Arafoo Kenja No Isekai Seikatsu Nikki Chapter 14

The Archduke's villa in Solistea… 

It was lively early in the morning. Actually, there were knights walking around donned in full armor sets and carrying weapons, giving a more tough and dignified impression rather than lively.

There were about 15 knights tasked with the mission of protecting the Duke's children. The escorts were arranged by the former Duke, Creston to act as monster bait instead of his beloved granddaughter.

"15 knights… hey, isn't this a whole squad?"

"Mu… DelSasis, there's no way I'm sending over more than this."

"No, that's plenty enough! How many more sacrifices are you willing to make!?"

Many of them have been on escort missions before, but there were many young knights this time around, in order for them to gain practical experience.

There aren't any magicians amongst the escorts, and that alone should let you understand how bad the relations.h.i.+p between knights and magicians is. No magicians' faction would send over one of their own to escort some lowly knights.

"I'll complain about it in great lengths afterwards, but what use is a magician with no combat experience either way?"

"Well… that's true, but they have other roles…"

Of course, Celestina is replacing them this time around. Recently, the Duke has been on friendly terms with the knights and has created his own magicians' faction, garnering the disinterest of other factions.

"You have a faction as well right, Creston-san? Couldn't you call some magicians over?"

"Umu. Unfortunately, they don't have enough combat experience to be in a real battle so I had to turn them down."

"I see…"

Zeros thought "You know about your grandson's absurd behavior so you instinctively sensed danger and ran away, didn't you?" but didn't dare to say it out loud.

He already knows there's no point in saying it now.

While this conversation was happening, the knights loaded the luggage into the carriage and were almost ready to leave. The amount of food, as well as other necessities such as tents and cooking utensils was, naturally, enormous. They've prepared as much as they could for this week of combat training.

"Duke, your excellency, we're ready to go."

"Good work, I ask of you to protect my grandchildren this time."

"I will protect them with my life if necessary."

"Umu, I hope so."

The knight who bowed to Creston immediately glanced at Zeros, and suddenly felt uncomfortable. The magicians he knew were like batteries that could only shoot magic from the rear, and were arrogant people even though they wouldn't fight on the frontlines.

However, the magician in front of him, clearly gives the impression of being closer to them. The reason being when he glances at Zeros' waist.

"Swords?… And two of them? Weren't you a magician?"

"I'm a magician and I also possess close-quarters combat skills. Otherwise, I'd die on the battlefield."

He understood with Zeros' answer. The magician in front of him is a fierce man who's been across many different battlefields and understands the importance of close combat. A magician of a different tradition from this country's. "The world sure is big", is what the knight thought.

"In a battlefield… you seem to understand the importance of close-quarters combat skills."

"Precisely, if you think about it, How useful can a magician that has ran out of mana be? If you can't protect yourself, you'll die. Simple as that."

Now, the knight understands that the magician in front of him is not a fool. A heretic who tries to master both magic and swordsmans.h.i.+p can only be said to die on the battlefield. Although, tt can also be taken as the proof of a person possessing a significant amount of ability.

"That's right, I'd like to tell that to the magicians in this country that don't do any close-quarters combat training."

"That's a nasty mentality to have. I feel sorry for the serious magicians out there that are ridiculed because of it." 

"Is that so? It looks like there will be no problem between us though."

"Of course, the knights are the swords and s.h.i.+elds, and it's their role to knock down and destroy the enemies. Magicians must a.s.sist them, and at the same time, move in order to make the battle more advantageous."

"The current situation is that this country is divided, sadly… it's quite embarra.s.sing."

"What can magicians do with political power?… We must be seekers of wisdom."

A strange sense of camaraderie was born between Zeros and the knight.

"I'm late, but I'm the captain of this squad, my name is Alev Gilbert."

"How polite, I'm Zeros Merlin, just a researcher."

They exchange a handshake.

"Zeros-dono is an excellent magician who's teaching the essence of magic to my two grandchildren, you might learn a lot from him."

"Hoh… That's wonderful. He definitely felt different from the magicians of this country, but I see… both swords and magic…"

"Umu, and both of them practice magic and the sword."

"That's great, So both of them have the ability to protect themselves."

"I'm still unskillful, but I'm trying my best to hammer that into them."

That means, the importance of close-quarters combat has been struck. The vast majority of magicians are quite inept at such way of fighting and will withdraw as soon as they run out of mana.

However, there's no such convenient situation in an actual war. In the worst case scenario, the battle might turn into a quagmire of total annihilation.

"After all, someone who's been in an actual battle, knows things are different in reality."

"You can't be overconfident. I almost died many times because of my lack of experience. I think it's the senior's duty to teach the younger generation."

"That's plenty. The commander of the knights often says 'this recent generation's magicians are rotten. They won't survive on the battlefield.' And I agree with him."

"You don't know what might happen on the battlefield, so you need as much experience as you can, right? Is the country so lacking in manpower?" (*T.N: As in, there's a lack of magicians and magic education I guess?)

"That's… There are those who only use magic and they all die on the battlefield…"

In short, it turns out the magicians are quite the delicate fellows. Because they've never experienced an actual battle, they don't understand how foolish they actually are. As they are in peaceful times, they have forgotten the gruesomeness of war.

Knights understand that up to a certain extent, they might have killed people on skirmishes and whatnot, but it's too impersonal for magicians who only shoot magic from the back and, thus, can't understand the meaning of taking a life.

"Does a long period of peace spoils a person?… 'Don't forget about war in times of peace'".

"Let me tell you something. That's right, they don't know much about fighting."

"There's either l.u.s.t for power or for research. They are…"

The magicians of this country seem to be fairly extreme. But peace and such things are closer to an illusion than to reality, there's no end to conflict no matter wherever you go.

From small fist-fights to conflicts between villages… wars between countries are just an extension of that.

Customs and cultures are different depending on the country, even if the people living there are the same, and if you mix in religion, there'll be no shortage of seeds of conflicts, and like that, they explode and spread like wildfire until they become full-scaled wars.

After all, it's just conflict between humans, there are no ideals like justice in it. It's, at the same time, extremely vague, and everyone involved end up losing either way.

The magicians are neutral in a sense, but as soon as they get power, that neutrality evaporates, and eventually, they begin to act based on their personal desires. It's like a dangerous explosive, no one wants to have one in their own homes. 

"We'll be ready soon… How are the preparations for the Archduke's grandkids?"

"I think it should be about time but… they're late"

"I don't have to worry about putting on armor because I'm not wearing any, but does it take that much time?"

The mansion's entrance door opens behind the three people, and the two aforementioned grandchildren appeared with an incredible amount of luggage. Celestina packed her belongings in a huge bag, and Zweit had a ma.s.sive backpack as well. The two were dragging their luggage with shaky legs due to their weight.

"Hah… I'm ready…"

"Almost there… I think I packed too much… so heavy."

""Why so much luggage!?""

Apparently, most of Celestina's luggage were clothes, and when it comes to Zweit, it seems he was carrying various tools for performing experiments. It seems like, in his case, he wanted to challenge Zeros, who could perform alchemy.

(Why do you look like some shady peddler… Is it my imagination?)

"Can you reduce your luggage a bit?"

"Women need changes of clothes! Are you saying I should wear the same underwear for a week!?"

"There are some medicinal herbs there, right? I wanna get some."

Both were serious… They had quite the exceptional level of enthusiasm, and Zeros, who couldn't win against that, was inevitably made to store their luggage in his inventory.

"What an useful magic… What kind of principle does it use?

"It's an ancient and complicated magic, I wouldn't know how to explain it." 

"Is there any magic you don't know…?"

"Of course. I'm not G.o.d. From the point of view of an omniscient and omnipotent being, we're all nothing but trash anyway."

In the first place, there's no point in trying to understand the principle behind the magic the G.o.ddess gave him. It's theoretically possible to construct the magic formula in itself but the amount of mana and the dimensions of the formula are not something humans could manipulate.

In actuality, Zeros had already created a simplified version of storage magic but it resulted in being unusable and it was an obscure and troublesome subst.i.tute that couldn't be used with theory alone. 

"Alright, I'm ready, let's get along during this week."

"It'll be rea.s.suring to have such a powerful magician with us."

While Alev and Zeros were greeting each other…

"Tina, be careful, alright? If one of those idiot knights lay a hand on you, please tell me. I'll do something about it."

"W-What are you going to do, Oji-sama!?"

"No no, you don't have to worry about that. There are things you are better off not knowing…"

"Oji-sama!?"

…Creston was saying farewell to his beloved granddaughter.

(T–This f.u.c.king old man… when his granddaughter is involved he sure acts like a different person… I can only say it's disgusting.)

He's usually a competent person who thinks about the people, but when Celestina is involved, his personality does a complete 180 degrees turn.

(It's not even the same person anymore…)

It was a bit of a dangerous sign, though, he sure loved his granddaughter.

Zweit was talking with the knights and asking what did they have planned for this excursion. That is because, the knights also go to Far-flung forest for training so their know-how may be useful to him.

The group soon boarded the carriage and proceeded east towards Far-flung forest.

　・

In the swaying carriage, Zweit asked Zeros the question he's been wondering for a long time.

"Hey…"

"What is it, Zweit-kun?"

"Why are you Celestina's tutor, you don't like being used in power struggles, right?"

"Naturally, What about it?"

"Aren't you getting a piece of land from the old man as a reward? Isn't that contradictory?"

Zeros looks away at the bright blue sky.

"Zweit-kun, what do you think about a middle-aged man that hasn't settled down yet?"

"It's not like you're some sort of vagrant…"

"Yeah, but don't you think it's the worse for a person to be wandering around without a place to live? It's natural for people to work hard and earn just enough money to live by. So if you tell me you're going to give me land, I'll gladly take it."

"…You have an unexpectedly thick personality."

"I don't want to give more power to the already powerful, but I do think it's fair, to point the young people, the right direction."

"Alright… I just thought there might be another shady reason behind it…"

"Don't worry, it's nothing fishy."

Such a conversation happened, but his inner thoughts were…

(I want a G.o.dd.a.m.n house! What can a grubby middle-aged man, with no connections or trust in this country do! I can't possibly find a job that easily!

Magic is dangerous, and the market is likely to crash if I introduce things made with alchemy, and if I screw up, the country's annoying guys will come after me. I don't want to be a mercenary either!)

… like that.

Zeros Merlin, 40 years old. Wants to get married and have a comfortable home…

He's around the age when you'd worry about things like that. It wasn't an age where you could carelessly go play around the world. His dream was to cultivate a field, have a family and a warm and cozy house.

Two days later, the shaking carriage arrived at the edge of the Saffron plains at the boundary with Far-flung forest, where the group prepared to set up camp. 

While the knights were setting up the tents, Zeros surrounds the area with an earth wall with his magic, and, at the same time, the two disciples dig up trenches around it and set up pitfalls.

Goblins are the only carnivorous monster that wander around this area, the rest of them are herbivorous. Exceptionally, other dangerous predators might appear from time to time but it's not a problem with their current battle potential.

Although, it can be said to be an excessively large group for a monster extermination, it could also be considered to be small for the escorts of the Duke's children.

The role of the knights is to allow the two to gain real combat experience, and at the same time, to raise their own levels. The problem is whether there is a suitable opponent for them.

"Hey… s.h.i.+-s.h.i.+shou, What are you doing?"

"s.h.i.+shou?… Me?"

"Ah… well, you're also teaching me magic, I figured I should address you in a more appropriate manner."

"I see, I don't mind. So, what's wrong?"

"I'm curious about what you're doing. 【Magic Paper】 …What's that?"

Zeros cut the blank 【Magic Paper】  into vertical pieces, and started writing magic characters with a pen on them. It's 【Magic Note Arcana】 but the characters written were terribly precise, and current magicians couldn't even hope to decipher them.

 "What's this? It's obviously to summon a familiar, right?

"A familiar? Isn't it a curse? Or perhaps, it summons a horde of monsters around here?" 

"No, you wouldn't need that kind of thing. Just look, it's going to be interesting."

Zweit continues to watch over the scene unfolding before his eyes. The pen, which runs across the paper without any hesitation, continues to draw an unknown magic formula, and it gradually takes the form of a magic note. 

The magic note made of countless characters is incredibly dense and beautiful, causing a sigh of admiration to leak from Zweit's lips. Moreover, Zeros understood the meaning of each magic character written on it and manipulated them to construct a magic unfamiliar to him.

Since Zweit is a magician, he's, naturally, curious about what this magic note is for.

"Well… it's something like this."

"Is it done? What kind of effect does it have, that magic note?

"Well, shall we try? 『Flap your wings and become my eyes, Artificial Feng.』 (*T.N: Feng as in the mythological Chinese bird)

At the moment the chant was finished, the magic note started absorbing the mana in the surroundings and condensing it in the form of an eagle.

This magic note doesn't bind creatures with magic in order to tame them, it produces artificial monsters made up of mana. Of course, because of that, the mana ends up dispersing and eventually the creature disappears, but since there's no need to spend money on food and care, it can be used as a cheaper alternative. It has a time limit but it's a very useful magic tool for reconnaissance.

"Th-That's so cool…"

"Wouldn't it be closer to a golem than a familiar? It can't be used for a long time because it ends up collecting the surrounding dust and dirt on its body and encapsulates the mana inside of it… although, it can also be used for attacking."

When Zeros gives a magic stone to the eagle, it takes it with its strong beak and gulps it down.

"What was that? Does it work for longer if you give it magic stones?

"That's correct, this magic has a time limit, but you can extend it by feeding it a magic stone. Pretty convenient, right?

"Is it better than a low-ranked familiar?"

"Not really, there's no problem with things at the level of Goblins, but if it is a larger monster, the level of the caster will play a larger role. It's useless for a novice magician."

"Woah… such a thing. Wait, depending on the level!? Then what's the strength of the bird you summoned? 

"Well, if it's a Wyvern, it might be able to win easily."

It was an absurd familiar. For example, if the level 55 Zweit (although it's slightly higher than that) summons one, then the familiar would get summoned at level 55. In terms of strength, it'd be at the level of a single High Orc only in terms of pure physical strength, without considering other numerical values.

However, in the case of the extraordinarily high level Zeros, the level of his familiar would be over 1000 and with a strength comparable to that of a high-ranked Dragon. Naturally, the amount of mana required to summon it isn't a small thing.

In short, he's a monster.

"Aren't you a monster?… such magic… I've never heard of it."

"Well, I don't care about that stuff. Would you like to use it? Doesn't it sound quite interesting?"

"…Is it alright?"

"If you can't do something like this you can't call yourself a magician. Try doing it at your own pace."

"Yahhoo!… I'll give it a try then ♪."

Zweit-kun, 17 years old. Excited like a child with a new toy.

Very straight-forward at his roots.

Celestina is sending a jealous gaze from behind them. And, in the end, Zeros made another magic note and gave it to her.

　　・

"This is really interesting!♪… It's as if I'm flying in the sky!"

"That's right! ♪ I didn't know the world was so big!"

The two willingly conduct an on-site reconnaissance training by linking their familiars' sights with their own. For them, the magic notes are like toys, and while confirming its effectiveness they enjoy the scenery from the sky to their heart's content.

Actually, they're on the ground, but the vision of their familiars is being directly transmitted into their brains. It's as if they were watching a 3D movie for the first time. The real life-like experience was enough to lift the mood of the two of them while also blowing away their fatigue from the two days journey.

While these two were enjoying themselves. Elsewhere, Zeros…

"Oh, I found a group of Orcs… That was a close one…"

…was scouting properly.

Cutting off the visual link, Zeros heads over to the squad's leader, Alev.

"Alev-san!"

"What is it, Zeros-dono!"

"There's a group of Orcs nearby. They number about 20 and their levels are around 30… I'm heading there."

"Orcs!? That's not good. All men, prepare for battle!!"

As soon as the knights heard the command they started preparing their equipment all at once. The construction of the temporary base was interrupted and they move to making their battle preparations according to their usual strict training.

Putting their armors on, as if they were part of their own bodies, unsheathing their swords to check their condition, and some even re-string their bows.

"So fast… they are quite skilled."

"I'm happy to hear that, although everyone is around level 25." 

"Well then, now it's time to profit…"

"Ze-Zeros-dono?"

He didn't look like Zeros the magician, but like a hunter reminiscent of a ferocious carnivore aiming at its prey.

Zeros takes out a bow with a fiendish appearance from his inventory while smiling fearlessly.

"Now… Let's get started!"

He's returned to these wildlands once again. At that time, he struggled to survive for a week straight. Now…

A deranged, battle-crazed, demon, that would, later on be called 'The Zeros of that time' was born again. 

The knights' movements were quick. After listening to the reports of Zweit and Celestina, the squad gets in a formation to be able to respond immediately, aiming at the Orcs coming out from the forest. 

The sky was being constantly monitored and thus, they were fully prepared to give a preemptive strike. 

"They're being wary…"

"What about the group, are they splitting?"

"No, they stopped at that trap."

Orcs were monsters that have the nose of a pig, and the good sense of smell that comes with such a big nose.

Unfortunately, the knights were positioned upwind, so the monsters were aware of their presence. Therefore, the Orcs are staying in place and didn't look like they'd move any time soon.

"Don't get fooled by the pigs' wits. In this wild world, you won't survive if you're not careful."

"The Orcs are surprisingly smart. To be honest, I didn't expect them to realize."

"Waiting here is not the best for us, but it'd be reckless to attack…"

"Let's roast them then, 『Heavenly Arrow of Judgement』"

"""Eeehhhhh!?"""

Zeros shoots a s.h.i.+ning arrow towards the sky with his high mana concentration bow. The arrow splits in the air countless of times transforming into a swarm of rock arrows, flying at such high speeds that they gathered the surrounding dust, and then, they rained down behind the group of Orcs.

"""An arrow…? Eh?"""

The confused group of Orcs fled from the forest and towards the knights. 

The knights hold their bows in unison, nocking arrows and quickly pulling their bowstrings. The panicked Orcs didn't spare even a glance to the knights and were just running desperately, trying to escape from the magic attack.

And in that moment…

"Fire!"

The arrows were released all at once.

The confused Orcs didn't even realize they were trapped, and so, their numbers were reduced.

"Seven dead, five severely wounded. Now it's a more advantageous fight, in terms of numbers."

"Knight squad, draw your swords!!"

Steel swords were unsheathed all at once.

"""Oohhh!!!"""

Celestina pummeled the head of an Orc with her mace, successfully defeating one, while Zweit managed to reliably end up the injured Orcs with his longsword.

"Slow! The Mud Golems are much faster, these Orcs aren't even opponents!!"

"Don't let your guard down! This is a real battle, you could lose your life at any time."

This is the result of the incredibly demanding training, Zeros had put them through. The two of them had the leeway to exchange some light words, even while engaging in close combat. The two's battle potential wasn't very high but they still managed to cope with this.

Phrased in another way, Zeros' training was that terrible.

"By the way, where's sensei?"

"Don't know, this battle is a mess, why don't you go beat some more pigs…"

"Well, I know he'll be alright… Oni-sama! Watch out! Dangerous!"

"Geh!"

An Orc who managed to escape the radius of Zeros' initial magic, raised its club, ready to strike Zweit. 

And then, the Orc suddenly gets an arrow to the head, falling down lifelessly.

"What?… An arrow?

"Nii-sama, sensei's over there!"

Zeros is snipping on a tree. Whenever he gets in a poor spot to shoot his arrows, he hurls a wire from his arms, flying from tree to tree.

"… A magician… Was it…?"

"… That's a decoy. He's actually an a.s.sa.s.sin…"

"Hey! A new group of Orcs is coming over here!! Their numbers are… over 15!?"

Another group was about to come in contact with them. Aware of that, Zeros turns his bow in that direction and kills three Orcs with a single arrow.

He then puts the bow in his inventory, and takes out his Gorgon knife with its white-silver glistening blade.

The hunter attacks the Orcs. There was no emotion in it, just the perfected act of hunting.

Zeros, who was said to be an annihilator along with his 5 companions. The power of the magic he had developed wasn't the only unnerving thing, but also the covertness, with which, he instantly killed enemies. In other words, he's a monster exterminator. 

Before you realize, he'd jump down in the center of the enemies, kill the small-fry with a wide-range annihilation magic, and ruthlessly cut down the rest of them in close combat.

It's also unexpected that, despite the fact that his fighting prowess manages to outs.h.i.+ne both warriors' and magicians', he actually specializes in a production job.

"Finish the weak ones! Leave the rest to Zeros-dono!!"

""Oohhh!""

Orcs are tough and st.u.r.dy monsters with high vitality, it's not a monster you can cut down easily. Despite that, Zeros, who boasts an abnormal strength, instantly decapitates an Orc from behind and throws his knife at the next prey. It's completely the opposite of the way magicians fight…

And so, the battle continued and the rest of the Orcs were exterminated. 

"Oh? I leveled up."

"Yeah, me too!"

"That was quite difficult."

"Well, it was hard for the first day. Let's take a quick rest."

The level of the knights had risen enormously. That said, Zeros didn't kill all the Orcs. He tried weakening the Orcs as much as possible after thinning their numbers.

As if it was natural to him, Zeros didn't hesitate to use poison and other abnormal status-inducing skills, and paid close attention to try not killing them as much as possible. He looked like a warrior mercilessly cutting down enemies, but he didn't forget this was part of his two disciples' training.

"I leveled up… level 56 now."

"Me too… I'm level 32."

Leveling up on the first day, they seemed to be a bit anxious. If this continues for a week, who knows what'll happen to their personalities. After all, Zeros, who's their tutor, is way too extreme.

"G-Ge…. Ge!?"

"What's wrong, s.h.i.+shou? Making that weird a.s.s voice…"

"…It's th-that thing…  It's coming!!!!!"

Zweit's voice didn't seem to have gone through, and Zeros trembled in fear while he was sharing senses with his familiar.

"A monster that makes Zeros-dono tremble in fear… such a thing is coming?"

Everyone tense up immediately. Knowing Zeros' strength, the knights understood just how dangerous that monster was.

"It's here… The Crazy Ape…"

""Haaaahh!!??""

A dumb voice comes out of everyone. The Crazy Ape is certainly a strong monster, but individually, they are weak enough to be swiftly defeated with their current strength.

Zeros couldn't possibly be afraid of it. Naturally, everyone tilted their heads in confusion, but the true fear was promptly understood with his next words.

"It aims for men's b.u.t.ts… I was nearly dug up too…"

―――Bis.h.i.+!

Everyone was frozen in place. Well, eventually the knights started to crack…

"W-What!?"

"C-Crazy!"

"No way… our chast.i.ty!"

"So for the Ape this is like having an all you can eat buffet… I have to run away…"

"That can't be true… So we're in an incredibly nasty danger zone… In a different way."

In that moment, it appears. A huge white-haired monkey, with a scruffy face as if it was drunk. However, it was its fiendish tower of Babel that was particularly monstrous.

The aforementioned Crazy Ape looked at Zelos and the knights with a gaze as if licking them all over raising its voice with an 'Ahaaan ♡'  sound.

A frigid cold a.s.saulted everyone's backs.

"R-Run awayyyy!!"

They, who fought bravely against the Orcs, collapsed in the blink of an eye in front of the giant monkey. 

They ran away at full speed, not looking back, trying to muster every bit of strength they could to flee.

Some of them were even stripped of their pants, but barely lost anything important. They all hugged each other and wept in relief when they finally managed to get to the safety of their encampment. 

The vast forest of Far-flung, a demonic forest where monsters wander around everywhere. This place is, in many ways, a danger zone.