Chapter 3
Chapter 3
“I CAN’T BELIEVE I forgot!”
With my Infinity Bag slung over my shoulder, I ran toward the jail compound.
I should have gone and rescued her first, but instead I’d wasted hours and hours exploring, leaving her to rot in her jail cell. The sun was already starting to set. I guess I can’t expect everything to play out like it does in fantasy novels, I thought to myself.
By the time I reached the young woman’s cell, I was out of breath.
“Are… Are you okay?!” I shouted, between gasps.
“Huh? Wha? No! No!” she screamed, “Get away from me!”
Huh? I thought, confused.
“Umm… I-It’s okay! There’s no reason to be afraid of me!”
“No! Don’t come any closer! You monster! You daemon!”
I paused, realizing she wasn’t looking at me, but behind me. I slowly turned around…
“Groo?” My guard ogre, who had faithfully followed me into the jail, tilted his head and looked to me for direction.
***
“I’m…really sorry about that. Could you at least listen to what I have to say? I’m not in league with the bandits or with what you call ‘daemons.’ I do not want to cause you any harm.”
No response, huh?
The young woman retreated to the far corner of the cell, where she lingered, eyeing me warily. I’d ordered the ogre away as soon as I realized the problem, but the damage was already done.
Now that I’d had a closer look at her, I decided it was more appropriate to describe her as a girl, rather than a young woman. I wasn’t familiar enough with white people to be confident I could tell her age just from the way she looked, but…if I had to hazard a guess, she appeared to be in her mid-teens. She wore a simple one-piece dress, had short, chestnut-colored hair, and looked like the energetic type. She seems ready to snap at me if I get any closer, though… Nevertheless, I readied myself to try again.
“I’m not lying to you. That thing I just sent away is a creature I created with a spell to serve me. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“But if you created that daemon…doesn’t that mean you’re on their side?”
There’s that word “daemon” again, I thought. It must be a term unique to Sedia, or else I’d understand it. Since everyone’s mistaking my ogres for daemons, they must at least look similar. But regardless, based on how this girl and the bandits reacted, daemons must have an awful reputation.
“Like I’ve been trying to tell you, I’m just a simple wizard.”
“Wizard? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Based on the girl’s reaction and what Jargle said earlier, I thought, there either must not be a proper word in Sedia’s language to describe my magic, or the term isn’t widely known… From what I’ve gathered, my magic and what Jargle called “sorcery” are probably two completely different things that work in different ways. That would explain why my invincibility spell didn’t protect me from Jargle’s ice arrow…
But I had to stop myself. Those investigations could wait.
“Look, if I was on the bandits’ side, do you think they would have kicked me and punched me and thrown me in a cell? You saw them drag me out of that cell over there, didn’t you?”
“Maybe…you got in a fight, or something?”
I tried thinking of the situation from her perspective. I can’t blame her for hesitating to believe a guy she knows nothing about suddenly claiming that he’s here to save her. Hell, I’m still trying to make sense of all that’s happened myself. But at least some of what I’m saying is getting through to her, I think. As long as I’m patient, I should be able to coax her out…
I sighed. Convincing the girl turned out to be harder than I thought. If I wasn’t my old forty-two-year-old self, but fit the image of the handsome silver-haired young man Geo Margilus was supposed to be according to his character sheet, would she have believed me right away? I paused as I stuck upon a sudden realization. Even if she didn’t, Geo Margilus had spells like Charm he could use. If I just cast Charm on her, I…
“You damned idiot!” I shouted suddenly, smacking my head against the iron bars of the cell.
“Wh-why did you do that?!” the girl yelled out, startled.
Even if it was only for a split second, I couldn’t forgive myself for genuinely entertaining the use of Charm as an option. I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say it was the biggest moral failing in my life up to that point. My head was throbbing, but that was nothing compared to my indignation. In fact, I thought, I need this pain.
The spell Charm does exactly what you think. It allows the caster to control another’s person’s mind. It’s hard to think of anything more self-serving than that, I thought, deeply displeased with myself. This isn’t a game! Real people are involved!
“Just because…she’s not willing…to listen to you! You have no right!” I shouted, banging my head again against the bars between phrases.
At some level, I knew I’d snapped. Flying off the handle in front of a girl I hardly knew was only going to make things worse. But I was afraid—afraid that if I didn’t firmly denounce such an inhumane use of my powers immediately, afraid that if gave in even once, I would be tempted to do it over and over again, until the accumulated indulgence in such vices led to my downfall.
“Please! Stop already! You’re bleeding!” the girl cried out.
As I maybe should have expected, I’d split my forehead. Blood was starting to seep into my eye. I groaned and staggered in pain.
“What is with you?! Why did you do that all of sudden?!”
“Well, I… I’m really sorry about that. I, uh… Huh?”
After wiping my forehead on my robe, I felt a piece of cloth pressed into my hand. It was a handkerchief.
“You’re bleeding all over the place! Put that over your cut and hold it down!”
“Um… Okay…”
Reflexively, I did as I was told. I held the handkerchief to my forehead. The girl had left the far corner of the cell and must have handed me the handkerchief through the bars.
“Th-thank you…”
Setting aside the fact I had potions in my Infinity Bag I could be using, I thanked the girl and knelt down on the ground.
A few moments passed in silence.
That darling girl’s face was twisted into something between a grimace and a frown as she looked down at me. Not that I could blame her. Only moments ago, she had watched a grown man throw himself against the bars of her cell like a raving lunatic. But to the extent that she was now exasperated, at least her fear of me seemed to have waned. Likewise, my anger with myself had subsided. I had a second chance to make my case.
“I’m really sorry you had to see that…”
“Okay…”
“I won’t ask you to believe everything right away, but could you at least listen to what I have to say?”
“Well…”
The girl’s voice trailed off as she thought for a moment, before sitting down on the other side of the bars facing me. The way she was sitting, her right leg peeked out from under her dress. Once she was situated, she reached out and massaged her right ankle.
“All right. I’ll hear you out,” she said, finally.
So, I’d made it past the first step. Still holding the girl’s handkerchief to my forehead, I straightened myself up and faced her directly.
“Thank you again for the handkerchief. I’ll make sure to wash it and get it back to you.”
“You don’t have to worry about that…”
“Before we talk, I have something I’d like to take care of first,” I said, reaching into my Infinity Bag and taking out a cup and brass bottle.
“Is that some sort of…liquor?” the girl asked.
“No, it’s a healing potion. It’s used to heal wounds.”
More specifically, the bottle was a useful magic item called a potion server, and, despite its size, it could hold ten doses’ worth of potion. It was currently stocked with a basic healing potion, not unlike the kind commonly found in any fantasy game.
“In that case, you should hurry up and drink it,” the girl said.
“Hmm?” I replied, confused.
Oh… She thinks this is for the cut on my head, I thought, suddenly remembering my own condition.
“No, no. This is for you. I thought you might need it. Did you hurt yourself anywhere?”
“No, I’m fine, thanks,” she said, shaking her head.
But I wasn’t convinced; after all, she’d been rubbing her ankle just a few moments ago.
“It’s not poisonous or anything. I’ll go ahead and drink the first one to show you there’s nothing to worry about,” I said, pouring the peach-colored liquid into the cup.
The potion had a sweet aroma, and when I drank it in a single gulp, the taste reminded me of a very sweet alcoholic beverage—almost too sweet. But sure enough, I felt my stamina recovering.
“See? It’s healed,” I said with confidence, though I could hardly believe it myself. The cut on my forehead closed in no time at all.
“Here, you have the next cup,” I said, filling the cup again with healing potion and holding it out to the girl.
“But you shouldn’t use something so valuable on me…and it’s just a sprained ankle,” she said, resistant.
“You can think of it as an apology from me for scaring you earlier. Please, take it.”
The girl hesitated. Rather than not trusting me, she seemed more concerned about accepting something she would have trouble paying back. After her confusion over the word “wizard,” I was surprised she’d understood what a healing potion was so quickly. I suppose it translates roughly to, “an expensive medicine that heals wounds.”
“You know, it’s going to make it a lot harder for you to get back home if your feet are hurting,” I said, making the final push. “Especially if you decide you don’t need my help.”
“That’s…a good point. In that case, I’ll take it…but I promise I’ll pay you back,” the girl replied, somewhat reluctantly, before drinking it down.
Over the next few seconds, the girl’s face became noticeably brighter.
“It… It doesn’t hurt anymore!” she happily exclaimed, moving her foot around and stretching her leg out. In her excitement, the hem of her dress rose a bit, exposing her thighs. It wasn’t really my place to say, but I thought she could stand to be a bit more careful about that, considering her age.
“Huh? Oh! I’m sorry! I guess I got a little carried away.” The girl noticed I was looking away and blushed, righting the hem of her dress. I had to admit, her reaction was rather cute.
“I’m glad it seems to have worked,” I said.
“Thank you very much! I’m sorry for saying all those bad things about you.”
“So, you believe me?”
“Well, I believe you’re here to help me, at least.”
I’ll take that, I thought, with a sigh of relief. If I was meeting someone for the first time in Japan, there would already be a degree of connection for the two of us to build upon. Excluding a few odd cases, both persons could expect the other to share the same common sense, the same frame of reference. Back home, even strangers know they both live in the same society and are protected by the same rules. Here, in this other world, I couldn’t rely on that sense of familiarity. The fact that I was finally able to communicate with another human being (the words I exchanged with Jargle and the bandits didn’t really count) was a huge relief.
“So, would you mind getting me out of here, then? Do you have the key?”
“Oh, right. Wait just a moment.”
That’s right, this is no time to be complacent, I thought. Now that I’ve committed myself to it, my first priority is to make sure this girl makes it safely home.
I stood up and began to cast a spell.
“As a consequence of this spell, any lock I touch I will be able to freely lock and unlock. Wizard Key.”
After I finished casting the spell, the lock on the cell door opened of its own accord.
“Wow, that’s amazing,” the girl said, her eyes wide as she left the cell. She stretched, as if seeking to confirm that she was really free, before turning toward me and bowing her head.
“I am Mora, daughter of Ild, a merchant of the city of Relis. Forgive me for my earlier impoliteness. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
Some of the new recruits at our company could learn a lot from her, I thought, as I listened to her introduction.
“I am the wizard and magic user Geo Margilus. Naturally, I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”
***
Right after we left the jail compound, I ordered the ogres to secure the perimeter, but that immediately set Mora off on me. “Other people are going to think we’re in league with daemons if they see us with them! Do you want someone from a warrior clan hunting us down?!”
There were a few terms in Mora’s rant that I didn’t understand, but I decided it was best to do what she said.
“As a consequence of this spell, all sources of magic within a ten-foot radius will return to the void. Dispel Magic.”
When I used Dispel Magic (an essential skill when fighting against arcane enemies) to undo the effects of my Create Ogre Platoon spell, the six ogres faded into thin air as if they’d been nothing but a mirage.
“Y-you really did create those daemons with sorcery, didn’t you?” asked Mora.
“They’re called ogres…and I used wizardry, not sorcery…” I muttered.
There were still many things I had to confirm, so I decided to go with Mora into the tower, where we would be able to sit down and talk.
“Um… What is…that?”
As we made our way to the tower, Mora noticed the statue of Jargle on its side in the courtyard. Her reaction was understandable; it wasn’t a very nice thing to look at.
“That’s the sorcerer who was apparently the boss of the bandits.”
“But…it’s a statue.”
“I turned him into one. With magic.”
“Well…huh.”
Until then, Mora had been walking right next to me, but now she slowed her pace so as to keep a few steps behind.
At least she didn’t run away.