31

Id recognized Benjamin’s identity at a glance from his attire and manna force. As Id discovered Benjamin was a mage, Vanya and Volodya picked up their weapons and prepared to attack Id. Dima said to Id.

“You are a quick-witted boy. But this time around, your sharp senses have determined your fate.”

At the end of Dima’s words, holding two battle axes in both hands, Vanya stepped up to Id. Sasha blocked Vanya in front of Id and told the mercenary, unsheathing his longsword.

“I’ll deal with you.”

Id moved aside to make room for Sasha and Vanya to fight, and coincidentally, he ended up close to Benjamin. Dima frowned, but he paid attention to the fight between Vanya and Sasha. Vanya was an experienced mercenary who spent more than a decade on the battlefield. Still, when he got into a one-on-one match with Sasha, he was overwhelmed by both his opponent’s speed and power, and was forced to back down repeatedly. Though he managed to keep Sasha’s sword at bay with his crisis management skills built up in countless battles, it did not seem like he would be able to last for much longer. As Dima signaled with his eyes, Volodya attacked Sasha with his short spear. Although Sasha was attacked simultaneously by the two second-grade mercenaries, he dominated the battle, overwhelming his opponents.

Watching the fight between the three from a distance, Irina pulled two daggers out of her belt and threw them at Sasha. The two daggers, one thrown after the other, flew to Sasha’s face and thigh at tremendous speed, but Id rushed in and with one stroke of his sword the two flying daggers were blown away. Watching Id’s swordsmanship, Dima jumped at Id, brandishing his sword. As soon as Id struck down Irina’s daggers, he moved toward the tree where Benjamin was tied and swung his sword twice to cut the rope which bound the mage tightly. Benjamin rubbed his hands a few times and ungagged himself as his tied hands were freed.

“Thank you.”

Though Benjamin thanked him for the help, Id did not answer since he was already facing Dima. Striking his sword against Id’s blade several times, Dima acknowledged his prediction was not wrong. Id’s Aura Blade had a more vivid blue color than Dima’s. Surprised that Dima’s sword skills were superior to those of Korolyov's Knight Commander Daniel, Id tensed up as he also had to prepare for Irina’s daggers. Since Id faced Dima with the long-range attacks by Irina keeping him in check, the confrontation between the two became drawn out.

Meanwhile, Sasha was also concerned about Irina’s dagger attack, so he could not one-sidedly attack Vanya and Volodya anymore. Tensions were mounting in the small vacant lot in the forest amid the dizzying fights among the five. Irina was shocked as Dima was overwhelmed by the young apprentice. She had spent more than seven years as a mercenary together with Dima, but she had never seen anyone superior to Dima in one-on-one confrontations. As she was completely focused on her opponent and searching for any opportunity to attack him with her dagger, her face suddenly turned pale when she suddenly heard a male voice chanting. Turning her head, she saw Benjamin, the six-circle-master mage who had been freed, preparing a spell. Focused on Dima’s confrontation with Id, she had forgotten that there was a six-circle-master mage who held a grudge against her.

“Fireball.”

As Benjamin shouted out the start-up word. He had been chanting the spell incantation for a while in a low voice, a Fireball, having grown in size in his hands, flew towards Irina at a terrifying speed. Though Irina tried to escape as soon as she heard Benjamin's initiator, she could not avoid it and was directly hit by the Fireball. The magic was on a different level when manifested by a six-circle-master mage than by four-circle mages Irina had often encountered on the battlefields. As flames engulfed her entire body, Irina was burned to a crisp as she screamed in pain.

“No!”

Enraged by Irina’s death, Dima rushed to Benjamin, wielding his sword at the mage, ignoring Id, who blocked his way. The next moment, Dima shuddered and stopped his movements. Dima's last memory was seeing the tip of Id’s sword, which had penetrated his heart, escape out of his chest. It was the vain end of Dima, the supreme mercenary of the Kingdom of Scandia.

Benjamin kept chanting the spells without batting an eye as he watched Dima jump at him. Finally, he shouted the start-up words without delay when he completed casting the spells.

“Multiply Gravity.”

Vanya, who was avoiding Sasha’s sword, collapsed on the spot as the gravity around him increased by two hundred and fifty-six times in an instant. Vanya, whose bones were broken and crushed, died with a suppressed moan. Since Benjamin’s anger was immense, even though this was his first time using his magic to attack other people, Irina and Vanya died mercilessly at his hands. Almost at the same time as Vanya’s death, Volodya’s head flew into the air at Sasha’s sword.

As Id and Sasha piled up the bodies of three mercenaries together, Benjamin, who regained his wand that Irina dropped, cast Fireball once again. Id said to Benjamin, watching the three flaming bodies of the former mercenaries.

“We are apprentices Id and Sasha. How did you end up in such a rough spot?”

“I’m Benjamin from Icarus Wizard Tower. Thank you for saving my life.”

Having sunk helplessly by the bonfire, Benjamin explained what happened to Id and Sasha. After listening silently to the end of the mage’s story, Id said.

“We are on our way to the Icarus Empire, so why don’t you join us instead of going back to Nordburg?”

“I was about to ask you to allow me to join you anyway. I want to hire you as escorts to the border of the Empire. What do you think?”

“You don’t have to employ us. We’ll keep you safe as best we can. It’s not a problem as we are going the same way regardless and we can keep eachother company.”

Benjamin responded by opening the gold coin pouch he had recovered from Dima, taking out a hundred golds and sticking them out to Id.

“I’m giving these to you as you saved my life, so don’t say no. I don’t think we need to write a contract or anything. Just help me as much as you can if I’m in danger. I don’t know how far you are planning on going, but the more travel expenses one has, the better.”

Id looked at Sasha with a bashful smile. As Sasha nodded slightly, Id said to Benjamin.

“I see. Thank you. I’ll take them. We’ll keep you safe until we reach the border of the Empire.”

The mage smiled faintly and said.

“I’m going to sleep now. I’m so tired that I can barely keep my eyes open. We’ll go a long way together, so let’s hear each other’s questions later.”

“I’m going to prepare soup to eat for supper. How about eating some before sleeping?”

“No thanks. Have a nice supper. Sleep comes first for me now.”

Benjamin lay by the bonfire to sleep. Id took a pot out of his backpack, hung it over the bonfire and boiled soup. As the savory smell began to spread, Benjamin sat right back up.

“It smells so good, so I can’t just sleep. Let me have a taste of your soup after all.”

As he began to fill a bowl with soup and handed it over to the mage, Id spoke.

“My late master also liked the soup I cooked.”

“May your master rest in peace. I was going to ask you later, but who raised such great apprentices like you?”

“Andrew from the Adelian family, the Marquis of the Empire.”

“Andrew Adelian? Do you mean the Knight Commander of the Red Lion Order? I saw him a couple of times when he visited the Icarus Wizard Tower. I’ve heard rumors that he retired, having been defeated by Willam Cronos, but did he die in Scandia?”

“Yes. My master stayed in the Forest of Evil Spirits for the past seven years, teaching us swordsmanship, and passed away several days ago. He passed away as if he had fallen asleep, so we didn’t know for a while that he had died. We are on our way to the Adelian Marquisate to deliver the news of our master’s passing.”

Benjamin turned around and looked at Sasha.

“Yes, you’re right. I inherited all the weapons and armor except for the full plate mail master wore and fell asleep in the end. Id was supposed to inherit master’s equipment, but for some reason, master inherited them to me.”

Id cut into their conversation.

“Now that Sasha has learned the entirety of master’s swordsmanship, no wonder our master inherited his armament to Sasha.”

“You mean you didn’t learn your master’s swordsmanship authentically?”

“I intended to in the beginning, but my swordsmanship has changed a lot from the archetypes which my master had taught to me. My master didn’t care much about my swordsmanship being altered, so I changed it a lot as I continued learning”