Chapter 43:

I Learn That A Bunch of Tiny Cuts Can Hurt a Lot

Fighting For My Freedom In Another World


It didn’t even take an hour before I was on my way.

During that hour, I had learned something.

Having a rich guy be your enemy could be rather annoying, in particular if said rich guy had a nasty habit of hiring a bunch of soldiers and assassins and all kinds of mean types to try to get you or someone you care about killed. I had already experienced that several times over.

But it turned out having the rich guy on your side instead, however temporary it may be, could be quite advantageous.

Once he had realised his mistake, that Elias guy had paid for a carriage to take me back to the capital. It wasn’t enough to make me forgive him… But it was enough to convince me he actually was the naive rich idiot he seemed to be.

And for any flaws the guy had, apparently he had been telling the truth about having money.

Which was how I found myself on the way back just a few hours after I left Alena. I wasn’t really sure what I’d actually be able to accomplish. Trying was stil much better than just doing nothing.


Still, the whole thing would have been pretty pointless if I didn’t make it back before Alena did.

Would I be able to?

Short version? Absolutely.

In fact I was already there before even half a day had passed. And, more importantly… Before Alena got back.

There were two reasons for why that was possible:

For one thing, I ended up not needing to spare any expenses and was able to get going surprisingly quickly.

And then there were also all those soldiers me and Alena had injured. I’d assume something had to be done about those. Considering Elodia, ostensibly their commander, was there… Dealing with those sorts of things could very well have ended up delaying them.

What I could say for sure was that there wasn’t anyone in sight when I got off a distance away from the gates inside the capital. Just close enough that I could see them, but also far enough away that any potential guards wouldn’t bother me just yet. There was just an open field outside the city, at most with the occasional tree, so there was hardly anything to block my field of sight.

I wanted to take a closer look before approaching. Make sure it would be safe to enter.

What I thought when I made that decision was… Probably something about seeing if the gate was guarded. Whether I’d be safe if I actually decided to go inside and anyone important realised I was there felt rather doubtful at the time.

And hey, once I got close enough I could tell there were guards at the gate. The city certainly had that much going for it.

Problem?

All of them were dead. Three bodies on the ground a surprising distance away from the actual gate.

Something told me I was needed. Even if I wasn’t, it’d only be advantageous to deal with things before Alena reached the city.

I ran towards the gate. A woman was standing in front of it, probably only just having killed the guards. A woman I recognised. In fact the very same one I had encountered a few days earlier. Her name… Nina. Right, that Nina lady that tried to kill me.

As for what she was doing there? I doubt answering that question would take much imagination.

She turned around and saw me long before I had gotten anywhere close. The bolt of lightning that I almost was hit by made that rather evident.

I managed to throw myself to the ground just in time. The shock from the impact made me roll a bit to the side, but I wasn’t hit.

Hadn’t that Elias guy said I wouldn’t be in danger as long as I didn’t have Alena with me? The people he had hired were clearly not as reasonable as he thought. Not that the guy himself had come across as a particularly respectable human being, really…

Well, if this lady insisted on fighting me anyway, why not just make sure I won the fight before Alena could get there?

If I could, she wouldn’t need to be put in any danger.

So, how did you win a fight while lying on the ground over a hundred meters away from your target?

With difficulty.

A lot of it.

I didn’t have time to think up a plan of attack before I almost got hit again.

It turned out being on the ground did confer me with one advantage.

If I curled up, I became a much smaller target. Being a smaller target also meant I didn’t have to use as much magic to protect myself. I had more reason than ever to believe my magic was unreliable. If I wanted to make sure Alena would be safe, I had no choice but to use it, but that didn’t mean I fancied the idea of just going wild and throwing fire all over the place.

For now taking it carefully was for the best.

And that was why it was actually surprisingly convenient to just need to create a small circular shield around myself and be totally protected. If I just had wanted to survive I could probably just have stayed there. Fueled my magic with the local vegetation until my opponent got tired of her attacks not having any effect and gave up.

But what I wanted wasn’t just survival.

I wanted to win.

To do that, I needed to attack.

I hadn’t really thought about it, but what was the range of my magic? Did how much I was willing to use affect it?

I tried to send some sort of magical fire trailing off towards my opponent.

It died out far before it could reach its target.

I could probably have made it work, if I wanted to.

I had already done far more than that. I knew I could accomplish more if I was willing to. But… No. This city probably wasn’t even evacuated. A failure here would be even more catastrophic than last time.

I needed to do things differently.

What was there, then? What could I even do?

I couldn’t say. But I had to try.

I stood up as quickly as I could. Had to remove the first barrier I had created and conjure up another one as I did. I needed to get closer. Get closer without being hit… Too many times.

How much magic could I endure?

If it just was about surviving, three or four or even five or more could probably have been fine. If that was all there was to it. But what was the point in surviving if I, say, ended up getting knocked unconscious in the process? It was possible I wouldn’t be finished off, but I certainly wouldn’t be able to make sure Alena wouldn’t end up in danger.

I got up.

Ran.

Ran towards the woman throwing somewhat deadly lightning magic at me.

Closer. I needed to get closer.

I blocked one bolt from above.

Another from the side.

And got hit by a third almost right after.

My legs twitched. A shock ran through me. I almost fell over.

What was it Alena had told me last time?

Move. I needed to move.

Do anything other than literally just go in a straight line and make myself an easy target.

But I was hardly the best of athletes. Maybe in my past life, but this body was not. No matter how much I tried, I wouldn’t be able to at a speed that actually would make me a difficult target. And even if I ran straight ahead it’d take me at least a minute to get in range if I didn’t want to use the full extent of my magic.

I could just do that. Use the magic. All of it. There was enough fuel available, a bunch of plants and some bodies that all looked rather flammable…

It would make things a lot easier too. I’d win the fight easily if I used all the tools I had at my disposal. It would be so, so easy. Give in, and be sure Alena wouldn’t end up in danger. End it all in a few seconds.

It was so hard to not have all kinds of weird thoughts get in the way if I tried to use magic. Thoughts like these.

I couldn’t rely on my instincts to tell me the right thing to do.

I needed… Logic. Needed to be logical. Think things through properly. Make sure I didn’t use magic in vain.

Time.

I needed time to think.

I was barely getting closer. My initial attempt at dashing the whole distance at once had turned into a slow walk that barely even had brought me a tenth of the way. I kept having to use magic to make sure I didn’t get hit by anything, and even then I still felt myself get grazed multiple times, slowing me down further.

I was hit again, and again, and again. Not by the main attack, maybe, but if I got close enough too many times…

Let’s put it this way. Did it matter if I died from being stabbed twice or from hundreds of small cuts? The way I saw it, I’d be dead all the same either way, and this situation was very analogous.

What I was doing?

It wasn’t working.