Issac whipped the reigns again, urging the already exhausted horse to run faster. The mimics ran mindlessly behind them, staring with their bulging eyes and manic grin.
“Old man, you’ve kept your eyes shut the whole time. So, don’t you dare open them now!” Issac shouted as he looked behind at the mimics. Now hearing this, the old man got naturally curious, but he managed to heed the order of the nobleman.
Issac looked behind and raised his arm. He focused a bit, and the surrounding mana began gathering in his hands. With a pale blue light, an icicle shot out in front of his hand. The sharp icicle zipped through the air and stuck itself on a mimic’s head. Issac rejoiced inwardly, “At least that skiing trip did some good.”
Issac shot out more icicles and hit a few more mimics, but it was getting harder due to the mana consumption. He gritted his teeth, “Just ten more minutes!”
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Town Walls, Dinel Town
“Oi!” a yawning guard suddenly heard someone calling out. He turned around and saw his colleague pointing toward the horizon, “What the hell is that?”
The guard looked towards where his colleague was pointing – a dust cloud and black dots seemed to be getting bigger. The guard took out a cylinder-like tool with glass lenses on each end. It was a spyglass. After looking through it, the color drained from his face. “Get someone to inform the Mayor and the city lord! It’s mimics, hordes of them!”
“On it!” his colleague immediately ran off. The guard rang the bell frantically. The heavy ringing alerted everyone in the vicinity. He used the spyglass again. “What the hell? Shit, there are people!”
In the Mayor’s residence, the City Lord of the nearby Saund City, Sauer Kraut, was having tea with the Mayor. Sauer sipped and asked, “There’ve been too many skirmishes with the demons lately with no clear outcome. The holy knights from the Empire have been making some bold moves, but none seem to work fully. The only good piece of news is that Her Highness has successfully summoned heroes.”
The Mayor’s eyes shone at that information, and he asked, “Sir, have the heroes been revealed to the public?”
“No,” Sauer shook his head, “I think the Queen is going to take some time before revealing them. There’s been an incident at the capital.”
“Is it the demons?”
“Unconfirmed. But the gist is that a thief had snuck into the royal palace in broad daylight and escaped with something valuable. The whole capital is now on lockdown and curfew.”
“Just a thief? They must be skilled to escape unscathed.”
“That they are. The Thieves Gui-” Before Sauer could finish, the doors burst open, and a knight in iron armor franticly said, “Sir, urgent report!”
“What is it!?” Both the city lord and Mayor stood up.
“There are over fifty mimics all rushing towards the town wall!” the knight panted.
“Wha-? Fifty mimics?” the Mayor started panicking. Sauer shot him a glare and scoffed, “Just mimics? Let’s go-” he told the knight, “-we’re going hunting!”
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“Haha!” Issac laughed jovially, “Look, old man! Hope’s close by!” At his words, Nikel opened his eyes expectantly and saw the gates to the town opening. The steel gate slowly rose with a mechanical sound. Issac whipped the reigns with renewed vigor, much to the horse’s exasperation. Issac put one of his hands in his pocket, took out the crest pin, and held it high in the air.
On the city walls, Sauer looked at the horde of mimics in contempt. He sent some mana to his eyes, focused on the two people on the horse, and raised his eyebrow, “Someone from the Sawheim Duchy?” The coat the young man on the horse had the Sawheim Duchy’s embroidery on it, not to mention the Sawheim crest he was waving about.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Prepare to receive the guests!” the City Lord shouted to the other soldiers. The City Lord jumped down from the city walls as the guards scrambled around. As he fell, magic circles began to glow on the soles of his shoes – slowing his descent. Sauer landed gracefully and looked at the mimics like a hawk gazing at its prey. He thrust his hands outwards, and mana began to pour out from his palm. The mana took shape and crackled around his hands. With a shout, Sauer cast a third circle magic, 『Thunderspark』, and the crackling electricity shot forward like a jittery silver snake.
Issac looked at the sparks of electricity and slightly lowered his head to not get hit. Sauer had skillfully controlled the electricity to zap around the horse and its riders to hit the mimics. They hit the mimics, burning a hole right through the weaker ones and paralyzing the ones that had enough resistance. Just like that, Sauer’s one-third circle spell had immobilized over a dozen mimics. Sauer cast 『Thunderspark』 again, which killed another dozen mimics, and by that time, the rest of the mimics had gotten the message. “Run,” a single fearful thought ran through their minds as they stopped in their tracks and dispersed back into the trees. Their faces still had that manic grin despite their emotions.
With the mimics gone, Issac slowed the horse, which finally found some rest. The horse slowly trotted the last few meters. Issac stopped the horse in front of the City Lord. He slowly dismounted off the horse, careful not to make a fool of himself. Nikel, the old carriage driver, had fainted on the horse as soon as he saw the mimics had left, and everything had slowed down. The tension had left his body too quickly.
Issac looked at the soldiers, “Someone get him down, carefully. I have to reward him. He has helped me out in my time of need.” He then looked at the City Lord and approached slowly.
Issac balled his right arm into a fist, put it on his chest, the other hand behind his back, and bowed, “Sawheim Duchy Secretary Jobin requests the City Lord to provide us with shelter.”
Sauer looked at Issac in front of him, combing through his memory to find anyone named Jobin but ended up with nothing. He didn’t stress about it enough. There were tens of secretaries in different fields in the Sawheim Duchy. Was he expected to remember all of them?
So, Sauer just sighed and said, “Granted. I am the City Lord of Saund City under the Genia Marquisate, Sauer Kraut. Please come in and rest. We have much to talk about.” Issac had his head bowed so no one saw his stifled laughter as he laughed inwardly at the City Lord’s name.
“Right away, City Lord.” Issac straightened his back and followed behind the City Lord into the town.
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“So, Jobin, tell me. What happened?” The City Lord sat down in the Mayor’s chair while Mayor and Issac sat on the sofa in front of him. The sofas surrounded a coffee table that had two piping hot cups of tea in front of them. Sauer gestured at the cups and said, “Have some and calm your nerves.”
Issac looked at the cup; no miasma nor disgusting aura. He sighed in relief and took a sip. The tea was refreshing and filled him with warmth. Despite this, his mind was whirring to find an excuse, a lie to fool Sauer with. After some time, Issac exhaled and spoke, “Sir, I…we were attacked.”
“Attacked?” Sauer frowned, “By whom? The Demons?”
“No, sir. It was our kind, sir,” Issac spoke with a conflicted expression. The words’ our kind’ deepened Sauer’s frown, and the Mayor fidgeted uneasily.
“No, no, ever since the ‘Joint Treaty of Humanity’, no one can attack another faction lest they wan-”
Issac cut Sauer off. He was about to say something that he hoped would work, “Sir, what if…they didn’t place their allegiance towards humanity?”
Sauer gritted his teeth and spat out, “What do you mean, Jobin?”
“Sir, t-they had tattoos.” As soon as Issac said that, the teacup in Sauer’s hand shattered, and the Mayor spat out the tea he was sipping. Issac wore a complicated expression, yet he was gauging their reaction. “So, the ‘devil worshipper’ or ‘devil cult’ plot point is also a thing here.”
“Impossible!” Sauer slammed his fists. “Humanity eradicated the worshippers of Mezik and Aphostes eons ago! The Holy Emperor of the Empire, the Red King of the Kingdom, and the Unified Queen of the Dynasty made sure of that!”
“Sir, I can’t even fathom how they could’ve returned,” Issac admitted as he watched Sauer wipe his hands with a handkerchief, “regardless of their return, we have been attacked. Our escort was slaughtered, and I was made to run away with an urgent letter to the Duke. My concerns about whether it’s the old devil worshippers or a newly formed cult are secondary to my main purpose. And that is to get that letter to the Duke as soon as possible.”
“I see,” the City Lord got up and looked at the Mayor, “Arrange for accommodation for Secretary Jobin here. I’ve much work to do. And Secretary Jobin-” he looked at Issac, “-take some rest. We’ll leave Dinel City tomorrow when the sun rises.”
“Understood, but I’d really like to leave for the Sawheim Duchy,” Issac expressed his urgency.
“Yes, and tomorrow morning, Secretary Jobin. For now, take some rest.”
“Then I’ll excuse myself,” Issac bowed again and left. The Mayor also went outside to order some servants leaving Sauer to stare outside the window inside the Mayor’s office pensively.