Chapter 38: Into the Pit of Blue Fire

We entrusted ourselves to a single small skiff and crossed the water surface thick with green duckweed.

We had launched before sunrise, yet it was already nearing four in the afternoon.

Enormous freshwater octopuses, carnivorous reptiles with vicious jaws, and water snakes nearly ten meters long created ripples all around us as they passed.

“My lord… if we go any farther, the water suddenly becomes shallow. That is the boundary between the Midus Marsh and the Serenus Marsh.”

The two red-blooded boatmen rowing glanced at us with trembling eyes.

Their thin, sinewy limbs slowed more and more.

“Didn’t devils crawl out of this place just a while ago? Shouldn’t we turn back now? Please?”

I approached Trichitas, who was seated at the bow, and whispered.

“Didn’t you tell them where we’re going?”

“Why would I? Who knows what those lowly things might blab later.”

“What if they get scared and start a mutiny?”

Trichitas narrowed his eyes.

“Then we fry them with lightning and toss them in the water. Don’t you even have that much guts? As expected, not having magic makes one timid.”

“And then we row ourselves? Since when does lightning magic move boats?”

He narrowed his eyes again.

“I hadn’t thought of that. I naturally assumed the strong knight would row for the delicate mage.”

“If it’s a joke, I’ll throw the joke in the water; if it’s serious, I’ll throw you in. Do you think I know how to steer? If those two die, the mission will fail before we even reach imperial land, so sweet-talk them, threaten them, do something.”

Trichitas nodded with a dissatisfied expression.

He cleared his throat toward the two laborers.

The two men looked at him with sudden hope.

“Keep going.”

He said only that, then pulled two silver coins from his pocket and handed one to each.

The boatmen who had looked half-dead moments ago broke into bright smiles.

I hate to admit it, but it was a brilliant solution.

“Thank you, my lord!”

“We’ll take you to the end of the world!”

I let out a faint laugh and said,

“So you tame them with money?”

“Beasts are tamed with meat, people with money. In the end they’ll use that money to buy meat, so it’s all the same. You know this too, red-bloods aren’t much different from beasts.”

The words everyone is the same when hungry rose to my throat, but I swallowed them.

Instead I pointed to the three islands that had drawn much closer.

“Those islands are fairly large. The bedrock is stone too.”

“If the old maps are correct, those islands mark the boundary. They say our ancestors created them with magic to indicate the borders between houses.”

“Then we’re in enemy territory now?”

“Enemy territory? Watch your tongue. We are merely pitiful castaways on patrol who unluckily lost our way and were swept here.”

“Said the fully-armed knight and the lightning mage.”

I smiled and tightened the straps of my gauntlets.

“Didn’t you say the incident would happen this evening? Dawn is almost here. The eastern sky is brightening.”

I glared at Trichitas and hid the boat among the reeds.

We laid the two boatmen flat in the boat and covered them and the craft with cut reeds.

“The marsh was wider than expected. We’re off by a few hours, but no problem.”

“Really no problem?”

“It’ll take another full day to find the imperial camp anyway.”

Trichitas said without changing his expression.

I nodded with a hollow laugh.

“Right. Let’s go. At least there are hills on this side, so it should be easy to spot.”

“Hills?”

“The imperials must be doing reclamation work too. The best thing would be to look for the blue glow of mana, no? Or did I say something stupid and there’s a better way?”

All of it.

Trichitas shook his head.

Once we climbed the nearby tall hill, the sun was literally at its zenith.

The inside of my breastplate was filled with moisture and heat.

We had encountered three beasts on the way up, but they fled first, so we took no damage.

“Trichitas.”

“What?”

I took a sip of water and continued.

“I’m worried the boatmen we left behind might have been eaten.”

He sighed as if he hadn’t considered that.

“On the way back we’ll have no choice but to rely on the knight’s thick forearms.”

“Damn you.”

I cut down the brush and trees that blocked the view.

Even fairly thick trunks fell with a single diagonal slash when I put edge to them, leaving only slanted stumps.

“That’s not brush anymore.”

“If I can cut it in one stroke, it’s roughly brush.”

“Since when did brush have a diameter of two handspans? We agreed to call that a log.”

I pretended not to hear and finished the… weeding—no, logging.

It should be visible by now.

“Found it.”

“Where?”

Trichitas looked around.

“To the south—see the patch of earth-toned flatland and the red tents? There’s a reservoir site too. They’re starting with the reservoir, so they’re definitely in full reclamation mode.”

“That distance means we can sleep once and leave at dusk.”

Good thinking.

“You sleep first, Sir Anplus.”

There was not a trace of sarcasm in the way he said “Sir.”

I was startled and asked,

“You’re not planning to sell me to the imperial family after I fall asleep, are you?”

He wouldn’t do that.

Had the heat gotten to him because I was wearing breastplate and cloak for the first time in a while?

Trichitas clicked his tongue.

“You can’t even accept bread when it’s offered! Everyone who can’t use magic is like that!”

We took turns napping, and time passed quickly.

“The sun will set in about two and a half hours. Time to descend.”

I stretched my arm, held my fingers against the sun, and gauged the time until sunset.

“Who taught you that?”

“Sir Dande. My knight instructor and trustworthy comrade. One finger above the horizon is thirty minutes.”

“Indeed, there’s space for about five fingers.”

Trichitas gave a short exclamation, then flinched.

I cut him off first.

“If you say something about useless trivia from people who can’t use magic, I’ll sew your mouth shut.”

“Ahem!”

He cleared his throat.

***

Evening, when the sky gradually deepened to indigo.

We hid ourselves in the bushes on the hill overlooking the imperial camp.

The imperial camp was roughly the same size as the Intezeruto camp.

Earth mages, frost mages, and several high-grade surveyors and laborers were visible holding a meeting.

At a glance it looked similar to ours.

A warm, intense scene of life.

Yet even I, who didn’t know much, could feel something off.

“The tent directions and rows are strangely warped. They’re unconsciously avoiding the south.”

“There are palisades and earth walls too. They deliberately separated the inner zone of the camp.”

“That’s where they are, in the south.”

Trichitas nodded and crawled through the undergrowth.

He tied back the long blue hair he usually let hang loose.

The tension of having entered “enemy territory” rushed through my entire body.

I also readjusted my sword belt and steeled myself.

Down there were the enemies I had to cut down, the ones who had sent monsters to Intezeruto.

We circled wide around the imperial camp and headed south.

There was a pit-like depression surrounded on three sides by steep slopes.

The only open side, the east, connected directly to the marsh.

It looked like it would flood the moment the spring rains came.

“The slopes are sharp and there’s no piled-up soil nearby. Terrain made with magic.”

Trichitas whispered.

I was certain what we sought was down there.

I checked the bottom of the pit.

“We chose well.”

Dozens of enormous cages made of earth stood there.

Clearly the work of highly skilled earth mages; inside bars as thick as thighs, one giant lizardman was confined in each cage.

“There are ‘mixed’ ones like the serpent-turtle too.”

Trichitas pointed with his finger at the cage closest to the marsh.

Inside was a huge lizardman whose entire body was encased in carapace reminiscent of a crab.

“That shell will be at least as hard as the scales, if not harder. Can you cut it?”

“Why the weak talk? You were born with the strongest attribute preferred in battle.”

“I’m saying it because that carapace is obviously full of iron too.”

I narrowed my eyes and stared at the creature for a moment.

Can I cut it?

At that instant the creature opened its vertically slit dark-blue eyes.

For a split second I thought our gazes met.

It had definitely seen me.

My heart pounded with fighting spirit.

“The mission comes first.”

I forcibly turned my eyes away, suppressing the feeling.

Imperial elite soldiers were watching the pit from above.

“Right. This place is under surveillance even for them.”

“Any good ideas?”

“I’ll steal that guy’s cloak, wear it, and go inside the camp to find the targets. When the sun is completely down, smash all those bars.”

“The latter is no problem, but can you pull off the former without being noticed?”

“The one dressed most flamboyantly, with the longest hair and the most medals, right?”

Trichitas nodded as if he hated to admit it.

“I can’t even refute that.”

I crawled through the bushes toward the imperial guards patrolling in pairs.

They wore sturdy scale vests over chainmail and long cloaks.

Strong crossbows hung on their backs, long spears in hand, single-edged axes at their hips, and whistles on cords around their necks.

I approached without letting my guard down.

In some ways they were far more dangerous than lizardmen.

Elite soldiers raised well-fed and properly trained from childhood will blow their whistle to inform the blue-bloods of a knight’s position even while dying to a knightly steel.

The mage who hears it will pour magic without restraint and turn that entire direction into scorched earth.

There was an accord, so they probably hadn’t openly brought officer-mages, but they would have seasoned blue-bloods like Trichitas or Habinan.

Thus the strategy remained valid.

I crept to the maximum distance where I could still hide.

Beyond this point the grass was cleared and there was no cover.

Thirty paces to the two guards.

After a moment of thought, I covered my sword with my cloak, lowered my head slightly, and walked out of the brush.

“Who’s there?”

“Soldier! You need to come quick!”

“What?”

“I just finished feeding those things, and there was an empty cage. The bars are broken—it doesn’t look normal.”

This is a disgraceful thing to do.

An honorable knight, a blue-blood, resorting to deception.

I’d rather charge on horseback from the front.

But I had no horse, didn’t know the enemy’s full strength, and there was a mission I absolutely had to accomplish.

Swallowing the humiliation, I called the soldier in an urgent voice.

“Soldier!”

“What—what? The bars are broken?”

One soldier approached me.

Five more steps to him.

Seven to the one behind.

I quickened my steps while measuring the distance.

“Wait.”

The rear soldier grabbed his comrade’s shoulder.

“Those things eat only once a week. We last fed them five days ago. You… who are you?”

“Sharp bastard.”

I lowered my body until my chin almost touched my knee and kicked the ground.

As I burst forward I drew my sword and stabbed the whistle of the front soldier with all my strength.

The blade that destroyed the whistle dug half a palm’s length into his throat.

“Gurgh!”

I pulled the sword out and shoved the man aside.

The second soldier threw away his spear and raised his hand axe.

Before the axe could fall I stabbed him under the arm.

Chain links scattered and strength left his grip.

I withdrew the sword and slashed the exposed neck once more.

The man clenched his teeth but eventually collapsed.

“Who… why…?”

He asked in a fading voice.

I flapped the cloak to reveal the pattern engraved on my breastplate.

“You started it first.”

“!”

His eyes widened, then hardened.

I drove their spears deep into the ground and propped the two corpses against the shafts.

“If you thought I was suspicious you should have blown the whistle first. I’ll borrow the cloak as tuition.”

I fastened the borrowed cloak and walked into the imperial camp.

The farther from the lizardman cages, the larger and more ornate the tents became.

Low-grade laborer tents, high-grade laborer tents, knight and elite soldier tents, then blue-blood mage tents.

“Those boots look fine, right?”

“The army’s gone upside down these days. A mere soldier tying his hair? Call the centurion.”

Imperial knights threw remarks as they saw me.

If there hadn’t been so many eyes I would have changed into a knight’s cloak.

I entered the area where the blue-blood mages’ tents clustered.

From an especially tall tent came a furious shout of rage.

“What do you mean by that! Are you telling us to handle those monster bastards ourselves?”

“Who do you think you’re raising your voice to! Do you think mental-attribute mages pour out whenever someone calls? Didn’t you lose Lobigos in the first place because you didn’t cooperate properly?”

“Cooperate? When our house signed the contract we were told we would only be doing reclamation work!”

I hid in the narrow gap between tents and grasped the situation.

It was a dispute between the central deep-blue bloods who had sent the monsters and the collateral branch that had won the local reclamation contract.

The target became perfectly clear.

Just then the sun sank completely.

The dying ember-like sun slowly disappeared behind the distant ridge.

And from the southern pit far below, a blue flash sparked.

CRACKLE-CRACKLE! A tremendous BOOM rang out, and thick dust rose.

HISS! KIIEEEEK! AAAAARGH!

The monsters’ roars and human screams arrived one beat late.

It had begun.