Chapter 16: Purple Robe and Red Staff

Chapter 16:
Purple Robe and Red Staff

 

THE BALL OF FLAMES reflected off Gol’s back, diffusing into a magnificent spray of particles.

What was this? What exactly had happened? Strangely, despite the ferocity of the flames, I barely felt any heat.

Behind me, Teru let out a small scream. The horses whinnied, waking the old driver from his nap. Mr. Chotos also scrambled out from beneath the wagon.

Thank goodness. It looked like everyone was fine.

“Hey, you all right, Gol?! You’re not burnt or anything?” I quickly slipped out of Gol’s embrace and checked her back.

Spotless. Slick and smooth. Indeed, it was unnaturally fine. Even though it had come into direct contact with an intense flame, Gol’s white skin didn’t feel remotely hot. I couldn’t find a trace of soot.

When I stroked her back in concern, her long ears fluttered contentedly. Good; she seemed energetic as usual. On the other hand, Gol’s crimson eyes were fixed somewhere beyond the mist.

I followed her gaze and strained my eyes into that great blank white. “That large ball of fire was an attack, right…?”

The enormous fireball had come flying at me from within the mist. I’d never heard of such a natural phenomenon. This was probably some fire spell, or even fire sorcery.

My first thought was of the crazy pyromaniac Flame Bicorn of rumor. At the same time, that didn’t feel right. How could the Flame Bicorn elude Gol’s notice? Her Surface Detection was perfect. Besides, I didn’t think Gol had sensed anything suspicious until the second before the fireball hurtled toward us.

Since I was no hunter, I only ever knew about incoming wildlife when Gol stepped into her protective position because she sensed an unfamiliar presence. If she had sensed the suspicious horse earlier, she would’ve taken a defensive stance.

To be fair, the ancient Earth Dragon had eluded Gol’s detection, but according to Master Speria, that dinosaur was half-spirit or something, and as one of the four god-saurs of this world, it was an exception to every rule. We couldn’t possibly have run into another absurdly rare phenomena, could we?

My doubt was spot on. The one who shot the fireball wasn’t the Flame Bicorn.

The mist began to dissipate, and we heard a person’s voice. “Wow. Did you see that guy? He made his golem react to a surprise attack from a blind angle. He’s a pretty decent wielder, heh.”

Figures emerged from the fading mist, chatting amongst themselves.

“Aww, come on! You’re jokin’, right? We cast Curtain of Haze, y’know? It’s an advanced anti-detection spell. I can’t believe this guy…”

“Ha, after this, I think I actually believe the rumors that he instantly defeated the Swordbreaker and his crew.”

The group emerged one by one until there were more than ten of them. All of them wore robes similar to mine, meaning they were likely spellcasters. For some reason, they were surprised that I was unharmed. Despite their backhanded praise, they reeked of confidence. One of them was even cackling.

“Oh my, oh my. They were supposed to be burnt to a crisp by my Flame Bullet so it would look like the work of a Flame Bicorn. Looks like this is going to be more annoying than we hoped,” a woman standing in the middle of the group muttered in displeasure. She was a female spellcaster holding a uniquely shaped red staff. The moment I caught sight of her, my eyes widened.

“N-no way. Impossible…”

She was an unexpectedly busty spellcaster. Each time she spoke, those two jiggling mountains demanded attention.

W-wait… Don’t misunderstand. Look, I was just surprised from the bottom of my heart by the appearance of a real live busty woman in this bleak world that was barren of any feminine charm. I wasn’t by any means upset, just a bit shocked.

Although it did seem she had been the one who shot that fireball. Who exactly were these guys? Was this a gang of highway robbers? Or did they have another goal in mind? To tell you the truth, I couldn’t make sense of anything at that moment.

I glanced at Gol next to me. To tell you the truth, I was a bit concerned. Other than to protect me from the fireball, she hadn’t yet reacted. We had made a promise before entering Tibar, one with the basic activation condition: “an attack from the enemy.” This condition had already been fulfilled.

Normally, the second someone aggressed against me, Gol rushed the enemy like a bullet and knocked down everyone in her path. In fact, given the violence of that fireball, I suspected she might not be satisfied with a beating—she would want to kill them. She might even give in to her base impulses and unleash a chain of frenzied, gruesome techniques.

Gol was especially merciless to those who tried to kill me. Those gruesome techniques always made it seem like she was trying to take mindless, excessive revenge because she could no longer control her emotions. I’d seen far too many monkeys horrifically mangled as a consequence of this self-expression. I hadn’t ultimately been able to bear witness to their grotesque demise, as it had secretly hurt my heart.

As such, I expected—and feared—that these culprits were in for the same treatment. But if so, why was Gol sticking so close and refusing to leave my side?

“Well, this situation does look pretty bad…” I gulped.

After all, behind me were an elderly man, a middle-aged man, and a young girl—three overwhelmingly weak people. I knew Gol would risk her life to protect me, but at the same time, I had a strong suspicion that she wouldn’t be as diligent when guarding those three.

Worse, this situation was completely different from our dispute with the debt collector punks. We were far from any human settlements and that fire spell had definitely been meant to kill us. Our opponents were, without a doubt, vicious criminals. They were no simple hired thugs.

But I had to protect children and the elderly no matter what. I had no choice.

I dropped a bit from my standing position, letting the sleeve of my olive-brown robe lightly touch the ground. There, I chanted in a voice low enough that the three people behind me wouldn’t notice. “Earth Battle-Axe…”

Earth particles gathered inside my sleeve. Earth Battle-Axe was a beginner Earth spell described in Introduction to Spellcrafting IV. The single-edged axe it created was quite small and lacked the reach of Earth Spear, but it was tough enough.

More importantly, because it was small, I could create the weapon in secret and keep it concealed within my sleeve. I coaxed it into a vertical position, holding the handle up and facing the blade downward. Just as the battle-axe neared completion, I activated my sorcery. I concentrated on my new friend, the axe, and made my request.

“Hi, friend axe, this is my first time asking anything of you. Please aid me in protecting an innocent five-year-old and a kind, old gentleman. Oh, and add a bad-mannered middle-aged man while you’re at it.”

I gripped the handle of the axe and peeked down to check on it. As luck would have it, I now held in my hand an ultra-reliable jet-black battle-axe. Honestly, its appearance was a bit fiendish.

All right, control initiated.

No one had noticed my spell. Helpfully, normal Earth-spell weapons were brown; none were this black. Even if the criminal spellcaster gang or my three companions saw the battle-axe now, they would think I’d had it stashed in my sleeve the whole time. As long as I didn’t send it flying through the air like an RC toy, anyway.

That was the problem, though. Even though I’d used my sorcery on this Earth Battle-Axe, I couldn’t make any long-ranged attacks with it lest I expose myself as the Sorcerer King, which would put me at risk. In the end, this little guy would have to stay by my side.

You must understand, however, that, I, of course, wasn’t thinking of doing anything reckless like using this axe to fight in melee combat. A man must know his limits. There was another, more legitimate reason for which I had conjured this weapon and ensorcelled it. In short, it was the only defensive move I could think of that would increase the chances of survival for my three companions. In other words, it was my last resort.

You see, I had realized something unique about being the Sorcerer King while I was using sorcery to fight the monkeys and the ancient Earth Dragon in that miasma-filled wasteland: Whenever I activated my sorcery, my spatial awareness spiked to an absurd level.

Think about it. The first time I used NTR, not only was I able to stop several hundreds of stone bullets in the air at the same time, I also managed to accurately and simultaneously return every single one straight into each individual monkey’s head. The monkeys were annihilated by that meteor shower, and all the monkeys immediately perished via direct headshot. Not one shot missed.

It had been the same with the fight against the ancient Earth Dragon, during which I fired my Earth Spear like a high-speed missile. I had controlled its trajectory to target the dragon’s blind spots while rotating it at extreme speeds. Such a feat wouldn’t have been possible with my natural human abilities, but it had been with my sorcery-heightened spatial awareness. Using that same power, I now hoped to act as a shield for my companions.

In our group, I likely had the quickest recovery rate and greatest resilience. Then again, I hadn’t exactly trained my body or anything, and I didn’t want to get hurt, either. But this party relied on me and Gol; the rest were a fragile girl and the elderly. Mr. Chotos might hold out for a bit, but the other two would absolutely die from even the lightest of attacks. I had to protect them.

I glanced over at them. Mr. Chotos and the grandpa stared in terror at the spellcaster group before us. Only Teru looked at me with her wide, sparkling eyes. “Mr. Nemaki, your eyes are really pretty.”

Eh? Are you flirting, Teru? Is now really the time?

Ha, this was certainly unexpected. But, you know, she had already dipped her toes in dangerous waters with that marriage proposal when we first met. I shouldn’t have been that surprised. Exactly what kind of response could I give that wouldn’t harm this passionate lady? Hmm…

I was seriously troubled. Just then, Mr. Chotos spotted the battle-axe sticking out of my sleeve, turned pale, and grabbed my arm. “Hey, Nemaki, you can’t fight those spellcasters! We have to run.”

“Eh?”

What’s wrong, mister? Why’s your face so pale? Did you actually think I would throw my weapon at those creeps over there? Come on, my guy. Your best joke is your face, okay? We’ve been together for like a week now, so you should know I know my own weaknesses.

“It’s true that you could probably do something about those spellcasters in front,” said Mr. Chotos. “But you definitely can’t win against that man in the back. Even I know that golem wielder.”

“The man in the back?”

I had been under the impression that the busty lady was this group’s greatest asset. Was I wrong? Indeed, just as Mr. Chotos said, a man wearing a purple Inverness-style robe stood in the back of the spellcaster gang. Was that person a golem wielder like me? To think the first person I met who shared my profession would be a criminal… I was shocked. Appalled!

“Is that guy famous?”

“Yes. He’s a renowned elite of the Spellcaster’s Association—the strongest golem wielder in Sadie territory. His name is Ginem Bari.” Mr. Chotos couldn’t look away from him. “He’s a ‘jester golem’ wielder—those are also light-class golems, but they’re even faster than shrine golems. You have to understand how that completely removes your advantage, yes?”

“Sorry, I’m not really getting it…”

“I knew you’d be like this,” Mr. Chotos said with a trembling sigh.

I did recall seeing the name “jester golem” in Illustrated Guide to Golems. They were indeed faster than those busty shrine golems, so they had to be speedy as heck. I had only skimmed that passage, but were they really so amazing?

“Besides, the problem isn’t that he uses jester golems. That man, Ginem Bari, he’s…”

As I listened to Mr. Chotos, I studied this Ginem fellow. He was lanky, with narrow almond eyes, and he looked to be in his twenties, so he probably wasn’t that much older than me. His wavy navy-blue hair would’ve been unique in my original world, but in this world, it was common. In this respect, his appearance couldn’t really be called gaudy. But, as Mr. Chotos seemed to be trying to imply, he had a different air about him.

I see… So this was what a standard golem wielder was like. I really had a feel for it now.

Actually, ever since I’d heightened my senses with sorcery, I had been concerned about something, which is to say, there was something behind Ginem Bari. It had quietly lurked there the whole time.

At that moment, I locked eyes with Ginem Bari. The fox-eyed spellcaster grinned and laughed.

“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wielder of the Red-Eyed Golem. I’ve heard rumors that you’re quite good.” Ginem Bari’s confident smile made it clear he was convinced he would win against me. He opened both arms wide, expanding his purple robe. “First, let’s make some introductions. These guys are my adorable partners.”

The moment Ginem Bari made this announcement, four shadows—two on either side of him—jumped out from behind his flapping robe. These shadows resolved into four eerie, lavender golems.

Mr. Chotos let out a cry. “That man…Ginem Bari… He controls four golems at the same time… He’s a ‘multiple golem wielder’…”

Mr. Chotos’s complexion was getting quite bad. Sweat rolled down his forehead, pulling down his thinning hair. He looked way worse than he had while working beneath the wagon. “How could this be? The Four Jester Wielder Ginem Bari… To prepare such a thorough countermeasure against Nemaki… Could this be the Paisley Company’s doing…?”