HP: Sacred Gear Chat Group (2) - Chapter 12 (Patreon)

Chapter 12 - Doldia Tribe

— Great Forest —

I desperately raised my sword, blocking the strike from Ghislaine’s training sword, but my hand trembled from the pressure as pain traveled through my arm.

My feet began to slide in the mud, but I barely managed to regain my balance and steady my stance.

Oh, they were still pissed.

Ghislaine’s blade once again headed for me. My sword intercepted hers by the breadth of a hair. I was just able to keep up with the exchange, but she didn’t give me any room to breathe at all.

They were definitely pissed. Even days later.

Everything had started the moment they caught me sneaking out to ‘borrow’ some books from the Millis Religion. Ghislaine had immediately noticed that I had left. Her superhuman beast senses had instantly picked up that I had left the tent.

But she had just thought I was going out to get some fresh air.

Then I didn’t come back, and she couldn’t find me anywhere inside the Wards. Worse, she couldn’t leave to search for me because she wouldn’t have been able to find her way back thanks to the Wards.

Then she woke Roxy, and both of them had been worried about me until I finally came back.

And, of course, I had to explain myself after that.

Instead of coming up with a lie, I shared the truth. It would have been kind of hard to explain where I had gotten books containing King and Emperor-Ranked Magic. Even God Ranked Magic!

Wasn’t that fact alone worth it? I didn’t realize it while infiltrating the Church, but four of those Tomes were an entire Book of Incantations each. One for Healing Magic, one for Detox Magic and two for Barrier Magic. Yes, Book-long Incantations! Those were genuine God-Rank Spells.

Yet…

Oh, boy, did I get a scolding.

At first, they were mad at me for doing something so stupid. Once I pointed out that I had an advantage thanks to a completely unknown type of Magic, which was the only reason I had done it, they at least understood my reasoning. Nobody in this World had defenses against Magic like that.

I had just proven that by breaking into the faction with the most or second-most powerful Barriers in the World.

Yet, they weren’t happy with my completely truthful arguments. Instead, they changed their tune and focused on the fact that I had taken such a risk completely alone without any backup.

It didn’t help that I pointed out that the Disillusionment Charm and Human Detection Charm were pretty advanced Spells.

After that, I got to feel their displeasure through glares, the silent treatment, and the harsh beatings from Ghislaine during our morning sparring sessions.

Still, even while angry at me, Roxy wasn’t above reading my new books…

And to make matters worse, the last few days had been quite rainy, making our journey a rather messy affair. Which didn’t really help with the general mood.

Unfortunately, we were on a tight schedule and couldn’t really afford to wait for better weather. According to Ghislaine, we were at the start of the rainy season. Things would get really messy here, and wet.

Apparently, large parts of the Forest would become flooded, forming several smaller lakes. That made traveling through the area extremely difficult.

At least the Impervius Charm helped in that weather, repelling the rain from us and our mounts while we traveled through the Great Forest.

With a final strike from Ghislaine, my wooden sword flew through the air, and I found myself at the end of her own blade.

I let out a sigh. At least this torture was over for today.

“I surrender,” I said calmly. “Can’t you go a bit easier on me? I know I should have told you two what I was planning to do. But still…”

The Amazonian Beast Woman ignored my complaints.

“You reached the Intermediate Rank.”

Wait, what? Just like that?

I knew it had been a few months since we started training, but that was still fast.

“I did?”

She gave me a nod.

“You got the basics. Now we will focus on Battle Aura.”

Finally! I had been working toward Battle Aura the entire time!

“That’s great to hear, but let’s start with that tomorrow. We still need to hunt down that pack of Leaf Tigers to complete our Job. I would love to complete that today.” I said, leaving the part about having had enough of a beating for one day unsaid.

“Are you sure they are in the direction we are traveling?” Ghislaine asked. Something about her tone was strange.

Another use of Clairvoyance showed me a blue line still leading in the direction we had been traveling. A really useful Spell, I had to admit.

In some ways, Elder Scrolls Magic could be quite overpowered, even if it didn’t reach the destructive power of the Saint-Ranked Spells and above that I was learning here. At least, the Spells available in the Games didn’t reach that level.

But who knew how those Spells were in real life? I had yet to gain another one of them.

“Yes, we are traveling in the right direction. Why?”

Ghislaine just tilted her head, her expression unreadable. She didn’t give me a reply and simply packed her things together.

Strange…

“Breakfast is ready!” Roxy called out from inside the tent.

Finally. I was starving.

———

“Do you sense anything?” I asked as we kept following the path Clairvoyance was leading me to. We had already been following it for over half a day. At some point, there had to be something. But my Presence Detection Charm, which I had by now mastered well enough to cast silently, hadn’t picked up anything yet beyond us and some smaller animals that didn’t fit our quarry.

Admittedly, the range of the Spell was quite limited. It worked within an immediate area of about a hundred meters, maybe a bit more, but that was it. Not exactly great for hunting across a wide landscape or over long distances.

Suddenly, Ghislaine moved. She sprinted farther in the direction where my Clairvoyance Spell was leading us, at a speed I had never seen her move before.

“Shit! Ghislaine, what got into you? That’s not according to our plan!” I shouted after her as I hurried to follow, barely able to keep her in sight. I could hear Roxy moving behind me as well, but I didn’t have time to look back. If I did, I would lose Ghislaine.

This was bad.

Leaf Tigers were not your everyday Monsters. They were genuine B-Rank Monsters. While their individual combat strength was somewhere around that of a high C-Rank Adventurer, their green fur with brown stripes allowed them to naturally camouflage themselves in these surroundings. Add to that the fact that they hunted in groups, and they became a serious threat to anyone unprepared.

I soon lost sight of Ghislaine, but I kept following the path my Clairvoyance was showing me. It remained the same even after I switched my target to Ghislaine.

She had really picked up our quarry.

But why the rush?

Then came the moment I understood why.

Leaping out of some thick bushes, I got a clear view of a small clearing.

And blood.

Red blood streamed down Ghislaine’s side as she fought off a Leaf Tiger pouncing at her. Clear claw marks ran down her muscular shoulder, while two Leaf Tigers lay dead in the clearing. Six more were circling around her and three small children, clearly working together like intelligent predators.

Instinctively, I already had my wand in my hand, and a sphere of protective light appeared around Ghislaine and the frightened children.

And not a moment too late.

Two Tigers crashed into the physical shield I had created in haste and bounced off it.

One of my newly learned Spells, the Intermediate-level Barrier Spell Physical Shield, came in handy instantly. Although mine was on the level of an Advanced Spell since I had modified the Spell, which originally created only a one-sided Barrier in front of the Caster, into a protective sphere around a target.

Direct manipulation of Mana was just that handy and impossible to replicate with the normally chanted method.

But I didn’t have time to feel proud of myself. The Leaf Tigers had noticed me and were now heading in my direction.

I barely managed to create a Barrier of Earth Spikes, impaling the three Tigers that immediately leaped at me.

Yet that wasn’t enough.

The other Tigers were right behind them, and I didn’t have enough time to react.

It was a good thing I wasn’t alone.

Ghislaine hadn’t stayed behind the Barrier. She cut down the Tiger closest to her with a Sword of Light.

Meanwhile, Roxy hadn’t remained idle either. Sure, she was the slowest of the three of us, but she was still fast enough to follow behind me while finishing a Chant for a barrage of Icicles that struck the remaining Tigers attacking me.

It was too close for my comfort.

But I guess that was the value of real-life experience. An entire year at Hogwarts wasn’t worth as much as these few months of applying real Magic in a practical environment, especially during life-and-death situations.

If it weren’t for this life-and-death situation, I wouldn’t have instinctively realized just now that I could cast the Physical Shield around a target instead of just myself. I hadn’t tried that during practice. It was something I had completely come up with in the moment.

Next, I healed the wounds on Ghislaine’s body with some advanced Healing Magic. It was enough to heal the damage without leaving any scars before I turned to the three children.

They were all members of the Beast Race: a small Rabbit Girl, a Cat Girl just like Ghislaine, and a Dog Tribe Boy. All three of them were eyeing us, sniffing in Ghislaine’s direction and looking at her with confusion.

“Are you three okay?” I asked with a friendly smile and my basic understanding of the Beast Tongue, which I had learned from Ghislaine, as I dropped down to their height. I couldn’t read or write it, but I was good enough to speak it. “Did you get hurt?”

Looking them over, I couldn’t see any wounds on them as they shook their heads.

Seems like our Amazon Cat Girl had been fast enough.

But she had still gotten wounded in the process.

Well, that was the weakness of the Sword God Style. It was great for offense and speed, but really shit at defense. That was what the Water God Style was for. Meanwhile, the North God Style was full of special techniques and tricks.

I had actually started learning the basics of the other two Styles, since at least understanding them was necessary to become a competent Swordsman. Ghislaine herself only knew the basics. She had dedicated herself to the Sword God Style and was already close to, if not already at, the level of a King-Rank Swordsman.

I had been considering focusing on the Water God Style. Its focus on defense might be better suited for me, since my offense would always be Magic. But that was just a consideration at this point, since I hadn’t even reached the Beginner Rank.

“Who’re you?” the little Cat Girl asked Ghislaine with large, curious eyes before pointing at her. “You smell a bit like the Chief.”

Ghislaine’s eyes widened at that comment. For a moment, she looked at me and Roxy. I gave her a smile, signaling that I already knew.

She sighed before looking at the little girl again.

“He is my Father.”

That made all three Children tilt their heads in confusion. The Dog Boy wondered, “Like Gyes? But you don’t smell like the Tribe at all…”

“I left a long time ago.”

“Why?” the Cat Girl asked.

“I…”

A group of People rushed out of the Woods, led by a muscular, bronze-skinned Cat Tribe warrior with gray hair and ears just like Ghislaine’s. They stopped beside the Children as they took in the situation in the clearing and the corpses of the Leaf Tigers.

Then the leader’s eyes fell on Ghislaine, widening in recognition before turning into a full-on glare.

“So you are still alive…” The man glared at Ghislaine.

“Gyes…” she replied quietly.

It was the first time I had seen her look this uncomfortable.

“What did you come here for, disgrace? You are not welcome here after you abandoned the Tribe and our duty!” Gyes spat out as his angry glare bore into her.

Seeing how much it affected her, I placed myself protectively in front of her.

“Who do you think you are to talk to her like this?”

His angry eyes fell on me.

“We are just passing through this area. If it weren’t for your sister, these Children would be dead.” I stated, as a bit of anger dripped into my tone. Somehow, I was having a really hard time staying calm right now. “The moment she noticed them being in danger, she rushed off by herself to protect them, putting her own life at risk! You may have your differences, but the very least you can do is show some gratitude to the person who protected the Children of your Tribe!”

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I had only known Ghislaine for a few months, but somehow, this was affecting me more than I had expected.

Gyes remained silent for a moment, visibly calming himself before his eyes fell back on Ghislaine.

“Is that true?”

She gave him a short nod.

Right, he was also still young here. Even over a decade later, he would still be hot-headed and short-tempered, often jumping to conclusions too quickly. In all honesty, while he may have been the calmer one of the two in their youth—after all, Ghislaine had been supposed to be very wild—she had grown far more than he had.

Her experiences and training under the Sword God, Gal Farion, had tempered her a lot, sharpening her into a true Swordmaster. Adding to that the journey she was experiencing right now, she had grown far more than Gyes himself.

He was still decades away from reaching a similar level.

“Is that true?” he asked the Children, who gave him a timid nod.

Letting out a sigh, he addressed us, especially Ghislaine.

“I apologize. I let my view of you cloud my judgment. Thank you for protecting our young ones. The Doldia Tribe is indebted to you.”

We gave him a short nod before his eyes fell on Ghislaine again.

“You should come and visit our Village. We would like to show you our gratitude. And Father would love to see you, too.” Gyes then offered, while keeping his eyes focused on Ghislaine the whole time.

And she hesitated.

I understood why. After all, she had run away from the Tribe years ago. Seeing her Father again would probably be uncomfortable. But they were still her Family.

Seeing that she didn’t give an answer, I chose to speak up instead.

“We would be honored to visit your Village.”

Yeah, she really should make up with her Family. I didn’t think she ever met them again in the Original Story, at least not up to the point I had read. And that was just sad.

No. If I could help it, I wouldn’t allow that.

That was the least I could do.

[-- End of Chapter --]