The bandits pushed the captured travellers towards one of the buildings at the other end of the courtyard.

As for Katsuki, Eins and myself, we clung to the side of the Sand Leviathan which was the shadowed side and hid ourselves using [Shadow Wall].

Thankfully, no one noticed us and the Sand Leviathan started slithering its way towards a giant warehouse looking building on its own.

The bandits nearby didn’t even look in the Sand Leviathan’s direction, almost like this was something that they had already seen plenty of times.

The Sand Leviathan passed through the doorway and I realised that the warehouse was actually the bandits’ animal pens as there were various different monsters and beasts being kept there.

There were even stairs that led up to what appeared to be an aviary on the second floor where the flying type beasts were kept.

There were so many monsters here that I believe there was either a really powerful Kalomancer in charge or there were a lot of Kalomancers in this bandit group.

The Sand Leviathan made its way towards a hole at the very end of the pen where I assume must be its home.

Along the way, I got to see just what type of beasts there were and most of them were the bipedal lizard mounts which I assumed functioned as horses in the desert that the bandits were using to chase down their targets.

There were also some Dune Bisons and a few scorpion looking monsters as well as a monster that looked like a cross between a snake and a lion where it had a snake’s body but a lion’s head.

I thought that might be the weirdest one I would see until we went past a monster that had spider legs, a lizard head, a cow’s body and a bird’s wings.

I’m pretty sure that was some kind of attempt at creating a new monster or something by the Kalomancer and not a normal monster that naturally appears in this World.

As the Sand Leviathan neared the hole, I hopped off its side with Katsuki and we pressed ourselves against one of the walls, relying on the shadows to hide us as the giant monster went back below the earth.

The other beasts paid no attention to us, either because they did not care about intruders or they could not sense us at all.

My guess is that they are already used to seeing strangers being moved around the camp in lieu of the bandits abducting travellers so our presence wasn’t a big deal for them.

Still, that doesn’t mean we could let down our guard since there’s no telling when a bandit might be lurking around.

“Do you have a plan, Katsuki?” I asked, my voice barely audible.

She turned to me right as Eins slipped back into my shadow, “It is up to what Mistress wishes to do here.”

“What do you mean?”

“Does Mistress only wish to rescue the abducted travellers? Does Mistress only want to retrieve the supposedly valuable item that the merchants are holding? Or does Mistress wish to raze this entire fortress to the ground and slaughter all these bandits so that they can no longer terrorize the surrounding area?”

Geez Katsuki, it’s kind of obvious which option you were hoping for me to choose already…

But since it was also the exact same thing that I want, I guess that doesn’t matter.

“Let’s say I want to kill them all. Do you have any plans in that case, Katsuki?”

Surprisingly, she nodded, “Of Course, Mistress. All we need to do is to use Mistress’s sword’s enchantment to start a fire and we can watch the entire place burn down.”

Ah, she’s talking about the fire from my Shadow Sword. If I start a fire with this, they probably wouldn’t be able to put it out.

“There might be some of them who would realise that they were being attacked and flee, right? Wouldn’t they just start another group of outlaws and the cycle will repeat itself?”

“I will personally hunt anyone who tries to run away, Mistress. No one will be able to escape.”

As much as I want to trust Katsuki on this… I don’t think she would be able to do it alone.

That’s why….

“I think I have a better idea…” I started, my eyes drifting over to the monsters and beasts that were still stuck in their stalls. “These monsters are being controlled by a Kalomancer, right?”

Katsuki nodded, “I believe that is the case, yes.”

“Then what will happen if we were to… Oh I dunno… Kill the Kalomancer that tamed them?”

“The monsters and beasts would be free of their control or, in the case of summoned creatures, completely cease to exist. At least, that would happen if they do not have a spirit bond with someone else.”

That’s a new term that I have never heard before.

“What’s a spirit bond?” I asked.

“That’s something that Kalomancers would do to bond with the ones they tamed or created, Mistress. I am not too sure what the process is since none have shared with me so far but I do believe it involves linking the tamed or summoned beasts with the Kalomancer’s soul. Without a spirit bond, the creatures that the Kalomancer summoned might fade away after some time has passed and the ones they tamed might be able to break free of their control relatively easily.”

“And how many spirit bonds can one Kalomancer form?”

Kastuki hesitated for a while, “That is… It’s dependent on the person’s capabilities. Some Kalomancers might only be able to do one, others might be able to form over a hundred spirit bonds and still not reach their limit.”

“Then what about slave contracts? They are made by Kalomancers as well, aren’t they?”

Katsuki nodded, “In those cases, the Kalomancer doesn’t need to perform a spirit binding since the slaves are capable of higher thought functions so they do contract bindings instead. I’m afraid I do not know what the difference between the bindings are nor why there are different bindings, Mistress.”

Oh wow, I never knew that being a Kalomancer required you to think that much about this skill.

Now I’m a little curious about the skill… I wonder if there’s someone that can teach me this magic?

Oh hey, I got a better idea now!

I leaned over to Katsuki, “How about… We go find the bandit that is controlling them… Then we take him back to the fort and we can make that guy teach me how to learn it?”

She lowered her head, “If that is what Mistress wishes, I will do my best to fulfil it. Although I believe Mistress would be able to find more capable and willing teachers in the Academy instead.”

I believe Katsuki was talking about attending the main Aerialla Academy because I know there were no Kalomancy teachers back at the Lehcarouc branch.

Well… I guess there’s the option of waiting a few more years before I start learning but if I can just get a rough idea of how the magic works so that I can figure it out myself, then why not, right?

Putting that aside for now…

“So anyway… We find the Kalomancer or Kalomancers, knock them out or kill them, then the monsters should go back to being hostile to the bandits so there will be chaos from within. Then we rescue the captured travellers and get the hell out of here! What do you think?”

“A marvelous plan, Mistress. Will you be mobilising your Shadow Guards as well?”

“If necessary I guess. I’ll keep them for now since it’ll be easier to sneak around with fewer people. Right now, I guess we should look for where the Kalomancers are and where these bandits are keeping the prisoners.”

Katsuki bowed her head, “Please leave the search to me, Mistress.”

“Eh? Wait, you’re going to look for them yourself?”

She nodded, “There’s no need for Mistress to take such a risk after all. I will be back in just a moment.”

She then stood back up and disappeared before I could say anything.

Really, Katsuki? I can be sneaky if I want too!

Just as I was about to feel a little miffed that she didn’t bring me along, my Inugami maid reappeared in front of me again with her head bowed.

Your next read is at My Virtual Library Empire

“Mistress. The prisoners are being held in a warehouse at the centre of the fort and I have found that the beasts are being controlled by a single Kalomancer whom I suspect is an Off-Worlder. The prisoners aren’t that well guarded aside from a few monsters and the stolen goods are also stored in a warehouse just a short distance away from the prisoners. What shall be our next course of action, Mistress?”

Good thing I didn’t even have time to whine…

Err… What I mean is good work, Katsuki! As expected of you! Now come here and let me fluff that tail of yours!

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!

Report chapter

Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter