Chapter 9
Chapter 9
THE NEXT MORNING, we were informed that an emergency meeting was to be held. We all hurried to get ready.
“It’s about time we got going,” said Clara, by the door.
As high and mighty as Clara tends to act, she is really good at keeping tabs on everyone, I thought, dusting off my robe and combing back my hair.
I’d decked myself out in rare magic items. From my robe to my boots, I looked every inch the wizard, with rings and amulets to spare. If a D&B aficionado saw what I had equipped, they would appreciate the dizzying exquisiteness of it all, but apparently Sedia’s sorcerers couldn’t detect the value in my equipment.
“Looks forbidding enough, don’t you think?” I said, quoting the great magician from the classic fantasy film Dragonslayer and striking a pose.
“Uh…yeah,” said Sedam.
“Absolutely…terrifying,” said Clara.
Then why are you both looking away?
***
The meeting was held in the castle’s great hall.
I straightened myself up, shoulders back, like I was giving a presentation to a board of directors. I went over the outline of our “presentation” with Sedam, and we decided together how to proceed. Our goal was to convince the order to deploy at least one company’s worth of knights for the extermination of the daemons’ nest.
To be honest, if the goal were just to destroy the nest and another legion or two, I could make do all by myself, if I were liberal with my spell use.
The problem was, if we let some daemons slip past us, they might build another nest before we could catch them, or even multiple nests. In order to prevent that, we needed enough people with us to surround the area and make sure no daemons got away—so said Sedam. The best-case scenario would be if we could get all of the knights to cooperate with us, but a company would provide enough units to meet the bare minimum—again, according to Sedam.
It was convenient for the purposes of our presentation that the great hall was on the top floor; it had a wide balcony looking out to the east past the castle and the lands beyond.
“Lord Adventurer Sedam, Lady Sorceress Clara Andell and Lord…Wiz…Wizard? Geo Margilus have arrived,” said a servant, announcing our entrance before opening the large doors and showing us in.
The room was filled with a majesty that reflected the Calbanera Knights’ storied history of over one hundred years. The floor was covered with an embroidered carpet, paintings of scenes from the order’s past hung from the walls, and from the ceiling hung a chandelier and flags with the order’s crest.
On the far side of the hall, an elderly knight sat on an ornate chair. He, I suspected, was Captain Amrand Gal Sardish. We were told the day before he could not meet with us due to his poor health, but it seemed he’d made the effort to join the meeting after all. On his right was a young knight I did not know, and to his left stood Gillion, with another knight I did not recognize. The knight standing beside Gillion was the commander of the third company. The commander of the fourth was absent, as he was out on patrol.
The other knight, the young one on the opposite side, was the captain’s son and commander of the first company, Alnogia Gil Sardish. He was attractive, slender, with blond hair and delicate features. He struck a stark contrast with Gillion.
Apart from the three clustered around Captain Sardish, there was a group of five knights of commanding rank who formed the captain’s cabinet of advisors, and a group of several other knights standing at attention. I spotted Leoria among the latter group.
“I am Amrand Gal Sardish, captain of the Calbanera Knights. Adventurers and Great Wizard Margilus, I appreciate your contribution of valuable information to us.”
A sickly pallor touched the captain’s face, lightening the naturally dark skin behind his white hair and beard. However, his voice was strong and firm, and there was no hint of weakness to be found in his seated posture or his piercing gaze. His eyes had a light that shone stronger than the luster of his silver armor, a light only those who have seen countless battles earn.
“I only did what is required of me, captain,” said Sedam, with a simple bow. Though his show of reverence was slight, it was clear he had more respect for the captain than any other knight.
“It is an honor,” said Clara, with an elegant bow.
“There is no need to thank us. Daemons are equally a threat to us all. I come to you with the assumption that the Calbanera Knights will be able to deal with this threat accordingly,” I said, offering a brief bow of my own.
Under normal circumstances, I would have preferred to show Captain Sardish the utmost respect, but I was warned by Sedam and Clara that if I did not act as if I were on equal footing with him, I risked the other knights looking down on me. But frankly, it was stressful for me to act that way. I’d been nothing more than a desk jockey for all my life, but he was a veteran, one who’d commanded men and knights for long, hard years. I could feel sweat dampen my palms as I gripped my Staff of Wizardry.
“Now, let us hear the details from Sedam, an adventurer from the Relis City Adventurers’ Guild,” said Espine, in a restrained, formal tone.
When Sedam finished with his explanation, it would be time to move to phase two of our presentation. Would everything continue to proceed as planned? I didn’t know. Instead of worrying, I furtively eyed each of the cabinet officers while Sedam talked, in an attempt to glean as much information from them as I could.
“We were on our way to the fortress to rescue Ild’s daughter when we met Lord Margilus, the great magician. He’d already saved the girl, captured the enemy sorcerer, and turned him to stone…”
As Sedam carried on with his explanation, I looked around the room. The strategist Espine appeared to be deliberately avoiding my gaze. Leoria and Gillion’s expressions were stiff. The other cabinet officers—the heads of finance, intelligence, internal affairs, and the chief secretary—were all looking my way, faces marked by an anxious suspicion.
Stay calm, I told myself.
“Finally, Lord Margilus caused meteors to rain down from the sky upon the daemons with his magic. Thanks to him, we were saved.”
When Sedam got to the part where I used magic to defeat the daemon army, all the knights reacted with incredulity.
Even Espine and the Calbanera siblings—knights who had seen my magic before—showed clear disbelief. Only the old captain seemed unmoved. Alnogia, on the other hand, showed more fear than doubt, as the color drained from his face.
“And with that, we were able to destroy the daemon army before it could threaten Yulei Village. However, our work is not done. There is no way a force of so many daemons could coalesce unless they spawned from a single nest nearby. If we search the valley, we should be able to find it, but we need to act quickly.”
Sedam went seamlessly from the end of his report into a clear warning, an appeal to act.
“Thank you, Sedam,” said the old captain. “Is there anyone here who wishes to share their views on this matter?”
A heavy silence fell upon the room.
“I believe we have a serious situation on our hands,” said one of the knights, breaking the silence with a deep and heavy voice. “First, I would suggest sending out a reconnaissance team to assess the situation.”
The knight was the commander of the third company, a man whose name I later learned was Ord. His build was muscular, and he had a grim face framed with short hair. Clearly, this commander had worked his way up the ranks, as opposed to the others who benefited from their family names.
“A reconnaissance team? That’s all well and good, but what will we do if there really is a nest?” Espine objected, his tone constrained. Murmurs swept through the lower ranks standing at attention.
“If there’s a nest, we’ll just crush it!” yelled Gillion, spit flying.
“Precisely,” added Ord with a nod.
“A reconnaissance team is definitely doable, but if it comes down to us destroying a nest…”
“Is there some sort of problem, Sir Igould?” Alnogia addressed the treasurer, a middle-aged, slightly overweight man.
“If we undertake a special operation, we must provide the knights and other troops with supplementary pay, medical supplies, bedding, maintenance for weapons and armor, fuel, and feed for horses. Any casualties will entail additional medical expenses, and any deaths will require compensation payments for the families of the deceased…and that’s not all. While the operation is in progress, we must increase patrols and buttress the village’s defenses, which will require more work hours and overtime pay. If I’m to be frank. We just don’t have it in our budget.”
By the end of this exposition, Sir Igould looked emotionally exhausted. I did not doubt his assessment—but it was depressing that even in a so-called world of swords and sorcery, lack of proper funding was still an organization’s greatest weakness.
If it really was a problem, I didn’t mind pitching in with my own funds, but I didn’t know how or where to jump in to make the offer.
“But…do we really have a choice? Can’t we scrape the funds together somehow?” Alnogia asked, almost pleading.
“He’s right! If we, the Calbanera Knights, refuse to fight daemons for lack of funds, we might as well not be here at all,” Gillion shouted.
Even Ord silently nodded his head in agreement, while the lower ranks observed the argument nervously.
“Are we even sure that any daemons actually appeared? I haven’t heard any such thing from my subordinates,” said another officer in a raspy voice.
The voice belonged to a small, elderly woman with a sharp gaze, who stood out in comparison to the other officers. She was the head of intelligence.
“The daemons’ appearance is certain truth, Lady Ireza,” Sedam cut back sharply. “Did my report leave any room for doubt?”
“Are you sane, Sedam? Or is this latest fantasy the product of a bad mushroom gone to your brain?!”
“I must admit,” added another officer, Sir Logick, head of internal affairs, “I find it difficult to believe this magic user—this wizard, or whatever you call him—exterminated an entire legion on his own.”
Here it comes, I thought. Well, it’s a logical conclusion. In this world, what I can do defies all common sense.
“No matter how powerful sorcerers can be, there’s no way one can take out a gigant in one blow. That’s crazy…”
“I knew their story sounded too good to be true…”
The lower ranks began to mutter among themselves, all voicing a similar refrain. It was time for me to act.
“Interesting,” I said, taking a step forward. “You suggest I am a fraud?”
Good, I thought. I was able to say my lines without stumbling over them. Everything so far had played out as we expected. It was time for part two of our presentation: my magical demonstration.
“O-of course not, Lord Margilus! No one is suggesting anything of the sort!” The color drained from Espine’s face as he hurriedly tried to appease me.
I ignored him.
“I do not fault you for struggling to understand the art, for the workings of my magic are foreign to this land of Sedia. So, let me afford you this opportunity! Behold the power of my spells!”
An uncomfortable shiver of embarrassment ran down my spine. When I was young and first started playing TTRPGs, showy in-character roleplaying wasn’t really a thing like it is now, and, needless to say, I didn’t exactly start declaiming my lines when I went back to play as an adult.
“Open, Gate of Magic. Invite me into your depths.”
It helped that Alnogia, the officers, and most of the other knights stared right at me and gulped nervously. If anyone had chuckled, or even smiled, I might have lost all faith in myself to carry on with my performance.
“As a consequence of this spell, eight meteors will be summoned from the heavens to rain down upon my enemies.”
I pointed my Staff of Wizardry toward the balcony, aiming at a spot in the charred wasteland east of the castle. Long before the meeting, we’d ensured that no one would be there.
My imagined self threw the massive pool of dice as it had before. Not that it really mattered this time.
“Meteor.”
The moment I finished my spell, the air was filled with a whistling. It grew steadily louder, a strengthening drone, like the sound of falling bombs. Suddenly, eight meteors could be seen shooting through the sky out beyond the balcony, hurtling down toward the wasteland.
The explosion was massive.
The blinding light and thunderous sound from the explosion filled the hall, and the shock wave rocked the walls and ceiling.
“Is that fire from the sky?!”
“What’s going on?!”
“I-Incredible…”
“Did you see that explosion?!”
Some yelled, some screamed. Some fell to the ground and covered their heads. Some were shocked and confused, and others simply looked on in awe.
It worked.
The cabinet officers in particular all stood frozen, eyes wide and mouths open as if they were in a daze.
“Damn, that’s so cool!!!” Gillion was a bit of an exception.
But so was Captain Sardish. The act had not moved him. He had not so much as twitched. The same could not be said of the captain’s son, Alnogia, who was struggling to maintain an outward appearance of calm.
“It’s all the more incredible, seeing it up close like this…”
“So, this is the true power of magic…”
Not even Sedam or Clara—both of their eyes opened wide—were exempt from the awe and wonder that gripped the room.
Well, I thought, Meteor is orders of magnitude more powerful than other attack spells they’ve seen, like Fireball. I can’t blame them.
“I apologize for riddling your training grounds with craters. If it is a problem, you may bill me for the damages.”
I was glad I’d confirmed beforehand that the land was only used for training purposes. Even so, I thought, I did just put eight giant holes in the ground. Hopefully it isn’t too much of a nuisance for them. I glanced at the treasurer. That bill for damages might really come.
“But… But how…?”
“H-how is this even possible?”
“That’s no charlatan’s magic trick… And certainly it’s no sorcery…”
“A wizard’s magic…is real…”
“There are giant holes in the ground…huge craters!”
The knights were still mumbling to themselves. Some had raced over to the balcony to look outside and confirm the truth of what they’d seen from the marks my magic had left behind.
I took a deep breath and then exhaled. My pulse had quickened with a sense of excitement, both from following through the act and wielding such a great power—but as I breathed out, I reminded myself: You didn’t earn this. The Watcher gave this to you. Letting yourself indulge in a high over this kind of display? You should be ashamed of yourself.
“Your point has been made.”
Just as the commotion was starting to get out of hand, the deep and heavy voice of Captain Sardish echoed through the hall.
“I apologize on behalf of all of us for offending you, Lord Margilus. You have made it very clear to us how incredible your powers are.”
If he’s shaken by this, he isn’t showing it, I thought, impressed.
“I do not mind, Captain Sardish, and I, in turn, acknowledge my reaction was unduly rash.” I nodded magnanimously.
By the time we came to this exchange, the captain and I had established eye contact. He was attempting to reel in the unease in the hall and steady the ground on which his order stood. If I had not understood his intent so clearly, I doubt I would have been able to answer him with as much confidence as I did. When the other knights saw that he and I were engaging in a calm conversation, they gradually quieted down, and order was restored to the hall.
“I suppose you understand now the information we—erhem—the great wizard Lord Margilus provided is credible,” said Sedam.
The knights nodded slowly, as if coming out of a trance.
“In that case, let us return to the matter at hand,” I said. “I have full confidence that the Calbanera Knights will be able to deal with the daemon threat accordingly… However, if you require my assistance, I will gladly offer it.”
“Your help will surely rival an army one million strong. From this day forth, great wizard Lord Margilus, you are our order’s strongest ally,” declared Captain Sardish.
“Rejoice, ladies and sirs of the order, for the great magician is our ally!” Alnogia declared, with impeccable timing, unsheathing his sword and pointing it skyward. “Victory to the white blade! Death to the daemons!”
“Victory to the white blade!”
“Death to the daemons!”
The other knights joined in unison, almost reflexively.
Alnogia does have some things going for him, I thought. He has the potential to become a charismatic leader. A similar thought must have run through Gillion’s head, because while he seemed bothered that he’d missed the chance to start the rallying cry, he joined in after Alnogia nonetheless.
However…his potential was just that, nothing more, and I knew it—for I did not miss that the captain, Alnogia’s father, had pinched the back of his hand to prod him into making his charismatic gesture.