The Mountain Path to the Wizard Kingdom
As we walked along the highway, we took a break for lunch before continuing our journey on the mountain path in the afternoon. The road was wide and well-maintained, flanked by a lush forest. According to Rash, it was built to accommodate carriages, which is why it was so spacious. When transporting goods, A-Rank Adventurers from the Wizard Kingdom always accompany the caravans as guards, ensuring that there’s no danger from the monsters lurking nearby. He proudly explained how the safety of the road from Port Platz to here was guaranteed thanks to the Wizard Kingdom. Even as a child, he seemed to be a top-class user of Illusion Magic in the Wizard Kingdom.
Though I still wondered if it was really safe to let a child wander outside in such a tense atmosphere, my concerns were somewhat alleviated. However, I recalled that he had mentioned that Illusion Magic was completely ineffective against Golems, so the danger still remained.
“If you’re saying that, then you two are just kids too,” I retorted cheekily.
Just as I was about to argue that I was older than him, Roel always intervened to mediate. It seemed I had a hard time dealing with younger kids like Platiu and Rash. Still, it was true that I had been momentarily confused by Rash’s illusions. The monster that attacked us earlier had started attacking in the wrong direction as soon as it fell under Rash’s spell. I could generally guess what the monsters were being shown, and since our experience had been so realistic and extensive, I believed it posed a significant threat to our enemies. However, it seemed there were drawbacks; Illusion Magic didn’t work on monsters that weren’t biological, like Golems. Since I wasn’t very skilled in magic, the more I heard, the deeper it seemed.
“Can’t you use magic, Lua?” Rash asked.
“I can use some fire, lightning, and water spells, but I haven’t used them much lately,” I replied.
“I see. My grandpa said that magic is more dependent on talent than swordsmanship. Apparently, it has to do with the amount of magical power you’re born with and your sense for it.”
“Your grandpa? Could it be Sage Hast?”
“Lord Hast. Once you enter the Wizard Kingdom, don’t ever call him by just his name. I usually call him Lord Hast too.”
Sage Hast was apparently a respected figure in the Wizard Kingdom and had been entrusted with the education of the current king. It seemed that the king couldn’t stand up to Lord Hast, and even now, when he was scolded, he would shrink back like a child. Anyone who aspired to master magic aimed for the pinnacle that was Lord Hast, and I had heard stories of adventurers who made light of him being beaten up. It was clear that even Yuyu respected Lord Hast. I wanted to believe that Rash was exaggerating about the beatings.
“But if he’s that amazing, he should be able to easily take down a Golem, right?” I mused.
“Yeah, I thought so too,” Rash agreed.
“My grandpa can’t push himself too hard because of his age… He keeps saying, ‘If it were in my prime, I could have wiped them out,'” he lamented.
Yuyu had mentioned being a hundred years old, and it might not have been too far from the truth. A hundred years was an unfathomable amount of time to me. If someone lived that long, they would naturally know a lot.
“Alright, we’ve arrived.”
By the time we saw the tall walls and gates surrounding the Wizard Kingdom, the sun was beginning to set. If it were just Roel, I could have carried her on my back and run faster, but with Rash here, I didn’t want to waste too much energy. The high, long walls stretched endlessly to the left and right, and the gates attached to them were firmly shut.
The South Gate of the Wizard Kingdom
“It seems no one is going to open it for us…” I said.
“It’s usually open,” Rash replied.
“Stop right there!”
Looking up at the high walls, I saw soldiers from the Wizard Kingdom lined up. I had expected them to be wearing pointed hats, but some weren’t. However, they all wore simple black robes with white lines. Just like the soldiers from the Kingdom of Avangarde, it seemed the soldiers here had a common attire. More importantly, what caught my attention was that each of them was holding a fireball in one hand. Clearly, that was an offensive fire magic spell. With their intimidating voices and that magic, it was obvious we weren’t being welcomed.
“Who are you?! Depending on your answer, we have permission to unleash a concentrated barrage of Fire Rain! This is not a threat! If you take even one step forward, we will execute it immediately!”
“Hey, it’s me! It’s Rash!” he shouted back.
“Rash, when did you get outside?!”
“If you ask my grandpa… I mean, Lord Hast, you’ll know! I got permission, after all!”
“…Stay right there for a moment.”
One of the soldiers, presumably the captain, whispered something to another soldier before disappearing into the depths of the gate. In the silence, only the flames of the wizards flickered. They didn’t take their eyes off us for even a moment, all wearing expressions filled with anger.
“Rash, is this really okay?” I asked, feeling uneasy.
“It’s fine. They have no proof that we’re not allies of the Golems. They’re just being cautious,” he reassured me.
“Hey!”
I was called out in a rough tone, and when I looked up again, the flames in their hands hadn’t been extinguished.
“I’ve confirmed your identity. However, due to Lord Hast’s will, we cannot let you in easily. Therefore, we will unleash a concentrated barrage of Fire Rain. If you can withstand it, we will allow you entry.”
“W-What?! That’s ridiculous!” I protested.
“Don’t worry, if you’re seriously injured, I’ll heal you right away. Or would you prefer to turn back?”
“That’s fine, but I want it to be just me. Don’t involve Roel and Rash.”
“Rash is fine. But that girl can’t come in.”
“Are you kidding me?!”
“It’s okay, Lua-chan. I’m perfectly fine with this,” Roel said confidently.
“Roel… But it’s dangerous.”
“Just trust me, okay?”
Roel’s expression showed no fear. She looked straight at me with resolute eyes. Trust her, huh? Alright!
“Are you sure you can handle it in such an unguarded position?”
“Don’t worry about me, just shoot already.”
“Hmph… Don’t say that, little girl. Of course, dodging or defending in some way is allowed.”
“Fine, just hurry up.”
“…All units, fire!”
【The Wizard Kingdom soldiers launched a full-scale attack! They chanted Fireball! The fireballs rained down upon Lua and the others!】
The only sound I heard was the thunderous crash of the fireballs hitting the ground. Even if a fireball came toward me, it would vanish upon contact. It felt like the warmth of dozing off in front of a fireplace, and memories of my life in Ikana Village surfaced faintly. My mother would cover me with a blanket, worried that I might catch a cold. In the end, I would wake up in a sweat, feeling too hot. When I closed my eyes, those scenes came to mind. Those were good times. I wanted to go back.
“All units, stop!”
The rain of fire ceased. Though it had felt pleasant, I suddenly felt pulled back into reality. So it was over. The soldiers on the wall wore exhausted expressions. Each one of them was panting, their gazes fixed on us. Some looked like they might burst into tears, while others furrowed their brows, trying to accept the reality before them. One soldier even threw his pointed hat to the ground in frustration.
“W-What was that…?”
“R-Rash must have done something, right? It’s an illusion, isn’t it?”
Maybe he had been overly confident, but honestly, this level of magic wasn’t even an attack. If they wanted to roast me, they’d need the flames from that massive four-headed dog. That dog had been incredible. The first time I fought it, I couldn’t win and had to flee, and it had melted my sword in an instant.
“…I didn’t do anything,” Rash said defensively.
“It seems that way. Yes.”
When I glanced beside me, Roel was unharmed. No, it would be more accurate to say she had returned to being unharmed. After the rain of fire stopped, she had cast Heal as a follow-up. In other words, even with the fire rain, it hadn’t been able to outpace Roel’s healing speed. That’s how it was.
“That was amazing, Lua-chan! I worked really hard on the Heal!” she exclaimed.
“Y-Yeah… yeah…”
Now that I thought about it, I felt like I had heard small cries of “Ouch!” and “Eek!” from beside me. I thought that even without the Heal, she would have been fine. No, even considering that, I felt like I had witnessed the terrifying power of a Healer. No matter how much you attack, they can just heal it all back, and the opponent ends up exhausted and waving the white flag. Considering the exhausted state of those soldiers, they might be the most terrifying opponent in a way. Being Level 51, Roel was among the top ranks of A-Rank Adventurers, and before I knew it, she had become that strong. From now on, I should probably refrain from teasing her too much.
“Will you let us through now?” I asked.
“Y-Yeah. Rash, open the gate for them.”
It looked like a pretty heavy gate, so I wondered if Rash could really open it. If he could, he should just do it.
“Rash?”
“Wha—?! I-I’ll open it! Got it!”
Rash, with a pale face and a look of shock, was clearly in awe of us. I could faintly hear him muttering about the monstrous beings we had brought along.
“…I thought I was going to wet myself. Seriously, who are you girls?”
With that, Rash touched the gate, and a white light briefly leaked from his hand before the gate quietly swung open. He hurriedly passed through the gate as it opened slowly to the sides.
“Hey, what are you doing? You need to close it soon, so hurry up!”
Suppressing my questions, we finally stepped into the Wizard Kingdom.
◆ Wizard Kingdom – Avangarde Castle Town ◆
Avangarde Castle Town was quite different from what I had imagined. Water flowed along both sides of the road like a river, and to reach the buildings, we had to cross small bridges. The roofs resembled round objects with pointed tips, and the walls were entirely white, giving the town a uniform appearance. As we approached the castle in the distance, the terrain rose with large steps, each building perched on a different level. Water cascaded down the walls like a waterfall, creating a refreshing sound.
What surprised me the most was that nearly everyone was dressed like wizards. When I remarked on it, Rash simply replied that it was to be expected in the Wizard Kingdom, but was that really the case? In this country, it seemed that magic was used for everything. For instance, the fire needed for cooking was supposedly conjured by the chefs themselves using fire magic.
From the moment a child is born and becomes aware, they are taught magic. Attending the Magic Academy from the age of seven is mandatory, and they must learn magic for at least six years. Even those born with low magical power or who are not suited for magic can graduate, regardless of their grades. Whether to continue their studies afterward seems to be a personal choice. Just hearing about schools and further education made my head ache. I couldn’t help but think that if I had been born in this country, I might have died from the pressure.
“I graduated from there in just a year.”
Despite the obligation to attend for six years, Rash had surpassed both the knowledge and magical skills of his teachers by the time he was halfway through, earning an exceptional exemption. I understood he was impressive, but was that really okay?
“Hey, even though it’s a state of emergency, everyone seems to be living normally.”
“That means the state of emergency is different from what Roel imagined. For example, the gate we just passed through is enchanted with special magic. It won’t open unless someone from the Wizard Kingdom touches it, and on top of its hardness from being made of Zircon, it’s also reinforced with defensive magic. Oh, and the surface of the walls is all made of Zircon too.”
I had heard that Zircon was the second hardest metal after Orichalcum. It was used for weapons and armor, but it was heavier than Orichalcum and required a skilled user. Depending on how it was processed, it could also provide resistance to magic and status ailments, as Kouzo from Queemil had mentioned. When I asked for some, he had sighed, saying that just getting it in stock would result in a huge loss.
“Plus, there’s that fire magic squad. It didn’t work at all on you girls, but against a typical group of monsters, they’d be reduced to ashes. At the front gate, there’s the fire magic squad, and then to the east, west, and north, there are water, lightning, and earth magic squads on standby. But…”
“I see, so that really is a state of emergency!”
“Yeah, but even that state of emergency doesn’t have much effect on Golems…”
Rash’s tone dropped in contrast to Roel’s cheerful voice. Golems were such a desperate opponent that even double defenses were ineffective against them. I could certainly imagine that Fire Rain wouldn’t even faze a Golem. Even if they were on par with the floor monsters in the Mithril Mine, they wouldn’t take significant damage.
“Things are fine around here for now, but the eastern wall was breached recently. The residents fought back, but they weren’t used to combat, so they were slaughtered one after another.”
“They broke through that impressive wall? And people were killed…?”
“Those things have incredible power. Weakening magic doesn’t work on them, and that leaves only the frail magic users to deal with. There have been over twenty deaths in the lightning magic squad by today. My illusion magic doesn’t work on them at all… Damn it!”
Rash kicked the wall of a nearby house with frustration. Before a resident could poke their head out the window to shout something, Roel quickly apologized.
“Hey, you girls will help us out, right? Right?”
“Yeah, yeah. Leave it to me. I’ll be of help.”
“Thanks…”
We were talking as we walked, but we still showed no signs of getting closer to the castle. Lord Hast was said to live near the castle, yet we were heading in that direction. The high walls obscured our view from the outside, but honestly, Avangarde Castle Town seemed larger than I had expected.
“Oh, by the way, there’s a teleportation service here.”
Rash handed some money to a woman standing by a magic circle. She waved us over roughly, and we stepped onto the magic circle as if swept along by the current.
“Destination: Lord Hast’s house! Understood!”
◆ Wizard Kingdom – In front of Hast’s House ◆
The surroundings flashed momentarily, and then the scenery changed. Beyond the fence, a town with pointed roofs spread out before us. In the distance, I could see the gate through which I had entered.
“I’ll cover the cost of that last trip.”
“Wait, wait. What just happened?”
“That was the teleportation service. It’s a much more convenient way to travel than by carriage. But you can’t go too far; it’s limited to within this country. I won’t go into details since it would take too long.”
Teleportation magic. It felt like I had stumbled into an extraordinary country. A white house stood overlooking the town, separated by a fence and a road. This was Lord Hast’s house; it looked no different from the other houses. However, it seemed small enough to be easily overshadowed by the others. Since an old man lived here alone, perhaps this size was just right.
“Grandpa! I brought what you asked for!”
A girl I didn’t recognize was visiting Lord Hast’s house. She had short, spiky gray hair and a pointed hat. Her thick robe, combined with that scarf, almost completely concealed her face. Was she also a wizard?
Wait a minute. That voice sounded familiar. Yes, I might know that girl.
“Hey, Lua-chan, could that girl be…?”
“B-but did she look like that?”
After the girl’s high-pitched call, the door to Lord Hast’s house quietly opened.