Chapter 14

Ossan, takes disciples to a no man's land *Disclaimer: I don't really know j.a.panese, these are machine translations that I try to put into proper english. Read at your own discretion. The Archduke's villa in Solistea… 

It was lively early in the morning. Actually, there were knights walking around donned in full armor sets and carrying weapons, giving a more tough and dignified impression rather than lively.

There were about 15 knights tasked with the mission of protecting the Duke's children. The escorts were arranged by the former Duke, Creston to act as monster bait instead of his beloved granddaughter.

"15 knights… hey, isn't this a whole squad?"

"Mu… DelSasis, there's no way I'm sending over more than this."

"No, that's plenty enough! How many more sacrifices are you willing to make!?"

Many of them have been on escort missions before, but there were many young knights this time around, in order for them to gain practical experience.

There aren't any magicians amongst the escorts, and that alone should let you understand how bad the relationship between knights and magicians is. No magicians' faction would send over one of their own to escort some lowly knights.

"I'll complain about it in great lengths afterwards, but what use is a magician with no combat experience either way?"

"Well… that's true, but they have other roles…"

Of course, Celestina is replacing them this time around. Recently, the Duke has been on friendly terms with the knights and has created his own magicians' faction, garnering the disinterest of other factions.

"You have a faction as well right, Creston-san? Couldn't you call some magicians over?"

"Umu. Unfortunately, they don't have enough combat experience to be in a real battle so I had to turn them down."

"I see…"

Zeros thought "You know about your grandson's absurd behavior so you instinctively sensed danger and ran away, didn't you?" but didn't dare to say it out loud.

He already knows there's no point in saying it now.

While this conversation was happening, the knights loaded the luggage into the carriage and were almost ready to leave. The amount of food, as well as other necessities such as tents and cooking utensils was, naturally, enormous. They've prepared as much as they could for this week of combat training.

"Duke, your excellency, we're ready to go."

"Good work, I ask of you to protect my grandchildren this time."

"I will protect them with my life if necessary."

"Umu, I hope so."

The knight who bowed to Creston immediately glanced at Zeros, and suddenly felt uncomfortable. The magicians he knew were like batteries that could only shoot magic from the rear, and were arrogant people even though they wouldn't fight on the frontlines.

However, the magician in front of him, clearly gives the impression of being closer to them. The reason being when he glances at Zeros' waist.

"Swords?… And two of them? Weren't you a magician?"

"I'm a magician and I also possess close-quarters combat skills. Otherwise, I'd die on the battlefield."

He understood with Zeros' answer. The magician in front of him is a fierce man who's been across many different battlefields and understands the importance of close combat. A magician of a different tradition from this country's. "The world sure is big", is what the knight thought.

"In a battlefield… you seem to understand the importance of close-quarters combat skills."

"Precisely, if you think about it, How useful can a magician that has ran out of mana be? If you can't protect yourself, you'll die. Simple as that."

Now, the knight understands that the magician in front of him is not a fool. A heretic who tries to master both magic and swordsmanship can only be said to die on the battlefield. Although, tt can also be taken as the proof of a person possessing a significant amount of ability.

"That's right, I'd like to tell that to the magicians in this country that don't do any close-quarters combat training."

"That's a nasty mentality to have. I feel sorry for the serious magicians out there that are ridiculed because of it." 

"Is that so? It looks like there will be no problem between us though."

"Of course, the knights are the swords and shields, and it's their role to knock down and destroy the enemies. Magicians must a.s.sist them, and at the same time, move in order to make the battle more advantageous."

"The current situation is that this country is divided, sadly… it's quite embarra.s.sing."

"What can magicians do with political power?… We must be seekers of wisdom."

A strange sense of camaraderie was born between Zeros and the knight.

"I'm late, but I'm the captain of this squad, my name is Alev Gilbert."

"How polite, I'm Zeros Merlin, just a researcher."

They exchange a handshake.

"Zeros-dono is an excellent magician who's teaching the essence of magic to my two grandchildren, you might learn a lot from him."

"Hoh… That's wonderful. He definitely felt different from the magicians of this country, but I see… both swords and magic…"

"Umu, and both of them practice magic and the sword."

"That's great, So both of them have the ability to protect themselves."

"I'm still unskillful, but I'm trying my best to hammer that into them."

That means, the importance of close-quarters combat has been struck. The vast majority of magicians are quite inept at such way of fighting and will withdraw as soon as they run out of mana.

However, there's no such convenient situation in an actual war. In the worst case scenario, the battle might turn into a quagmire of total annihilation.

"After all, someone who's been in an actual battle, knows things are different in reality."

"You can't be overconfident. I almost died many times because of my lack of experience. I think it's the senior's duty to teach the younger generation."

"That's plenty. The commander of the knights often says 'this recent generation's magicians are rotten. They won't survive on the battlefield.' And I agree with him."

"You don't know what might happen on the battlefield, so you need as much experience as you can, right? Is the country so lacking in manpower?" (*T.N: As in, there's a lack of magicians and magic education I guess?)

"That's… There are those who only use magic and they all die on the battlefield…"

In short, it turns out the magicians are quite the delicate fellows. Because they've never experienced an actual battle, they don't understand how foolish they actually are. As they are in peaceful times, they have forgotten the gruesomeness of war.

Knights understand that up to a certain extent, they might have killed people on skirmishes and whatnot, but it's too impersonal for magicians who only shoot magic from the back and, thus, can't understand the meaning of taking a life.

"Does a long period of peace spoils a person?… 'Don't forget about war in times of peace'".

"Let me tell you something. That's right, they don't know much about fighting."

"There's either l.u.s.t for power or for research. They are…"

The magicians of this country seem to be fairly extreme. But peace and such things are closer to an illusion than to reality, there's no end to conflict no matter wherever you go.

From small fist-fights to conflicts between villages… wars between countries are just an extension of that.

Customs and cultures are different depending on the country, even if the people living there are the same, and if you mix in religion, there'll be no shortage of seeds of conflicts, and like that, they explode and spread like wildfire until they become full-scaled wars.

After all, it's just conflict between humans, there are no ideals like justice in it. It's, at the same time, extremely vague, and everyone involved end up losing either way.

The magicians are neutral in a sense, but as soon as they get power, that neutrality evaporates, and eventually, they begin to act based on their personal desires. It's like a dangerous explosive, no one wants to have one in their own homes. 

"We'll be ready soon… How are the preparations for the Archduke's grandkids?"

"I think it should be about time but… they're late"

"I don't have to worry about putting on armor because I'm not wearing any, but does it take that much time?"

The mansion's entrance door opens behind the three people, and the two aforementioned grandchildren appeared with an incredible amount of luggage. Celestina packed her belongings in a huge bag, and Zweit had a ma.s.sive backpack as well. The two were dragging their luggage with shaky legs due to their weight.

"Hah… I'm ready…"

"Almost there… I think I packed too much… so heavy."

""Why so much luggage!?""

Apparently, most of Celestina's luggage were clothes, and when it comes to Zweit, it seems he was carrying various tools for performing experiments. It seems like, in his case, he wanted to challenge Zeros, who could perform alchemy.

(Why do you look like some shady peddler… Is it my imagination?)

"Can you reduce your luggage a bit?"

"Women need changes of clothes! Are you saying I should wear the same underwear for a week!?"

"There are some medicinal herbs there, right? I wanna get some."

Both were serious… They had quite the exceptional level of enthusiasm, and Zeros, who couldn't win against that, was inevitably made to store their luggage in his inventory.

"What an useful magic… What kind of principle does it use?

"It's an ancient and complicated magic, I wouldn't know how to explain it." 

"Is there any magic you don't know…?"

"Of course. I'm not G.o.d. From the point of view of an omniscient and omnipotent being, we're all nothing but trash anyway."

In the first place, there's no point in trying to understand the principle behind the magic the G.o.ddess gave him. It's theoretically possible to construct the magic formula in itself but the amount of mana and the dimensions of the formula are not something humans could manipulate.

In actuality, Zeros had already created a simplified version of storage magic but it resulted in being unusable and it was an obscure and troublesome subst.i.tute that couldn't be used with theory alone. 

"Alright, I'm ready, let's get along during this week."

"It'll be rea.s.suring to have such a powerful magician with us."

While Alev and Zeros were greeting each other…

"Tina, be careful, alright? If one of those idiot knights lay a hand on you, please tell me. I'll do something about it."

"W-What are you going to do, Oji-sama!?"

"No no, you don't have to worry about that. There are things you are better off not knowing…"

"Oji-sama!?"

…Creston was saying farewell to his beloved granddaughter.

(T–This f.u.c.king old man… when his granddaughter is involved he sure acts like a different person… I can only say it's disgusting.)

He's usually a competent person who thinks about the people, but when Celestina is involved, his personality does a complete 180 degrees turn.

(It's not even the same person anymore…)

It was a bit of a dangerous sign, though, he sure loved his granddaughter.

Zweit was talking with the knights and asking what did they have planned for this excursion. That is because, the knights also go to Far-flung forest for training so their know-how may be useful to him.

The group soon boarded the carriage and proceeded east towards Far-flung forest.

・

In the swaying carriage, Zweit asked Zeros the question he's been wondering for a long time.

"Hey…"

"What is it, Zweit-kun?"

"Why are you Celestina's tutor, you don't like being used in power struggles, right?"

"Naturally, What about it?"

"Aren't you getting a piece of land from the old man as a reward? Isn't that contradictory?"

Zeros looks away at the bright blue sky.

"Zweit-kun, what do you think about a middle-aged man that hasn't settled down yet?"

"It's not like you're some sort of vagrant…"

"Yeah, but don't you think it's the worse for a person to be wandering around without a place to live? It's natural for people to work hard and earn just enough money to live by. So if you tell me you're going to give me land, I'll gladly take it."

"…You have an unexpectedly thick personality."

"I don't want to give more power to the already powerful, but I do think it's fair, to point the young people, the right direction."

"Alright… I just thought there might be another shady reason behind it…"

"Don't worry, it's nothing fishy."

Such a conversation happened, but his inner thoughts were…

(I want a G.o.dd.a.m.n house! What can a grubby middle-aged man, with no connections or trust in this country do! I can't possibly find a job that easily!

Magic is dangerous, and the market is likely to crash if I introduce things made with alchemy, and if I screw up, the country's annoying guys will come after me. I don't want to be a mercenary either!)

… like that.

Zeros Merlin, 40 years old. Wants to get married and have a comfortable home…

He's around the age when you'd worry about things like that. It wasn't an age where you could carelessly go play around the world. His dream was to cultivate a field, have a family and a warm and cozy house.

Two days later, the shaking carriage arrived at the edge of the Saffron plains at the boundary with Far-flung forest, where the group prepared to set up camp. 

While the knights were setting up the tents, Zeros surrounds the area with an earth wall with his magic, and, at the same time, the two disciples dig up trenches around it and set up pitfalls.

Goblins are the only carnivorous monster that wander around this area, the rest of them are herbivorous. Exceptionally, other dangerous predators might appear from time to time but it's not a problem with their current battle potential.

Although, it can be said to be an excessively large group for a monster extermination, it could also be considered to be small for the escorts of the Duke's children.

The role of the knights is to allow the two to gain real combat experience, and at the same time, to raise their own levels. The problem is whether there is a suitable opponent for them.

"Hey… Shi-Shishou, What are you doing?"

"Shishou?… Me?"

"Ah… well, you're also teaching me magic, I figured I should address you in a more appropriate manner."

"I see, I don't mind. So, what's wrong?"

"I'm curious about what you're doing. 【Magic Paper] …What's that?"

Zeros cut the blank 【Magic Paper]  into vertical pieces, and started writing magic characters with a pen on them. It's 【Magic Note Arcana] but the characters written were terribly precise, and current magicians couldn't even hope to decipher them.

"What's this? It's obviously to summon a familiar, right?

"A familiar? Isn't it a curse? Or perhaps, it summons a horde of monsters around here?" 

"No, you wouldn't need that kind of thing. Just look, it's going to be interesting."

Zweit continues to watch over the scene unfolding before his eyes. The pen, which runs across the paper without any hesitation, continues to draw an unknown magic formula, and it gradually takes the form of a magic note. 

The magic note made of countless characters is incredibly dense and beautiful, causing a sigh of admiration to leak from Zweit's lips. Moreover, Zeros understood the meaning of each magic character written on it and manipulated them to construct a magic unfamiliar to him.

Since Zweit is a magician, he's, naturally, curious about what this magic note is for.

"Well… it's something like this."

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"Is it done? What kind of effect does it have, that magic note?

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