“I’m setting you down there! Go explain what’s going on!”
“What?! What do you mean setting me doaaahh!”
Har Bell shrieked as the dragon went into a nosedive. Once they were just about low enough, Ghoda unhesitatingly booted her in the stomach, and she tumbled awkwardly from the dragon’s back─only for Mercenary to deftly catch her in his arms. The world was still spinning as he lowered her to the cargo bed of the carriage. She shook her head and looked up to see Mercenary grinning down at her.
“Got a monster on our hands, huh?”
For a brief moment, Har Bell had been on the verge of despair. Now, though, she felt hope. Her body began to tremble. So this is what it feels like to have companions, to have people on your side.
“There’s a swarm of sakuhrm on the far side of the Nurabehn settlement! If you break the rocks on their backs, the leech-things inside will disperse!”
Har Bell pursed her lips, fighting back the emotions and explaining the situation as clearly and simply as she could. Only then did it strike her:
“Who’s driving this thing?!” she cried, peering around to the driver’s seat.
“Oho, Miss Har Bell! Thy New World abounds with such wonderfully amusing toys! And this, what thou callest a wizard carriage, is fast becoming my favorite of all!”
“Loux Krystas?! Do you…have a license?!”
“License? Tch─! Nothing of the sort! I have a great love of the leeway granted in desperate times! Is this any time to be speaking of rules and regulations?”
“No, but…this is a special kind of cart! Let me take over!”
“I say thee nay! Sit back there quietly with the rest!”
The wizard carriage picked up speed, and Har Bell was thrown tumbling backward.
“Professor! This swarm of monsters─what are we gonna do about ’em?! Kill them?!”
In the face of Hort’s panicked request for direction, Zero turned to look at Har Bell, stroking her chin. “A fine question. Incidentally, rabbit-eared one… Can these sakuhrm be eaten?”
“Wh…What?”
“Do they taste good? For how long are they best cooked?”
“Well… Long enough to make the skin crispy on the outside… Roast them like that and they’re a rare delicacy.”
“Then roast them we shall.” Zero grinned. “Antlered one! First we will surround the settlement with walls!”
“Right─secure the safety of all non-combatants! Roger that! Kudo, Har Bell, you search for the injured! You two have the best hearing.”
“O-Okay!” Har Bell nodded.
Kudo leaned toward the driver’s seat. “Professor Los! The two of us are gonna get off, so slow down for a sec once we reach the settlement!”
“I fear I know only how to increase the speed.”
“Pull up on the ‘reins’!” Har Bell shouted. “Just like with a horse!”
“To what reins dost thou refer?”
“That round wheel thing you’re holding onto!”
Los cocked her head, then pulled as hard as she could on the “reins.” The carriage swerved and came to a sudden stop, sending Kudo tumbling to the ground with Har Bell right on top of him. The wizard carriage then sped off once more, leaving the two of them sitting in the dust.
“Owww, dammit… I’m never gettin’ in another wizard carriage with her behind the wheel so long as I live…!”
“Shit… Shit…! Driving like that she deserves to be permanently banned from the road…! Not to mention Ghoda! He needs his dragon-riding license revoked!”
Cursing and shaking her head, Har Bell picked herself up off the ground─then froze. The contents of the first sakuhrm, the one whose shell she had broken, were crawling all over the town.
“…Those are the things that taste good when you crisp ’em up…?”
The giant limbless leech-creatures were slowly but steadily approaching, moving to surround the pair on all sides. It seemed as if they might strike at any moment, their round mouths lined with neat rows of fangs that looked tough enough to chisel through solid rock.
“I’m not too good with offensive magic. How ’bout you?”
“I’ve got two phials left, and─”
An impatient creature detached itself from the group and lunged at them. Har Bell fired something at it. Kudo had instantly taken the posture for Steim, but she beat him to the punch─whatever she used was just that fast. Kudo stared at her hands in disbelief.
“And I’ve got two wizard pistols,” she finished, holding up the objects in her hands for Kudo to see. They were long cylindrical tubes with some kind of grip attached. Each had a trigger as well, which seemingly caused them to eject something from the end of the tube when pulled.
“More ‘thaumaturgical devices’…?”
“You need a license for these, too,” Har Bell said casually, then turned and began to fire shot after shot, taking care of the rest of the leech-things before Kudo even knew what was going on.
After the dust had settled, her ears pricked up. “I can hear someone crying over that way!” And then she was off, sprinting toward the source of the sound.
+++
The rest of the group, minus Kudo and Har Bell, jumped down from the wizard carriage a little ways outside the village. The moment Saybil hit the sand, he was vomiting into it.
“Goddess… Please…”
He was trembling all over, and to the casual observer it might have appeared that he would be of no use whatsoever─though the others knew, of course, that Saybil’s mere presence was their greatest asset.
“I will make the wall! Antlered one, you and the young man stand there! I leave the rest to you!”
“R-Right!”
Hort dragged Saybil over to the place Zero had indicated.
The Mud-Black Witch placed both hands flat against the ground. “Sand…? We’ll need a little water. Quicker to bring it from the ocean than to call the clouds, I warrant…”
Before she had even finished speaking, the water was there: seawater, riding upon the wind like a translucent cloth, spreading across the sky then raining down all at once onto the desert sands below. Zero remained still, her hands never leaving the ground.
Then, with one deep breath:
“Maelim soh Heghans! Rally to me, wall of stones! Spin me a net, O grass, O vines! Seal the gates of heaven and earth! Cradle, take this transgressor into your embrace! Chapter of Hunting, Third Page─Etorahk! Heed me now, for I am Zero!”
She stood, slowly raising both hands as if lifting something to the sky. The earth moved and writhed in accordance with her motion, rising beneath Hort and Saybil’s feet to form a wall that towered above the others’ heads. As they were carried into the sky, Hort looked out over the approaching swarm of sakuhrm.
“Wow… There’s gotta be a hundred of them…” She gulped.
Flagis won’t be nearly enough. I need something that can burn a much larger area all at once.
And Hort knew just the spell. As part of the small elite group bound for the New World, she had been given permission to read the forbidden Grimoire of Zero in the name of increasing their combat strength. In it, she had found magic more powerful than anything she had encountered before─the same magic Zero herself used. And now Hort could use it, too.
Plus… “Sayb, do you mind?” She held out her left hand.
Getting carefully to his feet so as not to fall from the high stone wall, Saybil took the proffered hand in his own. He felt the tingle as mana began to flow from his hand into hers, and let out a deep breath. “All right, I’m ready. Go ahead, use as much as you want.”
“Thanks, Sayb! You’re always there when I need you!” She squeezed his hand and started her incantation. “Bahg doh Wal Fel doh Al…!”
Snakes of flames rose around her; this spell called on the same demon as Flagis.
I just need to ask for a little more power than normal.
Flagis could burn a specific target with the desired amount of flame. But where the fire of Flagis did not spread, this spell would spread explosively.
If I were to use this in town, the results would be horrifying. But out here it’s desert as far as the eye can see─I’m not scared to use it in a place like this.
“O great serpents who sleep within the scorching heat! From the cradle where gather the flames of Hell, awaken now and reduce all to ash!”
Hort pointed down at the oncoming swarm of sakuhrm, imploring the demon: Incinerate them all.
“Chapter of Harvest, Seventh Page─Filam, the Immolating Wind! Heed me now, for I am Hort!”
The flame serpents swelled up and became great dragons of fire, racing through the air above the sakuhrm and dropping a shower of sparks in their wake. These set the sakuhrm ablaze wherever they made contact, and the grating cries of the dying creatures rang out across the desert for what seemed like hours. Saybil and Hort unconsciously let go of each other’s hands and covered their ears with them instead, hunching their shoulders against the cacophony.
And, a certain pleasant aroma wafted up to them─
“Th-They really do smell amazing…!” Hort’s stomach growled.
As Saybil looked out over the roasting swarm of sakuhrm, something struck him. “Oh… It smells like clams cooked on the half shell. The kind seasoned with seawater.”
“Th-That’s totally it!”