When I looked up from the bleeding arcane circle inscribed on my arm, I realized that many of the congregants inside of the church were staring at me. The uninformed masses of Ferrum often believed that arcane circles were only used for summoning magic, and demons were the most frequently-summoned type of creature.
As I rolled my sleeve back up, I felt the natural flow of my mana begin to intertwine with the matrix contained within the arcane circle. I could feel as my mana flowed from my cores to the three matrices marking my skin and back. The process was similar to the circulatory system, but the blood was an ethereal quasi-liquid material.
When I finally looked up from my reverie deep in thought, I saw Miriam approach the two of us. The other congregants were keeping a respectful distance from me and the bloodstained samurai, so Miriam had to cross several meters of empty space before she was close enough for us to speak.
“So how did the conversation with Father Galad go?” I asked Miriam.
“I told him the truth, and he urged me to go with you.”
“That’s good. We won’t have to make enemies with the Church unnecessarily.”
A serious look appeared on Miriam’s face before she said, “Thale. You said…” she looked over to Kinro and she faltered for a moment. “You said you knew more about this world than anyone else. Do you know what’s happening in the city?”
“Yes,” I said before spending a few minutes explaining the situation with the Lich Cult. At the tail end of my explanation, I said, “Before we do anything else, we’ll need to interrupt the ritual. If the two of you are willing, the three of us will leave immediately to stop it.”
Miriam looked at me with a look of hesitation, and Kinro smiled like a snake that had just caught sight of its next meal.
“Are you sure, Thale?” Miriam asked as I looked her in the eyes.
[Observe, Lvl. 9]
Name: Miriam Feldrast
Class: Priestess
Level: 12
HP: 75
MP: 145
Fortitude: 13
Strength: 7
Agility: 9
Intelligence: 14
Willpower: 16
Charisma: 8
Tier: D
Skills: [Miracle], [Healing Boost], [Mind Soothe]
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Healing Potential: 100
Alignment: Principled (Good)
As far as civilians were concerned, Miriam was no slouch. Her HP was already higher than mine, and her days of expending mana healing wounded commoners had served as excellent mana training. Her status as [Noble] within the System probably contributed to her ability to gain levels relatively quickly. Different NPCs took different amounts of Experience to level up, and it would be incredibly difficult to train a [Commoner] NPC to be combat ready.
“We’ll be fine,” I said, smiling. “We have a fighter, healer, and mage here. All our bases are covered.”
“Boss, if you don’t mind me asking, who’s this?” Kinro asked.
“This is Miriam Feldrast, my sister,” I said. “And Miriam, this alcoholic Yomotsan is Kinro Tsukumo.”
Kinro laughed a bit too hard at my statement as he shook Miriam’s hand. “Sounds like we’re comrades now. You keep me alive, and I’ll keep you alive, deal?”
“Uh… s-sure,” Miriam stuttered, slightly taken aback by Kinro’s gregarious personality.
“Just so we’re clear,” I began to say. “In a combat scenario, Kinro will move to engage in melee while I support with combat magic. If they get past you, Kinro, I want you to fall back and protect Miriam.”
“What about you?” Miriam asked.
“In a situation where we need to fight, my staff will heat up enough to damage anything within two meters. It’s best for you two to keep your distance.”
“Well, if you’re sure,” Kinro said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Oh, and one last thing,” I said, sighing. “If I die, Kinro, I need you to grab Miriam and flee as fast as you can. In such an event, this arcane circle I have inscribed on my arm will cause me to explode with enough force to blow up half of the city. You would only have a few seconds to escape.”
I was actually unsure of just how much force my death curse would unleash. If the Blue Mage was listening, I wanted to make sure that my words would deter him from attacking me.
Naturally, Kinro and Miriam looked at me like I was crazy. With a worried look in her eye, Miriam asked, “Do you really think there’s a chance you will die?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. I just want to make sure that whatever takes me out doesn’t survive.”
“You crazy bastard!” Kinro said, laughing. “That’s exactly the mindset I want to see!”
The three of us lifted ourselves off the ground and began walking toward the front entrance of the church. Before we reached the entrance, I approached Father Galad.
The head priest looked to Miriam and said, “I’m happy to see that you have found your brother at last. And Lord Thale, I see that you are preparing for something. Do you have a plan to defend our church?”
“Yes. While I’m gone, I need you to collect a thousand kilograms of charcoal and several barrels of water.”
“What do you need that for?”
“I have a plan to kill the dragon,” I said, smiling.
Before I left, I drew a simple ward out of chalk on every entrance to the church that would block any “non-human creature” from entering. I knew that the activation phrase could be a problem if any elves or beastfolk fled to the church, but I had a reason for phrasing the ward’s exclusion principle in such a way. The Lich Cult most likely employed fiends, and they were technically considered demi-humans.
I showed Father Galad and the other priests how to feed mana into the wards, and I said, “The rest of my group should be here in a few minutes. These wards should be able to maintain coherency for thirty minutes before they need to be recharged with mana. Just keep these wards charged until we get back.”
Kinro grabbed the half-conscious lich cultist, and the three of us left the church. The heavy wooden doors closed behind us with a loud boom, leaving us in the silence of the town square outside.