“Shit!” he snapped.
His thoughts wouldn’t come together. He couldn’t figure out what to do. Hesitation on the battlefield meant death. Even the man celebrated as the strongest of the countries in the region could die if his mind wasn’t made up.
Especially if he was up against Ainz Ooal Gown.
Certainly, Gazef had never witnessed the fighting ability of the caster who saved the village. And even that man had said the enemies had fled, not that he had defeated them.
But everyone knew that was a lie.
“Come to think of it…why did he lie and say they ran away?”
After the pair had left, he had gone to see the meadow where the battle had taken place, but there was no sign of a massacre. He didn’t find a single body. It took time to bury dozens of soldiers. The fact that there were no corpses—no physical evidence—lent credence to his claim that they fled.
But that held true only if Ainz Ooal Gown couldn’t use magic. It was possible there were spells that would transport or erase the bodies.
And Gazef was confident in one thing.
It stemmed from his intuition as a warrior. When Ainz returned unscathed, Gazef had sensed the caster smelled faintly of death.
If it was true that they ran away, it was definitely because he had let them go.
But Gazef had more faith in his hunch than the caster’s words. It was a groundless conviction—that the six scriptures members were dead and their corpses had simply not been left behind.
“…I don’t know.”
There existed a caster who could annihilate an opponent who defeated Gazef.
How powerful would such a person have to be? At least several times as powerful as the band of warriors Gazef led.
What would happen if that person appeared on the battlefield and attacked them using magic?
Gazef looked once more at the people driven by excitement, fear, resignation, and panic.
The strength of the magic casters used depended on the skill of the caster, even if the spell was the same tier.
So what sort of disaster could Ainz Ooal Gown cause if he used so much as Fireball?
There were men here who had left their families behind: fathers with young children still drinking their mother’s milk, sons who took care of their elderly parents, young men soon to be married. Was there even the slightest chance they could withstand such an attack?
That was impossible.
Life couldn’t possibly persist after a strike from that great caster.
If a fire spell, then all that remained would be seared corpses; if a chill spell, then frozen corpses; if a lightning spell, then electrocuted corpses—that’s how it would end up.
Would Gazef be able to withstand it?
He didn’t think he would die in one hit.
But maybe that was naive.
“Ahh… How did this happen?”
Fighting with Ainz Ooal Gown was definitely a mistake.
Since he saved Carne, it seemed like Ainz Ooal Gown was a proper person who shed the same blood and tears. But Gazef had the feeling he was not just a simple, nice guy. The image that came to mind was a man who had no mercy for his enemies.
They should have avoided a fight and treated him with all the respect they could muster. Then perhaps they could have persuaded him to choose a different plot of land.
As Gazef looked gloomily at the people around him, a young man in white metal armor appeared in the corner of his field of vision. Next to him was an aloof warrior. It was Climb and Brain.
Those two plus one more were having what seemed to be a fun conversation.
“Who’s that? I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before… Ohh, it’s one of Marquis Raeven’s former orichalcum-plate adventurers.”
That team of former adventurers was a star of hope for the people, since all the members had come from a commoner background, so Gazef knew of them as well. In a way, they were like fellow ladder climbers who came before him.
Boris Axelson, forty-one years old, was a holy knight of the fire god and also held the class evil slayer, which excelled at slaying monsters.
Jorann Dicksgord, forty-six years old, was a wind god priest who could also fight as a warrior—a war priest.
Franzén, thirty-eight years old, was a warrior who could use four swords thanks to the magic item Dancing Weapons.
Lundqvist, forty-five years old, was a wizard said to be brilliant, who had spells he developed named after him.
And Lockmeier, forty years old, was a thief called “the Unseen.”
As Gazef counted the members on his fingers, he realized who was talking to Climb. Lockmeier. Come to think of it, he had heard that during the demon disturbance, Climb and Brain had teamed up with him and snuck deep into enemy territory to save people.
They didn’t seem to notice Gazef, and he didn’t want to interrupt.
Still, he felt it would be rude to not say hello. After all, soon they would all be going to battle. Though Gazef was the king’s aide and would therefore probably not be crossing swords with the enemy directly, no one ever knew for certain what might happen on the battlefield.
It might be our last time meeting in this world.
He wanted to talk to the pair if he could. As if the heavens had heard him, Lockmeier waved and left.
Brain and Climb remained, smiling as they chatted about something.
The bonds between the two of them appeared to have grown stronger during the demon incident in the capital. They had built a relationship that could have been classified as friends, master and apprentice, or colleagues, which was complicated but good.
Thanks to that connection, Brain was now one of Princess Renner’s soldiers, along with Climb.
It was true that Gazef felt it was both unfortunate and regrettable that a warrior equal to him, whom he had been hoping to recruit into the Royal Select, had been snatched away.
But seeing the pair like this, it was also true that things had settled into their natural places.
Cracking a smile, he approached them with a quick step.
That armor sure does stand out, though. It’s fine for when he’s in the capital, but on the battlefield, it’ll make him an easy target. Should I warn him?
There were a lot of soldiers around. None of them wore full plate armor, so Climb stuck out that way as well, but the bigger problem was the conspicuous pure-white color. Archers would be sure to aim for him first, and cavalry would probably also have a go. Between Climb and the empire’s knights, Climb would probably win, but it was also possible that he would run into a knight more powerful than him. The Four were a good example of what he could be up against.
Apparently, that armor was a gift from Princess Renner, but she really has no idea what it’s like on the battlefield if she picked a color like that.
Apparently, Princess Renner wasn’t well versed in military strategy.
She would be upset if Climb died.
If he used Magic Dye, he could change the color temporarily, then revert it after he returned to the capital.
When Gazef approached the pair from behind with those thoughts in mind, Brain turned just his head around. His hand was reaching for the sword on his hip.
That’s Brain for you. I’m impressed he could sense me from this far away.
Gazef’s armor made a racket when he walked.
It wasn’t strange for someone to react upon hearing that noise approaching.
But there were lots of people around busily preparing for battle. Picking out only the noises approaching them from the rest of that din was quite a feat. Well, it would have been different if he had been someone with special training, like a thief.
Brain’s eyes widened. Then he glanced at Climb and grinned. It was a nasty grin.
He seemed to be misunderstanding something, but that was just fine.
Matching Brain’s grin, Gazef closed in on Climb, who hadn’t noticed him yet, careful not to make too much sound. He had no special tr
aining in walking silently, and he was wearing metal armor to boot, but Climb didn’t seem to notice him at all and said something to Brain.
Gazef had successfully set up directly behind Climb.
Then he gave him a chop on his unprotected head.
“Whoa!”
Shrieking in a voice too hoarse for his age, he jumped back. The eyes that looked at Gazef were gigantic.
“Ah! It’s Sir Stro—”
“Quiet down.” Seeing that Climb had swallowed his exclamation, Gazef repeated himself. “Be quiet. It’ll be a pain if people know I’m here. Just call me Gazef.”
He may have been the captain of the Royal Select and the strongest man in the kingdom, but most of the commoners here were peasants, so they didn’t recognize his face. They probably imagined him as a man six and a half feet tall with a gigantic sword and golden armor.
“D-do excuse me.”
“Nah, you haven’t done anything that needs an apology.” Gazef smiled wryly in response. Then it changed into a wince. “But if you don’t realize someone in metal armor is sneaking up behind you, you’re being too lax. I understand that it’s unlikely for an enemy to show up here, but still.”
“What are you saying, Gazef? It’s no problem to relax a bit. A taut string is liable to break.”
“You say that, Brain, but you noticed me from quite a distance.”
“Of course I did, with that weird presence you were radiating.”
Gazef realized Climb was looking at them in surprise.
“Climb. As someone guarding the princess, you really need detection skills. If you fail to discover an assassin lurking around, the one you’re meant to protect could be harmed.”
“Ohh, I see. I was wondering what you were up to, but now I get it. Hey, Climb, you’ve been training in your own way so far, right? Have you learned how to detect presences?”
“N-no. I’ve only trained techniques for battle. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not picking on you. I just wanted to check. Actually, I used to be the same way. When you train on your own, you end up forgetting to train your senses, but that’s really dangerous. How often do you think someone swings a sword at you from out front where you can see them?”
Gazef blushed a bit. He shot Brain a look that said, You didn’t have to go into all that at this very moment.
As the captain of the Royal Select, it was actually his job to train the young men working to become warriors, so he was awfully embarrassed that he hadn’t been able to do that.
Climb and Gazef were both commoners, so as servants of the royal family, neither of them could afford to slip up in front of the nobility. For example, if Gazef crushed Climb in a sparring match, the nobles would claim Climb was unfit to guard the princess. And if Gazef started to lose even a little bit of ground, the nobles would turn their personal attacks on him.
He wished he wouldn’t be spoken of as a good person just because he did one little nice thing. He had cut off this young warrior, crowing that it was for the king’s good.
No, I shouldn’t be embarrassed. I should face up to my mistakes…
“Yeah, okay, don’t rub it in. You demonstrated his weakness right before my eyes. I’ll train him as best I can.”
“I’m grateful, Sir Gazef.”
“…C’mon, don’t bow. You serve the royal family, so you’re one of my men. But instead of training you personally, I’ve shoved you off onto someone else. That doesn’t deserve a thank-you.”
The more Gazef was thanked, the more guilty he felt.
“Man, having one foot in noble society makes everything hard in so many ways, huh? You get held back by stupid stuff; you can’t do what you want.”
“But you’re in the same boat now that you’re working with Climb to guard Princess Renner.”
“I take it easy. I’ll tell ya what I think about being her subordinate—er, no I won’t; that would be bad, sorry. But I will say working for the princess is only temporary. If I get sick of it or have my fill, I’ll leave.” Brain smiled with a face like the autumn sky. The sopping wet man Gazef met in the capital was nowhere to be found.
He was a little jealous of him, that he could live freely like that.
“Sir Gazef, is it really all right for you to hang around chatting with us?”
“Well, I am busy, but I’d rather relax a bit… Speaking of which, are you two free now?”
Brain and Climb exchanged looks.
“More or less…”
“Hmm. Yes, there’s nothing we need to be doing right now. All that’s left is to equip ourselves for battle.”
“Then how about we…? Hmm.” He looked at one of the rampart towers. “Want to go over there?”
No one objected, so Gazef took the lead and headed over.
Since he was captain, the soldiers guarding the tower didn’t stop him, and they arrived at his favorite place.
The tower stood along the outermost wall of E-Rantel, naturally making it the highest place in the city. It had a fantastic view reaching far into the distance.
In addition, the stagnant body heat didn’t reach up that high, so the air was fresh, delivered by the bracing winter wind.
“Wow, what a view!” A boy’s genuine wonder rang out. Climb’s gaze fixed on the southeast.
“That’s the Katze Plain, where the battle will take place, right?”
“Yeah, a foggy area where undead spawn—and, in a few days, a battleground.” Gazef inhaled deeply and exhaled as he answered, hoping that by pulling a large amount of the refreshing air into his body, he could free himself from the various fears and worries eating at him, like his anxiety about Ainz Ooal Gown.
“This really is amazing. This alone makes it worth working for the princess. Casters who can use Fly must get to see this scenery all the time. I think I understand why so many of them are weirdos.”
“When you see the wider world, it must change your perspective.”
“Nah, that can’t be. Otherwise why not bring the nobles up here? You can shove the ones who don’t change over the side and kill two birds with one stone.”
Gazef smiled wryly at Brain’s joke. If this view alone would change them, he would drag them up in chains if need be.
Climb’s apparent confusion over how to react put Gazef in even better spirits.
“Ah, it was the right decision to come here with you two. It feels like poison is leaving my body.”
“Well, that’s good. So? Why’d you have us come up here, anyway? No one’s watching now. It can’t be that you just wanted us three guys to admire the view together, right? Is there someone you want us to kill?”
Brain’s bleak comment threw Gazef off.
“Well, I wouldn’t be able to guard the princess anymore, and I wouldn’t be able to train Climb, but…I owe you, Gazef. If it’s dirty work you need done, I’ll be happy to do it.”
He wasn’t joking. The only gleam in Brain’s eyes was one of sincerity.
“No, that’s not it, Brain. I don’t want you doing that sort of thing.”
“…My life isn’t as pure as you think, you know.”
“Probably not. Brain, you must have trained your sword in a tremendous amount of blood. But I’m the same.”
“But in your case, it’s the blood of your country’s enemies, right? For me, it was just the result of my own ambition. The blood may be the same, but we’re still completely different.”
“…Are you trying to atone for your crimes?”
“No, it’s not like that. I would have done anything in order to defeat you. I dedicated my life to it. Even after learning that the realm I can reach with my power alone amounts to nothing, I don’t feel guilty about anything I did. I just said I could do it because I owe you, that’s all. Don’t overthink it.”
“Then the answer is: I don’t want you to do that. And what do you owe me for? You mean when we met in the capital?”
Brain’s face soured. “Don’t worry about it. I just feel indebted to you,
that’s all.”
“If you tell me not to worry about it, that just makes me want to know even more…” Sensing a powerful will to refuse, Gazef changed the subject. “Oh, and there’s no reason for bringing you two here.”
“Huh?”
Climb was the one who asked. Brain merely raised his eyebrows.
“…I just thought if you were free, it wouldn’t be bad for us three to have a talk, and the only place I could think of where we could relax and not worry about other people watching us was here. If we were in the capital, I know a quiet place where we could have had a drink, but…”
“What, so it was really just to chat? I thought for sure you had a secret mission for me.”
“No, no. Well, hmm…”
Just because they might lose their lives and never meet again didn’t mean he could say something that might only make them suffer later.
“Nah. Oh, Climb. That armor is a little too flashy. You might want to change the color. The way it is, you’ll make a good target for the enemy.”
“I can’t do that, Sir Stronoff,” Climb refused flatly. “This armor will be conspicuous wherever I go, so if I fulfill my duty while wearing it, my deeds will reflect well on Princess Renner. Besides, many nobles know that I wear white armor. If I dyed it another color out of fear, I’d be a laughingstock, and it would cause trouble for the princess. If that’s how it’ll be, I’d rather die a heroic death and enhance her reputation.”
Seeing his eyes, Gazef swallowed his replies.
Princess Renner doesn’t want you to die.
Don’t confuse recklessness for bravery.
Be patient now and become an even greater success later.
He could have given him any sort of advice along those lines.
But he figured nothing he could say would have the power to change Climb’s mind.
As Climb said, his white armor was the princess’s banner. His achievements would reflect well on her. Of course, the opposite was also true.
Climb was a warrior from an impoverished background. Renner had saved him, so he believed his life belonged to her. Gazef wouldn’t be able to budge that conviction—because he understood it to the extent that it was similar in some ways to his oath of loyalty to the king.
The Caster of Destruction Page 14
