The First Mage

“Mil— Lilly, run!!” I heard someone yell from behind me. Glancing back, I could see Reurig standing at the edge of the forest, out of sight of the guards, ready to flee.

Berla had told us about her experience fighting a category seven and how it had taken an entire platoon to beat it. Over a dozen soldiers had lost their lives in that fight, and there were still three known categories above that.

Based on numbers alone, I would’ve expected this supposed category six bear cub to be weaker than what Berla had told us about, but the way it moved was completely ridiculous. Once it disappeared, I didn’t see it again until a guard fell, and two of them were down already. With this speed, I didn’t know what even an entire platoon of Fighters was supposed to do. After all, you can’t kill what you can’t see.

“Come on!!” Reurig shouted once more. He was clearly of the opinion that we should get out of here as quickly as possible, indicating that we wouldn’t have any chance against this beast. Tomar had killed a category five with relative ease before, and even though sevens were way stronger, Berla had guessed that they wouldn’t be able to brush off our attacks either. I figured a category six should be fine as well. However, that was assuming we would be able to hit the damn thing.

I had to make a decision, and quickly. The beast either hadn’t noticed us yet or it was focusing on the guards for the moment. We did have a chance to escape, all we had to do was abandon the people here. We would just need to sacrificing them. Running seemed very enticing, but even if I ignored these people, who would almost certainly get killed, I also had to consider that we would need to deal with these kinds of threats sooner or later. We wanted to present ourselves as saviors, who would do away with the threat of getting killed by beasts if you stepped outside the walls, and while we had ways to scare away weaker beasts, this was evidently not working for stronger ones.

Fuck me... I thought and took another step into the camp, at which point the cub’s head immediately snapped in my direction.

‘Miles!? Reurig said we should run!’

“I know... Sorry,” I said. I would be risking both of our lives, but I couldn’t just leave these people behind, and I had to know. If we weren’t able to deal with such a threat, our plan wouldn’t really work at all. And I really wanted it to.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see the workers and guards look in my direction as well. “Lilly!?” I heard one of them say, and I noticed the girl from before, Fae, standing among the other workers behind the wagons. The beast didn’t give me any time to greet them, however, as it disappeared once more.

Guessing that it would be coming for me now, I immediately threw myself to the side. It had been the right decision, though I didn’t manage to escape its attack entirely. Pain shot through my leg and I messed up my landing, falling to the floor less gracefully than intended.

“Argh!” I grunted and looked back to where I had just been standing. The cub raised itself up on its hindlegs and growled at me as it stared me down. Blood was dripping from its claws and with a quick look at the wound on my leg, I could see that it was at least in part mine. At least it’s still attached... I thought and hurriedly raised my arm to strike back, but I hesitated for a moment when the beast just stood there. It seemed as if it was trying to intimidate me. I had a feeling that it just wanted me to stay out of it. To either stay on the floor and submit or go away. My eyes widened in surprise. Do you think... I’m like you...?

I didn’t avoid its gaze and stared it right in the eyes as I stood up defiantly, trying to put up a strong front as I struggled through the pain. “Ngh!”

Now a head bigger than the cub again, I looked down at it as it growled at me and got back to all fours to attack once more. Just before it could, however, I took a quick step in its direction, raised my arm, and snapped. A wave of mana erupted from my body in all directions and threw the cub back a good two meters before it hit the ground with a yelp.

My newly developed script wasn’t lethal, but it was basically guaranteed to hit my enemies if they were close enough. It was a great defensive weapon and would hopefully allow us to keep even multiple opponents at bay, though I hadn’t expected to need it this soon. With how fast this little guy was, I couldn’t hope to dodge its attacks, nor would I have been able to hit it reliably. As long as I paid close attention, however, I would be able to defend against it, and now that it was lying on the ground, I had a shot.

I pointed my open palm at it and was about to execute a script, when the beast briefly looked back at me and then changed its posture. Lying down flat, it looked at the ground. That moment when you wish you had watched more nature documentaries... Is it... submitting?

‘What... is happening?’

Beasts are monsters that will kill anyone on sight, and they won’t stop until either them or their prey are dead. That was common knowledge in this world. However, while the humans here only saw monsters, I actually recognized their races. This “category six” just looked like a particularly dark black grizzly bear to me, and a bear wasn’t a mindless killer. Maybe the beasts were stronger and more aggressive than the animals I was familiar with, and maybe they hunted humans, but it started to seem like they were still animals at heart.

I had threatened the cub during its hunt, trying to intervene, and it had warned me that it did not like that. It didn’t seem to actually want to harm me, however. Whether this was because of the mana or something else, I didn’t know. When I demonstrated my power though, it quickly recognized that messing with me would be dangerous, and it backed down. Or at least that’s what this situation seemed like.

What do I do now though...? Do I just kill it?

My curiosity was piqued and I wanted to know more. If this little guy reacted in this manner, what did this mean for the behavior of beasts as a whole? What would happen if I got closer? Would it feel threatened? More importantly, would it let me pet it? I had always loved animals, and while I could harm something that was trying to kill me, I was much more reluctant when it surrendered. I had to consider my audience though.

Glancing towards the wagons, I saw some guards tend to the injured, while everyone else was staring at me and the beast. It looked like the two guards on the floor were still alive, but the cub had still attacked them, and its plan had presumably been to eat those gathered here. Telling them that I wanted to try cuddling with the beast first would have probably been a hard sell. Beasts are one of the worst things in existence for them... If I tried to spare it, what would they think about me? That’s not really an option... is it? First I attack agents and guards to escape town and then I protect beasts... God damn it... I don’t have a choice...

Slowly and hesitantly, I raised my arm again. I felt sick, and I could hardly believe that I was about to kill what looked like a bear cub to me. I could always picture myself killing a human without remorse, but never an animal that wasn’t threatening me... I always found that curious. Yes, it attacked these people, but it didn’t mean anything by it. It simply hunted what was available out here, and it stopped immediately when told not to by someone stronger.

‘Miles... d-dont’t,’ Lilana said, stammering.

“What?” I said in a whisper. Did she say “don’t?”

‘We can let it go, right? We don’t have to kill it.’

“No... we do. We can’t be seen protecting a beast.”

‘But... but the gods wouldn’t—’ she started, but I interrupted her.

“Ugh!” I grunted. Of course, the gods. The stupid gods. The ones who... Wait. “They detest violence!” “Celeth, the god of beasts!” Can I... spin this?

This entire exchange since I had stepped into the square hadn’t even taken a minute. The guards were still on high alert and I realized that they were starting to move, creeping closer towards the beast. They had seen me use my shock wave, and they also knew about me being able to put them on their asses using water, but they might not have believed me capable of actually killing the beast. They were looking to finish the job.

I locked eyes with them and addressed them in as much of a commanding voice as I could muster in this body. “Stay there! The fight is over!”

They looked at me with deeply confused expressions, but they did as instructed, stopping in their tracks.

Don’t disappoint me now, teddybear, I thought and walked in the cub’s direction with determination. It backed away slightly, but stayed low. I came to a stop just a meter in front of it and stomped my foot on the ground, at which point it finally started backing away for good, disappearing between the nearby trees.

It seemed like the guards wanted to give chase, to kill the dangerous beast, but they had also just barely escaped a category six, and they were apparently aware that following it would be pushing their luck.

“What did you do!? Now it’s just a matter of time until it attacks someone again!” one of the guards yelled at me.

“You would attack a child of the gods after it surrendered?” I asked, stepping right up to him. “Celeth would surely not look favorably upon someone so ruthless. The gods understand that we have to defend ourselves, but they detest violence. Praise be to the gods and their creations!”

I’m starting to feel sick again...