HP: Sacred Gear Chat Group (2) - Chapter 9 (Patreon)

Chapter 9 - Reality of Life

I wanted one.

That was the only thought running through my mind as I stared at the sight high in the sky above us.

It had been a few days since we set off on our journey to escort Edgar along his trade route toward East Port, at the edge of the Central Continent. So far, our journey had been rather uneventful.

Ghislaine sat at the front beside Edgar, who was driving the cart, acting as our scout thanks to the superhuman senses she possessed as a member of the Beast Race. Meanwhile, Roxy and I remained in the back of the cart, guarding the goods while she taught me Magic.

Mostly theory while we were on the road. We saved our practical lessons for when we made camp at night.

The most excitement we had experienced so far came from me revealing my magically expanded Tent and the Wards I could set up around it, granting us a safe place to sleep without needing to take night shifts. In fact, it saved us an hour or two of travel time each day since everyone could get a full night’s rest instead of sleeping in separate shifts.

After that came the moment I revealed my chantless Magic to Roxy.

But so far, all the excitement had always been related to something I did.

This time, I was the one who was excited.

Of course, I had known about it and expected to see it at some point, but knowing something existed and actually seeing it with my own eyes were two completely different things.

Floating among the clouds in the beautiful blue sky was a flying Fortress.

A gigantic mass of rock covered in dragon scales, with an enormous castle sitting on top of it.

A real flying fortress.

“Impressive sight, isn’t it?” Roxy said from the seat opposite mine after noticing that I had become distracted. “Is this your first time seeing it?”

“Yes. I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never seen the Armored Dragon King Perugius’s home before.”

How could I have?

I had been in this world for less than a month.

And this flying Fortress constantly traveled across the entire world, never remaining in the same place for long.

Its name was Chaos Breaker, which sounded just as cool and edgy as my own Party name, Ragnarok.

Interestingly enough, the Fortress wasn’t even originally from this world.

A long time ago, there had been six unstable Worlds connected together in the shape of a die, with the Human World we were currently living in being one of them.

Yep. This planet was actually a cube rather than a sphere.

Besides the Human World, there were the Dragon World, Demon World, Beast World, Sky World, and Ocean World. And as their names suggested, most of the races besides Humans currently inhabiting this world originally came from those other Worlds.

More specifically, they were the descendants of the survivors of those Worlds.

Because the other five Worlds had been destroyed during a devastating war that still had a massive influence on the Main Plot even though it happened tens of thousands of years ago.

As for what exactly ‘destroyed’ meant, I had no idea.

I wasn’t sure whether we were now living on some isolated plane while the other five Worlds were completely devastated wastelands, or if something else entirely had happened.

What I did know was that the flying Fortress, Chaos Breaker, was a surviving fragment of the Dragon World that once belonged to the mother of the Armored Dragon King, Perugius Dola.

So yeah, that thing was old. Really old.

And I still wanted one.

A flying Fortress was just ridiculously cool.

Unfortunately, I didn’t think anyone in this world knew how to make another one, not even Perugius Dola, since he had merely inherited it.

He was a master of countless forms of Magic and one of the few people who had actually reached God Rank in any of them, specifically Barrier and Summoning Magic.

But I doubted even he knew how to build a flying Fortress.

I wasn’t even sure whether his mother had built Chaos Breaker herself. All I knew was that it was incredibly old and had actually taken part in that war tens of thousands of years ago.

The lore surrounding this thing was honestly insane.

Maybe I could learn Magic from Perugius?

Now I really wished I had brought a Broom with me.

Even if the chances of him taking me on as a student just because I randomly showed up at his home were probably pretty low.

The only other way to reach this Fortress was through Teleportation, which was once again the stuff of legends. So actually meeting Perugius during my limited time here was unlikely.

Maybe I could return to this Universe in the future, once I had a better grasp of my Sacred Gear and wasn’t trapped in another World for six months at a time.

Suddenly, Ghislaine spoke up.

“We’ve got company. An ambush up the road.”

I immediately drew my Wand while Roxy grabbed her Staff.

‘Homenum Revelio.’

I cast the Spell silently, sending an invisible wave of revealing Magic outward and immediately receiving information about our surroundings.

“Good news, nobody is behind us or trying to sneak around our position,” I explained as a Plan began forming in my mind. “Bad news, there are sixteen people waiting to ambush us. They’re hiding inside the thick forest up ahead on both sides of the road.”

“Should we turn around?” Edgar asked worriedly.

An ambush like this was highly unusual along this road. It was one of the main trade routes running across the Continent and was normally patrolled by every Kingdom it passed through.

Unfortunately, we were currently traveling through one of the few areas under no Kingdom’s jurisdiction, right along the edge of the so-called Strife Zone. We weren’t far from the Shirone Kingdom, but we were still outside its borders.

The Strife Zone was a Kingdom-sized region near the center of the Central Continent. It consisted of hundreds of small tribes and city-states that were constantly at war with one another.

It was one of the bloodiest regions in this world.

And since no Kingdom claimed jurisdiction over this particular stretch of land, we were effectively traveling through lawless territory.

“There’s no point in turning around. They’ve already spotted us, and they’re close enough to attack while we’re trying to turn the cart around,” I sighed.

Sixteen opponents against three people was quite a lot, even if we had the advantage in quality.

At least, I assumed we did.

I had no idea how strong our enemies actually were.

“Alright, stop the cart here. Ghislaine, Roxy, the two of you will approach them from the road. Be prepared for a fight, but try to find out what they want first. If things go badly, Roxy, cover Ghislaine.”

“And you?” Roxy asked.

“I’ll circle around and sneak up behind them. If a fight breaks out, I’ll take out their Mages first, followed by their ranged fighters. Attacking from two directions gives us the best chance.”

I raised my Wand above my head and tapped myself with it. With a silently cast Disillusionment Charm, my body took on the properties of a chameleon and blended into my surroundings.

Next, I silenced my movements and concealed my scent.

“That’s such a useful Spell. I have to learn it,” Roxy murmured enviously as she watched me disappear.

“Get Lumos working first,” I replied while climbing out of the back of the cart.

I wasn’t even sure whether she could learn Magic from the Wizarding World, but there was no point starting with an advanced Spell like the Disillusionment Charm if she couldn’t even use something as simple as Lumos.

We would find out whether she could learn my Magic once she actually managed to cast it.

Otherwise, she would just spend the next few weeks trying.

I began sneaking through the woods, remaining undetected by our ambushers, while Roxy and Ghislaine climbed down from the front of the cart in plain view.

They leisurely headed toward the ambush site, deliberately buying me enough time to circle around our enemies.

And yeah, I seriously doubted we were going to avoid a fight here.

These people looked exactly like stereotypical bandits.

Fortunately, judging from the poor condition of their equipment, none of them appeared particularly strong individually. They also didn’t seem to have anyone who looked like a Mage.

The greatest threat came from the four Archers.

They probably couldn’t harm Ghislaine through her Battle Aura, but they were still extremely dangerous to a Mage like Roxy.

The remaining twelve carried swords and axes.

Ghislaine and Roxy stopped a good distance away from the ambush and showed no intention of moving any closer.

Realizing their trap had already been discovered, the bandits finally stepped out of hiding with nasty grins spread across their faces.

“Look what we got ’ere, boys,” said the most scarred-looking of the Bandits. He was probably their leader, and he also had the best-trained body among them. “Two pretty little prizes for us tonight. I’m callin’ dibs on the blue-haired one. Been a long while since I had myself a virgin captive to break in and put in her place. You can have our new pet kitty for yourselves! Gihihihi!”

Definitely the leader of the Bandits.

And a dead man walking.

They also seemed to enslave people.

Right, this was a medieval world. Get a grip on yourself, Alistair!

“I assume you won’t simply let us pass?” Roxy asked calmly, but there was something dark in her voice.

Yeah, I would be pissed too if someone talked about me like that.

“Bit of a dumb question, ain’t it, slut?” the disgusting leader laughed even harder at her. “You oughta worry more ’bout how bad we’re gonna hurt ya before you finally surrender. But I’ll make you a fair offer. The pair of you toss those weapons in the dirt, get down on your knees, and learn your new station in life… and nobody’s gotta make this painful.”

While that trash amused themselves, I had already gathered my Magic and sent a large Wind Slice toward three of the Archers, completely severing their upper bodies from the rest.

Thanks to my silent casting, the Bandits were far too slow to react and didn’t even realize what had happened until it was already over.

I didn’t allow myself to think too much about what I had just done. Instead, I silently cast Sectumsempra at the remaining Archer and watched him collapse as blood began pouring from the deep cuts across his neck.

Fire Magic probably would have caused more damage, but I couldn’t use it here without risking setting the entire forest on fire.

And a forest fire was the last thing we needed right now.

At this point, the Bandits finally realized I was behind them, but they couldn’t do much about it.

Ghislaine had already used Sword of Light, closing the distance between herself and the enemy at incredible speed before cutting down the first sword-wielding Bandit.

“How dare ya, you fuckin’ bastards! I’ll make every last one of ya pay for this! I’ll carve ya up like a pig and leave ya bleedin’ slow while I breed those bitches right in front of ya!” the Bandit leader screamed at me.

Those became his final words.

He was already my next target, and a Sectumsempra struck him before he could say anything else.

Damn. Snape had been seriously vile even when he was only a student.

That Curse was nasty.

Two of the remaining Bandits rushed toward me, weapons raised and ready to cut me down, but before they could reach me, a barrage of Icicles struck them from behind.

Both collapsed to the ground only a few meters away from me.

Meanwhile, Ghislaine had already cut down three more Bandits and was fighting another.

Realizing they were actually losing, the remaining Bandits finally broke.

Like the cowards they were, they turned and tried to flee into the forest, but Roxy had already prepared for that.

A massive Wall of Ice erupted in front of them, cutting off their escape route.

I followed up with another Wind Blade, tearing through the trapped survivors.

Once Ghislaine finished off the last one, the battle was finally over.

And that was when the adrenaline began leaving my body.

For the first time since the fighting started, I truly looked at the scene in front of me.

So much blood. Bodies scattered across the road. People cut apart.

And I had caused most of it.

My mind finally caught up with what I had just done.

They were dead because of me.

I had killed them.

Not only that, but I had killed them in an extremely brutal way, cutting some of them into pieces.

This was my doing.

“Alistair. ALISTAIR!”

Ghislaine’s voice suddenly pulled me out of my thoughts.

She was standing directly in front of me, one hand resting gently on my shoulder, while Roxy stood on the other side of the carnage watching me with concern.

“Are you okay?” Ghislaine asked in a tone that was unusually soft for her.

Slowly coming out of my stupor, I replied, “Yeah. I just wasn’t really prepared for that sight. It was the first time I actually killed someone.” Or something at all…

Great going. I had almost passed out because I killed those disgusting pieces of trash. If they had won that fight, I would be dead, our Client would be dead, and Ghislaine and Roxy would have suffered an even worse fate.

They deserved it. This was the reality of life here.

Laws and rules only worked in a society where the State could maintain a monopoly on violence. A medieval world with actual Magic couldn’t do that. Neither could the Wizarding World or the Supernatural World.

I had to get used to sights like this.

The Worlds I was now part of would be full of situations like this, and softness wasn’t something I could afford.

“If you want, we can take care of this mess. How about you go back to the cart and look after the Client? Get some fresh air?” Roxy offered awkwardly.

She had grown up on the Demon Continent and worked as an Adventurer while traveling here from practically the other side of the world.

She was used to bloodshed.

I shook my head. “No. You’ll just get messy. I have the right tools to take care of this.”

“Wait, before you get rid of the bodies, look for valuables,” Roxy reminded me.

“Don’t worry, that was already my intention,” I replied while pointing my Wand at the group of bloody corpses.

I only hesitated for a moment before casting the Summoning Spell, sending a flurry of money pouches and pieces of jewelry flying toward me.

“Useful,” Ghislaine said with an approving nod at my Spellwork.

“Should we keep the weapons too?” I wondered aloud, unsure whether they were actually worth much money.

Even cheaper new swords could cost several Gold Coins.

“No need. They’re already in pretty bad condition, and none of them look particularly valuable in the first place,” Roxy replied, shaking her head and causing her Witch hat to move with her.

“I could restore them with Reparo,” I offered, remembering that I could repair them back to perfect condition.

“We would still need to transport them and find someone willing to buy them. Is there even enough space in the cart?” she pointed out.

“We could put them in my Tent.”

Roxy immediately countered, “Do you really want them inside your Tent?”

Remembering how I had just slaughtered a group of people with my Magic, I decided she had a point.

I didn’t actually want those weapons.

Keeping them around as a bloody reminder for several days before we could sell them would be a pain in the ass.

And even then, I would probably only get around fifty Gold Coins for the entire lot. With my current funds, that simply wasn’t worth the trouble.

Agreeing with her assessment, I began levitating the corpses into a pile in a small clearing beside the road. I left the weapons in a separate pile nearby before setting the Bandits’ remains on fire.

The smell was horrible, and I had to struggle not to throw up.

Why the hell did it have to smell so much like grilled pork or beef?

That night was the first time I actually drank alcohol.

Edgar offered me some of his better stock after taking over dinner because I simply couldn’t bring myself to cook anything that evening.

Ghislaine also decided, with overwhelming support from everyone else, that I should be responsible for cooking during the rest of the journey whenever possible.

[-- End of Chapter --]