C56-Incompetence

〔 Aizel Kadashi 〕Level: 47Age: 19TitlePlatinum-rank Hunter (SU)Health Power506/547Soul Energy0KinCrimson Were-Dragon〔 3 Bonded Souls 〕+

「 Night, of his 41st day on Geas. 」

The team landed on the large caravan center. They had given the forest a quick overview from high altitude and saw a group of around ten horses moving towards the caravan. It did not sound like much. But in a world where magic can make a single man into a monster, Aizel did not want to take the chance and leave his two snails behind.

People were understandably spooked by four strangers landing after sunset—or by anyone just flying around and dropping in out of nowhere at night.

"Legion, find the caravan leader and our snails, then report back. Neine, stay with me."

"Sir!" "~yes sir…"

The wives replied in unison, with Neine shyly lagging behind.

"Who 're ya? What d' ya want's!?" A fat snail bravely came towards Aizel; the angels did not wait around and took off after he gave them their orders.

"Platinum-rank Hunter, who is in command of this caravan?" Aizel said with a quick flash of his tags to make his point; it worked because the man became meek and gave him the information right away. "They're in da fromnpt." The man said, throwing a little spit by accident as he spoke.

"Come, Neine, imagine you were part of the caravan; how would you act?"

"~When we found sub-humans, we fought."

"Do you feel like fighting?"

"If we are attacked, then yes!" Neine said with a determined face; it was scary to see some of her introverted side turn wild. 'I'm really into psychos, huh? She just became ten times hotter for me after that.'

The girls had already landed in front of the caravan where the leader was. Aizel did not know if they meant a merchant, a hunter, or what; his only objective was to warn them, not to stay and be dragged into whatever political mess this was most likely part of.

"Sir!" Blaze called from further ahead. And came running. "Please tell me you missed me and that is why you are here, Aizel," Blaze said, already knowing the answer to his question; the were-doggy knew they were close by.

"Sorry, bud. The caravan has a really high chance of being ambushed by sub-humans. Who is leading this overgrown caravan? The girls are at the front already."

"It's the Mithril called Mira. The merchants in the front hired her, and she is guiding all the wagons."

"~Fuck." Neine said with a tired face.

"Come, let's see what she has to say." Aizel chuckled.

They walked quite a bit before Aizel remembered he was not a snail. He gave Neine her construct and tied Blaze to drag him behind as they flew to the front. He was used to it, and probably grew to love it based on his smile.

"Hunter Aizel, nice to see your scaly ass a third time. Your 'Vassals' tell me that you saw a group heading this way; can you confirm this?" The bitchy leopard said in a bitchy tone as he landed.

"About ten horses southwest of the caravan; they are moving in," Aizel said.

"And what do you expect me to do, Hunter?" The bitchy leopard asked with a raised brow, not taking his warning seriously at all.

"I honestly don't care what you do; I came to inform you and to offer assistance to two parties only. You've been informed, so bye." Aizel nodded to the girls and started walking the other way. She was supposed to be just a rank under Pops, and one above him. So far, no one had told Aizel how to even earn Mithril Rank. So he assumed she had the necessary strength and experience to deal with a few horse riders.

"Blaze, what is your mission? Do you follow the Mithril, or is it individual?"

"My group is just responsible for a couple of wagons, sir. Mira is responsible for about ten; her role is just to guide us to Ledvira. The only order is to protect from monsters when they approach."

"Is this an alliance?"

"No, mine is a small alliance, and Silvia's group is another; we are leading less than half what you did on your ranking mission."

"Fucking disorganized savages. Where is Silvia?"

"Her alliance is behind mine; she was probably on the other side of the line when you landed, preparing the tents on the hillside, away from the open field."

"I will take Neine and Blaze. Legion, go ahead and find Silvia and her alliance. We meet in front of their wagons; we will help with their mission but nothing more, unless any of you have any objections?" Aizel said.

"…"

"I will take that as a yes, this is not our mission, so raise your questions before we engage, we can just fuck off whenever we want, move people!"

"Sir!" This time Neine joined the chant, sending a small shiver down his spine.

Aizel gave Neine her pogo construct and tied the dog. Again.

They landed on the wagons that were assigned to Silvia and Blaze; thankfully, Silvia was preparing a little camp with the tent they had lent them.

"Sir," Silvia said with a respectful nod as soon as they landed.

"Silvia, Blaze, your teams are familiar with the defensive formations, right?"

"Yes." "Yes, sir."

"Good. Bring them in."

Their alliances seemed to be on the competent side; they did not ask many questions. All it took was a glance at his tags, and they began to act just like his ducklings back during his gold ranking mission.

"Shield Wall!" He ordered. And the alliances complied, even letting out a small roar while forming up. Both of the groups had hunters and huntresses with shields and blunt weapons, so they would work great against goblinoids, not so much against horse riders.

A Silver-rank from another party came from the back and started to ask questions when Aizel was verifying the alliances were not brain-dead. Understandably, they either knew of him or were smart enough to know that something was up; it was not every night a platinum rank just flew in and began yelling orders.

"Hunter, what is going on?" A redheaded man who looked like the ugly cousin of Vanessa asked.

"There is a group of horse riders closing in on the caravan," Aizel said while pointing in the direction of the suspected ambush.

"And how is that our problem?" The man asked with genuine curiosity; his tone sounded disrespectful, but that is how Hunters talked.

"I can think of at least five ways to fuck a caravan with a single horse; one mage with (Fire Burst) can make a pass, start fucking everyone, and then leave." He shrugged.

"Why would they do that?"

'Do I seriously need to explain it to them?'

"Aizel. No one knows what spooked you. We trust your judgment. Having said that, everyone else could use a little more information to begin making preparations based on what you say." Valerie said. The commanding tone of her days as party leader returned for a moment, making him smile at her.

Aizel nodded and addressed the ugly redhead dude. "There are a couple of baby leeches in Redvelia; they sent this caravan running away for whatever reason. If their enemies fuck the caravan, they fuck the baby leeches politically.

– They won't use armies because that is not how nobles work; they will hire the closest group of sub-humans to do their work, the idiots in the horses probably don't even know who they're working for."

"…"

The man just stared at him, so he continued. "Look. Is better to be prepared for anything and look like a spooked fool than look brave and take a spear to the face. I didn't see any weapons, but they did not look like messengers, nor are visible weapons needed from what I've seen. They are probably mages; just be ready in case the worst comes to pass."

"Aizel, they are coming," Lisa said, the redhead man glanced at the horse rider that was not slowing down, nodded towards Aizel, and ran back to wherever he came from.

The group was smaller than they predicted, only six horse riders. They were using the forest as cover so only he could see their heat signatures from far in the sky. Aizel was almost certain they were ten, but he had been wrong before, or they could not have all charged.

'Could have scared them away, or killed them on the spot, but if I had done that, then I should just have stayed back on Redvelia in the first place. Fucking human politics… Well, I could not have killed them because of the stupid Vow, I rather deal with an army of goblinoids than this.'

He was waiting for a reaction from Valerie, but she did not listen to him this time, or had nothing to add.

'Val, you ignoring me? … We need to find out how that shit works.' He glanced at her, but she was looking at the incoming horses. 'Maybe it's wherever she puts her attention?'

"Blaze, Silvia. Take the hillside and form up with your allies. We will protect the wagons under your care from this side. Neine, stay behind us. Lisa, be ready with a (Heal) and to take Neine away. Valerie, you have the north side; do not leave the range of the wagons in our snails' care. Vanessa, you have the south. Don't kill or even engage them unless it is to defend. This is human-kin, not monster."

"Sir!"

Aizel was trying to look for weapons or what they would use to attack the caravan with his enhanced sight. But something caught his eye to the side, and he needed confirmation that the girls had not drugged him.

"Vanessa… What - is that Mithril doing? I can see what she is doing. I just need to… confirm that I'm seeing - what I'm seeing…"

"Pff. Ha-ha~ She's challenging the riders by brandishing a large mace."

"Neine… Has that ever worked for her?"

"…" She looked away with vicarious embarrassment.

Once the horse riders got close enough to the overgrown caravan, they slowed down and began galloping in a line, with the ones further back slowing even more, leaving a good space in between each charging horse. Then they leaned a little to the side that was closest to the caravan.

The first horse rider arrived at the wagons at the front. Instead of going after the crazy Mithril were-leopard that was dancing around with some kind of mace over her head, they just ignored her and rode by her side at speed. The were-leopard did not even try to throw a rock or slow down the rider in any way, and just looked at them as they passed her by.

'A simple spear, arrow, or bolt would have at least slowed them down in case they have (Barrier). I don't see any armor… so it's possible they have other means of defending themselves.'

As soon as the horse rider got close enough to the first wagons, they reached back and pulled a wand that was a bit longer than the ones Silvia or Lisa used. Aizel grimaced at the sight as his earlier speculation became true in front of their eyes.

A large torrent of flames emerged from their wand and burned the side of the wagons that faced the valley to the west. This scared the horses pulling the wagons, sending the wagoner flying to the side and civilians running in all directions, with the guards throwing shit at the rider only after they were already gone, while the hunters tried to control the fleeing civilians.

The rider only stopped attacking once their wand had burned up. Then they just left, riding back towards the other bandits.

"…"

"And he says he's not a seer," Vanessa said teasingly while biting her lip.

"That was (Fire Stream), not (Fire Burst). Thank you very much."

"Of course you can even tell what skill they were using…" Lisa said.

Aizel rolled his eyes. 'It's pretty obvious…'

Another horseman did the same with the following wagons; all the hunters and guards were taking refuge on the East side of them, pulling the civilian away from the flames. Each rider managed to burn a few wagons and even singe some horses with each pass.

"Vanessa, Valerie, Neine, get to the other side, if a rider comes for you, then return to me, or fly away with our party snails to the top of the East hill if its too hard to retreat, you are not fighting against fire, I know you all lack the means. Lisa with me"

"Sir!"

The girls complied and went to the other side to seek refuge from the incoming pyros, since no one was engaging and were just letting them burn everything.

"Talk to me, love. Do I just defend the wagons, or do I fuck them?" Aizel asked.

"You want to defend, I know that much. I want you to fuck all the riders over. Let's meet in the middle, as you say. Engage the ones who dare attack us, not just defend; fight back. But don't kill them or turn them into soup; we need to hear them out." Lisa said.

Aizel let out a sigh; he hated to be right. Little by little, the riders advanced, setting fire to one side of the wagons. They were not attacking people, so Aizel could not use Deadly force, not that he wanted to. The hunters and guards were focused on putting out the flames, as the civilians ran to the other side.

"You all need to learn 'Magikas finalis' and 'Barrera', my love."

"I know. Love. We are growing really fast, much faster than we would even at an imperial academy. It looks slow from your perspective. Believe me, we are giving it our all during our training sessions."

"I know, I didn't mean to sound mad or disappointed. It's just that in moments like this, I really worry. If something happened to any of you… I'd burn them alive. The stupid hunter vow wouldn't stop me, and I know you wouldn't listen to me if I asked you to stay behind."

"True," Lisa said and caressed his arm for a moment before stepping back.

One of them drew the short straw and was heading for his group. They had a rag that was probably white at one point, but now it looked like it had been decorated with mud and dried oil. They were using it as a hood, covering most of their features.

'There's no way so many people know how to use (Fire Stream), right?'

"Probably custom wands! Like the scrolls we used for signals!" Valerie yelled from her position.

'Is there a distance range for your trait?… Val, VAL!?…'

The horse rider raised their wand and a stream of fire shot at their line of wagons.

Aizel sent a pulse of (Finalize) from his aura, and the fire stopped. The horseman gave the wand a few shakes as if that would make it work again. It did shoot flames again, but that was because of how 'Magikas Finalis' worked, not because of the idiot shaking the wand.

Another stream of fire tried to reach them; another (Finalize) put an end to it.

Aizel raised his arm and sent a small (Shōmetsu) that was less powerful than (Spectral Bolt), so probably the same as a normal (Mana Bolt).

The horseman was hit with a small tracer-like red projectile on their chest in an instant; they fell off the horse, and Aizel quickly restrained them with invisible mana hands and visible red string constructs from (Doppelgänger), and pulled them in with the aid of his other skills. The horse just kept going without stopping, but it was steering away from the caravan, so he let it be.

Another horseman approached them and was not familiar with the definition of insanity, because they just ended up tied down at the side of the first.

The third one got smart and predicted the trajectory of his shot, dodging to the side while dangling off their horse. They got upright in no time and prepared to dodge the next one while closing in; the problem was that he was not using a (Mana Bolt); it did not even look like one, and he could alter its trajectory and produce more than one.

Aizel shot two undercharged (Shōmetsu) tracers at the rider; they managed to squeeze in between the shots. However, they must lack any kind of mana-sensing skill or trait, because the tracer-like shots turned around and hit them from the back and side, sending them stumbling to the floor, with expected results.

It was not until the fourth one that the idiots stopped just charging at Aizel and regrouped at what they probably thought was a safe distance.

To her credit, the bitchy leopard was running towards the three riders. It looked hilarious since she was coming all the way from the beginning of the caravan, and there was only one horseman paying attention to the weirdo wielding a mace that was slowly closing in.

She was not slow by any means; she could probably outrun a hobgoblin in heat. But she was really far away, and they had horses.

"Love, we should not let any of them go, no matter where they come from; they can report your skills," Lisa said as she came slowly walking to his side again.

A sigh escaped Aizel. He was about to reply to her when he felt the buildup of mana coming from one of the riders; it looked and felt a lot like what Silvia did. It was the evolution of (Mana Bolt) that Pops used, but it did not compare to the insanely overcharged version of the old angel.

His thoughts were confirmed when a blue (Mana Bullet) struck his (Barrier). He was about to retaliate when two more shots left the rider's wand; they looked a lot stronger than the first one, and even more than the ones used by Silvia.

Thump!-Thump!

'Good one… Still, Pops (Mana Bolt) eats these things for breakfast. I wonder why he doesn't use (Mana Bullet)?'

He let them strike and waited for the iridescent and red mana vapor to subside. "They fucked up with that one; that is attempted murder, easy (Bind)," Aizel said with a chuckle.

Lisa smiled.

Aizel raised his arm and sent three undercharged (Shōmetsu) at the three riders with the same intensity as before. He would have liked to use the skill to blow them up just to see the fireworks and what the unrestrained skill would look like on a squishy snail. However, the horses they were riding had done nothing wrong, and they would probably get blown up, or worse, get hurt without dying.

The red tracer-like rounds hit their mark true, right on their solar plexus, making them fall of their horses while the animals just galloped away in different directions.

"Valerie, Neine, go restrain those three and bring them in. Be extremely careful with the one on the left; they have (Mana Bullet)."

"Sir!"

"Sorry, love, the horsies didn't deserve my wrath."

"…"

"Why are you wet right now? I barely lifted a finger, and you could have turned them into shreds by yourself."

"Shut up. ~Silly Dragon. And let me enjoy myself."

"I missed that." Aizel just took her in his arms and started to kiss her as if he had gone to war and not just slapped around some unruly snails.

"Why didn't you do that before!?" Someone said. The voice was not from one of his females or from Neine, so he did not really care and just kept making out with his woman.

"Hey! I'm talking to you, Plat!" The voice said.

"What?" He pulled out of Lisa's mouth, leaving her winded and with a tendril of saliva still connecting them. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"You could have prevented half the caravan from getting burned!" The weirdo Mithril with the leopard vibe came in fuming, even stomping at the ground and everything.

"Yes, I could." He shrugged. "Even so, how was I supposed to know that a 'Mithril rank' would not make use of the archers, slingers, brutes, and whatever the fuck a person with a crossbow is called? Look at that idiot over there; he has a bolt loaded and did not shoot once!"

The leopard lady got closer to him, not even looking back at the guy he called out that was still shaking. She was quite tall, a little taller than Lisa, but still looked like an angry white kitten.

'What a waste, she's quite fuckable. Her ass is amazing… It's a shame she's such a bitch.' Aizel thought.

"Then fuck her like one!" Valerie yelled as she was dragging a tied snail behind her using (Pull).

"You know you could have told me that they were too heavy, right!?" He yelled back and started walking towards them, because Neine was trying to drag the other two by herself, and failing to even make them move.

'She has one hundred and fifty-something HP, but that still only improves the original body; she specializes in speed, not strength; good to know… Val?'

Aizel grabbed them with (Doppelgänger) and was lifting them up with (Anchor) and (Telekinesis), when the yapping resumed.

"Hey, I was talking to you!" The leopard said.

"What do you want, cat?"

"You let them burn the caravan!"

"Unless you want a crystal of whatever, that the Temples and Hunter Guilds use to confirm my story, you better change your tune with me. Lis, please come to my side." Lisa complied and assumed her old priestess persona.

"I saved half the caravan."

"True."

"I went to the Mithril-rank and informed her of the danger."

"True."

"She asked me for my help."

"Lie."

"I have authority to lead her caravan."

"Lie."

"There were people capable of fending off the attack."

"True."

"And she ordered everyone to act."

"Lie."

"She stood like an idiot dancing with her mace as the enemies closed in."

"T-True," She smiled.

Aizel turned to Lisa with a grin.

"You are losing your act, woman. What happened to the High Priestess who would never even smile?"

Lisa said nothing and bit her lip. He got closer to kissing her once again. The leopard was having some kind of stroke or crisis in her brain because she was stunned while staring at them.

"Leopard, unless you want to add 'failed to put out the flames' to that list. I suggest you go and help the people you were hired to protect." Aizel said while pointing to the still-burning wagons that were being doused off by civilians and hunters with large fabrics.

The Mithril were-leopard growled and turned around, then she started to become useful for the first time ever since he had seen her all the way back when Neine almost became an Ogre condom.

She picked up a crystal that fit her palm and raised it in front of her as she walked forward. A gust of wind rushed around her and started to put out the flames. Why she had not used that before to try and defend against the pyros was up for debate.

(Focus)

It was quite the creative use of mana; it did something similar to what he did with (Infuse) to fly, but it was closer in execution to the (Fire Stream) spell, used a tiny bit of (Condensate) or a similar acting skill, and instead of what he did when trying to discover an Ice lance shooting one, this one used the rushing air to just barely create fog.

"Whose dick did she sucked to become Mithril? She's too incompetent to even be past gold rank, no matter how strong she is." Valerie said with a frown while looking at the Mithril were-leopard.

"I have to agree, Val. Maybe if she were gold or plat, her rank is too high for a simple brute. Having said that, she has a nice side; she taught me a new skill."

"What?"

"Can you please throw some of the kindling you use for our camps right there?" Aizel asked and pointed to the front.

Valerie threw a few sticks and charcoal pieces in front of them, he did a quick (Fire Howl) at low intensity, after a brief fump! it was set on fire. Then he followed it up with the technique of drawing in moisture like the tool the idiot just used.

System:_〔 Basic Active Skill (Mist Burst) acquired. 〕

'I wonder if this could be turned into some kind of Freeze thingy. But, since it is called the same as the fire skill that Lis uses…'

Aizel applied the same principles of rocketry and Newton's laws he used when evolving Fire Burst, and the new Mist skill evolved.

Notice: Advanced skill usage detected.► Basic Active Skill (Mist Burst) evolved.► Advanced Active Skill (Mist Stream) Acquired.

"…" Valerie and Lisa were looking at him, but the old awe and shock were replaced with pouting and narrowed eyes.

"What?"

"Not even artifacts are safe from Dragon eyes," Valerie said.

"Is not the eyes! And now that you mention it…"

"What?" She said.

"Did we keep any of the signal scrolls?" He asked.

"No?"

"~Aiz! What do we do with these things?" Neine called from the back. She and Vanessa were poke-kicking the restrained riders with their feet, as if they were checking opossums playing dead.

"Lisa, can you check if they are sub-human?"

Lisa walked closer to them with her old priestess refined stance. "Sistema Reveladis!"

Vanessa visibly shivered and ran to seek refuge behind him. Lisa chuckled at her antics and almost lost her concentration.

"The hell got into you? She can see your stats at all times now."

"Yeah, but that skill or spell thing still gives me the creeps."

"Human… Human… Wanted Criminal… Human… Human… Human…" Lisa said as she walked past them, trying really hard not to burst out laughing at their wife's antics. She broke the spell and went to tease Vanessa while fake chanting the skill and almost getting bit in the process.

However, the figurative air shifted just as Lisa uttered the words 'Wanted Criminal.' Many of the surrounding hunters shifted their gaze towards them.

"~That means that they broke the hunter vow at some point, right?" Neine asked while frowning as she remembered what the title meant.

"Yes, Nei. The rest can still have bounties for the same acts; this one, however, is automatically convicted and will have a really hard time keeping their head." Aizel said as he approached the hooded figure with the hideous title. "And I'm not surprised; this is the one that used (Mana Bullet); that thing can one-shot goblins," He added, ignoring the angel duo fooling around.

Aizel squatted in front of the bandit to get a closer look and reached out to remove their hood. As he removed it, the figure let out a small feminine yelp.

She was a normal-looking human woman who had chest-length light-brown hair, fair skin, green eyes, full eyebrows, and a cute and delicate face that was blushing, with her ears even turning the color of her lips. She was scared out of her mind; Aizel did not even have to look around to know why that was the case. The eyes of all hunters and huntresses around them fell on the woman, filled with hate as soon as they heard Lisa utter her title out loud. He could hear one of them pull out a dagger from a few wagons away.

"Everyone not from my party, Back - away." He growled, and the hunters complied. "Blaze, Silvia. Come closer," Aizel said. The captured woman was shaking and looking at the floor.

"Sir!" Blaze and Silvia said while stopping at his side. He raised up before speaking.

'I guess the correct term for her would be sub-human.' Aizel's blood ran cold, and a shiver crept down his spine at the thought; from the hunter's vow alone, he knew that people with her title would not be seen as human. Given how they called them and the reactions from everyone around, he did not need half a brain to know they would kill her the first chance they got.

"Tie the others, not in the kinky way, do it nice and tight, like one would a wild hog or a goblin; then cover their eyes and mouths, be careful, they bite. After that, inform the Mithril. Do not let her get the reward for their capture of this five—don't discuss with her—once you reach the next town speak with the Guild. If you have any trouble, tell them my name and rank; I will clear it out later."

"Sir!"

Blaze and Silvia complied and ordered their teams around, tying up the rest of the bandits that did not carry the 'Wanted criminal' or any other illegal titles; if they did, Lisa would have told him.

"Lis, come closer, love," Aizel said, and Lisa stepped to his side.

"Have you ever killed a human?" He asked the woman.

"…" She did not speak or even look at him.

"All right, the hard way it will be."

"What are we doing with this one, Aiz?" Valerie asked as she came closer.

"Right now I need information; there is too much shit happening around us that we don't know about… But that's for later… I won't reveal our methods to the people around us; even if they backed off, once we start, they will ask questions."

Blaze came back to report; they did a nice job of restraining the rest, from the looks of things.

Aizel let out a sigh and addressed everyone. "We will go and make camp in the place we planned before, but be ready to move early; the snails will be spooked… well, more than before. They will probably increase their pace by a lot - reaching Ledvira much sooner. Blaze and Silvia, just continue along; we will keep an eye on you like before, but don't expect us to step in unless it's dire. This is still your mission. Lisa, carry this one with you, its good practice, haha."

"Sir!" The girls and blaze replied except for Lisa who was pouting.