Chapter 4
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Mia Von Ritter, the captain of the elite Sun Knights of the Vorbei Kingdom, was not having a good day. She had led her knights into what she thought was a minor mission to kill, capture, or rout around 30 goblins that had supposedly been harassing a village deep in the ancient forest. The village was supposedly such a small and remote village that it did not appear on the maps that were standard issue to knights. Supposedly, only the Treasury Ministry was aware of such a remote village for the purposes of collecting taxes from it.
[I had been foolish to be not suspicious of that ridiculous mission to begin with.] she thought to herself as two of her subordinates were leading a restrained young man to the center of the clearing while her other three subordinates who were awake were busy healing the ones who survived the attack. [Why would the Sun Knights be called in for a simple goblin subjugation mission. Such a mission could easily have been accomplished by a sending a few dozen regular soldiers to the forest. Even the Royal Adventurers Guild would have been happy to have such a lucrative and easy mission to give to their adventurers who love exploring the ancient forest. Why send the entire order of Sun Knights, which boasted some of the most elite warriors in the Vorbei Kingdom on such a mission?!]
The answer to that last question was obvious when she first saw the Red Dragon of Calamity staring her down in a clearing exactly where the remote village was supposed to be.
[Someone set us up to die here! And I have a good idea of who that person is] Mia had thought.
The young Lady Von Ritter had felt a hint of fear and desperation wash over her for a moment, but then her training had kicked in. They were the Sun Knights, who had never been routed in battle no matter how bad it got. They had been trained from a young age to willingly lay down their lives for the sake of their Kingdom and their comrades. Even if Mia knew that this fight in front of her was hopeless, she and those who followed her would fight that hopeless fight for the pride of the Vorbei Kingdom. She had to be brave and strong for the sake of that pride. "Defensive formation! Watch out for its claws, they can rip through chain mail in an instant! Hans, cast a protective spell around our right flank! Friedrich, cast one on our left flank! Wilhelm, Ernst, and Herman, keep it busy while I prepare a penetrating lightning attack spell! Everyone else, stay sharp and wait for an opening when we can surround it and go in for the kill! Remember, it's eyes, nostrils, and mouth are it's only weak points!"
She had shouted at her subordinates, and they had all followed their orders as efficiently as could have been expected despite their great fear. As the fight went on, however it became more and more clear just how hopeless the fight was. Their protective formations could barely withstand a single swipe from the dragon's claws before it would have to be re-cast, using up a lot of mana. All of the attacks that had been intended to keep the monster busy had just glanced off of its scales leaving the dragon unharmed. Mia's penetrating lightning attack spells had kept on missing as the dragon, seemingly aware of its weaknesses had kept nimbly moving its head so that Mia couldn't get a clear shot at its eyes, mouth, or nostrils. Worst of all, when the Sun Knights had finally thought that they had found an opening and went in to surround the beast, a quick slash with its massive tail had knocked out over a dozen knights, followed by it using precise strikes with its claws to start to pick off the remaining knights individually. That was when Ethan had wandered in. Mia saw this young man wearing strange clothes who inexplicably seemed to have the dragons eyes fixed on him, and felt something very off about him, but she didn't have time to focus on that. The dragon was momentarily distracted and she had had fallen comrades to avenge.
It was only after the dragon had been driven off that she fully realized exactly what was off about this young man, aside from his clothes, and the fact that he had gotten the attention of the dragon. What was off about him was that he had no mana at all. Even newborn babies had trace amounts of mana flowing through them. As far as she knew, the only human bodies which had no mana running through them were corpses, and running completely out of mana meant instant death. It was as if she was looking at a living dead body.
[It must be a dead body. That is the only reasonable explanation for why he has no mana, but he seems to be alive! He is standing and looking around. He even looks a little scared. And why did the dragon seem to show deference to him?!This could be some kind of trick. I must investigate.] She thought.
"Who are you, and how are you alive without mana!? I, Mia Von Ritter, demand you answer!" She shouted as she drew her dagger and walked towards him, followed by two of her knights. As he didn't answer immediately, she repeated herself even more forcefully "WHO ARE YOU AND HOW IN THE WORLD ARE YOU ALIVE WITHOUT MANA?! I, THE CAPTAIN OF THE SUN KNIGHTS, DEMAND THAT YOU AN ANSWER!"
To her shock, he responded with some words in a strange language as well as putting his hands up in a non-threatening manner.
[Does he not speak the Vorbei language? The barbarian!] she thought.
"You, barbarian, if you can understand me, don't make any sudden movements!" She said, just before forcing Ethan on the ground and restraining him.
[He was surprisingly weak. I pushed him to the ground with almost no effort. As expected of a dead body or a barbarian, I suppose.]
"Milady, does he pose any real threat to us? Can't we just let the poor barbarian go?" Mia's subordinate Hans who had followed her in approaching Ethan asked.
"Indeed, such a pathetically weak barbarian wouldn't even pose a threat to a slime." Hans' twin brother Friedrich agreed with his brother.
"Are you both idiots?! How much mana do you sense flowing through him? Literally none at all. He managed to use up all of his mana without even leaving a trace amount behind, and yet he is alive! How is that possible?! Isn't that the question that other countries might want to figure out? We found this monster who can survive without mana, so we must confine him, if for no other purpose than so that enemy nations can't figure out how to survive without mana!"
"Forgive our impudence, milady." Hans and Friedrich apologetically replied simultaneously.
"It's fine as long as you understand. Go now and take him to the center of the clearing and start to set up camp for the night while those other three finish administering healing and mana potions to the ones still alive" she said. "Give the barbarian some food and ale, but make sure that he can't escape."
she felt anger; anger to see so many other knights that she had come with lying on the ground unresponsive and bleeding badly. Some of her anger was directed at the dragon, certainly, but most of her anger at the Minister of the Treasury for the Kingdom of Vorbei, Otto Von Geld, who had given the faulty information to begin with and insisted that the Sun Knights be the ones to go, calling her a coward in front of the King when she first suggested that regular soldiers or adventurers would both be a better option to deal with the goblins that a tax collector had supposedly seen attacking the village and heroically returned to the royal capital to report it. This mission was a clear attempt to eliminate her. [I knew that the Von Gelds and the Von Ritters had disliked each other for generations, but surely even Otto wouldn't go this far.] She thought as she picked up the strange glowing device that the barbarian had dropped.
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Mia Von Ritter, the captain of the elite Sun Knights of the Vorbei Kingdom, was not having a good day. She had led her knights into what she thought was a minor mission to kill, capture, or rout around 30 goblins that had supposedly been harassing a village deep in the ancient forest. The village was supposedly such a small and remote village that it did not appear on the maps that were standard issue to knights. Supposedly, only the Treasury Ministry was aware of such a remote village for the purposes of collecting taxes from it.
[I had been foolish to be not suspicious of that ridiculous mission to begin with.] she thought to herself as two of her subordinates were leading a restrained young man to the center of the clearing while her other three subordinates who were awake were busy healing the ones who survived the attack. [Why would the Sun Knights be called in for a simple goblin subjugation mission. Such a mission could easily have been accomplished by a sending a few dozen regular soldiers to the forest. Even the Royal Adventurers Guild would have been happy to have such a lucrative and easy mission to give to their adventurers who love exploring the ancient forest. Why send the entire order of Sun Knights, which boasted some of the most elite warriors in the Vorbei Kingdom on such a mission?!]
The answer to that last question was obvious when she first saw the Red Dragon of Calamity staring her down in a clearing exactly where the remote village was supposed to be.
[Someone set us up to die here! And I have a good idea of who that person is] Mia had thought.
The young Lady Von Ritter had felt a hint of fear and desperation wash over her for a moment, but then her training had kicked in. They were the Sun Knights, who had never been routed in battle no matter how bad it got. They had been trained from a young age to willingly lay down their lives for the sake of their Kingdom and their comrades. Even if Mia knew that this fight in front of her was hopeless, she and those who followed her would fight that hopeless fight for the pride of the Vorbei Kingdom. She had to be brave and strong for the sake of that pride. "Defensive formation! Watch out for its claws, they can rip through chain mail in an instant! Hans, cast a protective spell around our right flank! Friedrich, cast one on our left flank! Wilhelm, Ernst, and Herman, keep it busy while I prepare a penetrating lightning attack spell! Everyone else, stay sharp and wait for an opening when we can surround it and go in for the kill! Remember, it's eyes, nostrils, and mouth are it's only weak points!"
She had shouted at her subordinates, and they had all followed their orders as efficiently as could have been expected despite their great fear. As the fight went on, however it became more and more clear just how hopeless the fight was. Their protective formations could barely withstand a single swipe from the dragon's claws before it would have to be re-cast, using up a lot of mana. All of the attacks that had been intended to keep the monster busy had just glanced off of its scales leaving the dragon unharmed. Mia's penetrating lightning attack spells had kept on missing as the dragon, seemingly aware of its weaknesses had kept nimbly moving its head so that Mia couldn't get a clear shot at its eyes, mouth, or nostrils. Worst of all, when the Sun Knights had finally thought that they had found an opening and went in to surround the beast, a quick slash with its massive tail had knocked out over a dozen knights, followed by it using precise strikes with its claws to start to pick off the remaining knights individually. That was when Ethan had wandered in. Mia saw this young man wearing strange clothes who inexplicably seemed to have the dragons eyes fixed on him, and felt something very off about him, but she didn't have time to focus on that. The dragon was momentarily distracted and she had had fallen comrades to avenge.
It was only after the dragon had been driven off that she fully realized exactly what was off about this young man, aside from his clothes, and the fact that he had gotten the attention of the dragon. What was off about him was that he had no mana at all. Even newborn babies had trace amounts of mana flowing through them. As far as she knew, the only human bodies which had no mana running through them were corpses, and running completely out of mana meant instant death. It was as if she was looking at a living dead body.
[It must be a dead body. That is the only reasonable explanation for why he has no mana, but he seems to be alive! He is standing and looking around. He even looks a little scared. And why did the dragon seem to show deference to him?!This could be some kind of trick. I must investigate.] She thought.
"Who are you, and how are you alive without mana!? I, Mia Von Ritter, demand you answer!" She shouted as she drew her dagger and walked towards him, followed by two of her knights. As he didn't answer immediately, she repeated herself even more forcefully "WHO ARE YOU AND HOW IN THE WORLD ARE YOU ALIVE WITHOUT MANA?! I, THE CAPTAIN OF THE SUN KNIGHTS, DEMAND THAT YOU AN ANSWER!"
To her shock, he responded with some words in a strange language as well as putting his hands up in a non-threatening manner.
[Does he not speak the Vorbei language? The barbarian!] she thought.
"You, barbarian, if you can understand me, don't make any sudden movements!" She said, just before forcing Ethan on the ground and restraining him.
[He was surprisingly weak. I pushed him to the ground with almost no effort. As expected of a dead body or a barbarian, I suppose.]
"Milady, does he pose any real threat to us? Can't we just let the poor barbarian go?" Mia's subordinate Hans who had followed her in approaching Ethan asked.
"Indeed, such a pathetically weak barbarian wouldn't even pose a threat to a slime." Hans' twin brother Friedrich agreed with his brother.
"Are you both idiots?! How much mana do you sense flowing through him? Literally none at all. He managed to use up all of his mana without even leaving a trace amount behind, and yet he is alive! How is that possible?! Isn't that the question that other countries might want to figure out? We found this monster who can survive without mana, so we must confine him, if for no other purpose than so that enemy nations can't figure out how to survive without mana!"
"Forgive our impudence, milady." Hans and Friedrich apologetically replied simultaneously.
"It's fine as long as you understand. Go now and take him to the center of the clearing and start to set up camp for the night while those other three finish administering healing and mana potions to the ones still alive" she said. "Give the barbarian some food and ale, but make sure that he can't escape."
she felt anger; anger to see so many other knights that she had come with lying on the ground unresponsive and bleeding badly. Some of her anger was directed at the dragon, certainly, but most of her anger at the Minister of the Treasury for the Kingdom of Vorbei, Otto Von Geld, who had given the faulty information to begin with and insisted that the Sun Knights be the ones to go, calling her a coward in front of the King when she first suggested that regular soldiers or adventurers would both be a better option to deal with the goblins that a tax collector had supposedly seen attacking the village and heroically returned to the royal capital to report it. This mission was a clear attempt to eliminate her. [I knew that the Von Gelds and the Von Ritters had disliked each other for generations, but surely even Otto wouldn't go this far.] She thought as she picked up the strange glowing device that the barbarian had dropped.
Mia Von Ritter, the captain of the elite Sun Knights of the Vorbei Kingdom, was not having a good day. She had led her knights into what she thought was a minor mission to kill, capture, or rout around 30 goblins that had supposedly been harassing a village deep in the ancient forest. The village was supposedly such a small and remote village that it did not appear on the maps that were standard issue to knights. Supposedly, only the Treasury Ministry was aware of such a remote village for the purposes of collecting taxes from it.I had been foolish to be not suspicious of that ridiculous mission to begin with. she thought to herself as two of her subordinates were leading a restrained young man to the center of the clearing while her other three subordinates who were awake were busy healing the ones who survived the attack. Why would the Sun Knights be called in for a simple goblin subjugation mission. Such a mission could easily have been accomplished by a sending a few dozen regular soldiers to the forest. Even the Royal Adventurers Guild would have been happy to have such a lucrative and easy mission to give to their adventurers who love exploring the ancient forest. Why send the entire order of Sun Knights, which boasted some of the most elite warriors in the Vorbei Kingdom on such a mission?!The answer to that last question was obvious when she first saw the Red Dragon of Calamity staring her down in a clearing exactly where the remote village was supposed to be.Someone set us up to die here! And I have a good idea of who that person is Mia had thought.The young Lady Von Ritter had felt a hint of fear and desperation wash over her for a moment, but then her training had kicked in. They were the Sun Knights, who had never been routed in battle no matter how bad it got. They had been trained from a young age to willingly lay down their lives for the sake of their Kingdom and their comrades. Even if Mia knew that this fight in front of her was hopeless, she and those who followed her would fight that hopeless fight for the pride of the Vorbei Kingdom. She had to be brave and strong for the sake of that pride. "Defensive formation! Watch out for its claws, they can rip through chain mail in an instant! Hans, cast a protective spell around our right flank! Friedrich, cast one on our left flank! Wilhelm, Ernst, and Herman, keep it busy while I prepare a penetrating lightning attack spell! Everyone else, stay sharp and wait for an opening when we can surround it and go in for the kill! Remember, it's eyes, nostrils, and mouth are it's only weak points!"She had shouted at her subordinates, and they had all followed their orders as efficiently as could have been expected despite their great fear. As the fight went on, however it became more and more clear just how hopeless the fight was. Their protective formations could barely withstand a single swipe from the dragon's claws before it would have to be re-cast, using up a lot of mana. All of the attacks that had been intended to keep the monster busy had just glanced off of its scales leaving the dragon unharmed. Mia's penetrating lightning attack spells had kept on missing as the dragon, seemingly aware of its weaknesses had kept nimbly moving its head so that Mia couldn't get a clear shot at its eyes, mouth, or nostrils. Worst of all, when the Sun Knights had finally thought that they had found an opening and went in to surround the beast, a quick slash with its massive tail had knocked out over a dozen knights, followed by it using precise strikes with its claws to start to pick off the remaining knights individually. That was when Ethan had wandered in. Mia saw this young man wearing strange clothes who inexplicably seemed to have the dragons eyes fixed on him, and felt something very off about him, but she didn't have time to focus on that. The dragon was momentarily distracted and she had had fallen comrades to avenge.It was only after the dragon had been driven off that she fully realized exactly what was off about this young man, aside from his clothes, and the fact that he had gotten the attention of the dragon. What was off about him was that he had no mana at all. Even newborn babies had trace amounts of mana flowing through them. As far as she knew, the only human bodies which had no mana running through them were corpses, and running completely out of mana meant instant death. It was as if she was looking at a living dead body.It must be a dead body. That is the only reasonable explanation for why he has no mana, but he seems to be alive! He is standing and looking around. He even looks a little scared. And why did the dragon seem to show deference to him?!This could be some kind of trick. I must investigate. She thought."Who are you, and how are you alive without mana!? I, Mia Von Ritter, demand you answer!" She shouted as she drew her dagger and walked towards him, followed by two of her knights. As he didn't answer immediately, she repeated herself even more forcefully "WHO ARE YOU AND HOW IN THE WORLD ARE YOU ALIVE WITHOUT MANA?! I, THE CAPTAIN OF THE SUN KNIGHTS, DEMAND THAT YOU AN ANSWER!"To her shock, he responded with some words in a strange language as well as putting his hands up in a non-threatening manner.Does he not speak the Vorbei language? The barbarian! she thought."You, barbarian, if you can understand me, don't make any sudden movements!" She said, just before forcing Ethan on the ground and restraining him.He was surprisingly weak. I pushed him to the ground with almost no effort. As expected of a dead body or a barbarian, I suppose."Milady, does he pose any real threat to us? Can't we just let the poor barbarian go?" Mia's subordinate Hans who had followed her in approaching Ethan asked."Indeed, such a pathetically weak barbarian wouldn't even pose a threat to a slime." Hans' twin brother Friedrich agreed with his brother."Are you both idiots?! How much mana do you sense flowing through him? Literally none at all. He managed to use up all of his mana without even leaving a trace amount behind, and yet he is alive! How is that possible?! Isn't that the question that other countries might want to figure out? We found this monster who can survive without mana, so we must confine him, if for no other purpose than so that enemy nations can't figure out how to survive without mana!""Forgive our impudence, milady." Hans and Friedrich apologetically replied simultaneously."It's fine as long as you understand. Go now and take him to the center of the clearing and start to set up camp for the night while those other three finish administering healing and mana potions to the ones still alive" she said. "Give the barbarian some food and ale, but make sure that he can't escape."she felt anger; anger to see so many other knights that she had come with lying on the ground unresponsive and bleeding badly. Some of her anger was directed at the dragon, certainly, but most of her anger at the Minister of the Treasury for the Kingdom of Vorbei, Otto Von Geld, who had given the faulty information to begin with and insisted that the Sun Knights be the ones to go, calling her a coward in front of the King when she first suggested that regular soldiers or adventurers would both be a better option to deal with the goblins that a tax collector had supposedly seen attacking the village and heroically returned to the royal capital to report it. This mission was a clear attempt to eliminate her. I knew that the Von Gelds and the Von Ritters had disliked each other for generations, but surely even Otto wouldn't go this far. She thought as she picked up the strange glowing device that the barbarian had dropped.
