We’d hit the center of town with the main road cutting through it. The mayor’s house was tucked away just beyond. It was a big house, though not so big I’d call it a mansion, surrounded by a low hedge with a nicely tended lawn.
So, how am I gonna approach this? While I stood outside the front door, thinking...
“Say, Lina,” piped up Gourry, who’d heretofore been silent.
“Yeah?”
“What are we doing here, exactly?”
“Oh.” That’s right. I forgot to fill him in. Maybe I should... Eh, nah. I knew there was no point in explaining things to Gourry, the master of playing dumb even about stuff he definitely knew. So I simply responded lightly, “I’m just... investigating a hunch.”
“Huh.”
No follow-up? Score! Normally I would have teased him about that, but no-questions-asked Gourry made things a lot easier in the moment. But just then...
“Can I help you?” A figure appeared from behind one of the trees on the lawn—an older fellow dressed in the dirty overalls, straw hat, and work gloves of a gardener. I assumed he’d been working and had only just noticed us.
“Ah, I’m a traveling sorcerer named Lina. I heard Norst was staying here, and I was wondering if he might be a guy I know,” I said, lying my pants off.
“I see.” The gardener nodded in understanding. “I should take you to meet him, then. Come along.” And with that, he headed for the door.
Wuh? I’d assumed this guy was a gardener, but given the way he spoke... Either way, knowing it would seem suspicious if I backed out now, I followed after him. “Um, are you...”
“The master of this house, yes.”
“Wait, you’re the mayor?!”
“That’s the natural conclusion, isn’t it?”
“Well... thank you for your help, Mr. Mayor,” I said, panicking internally.
Were we going to meet Norst right that second? It’d be all well and good if he turned out to be just some random guy. But... what if I was right and he was one of Dynast’s direct subordinates? It was just me and Gourry right now—we didn’t have the crew we’d had when tangling with Sherra before. I was also down the magic-boosting I’d had back then, which put a serious crimp in the strength and variety of spells I could use. If this turned into a fight, I wasn’t so sure we could win. The best I could hope for now was sizing up Norst, then playing dumb and getting the heck outta there.
The mayor guided us to a parlor on one side of the entrance hall. “If you’d be so kind, please wait right here,” he said, then walked away.
The parlor wasn’t particularly fancy in terms of decor, but it was plenty spacious. It hosted a big table and a set of sofas. The room looked like it could comfortably sit ten or more people, easy.
Gourry and I took a seat on a sofa and waited as instructed... until the door opened with a clack.
“Excuse me.” The man who entered appeared to be in his thirties. He was tall and wiry, with artlessly arranged hair of a very dark brown that fell just past his shoulders. He wore a moss green robe embroidered with gold thread, which seemed to hang off his frame at least one size too big.
Gourry and I stood up from the sofa to greet him.
The man regarded us with vague confusion. “I am Norst, a guest in this home,” he said as he closed the door behind him. “The mayor said you might be an acquaintance of mine, but... Lita, was it? I’m not sure I’ve had the pleasure.”
Lita? The mayor must’ve gotten my name wrong... Whatever. I had bigger fish to fry. To be honest, I hadn’t expected to get right to a face-to-face meeting so quickly. How to broach the subject, then?
“Er, it’s more a friend-of-a-friend situation, really...” I bluffed, thinking on my feet. “But I’m not entirely sure of the connection just yet myself.”
“Oh? And what might this mutual friend’s name be?” he asked.
I forced my voice to remain casual. “Sherra.”
As soon as I said that, the door behind Norst warped with a crack.
I gasped in shock as the door, made of a series of interwoven and intricately decorated panels, began twisting in a spiral and breaking apart until it went from being an identifiable object to a mere abstract pattern that soon spread to the walls, ceiling, and floor. At the same time, the walls also began to retreat into the distance. The next thing I knew, the table and sofas had disappeared, opening up a space between us and Norst. The walls continued to move so far away that I could no longer see them, leaving Gourry and me facing off against Norst in a vast space made up of only floor and ceiling.
“I see,” Norst said, a half-smile forming on his lips.
Right to it, huh?! I figured we would’ve had a little more back-and-forth to feel each other out, so this development really took me by surprise. Also, it probably goes without saying, but no human sorcerer could do something like that without at least a chant first. I’d all but confirmed his identity—which was well and good, but how the heck was I supposed to get out of this now?! Openly panicking here would be like admitting I didn’t have a plan.
Instead, I looked around me with a studied indifference. “Huh... Some kind of barrier?”
Norst snorted. “You seem awfully unperturbed. I assumed I’d have to cut off any possible route of escape, which is why I created a place that... isn’t.”
“A place that isn’t?”
“Yes. We are currently everywhere and nowhere at once. Which means the outside cannot influence us, nor can we influence the outside. You can’t run your way out of here, and there are no entrances or exits to flee to anyway. Plus, if you defeat me, it will undo the spell, but there’s no guarantee you’ll be returned to where you came from. The nature of being everywhere and nowhere at once means that when the spell is undone, you could end up on some distant mountain, in an unfamiliar city, or even over the ocean. Of course, that’s provided you can defeat me.”
Boy, that’s annoying... Long story short, it was basically impossible to escape unless he let us go.
“Now, you said you knew Sherra. From where, exactly?” Norst asked.
“Before I tell you, mind confirming something for me? You’re a General or Priest of Dynast’s, aren’t you?”
“You knew that and you still came to confront me, eh?” Norst said with a thin smile. “Impressive mettle. You’re right. I am Norst, General of the Dynast. What do you want of me?” The hostility flowing from him expanded around us like sediment.
✦ ✦ ✦
