Return of The 8th Class Mage Chapter 49:

The Great Grass Field (2)

“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 .