The Crimson Warlock

by Paulo Meireles Junior

  “Yuna” I said after teleporting behind her and removing my 『Camouflage』.

  “James, have you been here long?” she asked after the knight went to talk with another person.

  “No, what’s happening here?”.

  “The royal family is inside along with a few guests and the knights can’t get in, one of the knights that was inside tried to get out to inform the others but he passed out as soon as he hit the barrier”.

  “Hmm, can we assume that the royal family is in critical danger or are they properly protected?”.

  “I don’t know… For this barrier to be set up like this... Someone from the church has to be involved, along with people from the king’s court. Unfortunately I don’t really maintain contact with the royals to speculate what is going on” she bit her lip and made an angry expression. She is genuinely concerned, that makes her my ally, well… I think I can trust her.

  “Are you up for some mischief?” I asked and smiled, she looked at me like I was crazy “let’s see what’s happening… I can’t have a coup d'état where I’m currently residing”.

  “All right, just don’t make the situation worse” she frowned.

  “Come on, first we’ll just look and decide how to neutralize the enemy, then I can have my lunch in peace” to that she just shook her head in disbelief.

  I put my hand on her shoulder casting 『Improve』 on me and 『Camouflage』 on both of us before I tried teleporting inside of the barrier and as I predicted… The spell worked fine, someone changed nature of the barrier, they only changed the barrier’s parameters to keep people in or out. That was actually a smart idea since only a few people could use transportation magic, they obviously didn’t think anyone in the capital was going to be able to use it, which was good for me. Either the person behind this don’t know about me or this is a trap…

  “Wow, that didn’t take long” she whispered.

  “Yeah, whoever changed the parameters of the barrier probably never thought someone would try teleporting inside, move slowly and whisper so the camouflage stays on, that will make it harder for us to get spotted” I said and moved slowly with her in the direction of the doors of the church, passing the passed out knight.

  Entering the church I immediately looked up and found another good vantage point, this church was built like an opera house with a lot of chairs pointed to a stage, it had two floors, the upper floor was empty so that made it easy for me to teleport us to the middle of the upper part, that way we could easily overlook the few people below.

  In the middle of the church I could see the royal family circled by knights and I could make out a barrier protecting them. A figure of authority with a golden crown was sporting an angry face while looking at the end of the church where people were held hostage by what it looked like a priest and more knights? The royal knights had a weird expression frozen on their faces and I could see with 『Improve』 that they had blackish marks on their faces. I looked at the hostages knelt on the ground behind the priest and in front of the knights that were holding swords pointed to them. The remaining knights were in front of the priest protecting him.

  I saw the Prince and his bride along with another member of the royal family judging by the emblem sown into her intricate dress, if I had to guess, I think she was the Princess and a maid of honor. While the Prince had a calm and collected expression on his face, the bride was crying but what worried me was the Princess. She looked angry and I could see that she was sizing up the priest and trying to steal looks at the soldiers behind her or the ones in front of the priest.

  “What the heck is going on here?” Yuna whispered.

  “This doesn’t make sense, is the priest the one commanding the knights?” I commented, a priest wouldn’t be inside the royal social circle to the point that he could make this happen right under the royal mage’s noses.

  “I’m going to say it again Your Majesty, you will declare war on Largos, otherwise you can say your goodbyes to your oldest son and your daughter” said the priest laughing maniacally.

  “Tsk. Why are you doing this priest Lumo?” asked His Majesty, the King, his voice full of venom.

  “I’ll tell you why, we’ve not been here long but it was so easy to infiltrate your court, and a cute wedding like this one, how could we miss it?” he laughed again.

  The Queen behind the King was looking at the priest with a weird expression, like she was trying to stare into his soul and not liking what she was seeing. The other members of the royal family were further behind the Queen, the King and a person that I assumed was the second Prince. The priest made a few comments, giving the King a time to send a message through a magical artifact that the King had to communicate with the imperials of Largos. I’ve watched the scene for a few more moments while the priest tried to convince His Majesty to ‘do the right thing’. It was when the priest made a gesture and the knights behind the hostages put theirs swords in front of their throats that I feared something could go down if I didn’t act quickly.

  “I’ve analyzed the knights holding the hostages captive. It seems that they are not wearing protective talismans or amulets. They are being controlled by dark magic which is good for us, a simple 『Sleep』 spell can take care of them. I can also feel a very strong aura around that priest, it could be one of the artifacts we seek” Mega commented.

  One. Two. Seven. Ten. Thirteen. Thirteen knights being controlled by that priest. I looked to the back of the church to find more knights protecting a few guests away from the entrance.

  “All right. I’ve seen enough, can you do me a favor Yuna?” I whispered.

  “What are you going to do?” she looked at me with a worried expression.

  “Look, you only need to hold the priest’s attention for a few seconds while I knockout the knights that are being controlled by him” she looked at the scene below, sighed and nodded.

  In the next moment, I teleported her below and removed her camouflage before teleporting back up. I also cast a 『Arcane Shield』 on her just to make sure she wouldn’t die.

  “Wow, look what we have here, a priest that is not a priest” she said dramatically and I seized my opportunity as both the King’s knights and the priest’s knights pointed their weapons at her. She will hold their attention just fine. I smiled.

  Starting to work, I teleported behind the knights holding all of the hostages and one by one, under the speed of 『Improve』, I used 『Sleep』 and teleported them to the second floor so fast that no one saw me doing it.

  “Yo, fake priest, where are your hostages?” Yuna commented just as I cast 『Levitae』 on all of the hostages before teleporting with them behind Yuna. She looked at us and since I was still under 『Camouflage』 it was impossible to see me but they could all see the hostages that were now free “It looks like there are no hostages anymore, oops”.

  “You witch, how dare you?!” the priest raised his hand and whispered something but I felt the dark aura around him carry his dark spell and Yuna prepare to defend herself. It was not going to be enough.

  As he shot a dark ball in Yuna’s direction I moved in front of her to cast 『Light Barrier』 and a protective with dome was erected around us just as I canceled my 『Camouflage』.

  “A priest that is not a priest? Couldn’t you think of something better to say?” I looked at her, my hood still up so no one could see my face.

  “I had no idea how long it would take for you to incapacitate those knights, so I just said whatever popped into my mind” she shrugged.

  “WHO ARE YOU?” The priest shouted visibly angry. I ignored him and still looked at Yuna.

  “Can you check if these people are okay? I’ll take care of this and then I’ll move on with my day” I said.

  “Sure” she then looked at the people still floating, some looked horrified, while others were confused. She looked back at me and raised an eyebrow, I kind of forgot about that. I moved my hand and put them on the ground before canceling the 『Levitae』. />
  “HEY! I AM TALKING TO YOU” shouted the priest again, what a bother… I sighed turning to look at him.

  “Five seconds” I said.

  “WHAT?” was the answer.

  “Five seconds is all it takes to incapacitate the rest of the knights you’re controlling” I informed.

  “KILL HIM!!!” he shouted and I looked back at Yuna, she was watching with interest. I also made sure to look at the King, the Queen, the Princes and the Princess as the priest’s minions were approaching to kill me. I turned back to Yuna and shrugged before teleporting and using 『Sleep』 on all of the knights under the priest’s control and teleporting back to the same place I was looking at Yuna just in time to see the last of the knights falling down.

  “That was seven seconds” Yuna commented. I just looked at her for a moment before she raised her hands up in defeat.

  I looked at the priest before lowering my hood so he could see my face. I was past the point of caring about people recognizing me, and truth be told, someone would mention that I was inside of the church with Yuna so there was no point in masking my identity.

  “Where did you learn that kind of magic?” I asked the priest before casting 『Arcane Saber』 and pointing at him.

  “What magic?” he asked smiling.

  “The dark spell you just used, where did you learn it?”.

  “Oh, that… That was a present from my master...” he chuckled “you see, I have powerful magic that can kill you even if you use your silly transportation magic” he said and used another spell more powerful than the first one. This spell hit my 『Light Barrier』 and shattered it.

  “Impressive, your spell shattered my barrier” I said not at all impressed.

  “There’s more where this came one from” he laughed and threw dark spells at me which were easily canceled with 『Light Barrier』. For each dark spell he invoked, I immediately countered with 『Light Barrier』. That continued for about a minute before I sighed, the old guy was now visibly furious as the veins on his temples were almost popping “YOU BASTARD, WHO ARE YOU?”.

  I was about to make a joke when I felt my body becoming warmer, looking at the ground I could see a faint glow, my body was enveloped by a golden aura, people around me gasped and I saw Yuna looking at something above me. I looked above my head just in time to see at least twenty different symbols disappear. When they disappeared so did the golden aura. What was that about?

  “So they finally decided to give you the hero’s mark” Mega commented “those symbols that were above your head a moment ago signalize a hero being publicly recognized by the gods” Oh great, I sense drama.

  “A h-hero?” the priest’s demeanor changed.

  “What’s wrong priest? You can kill a stranger but are afraid of a hero?” I crossed my arms, the saber pointing up.

  “W-what is a hero doing here?” he asked.

  “Well, aren’t you a ray of sunshine? All worried about what a hero is doing in this world...” I chuckled “the answer is: none of your business, by the way”.

  “Bastard, you dare mock me?” he then acted superior again “I WILL KILL YOU!” I’m tired of this guy shouting.

  “I’m sure you will...” I rolled my eyes.

  He then did something unexpected, he pulled a dark crystal from his robes and poured mana into it, I could feel the dark aura expanding around us and realized that the thing he was holding was one of the artifacts.

  “So that dark aura is indeed connected to the artifact as we suspected… You need to destroy that thing” Mega commented.

  “Where did you get the artifact?” I asked the priest.

  “My master gave it to me and now all of you will die, we will then wage war on Largos and our master will reward us greatly” he laughed, the guy is insane.

  As he prepared another spell, the ground started to shake, making people inside the church gasp and panic. I looked at the priest and at the artifact he was holding, I needed to do something fast, so I moved under 『Improve』 and concentrated mana into my hands while canceling the conjured saber. I approached the priest figure and I felt my body being surrounded by the dark aura, it tried to envelop and consume me so I channeled more mana to move faster and punched the priest right in his face, the impact of my right fist made the priest fly backwards while the crystal stayed floating, the dark aura was still around us, I pointed my hand in the direction of the artifact and used 『Purify』.

  The light that followed was so bright that it blinded me for several moments, but I managed to feel the dark aura dissipating slowly as the spell worked. As soon as the crystal was drained of all power, it fell on the ground shattering into pieces before my spell dissolved all of its pieces on the floor, leaving no evidence behind. I looked at the priest and he was passed out near the altar of the church, so I shrugged and looked back at several people that were staring at me slack-jawed.

  “I think the situation here is resolved” I commented “how are they?” I asked motioning to the royal members that now stood near the king and queen.

  “They are fine. But why the hell haven’t you told me that you’re a hero?” and here we go…

  “We can talk about that later” I looked around the back of Yuna only to find someone that was with the royal family, she was staring at me. With a long light brown hair, her silver eyes and the way she looked at me made it all very clear. Although she looked younger and some of her features were a bit different, it was definitely her. No way…

  “James? Is that… you?” she asked approaching me. She was wearing a really beautiful dress, fit of a royal and looking at it I also saw the royal crest, but that meant that… Oh no…

  “Hi there” I smiled awkwardly. Great, just my luck...

  “We haven’t seen each other in god knows how long and you say ‘Hi there’?” she crossed her arms stopping in front of me “unbelievable… Is it really you?” she then raised her hand and touched my face “you look younger”.

  “So do you”.

  “How are you here?” She asked.

  “Uhh, kind of a dumb question… A god brought me here, you just saw the symbols” I received a punch in my right arm that thankfully was stopped by my 『Arcane Shield』.

  “Did you knew I was in this world?” oh boy…

  “Yes...” I said looking everywhere but her.

  “And you didn’t look for me?” her tone was more disappointed than angry and that made me look at her.

  “Look, I didn’t know where you were or if you remembered me. I mean, the last time we saw each other we literally died” I tried.

  “But you didn’t look for me...” She turned around and looking past her I could see that everyone was staring at us not knowing what to make of the scene.

  “Sorry but uh, I don’t think it would have mattered, you know... What is your name here anyway?”

  “Lorelai Alfaerr Heryan” she said looking back at me.

  “Lorelai… Now, that is a cute name” I said chuckling.

  “Well, I think it’s better than Samantha” she laughed, she never liked being called Samantha on Earth “I’m glad you’re here James… But what are you doing here exactly?”

  “I’ll take a rain check on that explanation, there are too many people here. And the only person I trust is Yuna over there, no offense” that earned me another punch “someone clearly didn’t want this wedding to proceed. So do me a favor and watch your back Sam, you heard the priest, you probably have some nobles behind the stuff that happened here today” I said the last sentences in English and she nodded at that.

  “I’ll keep an eye out for anything suspicious, but you need to tell me what you’re doing here, that way I can also help you” she commented in English.

  “Okay, I can meet and talk to you later, for now I just need to get out of here. I don’t feel comfortable with these people looking at me, those guys in the back are kind of creepy” I commented joking and she laughed. People were now confused because they couldn’t understan
d the language we were using.

  “I suspect my uncle and aunt will want to reward you or something, you can disappear now and I’ll tell them you’ll be back at a later date. Can you meet me in front of the guild building in three days time? Say… At nine in the morning” she commented.

  “Sure, but do me a favor...” I smiled.

  “What?”

  “That priest, I know how this works, he’ll probably be sentenced to death. I need you try and find out how he got so close to the royal family. The magic he was using is bad news…”

  “I’ll see what I can do, now go... It’s good to have you back, partner” she said.

  “You too” I commented going back to this world’s native language “Yuna, I have important business to attend to, are you staying?” she just looked around.

  “Leave the guildmaster here and she can keep me company since you can’t stay. I need to learn what you’ve been up to lately” Lorelai commented. Yuna nodded and shrugged.

  “All right then, I’ll see you later” I was just about to teleport when Mega interrupted me.

  “Tell them about the controlling spell so they don’t hang those knights” good point.

  “Actually, you might want to look at the knights that were being controlled by the priest, they had no protection against the kind of magic he was using, that is why they obeyed the priest’s commands, they had no choice” I shrugged and looked at His Majesty while talking, he nodded so I took my leave “okay then, please excuse me, I’m in a hurry” I said looking in the general direction of the royal family “see you later Lorelai” she waived as I teleported to the my room.

  “That was really smooth James, really smooth” Mega commented.

  “I wasn’t about to stick around. Not with the whole mark thing, I can just see the drama that the mark is going to generate”.

  “You do realize that it’s kind of rude to just dismiss your heroic actions and teleport out of there before the royal family even has the chance to thank you, don’t you?”.