“Will it be alright, Lady Audrey?”
“The people?”
“Yes. No matter how incredible those individuals are, in the end, someone is bound to get killed or injured. That’s the nature of the Magic Corps, after all. We’ve experienced it firsthand ourselves.”
“True. We’ve experienced it more than enough to be sick of it.”
“Then…”
“That’s why I can be so sure. It’s fine. Arhan is here, that dependable orc is here…” Audrey gave a wide, radiant grin. It was a bright, worry-free smile, the likes of which she hadn’t worn in a very long time. “And the eldest sister is here. Now that Elizabeth is here, it’s over for them.”
…You should have seen this too, Hailyn.
*
Elizabeth.
She might have looked pathetic while being toyed with by Arhan’s bluffs, but that certainly didn’t mean she was an insignificant being. In the first place, if a ‘Caravan’ bluffs like that, any being in the Mortal Realm of this continent would be shaken. It was a special situation, so it couldn’t be helped.
“Hmm.”
Elizabeth was the First Witch.
Even within the Sky Empire, where countless powerhouses resided, she was one of the top-tier elites. Normally, it would be unthinkable for Elizabeth to step forward in such a trivial fight. It was like an adult joining a children’s brawl with a blade in hand.
Well, as I said before, the situation is special.
Elizabeth let out a deep sigh.
It had been a truly long time since she had stepped out into the world to interfere in the affairs of the Mortal Realm. Perhaps she would get caught up in all sorts of annoying matters when she returned to the Sky Empire. The name Elizabeth, the First Witch, carried that much weight.
I’ll think about that later.
For now, she would focus on the task at hand. No matter how insignificant the beings she was facing, this was a mission she had received as a Witch. Once she accepted a task, she had a duty to handle it flawlessly.
“Mm.”
Elizabeth closed her left eye.
With her left eyelid shut and only her right eye open, her vision began to expand. She wasn’t looking through human eyes; she was gazing down at the world with a heavenly perspective from the firmament. The enemies entering Elizabeth’s sight now looked like tiny dots—insignificant insects that would be crushed and vanish if stepped upon.
“Three, five, seven…”
The heavenly gaze did not miss a single enemy. Witches are proficient in all forms of magic, but ultimately, their essence is that of a believer serving a single god. The most powerful weapon a Witch possessed was her close connection with the ‘Father of the Sky.’
“Block her—!”
Of course, the enemies knew that fact as well.
“Magic! Don’t let her use magic! We have to stop the Witch!”
The soldiers of the Magic Corps, their eyes bloodshot, all turned their fury toward Elizabeth. The War Mages who had fought many wars, the magic soldiers moving systematically under their command—all of them were targeting Elizabeth. Faced with this massive killing intent, Elizabeth remained indifferent.
“If we don’t stop her, we all die—”
“I’m sick of receiving so much attention.” Elizabeth’s voice was cold.
Stop her, they said. Who, and whom?
“My husband is quite the jealous type. He says it makes him uncomfortable if another man even catches a glimpse of me. So, everyone…”
The mana around Elizabeth surged violently. Simultaneously, screams erupted from all directions.
“Please close your eyes.”
Crunch.
The sound of things bursting echoed across the field. Everyone who had been trying to approach Elizabeth collapsed, clutching their eyes with both hands and screaming in agony. Bloody tears dripped from the mages’ sockets. Several mages who took the damage at an unexpected moment lost consciousness on the spot.
“You—you piece of—!”
“Ugh…”
“Because of you—because of you lot!”
The residents swarmed around the fallen mages, striking and breaking their bodies with clubs, sickles, and whatever tools they could find. The boiling rage in the residents’ eyes was vivid. They did not stay still. As if determined to release all the emotions they had suppressed until now, they actively sabotaged the movements of the Magic Corps.
“How dare these things—!”
“How dare you ! You’re the ones who ruined our village! You don’t get to use the words ‘how dare you.’ Those are words for us to say, and for our Lord to say, you stinking Machine Empire bastards—!”
Thwack!
A club swung by a resident sent a War Mage’s head flying. No matter how powerful a mage was, if they were collapsed and unprotected by magic, they were no different from an ordinary person. Amidst the screams and blood being scattered everywhere, Elizabeth snapped her fingers.
The magic was complete.
“The Curtain of Fire—I saw it well. It was a decent barrier spell.”
At that moment, a bolt of lightning struck the center of the Caravan territory with a thunderous boom . The fallen lightning did not vanish but spread out into the surroundings, creating a roof in the sky like the Machine Empire’s Curtain of Fire. Then, it began to envelop the Caravan territory in a seamless dome.
“Of course, only by your standards.”
The barrier of lightning began to incinerate the enemies Elizabeth had designated with her heavenly eye, one by one. Under the gaze from the sky, no one could escape. Whenever a thunderous boom echoed, at least one soldier died, turned into a pile of black ash.
It looked like divine punishment. A solemn judgment that no one could defy, burning only the sinners.
*
“Kill them! Even just one—!”
The War Mages’ eyes were bloodshot. What on earth was happening? This wasn’t why they had joined this war. The destination for this Magic Corps infiltration team was the outermost fringe of the Iron Kingdom’s outskirts—a backwater territory whose location even the residents of the Iron Kingdom barely knew. The War Mages had willingly joined to test the power of the new spells they had learned and to enjoy the thrill of slaughter.
But where was the thrill of slaughter here? Far from killing, they were the ones being hunted. The War Mages, who were considered reputable elites in the Machine Empire, felt as if they had returned to the days when they first entered the Magic Tower. Magic they had never seen or heard of, magic they hadn’t even imagined, was sweeping through the legion. They couldn’t even resist because they couldn’t understand the principles behind it.
“Dammit!”
Comrades standing right next to them would vanish into ash with a flash of light. The sound followed a moment later—the thunderous boom . That subtly mismatched death and sound were maddeningly unpleasant. The fear that lightning might fall on their own heads at any moment surged within them.
Amidst the chaos, the War Mages either chanted teleportation spells to flee or tried to kill even one more human. This group was the latter.
Ignorant country bumpkins. Those who don’t even know their letters, let alone magic, have become so arrogant as to dare kill mages? To kill us with mere clubs, to insult us…
Even if they were to die, they had to leave an indelible wound on these people. Only then would they have no regrets after departing for the spiritual world. Several War Mages thought this way and chanted teleportation spells. Most were struck by lightning before they could finish, but a few completed the magic.
However.
“Oh.”
It wasn’t just Elizabeth who was stopping them.
“You can’t.”
With a whoosh , their heads flew into the air. A glaive—far too large to be a weapon wielded by a normal creature—crushed their heads and collapsed their torsos with a single swing. Amidst the spilling blood and entrails, a green orc bared her fangs and grinned.
“I said you can’t.”
The movements of that orc could not be followed by the eyes of the Magic Corps. It was as if a storm had appeared on the battlefield—a storm made of green that destroyed everything. With every step, the mages’ bodies crumbled in heaps.
“Die, orc! Huh?”
Magic didn’t work.
“……?”
“I won’t die.”
What flowed through the body of the orc, Sherizik, was not just the blood of a warrior. The blood of a Great Orc Shaman also flowed through her veins. Thanks to that, she was not only immune to most magic but was even able to handle powerful shamanism herself. Truly, she possessed selfish genes: the appearance of a peerless beauty, the martial prowess of her race’s peak, and the power to face spiritual beings. It was a talent that even the heavens would envy.
“Because no one is allowed to get hurt. You residents shouldn’t come too far forward either; it would be better to stay back a bit. It’s dangerous, after all. The Lord would be saddened.”
“Ah, yes…”
“Waaaaah! An orc, a scary orc!”
“Hey! Don’t cry! She’s the one who came to help us.”
Watching the child burst into tears, Sherizik gave a bitter smile. Right, it might have been too violent for young children to see. While reflecting inwardly, Sherizik slowly turned her head. As the situation was gradually being settled, there was a blade being swung beautifully in the center of the territory. The battle of the master of this land, Arhan, was also nearing its end.
*
“This is… absurd.”
Edward Stein, the commander of the Magic Corps infiltration team, lay sprawled on the ground, having lost both his legs. What exactly had gone wrong? There were no mistakes. He had been cornered, but he had fought his best nonetheless, and there were moments when his skills rivaled those of his prime.
But.
“You said you hated… unreasonable things.”
This fellow was someone who was fundamentally wrong.
A sword blessed by Gaia, the Earth Spirit King? Because of the protection of the most sacred spirit, all of the earth magic that Edward Stein took pride in was sealed. He hurriedly tried using other magic, but the mysterious flames burning from the boy’s body incinerated and annihilated every spell.
“You… are the most unreasonable of all.”
He had tried to bind the boy’s feet using various magic circles. But with a flash of blue light, all the circles were destroyed, and the boy instead became faster and stronger. How could such a being exist? Was this not a weapon born not as a human, but to kill mages? Even if earth magic had worked, would he have been able to win? Edward Stein could not be certain.
“Such unreasonable powers… just how did you obtain them? How can a single human possess so much power? This… goes against the laws of nature…”
“…”
“You won’t… answer? This is maddening, kuku. To have to die without knowing anything until the very last moment.”
A backwater land that the Magic Corps had thought little of. A territory that no one had been particularly worried about.
“Ah.”
Edward Stein saw the approaching blade. Watching the steel draw near, the old man slowly closed his eyes. Coming here was a mistake.
The one guarding this territory was a monster.
*
With the help of my precious neighbors, we defended the territory. Sherizik kept her promise; no one was killed or injured.
While the chaotic situation was being sorted out, there were stories I needed to hear as the Lord. Amidst the people moving busily and the countless voices chattering, I listened to the cause of this invasion.
“It’s because of the Steel Legion.”
What came out of Audrey’s mouth was something I hadn’t expected.
“All of this… happened because of the Iron Kingdom.”
Something I truly hadn’t expected.
