Restraint? What does that even mean?!

On the way to her hamlet, we learned three things about the timid girl who was running away from the beowolf.

First, timid girl’s name was Mizuha.

Second, timid girl was a water mage.

Third, timid girl was a total badass.

“Woah, you killed all of these alone?!” I looked in awe at the beowolf corpses strewn around the dirt road. Most of them had a chunk of ice lodged in their throat, heart or some other final organ. Water mages lose control of water the second it solidifies into ice, so she must have had awesome aim and timing.

Only about 1 in every three people can actually use an element, and among them only about 1 in 10 can use it well enough for combat. This girl was clearly a lot more special than I had judged at first.

“I used up my magic stamina too quickly. That’s why I could only run away from that beowolf that you saved me from…”

Even though I was clearly praising her for doing something cool as hell, she got all quiet and ashamed. No idea why. Personally I loved showing off when I killed nasty beasties. Though I guess I’d also be a little jittery if I had just been three seconds away from becoming a big puppy’s afternoon tea, so I figured I’d give her a pass.

“What was the state of your home when you ran away? Are there likely to be survivors?” Asked Immanuel. Always straight to business with this guy. I wanted to ask her what the kill range is on those ice spears, but nooo, we had to talk about her probably-dead family instead.

“I… I think everyone should be okay. When the beowolves showed up, they all gathered in the hall. There’s a magical tool there that can put up a barrier in emergencies. I was the only one who didn’t get to it in time…”

Damn, leave the kid behind, why don’t ya? And here I thought these small communities were supposed to be tight-knit.

“Mizuha… I think the thing protecting your people is also what’s bringing the monsters to them…” said Immanuel, putting his hand to his chin to show off how good he is at thinking. “Beowolves can hunt magical creatures because they’re able to sense mana in the air. So things that release a lot of mana, like strong magical implements, tend to attract them.”

“So… as long as the barrier is there, they’ll never leave?” Our new friend sounded all down and out about.

“Don’t you worry, Misty-“

“M-Misty?”

“All it’ll take is one use of my mighty Inferno Magic and those beos will be as good as-ow!” The big meanie chopped me in the head!

“Unless you’re planning to also kill every person in the hamlet, I would recommend against that,” said Immanuel through gritted teeth. “Are you forgetting that your ability to destroy magic barriers is the entire reason you’re on this journey?”

“Well you don’t have to hit me over it!”

“I’m hoping to smack some common sense into you one of these days.”

Man, he’s so dramatic. It wasn’t gonna put much juice into it. I was obviously gonna hold back enough to not destroy the barrier. I can definitely do that! I think. Probably.

“Does that mean you can’t help me, Mr Fredrick?” said Misty with pleading eyes.

“Of course, we’ll try to see what we can do.” Immanuel folded immediately. Maybe I should learn the puppy-dog eyes technique, see if he’ll buy me more expensive food. Saviour of the kingdom but all they can afford is bread and chicken soup? I should unionise. “How many beowolves were in the pack that attacked you? If it’s less than 20 or so we should be able to just whittle them down one at a time.”

“Um… well…”

***

“Yeah I’m gonna ahead and say it’s a little more than 20.”

“Thank you for your input, Bakuchan…”

I’m not sure why Immanuel was getting so testy with me. I was just pointing out the logistical problem with his plan.

We were looking out over the hamlet from a nearby hill, and to put it bluntly, what was in front of us was less what I’d call a “pack” and more what I’d call a whole damned marching band of beowolves. Taking them out one at a time would definitely wear Immanuel down, and while I was pretty sure I could do it myself, there was no way he was trusting me with that.

In other words, taking them out one at a time was a no go.

“In that case, sounds like it’s best to just take them all out at once!” I brandished my long white staff, the implement of my impending massacre. Oh, how I loved it so.

“Not. Happening. You make a blast big enough to kill all of those beos, you’ll definitely end up blowing the hall to my smithereens.”

“Tisk tisk, my dear Immanuel. Oh ye of little faith. Who said anything about doing it near the hall?”

I looked out over the areas surrounding the hamlet. It was mostly grassland, but there was a bit of bog at the far end. It seemed like the locals had set up here to use the bog as a natural flood barrier against the nearby river. Which just happened to be perfect for our purposes today.

“Hehe…”

“Ms Bakuchan, do you have an idea?”

“Knowing her, if she does have an idea, it’s not a good one.”

“Hey! I resent that! I’ve survived on my own for as long as I can remember, I know what I’m doing, y’know!”

“I presume you survived by blowing up anything you perceived as a threat?”

“I fail to see how that’s relevant!” I mean, being able to level a small town with a big stick and some fancy words is admittedly a great survival tool. “Anyway, I do have an idea. And I think it’s a pretty good one if I do say so myself!”

Immanuel looked at me all exasperated and stuff, while Misty just looked a little concerned. See, Immanuel? You put ideas in the poor girls’ head and now she doesn’t trust me. Typical.

“…okay, I’ll bite. What’s this idea of yours?”

“Glad you asked, my dear Immanuel!” I turned dramatically, flicking my purple witch’s cloak as I did so, and pointed my staff at the barrier. “The source of that barrier is the very thing these foul beasts seek, is it not?”

“Why are you talking like- oh, whatever. Yes, it is.”

“So, if the barrier emitter was far away from the people, the beowolves would follow it rather than them?”

“That’s about the half of it.

“And you, as a wind mage, can manipulate the air to carry your voice all the way to them?” Honestly it was so obvious I’m not sure how I was the first to think of it.

“So, what, you want me to tell them to just throw the barrier projector away?”

“Precisely, my dearest Immanuel!”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Excuse me?!”

“Even assuming someone can throw the projector so far away that it keeps the hall completely out of the blast radius, those magical implements are very rare and very expensive. At best you destroy something that’s worth more than you. At worst you kill everyone.”

“Oh, poor, sweet, naive Immanuel. You really think I hadn’t thought of that?” I made sure to shake my head and shrug my shoulders to express how disappointed I was. “Of course, someone will need to move the barrier thing even further away. Hey, Misty?”

“Y-yes?”

“You still have some juice left in the tank?”

***

“I hate this plan!”

“You’re doing great, hun!”

Just as planned (by yours truly, of course), the people trapped in the hall launched the magical implement off the roof and right into the hands of our dear Misty, who was now sprinting for her life for the second time today. I dare say she’s a natural at running away and looking petrified.

Despite being scared witless and on the verge of tears, though, she did actually do what I told her to, and bolted straight for the bog. As a water mage, she could solidify what was right under her feet, allowing her to run where anything else would have to wade or sink. Say, for example, a big smelly peat bog, or the river that it’s sat alongside.

As she skipped her way along the big bog, the hundred-or-so beasties following her started to slow down as it became deeper and deeper. An intelligent animal would realise it’s a lost cause and turn back, but beasties are all dumbasses. Don’t tell Immanuel I said a swear word.

It wasn’t too long before our Misty crossed over the bank and onto the river, where she would be safe since beasties aren’t all that good at swimming. Which meant it was time for my big finale.

“Immanuel.”

“It’s Fredrick.”

“Send me to the skies.”

I needed the clearest shot possible to kill all of the buggers at once, so the final phase of the plan was for Immanuel to lift me into the sky with his wind magic so I could fire down from above. We already had good elevation from the hill, but I wanted the extra dramatics, y’know? Style points.

Immanuel gave a wordless flick of his wand, and an air current began raising me up high.

“May the very ground shake at my command…”

I held my staff in one hand and my big purple witch’s hat in the other.

“May all who oppose me be vanquished in light…”

The air around me grew colder as I absorbed mana from my surroundings. I gave a graceful twirl and aimed my staff at the dead-centre of the mass of beowolves.

“May all that is before me return to ash and cinder!”

White light streamed from the end of my staff, blitzing through the air with beauty and grace. A sight treasured by any and all privileged enough to lay their eyes on it. And, with the same incredible beauty, that light struck the peat bog with the power of great dragon fire.

The nearest beasties were vaporised in brilliant light, just like the bog they were slowly wading through. Those not so close weren’t as lucky, instead being slammed by the resulting shockwave and charred to ash by the following fireball. It was a truly spectacular sight to behold. A congregation of enormous hounds, laid to waste by but a single attack from my magnificent Inferno Magic. Ahh, this truly was the very thing I lived for.

“Bakuchaaaan!”

My self-aggrandisation was very rudely interrupted by the voice of Misty. Looking down at the source of the voice, I could see her treading water in the river, totally drenched. I’m pretty sure she was further in than where she had stopped before.

“This is no time for a swim, Misty!”

“A swim?! Your shockwave knocked me in the water!”

Eheh… oops.