CHAPTER 23: THE SPIRIT’S SWORD
“It looks like things aren’t over just yet.”
Her gaze sharp, Lefille’s comment filled the others with anxiety.
The magician girl’s gaze followed the direction that Lefille had pointed in.
“L-Lefille-san is right. They’re coming this way! And there’s more than last time…”
“Are you serious?”
“d.a.m.n! There were people hurt in the battle just now. We don’t have enough people!”
The young girl’s words sent the bodyguards and adventurers into a frantic clamor.
The reality of the continuation of their battle with the Mazoku was evidenced by the presence of additional presences. Moreover, not only had some of their number been injured in the previous battle, but there were even more Mazoku than the last time. Things had taken a turn for the worse.
Given the above, that they felt shaken to their cores was only natural.
A step later, Suimei began to focus on reconnaissance. Closing his eyes in order to shut out unnecessary information, he activated his magician’s sixth sense.
There’s what, ten? No, about twenty. Just like they said, there’s more than last time.
Just like the previous time, the presences were headed straight for them.
The strength of the presences felt roughly on par with those from the previous battle. These were likely the same kind of Mazoku—
As Suimei was staring off into the distance, the bodyguards lamented their situation bewilderedly.
“…What do we do now?”
“Do you even have to ask? We meet their attack! There’s nowhere to run, after all!”
“Listen up! Everyone hurt in the last battle, pull back! Everyone else, prepare yourself!”
Roared commands overlapped, serving only to further deepen the already disorganized atmosphere. Very soon their enemies would arrive.
They’d won fairly handily the first time around, but that was only because they far outnumbered the enemy. Now that their numbers had lessened while their enemies’ had grown, fear had them in its grip. Terror and unrest had seized a hold of this battlefield.
Galeo, who had hidden in the cargo wagon along with the other merchants until now, stepped out.
He walked into the midst of the bodyguards, who were busy with preparations.
“I-is the battle not over yet…?” Galeo asked in a shrill voice, his face ashen.
As a noncombatant, as far as he was concerned, the Mazoku were solely an object of fear. From the actions and words of the others, he seemed to have noticed the situation.
One of the escorts answered him.
“Yes. Please continue to wait, it seems there are more Mazoku headed this way.”
“W-what? Are we going to be okay?!”
“…That, huh. Well, from what was said, it seems there are more than last time and we don’t have the time to heal those who were wounded. Things might not go so well for us this time.”
“How could this happen… Are you telling me we’re going to die?!”
“No, we’ll protect you with all we’ve got. It’s just that…”
“What?”
“In a worst case scenario, our defense will collapse and some of the guards might flee.”
“—!? …I-I see. How did it come to this…”
“If it comes to down to it, before our defense collapses completely, please take the other merchants and escape.”
His voice low and soft, his expression serious, and his face grave, the adventurer informed Galeo of the possibility that some of the guards might run. As he’d said, one’s life was something irreplaceable.
Here solely for the money, there was definitely the possibility that some would run, prioritizing their personal safety.
If such a thing were indeed to occur, it was best to make plans for their own escape, the adventurer seemed to be saying.
Despairing, a strained look appeared on Galeo’s face. He’d originally thought that this was going to be a smooth trip, that they’d reach the empire without any difficulty. However, just before the finish line, something like this had happened.
Not only had the Mazoku suddenly appeared, but now they were attacking in an endless stream. Why they had gone to such an effort to target a small caravan and a few escorts was incomprehensible.
Thoughts raced through his mind.
As Galeo groaned in frustration, Lefille – the first to notice that a second round of battle was about to begin – walked over.
Her confident posture seemed ever so reliable.
“—Please don’t worry, Galeo-dono. I won’t leave a single one of the incoming Mazoku alive.”
He raised his head.
“I-it’s Gurakis-dono… Although your words certainly seem very confident, but against the Mazoku, a young girl like yourself…”
“It can’t be easy as you make it out to be,” he seemed to want to say, but he avoided being so direct.
From his eyes it was easy to see that in her he saw only a frail young girl, leaving him both puzzled and disbelieving.
He had not witnessed her earlier might nor was he aware of her efforts in the forest.
In light of that, he couldn’t really be blamed for his skepticism…
The adventurer who had previously spoken to Suimei took the opportunity to step forward and speak with great confidence.
“No, it’s not like that at all! Lefille is strong, you know! The Mazoku from the battle just now were pretty much killed by her alone!”
“Yeah! And Lefille-san even has the skill to kill a half-giant with one strike! That’s why you don’t need to worry yourself too much over these Mazoku,” the magician girl said, supplementing the warrior adventurer’s words.
Compared to the other adventurers, this pair was far more collected, likely owing to their experience fighting by Lefille’s side in the past. Their words caused Galeo to stare at them and Lefille with surprise, as they were able to keep their calm in such terrifying circ.u.mstances.
“Is that really true…?”
“Absolutely. So don’t worry.”
Though it wasn’t that loud, Lefille’s a.s.sertion was nevertheless filled with confidence. Perhaps because he hadn’t felt the slightest hint of weakness in her words, Galeo finally calmed down.
When it came to this young girl, who had nearly singlehandedly defeated all the Mazoku in the battle just earlier, perhaps the Mazoku might as well have been nothing more than ants.
On that note—
“…You sure are trusted.”
The battle scene from earlier having left a deep impression on them, the warrior and magician girl watched Lefille with admiring eyes.
These words came from Suimei, who, sighing, was reacting to their worshipful expressions.
“…P-please don’t say that, Suimei-kun. I was pretty nervous myself, you know. It isn’t like how it sounds,” Lefille countered, embarra.s.sed.
“You might say that, but there was quite the expression on your face at the time, you know?”
“…O-oh.”
Suimei’s continued attack deepened her feelings of embarra.s.sment. Her face reddened, making for an unbearably cute impression.
Having listened to the pair’s advice, Galeo turned to Lefille.
His gaze still half-disbelieving, he coughed, and doing his best to control his feelings, spoke.
“…I understand. I look forward to seeing what you can do.”
“Sure. I’ll do my best to live up to your expectations,” Lefille said, meeting his business-like manner with modesty.
Their conversation over, Lefille turned to Suimei.
“Suimei-kun.”
“Hmm? What’s up?”
What’s this all of a sudden?
Her voice serious as she called out to him, Suimei turned to face Lefille.
“I apologize if I’m being a bit annoying here, but are you okay? If anything happened in that last battle, please don’t force yourself. It’d be best if you pulled back with the others,” she said solemnly.
She’s bringing this up because my magic wasn’t working on the Mazoku, huh.
Indeed, from the perspective of a magician, it was best to avoid troublesome battles. Perhaps it would be best to leave this to the others. That was what the others seemed to be suggesting as well, after all.
However, there were too many enemies. In a situation like this where their safety couldn’t be guaranteed, he wouldn’t stand by and do nothing.
“No, it’s fine.”
“Are you sure?”
Just as Lefille asked this, the male adventurer echoed her question.
“Yeah, are you sure you’re okay? You used quite a few magics back there. Are you not tired?”
“Oh, no. I’m fine. Room to spare, really.”
” ‘Room to spare’, is it? …Being overly confident in your abilities is a mistake with consequences that you can’t take back later, you know?”
“I appreciate the warning.”
Suimei’s response was cold, but polite. Their words had been said out of concern for his welfare, after all, so he wouldn’t directly contradict them.
He nodded his head to indicate a superficial agreement, but the adventurer met him with a doubting gaze, not entirely believing.
Lefille spoke up once more.
“But Suimei-kun, are you really okay considering that your magic doesn’t seem that effective on the Mazoku?”
“Oh, that. I’ll think of something.”
“Do you think you can do it?”
“My magic isn’t limited to what I showed just now. If a particular magic system doesn’t work, then I’ll just have to make inferences from what I observe and continually try things until I find something that works,” he answered, explaining the reasoning behind his confidence.
Lefille frowned, as if something he’d said was foreign to her.
“…? A ‘system’ that works? Not an element?”
“Oh, I see, um, how do I put this… It’s complicated.”
Her confused look clearly embedded itself in his vision. His answer was nevertheless rather evasive.
While the magic he had used previously had definitely demonstrated less-than-ideal results, it was nowhere near life-threatening.
Back in his world, “systems” were how they cla.s.sified the various types of magic.
This was evidence that magic in their world did not arise from a single origin.
Although their world was one in which science had spread throughout society, leaving magic but a thing of myth and legend, even in such a world, there were countless examples of this mysterious thing.
In addition to astrology, the Kabbalah, and hexes, there was also witchcraft; the ever-famous alchemy; onmyoudou, a composite of various magics; Vajrayana Buddhism and its numerous sects; as well as the largest system of Far Eastern magic, senjutsu.
Just the types that were known and cla.s.sified already surpa.s.sed thirty in number.
If these were further subdivided by element, sequence, effect, etc., it would result in a staggering number of types.
Simply put, the world he was from was home to a diverse array of mysteries.
Even if you were to exclude magic systems that he was incapable of using, as well as those that he had learned but that he had not yet fulfilled the requirements for using, he would definitely be able to find something effective among those that remained.
Exorcism or holy magic, for example.
Either way, the fact that his magic was less effective than normal did not mean that it was in any way inferior to the magic of this world. Even if he failed to find a system that worked even after repeated tries, then he could simply crush his enemy with raw power as he had done earlier.
—Whether ten Mazoku or twenty, as long as he matched their number with spells of his own, there would be no problem.
If there was anything at all that he was concerned about, then it was that he might have to reveal what he was truly capable of in order to deal with the enemy.
If it did come to that, however, his preference to keep things secret would have to fall second to the safety of the group.
Although it’s a last resort, but if worst comes to worst, I’m going to have to activate my mana furnace.
If the danger they faced were bad enough, he’d have to exert himself to the utmost. Were he to miserly hold back his power, and were they to be forced into a crisis as a result, then all that would await him would be regret.
That was not a mistake he could afford to make.
Amid this train of thought.
“Just like earlier, you sure are calm, Suimei-kun. Generally speaking, people would be just as frantic as the other guards in this kind of situation.”
“Didn’t those two just say that there was no need to worry?”
Suimei’s mouth twitched at her words.
“You’re different from them. I don’t feel any hint of unease at all from you.”
“I don’t know, maybe I’m just putting on a brave front?”
“Again with the shameless deception.”
It seemed like Lefille was not fond of his evasive answers. Recognizing this, he answered seriously.
“—Let me put it this way then: I have no intentions of losing my calm.”
“Does that mean you’ve encountered crises like this before?”
“More or less. Even though I look like this, I have a lot of experience surviving life-and-death battles.”
“Like what?”
“That’s a secret.”
Even though his evasive answer was slightly disappointing, Lefille nevertheless continued brightly, “You sure are a strange person. You’re a pleasure to speak with most of the time, but you’re completely unwilling to reveal any of your secrets.”
“That’s what it means to be a magician.”
“If you keep it up, I’m going to pull off that mask of yours sooner or later.”
“—Oh? And how do you plan to do that?”
“Haha. I’ve always done things the same way – with my sword.”
“G.o.d forbid… You sure are scary, Lefille-san.”
Suimei met Lefille’s humorous, if audacious, words with his own. As the two joked with one another, Galeo, worried, interrupted.
“…Gurakis-dono. Do you not need to prepare?”
“Yeah, I’m ready to go. As long as I have this sword with me, I’m good.”
“Yakagi-dono, I agreed to take you along because you’re proficient with healing magic. Please don’t push yourself.”
Suimei scratched his head awkwardly in response to Galeo’s concern.
“I appreciate your concern, but don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”
“But…”
“When my healing services are needed, I’ll pull back. I definitely won’t push myself or anything like that. I never planned on doing more than my part, anyway.”
“…Alright. Please be careful, okay?” Galeo replied seriously.
…Although he’d lost his head a bit earlier, he was nevertheless the leader of a caravan. It looked like those merchants that traveled between cities were actually quite reliable when it came down to it.
“—Well then, any time now.”
“Yeah.”
“…?”
Despite the vagueness of Suimei’s words, Lefille nonetheless replied without a second thought. She took up a stance once more.
While Galeo was trying to puzzle out the meaning of this incredibly short exchange, the magician girl suddenly shouted.
“Everyone! They’re almost here!”
Just as she finished speaking, the forest trees’ leaves began to rustle. The sound of the wind and something pa.s.sing through the trees strengthened the already nervous tension.
An adventurer, seeing Galeo glance around, and realizing that he hadn’t yet understood that the battle was about to begin, called out.
“Hey, Galeo-san! Hurry up and hide, the battle’s about to start!”
“R-right! Best of luck in battle!”
Galeo jumped in response before escaping to where they were to hide like a fleeing rabbit.
Afterward, the guards made their respective preparations.
Lefille, however, broke formation and advanced.
It looked like she, once again, planned to take care of it all by herself.
“Hey, Lefille.”
“Don’t worry. This time, I plan to intercept them right here. Suimei-kun, when the time comes, please support me.”
“Not a problem, but how do you want to coordinate things with the others?”
“That, hmm—”
A one man show again?
Just as that thought crossed his mind again in confusion, Lefille walked out where everyone could see her and abruptly turned.
In a grand, exaggerated gesture, she plunged her sword into the ground.
The loud sound and unseen pressure turned all eyes to her.
Then—
“…I’ll be the vanguard! Everyone else, form up into a defensive formation and take out any Mazoku that get past me!” Lefille declared loudly, her actions meant to boost the morale of those who had begun to lose themselves to the fear of the Mazoku’s numbers.
Her voice almost seemed a tangible force as it resounded throughout the area.
Her voice, like rolling thunder, and her fearless, majestic aura was a match for any general.
Even if not a word was heard in reply, this definitely didn’t mean that the silence was because they looked down on Lefille’s resolve-filled words. On the contrary, the former pervasive, dark atmosphere had already lightened considerably.
Having been infected by the young woman’s atmosphere, their frantic running and shouting had already stopped. A remarkable, high-spirited mood settled upon them, and a nervous, excited energy filled them instead.
…So this is her talent, the so-called charisma in action.
Just as Lefille displayed this surprising ability, she suddenly turned to the west.
At the same time, something flew out from the forest depths – that was without a doubt, Mazoku.
A piercing cry sounded.
“T-they’re here!” someone cried out.
Still flying, the Mazoku reached them in an instant.
Suddenly, just as the Mazoku approached, Lefille dashed forward to meet them, accelerating nonstop before leaping into the air.
“HAAAAAAA!”
—Before the other guards could even react, Lefille had already taken the lead in attacking the enemy.
Her blade flashed. With a single slash of her sword, longer than she was tall, three of the attacking Mazoku were sent flying.
As they touched down on the ground, Lefille and Mazoku faced off against one another.
The start of this battle had been crushing for the Mazoku.
This left a strong, clear impression on Mazoku and guard alike.
The guards shouted with both surprise and delight. From their safe place where they were watching, several of the merchants mirrored their excited cries.
—Just as Lefille had seized the initiative with this stunning display.
“—?!”
Mazoku presences suddenly descended from above.
Sensing this, several people looked up.
“From above!”
The magician girl’s warning was a second late as they were suddenly ambushed from above.
The Mazoku had apparently distracted them with an attack from one side while preparing to ambush them from above.
They’re trying to throw the battlefield into chaos! s.h.i.t, if they break our formation, we won’t be able to fix it.
This would destroy any advantage mages and archers held, and if this became a close-combat, tooth-and-nail fight, then they likely wouldn’t be able to separate themselves from the enemy until the battle was over.
If they were trained in how to handle situations such as this, as soldiers were, then things would be different, of course—
In any event, this was bad.
Accordingly, Suimei prepared to invoke his magic, when suddenly—
“In that case…”
A calm and cold voice left Lefille’s lips.
Accompanying her words, something happened.
“Wha—?!”
What did she just do?
Lefille’s surroundings suddenly began to glow with scarlet light.
A brilliant light that seemed as though it would sweep away the darkness radiated from the young girl. This light could only be described as the phenomenon commonly known as “aura”.
Concurrently, an enormous power altogether different from mana began to surge forth.
This power bathed her body, sword, and surroundings in dazzling light.
“—HAAAAA!”
Lefille slashed, as though to part to the heavens themselves.
Her sword was, of course, nowhere near long enough to reach her enemies from where she stood. As far as her enemies were concerned, she was simply slashing at the empty air. On the contrary, however, a brilliant crimson light traced the arc she drew in the air with her sword and continued onward, slicing apart all the Mazoku before her. Their corpses dropped to the ground.
Not even stopping to take a breath between strikes, she swung her sword relentlessly. As if a sudden storm, in an instant she’d attacked all the Mazoku who had encircled her with a tornado of slashes.
For these Mazoku, having misjudged her attack distance, this sword storm was an unavoidable, demonic whirlwind. Without so much as a cry, they were transformed into a pile of corpses.
“Wha…?” Suimei mumbled in shock.
The words “one-sided slaughter” pa.s.sed through his mind.
The scene before him felt unreal. If he had to say why, then it was that scarlet light.
“Hey, wait…!”
From what he knew, that light was not something that could possibly be found in the physical world.
Generally speaking, unless some external factor were to directly interfere, something like that would never manifest physically.
—The cries of the others were of a different sort than Suimei’s. They, too, were unable to fully comprehend what Lefille was doing, but their shouts were of joy.
“Amazing!”
“Hey, did you see that?! Lefille used that same technique before to chop huge monster in two with one strike, you know?!”
“…That? Lefille’s used this before?”
“Eh? Yeah, she has… What about it?”
As the adventurer answered his surprised question in this manner, Suimei frowned. Perhaps because of the miraculous display happening before his eyes, he’d thought of something.
…The “huge monster” he spoke of must be the semi-giant that had been mentioned earlier.
So it’s this power that defeated that thing, huh. That makes sense. If it’s this power, then she should be able to kill most things with ease.
Just as she was at that moment.
“…So what about it? Something bothering you?”
“No, no. It’s not like that…”
It was just that both his brain and his body seemed struck dumb by astonishment. That said, shocking though it might have been, it wasn’t something to be feared.
Looking at Suimei out of the corner of his eye, a lightbulb seemed to go off in the adventurer’s brain as he called out to his companions.
“Hey, stop dawdling around! Let’s go help her!”
“Yes!”
Voices called out in agreement, not just those of the other members of his party, but the adventurers and other guards as well.
As this was happening, Lefille, still bathed in that bright red light, continued to slice the Mazoku in two with each strike of her sword.
“…”
Suimei, on the other hand, stayed where he was, as though frozen in place.
Although Lefille had asked him to support her when needed, from what he was witnessing now, that didn’t seem necessary.
If you were to ask why, again the answer would be the red light enveloping her. In his home world, this power was known as “spirit”, “telesma”, or “the power of the spirits”.
This was something altogether different from either mana or ether. This power found its source in spiritual beings like angels or demons, a power that was far beyond humanity, a power that came from a higher dimension.
—When it comes to higher dimensions, by the way, the wording might be a little confusing. “High” here doesn’t refer to strength, but rather to the ability to interfere with, and resist interference from, other dimensions.
Not to say that that meant it was lacking in strength in any way either. Described simply, a power that could not be stopped by physical objects wasn’t only incredibly suited for offense, it also would not fall subject to any of the opponent’s attacks either. Such a power was practically cheat-like in its existence.
While magic was different, nevertheless depending on the strength of the pract.i.tioner in question, its power could similarly be divided into advanced and higher-dimensional power.
“Spirit”, on the other hand, was fundamentally a high order power.
And so the scene before him—
Spirit transformation? No, Lefille’s a human… No, wait a minute, that’s not right… Has there been a spirit living within her body or mind all this time…?
From what he could see, she was definitely not borrowing the power of the spirits. No, this was definitely a power she possessed all on her own.
This was what had Suimei astonished beyond all belief.
From the knowledge he possessed from his original world, a spirit existing physically in the material plane – that is, the living world – was impossible.
It was definitely the case that spirits had manifested in their world before. In both myth and legend, it was possible to confirm that such things had occurred in antiquity.
In modern day, however, the “source of existence” for devils, angels, and spirits – which were together known collectively as spirits – as well as deities both good and evil, had effectively been usurped by the expansion of science. These supernatural existences of old had more or less vanished entirely, leaving only “beings possessing similar power” existing outside of their world. Aside from a few particularly well-known and named beings, including ruling G.o.ds, none others were left.
Subsequently, if one desired use of their power, it was necessary to first communicate with them from this side and establish a contract before one would be able to manifest just a portion of their power.
For this reason, what was happening before his eyes, the sight of Lefille wielding this power as her own, completely unrestricted in any way, left him completely stupefied.
Given what he was seeing, Lefille must be half-human, half-spirit, possessing the power of the spirit and the form of a human. A truly rare existence.
…Anyway, that’s just a wild guess, but still.
That something like this can possibly exist… That’s a fantasy world for you.
Still—
“No matter how you look at it, for her to be a spirit herself, that’s just cheating…”
His surprise was to the extent that his mind had practically frozen.
That one such as he, whose goal was to delve into all the mysteries of this world, had been left in such a state was a testament to how surreal the scene before him was.
“Something of this level—!” Lefille roared as she sent more than half of the Mazoku flying, as if intending to end every last Mazoku with a single strike.
The Mazoku, on the other hand, though still demonstrating the desire to fight, had nevertheless begun to hesitate.
“Good! Lefille, keep on doing what you’re doing! Kill them all!” the guards called out happily as they saw this.
Dominance. Victory was already within sight for those a.s.sembled.
At that moment—
“W-wait! Something’s coming! Something insanely powerful!”
Perhaps sensing the movement of mana, someone among the crowd shouted. Immediately following, the magician girl screamed out a stunned warning.
“W-what is this?! It’s enormous! Everyone be careful! An enormous power is coming this way!”
From deep in the forest behind the remaining Mazoku, an explosive sound could be heard. It was as though some gigantic creature was destroying everything in its surroundings. This sound grew steadily closer.
This was a dangerous presence. The mana it radiated was on a level utterly unlike anything they’d encountered so far.
Give me a break. Things were finally just about to calm down, too…
Dammit!
Suimei cursed inwardly. The presence drawing ever nearer gave off a dense, dangerous aura. Lefille suddenly turned her head back.
“Everyone, get back! It’s coming!”
Next, as if to stomp out all hopes of their victory, the owner of that enormous power, destroying all trees in its wake, appeared on the battlefield.
Loosing a roar that shook the ground, a Mazoku with frightening presence touched down as if striking the earth