A Trip to the High Mage’s Mansion.

Chapter VIII

A Trip to the High Mage’s Mansion.

“Have you ridden a horse before?” Sol had brought two horses out from the stable and was saddling them. They were magnificent animals, taller than regular horses, more in line with those warhorses shown in historical illustrations than mere carriage-pulling beasts.

Enji eyed the horses with fear. When he was little, his parents had taken him to Nagisa Pony Land, and he recalled how bad an experience it was; he cried all the time while riding the pony, afraid of falling. “Never,” he half lied to Sol, while putting some distance between himself and the animals.

“Then, you will ride with Silma, and I will take the other horse.”

“If you said so.” Enji rechecked his equipment to get his mind out of the horses. First, he patted the sword on his belt, then he buttoned the hooded cape. Both items were given to him by Eithea. She said that the cape offered some protection against magical attacks, in addition to protecting against rain and cold. Lastly, he hoisted a backpack containing his traveling essentials onto his back. Eithea was sending him to the house of the Mage Galakei to have a new translator enchanted.

It was early in the morning. Leaving now, they would arrive in the evening before sunset, and return the next day after staying the night in Galakei’s house.

“Are you ready?”

Enji turned around. Silma was approaching them from the house. “I think so,” he replied. Silma wore a similar cape to his, only of a lighter shade.

“Silma, Chief Enji will ride with you. He has no experience in riding, so go slow.”

“What!” Silma turned to Enji, pointed a finger at him, and warned, “Don’t you dare touch me in any inappropriate places!”

“That would be the least of my concerns,” he mumbled, glancing at the horses.

“What was that?” She glared at him.

He stiffened and saluted like a soldier. “Of course, my lady.”

She harrumphed and walked to her horse, whipping her tail from side to side.

“She hates her tail being touched,” Sol whispered to him.

Don’t all cats? “I’ll keep that in mind.”

When Sol finished saddling the horses and rechecking his equipment, he loudly whistled toward the house.

In response, his brother Pol came out, followed by Nilsei and Popa. The night before, Popa had insisted on accompanying him on the trip, but Eithea had told her that she was needed on the farm to help Pol with the animals. She had grumbled but obeyed Eithea’s command.

“I’d prepared a light meal for the trip, my lord.” Nilsei gave the package to Sol while flashing Enji a big smile.

“Thanks.” Enji felt a little embarrassed about getting all this attention from Nilsei.

“Enji Lo, I’ll keep learning today! Mistress said that she will teach me.”

Enji patted Popa’s head, something that had come automatically. It must have been a conditioned reflex from petting his grandparents’ dog. Popa didn’t seem to mind.

Pol, who had been quiet up to that moment, informed, “It won’t rain today.”

“Good!” Sol replied. “Let’s move.” He climbed to his mount.

“Have a safe trip!” Popa shouted.

Silma mounted her horse with a graceful leap and extended a hand to him. Enji, avoiding the animal’s head, approached and held her hand. He was trying to figure out how he was going to climb without a foothold when a yank from her hoisted him behind her. He grabbed her waist and closed his eyes. When he felt the horse moving, he opened his eyes to the blackness of the girl’s hair before him.

***

From a top-floor window, Eithea watched as the two horses slowly receded in the distance.

“Have you heard of a nation where its inhabitants have black hair and black eyes?”

“No, my lady. Black hair is common among several of the beastkin, but they do not have black eyes.”

She turned to her servant. “What do you think of the iron ships he mentioned?”

“I heard that the Sasicans use ironclad warships in their navy,” Kasus replied. “The boy claimed that he had sailed before, but he doesn’t strike me as military trained. Perhaps he’s the son of a high-ranking navy officer.”

“Very high, indeed... and his manners and politeness, even though he’s foreign, strike my nerve as familiar.”

“Yes, I noticed it too. It reminds me of ‘you know who’ of House of Lith.”

“Royals? Do you think he might be a prince?”

“I don’t know my lady. I don’t know.”

“Big mess we’ll be if he is.” Eithea returned to the window.

***

“Let’s stop for a rest now.” Sol pointed to a clearing ahead of them. They were traversing the forest that lay at the foot of the mountain chain. According to Sol, they had made good headway. Even with all the rain from the previous days, the ground was firm, devoid of mud, and the horses moved unimpeded. They would reach Galakei’s house at the foot of the mountains, way before sunset.

With Silma’s help, Enji dismounted from the horse. He stretched and rubbed his back and buttocks. I’m going to need a pillow to sit. They had briefly stopped twice before to rest, by Sol’s suggestion, since Enji was not accustomed to traveling by horse, something for which he thanked him dearly.

After tying the horses, Sol prepared the campsite with his earth magic. The ground was cleared, and three small and one large protrusion rose from the ground; these were their stools and table. Sol brought out the provisions that his horse was carrying.

Silma set everything on the makeshift table. After opening the lunch package, she uttered, “Nilsei sure is spoiling you.”

“Nonsense. Wow, that looks delicious.” Enji’s stomach growled in anticipation when she placed it in front of him. He was about to start eating when Silma fished some crackers from her bag and divided them between her and Sol. “Eh, aren’t you two going to eat from this?”

“Nilsei prepared that for you only,” Silma replied.

“No way! We will share this among ourselves.” He placed the package at the table’s center. “Go ahead, I’m not that hungry anyway,” he lied.

“I will definitely not!” Silma pushed it back to him.

“I insist!” Enji pushed it back at her.

“No! We are accustomed to eating these crackers when we travel.” She shoved it back to his side.

“This is way more delicious!” Again, it was pushed to the center.

“Ah, you guys give me a headache.” Sol reached and grabbed one of the sandwich-looking things from the package. Silma and Enji looked at him as he munched without a care in the world, then they both laughed in unison.

After eating, Enji excused himself to answer the call of nature and proceeded to stand behind a wide tree nearby. Sol had warned him not to wander too far due to the dangers that the forest posed. Enji was doing his business and almost had an accident when he heard a voice next to him, making him jump.

“Don’t make any sounds, we are being stalked,” Sol whispered.

“Huh? What are we going to do?” he whispered his question.

“Quietly walk in that direction.” Sol pointed to a trail between the trees. “Sil is already moving the horses that way. There are some rocks on a higher ground; we’ll make our stand there. Go now.”

“Understood.” Enji followed the narrow trail, trying not to make any noise and not daring to glance back the way he came. His heart was beating so fast that he thought it was going to betray his location. Finally, after an eternity of consciously minding his steps, he saw the small hill with rocks outcropping.

Enji was going to circle around it when he heard a faint “psst” from above. High above in a stone ledge, Silma gestured for him to climb. Although the ascent was not difficult, he slipped his foothold a couple of times due to his nervousness. He winced at the sound of the rocks falling below him, but continued.

Enji reached the platform where Silma crouched and did the same behind her. “Where’s Sol?” he whispered, looking in the same direction as she did.

“He should be tracking whoever is after us to assess their strength,” she replied with her attention still focused on the forest below them.

Enji looked behind him. “Where are the horses?”

“Hidden a little further down, they couldn’t climb up here.” She stiffened. “Here he comes.”

Enji held his breath.

Running out of the trees toward them was Sol. He arrived at the rocks’ base and, in a couple of jumps, reached where they were. “Brigands! Twenty-two of them,” he informed as he uncapped the top of the quiver to expose the arrows within.

Enji panicked. “You only have nine arrows! They are twenty-two! It’s going to be a massacre!”

“That’s the spirit.” Sol smiled at him.

“No! What I mean—”

“Here they are!” Silma warned, cutting Enji’s whining short. Immediately, she began her incantation.

“Gather some stones, you are good at throwing, right?” Sol turned his attention to the forest below and released the first arrow from whence a scream was heard, and several shouts followed.

Enji scrambled to collect around him whatever stones he could use as projectiles. He looked back; he had felt the heat from one of Silma’s fireballs. More screams were heard. Sol kept relentlessly releasing arrow after arrow until he only had one left. Enji, gripping a fist-sized stone, stepped close to the edge, where he saw several of the bandits taking cover behind trees. They were too far away for him to hit any of them.

The bandits knew it took time for an incantation to be finished, so they ran to take cover closer to the bottom of the rocks. Silma finished her second spell and released it. Only one of the outlaws met his end. Someone from inside the forest barked some orders.

“Sil, how many more times can you cast?” Sol asked without taking his eyes from the forest below.

“Maybe three more times.”

“They know that every time one of those fireballs is cast, it takes longer for a mage to chant again,” He explained to Enji. Sol turned to Silma. “Cast the most powerful fireball you can manage in that direction of the forest. That’s probably where the boss is. I’ll go around and snipe them if they are alive after that.”

“Understood.” She commenced her incantation.

“Enji, protect her.” Sol didn’t wait for acknowledgment; he ran to the rear of their position and disappeared below into the forest.

Enji crouched next to Silma. He glanced at her; she had her eyes half closed in concentration, and her brow was covered in sweat. After a time that seemed too long for him, Silma stopped her chant and raised both arms. A fireball bigger than the ones she had previously cast formed above her. With a final command, she hurled it to a dense group of trees.

Enji had to hold her shoulders when she slumped to the side.

“Oh, no!” she uttered. Her sight was fixed on the trees next to where she had hurled the fireball.

Enji had heard it too; someone was chanting, and knew what it meant, but asked anyway. “What?”

“They have mages.” She tried to begin another incantation, but her voice faltered, and she fainted.

It came quickly. The ground around them shook, and the platform they were standing on sank several meters to almost ground level. Enji shook Silma’s shoulders; she opened her eyes and smiled at him. She tried again to chant, but her voice broke.

His attention was drawn to the men slowly approaching their now non-existent rock formation. He decided to act out of desperation.

“What a bunch of ignorant heathens we have here!” he shouted and rose to his feet, striking the most chuunibyou edge-lord pose that he could manage. “How dare you impede the envoy of darkness!”

All the bandits stopped and stared at him, dumbfounded.

He raised his arm high above his head, and with the other, he wrapped it around the side of his face, and commenced chanting:

“Hear me, God of Darkness!

“Grant me the power of the void!

“Gather the essence of Naruto, Hajime, and Goku!”

He performed some hand jutsu, imitating the blonde ninja from a popular anime, and uttered some more nonsense, “Abracadabra, alakazam, yakisoba, Akihabara...”

Some of the bandits took a step back, but some were not discouraged. From the trees emerged the two mages and the leader of the outlaws.

Enji pulled his phone from his pocket and set it to play a song. The volume from the small speaker was not much, but everyone fell silent upon his action, and all heard the music clearly.

“With the power of the God of Darkness, the most heinous of curses will fall upon you when the voice of the goddess stops. Your eyes will fall, your skin will rot, and balls will explode. Fear the goddess song!” He raised the phone high so everyone could hear. It was the opening song of a famous anime.

The two mages were the first to run, tripping on their long robes and ending up running on all fours. When the rest of the brigands saw them, they too panicked and fled, leaving their leader behind, issuing orders that no one followed. The boss had not run because he was paralyzed with fear. When he found himself alone, he dropped to his knees, sobbing, asking to be spared.

The song ended, and the bandit leader let out a terrifying scream, holding his nether regions. He probably wet himself. After a few seconds, he realized that nothing had happened to him. Wrath propelled him from the ground toward the one who had fooled him.

Enji took a step back, but there was nothing he could do. The enraged bandit was charging at him with a knife that he had pulled from his belt.

An arrow through the neck stopped the man.

Enji had felt sorry for the guy when he was on his knees, and his death shocked him because of his rearing in a peaceful and lawful society, but deep down, he knew that the man was ready to kill them and needed to be stopped. Enji dropped to the ground and hugged his knees. Not even the monsters had terrified him as much as the knowledge that people in this world die, after having to witness it firsthand.