As the night began to fall and the sky darkened, Hiro and a group of mercenaries walked through the town. Hiro took note of the people with him, as they were supposedly the best that Viktor’s mercenary troupe had to offer.

Callan and Carrick. Two brothers, closer to twins with how similar they appear, in their thirties going by his own standard of human age. With red hair tied in ponytails. Callan held a short sword, dagger, and shield, while Carrick held a dagger, battle axe, and tomahawk.

Levvie. A woman in her mid-twenties, black hair and tanned skin a bit darker than his own, and shorter in comparison to the guys. Equipped with a silver sword, it seemed she was using one of the steel weapons handed out by Viktor. They must be proficient enough to adapt to a new weapon so quickly. Her auxiliary weapons were a shield and two daggers.

Judeau. A man in a cape, aged probably around his early thirties, and equipped with a bow with a short sword on his waist. He was the least conspicuous, probably something to do with his background and his choice of weapon. Needing to be hidden a lot, so he probably had this passive nature to blend into the background. His blue eyes with dark blonde made him think a little about elves, but there was no sign of such from this man.

Alix. A woman who looked just out of her teens, so probably the youngest. To be included as one of the best, she must have quite the potential, as well as a possible cliche tragic background. Her choice of weapons was a bow and two short swords.

Rock. A man in his mid, maybe late forties, making him the oldest in the group. While his head was full of brown locks and kept rather short, it couldn’t be seen at the moment. He had a large build and was the most heavily protected with a metal-reinforced leather armor. His choice of weapon was a shield and sword, with a small axe on his back and a dagger at his waist.

Viktor himself had emerald eyes hidden behind long black hair, and aged around thirty. To have established a strong mercenary group at his age showed proof of his mettle, and his charisma. His weapons consisted of a short bow, long sword, and two daggers. All of them were wearing different amounts of leather armor, ranging from vital protection to chest and leggings.

Hiro himself probably looked the most odd as he only had a single sheathed blade at his waist of odd design, and fully concealed by his grey cloak. Underneath that, he had no armor whatsoever, preferring his own worlds comfortable clothing. That, and he liked the aesthetic of certain attire from his modern world being paired up with a shiny sword. Or pistols, but this world didn’t have guns.

… At least not yet… That would be something to plan for the future. Maybe a lump of metal in the shape of a pistol, rifled barrel, working trigger, and instead of a magazine, use something like a mana crystal to power it, using his own custom magic inscriptions to simulate the firepower of a bullet…?

Woops, getting off track.

Arriving at the Landgrave Estate, what laid before the 8 people was a graveyard, which was probably where the family name came from. It looked eerie with the grey clouds and nighttime lighting. Those experienced at finding presences in the group had already realized that they had been surrounded.

With a nod of agreement from them all, they kept walking further in. It seemed the trap wasn’t sprung yet, and they were at the disadvantage of having no places for cover.

“Looks like the perfect setup for archers to trap us, probably at the halfway point between the estate and the graveyard exit. Got any ideas, Hiro?” (Viktor)

“I got a few. I’ll have it ready by the time we reach the trap.” (Hiro)

『Release Limiter: Level 1』

Saying that, Hiro began to release the limiters until he was sitting comfortably at the level of a Magus. From what he had understood about these mercs after observing them, they could keep a secret. So it shouldn’t matter if he revealed some power to them. They already had enough shush money, and Viktor seemed to have come to the conclusion as well that it would be in their best interest to keep quiet about him.

With magic flooding his body, he breathed out a slow sigh, his exhale becoming misty. With every step he took, he seeped his magic into the ground and several dozen locations in this place. From the center, there was probably 50 meters either side where there were lines of trees, giving a perfect setup for ambushing archers.

Right as they reached the center, the sound of arrows being released from a bow could be heard with a slight whistle of wind. At that moment, Hiro stomped on the ground. Simultaneously, walls of solid rock emerged and created walls for them to hide behind, as well as cover throughout the graveyard. He had also arranged them in a way that they could hold themselves within a few walls without getting outnumbered, allowing some choke points.

Well, as long as Viktor’s crew were proficient enough, at least. To top it off, he set up a fog which started to drift about everywhere, making it hard to see.

“Here’s your battlefield, Viktor. There’s probably around 30 or 40 archers, and maybe half that in melee fighters. I’ll be off to carry out my business. If you’re still alive when I’m back, then maybe we’ll have some future dealings.” (Hiro)

Without waiting for a reply, Hiro dashed off towards the estate. As for Viktor, while he was somewhat annoyed, he was equally surprised at what had happened now. All that magic and power, and he had never heard of this kind of magic. But indeed, the youth had done more than enough.

“Alright everyone… Let’s hunt…” (Viktor)

As the mercs and miscellaneous enemies fought outside, Hiro entered the estate only to find it empty. Taking this moment, he applied an illusion to himself so that he would appear as Murakumo. That way, if there was any enemy that escaped after he found Max, they wouldn’t know who he really was. Of course, he made sure there was no one who saw who he was before entering. The cloak came in handy for that.

After a quick search using a magic kind of sonar or echolocation, Hiro found a way into what would probably be a hidden basement. Busting the entrance open with his sword drawn, he walked downward, only to be assailed with a horrid stench of rotting flesh, feces, urine, and so on. Wrinkling his nose, he let out a pulse of magic from his body, an odor removal, and breathed in fresh air.

Continuing along, he could see that it was quite a large basement space, almost as if it was a boss room in a cave-type dungeon. Rotting and skeletal corpses scattered here and there, torture devices, dried and wet blood and flesh strewn across the ground, rusty metal cages, you name it. And everything here screamed Necromancy.

Seriously, Necromancy? At least learn some more biology and human physiology first. Magic could totally be used to prevent flesh decay and rigor mortis as long as you knew how it happened and how to reverse it. Should I experiment on this in the future…? Nah, better not. Max would get mad. And I’m not into necrophilia. Though that one zombie fiction was interesting--- oh, we’re here. (Hiro)

Walking through a few repetitive rooms, he came into a large room which had blood runes written all over the cave walls and ceiling, as well as a well in the center. Though it didn’t look like a water well. Seemed like it was reeking - literally and figuratively - of undead. There were also plenty of skeletons in here.

In a cage, he could see an old woman unconscious and looking a bit thin and ill. Chained to the wall across from the entrance was Max, looking like a raggedy man. Except older, and without a box. Standing over him and ranting about this and that was an old man who must be that Landgrave whatever.

Just as he stepped into the area, the runes started to glow brightly, meaning something was activated. Warned by this, the necromancer wannabe spun around to see the intruder. Ignoring whatever he was ranting about, Hiro noticed his illusion was wavering, as if being distorted by the wind. Seemed the runes were being annoying.

“『Release Limiter: Level 0』” (Hiro)

Just like that, the old man was forced to swallow his breath as mana surged and filled the area, suppressing the runes. Looking at them, Hiro held out a hand to them and released power with words.

“「Written unto Unwritten」” (Hiro)

With that, all the runes shattered and vanished. It seemed like the necromancer was stunned and confused, but quickly tried to fight back, not seeming to realize the difference in power as he sent out fireballs, and even a literal wave of fire. With pure mana, Hiro just breathed it out and blew it all away as if it hadn’t existed. Next on the list was the well, and probably restraining that necromancer would be good. Still ignoring anything said, after all.

“「Chains of Hell」, 「Implosion」” (Hiro)

Eight chains shot out of the ground made of mana, colored a blackish red, and pierced through the necromancer’s wrists, elbows, knees and ankles, melding into his joints as if they were a part of his body. At the same time, they stimulated his pain receptors. As for the well, it started to collapse in on itself, disappearing into a void and leaving a circular ditch where it used to be.

Walking up to the mage stuck against the wall, Hiro used his sword imbued with magic, and sliced the chains, freeing the Magus.

“You look worse for wear, old man. Sorry about the delays. Been a bit preoccupied.” (Hiro)

“That form is not… but that power… Oh, I see… I guess I didn’t win the bet.” (Max)

After a bit of internal thinking, Max realized that the figure in front of him was Hiro using illusion magic. And in affirmation of that understanding, he was reminded that they had made a bet, in which he would have to finish learning illusion magic in some amount of days.

Hiro went over to the cage to check on the woman while Max went over to his previous disciple, Landgrave. With a sullen face, he spoke one sidedly to the pained necromancer, before coming to a conclusion. With a hand on the old man’s forehead, Max forced memories into the man. Memories of horrors like none ever experienced before. Scenes which he had seen in the mind of Hiro.

Pumping some magic into the woman, Hiro used his mana as a replacement for an intravenous infusion to fill her with the nutrients, before using what would probably be healing magic in order to restore her body to a healthy state rapidly. Well, her fatigue would still be there, as well as any muscle atrophy, but it didn’t seem like she had been stuck down here that long.

Removing his illusion, Hiro carried the woman on his back since he had a decent build, and the woman’s lithe frame wouldn’t cause any problems. Walking over to Max, he started speaking.

“There’s a crew of merc’s outside. The Bear’s idea. All they know is that we’re friends, and that I can use magic, so we can play it off as us being scholars of different kinds instead of me being your apprentice.

Now, they should be finishing up out there soon, so we’ll need to leave. We can talk once we get to the Drinking Bear, but did you want to use this moment to go into hiding?” (Hiro)

“It seems like you’ve caught onto what has been happening. Since the Twilight Council is involved, it may be best for me to go into hiding. Are those mercenaries trustworthy?” (Max)

“The fewer the better that know is usually the best policy, but it’ll be alright with them. Their leader, Viktor, has glimpsed enough to understand that leaking information would be problematic for his continued healthy living.” (Hiro)

“My my my, just what is it you do while I’m not around… Alright, let’s get going.” (Max)

That all said and done, Hiro gave the lady to Max and let them leave first. Once they were out, he held his hands out to both sides, and started to dig his fingers into the air, as if trying to claw and drag an invisible object. Before long, the entire basement began to collapse. Letting it finish by itself, Hiro left and came out into the estate where Max had now met the Mercenaries who had indeed finished up.

“Get ‘em all?” (Hiro)

“Like fish in a barrel. So this is the famous Magus.” (Viktor)

“That I am. Though I would advise against revealing that I’m alive at this point.” (Max)

“You’d be facing more than Syldis’ kind of danger after all, if you did.” (Hiro)

“While that does sound fun, I’ll have to pass on that. Everything done here?” (Viktor)

“Yeah. Let’s get back to the Drinking Bear before anyone catches sight of Max.” (Hiro)

Like that, they all returned to the Drinking Bear under the cover of night, all of them wearing their cloaks and hoods. Outside of the estate, dozens of bodies could be seen scattered about. Before closing all his limiter rings, he quickly reversed the rock walls he had made, and made the ground swallow the corpses. The fog would dissipate by itself in time.