Dream Life Vol 3 Chapter 17.2: “Escape”

~Dan’s Perspective~

　I told my father and Mark, a village patrol archer, that I was going to snipe from another window.

“It looks like Ms. Lydia is going to annihilate the enemies below. Let’s help too.” (Dan)

　My father immediately realized my intention and began to prepare his bow, but Mark didn’t know what he was doing and was a bit flustered.

　Even as I said that I didn’t think we going to have our turn.

　Soon I heard Ms. Lydia and Sharon chanting spells.

　They seem to be planning on using a great magic that they rarely use.

“O Lucidus, God of Light, who presides over all that is bright. Grant mine as piece of thyself and the many stars, I offer the power of mine life to thee as payment…” (Liddy)

　Beside her, Sharon is also chanting a powerful magic spell.

“O Wentus, God of Wind, who commands all the winds in the world. Spirits of the winds join mine feast, I seek a Great Storm. I offer the power of mine life to thee as payment…” (Sharon)

　And the two of them were releasing magic at the same time.

“…bring the hammer of God to my enemy! A deluge of meteors, Meteor Shower!” (Liddy)

“…Come forth! Blow a gale, Great storm, Tempest!” (Sharon)

　Ms. Lydia’s [Rain of Meteors – Meteor Shower] goes into effect.

　Amidst the pouring rain, dozens of light globes–spheres about 20 cm in diameter–appear. For a moment, the beauty of the lights was stunning, but soon the masses of light cut through the curtain of rain and poured down to the ground.

　At first it was a pale meteor light. But it soon began to glow gold, as if to express Ms. Lydia’s anger, and the light outside became as bright as daylight.

　Furthermore, due to my sister’s magic, a roaring sound cut through the air and echoed through the room. The glare makes it impossible to open my eyes, but the crashing sound of several garden trees snapping and the smashing of stones hitting the stone walls prick my ears.

　After about ten seconds, the sound and light subsided, and silence and darkness returned, as if I had been lied to.

　Then I peered down to snipe at the surviving enemy soldiers.

　The garden was littered with the soldiers’ light magical tools. They were drenched by the pouring rain and shimmering, illuminating the ground. In the light, my eyes caught sight of the garden, which had been cruelly transformed, and of the soldiers, who were caught in the trees like ornaments.

　I could not believe that I was in this world because of the strange and unrealistic scenery. Yes, it was like the land of the dead in a fairy tale.

　I came back to myself in a few seconds, and the sheer anger of Ms. Lydia and my sister sent a chill down my spine again. But now was not the time to let this opportunity pass.

“Master Rod, father.” (Dan)

　As I said this, Master Rod and my father, who had been stunned by Ms. Lydia’s and my sister’s magic, came to their senses.

　In my case, I was used to the magic of Master Zack and the others, so I was able to come to my senses immediately, but it seems that when you are shown this much magic, you can’t keep up with it with normal senses.

　My father led the way down the rope. It didn’t seem to matter that it was wet from the rain, we reached the ground in no time at all.

　At a signal from my father, Master Rod descends. Although he is now famous as a knight, when he was in the village of Rathmore, he used to climb trees and ropes, so he was able to get down to the ground without any danger.

　Lastly, I asked M.s Lydia to please remove the rope after I climbed down, and without hearing her reply, I went down. The reason I did not hear her reply was not because I was afraid of her. I was just in a hurry.

　As I glided down to the ground, Ms. Lydia took off the rope.

　When I retrieved the rope and looked around, I gulped.

　The place was even more shocking than it looked from above. The lawn, which had been well tended, was pocked and scorched, and the trees and beautiful flowers that the gardeners had painstakingly grew were broken off. Even more horrific was the sight of the soldiers.

　Their arms and legs were bent in impossible directions, and they were lying on the ground burnt in several places. There were also corpses hanging upside down from a large tree, drenched in the rain with grim expressions on their faces. Some of them seemed to be alive, but more than half of them seemed to be dead. It was such a terrible magic.

　As I stood frozen by the sight, my father suggested in a low voice to Master Rod,

“Let’s use the equipment of the soldiers here. Fortunately, there are some things left that we could use…” (Guy)

　My father seemed to have thought of disguising ourselves as an enemy soldier and escaping out of the castle.

　Master Rod nodded, “That’s a good idea,” and stripped off the equipment that could be used. Ms. Beatrice might have anticipated this situation and declined. Because she probably wouldn’t be able to find equipment that would fit her body.

　Having already put on my protective gear, I borrowed only the knight’s cloak and helmet and decided to be vigilant about my surroundings.

　All of the gear was heavily damaged, and it took me about five minutes just to pick it up. It took me another few minutes to put on my gear, and I was anxious to see if the enemy would notice the sound of magic and head toward us.

　It took about ten minutes after we went down to the yard for both Master Rod and my father to put on their gear.

　My father was wearing a platoon leader’s helmet and Master Rod was wearing a squire’s gear. The well-known Master Rod would be easily recognized, no matter how late at night he was. So, it seems that my father took on the role of negotiator.

　Strangely enough, not a single enemy appeared while we were setting up our equipment. To be precise, there were soldiers patrolling on the castle walls, but they never came down to the garden, nor did they rush to report to us.

　We headed for the main gate with my father in the lead.

　The rain was getting heavier, and the light magical tools were illuminating the raindrops that were pouring down. With the light magical tools, our vision was so limited that even my father, who was a few meters ahead of us, could only be seen dimly.

　When we reach the main gate, my father makes a request to open the gate using the name of the fourth battalion commander, which Master Rod taught us.

“By order of Battalion Commander Grenfell, we are to send a messenger outside the castle! Open the gates!” (Guy)

　But the gates were not opened, and only the voice of a man who sounded like the commander returned.

“The battalion commander’s order is that no one is to pass through here.” (Guard)

　My father told him again that it was the order of the battalion commander, but the commanding officer did not take any notice of his words, and his flat voice indicated his rejection of the order.

“I’ll say it again. This is an order to cut down anyone who tries to force their way through. Leave immediately.” (Guard)

　My father seemed to think that it was useless to go any further, and after saying in a quiet voice, “Let’s think of another way,” he went back in the direction from which he had come.

　We found a blind spot among the garden trees and decided to discuss the future course of action there.

　When Master Rod said, “It seems that the enemy can only respond to the orders given to them,” my father agreed.

“It would seem so. In that case, I think it would be better to go over the castle wall. If we quietly defeat the guards, we should be able to get down without being noticed.” (Guy)

　My father also seemed to have noticed the indifference of the soldiers on the ramparts. I didn’t ask, but Master Zack said that he thought the soldiers were being controlled by magic or drugs.

　I was finally convinced. The enemy’s movements had been so unnatural.

　We reached the stairway up the ramparts, passing the enemy patrols.

　My father and I were to go up to the top of the ramparts first and take out the patrolling soldiers. Fortunately, the patrolling soldiers were alone, and hopefully we would be able to climb over the ramparts undetected.

　I hid behind the arrowheads, while my father attracted the enemy. Since we were disguised as allies, we decided that they would not suddenly attack us.

　As expected, the enemy soldiers called out to my father, asking him who or what he was. While my father is talking about reinforcements, I approach from behind and slice the enemy soldier’s neck with my knife.

　Before he could raise my voice, the soldier was out of action. My father picked up the soldier’s light magical tool and began to move as if to warn the others.

“I will continue pretending to be an enemy soldier. You and Master Rod will head for the headquarters of the Knight Order.” (Guy)

　My father seemed to be pretending to be an enemy soldier so that the enemy would not suspect us. It would be dangerous if we were spotted, but there was no time to discuss it now. I felt a pain in my chest as I thought of my father, but I didn’t care about that as I sent a signal to Master Rod.

“The enemy will not suspect us now. We need to get out of here now.” (Dan)

　As I said this, Master Rod said, “It’s dangerous here. Guy should come with us,” but I disagreed.

“Right now, our top priority is to call for allies. My father will be fine. In case of an emergency…” (Dan)

　I said nothing more and quietly tied the rope I had brought to the arrowhead. Master Rod seemed to understand my thoughts, and without another word, he followed the rope down the ramparts. I followed him and safely escaped out of the castle.

　My father’s disguise worked, and we were able to slip into the shadow of the mansion across the main street without being shot at by arrows from the castle walls.

　It took us about 30 minutes. According to my father, even Master Zack’s magic wouldn’t buy us much time, so we had to hurry.

　We started running immediately.