I didn't manage to get the last update of 2018 out in time... so here's the first update of 2019.
""Earthquake!""
The moment I cast the spell, vibrations began rippling outward from roughly the midpoint between the Margrave's forces and the enemy army. The tremors grew steadily stronger, reaching a ferocity within minutes that left everyone unable to so much as stand.
""How's that?""
""This is... seriously insane...""
Once the adventurers below had grown so unsteady they couldn't stand, I cut the magic. Feeling satisfied with the result before my eyes, I heard Cain—who had been clinging to my leg—speak in a dazed voice. For the record, just before casting the spell, I had used "Levitation" to rise into the air, and Cain, apparently deciding he wouldn't make it to Slarin in time, had latched onto my leg. That alone would have risked him falling in shock, but Slarin extended a tentacle and pinned both my leg and Cain in place, keeping them safe.
The other two had been struck equally speechless by the sight before them, and had Slarin not steadied their bodies, they would have fallen right off the wall.
The spectacle that left all three so dumbfounded was...
""Now that's some fine magic you've woven. The whole plain has transformed into rocky ground!""
Just as gramps—who had come over upon hearing the commotion—said, the green grassland stretching before us had been torn apart by my magic, replaced everywhere by the brown of jagged, upthrust rock and earth.
""Gramps, perfect timing. Sorry, but this spell guzzles Magic Power like crazy, so I'm completely wiped. I'm going to take a nap. Can you handle the explanations for Chris and the others...?""
The "Earthquake" I had used this time devoured Magic Power on par with "Tempest," so even though I hadn't gone all out, I was feeling the fatigue in every limb.
""Well, can't be helped. But when you wake up, you'll explain it to them yourself, Tenma.""
""Yessir...""
Having gotten up early that morning too, I gave gramps a halfhearted reply and headed back to the carriage. The instant I said I was going to sleep in the carriage, Slarin retrieved Cain—who had been clinging to my leg—and set him down next to Lion and the others. And so an unusual sight came into being: three heirs of great noble houses sitting atop the wall in a state of utter bewilderment. Not that it was anything out of the ordinary for me, so there was no reason to give it much attention.
Jeanne and Aura were waiting in the carriage and asked about the earthquake, but when I told them to get the details from gramps, they seemed to figure out immediately that it was my doing, and nothing more was asked. I also mentioned I was going to sleep, which prompted Aura to try to usher Jeanne inside the carriage—but Jeanne locked the door before she could board, and I heard the sound of tongue-clicking from outside... I realized I could report this to Aina, and I was already starting to look forward to seeing how Aura would react in front of her.
""Aaah...""
I'd probably slept for about three hours. The sound of Chris—unable to hold out any longer—pounding on the carriage door roused me from sleep. After quickly tidying myself up, I stepped outside.
Sure enough, there was Chris wearing an expression that demanded an explanation, a strangely irritable Amour, and the three blockheads who had apparently kept Chris company the whole time while waiting. Jeanne and Aura were off a short distance away preparing lunch, and Shiromaru and Solomon showed no sign of leaving their side even after I came out.
"Good morning, Chris. Where's Grandpa?"
"Merlin is currently monitoring the vice-commander and his sons in rotation with me... But never mind that, Tenma. You know what I'm trying to say, right?"
"Yeah, too bad for you, Chris. There are no good-looking men here either... Why don't you just settle for Lion instead?"
"I know, right? We came all this way and there's not a single decent guy... But I'm not about to compromise with Lion. Nobody willingly picks the losing ticket... Wait, that's not what I—!"
That was a pretty drawn-out straight-man-and-funny-man routine... As I was thinking that, I noticed the three guys behind Chris desperately holding back their laughter. Well, keeping quiet was probably the right call—laughing out loud would have earned them who-knows-what from Chris. But did Lion realize she was being made fun of? She was smiling, so probably not.
"Enough jokes—this is about the magic I used before bed, isn't it?"
"That's right! If you're going to use that kind of magic, tell me beforehand! Thanks to you, the horses and
Adventurers'
Familiars went wild and it was a total mess!"
That was genuinely my fault. Fortunately, none of the panicking horses or Familiars had been injured, and there were no casualties during the rampage—but one wrong move and the damage could have been enormous. Chris gave me a proper lecture about that. Since it was entirely my doing, I accepted the scolding silently as a sign of remorse, though I had no idea why Amour was looking so grumpy right beside Chris.
"I wanted to sleep with you too, you know!"
That one sentence told me everything I needed to know. I'll just ignore Amour.
"So, how are the vice-commander and his sons doing? Especially that secretary who was the spy?"
"They don't seem particularly remorseful, honestly... Well, I suppose there were reasons it had to be kept secret, so I'll let it go for now. The vice-commander and all his sons—except the secretary—have returned to their duties. That said, we can't take our eyes off them completely, so they'll need to be monitored for a while."
So that was the situation—Grandpa was currently on monitoring duty. Apparently, "monitoring" just meant sitting in a corner, though; they hadn't actually placed any restrictions on his movements.
As it turned out, the investigation found nothing suspicious about the vice-commander and his sons—excluding the secretary.
"Oh, and regarding the secretary—we've figured out to some degree why he became a spy."
According to Chris's interrogation—led by Chris, with Grandpa and Lion present—the secretary turned spy because he wanted to prolong this conflict, bait the enemy into attacking, then claim credit for repelling them.
Apparently, the secretary wasn't actually the vice-commander's biological son, and all of his siblings were adopted too. They had been orphans with uncertain futures before the vice-commander saved them, and they wanted to repay him somehow. The way the secretary chose to repay him was by "inheriting the vice-commander's position." But the role of vice-commander was a rank within the Border Count's army, so without both ability and achievement, one couldn't simply step into that position. And to make matters worse, the secretary had been
working as a secretary...
He apparently had outstanding administrative skills, but only mediocre physical prowess and no talent for commanding troops. He'd been troubled by the realization that, as things stood, he could never take the vice-commander's position. That was when the squadron leader had apparently lured him into committing acts of espionage. The squadron leader had told him, "If you can repel the enemy forces that attack here, everyone will have to acknowledge that you have what it takes to be vice-commander."
"Well, that being the case—
SPY
—it was a criminal act carried out during active operations, but given that he was coerced into it and considering the track record he and the vice-commander had built up, his sentence has been reduced by one grade to 'slave degradation.' However, the vice-commander and his siblings won't be allowed to own the secretary as a slave, so that part will need to be discussed with Count Haust."
The justification was that, while the secretary was nominally the main culprit, there had been someone worse pulling the strings. By sparing the man's life, they created a debt of gratitude to the vice-commander while securing his continued loyalty to the Haust family moving forward. That was why the secretary's sentence of slave degradation was decided on the spot. As for the squadron leader, the testimony of the captured knights confirmed that he had been fully colluding with the enemy, so his death sentence was handed down without any room for appeal. The execution would be carried out after he was sent to Count Haust, and he had already been replaced by a handful of trustworthy knights. The remaining captured adventurers and knights were all slated for slave degradation as well; they would be shipped out as soon as the knights returned from Count Haust's territory. There had apparently been talk of executing them too, but selling out the squadron leader earned them a reduced sentence.
"It really feels like way too much is going on..."
"Tell me about it. My workload has shot up because of the fallout, but my pay isn't going up! Why isn't it going up?!"
Apparently, one of the duties of a palace guard was to monitor traitors. In this case, since they were monitoring people who were suspected of being traitors, Chris was lamenting that it would probably be classified as part of regular duties.
"So that's why the vice-commander and the other siblings are working so hard—for the secretary's reduced sentence, too... I mean, there's no guarantee there aren't more spies out there, but having caught this many, the remaining ones won't be able to move so freely. Just hang in there a little longer, Chris... And give up on the idea of a raise."
The vice-commander and the others must have figured that the more results they produced, the greater the chance of the secretary's sentence being reduced. If things went well, even if they couldn't become the secretary's owners after he'd been degraded to a slave, perhaps they could entrust him to someone they knew. As long as the Haust family held the secretary without mistreating him, the vice-commander and the rest would remain steadfast allies who would never betray them during his detention.
"Going back to the original question—what was that earthquake? I figured it was Tenma's magic, but what kind of spell was it exactly?"
"Oh, that was a spell called 'Earthquake.' In terms of scale, it's on par with 'Tempest.' The difference is that I did advance preparation this time and held the power in check, so nobody collapsed like they did when I used 'Tempest' in the past. Without that preparation, though, even with the power suppressed, no one would have been able to move from the carriage for a good while."
"You held it back with all that... To think there's a spell that rivals 'Tempest'... Tenma, you're a genuine
DISASTER
, aren't you."
What Chris said as
ten-sai
must have been intended as "disaster" without a doubt. Well, '
Tempest
is also '
Earthquake
'"Earthquake" is also undeniably a phenomenon that could be called a natural disaster, and calling myself a natural disaster wouldn't be wrong either... but still, it doesn't sit right with me.
"By the way... there aren't any other spells like that, are there?"
"Um, well... let's just say that's a secret."
When Chris heard my answer, she gave me an exasperated look. "So there are more, is what you're saying..." Well, there were some that could theoretically be done—ones that, while not on the level of Tempest or Earthquake, could mimic natural disasters on a smaller scale. Or rather, those two spells weren't all that difficult in theory.
People tend to think Tempest and Earthquake are impossibly difficult grand magic because of their destructive power and scale, but in reality, Tempest is just a really big whirlwind, and Earthquake is nothing more than casting the earth-wall spell I use all the time in rapid succession. Well, I do also manipulate the surrounding air pressure while spawning a tornado, or set a range and continuously raise the ground... but fundamentally, it's just brute force powered by the enormous amount of Magic Power I have.
"Well, the scale is different, of course, but Grandpa could probably do it too if he put his mind to it, so it's not exactly special magic... right?"
When I said it like that—as if it were nothing special—
"Tenma, that's obviously not true."
Chris replied coolly. I got the feeling she was looking at me like I was a hopeless case.
"Pfft... ahaha..."
Lion had been desperately trying to hold back laughter, but Chris was looking at Lion like that... or rather, everyone present except Lion was looking at Lion with the expression one gives an even more pathetic creature. Me included.
"Leaving Lion aside... tearing up the grassland that much would make it harder for them to attack. We'll need to clean it up a bit, though."
As things stood, there were rocks as tall as a person, which could actually end up serving as cover or shields for the enemy. But if we destroyed even those, all that would remain was a rough, rocky wasteland that would slow movement to a crawl.
"We'll leave that sort of thing to the Margrave's army."
I had already sent a letter to Margrave Haust informing him that one of the vice commander's associates had been a spy, and that the vice commander himself had no involvement in the spying. Additional knights would probably be sent as a result. I intended to leave with them as a replacement, but if there weren't enough knights to take over the work Chris was currently doing—surveillance and such—I'd have to change my plans and extend my stay here. Maybe I should just leave Chris and Lion behind and go to the Margrave to collect proof that the request had been fulfilled...
"Tenma, we're in a party together, you know? You're not thinking anything unpleasant, are you?"
It seemed my thoughts had been written all over my face.
"No, if it comes down to it, Lion—"
"—would be the only one I—"
...was all I was thinking, that's all."
"You're right. That's perfect. Let's do that!"
"Hey, sis, isn't that way too harsh on me!"
Lion raised a voice of protest, but not a single one of us paid him any mind. Everyone just wanted to go home as soon as possible if they could.
"Setting Lion aside... so, Tenma, what do you plan to do next? At this rate, having lost their source of intelligence and facing walls and wasteland we've built, the enemy army might get desperate and rush in all at once, you know?"
Cain had a point. If the enemy army's commander, or someone in a position close to one, was rash and impulsive, it wasn't out of the question that they'd throw caution to the wind and charge in.
"That's true... then again, maybe we should line up some Wyvern heads? Even for opponents desperate enough to attack, Wyverbs would be an unmistakable deterrent."
If it could dull the war hawks on the enemy side even a little, that was a win. And if it also lifted the morale of their own adventurers even slightly, that was an even bigger win.
"Tenma, if you're butchering the Wyvern, I want to eat the meat."
"Let's treat the adventurers to Wyvern meat as well. We can call it a necessary expense and write up the bill under Lion's name later."
"O-oh, hey, mmmph!"
"Lion seems to agree. He's telling Count Haust that he'll take full responsibility for the bill."
"Yep. Lion's just happy he finally gets his moment."
The instant Lion tried to say something, Albert and Cain simultaneously sealed his mouth and pinned him in place.
"Well then, I'll go report to the vice-guildmaster for now. Of course, I already got Lion's permission."
"Tenma, here's your permit. I wrote Lion's name on it, so just present this."
Chris wrote up a simple permit on the spot and added Lion's name. It was an obvious forgery, but Lion's handwriting was messy to begin with, and his signature was never consistent anyway, so it would be more than enough to pass. Well, that particular vice-guildmaster would probably pretend not to notice even if he knew it was fake. And especially now, he'd be thinking he needed to leave behind at least some positive results for the sake of...
Secretary...
...so even if it meant Lion took the brunt of it, he'd deliberately look the other way if it raised the adventurers' morale.
"Alright then, I'll head out for a bit. Chris, please secure a spot where we can butcher the Wyvern. Amour, I'm counting on you to explain things to Jeanne and Aura. Albert and Cain, keep Lion restrained just as he is."
"Roger that!"
"Grrraaagh!"
Lion let out a roar just as loud as the four voices combined, but was quickly subdued by Albert and Cain.
"Good! Permission granted!"
The deputy commander gave his approval the moment he heard my proposal. When I mentioned I had an emergency pass with Lion's forged signature on it, he snatched it from my hand, added his own signature, and said it would be treated as official.
"So, let's begin the butchering. First, we'll cut off the Wyvern's head."
I pulled one out whose neck was already nearly severed, and used Kogarumaru to cut it completely free.
"Amour, Slarin — hang this in the middle of the wall. Position it so it faces the enemy formation, and make sure it's balanced."
"Mm! Slarin, let's go!"
Amour picked up Slarin — who had absorbed the Wyvern's face into his body — and ran toward the wall.
"The wings don't have much meat, so I'll cut those off too... After that, I'll skin it and carve it into manageable block-sized pieces. That way, even Jeanne and the others will have an easier time cooking."
"My preparations are finished as well."
Peeling the hide of something this massive cleanly was no easy feat, so I came up with a plan — while cutting off the wings, I'd have Grandpa make several incisions in the Wyvern's hide,
then use Giant's Guardian
to rip it all off in one go.
"Oh! It peels off surprisingly clean."
"Kind of creepy, if you ask me."
Watching the hide peel away with a crisp, crackling sound, Albert was amazed that no meat clung to it, while Cain found the cleanliness of it almost unsettling.
"The Dragon Snake we butchered ages ago peeled just as cleanly, so I guess reptile skin is basically designed to come off easily."
"Well, Tenma... Dragon Snake and Wyvern are reptiles, sure, but they're not normally creatures you can just butcher this easily."
I pretended not to hear Chris's exasperated remark and ignored it, steadily cutting the skinned wyvern into one-to-two kilogram blocks of meat.
"Jeanne, Aura, Albert, and Cain — cut the block meat into thin slices. We're making miso soup, so get the stock pots out while you're at it."
"Tenma, I'm back! Mission complete! Also, the Order's cooking staff came to help."
"Slarin, Amour, good work. Amour, the menu is going to be miso soup. Help the cooking staff cut up the vegetables — ask Amour about the proper sizes. Slarin, please keep watch so Shiromaru and Solomon don't sneak any bites."
"Tenma, what about me?"
"Chris, um... go with Lion and explain things to the adventurers watching us. Everyone should bring their own cup or get one on loan from the Order and wait patiently. Also, tell them that no matter how big a container they bring, the amount each person gets is set."
"Got it! Come on, let's go, Lion!"
"Sure thing!"
Having left the wrangling of the adventurers to two people who seemed unlikely to be of much use in the kitchen, I pushed on with the butchering.
"I'll just bag the innards whole — stomach and all — and deal with them when we have time."
After finishing most of the butchering, I explained the miso soup recipe to the cooking knights, showed them a demonstration, let them taste-test, and then had each of them make their own batch. There would probably be some variation, but since they were all experienced cooks, there shouldn't be any major failures.
Before long, the massive batch of — not pork miso soup, but wyvern miso soup... abbreviated as "wy-soup" (named by Amour) — was consumed in roughly half the time it took to make, and just as planned, it contributed to a boost in the adventurers' morale.
Happy New Year. Please continue to support "Isekai Tensei no Boukensha" this year as well.