by Funa
To cut it off with her sword would be too cruel, and as for magic, water or fire combined with the physical energy of the tail would…
Snap!
“Oh…”
Time was up.
Too deep in thought to react in time, Mile took a direct hit from Lobreth’s tail and went flying.
“Mile!!!” the other three screamed.
The distance she flew this time was much shorter than when she had been struck by the rock lizard, and this time there was no cliffside for her to crash into.
However, a wyvern’s tail was much thinner than a rock lizard’s and supple like a whip. Therefore, the damage done by the rock lizard’s tail could not compare to the damage done this time.
Still, now was not the time to go rushing over to Mile. As long as she wasn’t dead, Pauline should be able to do something with her healing magic. Knowing this, the other three turned to face Lobreth.
Even if his opponents were female, landing some damage on them was unavoidable if it meant that he and his master could escape safely. Having come to this conclusion, Lobreth decided to finally unleash his claw strike along with his tail and his teeth, and charged at the girls brandishing all three.
Mavis bided her time in an attempt to somehow block this, while Reina and Pauline started their spells. But then…
“Water Impact!”
The silently cast spell that flew out then was not Reina’s, Pauline’s, nor (obviously) Mile’s.
The spell that was cast while the Crimson Vow were preoccupied with Lobreth had come from the suspicious old man.
It’s over! the old man thought, grinning at his spell, which had gone perfectly according to plan. Just then…
Ka-shing!
It bounced back at him.
The water spell was meant to strike the girl closest to him, the one with the big chest, and envelop both her and the others, then blow them away, knocking the fight out of them without hurting them too much. Yet just before it struck the first girl, the spell came flying back as though it had been repelled by something.
“Wh…”
“Ah, I forgot to remove that barrier…” said Mile, who, after she had been sent flying and crashed into the ground, hopped to her feet completely unharmed and ready to return to the fray.
Of course, this was Mile’s doing. Even if it was unintentional.
“Tch! Water—”
Slash!
There was no more time for that.
Reina fired off a spell to keep Lobreth in check, Mavis thwarted the tail attack with her sword, and Pauline redirected her offensive from Lobreth to the man.
And then, as the man was blown away, crashing into the ground, they saw Lobreth stiffen up with a crackling sound, and collapse.
“Bwuh… Just one hit…?”
Mile, judging that a close-range battle would be dangerous, and figuring that allowing her fellow party members to capture the wyvern on their own once was enough, had stricken Lobreth with a magical electric shock.
“Now then, what to do with them…?”
Once again they bound Lobreth, along with the mysterious man. As Reina glared at him, the man pleaded.
“I-I’m begging you! Please don’t kill him!”
Tossing another glare at him, Reina said, “If you try anything funny this time, it’s off with your heads. Both yours and his!”
The man nodded, his face pale.
None of the Crimson Vow had ever had any intention of killing the captured wyvern in the first place. Naturally, there was no sense in needless killing, and it meant more money for them if they brought it in alive.
In truth, until this man had cloistered himself away in the mountains to begin a life of magical research, he had been a fairly well-known mage. Even now, his past renown carried some influence, and the people he had aided over the course of his career still held fairly important positions in the royal palace. If he played his cards right and cooperated in his role as the mage who successfully tamed a wyvern, he could probably avoid punishment for any of his crimes. In fact, the probability of it was quite high.
But in order for that to happen, Lobreth had to be in good health. For his own sake—and because the wyvern was his good friend—Lobreth’s survival was paramount.
Transporting Lobreth by manpower alone would have been impossible, but they figured that if the man told him what to do, the wyvern would obediently follow instructions. While the man considered Lobreth to be his friend, as far as Lobreth was concerned, this man was probably more like his owner or master. So Mile undid only the wires that were wrapped around Lobreth’s legs so that he could walk on his own.
Just in case, Mile bound a thin wire around both Lobreth’s neck and the man’s, then brought Lobreth back to consciousness with awakening magic. The man whispered something or other into Lobreth’s ear, and Lobreth began walking dutifully ahead. Perhaps they had some sort of magic with which to understand each other, or perhaps, Lobreth merely had a high enough intelligence to understand human speech…
The strength of the wires was clear to the man. He recognized that, should Lobreth try to run, or make any other sudden moves, the wire would squeeze their necks, or even—because it was so thin—cut straight through them. The man had no intention of risking his life on stupid gambits with a low chance of success. The man was no fighter, after all, just a scholar and researcher.
Plus, having learned from her previous mistake, this time Mile had bound them not with the carbon nanotube fiber, but with steel wires. It was a superfine material made of piano wire, more durable than even a standard steel line. Even if fire were put to this wire, it would not be destroyed.
Of course, she still had no intentions of letting them out of her sight.
The young villager who was a little too fond of children watched as the five humans walked alongside Lobreth, who wobbled, unable to balance with his upper half bound. The young man was trembling.
Th-they’re scary! City girls are absolutely terrifying!!!
Perhaps, he would have one of the familiar village girls as a lover, after all. Women from the city were scary. However, the rough, crude ladies of his generation were also…
“Yep, I’ll just have to make friends with a little girl and raise her how I like!” he concluded.
If Mile had heard him say this, she probably would have said something like, “Are you Hikaru Genjiiiiii?!”
When the group returned to the village, they were surrounded by villagers, who, though initially petrified at the sight of the wyvern, were soon rejoicing, praising the Crimson Vow. The girls called the village elder and requested that a messenger be dispatched to the regional capital in order to bring them a transport team.
Though the royal capital was far away, the regional capital was much less so, and in order to increase his popularity by “doing things for the citizens,” the lord, who was also their client, would absolutely comply with the request. It was possible that a transport unit led by the lord himself might even meet up with them before they entered the city, so that he could lead the triumphant return through the gates. They could safely expect a bonus for capturing the wyvern alive, too.
The Crimson Vow, having achieved even more than they had set out to, enjoyed the feast provided by the grateful villagers and swiftly forgot about two things:
The suspicions they held about the existence of the demon.
And the worry in their hearts over what that demon might be trying to do…
It was still morning when the messenger set out from the village, so by the evening of the following day, a transport team arranged by the guild had arrived at the lord’s request. They would depart again for the capital early the next morning.
All of the members of the transport team were hunters, so a high-ranking guild employee had accompanied them as their lead. He seemed to be a former B-rank hunter, someone whose orders the other hunters would not go against.
The Crimson Vow were relieved to see that no commander fro
m the regional army or the like had shown up to try and steal their thunder.
On the contrary, the hunters all bowed their heads in deference to the Crimson Vow, captors of the wicked wyvern who had struck a huge blow to so many of their fellow hunters in the form of medical costs for the injured and job failure penalties. The previously defeated hunters had been forced to replace broken equipment and seen their finances go up in smoke, some of them even having to disclose their newfound bankruptcy to their families.
The hunters had wished to take a stab at eliminating the wyvern themselves, for the sake of their pride as local hunters, and regretted that they could not. However, they couldn’t be expected to take on a reckless job that might land their party members or their families in the depths of misfortune.
“Countless promising but stupid young parties ended up way in the red thanks to this thing, between having to replace their gear, get their injuries healed, and other things like that—not to mention the significant delay to their next promotions. Plus, morale was at an all-time low among us hunters and guild employees. The local villages were being attacked, and there was nothing that we could do about it. So sincerely, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for capturing this fiend,” the commanding guild employee said, bowing his head, and signing the girls’ job completion slip.
They had handed the wyvern over to the guild on the condition that it could be killed at any time, and now their job was over.
In truth, as far as the killing went, the Crimson Vow had asked the staff leader, “If we wanted him alive, what would you think about turning him over just like this?” to which he replied, “Gladly!”
Because they’d gone through all the trouble of bringing Lobreth in alive, they decided to relinquish the wyvern there, and leave the rest in the guild’s hands.
The benefits of this outweighed the risk of the wyvern escaping, or stirring up a fuss and killing someone, so naturally, everyone agreed.
Thus, the Crimson Vow had completed their job with an A-grade and the promise of a bonus for their successful capture—and without of the burden of transporting their quarry. However…
“Oh, who is that?”
Seeing the man bound beside the wyvern, the commander of the transport squad asked the obvious question.
Indeed, they had yet to tell him the tale of the mysterious man.
“I am Byrnclift. I was once in service of the palace, as a court magician.”
“Huh? A-are you that Byrnclift? The head of the royal court magicians?” the transport commander asked in surprise.
“Indeed. To think that anyone still remembers my name…”
They were humble words, but the old man’s expression betrayed him completely. He was clearly very pleased with himself.
“In truth, I was living deep in the mountains, researching ways of training wyverns not to attack people, and to understand human speech. As a result, I successfully prevented this wyvern from attacking any of the villagers that live within its hunting grounds. Unfortunately, he was still forced to employ a bare minimum of countermeasures against the people who came to attack and kill him… I thought that the results of this research might be able to be put to good use for the sake of this country, but…”
Truthfully, this man had made a request to the Crimson Vow.
“I’m going to tell the transport team the truth, so please don’t interrupt me.
“I won’t tell any lies. Once I’m finished talking, if you think any part of it is false, feel free to point it out then. Don’t make any conjectures of your own—merely present them with the objective facts, as you witnessed them yourself.”
In fact, most of the information was the same as what the man had told them himself, so they would not truly be able to dispute it.
At this juncture, there were no clear falsehoods for them to contest.
“Even though the results of my research were fairly effective, those girls there came to capture and kill this wyvern. I tried to pay them to take the wyvern off their hands, but the job they accepted took priority, they said, so we could not negotiate an exchange…
“Then, I tried with all my might to rescue him. And so, I intend to go with this wyvern and plead for his life. Please reconsider this! I thought it would be good for me to care for this wyvern, and put him to use in your lord’s service, should he be so inclined…”
Indeed, there were no lies. And now…
“That is all.”
“Huh?” The Crimson Vow were stunned at this incredibly simple explanation.
Indeed, it was all as he had said.
He had not lied.
However… somehow, the four of them felt dissatisfied with this tale.
“………”
The guild employee and the hunters looked rather concerned as well.
This was understandable. The man was talking like a would-be villain out for revenge, speaking out against the hunters who had tried to attack and kill a supposedly innocent wyvern in the course of duty during a legitimate job they had taken, risking dire physical and financial damage along the way.
“Is that all true?” the guild employee asked the girls, who could only reply, “Y-yes… There is at least nothing false in what he just told you… Even though I feel like there’s something more to it…” Reina replied, reluctantly.
The comments about Mile’s body and so forth were stories that Byrnclift had told only them, so for now, they had to uphold his request.
Plus, if he said that he wasn’t being serious, only buying time to save Lobreth, there was nothing more they could do. That they had attacked him was clear, so they would have to apologize…
Of course, interfering with a hunter’s work was still illegal, so at least they were in the right as far as that went. Normally such disputes would be handled by the parties involved, or the hunters’ guild would intervene and decide if any reparation or disciplinary action was needed.
However, in this case, the assailant was not a hunter, so the guild had no authority, and there was no choice but to leave it all in the hands of the officials. He had not done any real damage to them, so there would be minimal repercussions.
The incident, so far, was nothing more than a reason to keep Byrnclift’s movements restricted. His crimes in relation to the wyvern would have to be investigated later.
The exchange went on for a bit longer, but in the end, it was judged that Byrnclift, the former court magician, would travel along with the transport team not as a captured criminal, but as a benevolent third party.
Attacking the girls had only been for the sake of saving Lobreth, he claimed, and he had no intention of threatening, killing, or even injuring them; in fact, Lobreth had clearly been holding back, and the spell that Byrnclift had fired off was one that would have only blown them back with water, causing little injury.
Perhaps, he truly wasn’t such a bad person after all.
Besides, Reina, Mavis, and Pauline were all familiar with people like him. So, none of the three were in a position to make a strong objection to his release.
“It was only because he didn’t want to harm my body,” Mile thought to herself, but she did not voice her theory aloud.
In any case, these people were only a transport team. They did not have much authority of their own. No matter how much they said to these hunters, it would be of little use. At best, it changed nothing more than how they might treat the man while escorting him, so they decided to give up on explaining the situation to the team any further.
In the first place, most of what they knew was what Byrnclift had told them, so if he himself objected to any of it, then that was that. The fact that he had done everything in his power to rescue the wyvern was simply the honest truth. They had nothing else that they could convey to the transport team that was “an objective fact they had witnessed themselves.”
Plus, any detailed testimony that the Crimson Vow gave would be delivered to their client via the guild. In other words, they would
have to write down everything, including what Byrnclift said. If they did that, this information would certainly make it to the ears of the lord, their client, who was responsible for everything that went on in this region.
The Crimson Vow wanted nothing more to do with Byrnclift after this point, and they couldn’t bear the thought of having to share their journey with him, or take some share of the responsibility if something happened. So, they decided to separate themselves from the situation as quickly as possible in order to focus on something else. Other than the commander, who was an essential part of the operation, all the members of the transport team were active hunters, and even the commander himself was a former hunter, so there was absolutely no need for the Crimson Vow to accompany them as an additional escort.
Plus, while they had traveled here fairly swiftly, having to return while transporting a cart with a wyvern on it would take considerably more time. None of them were raring to stick along and keep Lobreth company.
The next morning, the Crimson Vow left the village a little before the transport team, headed for the regional capital.
They would feel awkward about leaving at the same time as the transport team, and then leaving them in the dust, and leaving later and then passing them would be just as bad. Therefore, they had no choice but to leave ahead of the other group.
It was then, along the road to the capital, that the four of them finally remembered that concerning piece of information from earlier.
“That demon… I wonder what he was trying to do. Really, what was he even doing in a place like that in the first place…?”
“Good point… I wonder if he was plotting something…?”
“I have a weird feeling about this…”
This time, not only Mavis, who knew a bit about demons, but also Reina and Pauline, began to feel a creeping sense of doubt.
“Well, we don’t even know if that man was telling us the truth, and anyway, it has nothing to do with our jobs. There’s no point in investigating it—or even thinking about it anymore.”