09.5

A boy sat on the ground holding a girl in his arms, and as they passed by, the boy called out to them.

“Please, please… save my sister!”

Ains and the others stopped and looked at him.

The boy had already cried himself dry. The tears had stopped, leaving dried streaks on his cheeks, and his eyes were red and swollen.

Laika looked at the boy and the girl in his arms. Perhaps she immediately understood the situation—she bit her lip and fell silent.

“…I’m sorry. We can’t help right now. But! Once we come back from the fighting over there—”

Once they came back, they could help her. But Laika couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence.

Because she didn’t believe the girl would still be alive by then.

“Th-Then, a potion! Please! Or at least healing magic!”

The boy scraped his knees against the ground as he crawled toward the three of them.

“We do… have potions, but—”

“Please, just one bottle! …Half of one! J-Just a single sip!”

“That’s…”

There were still a few potions left. But those were being saved for the knights fighting ahead.

“Then healing magic!”

“…Judging from these wounds, only very advanced healing magic could save her. There are only a handful of people in the Santia Kingdom who can do that, and none of them are here…”

Laika answered honestly, stumbling over her words. If it were Ains beside her, he might be able to save the girl. But she needed him to heal hundreds of injured knights and mages and to oppose the enemy mage. That could easily lead to his mana being exhausted.

“Th-Then me! I’ll try magic myself! Please teach me that spell!”

“I-I can’t…”

“Do you want to save your sister?”

Ains interjected.

“Y-Yes!”

“No matter what?”

“Yes!”

Ains stared intently at the boy, gauging his resolve.

For a single instant that no one noticed, Ains’s right eye glowed red.

“You two go on ahead. I’ll leave the potions to Sophia.”

Ains took a small leather pouch from his item box and handed it to Sophia.

“B-But then, over there—”

“Make them last until I arrive. There are quite a few potions in that pouch, so it should buy you some time.”

“That’s…”

“Even if that doesn’t work, I can’t ‘go’ there until I deal with this boy first. Sophia, I’m counting on you.”

“Understood.”

Sophia answered shortly, grabbed Laika by the arm, and moved toward the source of the commotion.

The boy also seemed unnerved by Ains’s appearance and looked tense.

“Are you… a spellcaster?”

“No. I’m good at magic, but I’m not a spellcaster.”

“Uh…”

“I’m not a spellcaster—I’m a sorcerer.”

From there, Ains explained that the boy had no aptitude for magic, so even if he taught him healing spells, the boy wouldn’t be able to use them.

However—

“—You do have some aptitude for ‘sorcery.’ So I’ll impart sorcerous knowledge to you.”

“Will that save my sister?”

“You will be the one to save her. I promise to give you enough knowledge and power to make that possible.”

“Please! Right now!”

“Looking at the situation, your sister is probably fated to die. You’ll be interfering with that fate and twisting the world itself. That requires a price.”

“A price…”

The boy felt fear for a moment, but quickly set his jaw in determination.

“No, no. I’m not going to say I’ll take your life as payment. I’m not a demon.”

Ains gave a hollow laugh.

“People do say I seem demon-like, though.”

“Then what is it?”

“What you’ll be using isn’t ‘magic,’ but ‘sorcery.’ I need you to swear a pact. For someone without magical aptitude, that pact will be extremely harsh. Do you want to stop?”

The boy clearly had no idea what this “pact” entailed. But from his eyes, Ains could tell there was no thought of backing down.

“Tell me your name.”

“…Rito.”

“Rito, is it? Very well. Then, under a binding pact, the mage Ains Silvetas shall impart sorcerous knowledge to Rito.”

Meanwhile, Sophia hurried ahead, Laika being pulled along by the arm.

“But is this really okay? Without Ains, it’ll be tough—the opponent is a sorcerer.”

“We have already received the potions. With these, we should be able to save the knights.”

“Even if they recover, they’ll just be restrained again by that magic. That’s what I’m telling you.”

Laika complained to Sophia.

Indeed, Laika was right. Even if the knights and mages were restored to fighting condition with the potions Ains entrusted to them, without finding a way to break through the enemy sorcerer’s magic, they would simply repeat the same outcome.

Worse still, the enemy sorcerer might have one or two hidden tricks they hadn’t revealed yet. If those were unleashed, the battle would become even more dire.

“I am a knight of the Silver Snow Knights. While I cannot compare to Ains-sama, I am confident in my knowledge of magic and how to counter it.”

Sophia replied without changing her expression.

Laika had also heard of the Silver Snow Knights’ strength. The land where Ains of Silver Snow was raised—so renowned it was called the birthplace of magic—possessed an extraordinary magical culture. Not only were its mages powerful, but even the knightly swordsmen were deeply versed in magical theory and demonstrated overwhelming strength against mages.

All of that was possible because they managed vast numbers of copies of the Original Canon and continually refined both magical research and countermeasures.

“Of course, I have high expectations for you, Sophia, but…”

She couldn’t believe the enemy’s magic was something a single Silver Snow Knight could handle alone.

“Regardless, Ains-sama has said so himself. That being the case, my duty is simply to hold out until he arrives.”

Sophia’s resolve was unshakable.

Laika didn’t know this, but Sophia did. The very person worshipped by many modern spellcasters as ‘Ains of Silver Snow’ was Ains himself.

And this was the first request he had ever made of her. She had to fulfill it, no matter what.

“…First, I’ll try to disrupt the enemy’s opening move. Laika-sama, I need you to tell me where that sorcerer is.”

“Understood. It’s not like we had help to begin with.”

The clamor grew closer and closer.

The heat of battle filled the air, and the smell of rusted iron stung the nose.

“Laika-sama, we’re about to break through.”

As they emerged from the trees, the battlefield spread out before them.