"Machine, Obey My Command!" V2 Chapter 2 - The Beautiful Allenhatem!
"The city of water and people!"
"A meeting point of history!"
Two individuals harmonized at the same time.
"The beautiful Alenhatam!"
— The two of them were posing with their arms outstretched like a pair of sculptures at the gate — Orphen only side eyed Cleao and Majic.
"What are you talking about?"
"Well,"
Cleao put her finger to her lips and started to explain,
"Isn't this nice and leisurely?"
Majic followed suit with a similar expression. Orphen sighed, then pointed at the long procession of people lined up in front of them.
"You have too much free time. I told you from the beginning, it takes forever to get into the city because of the endless stream of tourists constantly flooding into Alenhatam."
"Ahaha ... Master, you look like a father who's been forced to take the kids on a family outing on his day off."
"Keep talking, you little shit."
Orphen said to Majic with a sour look, then threw the bags he'd been carrying into his student's arms. Majic fell over under the weight of it, but Orphen ignored him and didn't bother to help.
You couldn't enter the city with a carriage, so he'd left the carriage outside the city. As a result, all the necessary luggage had to be carried by hand, especially by Orphen who until now had been saddled with Cleao's luggage, so was in a bad mood. He mumbled to himself, his naturally sarcastic face drawing even tighter.
"If you guys hadn't insisted on taking a detour—"
"What was that, Orphen?"
Cleao was wearing a plain white t-shirt and jeans that she had been strangely fond of lately. Actually, her outfit was borrowed from Majic, but for some reason it was a perfect fit. She told Majic that it was just coincedence, but Orphen knew that it was because Cleao had secretly re-sewn it.
Anyway, Cleao continued.
"Don't you enjoy traveling? Just looking out the side of a carriage isn't much of a trip."
Orphen didn't give so much as a smile.
"I didn't exactly have the intention of traveling."
"... What is this, then?"
"Did you forget? That I'm a moneylender?"
And currently in debt.
"I lend money with interest, without getting permission from the government. That way I can charge as much interest as I want and I don't have to pay taxes, but in return, I can't take it up with the authorities if a customer oversteps his or her bounds and runs away. I can't ask the police to search for the missing customer, I just have to chase them down, find them, an collect the money myself."
"It's a criminal business. I guess it's not tax evasion if you don't get taxed in the first place, though."
Cleao commented off to the side.
Orphen scrunched up his nose and continued.
"If I don't hunt down those fucking dwarfs, I'll be bankrupt. I don't have time to play around here."
What was more, when it came to his occupation the capital of any money lender was debt. If he didn't collect at least the original loan amount he'd be the one running away next time.
"But you take a monthly fee from Majic."
Cleao pointed out, as if it was paying for all of their expenses.
He smacked his hand against his forehead.
"Yeah, that's right, but do you really think it's enough for three people to eat on? — You're a young lady from a good family, and yet you're followng me around without contributing any money."
Orphen saw Cleao hide and stick her tongue out, but pretended not to notice.
"Ah, about that, should I get a job?"
While he held onto Cleao's giant bags, Majic finally got up, somehow, and caught up to them.
Orphen hid his sigh,
"Possibly. I'll think about it."
In the long run, he'd have no choice but to work.
"Wooahh—"
Soon they'd forgotten about the long wait at the entrance, and walked into the city, Cleao's mood rapidly improving. In the bustling crowd, she was looking around the city behind her. The plaza at the entrance of the large tourist city was a truly beautiful thing — a cobblestone mosaic made from dozens of brick colors, with some kind of geometric pattern vividly spreading out before her, though it was hard to tell at a glance what it was supposed to resemble. At the center was a fountain, cut from a huge monolith. On top of the large rock, which stood three meters high, there was a heroic lion, its mouth open and roaring with attitude and the body covered in a mane that was longer than its torso. Water was flowing from its body, but with the spouts well hidden it was almost impossible to distinguish where the water was coming from.
The square was filled with all sorts of people — Residents walking around, tourists, peddlers with their stands full of goods, students who had decided to spend an afternoon out, a girl selling flowers...
Cleao shook him, shouting in a loud voice.
"Hey Orphen! It's terrible!"
"What is it-"
Orphen replied, shifting his eyes from the fountain to the blond haired girl.
Cleao was pointing to the other side of the street — pointing towards the roof of a small inn, screaming.
"There's a man on the roof!"
He adjusted his gaze to where the girl was pointing, and sure enough, beyond the inn, there was a man with his body attached to a five-meter-tall pillar, and carefully looking around with binoculars in his hand. He was slowly moving forward — at the speed of a horse drawn carriage.
"... Ah, it's a sail, and the guy tied to it is a lookout."
Orphen answered lazily and yawned.
After that, Cleao came back to him.
"A sail? Like on a ship?"
"Of course, there's a canal just on the other side of that building."
"A canal?"
Cleao repeated, then suddenly clapped her hand. She seemed to have remembered.
"Ah, I see. This town has canals, right?"
"To be precise, the unloading port built at the entrance of the canal is what started the development of this town."
As he murmured, his gaze turned back to the sail slowly moving over the building. He continued to mumble, as if reciting it from a book.
"The ancient city of Alenhatam. It's the city built around a canal. It's one of the largest cities in Kiesalhima, although half of it is uninhabited ruins..."
"Still, it's more populated than Totokanta, isn't it?"
"Well, sort of. Thirty percent of the population here are tourists, if you can count that."
"Can I see the canal?"
Cleao asked, but Orphen shook his head.
"Not until we find a place to stay. I don't want to have to look all over the city for you later on, if I don't know where you are."
"Aww."
Orphen patted Cleao's sweet head.
"I'll show you around the town later, I know a bit about this place."
"Really? But—"
Cleao tilted her head curiously as she looked up at him,
"How do you know so much about this city, Orphen?"
"This is where I first took up lodgings after I left the Tower of Fang.."
— Just as he started saying that, he heard a voice from behind them.
"Master—"
It was Majic. He looked at the petite boy, who had finally reached them after being forced to carry Orphen's luggage, even if he was a little wobbly.
"What?"
While Orphen waited, Majic managed to fight his way through a crowd, somehow avoiding the people. When he finally reached them, he threw down his hands full of bags and other assorted junk.
"This is awful!"
"What's wrong?"
Orphen asked.
"You shoved all your luggage off onto me! Thanks to you, it took me three times as long to get past security at the gate, because they kept interrogating me!"
"Interrogation? Surely it was just a little check?"
"No!"
Majic stomped his feet in exasperation.
"Shouldn't a master have a little more love for his student?"
"No-"
When Orphen answered without hesitation, Majic let out a small 'what', but Orphen shrugged his shoulders and continued.
"You're not a cute girl, so why should I have to take care of you?"
"Is that so? But, no, I wanted to say, uh ... Hey, I didn't mean like, love love, I mean a man's friendship, male comradery, solidarity..."
"Hi there, young lady. How much is that flower? Will you make me a bouquet?"
"Hey! Master! Don't just ignore me and walk away! Wow, and you're not even carrying any of the luggage!"
Majic picked up his bags again and tried to catch up. By the time he did, Orphen had already received the flower bouquet shaped like a purple butterfly from the ten year old girl who'd been selling them.
Majic seemed completely enraged, yelling so loud he was spitting.
"Master! Can't you at least carry your own luggage—"
"You came at a nice time. Carry this, too."
Orphen put the bouquet of flowers on top of the heavy baggage Majic was already carrying.
"Master!"
He ignored Majic's outcry and walked down the street. In the mean time, Cleao, who had been silent until then, peeked over at him. She seemed surprised to see Orphen with a bouquet.
"... What?"
While Orphen listened, Cleao picked up the bouquet from the luggage Majic was carrying,
"... No way. I never thought Orphen would buy flowers."
"I buy flowers occasionally."
"Occasionally? Like when?"
"When I'm visiting."
Orphen said, and Cleao's face went blank again.
"What, you're not giving these to me?"
Orphen sighed.
"Why would I buy flowers for you?"
He took the bouquet from Cleao's hands as he spoke. When Cleao jumped to snatch it back he ducked around her.
Then, his back collided with Majic's. Majic, who couldn't see in front of his luggage, was caught totally by surprise, and wobbled with nobody trying to help. The bags fell all across the road.
"What are you doing, Master?..."
"Ah!"
Cleao shouted in complaint.
"My bags! Don't drop them! I have clothes and stuff in there!"
"For you to say something like that ..."
Cleao not only ignored Majic, but when she picked the bag up she shoved it back into his arms. There was some sort of muffled comment, but Majic's voice was obscured behind the bags.
"Anyway, take good care of them!"
Cleao spoke flatly before she turned around and smacked him on the lower back. She caught up to their other companion.
"So — Orphen, who are the flowers for?"
".........."
He looked back at Majic who was struggling to get up, and thought a moment. He twitched and ignored Cleao's question.
"Oh yeah, now that I think about it, they were probably discharged from the hospital by now, right? Its been three years since I lived here..."
"What, who?"
Orphen was getting annoyed at Cleao's persistence. He threw the bunch of flowers.
Cleao caught them and hugged the bouquet while he spoke.
"Fine, take them. I'm pretty sure you can eat them if you boil them."
Then he turned around and started walking down the street. Orphen pretended not to notice, but just before he turned around, he saw Cleao's face, showing clear signs of range.
"Hmph!"
Behind him, he heard the sound of Cleao throwing the flowers on the ground. He quietly looked over his shoulder. Cleao kicked Majic's feet out from under him while he was carrying a bunch of luggage. While watching Majic scream and fall over again, Orphen just kept thinking, well, that's fine.
Alenhatam. The city of water.
It was one of the four major cities that represented the human territories on the continent of Kiesalhima. There was also the kingdom of Mebrenst — Totokanta City — The autonomous city of Urban Rama and then, this ancient city, Alenhatam. Until a few hundred years ago, it was the royal capital. A canal flowed through the center of the city, and the sight of the countless merchant ships and small boats coming and going through it was one of the most beautiful sights on the continent. At the city center — formerly the aristocratic section, stood the old royal castle. Today, the castle was home to the public, and had been turned into a museum and a library.
The income of the city depended solely on tourism. In fact, every year hundreds of thousands of tourists would visit the historic city. Tourists that were young and old, who were generally impressed with the history of the city, which was rumored to exist before the first humans settled on the continent. They would then, of course, be disappointed by the high cost of souvenirs. However, this didn't deter visitors from the city, and the endless souvenir shops that continued down the boulevard were always thriving.
"Is this okay, Master?"
Orphen calmly listened to Majic, who was carrying tons of luggage.
"Is what okay?"
"What do you mean? ... I'm talking about Cleao. She looks like she's completely bent out of shape."
He discretely looked over his shoulder.
Cleao was lagging behind the two, and seemed obviously dissatisfied and pouty.
Majic turned his eyes back to Orphen and lowered his voice.
"... There's not much we can do to get her into a better mood when she's like that."
"What, am I supposed to send her flowers? With a card, too?"
"I think that'd have the opposite effect. Why do you think she got so angry?"
Majic raised his eyebrows, but Orphen shrugged his shoulders.
"It's not a big deal. Just leave it alone."
"Isn't that a little optimistic, Master?..."
While Majic was muttering, he looked around the streets — He had been walking straight down the main street for about twenty minutes. Most of the inns that were close to the city exits were for people who had to carry a lot of luggage on foot, and unless you had an exclusive contract with them it was rare for ordinary travelers to stay there. According to Orphen's notes, they should've reached the area where the inns for travelers were lined up by now.
(It's been a long time since I've been in this city...)
Orphen stretched while he walked down the streets, thinking.
(Well, I didn't want to come here, but — even if it's for selfish reasons, I guess I can't help it.)
To tell the truth, he didn't have good memories of this city. At the time he'd been completely accustomed to life at the Tower of Fang, where he lived with a group, and he just couldn't enjoy life in this town. Nevermind cooking for himself, he couldn't even buy food. And then—
"... Okay."
Orphen suddenly nodded. He cleared his throat, as if swallowing something disgusting, then signaled Majic with his eyes, though he only stared at him curiously.
"The inn has been postponed. I have somewhere else to go."
"... Huh?"
Majic raised his voice, wobbling under the excess of luggage.
"I—I'd like to put this baggage down. Any inn would be fine."
"The first steps of becoming an excellent sorcerer is building up your strength."
"I think you're pushing it a little. I haven't missed a single day of strength training."
"It's only when you work harder than you're told to that you can discover your hidden abilities."
"...You don't like me, do you, Master?"
Orphen looked back at him, but felt uncomfortable and just cleared his throat. After thinking for a moment—
"Then you and Cleao go ahead. There should be an inn with a fancy, cheap signboard about a kilometer up the road—"
Orphen was about to say something when Majic let out a sobbing sound.
"With Cleao?"
He could see her walking up behind them,
"I can't live with Cleao while she's in that kind of state. It's torture."
"Well, what are we supposed to do?"
When Orphen waited for an answer, Majic sighed with an exhausted face.
"Okay... So, where are you going?"
"The Damsel's Orisons, Alenhatam Branch."
"Damsel's Orisons?"
Majic echoed, and Orphen lightly nodded. He walked through the road of crowded people and answered.
"Yeah, though it's not as big as the one in Totokanta."
"...What do you mean?"
Majic asked. Orphen stroked his chin.
"Ah. It may be hard for you to understand, when you've never been inside the Totokanta branch, but the status of a sorcerer changes dramatically depending on where they live."
"Your ... status?"
Majic asked while fumbling with the luggage. There were so many oncoming people it was hard to keep moving forward.
"That's right. In Totokanta the Damsel's Orisons has tremendous power, right? — It's off limits to anyone other than sorcerers, and geographically, it's far from the capital, and even the king can't touch it. Moreover, the members of Totokanta's Damsel's Orisons are limited strictly to those who are one hundred percent Sorcerer."
"... Is it different in this town?"
"It's not just in this city. Rather, Totokanta is unique. Don't forget — There's at least three organizations on this continent that are out to get us. Anywhere that they have a strong presence, naturally, the status of sorcerers will fall. In the worst case scenario, that can mean anything from persecution to abuse — there are even places where we're hunted down and executed."
"T-that's—"
Majic cried out and came to an abrupt stop. Even Cleao, who was behind him heard the sound.
Orphen laughed, waving to Cleao as she approached.
"Well, it's not that bad these days. But, it's important to remember that things are never so absolute — Especially when it's your life at stake."
"Right... But, what organizations are out to get us?"
"One is the royal family."
Orphen held up just his index finger. Slowly, he started walking again.
"The Kingdom of Mebrenst — a coalition of aristocratic families based in what is arguably the largest walled city on the continent. It's far more powerful than the others, in everything from the size of its military, financial resources, and everything else. Well, the term organization may not be accurate — They're a nation unto themselves."
"Right..."
"The royal family doesn't like us sorcerers having any kind of authority — of course. The rulers don't like the idea of us, who are supposed to be ordinary people, rising to power, and more importantly, becoming dangerous to them. So, they try to divide and govern over our organization as much as possible."
"Divide and conquer, right?"
"The royal family has control of the knights... and also rules over the Fog Falls, a fortress of white magic sorcerers. The King is the only one who knows the location of the Fog Falls, and only a very limited number of aides talk about it. Of course the royal castle also has an army of court sorcerers called the Thirteen Apostles. Being called the Thirteen Apostles doesn't mean that there's only thirteen of them — the group's nearly 100 strong, and made up of unrivaled black magic sorcerers. If they brought these guys in, this city would disappear overnight."
Gulp. He heard Majic gulp down his spit. After looking over, he gently raised a second finger.
"And then, there's the headquarters of the church — Kimrak. Those who serve the Wyrd Sisters (the three goddesses of fate) on this continent. They're centered in the northern section of the continent and control all of the churches across the continent. Their doctrine has a dark and secretive tone, and to most of our people it's hard to understand, but — basically, they hate us sorcerers. There seems to be some reason for that, but I'm not sure what it is. I don't know if they even know themselves?"
"There was a church near the school where I attended. Cleao used to go there."
He cast his glance back to Cleao, who was kicking the garbage that'd fallen on the road`.
"She'd throw rocks at the window."
"... She never does anything good, does she? Geez."
Orphen followed Majic's lead and looked a the girl.
"Well, in Totokanta the church doesn't have the authority to be honest. Towards the northern part of the continent the power of the church is a lot stronger. If you want to keep your life, don't go north of the Tower of Fang. It's a bit of an open secret, but Kimrak has an assassin unit directly under their control. Some ... 'Teachers of Death' or something."
Majic frowned while he listened.
"Do people of the church put out hits on people? I don't understand."
"Really? I mean, they worship the three fates..."
"... What's wrong with that?"
Orphen grinned.
"Well, fate includes the death of all beings, right?"
After he said that, he raised his third finger, the last.
"So, third — and last, and the reason why the Sorcerer Alliance hasn't flourish in this town. What do you think it is?"
"Well... Is it another organization that considers sorcerers an enemy?"
"Nope, it's not an organization. It's a race — of dragons."
"Dragons?"
"That's right. You know that Alenhatam has a long history, right? In the legend, it's said that it existed before human beings ever appeared on Kiesalhima continent."
Majic seemed troubled, and furrowed his eyebrow in annoyance.
"... But wait, that doesn't make any sense, does it? If it wasn't humans, who lived in this city?"
"The dragons, that's who."
"What?"
Majic's voice trailed off as he looked around.
"Nobody here looks like a dragon to me."
Orphen smiled with a grin, since he knew it'd be misunderstood.
"That's because you don't know what a dragon is."
"..........?"
Majic made a funny face, but Orphen went on to explain.
"What do you imagine when you think of a 'dragon'? It's huge, scaley, maybe even has feathers, and breathes fire. A lizard king who sits on a hoard, with gold and silver gathered under its belly. Just like ... like this."
Orphen said, holding out the pendant that'd been comfortably resting against his chest as he walked. Although he had hidden the crest under his clothes since he'd entered town...
"... Yeah?"
"Generally speaking, they're different. This emblem uses a dragon as a symbol of power, and what you're imagining is exactly that, a large reptile — a dinosaur. And dinosaurs don't breath fire, and weren't interested in gold and silver treasure, they're just lizards."
"... But, the dragons that appear in legends are—"
"Yes, the legendary dragons used outstanding sorcery, had advanced intelligence and in rare occasions, they even had a language."
"So are the legends a lie?"
"No."
Orphen said with a mischievous grin.
"It's not an outright lie, more like a little distorted. Dragons! The beings we sorcerers call dragons always use sorcery. Technically speaking, though, anything that deals with sorcery is a dragon."
".........."
Majic thought about it for a moment, then asked.
"But Master, aren't you a sorcerer?"
"That's right. But I — or rather, black-magic sorcerers aren't of the dragon race."
"... I don't understand this at all."
"Well, listen. I'm not great at explaining. Let's go through the sequence of events — Before we appeared on Kiesalhima, there was no such thing as sorcery in the world. Oops — I forgot to mention, from now on, Majic, all of our abilities will be referred to as "Sorcery."
"Yes, but ... why?"
"Because calling it 'Magic' or 'Spells' changes the meaning. I've heard there are more detailed definitions, but for simplicity's sake, 'Sorcery' is used by the dragons and 'Magic' is the power of the gods. It's kind of a superstition thing."
"Super-uhhh — What's that?"
"Superstition — a savage belief. That is superstition. Anyway, in ancient times, the only power that existed was the magic of the gods. The world had the same nature and beasts that we have now. Humans, too, were only one of them."
".........."
It seemed Majic was convinced for the time being, so Orphen continued. He put the emblem back under his clothes again.
"But among the beasts, there were six races that possessed a dark wisdom. Do you remember the fountain that was in the square just before?"
"Yeah, that strange lion with the long mane?"
"That is one of the six races, the Fairy Dragons. Besides the Deep Dragons, they stole the secrets of magic, which had formerly been reserved for the gods, and turned it into sorcery that they could use. The six races at that time became what we now call the dragon race. So there are six kinds of dragons on this continent. Among those six races, there were also the celestials."
"Celestials?"
"Yes, the Nornir, also known as demi-gods or demi-humans — who we frequently refer to as "Ancient Sorcerers". It seems that they were able to handle intense and tremendous magic. Although the legend says that their race was made up of only women, I'm not sure if that's true. Anyway, they didn't look much different from us humans in appearance — they just had bright green eyes, which is a common trait of the dragon races. But, I guess that much of a difference didn't matter. The celestials became friends with humans. Well, by became friends — I mean, certain things happened."
"... What's wrong? You look like you've suddenly got something stuck in your teeth."
After hearing the comment from Majic, Orphen slowed down a little bit and started over.
"Well, to put it simply, a mixed race resulted from these two."
"... Then ..."
"You seem to be getting the idea. Yes — we human sorcerers are the result of that interbreeding. In other words, we're a mixture of dragons and humans. This is the reason that people who have no natural talent can't become sorcerers, no matter how hard they try — It's a genetic problem."
"I see."
"Athough—"
Orphen groaned awkwardly.
"Even though we're related by blood, the sorcery that we currently handle and the sorcery that the celestials used are fundamentally different."
"... How so?"
"For example, whether you're a black-magi sorcerer or a white-magic sorcerer, we use our voice, or 'spells', to perform sorcery — It's called Voice Sorcery. Our voice is the medium through which the spell is cast. So the effects of spell can't reach a place that your voice, the sound of your spells can't also reach, and the effect won't be permanent. But—"
He made a gesture like balancing imaginary weights in his hands,
"The magic wielded by the celestials use written characters as a medium — So their voice isn't required, and instead it's referred to as Wyrd (silence magic). Since the characters can be left behind, carved into metal and other materials, their effects can be somewhat permanent. Moreover, they're extremely powerful because they can weave much more complex and organized structures than words can weave into a magical structure."
"How strong is it?"
Although you could say Majic's question was pretty common place, Orphen responded with a troubled look on his face.
"... Right. Although I haven't seen a celestials using silence sorcery directly, I have seen the legacy that they've left behind activated. I've seen rings and a sword engraved with their Wyrd Graphs, including Baldanders, which that idiot Vulcan made off with. It's not something that can be handled by normal people. In the past, countless human sorcerers have tried to take possession of the power of their heritage... and failed."
".........."
Majic looked back at him with curious eyes, and muttered.
"Still, humans will never stop pursuing that power."
"Well, yeah. Neither will I—"
He gave a self-deprecating laugh.
"I'm in no position to laugh at others. Maybe it's silly to chase after that greater power, but generally speaking, that's what a sorcerer is."
".........."
Orphen spoke with confidence, but Majic didn't seem to understand, he only blinked his eyes in confusion.
(Well, that's fine.)
As he shrugged to himself, Majic asked, because he couldn't just wait around for the conclusion.
"But, why does that mean the Damsel's Orisons can't have a strong presence in this town?"
"Ah, right. I forgot. That was the point of the story — Well, the city is a city of dragon worship. There are six dragon races who can be found on this continent — Fairy Dragons, Red Dragons, Mist Dragons, Deep Dragon, War Dragons — And the Wyrd Dragons — also known as the Nornir! Normally, the belief in dragons is only found in small groups in remote areas, but Alenhatam is an exception. It can be said that this is a sacred place to the dragon faith of the continent. It's an ancient capital that was built by the celestials along with the canal a thousand years ago. Our ancestors were invited here a few hundred years ago. A fraternal relationship was established between the two, and it seemed like their cooperation would last forever. The powerless humans yearned for the powerful celestials, and this turned into faith—"
"... What happened then?"
Majic's question, as if urging him to go on, was answered simply by Orphen. The number of passerbys was steadily decreasing. They were now on a road a little further away from the tourist area.
"In the same way as the dragons stole 'magic' from the gods, our ancestors stole sorcery from the celestials. In the form of mixed blood. The celestials were horrified by this act and tried to wipe out all human sorcerers. I don't know why they were so afraid of human sorcerers. But as a result, the hunt for sorcerers continued for nearly a century in this city."
"How many people have died?"
"I don't know. However, it's impossible for a mere human with no powers to take control of a sorcerer. In fact, I imagine more of their own people were beaten back. In the meantime, the celestials disappeared from the world."
"...Why?"
"I don't know. Anyway, they just disappeared. Just one morning, all of a sudden. That was almost two or three hundred years ago. So ... as time went on, the spirit of hunting sorcerers died down. Nowadays, there's no one who openly slanders sorcerers. However, there's still some places in the current dragon faith that condemns our existence because of it. In other words, it was the existence of us human sorcerers that disappointed the Nornir so much, that they disappeared."
"... Why did the celestials hate human sorcerers?"
It wasn't meant as a literal question, and Orphen didn't answer. He felt a strange feeling rising up in his chest.
(Anxiety that those younger than you might be more powerful than yourself, it's stronger than any other kind of jealousy.)
Just like how I feel about you, Majic.
Alenhatam's branch of the Damsel's Orisons looked to be in poor shape.
There were many tall buildings in this city — especially in the residential area occupying the southern part of the city. The apartments stacked up five or six stories high, and if you glanced in the direction of the center of the city, you could see the shadows of brick squares rising up into the sky.
Then, after looking at them, and then back at the dirty walls of the Damsel's Orisons, they looked even more miserable.
"It looks like a prefab."
Majic said, and Orphen just sighed from the bottom of his heart.
"It's a repurposed elementary school. The school was moving to a new building, so they must've bought it at a low price. When I was in this town — it was a little more elusive."
As he spoke he turned around, and saw Cleao standing alone about 10 meters away. She was watching from afar and trying not to be obvious about it.
Orphen opened his mouth, getting impatient.
"Oh come on, just get in a good mood already."
Cleao ignored him and turned away to pout. Her long, blonde hair bounced softly to the side like a golden tail.
"What do you want? Are you here to apoligize already?"
Upon hearing that, Cleao turned her eyes away as if she didn't hear it, and stomped on the ground with her sneakers.
"Me, apologize? You're the one that should apologize!"
"That's ... No, what'd I even do wrong?"
"What did—"
He was about to say, when Cleao seemed to glare at him and speak through gritted teeth.
"You don't have a good reason, do you? You're just a spoiled brat who thinks if they make an angry face at every little thing, everyone around them will do whatever they want. Stop being stubborn as a child, and grow up a little—"
"...Master, that's a bit merciless, don't you think?"
"Is it?"
He answered Majic's question behind him without looking back, and Cleao's expression seemed to grow even more stubborn and angry. She bit her lip, clenching her fists by her knees as she stood there.
"I guess that had the opposite effect."
Orphen muttered.
"Did you by some chance think you were going to solve anything this way...?"
"Uhh"
Orphen nodded at Majic's voice, then turned towards the Sorcerer Alliance building. He could talk to Cleao later.
He took a step towards the building. The facility that was beyond the grounds seemed a little bare, there wasn't so much as a a kid or a cat on the premises. Orphen thought it was a little strange — Even the guard that was usually supposed to be there was nowhere to be seen.
"But, what's your business here?"
Majic stumbled after him, still carrying his bag. He scratched his nose with his fingertip.
"Well... I'm trying to put an end to some unhappy memories — and maybe some things I don't have anything to do with..."
"? Like what?"
"I wanted to visit an acquaintance of mine, but I'm not sure if she's here. When I last saw her, she was in the hospital."
"Then what makes you think she's here?"
"She's a sorcerer. There's only one place sorcerers can live in this town — That's inside the Sorcerer Alliance, with their own people."
He walked to the middle of the grounds and turned around to see Cleao standing alone at the entrance, scratching her right calf with her left foot.
Orphen thought jokingly about waving to her. She might get angry and throw a stone or two, but the girl's strength wouldn't be enough to hit him from there.
And when he lifted his right hand—
He felt a fierce presence behind him. Something coming from the Sorcerer Alliance building.
Fwoo!
Orphen felt his hair stand on end. It wasn't metaphorical, and it wasn't just a sensory thing. It was more physical—
Majic sobbed.
"Wh—What is this? Master!"
He turned around and saw just a short distance from where he and Majic were standing — a spinning tornado of swirling air around the building. Rather than a single tornado, it was like a myriad of countless strong whirlwinds. The ground was peeling up in thin layers and lifting into the sky. He could see the steel frame of something that was probably once a slide off in the corner of the grounds, bending like a straw until it broke. The poorly constructed building collapsed, as if it had just caved in.
It wasn't just airflow, either. It was a whirlwind of energy. They were — in the midst of a vortex of energy!
(Shit, I don't know what this is.)
Orphen quickly put his arm around Majic to protect him, and breathed so that the magic in his body could be activated immediately.
Finally — The turbulence of the air reached Orphen and Majic. The tornado-shaped sandstorm was gradually spreading. When a flying pebble grazed his arm, Orphen began chanting a spell.
"I spin—"
— Maybe a window broke, pieces of finely shattered glass were riding up through the wind and away from the building.
"—the armor of our halo!"
Crash! The shards of glass were blocked by the halo barrier, which created a light sound similar to a finger being run over the edge of a wine glass — At the same time, from another direction, a wooden board, maybe a billboard, hit the barrier and shattered. The dust that danced upward made a crisp, scratchy sound.
He heard Majic's horrified mumbling in the midst of these sounds.
"— What's going on?"
"I don't know, either."
While muttering, he looked towards the entrance of the grounds — and gave a sigh of relief. The unidentified tornado hadn't seemed to reach where Cleao was. The girl was stunned and staring, her face pale. The tornadoes just kept whirling around, trampling most of the grounds as if it was waiting for something to happen—
"Even if it's some sort of magic, it's impossible for one person to create such a powerful spell. I don't know how long my barrier will last—"
"W-what do we do if it breaks?"
To answer the shivering Majic, Orphen jutted his jaw out to gesture towards the corner of the grounds.
"That's what will happen."
As if responding to his words, the horizontal bar on the ground was pulled out with the base stone and flung into the air.
"N-no way—"
The wall of halos that Orphen had created was already losing its effectiveness, creating gaps here and there — Even if black magic didn't typically last long, he could keep up the barrier for a few minutes, and the power of the tornadoes was already out of control. Frightened by the sensation of his energy slowly being pulled from his body, Orphen rubbed his hands.
And suddently he lifted his gaze—
It wasn't a conscious decision, it was simply that fatigue was setting in, so his chin had turned upwards. In the middle of it all, Orphen happened to see a figure in one of the third floor windows of the building—
"..........?"
It was a strange sight. The dust raging around him prevented him from seeing them clearly, but he could definitely see the shadow of a man in the third floor window.
— No, it wasn't a man. At least, not a human man.
(What the heck is that...?)
Orphen felt a sting in his chest. It had an oddly thin body. Pale skin. Its almost hairless face had thin eyes, like a sculptor had carved out the features with a scalpel. Its mouth was slightly open and it seemed to be saying something. Although Orphen wasn't much of a lip reader, there was a time where he was forced to at least imitate it.
'All right, let's give you guys a treat—'
It seemed like maybe that was what the figure was saying.
Then the figure lifted something. The strangely thin arms were grasping a familiar old-fashioned long sword — the figure grasped it within their thin fingers. Orphen groaned, and as he watched the large sword, they shattered into pieces like glasswork.
(The Sword of Baldanders! Does that mean — that Vulcan's in there?)
The barrier broke. Then sounded Majic's helpless scream. A piece of wood flew at tremendous speed, unexpectedly appearing before their eyes—
And then struck Orphen in the temple.
"—!"
In the moment it looked like he was going to faint, but somehow he managed to still hold his ground. He pressed his hand to the wound and grit his teeth in impatience.
"That bastard! That idiot — He's not going to cause more trouble, is he!?"
Then, a part of the building's wall was torn apart by the strong winds and came flying towards them. Orphen extended his right arm and shouted in a dignified voice.
"I release, the Sword of Light!"
A flash of light flickered at the tip of his right hand, and as soon as he released the photothermal wave, the wall exploded in the air. Orphen cried out the same spell in quick succession, this time blasting away the iron bars built like a ladder. But even as he was doing so, something — probably a part of the slide— like the bolts hit him in the shoulder, and Orphen screamed and fell to his knees. A dull numbness spread over his injured right shoulder and suddenly he couldn't left his arm. It seemed like it was broken.
Orphen groaned while he held down his shoulder.
"This is bad. Shit ... If I was gonna break it I guess I shouldn't have used it in the first place."
He knew that was a dumb thought, but.
"Master!"
When he looked, Majic had fallen on the ground and was looking up at him.
"Thank you for your help, however brief it was—"
"Shut up! I'm not dying in this place!"
Orphen grabbed his student's chest with his still-working left hand, and contrary to his feelings looked around with a desperate look on his face — The air currents were so strong that he'd be thrown into the air if he tried to escape. If that happened, of course, there was no way Orphen could save himself.
"Orphen!"
He thought he heard Cleao screaming from beyond the grounds. In the middle of this tornado there was no way that he'd be able to hear her cries, but he still looked in her direction. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cleao's white t-shirt in a series of flickers, and after a short pause, the image came into focus. At that moment, the blonde girl's figure was completely in focus—
There was no sound or light. The next thing he knew, a shockwave shook the atmosphere and came crashing down behind him — like a tsunami from the direction of the building. In the midst of the completely silent impact, nothing could be heard, not even a pin drop, and Orphen realized that his eardrums had ruptured. His skin was burning from the radiant heat of the explosions erupting from within the building...
The next thing he knew, he was being blown away by the blast and rolling across the ground. His body tumbled over the sand and foolishly he wondered if this was what it felt like for laundry to be folded by an aggressive housewife. Orphen fought to keep himself in place.
— In the end, it did the trick. His body stopped rolling, but he wasn't dead yet.
"Ooowww-w-w-w-w..."
He groaned, and got up rather unsteadily. Besides his broken right shoulder there was pain coursing through his body, over and over.
"Orphen!'
"Holy shit that hurts!"
Ignoring Orphen's desperate voice, Cleao ran up to him and huged him. With a horrified look on her face she exclaimed.
"Are you okay? What is that? —Ah! What happened, your shoulder's broken!"
"Ow, Yeah — It's broken — Don't pull on it!"
When he somehow managed to chase Cleao off of him, he clung to his right arm protectively, nearly in tears.
And then, he noticed something.
"Huh? I guess my eardrum wasn't ruptured after all, if I can hear your voice. Or maybe a torn eardrum doesn't actually make you deaf?"
"?? ... Why did you think that your eardrum was torn?"
"Well ... Because I couldn't hear the explosion."
Once he answered, Orphen turned his sights to the Damsel's Orisons. Apparently he'd made it straight through the blast to the entrance of the grounds. Cleao approached, muttering in a confused voice.
"Oddly, I didn't hear anything either? I don't think the explosion made any noise."
"... What'd you say?"
Orphen observed the grounds of the Damsel's Orisons, completely unconvinced, and couldn't help but feel a strange sensation — The explosion had occurred exactly within the premesis, so precisely that it could be measured to the exact inch. The building had been reduced to rubble, and the soil in the ground had turned to scorched earth, but it stopped perfectly at the walls of the grounds, and didn't travel one inch further.
Regardless of why the explosion occurred, this meant that it'd been set off with the sole intention of destroying that facility.
That took a lot of power — and in any case, it was absolutely impossible for a black-magic sorcerer of his kind. What's more, he hadn't heard the voice casting the spell while the magic was in effect.
".........."
Orphen stared slack-jawed at the pile of rubble. Once the Damsel's Orisons, it had collapsed into nothing, not even a shadow of its former self. As Orphen watched the smoke and dust slowly get blown away by the wind, he suddenly wondered.
"Majic... is where? No way—"
Horrified, he leaned forward, towards the field of scorched earth. As soon as he took his first step, an inexplicable pain shot through his internal organs. However, even as he fought back tears and looked around the grounds, he couldn't find anything that looked like the boy's dead body.
"Uhhh..."
Cleao reached out from behind him and touched his left arm, troubled.
"Don't you know where he's at?"
Orphen heard her ask and looked over his shoulder. Cleao pointed her tiny index finger into the air.
"Wait, over there."
"Huh?"
Orphen looked up at the sky and raised his eyebrows.
"AAAHHHH!"
He clutched his head in a frantic cry. Roughly two or three hundred meters up in the sky, Majic was falling to the ground like a broken kite. He had probably been blown into the air by the blast. I hope he didn't die of shock, Orphen mumbled, then shouted.
"In my hands — Uhh — Anything will work!"
He was in such a hurry that the spell didn't come to mind easily. Of course, the content of the incantation wasn't important anyway — he just had to say something out loud, and even if it was some meaningless shout, the spell would take. Orphen raised his voice to reach Majic's position in the sky.
"Help him! Majiiic!"
... For now it seemed like his voice had reached far enough. Majic's falling speed visibly slowed. Realizing the power was supporting Majic's body, Orphen breathed and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
After several minutes Majic was finally returned to the ground, though he seemed to have passed out. Cleao was smacking his cheek to wake him up, and Orphen returned his attention back to the mountain of debris.
".... What the hell was that."
He muttered, thinking of the face of that non-human humanoid he'd seen during the last few moments of the explosion. He wondered if the explosion was caused by that man. If he was responsible, it'd be a foolish mistake to cast a spell that'd kill even himself. In which case, a moment before the explosion happened — It meant he must've used some power to escape. Hopefully, the idiot brothers Vulcan and Dortin also succeeded in escaping together...
People who had noticed the explosion were finally beginning to gather at the road, and not in a good way — there weren't any tourists in this area because there was nothing of interest for sightseeing. The people that were showing up were all residents, but none of them seemed to have much compassion. Rather—
Orphen sighed. Rather, they seemed relieved to see the Sorcerer Alliance building erased from existance.
One of the residents came towards Orphen. He didn't look that old, but he had a bald head. He looked uncomfortable at the sight of Orphen's wounded body, but he still gave him a somewhat menacing look.
"You, are you a sorcerer?"
"... That's right. I'm not from this city, though."
When Orphen answered in a subdued voice, the man responded firmly.
"I always thought that this would happen."
"...? What does that mean?"
When the man heard his question, he closed his eyes and shook his head.
"I thought that a punishment might come down like this ... Like ... a judgement by god."
".........."
Silence. Nobody spoke. The only sound was Cleao's strangely impatient voice, as she was still holding Majic's unconscious head in her hands and shaking him around.
And—
Orphen was about to open his mouth to say something back to the man when he noticed it — a groaning sound coming from the rubble. Just when he looked back at it the crowd erupted with angry roars.
Something was trying to stand up in the collapsed building. Orphen took in a deep breath as they stood up and staggered forward. At first he thought it was the pale, skinny 'inhuman' being, but—
No. It was something else.
".........."
It was a human being who stood up from the rubble. A young woman wearing a simple robe adorned by the lowest black-magic sorcerers, with black hair down to her waist. She was maybe twenty years old? And bare arms covered in scratches from pushing the rubble away. The sorceress adjusted the frame of her broken glasses, with scratches on her left ear. She was bleeding and bit her lower lip in pain. They couldn't tell if she had any grasp of her surroundings, and she took a few staggering footsteps forward, walking slowly towards them.
Her gestures clearly showed that she was refusing the help of those around her, especially from the inhabitants of the city.
The woman, who walked slowly and deliberately for the ten minutes to the entrance, got close enough that she could reach out to Orphen before finally looking up — her face completely stiff with surprise. She spoke in a trembling voice, as if she was hallucinating.
"Orphen, is that ...?"
"Steph—"
When Orphen called her name, the sorceress seemed to lose all of her strength. Her knees buckled and she collapsed — He caught her with his left arm before her body could fall, and spoke again.
"Steph — Y-you're still in this city!?"
Behind him there was a thumping noise. It was the sound of Cleao pulling Majic's cheeks, then droppng his head to the ground.
"Yeah, see, that's called sexual harassment. If you want credits, you'll have to spend the night with me."
It was night time on the road—
It was a little after midnight, so there was hardly anyone on the streets. The old capital of Alenhatam stood like a silently spinning loom in the night. The moon was bright, and illuminating the road. The civilian residential area was lined with identical brick apartments, stacked several stories high. For those unfamiliar with the city it was a strange sight, but it wasn't anything special to those who lived there. A man and woman who looked like students were walking on the road which was a few meters wide.
"What?"
The man asked. The woman shrugged her shoulders.
"So I got so pissed off that I broke the assistant professor's nose with a piece of cornerstone that was laying nearby."
"Cornerstone?"
"He's an architecture major."
Hmm, the man mumbled, putting his hand on the woman's shoulder as they walked.
And suddenly, a figure appeared in front of them.
"Heheheheh..."
"... W-What the?"
The man quickly stepped in front of the woman to protect her.
They stood and stared. They couldn't tell what it was in the dark, but it was a strange thing, standing about 130 centimeters tall. It had its arms folded and was staring at them.
The shadow slowly opened its mouth.
"You fool."
"H-huh?"
The man asked in a confused voice.
The shadow continued.
"I am the ruler of this land, how dare you block my path. You're even more pathetic than you are stupid."
"Ruler, huh?"
Both the man and the woman asked in a mocking tone.
"Exactly!"
But when he shouted with sheer confidence, he threw back the fur cloak that covered his body — revealing the scabbard of a sword hidden underneath. The person shouted again.
"Remember it well — even if you don't have long in this lifetime!"
"Ahhh! It's a thief!"
"N-no! I am—"
"Steia! I need you to hold them off while I call the police—"
"Hey! I think we've got our roles reversed! What, are you afraid of the sword?"
"Of course I am!"
"Is this what you meant when you said you'd marry me after graduation and protect me for the rest of my life?"
"It was a figure of speech!"
"Don't give me that 'figure of speech' crap... Ah! What? Did you just try to push me away so you could escape?"
"Who cares! I've known for a long time now that you're just a shrew—"
"Shut up!"
When the shadow shouted as loud as he could while raising his sword, both of them stopped talking. They swung the sword horizontally.
"Don't you dare go on about yourselves with me standing here right in front of you! My name is—"
"Shut up, it's midnight!!"
Suddenly there was shouting from the upper floors of the apartment, and the next moment, bam! — a falling tulip pot struck the shadow. The figure then toppled over like a sack of potatoes.
".........."
The man fearfully peered at the fallen figure with the flower (which was miraculously unbroken) on his head.
And — then he jumped up like a spring-loaded toy.
"Who the hell dropped that flower pot?!"
"A-Ah! Monster!"
The man screamed and ran away. Soon the woman chased after him, screaming for him to wait a minute.
All that was left was the one street monster with the flower pot on his head. He picked up his sword, which he had let go of when he fell.
"Damn... These days, people don't know how to relax. I'll kill them by clogging their toilet with toilet paper."
His mumbling was incoherent.
A second figure similar to him appeared from the corner of the road. He was completely wrapped in a fur cloak, the moonlight reflected on his glasses like giant eyes. The latter sounded more tired.
"Are you okay, brother...?"
"What?"
"N—no, just, the flowerpot..."
"Well."
He didn't know quite what his brother was talking about, but he seemed to be OK. Of course, the skulls of the local people weren't quite so thick.
His eyes were dazzling in the light.
What's the point of doing this, brother?"
"Hmph. You may not understand this, but to be the ruler of the world, you must first make your name known to the world!"
"By attacking couples on the road at night?"
"... This is only the first thing I'm going to do!"
The guy holding the sword turned his head and dropped the flowerpot onto the ground. Surprisingly, the flower pot, full of hardened soil, shattered easily.
"Call it a hunch — but the newfound power I've acquired will allow me to rule the world! Then it'll be easy to erase that moneylending sorcerer!"
"Somehow I doubt that..."
"I'm just not used to the power yet!"
The shadow shouted and beat the other with his sword.
He stomped on the tulip that'd fallen to the ground.
"But if I can figure out how to control that thing, I'll be the ruler of the continent by tomorrow! Then I'll be the ruler of the world! And anyone who stands in my way will be killed with duct tape!"
But, as he stood there with clenched fists, a flowerpot exploded against his head again. This time, instead of soil, it was filled with stones.
"I told you to shut up!"
But Vulcan couldn't hear them anymore. He slowly spun and his eyes turned white. He stared dead ahead then fell to the ground.
After that, it was just those two figures. In the moonlight, the beautiful streets of the ancient city of Alenhatam glimmered.
Table of Contents
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Guardian of the Treasure The Beautiful Allenhatem! A Challenge From Volcan Basilicok Then - He Accepted His Master's Orders |