Slayers

“Hey, if you behave yourself and give us everything you have, that may convince us to leave you in peace.”

“If you don’t...”

It was a great morning, but alas, it was not an explosion from one of my attack spells that made the five or six bandits, who abruptly appeared on the road next to the corpse of a man, fall silent.

Something could be felt around the corpse. Hatred, sorrow, anger, hostility - the presence seemed to emanate all kinds of negative human emotions.

“Wha... What is this...?” Although they were just a bunch of blockheads, when the bandits felt the sudden hostile atmosphere, they gave up on their threats and quickly began to flee.

In the same moment, I started to chant a spell.

“Is it just my imagination?”

“No! Something’s there nearby!” As their yells (or more like panicked screams) reached my ears, the presence seemed to be getting closer.

There was a m.u.f.fled noise, and then...

“Graaaah!”

“Blast Ash!”

With some fireworks, the bra.s.s demon that emerged from the corpse was completely annihilated by my attack before it could make another sound.

“By the way, there seems to be more and more of these nowadays.” Walking on a path within the forest, Gourry, my travelling companion spoke in a peaceful tone while he glanced at the clear sky with a blank look.

This happened a bit later after I dealt with the bra.s.s demon and also sent the horribly scared bandits flying, grabbing all of their treasure.

“By ‘these’ you mean the bra.s.s demon I just defeated with my spell?” I asked.

“Yeah, those,” Gourry answered, looking over his shoulder. I also turned back, but the spot where we faced the demon could no longer be seen from here.

“You’re right,” I sighed, not bothering to hide the gloomy feeling that took hold of me. “There’s a lot more of them than there was before...”

Lesser demons and bra.s.s demons - they were the lowest-ranking among mazoku, and I took care of them without breaking a sweat, but they still never were the kind of an opponent you simply ignore.

To your everyday warrior or sorcerer, anything that’s called a ‘mazoku’ is a risk to their lives. It’s nothing to someone of my capability, of course, but even such people could be caught unawares by a surprise attack, or if they get overwhelmed by a group of such demons.

Luckily, there were not all too many of them - at least that was the case until recently.

It started around half a year ago. Like Gourry said, these low-level demons began to emerge here and there, causing serious damage to many towns.

We were also attacked by a demon late at night in an inn once. The two of us tried to mount a quick counterattack, but the buildings around us got damaged and we had to waste a lot of money to pay for it. Then there was the case when we went to a bandit hideout to mop the floor with them for the sake of fun and cash, but the hideout had already been destroyed by a wild demon, robbing us of our much antic.i.p.ated money - and prompting me to blow up part of the mountain with the Dragon Slave. That, however, changed the topography of the land and caused us to be chewed out by the locals, and... Anyway, I could go on and on, but long story short we also had our fair share of these attacks.

The reason why these incidents happened more often - that was yet to be discovered. But still, the anxious thought that ‘something is afoot’ was definitely on people’s minds.

“Something... is indeed afoot...” I murmured silently, having stopped in front of a pillar at the entrance of a town.

It was Telmoord City, located in the corner of Lyzeille; although honestly, the ‘city’ looked more like a big, overgrown village, without any other distinguishing characteristics. If you asked me about it, I could only mention the wall that surrounded the town, but that wasn’t all that unique either.

But putting the town’s characteristics aside...

“What’s up, Lina? Why did you stop here?” Gourry asked with an incredulous look.

“Because of this.” I pointed towards the pillar with my eyes. A piece of paper was attached to the doorpost made of stone.

To all mages on the road!

If you don’t have any other pressing matters to attend to, please visit the Sorcerer’s Guild nearest to you.

The chairman of the Sorcerer’s Guild

“What’s this all about?” Though it was a really simple sentence, Gourry asked anyway, looking clueless like he always did.

Actually, at first glance, all one could understand from the paper was ‘sorcerers, go to the Sorcerer’s Guild’ - but the main point was to go to the ‘nearest’ one, not the one in this town. That meant the poster was circulated more widely and not just in Telmoord. It could be seen by many travelling mages and could gather a lot of interest, but it didn’t contain any details. In other words, something important likely happened which they didn’t want the general public to know about. Now that I think about it, there was a note similar to this that was posted all around a pretty long time ago...

“Anyway, I need to go there,” I said, and started moving again.

“Err... Aren’t you Miss... Lina Inverse...?”

We were on the main street of the town when someone addressed me. We’ve already heard the state of things from the Sorcerer’s Guild, took our time finishing lunch in a restaurant close by, and were about to depart to our destination.

“Yes, I think I am,” I answered and turned back, and found a girl standing there.

Though I did say a girl, she seemed to be around the same age as me, or a little older. She had short blonde hair and green eyes; it wasn’t an overstatement to say that she was good-looking, but the the clothes she wore - a black hat and cloak, and also the black mage outfit surrounding her whole body - combined with her ‘too much on her mind’-expression took away half of her charm.

“Ahm... I’ve heard your name just now at the Sorcerer’s Guild. You... You are the Lina Inverse who has so many rumors floating about her abroad... right?”

“I don’t want to hear about those stories that simply refuse to die--” I began in vain.

“It’s hard to tell whether the rumors are trying to praise or insult you, but--”

“Yes, I think I’m exactly that Lina Inverse.” I cut her off, squirming. “So?”

I could feel a vein pop on my temple hearing her excessive words, but with extreme willpower I managed to keep my cool.

“I’ve got a favor to ask!” she yelled suddenly. “Please... Take me... Take me with you to Crimson!”

“He--” I grabbed her right arm and pulled her into the alley next to me. “Hey! Don’t shout! You want me to bring you along because you already know what’s happening, right? You know what’s going on in Crimson, don’t you?”

“Yes. Of course I do.” She nodded to my question. We could glimpse hidden depths reflecting in her eyes.

‘The rebellion of a branch of the Sorcerer’s Guild’

That was basically what was going on in the guild of Crimson.

When one of the magicians in the small Laagudo kingdom, who held both the t.i.tle of a minister and considerable power in the guild as well, staged a revolt, a poster almost the same as this was put out in bigger towns.

At that time, thanks to the remarkable efforts of myself and another person, the king was saved and the matter ended with the minister’s severe punishment, but... this time it was happening in Crimson Town, also located at the outskirts of the Kingdom of Lyzeille.

The leader of this revolt was the chairman of Crimson’s Sorcerer’s Guild, who took no part in politics. In a ridiculous move, he killed the lord who ruled the place and now dominated the town by force.

Of course, it was said that the news spread to the heart of the nation quickly, and the king sent some troops to intervene. If the army was already on its way, crushing the revolt in Crimson would only be a matter of time. Still, the Sorcerer’s Guilds wanted to solve this problem on their own to restore faith in their organization.

That was the story I heard at the guild a little while ago. They requested sorcerers who can help to go to Crimson and give a hand in bringing down the rebellion. However... as there were some false rumors spreading around in places recently, to avoid causing unnecessary confusion, this operation was a secret. A formal announcement would only be made after the issue was dealt with completely - this was the opinion of both the guild and the kingdom.

So, of course, this topic was not the proper one to pursue at the center of the main street. But, as I studied her expression, I thought she might still have her reasons for behaving like that.

“Anyway, let’s have a talk...” I said. “So, what’s your name?”

“Aria Ashford.” The voice that answered was not her own, but the hoa.r.s.e words of an older man.

I instinctively snapped my head back; there was a shadow standing deeper inside the alley. The person wore a black cloak and hood that was pulled deep below his eyes. He wore nondescript black clothing, and his face was also unseen in the shadows under the hood.

Although I’m not very tall, he looked even shorter than me as he stood in the alley, as his back was bent forwards.

“Y... You?”

Ignoring the uneasy-looking Aria’s question, the old man opened his mouth to speak. “I see... So they are the a.s.sa.s.sins you chose... to defeat Lord Cairus.”

“Who... who are you...?” the girl asked again.

“Please call me Zonagain. Now then, let me see their skills.”

Something like a low whistle cut into the air of the shadowy alley.

I didn’t know what was going on, but it looked like gramps just declared war on us.I began to cast a spell in a murmur, while Gourry retrieved his sword from his belt.

“What the--?”

Both Gourry and Aria looked shocked: the darkness itself seemed to wriggle. It was a really grotesque sight; around Zonagain the darkness was moving in waves... No! It was not the darkness.

“Eep!” Aria let out a quiet yelp as she realized the truth. A swarm of dozens of rats gathered there, hard to spot in the shadowy place. They weren’t there a moment ago; it looked like they appeared in response to the old man’s whistle.

So... gramps is a beast master, capable of controlling animals?

Well, regardless of his army of rats, I don’t think we have much to worry abou--

A small noise could be heard in the alley, halting my thoughts. It was a sound like something had popped. Gourry, who came to stand next to me, froze on the spot.

More popping sounds. .h.i.t the air.

“Urgh...” As the noise got louder, I could hear Aria letting out a small groan.

The sound seem to be coming from near Zonagain. The rat swarm... wait, can I still call them that? They might have been animals right before, but now took on really bizarre forms in front of our eyes. Bones and skin burst apart - new skin and bones came into being.

They were now bigger than what I could hold in my hand, and were continuously growing more and more. Honestly, I was a bit curious about what they’d become - but it was certainly no time for sightseeing. So...

“Freeze Arrow!” I changed the target of my spell, which I chanted to use against Zonagain, to hit the transforming rats instead!

The dozens of icy arrows from my hand froze all of them right away - but right after they hit, the ice vanished with the sound of a gust of wind.

“Ungh...!” I unwittingly let out a loud groan. I knew which race could make something like this happen.

Mazoku.

The answer to what these creatures were suddenly became clear to me.

“Ha-ha... What do you think? This is a rare sight to see, isn’t it?” Surrounded by the lesser demons that became of the rats, Zonagain flashed a lazy smile.

Boom-boom-boom!

The sudden explosion was accompanied by a burst of flame - and followed shortly by the screams of people.

The Flare Arrows the lesser demons released hit the main street as we cleared out of the alley and moved to the side to avoid them. Fortunately, it looked like there weren’t any people injured, as traffic was low at that time of the day.

“Everyone, run away from here!” I shouted while the lesser demons poured out from the alley.

Some of the pa.s.serbys screamed again, as the few people there scattered quickly.

Good. This place has room, we can fight well here.

“Gourry! Some cover, please!” I said and began to chant a spell.

“Okay!” Gripping his sword, Gourry dashed toward the horde of lesser demons!

“Goooooh!” One of the demons took notice of him, let out a loud cry and created dozens of Flare Arrows in front of its body!

But before it could fire, Gourry ran up to it, and his sword cleaved the demon’s stomach.

“Kwaaaah!” the lesser demon screamed in its death throes and fell down, the flaming arrows in front of it quickly scattering in the air.

One down!

“Awesome!” Aria exclaimed beside me, seeing Gourry’s swordplay.

But it was too early to celebrate; a lot of lesser demons remained still. They’d all come out to the main street from the alley by then. Gourry’s blade felled a second demon - and by the time he was finished with a third, my spell was complete!

“Blam Blazer!”

The blue light of the spell can penetrate its target and give a living man something of a shock; mazoku and undead on the other hand, would feel considerable pain. Still, normally the damage would not be very great; right now though, I had boosted the spell with the talismans!

My azure beam went through several of the demons that came out of the alley

“Kheeeeck!” With a scream, the demons collapsed on the spot.

Until then, all the demons concentrated only on Gourry, but now I’ve become their target as well.

“Aria! Get away from here!” I shouted, pulling out the short sword from my belt; then I ran forward chanting a spell.

“Graaah!” a lesser demon roared, blocking my way. At that moment, Flare Arrows appeared out of thin air and began to pour towards me.

I avoided them by jumping to the side, and released the spell I’ve been casting.

“Elmekia Lance!” Seeing that my spell nailed the demon perfectly, I began to chant the next one.

The lesser demons weren’t all that weak, but had no idea whatsoever about teamwork. Moreover, while they had a high magical capacity, their apparent low intelligence made their attack patterns very easy to predict. Me and Gourry couldn’t lower our guard around such enemies, but I could also say that they weren’t really fearsome as long as we paid attention.

Long story short...

“Blast Ash!”

It wasn’t long until the last lesser demon vanished in a flash, courtesy of my spell.

Now the only one remaining is that man called Zonagain...

“Oh, you erased so many lesser demons in such a short time. You’re doing pretty well!” The voice came from above.

I glanced up and saw a small shadow on the roof of the building.

Did he float up there using a spell like Levitation while we were fighting?

“Don’t just savor the view there, come down!” I yelled. “Didn’t you say that you wanted to see our skills? The lesser demons weren’t enough against us, isn’t it time for you to step in? Or do you want to stay up there because you’re scared?”

“No, I just love high places. As the old saying that goes, ‘smoke likes to climb to high’.” He easily brushed my provocation aside in a facetious tone.

Hmm. All those years must’ve brought him some wisdom."

While I kept my eyes on gramps, Gourry stepped a forward.

“Then should we go up first?” he asked.

“No, we can’t,” I shot him down in a firm voice, my eyes not leaving the old man.

Gourry might not have thought much about our enemy, but my opinion was a bit different.

Low-ranking mazoku like lesser demons and bra.s.s demons are created from small animals which lack ego; they are transformed to provide a form to these beings as they possess them from the Astral Plane. The ability Zonagain used before was pretty huge: he could gather rats and summon souls of mazoku from the Astral Plane at the same time, very quickly creating some lesser demons. Even a pretty skillful summoner could call forth no more than ten such beings at once; considering this, you could tell just how incredibly skilled and powerful Zonagain had to be.

Using flying magic was easy, but we still couldn’t move freely while floating in the air. If Zonagain had any other special skills aside of summoning, he’d never miss such a chance and would attack us right away.

So, I tried provoking our opponent to come down, but it looked like he saw through that already.

Then...

“What’s wrong?” Zonagain asked mockingly. “Won’t you come up--?”

“We won’t,” I declared, cutting him short.

“Hmm... So you won’t. That feels really pointless. But still, it doesn’t bother me very much.” His voice was still relaxed. “However... Won’t you be in trouble then? I could change all rats, dogs and cats in this town into demons if I really wanted.”

“Heh. If you want to, go ahead. I don’t care one bit,” I said lightly. For the first time, Zonagain’s expression started to become agitated.

“Uhm... Do you think I was just boasting? Or do you believe you can get to me regardless of whether thousands of lesser demons stood in your way?”

“Sorry, but it’s neither.” I extended one finger and said, “If you try something like that here, we’ll ignore it and leave this town as quickly as possible.”

“What?!” Gourry, Aria and even Zonagain sounded shocked.

“W... Wait! What are you saying...?!”

I ignored the old man’s shouting from above, and turned around.

“Hey, Gourry, Aria. Let’s get out of this town right now. While the old geezer is busy posing on the roof alone, we’ll go to Crimson and defeat that what’s-his-name chairman.”

With that, I started walking off.

“Hey! Wait! If you don’t stop, I’ll... I’ll destroy this town!”

“Is the gramps saying something?” I wondered. “Let’s just leave him alone. It’s normal for people to get more chatty as they age.”

“Are you serious...?” Gourry stuttered.

“But... he said he’ll destroy the town...”

“Never mind that, Aria. Those are just words,” I said without turning back.

Of course, I didn’t just say that without thinking. My remark was based on reason.

As he easily deflected my provocative words, Zonagain did not seem the type to quickly lose his temper and lash back. And as he said in the beginning, he wanted to see our skills. This man’s purpose was to investigate our power. Even if we showed our backs to him, I was sure he would not simply destroy the town in a fit of rage.

“W... Wait! I said wait! How can you be so irresponsible?! Kids these days...!”

The three of us completely ignored the old man’s mutterings on the roof and left the place.

“Well, let’s hear it, shall we? What is your problem, Aria?”

“Ahm... It’s great that we talk about my problem, but... why do we have to discuss it in a place like this?” Following my lead, Aria spoke in a low voice, like I just did.

Little time had pa.s.sed since we left Telmoord. We turned off the road and entered a not so big forest close to town. By the time I stopped and asked Aria, we were already pretty deep inside it.

“Isn’t it obvious?” I answered. “We can guess what that old Zonagain guy will do; once he got down from the roof, he would likely follow after us. If he did, he would surely find the road toward Crimson, so if we just go down there without thinking, it would be only a matter of time until we’d be found. But we still want to go to Crimson, right? So my plan is to hide in a neighborhood like this while gramps pa.s.ses by us, and after hearing your story, go towards our destination at a slow pace.”

With that, I sat down on the gra.s.s using my cloak as a mat.

“Ah... I see.” Aria nodded.

“But Lina... what if gramps doesn’t chase after us? Isn’t this just a waste of time then?” Gourry suggested his contrary opinion.

“Then let me ask this, Gourry. Since we’re just wasting time here, is it okay by you to get attacked by countless lesser demons the old man sends after us if we go to Crimson right now?”

“W-Well... That is...”

“That sounds pretty horrible, right?” I shot him down. “Well, explain then, Aria. Why do you have to go to Crimson? And why is Zonagain is chasing you?”

Like me, she sat down, using her cloak as a mat too. She gazed downwards for a while, as if reflecting on some serious topic, but after that, she lifted her face and said in a firm tone...

“I have to help my sister.”

Aria said her sister’s name was Bell.

As a kind and beautiful woman, Aria was very proud of her.

After a while, Bell finally found a fiance and they were going to have a happy wedding together. If this was a fairy tale, now would be the time to cheerfully say ‘and the two married and lived happily ever after’ - but reality seemed more complicated than that.

Cairus, who was the chairman of the Sorcerer’s Guild and lived alone, fell in love with Bell at first sight and tried to seduce her.

Though Cairus was good at politics and was respected both at managing the guild and also as a mage, he was less spectacular as a human being. He’d married once already, but his wife ran away; other sorcerers valued him, but otherwise his reputation was low. And to top it all off, Bell was only 19 years old, while Cairus was over 40. Considering this, it was impossible for Bell to have any good feelings about him.

But Cairus hung around her and kept trying regardless. Bell refused him, saying that she already had a fiance, but... not much later, her fiance died in a suspicious accident. The locals whispered and gossiped among themselves, saying that Cairus killed him, disguising his death as an accident to win Bell’s hand. Of course, no one was able to find out whether the rumor was true - but as events progressed, Bell became more and more unhappy.

At least that’s what everyone thought. However...

“Several days after that, my sister married Cairus...” said Aria, lowering her head. Looking reluctant to talk about this part of her tale, she continued her story with gaps of silence. “I asked why... but she didn’t give an answer to me... her face looked embarra.s.sed... After that I couldn’t meet my sister much... but from the rumors I’ve heard, she never seemed to be happy...”

Seemed to be.

I let out a quiet murmur, listening to the story silently.

I don’t know what Bell thought when she married Cairus. I can’t push aside the possibility that she did find him attractive somehow, and made a rash decision... but from what I could make out of this tale, Cairus seemed like a man who only wants to conquer, and once he gets what he wants, he quickly loses interest. Regardless of what her motive was for marriage, it was impossible to live a happy life with such a man.

“I was researching a few things in Crimson’s guild...” Aria continued. “One day, when I was about to go there, a messenger told me that my sister was calling for me. And then I’ve heard from her...”

“That Cairus was about to break out a revolt?”

She nodded to my question. “She said that Cairus could soon drag all the people of the guild into it. So she told me to run away and tell this to the other towns’ guilds... Sairaag was the nearest one from Crimson, but... that city was destroyed by an unknown force two years ago...”

“Uh...!” Both Gourry and I let out an unwitting groan.

“What is it?” she asked.

“N-No. It’s nothing.”

The truth was that me and Gourry were very heavily involved in Sairaag’s destruction...

Umm... Come to think of it, I never officially reported to the Sorcerer’s Guild about what happened there...

Well, I’ll do that later.

“So the next nearest town to Crimson was Telmoord?” Putting our affairs aside, I pushed Aria’s story forward.

“Yes... There might’ve been another town with a guild that was closer... but this was the only city which surely had one, and which I could find the way to.”

“I see...”

Right, if she got lost on the way to a town she’s never been to or there wasn’t any guild in the town when she finally arrived, that would have been an epic failure beyond words.

“But... it turned out that before I could get to this city and relay the information... Cairus already made his move. The day after I arrived and reported what was happening to the guild... I learned that Cairus started the revolt by killing the lord, and the king’s army was on its way...” She sighed faintly. “It’s said that the town is completely under Cairus’ control. I don’t know how much power he has... but if the king’s army is involved, Crimson will be captured sooner or later. But if that’s how it will go, then my sister will surely be caught in the middle...”

“True... So you want to save your sister before the army gets there?” I asked.

“Yes. I’ll do it on my own if I can, of course... I know how to use attack magic a little... just not very well. I also had no fighting experience until now, so...”

In truth, while we were battling with the lesser demons earlier, she just stood there trembling, without a clue about what to do. To fight well, you need some experience, boldness and determination - but it looked like Aria lacked all of the above.

“So you waited for people who were able to escort you to Crimson... until we came along?”

“I know it’s an impudent request. I also know I’ll be in your way, and regardless of whether I go there or not, I won’t be able to make a difference, but...” She trailed off.

“But you still want to help your sister, right?” Aria nodded to my words silently.

Um... Okay.

I also have a sister in my hometown, but I’m sure as h.e.l.l she’s much, much stronger than me. She"s the kind of person who can get through anything, no matter how hard or huge the problem is.

So, to be honest, I never really understood this ‘the troubled heart of a worrying sister’-thing, but...

“Well... actually...” I spoke while scratching the back of my head. “After hearing all of this, I want to defeat this Cairus guy by my own hands anyhow. But...”

“But?” Aria asked, looking uneasy.

I sent a wink her way. “I don’t know the man’s face. So someone has to show me who he is.”

“Then...?”

“Let’s go! To Crimson!”

“Thank you, Miss Lina!” she exclaimed.

“Just call me Lina. We’ll wait a little longer, and then go on our way.”

“Okay!” Aria said with a bright smile.

But does she know? Does she know why Zonagain omitted the real reason he was after her?

Cairus already knew that Aria left Crimson. Perhaps he didn’t know she was in Telmoord - although Zonagain did turn up here. Of course, it’s still possible that Cairus sent his men far and wide to look for her, but the strange thing is that Zonagain’s orders were not about catching or killing Aria, but to investigate the skill of the sorcerer she chose - in other words, us.

In fact, when we fought the lesser demons in the town, they did not even look at Aria when she backed away.

It’s seems there’s more to this story than meets the eye.

At first, our journey went better than I expected.

After asking around in places we went through, it looked like Zonagain was indeed ahead of us like I thought. I wanted to laugh myself silly with glee, but the fact remained that we couldn’t postpone our fight with him forever if we wanted to finish this. We could also count on facing a lot more enemies in Crimson, where our adversaries were the strongest.

There were other minor factors at play as well. After we’ve left Telmoord, thanks to some coin, I found out that the vanguard of the king’s army, roughly 200 men, had pa.s.sed by us already. I didn’t think they would attack Crimson with only these soldiers, but there wasn’t any more time to relax for sure.

And also...

“I guessed we can’t just keep travelling like this for long,” Gourry said and came to a halt on the forest path. We’ve been on the road for 4 days already.

“Yes?” Aria stopped as well, staring at Gourry in confusion.

“In other words, we have guests,” he said. “It seems you’re pretty bad at hiding your presence.”

“That’s because I’m not used to this line of work.” The voice coming from the forest belonged to the person I’ve been expecting to meet. Not touching the overgrown shrubbery at all, the form of a man rose from within the shadows of the trees, his clothing the same as what he wore when we met him in Telmoord.

“Hi! We’ve put one over you, Mr. Zonagain,” I greeted him. “We’ve been resting in the forest after leaving Telmoord, but it seems you pa.s.sed by us without noticing anything.”

“Well, just meeting you like this is enough for me.” Again, he thwarted my attempt at psychological warfare easily.

Yep, this man is no idiot.

This also showed in why he chose such a place for an ambush. At the edge of the forest, there ware plenty of places to hide not to mention strike unexpectedly, but more than that, the scenery was also to Zonagain advantage specifically: The bushy forest was the heart of Mother Nature. Naturally, there would be plenty of small animals nearby to be used as material for creating lesser demons.

But this place and setup wasn’t to my disadvantage either.

“So, you’re going to call some lesser demons again, because you have no confidence in your own power?” I tried provoking him again.

I hoped that Zonagain would ignore me once more and would try summoning the demons anyhow. Then I could use the time it takes to blast him with something big!

His words, however, ruined my plan straight away. “No, no. Sorry that I can’t play along with your plan, but not this time. From the fight in town I learned that such lesser demons are nothing but an annoyance to you. I still wouldn’t care either way, but... my colleague advised me not to complicate our fight by letting these demons loose.”

“Colleague?” I asked him, my eyes narrowing.

“Yes. Let me introduce him,” Zonagain replied. “Hey, stop hiding and come out already, Graimore.”

A chill ran down my spine.

What?

We quickly snapped our heads back, but there was nothing there but leaf-covered trees like before... No, within the shadow of the leaves, I could see something moving.

With a silent step, our second opponent left the tree shades to show its appearance under the midday sun.

“A lizard man?” Aria blurted out unwittingly.

No kidding; the guy had leaf green scales covering his whole body along with a really long tail, and he looked like a lizard in all other respects too. Still, while this Graimore might have seemed like a lizard man, he surely was no ordinary reptile if Zonagain thought that he’s worth more than the lesser demons he could summon in spades.

Not to mention that lizard-guy could hide behind us without exposing his presence at all.

“Well, Graimore... Which one of them do you want to fight?”

“The swordsman,” he answered to Zonagain’s question in a serene tone.

No sooner than he said that... Graimore’s nails grew long. There were ten in total, with varying lengths: the longest one had the size of a long sword, while the shortest one was similar to a dagger.

Is this the guy’s weapon?

I slowly turned back towards Zonagain.

“Very well. Then you will be my opponent,” he said.

“It seems so,” I replied. “By the way, isn’t it bad manners not to show your face while talking to people?”

“Ah, I’ll reveal myself then.” Having said that, Zonagain calmly lifted the hood from his head without any qualms.

“Eh?” A low sound escaped my mouth as I saw him. “You have a... pretty normal face.”

“Did you think I would not have the face of a human?” No longer hidden by the hood, the old man with a gray beard gave a wry smile.

Gramps was pretty handsome when he was young, wasn’t he?

“Well, I did expect something like that, yeah...” I admitted.

“I’m sorry I could not live up to your expectations then,” he said. “Well, I actually didn’t come here to live up to them, anyway.”

“I guess not.”

“Then it seems we’re through with conversation. Shall we get started?

“All right.” With that, I retrieved the short sword from my belt and charged at Zonagain, chanting a spell. At the same time, Zonagain was backing away to maintain the distance between us - but I had no intention to continue this cat-and-mouse game!

“Freeze Arrow!”

I released my completed spell. It could create dozens of icy arrows which weren’t exactly lethal if they hit, but with some luck they could hinder the opponents’ movements and slow them down.

Zonagain effortlessly avoided the rain of freezing arrows by using a tree as a shield.

Hmm. He is acting like I thought he would.

I already knew that it’d be difficult to strike true with a spell like this in a forest which is full of obstacles. I threw this at him expecting a lucky hit at best.

My real plan was to repeat this simple attack with the Freeze Arrows until he would start to believe that I’m the type who just charges forward without thinking, prompting him to catch up with me and try to end things.

Then I’ll use Van Rail - a spell that creates lots of icy threads that advance on the ground and can immobilize the opponent. I’ll tie him up, and then move in for the kill with the big guns!

For now, as part of the trick I chanted Freeze Arrow again--

“Van Rail.” The voice coming from the trees was Zonagain’s.

What?!

With the sound of moving ice, threads of freezing cold stretched out from where he was in all directions - including, of course, towards me as well!

d.a.m.n! A preemptive attack!

I quickly jumped back, but the icy threads kept stretching and stretching towards me.

Then take this!

I dropped my short sword to the ground. The threads enveloped the blade - using that momentary distraction, I whirled around and left the spot as quickly as possible.

I got out of the forest at the same spot where I went in. There, the fight between Gourry and Graimore was already underway. Metallic clangs echoed across the forest continuously - and it was Gourry who was too busy to do anything but defend himself. It looked to me like he had the advantage in skill, but Graimore’s ten nails with their diverse lengths struck at him in an unpredictable way, so he seemed to have his hands full already without mounting an attack. When Gourry tried to gain some distance, Graimore dashed right back at him.

The weapon Gourry was wielding was a magical sword of considerable power, although I knew nothing about its components. I also thought that someone of his skill could easy cut the nails off, but...

Graimore stepped forward. Something cut across the air with a swish.

The tail!

The lizard man’s long tail struck downwards, aiming for Gourry’s lower leg!

An instant later, Gourry took a step back - Graimore was in an unstable position because of his attack, and could not follow him this time.

Gourry’s sword glinted as it sliced the air - and Graimore’s nails flew into the sky, severed.

That’s his chance!

But the moment I thought that, Gourry stepped back further to move out of attack distance. And then...

With a swift noise, the lizard man’s nails grew back to their original length.

I see. He’s really one bothersome opponent.

I wanted to give Gourry a hand with a spell, but it would have been risky as he could’ve gotten caught in it as well, and also... I don’t think Zonagain would’ve let me.

Speaking of which, there was a presence approaching me from behind.

Good!

“Van Rail!” Without checking who he was, as soon as I turned around, I touched a nearby tree branch and released the spell I chanted while retreating. The threads of ice spread out, freezing the branch, the gra.s.s and then the ground itself.

But when I looked up, I could not see Zonagain anywhere - even though I was sure the presence was there.

Where is the guy?

I hurriedly tried to find him.

“Above?” When I glanced up, among the tree rising towards the heavens, there was a shadow floating in the air!

“Freeze Arrow!” This time, it was Zonagain who sent this icy attack towards me!

“Fireball!”

--Boom!

With a loud explosion, a ball of fire crashed into the arrows through the air, the wind spreading its crimson flames!

That spell - did it come from Aria?

The burst of flame began warming up to Zonagain, who got stuck high up there, surrounded by burning leaves.

“Argh!” A yell came from beyond the flames.

All right! Now’s my chance!

I chanted an incantation in a hurry. “Blam Blazer!”

I released my completed spell towards the fire; although I could not see Zonagain’s form because of the flames, there was no chance that he could escape it. The blue light penetrated the orange haze - but there was no impact.

Did I miss?

“Freeze Arrow!” Zonagain’s voice came from a completely different direction!

How could he--?! I instinctively ducked behind a tree."

However... the scream I’ve heard belonged to none other than Aria.

“Kyaaa!”

d.a.m.n it!

When I lifted my head, I found Aria kneeling on the ground nearby. It looked like the Freeze Arrow managed to nail her perfectly; starting from her left shin, her entire lower body was covered in steaming ice.

And then, from her side of the forest, Zonagain stepped forth.

No... How could he move so quickly?

If he used Levitation, it would’ve haven taken him a lot more time to get there...

“Wasn’t it overly violent to use Fireball within a forest?” he said as he slowly approached Aria. The wind carried the distinct sound of a spell chant towards me from his direction.

This is bad! He wants to take out Aria first!

I couldn’t leave her in such a situation, but I did not have enough time to chant a spell. I would have tried charging at him - but my sword lay frozen inside the forest.

But then...

“Blam Blazer!”

Suddenly, a shock-wave shining with blue light crossed the air and penetrated Zonagain’s body. He fell and rolled on the ground several times, but then stood up as if he was unhurt. Nonetheless, he threw a hateful glare in a certain direction...

“Don’t do that, grandpa. A man’s duty is to be kind to those who are beautiful.”

It was the first time I saw the man; he regarded Zonagain while a.s.suming a roistering pose.

“Tsk!” Zonagain glanced at me and the man in turn. He probably realized that he was at a disadvantage, as he turned towards the lizard man and shouted, “Graimore! Let’s pull back!”

Nail and sword crossed with a sharp noise.

“Uh!” Perhaps he was jostled by the strike of his opponent or just lost his balance, but either way Gourry fell down, showing his back to the enemy.

The lizard man readied his nails to strike...

“Graimore! Let’s pull back!” That was the moment when Zonagain’s voice called out to him. Graimore hesitated with his strike for a second.

In the same instant, Gourry whirled around and struck with the sword in his right hand towards him.

Another sharp sound hit the air... but the enemy was formidable. Despite his unstable posture, the nails on Graimore’s right blocked the blow with ease. However...

Using the same momentum he swung the sword with, Gourry whirled around in the air again. His left hand moved to a quick strike!

“Kyak!” With a small scream, Graimore collapsed to the ground, and laid on his back, unmoving.

Something thin and long was stuck into the middle of his forehead, just like a nail - it was no less than his own nail, which Gourry cut off right before.

When Gourry fell down, he picked up the nail from the ground and, after creating a diversion with his sword, threw it at his opponent.

I don’t know if he really had such good aim or just got lucky, though...

Realizing that Graimore was dead, Zonagain ran into the forest without another word, hiding his presence.

I wanted to use this opportunity to deal with him for good, but blindly chasing after him would’ve been dangerous. Also, I was worried about Aria at that moment.

Luckily, her boots and pants had kept her from serious harm, but it was still no good to leave her like that.

“You need to start with warming up your leg,” I told her.

“Hey, are you okay?” the strange newcomer asked, sounding worried.

I turned my head towards him. “We must treat her injuries first. I’ll listen to the introductions after that.”

“My name is Dilarl,” the man said, throwing a piece of firewood into the campfire.

We already gathered some, made a campfire, warmed up Aria’s leg and could finally take a few deep breaths after all the excitement.

The man seemed to be over twenty years old, his hair was black and he seemed to be a bit on the skinny side. With some good clothes, he might have looked more handsome, but as things stood his beard, which was left to grow as it pleased, and his crumpled attire did not do him any favors.

“Err... Thank you for what you did earlier.” Warming her iced leg at the campfire, Aria lowered her head towards Dilarl slightly in a gesture of grat.i.tude.

The guy waved his hand in front of his chest. “Oh, it’s okay, really. It’s a man’s duty to save the beauty when she’s in a situation like that,” he replied in an easygoing voice. “By the way, what’s your name?”

“I’m called Aria.”

“And these two are your slaves?”

“Hey...!” I snapped instantly, sending him an unkind look.

“Yes, they are.”

“What?!”

“That... That was a joke...” Aria hurriedly shook her head, seeing my scary face. “They are helping me reach Crimson.”

“Crimson?!” Hearing her words, Dilarl’s eyes widened. “Then you’re heading to the town on the guild’s request, too?”

“‘Too’? Then are you--?” I interjected, but he threw a glance at me and said,

“Do not interrupt a conversation between the beauty and the handsome. That’s the duty of a person who is neither.”

“What did you saaaaaay?!?!”

“Woah! Lina! Calm down!” Gourry grabbed me just before I exploded with earth-shattering rage.

“Ahm, let me introduce them. This is Ms. Lina Inverse and Mr. Gourry,” Aria said with a smile on her face - but the moment she spoke our names, Dilarl backed far away from us with loud steps. He was looking at me like he’s terrified.

“L... Lina... Inverse... No, I mean Ms. Lina Inverse...?” he mumbled.

“Yes,” I answered curtly.

“You are the Lina Inverse?”

“I have a bad feeling about this ‘the Lina Inverse’-thing, but yeah, I might be her.”

“Aaaaaah!” Just as I finished my reply, Dilarl folded his hands and began to beg. “I’m so sorry! Please forgive my impolite behavior, I didn’t know! Please spare this only life that I have! I’ll give you all my money!”

“Hey!” I snapped. What the heck did this guy hear in rumors about me?!

“Err... Mr. Dilarl, there’s no need for you to tremble like that. She is not as much of a terrible person as the rumors say...” Aria spoke with an embarra.s.sed look.

Honestly, I did not care much about what she was saying either way, because I just knew it would come to bite me back in the end.

Dilarl crawled on his knees towards Aria, gripped both of her shoulders and whispered in a serious manner,

“Don’t, Aria. a.s.sociating with such people you don’t even know; what would you do if you were infected by the ‘Lina Inverse’-disease?”

“Did you just say diseaaaaaase?!”

“Argh! You’ve heard!” Hearing my shout, Dilarl ran farther away again.

That jerk!

“Don’t be so worried like that. Look at me, I’ve been travelling with this girl for a long while, but...” Gourry started in a cheerful manner, but trailed off suddenly. Then finally, he scratched his head and mumbled, “Forget it... it’s nothing...”

“Hey, if you keep talking with so much gloom in your voice, they’ll think that travelling with me was horrible!” I protested.

“So did I have a good time somewhere since I’ve started travelling with you?”

Oops... Come to think of it... No... but...

“Well... anyway...” I shifted my gaze towards Aria. “She said she was in trouble, so yes, if you don’t mind, we are heading towards Crimson.”

“Is she in trouble?” Dilarl echoed.

“Yes...” Aria began to explain her situation to him.

“Hmm... I see...” After her recollection was over, Dilarl approached the campfire again while stroking his chin with his thumb. “But Aria, if you really want to go to Crimson, let me give you some advice. Give up on using this road to get there straight away.”

“Eh? Why?” she asked unsurely.

“As you could probably guess, I’m a sorcerer too. Like you guys, I was asked by the guild to go to Crimson. Though the pay is next to nothing, I’m out of money, so I had to accept the request anyway. But a half day’s walk from here, the army of the king is suffering guerrilla attacks from lesser demons and bra.s.s demons.”

“Attacks by demons?” I narrowed my eyes in realization.

I wanted to think this was Zonagain’s doing, but if it was, then his demons would have found us too. But then...there was another enemy on Cairus’ side who had the same magic skill as the gramps, or even greater...

The king’s army won’t be getting an easy victory after all.

While I was thinking, Dilarl continued with his story. “So those people are conscripting all magic users pa.s.sing by, threatening them that they’d disobey the king otherwise. They won’t even pay anything. I was about to get conscripted myself, but it was horrible to think that I’d be downtrodden by those high and mighty soldiers, so I took off from there in a hurry. After that, I ran into you people. So if you want to get to Crimson before the king’s army, you must not meet them, or they will catch you. You have to give up on going this way.”

He talks sense.

“You’re right, but if we stop here and choose another route instead, we will have to make a detour. Who knows how much time it would take to reach Crimson that way,” I said, folding my arms.

If we go the long way to avoid being conscripted into the army, it’s possible that we’d only arrive to the city when everything is already over. That would make no sense.

“If that is the case...” Now it was Aria’s turn to take up the conversation. “I know a way to get us through anyhow.”