11: Fire
“So you came slinking back with your tail between your legs, is that it?”
Garnets’s face was as cold as a statue.
Before him lay Eugen, prostrated as if he had collapsed in submission.
“I sincerely apologize! But Your Excellency! Thanks to my accurate judgment, I was able to minimize the damage and successfully retreat! Under normal circumstances, we would have been completely annihilated!”
Even while curling his body into a ball-like shape, Eugen praised his own judgment. In reality, it was only through the cooperation of his disciples and the commanding officer at the scene that they managed to successfully retreat. Eugen had been in a state of stunned bewilderment and was practically useless.
And although they had managed to escape, the unit had suffered tremendous casualties.
“Once more, once more, please give me another chance! I never imagined that Yuri and Murakumo would be there—I simply wasn’t prepared enough! Next time, I will definitely succeed in recapturing the princess!”
Garnets was half-impressed. After failing twice, this man was still eager to try again. Not only was his body thick, but his nerves were incredibly thick as well.
“Unnecessary, Eugen. This is no longer your stage to perform on.”
“But wait!”
Eugen raised his head vigorously. His face was drenched in sweat and desperate. Sweat was actually dripping onto the office floor. Seeing this, Garnets thought, “I’ll have someone clean the floor later.”
“With all due respect, Your Excellency! Among your subordinates, who else but me could handle such an important task!”
That was also a fact. Among Garnets’s subordinates, there were few who possessed both considerable ability and status. Garnets wasn’t using Eugen because he liked him—it was simply because he lacked capable personnel.
(What a complete lack of popularity I have.)
The empire’s Prime Minister mocked himself.
“No, there are others besides you who could handle this important task, aren’t there?”
“Others besides me? No, there’s no such person… unless, the Black Knight!? But the Black Knight is at war with Highland in the north and can’t easily leave his post, can he?”
“Highland’s royal capital has fallen. I just received word.”
“Impossible! That fortress city!?”
“He apparently captured it quite forcefully. Thanks to that, Highland’s royal capital is in terrible condition. And despite having just won, the Black Knight immediately led his direct unit toward the mountainous region where the thieves are. What a hard worker he is.”
Unlike you, Garnets’s gaze seemed to say as he looked at the magician before him.
Eugen prostrated himself again, wetting the floor once more with his sweat.
“You should have seen the faces of those imperial bastards!”
Claude and the others were in high spirits, drinking alcohol even in broad daylight.
A few days ago, the imperial army led by Eugen had approached their fortress, but after being bewildered by the barrier and becoming exhausted and confused, they had successfully counterattacked and scattered them. In the chaos, they had managed to capture a large quantity of guns as spoils of war. Imperial-made guns were in high demand, so Laksh would surely take them at a good price.
“But won’t the imperial people come again soon?”
Emma showed an anxious expression while sipping her lunch soup. She had been holed up in the fortress, so she hadn’t seen how Claude and the others had driven off the imperial army.
“Don’t worry, Emma. Those kinds of guys—no matter how many come, I’ll turn them into rust on my sword.”
Murakumo raised the corner of his mouth in a fearless smile. As he had sworn to Emma, he had been able to repel the imperial army, so he was in high spirits for the first time in a while.
“I analyzed the magic that Eugen and his group used and rebuilt the barrier, so they can’t even get close anymore. If they come again, they’ll probably die like dogs. Besides, this mountain and forest are quite a natural obstacle—I just need to add a little magic to make it sufficient.”
Yuri stated matter-of-factly while bringing bread to his mouth. Since he was inwardly frustrated that Eugen’s group had broken through his barrier, the rebuilt barrier was considerably more powerful.
“That’s right, Emma. You don’t need to worry so much. The empire isn’t such a big deal. The sight of that fat mage running away was a masterpiece, wasn’t it?”
Claude drank directly from the bottle and burst into laughter. Remembering Eugen fleeing in panic, he found it so amusing he couldn’t help himself. His shoulders were even shaking.
Then Claude made a gesture as if sniffing the air.
“…Doesn’t something smell like it’s burning?”
“Did you leave a pot on the fire or something?”
Murakumo glanced toward the kitchen.
“No, I definitely put out the fire…”
Mid-sentence, Emma suddenly looked at the scenery outside and noticed the abnormality.
“There’s smoke rising outside!”
Claude and Murakumo rushed to the window in panic.
The scenery that usually showed only forest had transformed into a sea of fire. The forest that had covered the mountains was being devoured by conflagration and was approaching the fortress.
“A wildfire!? No, this is…”
Murakumo groaned.
“…It’s the imperial army. They’re setting fire to the forest.”
Yuri closed his eyes and made spell patterns emerge from his body as he murmured. He was probably using magic to check the outside situation.
“Why didn’t you notice, Yuri!”
Claude pressed him.
“They’re positioned far outside the barrier. My barrier only reacts to people entering and leaving.”
“What a useless magic!”
At Claude’s dismissive words, Yuri wrinkled his brow and glared at him.
“This isn’t the time to be saying such things! We need to escape from here quickly!”
Emma raised her voice almost in a scream.
“It’s useless. We’re already surrounded by fire. There’s no escape route.”
Yuri answered in a bored tone.
“Then are we all going to be roasted like the pork we had for lunch!?”
Emma pointed at the pork dish on the table.
“I’m a genius magician, you know? I can easily defend against this level of fire.”
At Yuri’s confident words, Emma breathed a sigh of relief.
“However…”
Yuri turned his gaze outside.
“If the forest disappears, I won’t be able to hide the fortress with the barrier anymore.”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT gadgetizedpanda.net
The imperial soldiers were terrified by their own actions.
They had scattered oil in the forest and set fire from upwind, but the flames were beyond what they had expected.
The fire writhed like a giant animal, swallowing mountains and forests one after another.
(Will this fire really go out? Won’t it burn up the entire world?)
Some soldiers were trapped by such fears.
However, among them, the Black Knight and the four Grim Reapers remained unmoved.
The Black Knight in particular was staring intently at the flames.
Watching the flames turn everything to scorched earth, without moving a muscle.
After some time had passed, one of the soldiers came to report.
“Black Knight-sama! The target fortress has become visible!”
It was a place that the flames, which had swallowed even mountains, were cleanly avoiding.
As if blocked by some invisible wall. This was the effect of Yuri’s magic.
However, when viewed through the telescope, the shape of an old fortress could be clearly seen there. With the forest gone, the effect of Yuri’s barrier had disappeared.
“Prepare for bombardment.”
The Black Knight stated flatly.
“Is that acceptable? Isn’t the target princess also there?”
An officer standing nearby offered his counsel.
“It doesn’t matter. Fire until the fortress is completely obliterated.”
With those words, dozens of massive tubes made of black metal—cannons—drawn by horses appeared from behind the Black Knight and began advancing toward the fortress.
TLNOTE
While waiting for the next chapter, I encourage you, dear readers, to explore other masterpieces written by Daken-sensei :
- Monster Meat Led Me to the Throne
- Who killed the Hero?
- The Wicked Princess and 12 Eyes – The Strongest Squires and the Legendary Evil Woman, the Second Time in Her Life
- The Suspects of Necromancy
- The Exiled Merchant Saves the World with the Power of Gold (translated by my friend meerkat)
- The Last Magic (translated by my friend narwhal)
Also check out my friend Localizermeerkat for more LN translations!
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