The Great Empire of a Distant Land (7)

Jizo had devoted himself to buying time, neither resisting fiercely nor simply allowing himself to be beaten. The moment he saw me, he understood the situation and quickly beat down the merchants' guild's thugs.

I may have underestimated his capabilities far too much.

Without a doubt, if the thugs had brought a hostage here, Jizo would have immediately taken the hostage back and annihilated the enemy rather than merely ceasing his resistance.

Well, in that case, I can't say whether the safety of everyone at the tavern other than the hostage would have been assured, so my actions weren't pointless.

Still, Jizo's strength could no longer be described as merely amazing; it was downright terrifying.

What I'd misjudged wasn't his technique, but his physical prowess.

From what I could see, even the shaft was made of metal, yet Jizo swung the heavy three-pointed double-edged polearm effortlessly with one hand.

The mere fact that he could wield a heavy polearm with one hand wasn't inherently abnormal.

But that required using the core effectively as well as the arms. If someone swung a solid mass made entirely of metal around like a mere stick, it stopped being a question of skill altogether.

Yet not a single one of the thugs Jizo had beaten down had died, even though they probably wouldn't be able to stand for quite some time. That proved he didn't rely on strength alone.

For a moment, I wondered if I could beat him.

That thought flitted through my mind.

I had no intention of fighting Jizo, so it was a meaningless fantasy.

For that matter, I wasn't particularly fond of fighting or of determining who was superior.

Yet strangely, I found myself comparing myself to him.

With the spirits' help, I could certainly win, but if it came down to weapons alone, it might be somewhat difficult.

If the magic sword's ability were unknown, I might have a chance of cutting through his weapon with a single blow. But if its ability had been exposed, it would be more than a little difficult.

If I fought without the magic sword as well, then no matter how hard I tried, I would have no chance of winning.

Even a single clash would crush my arm and result in defeat.

"If we let this drag on, it'll only become troublesome, so I think we should settle it tonight. What do you think?"

When I asked, Jizo twisted his lips into a grin and nodded.

Ah, so he could make a combative expression like that. I was a little surprised.

His calm expression probably wasn't fake, but I found it a little entertaining to glimpse that hidden side of him.

I'd spent the past few days investigating the place the merchants' guild used as its headquarters.

As I believe I've mentioned before, people like them make their living off authority backed by violence, and use that authority to maintain their organization.

Therefore, if that violence utterly defeated them—if, despite being the ones to attack first, they were beaten back and had their headquarters overrun—the merchants' guild would lose its foothold in this town.

The merchants whose profits they skimmed were hardly happy about it, and the soldiers and officials who accepted bribes from the merchants' guild and turned a blind eye to its activities would show no mercy when it came to crushing an opponent who had fallen from power.

A large mansion on the central island was the merchants' guild's headquarters.

I rushed up to the two guards and knocked them down in a single motion with my magic sword still in its sheath.

Their cries asking who was there were cut off by the wind and reached no one's ears.

In any case, that little trick was meaningless.

Jizo's raised three-pointed double-edged polearm smashed through the mansion's gate.

Even the wind spirit couldn't completely muffle such a roar.

I had intended to sneak in over the wall, so I couldn't help but give a wry smile.

But this was flashier and quicker, so whatever.

While knocking down the thugs who came running toward the noise, Jizo and I made our way into the mansion.

As we beat them down amid screams and angry shouts, it became hard to tell whether we or they were the thugs, but surely the side that struck first was at fault.

The advantages of surprise and a sudden assault are considerable.

That's because we were fully prepared, while our opponents hadn't prepared at all.

Psychologically and physically.

Some came running over, still bewildered by the sudden attack.

Naturally, they couldn't display their full strength.

Even if they managed to compose themselves, they hadn't had time to put on armor. They came running with nothing but a single sword clutched in their hands.

That was much better than before, but they were still far from being fully prepared.

Others were hungry, exhausted, asleep, or, in the worst cases, drunk.

That's what it meant to be unprepared.

If they had used their numerical advantage to form a human wall and placed archers on the roof, this mansion could have functioned as a small fortress.

Whether that could have stopped Jizo and me was another matter, but they might have been able to hold out for a while.

However, advancing while mowing down the thugs who came to intercept us piecemeal was exceedingly easy for us.

But as I said earlier, preparation was crucial in battle.

The merchants' guild had prepared for a battle with the water-transport guild—not for our attack, but for the battle with what they called the River Gang.

For example, when they came to recruit me as an archer.

Then, without warning, I felt a powerful killing intent directed at me,

"Wind spirit!"

I called out to the wind spirit, and at almost the same moment, Jizo was engulfed in flames.

The wind barrier that arrived just in time blocked the flames' heat and protected Jizo.

But it probably hadn't blocked all of it.

Jizo twisted his face in pain and swung his three-pointed double-edged polearm, scattering the flames that remained.

I recognized the distinctive way those flames had been produced.

I hadn't heard an incantation or anything else, but I couldn't possibly have mistaken it.

It was definitely magic.

"They hired shikishi?"

The obsidian covering Jizo's body had grown slightly larger.

Still holding his three-pointed double-edged polearm ready, he stared down the three men who had appeared, all wearing distinctive, loose-fitting robes.

Shikishi... I didn't know that term.

At least, I don't think that name came up in what Su told me about the Huanggu Empire.

Each man drew a talisman from inside his robes. Each talisman burst into flames and was flung toward us.

There was no mistaking it: a fireball spell.

Yet there was still no incantation—and that was precisely why it activated so quickly.

A normal fireball spell activates a little faster than an exploding fireball spell and is correspondingly less lethal, but this was far too fast.

I felt rather sorry for the mages, but unless a spell was completely unknown to me or took me by surprise, magic was meaningless in my presence.

The wind caught the flames, closed around them like a fist, and crushed them.

All three, simultaneously.

To them, it must have been a killing blow.

When it had no effect whatsoever and vanished in a way they couldn't understand, the three mages were visibly shaken.

Normally, an activated spell has enough power to kill a person with ease, so I could understand their feelings to some extent.

However, that confusion was far too large an opening in the presence of Jizo and me.

Either my still-sheathed magic sword or Jizo's three-pointed double-edged polearm easily knocked the three mages unconscious.

They might ordinarily have been formidable enemies, but unfortunately, their attacks could barely affect a High Elf who understood magic.

I searched them, seized every talisman identical to those from earlier, and tucked them away.

I had no time to examine them closely, but they were probably some kind of magical item.

Simple, disposable things with patterns painted onto paper with a brush.

But magical items weren't actually that simple.

I knew because I'd made various magical items with Kaushman, but a pattern drawn on paper could easily lose its effectiveness as a spell formula from a single crease.

Therefore, these disposable magical items—the talismans—must have some way of protecting their patterns.

And since they were disposable, that method couldn't be particularly labor-intensive.

Shikishi was the term Jizo used for mages.

Perhaps these simple magical items, these talismans, were the basis of the Huanggu Empire's magic.

It was extremely intriguing, but my first priority was to finish crushing the merchants' guild.

Apparently, these three shikishi had been the merchants' guild's trump card. After that, there was almost no resistance, and Jizo and I reduced the mansion serving as their headquarters to half a ruin and captured it in a way that made the defeat obvious to anyone.

I never drew my magic sword, and Jizo held back as though matching me, so no one died. But there was no doubt that all of them would end up behind bars.

That was the end of the merchants' guild.