Burning down a forest

Fifteen mages, clad in hooded robes — Claud didn't know why hooded robes were the standard attire for mages, since that was something only people in the darker trades needed — trudged out towards Caroline after around thirty minutes of waiting. Their hoods, which was pulled over their eyes for some baffling reason, revealed only their mouths, creating a situation in which these weirdoes looked like peas in a pod.

"Come over," said Caroline, beckoning at Claud and Lily. "These men and women are my mages. Disciplined, aren't they?"

"You brought them along from Lostfon?" Claud asked.

"Correct," Caroline replied. "Had to prepare something for Aran, after all. Anyway, they're really good, so just sit still and watch them."

The mages marched up to Caroline, before stopping five metres before her and kneeling on a leg. "Your highness. We await your orders."

Caroline pointed at the forest. "Turn this forest into farmland."

"Yes, your highness."

The mages got up, and then arranged themselves into a circle. It was standard procedure for mages using ritual magic to arrange themselves into a nice circle, although the theory behind doing so wasn't something Claud knew the answer to.

Mana started to dance above the little circle, as a chorus of voices swept out into the air.

"Fire, the sea of destruction. Water the earth with the fuel of life. Flood the land with your formless form. Plough the soil with your burning vigour. Till the dirt with your fiery fingers."

The azure mana above them turned red, and the temperature began to rise. As the density of mana continued to increase, Claud pulled Lily away from the assembled mages and edged closer to Caroline.

"Flame, the ferryman of rebirth. Liberate the formless from the formed. Tear down their mortal coil. Escort the dying to their next life." The second verse rumbled through the air, low and sonorous. Claud could feel his hackles rising, as the mana they built up began to take shape and glow. The ritual spell was on the verge of completion; what remained was the last verse.

"Flare, the spark of life." The chanting grew louder, rising to a booming roar within seconds. "Grace the world with life and light. Call forth the new evergreen. Power the circle of reincarnation! Descend, Light of Life!"

The mana above the mages collapsed into a single point, before arcing over to the forest. The vermilion dot of radiance bloomed like a gigantic flower a moment later, a flower that had thousands of petals. The blue sky turned red as the blazing petals began to fall, turning all it touched into blackened ash.

The nameless forest near Licencia was being burned down, but there was no sound whatsoever. Just a silent show of heat and light, made of falling petals whose beauty carried danger.

Within three minutes, the forest, which had taken up a huge part of Claud's vision, had been reduced into drifting ash. Whatever monsters and animals that had been hiding inside had suffered the same fate. It was a chilling sight, despite the high temperatures involved, and for a moment, Claud felt that the defences around Moon Mansion was not enough.

"Good work, mages," said Caroline. "You may return now. On the way back, call the city guard and tell them to come over."

"Yes, your highness!"

The mages bowed and retreated as a single entity, and Claud watched them back away slowly, before turning around to walk away after ten steps or so.

He had never underestimated the power of ritual magic, but since he had survived every single one directed at him so far, it didn't really seem that impressive in his memory. It didn't help that he didn't have all that much to appreciate the colleteral damage, but…

"Wow," Lily muttered. "An entire forest was destroyed just like this…"

"Oh, it's not destroyed. The mages simply fertilised the soil here by burning down the trees and whatever wildlife that was here. Now we just need to wall this off and send some enterprising farmers to secure our food supply." Caroline chuckled. "Once news of this gets out, food prices are going to drop. We might even see some of the agricultural businesses bidding for the right to farm this place too."

"If it's so good, why didn't Count Nightfall burn it down?"

"Well, I wasn't here previously. Furthermore, a forest like this didn't really catch our attention earlier. If it wasn't for the giant monster, I wouldn't have cared too much either." Caroline chuckled. "That's just how it is, really. There's not much in the way of personal gain, and it's not like Licencia has its own mages to raise."

She paused. "If there were any, they probably weren't all that good at ritual magic either. You have to remember that mages are a military resource. Duke Istrel is a paranoid person. Gathering a mage corps could alarm him and result in stupid things."

"It's Licencia's blessing to have you, then," said Claud.

"You've quite the smooth tongue," Caroline replied. "But I like it. Anyway, now that we've settled the forest, we just need to wait for the guards to come. Bodies, eh? Maybe we might be able to locate something. It's a pity that we had to burn down the forest, but I'm not going to waste lives trying to seek out some psychopath's little hut in the forest."

Claud nodded, but he couldn't help but think about some issues. Was it possible that Zulan Patra's murderer had a base in the forest? He hadn't thought of it earlier, but Caroline's mention of a psychopath had triggered that memory in him.

"Something wrong?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, actually."

The two of them turned to him, their eyes brimming with an expectant light.

"W-well, I just had a thought. What if Zulan Patra's murderer had used this forest as a base?" Claud asked. "Since Caroline said something about a psychopath's little hut and all, you know."

"That could explain how the Third Bearer of Destiny was observing the battle between the enthralled Nero and the Holy Daughter of the White Church," Lily mused out loud. "This forest is not too far, after all. The only issue is how he got in and out of the city, but that can be answered by digging holes in walls."

"True." Claud nodded. Digging holes in the city walls had become more rampant ever since he implemented some measures at the city gates, which mandated a trip every so often around the city perimeter by the two of them or a bunch of patrols.

"I've received reports on a weekly basis about how people like digging holes into my walls," Caroline acknowledged. "Maybe we should layer the inner side of the walls with iron or something. Dig through that, criminal scum!"

Everyone laughed.

"I'd be surprised if they managed to dig through iron," said Claud. "Or alarmed. Not sure which one's better."

After chatting for a few more minutes, with the three of them complaining about work — being an administrator of Licencia also had its own fair share of problems, like devious merchants and overbearing overseers from the Istrel Dukedom — the city guards arrived.

"Ma'am," said Captain Blake. "The city guards are formed up and ready for your orders."

"There should be some bodies buried under the soil," said Caroline. "See if you can locate them and identify the dead. At the same time, get some of your guards to drag this beast back. Conduct some research on it and report your results to me and the City Guard headquarters in Grandia."

"Yes, ma'am." Captain Blake saluted, and then started issuing orders. Within moments, a bunch of men started to dissect the huge corpse of poor Tugly, taking it apart and leaving it without a place to rest.

At the same time, the other city guards started to look for any signs of corpses, and to Claud's satisfaction, Lily didn't disappoint him. Soldiers groaned as a horrible smell spilled out into the air, and everyone reeled collectively from a concentrated stench of death and decay.

"Smells like the cellar at times," Lily muttered.

Claud looked at her, and then patted her shoulder.

"This stench is horrible." Caroline stepped back from the ash-covered soil. "City guards, fall back and let the smell disperse. Ugh. Captain Blake, identify the corpses or something after the smell becomes bearable, and make sure to sanitise yourself after returning back to base."

Claud and Lily, who were also covering their noses, followed Caroline as she bustled back into the city.

"That's probably quite a few bodies," said Claud.

"Ten or so, I think," Lily replied. "It's hard to tell how long bodies have been buried underground, though. Decomposition can slow down under certain circumstances and everything."

"Lily, do you happen to be the Moon Lords' expert on murder cases?" Caroline asked, clearly intrigued. "You know quite a bit about this, apparently."

"Oh, I just read a lot of books," Lily replied. "Authors tend to include these details when writing, and to do so, they need research."

"Authors? Like what, storywriters?"

"Something like that, yes."

Caroline pondered on her words for a moment. "I see. Well, maybe I should consider fostering our own specialists for crimes…"