lift again today."


    "That''s fine, I have a brilliant idea. Feel free to stay here and keep an eye on the shop."


    * * * * *


    In a long dark alley somewhere in town.


    "Oi."


    The two people in the alley immediately got up and ran away as soon as I called them.


    "Flame Pillar."


    I had expected this to happen, so I cast the spell that I chanted in advance to create an impassable wall of fire in front of the two.


    "Please spare us! We''ve learned our lesson!"Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    "We don''t want any accidents here! Please!"


    The reptilian and harpy girl were trembling in front of me.


    "Calm down, calm down. I just want to talk, so stop trying to run away."


    "Is it about the debts? Did the merchants send you over? Please let us go!"


    "We''ll get them the money somehow! Just give us a bit of time!"


    "No, I''m not here on behalf of anyone. Besides, it would have been more efficient for a gang of armed merchants to come after you if debt collection was the goal."


    "That''s what you want us to think, isn''t it!"


    "Yeah, you''re trying to trick us, aren''t you!"


    These two would probably ever calm down, so I took out 3000 doviti and gave half to each of them.


    "Huh? What''s this?"


    "Given your history, I doubt any other shopkeeper in this town would ever want to hire you, so I''m giving you a job. Consider that an advance payment for today''s work. I''ll give you two another 1000 each as a bonus if you take on another task I have in mind."


    "A job?"


    "Yes, a job. It won''t be too difficult for you two."


    The two were still seemingly wary of me, but they at least calmed down after being given some money. I ignored the reptilian, who was smelling the money to make sure nothing was wrong.


    "It''s quite obvious that as a mage, my strength is very low. Because of that, I''m offering to pay each of you 1500 a day if you two run a delivery service for the merchants in the market district. I get priority service, of course, since I''m paying your daily salary."


    "And the other task?"


    "Tell me your names, and apologize to every merchant you encounter along the way when you help deliver items around. I''ll explain everything to them to make sure they won''t take out a club to beat you two up."


    There was a long pause after I brought up that extra task. Seems like they were still somewhat doubtful. The harpy finally spoke up after thinking for a while,


    "¡­You''re not trying to trick us, right?"


    "I''m serious. I''ll even let you hold onto my wallet as insurance, if you think I''ll run away just so you two would be helplessly ganged up on. There should be a little 50000 doviti inside."


    There was no more reason for the two to doubt me after the harpy took my wallet and confirmed the amount of money inside.


    The reptilian introduced himself as Casath, and the harpy introduced herself as Hanung. With their reputation as the strongest and fastest residents of the town, respectively, I have no doubts that they would be able to quickly deliver items in bulk. They might even be able to gain reputation as the most reliable couriers in town if they ran an honest service.


    As long as I''m responsible for them, I don''t think they''ll ever try to cause trouble for anyone again, especially when I offered them an actual job with decent pay that didn''t require them to work too hard. The merchants would probably also stop giving them trouble if they know I''m involved, too, so I''d say it''s a win-win situation where their misdoings get forgiven and I don''t get daily back pain.


    "Now come with me. First stop is the plants shop."


    The two reluctantly followed me through the streets with their heads dropped low. Some merchants in the district drew mean looks at the two, but they were quite happy to hear about the new delivery service after I explained everything to them and had the two apologize. Thankfully, nobody tried to beat the two up, and the shopkeepers even stopped bringing up debt collection after knowing that the two now had some stable income and would therefore be able to pay them back eventually.


    * * * * *


    "You''re back already?"


    "I told you I had a brilliant idea."


    Thanks to Casath and Hanung taking care of all the item transportation, I was able to make my way around the whole district and finish placing all my orders before noon. I didn''t give specific instructions to the two, so they just dropped some of the crates in front of the shop''s door rather than inside the workshop area. This was probably why Amber didn''t know about the delivery service.


    Come to think of it, the fact that Amber knew nothing about the deliverers probably meant she wasn''t looking after the shop seriously. It''s hard not to notice a big reptilian carrying a large crate in front of your store window, after all. I''ll probably have to lecture Amber or something¡­


    "You secretly taught people your trade secrets?"


    "What? Orcs and goblins aren''t capable of understanding or using magic, so I can''t teach them that."


    "What was your brilliant idea, then?"


    "I just started a delivery service, with those two delinquents from yesterday as the workers. They looked like they repented their misdeeds."


    I promised the two that I would buy them lunch if they finished delivering everything before I finished lunch, so they had already brought over half of the supplies. I''m not exactly sure whether or not they actually consumed food waste yesterday, but they were readily motivated by my promise.


    "By the way, did any customers come while I was gone?"


    "Just three lecherous goblins."


    "Lecherous goblins? How do you even know they were lecherous?"


    "They wanted vitality potions for bed. Had perverted looks on their faces, too."


    "Oh. I never thought people here would be that open about what they wanted to do at night¡­"


    Now that I think about it, there was no reason to stock a large quantity of health and mana potions. Most residents in this town are unable to cast magic, so they wouldn''t need mana potions in the first place. Also, since there were no monster farms nearby, and also because disputes (and thus fights) were infrequent, it was unlikely that the anyone would ever get injured so badly that they would require a health potion.


    I should really study what the citizens here regularly do and adjust my stock of items accordingly.


    "Let''s go get lunch."


    "Sure!"


    ¡­But I''ll study the townsfolk later. I have plenty of time for that.

 8 - The Two Kingdoms

    Thanks to Casath and Hanung delivering items around for the merchants in the district, I had a lot more free time in the evening. Since I didn''t need to tire myself with carrying supplies all day long, I was able to put in more effort in learning the Demon language alphabet under Amber''s guidance, and I didn''t fall asleep like on the first day.


    Speaking of the deliverers, the two seemed to enjoy their new jobs. It wasn''t physically taxing for either of them, so they were happy about getting paid a decent salary for work that wasn''t too demanding. They were especially glad that the merchants eventually forgave the two for causing trouble the previous month, and even got small tips for helping out with deliveries. The two used to shiver whenever I ran into them and jokingly said "debts," but they didn''t react to the word by the fifth day. Seems like the services was a bit¡­ too popular.


    A side effect of the delivery service was that bulk purchases became more common in the town, so several shopkeepers recorded the highest profits since they opened. Since I was the one responsible for the two couriers, the shopkeepers often came by my shop in the early evening to invite me for a drink as thanks. Unfortunately, because multiple shopkeepers invited me like that, one drink became two, then three, and so on. I think I was averaging around seven beer mugs per night.


    In any case, a week went by without incident, and I was now able to read and write using characters of the Demon language without much trouble. I only studied the alphabet, though, so I still have no idea what texts written in the language meant, but I suppose studying vocabulary and grammar can be set aside for a while. After all, I''m only interested in being able to read the chants and incantations for spells used by demons, and Amber can help me read and translate the descriptions of what the spells do and how to invoke them.


    During the week of learning, Amber gave me various texts to practice reading with. They weren''t written in the Demon language; they were instead written in the common language but transcribed with the Demon alphabet. I''m used to listening to various dialects and accents of the common language, but to see a different way of writing it is a bit strange. I''d have to admit that it does look nicer and much easier to read when fewer brushes of the pen are used. Amazingly, all the characters and accent marks in the Demon alphabet were sufficient for transcribing almost all variants of the common language.


    Anyhow, the texts Amber gave me were varied in topics, but it gave me a lot of insight on world knowledge, and the systems put in place in the Demon King territory.


    To start off, with the exception of time, measurements were taken using other objects as reference or estimates, such as distance by horse, or weight in stones, and so on. It''s quite amazing how nobody ever found the inability to take precise measurements annoying. In any case, the Demon King had put into practice a standardized system of measurement units.


    The continent we were in was a giant land mass whose shape resembled a giant rhombus that spanned 5500 kilometers wide and 5000 kilometers long at its largest parts. There were various small uninhabited islands in the ocean that surrounded the large landmass, and strangely nobody has ever come back alive to report on what existed beyond 150kilometers from the ocean shore. Whether or not another continent existed was thus a mystery, so people collectively referred to the continent we were in as "this world" or "this earth".


    The Demon King''s territory was at the northern part of the continent, taking up an area that was about 1300 kilometers wide and 800 kilometers long. The east and west sides of the Demon King''s territory were the ocean due to the continent''s rhombus shape, so the war took place at the southern border because mysterious disappearances in the ocean meant that neither side had funded a navy. Since the two ends of the border were extremely rough mountainous terrain, the fighting actually only commenced along about 60 kilometers of the border, while the remaining 1240 was completely neglected by both sides.


    People have considered crossing the neglected area before, but there were rumors of the region being nesting grounds for dragons. Such creatures were said to be large, powerful, and impossible to tame, so the act of traveling through the neglected area was essentially a suicidal act. On a side note, this neglected area was supposedly where rogue monsters that escaped from farms crossed over to the other side of the border. The monsters just somehow knew how to avoid getting discovered by the dragons, apparently.


    Sachiru town was only 100 kilometers north of the border, while the capital of the Demon King territory was another 180 kilometers further north. Conveniently, the Demon King''s name, his capital city, and his territory were all referred to as Badoth. The opposing side''s capital and its territory, which were both referred to as Kitrod, was 1700 kilometers south of the border at the center of the rhombus. It''s quite remarkable that the Demon King managed to hold off the Kitrod army for so long despite being relatively close to the border and controlling a significantly smaller amount of land.


    The reading materials Amber gave me didn''t talk much about the Demon King, other than the fact that he founded Badoth about 70 years ago and had been at war with Kitrod since then. Up until now, I had assumed that "for generations" meant the war had been going on for far longer than that, but it turns out only three or four generations have passed since then¡­


    The political systems on both sides were quite similar, with the king or emperor being the head of state. The king was assisted by a direct adviser and administrator, which in both kingdoms was the prime minister. Because of the size of the land, Kitrod was comprised of several small states that pledged allegiance to it due to that state having the largest territory and military sizes. While the king of Kitrod was the commander in chief of the army, Badoth had a chief of war to manage the army for the king, which in this case was commander Mavuto. This was in part due to the size of the kingdom: the king of Kitrod needed to have an army of his own in order to lower the risk of a violent coup, while the size of Badoth was sufficiently small that the king did not need an iron fist to suppress dissent.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Badoth, on the other hand, was one single state divided into the central area that housed the capital and eight smaller provinces, each managed by a governor appointed by the king that had to report to and receive instructions from the king regularly. Each governor was also designated to be a general of their province''s army, with the exception of the southern province''s governor. The appointees that the king selects are chosen from a list, which was compiled based on local votes.


    I felt like commander Mavuto was always under a lot of pressure, though: he lived in the south province because of the constant state of war, so he was given some extra responsibilities, whereby he had to manage two different armies (the royal army and the southern province''s army), maintain regular contact with the Demon King and his eight governors, and cooperate with the southern governor in keeping the province under control due to the fact that his presence there meant that there was a large number of nonresidents. How does he even have the mental capacity for this job? I feel like one would be going insane with all the stress and work piled up like that. Was it perhaps because domestic issues are foregone or set on low priority during wartime?


    The law of the land was mostly similar on both sides of the border, however Badoth law allows parties to settle disputes through combat. To prevent the abuse of power, the method of battle and rewards for the victor must be agreed upon by both parties before the fight. While this generally prevented a significantly stronger party from exploiting others, it wasn''t uncommon for "accidents" to occur to those who constantly declined battle challenges in inconspicuous places when the law was first introduced. As a result, it became public acceptance that that strong individuals should receive more benefits and hold high political positions, and the list of potential governors sent to the king would often only name the strongest individuals in a province.


    Luckily, because of the regular reports to the king, and also due to occasional surprise inspections at the provinces, the local authorities would often do their best to serve the interests of the people instead of their own (or rather, to serve what the king thinks are the interests of his subjects).


    Since people in high positions often had a large number of followers, extreme cases of power abuse or corruption would almost always lead to banishment, since execution would often result in backlash or possible rebellion from said person''s followers. I have no idea what methods they use for exiling people, but the exiled are usually never able to find their way back to Badoth. In any case, the expulsion of high profile (and thus high powered) individuals and their entourage often resulted in the occasional appearance of "boss monsters" in high bounty adventurer quests in Kitrod.


    As a consequence of the combat rule, seven of the eight governors were greater demons, the strongest class of demons. The only governor who wasn''t a greater demon was the southern province''s governor, since commander Mavuto was already present. Due to their strength and prowess in battle, each of the governors was also the general of their province''s army and had the additional task of reinforcing the royal army at the south border, in rotation.


    Since local troops from each province were only called to battle once every sixteen days and had to stay on the battlefield for at most four days, army fatigue was relatively low and morale was quite high as a result. This was why the Demon King army had not fallen or lost territorial control despite being at a severe disadvantage in numbers over the past 70 years.


    Territorial matters aside, there were dozens of different races in this world. Unfortunately, the people of the Kitrod empire mostly discriminated against races that didn''t look similar to humans, so Kitrod''s population was almost entirely human, while Badoth''s population consisted of primarily non-human races and a large number of undead creatures. Based on what the writings state, it seems that I might be the only non-undead human in the state of Badoth¡­ While not all citizens were in favor of the constant state of war or the fact that their race''s physical and magical limits would prevent them from obtaining positions of power, they were seemingly content with living in Badoth since it was the only place where they were not discriminated against.


    There was no census conducted on either side of the border, but scholarly estimates based on tax revenue and testimonies of traveling merchants indicate that Kitrod had a population of 50 to 55 million, 99 percent of which were human, and Badoth had a population of 10 to 12 million, five percent of which were undead creatures. While I did mention racial discrimination did not exist in Badoth, the undead were an exception. Their souls were bound to something in the living realm, so they almost all served as slaves of whoever raised them from the dead. That said, it didn''t seem like commander Mavuto treated his supply officer like a slave, so kudos to that giant zombie ogre.


    "Why are all these texts so detailed? I''ve learned a lot more about this world over the past week than from twenty years of living in Kitrod."


    "They were compiled from intelligence reports."


    "Wait, wouldn''t that mean this stuff is classified? I''m not going to get silenced for reading all of these, am I?"


    "Nope! They''re part of basic education textbooks now."


    Speaking of which, basic education on worldly matters and higher education in Kitrod was only available to the elites that could afford private tutoring. For everyone else, basic education was achieved through oral tradition and apprenticeships under a mentor. There was thus a large gap between what the elites knew and what the general population of Kitrod knew, and so positions of power were reserved for the wealthy as the general population was considered "too dumb" to rule.


    In Badoth, basic education was mandatory for two a year or two using textbooks similar to what I read over the past week, so the general population of Badoth was more knowledgeable in basic affairs. A major problem, however, was that higher education was usually not available since one''s merits in battle were more valued than merit in research. Small institutions still existed nonetheless, to teach those aiming for positions of power about advanced things necessary for their jobs.


    In my case, I learned how to read and write, as well as basic magic from a novice mage in return for helping him with housework and other daily chores. He was only a novice, so he couldn''t teach me anything beyond the basic level, but the fact that I could read was already good enough. Since nobody took fire magic seriously, I was able to obtain books on intermediate and advanced fire magic for free and self study that, thus becoming who I am today¡­

 9.1 - Learning New Magic (1)

    From what I experienced over the past week, and from the reading materials Amber gave me, it didn''t seem like Badoth was in any way chaotic or disorderly. As a functioning and stable state, Badoth could have readily established neutral or friendly diplomatic relations with Kitrod. What caused these two kingdoms to go to war with each other? Why did nobody ever decide that 70 years was too long for a war?


    The texts Amber gave me didn''t talk much about the Demon King Badoth and the history of the kingdom he founded 70 years ago, so it was probably unlikely that I would ever find the answer to my questions unless I had the chance to talk to the king himself.


    In any case, I have the demon language''s alphabet drilled into my head now, so I should be able to read any text written with it. I wouldn''t be able to understand what it meant, but I could always ask Amber to translate that for me.


    "Are there any diviners or warlocks in town, Amber?"


    "None. Why do you ask?"


    "Well there aren''t any herbalists or alchemists around, so the only thing I can learn here in Badoth is new magic. For that, I need someone capable of using advanced spells."


    "Aren''t you retired from that?"


    "Just because I retired from being an adventurer doesn''t mean I can''t still be an archmage. I still feel an urge to learn new spells every now and then. Whether or not I can actually cast it is a different issue, though."


    "So you want to learn useless knowledge."


    "Hey, it''s not entirely useless. Learning a new spell, regardless of whether or not it''s usable, allows me to recognize when someone is about to cast that spell and properly assess how dangerous the situation is. Of course that scenario will probably never happen, but you never know what life might throw at you. Who knows, maybe someone might challenge me to a duel some day."


    Amber gave a long sigh to my response.


    "¡­You might want to try the library."


    "Do they have spellbooks there?"


    "I''m not sure. They might, though."


    "Then please show me the way there."


    * * * * *


    The population of Sachiru was less than 20000, so there was only one moderate sized public library serving the entire town. It was located at the very center of town, a fifteen minute walk from the shop.


    It was currently around 4 o''clock in the afternoon, so the streets of the market district were bustling with townsfolk trying to purchase the freshest food they could find for making dinner. As we left the market district, the bustling sight gradually faded away in favor of quiet residential areas. There were children playing around on the wide empty streets, occasionally stepping aside to avoid an oncoming carriage.


    Looking at the children having fun on the streets, I couldn''t help but reminisce a little about my childhood, when I could live every day without a single worry in the world. It was only unfortunate that those days couldn''t last long¡­


    "It''s quite a relieving sight, don''t you think, Blaze?"


    "Hm?"


    "We''re so close to where the war takes place, but people are able to live on their daily lives normally."


    "It''s always good to have some optimism even in times of crisis, I guess¡­"


    It''s hard to ignore the atrocities of war, but if the people are still able to continue living their lives normally with optimism, the soldiers can at least etch in their minds the sight of the peace they''re fighting to protect and fight on. It would have been pointless to go to battle for a group of unhappy people, after all.


    We arrived at the library before long. At first glance, the library building looked no different from a stone fortress. On each side of the entrance was a statue of what looked like a goblin man sitting on a raised platform and reading a book. The fortress was minimally decorated, having only one single banner above the entrance, with a drawing of an open book painted onto it.


    While a fortress shaped library building was great for asserting that "knowledge is power", I can''t say I''m fond of the building design at all. With the exception of the ground floor that had none, the upper floors only had two small embrasures on each side of the building. The library''s interior would no doubt have received very little natural lighting because of that.


    "Is this¡­ really a library?"


    I couldn''t help but wonder what I was looking at when I opened the door and went in. It was far different from what I had in mind. While there were several bookshelves in plain view, the interior gave off a wholly different vibe.


    There was no natural lighting due to the lack of embrasures, and the ground floor was only dimly lit with faint red lights. Small reading desks with empty flasks on top were scattered throughout the floor, and there were numerous drapes hanging from the ceiling that one could pull to create an enclosed private space around each reading desk.


    A very light flowery aroma was lingering in the air. It was hard to imagine anyone being able to read normally in this kind of environment. Better yet, how is it even possible to read anything under this dim lighting?


    "Huh, they remodeled this place. It looked a lot brighter the last time I was here."


    Seems like even Amber is surprised at this sight.


    Out of curiosity, I moved towards the nearest bookshelf and grabbed a random book. Like with the rest of the books on the shelf, the book was unlabeled and had a solid color cover, so I had no idea what was even inside. After taking it out of the shelf, I quickly flipped through the pages to see if I could figure out what it was about. Apparently the dim lighting in this library was sufficient for reading. One would have to focus on a page to make out the details, though.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    A brief glance at the contents soon made me realize the meaning behind the library''s interior design, but to confirm my suspicions, I took another book out and flipped through it. As expected, this book was yet another provocative magazine full of lewd female pictures. Were it not for the red lighting here, one could probably see my face turn beet red.


    In any case, this floor''s ambient lighting and abundance of private space certainly was a great setting for those looking towards partially satisfying their sensual needs. I reckon the flask being there was to make sure the carpeted floor wouldn''t be ruined.


    "Oh, a living human? This is quite a surprise!"


    Turning towards where the voice came from, I saw a curly haired short woman walking towards me. She wore very revealing tight clothes, which emphasized certain female parts of hers that already had an unnaturally large size. She had a small pair of wings on her back, and a slender long tail with a pointed tip, suggesting that she was a succubus.


    "Welcome to Sachiru''s one and only public library! I''m the librarian. Very curious to know what your tastes are like."


    The succubus librarian had a somewhat devious smile as she said that.


    "I don''t think I have the time for that today¡­"


    Succubi were a female-only race that needed to consume the bodily fluids of males to sustain themselves. Normally they would achieve this by giving men erotic dreams, so I found it quite abnormal to find a succubus stocking the library''s ground floor with countless lewd magazines¡­ Well, at least I know why there were flasks on the reading desks now.


    "Is it even appropriate to arouse people here?"


    "The orcs and goblins in this town keep flailing about dangerously in their sleep, so I had to find another place to do my work."


    "Still, shouldn''t a library be a place for learning, not for sexual pleasure?"


    "The upper floors are normal!"


    "Also, just curious, how long ago was the library remodeled?"


    "About half a year."


    If the library has been like this for half a year already, then I guess the authorities are fine with it. If anything, having a lewd collection of books here for everyone to access might even have a side effect of lowering the rate of sexual crimes in town. Not only that, the library would actually encourage more people to come in and read books¡­ assuming the readers still had the energy and motivation to go upstairs.


    "Well, since you''re the librarian here, could I ask where I could find spellbooks?"


    "Libraries don''t usually carry those. You have to find a warlock or archmage for that. I think we have books that talk about magic, though."


    "That''s close enough. Could you tell me where I can find the magic books? Preferably ones written in the demon language."


    "Let me check on that. Nobody ever reads books about magic in this town, so I never bothered remembering their location."


    "I''ll come find you in a few minutes, then. Thanks."


    I kept watch of the succubus librarian as she walked away so that I would know where to find her later. Speaking of finding people, I wonder where Amber headed off to. She disappeared somewhere after commenting about how the library was remodeled earlier.


    I walked around the ground floor in search of her and eventually found her sitting at one of the reading desks, looking attentively at a book with a plain blue cover and occasionally making sounds of surprise.


    "So there are lewd magazines aimed at women here too, aren''t there?"


    "Seems like it."


    "Are you enjoying that book?"


    "Yes."


    "Can I take a look at the types of men you''re making sounds at?"


    "This book doesn''t have men in it."


    Well, this is quite a shocker. If Amber wasn''t looking at a book with lewd male pictures, then¡­


    "Wait a minute¡­ Does that mean you''re into other women?"


    "Huh? What are you talking about?"


    Amber looked up at me with a confused look on her face.


    "If you''re not looking at a book with male pictures, then you''re looking at one with female pictures, right?"


    "There are other kinds of books on this floor, you know¡­ And for the record, I prefer men."


    "Oh¡­ I''m sorry for misunderstanding¡­"


    I really shouldn''t have jumped to conclusions so quickly like that. It felt rather relieving that she didn''t appear to be mad at me.


    I walked over to Amber''s side to take a look at the book she was reading. It was filled with pictures of what looked like fish.


    "That isn''t a book full of lewd fish pictures, is it?"


    "Not everything on this floor is lewd, Blaze."


    Come to think of it, that was probably a stupid question. What in the world would even count as a lewd fish picture?


    "I want to see the ocean once in my life, but it''s so far away, so the only way for me to learn about what it holds is through books like these."


    "That''s interesting. Can I read that when you''re done?"


    This continent was so large that most people have never been to the ocean because it would have taken an extremely long time to get to the coast. Stories of the majestic aquatic creatures that lived in the ocean occasionally got told and spread around by traveling merchants, but it was hard to take them seriously since word of mouth tends to get exaggerated after going through several people.


    Nonetheless, I''ve never been to the ocean, so I know hardly anything about it. The fact that Amber was learning about the ocean through books piqued my interest.


    "There are plenty of books like this one here. Look for a shelf with a missing book."


    Before I knew it, I was taking out and flipping through the pages of random books about marine animals. I should probably borrow some of these to read at home later.


    I couldn''t help but feel like I was forgetting something, though¡­


    As I was busy immersing myself in the illustrations of the mysterious creatures, I felt a sudden light tap on my shoulder. Standing behind me was the succubus librarian, with a slightly annoyed look on her face.


    "You kept me waiting at the desk for so long!"


    Right, that''s what I was forgetting. I was supposed to come to her desk to know where those magic books were located.


    "I''m sorry, I got too excited about all these animals I''ve never seen before¡­"


    The librarian let out a soft sigh at my response.


    "¡­Well, we only have a few books about magic since the demand for those is low. You can find all of them on the shelf labeled ''M'' on the third floor."


    "Thank you. And sorry for making you wait like that¡­"


    Amber still seemed to be busy reading her book, so I think I''ll just go upstairs by myself. If I find any interesting books, I could bring it downstairs for her to translate.


    Contrary to my expectations and to its downstairs counterpart, the upper two floors of the library were actually very brightly lit. I don''t even know how that was physically possible, since the embrasures on the wall were relatively small. Tiny windows like these shouldn''t be able to let so much light through.


    There were long reading desks lined up in an open space along the floor, with chalkboards placed by the end of each desk. There were scribbles and formulas written all over the boards, making these floors actually feel like a place where people would come to study or research and hold scholarly discussions with their peers. Too bad it was empty at this hour¡­ and most other hours for that matter.


    Now then, time to look for a shelf labeled "M"...

 9.2 - Learning New Magic (2)

    I imagined the shelf with books about magic would be filled with books, but apparently I was wrong. There were only five books in total, three of which were written in the common language. Since these three books were on basic magic which I already knew too well, I simply ignored them and took out the other two books. One of those two books was so thin I didn''t know whether to call it a booklet or leaflet.


    I brought the two books downstairs to Amber. She was still busy admiring the aquatic creatures, apparently. The thicker book looked like it might contain knowledge I didn''t know about, so I gave it to her first.


    "Could you translate the title of this book, Amber?"


    "Sure. Let''s see¡­ ''How to control mana and use basic spells'' is the title."


    "That sounds familiar¡­"


    "It says at the bottom that it''s a translation of a basic magic textbook."


    Maybe looking for books about magic in this town wasn''t such a good idea. Hardly anyone could cast magic in the first place, so of course there wouldn''t be any good books. I should have just lowered my expectations when I had the chance.


    "What about this one?"


    I passed the thin booklet to Amber. I think her face cringed a little after looking at the cover.


    "This one is called ''Devils can inflict curses, and so can you!'' and underneath it says ''Basic curse spells used by devils to trouble their opponents or prank their peers''"


    I think I might just cringe at that title and description, too. Nonetheless, it probably contained some spells I had never seen before, so I can''t really say I wasn''t interested.


    "Well¡­ I don''t know any demon magic, so it might have a couple nice spells I could learn."


    "I hope you don''t plan on harming anyone for no reason. There are laws against that, you know."


    "I won''t. I''m just intrigued by the description. I might never use the curses on anyone, but being able to recognize and undo them would be some useful knowledge."


    If a book teaches about curses, then chances are it would teach about how to cure such curses. If I could deduce some patterns out of such cures to create ailment healing scrolls and potions, it would be a fantastic thing.


    One thing''s for sure: I definitely won''t misuse these spells. Probably.


    "Oh, I almost forgot. Do you have a library card I can borrow?"


    Now I think her eyes twitched a little. Gee, if it bothers her that much, then I guess I''ll go through the trouble of applying for a card the next time I go to a library.


    Amber reluctantly gave me her library card and I borrowed the magic booklet, as well as two books on coral reefs and marine mammals.


    * * * * *


    "Um¡­ Are you going to beat me up again?"


    I called the reptilian Casath over to an empty street the next day, after the giant zombie rode off with the daily army supplies. It was currently around noon, and most streets were empty since people were mostly having lunch indoors at the time.


    "No, not at all. I just needed someone strong to test some new spells on."


    "What?! I''m not a sandbag! Find someone el¡ª"


    "Here''s 50000 doviti."


    "Please go easy on me."


    I probably could have gone to a monster farm and test the curses on some of the creatures there, but the closest farm was 50kilometers away and I was too lazy to go that far. Bribing Casath was a much more convenient thing to do.


    Besides, he was the best choice for me to test some of the curses on. Casath was of the reptilian race, whose members varied greatly in appearance but had a lizard-like face and scaly body as a common feature. He was two meters tall with a large muscular build; he had rough dark green scales and an alligator-like tail. Like other reptilians, he had great physical power and endurance, and his thick scaly skin granted him moderate resistance to physical and magic attacks.


    The only weakness he had was that his race was cold-blooded, making him extremely vulnerable to extreme temperatures. That was why he passed out after getting hit once with my Flame Pillar attack the week before. I don''t know what exactly the curses I''m testing today can do, but I''ll try not to use any spells that change the temperature.


    "What''s the first curse spell written in the book, Amber?"


    "Let''s see¡­ ''This is a simple, yet effective curse to unnerve your foes, making them doubt whether or not they have full control over their bodily functions.''"


    Interesting. That sounds like a manipulation spell. Amber pointed her finger on the page when I looked towards her.


    "The chant is on this line, and this line is the chant to undo it."


    "Got it. "


    "To cast the magic, you need to invoke ??? with ??? property, followed by ͹͹͹ with the property of ¡ö¡ö¡ö, then [¡­]"


    Simply put, the magic required a long series of mana conversions and complicated invocations to activate. It was in many ways similar to rapidly alternating one''s pitch to imitate multiple voices while singing with a varying tempo - it was very easy to describe what to do and not too trivial to remember how to do it, but it was extremely difficult to do it right without practice.


    Since I already bribed Casath, he didn''t seem to mind staring at me in the middle of the street as I tried to reproduce the activation steps for the spell for almost half an hour. Finally, when I felt like I could faultlessly cast the spell, I pointed my staff at Casath, performed all the necessary invocations, read aloud the chant that Amber previously pointed at, and channeled mana into the staff to activate the curse.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    An indigo colored light briefly shot out of the staff and hit Casath. Upon hitting its target, the light vanished as quickly as it appeared.


    "¡­Nothing happened? Do you feel any different at all, Casath?"


    "Nope."


    "Do you feel like you still have control over all of your body parts?"


    "Yes."


    I waited half a minute, but it didn''t seem like anything was happening.


    "Um..."


    Another half minute passed, and Casath suddenly opened his eyes wider.


    "My pants¡­ Feel wet¡­"


    "Your pants feel wet? Did you pee your pants?"


    "No¡­ But it feels wet¡­"


    "Amber, is this the effect of the curse?"


    Amber flipped through every page of the booklet to see if there was any more mention about the so-called curse I used just now.


    "Ah, I found more information about the spell¡­ ''This curse is best used in the early morning, when your opponent is about to wake up. Their senses are still dull from drowsiness, so the curse creates a very believable illusion that one has accidentally wet their pants. Those who wake up to find their pants soggy will certainly become embarrassed and wonder if they''ve actually matured to the point they can fully control their bladder.''"


    The steps to undo the curse was to perform its activation sequence in reverse, so it didn''t take me too long to practice. I chanted and used the spell to undo the so-called curse while Casath was burying his face in his palms, possibly due to embarrassment, and removed the sogginess from his pants.


    "Well, that was rather absurd¡­ Let''s try another spell, Amber."


    Amber flipped back to the beginning of the booklet and turned to the page following the one about the sogginess curse.


    "This curse ensures that your opponent will never be able to successfully complete a spell chant without messing up. Conventional methods will not be able to dispel its effects, and the opponent will therefore be unable to use magic until the curse is removed by someone else, or expires on its own after one hour!"


    Wow, that sounded an anti-magic curse. I never knew one even existed.


    "Um¡­ Is it alright if I tested this curse on you, Amber? It doesn''t look like Casath can use magic, so I can''t really test it on him¡­"


    As a mage, I can innately sense the mana flow within a couple paces around me to some degree, and it didn''t seem like there was any mana flowing in Casath''s body.


    "... Fine."


    Amber reluctantly allowed me to test the curse on her after letting out a long sigh. She read out the sequence to follow for the spell, and pointed to where I could find the chant for the spell and its reversal. It seemed like all curses could be undone just by performing the activation sequence in reverse.


    Twenty minutes later, after taking a couple steps backwards, I pointed my staff at Amber and activated the spell. Just like before, nothing happened for a whole minute, and we all awkwardly looked at each other in silence. Suddenly, Amber broke the silence.


    "Hiccup!"


    I think I know what this curse does already¡­


    Meanwhile, a confused Casath walked over to Amber.


    "Hey, is everything alright? Um¡­ Sorry, what was your name again?"


    "It''s Amber¡­ Hic!¡­ And I think¡­ Hic!¡­ I''m fine¡­"


    She gave off such high pitched hiccups, I found it quite cute. Though I found it funnier that Casath didn''t even know Amber''s name even though he delivers large shipments to my shop daily, and they had already encountered each other on several occasions.


    "This curse causes you to have uncontrollable hiccups, doesn''t it?"


    "Yes¡­ Hic!¡­ Please un-hic-do it."


    Sure enough, if one were to constantly hiccup like that, then it would be impossible to finish a spell chant without getting interrupted. In such case, even if one could perform the necessary preparation steps, there was still no way to let their magic out as the chant was the last part of an activation sequence.


    Unless the chant was for extremely basic magic with one or two syllables, it was essentially an effective way to prevent an opponent from using intermediate and advanced magic in a fight. It was still possible to use magic attacks nonetheless, since one could still just channel unconverted mana and shoot out a beam of magic energy, so it wasn''t really an anti-magic curse. Still, this curse was a clever means of ensuring the opponent cannot use their strongest spells.


    I undid the hiccup curse on Amber after a few minutes of practicing.


    "I''m starting to have doubts about whether any of the curses in this booklet are useful at all, but let''s try just one more spell. They say that third time''s the charm, after all¡­"


    "Don''t test on me again, Blaze. You hired Casath for that."


    "Alright. I promise I won''t."


    Having heard that, Casath moved a few paces away from me since he would undoubtedly be used for another test, while Amber flipped through the booklet and selected a page at random.


    "This is a non-lethal curse guaranteed to take away the deadly powers of even the strongest of medusas. This spell should be used with caution, as it is irreversible!"


    Medusas were a race of people with serpentine tails instead of feet, and snake-like creatures as their hair. By channeling vitality or mana into their hair, they can emit a powerful light and aura that weakens enemies that come close and petrifies those that directly gaze at the mysterious light.


    I''d like to think this is a strength draining spell, but given what happened with the last two spells, I have my doubts. In any case, I chanted and used the curse spell on Casath after a while.


    "So what exactly does this curse do?"


    Casath asked me with a puzzled look, since nothing happened this time after two minutes. I turned to Amber and asked,


    "There''s a catch, isn''t there?"


    She flipped through the booklet to find the footnote for that spell.


    "This curse does not remove hair roots, so the baldness effect is not permanent. You can use it on other body parts, too! It''s a great way to save time when you need to shave!"


    Right. Casath didn''t have any hair in the first place, so of course it wouldn''t have any effect.


    Damn, if this booklet didn''t belong to the library, then I would have burned it already.


    "Can I borrow your library card again, Amber? I''ll go return the book after lunch."


    "Huh? Why the rush? Just return it when we''re done with the other two books."


    "Fine, but please hide it in a place where I can''t see it."


    "Alright."


    "Um¡­ was it really fine to give me so much money?"


    Casath walked over while scratching his head.


    "If you feel bad for accepting that much money, then you can treat us to lunch. Or you could let Amber test the remaining curses on you some later time."


    "Okay¡­"


    Casath treated us at a diner that served something that resembled a curry rice dish. Just like with the feast I accidentally ordered last week, the serving size was so large that Amber and I had to take the food home for dinner. Casath didn''t seem to have any trouble eating it all, though.


    Since I didn''t want to look at the booklet of curses again, Amber ended up testing the curses alone on Casath over the next two days. Unfortunately, she was relatively bad at following the invocation instructions, so I still got dragged outside.


    It turns out the booklet contained only five more ridiculous curses: one that caused bad foot odor, one that made the victim feel an urge to use the toilet, one that prevented the closing of the mouth, one that prohibited turning right, and one that made nails grow longer.

 Extra 1 - Fish Out Of Water

    I woke up to find myself soaking inside a hot bath. Steam had completely engulfed the room, so it was hard to see what was around me, but this was most likely the small bath inside my shop.


    My memory was somewhat hazy - I don''t remember how I managed to fall asleep in my bath, or for how long. The heating tool shouldn''t be able to run for more than five minutes without having someone channel mana into it, so it was rather strange for the water to still be hot.


    How could I not remember anything from more than five minutes ago?


    A few bubbles began to form on the water surface in front of me. As I leaned forward to take a closer look, a woman suddenly emerged from underneath the bubbles!


    She had fair white skin and mesmerizing gold eyes. Her bright golden hair, though wet, somehow maintained its wavy form; it almost took my breath away as it brushed against my face when she turned her head. Perhaps the thing that was the most captivating about her were her voluptuous breasts, which were scantily covered with a small gold colored bra. Her brilliance was like the human manifestation of gold and silver.


    "Who are you? How did you get here?"


    But she only smiled at my question. She started leaning forward, prompting me to back off to the edge of the bath in response.


    "Wh-what are you doing?"


    With no space left to back into, I could only sit still inside the bath while the mysterious woman leaned her breasts onto my body. She continued smiling while using her soft smooth hand to brush my face.


    I started feeling warmer and warmer inside, and it wasn''t because of the hot bath water.


    From slightly behind the woman, more bubbles formed on the surface. Not long after, something that resembled a fish tail began to surface. It was the same shade of gold as the woman''s hair, and its brilliant glow amidst the steam was like a bright light shooting through the fog.


    "Are you¡­ a mermaid?"


    She giggled while slightly nodding to affirm my question.


    Before I could say anything else, she caressed my cheeks with both of her hands, and made a gentle motion to have me lean forward.


    My body mindlessly complied to that gesture, and her gentle hands slowly moved down to my shoulders, then to my back.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Her breasts pressed hard against my body as she gave me a warm hug with her hands.


    With a gentle pull, she dove under the water, bringing me in her loving embrace along.


    When did my bath suddenly become so deep? Was it all an illusion?


    My heart was beating faster and faster.


    I felt like I could start sweating at any moment, even though I was surrounded by water.


    Why does everything feel so real? How am I suddenly able to breathe underwater?


    My breathing became more and more rapid, and my voice was trembling.


    My mind was drawing a blank. What was even going on?


    ¡­


    To any other person, this probably would have been a very arousing scene, but I was an archmage who could only use basic magic and intermediate and advanced fire-type spells. Being completely surrounded by water like this was my worst fear, and I was essentially having a panic attack. Yes, I was having symptoms of panic, not of sexual arousal. Well, maybe I had both, actually.


    I tried my best to scream out off the top of my lungs. The next thing I knew, I woke up in my bed.


    "Ah!"


    At my bedside was the succubus librarian from this morning, wearing much more revealing things than the mermaid in that dream earlier. She seemed to have been surprised by my sudden awakening. The bedroom window was wide open, suggesting she came in through there.


    "What the hell are you doing here?"


    "I¡­ I¡­ I''m sorry! I wanted to know what humans taste like!"


    What came out of her mouth sounded so wrong, but I think she meant she wanted to know the taste of my¡­ vitality. Succubi were a species that nourished themselves on certain bodily fluids of men that get produced as a result of excitement. In order to achieve their goal, they often employ tricks like dream manipulation in order to cause "wet dreams" to occur.


    "You gave me a nightmare, you know!"


    "I''m sorry! I thought you liked this kind of stuff from the books you took out this morning!"


    "If you''re going to do this to me, at least tell me in advance! Don''t break in like that!"


    "That was wrong of me! I promise I''ll ask for permission next time!"


    She was in tears as I yelled at her.


    "How do you even expect me to be aroused by something I''ve never even seen before in my life? Aquatic creatures are scary! At least give me a lewd dream about Amber or something!"


    "What''s that about me? What''s with all this ruckus?"


    There was only moonlight lighting my room, but the demihuman girl''s amber colored eyes pierced through the darkness and shone brightly like the sun.


    I don''t remember much of what happened after she came into my room that night, but the librarian said she couldn''t show her face at work for a couple days. As for me, I had claw marks all over my face that stung for two whole days. Amber also refused to talk to me for an entire day.


    On the bright side, the new locks on our windows work really well. It''s impossible to break in now. My only complaint is that they look like the bars in prison cells, though¡­

 10.1 - Southbound

    Ten days have already passed since I first came to Sachiru town, and I think I accomplished quite a lot during that time: I resolved the town''s delinquent problem, started a delivery service, familiarized myself with a new writing system, and learned some spells that probably no other human adventurer would ever learn.


    I''m definitely fond of my life as an alchemist here. The work isn''t too difficult, I have a high pay, and the I get along quite well with the townsfolk. The only downside is that I don''t get to travel much, since I have to manage this shop. I thought that I could make up for that by talking to traveling merchants from faraway lands, but strangely enough I couldn''t find any. Merchants here typically only travel as far as the next town and then back.


    It really seemed like I would be stuck in this shop for most of the foreseeable future.


    Or so I thought.


    After receiving the supplies, the giant left a letter for me in addition to the daily payment.


    "Dear Blaze,


    I hope all is going well. The battle is intense, so I''m going to keep this letter short.


    Amber reported to me everything that has happened since you came to town. It looks like you made a name for yourself by defeating some strong delinquents. If my suspicions are correct, then you will be conscripted into the war when your province''s rotation comes tomorrow because you established yourself as a strong individual. I will make sure you don''t get drafted in the future, but please come to the battlefield just this once.


    Mavuto.


    P.S. Don''t worry about the shipment of daily supplies. You need only make enough for tomorrow."


    The way he phrased it really made it sound like I could choose to stay here in town, but it''s not like I have a choice of whether or not to come. Avoiding the draft after getting conscripted would cause me to be branded as a traitor, and that was probably something that could cost me my life.


    "Is that a letter from the commander?"


    "Yes¡­ Wait, when did you get here?"


    I swear I was alone when I was reading the letter. Did she use teleportation magic or something?


    "Just a while ago."


    "Strange, I don''t recall seeing you. But more importantly, if being strong was the criteria for being conscripted, then shouldn''t Casath and Hanung have been called at some point? Why were those two jobless delinquents?"


    "Well¡­ Nobody knew where to find them since they didn''t have a home, and the general decided not to pursue that matter¡­"


    If it was that easy for the two to avoid the draft, I could have just traveled to another province when it was this province''s turn to send reinforcements, since nobody would be able to find me¡­


    Well, it would be too suspicious if I went on vacation now, so I guess the only thing I can do is pray that I don''t actually get conscripted for war.


    After having lunch and receiving my shipment of materials, I spent the afternoon crafting the commander''s daily supplies as usual.


    "How exactly do people know if they get drafted for war, anyways?"


    "Usually a letter gets delivered to those that get conscripted, but sometimes a high ranking officer comes to see the person instead."


    Besides the one from the commander, no other letters have come for me so far today. I suppose it''s more likely that someone would come to the shop later." Unfortunately there''s no way for me to tell the difference between a military officer and a normal customer, so I can''t really close the shop or chase people out of here¡­


    "Well, I''m going to go take out the trash now."


    Amber was physically weak, so it was usually my job to take the waste byproducts of crafting over to the disposal site down the street. Even though it was called a disposal site, it was just a spot on the ground where people decided to toss their trash at. By some unknown means, all the trash would disappear from that spot the next morning.


    When I opened the front door, there was someone in front of it.


    It was a female fairy about 70 centimeters tall, with chestnut colored hair tied in a bun. She was wearing a purple one piece dress with embroidered silver patterns, and her petite stature made the dress completely cover her arms and legs. She had a baby face, which I couldn''t tell for sure if it was a trait among her race or not, but that made her look like a cute little child trying to dress up as an adult. The fairy was fluttering her dove-like wings about, hovering around in circles in front of my shop door while muttering to herself and completely lost in her train of thought.


    "Should I go in? Or should I just leave a note at the door? But then what if the wind blows it away? Or what if he doesn''t read it? Maybe I should just go in¡­ But what if he wasn''t home? What should I even say? What if he doesn''t want to hear what I have to say? Maybe I should do¡­"


    I''m the only person who would be referred to as "he" around here, so it looks like she was here to see me. Considering how much of a nervous wreck she was turning out to be, it seemed unlikely that she was an army officer. Maybe I wasn''t going to be conscripted for the next few days, after all.


    "Excuse me."


    "AAAAH! You startled me! How could you! No, w-wait, that''s not what I meant! I''m s-sorry for loitering around! Wait, don''t leave! I n-need to talk to you!"


    "I need to take out the trash, so why don''t you come inside and gather your thoughts for a while? I''ll be back in a couple minutes, so we can talk after you calm down."This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    She took a deep breath and came into the shop. Ignoring the girl, I took the trash out to the disposal site as slowly as possible so as to give her a little more time to calm down.


    When I came back, Amber and the fairy girl were happily chatting with each other.


    "Huh, you two sure got acquainted quickly."


    "We already knew each other before."


    "What?"


    "Blaze, this is Batinu, the eighth ranked general of the Demon King''s army."


    Considering how Amber was a maid for commander Mavuto who ranked higher than the generals, it was very likely that she had already met all eight generals at some point. But what she said just now sounded completely strange.


    "Sorry if this sounds offensive, but you''re telling me this nervous wreck is a general? This isn''t a prank of some sort, right?"


    "Her title is general, but she doesn''t actually take part in battle since commander Mavuto handles this province''s troops."


    "So you''re telling me the title is just for show, and that she''s completely useless in the war?"


    "Hey! I''m n-not useless!"


    The fairy girl puffed up her cheeks as I commented on her role. Looking at that cute baby face, it was really hard to believe that she was even an adult.


    "No, she''s more of a back-line support who leads the squad of medics in healing the troops that get injured on the front-line."


    Oh, so she wasn''t a useless little girl, after all.


    "I see. Sorry for rudely doubting you, Miss Batinu¡­"


    "It''s f-fine! It''s m-my fault for n-not introducing myself earlier¡­"


    I do wonder, though, was she really that bad at talking to strangers? She didn''t seem to be stuttering when she was chatting with Amber a while ago.


    "So if a general is here, then that means I''m being conscripted, doesn''t it?"


    "Yes."


    "S-sorry! There was n-nothing I could do about it!"


    "Nothing you could do about it? Aren''t you the one in charge of selections in the first place?"


    "The selection p-process takes place a w-week in advance, so when the c-commander notified me about y-you it was already too late! I already s-sent out the list to the entire p-province at that point¡­"


    I''m more bothered by how the thought of overriding the draft selections didn''t seem to come up for her. Nonetheless, it was probably too late to make any changes at this point.


    "It''s fine if it''s just this one time. I''ll go upstairs and pack some clothes now."


    Batinu looked like she was going to explode from her self blame and social awkwardness, so I left the two girls alone downstairs.


    * * * * *


    The next morning, the giant arrived a few hours earlier than usual. I have no idea how he managed to let himself into the shop, but he was already moving the crates from the back by the time I woke up and went downstairs. By eight o''clock, he loaded the last supply crate onto the carriage and made a motion that seemed like I was expected to get on the carriage.


    "There should still be some space left in the back."


    "Wouldn''t that create a risk of some crates shifting around and falling down?"


    "That''s our ride to the battlefield, Blaze."


    "Oh, okay. So that''s why there was space in the back."


    Amber and I each threw a bag containing two changes of clothes onto the carriage, then the two of us hopped on. Amber told me everything else I might need would be provided by the army, so I didn''t pack anything else. We brought only clothes since we were not expected to be fighting on the front-line, so military uniforms would not be provided.


    There were only two towns along the 100 kilometer road south towards the border. The first town, located fifteen kilometers away from Sachiru, was called South Sachiru and had a population of less than 1000. The town had expansive pastures and prairies, so its primary use was for raising livestock to supply Sachiru and the army down south with meat. I saw a large flat open field of dandelions and was tempted to jump off the carriage to lie down and take a short nap, but quickly gave up on that thought since I was expected to report to the battlefield soon. There was also the fact that the main livestock being raised here were demon bulls that were at least triple the size of regular cattle in Kitrod, and I really didn''t want to risk getting trampled.


    Another fifty kilometers down the road was the town of Ladita. Similar to South Sachiru, it was primarily focused on agriculture. Unlike the previous town, Ladita only produced grains for the southern province, and had vast fields of crops and several windmills scattered throughout its land.


    Our carriage traveled a bit slower than the average speed of one due to its heavy load, so it was already noon by the time we reached Ladita. If we continued at the same pace, it would take another two hours for us to arrive at the border, so we decided to buy some food for lunch here to eat while on the road.


    Since this was the town closest to the border so far as I was aware, I expected life here to be the most badly affected by the war. However, what I saw didn''t seem to be the case. The streets were still bustling with activity; the residents in town didn''t have any worried looks on their faces, and children were still happily playing around. It was hard to imagine there was a war going on less than thirty kilometers away. Was it perhaps because the soldiers were doing their best to fight for the peace of the people, thus these people were doing their best to show the soldiers what they were fighting for?


    Being a town that only produced crops, Ladita offered an abundance of rice and wheat based dishes. Amber bought some seasoned rice balls for us to eat the road. I offered one to the giant, but he kept shaking his head. His inability to speak made it hard for me to tell if he didn''t want to eat, didn''t need to eat, or couldn''t eat now since he was busy controlling the horses.


    Oh well, that just means there''s more food for me.


    On a side note, I''ll definitely want to spend some time exploring this town on my way back to Sachiru in a few days.


    Almost two hours later, our carriage arrived at a settlement about two kilometers away from the border, according to the area map posted at the entrance. This place was a temporary living community that the soldiers established decades ago, but since the war had been at a stalemate with neither side being able to make advances, the settlement was able to evolve into a full fledged town, unofficially called Border Town. Probably because its residents were almost all soldiers and militia, the town lacked children and had hardly any visible shops or entertainment facilities.


    The housing in this town was varied in design: some were stone dens, some were wooden cottages, some were field tents, some were brick homes, and so on. Since the soldiers came from all over Badoth, there were over a dozen different building styles to accommodate all the different races. The varied designs and colors made it look like there was a carnival in town.


    There were banners and posters hung on every street, with text written in both the common language and demon language. Judging by phrases like "Glory to King Badoth," "Kitrod humans won''t welcome other races, but we will," and "Fight to keep our freedom," as well as drawings showing humans getting assaulted, there was no doubt these were propaganda posters and banners. Being human, however, really made me feel uneasy here. Military police were stationed in outposts at the end of each street, but I reckon the soldiers didn''t really take the propaganda to heart since they didn''t pay any attention to me.


    At the center of Border Town was a moderate sized stone fortress, which Amber said was the command quarters. It was around sixty meters in width and depth and around twenty meters high. Somewhere near the center of the fortress was an observation tower that stood as tall as about forty-five meters.


    Judging by how the carriage was moving towards the fortress, I would assume that this was our destination, and that commander Mavuto was waiting for me inside.

 10.2 - Southbound (2)

    "Ah, Blaze. You actually came?"


    Standing behind a desk in the command office was commander Mavuto. He seemed somewhat surprised that I came.


    "I don''t think I had any other choice."


    "As a matter of fact, you did. You could have chosen to stay behind in Sachiru town."


    "Wouldn''t that get me killed for treason?"


    "You are living in a territory where prowess in battle has a great influence on your social standing. I don''t think anyone would have wanted to cause trouble for you."


    "Wouldn''t that mean that most strong individuals could opt not to come here to the battlefield?"


    "Yes. Although most people show up anyways, since the army pays them a very reasonable compensation, and they are naturally eager for battle."


    I''m starting to see some of the flaws in the law of this Demon King territory now.


    "Besides, this freedom of choice only applies to the strongest person in each town. So long as someone stronger exists, people generally fear being forced by that person to do things."


    "But I''m physically weak, though."


    "Your ability to use magic and your victory over the delinquents in town already made the townsfolk agree that you are the strongest person around."


    "Is that why general Batinu came to my shop in person to tell me I was conscripted?"


    "Yes. Everyone else in town is afraid of you, and she was the only high ranking officer willing to travel from another town."


    "¡­"


    I reckon I could have beat up that fairy girl, but the fact that she held a high position in Badoth government would probably leave a very bad stain in my reputation. At least now I know why everyone in town was suddenly so nice and respectful of me: so long as they feared me, it was better to remain on my good side in order to avoid trouble and possibly be able to ask for favors later on.


    "In any case, I apologize for bringing you into something major again without letting you know beforehand."


    Commander Mavuto was really apologetic for some reason.


    "It''s fine, I wanted to explore a new town at some point anyways."


    I may have felt slightly annoyed, but I absolutely must not let myself show any signs of discontent to the person that pays me a huge daily wage.


    "I''m not expected to fight for the army, am I? I might have defected over to this side, but I feel very uncomfortable with the idea of having to blast people I might have once known to smithereens¡­"


    "You don''t have to worry about that. You''re a mage, so you can help Batinu in the field hospital."


    "Are you¡­ sure about that? I may be an alchemist, but I don''t have a lot of medical knowledge. It might even be a problem since I''ll be tending to people of other races."


    "Again, you won''t need to worry. You''ll be assigned an appropriate task."


    "Alright then. By the way, what about the supplies I normally provide daily? Will the army be fine with not having any extra supplies?"


    "About that, I have been ordering supplies in excess to prepare for an incident like this, so we should be fine with not receiving any more items for the next four or five days."


    "Oh, okay."


    "In fact, there are two things I''d like to request of you, now that you are here. The first request is that you keep the amount of items to craft and send here the same as usual."


    "And the other request?"


    "Every sixteen days counting from today, go on a four day vacation somewhere outside town. That way, the army can get rid of overstocked supplies, and it gives you a good reason to avoid getting conscripted again since nobody would know where to find you."


    "Wouldn''t that just give me a bad reputation? I feel like staying put in Sachiru town would be a better idea."


    "Most people outside of town don''t know that you can fight, so they would assume that there was some mistake in the selection process for choosing someone physically weak."


    "If you say so¡­"


    Sometimes I get the feeling everything was too good to be true. I didn''t detect any magic being used on me, so I know this isn''t a dream or the effects of some mind manipulation spell. Maybe being¡­ unique in this territory had perks that I wasn''t aware of.


    Oh well, I''d better not question things any further.


    *   * *   * *


    The field hospital was a series of twenty adjoined military tents, located slightly under one kilometer away from the border. I felt somewhat concerned: wouldn''t this distance be almost in range of a catapult launch? It was probably deemed as an appropriate distance for quickly transporting and treating injured soldiers, though.


    I could get a good sense of the urgency when I stepped foot in the hospital perimeter. Nurses were shouting out nonstop.


    "Someone get a recovery potion, hurry!"


    "I need a medusa to come for a surgery!"


    "Quickly move this patient to tent number 5!"


    "Running low on bandages!"


    The hospital staff consisted of fairies, vampires, medusas, and a pair of trolls.


    The vampires, a race of humanoid creatures with bat-like features that nourished themselves by sucking blood, were in charge of blood transfers and sealing wounds.


    The medusas, a race capable of petrifying their targets by channeling vitality and mana into their snake-like hair, were responsible for anesthetics and pain relief.


    The fairies, who mostly acted like doctors, were handling first aid, surgeries, and potion usage.


    Finally, the trolls were assisting with transportation of patients and medicines.


    This hospital had a surprisingly efficient system in place.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    "Security! Enemy intruder spotted!"


    As soon as I stepped inside one of the tents, a fairy doctor yelled for the trolls once she noticed me. It''s rude to assume any strangers coming inside are hostile, you know!


    ...Oh wait, they were fighting a war against the human army of Kitrod. Of course they''d mistake me for an enemy.


    "Wait! Commander Mavuto sent me here to help!"


    "He knows the commander''s name! It''s an enemy spy!"


    I suddenly felt a very large hand grab hold of my back.


    "I''m not a spy! Please call general Batinu over, she knows me!"


    I started to wonder whether general Batinu''s visit yesterday was a coincidence or not. Commander Mavuto said that she was the only person willing to travel from another town, but I felt like they foresaw an incident like this happening.


    "What''s with all this ruckus?"


    "General, this person claims that you know him."


    "Oh, good afternoon, Blaze."


    "See, she knows me!"


    The troll that was grabbing hold of me finally let go of his tight grip.


    "Did the commander send you over?"


    "Yes."


    The fairy that mistook me for an enemy earlier profusely apologized after seeing Batinu greet me.


    "Are you able to use healing magic?"


    "No."


    "How''s your physical strength?"


    "Weak."


    "Then¡­ I suppose the only thing I can ask you to do is help with first aid and administering potions. All the potions we''re using were made by you, so I think you should be able to know what and how much to use."


    I really expected her to nervously stutter again like yesterday, but she looks a lot more confident now. Maybe she was too focused on her job to think about social matters.


    "Alright. By the way, what happened to you? You were a nervous wreck yesterday."


    "W-was I? I guess I''m too committed to my job. Once I''m focused on treating the soldiers, my mind usually stops thinking about social matters."


    "Well, I think it''s cute that you have both a serious and a klutzy side."


    More so because she looks like a child dressed up as a nurse and playing doctor, but I can''t really tell her that. I''d probably be branded as a lolicon if I did, even though she was probably older than me. Her face turned slightly red after hearing my comment, though.


    "R-right, please g-go to tent f-fifteen."


    Looks like I managed to interrupt her focus and turned her into a nervous girl again.


    Tents number fifteen and sixteen were where injured soldiers were brought in and waiting for surgery. To get to there, I needed to cross through four other tents from where I currently was.


    "Transport! I need five more regeneration potions!"


    "Two arms and one leg! Call a vampire over as well!"


    "Medusa to table four!"


    One of the tents I cross handled surgeries. It was something I really wish I hadn''t seen. What the staff primarily handled in the surgery tent were amputations and transplants. Injuries that were deemed too serious to treat would result in soldiers getting amputated, with the medusas temporarily petrifying the soldiers to minimize their pain from getting amputated, and the vampires closing up wounds. Amputations were expected in a warzone, since time consuming treatment would prevent doctors from getting to other wounded soldiers. What really shocked me was the process of performing transplants.


    The wounded soldiers didn''t seem to mind getting amputations performed, since their missing limbs would soon be replaced with new ones. Several doctors and nurses were chopping off limbs or collecting body organs from zombies inside the field hospital, then transferring those parts over to soldiers that needed them. The zombies didn''t seem to be able to feel pain, and their regeneration rate was naturally high, so with a regeneration potion consumed the zombies could quickly regrow their missing parts in half a day to a day. While there was relatively little blood spilled in the process, just the thought of casually chopping off limbs to attach to another person greatly bothered me.


    Needless to say, I rushed out of that tent as quickly as possible to get to the next one.


    My destination, tent number fifteen, was one of the few tents where casualties from the battlefield would first be brought in. The trolls were making every effort possible to bring all the soldiers onto a bed or to any place on the ground where a stretcher could be placed, while the fairies were frantically assessing the seriousness of each casualty to determine where to move the soldiers next. To prevent getting distracted, the fairies would occasionally call in some medusas to numb the soldiers'' pain so they would not loudly moan.


    "You, the human there! Can you help with injury assessment and first aid?"


    "I think so¡­"


    "Just shout out what you need. One of the nurses here will help if possible."


    I''ve faced opponents of the same race as most of the soldiers here back when I was an adventurer, so I think I should be able to tell whether one was badly injured or not. Whether or not I could perform first aid on them was a different matter, though. I''ll just assess injuries as asked and let someone else handle the first aid. Probably.


    "Incoming!"


    Two stretchers were placed down near me, so I went over to take a look.


    The first stretcher had a goblin who took a couple arrows to his legs. He had no visible wounds on any other parts of his body, so I judged this a minor injury. He probably didn''t need any kind of intensive treatment.


    "Could someone pull out the arrows on this soldier and bandage him, please?"


    After hearing someone acknowledge my request from somewhere in the distance, I headed to where the other stretcher was. There was a winged gargoyle lying on it, who had several arrows driven into his wings and several cuts across his torso and arms. My best guess as to what happened was that he was shot down while in the air, then slashed by some swordsmen on the ground. Gargoyles normally had dark, stone-like complexions, but this one had a much paler colored face, so I judged  this as a potentially serious case of blood loss.


    "Any vampires available, please stop this soldier''s bleeding as soon as possible!"


    A vampire who came over to the soldier I took a look at just now apologized to him and quickly ran over to where I was.


    "Please help stop the bleeding in the torso and left arm first. Don''t pull out the arrows yet, since they''re acting as plugs for now. I''ll go get some bandage."


    "Got it."


    It was a rather bizarre sight in which the male vampire would bite over where the slash wounds were, and the bleeding there would stop. Apparently there was some sort of venom in the teeth of vampires that affected the flow of blood in the body. I figured it was somewhat painful, but the gargoyle was already unconscious from all the bleeding so it didn''t really matter.


    After looking around for a while for what I needed, I came back to the stretcher with two rolls of bandage, a speed boosting potion, and a minor regeneration potion. I handed both rolls of bandage to the vampire.


    "Thanks for clotting the blood. Could you also help bandage the torso?"


    "Sure... Oi, what are you doing?"


    I took hold of one of the arrows stuck in the gargoyle''s arm and pushed the tip in a little bit deeper, then pulled it out. The vampire looked a bit confused after seeing me pour some of the speed potion onto the deep cut that I made.


    "Speed potions speed up the body''s processes, so I''m pouring some of it directly into his veins so it can get to his heart more easily. If his blood circulation can speed up just a little bit with the potion effect, he might regain consciousness and be able to drink this regeneration potion. You already stopped his bleeding, so increasing his body''s blood circulation probably won''t cause any to spray out."


    "Huh?"


    The vampire had a completely dumbfounded look on his face. I looked around the tent and noticed that some of the hospital staff around me who heard what I said were also gazing at me with dumbfounded looks.


    ¡­Please stop staring at me. It''s embarrassing.


    The silent stares continued as the gargoyle let out a slight groan and his body twitched a little.


    "He''s regaining consciousness!"


    As soon as the vampire shouted that out, all of the staff members who were staring at me started clapping, then went about talking to other hospital staff.


    "What''s going on?"


    "You just showed us something amazing!"


    "What? Did nobody know you could use potions like that? Did everyone think you could only consume potions orally?"


    "Yes. Please teach us more amazing things about potions!"


    The vampire''s eyes sparkled as he said that.


    Come to think of it, commander Mavuto did say most people in Badoth territory couldn''t comprehend the basics of alchemy when I first came here. Maybe that was part of the reason why the hospital staff didn''t know potion usage wasn''t just limited to oral administration, even though they used them frequently.


    "Uh¡­ Sure. I''ll figure out if there''s any special knowledge you all don''t know yet and show you that. But for now, please keep an eye on this soldier for a minute or two to make sure his wounds don''t reopen, then give him this regeneration potion before going back to your other patient."


    Apparently news about what I did spread like wildfire across the field hospital, and the mortality rate for the rest of the day dropped significantly when other nurses tried the same thing.


    Everyone treated me like I was a great sage. It felt nice.

 11 - Observation

    I spent the night at a barracks building near the field hospital in case I was needed for an emergency. Thankfully, nothing serious happened that evening. Apparently, the hospital staff found that they could inject my potions directly into the soldiers'' veins via the vampires: the vampires just had to fill half their mouths with potion liquids, bite the soldiers, and administer it through the bite.


    I wanted to comment on the sanitation issues that method came with, but nobody developed infections, and even more lives were saved, so I just gave up on that thought.


    "Good morning."


    The next day, I was woken up early in the morning by an officer who said there was an urgent summons for me from the commander''s office. Sitting in front of me was a young devil with lustrous black hair and horns, wearing navy blue light armor. He really looked like a younger version of commander Mavuto.


    "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Denato, highest ranking out of the eight generals in the army of Badoth, whose power is second only to commander Mavuto. The commander is out on the battlefield today, so I am in charge of the command office."


    "It''s a pleasure to meet you, general Denato."


    I had a feeling his introduction was a little too long. It was as if he really wanted to emphasize the fact he was the top ranking general. That did give me one lingering thought, though.


    "Just curious, but the generals are ranked by strength, right?"


    "Correct."


    "How exactly is that determined? You all can''t really fight to the death, can you?"


    "That¡­ is actually a good question. I have no idea. We just¡­ know who''s stronger than whom."


    Looks like my question will just remain unanswered. Deep down, I had a slight glimmer of hope that the generals would fight it out to figure out who should be ranked highest, though.


    "So if you rank each other by strength, then miss Batinu is automatically ranked the lowest, correct?"


    "Yes."


    Although, I''d be shocked if that child-like fairy turned out to be an excellent fighter. I know that was impossible, though, given how she worked as a medic instead of a soldier.


    "How did she even get the job, then? Wouldn''t strong individuals normally be voted for?"


    "The commander is already helping out in her province, so they needed someone capable of governing rather than someone capable of fighting."


    The Badoth territory was divided into the central region containing the capitol and its immediate surrounding land that was governed by Demon King Badoth himself, and eight surrounding provinces conveniently named after compass directions that were each each managed by a general. Because this territory was located at the topmost part of a rhombus-shaped continent, the non-southern provinces were all relatively small in size. Consequently, managing the land was quite easy since there wasn''t much to look after, so the generals there didn''t need to have political experience.


    Regarding the three southern provinces, the southeastern province spanned less than one hundred kilometers on each side, while the south and southwestern provinces each took up half of a 1200 by 200 kilometer strip of land, so only these two provinces needed actual politicians to assist with governance. I was going to comment on how amazing it was that general Denato was capable in both politics and warfare, but it turns out there was a military junta governing his province and receiving orders from the king every week or two.


    In any case, each province had to send reinforcements to the border on rotation. Two provinces were on rotation at any given time, starting from the north and going counterclockwise. A new province would switch in every two days to allow the troops from whichever of the two provinces that came first to pull back and recover.


    This meant that I came here with the south province''s army to replace the west province''s troops yesterday. Likewise, general Denato and his troops came from the southwest province three days before, and would switch with the troops from the southeast province, led by third ranked general Sabat, after they arrive at the end of tomorrow. Two days after that, I would be able return with the south province troops when the east province troops, led by sixth ranked general Tumido, come in.


    It was unlikely that I would meet any general from the other provinces, so I didn''t ask about their names. I also ran out of topics to inquire about.


    "Sorry for asking so many questions."


    I know I could have received all this information from Amber, but I couldn''t find her anywhere. After walking into commander Mavuto''s office yesterday, Amber just strangely vanished.


    "No worries. Now, let''s talk about why I called you here."


    "Is this about what I did yesterday?"


    "Yes."


    "I''m really sorry for not asking for permission first!"


    "Huh? What are you talking about?"


    I thought that I was in trouble, but it didn''t seem like it.


    "I thought this summons was for punishing me."If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Why would I punish you?"


    "Am I not in trouble for sneaking into the barracks to sleep last night?"


    "What? No, that''s negligible."


    "It is?"


    "We have enough empty beds there, and it''s impossible to mistake you for a soldier, so nobody cares that you walked in."


    "Oh."


    Come to think of it, I was rather surprised I hadn''t been cut down already. The troops here were fighting against a human army, after all.


    "The reason you were called here today is in regards to the field hospital."


    "I didn''t accidentally cause any harm, did I?"


    With the vampires spitting potions into open wounds, I''m really concerned infections might have occurred already.


    "No. In fact, the mortality rate has decreased, so troop morale has increased now that they know their risk of dying is much lower."


    "So I''m not being punished in any way at all today?"


    "Not at all. I just wanted to call you over here to thank you on behalf of the army."


    "I feel flattered¡­ Well, I think I''m going to head over to the hospital now."


    If I stayed any longer, I feel like the general might overly praise me.


    "About that, feel free to take the day off."


    "Huh?"


    "The situation in the hospital has become less chaotic now, so extra help won''t be necessary. A lot of medics already took a long deserved break already."


    "Do I really deserve a break, though? I''ve only been here for a day¡­"


    "The commander also sent 10000 doviti for your work yesterday. Also, make sure you take this badge with you in case you get misidentified as an enemy."


    The general took out a badge and some money, and placed that on his desk.


    "Are you sure you want me to take a day off? I feel like there should be a lot of work here I can do¡­"


    "That''s an order."


    I''m not in the military, but an order''s an order, I guess. Especially when it''s coming from a scary guy who can cut me to pieces relatively quickly.


    *   * *   * *


    There were no entertainment facilities available since this was a military station, so I decided to climb up the observation tower.


    "¡­I really¡­ need to¡­ exercise¡­ some more¡­"


    I couldn''t quite tell if the design was intentional or not, but I had to go all the way down to the fortress basement, then climb up a spiraling staircase to get to the top of the observation tower. It was altogether a 60 meter climb, but due to my pitiful strength, it took me almost fifteen minutes and two short breaks to ascend.


    The design of the observation deck was very simple. There was a desk in the middle of the round floor, with several spyglasses placed on top. Two chairs that were probably used for the sentries on duty were placed next to the desk, but there was only one gargoyle present. Probably out of boredom, the gargoyle was reading a book.


    He looked up for a brief moment when I came to the deck, but then continued reading his book after catching a glimpse of the badge general Denato gave me. I wonder if he even minds sitting under the sun all day long like this. The observation deck had no ceiling or windows, so there was no protection against the weather, other than two layers of doors at the stairs to prevent rain water from flooding in.


    After picking up a spyglass to take a look at the supposed border, I learned that the battlefield was far more expansive than I expected. What was only a thin line on the map was more so a vast zone that spanned far beyond the 9 kilometers I could observe through the spyglass. Where the border began was simply a rally point for the troops that were to march far away to fight.


    As a result of prolonged conflict, the observable fields were completely barren. All pathways were ravaged, the ground was stained dark, and all buildings and fortifications that were once in the battlefield were now in ruins. Even to those that did not take part in the fight, just looking at the state of the 9 kilometer strip of land was enough to make one recognize the destruction and chaos of warfare. How could the kings of both lands allow a war like this to continue even after seventy years? How could one let the maddening destruction persist like so?


    "Do you believe in any gods, kid?"


    The gargoyle suddenly broke the silence by asking me a rather strange question.


    "If there were any, I''m sure they wouldn''t have allowed a war like this to continue for so long."


    He lightly chuckled at my response.


    "Who''s to say the gods were peaceful?"


    "Well, I don''t believe in any to begin with. Why do you ask?"


    "Nobody knows why this war started in the first place, but most people say it''s due to religious reasons."


    "Is that so¡­"


    I didn''t really feel like telling the gargoyle that this couldn''t have been the case, since it would most likely end up with me standing under the bright hot sun for a long time and sweating buckets.


    Kitrod had one official state religion, worshiping the god of fortune, which everyone was encouraged to follow. There existed numerous other religions, but since they were not sanctioned by the state, they lacked funding and therefore had relatively low follower counts since it was difficult to spread. Nonetheless, the fact that a state religion did not necessarily mean that religious institutions had any power in society. Clergymen had no political power whatsoever, but were given a lot of guidance by the state, resulting in their teachings being skewed in such a way that devout followers were essentially brainwashed.


    While the church could not decide on anything of the national level on its own, it would often be mentioned when wars occurred. For a kingdom as large as that of Kitrod, historical wars of expansion and rebellion were inevitable. Finding a valid casus belli was either difficult or time consuming, so the most convenient justification was simply because it was the "word of god." Wars in the history of Kitrod almost always had an excuse similar to "spreading the word of god to barbarians" or "ousting heretics in this land" to mask the true intentions behind them.


    Nonetheless, from the interactions I''ve had since coming to Badoth, it was unanimously stated that the Kitrod side started the war seventy years ago. There were only two cases under which a war would ever occur: either a land was rebelling and the war was for quashing such rebellion, or a land had a great trove of treasures and the war was to expand into such lands to claim those desirable goods.


    From what I recall, historical records from before Badoth was founded didn''t seem to exist for some strange reason. Was the war with Badoth therefore considered a war of expansion for Kitrod, or was Badoth at one point allied with Kitrod state and now rebelling?


    If it was a war of expansion, then there wouldn''t be any reason to let it continue for so long, since the prospect of having this very strong state rebel in the future was very undesirable. If it was instead a rebellion, then I would have at least found some mention about the crimes of Kitrod in Badoth''s records, or basic information about the geography and population of Badoth in Kitrod''s records, yet neither of these existed.


    The fact that devils and the undead existed and walked freely here, and that Badoth was officially a non-religious state, was most likely used as an excuse for Kitrod to wage a "crusade against heretics" in Badoth, but what was the true motive behind the war? What was there to gain?

 12.1 - Fighting Back (1)

    I decided to go back downstairs since after basking in the sun for too long up in the observation tower. I wanted to ask general Denato about one lingering thought, so I went towards the command office, knocked on the open door, and stuck my head through for a quick question.


    "General, does anyone in this army know why the war started?"


    "Our army is just defending and counterattacking. I don''t know why the other side attacked in the first place."


    Considering how the highest ranking general of the army didn''t know the truth behind why this war started, I figured that the people under him wouldn''t know, either. I reckon I''ll have to ask commander Mavuto to let me talk to the king some day in order to figure things out.


    There was nothing interesting to see in Border Town, so I just wandered around aimlessly. Lunchtime was in about an hour, so I figured walking to the edge of town and back would be sufficient. It was times like these that I wish Amber was around to chat with me and help with killing time. I haven''t seen her for a full day at this point, and couldn''t help but wonder where she went.


    I hope she didn''t get in trouble or anything¡­


    Ring-ring-ring!


    Some loud ringing bell sounds suddenly rang out. I turned towards where the sounds came from, and it seemed to be in the direction of the fortress.


    ¡­Wait, was there a bell tower in the fortress? Why didn''t I see it?


    Ring-ring-ring!


    Tweet!


    Not long after, bells and whistles rang all over town. The soldiers on the streets began running around as quickly as possible. Confused at this sudden turn of events, I just stood still in the middle of the street, watching the visages of the soldiers running by.


    A moment later, one of the military police came out of his outpost at the end of the street and pointed his baton at me.


    "You! Human! The emergency bells are ringing! Return to your station immediately!"


    "What''s happening?"


    "You''ll be briefed later at your station! Go!"


    I wasn''t part of any squad or station in the first place, but I''d probably leave a bad impression if I were to stand here arguing in the middle of a declared emergency. I figured it would probably be best if I went back to the barracks where I spent the night.


    * * * * *


    By the time I reached the barracks, everyone had already returned indoors. The whole town was eerily quiet, its streets completely empty.


    A cold chill ran down my spine as I opened the barracks door. All the stationed troops inside were standing in two lines while fully armored and holding weapons. They were all staring at me, some with quite mean looks, as if they were about to brutally assault me while in formation. My instincts told me that I should run away, but my legs refused to move out of fear. The only thing I could do was tremble in place at the door.


    "Oi! Stop standing at the door like that! Get in here now!"


    The commanding officer in the barracks, a minotaur wielding a greataxe, yelled at me after noticing I wasn''t moving. Now that I''ve been noticed and given an order, I suppose I couldn''t escape anymore.


    I really hope the soldiers here won''t beat me to a pulp¡­


    "Y-yes sir¡­"


    Still trembling, I nervously walked inside slowly and headed towards the back of the closest line. A heard a few murmurs from the lines that sounded like "what''s wrong with this guy?" and "why''s he shaking?" and saw some slightly confused looks from a few soldiers.


    To be fair, the people surrounding me were fully armored and armed soldiers who were fighting against humans and giving me creepy stares. It''s hard not to find this scene nerve-wrecking, so it was quite obvious that I couldn''t stay calm.


    The minotaur brought his palm up to his face and shook his head.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Look kid, I know you''re not part of the army, but I''m being held responsible for you since you chose to spend the night here yesterday. There''s an emergency right now, so hurry and arm yourself, then get in line so I can brief everyone on the situation."


    ¡­Oh. I was holding everyone up. No wonder why people were giving me mean looks.


    Having realized that I was probably safe from being beaten up, I stopped trembling in fear, then hurriedly ran to the bed I slept in and grabbed my staff, after which I got in line.


    "That was fast."


    "I''m an archmage. That''s all the equipment I have."


    After all, what else would I equip on myself? Heavy armor? Heavy sharp weapons and a shield? Of course not! Mages usually fought on the back-line using long ranged magic attacks, so armor was usually unnecessary since fellow party members would serve as the vanguard and prevent enemies from closing in, thus protecting their comrades.


    I suppose some mages did wear fancy hats, robes, and capes, though. Some would say "these items boost my intelligence," or "these magical threads amplify my flow of mana," or something ridiculous of that sort. Please, if those statements were really true, then I would have studied how to become a magic tailor instead of an alchemist. Obviously these cuckoos only wanted to look cool in their fancy outfits and didn''t want people to laugh at them for dressing so eccentrically.


    "Alright, listen up! There''s an emergency because a major enemy was spotted from the other side of the border!"


    "¡­Permission to speak, sir!"


    A soldier suddenly raised his hand to ask a question.


    "Go ahead."


    "Isn''t everyone from across the border an enemy?"


    "Yes, but from what was reported, this enemy is a dragon."


    "A dragon?!"


    The soldiers all cried out in unison as they heard that.


    Dragons were exceptionally large creatures, most of which looked like either a giant winged lizard or winged serpent. With extremely high resistance to both physical and magical attacks, as well as devastatingly powerful breath attacks, they were no different from fast moving flying fortresses. Consequently, an approaching dragon was regarded in the same manner as an approaching natural disaster.


    In terms of size, every other living creature was as insignificant as ants were to humans, so it was impossible to tame a dragon, thus it was considered an enemy regardless of what affiliations one had. Of course, even ants could be dangerous in large numbers, as they could deliver painful and potentially deadly bites at the expense of a portion of their population. Because of that, dragons usually avoided populated settlements, and would only attack when provoked.


    If I had to take a guess, it was likely that someone tried to cross the border through the nearly impassable mountains, but accidentally angered a dragon there instead. This was the only known place where dragons resided, yet oddly enough they never took offense to monsters traveling across. Maybe it was because they became delicious food for the dragons. Nonetheless, this was the other reason (besides the fact that the terrain was difficult to navigate around) why people never attempted to cross the border.


    Something seemed a bit odd to me, though.


    "Sir, how reliable is this information?"


    "Very."


    "Sorry if this sounds disrespectful, but how did the information come so quickly? Don''t dragons travel really fast?"


    "We have a complex network of underground tunnels used for transportation and communication. There are no obstructions underground, so messages can be transmitted quickly."


    That''s assuming that not too many people are shouting at the same time, though now I know how they were able to spread word that a dragon was nearby.


    ¡­Wait a minute. Did Amber use these tunnels to smuggle me across the border two weeks ago?


    "Now, your duties. Listen up! Do not attack the dragon if it comes, since it likely won''t attack unless provoked. In the off chance the dragon does decide to land here in town and attack, then you will have to fight back."


    Well, that wasn''t what I was hoping to hear. I''d rather just run away to safety than fight.


    "¡­The only weapons we have that are possibly strong enough to severely damage the dragon are our artillery cannons. You will need to follow directions in order to keep the dragon in place long enough for our artillery to land a clean shot."


    At least what he said wasn''t outrageous. We were in the middle of a settlement, so keeping the dragon still was necessary, otherwise missed shots would end up destroying this town or cause incidents of mass friendly fire. Even if the dragon were to eventually be defeated, there was a huge risk of getting overrun by the other army if this town''s buildings and supplies get ravaged.


    Everyone silently prayed for the dragon not to come, but all that hope vanished as a faint voice came out from under the floor.


    "Human camp destroyed! Dragon approaching!"


    Having heard that report from underground, the barracks commanding officer issued a new order.


    "Find cover, and prepare to defend!"


    Everyone promptly ran outside and took cover by the barracks wall that faced away from the border. In the event of a natural disaster like an approaching dragon, it was usually a bad idea to hide indoors, since one needed to see where the enemy was coming from and be able to run away in the off chance it decided to land on top of the building.


    A slender shadow appeared in the sky less than a minute later. There was no doubt about what this creature was: a dragon was quickly approaching.


    The shadow gradually became larger as the giant creature closed its distance towards Border Town. When it flew close enough, I could see a magnificent serpentine winged beast, about 30 meters in length. It had a yellow-green body and a large long pair of horns that had electricity arcing in between. Judging by this appearance, it was most likely a thunder dragon.


    I flung my staff that had the "lightning rod" enhancement as far away as possible.

 12.2 - Fighting Back (2)

    Like how magic users seemed to have an affinity for certain elements, dragons were also limited to certain elements. For some odd reason, the elements that dragons were limited to, and thus the elements their breath attacks carried, were based off their color. That said, a red dragon could only shoot out fire, a blue dragon could only shoot out ice and water, and a yellow-green dragon like this one could only shoot out lightning.


    A dragon''s breath attack was essentially a powerful beam of concentrated mana. While I, being an archmage, have decent resistance against magic attacks, such breath attacks were still devastating. If one were to compare the breath attack to the rain, then my resistance would probably be enough to block one drop of water. I was only natural that I had to throw my staff away, to minimize the risk of taking a direct hit from the dragon.


    Speaking of which, I found out my staff had the "lightning rod" enhancement about a year ago. The incident that happened that day made me change my views towards religion, and gave me a mild phobia of rain. I suppose I could talk about that day some time after the dragon goes away.


    In any case, back to the issue at hand, what hope we all had that the dragon would fly away had disappeared as it descended upon the town. It landed by the command fortress and coiled itself around the observation. The dragon quietly stared at everyone on the ground. Everyone cautiously looked at the dragon, still holding onto the slight glimmer of hope that the giant creature would leave us all alone.


    "Don''t make any sudden movements. Just back away slowly, and don''t do anything stupid. It might leave us alone if we don''t provoke it."


    The barracks commanding officer quietly spoke to us all, leading the way towards a slow retreat. The barracks troops along with everyone else in town cautiously stepped away while maintaining eye contact with the dragon, just to be ready to bolt for their lives in case the dragon would attack. At our rate of movement, we should probably get to a safe distance away from it in a few minutes.


    "Hey, what''s that on the dragon?"


    From underneath the dragon''s wings, a figure unexpectedly emerged. Judging by the stature and armor on that figure, it seemed like a human soldier had either latched onto or got abducted by the dragon and was carried over to here. After taking a quick glance around, the soldier did his best to stand upright, then put his hand on the scabbard by his waist, pulled out his large sword, and made a loud declaration.


    "To think I would be brought over to enemy territory like this! Very well, I shall let myself die as a hero by this dragon than as an insignificant being by the hands of the devilish scum here!"


    Hey, I''m not some devilish scum. And the people around me seem like nice people.


    Nonetheless, following his declaration, the soldier gripped his sword tightly with both hands and leaped up. Using his body as a heavy weight, he leaned forward to push his sword down with as much might as possible as he came down from his leap. The sword pierced through the dragon''s thick scales and dug half of its blade into the dragon''s body, causing the dragon to let out a cry of pain. It quickly uncoiled itself from the observation tower and violently shook its body, hurling away the soldier under its wings. Perhaps by sheer luck, the soldier appeared to have landed safely on top of the observation deck.


    Well, it was nice that I didn''t have to witness a brutal death, but this is bad. Outraged at the sudden attack, the dragon turned towards the barracks sector where most of the soldiers were standing and let out a deafening roar. Sparks formed around its wide open mouth as a large magic circle began to form in front of it.


    "EVERYONE TAKE COVER!"


    At the sight of an imminent breath attack, all the present commanding officers yelled out for everyone to take cover. The soldiers frantically dispersed, chaotically running towards any sturdy structure they could see. Such a measure was probably futile, since a building would easily be destroyed by a breath attack anyways, but any bit of cover gave a slight bit of reassurance.


    As the dragon breathed into the magic circle, a loud boom rang through the sky, and a large yellow beam was shot out of the magic circle. The beam strangely broke in half as it traveled, with half of it hitting the ground about 50 meters in front of me, and the other half hitting somewhere closer than that behind me. Two loud explosions boomed out as the beams hit the ground, and the shock wave from the impact behind me was strong enough to lift me into the air. The push was strong enough that I ended up doing a full frontal flip during that short flight, and I had a disturbing realization as I saw what was behind me while in the air, after going through half of the flip: that half beam had just hit the location where my staff was thrown towards.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    "All soldiers! Prepare to counterattack!"


    Luckily, the two beams did not make a direct impact on anyone, but tens of soldiers standing near the impact points were either thrown into the air or lost their footing. Since the dragon attacked us, there was only one option now: keep it in one place by whatever means necessary so that the artillery units can fire some clean shots at it.


    "Shields and spears, formation A! Front of sector 3!"


    All melee troops close to the dragon grabbed hold of their shields and spears and quickly got into a testudo formation, a formation where shields were held close to each other with spears pointing through the gaps that made the group of soldiers look like a spiked tortoise shell. The large orcs and ogres were holding giant shields, while the shorter units were pointing their spears out of the gaps.


    A creature as large as a dragon could easily crush anyone to death with its massive body, so the best option to slow its advance and lower the risk of getting crushed or trampled was to create a tight defense to hinder it. Behind the large tortoise wall, archer units tied metal wires to the tails of the arrows, while the cavalry and flying units readied ropes and grappling hooks. It looks like the soldiers were planning on creating a large net to ground the dragon in place.


    "Be ready to reinforce the wall! Anyone not in battle, be ready to extract casualties from the field!"


    The soldiers in the testudo all gave out a large shout to attract the dragon''s attention, while a few soldiers idle behind the wall picked up nearby rocks and debris from the ground to throw at the dragon. Provoked, the dragon swung its tail at the testudo wall, causing dozens of soldiers to fly backwards. Those who didn''t get hit by the tail got knocked to their feet as a result of the other soldiers'' shields dragging theirs backwards.


    As the dragon''s attention was focused on the wall, the archers launched their wire attached arrows at the dragon, while the cavalry and flying units advanced forward to throw their ropes and grappling hooks in an attempt to net the dragon. Melee units quickly rushed over to the wall either to replace those that got knocked away, or to drag out those who looked like they could not stand back up.


    The wires and ropes seemed to be inefficient, as the dragon easily shook them off. Some unfortunate cavalry units that couldn''t let go of their ropes in time were pulled off of the ground and thrown into the air. Several soldiers from the back ran towards where the cavalry and centaurs landed in order to take them to safety.


    While the grounding tactic was not yet successful, it served as a good enough distraction for the dragon that a new testudo wall could be formed before the dragon noticed. This formation seemed to work to some degree, as the dragon drifted back slightly after seeing the new wall in front of it. There weren''t any spears stuck to the dragon''s tail, but it looked like there were some scratches on its scales.


    The dragon once again let out a loud roar, and a new magic circle formed in front of its open mouth. This time, it looked like the dragon was aiming at the wall.


    "Spread the wall!"


    At the shout of the commanding officer, the wall broke in half at the middle as the soldiers on each half sidestepped in unison to two sides while still maintaining their formation.


    As a thunderous exploding sound rang through the sky, a new beam was shot out of the magic circle and once again broke in half. Half the beam hit the crater where my staff laid, while the other half hit the ground at the gap in the wall, once again sending tens of soldiers off their feet. Seeing how my staff was still intact after being hit by two powerful breath attacks, I started wondering what other bizarre enhancements it had that I was not aware of.


    In any case, the soldiers once again repeated their process of attempting to bind the dragon down and extracting injured comrades off the field, while buying time for those working on recreate the tactical wall. While the number of casualties were kept to a minimum due to the dragon''s delayed attacks, I figured this couldn''t keep going for long, as the troops would eventually tire out.


    After the dragon shot out two more breath attacks, general Denato joined the fray. Seeing the general charge in, the troops that were showing signs of weariness after the third breath attack regained their morale and swiftly charged at the dragon alongside their leader. Unlike the flying units that held ropes and grappling hooks, the general instead held a great axe and took a bold heavy swing at the dragon''s body.


    The axe cleanly hit its target, going through the dragon''s thick scales, resulting in a minor cut on its body. The creature angrily turned its gaze at general Denato and roared.


    The general tried to quickly erect a magical shield and fly away from the dragon, but the creature''s speed was too high. It rammed its head into the commander, sending him crashing into the ground.

 12.3 - Fighting Back (3)

    The general crashed down a couple meters away from me, so I ran over to him to check on the situation.


    "General, are you alright?"


    "Ugh¡­ That thing sure has a hard head. Thankfully I channeled a magic shield in time, so I''m fine."


    The commander got up again and picked up his great axe. His wings spanned wide open, as if he was preparing to charge in again.


    "General, wait a moment."


    I quickly chanted and cast a basic strength and speed buff onto the general. It felt slightly awkward doing so without a staff, since I had to make direct contact on the general''s skin with my hands.


    "Thanks."


    He took to the sky once more as I wished him good luck.


    "I should probably do something too¡­"


    Among the rubble and debris on the ground were some weapons, so I quickly ran over to a pile of scrap on the ground to find something useful, eventually finding a sturdy long spear. Using my staff was out of the question since I would get blown up by the thunder dragon''s breath attack, so the best alternative was to use any durable staff-shaped object. In theory, I could cast magic unarmed, but doing so would make me unable to concentrate my mana in one place. This would result in an increased risk of friendly fire and significantly lower power output since my attack would be scattered, thus rendering any magic attacks I use more harmful than good.


    After taking a deep breath and making sure I was sufficiently far away enough from the testudo wall and my staff, I began chanting and channeling my mana into the spear. After the dragon shot out another split breath attack, I activated my spell as general Denato and the cavalry and flying units charged in.


    "Fireball!"


    From the tip of my spear, several fireballs came flying out towards the dragon. Since a spear was not a proper magic weapon, it was hard to channel a lot of mana into it. Consequently, the fireballs I fired that were normally as large as my head came out at only half their usual size. Unable to withstand the surge of power coming from the mana being channeled into it, the spear snapped into pieces after shooting out the tenth fireball.


    Shooting a small fireball at a giant dragon was probably only as effective as flinging a ball of paper at someone. It was at best just a minor annoyance, and certainly in no way life threatening. The dragon never bothered reacting to where the fireballs hit, but I wanted to keep myself thinking that I was contributing to the battle somehow. I ran over to the pile of rubble, dug through it and picked up another spear, then began chanting again.


    After another split breath attack hit the ground, I shot out another ten or so fireballs before breaking this second spear. By a sheer stroke of luck, two fireballs hit a metal wire that was stuck on the dragon, heating up the wire sufficiently to make it red hot around the points of impact. The dragon let out a roar and violently squirmed the segment of its body where the hot wire was in order to shake it off. Seems like this thunder dragon''s thick scales were not heat resistant.


    Finally, an effective attack!


    Some soldiers seemed to have caught onto the dragon''s reaction to the hot metal wire, so after the next breath attack, several flying units dropped their metal wires close to each other to make it easier for me to hit with some fireballs. The tactic proved to be effective, as several fireballs hit the metal wires, leaving some scorch marks on the dragon''s body after it shook off the wires again.


    Enraged and having decided that I was now a threat, the dragon turned its head to where I was standing as it prepared to launch another breath attack.


    Oh crap. This is bad.


    I quickly tossed away my broken spear and ran for my life towards an empty corner.


    Damn, why didn''t I cast a movement speed buff on myself earlier?


    I could feel a cold chill running down my spine as the delay on the dragon''s attack was about to end. There was no person or object around that could possibly shield me, so the only thing I could do was run to where nobody was standing in order to minimize casualties.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    I thought to myself about how my life was about come to an end in just a second or two. I may not have accomplished any good deeds to be remembered by, but I''ll probably remembered as someone who at the very least managed to slightly damage a dragon and prevent allied deaths in my final moments.


    Not wanting to see my own body and the things around me blown into pieces, I closed my eyes.


    A loud boom rang through the sky once more, and the ground underneath me shook violently.


    I felt a warm strong impact on my back as I got launched through the air.


    I heard a smash, and my body felt as though it was being pelted by a cloud of dust and rubble.


    My body then hit a cold stone floor and slid to a stop.


    If this was what death felt like, then apart from the face-first impact on the floor, it felt a lot less painful than I expected.


    "Are you alright?"


    Wait, was I actually still alive?


    I opened my eyes and turned myself over, towards where the voice came from. There, I saw general Denato somewhat trembling as he was trying to get up off the floor. I only had a nosebleed and some minor bruises in various places on my body, while the general was in a seemingly worse state. He was covered in bruises and cuts, his armor full of holes and scratches, and blood was dripping profusely all over his body. His lustrous black armor was now dyed a grayish red shade from a mixture of stone dust and blood.


    "I think I''ll be fine¡­"


    "Good thing you gave me that speed buff earlier, huh?"


    The general seemed to be trying his best to optimistically smile as I got up.


    It was a bad thing if soldiers ever saw their commander severely hurt, so it must have been really hard on him to pretend he was still fine. It made me feel bad.


    "Why did you save me?"


    "Commander Mavuto''s going to give me hell if I let you die under my watch."


    There was no doubt that general Denato had swooped in at the very last moment to push me away from the dragon''s breath attack, resulting in him taking a more serious blow than me. He even used his magic shield on me to minimize the impact against the barracks wall afterwards, leaving him with much less protection from impacts.


    "Thank you, general Denato. Um¡­ I have a favor to ask."


    "Hm?"


    "If I told you I had an idea to defeat that dragon, would you be willing to risk your life again?"


    I didn''t want him to charge straight into the dragon again, given his current condition, but there wasn''t anyone around with as much strength and speed as him. I was not certain that what I had in mind would work, but we''d all most likely die if we didn''t do anything, so it was probably worth trying to propose an idea.


    "What is it?"


    I pointed in towards the deep crater that held my staff inside.


    "My staff in that crater over there has the ''lightning rod'' enhancement. After the next breath attack, if you charge in with the flying units and cavalry, please try to stab it into the dragon."


    I''m still surprised by the fact that the staff was still intact after taking half a dozen explosions. Maybe "tougher than tempered steel" was a severe understatement for the enhancement it had.


    "Are you sure about that idea?"


    "We''ll probably all be killed eventually if we don''t try anything."


    "Heh¡­ You owe me a beer for this."


    The commander slightly chuckled. Heck, if I make it out of this alive, I''ll probably buy beers for all the soldiers stationed here.


    I cast movement speed and strength buffs on myself and the general, and we both headed outside afterwards. The dragon probably thought we were dead after the last breath attack, as it was not looking for the two of us anymore, its gaze now turned towards the soldiers taunting it behind testudo wall once more.


    I couldn''t find any weapons lying around nearby, so I grabbed a laundry pole instead. After taking a deep breath to calm myself down, I began chanting for another spell.


    General Denato flew onto the roof of the barracks we crashed into in order to get a good view of the crater and my staff inside. The dragon launched another breath attack, and two explosions once again hit the ground.


    As the dust cleared away from the crater, the general immediately dived towards it to grab hold of my staff, while I channeled mana into the laundry pole.


    The general then flew with blinding speed towards the dragon, zipping left and right to avoid his soldiers'' wires and ropes with amazing dexterity.


    The laundry pole began glowing red and leaking out some of my mana. I know this pole is much flimsier than a spear, but I really hope it can hold out for just a little longer!


    The general swerved under the dragon''s large wings. He quickly pulled out the sword lodged into the dragon''s body and stabbed my staff into the same place.


    The dragon let out a loud roar again as it whipped the general away with its body. It angrily prepared another breath attack, with a new magic circle forming in front of its mouth, and aimed at where the general was knocked towards.


    I took another deep breath and aimed towards where the staff was, in order to drive it in deeper.


    "Flame Pillar!"


    A column of fire fell from the sky towards where my staff was wedged as a large beam came out from the magic circle in front of the dragon''s mouth, breaking in half and flying towards the creature itself. At the same time, a bright light flashed before my eyes.


    All I could remember was losing consciousness, as my laundry pole exploded in front of me due to a mana overload.

 Extra 2 - This Unfortunate Soul

    After passing out from the laundry pole''s point blank explosion, I had a dream that recalled an experience I had a year ago. The fact that I was dreaming meant that I was still alive, thankfully.


    *   *   *   *   *


    One year ago, in the remote town of Canbok:


    This was a town whose lands were so barren that not a single shrub could be found within a 20 kilometer radius of it. Somehow, the town was still able to sustain a population of 2000, so the people attributed that to good fortune and were devout believers of the state religion that worshiped the god of fortune. The buildings of this town were unreasonably spaced out to give the illusion that it was a large town, so it was fairly common for "a few houses down" to be understood as "walk for 10 minutes."


    Because of the lack of public property and wildlife that I might accidentally burn here, I would often come to this town in search of quests or to train myself by hunting dangerous monsters in the area. Nobody ever seemed to mind the sight of scorched earth in front of their eyes. They would often say something along the lines of "it''s not like anything will ever grow here¡­ probably¡­ haha."


    One day, I was sitting on a bench at the town''s central plaza, leisurely reading a book when dark clouds suddenly covered the sky.


    "Are those¡­ storm clouds?"


    "Oh my! It hasn''t rained here in two years!"


    "Perfect¡­ My trail will be erased."


    "Maybe some weeds will sprawl after this!"


    Ignoring the one creepy voice that originated from somewhere I couldn''t pinpoint, the plaza crowd seemed to be surprised at the imminent rainfall. Everyone started frantically running about to find cover.


    I decided to follow suit after a couple minutes, when the plaza was finally quiet and empty, since I was carrying a book with me. I didn''t mind getting wet myself, but having a wet book would most likely make its pages unreadable once it dries out.


    Looking around, there were no buildings near the plaza other than the town''s great church, which was probably around 60 meters away from me. I''m surprised someone even allowed a church to be built in the center of a plaza. I knew the locals were devout believers of the god of fortune, but this was probably a bit too much¡­


    I considered walking over to the church at first, but the rain suddenly started falling as soon as I stood up from the bench. Worried that my book would get wet, I picked up the pace a little. I had barely traveled 15 meters when the rain suddenly turned into a massive downpour, so I put my book inside my robe and ran as fast as I could over to the church.


    While running, I tripped over a loose pavement stone. My two hands were hugging my body tightly to prevent the book from falling out of the robe, and I already had a weird posture since one hand was also holding my staff, so I easily lost my balance and fell flat on the ground. The tail of my staff hit the ground first and had bounced off of the ground, away from my hand, before I knew it.


    As I got up, a shadow zoomed past me and headed towards where my staff was. When I looked, I saw a brown dog gnawing on my staff. It seemed to be too busy biting on my staff while violently flailing about, so I just let it be. The staff already had the enhancement of "tougher than tempered steel," and had a significantly below average power output, so it was unlikely that it would be destroyed or stolen, anyways. I continued running towards the church, where the head priest was already at the door waiting for me to enter.


    "Welcome to the Canbok great church. Is that not your staff over there?"


    "It doesn''t seem like the dog will take it anywhere, so I''ll fetch it later when the rain stops¡­ Oh crap!"This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    A bright flash of lightning hit the plaza ground in front of my eyes, and a loud boom echoed through the sky. Looking closely, the lightning had hit the exact location of where the dog and my staff were.


    Lying on the ground was now an innocent creature whose life was cut short by mother nature¡­


    "May thy soul find peace in the afterlife, o poor canid creature¡­"


    "I feel bad for that dog¡­ If only I took back my staff and chased it away, the dog probably could have survived¡­"


    "Do not feel bad, traveler, for the great god of fortune Chutava has blessed that canid soul."


    "How is getting struck by lightning considered blessed?"


    "The poor creature was rabid, and was due to suffer through the rest of its short life with nonstop torment. But our merciful god has granted it a quick end, away from such torments."


    "Oh¡­ Well, I feel less guilty now that I know the dog was rabid. It''s probably a good thing it passed on before it could bring harm to others, too. Still, would it be possible to give it prayers, as a sendoff blessing to the afterlife?"


    "Certainly. O great god Chutava-"


    Another flash of lightning hit the plaza again, and the loud boom interrupted the head priest''s prayer. I considered it quite a bizarre coincidence that it hit the same exact spot as before.


    "We thank thee, o great god Chutava, for ensuring that the soul of that poor canid creature could pass on to join you in the afterlife. Blessed be-"


    I was starting to wonder if this was all a coincidence or not when a third bolt of lightning had hit the dog once more, while the echoing boom interrupted the priest''s prayer again. What bothered me the most, however, was the fact that the little dog''s corpse was slowly charring.


    "Sir head priest, could we close this door before the rain water floods inside?"


    "Yes, that is a good idea. I shall pray for the poor soul from inside."


    I didn''t really care if the church got flooded. I just didn''t want to look at that charred dead body any longer. Looking out the window, I could see that the lightning kept striking the same exact spot over and over again. The head priest restarted his prayer each time the lightning struck, and I don''t think he ever got past the second sentence. I think I ended up hearing at least thirty different variations of "have mercy on this soul" in the end.


    The rain subsided after about an hour, and all that was left on the plaza ground was my staff, which was surprisingly still intact, and a dog shaped silhouette. It was hard to describe the burning smell where the silhouette was, but let''s just simply say that it made me feel uneasy and nauseus.


    The church building was about thirty meters high, with the religion''s somewhat triangular emblem embedded at the peak, pointing upwards towards the sky. It had a magnificent gleam under the sunlight, suggesting that it was made from some metal. Yet somehow the lightning had struck the same exact location thirty meters away about thirty times instead of that thing atop the building that should have acted like a lightning rod.


    "You truly are blessed, traveler, for our great god has kept your magic staff intact through the thunderstorm, and allowed its wielder to evade death thirty times."


    No, at this point I''m quite certain that my staff had the enhancement of "lightning rod." I just never knew about it before since this was the first time I left my staff outdoors during a thunderstorm.


    "Will you join the religion of the god of fortune Chutava? You shall continue to be blessed every day if you live piously pray to the god."


    "I''m not exactly sure that was a blessing of god¡­"


    "If not a blessing, then what would it be? The great god had brought you away from a deadly location; he had brought you to the doors of his church, and he has kept your prized possession safe through the lightning strikes. Surely this was divine intervention, do you think not?"


    "Could you please give me some time to think this through?"


    "I shall leave you with this application form, then."


    *   *   *   *   *


    The head priest spread the story of what he thought was divine intervention throughout the town. As a result, I would constantly get pestered with religious recruitment and donation requests every time I went to Canbok town. The head priest would also creepily stalk me every time I was near the plaza. There was a limit to my patience, and I firmly decided on a few things after three more visits:


    - That I shall never join any religion, since I''ll just be pestered constantly.


    - That I shall never stay outdoors during a thunderstorm.


    - That I shall never come back this town again.


    - That I shall never raise a pet dog.


    And that was how I learned about my staff''s "lightning rod" enhancement.

 13 - After The Battle

    I found myself in an unfamiliar bed when I came to.


    "You sure are a deep sleeper."


    Next to me was general Batinu, sitting on a stool, with very tired looking eyes. It seemed as if she was monitoring me for most of the time I was passed out. Judging by all the soldiers lying on beds and stretchers behind her, I was most likely inside the field hospital.


    "What happened?"


    "You passed out for a full day after that fight against the dragon."


    "I''m still in Border Town, right?"


    "Yes."


    If this was still Border Town, then that meant that the dragon was successfully defeated, and the town was now safe again.


    "So the army was able to take down the dragon in the end?"


    "That''s right."


    "Could you tell me what happened after I passed out, then?"


    "Long story short, the dragon lost track of where Denato was knocked towards, so it decided to switch its target to you since it most likely noticed a large amount of mana being channeled."


    "Wouldn''t I have been dead if that were the case?"


    "Your temporary staff exploded at the same moment the dragon used its breath attack, causing you to get knocked back, so you luckily narrowly avoided a direct hit."


    "Still, that would have meant I took a heavy blow, though, since its breath attack would have landed really close."


    "Yes, you were in a very bad state after that. It took us the whole night to recover you."


    I reckon I had a big stroke of luck there.


    "I''m not missing any body parts, am I?"


    My biggest concern now was whether taking a breath attack that close would result in injuries so severe that amputations would have been necessary.


    "Well, we were prepared to amputate you and stitch you up with a few replacement body parts from the zombies."


    "What?"


    I started feeling my body to see if there was anything abnormal.


    "But your magic resistance was surprisingly high. You only had some gashes and bone fractures, which healed themselves after we injected half a dozen recovery potions into your body."


    "I can understand recovering from gashes, but isn''t one day a little too short for bone fractures?"


    Healing potions only sped up one''s natural recovery process. There was no such thing as a miracle drug or spell that instantly healed people.


    "¡­"


    "Miss Batinu?"


    "¡­"


    "Hey, say something please. I''m getting a bit concerned now."


    "¡­"


    "Don''t tell me you replaced my bones with those from a zombie?!"


    I was going to get up from the bed, but one of the trolls gently pushed me back down.


    "No, no! It''s nothing like that!"


    "Then why did you remain silent?"


    "All your bone fractures were in the leg area, since they were closest to where the breath attack hit."


    I tried moving my legs a little. They seemed to still be functional, although I did feel a slight bit of pain doing so.


    "Is there still something wrong with my legs?"


    "Under the effect of your potions, it took your gashes about 10 hours to heal. Bone fractures take about four times as long, so they most likely won''t recover fully until tomorrow morning."


    "That explains why my legs still hurt when I move them, but why did you stay silent earlier?"


    "Well¡­ We ran out of supplies to make casts, so we reinforced the fractures with cement instead to keep it in the right spot¡­"


    "Cement?! Are you out of your mind!?"


    I really wanted to get up and slap someone, but the troll was still keeping me lying in bed.


    "I''m sorry! It was either that or amputation! We''ll do surgery on you tonight when the bones heal a little more to remove the cement!"


    "Seriously, though, couldn''t you people have used something normal instead, like an armor plate?!"


    "I''m sorry! You were in a critical state, we didn''t have time to think it through!"


    I took a deep breath to calm myself down a little.


    "Well, what''s done is done already. Please don''t do anything bizarre after my surgery tonight."


    "We won''t. I promise."


    "Anyways, back to the topic of the dragon, how did it die?"


    "Its breath attack split into two, and one of the two halves of the beam hit the spot where your staff was wedged. The dragon paralyzed itself."


    Kind of ironic how a thunder dragon couldn''t withstand a direct hit from its own thunder element attack. Come to think of it, though, a powerful beam of energy hitting an open wound would probably cause a serious injury to just about any living being.


    "And the artillery units were able to blast it afterwards?"


    "Quite easily so, yes."


    "So I guess my idea worked in the end."


    "It did. Denato gave a toast to you last night when we celebrated taking the dragon down."


    "Speaking of that general, is he doing fine? He looked like he got roughed up yesterday."


    "He didn''t take any close hits from the breath attacks like you, so his wounds weren''t as severe. He recovered after a couple hours."


    "That''s good to know. Is he still here? I want to thank him for believing in me when I brought up that bizarre plan."


    "His province''s rotation ended, so he marched home with his troops this morning. He did leave you a note, though."


    General Batinu took out a piece of paper and gave it to me. It was written in the Demon language, as expected, so I could only read it but not understand it.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Um¡­ I''m a little disoriented, so could you please read it to me?"


    I''d be a bit ashamed to admit being unable to read to this person that looked like a little child. There was a chance the content was urgent, so I couldn''t really wait until Amber reappeared to have her read it to me.


    "The note says, ''You still owe me a beer, so come visit Mitana city some time. The badge I gave you yesterday grants free access to the southwest province''s towns.''"


    To think that guy could still joke about a beer like this. I slightly chuckled and made a mental note to myself to visit his home city some day.


    "Thank you."


    "Well, now that you''re awake, I''ll leave you alone to rest up. Commander Mavuto wants to talk to you, so we''ll move you into a private tent."


    General Batinu got up from her stool and hovered off somewhere. The troll who was previously keeping me in bed pushed the bed over to another tent.


    Five hours later, around 8 in the evening, I heard some rustling sounds outside of my tent.


    "Are you still awake, Blaze?"


    General Batinu was calling for me.


    "I am!"


    "Can we come in?"


    "Yes!"


    I guess commander Mavuto was going to see me now. I repositioned my pillow a bit to prop my head up, just to make it easier to talk.


    ¡­Except the commander wasn''t there. There was instead a team of two fairies, two vampires, and a medusa coming in with the general.


    "The commander isn''t here?"


    "He requested that you come see him before dawn tomorrow."


    "And why are there so many people behind you?"


    "I told you earlier, didn''t I? We''re going to remove the cement from your legs now."


    "¡­"


    The surgery was painless. The medusa petrified me the entire time, so I wasn''t even conscious during the time it took place. As an extra measure of caution, the venom from the vampires'' teeth got me into such a euphoric state that I essentially blacked out the entire night. Supposedly, my surgery finished within half an hour, and all the incisions they made healed up completely by the time I woke up the next day.


    At around 4 o''clock, one of the trolls was supposed to push me over to the commander''s office via wheelchair, but I felt like my legs were fully healed by that time. I opted instead to slowly walk over to the fortress while being accompanied by a nurse in case anything went wrong.


    Taking into account the dragon''s coiling around the observation tower and its violent movements throughout the fight two days prior, I expected the fortress to have been damaged in someway. Surprisingly, it was still completely intact. Either the dragon was a lot gentler than I thought, or the soldiers were forced to tirelessly repair it. One thing stood out, however: there were multiple carriages waiting outside of the fortress, and boxes and crates were scattered all throughout the fortress''s interior. Seeing my confused look, the nurse explained the situation to me.


    "Our troops were able to advance forward 20 kilometers across the border, since our military camps weren''t destroyed like theirs. I heard that we were going to relocate our base of operations to somewhere closer to the new frontier."


    I can''t help but think that moving to a recently occupied enemy camp was a strategically idiotic idea. Border Town was surrounded by allied territory, so reinforcements could come over from any direction and surround the enemy in case of a takeover. The same could be said about the camps they were relocating to on the other side of the border: Kitrod''s troops could come from any direction and surround the base.


    Oh well, the commander and generals were more experienced in fighting, so there''s no point asking. They probably had some elaborate important or plan to justify that stupid relocation idea.


    The nurse accompanying me quietly left after I knocked on the door to the commander''s office.


    "Come in!"


    "Good morning."


    Except for a working desk and a few chairs, commander Mavuto''s office was devoid of any decorations. There were a few boxes of documents placed next to the door.


    "Ah, good morning, Blaze. Please take a seat."


    I pulled a chair over and sat down on the opposite side of the commander''s desk.


    "How are you feeling? Did you get enough time to rest and recover?"


    "The medics and nurses did a good job at fixing me up. I think I''m fine and healthy now."


    "That''s good to hear. I have a few things to give you."


    The commander first took out a staff from under his desk and placed it in front of me. Looking at the oak wood pattern and the slightly oddly shaped mana stone at its tip, I could tell that this was my staff. I was in slight disbelief that the thing could still remain intact after getting hit by so many of the dragon''s breath attacks, but considering how it remained undamaged after going through so many absurd events in its existence, I ended up suspending that disbelief.


    "That''s my staff."


    "We were going to put this in an artifact museum to honor the slaying of a dragon. Will you let us do that? We will try to craft a similar staff to compensate you."


    "I''ve had it for so long that I feel kind of attached to it. Besides, it''s hard to replicate all the enhancements I''ve placed on it, so I don''t think I could ever replace it. Could I please have it back?"


    "Certainly. Let me know if you change your mind, though. We''d love to have it displayed."


    While I feel somewhat honored that they were planning on putting my weapon on display, I really didn''t want the world to figure out the staff had all sorts of embarrassing enhancements applied and ridicule me for it. Besides, the staff already saved my life so many times that I felt reluctant to replace it with something else, especially when I had no idea what sort of monster drops and materials I used in the first place to get the enhancements that thing currently had.


    "There''s one more thing I''d like to give you, but will you answer a few questions first?"


    "I don''t mind."


    "Alright, come in!"


    After the general made a slightly loud call, two military police officers came into the office.


    "I''m not in trouble, am I?


    "Of course not."


    I hope that other thing he was going to give me wasn''t a beating.


    "Please answer all of these officers'' questions truthfully. Nothing will happen to you, so keep calm."


    It''s hard to remain calm with two scary looking guys in this room about to interrogate me, you know.


    "Your name?"


    "B-Blaze."


    "Family name?"


    "I¡­ don''t know¡­"


    "What?"


    "I was an orphan¡­"


    "Nobody ever adopted you?"


    "No¡­"


    "Then what was orphanage manager''s family name?"


    "I¡­ I don''t know that either¡­"


    As embarrassing as it was to say, I didn''t even know most of the orphanage guardians'' first names, either. It was run by the local church, and all the guardians were people of the clergy, so the children would almost always address them as "sister," "father," "reverend," or "sir."


    "Did you have any guardians whose family names you know?"


    "No, but I had a mentor who taught me magic, though. His family name was Luto."


    "Fine, we''ll use that as your family name."


    "Um¡­ Actually never mind. His family isn''t even here to complain about that."


    "Your birth date?"


    "The day of the summer solstice, 21 years ago."


    The nuns in the orphanage told me my parents decided to name me Blaze because it was so hot that day, and the sun was up for so long that they felt like everything was being set ablaze in flames.


    "That puts your age at 20 years and 9 or 10 months currently, correct?"


    "Yes."


    I wouldn''t know exactly which day in the sixth month I was born without checking historical records for the annual solstice, but I could at least estimate my age. Today was supposedly the sixteenth day of the fourth month.


    "Hometown?"


    "Chosira town."


    "Your height?"


    "170 centimeters."


    "Gender?"


    "Male."


    Was that question even necessary?


    "Alright, thank you for answering."


    "Wait, that''s it?"


    "Yes. The commander provided all other information we needed already."


    The two officers promptly walked out and shut the office door.


    "So what exactly was the point of that?"


    I felt like it was a waste of time to bring in some officers just to ask me five questions. If the commander already gave them most of the information they needed, he could have just asked me those questions himself and relayed the information to the two.


    "We were worried that you might try to run away after bringing you this close to the border."


    "But those questions I was asked earlier had nothing to do with that matter."


    "However, after seeing the things you did at the field hospital and in the fight against the dragon, we became convinced that you had no qualms about working on the Badoth side."


    Well it''s not like I could go home in the first place. I''d probably get killed on sight in Kitrod if someone knew I just came from the other side of the border.


    "Along with Denato''s endorsement, we will present you with a citizenship card in a few hours. With it, you should be able to travel around this land without issues."


    "Shouldn''t I be warned or punished for putting people''s lives in danger with a ''lightning rod'' staff?"


    "What? No. Your staff split the breath attacks in half, so the attack effectively became weaker. Because of that, you actually unknowingly saved a lot of the soldiers'' lives."


    Sometimes I feel like things were just going too well to be true here.


    "By the way, there''s something else that you should see."


    I was expecting him to take out something else from under the desk, or call someone in, but he instead got up and walked towards the door. The commander signaled for me to follow him.

 14.1 - Choice (1)

    I followed the commander along the hallways until down to the fortress basement. I thought that I was being led to the observation tower, but he took a different turn from the path that led to that awful spiraling staircase. The basement path became darker and darker as we kept walking.


    The commander stopped in front of a large steel door. As he opened it, a faint foul odor surged out. Behind that door was an almost pitch black damp area that felt colder than the rest of the floor.


    I felt something gently pushing into my body.


    "Could you please light this torch?"


    I had to feel around me a little in order to get a good grip on the torch, and also to figure out which end of the thing I was supposed to light up. Because of the dampness of the torch, the fire I lit with basic magic was quite small. I passed the torch back to commander Mavuto after confirming the flame wouldn''t die out any time soon.


    Its dim light was still sufficient for lightening up the vicinity, and I could spot small cells with metal bars blocking their entrances around me. Cobwebs riddled the cells, several of which had what appeared to be bloodstains on the ground. It was rather odd that there were no captives inside any of these prison cells, but what I found creepier was the eerie silence of the place. Not a single sound other than the echoes of our own footsteps could be heard from this underground prison.


    I couldn''t help but think that what I was going through currently was bad for my heart. After making so many unexpected things happen in this town, getting interrogated by the military police, and being led down here into a cold empty prison, I really felt like I was going to be punished in some way. Was he planning on imprisoning me here?


    I followed the commander all the way to where the prison hallway ended, where there was one cell with a lone prisoner inside. It was a young blonde human knight, who looked to be in his late twenties. He wore tattered bloodstained armor, and had several cuts and lacerations all over his body. The knight was sitting on the floor with his back leaning on the wall behind him, and his empty eyes were staring listlessly at the shackles on his feet.


    ¡­ Was it really necessary to lock him up this deep inside the prison? It would have been impossible for him to escape with the shackles there on his feet, so wouldn''t it be more efficient to have him be a little closer to the entrance?


    Nonetheless, the young knight looked up slightly when he noticed the faint torchlight in front of his cell, then looked back down at his shackles after catching a glance of us.


    "This is the one who provoked the dragon two days ago."


    So he survived in the end, after getting flung off of the dragon and onto the observation deck. Unfortunately, he was inside enemy territory, so getting captured by the troops here was inevitable. The cuts and lacerations on him appeared to be too light compared to what a dragon could have done to him, so I reckon he was tortured and beaten in some way after being imprisoned here.


    It''s somewhat relieving to know that he was still alive despite being an enemy of the Demon King''s army, but why was the commander showing me this prisoner of war?


    "This isn''t a warning for me not to rebel, is it? I have no intentions of acting against others."


    At least not unless I''m repeatedly requested to do something that goes against my sense of morals.


    "What? No, we trust you enough that you''re being given a citizenship card, remember?"


    "Then¡­ why am I being shown this captive knight?"


    "We''re giving you the honor of deciding this person''s fate."


    "Huh?"


    Commander Mavuto took out the large sword behind his back out of its sheath, then shoved its handle into my hands. The sword was so heavy that I almost dropped it after holding on. Its blade did hit the ground hard, though, since I could not hold it upright.


    "You can choose to either grant him a quick death, or to prolong his suffering."The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "¡­ Why does it have to be me, though?"


    "Because a captive is considered the same as a spoil of war."


    "What?"


    "And because you contributed so much to the fight against that dragon, it''s only natural that you should get the biggest spoil."


    "¡­"


    The commander opened the cell door, then lightly patted my back to nudge me inside.


    "Do I really have to do this? Aren''t there others who contributed more?"


    "Denato''s rotation ended, and he''s long gone now. That means this guy is now your responsibility."


    I didn''t feel any bit of hostility or negativity in commander Mavuto''s tone of voice. It did not seem like he was pushing me to make certain choices.


    In any case, it was too late to turn back now. I was deep inside a cold empty prison with just the commander and a prisoner present. Even though the commander was currently unarmed, there was no telling what he could do to me if I chose to act against him. He could probably snap my bones in half with his raw strength alone.


    Should I rebel, then even if he were to spare my life, it would be very easy for him to get to the prison entrance before I could and simply lock me inside this pitch black place until I went mad. It didn''t seem like I had any choice other than to heed to his demand of deciding this prisoner''s fate¡­


    After a brief moment of silence, I slowly walked inside the cell, dragging the heavy sword along. It made a very discomforting sound as the blade scraped across the floor. In front of the young knight, I stood there looking at him quietly, at an impasse at what to do. The man suddenly looked up once more, his eyes now staring blankly into mine.


    "So this is your decision?"


    "I don''t think I had much of a choice to begin with¡­"


    "You''re going to betray our god."


    "Sorry, I never believed in any gods in the first place."


    The state religion of Kitrod was one that worshipped the god of fortune, which I lacked thereof, so I never had faith in such a god. The orphanage I lived in was managed by the clergy, so we were often required to take part in activities that any believer would like do, such as reciting prayers, listening to sermons, and so on. I only did such things because I was at the time a child who knew nothing better, and when I left the orphanage I eventually stayed away from those religious activities that I found pointless and time consuming.


    Minor religions were also present in Kitrod, but without any state funding, they would constantly call for their worshipers to donate money, so I stayed away from those as well since I didn''t have much spare change to give away. Currently, Badoth was officially a secular state, so the thought of finding a god to worship was never in my list of priorities. I see nothing wrong with remaining non-religious for the rest of my life.


    "No wonder why you sold your soul to the devils."


    "¡­"


    "Just finish it quickly."


    The young knight''s face did not show even the slightest bit of fear. Was it the spirit of a gallant warrior or of hopelessness that allowed him to look at this deathly scenario with such a calm face?


    I, on the other hand, was on the verge of trembling in fear. I have taken the lives of countless enemies before during my time as an adventurer, but all of them were what was considered unintelligent species that were collectively referred to as "monsters". The thought of having to take away the life of something that could speak its thoughts and feelings was terrifying, and even more so when that something was another human.


    I took a deep breath to calm myself down.


    I wanted to live. I couldn''t turn against the commander. I have to decide this person''s fate.


    After a short chant, I cast a strength boosting buff on myself.


    "Please forgive me."


    Using both hands, I slowly lifted up the large sword until it was pointing upwards, directly above my head. I turned myself a little bit to the right, so that my gaze was now in the direction of the man''s heart rather than his face. I could not bear to look him directly in the eyes.


    With all my might, I swung the sword down. With both the effect of my strength boosting spell and of gravity, the heavy sword arced downwards with such a high speed that one could even hear the sound of it slicing through the air.


    I had a feeling the sword would hit my intended target, so I closed my eyes as the blade was moving downwards. There was always the slight possibility that I would be off the mark, and I did not want to let myself see any gruesome sight for long.


    I felt a slight jolt in my palms as the sword landed a hit. My grip was firm enough that I could prevent the sword from leaving my hands as its fast moving blade cut through its target.


    A shattering sound rang out as the sword crushed through the hard surface and sliced deep into what was underneath.


    When the sword cut cleanly through its target, it hit the ground with a loud clink that echoed within the prison cell.


    The sword ricocheted off the ground, lost its momentum, and finally came to a stop.


    Silence ensued.


    With my eyes still closed, I felt like I could hear my own rapid heartbeats.


    At this point, it was too late for regrets.

 14.2 - Choice (2)

    I eventually opened my eyes slowly to check whether my slash earlier was on target or not. After confirming that it was accurate, I turned around to look at commander Mavuto.


    He still had a calm face that showed no emotion whatsoever, in spite of the scene that had just occurred in front of him. I expected him to do something, but he just stood there quietly observing.


    "You''re not going to say anything?"


    "I won''t find faults in the choices you make. It was your decision, after all."


    "You have no concerns?"


    "My only concern is whether or not you can live with those choices."


    "I think I''ll manage."


    This man was the commander of an army, a seasoned veteran of war who had taken away countless human lives. One would expect him to be indifferent or merciless towards human, yet commander Mavuto felt somewhat like a protective father to me, even though I had only known him for two weeks up to this point.


    I walked outside of the cell and handed back the large sword to the commander, which he promptly grabbed hold of and put back in its sheath.


    "Why?"


    A faint voice came out of the small prison cell. When I glanced behind me, the young knight was still sitting on the ground even though I had already cleanly sliced through the copper chain attached to his leg shackle.


    "There are already enough people who hate me in this world, and I don''t want to make enemies out of more."


    "I can''t be your enemy if I was dead."


    "That''s true, but if I killed you, then by Kitrod law I would have become an outlaw, which means the entire population would turn against me."


    Between making enemies out of one person and out of most of the world, this seemed like the better choice to me. Besides, this was the only choice that wouldn''t hurt my conscience.


    "Except we''re not in Kitrod right now, and what you''re saying makes no sense."


    "How can you be so nonchalant in this situation?"


    Does this guy really want me to end his life or something? Why can''t he just leave my conscience alone? I only wanted to say some ridiculous excuse to get away from this scenario, and possibly make myself look high and mighty¡­


    "Well, you''re probably branded as a public enemy in Kitrod already, anyways. It''s not that hard to link the disappearance of an eccentric alchemist who sells scrolls for fire magic with the Demon King army''s recent pyromania."


    Before the knight could make me feel worse about myself, I turned back to look at the commander.


    "I hope you''ll forgive me for this, commander Mavuto."


    "Forgive you for what? I''m not blaming you for anything."


    "You''re not even mad at my decision?"


    "He was your prisoner, so what you chose to do to him does not concern me."


    "You''re surprisingly lenient."


    "My leniency depends on whether or not you plan on rebelling later on."


    "I don''t have plans for that."


    "You have nothing to worry about, then."


    I felt somewhat relieved that the commander had nothing against me for sparing the prisoner''s life.


    "¡­Although, how do you plan on explaining this to other people who aren''t as lenient?"


    "Well¡­"


    That was a good question. How exactly do I plan on explaining this?


    "Um¡­ Oh, I know!"


    "Yes?"


    "You said I should treat him like a spoil of war, right?"


    "That''s correct."


    "Hey! I''m a person, not an object!"


    Ignoring the knight who voiced his objection just now, I continued talking.


    "Then I''ll just tell other people that he''s now my slave."


    "That should work."


    I turned back around to face the captive knight and pointed my finger at him.


    "And since you''re my slave now, I have an order for you."


    "I''d rather die, thanks."


    "¡­"


    He seemed to be unfazed by my statement, and was still keeping his listless look from before.


    "Can''t you at least be grateful I spared your life?"


    "Like I said, I''d rather die while maintaining my honor as a knight than become a lowly slave."


    Now I''m just worried that I might get killed by this knight instead.


    "Anyhow, you will accompany the commander to the recently occupied territory on the other side of the border."


    "I refuse."


    "Afterwards, you will return to your hometown once the night comes and tell everyone about how the Demon King army should be feared for taking down a dragon. Of course you''ll have to take a beating before leaving, so people won''t suspect much."You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    "¡­"


    "Finally, you will retire from the army, and you will welcome me like a friend if I ever come visit you."


    I smiled at the knight, while the man gave a deep sigh and finally decided to stand up.


    "At this point, I''m starting to wonder if you''re a moron or lunatic, or both."


    I ignored the knight''s comment, then turned back around to face commander Mavuto.


    "Will you help me make sure he obeys that command?"


    "Certainly."


    While I have to admit that this is one of the dumbest ideas I could come up with, it was probably the best choice for my mental health.


    Keeping this person around would put my own life in danger. Even if I made sure he was unarmed, it was still most likely possible for him to beat me to death, since he clearly has much more strength than me. Given how he had essentially given up on life earlier, it was highly probable that he would have no qualms about killing me just to get in trouble and be executed.


    "Oh, I almost forgot to ask, what is your name and hometown?"


    "¡­Ankis, from Gadubi town."


    If I remember correctly, then Gadubi was a small town about 50 kilometers south of the border. It held some strategic importance because the town had a higher elevation than its surroundings. Since it was relatively close to the Demon King''s territory, it might actually be possible for me to come to that place one day.


    "Well I hope to see you in Gadubi town some day, Ankis."


    I walked away while saying that, so the knight would not have a chance to make a snarky remark.


    *   * *   * *


    There was no work that needed my help in Border Town, so the commander granted me permission to leave early even though I was originally supposed to be here until the end of this day. There was a supply carriage that came from Ladita town the night before, and was on its way back in the early morning, just a couple hours after the incident in the prison, so I hitched a ride on it after receiving the citizenship card from the officers involved. It was a thin wooden card with my personal details and some authoritative stamp etched on it.


    I reached the town at around eleven o''clock, and decided to go to the nearest inn to have an early lunch since I hadn''t eaten since the night before. There were only two other locals in the dining hall since it was still quite early for lunch, so I decided to treat those two to some beer in exchange for telling me more about the town. Amber was supposedly coming to pick me up at ten o''clock the next morning in front of the town landmark, so I wanted to learn as much as possible about this place during the 23 hours I was about to spend here.


    Ladita had very fertile soil, so this town''s main focus was agriculture. Almost all of the town''s 15000 or so population were minotaurs and cyclopes, whose high physical strength allowed them to work tirelessly on large fields to provide grains for the entire southern province and the army at the border. There was so much agricultural work going on that during harvest season, one could easily get lost in the middle of the fields if not for the abundant tall mills in this town. Each mill had a unique colored marking on it, so with a little bit of familiarity, one could make use of the mills in sight to navigate around.


    Most of the town''s land was flat, but there was one particularly tall hill on the outskirts of town where an unnecessarily large mill was built. It was inefficient to cart crops up a 200 meter slope just for grinding, especially when there were over a hundred of other mills built on the town''s flat land, so this large mill was only used as a land marker for those unfamiliar with the area that was trying to locate Ladita town but ended up getting lost in the crop fields instead. This was probably where Amber was supposed to pick me up tomorrow.


    There were no unique plant species in this area since all of the land surrounding the town had already been converted into crop fields, which as a result removed all wildlife and naturally occurring vegetation, so there was no chance of me finding new alchemy materials to experiment with.


    My other interest was whether or not I could learn new magic here, but it seemed unlikely since most of the population was unable to use any, just like in Sachiru town. Of the very few who could, the magic they knew was limited to very basic earth-type spells that helped boost crop yield, which would have been of no use for me. The town at least had a public library, so I asked for the directions there.


    *   * *   * *


    I was prepared for another shock like when I visited the Sachiru public library, but the one in this town actually looked normal. It was a plain white building with one single floor, measuring about 40 meters wide and deep. The interior looked like a very well-lit concert hall, with bookshelves lined up where the performance stage would normally be located. The only thing that bothered me was the fact that all seats were facing the same direction, and there were no reading desks¡­


    Were all the library buildings in this territory originally other buildings that got repurposed?


    The librarian''s desk was right next to the door, so I came over to the fairy working there to talk.


    "Good morning. Do you have books about magic in this library?"


    "Oh, welcome. Um¡­ We have quite a number of books on magic. What kind of magic books are you looking for?"


    "Could you list the kind of books that are available?"


    "We have books on earth, plant, and light basic magic. You could learn about how to make the earth even more fertile, or how to create artificial sunlight, or even how to enchant plants to make them become able to get rid of pests by themselves."


    ¡­All of these books were geared towards agricultural use.


    "Are there any other magic books?"


    "We have one on something we coined as chaos magic, too."


    That''s interesting. I''ve never heard about this term before.


    "What exactly is chaos magic?"


    "Well¡­ It was some strange magic created by a lunatic a few decades ago. The spells he created were a hodgepodge of several different elements, making it impossible to attribute it to a single type. Not only that, it caused quite a bit of havoc to occur, so the people who saw that decided to call it chaos magic."


    Now I''m curious to know what kind of crazy person would record a lunatic''s chaotic spells in a book.


    "Why do you even have a book on that, then?"


    "As it turns out, the spells he invoked could actually be made useful when used in a lesser degree. For example, a weakened tornado spell could create gusts that help pollinate plants, or a weakened version of a spell that created deafening loud noises could be used to chase away rodents."


    "¡­All of those spells are used for agricultural purposes, aren''t they?"


    "Yes."


    "Do you have any books about magic that isn''t used for farming?"


    I probably should have just asked that from the beginning. At least I know lunatics were still useful to some extent in this territory.


    The fairy repeatedly tapped her chin and went into deep thought.


    "Let me see¡­ Oh, I think we have one book! I can show you where it is, if you want."


    "That would be great."


    As we made our way to the bookshelves, I couldn''t help but notice the completely empty rows of seats in the library. I reckon the fairy had nothing better to do here.


    She brought me to a bookshelf near the deepest corner of the building. All of the books on the shelf had plain, dark colored covers. Why were there so many books without any names or titles written on the spines, anyways? Did the authors or publishers not know how to advertise books?


    "Well¡­ It''s somewhere on this shelf. Look for the thinnest book you can find."


    I started having some doubts as soon as she finished her sentence.


    "Oh, I found it."


    She pulled out a thin booklet wedged between the clutter of books. Somehow, there was a bit of dust gathered on it, so she blew on it while my doubt increased after seeing the somewhat familiar cover color.


    "Here you go. The book is called ''Devils can inflict curses, and so can you!''"


    "Th-thank you¡­"


    "The title is a bit corny, but there are a couple of useful spells written inside."


    Useful to whom?


    I did my best to keep a straight face while taking the booklet from her. I didn''t want to bury it back under the mess of books right away, since the librarian looked so happy to be of help.


    "I have another question. Could you tell me which shelf contains books about the ocean?"


    "Two shelves down, that way."


    "Thank you."


    I went in the direction of where the fairy pointed, while she grabbed another book off of a nearby shelf and drifted towards the library''s front entrance.


    "I''m more interested in the skies than the ocean, so I''ll be reading this at my desk. Let me know if you need help with anything else!"


    "I will. Thank you."


    I quickly stuffed the useless booklet back in its original place while she was looking away.

 15.1 - This World Is… (1)

    As expected, most of the books here were written in the Demon language. I could read it, but except for the words that meant name, birth date, hometown, and anything else I could figure out from my citizenship card, I couldn''t understand anything written in those books as usual. It would have been embarrassing if I asked that librarian to translate what I was reading, so I just pretended to be able to understand the texts and flipped through as many book pages as possible in a believable manner. A lot of the books had illustrations, so it wasn''t entirely boring, at least.


    After half an hour of doing pointless things, I decided it would now be appropriate to leave the library. I told the librarian that I would come back at a later time to borrow some of the books here since I didn''t have a library card currently. Her eyes sparkled, and she squealed a bit as soon as she heard me say "I''ll come back" - I''m starting to get the feeling this town''s library was so neglected by its residents that the librarian was just lonely and bored to death inside¡­


    The librarian kept looking at me as I walked outside. I found it slightly creepy that she was now standing by the entrance keeping an eye on me, so I decided to make a turn as soon as possible into the alley right next to the building, since it seemed unlikely that she would take her eyes off of me until I disappeared from her sight. The library had windows only along the front wall, so she wouldn''t be able to keep track of me if I kept going down this alley that ran along the side of the building.


    I wanted to turn back after seeing how the alley got darker and darker as I walked deeper in, but I had a feeling that the librarian would still be at the entrance if I chose to go back. I guess I''ll just try to see where this alleyway leads to.


    At the end of the 40 meter long library wall was what looked like the entrance to a labyrinth. The alleyway branched everywhere, and all I could see around were brick walls. It was hard not to notice that all the buildings that made up this labyrinth had no windows on their side and back walls, so someone lost in this urban labyrinth would most likely never be noticed by the residents. I wonder if this was an intentional design or not.


    I took a random turn with the hope that it would lead me towards a major street where the library couldn''t be seen. After a few minutes of walking, a shadow loomed around the corner ahead of me.


    "Grr¡­"


    From that corner was a large stray dog that stood as tall as about a third of my height. Its eyes seemed somewhat murky, and it was drooling uncontrollably. The dog, having noticed me, locked its eyes on me and made a pose that looked like it was about to charge at me.


    Normally I would have no qualms with striking down a rabid dog, but I was currently in the middle of a narrow alleyway that made it impossible for me to swing my staff without having hit a wall. Besides, after all the (accidental) destruction of public property I caused in the path, I already swore an oath to never cast magic within 2 meters of any buildings, landmarks, or innocent bystanders, so I didn''t really want to unleash a spell here. Speaking of which, that fight I had against Casath and Hanung when I first came to this territory was in the middle of a ten-meter wide street, and the crowd that gathered to spectate were definitely more than 2 meters away from me.


    Well, there was only one thing I could think of doing here.


    I took a deep breath and took a fighting stance.


    I raised one leg up, as though I was about to make a high kick pose.


    Using my other leg as a pivot, I did a quick half turn and ran for my life.


    The fighting stance was close enough to a running pose, and my raised leg was stretched as far as it could stretch, so it only took me a split second to dart away at full speed.


    *   * *   * *


    After about five minutes of running for my life, I finally lost sight of the rabid dog. The only problem I had now was that I was in an unfamiliar part of town, and I had no idea how to get back since I did not pay attention to where I was running towards. Judging by how I was standing on a raised floor, and how there was unpleasant smelling water flowing next to me in this dark place that lacked buildings, there was little doubt that I had managed to wander off to the town''s sewers.


    Since I had no idea how to get out, and also since I did not see any buildings through the grates on the ceiling, I figured I was somewhere in the outskirts of town and aimlessly wandered around with the hope that I would either make it back to the town center eventually or spot one of the mills.


    Much like the urban labyrinth I went through earlier, the sewer path branched out frequently, though the branches often led to dead ends. The lack of buildings at the surface really made me question why such branches even existed in the first place.


    At one dead end in particular, I noticed an unnatural pile of wood blocks on the ground. The grates were too small for wood blocks to fall through, and the sewage was flowing out of this dead end, making it seem impossible for this wood to have drifted here. To sate my curiosity, I moved the pile of wood away and found what looked like a trapdoor on the floor.


    Normally it would be best to ignore such a thing, or at least let someone responsible know that a secret path existed here in the sewers and request an exploration party to see what was inside, but for some reason I felt a dumb inclination to go in without telling anyone. The trapdoor led to a steep and narrow staircase, at the bottom of which was a pitch black cave.


    Lighting my way with a small flame at the tip of my staff, it was hard to see more than a meter in front of me, as the cavern path had countless splits and turns. I decided to explore the cave for about a minute with the intention of going back before I wandered too far, but there were so many splits and turns that I ended up getting disoriented. I had only walked for one minute, but before I knew it, I had already lost track of how to get back to that narrow staircase from earlier¡­


    What was supposed to be a one minute exploration ended up being five minutes, and then ten. I had no idea where I was and how far I had gone at this point, and I did not even know whether or not I was walking around in circles because of all the twists and turns in the cave. Confused, slightly panicking, and disoriented, I eventually lost my footing and slipped down a hole in the cavern wall.


    All I could remember was losing my consciousness after tumbling down a pit in that hole for some time.


    It''s understandable that as a mage, my strength was significantly below average, but why do I keep fainting so easily?


    *   * *   * *


    "You sure got roughed up."


    When I came to, I found myself on a floor of a small dimly lit room, with an old minotaur sitting by the wall beside me. There were bruises and cuts all over my body, and my clothes were ripped in several places from rolling down that rocky pit earlier. From the direction of the light, there were thin metal bars blocking this room''s exit.


    "Where am I?"


    "Underground prison."


    "Underground¡­ prison?"


    "Aye. Can''t tell what town we''re under, though. I''ve been moved around places for years now."


    "Probably near Ladita town. I was there earlier."


    "Hm? You were up on the surface earlier today?"


    "Yes, but I got lost¡­"


    ¡­while being chased by a rabid dog, which was how I ended up here.


    "Yeah, it''s hard to find your way in an unfamiliar town. You''re lucky they didn''t kill you for breaking out of prison."


    That was what I wanted to say, but the old minotaur seems to have thought that I was a convict on the run, and I didn''t feel like correcting him.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "Why is there a prison here?"


    "Why not? It''s too easy to escape if it was above ground."


    "No, I meant to ask what the purpose of this prison is."


    "Did they hit you so hard that you got amnesia?"


    "I don''t have amnesia. And I was asking since people usually just execute, exile, or enslave prisoners where I came from."


    They didn''t have correctional facilities in Kitrod, and the practice of making prisoners fight to the death in a coliseum had long been abolished, so prisoners would only be kept if they had some political value. Otherwise, they''d just be disposed of by some means since keeping watch and feeding them costed money. That was why I wanted to know why a prison existed here in the first place, since I was of no political value.


    "There''s a labor shortage here."


    "Labor shortage?"


    "That''s right. They need laborers here."


    "What?"


    "Just get some rest. You''ll know what I mean in a while."


    The minotaur didn''t answer any of my questions afterwards, so I just lied on the floor quietly, thinking about what just happened to me.


    It was likely that whoever found me unconscious mistook me for a fugitive or prisoner of war and had me sent here after confiscating my staff. The rest of my belongings were still in my pockets, seemingly untouched, so I reckon none of the prison staff ever bothered trying to figure out who I was. Currently, I was in a small prison cell, and there were no prison guards standing outside. The old minotaur in this cell hinted towards us being forced laborers later, so it would most likely be possible for me to talk to a prison guard later, since they''d need to keep watch of us somehow.


    Oh well, making a scene here now wouldn''t be good for me, so I''ll just clear things up when a guard shows up later.


    A few minutes passed by, and the sound of metal doors opening echoed through the prison.


    "Get up! Stop lazing around!"


    "On your feet, now!"


    The sounds of yelling prison guards blared through every cell.


    The minotaur and I got up and stood in front of our cell door shortly before a guard came to unlock it. He was a winged minor demon with an ominous looking face, somewhat resembling a gargoyle and was clad in a jet black uniform. I quickly stepped out and called to the guard, who was already at the next cell''s door.


    "Excuse me-"


    "WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO TALK?"


    He seemed to be angry when I broke the silence and immediately snapped.


    "But I-"


    "SHUT UP!"


    As soon as the guard yelled at me, I could feel a burning sensation on my back. Taking a quick glance behind me, I saw another guard with a long whip in hand. Out of fear that I''d unnecessarily panic and get lashed again, I tried my best to stay quiet and endure the pain. My back was probably bleeding a bit, but there was nothing I could do currently, since speaking up wasn''t allowed.


    It was impossible to clear things up right now, so I decided to go with the flow and wait until an opportunity to speak up comes.


    We had a long silent march across the prison''s halls and through more almost pitch black tunnels until finally stopping at a section with some lighting. The tunnel segment was about 15 meters wide with a somewhat flat ceiling almost 10 meters high, with large support columns running along the walls. This was a rock tunnel, but there were several patches of rock with a dark gray color and metallic sheen. There was the lingering smell of iron present in the air, so this was most likely either an iron ore mine or an execution site. The old minotaur mentioned a labor shortage earlier, so I would assume this was the former. It was still hard to tell, however, since everyone was eerily quiet, and some bones were wedged behind some support columns.


    One prison guard pointed pointed at a pile of pickaxes, chisels, and hammers at the end of this tunnel segment while the remaining guards, all of whom were also minor demons clad in jet black uniforms, formed a wall at the end of the prisoner line. They were all holding whips, shields, swords, and sabers to prevent our escape.


    "Get to work! Strong ones bore the tunnel, weak ones mine the ore!"


    The prisoners all walked towards the pile of tools and grabbed what was appropriate for their tasks. I felt somewhat relieved, knowing that this was not an execution site.


    "Excuse me, I-"


    "You want to get whipped again? Shut up and get to work!"


    ¡­I''m starting to worry that I''ll never be able to talk to the guards. Well, it''s probably best if I just work for a while and wait for another chance to talk. If they still wouldn''t let me speak up, then I''ll just cause enough trouble for them to take me somewhere private so I can speak.


    After taking a pickaxe, I went to a wall section nobody was working on.


    *   * *   * *


    I started losing track of how much time passed by, but everyone here was forced to work without any breaks. The guards would often shout at and lash someone with their whips as soon as that person stopped working for a moment.


    While it sounded like harsh forced labor, I noticed that the prisoners working near me were working extremely slowly. It seemed as if the guards only required prisoners to work, but did not care about how fast they were working, so I followed suit and mined as slowly as possible to conserve energy. Well, now I know why there was so much ore that had yet to be mined in this tunnel now.


    The prisoners were not allowed to talk to the guards, but they seemed to allow people to talk among themselves as long as it was not louder than the chiseling and hammering sounds echoing through the tunnel. As a result, I was able to mumble the spell chant for a weak strength boosting buff and cast that on myself.


    It was possible to use magic without a weapon if the target is oneself, since the mana is not shot out anywhere - it only gets converted to another form of energy within the body. I suppose I could also use a few basic spells by channeling mana into the pickaxe I was holding and cause a scene here, like what I did with the spears and laundry pole during the fight against the dragon, but doing that might actually get me arrested for a legitimate reason. Regardless, using a self buff on myself was probably a stupid thing to do when working for an extended period of time, but I figured a minor buff would not tire me out too much, since I was intentionally working so slowly and inefficiently that it was nearly impossible to strain my muscles.


    The work was not taxing on my body, but I started feeling a little tired from having to constantly cast the minor strength boosting spell on myself. It felt like being dehydrated: it wouldn''t kill me immediately, but I couldn''t stop feeling the urge to take a short break just to recover my mana.


    Luckily, one of the guards blew a loud whistle at the moment I was ready to give up.


    "Food break! You have 15 minutes!"


    I thought I would notice someone bringing food over because it was relatively quiet in this tunnel, but there were trays full of bowls lying on the ground where the guards formed a wall earlier, while the guards themselves were gone. The one guard who blew the whistle slipped into the darkness of the tunnel, probably to have a meal with the others.


    It would probably be weird if I didn''t at least touch the food, so I grabbed a bowl after all the prisoners each got one. Inside was some dark colored mush with small solid chunks floating on top, as well as a metal spoon. Its crude shape made it seem like it was created as a makeshift utensil using the iron ore mined from here.


    I put a small bit of the mush in my mouth, and was surprised by how it tasted a lot better than it looked. The mush had a very wheat-like flavor, and had a hint of saltiness and faint iron smell. More likely than not, this was gruel made using the fresh wheat from the fields above ground, and the water was from somewhere in this underground mine, resulting in some iron and minerals getting mixed in.


    "You''re more durable than I thought."


    The old minotaur walked over to me with his bowl in hand, and his body was full of sweat from having to bore deeper into the mine tunnel.


    "I cast a buff on myself earlier."


    "Sounds convenient. Wish I could use magic myself."


    "I almost collapsed from running low on mana, though."


    "Still remarkable that you could keep using magic for hours."


    I suppose that was true. I felt a bit glad about having an enormous mana pool for once.


    "Do they make you work like this every day?"


    "As long as the war keeps going on, they''ll keep making us mine for more ore to make the army''s weapons and armors."


    Using forced laborers as miners cuts production costs quite a bit, I suppose. Still, the guards didn''t seem to care at all about work productivity, so there must either be countless other mines that used prisoners like this one, or most of the material gathering was done by actual miners elsewhere.


    Hearing the old minotaur talk about the war made me think about that knight who kept messing with me that I set free this morning, so I decided to change the topic.


    "This gruel tastes a lot better than it looks. I wouldn''t mind having this every now and then."


    I put another spoonful of the gruel into my mouth.


    "Yeah, the wheat and meat are both fresh. This is probably Cubig''s meat obtained yesterday."


    "Cubig? What''s that?"


    "My cellmate. Died yesterday."


    ¡­And then spat it out.


    How could I have been so ignorant? There were bones wedged behind the support columns, so the flesh and blood had to have gone somewhere. It would have been too much of a hassle to bring dead prisoners back to the surface, so the guards had probably cut them up for meat and use their blood as soup stock. The thought that the saltiness and iron smell I tasted in the mush probably came from blood than underground water made me feel nauseous.


    "I think my stomach just cramped out from all that work. I''ll eat this later¡­"


    "Better hurry, they''ll make us work again in 10 minutes."


    I made up a random excuse just to set the bowl of horrifying things aside.

 15.2 - This World Is… (2)

    I tried to meditate to speed up my mana recovery, but the lingering thought of me possibly having consumed someone''s flesh and blood just now made it too hard for me to clear my mind. The rest period was long enough at least, so I think my body could withstand another three or four hours of work.


    As for the bowl of gruel I set aside earlier, I quietly placed it back onto one of the trays while nobody was paying attention, and someone else took and ate it. The food was hardly touched, and the prisoner was probably too used to eating much worse food that he did not suspect that I spat some of the gruel back into the bowl earlier.


    "Alright, back to work, all of you!"


    One of the guards shouted out loud after the 15 minute break ended, and all the prisoners promptly got up and picked up their tools again.


    I don''t know how the guards didn''t seem to feel bored just watching us work for hours. They were simply just staring at us without showing any hint of emotion, and none of them were talking to each other the entire time. Were the capable of telepathy, or were they just content with watching people do (almost) menial work all day long?


    It was really hard to keep track of time due to the lack of a visible sky, but I reckon another three or so hours had passed by after the food break. I should probably consider myself lucky, as one of the guards blew a loud whistle just when I was ready to give up from mana exhaustion again.


    "Tools down! Get in line!"


    Upon hearing the guard''s shout, all the prisoners tiredly tossed their tools back to the pile they got them from, then stood together nicely in one long line. Following suit, I dropped my pickaxe off and then headed for the back of the line.


    The line moved very slowly, so I peeked ahead to see what was holding it up. It looked like the guards were doing a very thorough search of every prisoner''s body as they got to the security wall. I reckon it was to check whether someone was trying to smuggle out any of the tools, or any sizable chunk of iron ore that could be used to secretly make weapons or damage either the guards or prison cells. Not counting me, there were 33 prisoners in the line, and it took at least one full minute to search each of them.


    I felt like the whole search process could be sped up if all the guards forming the wall took part, but speaking up would probably get me lashed again. Regardless, it was finally my turn after over half an hour of waiting.


    "Never seen you here before."


    I was probably the only living human here in Badoth, and we were probably dozens of kilometers away from the border, yet they never noticed me being different until now?


    "That''s because I-"


    "Shut up and turn out your pockets."


    Damn, I thought this was finally a good chance to talk to them, but they still wouldn''t let me.


    Amber said most of the things I needed would be provided by the army, so I left most of my money and belongings back in Sachiru before we departed. The only things I could take out of my pockets were my wallet, some pebbles that found their way into my clothes as I tumbled down earlier, the badge that general Denato gave me, and the card that commander Mavuto issued to me.


    Ignoring the minor demons that were trying to secretly pocket the little amount of money inside my wallet while I wasn''t looking, the other demons suddenly opened their eyes wide and muttered to each other when they examined the badge and card I took out.


    One of them, presumably the warden, finally spoke up after looking at my card for a while.


    "So¡­ Your name is Blaze, right?"


    "That''s correct."


    Finally, I''m able to finish a sentence without getting whipped!


    "None of us have seen you before, so it must be your first day here. How exactly did you land yourself in jail?"


    "I got chased by a rabid dog into the sewers, got lost in a cave, and fell down a pit that was probably connected to this underground prison."


    "You didn''t act against the kingdom?"


    "If by ''the kingdom'' you mean Kitrod then yes, I''m guilty of defecting over to the Badoth side. I haven''t done anything illegal on this side of the border."


    "And you currently reside in Sachiru town?"


    "Yes, that''s where I was brought to two weeks ago."


    "How did you manage to come all the way here, then?"


    "I got sent to Border Town because of the draft. There were no jobs that needed my help so I got permission to come to Ladita town earlier today."


    "Would you explain how you obtained this badge and card?"


    "General Denato gave me the badge in person so I wouldn''t run into trouble by being misidentified as an enemy, and commander Mavuto had the card issued to me in recognition of my contribution to the battle against the dragon at Border Town the other day."


    At this point of the questioning, the minor demons started having puzzled looks on their faces.


    "One of you, go verify this information with the communication network!"


    As for me, I''m just relieved that I was finally given a chance to say everything I needed to say.


    "Sorry about the harsh treatment today. You can have your items back now."


    The warden immediately handed back my card and badge, while my wallet was passed through a few hands before finally making it back to me. The wallet appeared to be¡­ thicker than before. I could have sworn there was less money chucked inside my wallet earlier. Either these guards forgot how much money they tried to pocket earlier, or they were giving me some hush money so I could keep quiet about this incident.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Please come with me."


    After the other guards led the line of prisoners away, the warden took my wrist and led me through the dark tunnels. It was hard to tell where I was going because of the lack of light, but it felt like I was going in a slightly different direction from where the prison cells would have been located.


    We eventually stopped in another brightly lit area, and the warden showed me into what appeared to be a small office room. It was simply decorated with a potted plant by the door and a painting of nature hanging in the back of the room. After letting go of my wrist, the warden pointed towards a small desk and some chairs there.


    "Please sit."


    After I sat down on one of the chairs, the warden pulled another one over and placed it opposite me, so that he was now sitting face-to-face with me on the other side of the desk.


    "This world is problematic."


    "Hm?"


    "No matter what reforms or discoveries are introduced, people still find ways to complain."


    It seemed like the warden was about to start a monologue, so I decided to let him continue talking without interrupting. Maybe I''ll just insert a few "mhm" and "ok" remarks every now and then.


    "Our king has done so much to prevent tyrannical oppressive rule like in Kitrod, but that ended with people not taking the laws seriously¡­"


    The people seemed quite well behaved from what I''ve seen so far, though.


    "¡­Which is why the system of allowing disputes to be settled by fighting was introduced. The parties having a dispute have the option of turning down a fight, but the fear of ''accidents'' occurring to the weaker parties at least got people to behave a little more whenever someone significantly stronger was in town¡­"


    Well that explains a lot.


    "¡­Although, that has led to other problems. The king has put in a lot of effort of eliminating racial discrimination, but the system that favors power caused this land to end up with racial segregation instead. You''ve probably noticed that by now, right?"


    "Yes."


    He wasn''t wrong. From what I''ve learned so far, it seemed like most towns only had one particular race or a group of species with similar traits making up the majority of the population.


    Living in a town where residents are significantly stronger would run one the risk of getting harassed or extorted, so it would be best to live with others of the same race so as to stand a chance at winning fights. In the case of Sachiru town, orcs and goblins could live together since goblins were so small and weak that they couldn''t damage orcs, while orcs were so large and slow that they couldn''t accurately hit goblins either.


    "Over time, the citizens of Badoth came to the misconception that each race could only hold certain jobs, or that they were limited to certain positions in society. When the majority of the population lives with that wrong assumption for too long, it slowly becomes accepted as common sense."


    That would explain why people only ever seemed to select strong individuals and races for top governmental positions.


    "One natural consequence of that is that jealousy and unhappiness begins to grow within the populace over time, and that would lead to increasingly frequent cases of civil disobedience and revolt."


    I think I''m starting to figure out where this monologue is going.


    "Normally, anyone who poses a threat to the established systems in this land would have to be quietly removed from society. Because of the ongoing war, they get sent to underground prisons like this for forced labor, since executing them would be a waste."


    Yep, he''s going to vent his frustration at this prison warden job.


    "Of course, shoving all sorts of dangerous individuals here adds a lot of pressure and stress onto us, since the things those people say could change how the other guards think. This place is connected to the underground communications network, too, so we absolutely can''t let revolting thoughts spread."


    "Is that why you won''t let anyone talk?"


    "Yes, and I''d like to apologize on behalf of everyone for that harsh treatment you received earlier. There''s also the fact that the number of prisoners keep increasing, so we also have to resort to extreme measures to thin out the crowd."


    "I don''t think you need to apologize¡­ It wasn''t wrong to assume that a complete stranger like me was a suspicious fugitive."


    "Still, we should have at least checked your belongings first. That badge you have shows that you are affiliated with general Denato''s army, and its pristine condition suggests you didn''t steal the badge from anyone. You are on the side fighting to uphold the king''s ideals, yet we mistreated you earlier today under suspicion that you were against them¡­"


    Oh, so that''s what the badge signified.


    "In any case, this world isn''t perfect. There will be a point where political unrest becomes too great to suppress. I don''t know how Kitrod manages to keep their large state stable, but there is a civil war looming in Badoth. Whether the civil war will take place during or after this war against Kitrod is anyone''s guess."


    There was a knock on the door, and one of the guards brought in a tray with a teapot and cups atop.


    "The happiness you see on the surface is all but an act. Education for the masses is essential for creating model citizens and capable leaders, but fear and distrust also spread faster as the people become more aware of what they are living with."


    "Um¡­"


    "The people are living in fear. The rapid growth Badoth territory has had over the past 70 years is amazing, but this society is on the brink of collapsing."


    I started wondering whether Amber was an absolute idiot or a complete loyalist. After all, she never showed any signs of distrust or fear. She was always so cheerful.


    "Could I ask why you''re telling me all this? Isn''t it dangerous to let an outsider like me know about the problems in society?"


    "It''s nice to have someone to vent my frustrations to every now and then. You seem to be trusted by both general Denato and commander Mavuto, so I figured you most likely won''t turn against us."


    "Well I guess that''s true. There''s nothing to gain if I did that."


    After all, I''m already not welcomed in Kitrod, so revolting would leave me with nowhere to go.


    "Anyways, you must be thirsty from all that work earlier, so please have some tea. We rarely ever have visitors since this is a secret prison, so it''s quite a waste if we can''t make use of the exotic plants used for brewing this tea."


    The warden poured out two cups of tea, both filled almost to the brim, and offered one to me.


    "There''s no blood in this, is there?"


    "Haha¡­ of course not. We have access to underground springs, so the water we used for brewing tea is what you would call mineral water."


    The tea color was quite clear, but had a faint earthy fragrance and a bitter and equally earthy taste.


    "This is a rather unique flavor. What kind of plants were used?"


    My mouth felt a bit dry, so I kept sipping more tea from the cup.


    "The seed and flowers of some plant called borra-something. I can''t really remember the name."


    Ah yes, borrachero, a dangerous nightshade plant that could be used to make a forbidden drug that caused hallucinations, amnesia, and temporary deprivation of free will. The victim under its effects could be easily manipulated, and would have absolutely no recollection of what had happened.


    The kingdom of Kitrod gave alchemists like me a list of plants considered so dangerous that any attempts at researching or using them would result in execution, and this flower was on that list.


    "As for why I ranted to you, it''s because you will never tell the outside world what I told you today."


    I tried to give a friendly smile to the warden as the room around me appeared to be spinning.


    I blacked out not long afterwards.

 Extra 3: The Day His Life Changed

    Three and a half days ago, the commander sent me across the border in case Blaze decided to run away. In the end, he not only stayed, but also helped take down a dragon.


    I didn''t need to intercept anyone in the end, and now I have to take a long walk back.


    Our network of tunnels ran deep underground. It had entrances in secluded forests and the urban sewage systems. Non-human races were discriminated against in Kitrod, so people never found it weird if someone like me came out of the sewers with dirty clothes.


    If someone accidentally discovered an entrance, the patrol guards would quickly silence that person, or destroy that section of the tunnel and its entrance before the person could return with a party.


    Using these tunnels was how demi-humans like me were able to infiltrate Kitrod. Ever since I first came here a year ago, I gathered intelligence on this place by making friends with stray cats and some weird men who went crazy over beast-like girls.


    Now that I was here again, I couldn''t help but remember the last time I secretly crossed the border.


    *   * *   * *


    The commander gave me the job of finding an alchemist or herbalist willing to defect over to the Badoth side. In other words, I had to find someone chronically in debt, was unwelcome everywhere, and had a negative view of the future, since such a person could likely be enticed to switch sides with a large bribe.


    That specific character description made the search near impossible, and that was why it took me almost a whole year to finally come across a run-down shop in a remote northern town near the border.


    Rumor has it that the shopkeeper was a retired archmage who decided to change professions into a merchant and alchemist because his prospects as an adventurer were grim. He was hated by most people in town because his fire magic often destroyed public property, and when used outside of town the magic would often burn the bodies of monsters to the point that other adventurers could not find any recognizable pieces of monster drops to bring back as proof of subjugation.


    He opened up his shop in an empty narrow street near the slums, so it was not hard to guess why he had very few customers in the first place.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    I thought about going in right away, but since he was a skilled mage, he would most likely be wary of any tricks being used.


    I waited a few minutes for a passerby to finally appear, then called out to her.


    "Excuse me!"


    "Yes?"


    Luckily, the woman didn''t ignore me like most other townspeople. I guess the poor people living in the slums care less about racial differences.


    "Could you go buy a potion in this shop to cheer up the shopkeeper? You can keep half the money as thanks."


    "Sure."


    "Please take your time inside. He''s probably so lonely in that empty shop that he would want someone to talk to."


    I gave the woman a large copper coin while pointing at the alchemist shop with my other hand. Having someone in the shop to distract him was necessary, since he would notice me using magic on him through the store window otherwise.


    Just to be absolutely sure that his guard would be lowered, I used charm magic about four or five times during the time the woman was in the shop.


    My magic didn''t work on females, so she probably wouldn''t notice something strange was going on.


    I chanted and channeled the mana for a hypnosis spell in advance, then merrily walked inside after the woman left.


    "Good morning!"


    If he showed signs that he''d be willing to defect, then I can put him to sleep to make it easier to bring him across the border. If he didn''t, the hypnosis would just be used to make him forget about his interaction with me.


    *   * *   * *


    I closed the window shades and put up a sign that said "Out For Lunch" after knocking Blaze out with hypnosis. It was close to noon, so I''m sure nobody would find an early lunch break suspicious.


    I thought about throwing an exploding potion at the shop''s back wall, but luckily this place had a back door. It was connected to a back alley, and there were alleyway paths that led to one of the sewer entrances.


    After confirming there were no drunkards, hobos, and lost travelers in the alleyways, I called for help from the underground network. Half a dozen goblins eventually came out to help me drag Blaze''s body and carry his shop''s wares out the back door and deep down the sewers.


    We were spotted by a lost little child along the way, but he complied with my request to keep quiet after I used my charm magic again and gave him some candy.


    A horse-drawn freight carriage eventually came by, and the goblins helped me load Blaze and his belongings onto it. I departed on the six hour underground ride towards Sachiru town, while the goblins closed off the pathway connecting the sewers and the underground tunnel system.


    What happened next is all history now.

 0.2 - Prelude 2: 95 Years Ago

    After five long years, I could say with confidence that I was now fluent in the spoken common language of this world. Unfortunately, I couldn''t say the same about the writing system. I don''t know who even designed this, but it was like a mix of classical Chinese and ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. However, what surprised me the most was the population''s literacy rate. They didn''t fund public education here so hardly anyone could do mental arithmetic, yet somehow three quarters of the population could read and write without problems¡­


    I tried to teach people basic mathematics and science during the time I''ve been here, but nobody took me seriously since I lacked fame and titles. The few who listened to my mini-lectures to the end were skeptical, saying the correctness of what I said was just some strange coincidence. I also tried introducing and teaching a new, simpler writing system to the people here, but that was coldly rejected as well. They said it looked too similar to random scribbles made by a toddler, and as a result treated it like a joke.


    I also found out that learning magic was physically impossible, too. It''s hard to explain in words, but apparently learning how to control and use mana was like learning a new language: it was easier to do so at a young age while one''s brain was still in a "critical period". There was also some unexplainable phenomenon that happened only in the body of a child, which would start degrading over time upon entering puberty if not utilized properly by then. While one could technically still learn magic after puberty, doing so would take significantly longer, and such degradation within the body would have already happened for so long that one''s potential for magic would be too low. I was already almost 40 years old so my potential, if I had any to begin with, would only be enough to lift a strand of hair up just slightly if I completely exhausted all my mana, according to the sage.


    Alchemy was also out of the question. Making potions and scrolls was like making medicine: it required precise amounts of materials and ingredients. Unfortunately, specially converted mana was one of those crafting materials for most products. The only items that didn''t require mana were poisons, but processing the materials that went into such products required using magic to prevent the people making that from poisoning themselves.


    I had no idea why the sage let me stay at his home for the past 5 years when I was of no help to his research on magic. I felt bad about being a freeloader, so I worked various odd jobs to cover my own expenses, and helped with various household chores. Out of all the jobs I took, operating a food stall at the city''s marketplace was the highest paying. All I did was introduce some fast-food items from home, but apparently such savory and unhealthy things were wildly popular with the locals who had never seen such "exotic" dishes before. It really puzzled me: these people sold bread and various types of meats at the marketplace, yet nobody had ever invented sandwiches or hamburgers before¡­


    Servants of the regional Earl''s household invited me to become one of his personal cooks at some point two years ago, but I declined. The only things I knew could make well were fast-food and instant noodles, and I was worried that feeding the Earl this kind of food every day would eventually put him into cardiac arrest, and consequently put me into trouble, so I just gave them some recipes instead. The next thing I knew, a large sack of silver coins was delivered to me, along with a letter of thanks from the Earl. There was even a note saying he shared my recipes with other noble families across the kingdom, and the "simple but exotic pizza dish" would even be served at royal banquets.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    In any case, I failed to advance this world''s knowledge on scientific matters, so it really seemed like I would never have any chance of returning home.


    Maybe it was fate that my life would turn out to be this mediocre¡­


    *   *   *   *   *


    "Badoth, come to my room now!"


    My evening routine consisted of heating up ready-made meals from the marketplace for dinner, cleaning up the house, and bringing the sage some herbal tea at around 8 o''clock. It was currently a few minutes past 7, so I found it strange that he called me this early.


    "Yes? Erm¡­ You seem different."


    This old man who usually showed no emotion was now suddenly cheerfully smiling.


    "Thanks to you helping with housework, I''ve finally completed my lifelong research!"


    So that''s why he let me stay here. He needed someone to reliably do his housework so he could focus on his research¡­


    "Well congratulations, sir! Um¡­ could I ask about what the research is about?"


    "Magic that extends one''s lifespan. Shall I test it on you?"


    "Sure, I guess."


    Maybe this was going to be the day my fate changed. If his research really was successful, then I would now have more time to try to spread my scientific knowledge to this world. If it failed, well, it''s not like I have any regrets. I already thought about giving up on life several times when I realized it was essentially impossible to go home.


    After drawing a large magic circle on the floor, the sage began mumbling an impossibly long chant. The magic circle glowed brighter and brighter, eventually reaching a point when the light completely whited out my vision.


    "My body feels¡­ weird."


    There was an uncomfortable sensation running through my body that was hard to describe. As soon as I finished my sentence, the sage''s mumbling stopped and quickly turned into laughter.


    "Hohoho¡­ so my magic is working! Ahahaha! This is splendid indeed!"


    Now I couldn''t tell what was more disturbing: the strange feeling in my body, or the creepy laughter.


    "Let me tell you one thing: the reason why I kept you here! This spell transfers the remaining lifespan of one person to another! You, who came from another world, shall not be missed! Hohohoho!"


    "Ugh¡­"


    Of course. Nobody knew me that well in this world, so nobody would ever inquire if I suddenly disappeared one day.


    I wanted to run away, but couldn''t move my body. It felt as though the magic circle was binding me to one spot. I even tried screaming for help, but even my vocal tract wasn''t cooperating, either.


    There was nothing I could do but listen to the sage''s cruel laughter as I grew dizzier and dizzier.


    *   *   *   *   *


    When the laughter and light finally faded away, my clothes and the world around me felt bigger. On the ground in front of me was the motionless body of the sage, who looked as though he had just aged 30 or so years before passing away.


    I looked in a mirror to find that I now had the appearance of an 8 year old child. Even my Adam''s apple was gone, so it seemed like my physical body got reverted to that age, too. Looks like the sage''s magic worked miraculously, although in the opposite direction of what he intended.


    I felt shocked and horrified at the events that unfolded just now, yet I was somewhat happy at the same time: I''m now at a youthful age that made learning magic possible!

 16 - My Story

    "How much longer do you plan on sleeping?"


    When I opened my eyes, I found myself lying on a grassy hill. To my left was Amber, sitting down and staring at me, and behind me was a large rusty mill that seemed to be dysfunctional.


    "Huh? Amber? Is that you?"


    Has it already been two days? My head was hurting a little, and all I could remember was coming to this town, having a few drinks, and going to the library. After I left, I think I got chased by something, and then¡­ what happened afterwards?


    Everything was a complete blank. I had a feeling I saw something I shouldn''t have seen, but I had no recollection of what. My clothes were a little bit tattered, so maybe I got beaten up. Or maybe these were from the fight against the dragon. How did I even end up on this hill, anyways?


    "Let''s go home."


    Well, there''s no point dwelling in the past if there was nothing that could jog up my memory.


    "Alright."


    I''ll figure out what happened some day after going home¡­ probably.


    "Where did you go these past four days, Amber?"


    I hadn''t seen her since going to the commander''s office on the first day at Border Town, after all.


    "Keeping watch. On the other side of the border."


    "Weren''t you already relieved of that job?"


    I could have sworn she said she was tasked with staying and helping out as a shop assistant after kidnapping me here.


    "I was."


    "Then¡­ what did you mean by keeping watch?"


    "The commander wanted to make sure you wouldn''t escape."


    "What?"


    "You know too much about this territory, so we didn''t want you to run away with information. But I heard that you''re trusted now."


    "That''s a reasonable concern, I guess. And yes, the commander gave me a card."


    "So that means that was probably the last time I''ll be sent across the border."


    "Does that make you sad?"


    "No. It''s more fun living here."


    "Well, I''m glad to hear that."


    At the bottom of the hill, a very large carriage was waiting for us. It was packed almost full with ten soldiers and their luggage, who were also on their way back to Sachiru town. As we got onto the carriage and squeezed our way through to the small gap of empty space somewhere on the side, several soldiers greeted me as "dragon slayer" and "miracle healer." I felt like blushing.


    "Sounds like you made a name for yourself."


    "I feel like all the stories about me were probably exaggerated."


    "Heroic tales are needed to inspire troops during wartime."


    "Heroic tales? I''m nowhere close to being considered a hero."


    "Why not?"


    "I was a failure of an adventurer who kept destroying public property, a cynical alchemist who kept hoping his customers would get wounded so they would come back and buy more potions, and a traitor who joined the enemy''s side after a devil tempted him with money."


    "Everything you''ve done here so far suggests you''re a different kind of person, though."


    "But¡­"


    "You''ve shown yourself to be a brave mage ready to take on stronger enemies, a kind shopkeeper who cares about the well-being of others, even if they weren''t customers, and a scholar who is willing to share knowledge to others without any motives."


    "¡­"


    "Is that not good enough to consider you as a hero?"


    The carriage was noisy with conversation, but several soldiers seemed to have heard what Amber said and smiled at me while slightly nodding. I used to think Amber was a random klutz, but she really was good with words every now and then.


    "I¡­"


    I really wanted to say something, but I couldn''t get any words to come out of my mouth.


    "Well, it''s going to take three hours for us to get home, so will you tell us your tale? I''m sure everyone here wants to know about a hero''s past."


    "There''s not much to tell. My past isn''t special at all¡­"


    "Everyone starts out as a normal person."


    I could feel the expectant gazes of all the soldiers that wanted to hear about my past. It would have been awkward to keep quiet for three hours, so I reluctantly started talking about it.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    *   * *   * *


    My name is Blaze, an archmage who mastered magic that controls fire and heat. I used to be an adventurer that did quests for a living, but I found that life to difficult and retired to become an alchemist instead.


    I was born on the day of the summer solstice 21 years ago in the town of Chosira. While it was called a town, it was actually the commercial district of an adjoined neighboring city, and was a major trading hub within the northern region of the empire due to its convenient geographic location.


    I have no recollections of my family, since I was already in an orphanage by the time I became self-aware. The orphanage was supposed to be funded by the state, but the ongoing war against the Demon King Badoth caused social welfare funds to be diverted elsewhere, so I had to work ever since I was 6 years old and making and selling handicrafts. Because of the town''s status as a major economic hub, the work I did allowed me to interact with people from all over the world. They would often tell me stories about their homelands, and what fantastic sights lie beyond the town''s walls. I reckon it was because of all these encounters that I ended up maturing earlier and knowing more about the outside world than others.


    Most people came to town for trading and didn''t have homes in Chosira or the adjoined neighboring city, so merchants never came by the orphanage. Sadly, the residents of this area were more focused on financial gain than on familial matters, so even the townspeople rarely ever visited. Needless to say, adoptions were exceedingly rare here.


    The orphanage had a rule that required us to be contributing members of society by the time we reached 15, and we weren''t allowed to stay in the orphanage afterwards. Because of the townspeople''s lack of interest in us, almost all orphans never had a chance to receive vocational training in the arts or at specialty shops. Because of the lack of opportunities to work in crafting jobs, almost all of the orphans would rigorously train their bodies since jobs requiring physical labor were the only choices available. Most orphans aimed at becoming adventurer warriors, so they would have the chance to travel around the world while still having some freedom, while others who wanted stable income would find work in farms, mines, construction sites, or in rare cases the army.


    Because of the orphans'' eagerness to learn, adventurers would occasionally visit the orphanage to scout out potential vanguards that could join their parties in the future. The job was a vanguard was tough: they were more or less meat shields who had to take charge in battle and protect the party members on the back-line. Those party members would then prepare powerful attacks to wipe out the monsters conveniently gathered around the vanguard from range.


    I was considered a weird child by the orphanage parents and by my peers. No matter how much I trained (or was forced to train), I couldn''t seem to get any stronger. Because of that, I had no chance at becoming a manual laborer or adventurer warrior. My lack of strength and agility meant I couldn''t draw bowstrings very far, or move around swiftly and quietly, so I couldn''t become an adventurer archer or thief either.


    People did often say I seemed to be smart for my age, so the job of a mage, whose magic power was proportional to intelligence, was still possible for me to pick up. Unfortunately, nobody had taught me how to read or control mana yet, so becoming a mage would require years and years of learning. Also, the abundance of vanguards meant the casualty rate of other adventurer jobs was low, so the demand for mages was also low. Thus, nobody was willing to sponsor me for training to become a mage. The orphanage parents were concerned about my future, so they made arrangements with a local inn to take me in as a butler and janitor of a local inn in the event I couldn''t find another job by the time I turned 15.


    One day, a lone novice mage came to the orphanage. It was a rather strange ordeal, since mages were often accompanied by a vanguard or two in their party. Like any other visitor, he wanted to scout out potential party members, but he didn''t specify what roles he wanted them to have, although vanguards were preferred. As it turns out, because of his novice skill level, he didn''t plan on going to dangerous areas outside town, or accept any difficult quests and missions. His family dedicated most of their time and resources on magical research, and he only planned on being a part-time adventurer to earn some extra spending money on the side.


    What stood out the most to me, however, was his age. I was almost 13 at the time, and he looked at most 3 years older than me. The fact that he was a novice meant that he probably learned magic recently, and managing to become a mage at that age meant that it was not too late for me to learn magic. From that day on, I set the goal of getting that mage to take me in as an apprentice.


    Because he didn''t plan on traveling far and often, the other orphans showed little interest in forming a party with him. Due to that trouble of finding members, he had to come back to various places in town frequently to appeal to others, the orphanage being one of those places. Each time he came, I pestered him as much as possible. He was annoyed and kept refusing to take me in at first due to my lack of strength and skills, but he eventually gave in after a month or two since nobody wanted to form a party with him. In exchange for his mentoring, I would have to help with doing housework, taking care of his family, and work odd jobs every now and then to cover some expenses.


    Rumor has it that a cousin of his great-grandparents unsuccessfully tried to kill a foreign tenant, so I had to check in with the local police every few days just to show them that I wasn''t being mistreated in any way, and that I was not holding any grudges. It was ridiculous for a strange punishment to still be carried out to the present day, so I figured the foreigner was probably someone very important.


    Nonetheless, the mage was a splendid mentor: it took just two years for me to become literate and learn how to control my mana, which he attributed to rare talent since it normally took half a decade. I thought that my mentor also had rare talent for still being able to learn how to control his mana in his teenage years, but it turns out he already had basic training when he was much younger, and he was only a novice because that training was put on hiatus for reasons he wasn''t willing to disclose.


    Unfortunately, because of the late start, my control of mana wasn''t entirely perfect, and there was nothing that could be done to correct that. This presumably limited the efficiency of elemental conversion, and we found that I had an acceptable conversion rate for the fire element, while all other elements had a disappointingly low rates. This meant that although I was still able to use basic magic that utilized every element, the same couldn''t be said for spells that went beyond the basic level. At the intermediate and advanced level, I was strictly limited to fire-type spells.


    Most of the world despised these spells beyond the basic level due to their high rate of accidental friendly fire and property destruction. Adventurers also looked down on such magic since proof of monster subjugation would often get incinerated when they were used. Learning that one was limited to fire-type spells would usually discourage fledgling mages from continuing their training, but I was an oddball who had a different mindset than other people. I considered my limitation as a wonderful thing: because nobody wanted them, I got all my books about fire-type magic for free!


    Through diligent self-studying, I became a full-fledged archmage of fire magic and public menace by the age of 17, and one year later was able to move out and go on my own adventure after saving up just enough money through part time work at the local inn the orphanage made arrangements with.


    *   * *   * *


    "Zzz¡­"


    I was too focused on talking about my past that I didn''t notice my surroundings until now. Probably due to exhaustion, Amber and over half the soldiers had already fallen asleep, while the remaining ones were on the verge of falling asleep and not really listening to me anymore.


    Sigh¡­


    To think these people were so eager to listen to my story over half an hour ago¡­


    The carriage shook slightly after running over some uneven ground, and Amber ended up leaning her head onto my shoulder. Her silky smooth hair and the soft fur on her ears felt rather nice; it was like someone was gently pushing a warm pillow onto me.


    Well, there was nothing for me to do for the next two hours, so I ended up taking a nap also.

 17 - Another Trip

    Eleven days passed by without incident after we returned home. I figured today would be yet another uneventful day as usual.


    The only thing different from normal so far was that the giant ogre gave Amber a sheet of paper after coming over to retrieve the army supplies from the back of the shop. After reading it for a while, Amber came over to me while waving the paper up and down at the same time.


    "Blaze, take a look at this."


    I took the sheet of paper from Amber.


    "This looks like¡­ random complicated scribbles? I can''t even recognize this writing. Did you invent a new secret language?"


    "¡­"


    "What?"


    "It''s upside-down."


    "¡­Oh."


    It was a pamphlet of some sort, and everything on it was written in the common language''s alphabet. I''ve been too used to seeing things written in another alphabet here lately that I didn''t think I would ever see the old writing system that I normally used.


    "Was this smuggled over from Kitrod?"


    "Yes."


    Ignoring the matter of how or when it was smuggled over, I read the contents of the pamphlet. The top half was a short discussion about war weariness and opinions about what the army should do, while the bottom half was titled "important news," which I didn''t think were that important in the first place:


    - Dragon wreaks havoc at border!


    - Soldier miraculously escapes from captivity! Buy the next weekly issue of the Gadubi town newspaper to read about his escape from the territory of demons!


    - Minimum age for army conscription lowered from 15 to 14.


    - New research concludes dogs can breed with foxes.


    - Badoth army attack patterns seem to have changed recently. Royal capital now seeking skilled tacticians and analysts.


    "I don''t think any of the information on this thing is useful, Amber."


    "There''s a flip side."


    Unlike what I just saw, the information on the other side was a lot more relevant:


    Inquiry: Have you seen this person?


    An alchemist in Trabath town has recently gone missing. He is rumored to be a specialist in fire magic. A possible link with the Badoth army is suspected due to the enemy''s recent pyromania and usage of enchantment stones.


    This suspect is now wanted for questioning. If found, immediately give notice to the local police.


    Description of suspect: About 20 years old. Medium build. Medium length, messy red hair. Hazel eyes. Light color skin. Unsociable. Possibly a pedophile. Name unknown.


    "Oi. I''m not a pedophile!"


    "I didn''t write that."


    "Well, I know that. But I want to make sure you don''t take everything written on this pamphlet for granted and start thinking of me as some sick bastard."


    "I never thought that."


    "I was too poor to afford an assistant, so I always had to stay inside my shop to look after it and hardly ever had the chance to go outside and socialize with others. And my sales were poor, so I had to go advertise my products to others. I just chose to advertise to young adventurers all the time, since they lacked combat experience and were more likely to be injured. I''m definitely not an unsociable pedophile!"


    "¡­Okay."


    Come to think about it, I think I talked too much. Amber didn''t even say anything implying she thought of me as a degenerate, but I probably made it seem like I was one by giving a short speech to refute what was written on the sheet of paper.


    One thing slightly bothered me, though. Why did they even have to include the word "messy" when describing my hair?


    "Amber, what do you think of my hair?"


    "Bedhead."


    "Hm? Does that mean my hair looks unsightly?"


    "¡­"


    "Amber? What part of it looks bad?"


    "So, where are we going tomorrow?"


    "Hey, don''t change the subject. Please let me know why it looks bad."


    "The commander told you to take a break, right?"


    "Stop ignoring my question! I don''t want to look bad in front of the townsfolk, you know!"


    In the end, she didn''t tell me what was wrong with my hair, so I just combed it a little and gave up. I suppose I shouldn''t be taking advice from homeless self-proclaimed barbers in the slums anymore.


    One thing was certain, however: I was now a wanted man in Kitrod. Well, I had no intentions of returning there anyways, so I couldn''t really care less.


    Back to the matter at hand, today was the 26th day since I first came to Badoth. Commander Mavuto didn''t want me to risk my life on the battlefield again like two weeks prior, since he wanted me to be able to continue supplying the army with a large amount of items on most days. Thus, I was expected to go on a four-day vacation tomorrow, when it would be the southern province''s turn to send reinforcements to the border.


    "General Denato did give me a note saying he wanted me to visit some time, so why don''t we head west tomorrow."


    "Sure."


    "Could you find us a map, so I can plan the trip?"


    "Okay."


    General Denato was the governor and leader of the army of the southwestern province. Apparently, he thought highly of me after I got dragged into a fight against a dragon, and he left me a personal note saying I owed him a beer and should visit him in Mitana city some time. His province''s rotation at the border isn''t supposed to end until two days from now, so I''ll probably visit a town or two along the way, then meet him in Mitana city on the third day, and finally head back home on the fourth day. I just need to check a map to make sure all this was feasible.


    Amber came back about twenty minutes later with maps of the southern and southwestern provinces, each about two meters in width and height. They were¡­ surprisingly detailed. Every major road in and between towns were drawn, and there were relatively detailed markings on the height of the terrain and locations of all ramparts.


    "Um¡­ Amber."


    "Yes?"


    "Are these military maps?"


    "I''m not sure."


    "Am I going to be in trouble for seeing maps that are these detailed?"


    "Probably not."


    "¡­"


    Maps were important during times of war, after all. Provided that one had detailed information about a particular region, it would be relatively easy to figure out where an army could hide, what directions they could attack from, or where one could infiltrate to do a surprise attack. Because of that, detailed maps were often limited only to military generals and their strategists. The fact that a civilian like Amber could get a hold of something with this much detail made me worry about being placed under house arrest or imprisoned by the army for knowing too much.


    "Anyways, let''s take a look¡­ We''re here in Sachiru town, and general Denato invited me over to Mitana city, which is over here. Border Town is 100 kilometers south of us, so if this map was drawn to scale, then our destination is about 300 away. If we rent extra horses, then we can probably make it there in a little over a day."


    "Are we making stops?"


    "Well, I don''t want to be on the road the entire time, and the horses might hate me if I decide on that, so I think we can make a stop here, in Dasota town where this big river starts. After that, we can travel along the river to get to Suva town, and finally cross the river to get to Mitana city. It''s almost a straight line, so I think we''ll be traveling at most an extra 40 or so kilometers. Does that sound fine with you, Amber?"


    "Yes."


    From the looks of it, Dasota was about 150 kilometers away, but requires traveling through a forest for about 30 kilometers, so it might take us an entire day. The rest of the path is on open terrain, so it should be much faster. We could have the spare horses pull the carriage for overnight travel to get to Suva, which was another 80 kilometers away, and then cover the remaining distance in about six hours since there seems to be a highway between Suva and Mitana. If everything goes well, I''ll be able to enjoy myself for a day and a half before needing to return home.


    "Could you go rent a large carriage and a few extra horses?"


    "Sure."


    Amber merrily trotted off somewhere, while I went upstairs to pack. After taking two changes of clothes and a few items for personal hygiene, I went downstairs to prepare some food rations. The food rations were probably unnecessary, but it was always a good idea to have some lying around in case we get hopelessly lost or stranded somewhere far away from a settlement.


    I thought about bringing one suitcase for everything, but figured Amber might not be happy about putting clean and dirty clothes in the same place for days, and about putting her clothes in the same container as mine, so I ended up putting all my items inside a small backpack and readied a rucksack to put the food rations in. Amber could pack her stuff in another container.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    *   *   *   *   *


    "You want me to do what?"


    "Come with us to the southwestern province for four days."


    "But I-"


    "Here''s 50000 doviti. Don''t forget to bring some clothes or snacks or anything useful for the road. It''s going to be a long trip, after all."


    "Okay."


    According to Amber, the merchant group that rented our their large carriage and horses advised us to bring someone strong, or to travel in a large group. The towns on the road westwards were very far apart, so it would be hard to request help in a reasonable amount of time if our carriage broke down in the middle of the road. A porter of some sort was therefore needed to help transport our wares to another carriage or to the nearest town. Casath was the only strong person I knew of who would readily heed to my demands with a little bit of money, so I went all over town after the giant zombie left to tell him that we would depart the next morning.


    Casath and Hanung have been in charge of a delivery service in this town for almost a month now. They were reluctant at first since I forced them to work, but the two ended up enjoying the job quite a lot. Thanks to their service, the volume of orders and deliveries in town increased by several times, so I''m quite certain the two must have hired some helpers at some point. Casath leaving town for a few days probably won''t negatively affect the services in this town that much.


    Regarding their relationship, I originally thought that the two were friends, but it turns out Hanung was Casath''s half sister. I don''t know how this was even possible, since Casath was a reptilian with alligator-like traits, while Hanung was a harpy. Both of their races gave birth by laying eggs, but other than that, they didn''t have much else in common. Well, I really don''t want to know how two siblings could be of different races, anyways, and some things were better off unexplained. Probably.


    In exchange for a couple beers and a small cut of the profits, I left a crate of potions with the shopkeeper next door to sell for me during the time I was away. Turns out the townsfolk weren''t too happy when I was dragged to the battlefield two weeks prior: most of my repeat customers had trouble meeting their needs at night without my vitality potions. The zombie ogre was still supposed to pick up one more shipment of supplies tomorrow, so I asked for my neighbor''s permission to store the twelve crates in his shop, as well.


    And with that, all my preparations for tomorrow''s departure were done¡­ I think.


    *   *   *   *   *


    Shortly after sunrise the next day, a carriage and a team of horses was brought to the front of my shop. We wanted to reach Dasota town as soon as possible, so Amber and I were already awake and quickly tossed our items onto the back of the carriage. After tying ropes between the back of the carriages and the spare horses, we departed towards the town''s west gate.


    Our luggage was just two backpacks and one knapsack of food rations, which needless to say hardly took up any space. The carriage was tall enough that I could comfortably stand upright, and while it was not as wide as it was long, there was enough space for me to lie down in a spread eagle position without touching the sides. Some might say that renting such a large carriage was a big waste of money, but I wanted to ride as comfortably as possible. In a trip expected to take at least a day, I wanted to be able to lie down and sleep at times. Besides, Casath was joining us, too, and he''s about one and a half times my size, so it''s not like I was going to let all this free space go to waste.


    In any case, I had no idea where Casath took residence in this town, so I told him to wait for us at the town''s west gate. Let''s hope that he didn''t oversleep.


    *   *   *   *   *


    "You''re coming along, too?"


    "Yes!"


    Hanung was also waiting at the gate with Casath. I suspected she might have wanted to come along after seeing her carry her own bag, and it became more obvious when that harpy hopped onto the carriage after Casath did.


    "Just so you know, since I hired only Casath for this trip, you''re responsible for your own travel expenses."


    "That''s fine, the money you gave him yesterday is more than enough."


    "Alright, I guess there''s no problem with you coming along."


    She''s just an oversized bird, so I can probably get her to perch on top of the carriage if I find the inside too cramped. That might have sounded a little rude, but I''m sure she won''t complain since she owes me a favor after I got her a job to erase most of her debts.


    And so, what was supposed to be a three-person trip ended up being one with four people on a lightly loaded horse-drawn carriage.


    Oddly enough, Casath knew how to steer a carriage, so I had him hold the reins outside, while Amber, Hanung, and I sat inside. I was still a little bit drowsy from having to wake up early, so I decided to lie down and rest, while Amber and Hanung chatted with each other to pass the time.


    After closing my eyes, I think I got about ten minutes of rest before hearing some shouting.


    "Wow, the view here is great!"


    Having decided that sitting around was too boring, Hanung apparently took off and flew around in circles about fifty meters above the carriage. She seemed to be excited about having an unobstructed view of the vast plains outside of town.


    "Aren''t you normally able to fly outside of town?"


    I found it odd how she was so excited about flying around, so I stuck my head out of the carriage and shouted up to her. Harpies could fly around quite fast, so taking a short trip outside town wouldn''t be an issue for someone like her. The merchants in town weren''t pestering the two about their debts anymore, so it was perfectly acceptable to have her take a leisurely flight every now and then. Yet, she was acting as though this was the first time she flew outside of town.


    "Um¡­ About that¡­"


    With a somewhat awkward look on his face, Casath turned to me to talk about his strange half sister. Ever since they were young, the two would almost always do every activity together, so they had a decent level of mental attachment. Such mental attachment from Hanung grew a bit too much after the two left their hometown, and it was found that the harpy girl would become so paranoid upon prolonged separation from Casath that she would suffer from anxiety and slight amnesia. As such, Hanung would never fly for leisure since her half brother could neither fly nor keep up with her movement speed, and she would also never let Casath leave her sight.


    Being such a nice brother, Casath never complained directly to Hanung about her behavior, but he sighed and told me how he wished he could have just one full day to himself without getting bothered by Hanung every fifteen minutes.


    "Well, at least you''ll never have to worry about being alone."


    "¡­"


    Casath gave a long sigh in response to my joking remark.


    A few minutes later, Hanung flew back down, landed on top of the carriage, and jumped back inside. She complained that it wasn''t fun without friends up in the sky with her, but I had a feeling she only came back because she had stayed away from Casath for longer than she could endure¡­


    Some time later, a forest entered our view.  If I remember correctly, then we would need to cross through about 30 kilometers of forest roads, then Dasota town would be 20 kilometers away if we successfully leave at the forest''s westernmost edge. I opened my backpack to take out the regional map that Amber got yesterday, then unfolded it to find information about the forest.


    "Let''s see¡­ Amber, what does this say?"


    "Just keep going straight."


    "That''s all? Nothing else?"


    "That''s it."


    "¡­"


    There were no charted roads around the forest area on the map. The only instruction written at that section was "just keep going straight," according to Amber. I hope that means that the road won''t twist and wind much.


    I looked around the map for a little while longer, and found that every single wooded area had no charted roads. It was as if the cartographer was a birdbrain who exclusively remained airborne while drawing the map, and thus never bothered figuring out what was under all the view-blocking trees.


    Well, it was nice to know that there was an upcoming change in scenery, at least. I was getting bored of seeing endless patches of grass already. Since the two horses up front had already been pulling us for five hours, we switched them with the two spare ones travelling behind so they could relax themselves a bit right after reaching the forest entrance.


    The bright forest had a colorful layer of petals on the ground. As the golden sunlight permeated through the treetops, the foliage was dyed a warm yellow color, making the forest look like the inside of a treasure mound full of gold and colorful gems. The path we were traversing through seemed to be rarely taken, as there were very few tread marks on the soil. Perhaps because of that reason, however, the sounds of nature could be enjoyed to the fullest. The rustling of leaves, the chirping of birds, and the flow of small streams could all be clearly heard, for there was no interference from other travelers. Small wild animals, not accustomed to seeing travelers on this forest road, could be seen lurking in nearby trees and bushes with curious gazes directed at us strange large creatures, then continuing with their activities once we passed by. It was currently halfway through spring, and the forest was as lively as one would expect.


    One small thing bothered me, though. Why has every place I''ve gone to been so peaceful? I thought that this place the Demon King''s territory meant that there would be some disarray or chaos somewhere, but so far the public order has been much better than when I was back in Kitrod.


    "We have law and order here too, you know."


    "Hm?"


    "If we didn''t, the kingdom would have collapsed long ago."


    As though Amber knew what I was thinking, she suddenly spoke up.


    "¡­and it''s hard for others to revolt when one rules with an iron fist, anyways."


    "I''m sorry, did you say something?"


    I felt like she said something important just now, but it was hard to hear since she muttered quietly.


    "Oh, don''t mind me. I was saying you might get to see some rowdiness in the eastern provinces."


    "Sounds like I should avoid going to those places."


    "You''ll be safe, thanks to your personal connections, though."


    "Is that so? Maybe I''ll visit one of those provinces in our next break, then."


    In any case, it was blissful to be able to enjoy nature like this. Back in Kitrod, forests would be the ideal grounds for monsters to live in as there was an ample amount of food, and inexperienced adventurers trying to hone their skills would often fall prey to monsters they could not defeat. Traveling in small groups like we were currently doing would have been considered an extremely stupid idea.


    Here, the facts were the exact opposite: the so-called "monsters" were just larger and stronger than normal monsters that were raised for meat but managed to escape from farms somehow. They wanted to stay as far away as possible from the demon king territory out of fear of getting captured and brought back for butchering, and thus could hardly ever be found in the wild except when resting on their way down south. It was somewhat strange how such docile farm animals would turn into ferocious beasts after going south, but since these creatures had to cross the dragon infested great mountains that served as a natural border, nobody ever bothered investigating the cause out of fear of losing their lives in that nearly impassable place, and also because there was no merit in an investigation that would benefit the war enemy. It is therefore assumed that either the dragons living in those mountains or some mysterious artifact would bestow unnatural powers upon the farm animals when they cross the border, or something bizarre like that.


    "There''s something over there."


    We were probably about 15 kilometers deep in the forest when Casath noticed a shadow ahead.


    "Is that¡­ a little girl?"


    As we got closer, we could see a small demihuman sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree. Based on the tattered one-piece dress the person was wearing, I assumed that it was a girl. She was a Jackal, a race of people with human-like bodies and canine-like faces, tails, and short fur; in the case of the girl ahead of us, she had a wolf-like face and tail, and her fur was dark gray in color. She had a distressed look on her face, and her clothes were covered in dirt, suggesting that she was likely stranded or was trying to hide from something.


    To avoid startling her, Casath stopped the carriage about 30 meters away. Amber was the first to jump out of the carriage, and she signaled for me to come along with her.


    "She looks injured, so we might need your help."


    "I sell potions that heal people. I don''t perform the healing myself."


    "Just come¡­"


    Accelerated healing spells were advanced water or holy spells, which none of us could use. It would have been sufficient to have just Amber check up on that little girl, but I got off the carriage anyways since she kept insisting.


    "Don''t run! We''re here to help!"


    The girl shivered a bit and looked like she was about to run away from fear upon noticing us walk towards her, so Amber tried to calm her down from the distance. Thankfully, she remained put, and we quickly reached where she was sitting.


    "Are you okay?"


    "Sniff¡­ I''m hurt."


    She was on the verge of crying.


    "What happened?"


    "I¡­ We¡­ sniff¡­ got attacked."


    "By what?"


    "Scary things! Waaah!"


    As she suddenly cried out loud, Amber tried to comfort her by lightly patting her.


    Casath and Hanung eventually came over to check up on the distressed little girl. I was going to comment on how at least one of them should stay and keep an eye on our horses, but right now didn''t seem like an appropriate time.


    "Well, I don''t see anything scary around here."


    "But¡­ but¡­"


    "Don''t worry. The scary thing you saw probably moved somewhere far away already."


    After a few more sniffles, the girl stopped crying and soon calmed down.


    "So, can you tell us what you got attacked by?"


    Had the girl not been crying earlier, we probably would have noticed the rustling sounds that kept coming closer and closer to us.


    "Bandits."


    Because of that, we failed to notice that a group of people was targeting us. Several nets were thrown on top of us as a dozen bandits jumped down from the trees or out of the bushes.

 18 - Hungry?

    Bandits.


    The possibility of encountering these people never came to my mind.


    Back in Kitrod, nobody in their right minds would ever think about living in the wilderness where strong monsters roamed rampant. Here in Badoth territory, the creatures found in forests were relatively harmless, so there was almost no risk for bandits to camp out in the wild. Come to think of it, this wide forest that spanned about 30 kilometers was quite an ideal spot for the bandits to live in, since it was quite easy to hide from any pursuing authorities. I don''t think anyone would ever want to go look for these bandits, though. The forest was far away, and most normally go around it.


    "Hey! Let me go! Or at least put me together with Casath!"


    "Shut up! Quit chirpin'' or I''ll kill ya!"


    After being netted by the bandits, they took us deeper into the forest so that other travelers, if there were any in the first place, wouldn''t know that there were bandits nearby and would drop their guards. Hanung wasn''t quite happy about being placed 10 meters away from her half brother.


    Regarding that little girl we tried to help out earlier: it turns out she was actually 20 years old, and was the leader of the bandit group. She only looked petite because of either poor nutrition or because she was born that way. Counting her, there were thirteen bandits in total, eleven of whom were keeping watch over us, while the girl and another bandit were leading the horse-drawn carriage towards where we were taken.


    "That little girl¡­ A bandit¡­ But she looked so innocent¡­ How¡­"


    Amber seemed to be shaken by the fact that the seemingly innocent little girl was nothing like she imagined, and had been mumbling in disbelief for the past ten or so minutes.


    As for Casath, he was constantly struggling to break free, so ten of the bandits ganged up on him a while ago and knocked him out cold.


    I suddenly had a thought about how my travel companions were acting like problem children in this situation. Why couldn''t you all stay calm like me? There''s no point trying to escape or resist right now, since there''s no help around in this nearly empty forest.


    "Oi, there''s nothin'' good in here!"


    The carriage was brought over a few minutes later, and it seemed like the Jackal girl wasn''t happy with what was inside. Apart from our few bags of clothes and food rations, there was nothing of value at all.


    "We were planning on resupplying as soon as we got to a town. There''s nothing valuable on us other than the 60000 doviti inside my wallet. You can find that in my robe''s front left pocket.


    "Blaze?"


    Amber seemed to have finally broken out of her trance of disbelief and turned her head over to look at me, puzzled by what I just said.


    "Ya tryin'' to trick us?"


    "No, not at all. You''ll be searching us sooner or later, so I might as well save you the trouble."


    "Heh¡­ I think I''m startin'' to like ya."


    "I didn''t give the girls any money, so you won''t need to search them. That reptilian probably has some money on him, though. I gave him quite a sum yesterday."


    Having heard what I said, another bandit started searching Casath''s pockets and soon found a moderate stack of paper money.


    "Yer quite cooperative."


    "Well, what else am I supposed to do? There''s nobody else in this section of the forest, so I can''t really scream for help, anyways."


    "Blaze!"


    Some of the bandits chuckled after my response, while Amber seemed to be quite bothered. I''m fully aware that making it known that we were currently alone was a stupid thing to do, since as long as there was the possibility of other people being nearby, they would be wary of their surroundings and hesitant to kill us, since we could be used as hostages.


    "Why are you telling them all this?!"


    "We''re traveling along in an empty forest, and the people who know where we''re going already know that we''ll be away from town for four days, so they won''t be searching for us for a while. I can''t stall these bandits for that long, you know."


    "You could at least resist!"


    "How? Think about it. Casath is unconscious. Hanung can''t run away on her own since she''ll freak out as soon as she''s separated from Casath. Your magic doesn''t work on females, so this Jackal girl is immune and would probably slit your throat if you try to do anything. Basic magic won''t be effective against this many enemies, so I can only use intermediate and advanced magic. But we''re inside a forest, so if I use my fire-type spells, it''ll probably kill not just these bandits but all of us as well. Trying to resist seems pointless to me."


    "They might kill us eventually though!"


    "I don''t really care about Casath and Hanung since they''re just hired help. I do care about you losing your life, but we''ve only known each other for a month, so I''m sure I''ll get over it quickly. Besides, if I''m going to die eventually with no way to escape, then I don''t want to trouble myself with being worried about my final moments. I''d rather think happy thoughts and pass on peacefully."


    "Don''t you cherish your friends?"


    "Friends? What are you talking about? You three never even hang out with me. I''m always at the town pub drinking alone or with other merchants. If anything, I think of you three as acquaintances, so I''m not that emotionally attached to you all."


    "That''s what you think of us? Jerk!"


    "Hey. I''m a merchant who treats his customers nicely with respect, you know. The problem is you three never buy any of my stuff, so of course I''d treat you differently."


    "You heartless, cruel bastard!"


    I never thought I would ever see Amber be this angry. She was always such a cheerful and carefree girl. I guess moments of crisis like these really do bring out the unseen sides of people.


    Regarding what she called me just now, I don''t think that was necessarily true. I''m just brutally honest about my thoughts and feelings, I think.


    "Bahaha! Yer funny!"


    As though too amused by my words completely atypical of someone in distress and Amber''s bickering, the Jackal girl and her fellow bandits were all laughing.


    "Tell ya what, I''ll let ya go since ya amused us."


    "Really? Thanks. See, Amber, being honest has its benefits."


    "Fine, I''ll be honest about my thoughts too! I hope you die slowly and painfully, you¡­ you¡­ scum!"


    "You''re running out of bad words to address me as already?"


    "Shut up!"


    Amber really looked like she was ready to claw my eyes out at any moment. I thought her face actually looked cute when it was all red like this, though. Meanwhile, several members of the bandit group were holding their stomachs and laughing. A while later, the bandits freed me from their net and pointed towards where I should go to get out of here.


    "Thanks. By the way, is it possible to let Amber go as well? She''s valued by my employer, so it might leave a bad impression if I let her get killed here."


    "What?"


    "You can keep the other two, though, since they have no relationship with my employer and won''t affect me in any way. He might not think fondly of me if Amber tells him what happened later on, but I think he''ll probably forgive me, given the situation."


    "Like hell I''d want to go with you now! You can just hang out alone! I''d rather stay here and die!"


    Wow, I''m asking nicely to have her freed, and she doesn''t even want that to happen.


    "On second thought, she might claw me to death if you let her go now, so could you probably let her go when I''m far away? Also, you might want to think about turning the other two into slave workers. They''re the best known couriers in our town, so I''m sure they''re very fit for the job."


    "Fine."


    "Well, it''s probably unlikely for me to get the carriage back since it''s worth so much money, but could I at least have my staff back? It''s practically worthless, but I have a lot of fond memories with it. You can also have someone follow me to make sure I don''t use any magic."


    I don''t really have fond memories of it, but I do at least want something that can protect me in case I somehow get ambushed or attacked again in this forest.


    The bandits were hesitant at first, but eventually gave me my staff back. To make them feel at ease, I tied it to my back so that it couldn''t be used as a weapon. The nearest town from here was Dasota, which was probably 40 kilometers west from here, so I headed towards that direction. As for whether or not I can actually walk that far on my own, well, I''ll figure that out when I''m out of here. I stopped after taking a few steps and turned back towards the bandits when something came to mind.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "By the way, are any of you hungry?"


    "Huh?"


    "The only food rations I brought along was some jerky and biscuits, which aren''t really that appetizing. It''s probably around two o''clock right now, and I''m surrounded by all kinds of exotic food ingredients in this forest, so I figured I might as well make a late lunch for everyone here."


    "Ya got a screw loose or something?"


    "Well I do get told that quite frequently, but I don''t think I do. I just figured that I might as well have a meal here before leaving, since it''s a very long walk to Dasota town, and I''d probably be famished by the time I arrive. Might as well make it a large meal as thanks for you all letting me go."


    "You crazy moron!"


    Ah, so Amber did have more bad vocabulary to address me as.


    "I''ll even taste the food several times while cooking if you''re worried about me doing something."


    "¡­Okay?"


    The bandits exchanged confused looks with one another, then reluctantly agreed to my offer. On the Jackal girl''s command, half the group split up to retrieve pots, pans, utensils, water, and firewood. The girl herself and one other bandit went with me to help gather food ingredients, while five stayed behind to keep watch over their captives and the carriage.


    *   *   *   *   *


    "Hey."


    "What?"


    "I understand that you don''t trust me yet, but do you really need to be this close?"


    As though worried that I might take out my staff to do something unwanted, the Jackal girl kept her distance uncomfortably close to my left elbow so that she could quickly respond to any sudden movements I make. The bandit that followed along mirrored her by keeping close to my right elbow.


    It was bothersome enough that I was losing personal space, but I felt more bothered by the fact that I could occasionally feel the girl''s breathing on my left hand. I''d feel so much better if her nose was at a taller height¡­


    "What''s your name, by the way?"


    "Weren''t ya complainin'' about bein'' close?"


    "I was bothered by the lack of physical distance between us, not by our relationship. Besides, aren''t you bothered by being called a ''little girl'' even though you''re already 20 years old?"


    "¡­Name''s Lica."


    And so, Lica and the other bandit continued making me feel uncomfortable as we walked around the forest. I occasionally asked the two to give me a little more personal space, but they kept ignoring my request.


    *   *   *   *   *


    Cooking food was, in some sense, similar to crafting potions: as long as one follows the recipe and preparation instructions correctly, then the final product should be something good.


    Come to think of it, since I was currently gathering exotic ingredients in a forest that people rarely ever use for cooking, this was probably more like a planned medicinal trial. Rumor has it that people long ago would test out different plants and potions on prisoners in order to determine which were harmful, and which were beneficial to our health.


    Of course, with my life currently on the line, I couldn''t make myself the subject of such risky experimentation. Given my knowledge as an alchemist, however, I think I should be able to make reasonable guesses as to what is considered safe, and how each item would contribute to the overall taste of what I was going to cook.


    "Ya going to poison us?"


    "I told you that I would be taste testing it several times, remember? I obviously won''t be cooking something that would make me die."


    Lica didn''t seem to be happy about the fact that I was picking a large quantity of mushrooms. To be fair, it''s not like every type of mushroom with a volva or vivid colors was poisonous. Some types of mushrooms imitate the appearance of poisonous ones in order to lower their chances of being eaten by other creatures.


    "Aren''t those dangerous?"


    Now the other bandit seemed to be bothered by how I was picking out some wild berries.


    "Well, I can understand that you''re wary, since blueberries look similar to pokeberries. Then there''s also the fact that tomatoes are nightshade plants, so it has plenty of similar looking toxic relatives in the wild. But trust me, I know what I''m doing."


    All kinds of berries can be found growing in the wild, but many of them were very poisonous despite their juicy and delicious appearances. I have absolute confidence in my ability to discern between the poisonous and non-poisonous types of berries, though¡­ I think.


    "Ya ever have suicidal thoughts?"


    "That''s not a nice question to ask. But yes, I did have those kinds of thoughts. That was a couple years ago, though. I''m quite happy with my life right now."


    The two bandits looked at each other with a doubtful gaze.


    "I used to be poor and debt-ridden, but now I have a good home and career in a nice town, so I haven''t thought about giving up on life at all."


    They really seemed to be bothered by how I was picking some random wild plant leaves and herbs right now. I wouldn''t blame them, really, since poisonous plants often had compound leaves that were divided into three leaflets, like the ones I was picking out right now.


    Nonetheless, I knew what I was doing¡­ probably.


    *   *   *   *   *


    Back where the rest of the bandits were waiting, all the preparations seemed to have been finished.


    There was an ample amount of water and firewood, and several large pots and pans were lined up. Apparently a deer also passed by and was quickly hunted down. I really didn''t want to stain my hands with blood, so I asked the bandits to butcher it while I prepared everything else.


    First, I washed off the dirt from the mushrooms and rinsed the berries, herbs, and plants.


    Next, I sliced the mushrooms and threw them onto the pans. There wasn''t any butter or cooking oil around, so I asked for some of the deer fat in order to saute the mushrooms.


    While the mushrooms were being fried, I put water filled pots onto the cooking fire to boil.


    I then set the half cooked mushrooms aside and began squeezing out the juice from the berries, adding that juice to the pots of water.


    As the water was heating up, I asked for some of the butchered deer meat to be brought over, cut it into small cubes, added it to the pans of mushrooms, and continued sauteing.


    Later, I added the saute into the pots of water in order to make a nice stew, and added some of the jerky from my food rations since there was no salt for seasoning.


    Half the herbs and plants were ground with the berry flesh into a fragrant paste that added color to the stew, while the other half was finely chopped up for use as garnish.


    To ensure a good flavor, I tasted the stew several times during the forty-five minutes it took to cook, while the bandits were busy roasting the deer meat.


    "There''s no bread to enjoy this stew with, so let''s use the crackers I brought instead."


    When the stew was done cooking, I divided it into large bowls. A small amount of crackers and garnish was added on top of each bowl, and the remainder was set aside for anyone who wanted to add more on their own.


    Since the bandits were probably planning on killing off my travel companions eventually, I told them to just leave the three alone and make them watch us eat.


    It was a pleasantly delicious stew that had the strong aroma of the herbs and plants, and a faint gamy smell from the fresh deer. One could taste the mild sweetness of the berries and the rich fat flavor of the sauteed deer meat and mushrooms amidst the light saltiness added by the jerky. The liquid stew was accompanied by the crunchiness of the crackers that were filled with flavor after absorbing some of the stew, and the refreshing taste of the garnish.


    The meal was delicious enough that all the bandits quickly wolfed down their food in order to get seconds, and even thirds. I didn''t eat much since I had already tasted a fair amount earlier.


    We had an enjoyable time eating, chatting, and laughing together while ignoring Amber and Hanung who were glaring daggers at me. It was quite a shame that all the stew ran out after about half an hour.


    *   *   *   *   *


    There was so much chatting going on that none of the bandits noticed me chanting a spell at some point during those thirty minutes, and that I had sneakily untied the strings on my back to let my staff fall onto the ground. After figuring that it was now an appropriate time, I picked up my staff and quickly used a speed boosting buff on myself.


    A couple bandits stood up and drew out their weapons in response. Their movements were slow, however, and they could not dodge the incoming swings of my staff. The others tried to get up and draw out their weapons as well, but they were either quickly struck down or were already too weak and sluggish to do so. Those sluggish ones didn''t even get a chance to stand up: they just hit the ground without even getting hit.


    Over the next minute or two, Amber and Hanung looked in shock as all of the bandits eventually collapsed onto the ground, several of whom were curled up into a ball and shivering, while the rest were holding onto their stomachs and groaning in pain.


    I have never been so glad about my staff having the enchantment of "chance to avoid food poisoning" until this very moment.


    Regarding what I said earlier while picking ingredients, I knew exactly what I was doing. There was a dangerously high amount of pokeberries, horse nettle, wild cherries, poison oak, wisteria, false morels, fly agaric, and several more things that shouldn''t be ingested inside the stew. Because of that, I had no doubt that all the bandits would all collapse from food poisoning after consuming multiple servings. I was careful enough to only ingest small amounts during the cooking process and ate the finished stew as slowly as possible to minimize the amount I took in, but I was still feeling a little uneasy even with my staff''s weird enchantment.


    Nonetheless, the risk I took worked out in the end, and I freed my three companions from their nets after confirming that all of the bandits were unable to do anything.


    "Well, um¡­ Sorry for taking so long."


    "¡­"


    To be honest, I only planned on trying to get just Amber out of this mess. The fact that all three of my traveling companions survived the ordeal was unexpected. Oh well, at least they''ll view me more favorably now.


    Figuring that I could probably get some value out of turning the bandits in, and also in part because I didn''t want to be considered a mass murderer, I had Amber and Hanung assist me in prying all of their mouths open, sitting them up, and pressing down on the back of their tongues to trigger a gag reflex so that they could throw up any amount of the stew still inside their stomachs.


    There were some nettle leaves among the plants I harvested earlier, so I quickly ground them up and added water to them, then poured the mixture down each of the bandits'' throats. Nettle was a natural laxative, so the toxins in their bodies should hopefully get flushed out before their bodies could absorb them.


    As a precaution, I also forced myself to throw up and also took some of the laxative. Poisoning caused by consuming mushrooms, plants, and berries was often incurable, but preventative measures like what I did could be taken in order to lower the risk of death.


    Whether or not the bandits actually survive was entirely dependent on how much their bodies could endure, and how much of the toxins their bodies could flush out. They were still writhing in pain, but to a much lesser degree than before thanks to the measures I took. It was likely that most of them, if not all, would survive and recover in a week or so, and that I wouldn''t be labeled as someone who mass murdered thirteen people.


    There was still a fair amount of roast deer left, so Amber, Hanung, and I ate some to fill out stomachs and saved the rest for whenever Casath woke up. Because of all the badmouthing earlier, our meal was awkwardly quiet, as we were all too embarrassed to say anything.


    When we finished, I cast a strength boosting spell on the three of us so that we could pick up and throw Casath onto the carriage. We couldn''t fit all of the bandits on board, so we threw four on the carriage, tied two to the roof, hanged one on each of the sides of the two spare horses, and had the remaining ones dragged on the ground by a rope. I don''t know why the bandits brought over some sacks earlier, but we did carefully wrap the bandits dragged on the ground with those to reduce the drag. Maybe they kept their pots and pans inside of those sacks or something.


    With Casath still out cold, Amber was now in charge of steering the carriage.


    Estimated time until arrival in Dasota town: three hours.

 19.1 - Honey (1)

    "¡­Sorry about the bad name calling earlier."


    Having finally decided that the silence was too unbearable, Amber broke the silence once we reached the edge of the forest.


    "It''s okay, I didn''t take it to heart. Sorry for pissing you off earlier."


    "You did it for a good reason, so I forgive you."


    I should keep it a secret that I was only aiming to get Amber out somehow. I didn''t really care about the other two.


    "Well I''m glad you kept Casath alive! I''d go insane if he died!"


    With such a carefree attitude, Hanung leapt onto my back and hugged me. I didn''t even think there was space for her to do that in this carriage, given how we stuffed it full of almost unconscious bandits, but apparently she was able to do it anyways.


    Her hug felt surprisingly comfortable - her feathers made it feel like I was being wrapped in a warm soft blanket. She was also surprisingly light, so I didn''t feel like she would break my back or anything.


    "Achoo!"


    The only downside was that she was too large, so a lot of her feathers kept tickling my face, so my nose got a little bit irritated. She let go of me after I sneezed, which made me slightly disappointed. I wanted to enjoy that feathery hug a little more, but was too hesitant to ask.


    "The things you said earlier¡­ You didn''t really mean it, did you?"


    "The stuff I said about not caring about any of you three?"


    "Yes¡­ You have a tendency to bluntly state what''s on your mind."


    "Well¡­ It''s not wrong to say that what I said wasn''t a lie."


    "Should I call you a heartless jerk again?"


    "I might lack emotional attachments to you all, but since you''re working as my shop assistant and the other two are hired help, I do still feel some responsibility towards keeping you all safe."


    "I don''t know if I should feel annoyed or relieved over what you just said."


    "Well, I''ll let you think whatever you want to think. As for me, I''m going to lie down and rest now. Wake me up when we reach Dasota town."


    "¡­"


    There was just barely enough space left for me to lie down and doze off. There was still a somewhat awkward atmosphere between us, given the events that took place earlier, so the two girls just left me alone. Amber and Hanung just idly chatted during the couple hours it took for us to get to our destination.


    *   *   *   *   *


    The town of Dasota was at the base of a tall mountain where the long West river started flowing. Ignoring the poor naming sense the people here had for landmarks, the river with its countless turns and bends was estimated to be over 900 kilometers long, and it had a width of 30 to 50 meters and a depth of 8 to 12 meters at most parts. The river flowed all the way to the ocean, provided fresh water to and connected several towns and cities in its path, and had a gentle current that allowed going upstream with ease, so it was of strategic and economic importance to the people in the southwestern and western provinces.


    Strong residents were thus needed to protect the river from harm, although I had no idea what sort of harm could even come to it in the first place. Conveniently, Dasota town had suitable conditions for large flower meadows to grow, so there was an abundance of insects and bees here. As a result, almost all residents of this town were either harpies or Ursines, a race of large and muscular bear-like people. The Ursines, in addition to their duty of protecting the river''s source up in the mountains, mainly produced honey for the kingdom by harvesting the overabundant beehives in town. The harpies assisted with hunting harmful insects and animals that might jeopardize the honey trade, and also helped the Ursines by patrolling the skies around the river upstream to identify potential threats. Again, I had no idea what sort of threats would even be present here.


    I imagined this place as being where Hanung came from, but the lack of reptilians in town, as well as Hanung and Casath''s denial suggested otherwise. Apparently, their homeland was in the east.


    Despite this place being called a town, it was more like a village with a relatively small population of around five hundred. Because of the large stature of its Ursine residents, and the fact that the harpies could move about quickly, the buildings in this village were large and spaced very far apart, giving the impression that the village was much larger than it actually was. As the population was so low, an organized governance system was not necessary, so the person in charge of the town was the town elder, who was automatically regarded as the village chief, and was assisted by a group of volunteers that helped keep the peace in town.


    We were stopped by some of the patrolling Ursines when we arrived in Dasota. They were wary of us at first due to the heavy load we had, but they recognized a few of the bandits since they matched descriptions given by travelers whose parties got raided by them that came to town. Seeing how they were nicely subdued, he quickly opened up to us and greeted us very warmly.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    The village chief was nearby, so we were taken to him. As we didn''t have any particular reason to keep the bandits around, we left them with the chief and his peacekeeping volunteers unconditionally. What will happen to them was of no concern to us, so we didn''t bother asking whether they''d become slaves, prisoners, or something else.


    Given how they had been causing trouble in the forest for years, however, there was most likely some sort of bounty on the bandits'' heads. While none of us requested a reward for their capture, the chief felt that receiving some bounty targets unconditionally would be unfair to us, and insisted that we stay in town while they go through a pile of documents to determine how much we should be rewarded. I declined the monetary offers, but because of the chief''s insistence, we settled on accepting an ample amount of honey-based products this town was known for, and on touring the town''s workshops instead. It probably wasn''t a bad idea to rest here for a few hours, anyways, since the horses had been on the road for almost half a day already.


    *   *   *   *   *


    "¡­And this is where we process beehives. The wax and honey we obtain from them gets sent to all the other workshops in town."


    While only around half a dozen Ursine workers were in this workshop, there was a literal mountain of hundreds of beehives piled up in the center of the place.


    "Wouldn''t the number of beehives eventually deplete if you''re harvesting this many?"


    "The meadows are too vast, and the bees have no predators here other than the harpy residents, so more beehives are being created than we can harvest."


    "Would they even replenish if you brought the hives as a whole back, though?"


    "We try to leave the part of the hive with the queen intact on the trees, so the hives can restore themselves eventually."


    Now that he mentioned it, several hives did have slightly odd and dented shapes.


    The chief then suddenly pointed at one of the workers.


    "Now, watch as one of our workers cuts a hive open to collect the honey inside."


    The Ursine worker used a machete-like tool in his hand to cut the hive he was holding, about five centimeters from the bottom. As the bottom chunk of the hive fell into the vat he set below, a thick golden liquid dripped down from where the cut was made. Once the honey stopped dripping down, the worker made another cut into the hive, about five centimeters from the previous cut, and another stream of honey came out of the cut.


    By the time the worker began his third cut, the afternoon sun shone through the windows of the workshop, illuminating the hive he was working on. Under the gentle sunshine, the third flow of honey glistened brightly, making it look as though a stream of gold was coming into the vat. Such a mesmerizing sight looked rather mouth-watering.


    "I can''t help but notice that the honey from each hive seems to have a slightly different color."


    "Ah, yes, the flowers that the bees feed on make them produce different types of honey. Part of what makes our town''s honey so special is that every batch tastes slightly different."


    I hope ruined or bitter tasting honey wasn''t mixed into each batch.


    "Oh? What''s this?"


    It was typical for a few bees to linger around a harvested hive, but one of the workers picked up a hive with too many bees flying around to count.


    "Seems like someone accidentally brought back a hive with a queen inside."


    As though not giving a care in the world about there being a swarm of bees inside, the worker Ursine unexpectedly sliced open the beehive he was holding. Sensing danger, I quickly grabbed Amber and Hanung''s arms and ran out of the workshop, dragging the two along.


    Damaging a beehive with a queen inside most likely meant that the swarm of worker bees would be provoked. The sight of the worker slicing open that beehive made me realize that the residents here had no idea what was considered safe for other races, since the Ursines and reptilians like Casath had such thick skin that the bees couldn''t sting them in the first place. As for harpies like Hanung, I was told they preyed on the bees themselves, so bee stings probably had little to no effect on them as well. Speaking of which, why did I drag Hanung with me?


    In any case, the bees that came out of the beehives naturally tried to attack their surroundings, but because everyone else was immune to them, the bees started chasing the three of us as we were running out. Since the workshop was built right on the West river''s bank, I was able to jump into the river with the other two in tow before the bees could reach us.


    Avoiding a bee attack by jumping into a river sounded like a great idea in theory. In practice, it was a completely different matter, since I never learned how to swim. Also, in the same manner as how cats hated water, Amber seemed to also be bothered by being submerged, and didn''t appear to know how to swim either. Hanung, on the other hand, was essentially a giant bird with waterproof feathers, and was so light that she couldn''t sink at all, even with the weight of Amber and I pulling her down. Thus, the harpy girl was our only lifeline in this ten-meter-deep section of the river.


    It was hard to recall what happened next since I was so close to fainting out of fear of drowning. What was certain was that about five minutes after we went into the river, Casath was able to bring all of us back on shore. Amber wanted to claw my eyes out, but was too tired to do so. Hanung had dozens of bee stingers stuck on her, but luckily she didn''t seem to be affected by the bee venom in any way. Apparently, being separated from Casath caused her to be so spaced out that she hardly even noticed the pain from getting stung in the first place.


    "Why did you even jump into the river?"


    "I wanted to keep us safe from the bees."


    "You could have just closed the workshop''s door after running outside¡­"


    "¡­Oh."


    Wow, I''m an idiot. The workshop''s windows weren''t even open, so closing the door after I dragged the other two outside would have prevented the bees from flying out.


    Needless to say, our tour of the honey collection workshop was cut short by this incident. Since Casath was the only one in our group who was fully immune to bee stings, the chief decided to cancel the visits to a couple more workshops where one would most likely encounter more bees.


    "Why don''t I show you the pastry workshop instead? They make very delicious honey cakes and cookies there."


    "Will there be bees there?"


    "It''s deep enough inside town that you won''t find any flying around."


    "That would be nice. Some pastries would be great for a late afternoon tea, I guess."


    And so, the chief led our group far away from where any bee could be found.

 19.2 - Honey (2)

    According to the village chief, the hands of Ursines were too large and rough, so delicate work like making pastries was done entirely by the resident harpies. The workshop was supposedly only twelve buildings away, but that meant a full kilometer walk from the honey harvesting facility because of how spaced out the structures here were.


    "Ah! It''s coming again! Save me!"


    The somewhat faint shout of a girl could be heard from one of the buildings we passed by.


    "Not this again¡­"


    The chief remained put and made such strange remark as the four of us ran towards where the desperate sounding scream came from.


    "Get them away from me! Please!"


    "Calm down, honey. Calm down. There''s nothing here¡­"


    Inside the house we ran to was an Ursine girl limping around with a strange posture, with her mother patting her back and trying to calm her down. The girl looked distressed; her eyes were red and wide open as she frantically turned her head left and right. The mother was fatigued, perhaps because she had been keeping watch of her daughter for an extended period of time without rest. While she noticed us coming in, she didn''t bother turning towards us to greet us.


    "Hello. I''m not in the mood to receive visitors, sorry."


    "We apologize for intruding your home. We thought something was wrong when we heard the desperate scream earlier¡­"


    "Ah! It''s coming again! Save me!"


    "No, nobody is coming. Calm down, honey. Why don''t you go lie down in bed?"


    The village chief eventually came in to explain the situation to us as we watched the mother trying to get her daughter to stay put.


    "This girl has been plagued with strange hallucinations, headaches, and a strange walking posture for about a week now."


    "Has anyone else had the same problem?"


    "None. Even her mother who has been by her side the entire time is fine."


    "That doesn''t sound like a normal disease¡­"


    "We requested a doctor from Suva town to come over, but even he was not able to tell what was wrong."


    "Perhaps she was poisoned?"


    "She''s too young to have made enemies here in town. It''s a small town, so everyone knows about each other''s relationships."


    "What about with outsiders?"


    "She usually patrols downstream with two other harpies, but they don''t recall her ever meeting anyone hostile."


    "And those two are still healthy?"


    "They are."


    "Would you mind if I felt her forehead?"


    "Go ahead."


    While they couldn''t use magic, the Ursines and other beastly races did have a small amount of mana that allowed them to enhance their physical strength through a passive means that they weren''t aware of. By putting my hand on her forehead, I was trying to detect if there was an abnormal flow of mana within her body. The lack of abnormalities suggested that she was not cursed, either.


    What a strange incident. It wasn''t a known disease, and wasn''t a poison either, since something strong enough to damage a bear-like creature like this girl would likely be very noticeable or have infected someone else as well.


    "Chief, I have a question."


    "What is it?"


    "It''s about the honey this town harvests. Does the honey ever come out bitter?"


    "Sometimes, yes."


    "Could you show me where to find the hives that produce that kind of honey?"


    "Certainly. Are you suspecting bitter honey is causing her to be sick?"


    "No, but I''d like to make a potion for her."


    Most bitter tasting plants had some sort of medicinal property to them. If the bees in this town could make bitter flavored honey, then that meant there was bound to be some bitter tasting plants in the area. I was hoping to find some willow trees, since the bark could potentially help her muscles and headaches, and perhaps some lavender flowers to deal with her anxiety.


    Worried that I''d get stung by bees, I made Casath come along while carrying a bucket of water. The chief said bees didn''t like getting their feet wet, so all I thought he would need to do is dump the water on me in the unlikely event that I did get attacked. Well, it''s not like we were going to be knocking on beehives, so it''s probably unlikely that any bees would get provoked in the first place. Hanung followed along since she couldn''t let herself be separated from Casath, and Amber joined as well since she didn''t want to be the only one left behind.


    "Yuck! This stuff is so bitter!"


    "That''s a wild blackberry¡­"


    I did specifically tell the three that I would be able to spot a willow tree if we encountered one in our path, and that lavender flowers were purple, but Hanung just decided to pluck anything she could find, especially if it looked close to being purple, and taste it to see if it was bitter or not. I tried stopping her on several occasions, but seeing how she somehow wasn''t poisoned by the wild berries and flowers, I gave up on that thought.


    Not too far away from town, we eventually stumbled upon a few willow trees. I was too lazy to cut out some of the bark, so I had Hanung act like a woodpecker and peck into several trees so I could collect the wood chips that fell down. Afterwards, we wandered around the flower meadows to pluck out some lavender, as well as a few other plants along the way, and came back right around sundown. Or rather, since there were too many bees in the meadows, I had Amber carry out that task with the other two, while I casually walked back to town alone. I don''t know why they readily agreed to let me ditch them like that.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    In the end, none of us had to be drenched in water, so I used the water in the bucket that Casath carried to brew something for the girl to drink. I wasn''t sure what the girl could possibly stomach, so I decided to make tea rather than a potion, since the liquid might be too thick for her to handle. To aid with digestion, I added in some peppermint that I collected earlier in the forest, and added a bit of honey so the drink wouldn''t be too bitter.


    "Please give this to your daughter. Try to feed her something, too. It might not be a good idea to only have her drink tea on an empty stomach, after all. I also left enough for one more pot of tea in the kitchen."


    "Thank you¡­"


    I set a pot of tea down on the bedside and left the Ursine mother alone with her daughter.


    "Excuse me chief, do you have any guest houses in this town?"


    "Ah, my apologies. We don''t have one, but you are all welcome to stay at my residence tonight."


    There was no guarantee that what I brewed would be able to make the young girl healthier, so I decided to stay in this town for at least a full day to observe the situation. There was also the problem that we had no food rations for the road, too, so I didn''t want to risk traveling without supplies even though it would only be a four or five hour trip on open fields to get to Suva town. It was already nighttime, after all, and I really didn''t think it would have been a good idea to travel so late with minimal preparations.


    *   *   *   *   *


    I expected the village chief''s residence to be fancy in some manner, but it was no different from other regular households. He lived in a house with two floors, with a living room, kitchen, and bathroom on the first floor. The second floor had three bedrooms and a common room. While I''d like to call this a modest home, the fact that it was bear-sized meant that everything was about twice as large as I was accustomed to seeing. This could very well be considered a small mansion in terms of size.


    The largest of three bedrooms was used by the chief and his wife, while the other two bedrooms were used by his two children. I insisted on having our group sleep on the large couches in the living room, but the chief''s children insisted on letting us use their two bedrooms while they would sleep over at their friends'' homes that night. For dinner, the chief treated us to a literal mountain of slow roasted honey-glazed meat, honey-baked potatoes, and honey-roasted vegetables for dinner. It seems like a lot of residents in this town had quite a sweet tooth, probably because of the abundance of honey¡­


    We idly chatted about various topics with the village chief''s family as the meal went on. Among the things we talked about was why despite being the eldest person in the village, the chief only had two children, neither of whom had their own children. As it turns out, the Ursines were behaviorally similar to wild bears, whereby they had children quite late in their lives and often had miscarriages. Because their attempts at having children were infrequent, and because the Ursines often gave birth to at most three cubs at a time, their population was always quite low, and living to see grandchildren was considered a miraculous event.


    The family apologized for not being able to accommodate all of us in single rooms, but I told them there was no need to worry about that, since the fact that everything was twice as large as what we used meant that the beds were large enough for two people to share. I initially wanted to have Casath and I in one room and the two girls in the other room, but Hanung absolutely could not bear being separated from her half-brother, so we ended up having Amber and I in one bedroom and the other two in the other bedroom. There wasn''t anything in particular we could do to pass the time, so I decided that I would call it a night early after taking a bath.


    "You know, a question just came to my mind. How come the three of you never seem to speak up when I make some sort of decision? We could have traveled on and reached Suva town before midnight if you three wanted to."


    "I''m your shop assistant, and the other two are hired help, so you''re the leader of the group."


    "I''d rather be considered equals with you three, though."


    "We don''t mind, anyways. We wouldn''t have had a lot of chances to go sightseeing like this if it wasn''t for you."


    "I see. Well, I guess I''ll go to sleep first. Have fun dividing up the bed. Wait¡­ what are you doing?"


    While it was understandable that Amber would want to put things on the bed to divide it in half, I was more curious as to why she was holding some rope.


    "Making sure you don''t do anything weird."


    "Aren''t you the one doing weird things, holding that rope?"


    "If I tie you up, then you can''t violate me."


    "Why would I even violate you?"


    "You thought about doing it before, so I don''t want to take any risks."


    "What are you talking about? When did I¡­ Right, I did think about that before, when the succubus broke into my room."


    "See, you didn''t even deny that! Now let me tie you up so you can''t do anything to me!"


    "Wait, wait! Hold on! I only had those thoughts because it would have been in a dream! I definitely don''t want to do anything to you in real life unless you consented!"


    We lived in the same house, after all, so I wouldn''t want to get her so mad that she would quit her job as my shop assistant. Still, I can''t believe she has that bad of an impression about what I would do at nighttime. I thought it was quite clear from the succubus incident a few weeks ago that I only wanted lewdness in my dreams.


    "Are you really not going to try to do anything?"


    "I promise I won''t. If I do end up doing inappropriate things, then feel free to tie me up for the rest of our trip. Now, please put the rope away."


    After a short moment of silence, Amber reluctantly stowed away the rope she was holding.


    "Anyways, have fun with whatever you''re doing. I''ll just go to sleep now."


    "It''s only 9 o''clock."


    I''m not even sure when Amber usually slept, but I normally went to bed at around 11 or 12, since bottling the daily shipments took quite a bit of time.


    "But I''m tired, after everything we''ve been through today. Goodnight."


    "¡­"


    I promptly tossed the blanket over my head, turned my body to the side facing away from the bed divider, and closed my eyes.


    *   *   *   *   *


    The next morning, I woke up with several scratch marks on my face, and it wasn''t because I did anything inappropriate. As a matter of fact, Amber tended to have vivid dreams and was very active in her sleep. Based on what she was saying while sleep-talking, it seemed like she dreamed of herself as a tiger trying to hunt some prey on an open field, with me being the prey.


    I thought about waking her up last night to complain, but felt that violently shaking her so late at night would have likely caused a misunderstanding, so I decided to go downstairs to sleep on a couch instead. What bothered me the most was that nobody, not even Amber herself, seemed to question why I had scratches on my face when they came downstairs later in the morning. They just casually walked into the dining room to enjoy a light meal before we departed for Suva town.


    "Um¡­ Excuse me¡­"


    The quiet voice of a young girl called out to us while we were having breakfast.


    "Oh? You''re the girl from yesterday."


    It was the formerly sickly girl, led inside by her mother and one of the chief''s children.


    "Yes¡­ Thank you for the medicine yesterday."


    I got up from my seat and walked over to the girl and her mother.


    "Are you feeling better already?"


    "I still have slight headaches and see some weird things, but the pain is light enough that I can keep myself calm, now."


    "Well I''m glad I was able to help. I''ll tell your mother how I brewed the drink you had yesterday, so you won''t need to worry about not having medicine after I leave town."


    "Thank you."


    The girl still looked a bit frail, but she was definitely in a much better condition than yesterday. Her mother thanked me profusely and gifted me a large fruit basket as thanks. I asked Casath to hold onto it since it was way too large and heavy for me to handle.


    I still felt troubled, though: the girl had some unknown health problem that could only be alleviated but not cured, it seems, and she was most likely going to pass away in a couple months if it were to get any worse. It''s probably best if I didn''t tell them that and let the girl enjoy what''s left of her life while she still can¡­

 20.1 - A Festival (1)

    After stocking up on more honey products than necessary, we continued travelling west. The road to Suva town was supposedly an 80-kilometer long trip on open fields, so we should be able to get there in about 4 or so hours, and the risk of encountering bandits or getting lost was next to zero as long as we followed the river. Assuming our carriage doesn''t break down, we can arrive at a little bit past one o''clock and have a late lunch there before departing again in the afternoon.


    Because of the vast area of flat prairies around Suva, the town''s most distinctive feature was the countless cattle ranches it had. Unlike regular cattle, however, the ones here were some strange breed that were at least twice the size of what I was accustomed to seeing. I couldn''t help but notice how they looked like extremely docile versions of "demonic bulls" that occasionally threatened towns back in Kitrod. In any case, all the ranches were fenced off, so we had to travel around them, thus delaying our arrival by a little bit. While the fences themselves were probably there to make sure the cattle from one ranch don''t wander off to another one, I wondered if they were actually useful in any way. After all, these fences were just flimsy wooden posts that were only at my chest level, yet the cows and bulls here had legs that were as long as I was tall.


    "What''s up with those cows?"


    Looking at the direction in which Amber pointed, I saw two cows with their hind legs folded and front legs standing. One was licking the fence continuously, while the other was making a walking motion with its front legs, but couldn''t actually move anywhere because the hind legs were on the ground and there was too much body weight to pull.


    "Um¡­ Maybe they''re just bored. Not much they can do when they''re constrained by these fences."


    "I agree. If I was locked in a bird cage, I''d go crazy at some point."


    While these stood out for acting differently than all the other cows, I didn''t know enough about livestock to determine whether this was considered normal or not. On our way to town, we spotted several other cows doing strange things while sitting or lying down, all of which made the girls giggle a bit because they "looked stupid," or so the girls said.


    Four and a half hours passed since our departure from Dasota town, and we finally reached Suva town without any abnormal incidents happening.


    The town''s population was around 5000 or so, with all residents being minotaurs, satyrs, or other bovine-like races. It probably made sense that there were bovine-like residents to take care of the cattle here, since they would probably best understand how to raise them. I did wonder about one thing, though: would minotaurs and satyrs, which were races with bull-like and goat-like features respectively, consuming beef and and goat meat be considered some form of cannibalism?


    Seeing how the town''s primary trade was in the sale of fresh meats and dairy products, however, I reckon the townsfolk never had that sort of troubling thought.


    The main street in this town was extremely wide, measuring around 16 meters across. Such a width was sufficient for letting up to seven large carriages like the one we were riding on run side by side without problems. I thought that this was an intentional design to make this town of relatively low population appear larger than it actually was, but the houses were not irregularly spaced out like in Dasota, so it was probably not the case.


    We stopped at an inn whose lower floor was used as a diner. The local specialty was barbecued meat that was grilled at the table, which could be enjoyed with some accompanying vegetables. As usual, I had no idea what was written on the menu, so I let Amber order all the food.


    "Are you all here for the big event?"


    The innkeeper''s daughter, who doubled as the waitress, asked as she brought out our drinks.


    "Big event?"


    "You didn''t know?"


    "Know what?"


    "Today''s the first day of the annual cattle festival!"


    "What?"


    Since we came to this place for a late lunch, all other patrons had already received their food or had left, leaving the waitress with relatively little work to do. Thus, the waitress idly chatted and explained to us about the cattle festival while we waited for our food to be ready. As the name suggested, this was an annual celebration lasting about three days, when the townsfolk would take part in activities honoring another year of success in their cattle related trade. For this first day of the event, ranchers all over town were going to parade their finest livestock in the wide streets in the early afternoon, and those same animals would be entered in a cattle beauty pageant later in the day.


    Other events scheduled for the festival included a cattle race, bullfighting, a milking competition, and so on. During this time, all meat and dairy products were heavily discounted since the people wanted to promote their own ranches and livestock quality. I couldn''t have asked for a better time to come to this town - I could now stock up on some food rations, other than the massive load of honey products that we got from Dasota town, at a very low cost. Heck, I could probably strike some deals and get rid of all this honey I was already not fond of by trading it away for some dried meats.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    What I couldn''t help but wonder, however, was whether this festival was even necessary in the first place. Tourism was a luxury most people couldn''t afford, especially when the towns and cities in this territory are so abnormally far apart, so most visitors in this town were travelling merchants. Apart from the heavily discounted goods, the festival activities themselves were probably not very interesting to those merchants. Maybe the townsfolk were just hosting it to have an excuse to slack off and goof around for a few days every year.


    I thought about heading straight for Mitana city after lunch, since it was supposedly a five or so hour ride that would get us there by dinner time, but the rest of the group wanted to stay and watch the festival events in the afternoon, so I gave in to their request. After giving Amber some spending money, I let her and the other two explore the town on their own, while I went to the marketplace.


    I ended up trading most of the free honey products we got for about 10 kilograms of dried and cured meats. The ranchers seemed to be fond of these items, since their cattle found it delicious.


    Additionally, I purchased about 2 or 3 kilograms of milk candy and other confectionery items, since they looked delicious. They did have a very fresh taste because the milk was produced locally when I sampled them, so I couldn''t help myself.


    There weren''t any entertainment facilities since this was a small countryside town, so I killed time by wandering around the market and eating the snacks sold there. The town hall''s bells eventually rang, signaling the start of the first festival event.


    The extremely wide main street was now filled with townsfolk who formed two long lines on each side. If I had to estimate, then probably half of the town was now gathered here to see the cattle walking through. It was hard to spot Amber and Hanung among this crowd since they were physically smaller than the townsfolk, but I couldn''t seem to find Casath either. Oh well, it would probably be easier to look for them when the crowd disperses later.


    I didn''t take up much space since the residents were at least twice as large, so they didn''t mind when I squeezed through to the front.


    "Here come the ranchers!"


    As soon as one person in the crowd shouted that out, everyone started looking towards where the main street began. The ranchers began showing up, each with a few cattle being led behind them by ropes. All of the animals, be it cows, goats, or sheep, were all larger than me, and each of them appeared to have been groomed so well that it was hard to tell them apart from the ideal drawings found in children''s books. The townsfolk were pointing all over the place and talking about the animals that walked by, adding in remarks about what was good or bad about their appearances, or how to get their own livestock to look as good as the ones they were seeing.


    "See how calm that cow looks? I heard that the cattle on that ranch get massaged every day."


    "That rancher''s goats give almost twice as much milk as anyone else''s! I wish I had one of those¡­"


    "That guy has the largest ranch in town, so all his bulls and oxen get to roam around freely. Look at how energetic his cattle are!"


    ¡­I still have no idea how people could get this excited about livestock. Their sizes aside, I can''t even tell how they were different from regular animals of their kind.


    *   *   *   *   *


    "Here you go, sir!"


    "Thanks."


    The ranchers and their livestock moved too slowly, and I didn''t understand their appeal in the first place, so I decided to go to the closest pub I could find and grab a drink while waiting for the parade to finish. The waitress at this place recommended their special drink, which was a refreshing cold barley beer, so I asked for one mug of it. I probably should have just ordered a glass, since the large mug they brought out was designed with the relatively large residents of this town in mind as the primary consumers, and thus was as large as a pitcher. At least I don''t have to worry about feeling thirsty when there is about 4 liters of beer right in front of me.


    This giant mug was too heavy for me to lift with one hand, and I didn''t want to make myself look stupid by cradling it with both hands, so I cast a minor strength boosting buff on myself. The mug was made from very thick glass, after all, so it weighed almost 9 kilograms.


    I thought about how inconvenient it was for me to have to cast a spell that would tire myself out later just to enjoy a drink, but then changed my mind. I probably wouldn''t be able to finish most of that beer without working a sweat, and it was better to not disappoint the pub owner and waitress after being recommended this specialty.


    "Our profits are going to plummet later on¡­"


    "Hey, keep it quiet! What if someone hears us?"


    "I always talk a lot louder than this, and most people still have trouble hearing me."


    "Well I guess that''s true, the people in this town do seem to have bad hearing¡­"


    I always thought bovines had good hearing, but maybe it was the exact opposite for the townsfolk. Two people were talking in what was assumed to be a voice low enough to not be heard, but I could still hear them clearly. They were sitting in the table right next to mine, which was probably why I could hear them better than the other people in this pub.


    "Anyways, that strange disease has been spreading lately."


    "What? Wasn''t it limited to just the ranches on the edge of town?"


    "It was, until rancher Nuno found one of his cows acting weird yesterday."


    "Rancher Nuno? Doesn''t he live just five kilometers away?"


    "That''s why I''m bothered¡­"


    This town itself was a nearly circular shape with a radius of about 20 kilometers from the town center where everyone lived, and where I was currently, which means the disease these two were talking about managed to spread 15 kilometers.


    "Are you sure it got sick?"


    "It was standing in a weird way and doing nothing for hours."


    I wonder of those weird cows we saw and assumed were just bored when coming to this town were diseased in some way.


    "Sounds like it might really be sick¡­"


    "Nobody''s tried eating them yet since they''re worried they might get some weird disease too. If it spreads further, though, then our town''s milk and meat output will drop a lot."


    "Maybe we should stock up on that in case the supply goes down? We could make a good profit once the price rises."


    "Sounds like a good idea, but I don''t have the money for that."


    "Me neither¡­"


    The two then each took a large sip of their beers, then idly chatted about other topics.

 20.2 - A Festival (2)

    When the parade ended and the crowd finally dispersed, I caught a glimpse of Casath walking with Hanung and Amber over to where the cattle pageant was about to take place.


    Before I could run out to the street and call them, I lost sight of the three again.


    Well, I guess I know where to go next now.


    The townsfolk gathered in the large town plaza, where a makeshift stadium ring was created so as to allow as many people to see what was going on as possible. At the center of the ring stood an announcer, and several ranchers were waiting by the back entrance with their cattle.


    I looked through all the stadium benches, and finally found my three traveling companions two sections away.


    "Where have you three been?"


    "Watching the parade. What about you?"


    "The marketplace. I restocked on supplies, so we can leave for Mitana city now."


    "But what about the show?"


    "Eh, it''s just a bunch of cows. I''m not interested."


    Amber and Hanung had a slightly displeased look.


    "I want to watch for a bit though!"


    "Yeah, we don''t have ranches in Sachiru town!"


    "I don''t want to be here either, Blaze, but if I leave now Hanung will throw a tantrum."


    Seeing how I don''t have any other choice but to stay here for a while, I sighed.


    "Fine¡­ But only for a while."


    "Yay!"


    I still have no idea how people could get this excited over a bunch of cattle, but the two girls cheerfully responded to my reply.


    *   *   *   *   *


    "Next up is contestant number 53: a magnificent ox being led in by rancher Cobo! Look at that long body and perfectly straight topline! The loin is thick, and the shoulder is smooth. You can even see the gloss on this cow''s hide! What beauty! What magnificence!"


    The crowd loudly clapped as the steer was led through the ring for everyone to see.


    "Please just let me leave already¡­"


    Contrary to the excitement in the crowd, I was absolutely bored and disinterested.


    I still found no entertainment value whatsoever and felt like I had wasted the past half hour just by being here. Despite my frequent complaints and lack of interest, the two girls were still attentively watching and paying no heed to how I felt.


    I decided to sneak out.


    "Where are you going?"


    As soon as I moved just half a meter away, Amber suddenly turned to look at me, and Hanung also followed suit after hearing Amber''s question. Why couldn''t they just continue ignoring me like for the past half hour?


    "I¡­ need to pee."


    That should probably be a good enough excuse to go outside.


    "Oh, alright. Just make sure you come back here soon, then."


    I just quickly headed out while pretending I didn''t hear what Amber said.


    Outside of the stadium ring were multiple food stands serving all kinds of savory snacks. It was as though I was at the local market once again. I had already sampled most of the local foods here a couple hours ago, so this time I chose not to stop at any of the stalls. The prices would have been much higher, anyways, since it was aimed towards making a quick profit out of the massive crowd in the makeshift stadium.


    Suddenly, a few faint screams and crashing sounds rang out from the distance, and clouds of dust appeared not long after, about 300 meters away. All the market activities paused for a brief moment as people were curious about what happened, and the people started showing concern on their faces after seeing a group of people running towards the stadium from the direction of where the screams came from a while ago.


    "Hide! It''s dangerous outside!"


    The fastest runner among those people shouted that out several times as he closed his distance with the stadium. When he reached where the food stalls were, he stopped to take a breath, and was panting non-stop after shouting out the same thing one more time. He looked like he was about to collapse from dashing and shouting.


    "Please calm down. Tell us what happened."


    A couple of people standing nearby came over to help with keeping himself standing, and one offered him a cup of juice from one of the stalls. The running man probably only needed to catch his breath, so he refused the offer and eventually calmed down after a little while.


    "Huff¡­ Huff¡­ Bull¡­ Went mad¡­"


    "Bull¡­ went mad?"


    Another moment passed by, and the man finally recovered enough as more people ran through.


    "That''s right¡­ One of the bulls¡­ suddenly went berserk. The other animals¡­ got frightened and started running¡­ resulting in a stampede."You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    "Oh, no! Did anyone get trampled?"


    "I don''t think¡­ anyone got hurt, but several buildings¡­ and most property on the streets¡­ got destroyed."


    Having heard that, a lot of people in the crowd began to worry.


    "We need to stay away from the streets!"


    "Even staying indoors won''t protect us from a stampede!"


    "What do we do?"


    "Someone alert the town!"


    The previously quiet crowd was now noisy all over again, except this time it was not because of the market activity. The stall owners also began packing up, fearing that the stampede might eventually make its way towards the stadium area.


    "Calm down! The cattle probably stampeded in another direction!"


    "Don''t make so much noise, you might attract their attention!"


    "Why don''t we just make a barricade instead?"


    Among the crowd were also more rational people, trying to calm the screaming people down. I walked over to the running man earlier to inquire a little more about the incident.


    "Excuse me."


    "Yes?"


    "Which way were the animals charging earlier?"


    "Probably towards the town''s outskirts. Opposite of this direction."


    "Has anyone tried to stop them?"


    "Are you out of your mind?"


    "Huh? Wouldn''t some ranchers be able to stop the stampede if they put down the bull riling up all the other animals?"


    "Are you nuts? Who in their right mind would try to challenge that bull?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "The one that went crazy was going to be entered in the bullfighting tournament tomorrow, and it''s one of the strongest contenders from last year. That thing''s almost twice the size of most bulls in town, and its hide is so thick that even swords can''t cut into it."


    From what I saw earlier today, a "regular" bull was already about three or so times larger than the kind we raised on human operated farms in Kitrod, and this one was supposedly almost twice as big. That meant there was a 10 meter high, 6 tonne beast running rampant on the edge of town.


    "What about magic?"


    "Ain''t nobody in this town capable of using that. You''d have to send someone from Mitana city over, and it already takes half a day to go there and back. Nobody''s ever tried using magic on our town''s cattle anyways, so they won''t even send help if they don''t know whether it''s effective or not."


    "I''m a mage, so maybe I could try shooting it with magic."


    "I appreciate that thought, but you''re better off hiding, kid. That thing''s like a mobile fortress. Take one hit from its charge and you''ll be flying to the moon."


    "Alright¡­"


    I guess he had a point. The bull in question was about the size of a monster that would normally require an expedition squad of adventurers to subjugate, and without knowing whether or not magic is effective in the first place, I might easily end up enraging it and getting killed.


    Right when I thought the crowd had finally calmed down, waves upon waves of panicking people began pouring out of the stadium. It looked like the cattle pageant was suspended for now, and the crowd inside were concerned about their safety due to the lack of detailed information about the stampede that just took place.


    There might not be a cattle stampede here, but I was worried that I might get trampled by the stadium crowd, so I figured I might as well head over to where the bull started its rampage to see how badly it damaged the town. People probably won''t head towards there for a while, after all.


    "Well, thanks for the info. By the way, if you see a giant lizard, tell him I''m checking out where the stampede started."


    "Wait, I don''t want to be here! Hey! Stop!"


    The running man may have had enough time to catch his breath, but he probably didn''t have the stamina to run away from this crowd, so I left him with a message for Casath as I dashed away.


    *   *   *   *   *


    "We are terribly sorry!"


    "This was beyond our control!"


    "Please forgive us!"


    It wasn''t a good idea to leave our carriage out in the streets while a busy festival was taking place, so I paid to leave our carriage and horses in the stable of one of the inns in town. When I arrived there to check, the stable as well as several other buildings in the neighborhood were in ruins. There were a mix of wooden and stone houses in this town, and it was understandable that a wooden structure like this one would get destroyed if a large beast charged through. Nonetheless, there were blood stains all over the ground from the horses that got trampled, and all items of value inside the stable were now in splinters all over the ground. The innkeeper and his employees were profusely apologizing since my carriage and all of our supplies were destroyed along with the rest of the stable. They were probably feeling responsible since I paid them to look after it, after all.


    "It''s okay, I''m not blaming you for anything. Nobody would normally expect a stampede to run through here."


    Looking at the mess on the ground, it didn''t seem like it would be possible to fix up the carriage in a reasonable amount of time. In fact, it didn''t seem like it would be possible to reassemble it in the first place. I tried looking for any food supplies that could be recovered, but all the items we had on board were crushed and probably inedible. Luckily, our changes of clothes were not torn, but they were quite dirty stepped on multiple times.


    "Well, there goes my security deposit for the carriage. Looks like we''ll have to stay here for a night."


    "Let us make up for letting your carriage get destroyed! We own another inn down the street, and that one''s still standing since it''s made from stone. You and your friends can stay the night for free!"


    "No, please don''t do that. The stampede was out of your control, and it''s not like you started it, so it''s definitely not your fault. We''ll pay for our rooms and food like anyone else."


    "Are you sure about that? A carriage like yours already costs at least 150000 doviti, so I thought you might end up in debt soon¡­"


    That was half a week''s worth of my tax-exempt profits. I haven''t spent much of my money since coming here four weeks ago, so that much wasn''t too significant.


    "Yes, I''m sure. I have quite a bit of money saved up, so it won''t leave me in debt."


    "If you insist¡­ Still, let us know if there''s anything we can do for you after your losses¡­"


    "I will. Thank you for your concern."


    Come to think of it, 150000 doviti was the amount of money people usually make in half a year, and yet I wasn''t bothered at the least about losing that much. Maybe I should just voluntarily pay taxes when I come back home¡­


    "In any case, could you prepare two rooms for my group?"


    "Certainly."


    Casath, Hanung, and Amber came over to the scene not long after the innkeeper left. I explained the situation to them, and they didn''t seem to be too bothered by having to stay here for another day. The only thing that annoyed them somewhat was that I kept ditching them today. Well, sorry for having no interest in bovines.


    Since we weren''t from this town, it was unlikely for us to rent a new carriage since we had no credibility here and since there was no guarantee that we would ever come back. I couldn''t just purchase a new carriage either, since Casath and I didn''t bring enough money.


    I also asked if it was possible to use the underground network''s freight carriages, but Amber said that was not possible since they only operated between the capital and some towns relatively close to the border, as well as those along the way. As to why I knew there was an underground transportation network, I figured that using the tunnels for just communications was quite a waste, so I inquired Amber about it after coming back from that fight against the dragon two weeks ago.


    Anyways, Amber later managed to find a group of merchants planning on delivering food shipments to Mitana city the next day, and they happily agreed to take us there for a small fee.


    I hope more problems won''t arise until then¡­

 21.1 - Here It Comes! (1)

    The makeshift stadium was dismantled, and the cattle pageant was cancelled out of fear that the raging bull might eventually come back and trample a large crowd. The townsfolk, however, still wanted to crown some winners, so as a compromise, the ranchers left their cattle in reasonably sturdy pens on the outskirts of town, on the side away from where the stampeding herd went. The public was invited to go there and vote for their favorite cattle before sunset the next day.


    I of course had no interest in this event, and I didn''t want to risk getting trampled by the livestock there since there was no telling whether or not some animal would suddenly go berserk, so I told the girls that I wanted to stay behind to help clean up the town after so many buildings got destroyed. Thus, Amber and Hanung dragged Casath along to the public cattle viewing, while I wandered around town. I thought about going to the marketplace again, but there was nothing new here, and this town didn''t have any entertainment facilities for me to go to either. As such, I decided to head back to the inn and wash the clothes that all those cattle stepped on yesterday. One of the inn''s maids saw what I was doing and joined in to help speed up the process. I''m not sure if she had nothing better to do or if the inn''s staff really felt guilty for not being able to keep our property safe, but I didn''t mind the extra help at all.


    Nothing out of the ordinary happened for the rest of the evening, and the four of us retired to the two inn rooms that the innkeeper arranged for us. Thankfully, each room had two separate beds, so I didn''t have to worry about getting clawed in the face by a vividly dreaming Amber again¡­ assuming she didn''t have a sleepwalking problem.


    *   *   *   *   *


    The carriage headed to Mitana town was set to depart at around noon, so we had a bit of time to kill the next morning. There were no festival events planned until the early afternoon, so the girls asked me to show them around the marketplace, since there wasn''t anywhere else they could go to have fun. I complied with that request after making the two put away the clothes that I washed and hanged last night.


    The merchants in the marketplace were likely worried that another stampede could take place, so they kept their stalls as close to a stone building as possible. Stalls also had a limited amount of items on display, and the display shelves also had tiny wheels, as if the merchants actually believed the possibility of another stampede taking place was high and wanted to be able to retreat as quickly as possible to minimize their product damages. Paired with the reduced foot traffic from the townsfolk who were also worried about a similar event, the relatively empty main street made the marketplace look rather miserable.


    The three didn''t want to get any souvenirs, saying we could buy something on the way back home, so I simply showed them around the food stalls so they could sample the local snacks. The meat in this town was ridiculously cheap, so the three were able to enjoy a literal mountain of meaty snacks, such as kebabs, barbecues, smoked meats, jerky, and so on.


    "Aren''t you three worried that you''ll be too full for lunch if you eat this much?"


    "Knowing you, you probably plan on having us munch on some hardtack and jerky for lunch while we''re on the road."


    "Well¡­"


    Amber''s not wrong. Since we''re hitching a ride with a group of merchants, I''d likely have to invite everyone in that group to eat with us if we were to go to a proper diner or tavern.


    "Besides, we''ll be on the road for almost 6 hours soon, so wouldn''t it be a good idea to fill up your stomach now and sleep on the carriage later?"


    "We just had breakfast two hours ago, so it''s still too early for me to have another meal."


    "Just buy some food for the road, then."


    On a side note, I had always assumed that Amber had an appetite similar to mine, and that Hanung would have a much smaller appetite like birds. Yet, these too were showing no signs of that here. Come to think of it, they ate only reasonable amounts of grains and vegetables, but never complained about the amount of meat they had during meals. Did they have an infinitely sized stomach just for meats, then?


    In any case, just when I thought nothing would go wrong again today, some faint screaming sounds echoed from the distance. Not long after, someone ran over to the marketplace, shouting towards everyone present.


    "It''s back! That large bull! It''s charging towards here!"


    Thankfully, he didn''t mention a stampede, probably out of fear of mass panic. Nonetheless, those people in the marketplace quickly reacted to the man''s warning: everyone on the streets quickly ran indoors, and the merchants pulled their display shelves and wares into the nearby stone houses. There wasn''t much time to react, and the wave of people running towards a nearby building caused our group to be shoved along with the crowd. Before we knew it, we were pushed into a building, and were separated with no idea where the others got shoved to.


    Well, I''m quite certain this would only lead to one unwanted consequence.


    "Casath! Where''d you go? Hey! where are you?"


    That. By chance, Hanung and I got shoved into the same building, while Amber and Casath were shoved somewhere else. As expected, being separated from her half brother made Hanung start panicking. I quickly squeezed through the indoor crowd to get to where Hanung was.


    "Casath! Casath!"


    "Hey, calm down!"


    "Huh? Oh, it''s you. Have you seen my brother?"


    "He probably got shoved by the crowd into another building."This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Oh, no! I have to go find him right away!"


    "Please don''t. We can look for him in a while when the situation improves."


    "Excuse me! Let me through!"


    Seeing how Hanung was now trying to squeeze through the crowd to get out, I quickly grabbed hold of her so she couldn''t run outside to danger.


    "Hey, what did I just say? Just bear with it for a few minutes, then we can look for Casath together."


    "But¡­ But I¡­ I can''t stand being separated!"


    "He''s definitely safe, so don''t worry."


    "I won''t believe that until I see him! Just let me go!"


    Hanung kept flailing about, trying to get me to let go of her. The people around her began getting irritated at her being unnecessarily panicky, and one person spoke up,


    "Be quiet! Stop moving, it''s cramped in here!"


    "I can''t! Not until I see my brother!"


    Seeing how she absolutely refused to calm down, another person in the crowd spoke up.


    "Why don''t we just throw her outside? She can probably fly away to safety even if the bull comes."


    "Yeah, let''s do that. She might attract the bull''s attention if she keeps shouting out like this."


    "I agree. She''ll be safe once she''s airborne, anyways."


    The crowd quickly came to a consensus that it would be best for everyone if this harpy girl got thrown out. Right as I was about to tell the crowd how she would be too afraid to fly since it''ll just increase the distance between her and her half brother, something rather unexpected happened.


    "Blaze, come look for Casath with me!"


    Hanung grabbed onto me as she was being pushed outside by the crowd, causing me to also get thrown out onto the empty street.


    "Uh¡­ Hey, don''t lock me out!"


    I tried to pull Hanung with me back inside, but the people hiding indoors immediately shut and locked the door after throwing us out.


    "It''s too dangerous with her around! Just tell her to carry you into the sky or something!"


    "But she can''t fly!"


    "Of course she can, she''s got wings!"


    "You don''t understand! She''s¡­"


    No matter how much I explained, the indoors crowd wouldn''t open the door back up. I don''t know if the other buildings were soundproof or not, but the two neighboring ones also locked their doors on us. Hanung kept calling for her half brother non-stop, but didn''t receive any audible responses.


    *   *   *   *   *


    Well, I''ve been out on the street with this birdbrain for about two minutes already, and nothing seems to be happening. Maybe the mad bull changed its course at some point.


    As though my thoughts raised a flag of some sort, crashing sounds could soon be heard from the distance, and I could feel a slight rumbling motion under my feet. Whatever was in the distance was heavy enough to make the cobblestone road to vibrate like this.


    "Please tell me this is just a minor earthquake¡­"


    "Casath! The bull''s coming! I need to know if you''re safe or not! Where are you?"


    That harpy does have very good eyesight, so I reckon it''s not an earthquake. Since the people hiding indoors wouldn''t open the building doors for us, and since Hanung wouldn''t stop shouting in the middle of the street, I looked around to find any small alleys we could hide in, then grabbed hold of Hanung and ran towards the first one I found.


    "Are you safe, Casath? Answer m- Hey! ¡­Why''d you drag me in here? Is Casath in this alley?"


    "No, but you''ll attract the bull''s attention if you keep shouting like that, so it''s best if we hide here for a minute or two until it passes by."


    "But I won''t be able to find my brother if we hide here! And he won''t be able to find me here either!"


    "Aren''t you concerned about your own safety?"


    "I only feel safe when I''m next to my brother!"


    "You know, I''m starting to feel concerned about how your brain works now¡­"


    "What''s that supposed to mean?"


    "Ah, forget it. Just be quiet for a minute or two, so the bull can just¡­ walk¡­ away¡­ Crap."


    "What? What is it?"


    As luck would have it, after the bull charged right by where we were hiding, it suddenly stopped and turned around. A moment later, it ran back towards the alleyway we were in, and was now standing in front of it.


    The giant bull looked a lot different from others of its kind: its body was so muscular that one could even see some veins on its thin white hide. This demonic creature was 10 meters tall and probably about 6 meters wide, and it was staring at us with bloodshot red eyes. Its curved long horns were shining under the bright sunlight, and its mouth was slightly foaming, making it look even more intimidating. Luckily, this alley was only about 3 meters wide, and on the sides of the alley were seemingly sturdy stone buildings, so the creature probably won''t be able get in here.


    "The bull¡­ it''s behind you."


    "Hm? Eep!"


    "Hey, wait, don''t leave me here!"


    I didn''t think Hanung would ever consider flying away without knowing her half brother''s whereabouts, but she flew onto the roof of the building right next to this alley, leaving me completely alone. Paying no attention to Hanung, the bull continued staring at me, then took a couple of steps backwards, as though it was about to charge towards me. Was this thing going to ram its horns into the two adjacent buildings to make them collapse, just so it could get into this alleyway? And why is it even targeting me in the first place? I wanted to run as far away as possible, but after looking behind me, I found out that this alleyway was a dead end.


    With a loud bellow, the creature charged forward, crashing its horns into the two stone buildings beside me. The street was not wide enough for the bull to build up much momentum, so the charge was certainly not at its full potential. Regardless, moderately sized chunks of stone flew off of the buildings, but they were seemingly sturdy enough to withstand a few more impacts. It didn''t seem like the mad thing was bothered by these large obstacles, and it started taking a few steps backwards again. It was only a matter of time until it charged at these buildings enough times to make them collapse.


    There were people indoors that were in danger if the buildings fell onto them, so I began chanting a spell. I made a personal vow not to cast magic when I was close to another building or other people, after all that public property I destroyed up until a year ago, but I had no other choice in this situation: if I didn''t do anything, there would certainly be a lot of casualties, and I would most likely die. Besides, I also wanted to test whether magic was effective on this thing or not.


    "Fireball!"


    I shot out a barrage of fireballs at the bull. Since I was standing close, and it was too large to completely sidestep out of the way, every single fireball hit its face. It bellowed even louder than before, and became so enraged that I think I could see it breathing out steam.


    In any case, it didn''t seem to be injured much by my attack. The eyeball that got hit directly twitched for a bit, and a little bit of smoke was puffing out of its hide, but this thing was still fine otherwise. It was a little odd that the fireballs left slight scratch marks, but this thing didn''t even get burned¡­

 21.2 - Here It Comes! (2)

    The large beast charged again, causing more chunks of the building walls to fly off. The holes on the two buildings were probably about half a meter deep now, yet the structures were holding up surprisingly well. Seeing how a fight was now inevitable, I cast the regular speed and strength boosting buff spells on myself, and prepared to do the same to Hanung.


    "Hey! Can you at least carry me out of this alley?"


    "Not until I find Casath!"


    ¡­Seriously, how attached to her brother is this birdbrain?


    The bull rammed into the buildings again, and this time the structures shook slightly after taking the impact. I could now hear some screaming sounds, and there appeared to be a few moving shadows on the ground. It looked as if the people taking refuge in the two buildings beside me were now concerned about how much longer the structures could remain standing and started bolting outside to look for other places to hide. Strangely enough, despite all these people running around and making a ruckus right next to the bull, the thing never turned its attention away from me.


    "This thing''s going to keep charging until it gets to me!"


    "So what?"


    "The buildings might collapse, and Casath could be inside either of them!"


    "Alright, fine, I''ll carry you out!"


    Perhaps out of fear that her half brother would potentially have large stones falling on his head if these buildings were to indeed collapse, not that he would manage to get badly hurt in the first place due to this thick skin, Hanung finally swooped back down from the rooftops to grab hold of me, while I applied the magic I prepared just now to boost her strength. I don''t consider 60 kilograms as being that heavy for an adult human male, but Hanung seemed to be struggling to gain altitude. We were going up barely a meter each second.


    "I can''t¡­ lift you¡­ higher¡­"


    She quickly gave up and hurled me off as soon as we reached the rooftops. The bull charged once more, and the building I was standing on seemed like it was now ready to also give up, as it quickly leaned in the direction of the big hole in the wall, causing me to lose balance. One more charge would guarantee its collapse, so I had to quickly think of something.


    There were about a dozen people running frantically on the street on either side of the bull, so luring it away would likely cause it to trample someone. At the same time, standing still or jumping to the roof of the other building in this alleyway wasn''t an option either, since both were leaning and would almost certainly collapse after getting charged at again. There''s also the fact that there were an unknown number of people hiding inside that could get injured should the buildings collapse.


    I couldn''t use more powerful magic to blast the bull since there were people standing relatively close to it, so I ended up deciding on perhaps the most idiotic idea possible since there was no time to go into deeper thought: I ran towards the edge of the rooftop I was standing on and leaped off of it, landing right on top of the bull!


    With an unwanted object now on its head, the bull promptly tried to shake me off. Its fur was abnormally short, so the only thing I could hold onto was one of its horns, which was so large that my arm and leg spans could only wrap onto a little over half of it. Even with the somewhat firm grip I had thanks to the strength boosting spell I buffed myself with, I felt like I could easily get hurled into the air at any moment.


    The bull shook its head left and right and spun around in place in its effort to get rid of me. Seeing how the bull seemed to only be focused on shaking me off, the people who previously ran around on the street near the creature calmed down and simply spectated while keeping their distance. A few people began cheering for me, as though they were watching a show.


    My legs soon got tired, and my lower body kept bouncing up and down as only my hands were now wrapped around the bull''s horn. Seeing me getting bounced like that, the people cheered on so loudly that those hiding inside other buildings opened the doors to glance at what was going on as well. Weren''t you people overly concerned about safety just a while ago?


    Since the horn was too big for my arms to wrap completely around, my grip gradually loosened and my arms slipped right off after about 20 seconds on this wild rodeo ride. With one more shake, the bull successfully hurled me off, sending me flying about ten meters down the wide main street. The landing was painful, but the strength boosting magic I used earlier made it tolerable, at least.


    Now that the bull was no longer distracted with shaking me off, the nearby spectators resumed their panicking run and quickly headed towards the nearby alleyways, leaving me lying alone in the middle of the street. The bull ignored the townsfolk and turned to face me, getting ready to charge at its target that was now in plain view. I tried to get up as quickly as possible, but with a 10 meter distance between us, the bull would definitely trample me before I could get out of the way.


    The creature bellowed again and charged at full speed towards me.


    Two seconds until impact.


    I had only gotten onto my knees at this point. Even the simplest spell I could cast at the ground to propel me away from this spot would take three seconds. All I could do was put as much strength as possible into my body!


    One second.


    I was a fraction of a second away from standing fully upright. There was no time to do anything else, so I leaned my body forward with the hope that I could just leap far away enough from the bull.


    Half a second.


    I pushed my legs as hard as possible, causing myself to fly forward.


    Thud!


    I wasn''t able to look when I made the leap, but a loud impact sound rang. I didn''t feel any pain on my body apart from the minor force from hitting the ground again, so maybe I was able to leap forward far enough for the bull to miss and hit something else. Before I could look at where the sound came from, I felt a tug on my arm, pulling me upwards.


    "Get up! Quickly!"


    I don''t know where he was shoved to before, but Casath finally appeared and helped me get up. From the looks of it, just a split second before I was destined to turn into minced meat, Casath rammed the bull from the side to make it veer slightly off course. Come to think about it, it was quite amazing how he could pull such a feat off, considering how he was barely one fifth the height and one thirtieth the weight of that bull.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Thanks, Casath."


    "You should take off your clothes."


    "Eh? Why?"


    "I heard bulls hate the color red."


    "Isn''t that just a myth?"


    I''m very sure what Casath said is an urban legend, but if there was any degree of truth to it, then it would explain why I kept getting targeted by the bull despite the abundance of people making loud noises near it. The town''s buildings were made from stone or wood, so everything looked brownish or grayish. As for the townsfolk, most wore either blue, brown, or white colored clothing that looked like what farmers wore, or casual clothing that lacked vivid colors. The only one that stood out in town was me, who was wearing a red and white colored robe. I considered stripping off my robe, but I was not willing to commit to public indecency since I wasn''t wearing a shirt underneath, and my underpants and hair were also red, too, so that wouldn''t have helped.


    Having realized that it missed its target, the bull stopped charging and turned around to spot me. During the few seconds it wasted to do that, I buffed Casath with the all-too-familiar strength and speed boosting spells.


    "Please buy me some time."


    As soon as I told Casath that, the bull began charging towards me again, while I ran a few meters away from Casath. I kept hoping that the bull would be too focused on me that it wouldn''t notice Casath charging at it from the side. I also hoped that Casath wouldn''t attempt to ram the bull too soon or too late, otherwise it wouldn''t be knocked off course and I''d get turned into minced meat.


    The bull quickly closed its distance towards me, while Casath took a step or two backwards to ready up. I leaned my body and prepared to jump to the side in case Casath missed, but I had faith that he would successfully ram the bull, considering how he was able to do it earlier without prior preparation.


    Thud!


    The bull failed to notice Casath on its side and took the full brunt of his ram once more. With boosted speed and strength this time, Casath''s ram was strong enough that the bull lost its balance and toppled over, then slid for a few meters on the ground right beside me due to its previously high charging speed. The creature uttered the most terrifying moo I had ever heard in my life as it swung its legs back and forth, while the spectating crowd applauded at what they just witnessed.


    In any case, there wasn''t much time to waste.


    I had a window of a few seconds to counterattack at this stationary target before it could get back on its feet and I had to run away. I chanted and channeled the mana needed for my spell while walking backwards to increase my distance from the creature in case something went wrong. A large circle began to form above the bull as I pointed my staff towards it.


    "Flame Pillar!"


    A large column of flame shot out from that magic circle down towards the bull''s side. The bull trembled a bit as the column drove itself down more and more, and puffs of smoke rose up as the beast''s hide got scorched.


    Unfortunately, my attack was not as effective as I expected. While the bull''s fur did get scorched completely where the column of fire hit, there were only small burn marks on the hide itself. The bull also had a few minor bruises caused by the pillar''s force of impact, but they were not as serious as what Casath did to it. On the bright side, the fact that it sustained minor injuries meant that magic did work on this bull to some degree. I''ll probably need to channel more mana to increase the power of my next attempt, though.


    "Here it comes again!"


    A couple seconds later, the bull charged down the street once more, while I moved myself to be a few meters away from Casath. Just like before, Casath took a couple steps back and prepared himself for ramming into the bull, and I leaned to one side just in case something went wrong.


    The bull closed its distance towards me again, and Casath leaned his body forward for another imminent ram. The bull, however, had learned from the last two times it got pushed off course, and the creature turned its head to the side, then lowered it slightly once it reached the point where Casath was just one second away. When Casath kicked his feet off the ground to propel himself forward, the bull quickly jolted its head upwards, launching the reptilian into the air. Casath arced across the wide street as high as five meters before crashing onto the ground, sliding for a bit before being stopped by hitting a stone building wall.


    Originally, I thought that I could defeat this bull by having Casath charge at the bull again and again until it tired itself out, but the fact that this creature was prepared to hurl him with each ram meant that he would most likely be the one who gets worn out first.


    Well, it looks like there''s just one thing I can do now.


    "Fireball!"


    I wasn''t shooting at the bull, since that weak spell wouldn''t do any harm to it. Rather, I repeatedly shot this spell at the ground slightly behind me in order to propel me forward a little bit more with the force of explosion as I ran for my life down the main street.


    That''s right, I wanted to get as far away from the bull as possible by the time it charged at me again. I had a significant head start because the boosted strength I gave to Casath actually made the bull lose its balance and tumble down the street when it flung him earlier, giving me a window of about ten seconds to widen the distance between me and the bull before the thing could get up again.


    Thanks to the speed buff and the extra push from the fireballs, as well as the mortal terror caused by the bull''s loud bellows from an unknown distance behind me, I managed to reach the end of the main street, which was also the edge of town, in a little under one minute. Since this was where the ranches were located, I was worried that the bull charging in could stir up another stampede. Luckily, the few fields and pens in front of me were empty. Either the cattle that stampeded yesterday never made their way back, or the ranchers locked them up somewhere else.


    I jumped the fence of one of the ranches and kept running across its lustrous green field, eventually reaching the bank of the West river at the end of the field after about a dozen seconds. With nowhere else to run, I stopped and turned around. The bull was still chasing me, and its menacing figure in the distance kept growing larger and larger. It was now just a moment away from crashing through the fence I jumped over earlier.


    I didn''t really want to use this kind of magic, but there was one spell that was most likely going to get me out of this situation. Considering how I was running just slightly slower than the bull, I probably had roughly ten seconds to prepare.


    I may have only used the spell once before, but it was still relatively fresh in my memory. I carefully recited its chant and converted about half my mana pool in order to use it at maximum power. Hopefully this would be effective enough to affect the bull.


    The tip of my staff was now glowing with an ominous crimson color, and I pointed it forward, waiting for the bull to get close enough for me to shoot accurately.


    One hundred meters.


    Eighty.


    Sixty.


    The bull was now about three seconds away from reaching me.


    With one loud shout to end the spell''s chant, I activated this one spell that I had gambled on.


    "Curse you!"


    The crimson light beamed towards the bull, hitting it directly in the face, then disappeared in a flash. The large beast continued its charge towards me, while I moved as quickly as possible towards my left. The creature bellowed once more, and I leaped to the side when it was only a second away from reaching me.


    A loud splash rang out once I hit the grass, and water briefly rained down on me.


    I never thought that I would ever find this spell useful, but it apparently worked and saved my life just now. Yes, this spell is none other than that simple curse from that damned booklet, which prevented the target from turning right.


    The bull, unable to veer to the right as I moved away at the last moment, continued charging straight and plunged into the river that was slightly deeper than its height. Probably because of its massive weight, or perhaps out of exhaustion from all the running it had done so far, the creature struggled to stay afloat, and was likely never going to be able to get back on shore given how steep the riverbank was. In fact, it toppled over while in the river because it couldn''t turn its body properly.


    Nonetheless, I channeled all of my remaining mana to finish off the bull.


    "Heat wave!"


    The river''s water soon boiled, and the bull''s cries of pain echoed through the sky as it got slowly cooked.

 0.3 - Prelude 3: 94 Years Ago

    After the sage''s experiment backfired on him, I looted any money I could find from his home and fled that night. The authorities put all information they could find about me from the townsfolk on a wanted poster a few days later, but of course I could never be found since I essentially became a new person, after all. Since the sage didn''t have any descendants, ownership of his home and belongings transferred to the members of his extended family.


    Anyways, back to what happened that night: I realized after running away for a while that I couldn''t really go far. A small child traveling alone at night with a large amount of money on him would definitely catch the attention of the town''s patrol guards, and since nobody in this town knew who I was, it would make matters become even more complicated.


    Consequently, I buried the money I looted, just in case I would ever need it in the future, then ran towards the town''s orphanage. I then climbed up a tree and threw myself off of it. One of the orphanage parents found me lying on the ground later that night and brought me inside. I was supposedly injured enough that the orphanage staff all believed my bogus claim of being beaten up by unknown assailants and suffering from amnesia as a result, and I was allowed to reside in that orphanage since then. Oddly enough, nobody seemed to mind the fact I had the same name as the missing person on that wanted poster in town.


    Thus, one year passed by without incident.


    *   * *   * *


    I became quickly convinced that the people in this world have a completely different mindset. Even with a rejuvenated mind, I still couldn''t master the writing system here. Because of that, I was regarded as a dunce, and nobody wanted to adopt me from the orphanage out of fear that I would tarnish their household''s reputation.


    I wanted to show the adults that I was a genius at mathematics and science, but I couldn''t write anything down, and their negative view towards me made them unwilling to listen to a lecture. It was also because of the bad impression people had about me that made me unable to find a mage willing to teach me magic, since they figured a "dunce" like me probably just wanted to learn magic in order to get revenge on those who trash talked me.


    My life sucks.


    *   * *   * *


    One day, the orphanage parents took us to the city''s west gate, where the defense corps'' barracks was located, for a field trip.


    "Today, you''ll get to meet the people who rigorously train themselves daily in order to keep our city safe. I hope this will inspire some of you to join the Defense Corps when you grow up."


    For orphans that were great fighters but couldn''t make ends meet in adventurer parties, joining the army or urban Defense Corps was the next best option. Just like other adventurers, their job was to prevent monster invasions and maintain peace and order where they were stationed, but instead of bounties for completing quests, they would receive a fixed monthly salary instead.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    In any case, the Corps superintendent showed us the facilities at the barracks and invited us to watch the troops'' training and sparring sessions. This wasn''t the kind of lifestyle I was looking forward to having so I simply feigned interest, but the other children in the orphanage excitedly watched.


    "Excuse me, sir superintendent. May I go to the bathroom?"


    "Hm? Sure. It''s down the hall, fifth door to the left."


    Bored of watching soldiers beating each other with wooden weapons, I asked for permission to walk outside of the training hall. I''ll just take as much time as possible before coming back. If anyone were to inquire later, I''d probably get away with saying I was constipated.


    "No, we can''t switch to using ballistas¡­"


    "But the catapults are too inaccurate, they can''t hit the same spot twice."


    "Ballistas aren''t good at destroying walls, though!"


    "We''ll just have to make an even bigger one, then!"


    One of the rooms I passed through appeared to be a weapons research hall, and two officers were arguing inside. The two briefly stopped after noticing me looking at them from the door.


    "Go back to the training hall, kid."


    "Wait, let''s get someone neutral to decide for us. Hey kid, which do you prefer: catapults or ballistas?"


    "Why the hell are you asking him? He''s too young, he probably doesn''t know what those things are."


    "I do know. Um¡­ Could I first ask why you''re asking for my preference?"


    "The Earl wants us to develop a better siege weapon, one that''s both powerful and accurate. We''re trying to pick whether we want to start with a catapult or a ballista as a base for improvement."


    Well that question is too easy to answer. I had ample knowledge about Mechanics, after all.


    "If that''s the case¡­ May I give a suggestion?"


    "Eh, might as well. It''s not like our research is making any progress."


    For the next 15 minutes, I carefully drew a trebuchet on paper and explained how it operated. I''m not exactly sure whether this had already been invented in this world yet, but the two military researchers'' attentiveness suggested that this was something completely new to them.


    "[...] and because the same counter-weight is used with each launch, you can ensure that the power output is more or less the same every time, so the projectile will always hit roughly the same area. This weapon has both the power of a catapult and the accuracy of a ballista."


    "Kid, I have no idea what the hell you wrote down, but your explanation and this weapon''s sketch is brilliant! I''m going to write down what we understood from it and submit it to the Earl!"


    Later that day, I was no longer considered a dunce. Instead, people finally began to accept the fact that I had deep knowledge of math and science, and my illiteracy was probably just because of dyslexia.


    Soon, a wealthy minor noble family adopted me, and the Earl arranged for me to receive mentoring from the Luto family, which was well known for producing great mages, several of whom served in the royal court as part of the emperor''s elite army.


    Years later, I would be married into the Luto family after racking up several achievements, but that''s a story I''ll tell later on.


    Looks like I''ll finally have a bright future ahead, now!

 22 - Calm Again

    "Well, I guess I won''t be bathing in the river for a while."


    Some of the townsfolk eventually arrived at the scene long after my bullfight ended. I was lying on the ground, tired and unable to move because I had just exhausted all my mana, while almost everyone else was busy looking at the cooked bull nearby. It felt rather annoying that they seemed to care more about that thing in the river than me, and even more so when a few townsfolk asked a question or two to check whether or not I was okay, only to turn their attention towards the river before I could answer in a complete sentence.


    Two of the townsfolk eventually went back to town and returned to where I was with a stretcher in order to carry me back to my companions. During the time I was being carried, I learned from the townsfolk that Casath was a bit disoriented after getting flung into the air earlier but was fine otherwise, with no major injuries of any sort. If anything, it was the roads that the bull charged down on that got damaged more. Amber was busy helping treat those who got wounded when trying to get away from the bull, and Hanung finally shut herself up and kept clinging onto Casath. Apart from the short summaries about the status of my traveling companions, the few townsfolk walking alongside my stretcher back to town kept quiet so as to let me rest.


    Now I think I''m more bothered by the silence than the fact that these people cared more about the dead bull earlier.


    "Are you free tonight?"


    Ignoring the fact that what one of the two men carrying my stretcher just said sounded a little strange, the silence finally got broken after a couple minutes.


    "I''m not sure. I''ll probably still be on the road to Mitana city, though¡­"


    Traveling in large groups usually led to slower travel speeds, after all, so the merchant group we were going to hitch a ride with would most likely take more than 6 hours to arrive.


    "That''s a shame."


    "Hm? Is something wrong?"


    "The festival has a rodeo riding competition scheduled for this afternoon. You didn''t break any records when you were holding onto that bull earlier, but the show was good enough that we decided to give you an honorary prize!"


    "Eh¡­"


    "Besides, we want to properly thank you in some way for taking down that mad animal. There would''ve been a lot more damage if you didn''t stop it."


    Couldn''t you have brought that up first?


    "I''ll talk to the others to see if we can stay for a few more hours."


    I couldn''t help but wonder why the townsfolk found riding on a bull fun. The one I took down was twice as big as others of its species, so that meant the people in this town have competitions involving giant animals that were 5 meters tall and 3 tonnes heavy for entertainment purposes. Such large animals could easily break someone''s bones or even kill them should they step or fall on one of the townsfolk.


    Well, I figured the people in this town were already quite abnormal for still wanting to host their festival activities despite all the mayhem and destruction that took place over the past 20 hours.


    *   * *   * *


    "So, about that ride to Mitana city¡­"


    "Is something wrong?"


    "Well, the bull destroyed half of our carriages when it rampaged through the town earlier, so unfortunately we can''t go anywhere today until we find replacement carriages¡­"


    "¡­"


    "We can try to squeeze you in if we find enough carriages tomorrow, but here''s the money your friend paid us since we can''t fulfill your request today. We apologize for that¡­"


    After the merchant group''s leader refunded me 1600 doviti, I turned to look at my companions.


    "Looks like we''re stuck here for another day."


    "I can try to find other people going to that place."


    "That would be nice. Actually, hold on. Don''t find anyone going to Mitana."


    "Huh? Why not?"


    "Even if we take no breaks, it''ll take at least half a day to head there and back here. We won''t be able to get back to Sachiru town in time, since it''s unlikely that whoever you manage to find would depart immediately."


    "Should I find people going to Sachiru, then?"


    "It might be hard finding anyone going that far, so I think it''s best to look for a carriage headed for a neighboring town. See if you can find anybody going to Dasota town, and then we can figure things out once we get there."


    "Alright."


    I passed Amber the refunded transportation fee, and she took off to find another ride for us to hitch.


    "Blaze."


    "Yes, Casath?"


    "Could you come with me to buy some new clothes?"


    "I have nothing to do so I don''t mind, but what''s the occasion?"


    Casath may have been roughed up a bit from the bull fight earlier, but his clothes didn''t seem to be in a bad condition. There were a couple of minor tears, but they could all be easily fixed, and he still had one change of clothes inside the inn.


    "The town wants to honor me tonight along with you, so I want to get something that looks nicer."


    That makes sense, a plain colored beige shirt and brown shorts were too casual.


    As for me, I never had to worry about dress codes. Apparently, mage robes could be used for both casual and formal occasions.


    "Ah, so the townsfolk want to give you thanks for helping take down the bull, too."


    "Um¡­ Actually, they said they wanted to introduce ''cow tipping'' as a new festival event after seeing me knock the bull off balance earlier, and wanted to crown me as the town''s first cow tipping champion tonight¡­"The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "¡­"


    Now I''m convinced the people of this town were completely abnormal.


    *   * *   * *


    In the end, I had no idea what looked good on a reptilian like Casath, and there were no tailor shops in this town due to its primary focus on agriculture and lack of facilities for tourists, so I had him buy a new white shirt and an overall to look somewhat like the rancher and farmer townsfolk, since that was the only type of clothing available in this town.


    I considered getting myself a new robe after Casath told me that baseless rumor about bulls hating the color red, so the clothes merchant gave me directions on paper to a shop in Mitana city since that was the only only place within the western provinces that had spell-casters, and thus was the only place that stocked mage robes, since there was no demand for it anywhere else.


    I probably could just hire a tailor to make custom clothing when I get home, but I figured it would be a waste of money since I somehow kept getting into situations where my clothes got torn. Besides, knowing that there was a shop carrying stuff I wanted gave me another reason to visit Mitana city, since my only purpose so far was just to get a few beers with the general living there.


    After the milking competition ended later that day, as thanks for eliminating the giant bull, the townsfolk gave us a week''s worth of milk and invited us to an outdoors evening feast at the plaza. The people were concerned about the dead giant bull blocking the flow of the river, so they managed to somehow pull its body out of the river a couple hours prior. Since destroying it would take a while, and since it was already mostly cooked, the townsfolk decided to cut up the bull and serve some soggy steak in addition to all the alcohol and barbecued meat that was already being offered at the feast. That thing was all muscle and no fat, so I opted not to have any since I knew the meat would be too tough, and neither did my traveling companions. They were much more fond of the juicy barbecue.


    Well, there was also the fact that I used a curse spell on it, and I had no idea what side effects it would have had. I didn''t feel like telling that to the townsfolk after all the effort they put into hauling the massive body and cutting it up, although I''m sure it was relatively safe to eat. It was classified as a basic spell, after all, and those kinds of spells normally didn''t have any major negative effects.


    "Hey big guy, we could use some help on our ranch."


    "Um¡­"


    "Want to come over to my ranch house and take a look?"


    "I¡­ Uh¡­"


    After receiving some thanks and a few toasts from the attendees, I was mostly ignored for the rest of the night. Casath, on the other hand, wasn''t. Apparently the muscle-headed townspeople were quite attracted by his physical prowess, and several female minotaurs were trying to flirt with him.


    "Hey, get away! He''s mine!"


    "That''s a shame."


    Hanung wasn''t quite happy about all the attention her brother was getting, so she chased away all the women approaching him by claiming Casath to herself. They haven''t told anyone that they were half-siblings, and Casath didn''t retort to anything Hanung said, so it really looked like the two were a couple. For once, he was actually glad that his half sister kept clinging onto him.


    Suddenly, I felt some light breathing on the back of my neck, followed by a familiar fuzzy feeling.


    "I''m tired¡­"


    I quickly swallowed my beer and turned my head to the side to find Amber leaning on me.


    "Amber? Are you alright?"


    "Tired¡­ Hiccup!"


    "Hold my beer, please."


    After giving the beer mug I was holding to a random person standing nearby, I carefully turned around and grabbed hold of Amber by her arms. I had a hard time holding her up since she was ready to collapse at any moment, so it didn''t seem like she was exaggerating about being tired. Her face was bright red, and she looked like her head was up in the clouds somewhere.


    "Are you drunk?"


    "I was thirsty, and the stuff¡­ hiccup¡­ they gave me looked like apple juice¡­ hiccup!"


    I''m not even sure how she even managed to mistake beer for apple juice, so I''ll probably have to ask her when she sobers up. Her breath didn''t smell like alcohol, though, so just how low was her tolerance, anyways?


    Casath was still being pestered by the townsfolk, so I figured it was up to me to get Amber back to the inn safely. I turned back around, and let her collapse onto my back. I chanted and used a strength buff on myself, then piggybacked her down the street. Our inn was a five minute walk away.


    "Zzz¡­"


    As I got away from the plaza, the festive sounds eventually died out. Everyone was at the plaza, so the streets were rather empty. All I could hear now was Amber''s snoring, the rustling leaves under the gentle evening breeze, and the echoing of my footsteps as I walked through the cobblestone road. Soft flames from the street lamps faintly lit up the way, and I thought to myself how walking down this tranquil path under the starry night sky could be considered somewhat romantic if the girl on my back was awake right now.


    When I reached the inn, the innkeeper was already there, and he helped me with the door without saying or asking anything. From the looks of things, the inn''s workers didn''t seem to be around, so I assumed that everyone went to the celebration at the plaza, and the innkeeper had to stay behind to keep an eye on the place as a result.


    I carried Amber into her room, carefully set her on the bed, then tucked her in. This was supposed to be our shared room, but apparently one of the beds in Casath''s room was large enough that he and Hanung could both fit in it, leaving the other bed empty for me to sleep in. I didn''t want to risk getting clawed by Amber again, after all.


    I quietly walked to the door to leave the room.


    "Mm¡­ Wait¡­"


    When I was about to set foot outside onto the hallway, the girl''s quiet voice seemed to be calling me back. Was she still awake, or was she having a strange dream? I turned back around to look, and Amber''s eyes were still shut. Her ears, however, were twitching somewhat.


    Figuring that she was probably just having a dream of some sort, I moved one foot backwards, into the hallway.


    "Don''t go¡­"


    If she really was dreaming, then it sure was a bizarre coincidence that she was reacting to me leaving the room. I quietly pulled my other foot onto the hallway.


    "Don''t leave me¡­ Mom¡­"


    As I gently pulled on the doorknob, she called out to her mother in her dreams.


    A teardrop was running down her pale white cheek. She must be having quite a bad dream.


    Come to think of it, what was Amber''s past like? I had never heard her talk about her childhood or her family before. I don''t even know why I never asked her about it. Was she also an orphan like me?


    Feeling a bit bad for her, I decided to come back into the room and sit down by her bedside.


    "There, there¡­"


    I gently stroked her hair for a while, until she calmed down from her nightmare.


    "Well, I guess I can''t leave this room tonight¡­"


    After Amber stopped making noises in her sleep, I decided to retire in the other bed in this room.


    *   * *   * *


    The next morning, I ended up waking up too early for no apparent reason. To my side, Amber was still fast asleep in her bed.


    I wasn''t sure if she would still remember anything about last night, and I wasn''t feeling tired enough to go back to sleep, so I got out of bed and walked out of the room to avoid making things awkward later on. I gently opened the door of the opposite room, stuck my head in, and saw that Casath and Hanung were also sleeping as I peeked inside.


    Well, I guess I''ll just take a walk on the streets for a while, then.


    "Oh, good morning."


    "Morning."


    Apparently, a chambermaid was also awake, and she greeted me as I came down the stairs.


    "Would you like some breakfast before your carriage comes?"


    Based on her question, I would assume that Amber found us a carriage to Dasota town yesterday.


    "I''d like some, but maybe in about half an hour. I want to take a stroll first."


    "Okay."


    Today was supposed to be the last day of the town festival, but the only event scheduled was a cattle race taking place on the vast fields outside of town. After the nonsense involving the stampede and rampaging bull, the people in this town weren''t as thrilled over watching some giant cows and goats run anymore. As a result, even though that last event hadn''t started yet, some early risers were already taking down banners and decorations hung on the building walls, and a few were sweeping trash off the streets. The cheerful festive mood was all gone, and this town was now back to being a peaceful, quiet agricultural town once more.


    The sun rose higher and higher as I walked through the tranquil wide streets, dying the cobblestone road and several stone houses on the way a brilliant yellow. The gentle breeze rustled the trees blooming with flowers, and the chirps from birds that just woke up filled the air.


    After everything that happened so far, I quietly hoped that the days after I go home would be as peaceful as this scene.

 Extra 4: After Tea Time

    I''m at a loss.


    What should I do?


    This guy... His identification card says his family name is Luto, and hometown is Chosira town.


    Why do these names sound so familiar? I should have asked him earlier, before he drank the tea¡­


    Why did I have to ramble on and on with that monologue in the first place? I could''ve interrogated him with all that time I wasted¡­


    He drank so much of the drugged tea that his mind stopped working. Now he''s just laughing hysterically while looking around randomly with soulless eyes.


    This prison''s existence was supposed to be a secret to the people. Anyone who accidentally finds out about it like this guy would normally be executed, but the names listed on his card were so familiar that I decided to put his execution on hold until it was deemed safe to do so.


    *   *   *   *   *


    "What did you say?!"


    "Those names you brought up earlier¡­ Our king came from Chosira town, and was married into the Luto family at some point."


    "How accurate is this information?"


    "That''s what these intelligence documents say. Our agents are quite reliable."


    "Did he have children?"


    "A few. He left them all behind in Kitrod, though."


    "So there''s a chance this guy could be a relative of our king?"


    "It''s possible. I''ve confirmed with our intelligence network that the nearby towns don''t have any families with the same house name."


    "Ah, crap¡­"


    "Is something wrong?"You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    "We can''t dispose of that guy, then¡­"


    "Why not? We can probably make it look like he fell off a cliff or something."


    "He has the backing of both commander Mavuto and general Denato, and those two would give us hell if they found out."


    "Would they even know he came here?"


    "His province is still supposed to be on rotation today, so if he managed to travel this far, then he must have received permission to go to another town. They definitely know."


    "You have a point¡­"


    "We have to return him back to the surface."


    "Are you sure?"


    "What choice do we have?"


    "But he knows too much already."


    "We''ll just have to make him forget. Bring me an expert on hypnosis, quickly!"


    "Yes, sir. I''ll be back soon."


    That drug inside the tea can easily be used to exploit others. It clouds their judgement and deprives their will for a few hours, so as long as the victim is conscious, others can give orders or implant false ideas in their heads.


    I''ll just make him drink more tea tonight, and have that hypnosis expert make him forget about everything that happened today.


    *   *   *   *   *


    The boy is lying there half-naked and asleep after an hours-long hypnosis session. The hypnotist is confident that he won''t remember anything when he wakes up.


    As for why he''s half-naked, we had to get rid of evidence that he got lashed by a whip. One of the prisoners is surprisingly good at sewing, so we forced him to patch up the boy''s clothes. He was complaining about having to do more work after a long forced labor session, but readily complied after we lashed him a couple times. Some blood might have splashed onto the boy''s robes, but his clothes are already bright red, so he probably won''t notice.


    Several hours later, after confirming that the boy and his possessions were in the same state as when we found him yesterday, we carried him back up to the surface. His province''s rotation was scheduled to end today, so we decided to drop him by the old windmill that somehow became the town''s route marker. If he wakes up, he''ll probably be able to spot a carriage passing by since it''s so close to the main road.


    "Ugh¡­ It''s too bright out here¡­"


    I''ve been living underground for years now. It might be the early sunrise hours right now, but even that gentle sunlight was too harsh for me. I''d probably go blind if we came up here any later than now.


    We went back inside the mill, headed into the tunnel leading underground, and slowly moved the large grinder back in place to cover the underground entrance. It might look like a heavy stone grinder on the outside, but it''s actually very light.


    As the last one to return, I had to close a few more hatch doors on the way back, to make sure nothing can accidentally find its way to the underground.


    Well, I hope the hypnotist was right about that boy forgetting everything that happened.


    Maybe I should drink some of that tea and forget about this whole ordeal, too¡­

 23.1 - Back Home (1)

    Today was the first day of the fifth month. The Kitrod empire had been at a loss for ages over what each month should be named, but here in Badoth territory it was unofficially called May. Rumor has it that the person who created the calendar system already came up with names for the twelve months, but half of them were named after gods from his hometown, so the empire whose state religion worshiped a different god couldn''t accept the names. As for this areligious territory I''m in, nobody cared about whether or not something was named after a god that nobody worshiped in the first place. In any case, assuming nothing bad happens in the near future, I''ll be able to enjoy some peace and quiet until my next break starts on the fourteenth day.


    After we finished breakfast, a carriage headed for Dasota town came to pick our group up. I asked Amber if she remembered anything after getting drunk last night, but she said she completely blacked out and didn''t remember what happened. I carefully tried to get her to talk about her past, but she said she''d prefer to talk about it "at the right time."


    On the other hand, I got to hear Casath and Hanung talk about their past. While the two don''t remember where exactly they were born, they recalled growing up in a village surrounded by swamps and marshes. It was located somewhere near the southeastern province and was referred to as the eastern wetlands.


    Due to the village''s ability to self-sustain itself with the abundant food from the marshes and wetland farms, the village didn''t need to interact much with the rest of the world for trading, and the two turned into what was considered country bumpkins, since they didn''t meet enough people to learn common sense and basic manners.


    One year, endless torrential downpours caused a massive flood to occur, taking out most of the village''s homes and wildlife in the area with it. Because of the scarcity of food after the flood, the villagers had no choice but to abandon whatever remained in the village and try to reach the nearest town to ask for assistance.


    Unfortunately, the lack of contact with the rest of the world meant that the villagers had no idea which way to go to reach the nearest town, since the people who came to their village were often just travelers that got lost. As a result, the villagers split into four groups and parted in different ways, with the promise that they would return to the village some day in the future to leave notes for others to know where they relocated themselves to. The siblings'' group moved westwards.


    Because of the swampy terrain, it was hard to travel fast. Casath and Hanung''s group probably only managed to travel at most 10 kilometers each day, and it wasn''t until a full week later that they finally arrived in a town. Along the way, most of the group perished: some from diseases, many from thirst, hunger, and fatigue, and most from drowning. After all, it was difficult to determine how deep the bogs and waters were because of the flood, and all the underwater sediment made it nearly impossible to escape once one began sinking. Tragically, all of the two''s relatives lost their lives during that week. Of the 60 or so members of their group, only 10 made it out alive, half of whom were in critically poor health.


    The lack of trade and interactions with the outside world meant that the villagers didn''t have any money on them. Luckily, the townsfolk were kind enough to provide food, shelter, and medicine to the 10 for a while after hearing the story about what happened to their village. Another two succumbed to the illnesses they contracted, but the remaining 8 villagers fully recovered after about a week.


    Needless to say, the tragic loss of her family members and of most other villagers heavily scarred Hanung mentally, resulting in her current unwillingness to be separated from her brother for too long, since Casath was the last surviving relative of hers.


    The wetland villagers'' lack of social skills and mannerisms made it difficult for them to adjust to living in a town, and the townsfolk also began losing their patience in their dealings with the wetland people. Knowing too well that the townsfolk would soon be unwilling to provide support for them, the wetland villagers tried to find proper work, but their lack of skills for handicrafts and the different techniques used in wetland farms made it impossible for them to find jobs at the farms and specialty shops in town. All they could do was resort to irregular work at construction sites or cleaning the sewers for meager pay.


    Eventually, Casath and Hanung had to resort to petty theft since they couldn''t earn enough money for their own minimal expenses. When they got caught, the townsfolk chose not to imprison them for their misdemeanors since they were somewhat sympathetic towards the troubles these two young adolescents were going through. At the same time, since the two did not have money to pay their fines, the townsfolk had no choice but to exile them from town, since the other option was public execution, according to the local laws.


    As time went on, Casath and Hanung repeated the cycle of moving to another town further west, finding part-time work with meager pay, having to resort to petty theft, and getting exiled. When they finally reached Sachiru town, they ultimately got fed up with having to live such a tough life. Instead of trying to find work, the two resorted to being delinquents and making money off of extortion, until I put a stop to it and gave them proper jobs last month.


    "I''m sorry to hear what happened to your village¡­"


    "It''s been a long time since then, so we''ve gotten over it."


    "Still, it must be sad to have to live without friends or family like that¡­"


    "It is, but we''re happy with life now."


    "Hm?"


    "We finally have a proper home, stable income, and caring townsfolk, after all."


    It was perhaps because I gave them a chance to live a better life that they quickly changed their ways and became proper citizens again. Their lack of knowledge wasn''t a hindrance in town, either, since the orcs and goblins in town also had relatively low intelligence compared to other races. If anything, these two were probably smarter than the average citizen.


    "Well, I''m happy for you two."


    "All thanks to you, of course."


    I almost blushed after seeing the two smile at me so earnestly.


    "Come to think of it¡­"This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    I thought about the story they just told, and one small thought kept lingering in my head.


    "¡­How old are you two, anyways?"


    Their long journey westwards probably lasted at most two or three years, and they had just recently become adolescents at the time their village was flooded, so they couldn''t be that old.


    "Thirteen."


    "Twelve."


    "Oh."


    Which means they were adolescents by the time they were 10 or so years old. I knew animals often matured faster because of their shorter lifespans, but didn''t think such fast maturity would also apply to reptilians and harpies like these two. Maybe it was precisely the early maturity trait that rendered most non-human species incapable of using magic, since the ability to control mana could only be efficiently learned before puberty. Although, if that was actually true, then there was one anomaly¡­


    "What? Is there something on my face?"


    "Nothing."


    "What is it then?"


    If the non-human races had traits similar to animals, then a demihuman like Amber would likely have matured sooner than Casath and Hanung. Yet, she was able to use basic magic, albeit with the quirk of her spells only working on males. Given her work as a spy of sorts, and employment as a maid at commander Mavuto''s household, it was definitely impossible for her to still be a child. Did she just have an abnormally late puberty phase, then?


    "Um¡­ I kind of want to know your age after hearing these two talk about it, but if you think it''s rude to ask, then you don''t have to answer."


    "Oh, you think I''m also younger than I look, right?"


    "I guess I technically am thinking about that now, since you brought it up. I did think these two were 18 or older before they told me their ages¡­"


    I was thinking about how she even has a mana pool and was able to use magic, but I guess her question was also thought-provoking, too.


    "Well I''m the same age as you."


    "You''re¡­ also 20?"


    "Yes."


    "Okay¡­ That''s nice to know."


    Yep, definitely an anomaly. She didn''t want to talk about her past right now, so I''ll have to make a mental note to myself to ask her how she managed to learn magic some day.


    After some idle chatter among ourselves and the merchant troupe that owned this carriage, we finally reached Dasota town shortly after noon.


    *   *   *   *   *


    "Welcome back!"


    The town chief happily greeted us after we got off of the merchant carriage.


    "Thank you."


    "Are you on your way home?"


    "Yes, although we don''t have a carriage. Do you know anyone planning on going to Sachiru town?"


    "I do, actually."


    "Really?"


    "Yes. As it turns out, the bandits you handed over a few days ago were guilty of killing a few prominent people in the southern province, so they need to be transferred over to the southern courthouse for trial."


    "Hey Amber, where''s the southern courthouse?"


    "About five kilometers north of Sachiru."


    Wasn''t the area outside the Sachiru town walls just empty, open fields? Why the heck would anyone even build a courthouse there?


    Oh well, at least it should be easy to walk home from there.


    "Could we travel with the people transporting the captives?"


    "Of course! That was going to be my request, anyways."


    "Request?"


    "Sending too many people away would disrupt our honey production, so we were going to request a group of army men to come help with the transportation. Since you''re here, you can take over for the army escort, since you were the ones who overpowered the bandits."


    I didn''t overpower them, I just badly poisoned them. But I guess keeping them under control shouldn''t be too hard as long as Casath is around, and as long as they remain tied up in the carriage.


    "By the way, how is the sick girl doing?"


    "She''s still ill, but her headaches and hallucinations aren''t as severe anymore."


    "That''s good to hear."


    Before leaving town, I walked by the Ursine girl''s house to check up on her. She appeared to still be frail, but she was at last not bedridden anymore. Once she saw me, she came over and gave me a hug as thanks for the medicinal tea. I don''t exactly know what the Ursines'' definition of frail was, but I felt like her bear hug was tight enough that my ribs could have been shattered if she gave it her all.


    Our ride went without any issues, and we reached our destination after about seven hours. The courthouse was located somewhere within a heavily guarded walled area that spanned 500 meters on each side. I really wanted to explore what was inside, but we weren''t allowed to enter, so we left the captive transport carriage at an outpost by the walls and walked back to Sachiru town. I have no idea why nobody in town had ever talked about such a conspicuous place nearby.


    Once we got through the town''s northern gate, Casath and Hanung parted with us since they lived somewhere in the west area, while we lived by the southeastern area. I really wanted to follow them just to know where they lived, but I''m sure I''ll have other chances for that. Besides, Amber and I had to go talk to the owner of the carriage we borrowed to apologize for getting it destroyed. The owner was angry at first, but after I reimbursed him the full cost of a carriage, two horses, and the security deposit that Amber paid a few days ago, he happily forgave us. He even offered to let us borrow a different, more expensive carriage for our future travels.


    Afterwards, we walked in the direction of the market district where our shop was located. Along that twenty minute walk, a reptilian carrying a large barrel walked by. Like Casath, he had an alligator-like face and large tail, but his scales were yellowish in color, while Casath''s were a somewhat dark green. I had never seen him before in town, so perhaps he was one of the villagers from the wetlands that came over recently to help Casath and Hanung with their courier job.


    "Ah, home sweet home!"


    After all that unnecessary running around I experienced over the past few days, it felt relieving to know that I could finally stay put for two weeks. It was almost nine o''clock right now, so I asked Amber to go buy something for dinner since no grocer would be selling fresh food this late.  She wasn''t happy with the thought of me lazing around right away, so she shoved a feather duster into my hand and told me to clean up the shop since everything had been left untouched for four whole days. I thought about refusing, but she waved her claws so close to my face that I couldn''t do so.


    "I''m back."


    Twenty minutes later, Amber came back with two sandwiches, one for each of us. I only did a halfhearted job at cleaning since Amber usually did this each night while I was brewing potions, but it seemed like I did a good enough job in the shop space that she let me stop to eat.


    "Thanks, Amber. Although¡­ why sandwiches?"


    This was what she got me on my first night here, and she would often get these on nights when she didn''t feel like cooking anything.


    "It''s late. All the other food stalls are closed."


    Couldn''t she have easily gone into a pub and bought any other food to take away instead? Why look for a food stall in the middle of the night? Well, I don''t particularly mind eating sandwiches frequently, anyways. It was certainly better than food scraps and leftovers.


    I took a nice, refreshing bath after dinner, then retired to my room after a little more cleaning with Amber''s help.

 23.2 - Back Home (2)

    "Blaze, you have mail!"


    "I do?"


    On the morning of May 13, the giant made a gesture to Amber that prompted her to go check the carriage he arrived with, and she came back inside with some papers. After taking one that was probably addressed to her, she placed two rolls on the counter in front of me, which were both sealed with a wax mark that looked similar to the shape of the badge general Denato gave me last month.


    I broke one of the two seals, then unrolled the paper to find a relatively short note written inside.


    "I have no idea what this says."


    As expected, it was written in the demon language, so I gave it to Amber for a translation.


    "Let''s see¡­ General Denato says that he heard you wanted to come visit Mitana city after arriving at Border Town, and wants you to have a good time there. Since he won''t be back until at least three days from today, he instructed you to give the other roll of paper, which is a letter of introduction, to the officers on patrol if you want to be shown around the city before he comes back."


    "That''s really nice of him. How did he know I was visiting, though?"


    "I sent a letter to commander Mavuto with a shipment a few days ago to ask for permission."


    "Permission?"


    "It already takes almost a whole day to get there, and another to get back, so I thought we wouldn''t have enough time to enjoy ourselves."


    "So you asked for permission to have a longer break?"


    "Yes."


    I wonder, was Amber really an idiot? Even I didn''t think about asking for a longer break.


    "What did the commander say?"


    "He said we can leave for up to 7 days."


    "I know the army has a surplus of supplies, but will it last them a full week?"


    "It will."


    "Are you sure?"


    "I''m sure."


    Just to be certain that she wasn''t spouting out nonsense, I inquired further about what she used as basis for firmly stating she was sure that the army would be able to get by with their surplus goods, to which I received a somewhat surprising answer. Due to the war having reached a stalemate for the past 70 years, most fortifications on both sides were located at the camps directly facing the border, since the armies had been spending too much time around roughly the same locations and had thus upgraded such fortifications countless times.


    Because of the incident involving the rampaging dragon last month, the fortifications on the Kitrod side fell first, and the same should have happened to the Badoth side when the dragon flew across the border. However, because of the unexpected successful counterattack, not only did Border Town not fall, but the army stationed there also suffered very minimal losses. Taking advantage of the situation, they were able to quickly capture most of the camps on the enemy side of the border since all their defenses had already fallen and their stationed armies were still in disarray.


    Since neither side ever expected the enemy army to be able to rapidly advance past dozens of layers of defenses, the towns that lied beyond the border had relatively weak fortifications and fighting forces, and were therefore easily captured. As of now, the Badoth army had increased the amount of territory captured by 4 times, from 10 to 40 kilometers past the border, compared to when I saw that news leaflet two weeks prior.


    The army could advance even further if they chose to, but it seems that they are instead choosing to slow their pace down. After all, governing a conquered territory whose finances were crippled due to warfare was a great burden, and the risk of rebellion was high. As such, the commander opted not to increase the number of conquered towns too rapidly until there was enough personnel to manage the occupied territories. Additionally, because of the massive size of the continent, it was impossible to even capture and manage every single plot of land in the remaining 960 kilometer distance to the enemy capital, so it seemed like the Badoth army''s goal was instead to try to convey the idea that their army could readily crush the enemy side whenever they wanted, and use that idea as a bargaining chip to get a peace treaty signed.


    Regarding the reason why the army would be fine without receiving any shipments from me for a whole week, the large amount of conquered territory meant that there were more pillaged supplies. The army was making use of anything they found useful over there, which in turn would deplete the locals of resources needed to stage a coup. While I didn''t ask, the commander also noted that the army was treating those living in the captured town as humanely as possible, and no civilians were killed unless they attempted to assault any army personnel.


    That was surprisingly considerate of them.


    "Well, thanks for that info. I guess I''ll head out to rent a carriage now."


    After confirming that Amber said everything she needed to say, and that there weren''t any other messages for me, I headed outside while Amber stayed to watch over the shop.


    *   *   *   *   *


    "Oh, Blaze! I was looking for you!"


    "Hm? Miss Batinu? What are you doing here?"


    Halfway across town, I encountered Batinu by chance. While she was a fairy with a child-like appearance, she was actually already 50 or so years old and was quite a skilled medic entrusted with leading the army''s field medics and nurses. When we first met a month ago, she was a nervous wreck, but it looks like she''s accustomed to me now, even though we''ve only talked a few times.


    "I wanted to talk to you about something."


    "Am I being asked to come to the battlefield again?"


    "No, no, nothing of that sort. It''s about the bandits you brought in¡­"A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "Is something the matter?"


    "Well¡­ There''s this little girl among that group¡­"


    "Little girl? Lica?"


    "Ah, you know about her already. That makes things easier."


    "Huh?"


    "She''s unfit for being sent to a labor camp because of her small stature, and we would feel bad about sentencing such a young girl to death¡­"


    Should I just tell her Lica''s already 20 or so years old?


    "¡­and so we decided to give her a lifetime sentence of slavery."


    I feel like that''s even worse than a death sentence.


    "Why are you telling me this?"


    There''s no reason to tell me what punishments some unrelated people were being given, after all.


    "Because you''ll be her master, of course!"


    "Wait, what?"


    "We were going to auction her off in a slave market, but she willingly chose you instead. Since you weren''t properly compensated for the capture of those bandits, it seemed like a good idea."


    "She¡­ willingly chose me?"


    "Yes, she has reflected on herself and wants to atone for her sins after you single-handedly defeated all of the bandits!"


    How the hell does one reach the point of self-reflection after being taken down by mass poisoning? Better yet, what kind of stories did people even circulate about me? And why do you even sound so cheerful?


    "Are you sure she doesn''t just want to kill me?"


    "Oh, you don''t have to worry about that. She agreed to the contract!"


    "What contract?"


    "We have special papers imbued with the worst possible curses that the demons of this land can inflict, so we made a contract for her to sign. Now she has to obey all of your commands, and she''ll suffer excruciating pain if she tries to harm you."


    "What the hell? Don''t contracts require the consent of both parties? And if you have cursed papers like that, can''t you use it to force the other side to end the war or something?"


    "We can''t manufacture a lot of those, and we don''t have anyone close enough to the Kitrod king to make him sign it. In any case, I need to prepare for departure tomorrow, so I''ll take my leave now. Someone will come by your shop later with Lica in tow. Have a nice day!"


    "Hey, wait! You didn''t answer my question about mutual consent! Hey!"


    I was going to chase her on foot, but she flew away so fast that I couldn''t run after her.


    Sigh¡­ I really wish that fairy explained things to me in more detail. Lica''s contract prevents her from harming me, but Batinu didn''t say anything about whether or not she could harm others, so I likely can''t leave her unattended in town for a whole week. Seeing how I most likely need to bring her along on our trip to Mitana city, I''ll probably have to bring Casath and Hanung along, too, just so I have a means of subduing her if something goes wrong. Well, I guess I''ll go find them in a while.


    After giving the merchant renting out his carriage a large security deposit and being told the carriage would be brought over to my shop by sunrise the next day, I wandered around town for about half an hour, going through the busiest streets with the hope that I would encounter those two couriers eventually. As expected, Casath and Hanung soon walked by while carrying a heavy load. It was most likely going to be inconvenient for them to make them stop and talk, so I ran after them and talked while moving.


    "¡­Sorry, we can''t come this time."


    "Why not?"


    "The last of the six villagers that migrated with us is coming tomorrow. I''d like to stay and show them around town, and to get them used to the courier job."


    "What if I gave you 50000 doviti again?"


    "The 50000 you gave us before the last trip helped pay off all of our remaining debts, so we''re not in urgent need of money anymore."


    "Would any of the six villagers want to come?"


    "I don''t think so. Business has been booming recently, so they''re always needed around the clock. Besides, I don''t think they''re comfortable going on a week-long trip with strangers¡­"


    "Oh¡­ I guess I''ll have to figure out something else, then. Also, tell your fellow villagers I said hi."


    I had quite a number of acquaintances in town,  but they were more so drinking buddies than actual trusted friends.


    It looks like our trip tomorrow really is going to be with just the three of us.


    *   *   *   *   *


    "Um¡­ Blaze?"


    "Miss Batinu forced this on me. She didn''t even give me a chance to say no¡­"


    Amber was confused when two soldiers brought Lica over to my shop. She was wearing only a tattered, dirt-colored dress, and had a collar on her neck. I''m not sure if other people are able to notice it, but I can sense a powerful, ominous energy coming out of it¡­


    There''s no doubt that the collar was directly related to the contract she signed.


    Without saying a single word, the soldiers quickly saluted us and left.


    "Just to confirm, you have no intention of getting revenge, right?"


    "Yes."


    "And what did Batinu mean when she said you voluntarily chose me to be your master?"


    "Food."


    "Food? You really are holding a grudge from when I poisoned you, aren''t you?"


    "No."


    "Then¡­ what do you mean by ''food''?"


    Having lived in the forest for so long, Lica had been eating bland foods for all these years. Leaving the matter of food poisoning aside, the meal I made in the forest that day completely took her by surprise, since she had never tasted anything like it even though almost every ingredient came from the very forest she lived in. During the time she was kept captive, despite being given only food scraps and leftovers to eat, she was still enamored with the exotic flavors she never experienced before in her life that she kept looking forward to her next meal.


    After hearing that she would be sentenced to eternal slavery instead of death, she was filled with joy: the food she''ll be given in the future might be bad, but she could continue to indulge in all kinds of exquisite flavors! When she overheard the prison warden and miss Batinu discuss about where to send her, she called the two over to request becoming my slave on her own volition. It was probably because I was the one who opened up the world of flavors to her, I ended up being the first one to come to her mind at the time. Batinu already knew me, so she didn''t oppose that request.


    I hit my face with the palm of my hand, then rubbed my face on it after Lica finished explaining her ridiculous reason for choosing me as her master.


    "Why do I keep encountering people with mental issues¡­"


    I mumbled to myself quietly enough that the two girls probably didn''t hear me.


    "There''s no way for me to undo the contract, is there¡­"


    "Only if I die."


    "Sigh¡­ In that case, there''s one thing I need to point out."


    "Hm?"


    "Don''t try to make any sexual advances on me. I know you''re a young adult, but your small stature might make other people think I''m a lolicon."


    "I wasn''t plannin'' to. I only want food."


    "Well¡­ That matter aside, it''s almost lunch time, so let''s go out and eat."


    "Yay!"


    Lica wagged her tail in joy. Just how did a fierce, sassy bandit turn into this simple-minded glutton?


    "But before that, go take a bath, Lica."


    "Okay."


    "By the way, do you have any spare clothes that might fit her, Amber? We can get her some new clothes after lunch, but let her borrow something of yours for now."


    "I think I might."


    "Great. Could you leave the clothes in the unused bedroom upstairs? I wasn''t planning on renting out rooms, so I might as well let Lica have that vacant one."


    Even though Lica''s supposed to be a slave, I''m already treating her quite nicely. I don''t really know why, but I can''t fathom myself treating others like worthless trash.

 24.1 - To The City (1)

    To prevent misunderstandings or unexpected violence due to us having Lica in tow, I opted not to stop at Dasota town. Instead, we stopped the carriage about half a kilometer away while Amber walked into town to buy some food and necessities for the road, while I led the horses towards the riverbank so they could drink up. I told her to tell the townsfolk I had a contagious non-lethal disease in case they were to ask why I wasn''t with her.


    Once Amber returned, we continued on to reach Suva town shortly before midnight. I felt bad for the horses once we arrived, since we made them travel for almost an entire day. I also felt bad about myself for making the two girls steer the carriage the whole day, too, even though I didn''t request them to do so. In fact, the two of them noticed how poor my skill behind the reins was, and they kept insisting that I sat down in the back for fear that I might accidentally steer us into the deep river instead.


    One thing that bothered me was how Amber was so willing to let Lica help out with steering the carriage, or just the fact that Amber trusted Lica more than me in this aspect. I, for one, would definitely not trust someone who threatened to take my life two weeks prior. After all, what if she still held a grudge? Was she really just a simple-minded glutton who didn''t mind what happened in the past? Then again, what I consider as common sense probably differs from what the people of Badoth consider to be common sense, considering how I grew up on the other side of the border.


    I suppose I''d best just take things for granted.


    Considering how late it was, there was no time for us to explore our options, so we chose to lodge ourselves at the inn we stayed in two weeks prior, since it was the only one we knew about. The innkeeper was surprised to see us since the festival in town was long over, and I felt like he was hoping we weren''t going to ask to stay for free.  To relieve him of such thoughts, I immediately told him we had more than enough money left over to book a large room, and he happily accepted my payment. The innkeeper asked Amber to fill in the guest register book, then quickly went to the back to wake up some employees to take care of our carriage and luggage on board.


    "Are you in a rush to go to Mitana city?"


    "Not really. The person I want to meet won''t be there until at least a day and a half from now, so I''m probably going to wait until noon to depart from here."


    "Is that so¡­"


    "Is something wrong?"


    "Ah, nothing serious. I wanted to ask you to help deliver a letter for me."


    "A letter?"


    "Yes, a letter. Postage is expensive because of the low demand here, and there won''t be any trader caravans going to Mitana city for another three days."


    "Alright, I''ll help you deliver your letter, then."


    "Great! I''ll give you the letter shortly before you leave tomorrow."


    "Okay."


    After that brief request, I said goodnight and headed upstairs to the room that was assigned to us. It would probably be strange if I requested a separate room for myself and had the two girls in another room, so I requested a large room with four beds instead.


    Nothing out of the ordinary happened after we went to sleep, but is it considered weird how I was expecting something unsightly to happen? Maybe I started becoming slightly paranoid after having all kinds of nonsense happen to me late at night. In any case, it was probably because we were all too tired after being on the road for so long that we just passed out right away without any idle talk before then.


    *   *   *   *   *


    It was probably around half past nine when I woke up, and just like usual, I was the earliest riser in our group. Looking at the other beds, Amber was still snoring, and Lica was mumbling incomprehensible things while drooling. We weren''t planning on leaving for Mitana city until noon, so I figured I didn''t need to wake the two up unless they were still sleeping two hours from now. There was nothing for me to do in our room, so I headed downstairs after freshening myself up.


    "Ah, esteemed guest, good morning!"


    "Good morning. I''m going to go for a walk around town, then come back in an hour for an early lunch."


    "Are you fond of any particular races in this town?"


    "Hm?"


    "Which do you like more, minotaurs or satyrs?"


    I was tempted to say minotaurs because the innkeeper was one, but I couldn''t tell if he was asking me a trick question or not.


    "Neither, I guess. I don''t have any specific preferences."Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "Good. Be careful out there."


    "What''s that supposed to mean?"


    "You''ll see it if you keep walking down the main street. It''s very hard to miss."


    "Eh¡­"


    "As long as you don''t have any racial preferences, you''ll be safe."


    What the innkeeper said really bothered me, but he wouldn''t give me any more details about what was happening on the streets. There weren''t any other guests lodging in this inn, nor were there any patrons in the inn''s bar and diner, so there wasn''t any way for me to kill time indoors. I guess I''ll just have to go out on the streets and find out what was going on. If anything bad happens, I''ll just shift the blame to the innkeeper.


    The townsfolk seemed to have done a good job at cleaning up the collapsed building after the stampede incident, as what used to be piles upon piles of debris were now clean, empty lots, some of which had foundations for new buildings already constructed. Oddly enough, among the buildings that were still standing, several had broken windows or damaged walls, and piles of stones and wooden splinters scattered in front of them, as if a small storm had just passed by. Unlike the scene I saw two weeks prior where people were diligently sweeping the streets clean, the main street right now was completely empty, and the buildings along it had their doors completely shut, with some having boarded up windows.


    As I walked further down the street, I began hearing some unintelligible shouting in the distance, then saw the figures of the townsfolk. Moving closer, it seemed as if half the town was now gathered in one place. They didn''t seem to be moving anywhere, so it was probably unlikely that there was another stampede going on. The innkeeper didn''t mention any festivals or events, so I couldn''t help but wonder why so many people were out here.


    "Spill the beans!"


    "Make them talk!"


    "Just lynch them all!"


    ¡­Well, this definitely isn''t a joyous occasion.


    What stood out the most about the angry mob in front of me was that they were all minotaurs or other bovine-like demihumans. Many of them were holding pitchforks and blunt weapons, and they were all directing their gazes further down the street. After squeezing my way through these townsfolk, I could see that on the other side was a large crowd consisting of entirely satyrs and other caprine-like demihumans.


    Seeing this racial divide going on, I quickly understood why the innkeeper asked if I had any preferences earlier. I tried to ask what this gathering was for, but the townsfolk were so busy shouting at the other group that they either didn''t bother answering me, or just gave vague answers that didn''t help me grasp the situation.


    I considered running over to the satyrs to ask what was going on, but I felt like I might end up getting beaten up if they noticed me running over from the side they were shouting at, so I decided to head back to the inn. The innkeeper seemed to be a reasonable enough person that I could probably get information out of.


    *   *   *   *   *


    "A few people in town fell ill about a week after you left."


    "How bad was it?"


    "They had trouble moving around, got headaches and hallucinations, and developed anxiety."


    "That sounds a lot like a case I saw in Dasota town."


    "Oh? Was someone able to find a cure?"


    "No, but I can give instructions on how to brew an herbal tea that might relieve symptoms."


    "That would be splendid! Hopefully the townsfolk can calm down with that¡­"


    "In any case, how did this lead to the shouting on the streets?"


    "Ah, right, back to talking about what happened¡­ After the first few cases, more and more people in town also fell ill."


    "Did people suspect mass poisoning or something?"


    "Yes. More specifically, they noticed that all those who fell ill were the minotaurs."


    "And that let them towards suspecting the satyrs in town for being behind this?"


    "That''s right."


    "What if it was just a coincidence?"


    "That''s what everyone thought at first, but then some folks pointed out how only the cattle in the town''s ranches had similar diseases, leading the others to think that someone was specifically targeting bovines for poisoning."


    "Would someone even be stupid enough to do something so obvious? I feel like it''s more reasonable to think that this is a disease that only affects bovines¡­"


    "Things have already escalated to the point where changing everyone''s thoughts is impossible now."


    "Well, I hope things settle down soon¡­"


    I don''t have any attachment towards this town, so I''m not obliged to stay and help mediate or improve the situation. I''m rather thankful that we were going to leave this place soon.


    "It should, after you deliver this letter."


    The innkeeper took out a sealed envelope and gave it to me.


    "Could I ask who and what the letter is for?"


    "Please deliver it to any of the military commanders in that city. I''m requesting them to send some officers over to help maintain the order in town."


    "I don''t mind helping with that, but would they even be willing to send soldiers over to help?"


    "They should be. I''m the vice-chief of this town, after all."


    "Eh? You''re the vice-chief?"


    "I may not look like it, but yes. I don''t have any actual power in this town, but my position at least allows me to request military interventions."


    "Is that so¡­"


    General Denato did give me an introduction letter, so it probably won''t be difficult to meet with any of the high ranking officers in Mitana city. I took the letter and headed upstairs to tell the girls to wake up and get ready to depart.


    Noon came shortly after we had a light meal, and the streets became clearer as most of the townsfolk retired to lunch. The three of us promptly got on our carriage and headed out of the town as quickly as possible.


    Trade carriages between Suva and Mitana didn''t run that often, but for some reason there was a wide, stone paved, flat road connecting the two places that was called the "southwestern highway". Perhaps they occasionally delivered the over-sized cattle here whole, otherwise there was no point in having such a wide road.


    Regardless of the actual reason, the highway allowed us to travel a lot faster than normal.

 24.2 - To The City (2)

    It was such a waste of money to construct a wide highway that barely received any traffic, but I couldn''t really care less since I wasn''t in charge of anything here. It was thanks to this massive construction that we were able to cover the 90 kilometer distance between Suva town and Mitana city in just four and a half hours, as opposed to six or seven hours if the highway wasn''t there.


    Although we shortened our travel time by a significant amount, we were still not inside the city yet. Our carriage was the only one that traveled from Suva town, yet for some reason there was a line of six carriages ahead of us waiting to be inspected at the city''s eastern gate by the time we arrived. I figured these carriages might have originated from the city itself, traveled a short distance, and turned back; or perhaps the carriages were from other towns, and the other gates weren''t functioning. In any case, the inspection process was horrendously slow, since the guards had only finished inspecting three carriages after half an hour. Thanks to someone in the carriage in front of us playing a flute to pass the time, I wasn''t too bored of waiting.


    Eventually, our turn came after another twenty minutes in line.


    "You don''t look like merchants."


    "We''re here to go sightseeing."


    "Sightseeing? In this city?"


    Was it a bad place for tourism or something?


    "Yes. General Denato invited me."


    I took out the letter that the general sent to me and gave it to the guard.


    "This is¡­!"


    After taking a quick look at the letter, the guard quickly ran back to the gate. Shortly after, the gate was opened, and two guards were standing on each side of the gate, all saluting us. A fifth guard, probably the supervisor of the group, walked over to our carriage.


    As to why I figured this one was higher ranking than the others, all five guards were minor devils wearing the same light armor, but this one had an armband on his left arm.


    "Good afternoon, and sorry about the slow inspections."


    "Good afternoon. It wasn''t too boring thanks to the guy playing music."


    "Please allow me to guide you to the state guesthouse."


    "State¡­ guesthouse?"


    Without waiting for me to respond, the guard captain promptly handed back the letter I presented earlier and took Amber''s place at the carriage driver''s seat.


    After Amber moved to the back of the carriage and sat down next to me, I leaned over a little bit and whispered to her.


    "The general didn''t give weird instructions in this letter, did he?"


    "Let me check¡­ No, it just asks any officer in charge to arrange a good reception for you while he''s out of town."


    "I see."


    The fact that this officer was already arranging for us to stay at a state guesthouse was probably over-the-top, but at least we won''t have to worry about finding a place to lodge tonight.


    While the carriage traveled through the streets, the guard captain introduced the city to us. As the capital of the southwestern province, Mitana was the largest city and was the center of trade in this region. To make it easier to move goods around the province, the "southwest highway" project was initiated to connect major towns and cities with flat wide roads to significantly reduce travel time. However, due to the project only starting recently, construction was only finished for the roads between Mitana city and three other towns: Suva, one town to the north, and one town to the west. There were plans to further extend the western part of the highway another 250 kilometers to reach coastal towns, and extend the eastern part about 450 kilometers in the northeast direction to connect to the royal capital. Given the lack of traffic on the current highway, and the fact that traveling on it only saved about thirty percent of time, I felt like this was a complete waste of money. Maybe someone was planning on siphoning the project funds or something.


    The population of this city was somewhere around 100000, and it was the most diverse place in the southwestern province, with no race in particular being the majority of citizens here. The affairs of the city were managed by the local army, with general Denato as the head of government. Due to his lack of experience on politics, however, the general was actually in charge of just the army, while the management of the provincial matters were handled by a close group of advisers. He wasn''t entirely powerless, either, since the infrequent directives and suggestions given by him were still honored and executed.


    When I asked about why there were military officers patrolling the streets, the guard captain said that this was a necessary measure to maintain order in a city this large. There were too many different races living here, after all, so tight surveillance was conducted to prevent unfair duels and harassment from stronger individuals. I couldn''t help but wonder, though, if the citizens here minded the fact that there was at least two officers every 20 or so meters. This place really gave off the vibe of a militarily occupied city¡­


    Due to the large diverse population, all the buildings in this city had multiple floors, such that they could house as many people as possible. Some buildings were made with stone and marble, some with wood and straw, some with bricks, and some with sod and clay. The buildings were all painted with different colors, and even among buildings with the same material, the architecture, shape, and paints used varied. It was as though I was looking at an overly vivid painting, and there was no way to designate any single building as a landmark. Because of that, I was quite certain that one could easily get lost in the streets here, since there was no way to tell for sure where one was located.


    There was a relatively high amount of foot traffic on the long road we traveled along, so the carriage moved at walking speed, and it took about twenty minutes for us to reach our destination.


    The state guesthouse was located within a 150-meter long fenced lot, and its facade was that of a 60-meter long large mansion with three floors. Given its proximity to busy streets, there were guards stationed at every 10 meters of the fencing, and at least six patrolling the mansion''s grounds. From the fence gate to the mansion itself was a 30-meter long path, with a large water fountain in the middle that we had to go around.


    "This¡­ bothers me."


    "Is this place not to your liking? We can arrange for you to stay in the governor''s mansion instead."


    "Ah, no, it''s not that. I just think this is a little too over the top¡­"This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Hm?"


    "We''re just ordinary citizens with no role in the government, so I feel like letting us stay in this mansion meant for state guests might be too accommodating."


    "The general is the type of person who would complain if I didn''t give you the best reception possible, so please stay here for the night. If you want to move somewhere else, tell him that tomorrow."


    "We can''t go anywhere else tonight, can we¡­"


    "Not at all. The guards will stop you."


    "¡­"


    The floor and walls of the mansion were tiled with white marble, which made it appear cleaner and brighter under the light. The furniture and carpets had light colors and were lined with gold, and several paintings were hung on the walls of every room. I did not have the ability to appraise the value of everything I was seeing, but I could at least guess that this so-called guesthouse was constructed at an extremely high cost. Since important guests did not visit that frequently, the city did not employ maids in this mansion. Instead, petty officers in the army would be tasked with running errands, and there was one full-time butler who looked after the place.


    I was assigned a large room to myself, while the two girls shared a large neighboring room. Since we didn''t bring anything other than some changes of clothes, we simply tossed our bags into our rooms and followed the guard captain to the dining room since it was already a quarter past seven, and he said that dinner was already made.


    No matter how I looked at what was in front of me, the food just looked like glorified military rations. We were given a blob of yellow stuff that was probably mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, and some kind of mystery meat with brown sauce drizzled on top. The soldiers working in the kitchen probably tried their best to make it look appealing, but I reckon nobody actually had experience working as a professional cook or chef.


    "I¡­ um¡­ like the plating."


    Unfortunately, that was the only good thing about the food served to us. It was horribly bland and dry, and I had so much trouble swallowing it that I probably drank more water than the amount of food I consumed. Amber also seemed to have trouble, while Lica gobbled up everything without issues, so I secretly moved as much food from my plate as possible over to hers when nobody was watching. Since we still had some snacks in our luggage, I asked to be excused from dinner after making it look like I ate a full meal, then retreated to my room. Before leaving the dining room, I gave the guard captain the letter that the vice-chief of Suva town handed to me, and asked him to pass it along to someone higher up.


    Bored, Amber and Lica came over later that night so the three of us could ask for permission to go outside and see the city at night, but the guards wouldn''t allow us to leave the premises, just like the guard captain said.


    "Curfew hours."


    Why would someone even invoke curfew hours in a large city? And who in the world has curfew at eight o''clock, anyways? Thankfully, some of the guards were bored enough that they invited us to play cards with them to pass the time.


    *   *   *   *   *


    After eventually managing to swallow some unrecognizable mush for breakfast, the guards at the mansion informed me that a carriage had been arranged for me to go anywhere I wanted in the city. The only problem was that nobody in our group had knowledge about any location in this city, so I ended up talking to one of the guards to find a place of interest.


    "You''re a mage, right?"


    "That''s correct."


    "Then, would you like to visit the city''s magic research academy?"


    "Research academy?"


    "Yes. There are too few people that can use magic in this territory, so we built a research academy with the goal of finding a way to make it easier to learn."


    "That sounds interesting. Please take me there then."


    Maybe I''ll get to learn an interesting thing or two from there. And maybe I''ll be able to buy some new robes along the way, because I still have nightmares about the large bull from two weeks ago. I turned towards the two girls, who were following me out to the main entrance.


    "You two don''t have to come with me, you know. Feel free to go sightseeing or shopping without me."


    "That fairy lady said I''m not allowed to wander too far from you."


    "It''s boring going sightseeing alone."


    Well, I don''t mind having Amber coming along, but I hope Lica doesn''t turn into an overly attached person like Hanung.


    *   *   *   *   *


    "Why are we going through the gate?"


    I found it strange that we had been moving for a little over twenty minutes, but even stranger that our carriage was now going outside of the city, through the northern gate. After all, I thought that something like a research academy would be located reasonably close to the city center.


    "We have¡­ reasons for that. You''ll know when you get there."


    After traveling another fifteen or so minutes, the carriage veered off the road towards a fenced area.


    "The academy is in this area?"


    "Yes."


    "This isn''t a joke, right?"


    "It''s not."


    After passing through the fences, we moved through a lightly wooded area. The dirt road was relatively uneven, and the moss from several trees had started invading into the road. What kind of academy has its perimeter neglected like this?


    A minute or two later, something resembling a building eventually came into our view. Just judging by the exterior, there was no way one could ever think that this was a research academy. It just looked like a cracked giant stone dome.


    "Is this really an academy?"


    "It is."


    "Why does it look like that? I would have thought that this was a coliseum if nobody told me what it actually was."


    "Well¡­"


    "And why is it so far away from the city, anyways? Are you trying to ostracize researchers?"


    "We''re not. It''s just¡­ for safety."


    "Safety?"


    "Yes. Would you please wait in the carriage for a while? I''ll get someone to guide you."


    Before I could respond, the officer immediately jumped off and ran towards the academy''s entrance. I turned over to Amber, with the hope that she might be able to explain more to me.


    "Do you by any chance know what he meant by ''for safety''?"


    "Nope."


    "What could be so dangerous that they''d have to build a dome-shaped building this far away from the city, I wonder¡­"


    As soon as I finished stating what was on my mind, there was an small sound of an explosion coming from the dome. The ground shook lightly, and several bricks flew off of the dome''s wall. Consequently, it was now possible to faintly hear someone shouting from inside.


    "How dare you distract me like that! Look what you made me do!"


    I think I understand what the guard meant by ''safety'' now. If the research they were conducting in this place could explode like that, then it certainly would be bad to let this academy be located inside the city. The dome structure was probably the best design for keeping damage to the surroundings minimal, and for holding the building up even after some holes appear.


    "And why the hell are you even here? I told the army my magic isn''t suited for warfare already!"


    I suppose the person that the guard went inside to find ended up blowing something up, and was probably trying to vent his frustration by yelling at the guard.


    A minute or two later, the guard came out of a dome with another person walking behind him. It was a minor demon whose appearance was very similar to humans, with the exception of having short horns on his head and pale blue skin. He looked rather exhausted with his baggy eyes, and as though he cared more about his research work than appearance, his short hair was unkempt and clothes were all stained and wrinkled.


    "Hi. Yequa. I''m supposed to be your guide, apparently."


    "Um¡­ you don''t sound very happy, Yequa¡­"


    "Sigh¡­ what''s the point? I can''t even get good results, and every time visitors come, they''re just a bunch of people who can''t use magic and can''t appreciate the work we do here."


    "I''m an archmage, though. I''m sure I''ll be able to see the value of your work."


    "Oh? Well then, welcome to the Mitana city magic research academy! Please follow me so I can show you some of the amazing research we do here!"


    At least he''s motivated now.

 25 - Boom!

    The number of researchers and staff at the academy amounted to a whopping¡­ six members. I was told beforehand that the number of people who could use intermediate or higher grade magic was low in this territory, but I didn''t expect it to be that low.


    The one showing us around the academy was Yequa, whose primary focus was on animals. More specifically, his mentors were able to create magic that made it possible to tame and domesticate monsters in the wild, and through the introduction of something that the king called "genetics" they were also able to boost the size and food yield of such beasts, which resulted in not only a stable food source but also the introduction of new, stronger species that were used as war beasts on the battlefield. Since his mentors had all retired over a decade ago, Yequa had inherited and continued all that research. Currently, the lack of skilled mages made it hard to experiment with new spells, so he had been hard at work trying to figure out if one could force certain modifications to occur or enhance the effectiveness of existing magic through the use of potions. Unfortunately, his random potion mixtures often ended in explosions of some sort.


    "Maybe you could help me out, since you have experience brewing potions."


    "I''m not sure I can, though¡­ I''ve never made potions with the intent of mutating things."


    "Well, you''ll probably be able to help me reduce the risk of explosions, at least."


    "Haha¡­ I''ll see what I can do."


    We idly chatted as Yequa showed us around the facility. It didn''t seem like the researchers in this building collaborated often, since Yequa had no idea what the others were even researching, nor did he know half of his colleagues'' names¡­


    In any case, when this magic research academy was first built, the king envisioned it to be a pristine facility for training the world''s finest scholars of magic and science, so the entire ground floor was fitted with large lecture halls, labs, and study rooms, while offices, meeting rooms, and lounges were located on the two upper floors. Unfortunately, due to the lack of proper education and magical ability among the general population, this place had always received a depressingly low number of students and researchers. This resulted in a lack of usage of all the facilities here, and the academy was in a relatively poor condition, with cobwebs, cracks, and mold on practically every single wall. On the bright side, all these large rooms were ideal for Yequa to use as storage space or as homes for his tamed beasts.


    "Some of these things look exactly like monsters in Kitrod."


    "Ah, yes, I suppressed their feral instincts with the taming magic my mentors developed. Those creatures were considered dangerous monsters here long ago, too."


    Maybe the fact that large beasts that managed to escape from this land often turned into dangerous monsters in Kitrod had something to do with the effect of the taming magic wearing out.


    "Why don''t I show you the potions lab next? I''m trying to find a way to make our war beasts be capable of breathing out fire, but so far the only things I''ve set fire to are the labs¡­"


    "Um¡­ You''re not planning on trying out weird concoctions while we''re there, are you?"


    "Haha¡­ Of course not¡­ That''s dangerous! Why would I do that when you''re there¡­ haha¡­"


    He kept glancing away as he answered, so I think it''s best if I prepare to run away in case something goes wrong¡­


    "Hm? Seems like I entered the wrong room."


    "Wrong room?"


    There were a lot of racks with potions and strange vials on them, so I assumed that we were in the right place. Even if this is the wrong lab, can''t he just make use of the things already here?


    "This place is so big that I get myself lost sometimes. Well, if this is the potions storage room, then my office should be right next door. So if I go this way¡­"


    Yeque started mumbling to himself about the rooms in this building and pointed his finger all over the place, as though he was trying to give himself directions. He was in deep thought and wasn''t paying attention to anything around him, so I just left him alone and looked around, while the two girls idly chatted.


    Judging by the large chalkboard at the end of the room, this place was probably intended to be a large 40 by 30 meter lecture hall in the past. I''m not sure if there were any desks and chairs here originally, but there were now only shelves and racks standing where students would have sat. The potions in this room didn''t look like anything out of the ordinary. I picked up a few random bottles and lightly shook them around, but none of the concoctions were unstable. I couldn''t help but wonder what kind of crazy mixtures Yequa came up with for there to be so many explosions.


    Suddenly, from around the corner, a shadow swiftly moved by. Curious as to what it could have been, I walked over to where the shadow moved towards.


    "Eek!"


    Ignoring the fact that I might have sounded like a little girl when I shrieked in surprise, there was a giant spider lurking a couple meters away from me. After that disgusting experience where a spider died in my mouth a month ago, I developed a slight fear of spiders, so seeing this giant one made me jump backwards in panic.


    Given the limited free space in this room, unfortunately, my backwards jump ended with me hitting one of the potion racks, toppling it over and making me fall with it. Since all the racks and shelves in this place were placed so closely to each other, the rack I fell on started a chain of collisions, where the rack behind it also toppled over, which made the one behind it also fall, and so on.


    Before I knew it, the room was completely filled with the banging sounds of the shelves and racks tumbling and the shattering sounds of all the glass bottles and vials hitting the floor. Heck, there were even echoes of such sounds because this storage room was large enough.


    "Ah! The potions!"


    Yequa pointed towards the wall behind me with a somewhat horrified look on his face. Well, I''d probably be horrified, too, just by looking at that. The pool of mysterious potion liquid on the ground was now bubbling, and small columns of smoke began rising from it. Given the tendency for explosions to occur in this building, it was probably safe to assume that there was going to be another one coming soon.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "Run!"


    There wasn''t any time to waste, so all of us quickly ran out of the storage room and took cover down the hallway. An explosion took place not long after, blowing off the door of the storage room. Strangely enough, the door of the room next door, which was supposedly Yequa''s office, also flew off. I really hope I didn''t accidentally destroy anything important in there¡­


    "My¡­ my office! Everything''s gone!"


    Maybe I was being too hopeful. When we walked over to inspect the damage, all that could be seen were unrecognizable debris and burning stacks of paper on the floor. There was not only a giant hole in the office wall adjacent to the potions storage room, but the explosion was strong enough that there was also a hole on the opposite wall. Luckily, that other neighboring room was completely empty, so there wasn''t much damage done to it.


    Still, there was the undeniable fact that I just caused everything in Yequa''s office to reach an unrecoverable state.


    "You! Why did you do this?!"


    "Well¡­ It''s not like I did this on purpose. A giant spider showed up and scared me¡­"


    "You killed one of my test subjects too?!"


    "I¡­ Um¡­"


    I looked to the left, where the potions storage room used to be. It''s quite amazing how this building is still standing after such a huge explosion, but back to the issue at hand, there was nothing in that room that retained its original shape. Even the metal racks were in pieces, and there was nothing in there that resembled a giant spider, so I guess that thing was dead now.


    "Well?"


    "I¡­ might have, I guess."


    "¡­And all my research papers are destroyed, too."


    "Um¡­ Is there any way I can make up for this?"


    "Yes. You could kill yourself on the spot."


    "Isn''t there anything else I could do?"


    "Well, I''d love to kill you myself right now, but the general''s going to cut my funding if I do, so you could voluntarily enslave yourself and recreate my research instead."


    "I''m not against magic research, but I have another full-time job already, so I think I''ll pass on that."


    I couldn''t just bluntly say no, so I had to come up with a stupid excuse.


    "¡­"


    "Is there nothing else I can do?"


    "Fight me."


    "What?"


    "If you''re not going to kill or enslave yourself, then I''ll have to force you to do it."


    "Eh¡­"


    "And so, duel me. You''ll have to obey my requests if you lose."


    "But I¡­"


    "It sucks that I''m not allowed to kill you, so I''ll just turn you into a cripple, instead."


    "Isn''t that just as bad?"


    If I''m crippled, then I wouldn''t be able to do anything on my own for the rest of my life, which is just as bad as having my freedom or life taken away.


    "I''m sure the general won''t mind, as long as you''re alive and your shop assistant can help you with your job."


    "Aren''t there any peaceful ways to settle this?"


    "No. We must duel."


    "¡­"


    I took a glance at my traveling companions, but the two of them just shrugged their shoulders. Do I really have no way out of this?


    "Don''t I have the right to decline the duel challenge?"


    So far as I''m aware, settling disputes by fighting required mutual consent, after all. Of course, he could arrange for accidents to happen to me in retaliation, but I live hundreds of kilometers away, so I''m sure I''d be perfectly safe.


    "You can, but don''t blame me if some giant spiders start nesting around your home next week."


    Oh, right, he had a lot of tamed beasts under his control. They''re probably docile enough for others to consider them as harmless stray animals if he were to let them run loose, but given their other purpose of being war beasts, they could probably easily shred me to pieces if given the command.


    Sigh¡­


    It looks like Yequa really wants to settle this with a duel, and it seems I have no other options¡­


    "Fine, I accept the duel challenge¡­ But shouldn''t we agree on the conditions first?"


    "If I win, you''ll be working to recreate my research in addition to your regular day job. If you win, I''ll forgive you for what just happened, but you''ll still have to pay for reparations."


    "That sounds like I''ll be losing something no matter what the end result is."


    "Would you rather have giant spiders nest at your home, then?"


    "Okay, okay, I get the point. I agree to those terms¡­"


    I suppose having to pay for reparations isn''t too bad, since I did have a lot of money stockpiled up, and I didn''t know what to spend it on. I needed to somehow win, though. I have no knowledge of how he fights, but I reckon he''s at the same disadvantage, since he wouldn''t know how I fight, either.


    "Follow me to the battleground."


    Yequa silently walked through the building''s hallways, and the three of us quietly followed.


    I expected there to be some sort of training grounds outside of the academy, but it didn''t look like this place had such a facility. After we left the research building, Yequa led us into the woods, farther and farther away from the academy.


    "Um¡­ You''re not taking us to an execution site, are you?"


    After all, why else would we be going this deep into the woods?


    "No, they told us to keep the training grounds far away from the facility in case we accidentally blasted it with magic¡­"


    "Oh."


    If the place can still firmly stand after several indoor explosions, I feel like it can still stand after getting bombarded with magic, though.


    Whoever designed this place probably didn''t think things through.


    "We''re almost there."


    "What''s up with all these plants?"


    We were now in a section of the forest where the plants were completely abnormal. The trees were twisted and bent, and there was a significant amount of overgrowth: countless thick, thorny vines and large tree roots had spread all over the place. Had the plants here not maintained their green colors, this place could very easily pass as a haunted or cursed forest.


    "One of my¡­ former¡­ colleagues wanted to research magic for creating treants. It didn''t work."


    So this is probably the result of failed experiments to turn trees into sentient beings. I''m not exactly sure why he had to stress the word "former," though.


    "Here''s where we''ll fight."


    "Eh? What''s with this terrain change?"


    Beyond the twisted greenery was a completely desolate, dry field filled with sand and rocks. Never in my wildest dreams would I expect to see a small desert right next to a lush green forest.


    "The overgrowth that my former colleague created aggressively sucked the water and nutrients out of the surrounding area."


    "If the plants had that bad of an impact on the surrounding land, why not chop them down?"


    "He did try to chop down a tree. It released a deadly poison that killed him."


    "Oh¡­"


    Now I know why he emphasized the word "former," although learning about what happened to the poor fellow made me feel a bit concerned. If I accidentally burned one of these bent trees with my fire magic, would they release a deadly poison?


    "Well, enough talking. Let''s begin the duel."


    Then again, this desolate field is ridiculously large, so maybe I won''t need to worry about misfiring.

 26.1 - A Duel (1)

    Whether for entertainment or for settling differences between two parties, duels were a definite way to determine which party was, in a sense, better than the other. Between skilled fighters, one could even assess the battle prowess of involved parties, or the effectiveness of new battle techniques and tactics. To those not involved in the battle, spectating was often a feast for the eyes: the swift movements and dancing of blades were quite captivating, and could even be inspirational towards aspiring fighters.


    Duels between mages, however, were different. To some, they were even absolutely boring to watch. After all, the two parties would never show any movement or skill: two mages would simply stand facing one another, with a magic shield created in front of each of them. What was normally a display of power or skill instead became a show of who could recite chants faster, and the one who successfully unleashes a barrage of spells first to destroy the other party''s magic shield would become the winner. One would expect such a boring duel to take place between Yequa and Blaze, but the events that were about to unfold would completely betray everyone''s expectations.


    Magic shields were created by using basic water-type magic to solidify one''s mana, but such a simple task was difficult for Blaze, who only had an affinity towards the element of fire. While it was still possible for him to erect one, his ability to make use of water magic was so poor that his magic shield was not only a complete waste of mana, but also so weak that even his own spells would break it.


    Yequa, on the other hand, had such great control over his mana and elemental conversion skills that to him, making a magic shield was as easy as breathing. While his defense was excellent, the same could not be said about his offensive capabilities. Having dedicated his entire life to researching war beasts, Yequa never learned a single thing about the skills and tactics used in combat. All the magic he knew were spells to defend him against rampaging beasts in the off chance his research subjects went rogue, and a few high-cost, low-powered explosive spells that were better suited towards scaring off animals than actually harming them.


    Given the incapability of these two, a duel should never have been issued in the first place, yet they still chose to battle one another nonetheless. Blaze did not know any better: Yequa kept insisting, and he thought he had no other choice but to heed to Yequa''s request.


    If one knew about Yequa''s inexperience in battle, then one would find it too strange that he was inciting a duel even though he would most likely humiliate himself while fighting, but he thought that this was a reasonable choice. After all, letting Blaze get away with accidentally blowing up his papers would significantly hurt his pride as a researcher, so Yequa couldn''t just forgive him even though he really wanted to. Moreover, he had a deadline coming up, so the explosion a while ago was a godsend to hiding the fact Yequa''s research had recently been unfruitful.


    All he had to do now, he thought, was to somehow put up a good fight and kill two birds with one stone: he could keep his pride by fighting for the sake of his lost research, and tell his superiors that Blaze blew up his office so that he could get a deadline extension. He wasn''t expecting to win, but in the off chance he did, Yequa would have someone to help with his research for life without needing to split his already meager funding, so it really wasn''t a bad idea to him.


    *   * *   * *


    The two stood face to face, twenty meters apart, in a large sandy field surrounded by unnaturally lush overgrowth. The field itself was a desolate circle about fifty meters in diameter, and its dryness was a result of the strange mutated plants around it draining out all the water and nutrients in the soil.


    When the duel began, Yequa quickly recited a chant to construct a sturdy transparent magic wall to act as his magic shield. Lacking the ability to shoot long-ranged offensive attacks, Yequa''s best bet was to observe his opponent''s actions with the hope that Blaze would eventually close the distance and show an opening.


    Blaze, unable to create a sturdy magic shield for himself, quickly recited chants to boost his own strength and movement speed instead. He noticed Yequa standing still and silently observing him, but without knowing about his opponent''s inexperience, he figured that Yequa was likely suspicious towards his lack of a magic shield and was probably currently confused or thinking that he was looking at a decoy.


    Seeing how his opponent was likely not going to attack him, Blaze calmly recited a chant for a basic spell, then channeled mana into his staff in order to shoot a barrage of magic towards Yequa. His tactic was simple: disorient the opponent with sudden firepower, then charge in while Yequa is blinded by the smoke and knock him out with a powerful swing of his staff from behind.


    "Fireball!"


    As half a dozen fireballs shot out from his staff at a blindingly fast speed, Blaze dashed forward in order to close the distance between him and his opponent. A thick column of smoke will appear in half a second when the fireballs make their impact, he thought, and within four seconds he''d be able to circle around Yequa and end the duel.


    "What?!"


    What Blaze did not expect to see, however, was Yequa''s magic wall partially liquefying itself to completely absorb the incoming fireballs. With no smoke coming out of the point of impact, Yequa could see Blaze very clearly, and he chanted some magic to take care of his opponent who just foolishly moved closer.


    Blaze, who was already dashing forward with such a high speed due to the effect of his own strengthening magic, could not negate his momentum once he realized his calculations were entirely wrong. All he could do was lean to one side and knock himself off balance, slowing himself down by slide on the ground.


    "Shock wave!"


    A distortion appeared in front of Yequa and pulsed forward towards Blaze. With no means to avoid getting hit, Blaze closed his eyes and took the full brunt of the shock wave attack. Even though the shock wave itself was relatively harmless, it was a moving object which was sturdy enough that when one considers how Blaze was sliding in the opposite direction at a fast speed, it was no different from getting hit by a car, if those existed in this world. The high net force caused Blaze to be sent flying sideways, and he landed a little over ten meters away from Yequa, with blood rushing out of his nose. It was quite a miracle for him to not have any bones broken.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Since his opponent was now far enough away, Yequa could not follow up with any other attacks, and could only stand in place to observe Blaze''s next move. Wiping away the blood on his face, Blaze seemed to have figured out that Yequa could not attack him from range, considering how his attack just now would barely even be considered dangerous had he been standing still. Thus, figuring that he would not be hit with anything no matter how long he were to take for the next attack, Blaze calmly chanted and charged up mana for another strike.


    "Flame Pillar!"


    If a frontal attack wasn''t effective, he thought, then maybe an attack from above would work. A magic circle soon formed several meters above Yequa, and a bright column of flame quickly fell down from the circle. Yequa had only a second to react, but that was more than enough time for him. He easily moved the magic shield in front of him over his head, blocking the incoming pillar. The magic shield was like a giant mouth, swallowing up the column of flame in its entirety without trouble. Blaze was somewhat disappointed that his attack was also ineffective, but his opponent was now showing an opening: with the wall of magic now over his head, Yequa had nothing to protect his front!


    "Fireball!"


    Blaze quickly chanted and activated the simplest offensive spell he knew of, and another barrage of fireballs flew towards his foe. Unfortunately, even this spell with a short chant took long enough to cast that by the time the fireballs flew out from Blaze''s staff, the column of flame was already gone. Yequa had more than enough time to deal with this incoming attack.


    "Don''t underestimate me."


    Had Blaze noticed how Yequa''s magic shield was strangely swollen up, he would have realized that danger was imminent. Yequa was too good at making use of his magic shield: not only did it absorb the pillar of fire completely, but it also morphed in such a way that it trapped and compressed a significant amount of hot air inside. As the fireballs flew towards him, he shifted his magic shield towards his front, then released the compressed air trapped inside as though a bomb was being detonated. It was hard to imagine how what happened next was aerodynamically possible, but the fireballs were then pushed back and flew straight towards where they came from.


    It was a good thing Blaze''s robes were fireproof, so he only got knocked backwards by his own fireballs pummeling him. As his back scraped against the rock-filled sandy ground, he lost track of how many times he had torn holes in his clothes up until now.


    "Did you forget how I wanted my research subjects to breathe out fire? You''re not going to harm me if you keep using that kind of magic."


    With his ongoing research being focused on mutating war beasts so that they can breathe out fire, Yequa had to have come up with all kinds of defensive measures in case the research succeeded and his test subjects went rogue, after all. He was a bit annoyed that his opponent was only using fire-type spells, but he wasn''t aware of the fact that this was all Blaze could do.


    "Well, I guess I''ll just have to prove that you''re wrong, then!"


    Knowing that he was now at a severe disadvantage, Blaze couldn''t just surrender or make known his inabilities in magic. All he could do was think about how he could break through Yequa''s defense. Soon after, he loudly recited the chant for the already too familiar Fireball magic.


    "Sigh¡­ That weak fire magic of yours isn''t going to work on me¡­ Huh?"


    Yequa was prepared to shield himself from the barrage of fireballs, but to his surprise, none of the fireballs were on target. Instead, all eight or so fireballs that his opponent shot out hit the ground in a circle around him, and the impact caused a large cloud of sand to form, blinding him completely. Neither of the two could see each other right now, but it didn''t matter to Blaze, as he knew for sure his opponent would be standing in the same location as before.


    With no way to know what attack Blaze would use next or from what direction he would be striking from, Yequa changed his shield to a thin dome-like structure in order to cover himself from any potential threats from all directions. While such a shield would be weaker than before, as long as he could react fast enough, he could reshape his magic shield to fortify it in the area of impact; and as long as he listened carefully enough to his surroundings, he should be able to pick up the sounds of Blaze''s chants and make a reasonable guess as to what attacks may be coming his way.


    A strong impact then hit the top of his protective dome, so Yequa quickly reshaped his magic shield to form a wall above him and absorb the column of fire. Figuring Blaze would follow up with another barrage of fireballs, he used a little bit more mana to surround himself with a paper-thin shield that was probably enough to block just one fireball. He heightened his focus, so that as soon as a fireball hit him, he could react fast enough to recreate a new shield at the location of impact.


    But the fireballs never came. What Yequa felt instead was intense pain at the back of his head, as Blaze hit him with a strong swing of his staff.


    "Damn!"


    Seeing him still consciously standing after a direct hit that would normally have knocked others out cold, his opponent was just as surprised as he was. Perhaps surviving through all of those explosions he caused during his tenure had made Yequa''s body a lot more durable than expected. He quickly turned around to face his opponent, and moved his overhead shield to be between him and Blaze.


    With all the trapped compressed air being released, Blaze instantly got blown backwards into the air. He flew almost forty meters back, and luckily landed in the thick shrubbery surrounding the battleground. Had those plants not been there to break his impact, his health could very well have been in critical condition right now.


    Regardless, both mages took considerable damage from the exchange just now: Blaze''s entire body was aching, and he was coughing out a bit of blood, while Yequa had two teeth knocked out of his mouth from a second swing of his opponent''s staff just a split second before Blaze got blown away.


    Yequa was feeling a little dizzy from getting hit by an abnormally sturdy staff twice in the head, but he was conscious enough to decide on what to do next. He spat out the blood in his mouth, then chanted some unfamiliar magic as he moved his magic shield above him.


    "Water Pulse!"


    A mysterious wave pulsed out of his magic shield, affecting an area of fifteen or so meters in radius around him. Another cloud of sand formed from the detonation-like release of compressed air a while before, but the wave of water that pulsed out around him quickly made the cloud subside. The entire area around him was now soaking wet, rendering it impossible for his opponent to blind him by blasting the sand again.


    "Let''s see how you''ll fare without being able to make use of the environment."


    Those words never reached Blaze''s ears since he was too far away, but he at least knew he couldn''t pull off the same trick again. He stayed lying down on the ground and closed his eyes to think about what he could possibly do to turn the situation around.


    A full minute of silence went by as the two thought carefully about their next moves.

 26.2 - A Duel (2)

    "You okay?"


    Figuring the duel between these two clowns would not be ending any time soon, Lica had wandered off into the forest to find some berries to snack on, while Amber went chasing some butterflies all this while. It was by sheer coincidence that Blaze landed just a few meters away from Lica, who had crept up to him and been staring at him for a while after seeing him lie there motionless. She had a look of genuine concern on her face, as this was the man who was now (cursed with the responsibility of) feeding and caring for her.


    "Yeah, I think so. Just resting a little."


    "That''s good. Be careful out there."


    As Blaze sat up, Lica breathed a sigh of relief, then brightly smiled at him to raise his spirit. It was hard to imagine a wild girl who lived in the woods for the past decade and a half would ever act like this, especially towards the one who poisoned her and turned her over to the authorities, but she truly felt no malice towards Blaze right now. This was because during her ten days of imprisonment, she had undergone so much torture and beatings that her mind completely broke, reverting itself to the state of an innocent little child.


    Blaze had come to accept that the risk of Lica bringing any harm to him was low, but it would take some more time from now for him to finally realize that her IQ was just as low. Nonetheless, he couldn''t help but think that the petite woman in front of him looked somewhat cute for a moment as he saw her smile¡­ until she ruined the moment by stuffing her mouth full with some berries. He shook his head and stood up, then looked towards Yequa in the distance.


    "Well, I hope this isn''t too extreme¡­"


    Knowing too well that his opponent likely wouldn''t be making any moves, Blaze recited an impossibly long chant, then channeled about a third of his remaining mana into his staff, resulting in its tip glowing a brilliant shade of red. A strange wind began to form around Yequa, blowing the wet sand around in circles, and the air current kept growing stronger and stronger in intensity.


    "Fire Tornado!"


    The spiraling air around Yequa then strangely burst into flames, causing him to be pummeled with scorching hot gusts and piping hot debris lifted up from the ground. Blaze had only ever used this kind of magic on large monsters before, so he wasn''t fully aware that on a target as small as Yequa, the eye of the tornado was much less dangerous than the immediate vicinity around it.


    This didn''t mean that being trapped in the tornado was safe, however, as it was rapidly burning up all the oxygen inside it. Since it took almost two minutes since getting blasted away for Blaze to actually conjure this attack, Yequa had prepared himself sufficiently to deal with it. He had poured a significant amount of mana into his magic shield, giving him a somewhat thicker dome to protect him from the burning wind, and there was enough clean air inside his dome for him to breathe normally until his opponent would run out of mana.


    Five whole seconds passed by. Then ten. The tornado was still raging on without ever diminishing in intensity. Yequa came to realize that his opponent had an abnormally high amount of mana, and decided that he had to act right away.


    "I heard saunas are good for your health anyways¡­"


    Yequa mumbled that to himself, then reduced the amount of mana he was pouring into his magic shield, causing it to weaken and him to start feeling the tornado''s intense heat. Using that mana, he quickly fired off back-to-back shock waves, all in the direction of where Blaze was standing, causing volleys of hot rocks to get hurled over to his general area.


    While the rocks themselves weren''t life-threatening in any way, they were flying fast enough that some lodged themselves into the soft oversized vines near Blaze. Seeing them start oozing out a mysterious and ominous looking black liquid, Blaze couldn''t help but worry for his life after remembering the short story about Yequa''s colleague who died while trying to chop a mutated plant down. He quickly jumped out of the bushes and back onto the sandy battleground.


    "Just give up already! Your attacks don''t work on me!"


    "Never!"


    Blaze wasn''t too hopeful about his prospect of winning, but there was still one last thing he wanted to try. If this didn''t work, he thought, then maybe he''ll consider surrendering and enslaving himself. Yequa didn''t seem like a bad person, anyways.


    "Fireball!"


    A few seconds later, Blaze shot a fireball just one meter in front of him.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Trying to blind me again?"


    The dust cloud that formed just now was too far away for him to do anything, but Yequa was ready to make it rain over the area around him. More and more fireballs hit the ground, but all of them flew left and right, about twenty meters away from Yequa. There was nothing he could do to make the large cloud of sand dissipate, so he simply stayed alert as he waited for it to subside. His opponent had only made just a small region in front of him be shrouded in dust, while an entire 270 degree area around him was still clear. Surely, he thought, Blaze couldn''t attack him from the visible sides.


    One minute passed by, and the sand cloud started to disperse. The area in front of Yequa was not fully visible yet, but he could at least tell that there was no silhouette of his opponent there. Slightly to the right, a faint rustling sound came from the greenery, and Yequa immediately shifted his attention there. Blaze didn''t pop out, but another faint rustling sound came out not too far from where Yequa was looking. He figured his opponent was going to try to circle around unnoticed, but his ears were good enough that it wasn''t too difficult for him to listen to the sounds of the forest in this otherwise silent battleground.


    "Huh?"


    Yequa had already turned right by almost 90 degrees since he started following the rustling sounds, and it was only when the rustling came from an area with shorter shrubs that he noticed the tip of a gray tail sticking out. Blaze, being a human with bright red hair and clothes, could not have produced something like that, so Yequa quickly realized he had been tracking Lica''s movement in the overgrowth this entire time. A cold chill ran down his spine, and he felt the sudden presence of someone right behind him.


    Yequa''s vision blurred when he turned around, as Blaze had smashed a large stone on his head. Blaze couldn''t help but think about how his opponent''s head could even be this hard, as Yequa was disoriented but still conscious after getting hit by something much harder than Blaze''s staff.


    "Embers, gather upon the tip of my staff and pierce through¡­"


    Blaze had already finished chanting the first part of his next attack by the time Yequa came back to his senses and realized what was going on. Based on what he was hearing, Blaze was either trying to scare Yequa into surrendering or about to launch a fast moving spear of fire at point blank range. Fireballs were easy enough to block since the area of impact was large, but a spear would most likely penetrate through his magic shield.


    It seemed like his opponent was betting everything on this one last attack, as Yequa could feel a large amount of mana leaking out of Blaze. With his foe dumping essentially all of his remaining mana into this next spell, there was no doubt that the spear he was going to launch would shatter Yequa''s defense completely. The only option Yequa had now was to shove Blaze as far away as possible, so he quickly chanted his signature shock wave spell while sparing as much mana as possible into the magic shield that he now placed between him and his foe.


    "Burning Spear!"


    "Shock Wave!"


    The two finished their chants at the same time, and a powerful shock wave sent Blaze flying in the air once more. He flew about forty meters back towards the forest, and passed out while still airborne because of mana exhaustion. He would later wake up to find him lying on top of an unconscious Amber, as his impact was broken by that unfortunate demihuman girl who was too busy observing an anthill to notice him flying towards her.


    In any case, Yequa felt slightly relieved to see that nothing came out of the staff Blaze was holding as he sent his opponent flying away, but a closer look left him mortified. What Blaze was holding wasn''t a staff, but just a random long twig instead. Yequa looked at the ground, then felt a sharp pain in his legs as he spotted one end of a vine at the location where Blaze was previously standing. He turned his head to follow the long vine, and found that its other end ran towards where Blaze originally stood prior to disappearing into the bushes. Tied to the other end of the vine was Blaze''s staff, which was partially buried into the small pit created by Blaze''s first fireball launch into the sand.


    Aiming at Yequa was easy enough because it was a given that he would stand still. The mana leakage coming from Blaze earlier was because the abnormally long vine wasn''t an efficient way to channel mana into his staff, but a spear of fire was successfully launched nonetheless. As Yequa''s magic shield was not covering his sides, the fiery spear easily penetrated through both of his legs, singing the flesh around it. Yequa quickly put out of the fire and treated himself, then figured that he had just lost the duel: had his opponent aimed just a little bit higher, the spear could have ripped through his heart and ended his life. Given how he hadn''t moved from his spot this entire time, he knew that Blaze had intentionally aimed low so as not to end up killing him.


    *   *   *   *   *


    I felt something poking into my face as I regained consciousness. How long have I passed out for?


    ¡°Yay! Yer alive!¡±


    I opened my eyes and found Lica poking at my face with a stick. Behind her were unnaturally large and twisted trees, so it looked like I hadn¡¯t been moved anywhere after getting blasted away by Yequa¡¯s shock wave. My whole body was in pain, and it ached so much that I couldn¡¯t move myself. I was lying on top of some strange bumpy terrain, and I couldn¡¯t help but find it strange how none of my bones broke after hitting such an uneven surface at high speed. Maybe I was really lucky.


    Wait a minute¡­


    There¡¯s a white tail sticking out at the corner of my vision¡­


    Well, I hope Amber doesn¡¯t kill me later¡­


    I closed my eyes to rest some more, and found myself in an infirmary when I woke up.


    It was quite a strange scene when both Yequa and I kept admitting our losses, so we reached a compromise: that I would pay for most of the reparations and occasionally help Yequa with his research when I have free time, and Yequa would let me off the hook for blowing up his office and research papers.

 27 - Later That Day

    I really didn''t think the spear of fire would even hit Yequa. Aiming might have been easier than normal because he wasn''t moving, but at a distance of thirty meters, one would have to be a skilled marksman in order to hit with deadly precision. I aimed at the magic wand in Yequa''s hand with the intention of making him unable to cast any more magic, but the spear ended up piercing through his legs instead. For some reason, he repeatedly admitted defeat after I woke up in the infirmary, even though that sort of injury was nowhere close to being lethal.


    At least I don''t have to enslave myself for the rest of my life, so I guess everything ended well. I didn''t know what to spend my money on in the first place, anyways, so I''m not particularly bothered about having to pay reparation fees, especially when I was told it would cost only a sixth of my current savings.


    It was four o''clock by the time I finished resting up, and we left the academy to head back to the city. Amber had sprained her ankles and the rest of her body was still aching after being forcibly knocked over by my impact, so I rented a room at an inn on the main street for her to rest in, while Lica, Yequa, and I went to the marketplace to kill some time before general Denato was due to return to the city in a couple hours. My robe was tattered, and there were bloodstains all over it, so I figured now would be a great time to buy some new clothes, preferably not in the color red after that crazy bull incident.


    "Mage robes, huh?"


    "Yes. Do you know where I can find a shop for that?"


    "I only know of one shop that sells those."


    "Great! Could you lead me there?"


    "Sure. Just hold onto your pockets¡­"


    "What?"


    Yequa led us through the busy streets of the city marketplace towards an area with hardly any foot traffic. The houses in this area all had three or four floors, were painted with relatively dark colors, and were built so close to one another that the street received hardly any natural light. Not only that, the street itself was so narrow that nobody ever bothered placing any street lamps, since those would block most pedestrians from passing through. These streets were perfect for pickpockets and muggers to operate in, although I don''t quite know if it could fit two people standing side by side in the first place.


    "Are you¡­ sure this is the right way?"


    "Yes."


    "Why is the neighborhood so¡­ creepy?"


    "The rent''s cheap."


    I became more and more worried about being mugged or assaulted as we kept walking through these dark streets. It didn''t help that people we passed by occasionally stared at us, or that there were strange noises coming out of the back alleys. Patrolling soldiers were still visible, though, so it was probably unlikely that Yequa was going to make us regret following him.


    We eventually reached a brighter area after about two minutes, although I still felt bothered. Most of the lighting here was in a faint red color, and a couple women dressed in very revealing clothing were either making eye contact with or waving at us.


    Who the hell would even open a clothing store in a place like this?


    "This is the store."


    "It''s quite¡­ spacious."


    We stopped in front of a large building that was ten meters wide and probably equally deep. The storefront was lined with racks full of colorful clothes, all of which were for so many different purposes and occasions that it was impossible to tell specifically what kind of clothing shop this was. They carried all kinds of apparel one would ever need, from casual to formal attires, and from work clothes to those worn at home.


    "This place gives me the impression that it''s the only clothing store in the city."


    After all, why else would it be this big, or carry this many types of clothes?


    "You''re right, this is the only clothing store."


    "¡­"


    "And that''s why they''re here in the middle of the slums. Renting a store this big anywhere else in the city would cost at least ten times as much."


    "Wouldn''t the security costs for operating here also be significantly more expensive, though?"This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    "That''s what everyone thought at first, but it ended up being cheaper here than anywhere else."


    "What? Really? How is that even possible?"


    "Ever since they opened, the people around here started earning more money."


    "Huh?"


    "The customers in the red light district really enjoy this thing called ''role-playing'' when they make use of services, so the clothes here are wildly popular."


    "¡­"


    "Not only that, this shop hires a lot of nearby residents to help produce clothes, since they''re in extremely high demand."


    It''s not like one could eat clothes in the first place or sell them off elsewhere for a profit since it was too obvious where the clothes came from given this place''s status as the only clothing shop in the city. Also, the shop transports its money to a safer location at least twice a day, so nobody ever bothers robbing this place since there isn''t much to loot. Not only that, it was boosting the economy around these slums and paying its workers reasonable wages, so the residents were happy to have it around and were voluntarily protecting it around the clock.


    I looked around for a while, then finally decided on getting a violet colored robe with gold trims at the sleeves and a simple white pattern running down the front. There was also a white version with a black colored pattern, but I figured it would be a bad idea to get that since I kept hitting the ground wherever I traveled, and stain or scratch marks would be too noticeable.


    "Ah, a wizard robe. Good choice."


    "How long would it take to adjust this to my size?"


    "Half a day, but we can get it done by tonight for an extra 500 doviti."


    "Are there any faster options?"


    "We could expedite that to half an hour for an extra 2000 doviti, but¡­"


    "Deal."


    "But the robe you picked only costs 1000¡­"


    "I don''t want to have nightmares about rampaging bulls."


    "Eh¡­"


    I quickly gave the confused shop owner enough money for two robes, along with the extra fee for making fast adjustments. I didn''t really mind waiting longer, but this part of the city gave off weird vibes that made me not want to visit again, especially at nighttime.


    "By the way, would you like to buy some matching hats and wands?"


    "No, thank you."


    "It would complete the wizard look, though!"


    "No, it won''t."


    "Your staff looks cool, but it won''t work that well in bed, you know."


    "¡­"


    "¡­Did I say something wrong?"


    "Do I look like someone who''s planning on role-playing?"


    "Yes? Why else would you be dressed like that?"


    "Because I''m a real mage¡­"


    "Oh. My apologies."


    The shopkeeper and I awkwardly looked at each other for a while in silence, then he walked off elsewhere to tend to other customers. A worker soon came over to take my measurements, then I borrowed a couple stools from the store to sit on and chat idly with Lica while waiting for alterations to be made.


    Yequa was also going to wait with us, but a couple soldiers came over to the store looking for him not long after I placed the stools down. I didn''t know the exact reason why they came, but I could hear something about Suva town and cattle. If I had to guess, he was probably being summoned because of the recent stampede incident.


    I probably shouldn''t tell him that I was the one who brought over a letter from that town yesterday¡­


    *   *   *   *   *


    Half an hour later, alterations on my new robes were finished, so I thanked the store''s workers and headed out. During the time we waited, Lica seemed to be interested in some cute dresses, so I decided to buy some for her. Those dresses intended for young girls were cheap, and alterations weren''t necessary since her small stature nearly matched the size of the dresses, so I wasn''t bothered about having to pay a little bit more money. Now she won''t need to borrow Amber''s old clothes, I suppose. I thought about getting Amber something as well, but I didn''t know what kind of designs she liked, nor did I know her measurements.


    The innkeeper said the room I rented for Amber to rest in earlier was ours until noon the next day, so I decided to drop off all of our new clothes in there. One of the patrolling soldiers came up to Lica and I on our way back to inform us that general Denato was about to come back to the city and wanted me to come to a celebration banquet right away, so I changed into one of the new robes I bought and immediately headed out with the two girls.


    I could have left Lica and Amber on their own since the general wanted to see just me, but I was told that I could bring all my traveling companions along. I did feel bad about injuring Amber earlier, so bringing her to a banquet was probably the least I could do to make it up to her, although I didn''t quite know if she could still enjoy herself when everyone else was a stranger. Remembering what happened the last time Amber drank just a little bit of alcohol, I told Lica on the way there to keep an eye on Amber, just to make sure she wouldn''t get drunk and collapse onto someone again.


    The place where the celebration banquet was going to be held was the large mansion I stayed in the night before. Most of the troops returning home would be eating and drinking on the excessively large grounds outside of the guesthouse, while the general and other higher ranking officers would be celebrating indoors, in a dining hall and adjacent ballroom.


    I wanted to stay outside so that I could eventually sneak out of the banquet since I wasn''t particularly fond of large social gatherings, but because the general himself wanted to see me as soon as possible, one of the soldiers immediately came up to me and escorted me inside. I took a quick glance back at Lica and Amber, who were lucky enough to not be asked to also come indoors. All they could do was wave at me and smile back in silence.


    Well, I hope they don''t plan on giving us glorified military rations tonight. It would certainly be embarrassing if I was the only one among the crowd who couldn''t swallow everything on my plate. I also hope that there won''t be too many people, otherwise it would be hard to leave unnoticed¡­

 28 - The Party

    Luckily for Blaze, the food at the banquet was not military rations, but a large array of various meats, seafoods, fresh vegetables, and staple foods cooked in a dozen different ways. It was a custom to reward the soldiers coming back alive with good food and drinks every time their province''s rotation ended, but having the city''s stationed guards cook for the thousands of returning troops was an unreasonable demand, so food and drinks were delivered from every diner and pub in the city for occasions like these.


    The grounds outside the guesthouse could only hold up to 2500 troops, while all the remaining ones celebrated at a plaza elsewhere in the city. Regardless, this many participants was enough to make Blaze feel uncomfortable. Because of his bad reputation in towns he previously lived in, he became slightly paranoid about people silently judging him or plotting to do something bad to him whenever he saw large social gatherings like this. The fact that general Denato invited him to come indoors relieved him of that worry, but the thought of sneaking out as soon as possible still lingered on his mind.


    Inside the mansion was the general himself, along with all the highest ranking officers directly under his command, as well as those directly under these officers'' commands. Counting Blaze, there were a total of 82 people taking part in this indoors banquet tonight.


    As the petty officer escorting Blaze opened the door to the dining hall, he was somewhat stunned by the brighter than usual scene. The building was already bright from its white marble interior, and the abundance of gold-lined silverware caused all the light in this hall to reflect everywhere, illuminating just about every nook and cranny.


    Somehow, all 81 other attendees had already arrived, and they all turned to look at who had just come in as the door opened. Murmurs uttered through the dining hall, and soon the whole place quieted down as those who recognized Blaze as the one who contributed in the fight against a dragon a month before spread word about his identity to the rest of the crowd. Soon, the idle chatter began again as the nearest officer came over to greet Blaze.


    "Good evening. I am Tuha, second in command of the southwestern province''s army."


    "Hi, I''m Blaze. I¡­ don''t think I have any titles to introduce myself as."


    "That''s fine. We all know who you are already."


    Second in combat strength to only general Denato, Tuha was the second most prominent figure in this province, and was regarded as Denato''s right-hand man. He was excellent with both the sword and the pen, to the point that the general left most political and administrative duties to him. The only thing he lacked was the ability to formulate and utilize battle tactics, and had it not been for the flawed system in this land favoring combat prowess in times of war, Tuha would have easily been selected as the governor of the southwestern province.


    "The general is waiting for you over there."


    As Blaze was a noncombatant and unacquainted with Tuha, there wasn''t much the two could talk about. Thus, Tuha pointed towards the other side of the dining hall, where the general was standing twenty meters away, surrounded by half a dozen officers.


    "Blaze, you made it!"


    For no reason in particular, general Denato was rather fond of Blaze. Seeing Blaze fulfilling his promise to come visit for a beer, the general excitedly walked over and greeted him.


    "Hey, someone get me two large mugs!"


    "Just a small mug would be fine, general¡­"


    "Nonsense! I can''t see you every day, so we need to drink as much as possible to celebrate!"


    "But I''ll be too full to eat any of the food¡­"


    "Just throw up and fill your stomach again!"


    "Eh¡­"


    Blaze could not help but wonder if there was something wrong with the general''s thought process. He quickly concluded that everyone in this region, including him, was already too abnormal to reason with and figured he might as well go along with the flow.


    "Everyone''s here, so let''s start the feast!"


    One century prior, a man from unknown lands began introducing exotic new cuisines and customs to the residents of this world. While such introductions generally conformed with what one would see in a fairy tale or movie at first, the man''s eventual exile and current old age made it impossible for him to see the people carry out such practices first hand and correct them for any misunderstandings they had. Thus, as the silver lids were lifted off of the trays of food, one of the most bizarre dinner parties ever officially began.


    It was hard to tell whether the residents here didn''t understand that party foods were generally not meant to be served in banquets, or if they simply thought serving uncommon tasty dishes was appropriate for such occasions, but the dining tables were lined with dishes that should not have been there in the first place. Fancy feast foods aside, there were trays upon trays of fries, pizzas, deep fried foods, and any other kind of snack one would normally have during a social gathering with friends.


    As though not aware that the food they put on their plates was meant to be eaten with their hands, most soldiers placed their plates down on a table to cut their fries and pizza slices with a knife so that they could use a fork or spoon to put such bite-sized pieces in their mouths later. As typical of this pseudo-high class banquet, condiments such as ketchup and mustard were served in sauce boats, making this scene of eating fast-food even stranger.


    Not knowing exactly how to act in a setting like this, Blaze was perhaps the only one considered normal for not taking any food, but such normality would only be in the eyes of those in a different world. In this world full of misunderstandings, acting differently from all 81 other people in the dining hall would instead make him an outlier. Thus, he quickly ran over to the officer bringing large mugs of beer and took the one meant for him, so that he could use the fact that both of his hands were now holding onto an abnormally large mug as an excuse for not having a plate of food.


    "You really like drinking beer, don''t you?"


    "Not really, but Suva town had some fantastic beer, so I thought I might be able to enjoy the same taste since this city isn''t too far away."


    "Well, it''s not as fresh since transporting stuff from there takes half a day, but the taste should still be quite similar."


    Having successfully passing himself off as someone who loved beer, Blaze managed to avoid attracting the attention of others. As he brought the mug up to his lips, the general quickly told him to wait, and stopped him from drinking the beer.


    "Is something wrong?"


    "I need to give a toast first."


    "A toast?"


    To grab the attention of everyone, the general took a wine glass and spoon, then tapped the spoon on the glass a few times. The glass quickly shattered to pieces, but the sound it made was loud enough for everyone to take notice. All the soldiers in the dining hall quieted down and looked towards the general.


    "Alright, everyone! We''ve chatted with each other a lot these past week, so I don''t have anything else to say! Let''s just have a good time celebrating our success on the battlefield! Cheers!"


    Since he was nowhere close to having the skills of a good politician or public speaker, general Denato could not think of any meaningful things to say when giving a toast. Hence, it was better for him to just let everyone enjoy themselves as soon as possible.


    "What''s everyone doing?"


    Blaze asked in confusion when he noticed the attendees picking up wine glasses and shoving them at the glasses others were holding, causing both parties'' glasses to shatter.


    "Celebrating, of course."Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "By breaking glasses?"


    "That''s the tradition the king passed down to us. We''re supposed to smash each other''s glasses to wish them good luck or something like that."


    "What a strange tradition¡­"


    It was not because their king intentionally passed down bizarre practices, but actually because of his old age preventing him from taking part in formal events or appearing in public, which made it impossible for him to correct the misinterpretations of his teachings. It certainly did not help that these devils had abnormally high physical strength either, as they would have smashed their wine glasses regardless of how gently they clacked them.


    The soldiers in the dining hall enjoyed the food and drinks for half an hour, while Blaze kept general Denato company by idly chatting with him during the entire time. He was able to get himself some food without making a fool out of himself after observing and mimicking what others were doing, and he drank so much beer that he felt like his stomach could burst any moment.


    After most of the food had been consumed, the attendees all moved towards the adjacent ballroom while some petty officers came into the dining hall to clean up. Blaze wanted to sneak out, but was not able to escape the attention of the general and his subordinates. As a result, he had no choice but to go with the crowd into the ballroom.


    The ballroom was a spacious square area that measured about thirty meters on each side, and the floor was very brightly lit even though the chandeliers on the ceiling were ten meters above ground. There were chairs lined up along three of the walls, while the fourth wall had raised ground that acted as a performance stage. A small musician band was already sitting on the stage, ready to perform at any moment. Once the incoming crowd settled down, the band played a soft melody, which gradually transitioned into a lively score in triple meter, perfect for waltzing.


    "May I have this dance?"


    Tuha came up to Blaze and stretched out his hand, inviting Blaze to dance with him. Unfamiliar with this kind of setting, Blaze did not understand what the lieutenant general was implying.


    "Huh?"


    "Dance with me."


    "I don''t know how to dance, sorry¡­"


    "That is fine. Just follow my lead, and don''t step on my foot."


    Blaze reluctantly held onto the outstretched hand of Tuha, who yanked hard enough that Blaze was forcibly moved to within a few centimeters of the lieutenant general. Blaze felt uncomfortable, but before he could speak up, Tuha had already taken a small step backwards and begun dancing.


    The lieutenant general moved his hands and feet gracefully, while Blaze clumsily matched his dancing partner''s foot movements. It was quite a miracle that he did not bump into anyone, or step on anyone else''s feet. Occasionally, he would feel disturbed as his dance partner held onto his waist and spun him around.


    "Shouldn''t this kind of thing be done between partners of the opposite gender?"


    "What kind of thing?"


    "All this body contact and uncomfortably close distance¡­"


    "It is a reasonable tradition that the king passed down to us."


    "Did he ever have a preference for other men?"


    "What kind of question is that? Of course not."


    "Well, I just find what we''re doing rather strange¡­"


    "Fine, I''ll explain the meaning behind this dance. It is meant to get partners to know each other more."


    "The way you phrased that doesn''t make it any less weird."


    "The ability to avoid stepping on other people''s feet indicates how well you understand your partner and your peers."


    "My perception of what we''re doing still hasn''t changed."


    "Not only that, you can assess the dexterity and combat skills of others by taking note of the swiftness and elegance of their movement."


    "All that from a dance?"


    "Yes."


    Once again, the king was too old to attend dances in person, and was thus unable to explain how such an activity was only meant for recreation between pairs of opposite gender and carried no deep meaning whatsoever. As a result, what Tuha explained to Blaze was the agreed upon misunderstanding of the locals of what ballroom dancing signified.


    Blaze was not fully convinced by what he had just heard, but he could not refute or voice his opinion because he had never in his life taken part in the activities of this evening, and thus had no idea whether the things everyone was doing was right or wrong in the first place.


    "And now, you will get to assess a colleague of mine."


    "Huh?"


    Tuha skillfully moved in a way that prompted Blaze to move closer to another soldier. He then let go of Blaze''s hand, resulting in Blaze drifting away from his dance partner. As though this whole dance was carefully choreographed, the soldier Blaze drifted towards had already let go of his partner''s hand, clearing the way for Blaze to reach him without colliding into anyone.


    The soldier grabbed onto Blaze''s hand, then quickly resumed waltzing.


    "You''re a good dancer."


    "I''m just doing my best to match your movements¡­"


    "Well, it''s good regardless."


    "Thank you."


    "Nice to meet you, by the way. I''m Sagib, ranked just a little bit lower than the lieutenant general."


    "Nice to meet you, too. My name is Blaze."


    "How do you feel about being among all these strangers?"


    "A little nervous, actually, since I wouldn''t want these people to leave with a bad impression of me. I guess I feel a little uncomfortable, too, but it''s hard to talk about it since I don''t know anyone¡­"


    "I see. Sometimes I feel the same, really."


    "You do?"


    "I do. I''m only acquainted with less than half of the people in here, after all."


    "Less than half? Even though you''re a very high ranking soldier?"


    "That''s right. We''ve had a lot of accidents, both on and outside of the battlefield, which led to the death of many of the highest ranking officers. Most of the people here are their replacements, so I''m hardly acquainted with any of them since they haven''t been in their positions for long."


    "I can understand dying on the battlefield, but what kind of accidents occurred outside of it?"


    "Collapsing buildings, drowning in the river, getting caught in gang fights, and so on. These kinds of accidents are unavoidable in a city this big."


    "Don''t you have patrolling soldiers stationed everywhere to maintain order?"


    "Only on the streets with enough foot traffic. It''s hard to monitor the whole entire city, after all. Besides, the ongoing war is draining our budget, so the patrolling guards are underpaid and aren''t motivated to work hard, either."


    "Oh¡­"


    "Well, let''s stop talking about this gloomy topic, and switch to another one."


    It was certainly strange how most of the soldiers who passed away could lose their lives in such a simple manner, even though they had monstrous strength and could at the very least withstand one or two direct attacks from a dragon (they would, of course, be crippled for the rest of their lives, but such trivial matters should not matter). However, the city''s civil authority was underpaid, so they were not motivated enough to investigate such deaths in detail, and the lack of witnesses in the areas where fatal accidents occurred led to whatever the authorities assumed had happened becoming the official account. In most cases, the high ranking officers who passed away reeked of alcohol, so it was certainly not impossible for them to be defenseless and careless.


    About half an hour later, Blaze had already changed dance partners half a dozen times and really wanted to get out of this awkward situation. Luckily for him, he noticed about half of the participants in the ballroom going over to the chairs lined along the walls to take a break, and he quickly joined those soldiers. Blaze really wanted to sneak out, but there were too many gazes from all directions to leave unnoticed. Some soldiers sitting near the ballroom entrance made a gesture that seemed like they were inviting someone inside. Not long after, a group of petty officers pushed several wheeled carts inside.


    The carts were lined up next to the seats by the left and right walls, effectively turning them into two long tables that were sufficiently far away enough from the dancers to not get in the way. The carts were loaded with an immeasurable amount of alcoholic beverages, and the soldiers who were previously resting on the chairs quickly got up to take a look at the selection of drinks. Blaze had already felt dizzy after drinking too much beer and getting moved around non-stop on the dance floor, but could not prevent himself from getting out of his seat since a nearby soldier had nudged him to come along.


    For the next couple hours, the ballroom was filled with loud music and gleeful shouting as the soldiers either danced or drank the night away. The attendees had such physical high strength that wine glasses were unusable since they would easily get shattered, so Blaze considered it a stroke of luck that everyone was using wooden mugs to drink instead. While he was forced to drink on several occasions, he only took small sips, and nobody knew how much he drank since all the mugs were opaque. He did feel a little dizzy because of how strong the wine was, but was fortunately not at the point of collapsing on the floor like several others in the ballroom since the amount he took in was relatively low.


    "Travel¡­ hiccup¡­  back safely."


    "Thanks."


    General Denato had passed out from drinking too much, while lieutenant general Tuha had to go take care of some paperwork, so Sagib escorted Blaze outside instead when the party ended. He was on the verge of passing out and had to hold onto Blaze''s shoulder in order to stand up straight, yet somehow he was still able to correctly determine which way to go and speak almost normally.


    "My, my, those are¡­ hiccup¡­ some lovely wives you have."


    "I''m single."


    Amber and Lica were waiting around in the courtyard long after all the soldiers had left the area, and Sagib let go of Blaze after knowing he was now in good hands.


    "Haha! Make sure you invite me¡­ hiccup¡­ to your wedding!"


    "They''re just friends."


    Sagib laughed and stumbled as he made his way to a group of soldiers traveling in the same direction waiting nearby. Blaze and the two girls waved at him as they walked out of the premises. This was the final time they would ever see that drunk soldier.

 29.1 - The Incident (1)

    The girls told me the outdoors banquet had over 300 different dishes served, and there were so many people outside that nobody paid any attention to what others were doing. It made me wish that I wasn''t forced to stay inside the mansion, but there''s no way for me to change the past. I''m just glad that I got through the night without making a fool of myself, really.


    There wasn''t much to do after we got back to the inn, and it was already close to midnight at the time, so we decided to go straight to bed. Despite having consumed a lot of beer tonight, for some reason I didn''t feel the need to use the restroom before calling it a night. Maybe I sweated out all the excess water in my body while being forced to dance earlier.


    * * * * *


    I woke up in the middle of the night because my body felt a little uncomfortable. It seemed like I was just slow on digesting what I took in, because I was now feeling the need to use a toilet. Judging by how Amber was snoring, I figured that it had probably already been over an hour since we went to bed, otherwise she wouldn''t have been in such a deep sleep. It was still completely dark outside, so my best guess was that it was around one or two o''clock right now.


    Given how there were about fifteen rooms in this inn, I couldn''t help but wonder why the innkeeper didn''t install more than one restroom. It would certainly be troublesome if one day, all the rooms were booked, and forty or so people needed to use that one restroom at the same time. Heck, even five people trying to use it at the same time would probably cause enough problems. In any case, the restroom was located inside a small shed, downstairs and outside of the inn, so I got out of bed and slowly moved towards the door.


    As I got close to the door, I heard some strange quiet noises coming from it. Figuring it was probably just the wind or some rodents, I continued on and turned the lock. Wanting to reach the toilet as soon as possible, I swung the door open, which soon resulted in a bumping sound and the door stopping halfway. Seems like I accidentally hit someone with the door¡­


    Taking a peek outside, I saw a small figure clad in dark colored clothes lying on the floor. In the hand of this person were some tools that looked like what a lock picker would be using. Judging by the outfit, the tools, and by how this person was lying face up, it was probably safe to assume that such individual was attempting to break into our room, only to get stopped by me accidentally ramming the door at their face.


    The person soon stared directly at me and moved their hands. The left hand pushed against the ground, while the right hand was reaching for something at the waist level. The moonlight gleamed on the object, making it clear to me that this person was taking out a knife or some blunt weapon and preparing to attack me.


    Because closing the door would require me to reach myself out, I could not take the risk of slamming the door shut. There was only one possible way I could think of to hinder the assailant''s movements.


    "¡­Huh?"


    Closest to the door was the girls'' bed, so I yanked the blanket off and threw it towards the door to obstruct the assailant''s view and movement. Amber was still soundly asleep, while Lica quickly woke up to what I did.


    "Get up! There''s an intruder!"


    Because of their small figure, the assailant had trouble throwing off the blanket and was simply wiggling around by the door. Lica seemed to have caught a glimpse of what was going on and immediately sat up, then shook Amber in order to get her to wake up.


    "¡­Get off of me!"


    Judging by the voice, I guessed that the assailant was male. Knowing that he had a knife in hand, I was hesitant to do anything out of fear of getting stabbed, but Lica boldly pounced on him after seeing him wiggle his way into our room and almost manage to throw the blanket off.


    "Lica, careful! He''s armed!"


    Come to think of it, she most likely didn''t see the knife earlier since I had already thrown the blanket onto the assailant at the time she woke up, so I suppose her pouncing wasn''t really a bold act¡­


    In any case, Lica kept kicking the assailant''s back while securing the blanket over his head, so it was difficult for him to fight back since he couldn''t see anything. I found it a little strange how he did not try to stab Lica since it shouldn''t be too hard to reach behind him, but I didn''t say anything since speaking up would probably plant that idea in his head. To help Lica out, I also threw some punches and kicks towards the assailant, but he didn''t make any painful groans. It seemed as though my attacks were wholly ineffective because I was physically weak¡­


    "¡­Hm? Blaze, what''s with all the ruckus?"


    "Wake up already, Amber! There''s an intruder!"


    As I yelled at Amber, a knife hit the ground just a short distance away from my feet. Shortly after, another knife flew towards me, grazed my left leg, then hit the ground.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "You''re targeting me?"


    I jumped back a little as I asked that, and one more knife hit the ground exactly where I was standing previously. It became quite apparent that I was the one the assailant was trying to attack. I couldn''t tell whether someone tasked him with attacking me, or just because he wanted to get back at me for flinging the door directly onto his face earlier, but this situation made me feel very uneasy. As for why the knives kept hitting the ground, it was probably hard to target my face since I was taller than him.


    Nonetheless, after realizing that throwing knives while blinded by a blanket wouldn''t work so well, the assailant leaned his body towards so that he could get close enough after struggling around. At the same time, he swung the knife in his hand around wildly, probably with the hope that it would eventually hit me. I wanted to blast this person away with some magic, but doing so would injure Lica, and I had left my staff with my robes inside the wardrobe near the door so it wasn''t possible for me to ensure that I would accurately hit the assailant. Thus, I was left with no choice but to repeatedly jump back in order to avoid getting slashed.


    "Eh?¡­ Ack!"


    I regretted not checking my surroundings while jumping backwards, because I ended up breaking through our room''s window and falling onto the street down below. I suppose I was lucky enough to not land on my head, but my body still felt really sore after dropping down three meters onto stone pavement. To add to that stroke of luck, the broken glass only gave me minor scratches and no cuts, so I was thankfully not bleeding at all. I made a mental note to myself to go complain to the innkeeper in the morning about the flimsy glass windows he installed in our room.


    "Watch out!"


    As I sat up, I heard a voice shouting from far away, along with some noises that sounded like a horse trotting down the stone pavement. Looking towards where the voice came from, I saw the silhouette of something that resembled a carriage coming my way. I quickly got on my feet and dived forward to avoid the oncoming carriage. It was slightly unfortunate that I wasn''t too far away from the inn, since my arms ended up hitting the inn''s wall, but I at least managed to avoid getting trampled and run over by a horse-drawn carriage.


    The carriage driver most likely ordered his horses to slow down in advance just in case I couldn''t get out of the way in time, as the carriage came to a complete stop less than ten meters past the inn. While I most likely wouldn''t have died if I didn''t dive forward earlier, a carriage pulled by large horses was still heavy enough that I would definitely have suffered significant injuries, so I was thankful that the driver slowed down to give me time to react.


    "Are you alright?"


    "I''m fine¡­ Eh? Lieutenant general Tuha?"


    The carriage driver got off to check on me; to my surprise, the driver was none other than the lieutenant general I had just met a few hours prior.


    "Blaze? What are you doing out here?"


    "I''m staying at this inn, and fell out of the window just now¡­"


    I pointed towards where my room was located, and a bright flash of light came out of the window as the two of us looked there. If I had to guess, Amber was probably using her magic to blind the assailant. I didn''t hear any screaming, so I guess the two girls were still fine.


    "Is something happening in your room?"


    "Someone tried to sneak in and attack me, but it seems like the girls are subduing him right now."


    "I take it you fell out of the window while trying to get away?"


    "Yeah¡­ I didn''t check my surroundings and ended up crashing through the flimsy glass¡­"


    "I see. That explains why you''re wearing your underwear in the middle of the street."


    "¡­Oh."


    "I thought you were drunk at first."


    Had the lieutenant general not mentioned that, I would not have noticed that I was only wearing underwear and a sleeveless shirt right now. It was a good thing I didn''t have the habit of sleeping in the nude.


    "I''m perfectly sober. In any case, what are you doing outside this late, anyways?"


    "I had to bring some drunk soldiers back home."


    "They must have made you travel a lot, huh¡­"


    "Not exactly. I was done about an hour ago, but then received an urgent message that someone passed away."


    "Eh?"


    "That fool, Sagib. He was so drunk that he got hit by a carriage, fell into the river, and drowned."


    Sagib was the officer who escorted me out of the mansion when I left the banquet, wasn''t he?


    "Wasn''t he traveling with a group of officers when he left?"


    "Hm¡­ If he was, then he probably got into an accident after seeing all the others off."


    Wouldn''t that mean he was still conscious enough to be able to navigate around? How did he manage to get hit by a carriage, then? A few questions lingered on my mind, but I didn''t ask since I wasn''t that close to Sagib, nor was I a part of the authorities here.


    "Well, I''m sorry to hear about what happened to that officer. Anyways, I''m going to go check on the girls upstairs now."


    "Wait."


    "¡­? Is something wrong?"


    "I''m sure your friends are fine. Please come with me."


    "But¡­"


    At that moment, Lica stuck her head out of the window¡­ then lost her balance and fell to the ground. Luckily, her arms hit the ground first, so she didn''t seem to have suffered any major injuries from the fall. She sniffed around for a moment, then walked over to where I was standing with her eyes closed.


    "Lica, how did you manage to fall out of that window?"


    "I couldn''t see anything after Amber used her magic. I''m still blinded, so I tracked you by scent."


    "That explains why you fell down, then. Anyways, are you two alright? What happened to the assailant?"


    "Yeah, we''re fine. Amber kept kicking him in the crotch until he passed out."


    I felt a bit sorry for the assailant after hearing that. I hope he doesn''t become sterile or something¡­

 29.2 - The Incident (2)

    The lieutenant general quickly pointed at Lica, then looked directly at me.


    "You see? Your friends are fine. Now please get on the carriage."


    "But why?"


    "You were one of the last people to see Sagib alive, so I''d like to make some inquiries."


    "Can''t that wait until the morning?"


    "A high ranking officer is involved, so I want this resolved as soon as possible."


    "Didn''t you conclude that it was just an accident, though?"


    "The crash was an accident, but we haven''t concluded anything about the drowning. The inquiries will help us determine if he was suicidal, or if he really was too drunk to swim back to safety."


    "I''m not allowed to defer this until the morning, am I?"


    "You are not. Now get on the carriage."


    "Could I go put on proper clothes first?"


    "I don''t want to risk having you run away, so no."


    "Then can you at least let me go pee?"


    "There are no public toilets in plain view, so no. Just hold it in for a while."


    "¡­"


    Unfortunately, the inn''s toilet was located on the side facing away from the street.


    "Let''s go."


    The lieutenant general grabbed my wrist, making it impossible to get away.


    "Tell Amber I''ll be back later, Lica."


    I reluctantly followed the lieutenant general along onto his carriage.


    The carriage itself was not fancy in any way. Its shape resembled a small house with a roof, and the exterior was not decorated with any ornaments. The interior was completely empty: there was not a single thing inside, not even an object that could be used to sit on. Lieutenant General Tuha instead dragged me towards the front of the carriage and had me sit next to him at the driver''s bench. Judging by how the two horses pulling the carriage were wearing light armor, how the driver''s seat was nothing more than a metal bar used as a makeshift bench, and how the exterior was full of blood stains and damage, I became convinced that what we were traveling using a slightly modified supply cart that was probably deemed unusable on a battlefield.


    I was worried that my bladder would burst from a bumpy ride, but it was a lot smoother and faster than expected. We stopped at some large building after riding for about five minutes.


    The exterior was similar to the state guesthouse, with a water fountain and large field in front, but it was much smaller. The building was located inside a 20-meter wide plot of land that was guarded by four soldiers stationed at the front gate.


    "So¡­ Am I allowed to use the restroom now?"


    "In a while. Please follow me."


    It was hard to make out what kind of building I was currently in, since it was only dimly illuminated. I followed the lieutenant general into a large office, inside which was general Denato, who was sitting behind a desk.


    "Blaze? What are you doing here? And why are you dressed like that?"


    "I''ll explain that later. As for what I''m doing here, isn''t this meeting about the officer that just died?"


    "It is, but you''re not part of the army."


    The lieutenant general then put his hand behind my back and gently shoved me inside the office.


    "Why did you bring him here, Tuha? You know too well he can''t help us with finding new personnel to replace Sagib."


    "Finding new personnel? I thought I was here because you had inquiries about Sagib''s death."


    "Tuha, would you mind explaining?"


    The lieutenant general made a hand motion as though he was signaling someone outside, then turned to look at us.


    "There''s a slight change of plans, you see."


    "What?"


    Lieutenant general Tuha then grabbed me by the shoulder and jolted me back. A group of four soldiers rushed into the office shortly after, two of whom pointed their spears towards my neck.


    "What is the meaning of this?"


    "I have a couple of¡­ requests to make."


    The lieutenant general then made another motion with his hand, and one of the soldiers forcefully grabbed my arms while another one tied my arms behind my back.


    "Um¡­ Can I-"


    "Shut up and listen, boy."


    "But I-"


    "I said zip it."


    Seems like it''ll be quite a while before I''ll be allowed to use a toilet¡­Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "Now, back to the main topic. I have a few demands."


    "What makes you think taking Blaze as a hostage would sway me?


    "Just listen for a while and you''ll certainly have to consider giving in to my demands."


    "I could just beat you up instead, though."


    "You know too well that our fighting strength is about equal. Fighting me won''t go well in your favor, especially when I have backup right here."


    Lieutenant general Tuha then pointed towards the two soldiers who weren''t busy pointing their weapons at me.


    "¡­Fine. Let''s hear what you have to say."


    "First, you will promise not to not strike back or get in the way of me or any other soldier involved in what''s happening tonight."


    "You''re making a scene and taking someone hostage, and you expect me to forgive you and your lackeys?"


    "Second, you will step down from your position as governor of this province, and withdraw from the upcoming provincial governor selection."


    "As if I''d unconditionally do that!"


    "Finally, for the sake of national security, you will continue your duties of leading the provincial army, but you will not have it turn against us."


    "So that''s all this is about? You simply want to usurp the position of governor?"


    "I suppose that''s one way to state my intentions."


    "And you think taking Blaze hostage will help your case? I may be friends with him, but I haven''t even known him long enough for his death to emotionally impact me."


    "Did you have to be that blunt, general Denato?"


    "Didn''t tell you to stay quiet, boy?"


    "¡­"


    "Now, will you yield, Denato?"


    "You''re going need something better than holding Blaze hostage to sway me."


    "Very well. I will tell you something that will have you take my request seriously, then."


    At that moment, the soldiers pushed their weapons even closer, such that the spears were now in direct contact with the skin on my neck. Given the danger of this situation, I could now feel cold sweat running down my face.


    "How do you suppose others would think about you if this story were to spread around: ''After almost two decades of mismanagement, corruption runs rampant in the southwest province, resulting in economic turmoil and deteriorating public security.''"


    "You''re the one handling administrative duties in this province. Spreading that story would just tarnish your own reputation."


    "Ah, but that''s where you''re wrong. I am simply acting on your behalf from the shadows. The general public still believes that you are the one handling provincial affairs."


    "And what does taking Blaze hostage have anything to do with this?"


    "Simply lowering your reputation within our province won''t suffice, so I''m going to make sure the other governors think less of you as well."


    "What?"


    "Commander Mavuto seems to be quite fond of this boy, and all the other governors already know that he helped the army quite a bit by diligently providing supplies and fending off a dragon. What do you think those people would think if we told them you carelessly allowed him to get caught in a fatal accident that could have easily been prevented if you managed the province better?"


    "You''re going to put the security of Badoth territory at risk just for your selfish demand?"


    "We''ve already captured a lot of Kitrod territory already, no? The army now has a surplus of supplies from pillaging conquered areas, so Blaze''s supplies aren''t necessary anymore."


    Come to think of it, I did receive instructions recently to gradually decrease the amount of potions and magic scrolls crafted each week. Maybe the commander was being considerate and wanted to slowly phase out my contribution rather than telling me to just instantly stop and leaving me with a headache over what to do with overstocked items and cancelled deals for raw materials.


    "Hmph! Even so, I''ll just have my soldiers spread the truth behind this matter!"


    "Pfft¡­ Hahaha!"


    "What''s so funny?"


    "You haven''t noticed yet?"


    "Noticed what?"


    "The low ranking soldiers will simply follow orders given by their superiors, so you''d need to give messages onto your direct subordinates and have those officers pass the messages on. But what if all of your direct subordinates chose to twist your words in an unfavorable way instead?"


    "Don''t tell me, you¡­!"


    "Yes, I''ve arranged for accidents to happen to all subordinates loyal to you over the past five years, just so I could get them replaced by those loyal to me instead! Hahaha!"


    Even though lieutenant general Tuha was an enemy right now, I couldn''t help but feel somewhat impressed by how carefully he planned everything. It didn''t seem like there was anything that could be used against him so far.


    "Gah! I thought I could trust you after working together for almost two decades now, but why? Why did you choose to betray me now?"


    "You know too well the king is going to die of old age soon. When that happens, the prime minister will take over the throne since the king has no descendants."


    "Then, your goal is to-!"


    "That''s right, the new king will have to select from one of the governors to become the new prime minister, and I, with my excellence in handling domestic affairs, will be the top candidate!"


    Something seemed off by what lieutenant general Tuha just said, so I decided to interrupt for a moment.


    "Um¡­ Excuse me."


    "What? I thought I told you to stay quiet already!"


    "Are you also going to tell people that you were helping general Denato manage this province?"


    "How else would the current prime minister know how excellent my political skills are?"


    "Weren''t you planning on spreading rumors about this province being mismanaged? Wouldn''t your reputation be tarnished if you revealed that you were the one pulling the strings?"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    After asking him that, we ended up staring at each other in silence for a while.


    "¡­I''ll think of something when the time comes! The king still has a couple more years left in him!"


    Suddenly, my impression of how he was such a careful conspirator had completely vanished as lieutenant general Tuha turned back around to face general Denato.


    "Anyways, now that you''ve heard my requests in full detail, will you yield, Denato?"


    "¡­"


    "Fine, I''ll give you a few minutes for you to think this through."


    He then turned to face me one more time.


    "As for you, it''s quite unfortunate that I''d have to see you get killed here. I hired an assassin to take care of you at the inn, but it seems like that idiot was too incompetent¡­ In any case, any last words?"


    "Um¡­ Could you please just let me use the toilet already?"


    I''ve been told that keeping calm was the best thing to do during an emergency, so I decided to calmly state what was on my mind. With any luck, I might even be able to confuse lieutenant general Tuha enough that he''d have to change his mind.


    "¡­What?"


    "My underpants won''t hold water in, so I''m going to leak out quite a lot of water if you kill me now. It would really be a shame if the expensive carpet in this building got stained, you know."


    "¡­Is this a joke? Are you trying to trick me?"


    "Not at all. I''ve been asking to use the restroom since before you brought me here."


    "Sigh¡­ Fine, I suppose you''re not lying about that. Still, I can''t believe someone that''s about to get killed would be acting the way you''re acting¡­"


    The lieutenant general repeatedly shook his head while sighing. He then had his soldiers lower their spears and escort me to the restroom, while the other two stayed in the office. As we moved through the building''s hallways, it didn''t seem like there was anyone else inside, so I figured I might just be able to escape if I somehow managed to take these two soldiers down.


    I wonder I should do now¡­

 30 - The Restroom

    Even though the mansion was slightly less than twenty meters wide, it was surprisingly deep. It was hard to tell exactly how deep it was since we kept making turns along the hallway, but it seemed to be at least 45 meters. It took almost two minutes of walking to reach the restroom.


    "Don''t even think about doing any shenanigans. I''ve got my eyes on you."


    "You''re going to stare at me while I use the toilet? That sounds disgusting."


    "What? No! I''m just going to keep an eye on this restroom stall."


    The two soldiers took me to a moderate-sized restroom that had a urinal and a toilet inside a stall. I only actually needed to pee, but since I didn''t specify what I needed to go to the restroom for, the soldiers allowed me to use the stall when I made a motion towards it with my head. It seems like they were bothered by my remark just now, so they let me have some privacy inside the stall while the two kept guard outside: one was standing in front of the stall door, while the other was standing in front of the restroom door.


    I began chanting an obscure spell while occasionally banging on the stall''s wall with my body to disguise it as some random mumbling.


    "What''s with all that ruckus?"


    I continued chanting for another two seconds while banging on the wall before answering.


    "I need help!"


    "What?"


    "I can''t take off my underpants!"


    "Why the hell can''t you do something that simple?!"


    "Your friends tied my hands behind my back, remember?"


    "¡­"


    "So are you going to help me pull my underpants down or not?"


    "No way! Just pee on it!"


    "But it''s going to leak and run down my legs, and it''ll smell bad!"


    "You''re going to get killed once we take you back anyways, why do you even care about that?"


    "Don''t you remember how lieutenant general Tuha wouldn''t like it if I left a stain his carpet? And what if I smeared all the filth on my legs all over you later?"


    "You¡­"


    "Oh, I might need help with wiping, too. I can''t really do that with my hands tied, after all."


    After a brief moment of silence, the soldier then shouted out to his comrade waiting outside.


    "Oi, get in here!"


    "¡­Yes? What''s up?"


    "Go in that stall and pull down that idiot''s pants."


    "Huh?"


    "He says he can''t do it with his hands tied."


    "That''s it? You needed help with something that simple?"


    "While you''re at it, make sure you help him wipe his rear later."


    "What the heck? Why would I do that?"


    "Well, would he rather he smeared everything on him all over you?"


    "No, but why should I do it? You''re the one who chose to kept close watch over him, so he should your responsibility!"


    "I''m higher in ranking than you, so as your superior, I command you to help him!"


    "You''re pulling rank now? No way am I doing something that disgusting!"


    "That''s insubordination! Do you want to get executed?!"


    "No, but¡­"


    "Then get in there!"


    "But, I¡­"


    "Just shut up and go already!"


    After determining the two soldiers were sufficiently confused over what they should be doing in this situation, I decided to chime in.


    "Can I suggest something?"


    "What do you want now?!"


    "You two don''t want to help with pulling my pants down now and wiping me later, right?"


    "Why the hell else would we be arguing out here?!"


    "Well, I have a solution to this."


    "What is it?"


    "Just untie my arms."


    "Do you think we''re that stupid?"


    "But I''m not even armed. And you know too well I can''t hide anything under my clothes since I''m only wearing a sleeveless shirt and underpants, so it''s not like I can take out a hidden blade or anything to attack you."


    "Hm¡­"


    "And you can just tie my wrists up again when I''m done."


    "That''s true¡­"


    It sounded as though the two soldiers were now seriously thinking about my suggestion.


    "You think we should just untie him for a while?"


    "What if he fights us?"


    "Isn''t he rumored to be some weak mage?"


    "He was tied against that Yequa guy, though, and that guy''s known to have high endurance."


    "Yeah, but his strength is pitiful."


    "That''s true. He didn''t have any bruises when we last saw him, so it doesn''t seem like the two had a fistfight, which means this guy most likely doesn''t have any strength either."


    "Right, so this idiot here is probably unable to harm us."


    A small part of me died when I heard them look down on me that much, but what they were saying about my physical strength wasn''t wrong. After all, I was unable to take down an assailant that even a frail-looking girl, namely Amber, could easily knock out¡­


    "But what if he blasts us with magic?"


    "I can''t really do that when I''m unarmed, you know."


    "I suppose it''ll be fine to untie him for now¡­"


    "Are you sure?"


    "He''s clearly unarmed, so if he does try to use magic, his mana will be so dispersed that it won''t be harmful."


    "Is that how it works?"


    "That''s what I heard from the Yequa guy, anyways. Apparently they need staves or wands to properly focus their mana and launch it in one direction."Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    The part about having my magic power dispersed isn''t wrong. It''s like trying to carry water in your hands instead of with a tool such as a bottle or bucket in the sense that it still works, but is horribly ineffective. However, just like how one could carry water inside so many different objects, one didn''t necessarily need a staff or wand to use magic effectively. Any staff-like object would have worked, such as their spears. However, those kinds of objects would probably explode after a couple uses since they weren''t crafted for the purpose of casting spells, just like the time I tried to fight a dragon with a laundry pole.


    "What sort of business did you have with him to know this kind of stuff?"


    "Oh, he kept complaining about having a low budget for research, which led to a lack of results."


    "And how did that lead to the stuff about magic?"


    "Well, it''s because of his lack of results that he has a low salary, and he tried to resist when I came with a few other soldiers to collect his rent."


    "You fought him?"


    "No, he didn''t fight us. We found out that he really didn''t have enough money for rent, so we just took away some of his belongings. He kept wailing about how he wouldn''t be able use his magic well if we took away all his staves. Of course, as soon as he said that, we had even more of a reason to take it away, since we didn''t want him to potentially be able to fight back against us."


    "Ah. So that''s how you know all this stuff about magic."


    "Yeah. But then he cried out about how there was a risk of getting mauled by his research subjects, so we had to leave him a basic wand to defend himself."


    "Good thing he didn''t try to fight you with it."


    "Yeah, it was a good thing indeed."


    I lightly knocked on the restroom stall door with my head to get the soldiers'' attention.


    "Sorry to interrupt, but can you untie me now? I''ve been holding stuff in my body for too long already, I might just burst any moment now."


    "Yeah, yeah, fine."


    The soldiers opened the stall door, and I turned my back against it so that my tied up wrists would be facing them.


    "Hey, hey. Stop that."


    "Keep it still."


    I couldn''t really see where they were, so I kept moving my arms up and down to make contact with theirs as much as possible.


    "The hell are you doing?"


    "I''m trying to make it easier by bringing it to the same level as your arms."


    "Are you some special kind of idiot? Stop moving!"


    "But why?"


    "Why are you even asking that? We can''t untie you if you don''t let us take hold of the rope!"


    "Then hold onto my arms, at least. They''ve been in a really uncomfortable position, so my arms feel quite sore right now."


    "Fine, now hold still."


    One of the soldiers gripped my arms in his hands while the other soldier untied the rope around my wrists. He let go after the rope was untied, while I waved my arms a little bit.


    "I''m just going to check real quick to see if I can still feel my hands."


    "What the hell is wrong with you? We only tied your wrists, you can''t lose control of your hands."


    "He''s said so many dumb things already, let''s just not pay attention to what he''s doing. He''ll probably shut up if we don''t talk to him¡­"


    I brushed my hands on the two soldiers'' arms a couple of times while they looked in confusion, then calmly closed the stall door and sat down on the toilet seat so as to make as little noise as possible while peeing. I didn''t want them to know the fact that I was already done with my business, after all.


    The soldiers allowed me to channel a lot of mana during their back and forth responsibility shoving earlier that I was quite confident my magic would work. To lower the chance of it being detected, I didn''t release most of my channeled mana in one instance, but did it in small bursts during each of the half dozen times I came in contact with the soldiers. Who even needs weapons to shoot a curse spell when one could just transfer it through direct contact?


    In any case, it was only a matter of time until my magic took effect, so I hummed for a while, then chanted magic in a low enough voice to make it seem like I was just singing on the toilet. About two minutes later, I heard the sound of a spear fall on the floor in front of my stall door. It seemed as if one of the soldiers leaned his spear against the wall, but it lost its balance and fell over.


    "Hey, what are you doing?"


    "Using the urinal, what else?"


    "Let me use it first!"


    "No, I''m closer, so I''ll use it first!"


    "Come on, I''m your superior, just let me use it already!"


    "Alright, alright, fine. Make it quick."


    The spell I activated was none other than the one from that weird book of curses that made the victim feel the urge to pee. However, because it only gives one the feeling they needed to empty their tank, it is difficult for the victim to actually let out any water unless they truly needed to do so.


    "What''s taking you so long?"


    "There''s nothing coming out!"


    "Did your constipation spread to other parts of the body? Hurry up!"


    "I''m trying to! Stop shouting at me!"


    Just then, the sound of another spear hitting the ground rang out not far from the first one. Under the assumption that the two soldiers were now distracted enough to not care about their surroundings, I quietly unlocked the stall door and slowly opened it.


    "If you can''t pee, then just let me go first!"


    "No, if I didn''t need to, then I wouldn''t have felt the need! Just wait for your turn!"


    "If you needed to pee, then something should have already come out! Stop hogging that urinal!"


    "Just wait for half a minute, dammit!"


    "I can''t just idly stand here and watch you do nothing like that, I need to use the urinal too!"


    "Stop rushing me, it''ll come out when it comes out!"


    It seemed like the two were so focused on staring at the urinal to notice me sticking my head out.


    I picked up the two spears lying on the floor, then crept to a position where the two of them were in a straight line. I aimed the spears at their kneecaps, then quickly channeled my mana into them. One of the two soldiers noticed an anomaly in the atmosphere and turned towards where I was standing, but it was too late for him to react.


    "Burning Spear!"


    A large spear of fire shot out of the spears, piercing through the two soldiers'' knees, then continued flying towards the wall. It broke the restroom window before finally disappearing a few meters away. Since the spears would most likely explode from being overloaded with mana, I thrusted the spears forward while channeling more mana into them to ensure that they would definitely get destroyed and become unusable. The spears exploded while flying through the air, and the force of the explosion was strong enough to knock the injured soldiers off balance. They fell onto the floor, unable to stand back up because of the gaping holes in their knees. Luckily, the explosion didn''t seem to have caused a loud enough sound to alert anyone outside.


    It was kind of amusing to see them squirm around the floor, holding onto their crotches because they still badly felt the urge to pee. One of the soldiers eventually managed to turn his body towards me and tried to say something.


    "You''re going to-ack!"


    "Sorry, I''m not that interested in hearing what you have to say."


    I did consider the possibility of the soldiers calling for help, so I stuffed their mouths full of toilet paper as soon as they tried to say something. Afterwards, I crouched down and put my hands on their torsos while delivering a threat to the two.


    "I may not have a weapon now, but even a dispersed intermediate level fire-type spell should still be enough to burn you two alive."


    "Hngh!"


    "So, will you surrender?"


    The two soldiers quietly nodded, so I took my hands off of them and stood back up. I considered lifting the bizarre curse I put on them, but figured it would probably be a good idea to keep them busy for a little while longer. The curse would automatically wear out in half an hour if I didn''t do anything about it, anyways. Now that the restroom was essentially silent again, I decided to think carefully about what to do next.


    I could try to escape on foot through the broken window, but there''s a high chance I''d run into a patrolling soldier who didn''t know who I was since I didn''t know how to navigate around this city, and likely get arrested for wandering around the streets at half past two at night while wearing nothing but underwear. Not only that, my life would also be in danger if I ran into any of lieutenant general Tuha''s loyal subordinates.


    I could instead try to assist general Denato in fighting back lieutenant general Tuha and his two remaining lackeys in the office, but I didn''t really have a weapon right now, so it would put our side at a severe disadvantage. In addition to that, a large scale fight would likely attract the attention of any guards and patrolmen near this mansion, which is a big risk since I had no idea who they were loyal to.


    If I stayed in this restroom for too long, then lieutenant general Tuha would eventually grow suspicious, and he might send even more soldiers over here to check up on the situation, so I definitely can''t stay put.


    What should I do now, I wonder¡­


    Just then, I heard a familiar voice come out from the broken restroom window.


    "Blaze! Are you there?"


    "Huh? Lica? Is that you?"


    To my surprise, Lica''s face popped up at the window.


    "What''s going on? Why are you here?"


    "Well, I picked up your scent from the inn, so Amber and I decided to bring your stuff over."


    I approached the window as Lica pointed behind her and saw Amber standing a few meters away. In her hands was something that looked like a folded robe, pants, and with my staff lying on top.


    "Wow, your nose is that good? You managed to track me down from so far away!"


    "What are you talking about? The inn''s over there."


    I stuck my head out of the window in the direction where Lica pointed and saw a moderately large building with two floors whose silhouette resembled our inn about 100 meters away. It was hard to believe that the people who designed the layout of this city would leave such a long wide back alley with no obstructions around. However, if one were to consider how this mansion was guarded, and how general Denato had an office in here, it seemed quite likely that this was the governor''s mansion. Thus, an alternative escape path like this long alley would be necessary in case of emergency. Still, I found it somewhat odd how the front of the mansion was guarded, but nobody was keeping watch of this back side.


    "How is that even possible? I thought I traveled five minutes by horse carriage to get here."


    If I remember correctly, we traveled for about two minutes from the inn, then took a left turn. From there, we moved straight for slightly less than one minute, then took another left turn. The carriage moved for about two minutes and arrived at this large mansion, which was on the left side of the road. This building was at least fifteen meters away from the gate, and I had already estimated the place to be at least 45 meters deep, so I was effectively at least 60 meters from the street¡­ Oh.


    No wonder why Lica could pick up my scent. We essentially moved in a full circle.


    "Thanks for bringing my clothes over."


    I received my stuff from Amber, then once again thought about what to do next.

 31 - The Fire

    Right now, all I wanted to do was get as far away from this place as possible, but there was no way to tell how dangerous it was outside. The soldiers patrolling this city might not be familiar with who Amber and Lica were, but they would most likely recognize me with ease, considering how I was the only human around and how I was being targeted by the lieutenant general himself. Thus, the best option for me now was probably to have the two girls climb into the mansion through the broken restroom window and be ready to join the fight with me. I didn''t know whether the remaining two soldiers accompanying lieutenant general Tuha were any stronger than the two struggling around on the floor here, but we at least had a numbers advantage right now.


    "Could you two climb in here and help me?"


    "Okay."


    For some reason, Lica and Amber both chose to leap from the window sill onto the two soldiers wiggling themselves on the floor, even though the two shouldn''t have known that they were hostiles. Then again, if those two weren''t enemies, then they wouldn''t be shaking with their mouths stuffed full of toilet paper in the first place. Amber found the two soldiers highly distracting, so she kicked them unconscious as I explained the situation to the girls.


    "Can''t we charge straight in and beat up that Tuha guy?"


    "He has two more soldiers guarding him."


    "Then we can take down the soldiers, while you beat up Tuha."


    "That''s not possible."


    "Why not?"


    "Can you withstand an attack from a dragon?"


    "Definitely not."


    "That''s why I can''t fight him. He''s just as strong as general Denato, so if we''re careless, he could probably easily kill us before the general can stop him."


    "What should we do, then?"


    "I have an idea, but I''ll need you two to help me. It might sound stupid, but I think this will give us the best chance of getting out of here safely¡­"


    + + + + +


    Meanwhile, in the governor''s office, lieutenant general Tuha began to feel uneasy. After all, it had been almost ten minutes since two of his accompanying soldiers escorted his hostage to the restroom, and neither of the two had reported back to him. It was unlikely for Blaze to be able to fight the two and escape, considering how he was unarmed and had no protective clothing on him, or so Tuha thought in order to reassure himself. Besides, even if Blaze did manage to somehow escape, the guards posted in front of the mansion were on his side, as well as several other patrolmen stationed at every possible exit in this city.


    "Just give up already, Tuha. I promise I won''t execute you if you just peacefully surrender."


    "I''ve been planning this for half a decade already. I''m not giving up just on a whim! Now hurry up and write your resignation letter!"


    "Blaze has been gone for ten minutes already, and your lackeys haven''t reported back. I think we can conclude that he managed to get away safely now."


    "No, I refuse to believe that! He''s probably very constipated or something!"


    "Knowing him, he probably escaped already, and is likely planning to strike back some time soon."


    "How can you even be so sure? You''ve only known him for a few days."


    "I reckon it''s because he''s the kind of person who would recklessly fight a dragon."


    "You know too well that recklessness doesn''t equal success, especially given how pitifully weak that boy is."


    "And yet he still managed to deal significant damage to a dragon. He might not have strength, but he''s smart enough to come up with unconventional ways to get out of a tough situation."


    "Geh¡­ Stop trying to feed me those ideas! He''s definitely constipated, and my lackeys are probably using the restroom too!"


    "Sure, believe in what you want to believe, but I''m not going to resign as governor of this province."


    Tuha became more and more anxious with each passing second. The success of his plan to take over Denato''s position as governor of this province depended on how well he could dress up the murder of Blaze as a huge scandal to embarrass Denato in the eyes of the king and the other governors. Thus, it would be a terrible thing if the target of this plan managed to avoid death. While Tuha could have had his lackeys take Blaze''s life while in the restroom, he determined that it was a better idea to instead end Blaze''s life while Denato could witness it, as that would quell any suspicions the general may have about being presented a body double or fictitious evidence.


    What was originally a ten minute wait soon became a twenty minute stare-off. Tuha''s impatience could easily be seen based on how he was fidgeting and occasionally stomping his foot on the floor. He turned over to one of the two other soldiers in the room.


    "You! Go check on the restroom!"


    "Yes, sir."


    Denato had confidence that Blaze had somehow managed to take care of the two lackeys in the restroom, and figured that a third one wouldn''t pose much of a threat either. As the soldier left the room to go check on the restroom, he slightly smirked while Tuha''s attention was focused on the door. So long as Blaze could eventually send a signal that he was safe or could take down the remaining soldier in this room without alerting the guards at the mansion''s gate, victory was assured.


    * * * * *


    For Amber, who was trained to secretly sneak around places, eavesdropping through the governor''s office keyhole and fleeing away undetected was a very simple matter. Even though she had to sprint back to the restroom as quickly as possible to inform Blaze that a soldier was coming over, she was still able to move so quietly that nobody knew she was there in the hallway.


    Amber managed to make it back to the restroom in just a little over half a minute. It was a good thing that the soldier heading over to check up on the restroom was walking rather than running, so the group had well over a minute to prepare for a surprise attack.


    "Wow, your fur is so soft."


    "I''m only going to let you touch me just this one time."


    "Come on, we slept in the same room on several occasions before. Surely you''re more comfortable around me than that."


    "How about I turn around and slash your face instead?"


    "Please don''t."


    "Then stop saying weird things."


    Worried that the soldier coming over to check up on the restroom might have higher endurance than the other two, Blaze opted not to use his fire magic to attack the incoming foe. It was probably better, he thought, to have Amber cast a sleep spell to make sure the enemy could not fight back in any way. Amber''s magic for some reason only affected males, so Blaze had high confidence that it would work since the soldiers'' faces and bodies looked male when he saw everyone in the office earlier. To ensure success, Blaze was currently transferring his mana to Amber so she could charge up her magic as much as possible. The only way to transfer mana, however, was through direct contact at a location close to the heart. Since Amber was unwilling to take off her clothes, Blaze had no choice but to grab the back of her neck instead. While Amber sounded like she didn''t like having Blaze touch her, she actually didn''t hate the physical contact on her neck right now. It wasn''t that much different from a cat being patted on the back of its head, after all.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    "I hear footsteps."


    Blaze and Amber promptly turned their attention to the restroom door once Amber heard steps in the distance.


    Blaze had already instructed Lica to do things elsewhere in the mansion, so they were completely certain that whoever was coming was the soldier tasked with checking up on the restroom. A few seconds later, an unfamiliar voice sounded out as the door slowly opened.


    "Is everything here still-"


    "Sleep!"


    "Oi, Amber, that thing''s not a javelin!"


    Even though transferring a large amount of mana was already enough to make Amber''s spell absurdly effective, Blaze still gave her his staff so that she could more easily direct her magic in one direction, towards the door. It was not known whether Amber did not know how to swing a staff or if she did such thing intentionally, but the staff flew through the air as soon as Amber let out her magic. The tip of the staff flew straight into the now unconscious soldier''s mouth, knocking out a couple of his teeth because of its bizarre enchantment of being "tougher than tempered steel." It was at this moment that Blaze felt thankful that he was never on the receiving end of Amber''s attacks. In that regard, while Blaze did get clawed a few times by her before, Amber held back on every single occasion out of fear of leaving large scars.


    "I''m going to go check on Lica now. Can you clean up here?"


    "Why me? You''re the one who came up with this plan."


    "Because you''re the one who knocked them unconscious. Well, I''ll help with disposing the guy at the door, but you have to take care of the other two."


    Thinking that the three soldiers were better alive than dead, Blaze decided to have them be carried out of the broken window and dumped somewhere in the long, dark alley. After all, if one were to consider how serious Tuha''s crime was, then it would be unlikely for him to remain alive after this evening. Thus, keeping as many of Tuha''s accomplices alive as possible for interrogation later was probably a good idea, or so Blaze thought.


    "By the way, that guy might choke on his broken teeth, so could you pry them out of his mouth?"


    "¡­"


    * * * * *


    "Bleh! Too salty¡­ And this is too spicy!"


    At around the same time, Lica was enjoying some food in the kitchen. Blaze had instructed her to find as much oil as possible and scatter it all over the hallway, and Lica had done just that. She was also told to wait for Blaze to come to the kitchen after she was done, so she was now munching on some snacks while waiting. The only problem was that there was nothing but raw ingredients in the kitchen, and that she was unable to cook, so all she could put in her mouth right now was spices and seasonings.


    Having decided that storming into the office was a bad idea, Blaze decided that the best course of action was to force everyone inside to leave instead. Thus, he opted to set the mansion on fire, and all the cooking oil that he had Lica dump all over the place was to make sure that the fire would be nearly impossible to extinguish. As soon as smoke comes into the office, everyone inside would be forced to jump out of the window since the hallways would have been set ablaze, and Blaze could try to make use of the chaos and commotion to sneak away unnoticed.


    "The general can probably repurpose the state guesthouse for work after this place gets burnt to the ground," Blaze thought.


    Although the soldiers posted at the front gate were on Tuha''s side, Blaze figured that it was unlikely for them to attack general Denato. There was hardly anyone awake or on the streets at the moment since it was well past two o''clock, but given how there was about to be a large fire in the middle of the city, there was bound to be people who would wake up and pour onto the streets to spectate, especially when the fire was at the governor''s mansion. Fighting the governor would certainly leave a bad impression among the citizens, so the guards posted at the gate would definitely have no choice but to work on preventing the city folk from getting close to the scene to make sure there would be no witnesses in case a fight does break out between Denato and Tuha.


    "Lica? Why are you snacking? Didn''t I tell you to pour oil all over the hallway?"


    "But I finished!"


    "That fast?"


    "Yeah."


    "Well I guess that''s fine, then. Let''s get moving."


    + + + + +


    "Can''t we just burn the kitchen?"


    "No, it''s too close to the office."


    "So?"


    "If they discover there''s a fire too early, then they might be able to put it out before it gets serious."


    I was currently moving down the hallway with Lica in search of a better location to start a fire. It had to be far away enough so that by the time the smoke gets to the office room, the fire would have spread so much that it would be impossible to extinguish, which would require everybody to flee to safety.


    "How about here?"


    "That''s definitely not going to work¡­"


    I never thought I would ever see an indoor aquarium, but apparently such a thing was behind one of the doors.


    "Here?"


    "How in the world do you expect me to set fire to an indoor pool?"


    "This room?"


    "Please stop asking that for every door you open¡­"


    I hoped that she would at least try to look at what was behind each door before asking whether it would be a good idea to start the fire there, but she still asked me a couple more times without taking the time to think as we walked through the hallway. I opted to just stay silent and only slightly shake my head on each occasion.


    "Hm¡­ This looks like a good place."


    Eventually, my search brought me to a small library.  This room was far enough away from the office to give a fire enough time to spread, and there was plenty of burnable objects inside. I felt kind of bad about burning all this reading material, but it''s not like I could read it in the first place.


    "Just to be sure, are there any books worth saving here?"


    "Nope!"


    "You didn''t even look around yet."


    "I can''t read."


    "What?"


    "Can''t read any of the titles."


    "Wasn''t it the case where almost everyone could read the local language?"


    "Nobody taught me."


    "Oh¡­ Well, I''m sorry to hear that."


    I secretly felt happy to finally know that I wasn''t the only one who had no idea what any of the writing here meant. I picked up a few books and tore out a few pages, then crumpled them up and tossed the paper balls all over the place. This was probably unnecessary since the carpet looked like it was flammable enough already, and the hallway was already oiled up.


    "Alright, let''s get out of here."


    After using a basic spell to start a fire in the library, I rushed outside with Lica. As we moved along the long hallway, we opened just about every single door we passed by, just so the fire could spread to as many rooms as possible. When we reached the restroom where we were supposed to escape through the broken window, Amber was strangely standing in front of it, waiting for us.


    "What are you doing here? Weren''t you supposed to wait for us outside?"


    "We have to escape somewhere else."


    "Huh? Why?"


    "After we dumped those guys in the back alley, some patrolling soldiers came by."


    "Really?"


    "I turned off the lights in the restroom! They probably won''t notice the broken window."


    "I''m pretty sure they''d notice glass shards on the ground, and the lights suddenly going out¡­"


    "They were far away. I think it will take a while."


    "If they were far away, then how do you even know they were patrolling soldiers, then?"


    "Because I have good hearing."


    "Oh, right. I forgot about that."


    I still have no idea why Amber thinks that patrolling soldiers wouldn''t notice abnormalities where the restroom''s window was located, but in any case, it seems like my plan to hide ourselves in the back alley, then escape in the midst of panic after the fire in this building was big enough wasn''t going to work.


    "Looks like we have to find another escape route, then¡­"


    It had already been over a minute since I started the fire, so it was probably impossible to turn back since it would have spread quite a bit by now. We had no choice but to move through the rest of this hallway. From what I remember upon first entering this mansion, the hallway from the main entrance branched in two directions, so it seemed very likely that we would loop back to the front of this mansion if we kept moving along the hallway. In other words, I probably don''t need to worry about hitting a dead end. Even if we did get stuck, I could probably blow a large hole in the wall with my magic for us to escape through, but that would easily attract attention, and the soldiers loyal to lieutenant general Tuha were most likely waiting outside.


    "Nope."


    "¡­Not this one either."


    "¡­What sort of design is this¡­?"


    I checked to see if the windows in other rooms along the hallway were suitable for us to escape  undetected, but they were all either pointed at the now dangerous back alley or to the side of the mansion. Regarding the window directed at the side of the building: I wasn''t sure if such a design was intentional or just incidentally bad, but the window was so close to the fence surrounding the perimeter that one could neither squeeze any of their body parts through, nor even climb outside because of the five centimeter gap. Because of this, we had only one choice left¡­


    "We''ll probably be noticed if we escape through the front door, so let''s see if any of the front windows have a bush or tree in front of it."


    Unfortunately, the greenery in front of the mansion was too short, so we would most likely be too easily detected regardless of whether we chose to exit through the front entrance or a window.


    The fire had been burning for almost three minutes by now, and smoke was beginning to pour out towards the front of mansion where we were located.


    "I guess we could try running out when the smoke gets thicker. Maybe they won''t notice¡­"


    While such a thing was unlikely to happen, I prayed lieutenant general Tuha and his one remaining lackey wouldn''t show up here while we waited around.

 32 - The Escape

    It was hard to tell how long we waited because the constant thoughts of danger waiting outside dulled our sense of time. If I had to guess, we probably waited here for about five minutes already. The fire had not spread to where we were yet, but the entire ceiling was now covered in smoke. To prevent ourselves from accidentally breathing it in, we all stayed crouched down, even though the smoke was over a half meter above our heads.


    "I guess now is a good time to sneak out¡­"


    Because the mansion''s windows were taller than us, the smoke was now obstructing half of the view from it. Thus, I figured that those standing outside would have trouble discerning movements indoors, and we would likely be able to exit the mansion without them knowing. I moved towards the front door and pulled it open slowly.


    "Watch out!"


    Lica pounced on me, knocking me onto the ground. Immediately after, a large boulder crashed through the door and flew above us. It crashed into the wall behind us, blowing a large hole through and leaving behind a large cloud of dust that soon merged into the dark smoke. Had Lica not shoved me, I would most likely have had most of my bones broken, or even died.


    "What was that?"


    I sat up and looked towards the large hole that used to be the front door. In the distance was a large dust cloud with the silhouette of someone in the middle of it. I crawled a little bit closer to the door to get a better look at what was inside the dust cloud, keeping myself as close to the floor as possible so as to avoid being detected.


    As the dust subsided, the silhouette was revealed to be that of the last soldier accompanying lieutenant general Tuha earlier. He was unarmed and simply standing still about ten meters away from the mansion in front of a large hole in the ground, looking in the direction of where I was. As soon as our eyes met, the soldier crouched down and punched the ground. He picked up a large boulder from where his fist hit the ground, then hurled it towards me.


    Luckily, I managed to roll to the left in time to avoid the incoming boulder. Amber and Lica also tugged me as I was rolling so that I would get to safety faster.


    Since the soldier knew where exactly I was located now, I figured he would soon rush in to fight me. Given the distance of ten meters, it wouldn''t take long for him to reach me, so I prepared myself to cast my fireball spell since the lack of time made it impossible to ready up more advanced magic.


    Fifteen seconds passed by, but there was no sign of the soldier running in to fight me. Amber and Lica also told me that they could not even hear the sound of footsteps, either. Confused, I slowly moved my head towards the front door to take a peek outside. The soldier was still standing in the same spot, staring at the front door. I quickly moved my head away from the door and hid myself behind the wall again in case the soldier would throw another boulder towards where my face was.


    "I''m not stupid enough to blindly charge in!"


    As though he knew too well what I was thinking, the soldier shouted that as I went into hiding, then continued his proclamation,


    "I''m just going to keep you holed up in there until you succumb to the smoke!"


    That would explain why he was only hurling boulders towards me, as making the exits dangerous was certainly a great way to keep me inside the burning building. I reckon it was still possible for me to escape through the window, but it would be too easy to spot me, and opening the window would also take time. If I instead crashed myself through the window, then I would be defenseless outdoors, and a flying boulder would likely end my life before I could regain my footing to dodge that.


    "Seems like I''ll have to fight my way through¡­"


    Considering how the soldier was standing still and waiting for me to make a move, attacking him would be relatively easy since I would only need to aim at the same spot. He was unarmed, so I probably didn''t need to worry about him reflecting my attacks back like when I dueled against Yequa. Speaking of whom, I wonder what happened to him after he got taken away earlier in the day.


    "Fireball!"


    My magic had already been prepared earlier, so I got up and stood under the front door, then shot a barrage of fireballs towards the soldier. Even though half a dozen fast moving fireballs were flying his way, the soldier continued to stand still. He didn''t appear to be worried at all, and in fact did not even bother blinking. The fireballs all hit the soldier, but did not seem to have caused any injuries to him at all. The fireballs were all seemingly as harmless as the puffs of smoke they turned into upon contact.


    "Those insignificant attacks aren''t going to work on me!"


    The soldier quickly slammed his fist into the ground again right after shouting that, then picked up a boulder. I leaped to the side and hit the floor just in time before he could hurl it at me. Seeing how the flying boulders could easily break the wall they crashed into, I couldn''t help but wonder why he didn''t just throw the boulders at the wall I was hiding behind. Maybe he didn''t want to create more possible exits for me in case he missed, or maybe he didn''t want to add more ventilation for the smoke.


    "If the fireballs won''t work, then maybe a large pillar of fire will¡­"


    I mumbled that to myself as I prepared to cast stronger magic. After completing the chant and channeling mana for my spell, I stood up and stood under the door again.


    "Flame Pillar!"


    I felt somewhat bothered by how the soldier was completely unfazed by the sight of the large magic circle forming above him. As a large pillar of fire came down from the magic circle, the soldier only crossed his arms and lowered his head so that his face would be covered by the arms.


    The pillar crashed down on the soldier, pushing him down with great force and singeing him at the same time, yet he was still standing upright after taking the full brunt of the attack. Neither his armor nor short hair appeared to be singed, which made me feel as though I was fighting that giant bull in Suva town all over again.


    "They don''t call me a Tank for nothing!"


    I felt worried since there was not a single bit of exhaustion or weariness in his voice. I turned over to look at Amber and Lica.


    "What''s a ''Tank'' anyways?"


    The two girls shrugged their shoulders in response to my question.


    "In any case, can you two do anything?"


    "My magic doesn''t reach that far."


    "I can''t use magic!"


    "Sigh¡­"


    A couple minutes later, I had already fired another half dozen barrages of fireballs and dodged the same number of boulders hurled towards the door. Apart from the area surrounding the soldier which had now turned into a large crater with a small standing platform in the middle, there were no changes otherwise to the outside. The soldier was still in tip-top condition, with no visible wounds other than a few minor scratches at where my magic hit him. On the other hand, I was beginning to feel tired, and was starting to have trouble breathing as the thick smoke was now at the same level as the top of my head.


    "Where is the general, anyways? If that soldier is outside, then the general and lieutenant general should also be out there somewhere, right?"


    "Hm¡­ I''ll go check!"


    "Huh? Wait, it''s dangerous!"


    I was going to ask if the smoke got to Lica''s head, but that was impossible since she was shorter than me. Without a care in the world, she went to the front door and took a look outside, and even stuck her head outside for a while. Oddly enough, it didn''t seem like the soldier outside was going to throw anything towards her.


    "Coward! Stop making your wives scout for you!"


    Why do people keep thinking Amber and Lica are my wives, anyways?


    "I really don''t want to take the lives of innocent civilians, so why don''t you just surrender already?"


    "I would if my life wasn''t on the line!"


    Based on what he said, it seemed like he wasn''t going to attack the girls at all. After she finished looking around, Lica came back to where I was to inform me of the situation outside.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    "The two are battling in the sky."


    "So that''s why the general isn''t able to help us, huh."


    I took a deep breath and thought about how to get out of this situation, then turned to the girls after thinking for a couple seconds.


    "Well¡­ It doesn''t look like he''s going to throw a boulder at you two, so you two should head outside."


    "What about you?"


    "Afterwards, pounce on him and distract him for me. I just need a moment to run outside and hide myself. It''s probably dark enough outside that the he won''t be able to spot me if I were to jump into the bushes, right?"


    "¡­"


    There wasn''t anything else I could do from inside this burning mansion, so the two girls soon consented to my idea. Amber and Lica both walked to the front door and stepped outside. The soldier ignored the two girls as they branched in two different directions. A while later, peeking through the front entrance, I saw that Amber and Lica were now a couple meters away from the soldier, directly left and right of him. The soldier continued staring at me, so it seemed unlikely that he would take notice when the two girls pounce on him later.


    "Now!"


    As Amber gave the signal, the two girls immediately leaped forward towards the soldier, while I stood up and prepared to bolt outside.


    "What is this?"


    With a large swing of his fist, the soldier immediately sent Amber and Lica flying away. The two hit the ground about five meters away, and were now seemingly unconscious. The soldier then pounded the ground again and picked up a boulder. Before he could throw the boulder again, I jumped forward to hit the floor once more.


    "Cheap tricks aren''t going to help you!"


    Considering how my plan to have Amber and Lica distract the soldier so that I could escape had just instantly failed, I looked around to see if there were any secret passages or tools and weapons I could make use of. There weren''t any suspicious patches on the carpet, so I quickly ruled out the possibility of a hidden trap door. Nobody would put one so close to the main entrance, anyways.


    Thus, my only option now was to see if there was anything I could make use of to help with escaping. Near me right now were the wooden debris of what used to be the front door, a potted plant, chairs, a rolled up carpet, a jug of cooking oil, and some decorative swords mounted on the wall.


    Wait a minute¡­


    A jug of cooking oil?


    I didn''t quite know why the soldier couldn''t have just prepared a boulder to throw at me in advance during this whole confrontation, but this fact was something I could use to my advantage.


    I cast a self buffing spell on me to boost my own strength, then prepared another spell and crept over to where the jug of oil was. After picking up, I got up and ran towards the front door with it.


    "Take this¡­ ack! Cough! Cough!"


    I had completely forgotten that the thick smoke was now at around my neck level, so I ended up breathing in some of it as I hurled towards the soldier. Ignoring the fact that I had just completely ruined my moment to look cool, the soldier remained unfazed at how there was now something completely different from the fireballs flying towards him. With another swing of his fist, he punched the jug as it reached his location, causing it to burst instantly.


    "Huh?"


    The cooking oil inside splashed all over his body and the crater surrounding him. Shortly after, I followed up by activating the spell I previously prepared.


    "Flame Pillar!"


    Just like a few minutes prior, the soldier crossed his arms and shielded his face as a large column of fire dropped down from above.


    "What? This is¡­!"


    Unlike last time, however, the soldier and the ground around him was now burning because of the oil that splashed on just now. Perhaps because he never expected something like this to happen, the soldier kept shaking his own body, but the fire wouldn''t stop. He then dropped to the ground and rolled around, but the repeated ground smashing resulted in him rolling into his self-created pit. The fact that the pit was also on fire didn''t help the soldier in any way at all.


    Now that I had some time to spare, I calmly recited my next spell and channeled a decent amount of my remaining mana. Then, stepping outside, I took a deep breath of the fresher air, pointed my staff towards the pit of fire, and activated my magic.


    "Fire Tornado!"


    Strong hot gusts began blowing around the large pit, and soon the circling winds ignited into a magnificent vortex that rose five meters high.


    The guards at the mansion''s gate were busy keeping passersby from getting close to the site of the fire, so I figured this tornado was short enough to not get noticed by people on the streets since it was only half as tall as the mansion itself. Because there were no guards around, nobody was able to help the soldier get out of the tornado. The general and lieutenant general were fighting in the sky somewhere, so the soldier could not ask for Tuha to help, either.


    Had the soldier not been deprived of breathable air and panicking due to that fact, he probably could have easily took a big leap and forced himself out of the tornado or perhaps just have repeatedly smashed the ground so that the dust cloud could weaken the fire, but he took neither of those actions.


    Maybe he needed to breathe in a lot of fresh air in order to make use of his monstrous strength or something, but needless to say the soldier passed out after rolling around inside the tornado for a while. Just to be sure he would remain knocked out, I kept the tornado spinning for another ten seconds before ending the spell.


    Inside the pit was now a motionless body covered in dying embers. Whether or not the soldier will keep his life is something I wouldn''t know, but I felt relieved that I finally managed to get out of the burning building. Everything I did tonight had made me use up three quarters of my mana, so I felt terribly fatigued right now. I badly wanted to lie down and rest, but there were still things that needed to be done.


    I looked up at the sky to see if I could spot general Denato and lieutenant general Tuha anywhere. The oil lamps illuminating the streets weren''t very effective at lighting up the sky, so I figured the two would have to be fighting somewhere close to where the mansion was located since the burning building was the only source of light strong enough to allow aerial battles. After looking around for a while, I eventually spotted two moving silhouettes about 15 meters above me and 20 meters away.


    At this distance, it was impossible to determine which silhouette was the general and which was the lieutenant general since the two of them had similar builds, so all I could do was spectate. From what I observed, one figure was able to move extremely fast but had seemingly weak attacks, while the other was able to dish out strong blows to make up for his lack of movement speed.


    I was tempted to think that the fast moving one was the general because of how fast his maneuvers were during the fight against the dragon some time ago, but it was hard to be completely certain without seeing their weapons up close.


    "Maybe if I launch a fireball¡­"


    It didn''t seem like the two would move too far away from where they currently were, so I figured that shooting a fireball somewhere in between the two might make it clear who was who. I knew that the general was proficient with a greataxe, so I just hoped that the lieutenant wasn''t using a similar weapon.


    "Fireball!"


    A relatively harmless fireball flew towards the faster moving silhouette at a moderate speed. It was quickly chopped away and gave off a bright explosion, momentarily lighting up the sky around it as a result. Judging by the glare of their weapons, my guess seemed to be correct, as the fast moving silhouette was holding something that resembled a greataxe, while the other was holding a bludgeon and shield.


    Knowing now which silhouette belonged to general Denato, I thought about what I could do to help him win this fight. The two were too high up for my magic to hit an intended target accurately, after all.


    Suddenly, lieutenant general Tuha looked away from general Denato and turned towards me instead. He lunged at me at full speed and looked like he was about to maul me with his bludgeon.


    "You ruined my plan!"


    He angrily shouted so at me just a brief moment before getting pushed slightly off course by general Denato and ended up slamming his large club into the ground less than a meter away from me instead. Had it not been for the general''s extreme agility, I probably wouldn''t have survived.


    Lieutenant general Tuha quickly got up and glared at me with bloodshot rage in his eyes.


    "If I can''t get what I want, I''ll just kill you before going down!"


    I quickly ran back towards the burning building, about fifteen meters away. General Denato continued attacking the lieutenant general in order to prevent him from chasing after me, but his attacks seemed to be relatively weak compared to what Tuha could withstand, and was thus only able to slow down Tuha''s advance.


    I considered hiding somewhere inside the building and breaking out of a window to escape from lieutenant general Tuha, but the fire had now spread over to the hallway right in front of the main door, and the smoke was now so thick that I would have to drop to lower than my waist level in order to traverse through the place. I stopped right in front of the door and looked back at the approaching enemy, who had now slowly advanced to just slightly over ten meters away from me. Judging by his rate of movement, I probably had about half a minute left before he could get to me. Of course, I could just run along the mansion''s walls to buy some time if he got too close, but I felt that trying to end things now was probably better than delaying things.


    I pointed my staff backwards towards the burning building and channeled all of my remaining mana while chanting the verses of my next spell. Because of complete mana exhaustion, I could barely keep myself standing as I was now draining my own energy in order to use magic.


    "Just a bit more¡­"


    It seemed that I had just enough mana to do what I wanted to do, as my staff''s tip gave off a brilliant glow at the same time my knees gave up. I did my best to keep my staff pointed towards the burning building after collapsing on the ground while using my free hand to tug my robe so that it covered as much of my head as possible.


    "Any last words?"


    Lieutenant general Tuha was now only a meter or so away from me.


    "Yes, two words."


    "¡­?"


    "Explosive discharge."


    As though the general had expected this to happen, he feinted a swing of his greataxe and kicked lieutenant general Tuha as he was distracted by the false attack, causing him to move too far forward, trip over me, and fall into the building.


    It was a good thing I was an archmage who specialized in fire-type spells, as I could easily make use of the raging flames to catalyze the activation of magic that would otherwise be impossible to use due to its huge mana consumption. Under the influence of my magic, the fire inside the building rapidly became even hotter, to the point where one would feel like their body would melt at any moment. A bright white flash came from the fire, and an ear piercing boom rang throughout the mansion''s grounds as the whole building exploded from the overly extreme expansion of hot air.


    If it wasn''t for my fireproof robe shielding most of my body, I probably would have melted to death due to the explosion. I wasn''t sure if the general was pulling me away or not, but I was without a doubt being blasted far away while losing my consciousness. Amber and Lica were already lying unconscious much farther away from the building than I was, so those two will probably still be alive later. Probably.


    Well, I hope we won''t suffer serious injuries when we all regain consciousness¡­

 Extra 5: The Aftermath

    I love it when the army comes back to the city. They order food from every restaurant and diner in the city, so there is a lot of preparation work that needs to be done, and also a mountain of things to clean up afterwards. Eatery owners want to be able to open their stores the next day, so on days like these they are very willing to pay bonus wages.


    "Hey, we need you."


    I''ve been washing dishes for hours now. All the dirty dishes, pots, and pans from every restaurant and diner was moved to one single location to speed up the cleaning process. There are a couple of others sorting out which item belongs to which establishment, so my only job is to stay in one place, do some repetitive stuff, and get paid twice as much as normal.


    "You''re needed right now."


    My regular job pays very little, so I have to wash dishes as part time work in order to make ends meet. I thought that my colleagues at my daytime job would laugh at me at first, but it turns out almost all of them also worked some odd jobs on the side in order to earn some extra money. We''ve asked for a bigger budget several times before, but were told that maintaining the army was too costly for them to fund the city''s services more.


    "Sir, are you listening?"


    Someone suddenly waved his hand in front of my face.


    "Huh? What? Is something the matter?"


    "Sir, you need to come with me right now."


    "Why?"


    "An urgent case just happened."


    "Eh, I''m sure that could wait until the morning."


    "No, I''m afraid that can''t wait. You have to go now, sir."


    "But I don''t want to! They pay me almost twice as much just for washing dishes!"


    "They city council will give you a full day''s wage as a bonus if you go handle the case right now."


    "Full day''s wage? Why didn''t you say so sooner? Come on, show me the way!"


    "¡­Right. Follow me, sir."


    I am Jigu, Mitana city''s chief of police by day, and part-time odd job worker by night. I''m curious about what kind of case would be considered urgent at 3 o''clock in the morning, but I hope I can resolve it quickly. That way, I can get paid a large bonus wage and still have enough time to go back and wash some extra dishes for even more money.


    * * * * *


    "¡­This place?"


    "Yes, sir. That''s why it was urgent."


    I am now standing in front of the front gate of the governor''s mansion.


    No, wait, that''s not entirely right.


    I am now standing in front of the front gate of what used to be the governor''s mansion. Right now, the only thing left on that huge plot of land is a mountain of burnt rubble. There were a couple of people being carried out by stretchers: the governor Denato, some two demihuman girls, a human boy, a soldier, and somebody covered by a white sheet. My condolences to whoever that was that passed away. Out of all the ones being carried out, only the governor looked somewhat conscious, so I ran over to him as his stretcher was brought through the gate.


    "Governor!"


    "Hm? Jigu? What is it?"


    "Can you tell me what happened?"


    "There was a big fire, as you can see."


    "Do you know where and how it started? And who passed away?"


    "I can''t recall. You''ll have to investigate what happened."


    "¡­Yes, sir."


    Well, it looks like I''ll be stuck here for a while.


    Walking into the premises, the one thing that stood out the most was a large crater in front of the mansion. Was someone trying to keep the fire under control? The governor looked injured and fatigued, so did he do this? Or maybe it was that other soldier. I heard there was someone in the army with abnormally high power but would lose all of his strength if deprived of breathable air for an extended period of time, and the soldier on the stretcher looked very similar to what the rumors said. That said, he could endure just about any attack, but submerging him in water or soaking him in oil and setting him on fire would result in him instantly losing a fight because he wouldn''t be able to breathe normally. In any case, I seem to have digressed too much.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Oh, good evening chief!"


    Having seen me coming, one of the investigators greeted me from afar, then walked over to where I was. He shook his head as he approached.


    "There''s too much rubble to dig through, so we haven''t found anything significant yet¡­"


    "Really? Well, get back to digging, then!"


    "Certainly, sir."


    I turned over to the subordinate that came to the scene with me.


    "Go to the land office and get the blueprints for the mansion."


    "Roger that!"


    Knowing the mansion''s design would help with figuring out good places to search for clues, after all.


    * * * * *


    Apparently we managed to randomly dig up something that was probably once an indoor aquarium. The water in the tanks prevented the fish from turning into ashes, so the other investigators and I got to snack on some grilled fish while waiting for my subordinate to come back with the mansion''s blueprints. I don''t know how he managed to even get a hold of this, considering how nobody would be on duty at the land office this late at night, but I praised him for being so capable.


    "Right, let''s check areas where a fire could start."


    After studying the blueprint, I sent investigators to areas of the building that had fireplaces, furnaces, or heaters. As for myself, I checked the kitchen area.


    "Hm? What''s this?"


    The pots and pans seemed to be sturdy enough to not get disintegrated, so I managed to uncover some misshapen kitchen appliances after digging up around that area. Unexpectedly, there were some small articles underneath some of the pots.


    "Hm¡­ This tastes like salt, sir."


    "Oi, you can''t just put random things on the ground in your mouth."


    "¡­And this is crispy burnt flour."


    "What did I just tell you!"


    Aside from the fact that my idiotic subordinate was randomly running his finger along the ground and tasting the unknown stuff, it looked like the kitchen floor was littered with food crumbs and spices.


    "Why is there food spilled all over the floor? Didn''t the soldiers just have a banquet earlier?"


    The army ordered food from every single restaurant and diner in the city, so it was unlikely for the soldiers to not stuff themselves full. The mansion''s kitchen definitely didn''t prepare any of the food used at the banquet, so the fact that food crumbs and spices were spilled all over the floor meant that someone unaffiliated with the army must have been trying to make food before the fire started.


    "Look around for bodies. I think I have a good idea of what happened."


    "Yes, sir."


    The other investigators found nothing out of the ordinary in their search regions, so they came over to help me search the kitchen area. Unfortunately, we didn''t uncover any bodies after digging around for fifteen minutes, however¡­


    "How has nobody ever had food poisoning here?"


    "Maybe they train their endurance this way?"


    We uncovered at least half a dozen large rats, instead. They were all at least forty centimeters long.


    "Well, they did say the food served in the army was bad."


    "Maybe they never fell ill since they can''t stomach the food in the first place!"


    "Or maybe they just throw up before they can digest the food!"


    "Hahaha!"


    "Be quiet! Let me think!"


    "Roger that, sir. We''re sorry."


    The investigators ceased their banter immediately after I shouted at them. I closed my eyes to concentrate on piecing the clues together.


    "Hm¡­"


    Those giant rats are heavy, so they could easily move things around the kitchen or flip some switches.


    "I think I''ve figured out what happened here."


    The investigators all looked at me and attentively listened.


    "There was a large banquet hosted elsewhere in the city earlier in the day, so that means nobody cooked in this kitchen earlier in the evening. Because of that, the giant rats must have felt very hungry because there was no food lying around for them to consume. As a consequence, they rummaged around the kitchen, knocking over food and spice containers in the process¡­"


    "Yes, that makes sense."


    "Very good deduction, sir."


    "That sounds plausible."


    "¡­Afterwards, one of the rats probably fell on top of a fire-starting mechanism in this kitchen. These rats are large, so they should definitely be heavy enough to accidentally trigger such mechanisms. Another rat probably knocked some cooking oil jugs over, resulting in a large fire starting here¡­"


    "I agree with that chain of events."


    "Me, too."


    "Likewise, but how did the fire spread, though?"


    "¡­And because some jugs of cooking oil were knocked over, there were probably a couple of rats soaked in it that caught fire. Those rats would most likely have run around in desperation, so I suspect that one of those rats ran towards the carpeted hallway. As soon as that happened, the carpet would have caught fire and quickly spread to the rest of the building."


    "That explains why we couldn''t find anything suspicious in other areas!"


    "Our chief is such an amazing investigator!"


    "I can''t believe we''re getting paid a full day''s wage for two hours of investigating, all thanks to the chief!"


    The investigators all clapped their hands and thanked me for coming up with a conclusion to how the fire started so quickly.


    "Alright, we''re all done here. Can I trust you all to write up the investigation report?"


    "Of course, sir! You can count on us!"


    I saluted my colleagues and left the site, then returned to the restaurant I was working at a couple hours prior.


    "It''s half past four already, huh. I guess I''ll wash dishes for another hour, and then go home to rest. I hope they don''t give me another case in the morning¡­"

 33 - A bedside story

    After the incident at the governor''s mansion happened, I apparently passed out with several bone fractures and some other major injuries. Luckily, there was a large clinic reasonably close to the mansion, so my companions and I were able to receive treatment on time.


    Since my injuries were serious, I''ve been bedridden for the past week. The potions administered to me were apparently effective enough at improving my body''s natural regeneration rate that I can now move around normally, although my body still feels extremely sore right now.


    I''ll be discharged this afternoon, but it''s probably best if I recap on what happened this past week.


    * * *


    May 18


    * * *


    "Would you like to have a peaceful death?"


    The clinic''s nurses asked me that question very frequently after I regained consciousness.


    "What?"


    "We can end your life in a painless manner if you''d like."


    "No, thank you."


    "Are you sure?"


    "Yes, I''m sure."


    "Are you absolutely sure?"


    "Yes¡­ Who would even choose to die, anyways?"


    "People like you, for example."


    "People¡­ like me? I may be disabled right now, but I''m not suicidal."


    "I''m sorry, that''s not what I meant."


    "What did you mean to say, then?"


    "You''re neither a resident of Mitana city nor a member of the standing army, so medical expenses are going to be a little bit high¡­"


    "How high?"


    "Probably around 50000 doviti a day, and you look like you''re going to be here for at least a week¡­"


    I reckon it''s understandable that one would rather die if a day in this clinic cost as much as an ordinary citizen''s full month''s worth of savings, but still¡­


    "I think I can afford that. Still, isn''t it more important to save lives before charging money?"


    "Well, yes, but the city''s in a financial pinch, so we can''t risk giving treatment to someone who can''t pay for it¡­"


    "Doesn''t that policy hurt the poor?"


    "There isn''t much we can do because of our limited budget, but on the bright side, the number of people straining the city''s finances is gradually decreasing!"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    The nurse left me alone to rest after we awkwardly stared at each other for a while.


    * * *


    May 19


    * * *


    "Alright, I just need to ask you a couple of questions."


    A tired and disinterested-looking investigator from the city police came over for inquiries. I hope I''m not about to get in trouble for destroying that mansion¡­


    "Were you in the governor''s mansion on the night that it burned and collapsed?"


    I couldn''t sense any magic or the presence of any magic items, so it didn''t seem like this investigator cared that much about whether or not I was going to answer with the full truth. For a moment, I considered lying about being present at the mansion, but I reckon the investigator wouldn''t have come here to make inquiries if he didn''t already know beforehand that I was an involved party.


    I suppose I''ll have to answer truthfully for now¡­


    "Yes."


    "Were you in the kitchen before the fire started?"


    My heart started beating a little bit faster as soon as he asked that.


    "I was."


    I kept thinking to myself about how I should keep calm. He simply asked whether I was in the kitchen, he didn''t imply that I started the fire.


    "Were you hungry?"


    Huh? Is he asking me strange questions to make me drop my guard?


    "I was at a large banquet a few hours prior, so no, I wasn''t hungry at all."


    "Then you weren''t the one who scattered all those spices and food crumbs all over?"


    "I am not."


    "Do you know who scattered it, then?"


    "Um¡­"


    Obviously the answer to that question was "Lica," but I felt like getting her in trouble would make me feel really guilty for a long time. I might not have a strong emotional attachment to her since she was just pushed onto me as a slave less than half a month ago, but she did save my life a couple times, after all.


    At the same time, I didn''t quite know how to answer the investigator''s question, since I didn''t know whether or not Amber and Lica had been questioned yet, nor did I know what they would have said if they were asked about the incident. If I said something absurd that didn''t match with the statements the girls gave, then it would just draw more suspicion towards me.


    Wait a minute¡­ Is this investigator trying to trick me into answering that question after attempting to drop my guard? If I gave a definite response, then that would mean that I definitely witnessed something happen in the kitchen area, otherwise I wouldn''t have known that there were food crumbs scattered all over the floor in the first place. I suppose I''ll just have to give a vague response and deflect responsibility¡­


    "¡­There was food scattered all over the kitchen? I didn''t notice that. Maybe some rats knocked over some containers or something."


    "Hm¡­"


    The investigator started scratching his chin and nodding in silence.


    "Uh¡­ Did I say something wrong?"


    "Huh? Oh, sorry, I was thinking about how logical things were."


    "Logical?"


    I hope I didn''t just say something outrageous enough to draw suspicion onto me¡­


    "Yes. Rats, huh¡­ The police chief already came up with a very logical theory about how the fire started, and what you said just now confirms that some giant rats were responsible for the incident."


    "¡­"


    How can rats even start a fire? Are the rats here some fire-breathing mutated beasts or something?This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    "Well, it looks like I can go complete that report now. Thank you for your cooperation."


    "That''s it?"


    "That''s it. I don''t have any more questions. By the way, if your girlfriends visit you later, tell them I no longer need to question them, since the case is closed now."


    "Eh¡­"


    As the investigator walked out of the room, I could hear him gleefully shout in the hallway about how he could now take the rest of the day off while still being paid a full day''s wage.


    * * *


    May 20


    * * *


    "So I heard the police came to question you."


    Today, general Denato came to visit me. He looked as healthy as ever, despite the tough fight he had a couple days ago.


    "An investigator came, but he only asked me a couple questions and then left."


    "Good. Just as expected."


    "As expected?"


    "Those incompetent fools are so underpaid that they''ll be satisfied with hearing any kind of explanation that makes sense, since they can finish their work early and still get a full day''s wage."


    "Isn''t that a serious problem if the police aren''t doing their jobs properly?"


    "I''ll have to admit that it''s because of their incompetence that Tuha could get away with all his misdeeds, but I''ve learned my lesson after that incident. I just need to keep my guard up."


    "Wouldn''t it be easier to instead get more capable personnel for the city offices?"


    "Yes, but I''d prefer to keep things the way they are. It saves me the trouble of having to do unnecessary paperwork, and I can continue exploiting the flaws of the civil offices."


    "Did you just admit to-"


    "Yes, I occasionally siphon funds from the city treasury and eliminate my rivals."


    "Eh¡­"


    "Well, I don''t know about the elimination thing, but the siphoning is more widespread than you think. You already saw that lavish dining room in commander Mavuto''s mansion when you first came to this territory, right? His regular salary definitely couldn''t have afforded that."


    "¡­"


    "This is a large territory with a low population, Blaze, so it''s not that hard to hide money. Just be glad the commander and I do our best not to make it obvious that we''re siphoning funds, otherwise you would have been in trouble already."


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    "You''re involved in all of this because of those war supplies the commander purchases from you almost every day! He receives a substantial budget allotment to purchase those supplies, but you not only gave a substantial discount, but also supplied enough that on some days he doesn''t need to purchase any."


    "Does nobody ever check where the budget goes?"


    "Yes, the northeastern province''s general and I are tasked with that since our province''s rotation on the battlefield come immediately before and after his province''s. We simply stamp the report papers and pocket the massive amount of money that was saved."


    "So that''s why you and the commander are so friendly towards me? Because I''m essentially you''re money-making machine?"


    Come to think of it, they didn''t seem to concerned about me being in several life-threatening situations over the past two months here, either. This is probably because they could easily pocket the entire sum of however many hundred thousand doviti they''re allotted with daily if they keep the news of my disappearance a secret.


    Wait a minute¡­ Does this mean one of the three plans on taking my life at some point? Is that why he''s telling me all this stuff about his corruption now, just so I know why he wants me dead? After all, the army is already self-sufficient from plundering the conquered territory that I feel like I''m not even needed here any longer.


    I wanted to flee right now, but I''m currently still disabled in this bed¡­


    "At first, yes, although you ended up being someone rather easy to get along with. That''s why I wound up fighting to save your life on several occasions."


    Or maybe I''m just overthinking things and over-worrying over nothing¡­


    "And don''t worry, we won''t dispose you when you become unneeded. You''re the one who significantly boosted our wealth, after all, so consider all the freedom you''ve had since coming here a reward for that!"


    The general lightly patted my head and laughed.


    "¡­So why exactly did you tell me all of this?"


    "Well, if people knew about what happened the other day in the mansion, then I would likely end up having large scale investigations and internal conflicts starting within the provincial army. Because of that, I just wanted to make sure you don''t tell anyone anything that goes against the official investigation report, by making you fully aware that you''re an involved party in a corruption ring."


    "Wouldn''t telling me everything put you at a disadvantage instead?"


    "Considering how it''s being run by three of the most influential people in this territory, I think not. We won''t hesitate to make the public aware of some fund siphoning going on and shift all the blame onto you, since you''re the one who''s least aware of the laws in this territory. Everyone would most likely believe us three over you."


    "¡­"


    "But like I said, don''t worry about us getting caught, since we''re doing our best to make it as inconspicuous as possible. Just continue cooperating with us and you can continue enjoying living life normally! Haha!"


    General Denato rubbed my head, then walked out of the room.


    "¡­Oh, I almost forgot. Some new laws were ratified recently. Tell your girlfriend to read it to you later."


    The commander came back and dropped off a piece of paper, then left again.


    In any case, why do people keep mistaking Amber as my lover?


    * * *


    May 21


    * * *


    Amber and Lica''s injuries were less severe, so the two girls were fully recovered as of yesterday. Amber decided to wait until now to visit me since she wanted to make sure I was well-rested.


    That''s what she told me, at least. The nurses told me the two girls went out to eat and celebrate their full recovery last night, and completely forgot about me.


    Regardless of the reason, there wasn''t much for us to talk about since we already live with each other, so Amber just read out the contents of the piece of paper the general left for me, while Lica ran outside to play after briefly saying hi.


    "Effective on the first day of June, the following offenses will have new penalties imposed in all of Badoth territory:


    - Theft: death


    - Assault: death


    - Arson: death


    - Kidnapping: death


    - Forgery: forced slavery


    - Threatening officials: depends on severity, may be punishable by death


    - Fraud: forced slavery


    If responsible parties commit offenses before this date but do not receive timely convictions, then they will receive the new penalties mentioned above if found guilty for such crimes.


    Signed by the Prime Minister."


    Amber set the paper down without adding any remarks of her own after she finished reading it.


    We awkwardly stared at each other for a few seconds afterwards. It was as though Amber was expecting me to say something in response to the info on that piece of paper.


    "Those punishments are quite severe."


    "I agree."


    "Any idea why they made it that severe?"


    "Because they conquered too much territory in Kitrod."


    "Conquered too much?"


    "We captured one tenth of Kitrod territory so far, and over five million people live there."


    "That''s quite a lot."


    "And this territory''s population is ten million."


    "Oh. So the new laws were introduced to scare the five million people into submission, since it''s hard to manage people who number half the current population, is that right?"


    "Yes."


    "Well, I hope I never end up on the receiving end of those punishments¡­"


    "As long as people don''t find out you committed arson on the governor''s mansion, you''ll be fine."


    "¡­"


    I started fearing for my life again. Unfortunately, blackmail wasn''t on that list of new punishments, so I sure hope general Denato doesn''t try to make me do unreasonable things in the future¡­


    * * *


    May 24


    * * *


    The soldier I fought against a week ago came to apologize. General Denato accompanied him to make sure he wouldn''t try to do anything to me. The soldier left after delivering a seemingly sincere apology, then left the room.


    "You''re not going with him?"


    "Not unless you were planning on leaving this room, but I''ve been told you have to stay in that bed for one more day."


    "I''ll have to admit, I never expected that soldier to come and apologize for trying to kill me the other day."


    "Tuha''s dead, so that guy''s now under my control. He probably feels bad for what he did last week now that his allegiance changed."


    "Are you sure he''s on your side? What if he''s secretly conspiring against you?"


    "Oh, I wouldn''t worry about that. That stooge is just a complete idiot who''s all brawn and no brain."


    "What do you mean?"


    "He can hardly think for himself. All he ever does is follow orders exactly as they''re given, so I just ordered him to remain loyal to me. It''s also because of that idiocy that you avoided death last week."


    "Eh¡­"


    "Tuha''s exact order for him was ''Stay here and make sure Blaze doesn''t escape,'' so that''s why he remained in that one spot and just hurled rocks at you."


    "Is that why he didn''t move out of the pit after I set it on fire?"


    "Yes, but even if he could think for himself, he wouldn''t be able to leave the pit anyways."


    "Wouldn''t he just simply need to leap out and roll on the ground to extinguish the burning oil?"


    "That would only work if he was a normal soldier. His power allows him to withstand any attack aimed at him as long as he can breathe in fresh air, but he loses all his muscle strength after being deprived of air for an extended period of time. That''s why your fireballs were completely ineffective, but soaking him in oil and setting him on fire turned the fight around completely."


    "Is that so¡­"


    "In any case, there''s no need for either of us to worry about that one idiot anymore. I''ve also disposed of the other soldiers who were siding with Tuha that night, so you can enjoy the rest of the week in this city in peace."


    "¡­Disposed?"


    "Just don''t tell anybody about what happened, okay?"


    The general winked at me, then left the room.


    * * * * *


    And those were all the notable interactions I had. I''ll be discharged from this clinic later today, May 26.