3 bar menu

Back to the Start – Part 06

---

Translator: Kell

---

Only Zero and I were taken away, leaving the priest and Lily behind at the inn.

The man working at the inn wore a complicated look on his face as he held a piece of the Ebl Boar meat in his hand, so I gestured to him, “They won’t find out if you don’t say anything. Just eat it quietly.”

We probably wouldn’t be coming back to the inn anyway.

The Beastfallen’s commanding officer seemed to be at the entrance of the tunnel—outside the kingdom.

Because of our complete lack of resistance, we were not subjected to the humiliation of being tied up in ropes, chains, and collars.

As such, Zero was in a fine mood, walking like she was just taking a little stroll, which would have been fine, if she wasn’t so curious about the reptile’s scales and the cow’s horns.

What annoyed me more than anything was that the three Beastfallen were fawning over Zero, captivated by her looks.

“Young lady, are you really a witch? Maybe I should apply to be your servant.”

“I’d rather serve a pretty witch than be worked like a slave by that guy.”

I felt ashamed for them.

“Is your commanding offer such a terrifying man?” Zero asked.

“Oh, he’s more than just terrifying! For a Beastfallen, he’s really good with the sword,” the cow said. “You can’t even best him with pure strength alone.”

Beastfallen couldn’t receive formal education, so when it came to swordsmanship, the best they could do was swing their weapon around randomly.

A Beastfallen could defeat an ordinary human in a swordfight through sheer power, but in a battle between two Beastfallen, the one who had undergone proper swordsmanship training would win.

“And he serves the chief Mage,” the dog said. “If we disobey him, we’ll get reported, and then it’s over for us.” His fur bristled, and his ears drooped.

“What do you mean by over?” Zero asked.

“They’ll turn us into humans!”

“Sounds like a good thing,” I remarked.

“How?!” the three of them yelled at the same time.

“Being human means you won’t be able to fight! For those of us who only know fighting, that’s pretty much a death sentence. We won’t survive!”

They did look like a bunch of musclebrains. I dreamed of owning a tavern because of my cooking skills, but these guys didn’t have any dreams at all.

“Besides, while we wait our turn, we’re headed to the shed. Worst case, you’re dead before you even become human.”

“A shed?”

“We’re here. No more chitchat.” The lizard stopped a few steps after exiting the tunnel.

I spotted a knight wearing a cloak with fancy embroidery. He had pointy ears, a long nose, and a bushy tail. He had his back turned to us, but he was definitely a Beastfallen.

That tacky dude’s the captain? That back looks familiar.

“Captain!” the lizard called. “We found the Beastfallen that killed the Ebl Boar!”

The knight’s ears perked up, and he turned around.

“Wait, Pooch?” I muttered.

“I said I’m a wolf!” he howled, baring his fangs. “Who the hell—”

The moment he saw me, he froze completely, and his jaw dropped. “B-Bro?! A-A-And the Murky Darkness Witch! I thought I smelled a familiar scent. I didn’t think it was actually you!”

Things finally clicked. A wolf Beastfallen who was good with the sword and served the chief Mage of the kingdom.

“Ah, right! Of course. By chief Mage, they meant the kid. Her servant could only be you.”

This guy was a special case. A noble by birth, he learned the basics of swordsmanship from his time as a knight. He then asked the great Solena to turn him into a Beastfallen.

But I never had the impression that he was terrifying and strong.

“Why are you looking at me like that, bro?” he asked.

“Just impressed how your tricks got you this far.”

“It’s not a trick! I’m actually skilled! Do you know how many times I’ve quelled revolts by meatheads?!”

“Really? You? Skilled? You almost died after setting a wannabe witch at me. You were also shaking when my employer removed every fur from your body.”

“Hey, stop! Keep it down! Don’t say stuff like that in front of my men!”

I decided to show what little kindness I had and shut my mouth.

Zero chuckled. “Your subordinates seem to fear you,” she said. “It has been a while, Dog.”

“I keep telling you, I’m not a… No, never mind. What are you doing here?”

“Your men brought us here.” I jerked my chin at the baffled Beastfallen trio.

Baring his fangs, Pooch glared at his subordinates.

“Stop that,” Zero said. “It is an undeniable fact that we—rather, Mercenary—killed the Ebl Boar. They are simply doing their job.”

Pooch let his ears and tail drop. “How did it get to this? Wait, you said in the Witch Letter that you were headed to Moonsbow Forest!”

“Well, things happened,” I said. “We were planning to head to the castle first thing tomorrow morning. I sent word to the kid using the Witch Letter as well. As for the Ebl Boar, I had no choice but to kill it. Our friends couldn’t move, so.”

“No choice? You could have just ran away. Do you know how hard it is to catch one and transport it alive?!”

“I didn’t have time to consider that. Not like we knew the situation to begin with.”

“But still…” Pooch pressed his forehead and sighed.

What, am I at fault here?

“So, Dog.”

“Wolf.”

“Wolf,” Zero corrected herself, facing Pooch. “Why are you here? It is a little strange to me that you are not with the lass.”

“I’d like to be by her side too, but I’m under direct orders from the young lady. We’re inviting a noble from Cleon, but it’s gotten dangerous around these parts lately, so I’ve been assigned to guard them. It’s even worse here in the southern tunnel, where relations with neighboring countries have worsened.”

“We heard there was an explosion.”

“You know about that?” Pooch’s ears perked up in surprise. “We have tons of problems. Bandits out on the roads, roadblocks to harass travelers trying to enter the kingdom, false accusations of detention. So when we found out an Ebl Boar died, we assumed some bandits snuck in and might cause another explosion.”

“You just have to bring it up again, huh? I said I had no other choice.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Anyway, I actually just guarded a dummy. The real noble has already entered the kingdom a while ago. Bandits even attacked us, thinking the dummy was the real one.”

The plan was probably to create the impression that Wenias was an incompetent nation that couldn’t even protect nobles from bandits. Then the masses wouldn’t believe in a Magical State anymore.

The people who firmly believed that witches were evil wanted reasons to destroy Wenias’s reputation and denounce the kingdom.

“Anyway, it’s good that you’re back. I’m sure the young lady will be delighted. She’s been on edge lately, so your presence is welcome.” Pooch relaxed a little.

After the feelings of surprise and anger subsided, the joy of reunion finally came to him.

Then all of a sudden, roars and screams came from the tunnel as the travelers waiting for immigration drew their swords at once. There were about twenty of them, almost half of the people here.

“In the name of the noble Goddess, we bring the hammer down on the wicked witches!” one bellowed. “We will close the tunnel to hell, and give peace to the powerless!”

Those who had their swords drawn then pounced on anyone they could see.

“Not again!” Pooch shouted. “This is the third time in the last fifteen days! Can’t they just give up already?!”

“Who are they?”

“As you can see, they’re Church followers who hate Wenias for harboring witches. They’re the kids of some bigshots. Killing them would be bad, so we drive them away, but they keep coming back.”

“Sounds like a huge pain in the ass.”

Pooch instructed his men to go check the tunnel, then ran to protect travelers. I knocked out the reckless idiots who dared to attack Zero. I looked around. What now?

“You are unusually calm, Mercenary, despite it being a battlefield,” Zero said.

“It’s not a battlefield, though.”

I was usually the kind of guy to skedaddle, but this time, the aggressors were just blockheads. They looked to be trained with the sword, but they had no desire to actually kill.

In other words, this whole thing was a sham—a game where they started a fight because they knew they wouldn’t get killed.

“Their goal is to cause chaos and spread the word that it’s dangerous to go to Wenias,” I said. “If the perpetrators are related to bigshots, they’ll just pay to get them released if they’re ever arrested. They know that if they’re killed, it will give the impression that Wenias is a cruel nation. It’s a common harassment tactic.”

“That sounds annoying.”

“I’d love to see harassment that’s not annoying. Anyway, I’ll just make things worse if I butt in. If one even dies on either side, this whole sham will turn into a real fight.”

Perhaps it was because they couldn’t kill any of the aggressors, or perhaps they were worried about hitting civilians, but the Mages were prioritizing defense and protecting civilians while waiting for the enemy to run out of energy.

One of the Mages built a defensive wall with Etrach. They healed the injured with Cordia behind the wall, while firing Steim at the legs of the attackers.

The Mages seemed accustomed to the attacks, but the travelers were trembling with fear at the sudden threat to their lives. They began praying to the gods in desperation.

“I find this turmoil a little vexing,” Zero said. “So we simply need to seize all of them alive, yes?”

“Can you do that?”

“A foolish question. It will only take a moment.”

With an evil-like sneer, Zero raised her arms to her chest. I could feel the surrounding forest stirring. It was as if a giant serpent was wriggling underground.

“Meeza Ri Qib! Squirm forth and ensnare! Chapter of Capture, Page Eight: Caplata! Grant me power, for I am Zero!”

As soon as she finished chanting, countless vines jutted out from under the ground towards the sky, blocking my vision. They stretched towards their target at an incredible range and speed.

In the blink of an eye, the vines coiled around all twenty or so idiots, then tied them onto the ground and tree trunks.

Only a few seconds passed from the time Zero chanted the spell until it was all over. I had seen Caplata serveral times before.

“Wow,” I said. “That literally just took a moment.”

“Caplata is a spell from the eighth page, after all,” Zero said. “Its effect varies depending on the caster’s power. In my case, I can bind a thousand enemies like this in an instant.”

---

---