Savior! Redemption in Another World! - Chapter 84

As the squeaky wheels of the carriage rolled down the calm dirt road, a group of rag-tag adventurers could be seen sitting in the back of the cart, which was seemingly driving itself.

The group consisted of a young human boy, a young woman of elven descent, a decadent-looking Jeralik, and a feisty-looking red-haired fire sprite. The four traveling companions sat in the back of the cart, happily chatting and discussing what sounded like utter nonsense to anyone eavesdropping on the conversation.

In truth, any magically astute spy could notice the small dome of wind magic surrounding the cart, seemingly scrambling the sounds coming from the conversation, instead making it sound as if they were happily chatting and laughing about honey bread and dire wolves.

Yet, their peaceful journey was soon to be interrupted, as a group of hooded and cloaked figures had meticulously surrounded the slow-moving carriage from all sides, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.

These hooded figures belonged to the prolific black guild known as Gloom Stalkers, who had been specially hired to take out this group of reportedly seven travelers. According to their client, despite their apparent age and naivety, the group had already fended off over twenty other specialty groups, demanding the full force of the Gloom Stalker to be deployed.

Stephan Michael was a calm and collected man under the most intense circumstances, yet when his most recent client easily placed a sum of over two hundred Oro onto the table, he easily caved to his demands to deploy the entirety of the Gloom Stalkers.

Apparently, the caravan boasted not only two Legate tier magicians, but also a pair of deadly close-quarters combatants, rendering most cheap tricks ineffective.

As night quickly fell, with the darkness of the new moon quickly swallowing the surroundings, leaving only the light of the target’s campfire to illuminate the surrounding, Stephan knew right now would be the optimal time to strike.

Which was the very reason he neglected to do so. Instead, he had to sacrifice a few pawns of the guild, hoping to cause the party to lower their guards.

As the fresh meat of the guild dropped onto the forest floor below, not a single person had been expected what came next.

Before they had a chance to think, a thick sheet of ice froze the forward team into statues, either killing or trapping them depending on the nature of the magic.

To a normal group of assassins, this would look like something straight out of a fantasy. There was no chant, no sudden movement, no preamble, just a swift, and instant death.

However, to the members of Gloom Stalkers, this was no rare occurrence. Every report available on the party gave a very detailed description of the man labeled as the ‘Prince of Frozen Blood’, Antonio Icefield.

After the advance party was frozen into statues, they were quickly sucked into the ground, never to be seen again. Yet, this did not deter the members of the black guild, seeing this as an opportunity.

As the Ice Price turned his back towards the forest and began to silently walk back towards his campsite, ten members of Gloom Stalkers descended upon him silently.

Unfortunately, the battle had been over before it ever began. As the silent assassins dashed towards the seemingly defenseless prince, they sure did a lousy job of hiding their bloodlust for the heir to the throne.

Thankfully, his trusted mage associate was able to weed out the rest of the invisible men, alleviating them of the problem of highwaymen, if only for one more day.

However, this sense of safety is exactly what lead to the bloody battle that followed directly after. The moment after the Jeralik woman turned around, issues began to stick into her brain.

As the now tired Prince was much too lazy to help, he retreated into his stone hut, yet not before tapping the fancy looking on the ground and casting a spell.

With one of the major threats eliminated, the rest of the guild descended upon the unsuspecting travelers, unaware of the experiments and horror they would soon face.

Before most of the members of the Gloom Stlakers landed on the softer underbrush they’re before, they are already dead. Whether from the magic of the man labeled both ‘a veritable armada of spell ideas’ or the other man, labeled ‘The Mad Man of The Lab.’

The young man never needed to use an ounce of concentration, as with the flick on the wrist he had snuffed out the light of most members of the assassin’s guild.

— Point of View: Antonio Icefield —

With Stephanie sleeping and Mobile Driver running most of the show, all I’ve been able to do for these past three years are write down and explore what exactly each person holds dearly. Thankfully, the group seems to be a bit more sophisticated, giving up their pride in exchange for living to see another day.

It takes but a flick of my hand to send out another wave of Frozen Prison, freezing another section of the attackers and forcing them to retreat.

Three years. It’s truly been that long since I began adventuring with Teresa. Looking down at my adventurer’s identification card, my age of ’12’ blinked lightly in the corner of my card, along with my evaluation as an A-rank adventurer.

Hmm, how time flies.

Suddenly, I felt a strong jolt on my shoulder, as Ivy shook me out of my trance. Although the attackers had left, for now, she was correct in assuming that they would probably come back.

No, scratch that, they always come back.

Thankfully, tonight should be the last night dealing with them for a long time, as, by this time tomorrow, we’ll have reached the capital of the Magic Kingdom.

Many interesting things have happened in these last years, such as reconnecting with both sides of my family, awakening and training my wings very slowly, and even practicing and working with two new schools of magic, metal magic, and sound magic.

However, these last two schools of magic were all that Zerath and Stephanie had left me, as approximately one week ago, they had ‘urgent business’ and left without any further warning.

Sighing deeply and sitting in a more relaxed pose, I return to a calm world of sensing for changes in the mana and meditating.

Why was I even so determined to come to the Capital in the first place? I know I originally had a goal for coming here, but now it’s as if I’ve fully committed to working under Teresa as her magical knight.

Sifting through the fog that was my mind was difficult, but I seem to remember that I was tasked with breaking someone out of prison. I have no idea what this guy looks like, but that’s the best lead I have.

After sitting through the rest of my night watch, I shook the heavy sleeper Flare awake, as it was her turn to keep watch.

Once Flare was up and astute, I laid down and felt the fatigue come over me. Holy shit, a lot of natives to this world have impressive stamina. How do you work every day, then turn around and train instead of sleep! When do they rest!

As my head touched my soft bedroll, I let my body become dull and sluggish, my fatigue catching up to me as I pass out, a civilization national territory.

///

The normal morning routine hasn’t changed in a year. Cooking food with Teresa for both myself and the other party members early in the morning is somewhat habit at this point.

At first, I would wake up and enjoy a bit of banter before we finish cooking and eating. Then, Ivy would awaken and I would hand her portion of breakfast as we discussed the major plans or activities.

Finally, Flare would decide to wake up, eating her prepared food and pitching in her two cents.

After breakfast, we quickly pack up and clean up our campsite, as I take a bit of focus to conjure something. The goal was originally a type of elemental, but the result I had accomplished was more than enough.

The figure of wind magic I conjure is enough to keep the cart steady, also known as Mobile Driver.

Once back on the road, we snack on some conjured water and rations to hold us over until dinner.

At the end of the day, it ended just like any other. I retreat to my stone hut for a moment, then get ready for the next long day of driving tomorrow.

Thankfully, tomorrow will be our salivation, breaking out of this mundane workspace and truly proving if the journey was worth it or not.

As the moon fell behind the clouds, it was another very dark night, but that’s all. No attackers came, and the night ended peacefully.

///

Finally, once everyone was awake and around the morning fire, we could speak freely.

“So, tomorrow huh. We’ve finally reached it, the capital of the Magic Kingdom.” Ivy says, sounding a bit stunned, yet melancholic.

“Yep, the end of the line for this job,” I say, my voice breaking a bit as well, a hint of sadness leaking into it.

With the job ending, are Flare and Ivy going to stay with us? I can almost feel my stomach twisting into a knot.

I’ve got a bad feeling about reaching the capital.