an: we are finally in chapter 14, It’ll probably be shorter than the previous. I promise. I couldn’t think of any way to make this longer.
Manegia
Year 1421
Two weeks after the mission regarding the Otherworldly Court’s eyes, the Bell Conglomerate branch which escalated to preventing a rebellion. Alicia was back again in the Otherworldly Court.
After enjoying tea time with Rose and Jill, she was called by the Fire Guardian, Aqua.
“What will it be today, Aqua?”
“Today, you will explore Manegia, the world where the Otherworldly Court resides. Owen will be waiting for you in the east Transporter Room. Take your cloak, you will not need the robe.”
PIING
Manegia is comprised of four major countries: the Northern Empire, the Southern Kingdom, the Eastern Dynasty, and the West Republic. After that are a bunch of small nations and tribes. The Otherworldly Court itself is located right in the middle of the four countries, sharing a border with each of them. The countries view the Otherworldly Court as an independent group based in a neutral zone.
Right now, Alicia with her mentor, Owen, was transported to the Southern Kingdom. As always, another Court Wizard tagged along.
“Hello, my name is Fujiwara Haruto. Haruto is my given name and Fujiwara is my family name.”
This newcomer was a teen, 171 cm in height with a short black hair and eyes. His attire was covered by the ceremonial cloak of the Otherworldly Court which is white in color. Given his name and how he introduced himself, he seemed to be Japanese. He introduced himself before teleport in the Transporter Room.
KLING KLANG
KLING KLANG
The sound of some kind of metal struck four times with a pause after the second was heard upon entering the Southern Kingdom.
They were on some stone pedestal in a circular shape of the similar diameter of that of the wooden circle of the Transporter Room. Four stone pillars were erected around the perimeter of the circle with equal distance to each other.
Looking around, a medieval-like town was observed. Medieval-like because of the architecture. There were vintage automobiles roaming about.
People nearby turned to look at the Court Wizards and talked amongst themselves.
“Look, mommy! It’s the Court Wizards!”
“Now what kind of commotion that required their presence?”
“Is that Haruto?”
“Who is that red-headed girl? A new recruit?”
“She is quite pretty.”
“Mommy, why is that lady’s hair so red like an apple?”
“Hush dear, that’s rude so don’t say that in front of her.”
“But mommy…”
Suddenly, the lady with a red hair akin to an apple was in front of the little kid. Alicia bends down to the child who had become nervous upon seeing her, smiling.
“My father had red hair and my grandfather too,” She explained. “But their red hair is much darker, mine is brighter because my mother had a bright blonde hair like yours.”
“Really?” The child asked.
“Yes, do you want to touch it?”
“…Okay!”
After hesitating for a bit, the child gently caresses Alicia’s red hair.
“Waah, so pretty!”
“Thank you, I am glad to hear it.”
Alicia, your hair will get dirty!
It is fine, Voice, that is what bathing is for.
“Can I ask your name?”
“It’s Alisha!”
“I see, my name is Alicia.”
“Wah, they sound the same!”
“Yes, I suppose our names do sound similar.”
“Alicia! We gotta go!” Owen called.
“Oh, I need to go, farewell. I am sure we will meet again.”
“Hm, okay!”
“I am sorry for taking your time.” The child’s mother apologized to her.
“No, it is fine.”
As Alicia went back, she looked back to see the little girl named Alisha waved her hand saying, “Bye-bye!”. Alicia waved back at her and carried on.
Hunting Guild
It was the inscription of the plaque, decorated with a sword and rifle.
Haruto opened the wild west saloon type door and let the other two Court Wizards in.
Inside, there were a bunch of people with weapons and armor. It was like those ‘Adventurer Guild’ in Japanese light novels. People picking up quests and go slay monsters or do other adventurer stuff. Although in this case, it’s called hunters. However, when they looked at the Court Wizards who had entered, the hunters seemed tense. Then one guy raised his beer.
“Yo, Haruto!”
Haruto simply waved back silently. This seemed to break the weird tension. The hunters went back to their business, which is loitering around.
One woman in a uniform simply sighed. She bowed to the Court Wizards.
“You must be the Court Wizards, I will escort you to he guild master’s office.”
“Ah, Haruto you came! Sit, sit! Same goes for you two.”
An unbelievably short old man sporting a goatee invited the Court Wizards to sit down on the sofa. When I mean unbelievably short, he was as at Alicia’s knee. Way shorter than Owen in which Voice was spouting about Owen having a competitor or something in her mind.
“I should introduce myself to you sir and madam. I am the guild master of this Hunter Guild in Southwood, my name is Rudolf.”
Alicia and Owen took turns to introduce themselves.
“Oh? Ronald’s daughter and Joshua’s son, eh? I remember those lads coming here. For fresh greenies, they make quite a pair, how are they?”
“My father is doing fine, but…” Alicia felt uncomfortable explaining the situation with
“I’ll tell him.”
“I see, sorry for the predicament. I’m sure you’ll find your father.”
“Eh, it’s fine.”
The guild master looked at both of the Fire and Ice Court Wizards and chuckled.
“You both take after your fathers,” Rudolf explained. “Really reminds me when they came here twenty-five years ago.”
He cleared his throat.
“Well now, let’s get down to business.”
He hopped off the seat and totter towards a desk and picked up a piece of paper. He went back and place it on the table between the two sofas.
“This here is a quest for an A-rank wolf-type Maneg Amalgamation commissioned a week ago. I’ve sent a hunter team to exterminate it but, the beast had become stronger when they arrived. The hunters I’ve sent were some of the best in this guild and they were not able to kill it.”
“Who was the team you’ve sent?” Haruto asked.
“It’s Emile’s team. Fortunately, they have survived, though most of them sustained serious injuries and are out of commission for at least a month.”
“I see, that is a relief.”
“Well now, I’ll call him here. He was only lightly injured and have recovered.”
Maneg Amalgamation. Or simply called Maneg Beast since Amalgamation is a mouthful.
From what Alicia was told before, it was akin to a phenomenon. It’s the result of two or more maneg of different Elements in a space mixing together in high density hence, an ‘Amalgamation’. Mixing different maneg Elements together especially of clashing elements causes it to create a pseudo-Maneg Soul in the shape of various kinds of living beings that, due to how it was formed, is violent and will attack anything that moves.
Such a phenomenon only occurred in Manegia being the origin of maneg thus, having the highest concentration of maneg. Another factor is that the environment of Manegia results in multiple maneg Element to co-exist in a single space, causing Maneg Beast to occur.
However, it is possible for the phenomenon to happen in other worlds namely: the use of Orders. Court Wizards of different Elements could give rise to an Amalgamation if using Orders with a high amount of maneg at the same time in a small space. This is why Court Wizards have to hold back in Orders.
The Hunting Guild was established primarily to combat such beasts. They classify Maneg Beast into categories based on the number of Elements mixed which also correspond to their threat level.
D rank, two Elements
D+ rank, three Elements
C rank, four Elements
C+ rank, five Elements
B rank, six Elements
B+ rank, seven Elements
A rank, eight Elements
A+ rank, nine Elements
S rank, ten Elements
S+ rank, eleven Elements
With S and S+ Maneg Beasts basically referred to as the Maneg Amalgamations that only Court Wizards can kill. Non-Court Wizards currently are only able to defeat A ranks and only the best of the best hunter team could hope to defeat it.
Consequently, it is possible for a formed Maneg Beast to be mixed with another Element, raising its rank. This is why the Court Wizards were called.
CREEK
The door was open and came in a blonde-haired man with a light-metal chainmail and greaves. By his hip was a sword. He also had a bandage around his head, covering his left eye.
“Hey, Emile,” Haruto greeted. “You alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, Haruto.”
“You lost an eye.”
“There are a couple of guys with eyepatches.”
“Yours is a bandage.”
“Whatever,” Emile shrugged. “I should introduce myself to your two friends. I am Emile Woodford and I lead the hunting party Little Red Riding Hood…”
Ya know, their team name Little Red Riding Hood and they got done in by big bad wolf!
Voice, you should not add salt to the wound.
But it really fits, you know!
Also, I am pretty sure the big bad wolf was in the Three Little Pigs.
“…An A rank team and one of the best in this town, though we just failed an A rank quest.”
Alicia and Owen gave their names.
“Good,” The guild master spoke. “Now can you sit here and tell us what happened.
A week ago, a report of an A rank wolf-type Maneg Beast sighted near one of the villages on the outskirts of the town. It had destroyed some of the crops and livestock. One villager was killed for bravely attracting the beast away from the village.
The quest for the extermination of the beast was set up immediately once the request reached the town.
Robert’s party, Little Red Riding Hood, was an A rank hunting team. It was one of the best hunting team in Southwood. They naturally accepted the quest and set out immediately.
They arrived at the village the day after. They found the wolf and got to work.
“It was going pretty well when it suddenly gained another Element. Everything went downhill afterwards.”
The Maneg Beast became too much for the hunters to handle. So, they opted to lure the beast even further from the village.
“Harry’s arms were limp. Jess got burned, particularly her hair. Rufus’ staff got destroyed, splinters damaging his arms. I lost my eye.”
They then retreated.
“We told the villagers that we will call the Court Wizards and hurried back to the guild and here we are right now.”
“I see,” Haruto said. “You guys did well to keep yourselves alive. We’ll handle the Maneg Amalgamation.”
“If possible, take me with you. I want to get back at that wolf.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Well, you were always this stubborn…”
“Excellent,” the guild master spoke. “I would like the beast to be exterminated as soon as possible. We will make preparations immediately.”
“Right.”
Name: Haruto Fujiwara Age: 18 Sex: Male Species: Human World: Rakarok-Earth Merge World Element: Light Element Color: White Cherished Armament: ??? Rank: Grand Wizard
