Book Eater

Chapter 43: Return Home After Five Years (4)

Theo decided to focus on recovering his magic power. Their encounter with the undead had been closer to the Miller Barony than the Teheran territory. He would be able to see the fields he’d played in as a child as soon as they crossed a few more hills. If his home was in danger, he would need all his magic power. It would be best if he didn’t need to do anything, but it never hurt to be prepared.

Rattle!?

Theo felt the carriage crossing the apex of another hill.

That’s the fourth one. There’s only one left.

Theo had kept an ear out as he meditated. He knew that there were five hills between the border and the Miller Barony. When they started up the last hill, Theo opened his eyes. His magic power hadn’t completely recovered, but it was good enough.

Sylvia sensed him coming out of meditation and opened her eyes too. “Theo, have we arrived?”

He nodded. “Almost. Sylvia, wait inside the carriage until I give the signal. I don’t know if anything will happen, but I’m getting a bad feeling.”

Sylvia asked, “Signal?”

Theo stood up. “I will knock on the carriage roof three times like this.”

He knocked loudly on the ceiling of the carriage. It was loud enough to be noticeable even if the surroundings were noisy. Sylvia nodded, and Theo opened the door of the carriage while it was still moving.

Huuuuong!

The wind was strong enough that Theo would be seriously injured if he fell. He cautiously clambered onto the roof of the carriage using the decorations on the door.

“Uh!” Theo’s body wasn’t disciplined enough to stay balanced on top of a moving carriage.

He hurriedly used Cling, a 1st Circle binding spell, to glue his shoes to the roof and only stood up once his legs were firmly affixed. Moments later, Theodore’s expression contorted.

“Damn! Dammit!”

His eyes, shining with Hawkeye, spotted black smoke curling up from beyond the last hill. He could also detect a nasty scent on the wind. He recognized it as the stench of bodies that were being burned. What was happening beyond the hill?

“Mister! Please move faster!” Theo yelled.

“Yes! U-Understood!” The driver was startled and hastily whipped the horses.

The carriage jolted forward as it crested the fifth hill and landed roughly. If Theo hadn’t used Cling, he would’ve been thrown off. But Theo didn’t care as his eyes stayed fixed on the smoke. As he followed it down to its source, he was determined not to be shaken by the devastation. They would always be able to rebuild.

But when Theo found the origin of the black smoke, he was taken aback. It seemed that the carriage was now rocketing down the hill and into another battlefield.

Waaaaaah-!

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A group of warriors were fiercely battling the undead. There was quite some distance between the carriage and the battlefield, but he could still feel the heat of the battlefield. From what he could see, the warriors weren’t losing, but neither were they winning.

Warriors? Here? How?

As someone who had been born and raised in the Miller Barony, Theodore couldn’t fathom where these warriors had come from. He knew that his hometown had no troops. There would be the occasional posse of farmers who styled themselves militia, but they had never been properly trained.

There was no way they could pull off defensive formations like the warriors in front of him now, nor kill undead with such ruthless efficiency. Most importantly, he didn’t recognize any of them.

“... Mercenaries.” Theo muttered, “And they seem quite decent?”

The mercenaries seemed skilled both as individuals and as a group as they dealt with the undead. They hamstrung the undead first with ranged weapons before finishing them off with blunt weapons. Theo wasn’t familiar with melee tactics, but the mercenaries seemed to move smoothly between offense and defense.

He didn’t know why these mercenaries were protecting the Miller Barony, but he wasn’t going to waste this opportunity. The undead were being admirably tied up by the mercenaries, so the villages in the vicinity were safe.

Theo shouted to the trembling coachman, “Mister Driver, stop for a second and head to the village first!”

The driver gulped, “B-But Magician...”

Theo interrupted, “Don't worry, and just do it! Quickly!”

As the driver pulled back on the reins, Theo stamped on the roof thrice. Sylvia quickly got out of the carriage, and Theo leaped down to join her. The driver quickly started to speed away from the battlefield. Theo and Sylvia watched it veer into one of the nearby villages before turning to the battlefield.

The mercenaries were still holding their own against the undead, but they would eventually run out of stamina. Once that happened, the delicate balance of the battlefield would tip and they would eventually be annihilated. Of course, that was on the assumption that Theodore and Sylvia did nothing.

Theo cleared his throat. “Then, shall we begin?”

Sylvia nodded. “Yes.”

The two magicians roused their magic power as they prepared their spells. A magician was strongest when they had some distance. No matter how much time and money a warrior had, they were limited in how much they could prepare for battle. However, a magician’s resources in battle were directly tied to how much time they had to prepare. Theo also had a means to use preparation time more effectively than other magicians.

Memorize. Three Slots Open. Triple Fire Arrow.?

The sudden appearance of a fiery night sky alerted the mercenaries.

“Wow, w-what is that? Fire arrows?”

“Fire Arrow?! Magicians!”

“Are you friend or foe? Tell us!”

“If they were enemies, we’d be dead, you moronic bastard!”

The mercenaries continued bantering even as they fought. They didn’t seem frightened at the sight of over two hundred fire arrows in the sky.

One beat later, Sylvia’s magic was completed.

“Icicle Arrow.”

The formula for the 2nd Circle magic was simplicity itself since it only took a single beat to gather moisture. However, Sylvia had reached the 5th Circle and her sensitivity was far above Theo’s, so the spell’s magnitude was a whole level above a normal Icicle Arrow. Over two hundred ice arrows appeared next to the fire arrows.

The mercenaries’ jaws dropped. “…”

There were at least five hundred magic arrows floating above them. It was enough to obliterate the mercenaries twice over. A chill went down their backs as they realized the arrows seemed to be pointed in their direction. They had never expected to face this kind of battle when they decided to defend the villages.

After a moment of silence, the arrows arced through the sky and landed on their targets.

Dudududududu!

The solid and heavy ice arrows rained down a quarter of the battlefield and punched holes into the undead bodies, breaking bones and tearing rotten flesh until the undead were completely destroyed. The other quarter of the battlefield was just ash, drifting gently in the wind as the undead simply vaporized under the fiery onslaught.

The mercenaries cheered as the two magicians wiped out half the undead with their opening salvo.

“Okay, they are allies!”

“A magician’s spells are the best backup!”

“Hey! I’ll buy you a drink when this is over, so don’t go anywhere!”

“Oi you bastards, this isn’t the time to relax. Any kids who fall now won’t be allowed to rest easily for the rest of their lives!”

The battlefield that had been inching toward an undead victory had been completely transformed by Theo and Sylvia. The mercenaries were swift in taking advantage of the situation and pushed forward to keep the undead tied down, allowing Theo and Sylvia to launch more attacks easily. It was the ideal situation for war magicians to display their prowess.

Theo concentrated. “Fireball!”

Sylvia followed his lead. “Me too, Fireball.”

Kwakwakwang! Kuwang! Kwaang!

Scorching hot magic swept through the undead ranks, alleviating the mercenaries’ burden. Magicians and mercenaries have always worked together as a team in battles. They could cover each other and relieve pressure on the other by continuously attacking their enemies. This was how magicians had come to dominate the battlefield.

***

The undead seemed to be countless, but after an hour of battle, the mercenaries began to shout in relief.

“Sunrise! The sun is rising!”

“These guys are going back! Don’t get caught up and maintain the formations!”

The shouts broke Theo out of his casting trance. He looked to the east and saw the horizon gradually brightening. The undead could still move under the sun, but they would be greatly weakened. So they would instinctively try to hide.

Indeed, the undead were starting to turn around.

As Theo watched them return to the mountains, he muttered quietly, “The worst is over for now.”

Theo started to calm his breathing. He hadn’t expended much stamina, but casting magic continuously had taken a toll on his mental strength. Sylvia was also leaning against a nearby tree and breathing hard. They were exhausted, and their senses dulled, which explained why their reaction was one fatal beat late.

Kkieeeek!

The screech of an apex predator rang in everyone’s eardrums as an intermediate flying undead swooped down from above the mercenaries.

Theodore cried out as he recognized it, “Wyvern?!”

It was a Ghoul Wyvern! There were no wyvern habitats in this area, nor was it an undead which could be made from the monsters nearby. If the warlock had undead from other regions, why had they unleashed them on this tiny village?

Theo had no more time to think, as the ghoul wyvern dove toward him and Sylvia.

It’s fast!

The ghoul wyvern seemed more intent on plastering itself over the landscape than actually executing an attack. It was clear the wyvern intended on crushing them instantly with its heavy body. If the two magicians tried to avoid it, it would immediately correct its flight path.

They could try and block it, but they only had three seconds to react.

Blaze Shell interception—no, too late!

There was no time. Theo unleashed the Triple Barrier skill. He had recently acquired it from the Protection Bangle artifact that he’d been awarded. The artifact’s triple layered shield was said to be able to withstand 5th Circle magic, but there was no telling whether it could withstand the impact of a full grown wyvern’s suicidal dive.

The shield activated, but it seemed too thin and flimsy in front of the massive wyvern. Theo and Sylvia felt despair clutch at their hearts as they intuitively sensed their imminent demise.

At that very moment, a man appeared between them.

“What? You are still children.”

He had thick golden hair and wore shabby chainmail. There were two ornaments clinking at his waist as he casually glanced over Theo and Sylvia. The falchions he held in both hands gleamed in the dawn. He looked markedly different from the other mercenaries.

It happened in an instant. One moment, the wyvern was diving toward them, and the next, the man was in the air.

Chwaaaaak!

The wyvern’s body neatly separated into pieces as it splattered around Theo and Sylvia.

“... Eh?” Theodore and Sylvia hadn’t even been able to see what had happened.

The ghoul wyvern had been slashed apart in a flash. They had barely been able to catch the man’s arms moving. Theo could only assume that each arm had moved six times in that instant after quickly glancing over the wyvern’s remains.

It was the technique of a first-class swordsman.

“Hey, I finally got this annoying guy,” the man said cheerfully as he kicked the ghoul wyvern's head. He glanced at a stunned Theo and Sylvia. “It never came down, so I never got a chance to kill it. I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but I really appreciate your help.”

Sylvia still hadn’t recovered, so Theo stepped forward first and spoke in a courteous tone, “... We just did what was needed.”

Theo was absolutely sure that this man wasn’t a mercenary. Even a knight couldn’t have pulled off something like that. If he fought this man, he would die before he got a syllable of a spell out.

So, Theodore decided to reveal his position first. “My name is Theodore, an investigator sent by the Magic Society. This is my colleague, Sylvia.”

“Ah, hello.” Sylvia looked at the gory scene around them apprehensively before bowing slightly.

A smile flashed across the man’s face, like he thought she was cute, then it disappeared. There would be no more personal feelings for the next conversation.

“Introductions are in order, then,” the man said as he smoothly sheathed his falchions. “We are the Wandering Wolves mercenary company, hired by the lord of this village. I’m the captain, Randolph. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to check your identities first.”