Nevil grimaced at this backwater, F-ranked, pathetic excuse for a town. These people were stretching the definition of what made a town. Maybe it was somewhat decent back in its prime, but the Crimson Sect officer heard about the great departure, rising prices, cancellation of its owlfruit festival. What a shame too. Perhaps the mission would’ve been easier, for the number of young girls would surely distract the hero.
Continuing toward the jail, Nevil could sense the presences of the hero and his party, but that didn’t bother him in the slightest. The hero might have been the one responsible for defeating that nightmare of a Midnight Dragon, but that was some time ago. Cultivation stopped for no one. Many magicians, even those accursed witches, pushed to grow their power every second of the day. Naturally, the hero and his party were surpassed, especially when they were facing bottlenecks. Perhaps the reason why they moved all the way out to this pathetic place was to cultivate in peace. Nevil could admire that if the ambient mana in the area was denser, but it felt thin. What could they possibly accomplish training here? Perhaps in the forest, but even the sect officer felt the extreme danger in it. He doubted the hero and his ilk would be that suicidal. He failed to understand how the house near it still stood. Maybe no one lived in it.
Rounding the corner, Nevil finally found himself staring down Ramon Thunderblade and his party. He looked at Iris the Heavenly Bow, grinning, waggling his eyebrows at the desirable elf. In addition to money, Drew did have good taste in women at least. Nevil allowed his demonic aura to pulse twice before retracting it. If the people knew what was good for them, they’d stay inside.
“Ramon Thunderblade, great hero of the world, slayer of that wretched Midnight Dragon, what could someone of your statue possibly be doing here in a… well, a place like this?” Nevil asked, his grin a mix of mocking and lazy. Ramon said nothing, only observed and probably tried to scan the sect officer. He held up the charm on his necklace. “It is rude to try to scan guests of the town. But we haven’t met. I only know of you. I’m Nevil, just a sect officer.”
“Just a sect officer,” Kelvin, the Blizzard Sword, said. “You’re not fooling anyone, you demonic faction bastard.”
“Ah, perhaps not,” Nevil said, laughing. “Perhaps I am. But are you really going to try to stand in my way, or will you detain all of the kingdom’s soldiers too? Drew is employed under the Lord Ruler. What’s to stop him from ratting out your location? Or me?”
“Drew wouldn’t tell a soul, twisted as he is,” Maxus, the Darkness, said. “He believes he’s got a spot on our team, like it’s his fate, and refuses to risk anyone else desiring it. We hadn’t realized he sowed the seeds of leaving the capital some time ago.”
“Why do you not accept him?” Nevil asked, mostly out of bored curiosity and, perhaps, a tiny bit of stalling before the combat. “He’s got the money you need, cultivating nicely, and could hide you anywhere.”
“You either know the answer to that or you’re as rotten as that idiot,” Ronica the Phoenix Magician said. “Don’t try to pretend otherwise. This isn’t a child’s game.”
Nevil laughed. “I like you, twerp. It isn’t a child’s game, but not quite the game of houses, either. Not really the game of sects, not yet. Just something on the side. Our sect’s getting paid nicely for a little morning fun, no? But I’ll give you a little break and let you in on something before I retrieve my beneficiary. Who would you rather ally yourself with? Someone like Drew, who will do whatever it takes to get the mission done, even if the results aren’t as pretty and pristine as you like, or the kingdom? You know, with the Lord Ruler and his inner circle utterly afraid of someone rising in power and usurping him from his comfy little throne. There’s also the third option. But not even I’m foolish enough to desire that one or speak the name of he who commands darkness.”
Nevil couldn’t help but wonder why the hero’s party didn’t attack right away. If he were Ramon, he would’ve charged without hesitation. There was no way he could be aware of all of Nevil’s plans, right? No… but the party appeared to be stalling too? But why? Maybe they wanted information from him chatting, not that it would do them any good while captured by the secret sect. He tossed the suspicions aside. Even if they figured everything out, it was too late. Drew shouldn’t mind him and the sect having a little fun. If not, they could simply dispose of him.
“Nate, what’s wrong…?” Harmony’s voice cut off as her eyes set on the carriages I was staring at as I internally cycled through my limited bundle of options. There were five of them, each with kingdom soldiers. Interfering with the retrieval of Drew could put everyone in my home in danger, bring unwanted attention. Instead, I’d have to leave it to the hero’s party to deal with them. Hopefully, leaving the capital didn’t remove their authority to arrest troublemakers, right? Then again, the person who released this ridiculous pressure… No, he couldn’t take on the entirety of the hero’s party by himself. Something about his aura felt… weird, almost as if it didn’t belong to a human.
About five more red robes emerged from the carriage, each strong, but still not a match for the party, thankfully.
Harmony voiced my concern. “If we can feel that from here, the people may be in trouble. What if they get caught up in the fight?” she said.
I said nothing, just watched, but the moment the headstrong stubborn girl moved, I placed a hand in front of her.
Milia, Mandi, and Lucas, noticing the tension, stepped out to see the situation for themselves. Wolverine growled, expressing his own uneasiness. Harmony could be a pain in the ass, wanting to move first without thinking, but at the same time, I understood the need to protect her hometown.
The effects of Kyushu’s F-ranked status were becoming apparent, and I realized this needed to change fast if we were going to be getting visitors. Through my eagle sight, I could see Kyushu’s guards getting suppressed easily even while the red robes were far away. The kingdom soldiers appeared to be making fun of them. I wondered if they knew the mayor was a retired officer. Either they didn’t know or didn’t give a fuck, because they weren’t… real kingdom soldiers.
“Well, fuck,” I said. “Or as you guys say, Wanda’s ass.”
“What’s going on?” Lucas asked. “Why would the kingdom…?”
“It’s a trap for the hero’s party,” I said. “They’re not real kingdom soldiers. Come to think of it, there’s no way the soldiers would be here that fast and…” I turned to Mandi. “Wouldn’t you know, since they come from Wingston, right?”
“They don’t always come from Wingston,” Mandi said. “But the soldiers that are on the way should be taking a break at the village right about now, before coming along for the arrest. Those carriages look off. They don’t have any house symbols. Not the red star for our own house, or the kingdom’s cross.”
“Goddammit,” I muttered. “To think I was going to try to be a proper teacher and ensure you guys appropriately know how to brew a potion. Also, not to make my mistakes. Instead I’m stuck dealing with these losers.”
“I’m certain they think the hero betrayed Drew or something along those lines,” Milia said. “He’s claiming to be the seventh member of their party.”
“I don’t think so, but all I know is that he’s the son of a big noble house,” I said. “The sect members in the robes are on his payroll, I believe.”
“Are you going to restrain them?” Milia asked, getting straight to the point.
“I’m going to… observe first,” I said. “I need to make sure I’m not jumping to conclusions. The safety of everyone comes first.” I turned to Harmony. “That includes you. Stay here and maybe believe in me for once.”
The blue-haired teenager blushed, but after a moment, nodded.
“Running into danger like that is potentially becoming another casualty and we don’t want to give these idiots the last laugh. Wolverine, come with me.” I looked at Milia. “I’ll be back. This shouldn’t take too long, I hope. Maybe they’ll handle everything politically and leave.”
Milia smiled, kissing me in front of the teenagers. “I admire your optimism. And hope that it starts becoming true. I’m not a fan of the fighting coming for us all the time.”
Wolverine and I climbed onto Beakwing and took off toward the town, though we stayed high in the cloudy sky. As expected, twenty ‘soldiers’ poured from the set of carriages. The non-magicians stayed back, guarding the vehicles, likely to be the real deal serving in a corrupted legion, or had no fucking clue what was going on, blindly following orders.
“You know, the downside of unarmed combat is not having a bow and arrow or a dagger,” I said. “Then I could just tip those with some of the sleeping potion and fire away. There’s no guarantee that it’d work.”
Wolverine grumbled his reply. As we circled the carriages from above, I caught a terrible sight. Cages in a few of them. There were three women in the hero’s party and if they were zapped powerless, well, only fucked up shit could happen. Humanity’s been this way since the caveman days. So I did what any good passerby would do. Blew them the fuck up. In fact, there was some strong magical resistance on the cages, but the sky-blue flareup fizzled out within seconds as I melted them down to a state that couldn’t even be considered scrap metal. The hero’s party got on my nerves, but I didn’t wish anything bad to happen to them.
Despite destroying the carriages, something within told me that at least a few of the party members should have supernatural senses. There was simply no way they’d survived this long as major public figures without being able to detect assassinations or capture attempts. Soon enough, I had my answer as I noticed the scene of the group getting surrounded and them being completely relaxed.
I glared. They were expecting me to bail them out.
“Known them for only a few days,” I said. “How can they be this idiotic to trust a guy that for all they know, could’ve called this sect in?”
Sure, that didn’t follow any logic, since I basically demonstrated how little I knew about this world, but what if it was an act? I’d expect the hero and the young ones to get a little complacent, but Iris and Kelvin were at least thirty. Well, Iris looked twenty, but she was an elf, so who knew. Maxus looked older too. They should know better. No wonder why they were asking me for training.
Too bad for them, I didn’t know what the hell I was doing either, being a complete newbie. However, common sense was a hell of a drug. The hero’s party needed to start snorting it.
“Beakwing, strike the red robes with a good magical blast,” I said.
The moment the griffin charged his attack, the motions I was waiting for occurred. Every one of them looked around as they were buried in an overwhelming sense of danger. Beakwing being an S-ranked magical beast probably had something to do with that. Let me correct that. An S-ranked magical beast that trained every day.
The red robe that seemed calm, well, I assumed him to be the leader. My assumption received a confirmation when he tanked Beakwing’s attack while the other sect members were tossed around like ragdolls. I took the opportunity to scan him.
[Enemy analysis.]
Nevil, Crimson Sect 10th Officer
Magician rank: 11th realm of the Highcore.
Ah. I mean, the eleventh realm wasn’t something to sneeze at, right? The hero’s party didn’t just wait around, thankfully. With the distraction, they exploded into action. Ramon and Kelvin charged the Nevil guy, while Iris ruthlessly stuck an arrow in the chests of each downed cult member. But they weren’t dead.
As if snapping out of a daze, the sect members jumped to their feet, yanking out the arrows and conjuring up red magic, which clouded the surroundings in a hazy orange, as if the area was set on fire.
“Sunlight Flash, Wolverine,” I said. The sunlight wolf fired a large stream of pure white magic without hesitation, blasting the entire sect, including the leader, over. Both Ramon and Kelvin pounced him.
But Nevil did not go down so easily. Something on his neck glowed, an artifact maybe. A cloud of gray light expanded from him rapidly, bashing away Ramon and Kelvin.
“Fools, you think you stand a chance against me?” He aimed a hand at Kelvin. A spell book manifested at his side. It was blood red and the size of a box fan. If there was one thing I’d learned since I arrived in this world, it was that the sight of a spell book meant shit was getting real. Could potion makers get them?
We were still high in the sky, but some of the sect magicians searched for us, clearly aware that the sneak attack came from upwards. None of the hero’s party dared give us away, which reminded me that they were at least quite experienced in combat, unlike me. The A-ranked dungeon was my training, enabling me to learn so much, despite not being an adventurer. A few moves from their playbook should allow for getting ingredients to be slightly safer.
Pulling out a sleep potion, I motioned for Beakwing to dive and unleash his strongest magic blast at Nevil. The griffin’s wings glowed as he complied. The pressure created did make the sect uneasy as they desperately tried to find us.
“Let’s dive out of the clouds, get a little close and fire,” I said. “Wolverine, you too. We’re not about to let this guy continue to act all high and mighty because the necklace I want blocked a life-strengthening attack.”
Wolverine let out a long howl while we were still in the sky, then Beakwing took a nosedive. Within seconds, we were close. Both spirit beasts unleashed their attacks, coating the area in smoke, dust, and flying bodies. The hero’s party were smart enough to get out of the way.
I hopped from my griffin’s back, landing behind Nevil, and allowed my killing intent to drop him to his knees. Walking into his view, I waved.
“I hope you don’t mind taking a little nap,” I said, then lightly stomped his gut. He let out the yell of pain I wanted and one drop of sleep potion later, he was out. The hero’s party dealt with the other sect members.
One of the townsfolk ran off to go retrieve the mayor and presumably a supersized box of handcuffs.
“The real kingdom soldiers are going to be delighted to know they’ve got extra luggage,” Ronica said cheerfully.
I dodged her attempt at a flying hug, causing her to slam into Iris instead, gaining herself a glare.
“So, Crimson Sect guys,” I deadpanned, eyeing the entire party. “What’s your plan to fix this? These guys will turn this town into a war zone if we don’t do something.”
Ronica opened her mouth to speak, but I continued. “Even if the real kingdom soldiers come to pick up Drew, what’s stopping them from being paid off, and returning with an army of magicians?”
Ronica pouted. “Are you throwing us out of town?”
“That’s not the point,” I said. “The sects are after you. They apparently know you’re here and will likely stop at nothing to get their revenge. That includes telling everyone of your location.”
“That faction of the Crimson Sect is acting on their own, illegally,” Iris said.
I gave her a look. “Elaborate on this. Are you sure?”
“They’re essentially Drew’s hired goons,” Ramon said. “This is the first time they’ve attacked us directly.”
“They’re usually following Drew around like little puppies,” Iris said, her voice venomous.
I went to each of them, pulled off their storage rings, jewelry, and stacked all spell books in a pile. The books suddenly burst into smoke, startling me. The smoke drifted toward their owner and seeped into their skin.
“Spell books are soul bound,” Nuwa said. “And for good reason. It’d take death to separate the owner and his tome.”
“I’m not a death and destruction type of guy,” I began, “but do what you must. I ask you take it outside of the town.”
“Are you suggesting we murder them?” Nuwa asked.
“Wait, that’s not what you’re planning to do?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. I’ve only been in this world for a couple of months and had not been wrung out in a way that would force me to adapt to a murderous mindset. Not as someone who lived in the modern age for his entire life, with the biggest conflict then being a low tier, maximum drunk, bar fight.
“No,” Nuwa said.
“But it’s not the first time we had to slay a foe,” Ramon said. “It’s always in self-defense. But even that’s very rare, outside of monsters.”
“Should we just order a bunch of sleeping potions from you? Then—”
“No, that won’t work,” I interrupted Ronica. “If the kingdom soldiers recognize you, they will report back to this Lord Ruler or whoever’s in charge. They’ll want answers. You’ll just get more crap sent this way, even if you leave. There will be a search and a demand for directions.”
“This is frustrating, but I think… we don’t have a choice,” Ramon said. “It’s time for us to go, for the safety of the people in this town.”
Abruptly, I heard an inhuman wail and laugh from behind me. I turned to see Nevil hopping to his feet, back hunched over. There were differences in his appearance. The whites of his eyes were black, while the pupils glowed bright red.
Something felt off, but I had no fucking idea what other than the possibility of this guy being possessed by a demon.
“Run!” Ramon shouted. “The Hell Drag Technique!”
Nuwa wasn’t quick enough as the man dove toward her, the closest to him. The hero’s party stopped their running, screaming the healer’s name. I stopped too, not knowing what the fuck was going on. Nuwa wildly tried to untangle herself from the crazed man, but he had her in some kind of hold.
I felt a ton of mana and aura yank itself from his comrades and into him. It felt… dangerous. Too dangerous. Dark. That was when it clicked.
“Without your healer, you’re doomed! We’re taking her to hell with us,” Nevil said, laughing wildly. “You won’t take us down without losing something!”
For a sect officer, he made a few rookie mistakes, but it was clear he overheard some of the conversation, and believed I convinced the hero’s party to kill them off.
His other sect members suddenly turned into piles of dust, their robes and all crumbling. I honestly didn’t understand why this mass suicide was necessary, but it’d all be for naught.
Allowing my aura to radiate at max, I imagined a countdown. Five… But the countdown was simply not needed.
In a blur, I appeared at the man’s side and twisted his neck, probably with too much strength, killing him instantly. Afterward, I kicked the body with mana infused into my legs, watching it soar into the clouds. It violently erupted into flames, raining dust seconds later.
I sighed as Nuwa cried into my chest.
“In the end, the rumors were true about them merging with demons,” Ramon said as he walked over, petting his party member in an attempt to comfort her. The others surrounded the healer, each with hugs while I shimmied my way out of the entanglement.
“He was definitely not human,” I said. “The mana I felt.” I shuddered. “It reminded me of a hallow’s. I just don’t get why.”
“The Crimson Sect officer believed we were going to do what must be done,” Ramon said. “Either causing him to lose our trail or killing them in cold blood.”
I shook my head, just tired. Seeing all of the storage rings collected, I decided against taking them home. Fuck that. “Dispose of the storage rings or lock them up in an explosion-proof safe, I don’t care.”
“Good call,” Kelvin said.
“I’m going to head home,” I said. “I’ll leave it to you to figure out what to do with Drew.”
Nuwa looked as if she wanted to dive back into my arms and never let go, which would be damn annoying to explain to my would-be wife. Instead she said, “Thank you. I seriously owe you a debt.”
“Your resolution with Drew will resolve the debt,” I replied as I mounted Beakwing with Wolverine.
I sighed, impressed that I didn’t feel a thing for eliminating that guy. Shit, it was either him or Nuwa. I wasn’t crying over that asshole. “Now if you don’t mind, I’ve got brats to teach.”
End of Phase 1…
