Chapter 8

Chapter 8

 

AS WE APPROACHED the Schultz refugees and the pursuing daemon army, I saw a familiar figure. A strange warrior riding a phantom horse was fighting off the daemons who were chasing them.

The daemons screeched as they rushed in to attack, crushing their fallen allies. Lade fully utilized the maneuverability of the phantom horse, moving in all directions throughout the army of daemons, his massive blade cleaving left and right. All by himself, he noticeably slowed their advance.

It looks like I made it just in time…

“Greee!”

“Gi-gi-giii!”

The swarm was mostly made up of imps. They were small—only about one and a half meters tall—with pitch-black skin that looked like it had been painted on. Their large, hateful, glaring eyes simmered with golden malice. No matter how many times I saw them, they were no less horrifying. I guessed that the number of imps swinging makeshift axes, spears, stone clubs and rusty swords was somewhere between five hundred and one thousand.

They were too close to the refugees for me to use Meteor to blast them, and even if I could eliminate some with lower-firepower spells, it would eventually lead to casualties.

We flew right above the refugees. I saw that Reyha, Diane, and the Schultz warriors were in the back, acting as leaders.

 

***

 

“Reyha! Hang on just a little longer!” I called out while flying over their heads.

“Huh? Got it!” She gave me a strong, firm reply. They did really well without me…

“Wha?!”

At the end of the long line of Schultz clanspeople, there was one large, young white man who, like Reyha, was clearly not a member of the clan. He was carrying an elderly woman on his back and a pulling a crying child with one hand, running unsteadily.

“Ahhh!”

“Heeelllp!”

One of the daemons suddenly pounced on the young man. “Greee!” The tip of its spear possessed a dull, menacing glow.

“Oh cra—!”

“Graaah?!”

Lade leaped off of the phantom horse, and his large sword cleaved the daemon in two. Reyha wasted no time pulling its arm off the boy. “Run!”

“Ah-gaaah!”

The imps attacked the dismounted Lade like a muddy stream. There was no strategy. They all just wanted to be the first to sink their weapons into dreadful human flesh. It was this single, blind obsession that drove them.

“Gi-gyah!”

“Gurgh?!”

But the pitch-black, muddy stream was unable to touch the giant warrior. Lade stood like a boulder against the tide. He spun his gigantic sword around, and the moment any daemons got close, they were immediately cut down.

But no matter how strong he was, there was a limit to how much one human could do alone. Several hundred daemons slipped past Lade on his left and right sides and rushed the Schultz people.

But that’s when the spell I’d just charged took effect.

“Graaah!”

There was a double roar that pierced our eardrums. With an explosive rumble and a blast wave that shook our bodies, two pillars of fire fell from the heavens.

“Graaah!”

“Gu-kyaaah?!”

I’d used Create Monster: Any to create two large, red dragons in the sky. The pillars were their burning breath. Just as the name of the spell suggested, it allowed a magic user to make any monster they knew out of thin air. However, the total level of all monsters made could only total the level of the magician. I thought that two Level 18 dragons would be better in a situation like this than one massive dragon over Level 30. I was right.

“Grooo!”

The two dragons flew around freely, burning dozens of imps at a time with their breath. Thanks to them, the swarm of daemons was rapidly dwindling. Needless to say, I ordered them to attack, focusing on those closest to the refugees. Thus far, the refugees had remained unscathed.

They actually seemed to gain distance, while the daemons were in disarray.

I personally eliminated the daemons that were lucky enough to avoid the dragon attacks and headed toward the refugees, using Fireball and Mana Bolt.

I looked around. “Is that all of them?”

Around the time the thirty-minute Create Monster: Any expired, the entire daemon swarm had been burned to charcoal or cut in half. Not a single one was left. I didn’t see any trace of other daemons nearby, either.

We went up next to Lade, covered in daemon blood. I dismounted the phantom horse. “Great work back there.”

“I only did what I always do.”

“Owww-ow-ow-ow…”

Agveil, meanwhile, looked like he was going to be sick. Although, it wasn’t like I was ungrateful to him. The entire reason I’d been able to attack the daemons from the sky was because he’d done so well controlling the phantom horse. I didn’t know if flying horsemanship was exactly the kind of experience the duke had had in mind, but it was probably valuable for Agveil all the same.

 

***

 

When we caught up with the Schultz clan members who’d gone ahead, they were resting a little bit off the path. Actually, they were lying flat on the ground, probably collapsed from total exhaustion.

As soon as Reyha noticed us, she ran to me at incredible speed and knelt.

“My lord! Thank you so much for going to such trouble for us! This whole situation is all my fault. I should have prevented the daemon nest’s emergence. If it wasn’t for my failure, this legion would never have appeared.”

“It’s fine, Reyha. I’m just glad you’re okay. You did a great job.”

I hadn’t heard the details yet, but I was glad that she and Lade were safe now. Then, I approached the Schultz clan, waving my arms so they would know I was friendly, when…

“Aaagh!”

“Beelzebub!”

“It’s Beelzebub! He who calls forth dragons! Aaah!”

The refugees were mainly women and the elderly. They all prostrated themselves toward me with their foreheads to the ground.

“I’m not Beelzebub. I’m a wizard. A wizard!”

 

***

 

“Words alone can’t express my thanks. I can’t believe we were rescued by a true hero!”

The young man at the end of the refugee line just happened to be Balzard, firstborn son of the duke of Filsand. It seemed Diane’s team hadn’t killed him, only captured him. Could you call that coming back from the dead? Either way, it was a big deal for the family of the duke of Filsand.

“Beelzebub. Please bestow unto us, the Schultz people, descendants of the Divine King, your protection…” The man prostrating himself to me next to Balzard was the Schultz patriarch, Luthras.

The other Schultz people were exhausted from the flight from the daemonic legion and were lying on the ground a short distance away. Surrounding me were Lade, Reyha, Balzard, Agveil, and the patriarch.

Diane, so energetic the last time I’d seen her, was now milling about with the other refugees in a daze.

“Brother…you’re alive.”

“Agveil, I never imagined you would come for me!”

It was a reunion between brothers, one of whom was thought to have died in battle. Balzard hugged Agveil, tears in his eyes. Agveil was slender and delicate compared to his older brother’s strong build, and he had a complicated expression on his face. It must have been awkward to find his brother well after trying to assassinate his sister in order to become the sole successor.

“How are father and mother and Elisabel?”

“I’ll…explain later.”

“I-I see. But you all must have been worried. I can’t wait to see everyone.”

“Everyone will be surprised by how thin you’ve grown.”

As far as I could tell from his tone and expression, Balzard was genuinely concerned about his family.

Could this really be the son of the duke? He probably took after his mother, the duke’s former wife who passed away. While I was thinking to myself, I noticed Agveil’s face soften as he spoke to his brother.

Perhaps Balzard was the glue that held Filsand’s ruling family together.

 

***

 

The people of the Schultz clan finally managed to calm down a bit. We would probably end up camping here tonight. Neither the patriarch nor Diane had any sort of plan for what to do after tomorrow. According to Reyha’s report, while they’d been able to defeat the leader of the daemonists in the Holy Precincts, they’d been unable to stop Cher from morphing into a daemon nest. That daemon nest was so huge that even Lade had never seen anything like it. It had instantly generated a swarm of hundreds of daemons.

“But what is the King of Daemons? Is there someone like that controlling the daemonists from somewhere?”

That piece of information from Reyha was the most shocking detail. I didn’t know what it was, but we had to defeat it… But there was something more important I had to do now.

“Before we do anything else, let’s destroy the daemon nest.”

“That nest must still be producing daemons. Margilus…you’re the only one who has the power to destroy it.”

I was silent, surprised by Lade’s gentle words. He prioritized hunting daemons over everything, and he was entrusting this task to me.

“Impossible! There’s no way any human can take that thing on,” Diane cried out. The face of the once-fierce warmaster was now in a terrible state of despair and exhaustion. She was probably completely depleted after desperately leading the Schultz people and warriors this far, narrowly escaping death. “Unbelievable,” the silver-haired girl went on, beside herself. “How could the Holy Precincts be ruled by daemonists?! And Ma… How could Ma… That…”

Both the Schultz people and the Filsanders around her looked pained by the girl’s pitiful state. Me, too, of course.

“Ma didn’t even see me! The only thing she could think of was her hatred for my Aunt Shayla! What have I been doing…? What have I been fighting for…?”

When Diane had left our camp before, Elisabel had prayed that Diane would be able to “protect what’s important, even if it’s only important to her.” To think that it would end so badly. I wanted to do something to help her. But what could I say to a young girl that I had barely ever spoken to before?

“Fool!” It was Reyha who sharply scolded the girl lying on the ground, her voice like the crack of a whip.

“Huh?!” The girl looked up, bleary-eyed.

“Before crying and feeling sorry for yourself, you need to repent! If you hadn’t gotten in the way, Lade would have prevented the nest from forming!”

Diane whimpered.

Wasn’t this cruel? Sure, from what I heard, if Diane hadn’t defended Cher, Lade would have killed her and probably prevented Cher’s metamorphosis.

“Repent…? How? Destroy the nest? I can’t…I don’t have the strength.”

The nest I’d destroyed before had terrifyingly strong attacks. Even Lade had passed the baton to me on this one. It would be impossible for Diane to handle.

“That’s not what I’m saying. There is only one person in this world who can do that. Only the great wizard, my Orly, Geo Margilus. You will guide him to the nest in the Holy Precincts.”

“Huh?”

She was right. If the Holy Precincts were a hidden village, it would be tough for me to search for it on my own. But I’d already planned to ask Reyha to take me…

Well, she must have her reasons. It might be good to help break Diane out of her helpless and desperate state.

“Diane, will you lend me your aid?”

She didn’t answer right away. She looked up at me with her tear-stained face. Those eyes that were once so full of energy now looked dark and empty. That’s how deep her despair was.

“I will definitely destroy the nest and save the Schultz people. But I need your help.”

“Yes…” Diane looked from me to Reyha and back again. At last, she nodded weakly. “I’ll do it.”

 

***

 

I had Lade and Reyha continue guarding the Schultz people while Diane and I departed on the phantom horse. With the speed of my flying mount, we should be back by sunrise.

“When I was a kid, my Ma always said, ‘I was supposed to be a princess, shining in the capital of Filsand. My sister Shayla stole that from me.’ Now that I think of it, my Ma was already beyond caring about me way back then…”

“I see…”

Diane, straddling the back of the saddle on our flying phantom horse, kept on talking, pausing at times. I couldn’t think of anything to say to this girl who was had just witnessed such a horrible tragedy, so I steered the phantom horse and just listened to her.

“That’s why I always wanted to take Ma back to Filsand someday…”

“Hmm…”

She was a great kid. She’d been fighting for her mother’s sake, all this time. And if it had gone this far, then that meant that the magemaster had probably gradually infected her with daemonic influence ever since the Schultz clan had been run out of Filsand. He’d then divided the warriors from the civilians, and while instigating conflict with Filsand, prepared Diane’s mother as the Daemon Calix…the Epicenter. Capturing Balzard and Elisabel was also probably part of that plan. It was just completely diabolical.

“But in the end, I wasn’t able to help her, either…”

“Then avenge her.”

“Huh?”

“We will avenge her, Diane. The daemonists are trying to create an infinite number of daemons through that daemon nest. Destroying that nest will avenge your mother. I promise you, I’ll do it. No… We’ll do it. We’ll avenge your mother together.”

Was this appropriate to say to a girl when she was so traumatized? I had no idea. But I couldn’t think of anything else.

“Old ma—Margilus? You… Ahh…!”

Diane let out a little yelp.

“It’s in the shadow of that mountain! Right behind that peak are the Holy Precincts!”

 

***

 

I reduced the altitude of the phantom horse as we entered the valley between the rocky mountains. The Holy Precincts were supposedly just past the valley. But…

“What the hell…”

“We’re too late…”

The valley was filled with daemons. There were imps, fiends, gigants…and a massive, dark daemon that I’d never seen before. The land was flooded with them. They looked like a black, living carpet. This was easily the largest swarm of daemons that I’d ever encountered. It really was a daemonic legion. I couldn’t count the exact number correctly, but compared to the duke’s army of three thousand that I’d seen that afternoon…there might have been twice as many.

Thanks to the cover of night, they hadn’t noticed us flying in the sky. But there was still a bigger problem.

“Even if we blow these guys away, as long as the nest is still there, they’ll keep proliferating…”

The problem was the limit of how many spells I could use per day. And I had used up a considerable number of spells fighting in the previous battle. For now, I had to prioritize destroying the nest. I followed the line of daemons, heading toward the Holy Precincts.

 

***

 

The Holy Precincts really were a hidden village, surround by mountains. There were daemons of all sizes overflowing into the narrow plain. Maybe around five hundred? But what stood out the most were the black spheres in the center of it all.

There were eight spheres, about ten meters in diameter each, piled up haphazardly. There was a strange pattern on their surfaces, something like an eyeball. Tentacles grew at odd angles from the spheres. The combined size of the spheres, to say nothing of the tentacles, was significantly larger than the nest I’d destroyed before. Together, they were the size of a small building.

The surfaces of the spheres rippled with the evidence of what was going on inside, as they continuously generated daemons. At this rate, it would never end.

“I-It’s getting even bigger… This is impossible…”

Diane was frightened. Well, of course she was. I’m sure she didn’t even realize it, but she was clinging to my back, shaking violently.

“I don’t have any more Create Monster: Any spells charged, but it’s a good thing I saved two Meteor shots.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

Diane cocked her head at my murmuring. She was probably more surprised at my capacity to talk calmly than at what I was saying.

“We’re going to avenge your mother now. Watch closely.”

After letting her know what was about to happen, I stopped the phantom horse at a higher altitude and started to chant.

“Open, Gate of Magic.”

The ecology (is that the right term?) of daemon nests remained almost completely unknown. But my expectation was that they could still generate daemons after suffering only partial damage. That sort of thing happens a lot in games. That meant that it was probably true in real life, too, here in this game-like world. So that meant I had to choose the biggest possible attack with the spells I had left, without hesitation.

“Time Stop. Meteor. Meteor. Fireball. Destruction. Mana Strike.”

After Time Stop, I cast five spells in a row. Fortunately, there were no critical failures.

A total of sixteen meteors, a shower of fireballs, a ball of light that obliterated matter into atoms, and a ray of energy that annihilated its target all fired in sequence. Every attack hit the daemon nest and the surrounding daemons simultaneously.

BA-BOOM BOOM BOOM!

“Whaaa?!”

A thunderous sound echoed off the surrounding mountains. It was like the heavens had broken open. Between the roaring sound and Diane’s screams, for a moment, the valley transformed into a fiery hell. Despite the massive size of the nest, not a trace of it remained. Even the stone temple had melted and collapsed. Needless to say, all the daemons, large and small, had met the same fate.

 

***

 

The daemon nest that had appeared in the Holy Precincts, and all of the daemons overflowing from it, had been exterminated. But there was still the issue of the countless daemons that had been born from the nest before it was destroyed. They were still alive, heading north. We checked on our way back, atop the phantom horse, and not one of the daemons seemed to have noticed that the nest was destroyed. They silently continued their northward march.

What can I do with no more attack spells left? I thought to myself. At the fort guarding the entrance to the Hidal Plateau, I’d used up all my wall spells, starting with Wall of Force. The monsters would probably eventually learn to climb over it, but it should at least work like a dam and slow their advance by a day or two.

The fort had long protected the Holy Precincts from Filsand. Now, it would play one last role for us.

“Diane? We’re here.”

“M-Miss Diane!”

“Hmm? Ohh…”

In the end, we didn’t get back to the Schultz camp until daybreak.

Diane was still stiff, even after the phantom horse landed on the ground. I peeled her fingers away from their tight grip on my robes as gently as I could.

That’s when she finally seemed to grow vaguely aware of what was happening. She slowly dismounted the phantom horse.

The patriarch was quick to join us. “Speak truly, Lord Margilus. Are you not an incarnation of Beelzebub, the Schultz god of magic?”

The Filsand brothers ran up to bombard me with questions of their own. “We could see the flames erupting on the plateau from here!”

“Is it true what the dark elf said? You did that, Lord Margilus?”

“Ummm, excuse me.”

I held up one hand to stop their inquiries. I told them, simply and straightforwardly, that I’d stopped the daemonic legion temporarily at the fort, buying us some time. I left Diane with the patriarch and decided to take a nap.

I hadn’t slept at all since the morning before.

 

***

 

“Geo Margilus has a CON score of 16. Even though he’s a magic user, with a Constitution that high, if he were an athlete, he could compete in national competitions.”

That’s how I’d explained things to my old tabletop group, a literal lifetime ago.

And compared to when I was a middle-aged office worker, one who never got enough exercise, I recovered from fatigue extremely quickly.

I woke up feeling significantly recovered after my two-hour nap. There was tea waiting for me, prepared by the Schultz people. But judging from their attitude toward me, it might be more accurate to say that I’d received an offering from them.

“This is awfully good,” I said.

The small pieces of dried fruit brought to me by a Schultz woman were even better than I’d expected.

“It is the candied fruit of Lutz,” she told me reverently. “It is not worthy of the great Beelzebub, but I am glad that you enjoy it.”

The brown color wasn’t very appetizing, but there was a nice chewy texture similar to that of figs, and I liked the sweet flavor that numbed my tongue. This place was dry, and the sun was beating down on us, so I probably needed a high-calorie snack about now. It also went well with the horribly bitter Schultz tea.

 

***

 

“And…are you really going to take them to Filsand?” Agveil suddenly asked me, frowning a bit as he chewed on a mouthful of Lutz fruit.

“There’s no other choice. It is impossible for them to live on their own. And I have the perfect spell for transporting them.”

“That’s not the issue.”

This was the perfect situation for Forced March. I’d answered confidently, but Agveil shook his head with a bitter look on his face.

“What is it?”

“He’s right. For now, we need to get everyone back to Filsand and ensure their safety,” Balzard piped in.

“Hmph.” His younger brother snorted at that. “May I speak freely, Lord Margilus? I’ll say this to you first…because I don’t want to become your enemy.”

“Hmm?”

Agveil, still crouching on the ground, looked up at me with his dark eyes and continued, “First of all, you and my brother don’t understand the deep hatred between Filsand and the Schultz clan.”

“That’s not—”

“Brother, what did you see in their base? There is no one, Filsand or Schultz, who is as good-hearted a person as you, Brother.”

“Er…”

The sharp voice and accusing eyes left Balzard at a loss for words. The sad expression on his face implied that deep down, he thought his brother was right.

“Look closely at the eyes of those lying flat on the ground before you. They became strong because they were chased from their homes and forced to live in deprivation. Didn’t you start to understand that feeling when you were taken prisoner by them?”

Balzard stayed quiet.

I did, too.

I couldn’t fully appreciate the depth of hatred and resentment held by the Schultz clan. I peered at the exhausted refugees from a distance. I thought it was natural that the mood was dark, since they’d had to run for their lives from a swarm of daemons. I hadn’t imagined that they harbored such a deep hatred in their hearts.

“Perhaps some will submit to life in Filsand if it means saving their lives. But there are definitely some who, once they are within the city border, will be willing to sacrifice their lives just to get some payback for their grudge. Isn’t that right?” This time, Agveil looked not to his brother for confirmation, but to the patriarch.

“Yes,” he admitted quietly. “There are some among us whose families were killed by Filsanders, and then were driven from their homes. It’s only natural that some people would think like that… However, I plan to stop them. The Schultz people must endure. We cannot allow our line to be extinguished. Even if it means bending the knee to Darmund.”

Luthras bitterly spat out that last line. It was unreasonable for the Schultz clan to have to do such a thing, and I felt pity for them. But it was the best choice we had. It was because I believed that there was someone in the Schultz clan who could make such hard, clear-headed decisions that I’d asked the duke to protect the refugees.

After hearing what Luthras had to say, Agveil sighed and turned to me. “The best way to get someone to forget a grudge is to give them a good life. We’ll have to go with Plan B. Plan B is to give them hope, no matter how silly it might seem. I’m sure you can do it, Lord Margilus.”

“Hope?”

I was surprised to hear the word. I never would have imagined Agveil would be the one to utter it.

“That’s right. Everyone here has seen so much of your powers that they’re probably tired of the spectacle. You’re even more powerful than the duke of Filsand, and in my opinion, much more powerful.”

“You say that, but my preference is to form a compact of equals, not a hierarchy.” The anti-daemon alliance discussion was still pending.

“Nominally, that’s fine, but even my father knows that you’re above him,” Agveil advised. “No one will argue if you tell the Schultz clan that you are the one dictating terms.”

Balzard agreed. “I have a hard time believing that anyone in this land is equal to someone who controls dragons and takes down an entire daemonic legion alone. Even if it wasn’t their main army, it’s incredible.”

“Definitely…” Luthras agreed with Agveil’s point, too.

They were right, if we were only discussing power. And the duke especially was someone who based his ideas on power. I wondered if I would be able to get him to listen to me before he realized that my true form was that of a coward with no stomach for smiting people I didn’t like.

“Let’s say that’s true. Is that the wish of the Schultz people?”

This time, Balzard answered my question. “What my brother is trying to say is that if the order to go to Filsand comes from you, Lord Margilus, the Schultz people will listen… Though it would be better if there was some sort of reward for them to look forward to after all of this is over.”

“Mmmm.”

So, if they were confident that they would be able to eventually resolve the anxiety and unease ruling their daily lives, they could temporarily endure their suffering. That didn’t mean that their grudges would disappear completely, but there was something to what he was saying.

“If Beelzebu—or rather, if Lord Margilus is on our side, my true hope…is that you will drive Darmund out and take Filsand back for us. However…” The deep lines in Luthras’s face distorted further. He continued, “If that is not possible…at the very least, I want to make sure my people are no longer pursued by daemons and soldiers.”

I was silent.

Luthras’s words held an important nuance. He said that he wanted his people to be safe—but not that he expected me to ensure their safety. If that was the case, then that meant I was under no obligation to save them, but they would gladly cooperate to achieve our mutual goals.

“Everyone who fights daemons is my ally. If you will help as much as you can with the diplomatic battle to come, I will make sure that the duke of Filsand never touches the Schultz people again. Of course, the condition is that the Schultz clan must likewise suppress their hatred and forswear further reprisals.”

“If you can make good on your promise, we can endure those terms.”

“Now, while I will have to seek the opinion of the others, I do have a plan. If things go well, I think I will be able to provide the Schultz clan with new land.”

“A-are you being serious?” the patriarch swallowed audibly, looking up at me with doubt in his eyes, but I could also see a glimmer of hope.

 

***

 

Once we had an idea of our policy moving forward, I stood in front of the Schultz clan.

If we took too much time, the daemonic legion would break through the fort and catch up to us.

“People of the Schultz clan. Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am the Great Wizard Geo Margilus.”

“Beelzebub…”

“Please save us…”

The refugees, covered in mud and dirt—mostly the elderly, injured, women, and children—were prostrating themselves before me in a wave, like some kind of involuntary reaction. I think I heard once that the population of the Schultz clan was about three thousand. Only a mere one thousand had escaped the Holy Precincts and then the fort, surviving all the way to where we were now.

That meant their population had been suddenly cut to one-third its prior numbers. I didn’t want to let them face anymore hardship.

A short distance away, the silver-haired warrior, Diane, was staring at us.

I raised my voice to address them all. “As you have seen, I am here to protect this world from daemons. Now is the time to strike down the ones that have threatened you.”

A child started cheering. The expressions on the adults’ faces brightened, too.

“But I am not arrogant enough to save the proud Schultz people while asking nothing of them in kind. I am going to take you to Filsand now. I want you to settle there until this daemonic legion is annihilated. Rest assured: I will make certain that the duke of Filsand does not lay a finger on any of you.”

They were silent.

The faces of the Schultz people hardened, as if in disbelief that I could suggest such a thing. I saw the mother of the child who’d called out cover his mouth.

“After the daemonic legion is defeated, I vow to help you get land of your own. A place where you can build a safe haven! If you would like to return to the Holy Precincts and the fort, you will be welcome to. And you will likewise be welcome to develop your new home near my castle. Either way, if you are ever threatened by an outside enemy again, that enemy will be my enemy as well!”

“N-new land…?”

“If Beelzebub will protect us…”

“In exchange, I would like to ask all of you to support my battle with the daemons. If you can fight, pick up your sword. If you can work, lend your skills and labor. If you can do neither, pray. Once you have rebuilt your lives, if you are willing, help me protect Sedia from the daemons!”

There was no response.

After I was done saying everything I had to say, I looked around at the crowd, staring at me.

Just as Patriarch Luthras had said, if I really was their ally, I should be driving away the duke of Filsand and his people. So in a way, I was taking advantage of their weaknesses…but unfortunately, this was the only way I could think of to help them without compromising their pride.

Now the Schultz people were looking at each other and whispering among themselves. In their faces I could see hope, uncertainty, and doubt. They were all experiencing a wide range of emotions.

“Wizard Margilus! I will consent to your terms!”

A commanding voice that could bring anyone to attention broke the silence. The warmaster raised her sword, agleam with its rainbow aura, and looked over her people. Reyha sat behind her. Had she said something to Diane?

“If you will guarantee the safety of the Schultz clan, then I offer my sword and life to you! Know that I do not give the skill and divine sword of the warmaster lightly!”

Just like her cousin Elisabel, her normally adorable face was pale, and I couldn’t read her true thoughts. But why should I doubt a girl whose hometown had been trampled and who’d risen from the despair of her mother’s betrayal to stand firm once again?

“Your sword is welcome, princess of the Schultz.”

“I-I will fight alongside the princess for you, Lord Margilus.”

“As long as I can kill daemons.”

“Me, too…”

The few remaining warriors stood up one after another. The women and elderly lifted their heads and turned their willing eyes toward me.

In a way, this was a deception, a misdirection to paper over the discord between the Schultz and the duke of Filsand. But neither I nor they had any room to do otherwise.

“I hear you! From this day on, the Schultz clan is hereby an ally of the wizard, Geo Margilus! Let’s fight together!”

“Raaah!”

“Hurrah!”

“Margilus! Margilus!”

“Long live Diane!”

As I often did, I felt a sense of guilt as I checked off one more job from my wizardly to-do list. But my next task was the most important: to annihilate the daemonic legion, just as I had vowed to do.

As planned, I used Forced March to transport the refugees to Filsand—although Lade, Reyha, Diane, and I went ahead on the backs of phantom horses. After that, I left the Schultz clan in the hands of Ild and Clara (before that, I naturally strongly warned the duke that he wasn’t to touch them) and immediately started preparations to fight the daemonic legion.

According to the reconnaissance of Reyha and Filsand, the main daemonic legion was heading straight for Filsand. They would reach it within three days. That was plenty of time…