40

As a green light radiated from the end of the magic wand and enveloped Benjamin’s whole body, he groaned softly as his complexion brightened. A few moments later, Benjamin opened his eyes and looked at Lara.

“You’ve completed the spell. Great job.”

Lara said with tears in her eyes.

“I thought you were going to die. Are you all right?”

Not answering Lara’s question, Benjamin took his wand from her and cast Detoxication on himself. And then he recited another spell, Healing. Anton, who was backing away from Sasha’s attack, shouted aloud.

“What are you waiting for? Everybody, attack them.”

Sixteen assassins attacked in unison, and Sasha shouted, running toward them.

“Lara, protect Benjamin.”

Unsheathing her shortsword, Lara guarded Benjamin, who was chanting a spell. Sasha quickly incapacitated two assassins and chased Anton. Id’s footwork accelerated, and screams broke out here and there. Six men collapsed, hit by Id’s sword in a flash, and the remaining assassins began to flee. Anton shouted, struggling to block Sasha’s sword, but his frightened subordinates escaped, not even looking back. Having glanced at Sasha and Anton in the confrontation, Id approached the fat nobleman sitting on the floor, trembling and not even trying to escape.

“Did you hire assassins to kill me? Who are you?”

“You took away my son’s platemail without permission. Therefore, I……”.

Staring at the fat nobleman mumbling, Id said,

“You are Baron Kozlov! You are the lord of the Knights who shamelessly ambushed my friend, using him to threaten me into doing your bidding.  You gave me the platemail through your Knight Commander to execute your scheme. And you are saying I stole your armor? So, you asked assassins to kill me to retrieve it? Do you still expect me to keep you alive, Baron?”

As Id said in a cold voice and glared at him, Baron Kozlov lowered his tail and begged.

“I am sorry. It was my wrongdoing. Forgive me.”

The village Id’s party visited belonged to the estate of Marquis Bunin, Baron Kozlov’s father-in-law. After Baron Kozlov was ousted from his estate, the Mayor of Nordburg, who had been close to him, lent him a carriage and let one of his Knights escort him to the Bunin Marquisate. Since Kozlov moved in a carriage on the national highway, he could enter the Grand Canyon a few days earlier than Id’s party, who walked on the rough forest paths. Having arrived at the Marquisate, Baron Kozlov borrowed some money from his father-in-law and visited Anton. Though Marquis Bunin was not aware that Anton was the boss of the killers’ organization Red Scorpion, Baron Kozlov, who had been involved in all sorts of gimmicks during his time as a central aristocrat, knew Anton’s identity. Baron Kozlov, who came to Anton to commission the assassination of Viscount Korolyov, found out that Id’s party visited the inn and asked Anton to retrieve his son’s armor.

Benjamin, who had cast the spell Detoxication once again and removed all the remaining poison from his body, approached Id and said,

“Is this Baron Kozlov? What a pig he is. Id, If you want, I’ll make this man a real pig.”

Upon hearing Benjamin’s suggestion to Id, Baron Kozlov lay his face down and begged, putting his forehead on the floor.

“I am sorry. Please spare my life.”

“Did I say I was going to kill you? Living as a pig would also be an interesting experience.”

Baron Kozlov was terrified and cried out.

“Please forgive me.”

“Why should I forgive you when you tried to kill me? Hmm, let’s do this. I need a reason to forgive you.”

Benjamin, who stopped talking for a while and glanced at Id for a moment, continued,

“You were going to pay for the life of other people. Now I am waiting for your proposal about how much you will pay for your own life. Of course, you’ll have to pay enough for the contract. After seeing the amount of your proposal, Id and I will decide whether to forgive you or not.”

At that time, they could hear Anton’s scream. Sasha’s sword pierced Anton’s leather armor and was stuck in his heart. As Sasha pulled out his sword, blood burst out of Anton’s chest, and his body collapsed forwards. Seeing it, Baron Kozlov took a gold coin pouch out of his inner pocket and held it out to Benjamin.

“This is a thousand golds for the contract with the Red Scorpion. Please forgive me.”

“A thousand golds for the contract to kill us?”

“I’m not the one who asked Anton to kill you. An Ur Thieves' Guild member put out the contract on your lives. I just asked Anton to retrieve my son’s armor. I asked him to kill Viscount Korolyov. From two thousand golds of the contract amount, I was supposed to pay a thousand as an advance payment today and the balance after he completes his mission.”

Benjamin, who took over the gold coin pouch from Baron Kozlov, took two pieces of parchment out of his bag and filled out both documents. One stated that since Baron Kozlov commissioned Mage Benjamin and Apprentice Id on a secret mission and the two completed their assignment, Baron Kozlov paid a thousand golds and gave the platemail Id was currently in possession of as a reward. The other was a confession from Baron Kozlov that he commissioned the Red Scorpion boss Anton to assassinate Viscount Korolyov.

“I’m familiar with the behavior of nobles of inferior quality like you. I am suspicious of what you’re going to do later relating to today’s incident, so I’ll have to get these documents signed by you, Baron.”

Kozlov reluctantly signed both documents and staggered off into the dark path. When Id and Sasha dug a hole in the inn's backyard and collected bodies, Benjamin cremated them with a Fireball. Lara, who searched the inn’s guest rooms and the store in the meantime, came to her party and said,

“The shop is locked, and there is nobody in the inn. It looks like they didn’t take guests for the convenience of attacking us.”

Hearing Lara, Id told Benjamin.

“It’s too late, so we’d better stay the night here. Sasha and I will take turns to watch out for possible attacks, so don’t worry and go to bed.”

“Thank you. I feel exhausted after recovering from the poison.”

Four people entered a four-person room on the second floor of the inn. As they sat on the beds, Benjamin opened Baron Kozlov’s pouch and handed out two hundred and fifty golds each to the other three. Then he pulled out a bottle of whiskey from his bag and poured it into a glass.

“These gold coins should be divided into quarters. I’m going to sleep after a drink. Even though we’ve already got out of the Pleo Grand Canyon, it's still a tough trip. Anybody wants to drink some whisky, too?”

Id took over the bottle and poured it into his glass, but Lara and Sasha declined. Lara asked Benjamin, getting ready to sleep.

“Can you really turn a person into a pig with magic?”

Benjamin answered, smiling.

“Target Transformation is an eight-circle spell. No human being can cast the spell as far as I know. Dragons must be able to do it, I believe. It’s a pie in the sky for me who hasn’t even reached the level of a seven-circle Wizard.”

The party laughed out loud together for the first time in a while. The party left the inn before dawn the next day and moved at high speed. Before departure, the party went to the stable to pick up their mules and found a two-horse wagon and several horses. Since there were no guests at the inn, the horses must have belonged to the Red Scorpion. They picked five horses that looked strong and tied two of them to the wagon. Id, Sasha and Lara rode the other three. Lara had a lot of experience riding horses. Id and Sasha had not ridden a horse before, but after they were taught the basics by Lara, they caught on fairly quickly. About an hour after the departure, five horses began to gallop. Except they stopped by a town for lunch, they moved almost nonstop all day. So, at dusk, they arrived at a place where they could see the outer ramparts of Scandia City.

After becoming a tributary of the Icarus Empire thirty years back, the capital of the Scandia Kingdom grew more and more over time. After the city’s population exceeded a million, a colossal town began to form outside its outer ramparts. As the city gradually expanded over time, with a population of more than five million, it became a megacity with almost a quarter of the total population of the Scandia Kingdom. As the gates of the outer castle were closed after sunset, the party entered an inn outside the outer ramparts of the city. They left the wagon and horses in the inn’s stable and went to the restaurant on the first floor, but there were no empty tables. After booking a table at the counter, they came out to the street to look around the town. Large shops lined both sides of the main street to live up to the reputation as one of the largest commercial cities around the Icarus Empire.