The Crimson Warlock

by Paulo Meireles Junior

  “That’s right, you didn’t eat earlier. Does Beth cook that well?”

  “She makes the best recipes I’ve ever eaten. And she likes to experiment, it’s such a shame that you can’t eat” I responded.

  “I noticed that people usually look happy while eating her food” he got the right idea.

  “Yeah, she enjoys cooking and she knows that she is good, but enough of that, let’s go down there so I can finally eat” I got out of bed and closed the book that I was reading earlier.

  It turns out that she was cooking smoked bacon with meatballs, my mouth watered instantly when she mentioned, bacon was definitively rare in Heryan, pigs were common beyond Elven lands but not here, I was used to eating rabbit by now because rabbits were the most common animal you would find in Heryan, followed by elks and deer. But my favorite meat came from white wolves that were not animals but monsters, its meat tasted like ox steak and was very succulent. I’ve been told that quite a handful of monsters had edible meat, the most prized was a dragon, but a dragon was very powerful, rare to find and difficult to kill.

  Accompanying the meat, I also ate a few selections of vegetables, some of them had such difficult names to remember that to this day I only referred to them by their color. This world had a special kind of lettuce that was completely blue and I liked it very much, it was relatively easy to find people selling it and you could eat it with any type of food.

  Casper was waiting for me near the crater with two priests, seven wizards and a fleet of soldiers. The priests would make sure that I didn’t miss anything while purifying the locale. The wizards would be in charge of filling the crater with earth after I was finished with my job, Casper wasn’t aware if they were going to plant trees there after they finished restoring the place but I suspect the Emperor wouldn’t waste too much money at the moment. Especially with the threat of an attack by the Reaper, just dispatching these amount of soldiers to the crater’s location created a problem for him in terms of security. Although I knew that the Reaper wasn’t interested in Largos at the moment because he was in Heryan, that didn’t change the fact that other people could take advantage of the situation.

  I asked Casper about the quantity of soldiers patrolling the capital and he assured me that the soldiers that were here with him were not scheduled to patrol the city today. So that answered my question. Well, to work then.

  The area that I needed to purify was probably the size of five mansions lined up, normally priests and wizards working together would complete the process of purification in a few days given that a lot of mana was necessary to do so. I started by going to the center of the crater and using 『Purify』 on the ground, I closed my eyes and with 『Improve』 active I could more easily feel the aura around me, allowing me to spread the purification throughout the land. Even with my mana, the process was highly manual and I needed to carefully direct the spell through the ground and to the air, cleansing from the center to the extremities of the marked area.

  I started my job at one in the afternoon and it was almost dusk when I finished, Casper then sent the priests to verify if the whole area was purified and after thirty more minutes they completed their check confirming that I did my job correctly. Word would be sent to the guild and I would be able to get my reward later today, but I could come back tomorrow and I told him that.

  Before I teleported home, I used 『Scan』 on the people near the crater and after certifying that all of the people present were in full health I thanked Casper and asked him if he wanted help with the camp that they were setting up. The wizards would need a lot of food and time to fill out the crater and now that the area was secure, they decided to set a camp so they could continue their work as early as they could wake up on the morrow.

  Beth treated me with another plate full of food and a strange juice that tasted similar to a kiwi smoothie, it was strange since the drink was purple. I guess my mind still associated food and drinks to the ones that I experienced on Earth, causing me to often be surprised whenever I savored this world’s beverages.

  King Lucius wanted to speak with me and Sir Freed asked me to go to the castle at my earliest convenience. It turned out that His Majesty’s agents finished their internal investigation and three noble houses were bring brought down with a few members being charged with conspiracy and high treason.

  The only thing that came out in His Majesty’s favor as the result of the incident was that he now had the attention of all nobles and informed them that treason of any kind would not be tolerated, in turn, I was impressed that he was cleaning his kingdom. Their politics were not interesting to me, but I was sure of one thing, more noble houses would fall by the way he talked about it.

  He informed me that a few of the nobles that were in cahoots with the mad priest died of uncertain causes, they tested for poison but couldn’t determine the actual causes of the deaths. I mentioned that the Reaper could be behind their deaths, so I urged him to watch if the people that came in contact with the deceased nobles suddenly fall ill, I mentioned the incident at the Empire and how the Emperor asked for my help to resolve it.

  The last thing I wanted was people falling ill, if they died I wouldn’t be able to tell if their souls were going to the realm of the gods normally. Until the Reaper was dead I wanted to be aware of everything strange happening around Heryan and Largos. The guild has been quiet as of late, not a lot of monsters have been scouted and I had more money than I knew what to do with it, yeah, I wasn’t really worried about completing quests.

  I asked of Yuna the same thing after my meeting with the King, to see if people were suddenly falling ill around the two kingdoms, she didn’t think that an epidemic like that was happening or she would have already heard about it.

  That cheered me up a bit so I headed for Yokana to get my reward for the completion of the quest. The clerk had already separated my money and I deposited it in the guild bank like always, my next stop was at the crater’s location again. Casper was supervising the wizards around the place slowly filling the hole with earth, at that rate they could completely fill the crater in two days. According to him, his orders were to see the task’s completion and I talked with him while the wizards worked their magic.

  “While this is not usually what I do, I still take pride in the work” he remarked “the Emperor himself wanted me to supervise this. Travelers were worried about the crater and whispers started circulating around the capital regarding what happened here”.

  “I can see people getting worried. To lose an entire forest in an instant, this is bound to start rumors” I nodded.

  “Yes, and it’s not like we can divulge information about what we think happened here” he responded “you mentioned that even you are uncertain of what happened”.

  “The only thing I’m certain is that our enemy grows stronger and he did some experimentation here, your fellow soldiers from the Empire falling ill are a confirmation of that” I crossed my arms.

  “At least they are fine now. Thanks to you” he smiled, I just shrugged at that.

  “I was happy to he-” I was saying when my pocket got warm “excuse me for a moment” I removed the guild card from my pocket and played the message.

  “James, we need you at the castle right now! There is a huge structure floating our way!” what the heck was she talking about?

  “Okay, this is my cue to get out of here. See you later Casper” I said not even waiting for a response.

  The capital was in chaos, soldiers were directing people to safe locations and from the high part of the noble district I could definitely see a strange structure floating in the horizon, with 『Improve』 I could hardly see that it was shaped like a fortress and my 『Energy Tracker』 indicated that the Reaper was there. Luckily, the fortress appeared to be stationary for the moment, if it started getting near to the capital, these people would be screwed.

  I took a moment to try and expand my vision, since the fortress was very far from Sunnara, the only discernible
feature I could recognize was its obsidian colored walls, I couldn’t identify the material that was used to make that floating castle, but the amount of energy that my tracker was detecting was unnerving, particularly because the whole structure was enveloped in the malign aura. If the Reaper had a weapon that could shoot out of the fortress, Sunnara needed to be defended.

  As soon as the knights recognized me, one of them urged me inside of the castle’s gates and escorted me to a room of the castle where I could find all of the royal members of Heryan along with Emilia, Sir Freed, Yuna and Luke.

  “Good afternoon James. Sorry for the urgency but we do not have knowledge of the structure in the skies” King Lucius said “Sunnara’s citizens are panicking, thinking we are about to be attacked”.

  “They have reason to worry Your Majesty” I said “It’s the Reaper, although I do not know how he managed to construct such a strange architecture, I think that I know where he did it” I mentioned, they all looked at me surprised. Come on people, it’s simple.

  “Where?” Emilia asked.

  “You remember the crater outside of Yokana, yes? That fortress was built under the Empire’s noses” I pointed “that much seems clear, what I do not understand is how that thing was made and no one noticed”.

  “Perhaps he erected a barrier around the forest” Emilia suggested, Yuna nodded at that.

  “If this Reaper is as powerful as you say he is, summoning a barrier around the forest to mask what was happening there would be child’s play, Lady Fay’s suggestion seems to make sense since the soldiers from the Empire attest that at one moment the forest was there and at other a crater took its place” Yuna’s words resonated true with me.

  “If you permit me the word, I think we have more pressing issues” Sir Freed urged.

  “Yes, we must reach a consensus on how to deal with this situation” King Lucius nodded.

  “I think it’s clear that I need to get to that floating fortress, my target is there. If I take him out now, I complete my mission and Sunnara will be safe” I said crossing my arms.

  “There you go, volunteering to danger” Lorelai commented “if that thing gets near the capital, we will need to blast it out of the sky, you will be in danger”.

  “I know that, but this was exactly how I get the upper hand. I need to make sure the Reaper will not run away from me when I face him. If he created this fortress to carry out his plan, he is not likely to abandon it” I mentioned “if that thing gets closer to the capital, do not worry about me, just knock it out of the sky”.

  “James, I swear to everything that is sacred, if you die I’m going to kill you” Lorelai was furious now, I should have anticipated that.

  “James, are you sure of that?” Queen Jeanne spoke for the first time in the meeting, she also looked worried about me. What is wrong with these people? They don’t even know me that well.

  “Truth be told, I’ve been ready for a while, I was just waiting for the right opportunity to strike” I said. She looked at me for a moment and then nodded.

  “If this is what he wants to do, we should respect his wishes” Queen Jeanne addressed the King.

  “Like Lorelai mentioned, we will need to deploy defensive measures if that structure gets near. Emilia, we need to ready all of our battle mages, we might not have effective ways to directly attack that fortress, but we can soften that structure’s fall. Lorelai, will you lead the mages? We will need support from mages that can use wind magic effectively and you are the best conjurer we have” His Majesty offered.

  “Yes, Your Majesty” she then looked at me and I smiled at her.

  “Sir Freed, please send word, we will need all of our mages, Mister Luke, can you coordinate with the guild? If we can find capable adventurers that can use wind magic, we might be able to use them too” the King continued, Yuna nodded at Luke approving the King’s words.

  Sir Freed and Luke left the room to mobilize the army and look for adventurers, coordinating with them would be key in case I didn’t have time to defeat the Reaper, I was sure of one thing, Sunnara needed to survive whatever the Reaper was about to throw at the capital.

  “What can be done to protect the people of Sunnara, Your Majesty?” Yuna asked “we at the guild can protect people and lock down the building, we can even transport the whole building to another place, but that can’t be undone and we can’t offer refuge for a lot of people”.

  “Hopefully we will not need resort to such measures” King Lucius said “James, what do you need right now before you go?”

  “Well, I do not have a method of boarding his floating fortress. I would need to fly there since I can’t see a place in the building to teleport, and even if I could teleport, nothing would guarantee success, the Reaper could have a barrier around his castle preventing the use of transportation magic” I ruffled my hair “Mega, a little help?” I whispered.

  “I’ve got nothing. No spells that can help you fly” he responded.

  “This world does not have airplanes” Lorelai mentioned “you will need either a spell, an enchanted object or aerial summon that can transport you”.

  “Ah!” Yuna mentioned “yes, we should be able to make a summoning ritual, so James can make a temporary contract with a sky beast” I had no idea what she was saying.

  “That would work, yes, yes...” Emilia said “I think I might be able to procure magic ink and we can use the castle’s courtyard to summon the creature. There is only a problem, we have no way to know what the creature will want in order to form a temporary contract”.

  “We can cross that bridge when we get there” Queen Jeanne said “Emilia, get the necessary ingredients, we shall help James summon a creature while we have the time to do so”.

  “Yes, Your Grace” she then left the room in a hurry.

  “Thank you, if we can summon a creature from the skies, I will be all set to venture to the enemy’s base” I said. Queen Jeanne nodded.

  After a short moment, Emilia returned requesting my presence at the courtyard. I left along with Lorelai, Princess Alexis, Prince Lann and Queen Jeanne while the others remained inside to iron out the details of what needed to be done. Lorelai and I helped Emilia to draw a hexagon and Emilia filled the details writing in a language I couldn’t recognize, the ink used glowed and after she finished the summoning hexagon, the ink turned a dark shade of blue.

  “Now, all you need to do is follow this summoning chant and if you succeed we will know” she gave me the book with the chant and I looked it over, there were a few of them, one in particular was used to summon sky creatures.

  “O’ Summoning spirits, heed my call! As the azure sky, serene and collected, I seek thee, creature of the skies, born from freedom and bound to fly” I said, the moment I touched the hexagon, I felt my mana being drawn and mist filled the summoning area. I could sense a presence but I couldn’t see it, after a moment, I heard a howl and wind dispersed the mist leaving a majestic creature inside the summoning hexagon.

  “Ye who seeks me” the Griffon in front of me was looking me directly in the eyes, his white head contrasted nicely with his brown body, he was at least two times bigger than a horse and that was with his wings down “Ye who seeks a contract, specify your needs”.

  “I need a temporary contract with you, I need a sky creature to take me somewhere very high, somewhere impossible to reach on foot” I held the creature’s gaze and responded.

  “Very well, feed me and your contract shall be accepted” the Griffon responded in a more informal manner.

  “Feed you?”

  “Yes, I need food and mana. I need to consume mana so this body can get strong enough to carry you, and I want to taste the food of this world, those are the conditions for my temporary contract”.

  I nodded and looked around, people were all looking at me expecting something, I think I could ask Her Grace for food for the Griffon but I couldn’t understand what they were expectant about, I was about to voice the question when the Griffon ta
lked.

  “They can’t understand me, I can only speak to my summoner, will you honor the contract?” he asked.

  “Okay, that should be easy to arrange” I looked to the others “he wants mana and food to make a temporary contract” Queen Jeanne immediately nodded and called Alphonse who was near, she ordered him to get food for the Griffon while I turned to the creature.

  “How do I transfer my mana to you?” I could use my spell but since this creature was a summon, I did not know if my spell would work or not.

  “You simply need to touch me and I will consume the necessary amount” I nodded at that and approached the beast. I then touched its head and the Griffon closed its eyes, I then felt a little bit of my mana being consumed by him, but as always, I was generating way more than what was being consumed, it was difficult to gauge how much mana he was consuming.

  After a moment, the Griffon opened its eyes and stepped back, just as I turned around to see Alphonse leading three maids carrying a few dishes, they left the dishes on the ground near me and I moved out of the way so the Griffon could eat.

  The creature devoured everything that they brought in no time at all and nodded at me, after a moment the Griffon raised its wings and the summoning hexagon disappeared, the creature then moved and stopped near me, urging me to mount it.

  “All right, I will be going then” I said mounting the Griffon.

  “James, be careful” Lorelai said and I saw Princess Alexis nodding at that, her hands were tightly clasped resting against her chest “and promise me you will come back!”.

  “You know I can’t do that. I can say that I am going to give it my all, but I cannot make promises” I remembered that god’s words. There was no way I would promise something to anyone any time soon.

  She looked at me, clearly disappointed at my words but I held her gaze and after a few moments she nodded and looked away, I then waved at the others and instructed the Griffon to fly.