Chapter 12.
A messenger hawk flew to Gawain. Judging by the collar, it wasn’t a missive from Hestia but Gallahad. He was currently forming an encirclement in front of Denburg.
It was half-past eleven in the morning, and there were virtually no orders coming from Hestia. In her last message, she had issued new orders for the pursuing troops while telling them to move at their own discretion from here on out.
It was a rational order since with only 50 kilometers left, it was self-evident that if the pursuing troops were to hesitate and wait for orders from Hestia, their target would be able to escape the forest. Although they could not receive instructions from her anymore, she had left them with a complete encirclement plan. Other than Denburg, it was impossible for anyone else to escape this level of encirclement.
"Captain Gawain, Captain Gallahad is saying that he will combine the first and second guard division to complete the encirclement."
"Tell Gallahad that we received his message and order the third warrior division to enter the encirclement without interfering with them."
"Okay."
A person was rushing towards Gawain as Mac was reading the letter to him.
"Captain! It’s an emergency message from the third division! They are currently engaging with Master Denburg."
"What?!"
It couldn’t be.
This was 20 minutes faster than Hestia had anticipated!
"Dammit! Contact Gallahad and ask him to send reinforcements to the third division!"
The third warrior division was connecting the left and right sides of the encirclement. It was basically acting as a plug blocking the only hole in the encirclement. In other words, if Denburg broke through the third division, no one could stop him from leaving the forest.
Of course, the division consisted of 100 warriors. It was not a force Denburg could penetrate with just his strength. However, being talented in both magic and physical ability, if he wished to avoid a head-on collision and run away, the possibility of success was quite high.
"Everybody, head to where the third division is at top speed!"
-o-
I held my breath as I approached the encirclement. Then, I observed the guards that were forming the encirclement.
From atop the tree, the formation didn’t seem very thick as it was only composed of three layers of guards. However, since the gap between each guard wasn’t that large, the array was laid out such that guards in the vicinity would be able to quickly arrive to assist if a disturbance occurred.
Unfortunately, blocking the arrow imbued with a ridiculous amount of magic power and flying around in a hurry had drained my magic power reservoir to less than 10%. With such a small amount of magic power remaining, flying would only result in me falling right into the encirclement while in mid-air. Even if I were to fly through the encirclement and miraculously break through, it was inevitable that I would be caught due to the exhaustion from depleting my magic power.
As I was nervously observing the encirclement, the guards forming it suddenly stopped and changed direction.
Did it work?
Was my plan successful?
The guards forming the encirclement were heading towards the third warrior division. I rapidly rushed towards the weakened encirclement. My current location was not far from where the third warrior division was located. In other words, it meant that it wouldn’t take long before they found out about the fake letter that I had sent.
It was paramount that I break through and escape the forest before the encirclement became thicker again.
Time was not on my side.
-o-
Gawain was leading the warriors towards the third warrior division when he received a message from the guards led by Gallahad.
-Urgent, Master Denburg is attacking the encirclement and attempting to break through.
Reinforcement required.
Gawain was momentarily lost. He had clearly received the message that Denburg was currently engaging the third warrior division, so how could he be attacking the encirclement at the same time?
"Captain, what should we do?"
When asked by Mac, Gawain quickly made a decision without hesitation.
"—Divide the group into two. You go in the direction of the encirclement. I’ll go to where the third warrior division is."
"Okay, let’s go."
"Yes!"
Mac changed his direction and brought half the warriors along with him.
-o-
After breaking through the encirclement, I ran at full speed. There was less than 5km before I was out of the forest. If I managed to get out of the forest, I could fly away with the tiny amount of magic power I had remaining. Finally, I could live a peaceful life away from hunting monsters and demons.
I was experiencing the pleasure that a marathon runner would experience during their final lap. Under the pressure of being chased and pushing my body to the limit, I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my body.
It was then...
Swoosh!
I subconsciously pulled out my sword to block the arrow that was flying towards me.
Kang!
I immediately realized that my fake message had been exposed and that the pursuit squad was hot on my trail. The excitement that had been rising started to fall.
That was dangerous. I had acted as if I was out of the forest even though I wasn’t yet.
I ran as fast as I could.
Swoosh!
Kang!
Swoosh!
Kang!
Swoosh!
Kang!
As arrows kept flying towards me, I ran at full speed while deflecting them rather than dodging. It was possible that I would get caught if I were to waste some of my movements trying to dodge the arrows.
The strength imbued in the arrows was getting stronger. The pressure I was experiencing kept increasing as each subsequent arrow that flew towards me indicated the shortening distance.
Taking into account the fact that I was one of the fastest people in the village, the only person who could aim an arrow at me from such a distance was the master archer Mac.
But I was now almost out of the forest. The surrounding area began to brighten up as the large trees disappeared. I could see the green meadow in front of me.
Am I out of the forest?
I had never seen a meadow like this after being born into this world. In fact, even in my previous life, I had never seen such a flat horizon composed entirely of landmass. I almost fell into a strange trance as I appreciated this amazing view.
Boom!
I subconsciously set up a barrier to block the incoming powerful flame. I felt dizzy for a moment. The amount of magic power that had been shot at me was similar to Elder Mirpa’s magic power level, the strongest magician in the village.
Did Elder Mirpa join the pursuit?
If that were true, it was over. With my current condition, fighting Elder Mirpa was equivalent to suicide.
I nervously looked around my surroundings. Come to think of it, I made a shield without thinking, but I was completely fine. Normally, this would have made me collapse and throw up blood, but the flame had simply been blocked by my barrier.
I cleared my mind and comforted myself with the fact that my barriers were stronger than I had expected. It was then that I realized two surprising facts.
The first was the peaceful flow of magic power in the environment which was vastly different from the forest and even the stabilized flow of magic found inside the village. And the second, I had performed magic without using any chants or hand seals.
I had known that the flow of magic power here would be much stabler compared to the forest or the village, but I had never expected it to be of such a degree.
For comparison, if the magic power in the forest were a cyclone that could kill anyone it swept, the magic power in the village was a mild storm that could cause no casualty. In contrast, the magic power outside the forest was a pleasant breeze. It was clear that in such an environment, chants or hand seals were not required to use magic power.
"Hey, can you at least act like you are surprised if you’ve been ambushed?!"
After stopping her magic attack, Leisha protested from a distance away.
Why is Leisha here?
By any chance, are there other ambushes lying in wait?
"Oh, I am surprised," I said casually while being on guard.
"Don’t lie to me."
"It’s true. This is the first time I’ve felt such calm magic power."
The truth was I was surprised that my sister had just unleashed magic of such magnitude. I thought it was Elder Mirpa.
"Is that all you are surprised about? Aren’t you curious how I’m here?"
"Well, I suppose Hestia gave you instructions."
To be honest, I wasn’t sure how Leisha could be here without Hestia’s instructions. If it were indeed her, it wasn’t surprising that she could anticipate the point where I would leave the forest.
My sister grumbled with a sullen face upon hearing my words. "It’s true that Hestia gave me instructions, but you still expressed so little reaction."
After clearing my mind for a bit, I could see that she was just trying to stall for time. Here was Leisha who had just used magic of a magnitude of which she couldn’t even dream of back at the village, and me who had subconsciously blocked that magic. If Leisha’s magic was stronger here, it was inevitable that mine was as well.
"Then, I’ll be going now."
When I waved my hand to say goodbye, Leisha tried to stop me in an urgent voice.
"Why don’t you talk with me for a little longer?"
Leisha gestured with her hand and cast magic. A tree trunk wriggled up from the ground and surrounded me.
It seemed that there were no other ambushes laid out other than Leisha. Forming an encirclement would have already demanded a lot of manpower. It would have been difficult to plan an ambush out here on top of that. It was about time for the others to arrive.
"No thanks. I’ll send you letters often when I get out."
I took a deep breath and inhaled the magic power around me. Compared to the forest and the village, magic power was way more obedient here. In a single breath, my magic power reservoir rose rapidly. It was as if after using a charger with a poor connection, I had switched to another one with high speed. It felt as if I was healing a body that had been forcibly handling magic power all this time.
"Fus Ro Dah!"
This wasn’t a difficult magic. In a single breath, I let out all the magic power that I had just absorbed. Although that was all I did, the tree trunks that were surrounding me collapsed in the opposite direction as if they were swept by a powerful typhoon.
Leisha was also affected by my magic, she stabbed her staff in the ground to stop herself from flying away.
"Oh, I’m sorry. This kind of feeling is new to me and I wasn’t able to control it."
Although I said this in a casual manner, it was not possible to produce this kind of power with such little emission of magic power even inside the village. Moreover, my body wasn’t exactly in a top condition either. I reckon I should spend more effort controlling my magic power from now on. It seems Uncle hadn’t been exaggerating about the spoons that kept bending while he was eating.
When I began collecting magic power again, Leisha, with her scattered hair, stared at me blankly.
"How—”
Leisha looked a little distracted as she was at a loss for what to say. She seemed to be overreacting a little. She was also capable of doing this much.
Although my abilities were slightly better than Leisha, she was the apprentice of the strongest magician in the village, Elder Mirpa. She could easily beat me with only some slight effort since I had to focus my attention on swordsmanship, martial arts, and magic.
"Youngest Master--?"
I could hear Mac call out loudly from behind.
There hadn’t been any arrows flying at me ever since I left the forest. It seemed that after realizing I had been stopped by Leisha, Mac had come here at full speed to catch up.
"Flight!"
I used magic to float my body up. Contrary to when I had to spend all my effort to lift myself up in the forest, currently flying felt very natural.
"Youngest Master, don’t go."
Mac looked at me with a pitiful gaze. He seemed to have already realized that he couldn’t catch me outside the forest.
"Youngest Master, please. If I don’t catch you here, Captain Gawain will pull out my beard.”
Gawain would no doubt pull out Mac’s beard, but I had no choice but to leave.
It was true that I was leaving to avoid going back to catch monsters and demons. But after experiencing such obedient and calm magic power, I also did not wish to go back into the forest where magic power flowed rampantly.
"Mac, don’t destroy your handsome face and just shave your beard.”
I was sincere about this. I had never seen anyone more handsome than Mac in both my previous and present life. He was simply born in the wrong place. If he had been born as a nobleman instead, he would have been a rare beauty.
"Is Youngest Master also going to tell me that? Please don’t go in consideration of my beard."
"I’m too scared to face Father again. Please send my best regard to him and tell him I’ll send letters often."
I started to pull in more magic power.
"No!"
"Yes."
And I flew away...
For freedom.
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