The Unicorn Legion

Mage Academy - Chapter 13

It was late in the evening when they reached Route 3. It really couldn’t be considered a nice place; the terrain was mostly flat, and although the ambush point had a high slope it had no natural protection. The group stopped to set up camp, and settled in for a long wait.

“He didn’t tell us anything,” t.i.tan complained, breaking the silence. “That captain guy.”

“Military secrets are none of our business,” his brother Thomas calmly replied. “As long as we do a good job, everything will turn out alright.”(1)

“Cain, ah,” t.i.tan suddenly spoke to the silent knight. “How many rebels do you think there are?”

The knight ignored him, instead examining the sword and shield he’d been given. Their supplies were quite abundant; not only were the archers given ordinary bows, they’d been equipped with longbows for long-range shooting.

“White?”

“I don’t know … maybe twenty or thirty?”

“That would be good,” t.i.tan nodded. “We can pick off half of them from a distance, then close in and wipe the rest of them out. Right, Captain?”

“Ah,” the elf answered, staring into the distance.

“What are you looking at?” t.i.tan couldn’t help but follow his gaze, but soon shook his head and turned away. “Looks like we’re gonna be here all night … I really don’t want to wait that long, ah …”

“There are fifty,” the elf finally spoke. “Change of plans; the two thieves and White will come with me. Everyone else should stay here. If any of the rebels come near, t.i.tan and Thomas are in charge.”

Cain stood up.(2) Most of their opponents would be wearing armor, and Ellen was a long-range fighter. He would need a little more protection.

“Count me in. I won’t slow you down.” The elf looked at him in surprise and nodded. Archers and thieves are naturally very fast, and usually even knights with magical enhancements could barely keep up.

The four of them crept off to the side. When they were roughly 300 yards from the enemy, Ellen launched an attack. Of course, at this distance his arrows did little damage to the armored rebels, who only lifted their shields and marched forward steadily.

Ellen continued to shoot sporadically, sometimes missing entirely. Every time an arrow came near, those in weaker armor would duck behind their shields. Watching carefully, Ellen struck as soon as they dropped their guard, and soon several of them were injured.

Judging by the attack frequency and direction, it was obvious that there was only one archer. If an archer doesn’t move, and only continues to attack from one location, of course they will be exposed.

The rebels sent four heavily armored warriors in the direction of the attack and continued on their way. But Ellen had intended to be found and rapidly picked up speed; arrows flew quickly towards the rebels. However, when the four drew closer, the arrows stopped abruptly.

The warriors looked at each other. They hadn’t even made their move before their a.s.sailant gave in, and they felt nervous about the possibility of a trap. But they were a part of the rebellion’s main force for a reason, and they continued to advance.

Suddenly, four arrows shot out and crippled the warriors- now, their heavy armor only weighed them down. Without exception, the warriors fell for the trap. Ellen signaled for the thieves to act and rushed away, leaving Cain and the two thieves to finish the warriors off.

When they looked up, they saw that Ellen and White had circled the rebels and had once again started to shoot indiscriminately into the crowd. This time, Ellen moved faster and with more accuracy, picking off the rebels with ease.

The rebels stopped and waited for a while. It was still clear to see that they weren’t dealing with scattered forces, only one that had changed positions. When the rebels marched on, the other mercenaries caught up to White and Ellen. After asking Cain to cover for White, Ellen raced ahead of the rebels towards the hidden camp.

The rebels were much less in number now, and had now gotten caught in a series of clever traps arranged by the mercenaries that had remained in camp. The traps weren’t fatal, but they completely immobilized the rebel forces. At this point, another round of arrows came from a different direction.

“I kinda feel sorry for them,” t.i.tan panted, running over to Ellen just as Cain and the others caught up with him. “We should probably keep moving- this is fun, but it’s also exhausting!”

“You can rest for now,” Ellen whispered. “If they start to move again, meet up with Thomas and the others.”

Cain looked over their team. Everyone looked worn out, which was about how he felt himself. The only one that looked worrisome was Ellen, who had overworked himself and seemed ready to collapse at any moment. In order to keep a safe distance from the rebels and still shoot accurately, he needed to use all his strength and wield the powerful longbow.

Cain backed away from the group for a moment and secretly cast a recovery spell. His range was just wide enough to include Ellen, and he was careful not to get too close and let his actions be discovered. Despite his precautions, Ellen suddenly looked over to him, confusion in his eyes. The knight was shocked. Fortunately, the elf didn’t say anything, and merely looked away. His face was very pale, as though the recovery spell hadn’t affected him at all.

Was the range too small, after all? There was time to cast the spell again, but the knight did not dare try again. A few minutes later, Ellen stood up and nodded at the others.

They took out the remaining enemy archers and circled around the traps, lighting flares as they went. Finally, they found the rest of the team. The members of “Bread and Oatmeal” were all tired, and they impatiently argued about what to do next.

“Oh, right,” t.i.tan remarked. “It’s still twenty-something to ten.”

“Don’t worry,” Ellen replied. “If we kill a few of the stupid ones, the smarter ones will run.”(3)

The knight couldn’t help but grin behind his armor. “You learn fast.”

“It’s because I had a good teacher.” The elf took out his knife. “Come on, let’s end this.”

Soon it became clear that there were still some smart ones among the rebels, but they weren’t given a chance to run far. The royal knights had arrived after seeing the flares, and quickly wiped out the remaining rebels as the sun peeked over the horizon.

“So, apparently, you had reinforcements out here? Without telling us?” After returning to camp, t.i.tan complained loudly to the head of the Royal Knights.

“If I had told you, you wouldn’t have fought so hard,” Duncan answered coldly.

“Anyway,” t.i.tan pressed on. “You should remember to pay us a little more for doing all this on our own.”

“I’ll take it into consideration,” Duncan replied. “Your performance is far beyond my expectations. You may receive a ten to fifty percent increase in your reward.”

“Only that much!?” t.i.tan scowled. “You can’t be serious! A human can’t live on that much, ah! Right, Captain?”

The elf turned and calmly pointed to his ears. “Don’t ask me. I’m not human.”

The surrounding mercenaries burst into laughter at his words. This time, even Duncan’s mouth curved ever-so-slightly upwards.

I decided to pick up this series because the last update by was more than a year ago and I simply couldn’t wait to read more about the Unicorn League’s adventures! I’ve never translated anything before, but I’ll do my best!