Chapter 123 - Punishment (2)

That evening, Nellin’s party and Squishy attended the banquet hosted by the Mage Tower. It was held at a restaurant near the tower.

A commemorative banquet would normally have been more fitting inside the Mage Tower, but unfortunately, it had no room capable of accommodating such a large gathering. It could handle a certain number of guests, of course, but every mage in the tower was attending this banquet.

Ordinarily, many of them cared only about their own research and rarely left their laboratories even for a festival. This time, however, they would have a chance to hear about a lich—a creature whose very existence was doubtful. Every mage shared the hope that simply hearing what magic it used might give them fresh inspiration.

Naturally, Brooks Besilza, the master of the Mage Tower, was also at the banquet.

‘Yes, it really is here. That despicable slime!’

He clearly saw Nellin’s party bring the slime into the banquet hall.

Watching the slime, Brooks Besilza organized his plan. First, when the banquet was drawing to a close, he would approach them and apologize for failing to respond properly to the lich back then, much as he hated to say it. Then he would humbly ask whether he could touch the slime. If he adopted a deferential attitude, they surely wouldn’t refuse. Once he had the slime in his hands, he would immediately use teleportation magic to move elsewhere and destroy it. That would be that.

Of course, the plan was terribly crude. It took no account whatsoever of what came afterward.

What would happen once he destroyed the slime?

Nellin’s party would never let him get away with it, and even the tower mages who followed him would find it difficult to defend him.

But none of that mattered to Brooks Besilza now. He was so consumed by his desire for revenge that he could think of nothing else. It was just as it had been when he had tried to eliminate Ventus Frail in his desire to become tower master, without a thought for the Mage Tower’s future.

While Brooks Besilza contemplated revenge, the mage serving as the banquet’s host raised his voice the moment he saw Nellin’s party arrive.

“Our guests of honor are here! The heroes who defeated the lich!”

The mages immediately turned their eyes toward Nellin’s party.

“Oh, it really is Lady Nellin. I never imagined I’d see her again in my lifetime.”

“To think the Saintess and the Paladin who visited us last time defeated the lich themselves.”

“Huh? Isn’t that the slime the lich kidnapped?”

“They say Gracie fought alongside them... But how could a mere magical-device mage have contributed?”

Voices of admiration, cheers, and questions rose throughout the banquet hall.

“Ah! Lady Nellin! It is an honor to meet you! My name is Anans, and I’ll be hosting tonight’s banquet.”

“Yeah. Nice to meet you.”

“To think I would see a legendary hero from so close! I’m simply overwhelmed!”

“Enough of that. Let’s get started already. I’m hungry, you know?”

“Oh! We must begin at once! Everyone, please enjoy the banquet! Lady Nellin, if you wouldn’t mind, could you tell us about your desperate battle with the lich later?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you!”

The banquet began. As the guests started eating the food laid out for them, they never took their eyes off Nellin’s party. Their attention, initially focused on Nellin, Amelia, Paulen, and Gracie, also shifted toward Godric’s companions and Claire.

“Who are those bandit-looking fellows?”

“Watch your tongue. I hear they’re Lady Nellin’s pupils.”

“What I meant was! They have a wild charm, like bandits.”

“Sure they do.”

“Hmm, isn’t that girl one of those rare white wolf folk? According to legend, there’s a rumor that they descend from a monster called Fenrir...”

“Have you heard? A village called Chilture was attacked by a band of orcs.”

“Why bring that up all of a sudden?”

“Well, they say a slime played a major role in stopping the attack. Could that slime be...”

“Be reasonable. Isn’t that the slime Lady Nellin recovered after the lich kidnapped it? How could it have been in Chilture?”

“Hmm, was I reading too much into it?”

Through the slime, the viewers could clearly hear the humans whispering.

▶It’s been ages since Squishy left Smartass lol.

▶But why are they talking like Smartass croaked?

▶You still thought that was Smartass?

▶Aaaaaaah!

[Free Spirit]▶I told them to stick to the story that I died, so quit your fucking bullshit.

▶What’s this about that furry being descended from the wolf bastard?

▶Was the wolf bastard a furry fucker?

▶Did he really slam first and ask later?

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Are you kidding me! I’ve never done it with anyone but my wife! And my fur is silver, not white like that!

▶Then why are they saying that?

[Slam First Ask Later]▶How should I know!

▶Booo~ Prove it~.

As the banquet grew livelier, Nellin finished her meal and went over to Anans.

“Hey, you wanted me to tell the story, right?”

“Ah! At last! The moment has arrived! Here is a voice-amplifying magical device! Please speak into it.”

“Ah. Ah. Aah~.”

Holding the voice-amplifying device, Nellin began addressing the mages.

Of course, she told an adapted version that concealed Smartass’s identity. She spoke of hearing about the lich, joining the Saintess’s party, and hearing the lich’s voice echo across the skies of the Holy City, among other things. She briefly covered the events leading up to the fight, then gave an almost entirely truthful account of the battle itself—the part the mages truly wanted to hear.

She told the banquet guests everything: Paulen facing the giant golem, Godric’s party holding off the additional golems that were summoned, Fresia and Amelia supporting their allies with blessings and attacking with holy arts. She also described her own attacks on the lich and Gracie’s efforts to counteract its magic, leaving nothing out. In particular, she emphasized Gracie’s contributions.

“Look, no matter how awesome my arrows are, it’s hard to completely wipe out a ridiculously huge spell. But Gracie here, you know? She cast a spell right away and canceled out that skeleton bastard’s magic!”

“Oh, really?”

“Why would I bullshit you?”

“But didn’t Gracie use magical devices? Is that possible, even with those?”

“I told you I saw it with my own eyes. Are you doubting what I saw?”

“N-no! Of course not!”

“Even I was amazed watching Gracie use her magical devices. She used several at once to wipe out the lich’s spells. Just thinking about doing that gives me a headache.”

As a legendary hero, Nellin’s words carried tremendous weight. Had anyone else said it, the mages would have told them to stop talking nonsense, if only to protect their pride.

“She really counteracted the lich’s magic?”

“Every spell Lady Nellin described was advanced magic. And that’s only the classification—cast by a lich, they would have been close to the highest tier.”

“She fought by combining all those magical devices she wears? What devices did she use, and how?”

Now, rather than rejecting Nellin’s words, the mages were curious whether they were true.

As if speaking for them, Anans approached Gracie.

“Ah, I’m so curious! Just how did you make use of your magical devices, Gracie?”

“What!? Um, well...”

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Gracie flinched and couldn’t answer right away. Then Amelia placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled.

“Gracie, there’s no need to be nervous. All you have to do is explain to everyone here how you used your magic that day.”

“... All right.”

Encouraged by Amelia’s words, Gracie began to speak.

“As for how I used my magical devices that day...”

Gracie went on to explain her magical devices: which effects she had combined with which other devices, the types and numbers she had used, the sequence in which she had employed them, and more. Her explanation was more than enough to astonish the mages in the banquet hall.

“It’s theoretically possible. But...”

“She used seven magical devices at once?”

“Half of those are readily available in magical-device shops. Yet they produced an effect strong enough to stop a lich’s magic?”

The Mage Tower’s mages used magical devices too. But they only used one at a time, strictly to supplement their magic. Proud of their own abilities, they never even considered making magical devices the core of their approach. That was why they looked down on Gracie, a magical-device mage, and considered her pathetic.

They had never bothered to learn much about someone they scorned, so even when Gracie went around laden with magical devices, they hadn’t imagined she used them all. Yet people paid particular attention to the shortcomings of those they looked down on. The more a mage scorned Gracie, the better they knew just what she could do without magical devices.

‘That Gracie counteracted a lich’s magic just by using magical devices?’

‘Impossible.’

‘Simply using several magical devices can produce such a dramatic effect?’

At best, Gracie’s own ability was enough to cast intermediate magic unaided. The claim that she had stopped a lich’s magic by using magical devices was therefore nothing short of shocking.

‘Could that really be true? But Lady Nellin vouched for her...’

‘Someone at Gracie’s level produced that much power. Then if I used them...’

Some still had doubts, but others were already assessing the devices’ usefulness, having conveniently forgotten their past contempt and disregard for them.

“Wow! That’s incredible! Even I still can’t quite believe it! Gracie, if you don’t mind, could you explain in more detail how you used your magical devices?”

“Oh, yes. To go into more detail...”

As Gracie explained, the tower mages could only grow more astonished.

‘Even with magical devices, she did all of that at once?’

‘How could she move smoothly from one step to the next!?’

Simply hearing about using magical devices simultaneously while moving on to the next stage made it clear how difficult the process was.

Magical devices were, after all, tools. Using them was not the same as casting and controlling magic directly through one’s own body. Even when accepting a device’s assistance, some awkwardness and sense of disconnect inevitably remained. That was why mages instinctively avoided using multiple magical devices.

Gracie, however, was different. Having spent so long using and studying magical devices, she could wield them as though they were part of her own body. The mages who could appreciate how difficult that was began to look at her differently.

‘Impressive.’

‘Simply relying on magical devices wouldn’t make that possible.’

‘Has she put in enough work to stop a lich’s magic?’

Gracie’s efforts were finally beginning to receive recognition.

Of course, there was someone who had no interest whatsoever in what Gracie had to say.

‘Hurry up and finish this useless chatter! Hurry! I need to destroy that damned slime!’

That someone was Brooks Besilza, who never reflected on his own actions and was blinded by a revenge that amounted to little more than taking out his anger on an undeserving target.