Kays Translations

Chapter 29: The Beginning of the Escape

Ren knew from the sound that the carriage door was locked.

He lifted Licia onto his back and tightened his grip on the Iron Magic Sword.

His body felt heavy when he raised his arm. After four days of unconsciousness, being able to move at all was a stroke of fortune.

The Beast Tamer mentioned potions.

They were a thoroughly fantastical concept compared with Ren’s previous life. In Legend of the Seven Heroes, potions restored vitality and helped remove abnormal conditions. Their effects, combined with Physical Ability Boost (Minor), were probably the only reason he could stand.

Whatever the cause, he was grateful.

Moving as quietly as possible, Ren swept the Iron Magic Sword horizontally through the lock, then cut downward. The mechanism split apart.

He caught the loosened door before it could fall and carefully removed it without making a sound.

The Beast Tamer sat asleep on the driver’s bench, arms folded.

Good. He has not awakened.

The carriage had stopped in the middle of a pitch-black forest.

Ren had no idea where they were.

Even so, he had already decided to flee. He stepped down—

“Gii…?”

A sound came from above.

Ren looked up.

Two Mana Eaters lay on a thick branch like animals resting on a bed. Their unseen eyes seemed to open, and an ominous red light moved across their grotesque faces.

“How did you free yourself?”

The Beast Tamer climbed down from the carriage and approached.

The Mana Eaters rose and spread their wings.

“I left your sword beside me. Why is it in your hand?”

“It belongs to me. Why should that concern you?”

“True, it is not mine. But stop this foolishness. If you remain obedient, you can return safely to your parents.”

“But you never promised the same for Lady Licia.”

“What beautiful loyalty. It almost blinds me.”

Mockery filled the man’s voice.

“This is my final warning. Return to the carriage yourself, or the rest of your journey will be filled with pain.”

The two Mana Eaters were already hovering behind Ren. If he refused, they would attack.

While he searched for an opening, a faint voice reached him.

“…Run…alone…”

Licia had awakened.

Ren smiled at her courage.

“No. If we escape, we escape together.”

That answer became the signal.

The Beast Tamer snapped his fingers.

The Mana Eaters beat their wings and closed in from behind, their cries echoing through the forest.

Ren drew a slow breath and lunged toward the Beast Tamer.

The creatures were faster than Ren even with his enhanced body. One stretched its neck toward Licia, intending to tear her from his back.

Her ragged breathing drove him forward.

At the last instant, Ren changed direction.

He circled behind the carriage, avoiding the Mana Eaters, and raised the Iron Magic Sword.

With one blow, he split open the rear wall.

Through the broken timber, he caught sight of the Beast Tamer’s face.

Ren threw the sword directly at him.

The man twisted aside. The blade only grazed his neck, but it severed the chain of the necklace he wore.

“Throwing away your weapon? How foolish—what?”

The Iron Magic Sword vanished immediately after passing him.

In its place, the Wooden Magic Sword appeared in Ren’s hand.

He drove it toward the earth. Roots erupted from the ground and bound the Beast Tamer’s feet.

Ren leaped through the opening in the carriage.

As he passed, he spotted the dagger Weiss had given him and snatched it up. He also caught the broken necklace before it fell.

Its chain had snapped and the pendant itself was shattered. If it had been a magic tool, it was now too badly damaged to function.

Do not get greedy.

Perhaps the Beast Tamer could be killed. If the man died, the Mana Eaters he had summoned might disappear with him.

But Ren was exhausted and had no certainty of victory.

The objective was escape.

“Well done,” the Beast Tamer snarled. “But this ends now!”

He raised his white wooden staff.

A sphere of many-colored light began to writhe at its tip.

I don’t know what that is, but it cannot be good.

Ren summoned the Thief’s Magic Sword and swung his arm.

The staff vanished from the Beast Tamer’s hands.

It appeared in Ren’s.

“What? How did you take my staff?”

Luck had favored the Thief’s Magic Sword.

There was no time to celebrate. One Mana Eater rushed at Ren from the side, while the other remained between him and the Beast Tamer.

“Rah!”

Ren twisted away from the first monster’s attack and brought the stolen staff down against its body.

He struck the driver’s bench again immediately afterward.

The impact shattered the fittings that held the horse to the carriage. The staff broke under Ren’s strength as well.

Startled, the freed horse bolted.

Ren reached for it and hauled himself onto its back.

“Without my staff, that power—damn you! After him!”

The Mana Eaters beat their wings harder.

Ren had never ridden a horse. Simply remaining mounted was a struggle.

He dismissed the Thief’s Magic Sword, summoned the Wooden Magic Sword, and grew vines around himself and Licia so they could not be separated.

Then the horse carried them into the dense forest.

“Beast Tamer!” Ren shouted behind him. “I know your weakness!”

“My weakness?”

“You know it too! That’s why you’re panicking!”

The man cursed.

“Monsters of the forest! Hear my command!”

Movement erupted throughout the darkness.

Creatures rushed past Ren on every side—beasts resembling Little Boars, enormous beetles, and other monsters he could barely identify.

The Mana Eaters’ shrill cries pierced the forest.

Ten seconds passed. Then twenty.

Their pursuit began to slow.

After several minutes, the distance had grown so wide that even the Mana Eaters were close to disappearing behind the trees. The other monsters lost their momentum as well.

“Are we safe?”

Ren continued for more than ten minutes before allowing himself to believe they had escaped.

Distance remained the Beast Tamer’s weakness.

In addition to summoning Mana Eaters, a Beast Tamer could command wild monsters weaker than himself. But both forms of control weakened as the creatures moved away from their master.

Now comes the difficult part.

His knowledge from Legend of the Seven Heroes had saved them, but they still had to escape an unfamiliar forest and locate people who could help.

The moment the immediate danger passed, exhaustion struck him.

“My lady, I promise I’ll find medicine for you.”

He spoke in his usual tone.

“…Sorry…” Licia whispered.

* * * *

At first glance, Weiss’s prized gray horse appeared ordinary.

In truth, it carried monster blood and possessed far greater speed and endurance than a normal animal.

Weiss had used that strength to search every road and forest around Ren’s village. He found no trace of Ren or Licia.

After assigning the knights who joined him to continue the search, he rode alone to Clausel to report.

He reached Baron Clausel’s manor on the morning of the fifth day after Ren escaped from the Beast Tamer—the ninth morning since the abduction.

“I will accept whatever punishment would have fallen upon the dead guards,” Weiss said in the baron’s office. “But I beg that the sentence be delayed until the young lady is found.”

He had already reported the attack on the village ruled by House Ashton and the abduction of Licia and Ren.

“Why did you leave Licia’s side?” Baron Clausel demanded.

“It was an error in judgment.”

“That is not an answer! Explain the error. You are the Knight Commander. Why did you leave my daughter?”

The baron seized Weiss by the front of his clothing.

Then realization crossed his face.

“Are you concealing something from me?”

Weiss’s gaze shifted.

“This was Licia’s doing, was it not? She blamed herself for falling ill. To repay House Ashton’s kindness, she asked you to help subdue the monsters.”

Weiss remained silent.

The silence was answer enough.

Baron Clausel released him.

“…Forgive me.”

“No, my lord. My judgment was still wrong. I was the strongest knight present. I should have sent other members of the guard to hunt and remained at Lady Licia’s side.”

“That was not betrayal or negligence. It was honest loyalty. Licia made a sincere request, and you answered it. How could I punish you for that?”

Weiss could say nothing. Remorse had already consumed him.

The baron walked slowly to the window. Heavy rain struck the glass, reflecting the mood in the room.

“We cannot remain idle any longer.”

His voice hardened.

“Send word to the imperial capital. Inform the nobles of our faction, the nearby Neutral Faction houses, and His Imperial Majesty himself of everything that has happened.”

Fury made his fists tremble.

Yet they possessed no proof.

Baron Clausel remained convinced that Viscount Given was connected to the attacks. Conviction, however, was not evidence sufficient to condemn a noble.

“We must take great care not to submit anything that can be dismissed as a false accusation,” he said. “At minimum, perhaps we can secure reinforcements for the search. Weiss, what of House Ashton and the villagers?”

“They were evacuated to a safe village under the protection of our knights.”

“Good. Then we move at once.”

They needed support, but careless action might allow another faction to destroy them.

“We must proceed with caution.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Baron Clausel reached for his pen.

Before his fingers touched it, the office door flew open.

“My lord!”

The household’s normally composed butler entered without knocking.

“Visitors have arrived from the imperial capital. Please come to the great hall immediately.”

Baron Clausel was startled, but the words imperial capital left no time for outrage over the interruption.

Who could have come, and why?

He crossed the thick crimson carpet toward the hall.

The clothing of the waiting visitors answered part of the question.

“Baron Clausel?”

“Yes. And you are…”

They were civil officials in gray robes—the uniform of the Legal Affairs Bureau.

“We have come under the authority of His Excellency, the Minister of Justice.”

One official stepped forward and removed a rolled parchment from his coat. He opened it before the baron.

“Under the laws of the great Leomel Empire, Baron Clausel is ordered to stand before a tribunal.”

“What? On what grounds?”

“You are suspected of severe misgovernment. As you know, nobles entrusted with imperial lands bear several duties.”

Weiss spoke through clenched teeth.

“Viscount Given. He has dragged even the capital into this.”

Baron Clausel’s voice rose.

“I know my duties! We are charged with protecting the people and wealth of the land. Which duty do you claim I violated?”

“Several villages have suffered repeated damage. Furthermore, Baron Clausel allegedly failed to respond with sufficient speed, allowing monster attacks to spread into the neighboring territory of Viscount Given. The Minister of Justice received the viscount’s report and ordered these proceedings.”

The baron had many objections. The incidents throughout his territory exceeded anything a local lord could reasonably have anticipated.

When he tried to speak, the official interrupted.

“You may present your defense before the tribunal.”

“I am informed that Viscount Given will arrive the morning after tomorrow,” the official continued. “The first arguments will be heard here in Clausel that day. Judgment will follow the next day.”

“And if I reject the judgment, I may appeal to the imperial capital,” Baron Clausel said. “After that, if I remain dissatisfied, I may demand a divine trial before the Great Temple.”

“That is correct.”

Everything was moving too quickly.

News of the attack could not normally have reached the capital so soon. Viscount Given could not have begun traveling to Clausel in response to an event that had happened only days earlier.

The entire sequence—including the assault on Ren’s village—was unfolding with impossible speed.

It had been prepared in advance.

Baron Clausel and Weiss reached the same conclusion.

“We will take our leave,” the officials said.

They bowed and announced that they would stay at an inn in town until the hearing.

When they were gone, Baron Clausel looked toward Weiss.

“If the tribunal finds me guilty, House Clausel may lose its title.”

“But my lord, monster attacks occur in every territory. A lord cannot be stripped of his rank over incidents such as these.”

“Exactly. That is why Viscount Given claims the damage spread into his own domain.”

They both knew the claim was fabricated.

Baron Clausel had deployed his knights wherever possible and done everything within his power to protect the villages.

This was pressure from Viscount Given—or perhaps from the Hero Faction behind him. The conflict between the Hero and Imperial factions was becoming more dangerous by the day.

Baron Clausel lowered his eyes and considered his options.

“I still do not understand why both children were taken.”

Viscount Given had shown an unusual interest in Ren, but if the objective were merely to seize a hostage, Licia alone would have been enough to threaten House Clausel or force it into another faction.

After the brutality shown at the village, the possibility that the conspirators might kill Licia could not be dismissed.

But Ren had little obvious value as a hostage.

He was a boy of remarkable promise, certainly—but to the wider empire, that should have been all.

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