High up, in the sky, I was sitting on the air with my legs crossed, next to me was Faye, sitting in a much more lady-like fashion.
Here, so far removed from anyone I wondered what she might be thinking about.
"Faye, do you miss Alexandra?" I asked sincerely.
At first she was silent, as she was usually, but then answered, "I do."
The conversation ended there. She didn't say anything more and I didn't want to pry.
That was good enough for me, and somewhere deep, I hoped it was the same for her.
Unless she had some kind of mind reading ability I was sure that even she was curious about what I was about to do.
Far below us, the armies of Kathe and Landsfor were preparing for a fight.
Not an all out fight, mind you, but more of a ceremonial one, to show strength and honor the traditions.Well, they were in for a big surprise this year.
Standing up, I walked a bit down from the air so they could see me better.
I used [Amplify Voice] to yell down at them.
Everyone suddenly stopped to look up into the sky.
"Attention, attention. Soldiers of Kathe, soldiers of Landsfor, and everyone else listing to me. I am Asher Burell and it seems to me that there will be a few which carry this name. But at the moment, there are only two, me included.” I looked a bit sourly at Faye but then continued my speech, ”I can’t really explain it, let’s just call it an unwanted 'gift' from a higher power. Anyway, I just wanted you to know who I am.”
I put my hands up to the sky and started to channel a higher tier version of a spell called [Mana Void].
It was a huge vortex of shadowy... stuff, I didn't actually know what it was made of but the sheer size of its shadow covered at least half of the thousands of soldiers that were camped around the arranged fields of battle.
But not to worry, it was a non-lethal spell, …I hoped.
It would only suck up all the mana from the affected area, meaning plants, people and the natural mana flowing through the air then give it to the caster.
The worst thing that would happen to a mana-drained person would be great exhaustion, not death, I think.
And there must have been a lot of medics around so I don't have to worry about the thousands of men who were going to get laid out cold in a minute.
While the spell was taking it's time to descend I talked further.
“I consider myself a man, one of great principles. I love my women thick, my shows edgy or absurd, and my novels easy to read. I am sure a chosen few can relate to these heartfelt emotions.”
There were a few cries of confusion.
“Sorry, I may have gone off track here, let me refocus. I am not a king, nor do I consider myself as anything higher than what I am, just a guy, not a god or a ruler of any kind. I don't want to kill but if I have no choice then what am I going to do, except defend myself?
This is just a show, to entertain myself, and you are participants and the audience at the same time. Here's to the chosen few!"The spell finished casting and at least half of the soldiers were swallowed up by the spell.
It was glorious.
I descended down from the air like a villain, I thought about laughing but then I would just seem like a real crazy person, which I didn't really want.
Walking between the knocked out soldiers I looked at a few. They didn't seem dead but what did I know? I had no medical knowledge whatsoever.
"What’s happening? Who’re you?" I heard from someone, coming from one side of the battle.
A pretty boy with shining armor and a fancy sword riding a horse, the remaining soldiers split like the red sea to let him through.
"Who're you?" I aped him.
"Can you not see the sword?" He held up high a shining sword, it looked very plain to me, "I am the king of Landsfor."
"So what?" I said to the so-called king, "you got a magical sword, huh? Did a woman from a pond give it to you? Did you pull it out from a stone? Doesn't automatically make you king, big guy."
"I do not care who you are but this is not the time for... whatever it is you are doing," the pretty boy king said, "proclaim yourself before me, lunatic, or my men will send you to hell where you belong." "Oh yeah? I already told you who I am, remember? I said that as loud and clear as I could,” then I mumbled to myself, "I did activate [Amplify Voice], didn't I? …Maybe I forgot?" "Enough of this, I give you one last chance," he warned me. "Calm down, Mister Righteous. Let me first consult with my companion here." I looked around for Faye, of course when I came down from the sky she must have followed me. What else would she do? Stay up there? No way, she was too good at her job, or rather, she wanted to do as best as Alexandra would want her to do it. She was kind of a simp for her goddess. But it would be funny to think that Faye, of all beings in the universe, would get fed up with my human antics and just leave. But she was too possessed by the idea of doing a good job to
“For who doth thou think thou art to disrupt a venerated battle such as this?” The old mage asked. Of course, the first powerful person I meet in a world like this is an old man. He does look pretty fly, with a silky robe and a pointy hat. I wonder, does he have muscle under his robe? He was a mage, that usually meant that, physically, he was weak but anime logic demanded that he was buff. “The King has delivered you into mine hand to strike you down and I will send your head into his bosom. I will do this thing before all of the kingdoms and beneath the heavens. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandments of the king to do evil right before his sight? Thou hast stricken and killed in unlawful fury and hast taken up sword against the kingdom for thoued own.Now for the sword shall never depart from thine house.” Jeez, this guy was pretty intense. I imagined more of a kooky kind of old man mage. Right this moment, I couldn't think of any examples of specifically kooky old man m
Leoren readied himself. He casted a very fancy-looking spell, which didn’t seem to actually do anything but then, like a bullet; not that they have bullets in this world; sprinted towards me. He was surprisingly fast, not just for an old man. The spell he used must have been a speed buff or something in that direction. There was still a great distance between us and in the seconds it took him to get to me, Faye asked, “are you not interested in his statistics?” “No,” I turned to her, "...but do you think he's over level one-hundred?-" I pinched myself. If I asked her she’ll answer, "no, bad Asher.” I scolded myself. “Don't tell me, Faye. I want it to be a surprise." I didn’t know if Leoren had an ability similar to [Analyze]. I produced some hand signs. “Hitsuji, Mi, Tora.” He came to a sudden halt and jumped back. It didn't seem like he knew what I was going to cast at all. He just waited to see what I would do. If he had even the slightest idea what I was about to use,
There was a time when the monarch of Landsfor and his closest ally sat in the royal banquet hall in relaxation. That moment wasn't now. The most recent ruler of Landsfor, Rene Retaire, sat in a state of rage, worry, and other negative emotions that had begun to rise up inside of him even before the annual conflict with their primary rival kingdom, Kathe. He slammed his fist into the large table filled with delectable foods in front of him and cried, "Damn it all! "What is it, my lord?" Leoren, the elderly figure known as High-Invoker, asked the king. He mumbled numb, "It's nothing," in response. "I simply can't stop thinking about what occurred."" The old man sprang up from his chair and bowed to his monarch, saying, "My lord, my heart genuinely tears with grief." "Leoren, stand up and quit addressing me as Lord. I had thought that since I have been Rene to you for my whole life, it would continue to be so for the rest. Do not bother yourself with my sorrows. Nobody could have i
“Faye, do you want to know where we’re going?” I asked her, leisurely walking down a rough sandy road. She didn’t answer. “Umi, the sea,” I stopped and drew the Japanese symbols of the word into the ground with my finger, it consisted of boxes and slashes. “You see?" I pointed it out to her, "you could also refer to it as Kaiyo, it’s written with the same symbol as Umi but with the Yo symbol, which I think means western.But it’s not pronounced as Umi-yo, weird, isn’t it? If you would write Kai on its own it would mean 'times'." The symbol for it looks like a square with a smaller square inside of it. "I can’t make much sense of it anymore. My Japanese is a bit rusty cause I haven't really used it for around two decades, and to me, that's a really, really long time. At least half my life span, having in mind my previous life, then I am actually a thirty-six year old man.” More silence from her. “People love the sea. Everyone I knew did, I think everyone I currently know does an
I hate this mortal. Usually, I do not harbor any ill feelings for mortals; I usually do not harbor any feeling at all for them, but him… He does not treat anything or anyone with respect. One of the things he does which irritates me the most is that he does not treat the name of Lady Alexandra with the reverence it, and the Lady herself, deserves. No, he rather uses her name with contempt and associates himself freely with her, which I find revolting. I cannot imagine what kind of life he must have led in his previous one. He is an insane half-wit and I also believe him to be the same in the moments he had before he lost his sanity to this world’s system. Sheltering himself, out of his own free will, as a child and separating himself from most, if not all emotions to play out his little game of using his ability every day without miss, like a mindless automation to gain just an increment of power. And because his minuscule strength is considered fantastical in this world, he su
Since yesterday, my life has taken a turn for the better. I stumbled upon a charming little cottage nestled in the sand dunes by the beach. I had been looking for a place to rest my weary bones for quite some time, and this little cottage was the perfect haven for me. It had everything I needed, from a comfortable bed to a well-stocked kitchen, mind you they were all mine. I carried them around in the skill [Bag Universe], which looked like a literal hole in the fabric of the universe when I used the skill to put something in or took something out. The best part was the spectacular view of the ocean from the porch. I haven't been Sword for a while now, since shortly after the battle between me and Leoren. Now, I was just a thick-set older man, with arms and legs like tree trunks, and a body that had seen better days. Short, also, but not so short that I could have been mistaken for a dwarf. There was a question on my mind: how come I was, mentally, the same as I always was? M
The newcomers' chain clanging could already be heard. Another throng of unfortunate people are being brought by the slave-drivers to their doom. This time, there were thirteen; it felt like their numbers grew along with the brutality of the handlers every time there were new arrivals, which by this point had virtually been every week. One of the fresh ones, who was confined by four handlers, was subjected to particularly cruel treatment, being beaten for every single step he took, his neck must have been in constant pain because of the spikes of the man-catcher they held him in. His movements were slow and deliberate, and the chains that bound his wrists, feet, and upper body as a whole must have been almost as heavy as he was. Yet they were having trouble containing him. A member of the equitaur race. I’ve heard of them, but this was the first time I’ve actually seen one. They’re much taller than I had expected, and this one was very rowdy. They flung him into the cell I had be