Chapter 2: Banditry?
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“—so it goes like this, you decided that you wanted to go tour the continent instead of pursuing the goal you tried so hard to accomplish for nearly half your total lifespan?” A boy a few years older than me, Gus, said.
I looked at my friend and said, “See, we don’t use the word tour here, I like travel more.”
Gus brushed a hand through his blonde hair and shook his head, “You’re seriously doing this? You got lost in the forest outside town once before, if I recall correctly,” He said.
“That was three—“
“Two weeks.”
“Fine, two weeks ago. I wasn’t even lost, it’s hard to find a way into the town unseen while half naked and looking like the inside of a chimney, you know?” I said.
He rubbed his forehead, “How does that even happen?”
“Well, I was trying to create a fusion spell between the fire and wind elements and something went wrong while I was merging them which resulted in a backlash that—“
“No, no. That’s enough, I can see what this led to already. It’s more of a wonder you haven’t killed yourself yet,” He said.
I smiled smugly, “I always make sure to apply a protective spell before I do my experiments.”
Gus waved his hand to the side, “You mages and your protection spells, this is why knights in training like me strengthen their bodies.”
“Say that again after you take one of my spells to the face,” I murmured.
“What was that?”
“Oh look, the request board. I need to earn some money, see ya.”
I quickly fled the scene, I was destroyed the last time we sparred and I didn’t want a repeat of that.
It took a while to find a request that looked like it could earn me some money, but I still managed to find one among the numerous request boards that I could choose from.
Most tasks involved simple chores and recruitment notices but the recruitment boards that every town had were also home to more complicated requests like subjugation and investigation. The one I picked up was just like that, subjugation. Apparently, a group of thugs were terrorizing merchant carts leaving the town and the mayor’s office wanted them gone before traders became hesitant in visiting the town.
It paid a decent amount of three silvers for every bandit I caught alive and half the price for the number killed, so I was all for it. I wasn’t planning on killing anyone though, the very thought was terrifying for me.
I plucked the piece of parchment from the board and headed to where the mayor and his assistant managed the town, a place the residents liked to call the ‘Paper Palace’, because official letters and papers were scattered and stacked everywhere to the point that everyone in the town was wondering how the people in charge managed to run this place properly.
On the way, I bought an amazingly tasty apple from the nice aunt that sold them and finished it within a few minutes’ time.
I arrived at the building located at a small hill at the edge of the town and opened the doors, the smell of age, mustiness, and man-sweat.
They really needed to open those windows.
Passing the hallway’s creaky floorboards and entering the study room, I see the usual sight of mountains of paperwork. Beyond these messy mountains were two individuals, one was a portly old man sipping coffee while scribbling signatures on paperwork at a terrifying speed while the other was a skinny young boy busily sorting the files that the first person continued to regurgitate out.
I walked past the stacks of papers, taking care not to topple the towers and spill a tsunami of paper onto the ground by accident. As I walked past, I noted the date listed on one of the papers.
A.W. Year 133, Day 206.
Approximately twenty-three years ago. Not a note, not a summary, the full, original report. This place was a mess.
I approached the boy and said, “Hey Stine, where’s the rest of the staff?”
Stine didn’t even pause to look at me, his hands continued to work and his reply came so fast that it left his mouth almost as soon as I finished speaking, “Vacation, the lazy bastards, I haven’t taken a break in months and they get to have one every other week,” He said.
“You’ll get a break soon my boy,” The mayor waved his hand to the side and said distractedly.
“I better get a raise too,” Stine said, “And… Ravel was it? What are you doing here?”
I scratched my head and held up the paper, “You put this up on the request board? Something about looking into attacks that’s been happening outside town lately?”
He paused and looked up, “Yes, I do recall asking someone to put that up,” Nodding, he said, “If I recall correctly, you’re a mage in training, more than enough to catch a few thugs, if you ask me. You’re planning on taking it, yes?”
“Yeah, I’m a bit low on money,” I said, “Do you have any more details related to the request?”
Stine hobbled off to the side and disappeared behind a stack of books and papers and came back with a thin file on his hands, which he handed to me before resuming his work, “You’ll get paid for every one of them you catch, as per the request, but no killing, poor folk have resorted to this due to the war I reckon. Most they deserve for this is a few years behind bars or a compulsory drafting into the army, any deaths will be paid for half the agreed price,” He said.
I nodded and left the building, the file tucked safely into my pocket.
I moved around the town and it wasn’t long until I found a merchant cart that was brave enough to leave the town. It brought a few mercenaries as guards, but from what I read in the report’s estimate, they were still outnumbered two to one.
My plan was to set up a trap around the road and whittle down the bandits’ numbers using guerilla warfare-esque tactics before they got a chance to attack the merchant’s cart. A few would probably be able to slip through, but the merchant had guards, so I wasn’t very worried about them.
Now while a mage may be able to handle a few bandits with ease, the reason I chose this tactic was because I was still a mage-in-training, until I was able to condense my mana into a ring around my core, I would never be regarded as a true mage.
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Most of my offensive spells consisted of gathering enough mana of a certain element into my hand, chucking it at something, making it explode, and hoping that whatever I hit didn’t stand back up.
That rarely ever happens though.
My dagger finished etching the last of the runes on the tree, the bark flying off its tip as I waved it to the side. Infusing my hands with mana and chanting the spell I wanted to place inside the small formation, I press my palm onto the surface of the rough bark and feel my mana get sucked in. I repeated this action a few more times and wiped the sweat off my brow.
The carriage was on its way and it would probably arrive at any moment, I just had to wait for the bandits to come. I left the area where I laid my formations and looked at the direction of the town.
Soon, the carriage came into view in the distance. I chanted the spell [Gust] and instead of using it to knock an enemy unbalanced like intended, I unleashed it from below myself and felt a strong wind assault my body, causing my robes to flutter and my body to rise at a quick speed. I quickly grab onto the branch of the tree above and use it to stop my ascent, carefully planting me atop one of the tree’s branches.
I closed my eyes and chanted a spell, “—channel the wind and reveal my foes, [Revealing Breeze],” I said, and released the spell. A gust of wind blew outwards in a circle, with me in the center and let me feel what the breeze felt.
Grass, trees, animals, and scenery swept past my sense of touch for nearly two hundred meters before I found what I was looking for, a bit over two dozen men split into four groups, spread out enough to be effective and strong enough as a whole to function. Perfect. I released the spell and the wind receded, coming back to me and flooding my senses once again. Another portion of my mana lost.
The mana inside my core was depleted by more than half already due to the formations I placed, but luckily, the spells I infused into them were low on mana expenditure, so I wasn’t completely drained and a few more spells shouldn’t cause much harm to my mind. I hope.
Those men were a bit far from my formations, but I was confident in luring them there, they’d already begun to move towards the carriage’s location, getting closer and closer to my formations’ location.
I climbed down the tree with a bit of difficulty and I had to jump at the lowest branch, but it didn’t cause me any injury, so that was great. I just kinda rolled across the ground after the jump is all.
Dusting myself off, I began to run towards the location of the first group of bandits, who by my estimate were around thirty meters away from my formations by now. The carriage, which was naturally faster than me—even at a leisurely pace, was already much closer to me than before as I could see it easily from where I was at.
That isn’t very fair, I need to hurry up or the plan won’t go according to… well, plan.
Soon, I was at the place where I laid my formations, waiting for the bandits who should have arrived by now. Where were they?
I didn’t want to waste mana by casting [Revealing Breeze] again, so I stopped hiding behind a tree and started looking before the carriage arrived and started a large fight. I walked around looking for the bandits until I suddenly felt a surge of danger coming from behind me.
My legs folded and my body swayed to the side, doing everything it could to avoid whatever was coming at me. I fell to the ground with a grunt and a loud thud reverberated through the earth from the ground beside me.
The reflexes I build from sparring with Gus, a knight saved me once again as I rolled my body to the side, a spear impaling the space I was lying on just seconds ago.
A bandit was holding the spear and with a grunt of effort, he pulled the spear out of the ground and faced me. I stood up and dodged a jab from his spear, my mind panicking from his ruthless attacks filled with the intent to kill.
I started to chant a spell, almost stopping multiple times because of his attacks but the experience of sparring saved me as I completed my chant.
“—blow away the foes that stand before me and send them to the sky, [Gust]!!” I pushed my hands out towards the bandit and a powerful gust of wind left my palms, lifting my enemy off the ground and sending him hurtling back towards a tree.
His back hit the surface of the tree’s bark and a pained grunt left his mouth as he wiped the blood that flowed from his mouth.
I panted heavily, the stress of real combat and infusing too much mana into a spell heavily influencing my mental state. The bandit I sent to the tree shouted something towards the forest beyond and within seconds I could hear the rustling and crackling of leaves as another four bandits made their way towards me.
Thinking I could sneak up on them easily and capture them all alive without a problem was a naive thought I made due to my arrogance.
Fear clouded my mind as I began to run towards my formations, my only hope for survival. The sounds of the bandits behind me, now a group of five, were getting closer and closer, but the sounds were drowned out by the roaring in my ears.
As I ran, a realization dawned upon my mind. The unconscious feeling of safety was now gone, it was obvious, but I didn’t notice it. This request that I took—it wasn’t like the spars I had every now and then—it was a fight with the lives of both parties in the line.
I underestimated them, and I overestimated my capacity as a mage-in-training. From not being cautious and calmly strolling in the forest to refusing to cast [Revealing Breeze] a second time, my confidence and lack of experience affected my judgment and now, my life was in danger.
Almost tripping on a stray branch, I barely managed to correct myself before I tripped and fell.
Run. Nothing else was on my mind. Run to the formations and survive.
The formations were just a dozen meters away by now, I was grasping at the final straws of my stamina as I arrived.
Panting, I infused a portion of my remaining mana into one of the formations and felt it activate.
I wouldn’t die here.
I couldn’t.
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Author’s Note:
Sorry about the delay, school's affecting my upload speed. Here’s the next chapter, and don’t forget to leave some feedback! Enjoy! :D
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