by Funa
“Wh… H… Huh…?”
Reina was stunned, unable to move. Several images ran through her head: first, that of her father, cut down by bandits while trying to protect her. And second, the faces of the members of the Crimson Lightning, flying through her mind, one by one.
Without a word, Philly dashed forth, driving the butt of her spear into the chin of the mage who, from his position on the ground, had magically propelled his small utility knife toward her fellow party member. With the man now face-up in the dirt, she drove the dull end of the spear hard into his gut once more. Willine ran up after her, kicking the man in the side. Once the man was unconscious, they circulated among all of the other fallen mages, striking them with foot and spear to make certain that none of them retained the will to fight—though it appeared that the rest of them were already unconscious in the first place. Going to the trouble of injuring them any further was little more than a nuisance.
The attacking mage, the bulk of whose strength had been decimated by Reina’s fire spell, had perhaps decided that his best course of action would be to use his scant remaining magical power to perform not a magical attack, which could be blocked, but a physical one, which could not be magically shielded against. If this was to be his final attack, then he may as well use it to take out the strongest of the enemies, after which her small and clearly mediocre companions could all be dealt with handily. At least, that was the man’s expectation.
“Wh-why would you…?” Reina asked Telyusia, crouching forward.
“Wh-what do you mean, ‘why?’” Telyusia forced out, her face twisted in pain. “C-can you imagine what would happen i-if word got out that junior hunters had been seriously hurt while we were right there w-with them…?”
She then looked to Philly, who had just returned from disabling (though not killing) the remaining mages. “Philly, it’s up to you from now on. Looks like I’ll be going to the Goddess’s side just a little ahead of you, but I’ll be watching over all of you. It’s your turn, Philly. You’re the leader of our party now. Keep following your dreams…”
“Telyusia!”
“Leader!”
“Miss Telyusia!”
“Nnh…”
It was a fatal wound.
The knife had not pierced her heart, so she still appeared to be all right, but in this world, a wound to the abdomen always proved fatal. To start with, there was obviously the possibility of the liver or kidneys being punctured, but there was also the prospect of damage to major arteries or the rupturing of the intestines, which would cause the bacteria of the gut to proliferate, bringing on peritonitis and several days of agonizing pain, followed by death.
Indeed, Telyusia’s death was already as good as certain.
However, there was no time to mourn her. The tears could come later. Now, they had a duty to attend to. They had to save Faleel!
With these thoughts in mind, the Servants wiped their tears away, standing up proudly. But just then…
“Ha!”
Gush!
“Gaaaaah!”
Suddenly, Pauline unceremoniously gripped the knife that was thrust into Telyusia’s side and yanked it out.
“Huh?!”
A cry of shock came from the four other Servants. It was common sense not to remove the implement until any preparations for healing had been made. When you removed the knife, the wound itself would open wider, with blood spurting from the point of entry. Death from blood loss would come swiftly. And yet, Pauline had drawn the knife out without even a moment of hesitation.
“Reconnect and mend the blood vessels, repair the nerves, multiply cells, reconstruct muscle tissue, annihilate foreign bacteria, numb the pain receptors… Mega Heal!”
“Huh…?”
The Servants looked on, stunned, as Telyusia’s wound closed before their eyes. Telyusia herself could only blink, her mouth hanging open soundlessly.
“Do you really think I’d let someone who saved our Reina die from just a little wound like that? And besides…” Pauline gave a haughty grin and continued, “Looks like I’ll be going to the Goddess’s side just a little ahead of you, but I’ll be watching over all of you. It’s your turn, Philly. You’re the leader of our party now. Keep following your dreams…”
A deep blush spread over Telyusia’s face.
“It would be a piteous shame if the speaker of such iconic words were not there to live on as they became a legend among hunters everywhere.”
“G-g…” stuttered Telyusia.
“G-g…?” the four other Servants repeated.
“Gaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
The Servants of the Goddess had previously observed only the healing work that Pauline and Mile had performed on the group of lookouts. However, that had merely been for the sake of keeping the men from dying—nothing more than stopping any blood flow and repairing the functioning of their internal organs. Besides, no amateur would be able to recognize the fact that the internal organs and blood vessels had been repaired just from seeing the men’s exteriors. Pauline and Mile had left the visible openings of the wounds as they were to keep the men from trying anything foolish.
Therefore, while the Servants been surprised at Pauline and Mile’s healing abilities before, they would never have guessed that the two mages were that good.
To bring a person who was certain to die back into the world of the living… Was that truly a power that any mortal hands should be able to wield?
“No!” “Don’t!” “Please don’t tell anyone!” Telyusia’s tears seemed to protest, even as the eyes of the four other Servants welled with tears for a different reason.
Lacelina, overcome with rage that her friend had been hurt, felt her head growing hazy with an emotion she could not hold back. Impulsively, she turned toward the men who were still rotating like a magic wheel and fired off a spell.
“Fire Rain!”
This particular spell had a penetrating power that was next to nothing, but it could easily rain down upon a large area. Against a large number of opponents—and moreover, as an attack that could be launched with some restraint—it was not a bad choice at all. Plus, it used up little magical power and required barely any elaboration in the incantation to produce a burning fluid that would stick to the targets’ clothes. And yet…
Whsh!
“Huh?”
The fire rain vanished.
The countless burning droplets had not been repelled—they vanished completely just before striking the men, as though they had evaporated.
“…Fireball!”
Next up, Pauline tentatively fired off a spell. It was a simplistic but fairly strong basic fire spell.
Ka-bwsh!
“Wh…?”
All of the mages, save for Mile, were terribly taken aback.
Next, Tasha, who had now retrieved her bow, and Philly, with her spear, launched a direct attack in tandem.
Their blows did not pass through, and the circle of mages calmly continued their ritual as though they hadn’t realized that they had been attacked at all.
“Bwahaha… It’s pointless!” As they all stood puzzled, a voice called to them.
It was one of the swordsmen, sitting on the ground, his arm and his ribs broken. Of course, the girls were aware that some of the melee fighters were still conscious, but since they had been rendered powerless to grip their weapons and launch an attack, they had left the men as they were. There was little chance of them throwing their weapons either, but they still took caution (as they did not wish to divulge too much information about their abilities, Mile had not put their weapons in storage as she sometimes did).
“The further that ritual proceeds, the more the mages’ magical power grows. No magic or physical attack can harm them. All that’s left now is to wait for the ritual to be complete. Then, ‘It’ will appear and grant our wishes in exchange for the sacrifice. Bwaha-bwahahahahahaha!”
Hearing this, Mile muttered to herself, “Magical Engine, internal pressure rising�
��”
Her expression was still firm, but apparently, she was back to her usual self.
The reason that the main corps of the enemy party had not taken part in the battle, sparing only the melee fighters and a few mages, was, first and foremost, that it was unfathomable that they could lose to just a few little girls. Yet, more importantly, staying out of the fray bought them valuable time even if something went awry with the rest of the fighters. Therefore, they had concentrated only on the ritual, not bothering to send out any additional forces. If nothing else, throwing too many of their forces into battle at once would leave both their battle party and their ritual party at half-strength.
“Inferno rise, burn hot enough to melt the rocks, hot enough to turn them to vapor, hotter still, more violent still…”
Reina began a spell. She did not dash out the words as quickly as she always did. No, these were slow words, words of power.
“I told you, it’s pointless! No matter how skilled you think you are, that barrier will never be broken by some little girl’s spell!”
She persisted, ignoring the swordsman’s taunting, voicing the words of a spell that none of the others had even heard of—a spell to vaporize rock. Even Reina, the one chanting this spell, could not have possibly had any concrete idea of what temperature would be required to bring such a thing about. Only that it was an absurdly high one…
And then, she voiced the command phrase.
“Scorching Breath!”
A high-temperature jet, several millimeters in diameter, spewed forward. The concentrated stream bored a hole in the magical barrier that went through to the other side. One of the mages in the circle fell to the ground.
A peculiar light shone in Reina’s eyes. Just as it did in Mile’s. Just as it had in the moment she was reborn as “Crimson Reina, the Bandit Slayer”…
“Wh…?”
Neither the sneering swordsmen nor the mages in the circle could conceal their sudden unrest. However, despite their distress, the mages continued their ritual as though nothing had happened. If they were to pause the ritual now, not only would it not come to fruition, but the barrier would dissolve, and they would have to face these inexplicable intruders, who remained unharmed despite facing down the lookouts, the guards, and six of their mages. They had no other choice but to continue on.
After Reina’s attack, Mavis approached the barrier. And then, slowly, she thrust her sword in.
Ka-shnk.
It passed through the barrier without the slightest hint of resistance.
And then, another mage fell.
Plod plod plod plod.
Mile walked right up the barrier, stopping just inches away, and shoved her right arm through.
Thwmp.
She seized the nearest mage by the nape of the neck and dragged him out.
“Whaaaaaaaaaat?!?!”
Seeing the Servants fall upon the man who had just been dragged out, the other mages, who had just barely managed to ignore the fact of Mavis’s sword, could not hold back a cry of shock.
“H-hurryyy!!! Forget the fifth stage—let’s just wrap up the incantation! Preparing the words, in five, four, three, two, one… Now!”
The mages, who had thought there was no doubt they would complete the ritual safely, were now thrown into a tizzy, sweat dripping from their brows. These young girls had ripped through their magical barrier as though it were paper, but the mages were not prepared to give up just yet. It would be a race against the clock.
Mile remained unworried. She had put a full-strength barrier around Faleel. Even an elder dragon could not have harmed her. Well, an “elder dragon, or something of equivalent type.” As the nanomachines had informed her that her own power was equal to half the abilities of such a creature, she could be confident. Besides, with those same nanomachines on her side, it couldn’t possibly fail. Even if the mages did carry on with their little ritual—and even if some summoned fiend did appear before their very eyes—it was no matter. If they wanted to sacrifice their own souls for the sake of some reward, then that was well and good in Mile’s book.
And so, Mile was in little hurry—until suddenly, she heard a frantic voice ringing in her ears.
LADY MILE, PLEASE STOP THEM! THIS IS NO GOOD!
WE ARE PROGRAMMED TO CARRY OUT ALL UNPROHIBITED MAGICAL COMMANDS, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY ARE GOOD OR EVIL. THEREFORE, WE MUST ENACT THE WILLS OF BOTH SIDES, SO AS NOT TO VIOLATE OUR MOST BASIC TENETS. THIS IS A SITUATION THAT OUR CREATORS COULD NOT HAVE HYPOTHESIZED.
THIS SCENARIO HAS BECOME DIRE! IF YOU DO NOT STOP THEM AT ONCE, A DISASTER MAY OCCUR!
Never before had she heard the nanomachines sound this desperate. Apparently, what the men aimed to achieve with their final incantation was something rather unsavory. Enough so that even the nanomachines were disturbed…
Well, if even they were bothered, then that changed things. This was no laughing matter. Mile had assumed that so long as Faleel’s safety was assured, it was fine to let things run their course, but now it was time to step into the fray.
Initially, she thought that she might feign putting her hand into her breast pocket, but because of the leather armor, there was no way for her to do so now. Instead, she shoved her hand in down the top of her chest piece and withdrew it, a small parcel gripped in hand. Though she pretended the parcel had been drawn from within her armor, in actuality, it came from her inventory. Indeed, it was one of the spice hand grenades, which she had assembled back when they were producing the spices for the restaurant owner.
Behind her, she could hear the Servants whispering among themselves, “Oh? Padding? Did she have padding in there?” Suddenly, it occurred to Mile that her hearing might be a little too good.
Sh-shut up back there! she spat venomously within her heart and then stiffened when she realized that, because she had no reason to hide the fact of her storage magic from the Servants of the Goddess, she could have simply taken the item out of “storage” as she normally would.
For no reason at all, she had just caused herself heartache—and an unconscionable ridicule. Consumed by rage at both herself and the universe, Mile unleashed her explosive secret technique.
“Eruptiiiiing! Burning! Fingeeeeeeeeer!!!”
Then, the parcel in hand, she shoved her right arm through the barrier and flung the grenade toward the mages within.
“Red Tornado!”
And with that second shout, she withdrew from the barrier.
Inside, a whirlwind whipped up. It was not particularly powerful—only strong enough to circulate the air within the barrier… However, it was bright red.
“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” the men all screamed.
Just then, near the center of the circle, where Faleel was still lying on the ground, fissures opened up in the air itself. A strange aura began to emanate outward from the fissures. Yet, the moment the red air crept inside of it…
“GYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!!!”
With a desperate scream, the presence vanished just as suddenly as it had appeared. The fissures in the air closed, and quiet returned to the clearing, almost as though nothing had happened at all.
“………”
There were no signs of movement within the barrier. In fact, the barrier itself seemed to have dissipated. Likewise, there were no signs of movement from the six other mages, who were still collapsed on the ground. Two of three of the enemy swordsmen were still conscious, but their eyes were wide, and it did not appear as though they would be making any sudden movements.
The four members of the Crimson Vow appeared utterly unaffected. As far as the Servants were concerned, however…
“Th-that’s…a waste of good spiceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!!!!!”
Seriously?!
***
While Mavis headed off to the Guild to fetch reinforcements, the others began the work of detaining the men. All told, between the lookouts and the additional forces in the clearing, there were around 47 in total—far more than they could reason
ably be expected to relocate on their own. They would have to rouse the men enough to allow them to walk on their own two legs, and with so many mages in the mix, doing so might be dangerous. If there were any among them who were capable of silent-casting or using abbreviated spells, a surprise attack could come at any moment. Plus, it was unlikely that they would cooperate enough to march in any straightforward fashion.
The reason that Mavis had been the one to go was simply that she was the fastest. Plus, they couldn’t possibly send one of the Servants, who were the senior party, to be the errand girl. Reina and Pauline were way too slow, so they were out of the question, and Mile needed to remain on the scene in case of any emergency. Therefore, Mavis was the obvious—really, the only—choice. Even Mavis herself could see this, so she accepted her duty without question and set off running at once.
In truth, there was one more reason why Mavis had been chosen: thanks to her “spiritual powers,” she had excellent night vision. Torches and light spells would grant only a short range of vision, and because of the shadows they cast, it became more difficult to discern shapes, so one had to proceed with caution. Furthermore, with torches came the risk of wildfire, requiring even more care.
Granted, returning with the response team would be a slower affair either way, but there wasn’t anything that could be done about that.
The lookouts had been left where they fell, but given the way that they were bound, it was unlikely that they would be able to escape. It was not as though the status of their injuries would have allowed them to make it very far anyway. Plus, even on the off chance that one of them did break free, it was unlikely that they would head anywhere besides this place, where a large number of their comrades were gathered.
In the clearing, after all the men had been bound and gathered into one spot, they got the still-conscious men to tell them who was the highest-ranking among them and then forced said man to inhale some awakening herbs to rouse him. The answer had come easily. Apparently the identity of their leader was not something that they felt the need to conceal.