The Song of Sword and Magic - Chapter 73

Chapter 73: The Secret of Sara

[Translator — Asuka]

[Proofreader — Karane]

After they walked down the stairs, they were surprised to see a straight passageway, which was wide enough for three people to pass at the same time. Vigilantly, Stan held his sword with his right hand and raised the torch to illuminate the road ahead with his other hand. The passageway was clean, which suggested that it was used and cleaned frequently before the battle. At the thought of this, Rae set her mind at ease a little while she grew more curious about the secret at the end of the passageway.

After a period of silence, they reached the end of the passageway. When Stan could no longer see the reflection of the torchlight on the wall, he realized that they had entered a spacious room.

Raising the torchlight, he could faintly see the ceiling. Rae then tried to touch the walls. Realizing that there were many candle holders on the walls, she asked the knight to light them up.

***

When all the candles were lit up, the secret of Sara finally came into their sight. A huge blue ice crystal was on a table that was near the wall. A few magic containers were placed around the ice crystal as they were connected by vessels, which still contained some blue liquid inside them. A spell was carved on the wall behind the table. All the letters had smooth curves, which suggested that they weren’t carved with a weapon.

“Rawtr MeX Lasitaki’ya AzE ReGul.” Rae circled around the table and touched those letters. “These are the letters of the spell which contain its own meaning.”

“Can you read this?” Stan widened his eyes in surprise. “What does it say?”

“The holy water can destroy all evil beings.” Rae muttered as she fell into her own thoughts. A moment later, she came to her senses and turned around to examine the ice crystal on the table. “This is the ice crystal that’s used to extract holy water. While it’s melting, it’s also infused with some kind of magic, so when the water reaches the magic containers, it becomes holy water.”

“Don’t you think the ice crystal looks familiar?” Stan asked.

After giving it a thought, Rae stared at him with widened eyes. “You mean those blue ice blocks on the swamp?”

“Yes, this ice crystal reminded me of those ice blocks the moment I saw it. Maybe you’re used to jumping on those ice blocks, so you never thought about this.” Stan replied with a smile and poked the ice crystal.

“You’re right. It means that those ice blocks are no ordinary ice but some kind of special liquid that could allow the transmission of magic. It’s no wonder that they’re so blue.” Rae sliced off a piece of ice from the ice crystal and placed it into the metal container before tying it to her waist. “Maybe we’ll discover some secrets from this.”

***

They then walked around and examined every part of the room. Other than these magic containers used to extract holy water, there were only some books and other kinds of containers in the room.

Rae flipped through some of the books and shook her head in disappointment. “These are just some novels. Furthermore, we don’t have enough time to go through every page.”

“I don’t think Manfred would record the formula in a book. If I were him, I would only memorize it in my head.” After going through some books as well, Stan put them down dejectedly.

“You’re right.” Rae gave it up and rested her hands on the table before falling into her thoughts.

Just then, she felt a wave of pressure, which caused her to snap back to reality. “It’s the Dark Tide!”

Stan had just taken a rest on a chair when he heard that, so he stood straight up. “Where are they? In Usgart?”

“I’m not so sure yet. We’d better meet up with Basorem and the others. I can sense them more accurately on the ground.” Upon finishing her words, Rae started blowing out the candles.

After Stan did the same, they walked up the stairs and returned to the room. Then, Rae chanted a spell and closed the entrance. Stan adjusted Ferro’s body to block the entrance and performed a salute to him.

***

When they dashed out of the castle, they realized that the entire sky was covered with dark clouds. Basorem and the others were already waiting at the castle entrance. Seeing how rushed Rae and Stan were, they immediately drew out their swords.

Rae motioned for them to calm down. “There’s no danger here. The real danger is outside the city, and they’re coming here.”

“What do you mean? Is it the Dark Tide?” Clamence asked anxiously.

“Yes.” Rae closed her eyes to feel her surroundings. Under the attention of the four warriors, she opened her eyes again. “The Dark Tide’s armies are coming from all four directions, and there’s one fiend in each group.”

The news sent them into a state of despair.

“How is that possible? Did they discover us?” Tyrin paced around apprehensively. “How are we going to deal with four fiends?”

Basorem put his sword back into the sheath and looked around. “I don’t think so. Usgart is a huge city, so they might be coming to look for any surviving humans and holy water. I even suspect that they’d come here every day at this time to kill any survivors.”

Tyrin stopped in his tracks and gazed at Basorem. “So we just have to hide inside somewhere and wait for them to leave?”

Rae nodded. “That’s possible. Even though it’s risky, we don’t have a better solution. Leaving the city now is akin to asking for death.”

Clamence pointed at the castle. “What about this place?”

Stan sized up the passageway inside the castle. “No. It’s too dark inside the castle, and it’s probably their main target. If we fell into any conflict, we wouldn’t be able to see them.”

Basorem pointed at the market. “Let’s go there. By hiding inside the market, we can observe the Dark Tide’s movements easily. Moreover, the market is connected with many streets, so we can run away immediately if there’s such a need.”

“Alright. It’s decided then.” Tyrin stopped talking and reached for the market.

“This guy always acts before he thinks.” Basorem smiled helplessly and motioned for the others to follow him.

***

After they stepped into the market, they realized that the place was more devastated than they expected. The corpses that were piled up on the central square were as high as a house, and their figures were hardly recognizable. Countless Sara soldiers were penetrated with spears on the edges of the square, and the snow on the ground was dyed crimson.

All of them were flabbergasted by the sight before their eyes. Incensed, Tyrin unsheathed his sword as he cut off the spears in a crazy manner.

Basorem clenched his fists and ordered, “Enderman, put him under control. We have no time.”

Without uttering a word, Enderman hugged Tyrin’s waist while Stan took the sword from him. On the other hand, Clamence and Rae were tearing up.

Basorem circled around the corpses and took a look at two houses. “We’ll split into two groups to mitigate the risk. If one of the groups was discovered, the other group should run away immediately. There’s no use for any unnecessary sacrifices.”

The others didn’t object to it and waited for him to give the order. Even though Tyrin had calmed down, his eyes were still burning with rage.

Basorem took a look at Clamence and clapped his shoulder. “Clamence, you’ll get into that house with Rae and Stan. Enderman, Tyrin, you two will follow me into this house.” He pointed at the other house.

“No, Basorem! Let me join your group!” Clamence stood before the leader.

“This is an order!” Basorem didn’t give him any chance to disobey him.

With a livid expression, Clamence performed a military salute and turned to enter the house.

***

After Clamence disappeared into the building, Basorem walked up to Rae and Stan before speaking in a gentle voice, “Please take care of him. He’s still young and inexperienced.”

Stan nodded. “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of him.”

Feeling unnerved, Rae gazed at Basorem. It seemed to her that he was telling them his last words before his death. “Basorem, don’t forget that after you send us to Talheim, you’ll still have to go South to live a new life.”

Without replying to her directly, Basorem gazed at the dead soldiers on the square and said slowly, “Everyone has their own choice. Some choices may seem meaningless to you, but in their hearts, these are the choices they have to make.” Upon finishing his words, he took one last look at the magician. Rae was puzzled because his gaze contained some conflicted feelings. At that instant, she thought she saw the same kind of gaze before. Following that, Basorem stepped into the house without hesitation. After performing a salute at them, Enderman and Tyrin followed their leader.

“Tyrin.” With the hilt facing Tyrin, Stan hurled his sword back to him. After taking the sword, Tyrin nodded and turned around.

“Stan, I’m not sure if I should stop them. I can’t stand to see more Sara citizens die before my eyes.” Rae’s gaze was sorrowful, and her voice sounded helpless.

Gazing at the warriors’ figures, Stan performed a military salute. “Rae, I know you may not understand it, but you can’t change a man’s mind once he’s made a decision. Just let them follow their hearts.”

Rae couldn’t see clearly anymore as her eyes had welled up with tears.

***