Chapter 147: Not My Way (P3)

I shouldn't be so shocked to hear it. The Mayor being an S-rank may not have been something I considered but it's something I'm sure I can prepare for.

Yes. I can totally still go ahead with this fight; I can totally still have the entire March fall under my control.

Yes. After all, all I have to do is pull some world busting spell out my ass and we're good as pie!

At least, that's what the expectant look on Kaylin seems to want. 

How the fuck am I supposed to deal with an S-rank? I've barely just crossed through the threshold of an A-rank and that's literally all I'm working with right now.

I seriously can't, these odds, I doubt I can handle how stacked they are.

"Well, I guess we could take him on together." I offer weakly, not having a shred of trust or believe in the words as they leave my mouth.

Neither do Kaylin or Anselm.

"If he's an S-rank then there's no 'we'," she says firmly, "You must really have no idea how strong S-ranks are do you?"

At this I roll my eye, "I've met you mother."

"Good, then remember that feeling."

"But what in hells would an S-rank be doing here? Ruling a mere city?" Anselm asks just the question that's been bothering me.

"What would an S-rank be doing ruling a city? Aren't they given dominion over much larger things? In mean, like Counties, Dukedoms and…Kingdoms?" I say the last part hesitantly because I still have no ide where the King stands in the hierarchy. Would he be below or above an S-rank even if he isn't a Mage or a strong Mage?

I don't know and right not it's just a passing thought, more concerning is this talk of how I may or may not have picked a fight with an S-rank.

"We should have done more investigations." I sigh dejectedly.

"No, we knew enough. S-rank or not, we will finish this mission be it today or another." 

Perhaps it's all the time she's spent living with the Elven North and their leaders, but right now, with the wind blowing through her white hair, hinting at the coming of rain, Kaylin inspires me.

"You're right. Besides, if it does all go to shit, we can always run with our tails between out legs and try again later."

"If we survive that is." Unfortunately, Anselm's time with Frozia turned him into a total bummer.

Sneering at him I rebuke, "We will survive."

Still, his cold pessimism persists, "Sure we will, I mean, we've bene through quite a bit already and we're here. But the elves we leave behind, I don't think they'll exactly be thriving."

Before I can rebuke his absolutely logical and warranted pessimistic thinking, Kaylin jumps in.

"That's why I prepared the elves you guys evacuated. They've gotten their supplies from the tunnels and loaded them up on the wagons with the weapons."

"That's…brilliant." I stutter.

"Yeah, that could work." Anselm agrees.

She smiles sheepishly, "It'll be a long walk to Frozia but it's far better than staying here under his rule."

"Have they started moving out yet?"

She shakes her head, "No, but they will, as soon as Yelenia decides to give up on me."

"Give up on you? What do you mean?" 

Her lips part to explain but then she thinks better of it, "Never mind that, point is we've got a few hours at most to settle up with the Mayor, so what's the plan Asher?"

Plan?

What plan? Have they both been expecting me to come up with a plan of action to combat an S-rank when I just learned we might be fighting an S-rank literally a few moments ago?

Uh. No, I don't think I have a plan, or any general idea of how to clean up this glaring mess I've made now.

The Synagogue and the Kingdom may not send their goons to put down because of double orders from Anera and Phien, but that doesn't mean I'm immune to everyday people like the Mayor protecting their territory from me.

Inhaling and exhaling deeply and slap my hands onto my knees and proclaim.

"I have no fucking clue."

Honesty is the best policy I figure, "I mean, I could ask Lotar for some kind of…boon."

And then it hits me. All this time I've been thinking about violence and fighting and combat. But the truth remains that, well, I could quite literally shift into the Astral an-

"So, what do we do now?" Kaylin panics, it's clear to see in her eyes, the way they shift. "Should I just run back over, should we just run back to Frozia? He might not give up; you realize this don't you?"

It's like she's slapping a gong over and over in my ears. "Yes, I know that Kaylin, for the most part I have considered him following us a possibility."

"Then what!"

"I'm thinking!"

"You said you had no fucking clue, are you thinking or not! Which is it Asher?"

"Calm down you two!" Anselm steps in, intervening.

"I am calm!" Kaylin and I both scream.

We glance at each other and she scoffs, looking away.

Heaving a sigh, I actively try to calm down, "Well. In the brief moment you've given me, I've come up with two plans." 

Indicating with my finger I call them out, "One and likely the most effective, we get your mom to kill him."

"What!"

"I was just about to suggest that." Anselm says, punching his open palm.

"No! We can't get my mother involved in this, not any more than she is."

"She's already involved? Then why didn't she break you out?" And more importantly, why am I still alive after indirectly sending you to a dungeon.

At the question Kaylin immediately becomes uncomfortable, "I'm not sure, I'm not sure she even knows what's been happening."

"If she didn't know, she knows now." Anselm quips, gesturing at our surrounding.

"Perhaps, but, the Mayor, he mentioned her when we fought."

"He did?" I'm on the edge of my wooden makeshift seat, "What did he say?"

She looks so confused and frustrated as she recalls the memory, "He was debating what to do with me…since Maylin is an S-rank, he didn't want to piss her off."

"But he threw you in a dungeon anyway, I guess he can afford to take that risk." I mutter, "Definitely an S-rank then."

She huffs and falls flat on her butt onto some box that's been left outside, "Maybe, the way he fought, I think I could still have won if I had been more cautious…but he's…strange."

"How strange?"

"He fights weirdly. He wastes mana, he summoned an elemental just to distract me and took me down himself."

I'm not quite sure what an Elemental is but if it sounds as bad as she makes it out to be then I'm not quite sure I want to see it.

But then I'm left with the man himself. Yet, there is hope.

"You said you could have won if you had been more cautious, then that means he's definitely not an S-rank, right?"

She shrugs, "I'm not sure, S-ranks typically have many indicators. A large mana reserve, an unreasonably strong affinity for magic and manipulating mana, and a whole lot of spells mastered."

"Mastered."

She nods, "I'm not sure how exactly you learn your spells since I've never seen you pick up a book and read it," at this her eyes narrow, "But everyone who wants to be a Mage, even a D-rank Mage has to study magic. It's a craft, it's a skill and an entire field of study."

Huffing she adds, "So that means your level of proficiency with one spell decides it's effectiveness. A simple spell like a fireball may take a B-rank mage more mana and more effort than it would an A-rank. The spell would come out entirely different too with the same mana input, perhaps even several times hotter and faster too."

"So?" Is all I have to ask. For the most part I understand the idea behind the difference in spell power according to how mastered it's been. But more importantly is whether or not I'm making plans for an S-rank or not.

"So, I actually have no idea either!" She yells, "He cancelled out all my attacks and his were so precise and calculated I didn't even know when or how they would hit. Before I knew it, I was captured."

"So, we go to Maylin then, just to have her as a cushion."

"I think she's far more likely to pull me out of your adventure and flee to some other Kingdom."

"While we're hoping that doesn't happen, what's the second option Asher?" Anselm asks.

"The second is the first actually. I'm going to try to spy on him."

Anselm shakes his head, "How? Even I couldn't get through the defences around his palace. I have no clue how that's done either."

Earlier while Anselm was carrying out his scan of the city, he tried to get a peek at the big bad we'd be facing. But it seems my mana and whatever ties he's recently gotten with Frozia prevent him from busting through the barrier that guards the place.

However…

"Astral Projection. My soul is still unlinked to any Deity, and no, Lotar doesn't have control over my soul, just some of my actions and mental and spiritual well-being."

"That sounds…safe?" Kaylin says hesitantly.

"I should be able to walk through the Astral and get a good view of what's happening…that's if I can keep away from the fog long enough."

"The fog?"

I wave the questions off. "Don't mind me. If this fails then we just fucking stroll in and kill the bastard. Just guard my body and I'll be back in a few."

They both seem to get what I'm putting down, albeit which some resignation and a ton of doubt.

Having faith in my abilities to not royally fuck it all up this time, I lie on my back and summon the abilities bestowed onto me, "Astral Projection."