Return of The 8th Class Mage Chapter 49:
“Is something going wrong?”
The great land lord of the Pieric Province held his head . It was already ten days since the Archmage, Ian Page, had gone to the Great Grass Field . But he hadn’t received any messages from him since .
‘If he doesn’t return… . . ’
The ice wall that blocked the path of the valley started to melt down . He told him before that it would hold for ten days, so it would melt soon .
‘I can’t just wait for him, either . ’
He already had heard enough about Ian Page . He had trusted Ian’s mighty power would solve this problem, but it seemed he was wrong .
“Adol . ”
“Yes, My lord . ”
The great land lord Kalian called ‘Adol,’ who was waiting outside of the barrack, the best warrior of his, and ordered him to prepare for war .
“As we planned, form a formation . Focus every army and catapult we have in the province . Even bring squads who were guarding the mountain side, as well . ”
“As you command . ”
Adol’s voice was revering .
He was prepared to die .
He quickly left the barrack .
‘Sir Ian, I do not blame you . ’
Kalian was telling the truth . It must’ve been too much for him to solve this problem solely by himself . He rather wanted to blame the royalty and the Ivory Tower, who refused to send supplies and armies, but only sent him alone .
‘Rather, it might’ve been the better choice to ask him to fight together on our side . ’
If so, he could kept blocking the path with the wall, so he could resend his request to the Empire and earn some time to let them come .
‘It is too late for regrets . ’
Kalian stood up . Then he picked up a pair of axes that were laid on the barrack . It was the family heirloom battle axes, ‘Pieric’s Executioner . ’
“We will defend it, me and my soldiers . ”
Kalian self encouraged himself .
Protecting the province and the people in there, as the strongest shield of the Empire .
With hundreds times of reminding himself, he left the barrack and confronted his battle field . He looked at the ice wall’s height, which was quite lower, calmly .
“Humph, come at me, foul creatures . ”
At the ice blocked Valley of the Big Snake, every force was focused . The imperial armies which he received as the first reinforcement, two 3rd class mages and the conducted mage McGedie, and catapults for the first strike .
“My lord . ”
“Uhm . ”
After a few hours later, they finished their preparation .
The ice wall which had melted down to half of its original size .
“Prepare the catapults . ”
A quiet order of the great land lord on the watch tower was relayed to every catapult squad . It was quiet, and everyone was nervous . There was no speech, nor encouragement . It was the silence before the storm .
“Eee… . . ”
The conducted mage, Mcgedie shook her body .
She rather preferred to being teased by the supplies squad now .
Not only her, but most of the other soldiers, as well . They recalled their best moment of their life or a better moment than now . They all wished to rewind their time .
“Hold . ”
But soon, by the great land lord’s dry order, they awakened .
It was about to start .
“Not yet . ”
The defrosting rate of the ice wall was increasing .
It would melt down in a few minutes, low enough to invade .
“Little bit more . ”
The land lord’s right arm was raised with his battle axe . The blade of the axe was reflecting sunshine everywhere . Whenever he put down his right arm, the catapults would start its attack .
“Little bit more . ”
When the opposite side of ice wall was about to be revealed, everyone lost their focus quickly . The wall suddenly started to crack down .
“What?”
“Is it cracking down?”
“Why?”
20 thousands of soldiers started whispering .
It wasn’t an ideal atmosphere before the war .
The land lord had to calm down and let them focus .
“Fi… . . !”
Just before the firing order had given,
*Cr… . . Crackkk… . . !*
The crack of the ice wall getting bigger, quicker than they thought,
*Grrrrrrrrrrr – !*
Soon it started to fall down .
Thanks to that, every soldier could see its opposite side clearly .
“…… . ?”
There was nothing .
Nothing at the front of the ice wall, nor over the horizon of the valley .
There was not even a single monster standing there .
Instead, there was a man alone .
“Is he… . ?”
It was Mcgedie who recognized him first .
Soon, other people recognized him as well .
“Pa, pant! Phew……”
It was a young man who wore a robe, covered by dust .
The man breathed roughly, as his lungs were fractured .
“S, sir Ian?”
It was the tenth day since he had been gone .
Today, he didn’t come with his flying spell, but with his bare feet .
“This staff……”
Ian was holding a staff with injured hands .
It was a staff with quite the rare appearance .
“Never… . . Never touch i…… . ”
After barely warning them, Ian fainted .