Tirol, a sleepy country village south of Yusillad.
Unlike the city, where every building had been packed shoulder to shoulder, here every house stood two stories tall with a yard of its own.
The sun was generous, and plenty of people were out in their yards as Ran and Moor walked a dirt road that made no distinction between footpath and roadway.
"Excuse me. We heard there's a Sage in this village."
Partway down the road, Moor called over a fence to an old woman at her rest.
"A Sage? Ah~ you've come to see our doctor, then. What ails you two?"
At the old woman's answer, Ran and Moor turned their heads at the same moment and looked at each other.
Moor turned straight back to her.
"Yes, yes — we've come to see that doctor. Where might we find him?"
"My my, our doctor's gotten famous even out where you're from, has he? Head toward that hill you see there, and you'll find a two-story house with a blue roof. That's the place."
"Thank you kindly."
Moor followed the line of the old woman's finger for a moment, then gave his thanks. Ran kept his eyes fixed on the hill.
"There's no sickness our doctor can't mend~ If you've got anything hurting, you two be sure to get it fixed before you go~"
Leaving her farewells behind them, the two walked toward the hill. A short way on, the house she had described came into view. It was considerably bigger than either of them had imagined.
At the door, Moor raised his hand to knock — then hesitated, and glanced back at Ran.
"Just in case I need to say it."
"Ah! I know, I know!"
Moor smiled a little at the reaction and knocked.
Knock, knock.
"Yes~ come in."
A young man's voice answered from inside. Moor and Ran opened the door and entered. The interior was, unmistakably, a clinic.
"This way."
The young voice called the two of them in as they looked around. Following it, Ran and Moor stepped into one of the rooms.
There, in a white coat, sat a man with a bright smile.
"New faces, I see? The patient can sit here — and the guardian, this way, please."
The man seemed briefly thrown by the two strangers, but recovered at once and showed them in.
And so, entirely naturally, Ran ended up in the patient's chair with Moor standing at his side.
"Paladins, no less. So — where does it hurt?"
"That smell..."
The moment Ran sat down and faced the doctor, his expression changed. Catching it, Moor laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Forgive us, doctor. The truth is, we're not here because anyone's ill."
"Ah~ I see. I rather suspected as much. A paladin who can use the Benediction Arts hardly ever walks into a clinic."
The doctor answered with a smile.
The Benediction Arts.
The techniques the Radiant Saintess, founder of the Church of Radiant Light, spread among the people to stand against the dragons. They consist of physical reinforcement, healing, and the like.
The light of the Benediction Arts heals humans — and burns every being come from any other layer. A power that exists, in other words, solely to protect mankind.
The Benediction Arts differ from all other sorceries and techniques in two great respects.
First, both mana and energy can serve as their fuel. And second, talent counts for nothing: anyone, with only effort and faith, can wield the Benediction Arts at the highest level.
The faithful of the Church of Radiant Light say these traits are proof that God loves all human beings equally.
"So — what brings you all the way to a village without so much as a temple?"
"I'll ask you directly. Are you a Sage?"
"A Sage? Me? Oh, I dreamed of it once, certainly. But sadly, I'm just a country doctor who can manage magic of about Depth 3. Of Sages I know nothing at all."
The doctor answered Moor's question with a smile.
And in truth, no great Depth of mana could be felt from him. Yet Ran and Moor could both distinctly sense something about the man.
"I see. Though when we asked in the village about a Sage, every one of them pointed us to you."
"Hahaha — they're all far too generous with me, I'm grateful to say."
The doctor smiled as though the compliment embarrassed him.
"We were told there is a Sage in this village. Might you know anything of it?"
"Hmm... You must be seeking a Sage's teaching, or his help. I'm sorry, but as far as I know, there is no Sage in this village."
The doctor shook his head as he answered — and stole a glance at Ran's face as he did. Ran was frowning, visibly uncomfortable about something.
"Yes, exactly — we do need some help. In that case, let me ask this: is there anyone living nearby who is an exceptional sorcerer?"
"My wife was a mage. Better than I ever was..."
"Was? Ah... I see. Understood."
With that last word, Moor made his farewell to the doctor, then signaled Ran that it was time to go. Ran saw it and rose without a word.
"Well then, we'll be on our way."
"Yes. I hope you find what you're looking for."
The doctor saw Ran and Moor off with a bittersweet smile.
The two of them left the clinic and walked back the way they had come. Moor patted Ran's shoulder, visibly proud.
"You held it in well."
But Ran, praise and all, was scowling as if something still didn't sit right.
"He smells of 'remains.' But it's way too faint for a Sage."
"Right. The one thing I can guarantee is that our doctor is no Sage. But I can't say he's unconnected, either."
Moor set a cigarette between his lips. Then he went on.
"For instance — he could be someone who isn't a Sage but uses a relic, like that trafficking guild a while back.
"Or he could be a mind-control-type Sage who's erased his own existence, the way it went in Yusillad."
When they had put down the trafficking guild with the Imperial Army in the last city, its guildmaster had been a user of 'remains.'
"If he's not a Sage, there's no point."
"Or — one of that doctor's patients could be the Sage."
"What?!"
The life came flooding back into Ran's listless voice and face.
"Think about it, Ran. He's no Sage, yet he's steeped in that much of the 'remains'' scent. That means he is physically very close to a Sage. And from the sound of it, he lost his wife and lives alone."
"So one of his regular patients could be the Sage!"
That was when it happened.
Tromp, tromp, tromp.
The sound of remarkably ordered footsteps reached their ears.
They turned to see a column of imperial troops marching for the clinic in tight formation.
The sight set Moor's nerves on edge — though Ran, by now, seemed to have lost every ounce of interest in the doctor.
"Hmm... Ran, you remember where the lodgings are? Want to head in first — or check that out with me?"
"Hm? What's wrong? Ah~ that's bugging you?"
Moor pressed the room key into Ran's hand. Ran nodded as if he understood exactly what Moor intended.
"If it's nothing, be back before dinner! After we eat we're canvassing the villagers."
"Got it. I'll take a quick look and come right in."
Ran walked off toward the lodgings, and Moor stayed where he was, watching what the imperial troops were doing.
'How many is that? In a backwater village like this — what?'
Moor tossed his cigarette into a trash bin and studied them closely. They were setting a perimeter, centered on the doctor's house.
"Hold on — a full ward, too?"
At the commotion, the villagers began drifting out of their houses one by one to watch.
A few tried to get a closer look, but the troops on the outermost ring turned them back.
Before long, every road to the clinic was sealed.
Moor slipped away to somewhere out of sight.
Settled in an alley, he released his black mana.
It billowed up in clouds, then took the shape of dozens of crows. The crows scattered from around him and flew off.
For a long while he kept his eyes closed, sorting the information his summoned creatures carried back.
"Sealed up very thoroughly indeed... Inner wall and outer wall — two full layers, is it?"
Moor noted one crow settling into a tree near the doctor's house, and shared its sight.
Six imperial soldiers in full armament stood at the doctor's door. There was no sound, but when they knocked, the doctor came out.
A long exchange followed — then the soldiers forced the doctor to the ground. He tried to resist, but against the strength of six of them he never stood a chance, and was bound where he lay.
And right about then.
BOOM—!
The roof of the doctor's house blew open, and a colossal pillar of mana surged into the sky.
"Now what is that."
Inside the column of mana, a woman floated in midair.
Her long, straight hair and white dress rippled to the rhythm of her raging mana. Runes covered every inch of her skin, and in her left hand she held a thick book, lying open.
"What is that!"
This sense — without question, a Sage. And yet, though he couldn't be sure, something about it felt hollow. Missing.
In the moment Moor paused to think, a tremendous burst of mana erupted outward from around her.
The shockwave scattered every last one of Moor's crows into nothing.
"Wonderful. So in the end I have to go in after all..."
Moor left the deserted alley and looked toward the ward.
"Let's see... Inside the ward, the Imperial Army is engaging the woman — presumed Sage... and they're helpless too, of course."
The ward showed no sign of breaking yet.
Moor approached the outer ring to get inside. He was stopped at once by the soldiers there.
"No one passes beyond this point."
"As you can see, I'm a paladin of the Church of Radiant Light. We've cooperated with you on exactly this sort of matter in the district next door."
Moor went so far as to produce his identification and show them.
They pushed him back all the same, utterly unmoved.
"We know who you are."
"You know? Then there's no reason to block me, is there? This falls squarely under our terms of cooperation, surely?"
As Moor pressed the point, item by item, the soldiers holding him back glanced toward their captain.
"Correct — our cooperation with you covers murder, kidnapping, and human trafficking cases arising in this region. This matter has nothing to do with any of that."
"Hah. Unbelievable."
At the captain's words, Moor got the distinct feeling he'd been played.
'But a captain is standing perimeter duty, turning people away? Then inside there's at least a senior captain — if not a junior general.'
An operation at battalion scale or above — a scale unthinkable for a sleepy village like this.
'And yet if they came hunting a Sage, this level of preparation is absurdly thin.'
"If you don't withdraw now, we will remove you by force."
The captain's voice had gone razor-edged.
CLANG—!
Just then, a section of the ward on Moor's side shattered — with a sound like some enormous window breaking.
"Misha, no!"
Through the broken gap in the ward, Moor heard the doctor's cry.
The doctor was shouting, unmistakably, at the woman who was supposed to be a Sage.
"Misha? You said you knew nothing!"
The words burst out of Moor before he could stop himself. In that instant, dozens of beams of mana rained down from the woman toward him.
Moor threw up his defense in time — but the imperial soldiers around him took it full on.
"This is madness. And Ran's not even here."
Moor rolled up both sleeves at once, and pulled 'Jaka' from his back.
"I'm begging you! Please don't hurt Misha!"
"You can't be serious?!"
Moor could hardly believe the doctor's cry. Subduing an enemy spraying Depth 5 sorcery or above in every direction — without hurting her — was asking the near-impossible.
Moor leveled the rifle. And in the instant he began feeding mana into the shot, a chill stabbed at him from the right.
He triggered his defensive magic on the spot.
CLANG—!
A crescent-shaped slash came flying in and broke against Moor's defense.
"Hands off, paladin. That one is ours."
"And what is this now?"
At his side, appeared out of nowhere, stood a powerfully built man with an oversized greatsword, his gaze swinging between Moor and Misha.
"'Yours,' 'mine' — listen to yourself. That thing in front of you is a Sage!"
"Does that look like a Sage to your eyes?"
"Tch!"
There was no time left to talk — Misha's attacks came pouring down on them. Moor slipped clear with a short teleport.
He landed a little apart from the impact point and leveled his rifle again.
BANG—! BANG—!
He fired single shots, but Misha flicked them aside with ease — and instantly answered with a barrage of her own.
'Her attacks are simple. Did she become a Sage only recently?'
Something felt off. Moor kept dodging Misha's attacks, bounding this way and that.
"Over there! Take him."
Some of the imperial troops had spotted Moor and came charging.
He cast his black fog at once, walling off their sight and shaking off his pursuers. Then, for a moment, he simply watched the field.
The imperial officer who had attacked him was engaging Misha now, greatsword in hand, his men supporting him.
Off to the other side, the doctor was being dragged away somewhere.
Then Moor sensed someone at his back.
He grinned, drew a cigarette from his coat, and set it between his lips.
"An absolute circus, this. Wouldn't you say, Ran?"