Crimson Magic Clan, Let’s & Go!!

by Natsume Akatsuki

  “…What’s that?” I said warily.

  “Hee-hee. Surely, a man like you at least has an inkling? Perhaps the name will give you a hint—it’s called a ‘barrier breaker.’”

  I put two and two together in a hurry. “So that half-assed infiltration effort was an attempt to steal the weapon.”

  “Ah, I knew you would figure it out. This place is supposed to house a magical weapon of unimaginable power. And from what I hear, it has some special property that makes it especially dangerous to the people of this village.”

  Wh-what kind of weapon could that be?

  “Yeah, but from what I hear, there’s a special seal on this place that no one can break. And nobody knows how to use the weapon anyway.”

  “Oh really? Well, not to worry. The barrier breaker I have here is an especially strong one, even by demon standards. Even a seal placed by the gods themselves would— Huh? Th-that’s strange…” Sylvia, crouched in front of the storehouse, sounded confused. “My barrier breaker isn’t showing any reaction! What is this? This isn’t a magical seal at all! N-now what do I do…?”

  Sylvia was giving her item a dirty look. From beside her, I peeked at the so-called seal. It was a touch panel for entering a code, with alphabetic and numerical keys, as well as direction buttons like on a game pad. On the top part of the touch panel were words I recognized.

  “‘Ko-nami Command’…? Does it want you to enter the Konami code?”

  “Y-you can read this ancient writing?!”

  I didn’t know what she meant by that. It was just regular Japanese. And the “Ko-nami Command” was just the Konami code.

  “It’s not ancient. This is how they write where I come from. It wants you to enter a famous cheat code, the Konami code, as a pass—”

  I tried to cut myself off before I could say any more, but Sylvia grabbed my hand.

  “You are an even better man than I thought. Are you saying you know the secret to cracking the seal that has thwarted even the Crimson Magic Clan and me?”

  “I—I may be a pretty crappy adventurer, but still… Do you think I would really spill my guts to the Demon King’s army that easily? You saw that Arch-priest with me. She can use resurrection magic, so nothing you can do can scare—”

  “There are more ways to make a man talk than to scare or torture him. Hee-hee. My talents as a lover have been lauded as every bit as pleasing as those of a succubus. How long do you think you can endure my ministra—?”

  Before Sylvia had finished talking, I’d punched in the code.

  There was a mechanical rumble, and the heavy door began sliding open.

  “…Are you sure you can live with yourself after that?” Sylvia said. “Well, never mind. I don’t have time to waste anyway. It’s so dark in here—I wonder what’s waiting for us.” She was trying to ready a light.

  She had her defenseless back to me. I might not have had a weapon, but didn’t she seem just a little too trusting? Although with nothing but my bare hands, Drain Touch was about the only attack I had available to me.

  “Hmm? I wonder if I dropped it when I was running away. Well, shoot. I can’t see very well when it’s completely dark like this…”

  Then it hit me. In this situation, there was no need to fight. I snuck up behind Sylvia.

  “I’m sorry, but do you have a light or—”

  I wasn’t really listening to what she was saying.

  Thump.

  “Huh?”

  I shoved her straight into the pitch-black storehouse.

  2

  “?! …! …!!”

  I could hear Sylvia shouting indistinctly from the other side of the door, which was now safely closed again. She was pounding on it, too.

  “Kazuma! Are you all right?! Where’s Sylvia?!”

  I turned around and saw Megumin and the others running up from behind me. I saw the familiar faces of Yunyun and Bukkororii, too—Megumin must have gone and gotten them.

  “You guys missed all the fun. My brilliant idea means Sylvia is now trapped inside. It doesn’t look like you can open it from the inside. Give her a month or so to cool off, and I bet she’ll calm down.”

  Megumin seemed to be listening to the faint, enraged voice from within, then said, “Y-you locked her in?! Well, I suppose the weapon won’t work, seeing as no one knows how to start it. But I’m amazed Sylvia was able to break the seal.”

  …I decided not to mention that I was the one who had gotten her in there.

  “Y-you’re going to leave her to starve? I know she’s the Demon King’s general, but don’t you think that’s a little bit too much?” Darkness seemed to feel real pity as she listened to the hammering from inside.

  “Sylvia escaped us more than once—and you got her!” one of the Crimson Magic people said. “Well done, outsider!”

  “These people have gotten the better of three different generals of the Demon King already. I guess Sylvia was no match for them!”

  While the gathered Crimsonites heaped praise on me, Aqua said, “Hey, Kazuma, isn’t there supposed to be a really dangerous weapon in there? Are you sure we should leave her with it?”

  The Crimson Magic Clanners were quick to respond.

  “Heck, even we couldn’t figure out how to use it. What’s Sylvia gonna do in there?”

  “Yeah, if she manages to use that weapon, I’ll do a lap of the village on my hands!”

  “Now, then! Who’s up for a drink?!”

  “…Hey,” I said. “What is it with these people? Are they saying that stuff on purpose? Does the Crimson Magic Clan go looking for trouble? Can they never be satisfied until they’ve tripped every flag they can think of?”

  “W-well, I will not deny that my tribe likes to get itself into trouble. But don’t worry. It’s quieted down in there. Perhaps she ran out of oxygen.”

  I hadn’t noticed until then that all the spitting and cursing from inside the bunker had stopped. I had to admit it gave me a bad feeling—but what could be wrong, huh? I mean, it was common knowledge that no one could work the weapon in there…

  “Hrm?” Darkness said, shuffling her feet. “Kazuma, does the ground seem a little shaky to you?”

  “Whoa! This is trouble! I’ve got a bad feeling! I think we’d better get out of h—!”

  “Aww, what’s the rush, Kazuma? We defeated another general of the Demon King. Hey, I know you kind of took care of this one on your own, but we’re a party, so— I mean, you’ll share the reward, won’t you? Right? Heh-heh! I wonder what I’ll buy with the reward for Sylvia!”

  The sight of the increasingly giddy Aqua convinced me that something was definitely, for sure about to go terribly awry.

  “Why does it have to be a flag with you every single time? Hey, Megumin, Darkness! Pull out! In fact, ask the Crimson Magic people to teleport us back to Axel right n—”

  Even as I spoke, the earth seemed to swell up, and suddenly we found ourselves in a cloud of dust. And there in the hazy moonlight was…

  “Ahhh-ha-ha-ha-ha! You really put one over on me, boy! Did you think walking out with that weapon was our only goal? My name is Sylvia! And as you can see—”

  The lower half of her body looked like a massive metal snake.

  “—I can merge anything, weapon or whatever, with my body! I am the Demon King’s general, the one and only Growth Chimera, Sylvia!”

  She gave a triumphant holler.

  “Mage-killer! She’s got Mage-killer!”

  The Crimson Magic Clan people began screaming.

  Mage-killer?

  “Eeeyiyiyiyiyikes! This is bad, Kazuma—this is very bad! Let us get out of here, right this minute!” Megumin, pale-faced and lacking any of the bravado she’d shown just a few minutes earlier, was tugging desperately on my sleeve.

  Wait a minute. I’d seen how powerful these Crimson Magic wizards were. Surely, they had some kind of trump card—?

  “Gah! Not Mage-killer!”

  “Forget the village! There’s no hop
e!”

  “Teleport!”

  Or not.

  “Megumin, tell me what is going on here! What’s this Mage-killer? Is it dangerous? Is it the weapon that might destroy the world?!” I shook her violently, keeping half an eye on the fleeing wizards. Megumin had never been much for adversity…

  “The weapon that might destroy the world? No, that’s not it…! But Sylvia has merged with Mage-killer, which is almost as dangerous…!” This explanation came courtesy of Yunyun, looking every bit as pale as Megumin. “Mage-killer is the age-old foe of our Crimson Magic Clan—an anti-wizard weapon that’s totally unaffected by magic!”

  Well, crap.

  3

  We evacuated with the other Crimson Magic Clan members to the Devil’s Hill, the one so popular with couples. From there, we looked out over Crimson Magic Village, now engulfed in flames.

  “Our village… It’s burning…”

  I looked toward the source of the voice and saw a girl wearing a bandage over her eye like Megumin, watching sadly from the hill, as if fixing the image in her mind.

  In the village, Sylvia, in her lamia-like form, had spewed fire from her mouth to turn the village crimson in another sense. Many members of the Crimson Magic Clan were capable of using Teleport, so there were no human casualties. But flames continued to devour the buildings of the village.

  It hurt my heart to see it. Was it because I had broken that seal? But what choice did I have? And everyone had told me that nobody knew how to use the weapon or even start it…

  “How in the world did Sylvia manage to break that seal, anyway?” I twitched at the voice. “Maybe she had a barrier breaker. But those aren’t supposed to work on this seal…” As the voice continued, I surveyed the burning village, my heart pounding.

  “Whatever the case,” the village chief said with a grim look, “our only choice now is to abandon the village. I hate to let the Demon King win, but as long as we’re alive, we can start again.”

  …Oh man. Things were looking really rough here. Was it all my fault? Was it because I had been so eager to get rid of the seal?

  “H-hey, Megumin, can you really not do anything about Mage-killer or whatever you called it?” I said, agony in my voice.

  “As I told you, Mage-killer is—as its name implies—an anti-wizard weapon. Magic has practically no effect on it. Once long ago, someone went on a rampage using it, and it is said that our ancestor was somehow able to destroy it using the weapon that is now kept in the underground storehouse. Since it was there, we decided to repair Mage-killer and seal it back up down there as a memento…”

  “Why would you deliberately keep something so dangerous, and for such a dumb reason? …Wait a second. Did I hear you say that you have a weapon that can counter Mage-killer?”

  It was the obvious strategy. If you were going to use poison, you’d better have an antidote. They were keeping a way to destroy Mage-killer on hand, just in case. The ancestors of the Crimson Magic Clan must have decided to keep the weapon around, on the chance Mage-killer ever needed to be destroyed again. So if we used it…

  But Megumin apparently read my thoughts. “…Kazuma. Nobody knows how to use this weapon that’s supposed to be able to stop Mage-killer. We do possess a text that should explain how to operate it, but even our village chief can’t decipher the letters…” She kept her eyes fixed on the burning village.

  This was the Crimson Magic Clan, known for their intelligence. I was sure they had given this a lot of thought. If magic didn’t work on this thing, then honestly, I didn’t have many cards to play. I could see Sylvia, transformed into something resembling a giant metal snake, tiny in the distance. If she wrapped those coils around anyone but Darkness, they would be crushed instantly.

  …There just wasn’t anything we could do.

  At that moment…

  “Hmm… Then I will play the decoy to draw off Sylvia. If I have the backing of some of the Crimson Magic wizards, she won’t be able to do me in so easily.”

  This idiotic proclamation came, of course, from our resident muscle head.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked. “Don’t you understand that there’s nothing we can do here? Are you just stupid? Even goblins know to stay out of a fight they can’t win. Are you dumber than a goblin?”

  “I-I’m going to have a few bones to pick with you when we get back to Axel! You’ll pay for all these nasty things you’ve said to me! I’m telling you, I have a plan here.”

  …A plan?

  “While I’m distracting her, you and Aqua sneak into the storehouse Sylvia demolished. You can both see in the dark, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Then bring out that weapon.”

  “…Did you not hear the part about nobody knowing how to use it? Have you even been listening to anything we’ve said?” I asked in exasperation.

  “Of course I’ve been listening,” Darkness said, “and before you ask, I understood it all, too. But if we can figure out how to work the weapon, maybe we can do something. If there’s any chance at all, then it’s better than standing here, twiddling our thumbs. Don’t worry—I don’t know what exactly this weapon is, but as the daughter of nobility, I know much about magical items. I once broke my father’s magical camera and put it back together, you know.”

  I had to admit, it wasn’t what I’d expected from Brawn for Brains. I stood there reeling with surprise.

  “…That is a good idea,” Megumin said. “Let us try it.” This surprised me, too. I would have expected her to be more opposed than anyone.

  “I’ve always liked a good high-stakes twist!”

  “Yeah, my favorite thing! For outsiders, you sure seem to understand a lot about us!”

  Not just Megumin, but all the Crimson Magic people seemed to be getting on board. Darkness’s idea seemed to play right to them. Normally, I would have had no part of something so dangerous, but I couldn’t get the girl with the bandaged eye out of my mind.

  Dammit. Fine. I would just go in there, get the weapon or whatever, and get out. If that was what it took to clear my conscience…!

  “Hey, there’s a general of the Demon King running amok in that village! Count me out! I’m a support type; I do my work from nice, safe places like this hilltop!”

  “Oh, shut up and come with me! I’m not finding that thing on my own.”

  And so I dragged Aqua, kicking and screaming, toward the underground storehouse next to the mysterious building…!

  4

  In order to draw off Sylvia, the Crimson Magic wizards attacked her with magic from afar. When she got too close, they would widen the distance again before returning to the assault. But magic really didn’t affect her, and they were doing no damage.

  “Resistance is futile. Haven’t you had enough? I thought you all were supposed to be smarter than this,” she taunted them, coiling her metal body. Now that she finally held the upper hand, Sylvia seemed intent on tormenting them to let off her anger. But for all her jeering, she wasn’t able to get close enough to the wizards to land an attack, and she seemed to be getting tired of it.

  She moved awfully slowly—maybe she wasn’t used to her new snake body yet. She turned toward a group of wizards and took a breath. Her eyes were filled with death and hatred, and she breathed out a stream of searing flame. But instants before the fire enveloped them, one of the members of the group chanted a spell.

  “Teleport!”

  And they simply disappeared.

  The groups combined teleporters and attackers, with the teleporters preparing their chants ahead of time so the spell could be invoked at any moment.

  Sylvia, infuriated by her prey’s escape, turned her eyes on a lone girl. She was the closest one to Sylvia, but Sylvia hadn’t been able to focus on her during the magical drubbing. Now she gave chase. Apparently, she’d decided to take the wizards out one by one.

  A man watching this from afar gave a scream. It was Bukkororii, leader of the anti–Demon King strike patrol.

  “S
-Sylvia, stop! I beg you! Don’t lay a hand on her!”

  Sylvia’s quarry stood with a wooden sword in hand, drawing a bead on her enemy. I thought I recognized her. Hadn’t she been using really powerful magic to fight the village’s attackers alongside Bukkororii? She must have been his girlfriend or something.

  Bukkororii had fallen to his knees imploringly, looking at Sylvia and the girl who faced her. Hearing his pleas, Sylvia broke into a grin of unbridled joy.

  “This from the ones who so gleefully murdered my own minions. Consider this payback! Oh, but don’t worry. I won’t stop with this girl. I’ll kill you and your family! I will burn this village to the ground! …Now prepare yourself!”

  Sylvia ignored Bukkororii’s howl, closing in on the girl. After being at the mercy of the Crimson Magic Clan for so long, she was finally going to be able to get her revenge.

  The girl holding the wooden sword flashed a brave smile and called out to Bukkororii, whose expression was growing darker by the moment. “Run… At least one of us should escape. I shall expend the last of my strength against Sylvia so that you can flee!”

  Aww, for crying out loud! I break that seal to save myself, and now people are getting hurt…!

  Sylvia stood ready to attack. The girl stared back at her with intense resolve.

  “I’ve still got an ace up my sleeve, Sylvia! Take a good look! And…” She glanced over at Bukkororii, and the most fleeting of smiles crossed her face. “Please, Bukkororii… Forget about me. Live your life; be happy…”

  “Soketto, how could I ever?! Please, Sylvia, stop this! Soketto, I l—!!”

  Geez, that’s enough! Enough already…!

  “I like a girl with spunk. Show me this ace of yours! No magic can hurt—”

  “Teleport!”

  As Sylvia shouted, the girl called out the word and disappeared. At that, Bukkororii, who had looked like a broken man just a second before, stood up, brushed himself off, and gazed calmly at Sylvia.