"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Magnus asked, curious. Unlike Grial, Eveline seemed to actually know something about vampires, though it wasn't surprising given the size of her library.
"Well, I could tell you now, but your friend over there might die from internal bleeding in the meantime," Eveline responded, glancing over at Grial. His eyes were unfocused, and his breathing was shallow. He had already been badly hurt holding off that vampire woman, and the move he made to gouge out her eye had left him even more injured.
"Oh, right! Can you heal him?" Magnus quickly set aside his curiosity.
"Of course, I can, but why don't you do it? Your healing abilities are better than most," Eveline remarked, prompting Magnus to sigh.
"Well... I can only heal myself unless I've made some preparations beforehand," Magnus admitted. If he could peek inside Grial's body like he had looked inside of his own using some mana catalyst, he'd definitely be able to heal him, but that wasn't an option right now.
"Interesting," Eveline muttered before casually waving her hand toward Grial. Almost immediately, mana condensed into a golden light around Grial's wounds, and at a rate visible to the human eye, his bleeding slowed, and his injuries began to close. As they did, Grial, who had looked like he was nearing death, started breathing normally again, though he passed out from exhaustion.
Seeing this, Magnus let out an internal sigh of relief. However, that relief was short-lived as his gaze shifted upward to the roof of the chamber. Ash was floating in the air, and as he lowered his eyes, they settled on the charred wood—the remains of the storage room. Eventually, his eyes fell on the two bodies lying on the ground.
He knew all the guards stationed in front of Takerth Academy, so naturally, he knew those two as well. Unlike most of the others, they weren't married, but that didn't mean they wouldn't be leaving behind loved ones. Their parents would mourn them, and everyone who cared for them would grieve their deaths.
That image was stuck in Magnus's mind.
They died because I rushed in here without a proper plan or understanding of who we were up against.
He knew they volunteered to come; they would have followed him to help Celia no matter what he said. But still, he couldn't shake the thought that things could have gone differently. His eyes shifted back to Grial, who was now almost fully healed.
If I had a way to heal others, he wouldn't have ended up in this condition. If I could sense things like real mages do, I might have detected that vampire woman before any of this happened. With me, Alwen, and Kolten working together, I'm sure we could have beaten her without any casualties.
As these thoughts swirled in his mind, he recalled what Celia and Howard had told him.
They were right; dwelling on what-ifs won't help, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't think about what you could have done differently. Continuing to make mistakes without trying to avoid them in the future is just being stupid.
While Magnus was deep in thought, the golden light around Grial faded, and Eveline turned her attention to him. Magnus was wearing a grim expression, and the way Eveline's eyes narrowed made it seem like she could see right into his mind. Perhaps, because of that, she decided to ask him something.
"So, what do you think? How was it, facing off against someone at the Master-level for the first time?" Her question made Magnus glance up at her, then down at the ground he was sitting on. He had wondered what would have happened if Eveline hadn't shown up. If he hadn't made that deal with her, and this situation with Celia had still unfolded?
The answer was clear: he would be dead, and so would everyone else who had come with him to rescue Celia. No one would have come to rescue Celia with them dead, and she would be sold off, or worse.
"She was strong... I thought after the Live Examination, I could handle almost anything. But I guess I was just overconfident. Even though I could hear her rhythm, it was too erratic, too fast for me to even try and follow; my mind couldn't keep up," Magnus said plainly, causing Eveline to cross her arms.
"And?" She prodded.
"And... I realized I'm still not strong enough, at least not enough to achieve my goals," Magnus replied. He wanted to get home; that was his ultimate wish, but that was impossible in his current state. The Command Console could help him achieve it; he was confident in that, but his method of using it was simply too inefficient. One such inefficiency had shown itself in his fight with that vampire as well.
He had become too reliant on magic recently. That's why, the instant it was canceled out, he was at a complete loss and ended up almost getting himself killed. In the end, the only thing that really allowed him to injure that vampire woman was [Self Body Puppetry], one of the simplest yet most powerful abilities in his arsenal.
"Hmm, good. As long as you've had those realizations and learned something, then this wasn't a total waste. Anyway, I'll be heading back to Takerth now; tell Celia to drop by soon," Eveline said as she began to create a mana formation for a teleportation spell.
"Huh, you're leaving already?" Magnus asked.
"Of course. I saved you and your friend; Celia's been rescued, and you've learned something. There's no reason for me to stay any longer." Magnus was taken aback by her reasoning, but in the end, he supposed she was right. There really was no reason for her to stick around, contract, or otherwise. And just like that, as quickly as she had arrived, she was gone.
"Well, I guess that means I'm carrying him out of here myself," Magnus muttered, looking over at the unconscious Grial. But before he moved, he also glanced at the two decapitated bodies. Magnus narrowed his eyes slightly before letting out a deep sigh.
I should at least bring their bodies out so they can be buried.
=====================================•=====================================
"Tola, can you let go? I can't move," Celia said in a strained voice as Tola clung to her side. She, along with Howard, the injured knight, and the rest of the merchants who had been captive, managed to make their way outside without running into trouble. The moment Tola spotted Celia, she had jumped on her, crying her eyes out, and even twenty minutes later, she still hadn't let go.
So when Celia asked her to, Tola shook her head vigorously and replied, "Never, I'm never letting you go again! I thought I'd never see you again, or I'd hear about you being found dead in an alleyway or something."
"I know, I'm sorry for making you worry, okay?" Celia sighed in resignation. It was clear Tola had no intention of letting go, and Celia didn't have the heart to peel her off, especially since it was thanks to Tola that she had been rescued at all. So, looking past Tola's clinginess, Celia turned her attention to the guards around them. Since Grial had ordered them to retreat and regroup, all the guards who had gone in with him had made it outside.
However, it was obvious that they were extremely anxious as she listened to their conversations.
"Hmm, I'm starting to get worried."
"Yeah, what if Grial... you know."
"Plus, the kid went in after him. Maybe we should head back in."
"We can't! That woman was inhuman; if we go back in, we'll either get in the way or get ourselves killed..." There was a hint of hopelessness in that last statement. Nearly all of them were injured in one way or another, and nearly all of their injuries had come from a single person—a woman who seemed to have appeared out of thin air. They knew how strong she was, and that was what kept them from rushing back in to help Grial.
If he was already dead when they got there—and heavens forbid, Magnus as well—then they would just be throwing their lives away by heading back in. Still, their anxiety rubbed off on Celia, who stared at the entrance of the bar, waiting for Magnus's figure to appear.
He said he would be fine... I just have to trust him.
After a few more minutes of waiting, they all suddenly heard footsteps. The guards quickly drew their weapons and surrounded Celia and Tola to protect them, just in case they belonged to any remaining Jackal members trying to escape. But the footsteps were soon followed by the reveal of Kolten and Alwen. Unlike the guards, the two knights looked like they were in perfect condition, without a single scratch or drop of blood on them.
The guards relaxed upon seeing them but couldn't help but feel even more tense internally. Taking the lead, Kolten walked over to Celia, who was initially confused about who they were until she remembered Magnus mentioning he had come with two knights.
"Um, are you two Kolten and Alwen?" Both knights looked surprised that the woman they had never met before knew their names, but they nodded.
"Yes, and you are?" Alwen asked, to which Tola answered for her.
"This is Celia." Hearing that, both Kolten and Alwen glanced at each other before letting out sighs of relief.
"Oh good, we were worried when we didn't find you," Kolten said, sounding genuinely relieved. At the same time, Alwen looked around and quickly took a mental note of everyone.
"Looks like almost all but three of the guards who went in are here, but where is Magnus?" Upon hearing his name, Celia took the time to explain everything that had happened. The more they listened, the more disturbed the expressions on the two knights' faces became. By the end, they both looked dead serious and exchanged a glance. The description alone was enough to tell them that they were dealing with something that wasn't human.
"It might be some kind of beastkin, and based on what she said, they're probably at the Master-level," Kolten theorized, with Alwen nodding in agreement. Beastkin referred to a general categorization of non-human races that had sentience and some form of civilization—in other words, the people with whom humanity was currently at war. It was rare for beastkin to be in human territory, aside from as slaves.
So for a beastkin so powerful to have infiltrated Arlcliff City and joined a criminal syndicate without anyone knowing or making any waves, it hinted at something much deeper.
"Dammit, we need to go back in there," Alwen decided, Kolten nodding in agreement. No matter how strong Magnus thought he was, they didn't believe there was any way he could take on a Master-level opponent alone. But, just as they reached that conclusion, they both turned their heads to look toward the bar.
"Huh? He actually managed to make it out on his own." Kolten remarked, surprise evident in his voice. Celia's eyes lit up, immediately knowing who they were talking about. As knights, Alwen and Kolten naturally had sharper senses than ordinary people, even without enhancing them. It took a moment before everyone else heard the sound of metal scraping against stone, followed by heavy footsteps echoing from the bar.
Soon, Magnus came into view, sweat dripping down his face and plastering his blonde hair to his forehead. On his back, Grial, who looked nearly twice Magnus's size, was slung unconscious but alive, bringing relief and smiles to the guards who had anxiously awaited his return. Celia felt the same, but her smile and the happiness in her eyes slowly faded as she noticed what Magnus was dragging behind him.
The guards' expressions similarly sobered when they realized Magnus was pulling two corpses. Their heads had been tied to their waists with torn cloth, but even without looking closely, everyone knew who they were.
"Mind giving me a little help?" Magnus panted, breaking the somber mood. Several guards snapped out of their melancholy and rushed over to assist, lifting Grial and the bodies Magnus had brought with him. With that weight off his shoulders, Magnus took a deep breath as he sat down at one of the wooden tables outside the bar, where the merchant who had been rescued was also seated.
"You know, everyone was quite worried about you. Not me, of course; after all, how could my Savior die in a place like that?" Howard remarked from another table as he spotted Magnus.
"Yeah, almost didn't make it, though," Magnus admitted with a sigh.
"Ah, but you did. It's the tenacious ones that survive in the end," Howard replied with a grin as Celia, who had finally gotten released from Tola's grasp, approached him with Alwen and Kolten.
"Tenacious indeed," Alwen agreed, looking directly at Magnus.
"So, what exactly happened in there?"
"Well, I ran into a vampire," Magnus stated, drawing confused looks from everyone.
Huh, so they really don't know what a vampire is.
Seeing their confusion, Magnus quickly recounted what had happened, not leaving out the fact that Eveline had saved him. This reveal brought serious looks from Alwen and Kolten, though they didn't press for details.
"Wow... she kinda sounds like a nightwalker, you know? Like in those stories we heard about as kids," Tola remarked.
"Yeah, you're right," Celia replied. Magnus wasn't sure what nightwalkers were, but it made sense that Tola and Celia had heard of something similar. From what he understood, vampires weren't commonly known. Still, it was inevitable that immortal undead beings would leave traces of themselves throughout history. And those traces would inevitably give rise to all kinds of myths and local folktales that have been passed on.
"Hmm, well, whatever it was, at least you're alive, and it's been dealt with, even if only temporarily. Still, we need to report this to the Major General and quickly launch the raids before word spreads," Alwen stated, with Kolten adding,
"And we also need to deal with those guys," Kolten pointed at the group of Jackal members who were tied up. Some of them were the ones Magnus had taken down at the start of the raid. They were lucky compared to those who had fought Grial and the others since they were all dead. The rest were Jackal members Magnus had knocked out when he saved Celia. Before they left, Celia had the thought to tie them all up with the chains nearby and bring them with them to prevent them from escaping once they woke up.
"We can handle that." A familiar voice broke into the conversation as everyone turned to see Grial groggily walking over.
"Grial, you shouldn't be moving yet-" One of the guards began, but Grial waved him off.
"Ah, I'm fine; stop nagging me," Grial replied before addressing Alwen and Kolten.
"You two probably have important stuff to do, right? So me and the others will take care of hauling the captured Jackal members to the jailhouse."
Magnus quipped, "You sure about that? You were in pretty bad shape. Had to carry you out like a baby."
Grial smirked as he replied, "Sure, whatever you say, kid. But let's not forget who landed the first hit on that chick."
"Touche."