Chapter 171: Two Tornadoes

As dawn began to break, the campsite grew noisy, filled with the neighing of horses and the clatter of weapons echoing across the plains.

I had been secretly sleeping in the grass nearby, and now I floated up into the sky, watching as the troops lined up.
Once they moved onto the road and began forming ranks, I approached the flag marking the commander, informed them I’d be above, then ascended again to wait for the formation to complete.

“Sir, he went up into the sky!”

“He’s certainly confident. Fine—once they reach the road, have them advance toward Daniera.”

At the commander’s order, the cavalry began moving east along the Jaltan Highway.

It was still dim, with sunlight yet to fully reach the ground, making visibility poor. I matched my speed to the troops below, flying slowly.
As the town of Nadias near Daniera came into view, I descended toward the entrance gate.

The gate was crowded with people coming and going in the morning, but I approached head-on while raising the royal flag.

Hovering about five meters above the ground, I shouted:

“By order of His Majesty the King, the Royal Knights are heading to Daniera! Clear the way!”

“Who are you!? Where did you—”
“Hey, that’s the royal flag!”
“Look over there—cavalry is coming!”
“That’s… the Royal Knights!”

“Then hurry up and clear the path!”

The guards, startled by my shout, quickly opened the nobles’ passage and began clearing the crowd.

I slowly advanced through the passage while hovering, leading the cavalry with the royal flag.
Inside the town, I rose a bit higher—it was embarrassing to stay low—and passed through the east gate in the same way.

Since the march required frequent rests for the horses, time crawled painfully slow.
Still, at this pace, we’d reach Daniera around noon.

When the city finally came into view, I flew ahead to observe from above.

The entrance gate was guarded by soldiers in full armor, and the city was in an uproar.
It seemed the ones who had fled earlier had reported back—they were actually preparing to fight the Royal Knights.

Good thing I’d picked up some stones yesterday.

Still, I decided to give them a warning first.

As I descended toward the gate, they pointed at me in confusion.
Then suddenly—

Arrows flew at me in a barrage.

Clang, clang—

They struck the wind barrier and bounced off, but the arrows kept coming nonstop.

Maybe it’s tradition to shoot at anything flying, but I ignored it and kept advancing.

As they saw me approach unharmed, some archers began to flee, though one man—likely the commander—stood his ground.

“Good courage,” I might’ve said—but instead I shouted:

“You understand what attacking the royal flag means, don’t you!?”

They finally realized what I was holding and panicked.
I moved right in front of the commander and gave my warning:

“If you continue to resist, we’ll destroy the gate and advance. If you open it and flee, I’ll spare you. Otherwise… watch carefully what happens next.”

Then I rose into the air, shifted slightly, pulled out a large rock from my Magic Bag—and dropped it.

“Captain… he said all that, but are we really okay?”

“I’ve heard stories about a flying adventurer, but most are exaggerated.”

“But he’s supposed to be a dragon slayer…”

“Apparently he just happened to be there. Let’s see what he does first.”

“…Something’s falling!”

BOOM

A heavy sound rang out as a hole opened beside the gate.

“There’s another—!”

BOOM

Another impact. Another hole.

“Run! He’s dropping huge rocks!”

The soldiers scattered in panic.

Alright, time to finish this.

I created a massive [Whirlwind!], poured mana into it, tossed the stones inside, and drove it toward the gate.

“What’s that!?”
“A giant… whirlwind!?”
“Stop gawking—take cover!”

With a roaring sound, the whirlwind smashed into the gate.

CRASH! BOOM! CRACK!

The gate began to collapse.

Seeing the destruction, the enemy forces fled in all directions.

After clearing away the debris, I dispersed the whirlwind and created a [Tornado!], feeding it mana as it swept the remaining rubble aside.

To avoid damaging the surrounding buildings, I raised the tornado high above the city and advanced toward the duke’s mansion.

Below, the knights and soldiers of the duke’s house fled at the sight of them.

Meanwhile…

“That… is a tornado, isn’t it?”
“It’s floating above the rooftops…”
“We’ve lost contact with the gate defenders…”
“Then they’re likely wiped out.”

“Gather the mages. Fireballs, stone bullets, ice bullets, then lightning—attack all at once!”

Explosions rang out as the coordinated magic attacks came flying.

Fireballs, stones, ice, lightning—

But they were all blocked.

A transparent barrier formed by the spirits protected me.

Good thing I had asked them to protect me.

Otherwise, there was no way I would have flown this low while controlling a tornado.

“Alright… time to return the favor.”

I lowered the tornado and increased its rotation speed, driving it forward while pouring in more mana and drawing in dust and debris.

“They’re coming!”
“Run!”
“No—attack from the side!”

Not bad—they tried to resist.

So I created a second [Tornado!] behind their commander and sent it surging upward.

“The mage captain—!”
“Run!”

The enemy scattered in chaos.

I drove the two tornadoes forward side by side toward the duke’s mansion.

The knights fled inside, and I followed.

Behind me, the Royal Knights hesitated, keeping their distance from the two tornadoes.

The main gate was shut tight.

Well, I’m the king’s herald…

So I broke through it.

After that, the knights moved in.

“Hurry! If you delay, he’ll tear everything apart with wind magic!”

…Yeah, I agree with that.

Once there was no more resistance, I dispelled both tornadoes.

Destroying the mansion further might harm the servants—and besides, I’d rather not bury any valuables under rubble.

Better leave the rest to the knights.

“Advance!”

At my signal, the troops stormed the mansion.

“Impressive wind magic.”

“Oh… uh…”

“Royal Knights, First Battalion. Battalion Commander Zainfelt.”

Huh.
His attitude changed real quick.