by Ennki Hakari
Rabaught glared at the gate. “Dammit! The Burst Spheres are strong enough to break through, but we’ve got to get the timing perfect! Puuush! The door’s already ajar, so we’ll just push it open!”
The nearby rebels began pushing on the damaged door.
A man who appeared to be in charge of the defending soldiers turned issued an order. “Defend the door with your lives! Supplemental troops, fire arrows from the walls!”
I could hear men on the other side of the door yelling as they pushed back against it.
Archers prepared to rain arrows down on the invading force, but the rebels had been expecting this. Their own archers took out the new threat with ease.
The inner gate was stuck in a deadlock between two opposing forces. Rather than let the rebels waste any more time with this pointless shoving match, I ran toward the mass of men, yelling the whole way.
“Mooooove!”
They parted, clearing a path.
I charged toward the door at full speed with my shoulder out like a football player. As soon as my shoulder connected with the door, the top hinge snapped and both the door and the men supporting it were thrown back, like fallen leaves at the mercy of a stiff wind. The entrance to the castle was now wide open.
The entire courtyard fell silent for a moment, save for the distant clash of battle. Then Rabaught started issuing commands again, running toward the entrance.
“The gate’s open, men! Press the attack!”
The men let out a roar as they followed their commander inside, cutting down stunned guards as they went.
Amid the chaos, I heard a loud clang followed by cheers somewhere behind us. It sounded like the first group had managed to lower the drawbridge.
The ground shook as rebels charged through the inner gate, their spirits soaring. The defenders scattered.
Absent the kind of boss or secret trick you’d expect to see when storming a castle in an RPG—neither of which seemed to be coming—it looked like the outcome of this battle was already decided.
A few enemy mages showed up to try and shoot off some sort of sorcery, but a gauntleted fist to each of their faces took them out of the battle.
“Miss Ariane, I think now would be a good time to finish our search of the castle.”
“Right.”
We made our way to the count’s residence.
The doors to the entrance had been torn away, and invaders were already pillaging the place. Ariane furrowed her brow.
“Wasn’t the point of this to rise up against a despotic ruler?”
I had to imagine that not everyone involved in the revolt was here for noble purposes. In my world, at least, this kind of looting was relatively common. Besides, we’d done the same back in Diento, so I didn’t really feel like we were in a place to criticize. I did see one rebel chasing after a few chambermaids with a sword, so I punched him out.
Ariane and I moved down the hall. We’d start with the dungeon, where they usually kept prisoners.
We found a stairway leading down into the grim darkness. The guards here had apparently already abandoned their posts. There were several iron-barred cells lined up in a row, but the only people I could see were some old men and others in various states of disarray. There were no elves here.
After tearing apart several other rooms throughout the castle, we finally found the woman we were looking for in a chamber on the third floor. However, she wasn’t alone.
In the center of an exquisitely decorated room stood an elven woman in a silk dress with a ball and chain tethered to her leg. In her hand, she held a bloodstained candlestick. Her green-tinged blond hair was tied back into a ponytail, revealing the characteristic pointed ears and a black metal collar around her neck. Her jade eyes were focused on two men in front of her. At her feet lay the body of a third man, blood pouring from his head.
“Hey, brother, ya think this is a real elf? I’ve never seen one before!”
“Shut up, ya idiot! Go get that candlestick out of her hand and get her under control! Otherwise, someone else’ll come along and take her.”
The two intruders advanced on the woman, apparently hoping to take her as a prize. With the chain impeding her movement, it was only a matter of time before they did.
I called out to the men. “Unfortunately, this one’s been claimed. I’d like to ask you to leave.”
“What the hell? You think you can just come in here and take our prize from us? You’re pathetic!”
The muscular man, whom the other had called “brother,” rounded on me, a heavy scowl on his face. But as soon as he saw me, his anger turned to fear. He’d probably seen me smash down the gate earlier.
I walked slowly toward the man. He drew his sword. Apparently, he didn’t want to settle this with words.
I lunged, closing the distance between us, and smacked him across the temple with the back of my hand. He tumbled back, barely conscious, and collapsed in the corner.
“You bastard! Aren’t you one of us?! What do you think you’re doing?”
The second man—his younger brother, perhaps—
didn’t show any of the fear of the first. He came straight at me, weapon raised, a wild glare in his eyes. I punched him in the face, sending him flying into the wall, his teeth scattering. He lay still.
“I helped you, but I never said I was one of you.”
Ariane pulled back her hood, revealing her identity as she approached the elven woman.
“We’re here to save you.”
The woman’s green eyes went wide at the sight of Ariane, the famous dark elf warrior.
“I didn’t think anyone was coming for me… What’s going on outside?”
“A revolt against the count. We’re going to get you out of here. Do you know where the key is?” Ariane knelt, running her hand over the keyhole in the clasp at the woman’s ankle.
“The count, the man who bought me, always has the key on him.”
“Miss Ariane.”
Searching for a key in a castle under attack would be a waste of time. Even if the count was still here, we couldn’t be sure that he had the key on him, despite what this woman had said.
Ariane seemed to know what I was thinking. She stepped back. “Just be strong for a minute.”
I grabbed the chain connecting the woman’s ankle to the iron ball and pulled. The metal screeched as one of the links twisted and stretched.
“Nnnng!”
I put more strength into it, tugging at the chain, scattering pieces of metal with a loud snap.
I couldn’t tell if it was a poorly made chain or simply cheap, but it couldn’t handle the pressure. Either way, I was satisfied with the results.
However, we couldn’t do anything about the clasp around her ankle right now. I didn’t want to risk breaking her bones if I used brute force.
“We can take care of the clasp back in Lalatoya.”
I discarded the remaining chain and stood.
The elf looked at me in shock, rubbing her leg. Tears poured from her eyes as she bowed her head to Ariane and me.
Ariane spoke. “Also, the mana-eater collar.”
I nodded. Just as I finished removing the curse from the collar, I heard a voice from down the hall.
“Count Fulish du Houvan is dead!!!”
So, their mission had succeeded.
Cheers erupted throughout the castle, spreading outward like a wave.
Ariane and I nodded in unspoken agreement. We’d gotten what we came for. I summoned up Transport Gate, and we teleported back to Lalatoya, leaving behind the victorious townsfolk of Houvan.
Chapter 4:
Trouble in Olav
The next day, Ariane and I used Transport Gate to teleport from Lalatoya back to Houvan. We used Dimensional Step to make quick jumps along the road leading to Olav, the capital of the Rhoden Kingdom.
We’d left the elf we rescued with Dillan, stayed the night, and then promptly left Lalatoya the next morning.
While we w
ere there, I once again took the opportunity to use the bath and enjoy a delicious meal, but I knew I couldn’t keep doing that forever. I was itching to get a place of my own. Constantly carrying more than a thousand gold coins on me only added to that desire.
Glenys had told me I could come by their place any time, but obviously she didn’t mean literally any time. She’d also added a condition: If I came by, I needed to bring Ponta with me. The little furball was incredibly popular with women and children.
Currently, Ponta sat in its rightful spot atop my helmet, letting out little yawns as the scenery changed from one teleport to the next.
The trip from Houvan to the capital normally took around two days by cart, but we could do it in just half a day using Dimensional Step. Since the land was practically flat the entire way—mostly fields, with the occasional farm or village—I had a great line of sight, allowing me to teleport long distances.
However, since this route ran straight to the capital, there was also a lot of traffic. I had to choose teleportation spots that were a little off the road and not easy to spot.
We soon came to a large river running north to south—the Lydel. The way the light reflected off the surface of the water reminded me of a silver serpent slithering through the fields.
A massive bridge spanned the river. On the far side, I could see the rounded walls—four layers deep—of an enormous city. Even from here, I could tell that the place was immense.
It was the first time I’d seen anything even approaching the scale of this city. Given how few artificial structures there were in this world, it was hard for me to describe this…monument to human achievement.
The words just slipped out of my mouth. “It’s…stunning.”
Ariane looked quizzically over at me. I just shook my head in response.
With the capital in sight, we made our way back to the road and blended into the crowd of travelers.
We’d come to Olav to gather information for our future missions. After all, it was the largest concentration of people in the whole kingdom. There were two more names on the elf purchase contracts: Lundes du Lamburt and Drassos du Barysimon, probably both men.
Even from a distance, we could easily see all of the people and carts crossing the bridge. Like the bridge in Diento, this one led straight into the capital itself. Unlike Diento, Olav contained a whole city between its third and fourth walls alone.
We crossed the bridge and found ourselves at the east gate. The walls stood at least thirty meters tall, though they looked even more massive against the surrounding plains, differing from Lalatoya, which was ringed with trees. The gate itself was about ten meters wide, allowing for crushing numbers of people and carts to come and go unimpeded. The whole scene screamed of prosperity.
There was one line for carts and another for people. Wave after wave of each were swallowed by the city as they made their way inside. Ariane joined the line for people. When we reached the front, a guard stopped us. He looked us both over quickly, but didn’t show any sort of reaction. He sounded annoyed, speaking in a flat, business-like tone as he repeated the same phrase he’d been saying all day:
“I need your papers, or it’ll be one sek per person to enter.”
I handed over two silver coins. The guard gestured toward the entrance with his chin and moved on to the next person in line. As we passed through the east gate, I had to crane my neck just to see the top of it.
We were now in Olav, the capital of the Rhoden Kingdom.
The gate opened out into a huge market, shops lining both sides of a stone road as wide as the gate that stretched all the way to the next wall. The market was filled with bustling crowds milling about the shops. The people were dressed in all manner of clothes, further adding to the excitement of the capital—the flower of the kingdom.
Ponta’s neck turned this way and that as it tried to take in all the new sights.
But I knew, as beautiful as Olav might be, any city with a population of this size was bound to have problems. It was just like they used to say: “Fights and fires are the flowers of Edo.” Up the road, I could already see a quarrel breaking out.
Two rough-looking, muscular men faced off against a single man. As far as I could tell, the two men were the instigators. The man wore wrapped cloth around his head and face, leaving only his eyes uncovered. Standing at over two meters tall—a whole head taller than even me—he easily stuck out from the crowd. The upper half of his body was bare, revealing a bronze, well-toned chest. He wore a cloak that hung from his shoulders like a cape.
Even from a distance, I could tell that there was something strange about this large man. He looked like some sort of conqueror from another century…and he gave the impression that he believed he was one, too.
“Whaddya doin’ showin’ your giant face around here, ya pufferfish?!”
The smaller man’s attempt to show how tough he was in front of the turbaned time traveler came off as pathetic more than anything else. It was probably an unspoken rule among thugs that you had to be taken seriously in an argument.
The man in the turban looked back at him as if he were a non-threatening animal, trying to continue on his way.
“Don’t ignore me, ya moron!”
Some of the other men standing around drew daggers, howling as they closed in on the man.
I heard a cry from within the crowd of watching rubberneckers at the sight of bladed weapons. The circle of people backed away to give the combatants more space.
The next sound I heard was a cry of pain from two of the thugs rushing toward the turbaned man. Right as they’d closed in, the man had their heads, one in each hand, and lifted them into the air.
“Gyaaaaagh! My head! My head!”
“Cut it out! Stoppit!”
The men cried like babies, thrashing about, but the turbaned man only tightened his grip.
The roaring crowd went silent at the terrifying show of strength. I could almost hear the men’s skulls starting to crack through the unnatural silence.
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing over there?!”
Several guards, having heard the commotion, broke through the onlookers. As soon as they appeared, the crowd dispersed like newly hatched spiders. When I turned my attention back to the fight, to my surprise, the time-traveling man had vanished. The two thugs lay on the ground, unconscious and with an awful mess between their legs.
Ariane let out a sigh as the stench washed over us, scowling under her cloak. “What a barbarous place…”
“All the easier for us to fade into the crowd.”
Ariane and I sped away from the scene of the incident as we spoke, weaving our way down the street and avoiding guards.
“First, we need to find a place to stay. Then we can split up to start gathering information.”
Ariane nodded in agreement, though she seemed displeased with all the people. “You’re probably right.”
After we’d walked a ways down the main thoroughfare, I stopped a young man to ask for directions.
“Excuse me, but could you tell me where I can find an inn?”
The man’s eyes went wide when he saw me, and he stumbled over his words. “Huh? I, umm, well…an inn, yes. For a knight like yourself, I think you’ll want to go to the second district.”
According to the young man, we were in the fourth district, where the commoners lived. The closer we got to the palace, the higher the class and wealth of the people who lived there. The first district was reserved for nobles, and it was apparently quite rare for a normal person to pass beyond the wall closest to the palace.
I offered the young man my thanks and a silver coin before Ariane and I resumed walking. The road from the east gate led all the way to the second district. We continued until we arrived at the third wall’s gate.
The third wall was only around twenty meters tall, though it was still quite impressive. Various stalls ran along it, giving the whole place a kind of old-town feeling. Two guards stood on e
ither side of the third wall’s gate, though we didn’t need to pass any type of inspection. The mood was considerably calmer on the far side of the wall, but there was still a certain liveliness due to the sheer volume of people. The wooden houses of the fourth district gave way to slightly more stylish stone houses.
Despite what the young man had said, I worried we’d stand out if we went into any higher-class areas, so we decided to find an inn here in the third district.
Breaking off from the main thoroughfare, we took a side road away from all of the shops that followed a large waterway running behind them. Gondola-like boats, filled with people and packages, meandered back and forth under stone bridges that led to the vast residential district beyond. The whole scene looked a bit like Venice.
We saw inns, bars, and restaurants as we made our way along the busy street. It was nowhere near as packed as the main thoroughfare, but it was still full of people.
“That inn looks like it could be nice.” Ariane pointed to a quaint three-story building up ahead.
We entered and reserved two rooms, though we opted to continue our walk through the city rather than turning in just yet. Now that our accommodations were figured out, it was time to gather information. Ariane and I split off in front of the inn.
Since this city was far larger than any I’d been to thus far, I decided to stick to the roads that ran parallel to the main thoroughfare to keep from getting lost. I didn’t anticipate finding anything of note if I went down the alleys anyway. At least, that’s what I told myself.
I hope it wouldn’t be too hard to locate the information we were looking for. After all, Fulish du Houvan had lived in a town bearing his own name. Maybe all I needed to do was look for towns named Lamburt and Barysimon.
I decided to ask the person who would know best—a merchant. I thought back to the route we’d taken to the inn, and returned to the stalls lining the third wall of the city. Merchants peddling everything from produce to perfume cried out toward the townspeople as they hurried past.
Many of the stalls here were selling fruits and vegetables, which Ponta eyed intently from its perch atop my head. I could feel its tail wagging through the helmet.