Ch.202Chapter 202. Combat in a New Era

After a period of marching, we finally reached a position where the fortress occupied by the rebels was visible.

“It seems they’re preparing for a siege.”

Irene, who was scouting ahead, looked back at me.

“What are you going to do, Swen?”

“As I mentioned before, we need to take them out in one go.”

“Are you sure about this?”

I nodded with a smile at Irene’s question.

“It’s not something we could keep hidden forever anyway.”

The existence of mages was bound to be revealed with time. While Reika was the most powerful mage in this game, she wasn’t the only one of her kind. Besides, rumors about the existence of mages had already spread throughout the continent due to some of my eccentric actions, like making it appear as if I had summoned a meteor by building an altar.

As I mentioned before, if it was going to be revealed eventually, we needed to make the best use of it.

“…What about Reika?”

Irene turned her head to look at Reika, who was fidgeting behind me.

“I, I… well…”

I could tell from her voice that she was trembling terribly. Silently, I firmly grasped her hand.

“Ah…”

Reika was startled for a moment, but then she squeezed my hand with all her might and—

“…I’ll do it. As I told Swen earlier…”

Unlike her usual self who would mumble with a trembling voice, barely speaking above a whisper, she spoke with remarkable clarity.

“Irene and Swen… in these times, you both carry your own burdens. And also… because Serpina is working for Irene… and Irene is working for me and many others…”

As she spoke, she glanced briefly at her free hand.

“Everything I eat, wear, and my very ability to live like this is possible because everyone is working hard in their positions. Having this ability but… doing nothing while standing back would be cowardly, just trying to ease my guilt… I don’t want to do that…!”

“…”

If she used her magic, people would die, even if they were rebels. Some would only be injured, but inevitably, many would lose their lives. That’s just how war was.

Ten thousand soldiers weren’t just a health bar with the number 10000. It meant the destruction of ten thousand microcosms, each containing its own world.

For someone who had only ever cast spells at trees or scarecrows, she would now be taking lives with her own hands.

While it might be understandable for armed individuals like Irene or myself who belonged to a nation, for a civilian like Reika, that burden must have been incredibly heavy—

But she wanted to be of help to us. She wanted to repay Serpina for her kindness.

“…I understand.”

Irene seemed to understand Reika’s resolve and nodded silently.

“Then I’ll begin. Irene, please time your charge right after I finish casting the spell.”

“Mm.”

I slowly drew my rapier.

Recognizing this as my signal, Reika closed her eyes and began gathering magical energy in her hands.

“Haaah…!!”

I watched as a sphere of flame formed in her pale hands.

Reika expanded it to the maximum size she could manage, then—

“…Swen…!”

She passed it to me.

I slowly brought the tip of my rapier to it.

Just like before.

The fireball Reika created began to grow as it hung from the tip of my rapier.

Honestly.

I hadn’t planned to end things so directly with my own hands.

But for the crime of endangering Irene, of all people…

‘They’ll have to pay dearly.’

Perhaps it was due to the anger accumulated in a corner of my mind.

A mass of flame much larger than the one that had destroyed the castle wall before… was precariously balanced on the tip of my sword.

“Th-that…!”

“Could it be, magic really exists…!”

“I told you. That white-haired magician, the man who dropped the meteor!”

I could hear the soldiers whispering behind me, but I didn’t pay much attention. In fact, I was grateful for their misconceptions. The more people who witnessed this, the greater my influence would become.

“…!!!”

And then.

At the moment when I instinctively felt that I had gathered enough power—

‘…Take this…!!!!’

I thrust my rapier forward in a straight line.

With that, the fireball detached from the tip of my rapier… and charged toward the fortress where the rebels were gathered.

KWAAAAAAANG!!!!!!!!!

The fortress, with defenses far inferior to a castle, was being utterly demolished. Afterward, I launched several more fireballs in coordination with Reika.

—Red rain falls from the sky.

The fortress standing tall on that vast plain crumbled like autumn leaves before an unprecedented supernatural force.

I understand the feelings of the scientists who participated in the Manhattan Project in my previous world.

Didn’t they say they had become death, the destroyer of worlds?

Though not as destructive as that mushroom cloud, to the rebels in that fortress, it must have felt like divine punishment.

If they were guilty of anything… it was the crime of endangering Irene.

And also.

…The crime of the people of Einhart defying Lady Serpina.

‘…!!’

“Charge!!”

WAAAAAAAAAAH!!!

—Ah.

At the very moment when the fortress assault began in earnest, with Irene’s command and the soldiers’ resounding battle cries—

I suddenly realized that perhaps my anger wasn’t solely because of what happened to Irene.

* * *

The battle afterward was unexpectedly anticlimactic.

The ten thousand rebels lost their morale after being hit by magic once and became a disorganized rabble.

It wasn’t particularly surprising that people who directly faced supernatural power would lose their will to fight.

Of course, I wasn’t just standing around afterward. I continued to coordinate with Reika, using magic to assist Irene until Reika’s mana was depleted.

According to Reika, the northern continent had much more abundant mana than the central region. Her endurance clearly stemmed from this rich mana.

While the abundant mana in the north was a tremendous advantage for us, it was nothing short of a disaster for the rebel forces.

Unlike previous battles, they now faced attacks from ice and fireballs. Perhaps they finally regretted their foolish actions?

‘This should do it.’

Of course, this couldn’t fully repay the debt for saving Irene with her own body…

But I hoped this would allow Irene to set down some of her heavy burden.

After all, no one was more troubled than Irene by the fact that her lord, Serpina, had been injured while trying to save her.

“The fortress has fallen! Enter and finish them off!”

Before I knew it, the battle had reached its final stage.

Irene would handle the rest.

My role was finished.

And then.

“…Swen.”

Reika slowly approached me.

“Are you alright, Reika?”

“Yes. I’m… fine.”

I slowly took Reika’s hand.

As soon as I did, she squeezed my hand tightly.

She… wasn’t trembling.

She wasn’t trembling at all. Though cold sweat ran down her face, she stood firm without faltering.

“I want to… be of help to everyone too. With my abilities… I want to help you, Swen, and many others. So… I’m okay.”

“…You did well.”

“Swen.”

Reika turned her head to look at me.

“I don’t want to hide anymore.”

“…Pardon?”

“For the peace of the continent. For Irene. And… for my master, I want to do what I can.”

Reika, who had always been awkward, unable to make eye contact properly, and constantly checking others’ reactions, was now looking at me with the clearest expression I’d ever seen from her.

Her pink eyes were burning hot, as if they might burst into flames at any moment.

I easily understood the meaning hidden in her words.

“But… will you be alright?”

“It’s not like I can keep hiding anyway… and I don’t think there’s any need to. It’s the flow of the times. …My father also said that such a moment would come someday.”

“Reika…”

“So… I won’t hide anymore. I’ll use this power. It may be weak and insufficient for now, but with you, Swen… I’m certain it will be of great help…!”

She was sincere, this girl.

I slowly nodded.

“I understand.”

“…”

Together, we silently watched the collapsing fortress.

Now, the landscape of war on the continent would change significantly.

Even battle-hardened generals would be confounded for a while by the new variable of mages that hadn’t existed until now.

Brilliant strategists would rack their brains trying to figure out countermeasures for battlefields with mages.

As time passed, more mages would appear, and before long, everyone would not only become accustomed to them but also develop ways to counter them.

Magic was certainly a powerful ability, but it wasn’t something that could allow one person to defeat all enemies as if they were a god.

But at least for now—it was clear that Reika and I would be at the center of this wind of change.

I closed my eyes and recalled the name of the scenario where Reika first appeared.

[Battles of a New Era].

I vividly remembered the text written below it as well.

[Since the appearance of the pink-haired mage, battles on the continent have taken on a different form. Help your chosen monarch stay ahead in this new battlefield during this period of great transformation!] …that’s what it said.

Although it had been accelerated much earlier than the actual scenario timeline—

In any case, the existence known as Reika Nighthart had finally revealed herself to the continent in earnest.

Pink hair, pink eyes, fond of baking cakes, not particularly confident, but an admirable woman who wanted to be of help to everyone—and the continent’s first mage.

‘A new era begins today.’

Whether we liked it or not, the continent’s clock was steadily ticking forward.

*

Three thousand versus ten thousand—numerically, an overwhelmingly disadvantageous battle.

However, looking at the results, the three thousand troops led by Irene, a specialist in siege warfare, completely eliminated the foolish rebels who had admitted with their own mouths to being behind Serpina’s assassination attempt.

This battle will be recorded as essentially the first in which a mage appeared and played a prominent role on the continent.

Considering the previous battle at the northern fortress of Kelstein, where there had been debate about whether my altar-building constituted magic or not, this time truly marked the emergence of mages into the open.

And now—

All that remained was to deal with the rebels.