By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 12 - Chapter 8

Chapter 7, Episode 46: The City Stirs

“The lumber yard’s on fire, of all places! How’d they let this happen?!”

“It’s burning too hot! We can’t put it out!”

“Don’t give up! We can’t let it spread!”

“Dammit! I keep slipping in this snow!”

Every time Ryoma put out a fire with magic and moved on to the next, it seemed like another building was set ablaze. Even with his exceptional slime magic, Ryoma couldn’t deal with this many fires erupting all over the city.

Presently, a carriage halted before one of the fires.

“We’re here to help!” Asagi, an A-rank adventurer, called from his seat beside the coachman.

“You guys adventurers?” called one of the men who had been attempting to put out the fire.

“We need water! Can anyone use water magic?!” shouted another.

“Worry not, good fellows!” Asagi answered. “Leipin!”

“Already ahead of you! Wind magic squad, execute plan B!” Leipin answered, and he and seven others leapt off the carriage. The spellcasters surrounded the burning building; as soon as they were in position, they began casting their spells.

“Did you say wind magic?!” shouted the man who had greeted the squad, now running to intercept Leipin. “Are you out of your mind?! Wind magic would set this whole block on fire—”

Asagi swiftly stepped between the two. “You speak soundly, but I must ask you not to interfere. Trust us.”

While the exchange took place, the spellcasters completed their job.

“Become a curtain that splits the atmosphere.”

“Become a shield that keeps the flame at bay.”

A double layer of barrier magic materialized around the fire. The spells prevented more oxygen from reaching the fire and prevented any embers from flying onto neighboring buildings.

“Damn right, I’m gonna interfere! This isn’t the time to mess...around...” The first man trailed off.

Now he stood watching the fire visibly diminish. “H-How’d that fire go out so quickly?!”

“I’m no scholar,” Asagi said shortly, “but I’ve been told it’s an application of barrier magic.”

This information rippled through the crowd rapidly until the people began cheering in amazement.

“You guys are awesome!”

“Thank you!”

“The fire may be weakened, but it’s not out yet,” Asagi replied. “There are still more fires! You can thank us later!”

“Exactly!” Leipin chimed in. “Leave us to handle this fire and go aid in fighting the others! As soon as we’re done here, we will join you!”

The crowd answered this call with great enthusiasm.

“All right, let’s do this!”

“Where’s the next one?!”

“Splendid! Allow me to... Heat Conduction!” Leipin chanted, and the snow on the street melted before their eyes, revealing the cobbled street once again. “That should improve your footing somewhat.”

“Whoa! L-Let’s go!”

With their morale boosted, the crowd ran up the bare streets in all directions.

In no time at all, only the magic squad was left at the scene of the fire.

“Was that last spell necessary?” Asagi asked.

“If our enemy’s aim is to stoke fear in the people of Gimul, the more we can reassure them, the better,” said Leipin.

“I won’t deny that, but your magical energy isn’t bottomless.”

“Worry not. Ryoma brought these in by the case full. Don’t ask me where he got it from.” Leipin held open his winter coat to reveal five vials.

“Magic recovery potions,” Asagi noted.

“Made from the rare running shroom. Highly effective and equally as expensive. He gave them to me and told me to use them without hesitation if I felt it necessary. And while I do focus my efforts on research, I am an A-rank adventurer. I know not to waste my magical energy. Just now, instead of generating heat to melt the snow, I simply redirected the heat from the fire. I barely spent any magical energy. Melting the snow even helped diminish the fire,” Leipin explained.

“Ryoma showed you that too?”

“Indeed. In exchange for our assistance, he openly shared with us his scientific knowledge—what we call natural order—about fire. Part of the core of how magic is. As a fire mage, I had accumulated some knowledge, mostly through trial and error, but it was very valuable to have him explain these things to me logically, from a different point of view. You saw how his knowledge allowed us to put out that fire with just a few barrier spells thrown together. For the value of what he’s given me, the least I can do is give it my all.”

“Ryoma must be pulling out all the stops to protect the city. In any case, you use your magic as you see fit as long as we can put out these fires.”

“And I’m counting on you to watch our backs while we do,” Leipin said.

At this point, another carriage arrived on the scene, carrying members of the security company.

One of them announced, “Thank you for containing the fire. Security Squad 7 will take it from here. Command center says for you guys to head to the next fire.”

Asagi’s team took the place of the security officers on the carriage. Once they’d all climbed aboard, the coachman set off without hesitation. The team of magical firefighters was headed in the direction of the especially devastating fires.

At the site of one of the other fires, a man was calling for help from the attic of a burning building. The second story windows belched flame and smoke. “Help...!” he cried, erupting into a fit of coughing.

“I’m coming to help you!” his wife called.

“No!” Another woman was holding her back. “If you go in now, you won’t make it out alive!”

“Let me go! I’m not going to watch my husband die in there!”

“Calm down! Somebody give me a hand!” the woman called to the people around her.

The trapped man’s wife cried in anguish, and the onlookers were beginning to lose hope.

Just then, ten men arrived on the scene in an extra large carriage. Each of them wore a strange fire-red uniform, a helmet, and a mask on their shoulder. Ryoma had recreated fire suits as best as he could based on his memory and with the help of others. Made of monster parts and magical items, the suits were fire- and heatproof, despite their off-putting appearance.

The crowd on the scene watched the team incredulously at first, until one of them recognized the men. “You’re the Brawny Boys!”

“That’s right. We’re from the security corp. We got this. Is there anyone other than that man trapped inside?” replied one of the firefighters.

“H-He’s the only one! We were trying to put out the fire next door by pouring water on it from above. All of a sudden, some shady guy throws something into that building, and it’s up in flames,” explained an onlooker.

“Got it. He’ll be all right. Are we ready?!” the lead firefighter called to his squadmates.

“Anytime!” the squad replied. They’d detached their carriage from the horses and turned it to face the burning structure.

“Good! Deploy the ladder!” ordered the leader.

They unloaded a tall ladder from the carriage and stood it upright on its legs, then extended it to twice its length. The squad swiftly reinforced the ladder with the carriage, then maneuvered the carriage underneath the attic window and hooked the ladder onto it. As soon as the ladder was set up, the trapped man tried to jump out, and two firefighters scrambled up to help him escape the suffocating smoke.

The crowd cheered at the rescue.

“They got him!”

“Your husband’s safe!”

The firefighters carried the man down the ladder and were met with a relieved outcry from his wife.

The firefighters still had work to do.

“Step back, please!” they called. “Don’t shove those around you!”

“The fire is still burning! Please keep a safe distance!”

One of them turned to the stranded man’s wife. “This way, ma’am! We’re taking your husband to the hospital!”

As half of the squad helped keep the crowd safe, the other half was gearing up, the leader calling out protocol and the rest of them responding.

“Suit check!”

“Suit check!!!”

“Masks on!”

“Masks on!!!”

“Charge!”

The team stormed into the burning building, much to the shock of the onlookers. In addition to their suits, the team equipped their protective masks before entering. The masks included an oxygen-generating magical item, so the firefighters could breathe freely in the smoke-filled building, and a cooling magical item, to prevent their airways from getting burned by the scorching air. The suit was a product of Ryoma’s full extent of knowledge as well as the craftsmanship of an artisan who specialized in monster parts and magical items—it allowed the firefighters to withstand the inferno, albeit for only a short time. In that short time, the firefighters would extinguish the fire as much as possible.

Communicating via hand signals, the firefighters activated the magical item on their backs, which was a sort of fire extinguisher that sprayed an extinguishing solution from a nozzle.

The solution contained potassium carbonate, which made it more effective at putting out fires than pure water; it was highly effective at rapidly reducing the flames in the building. Of course, that alone would not be enough to entirely extinguish the flames. While the first team kept the fire at bay, another team was assembling on the street, including a carriage loaded with an enormous water tank made of hardening solution. Once they arrived, the firefighting was more efficient than ever, to the further relief of the onlookers.

And yet the firefighters kept working.

“Make way! We’re taking anyone who’s hurt to the hospital! Make way!”

“If you are injured and can walk, please come over here! Same if you’re evacuating your home!”

“The carriages will keep coming! Please don’t run!”

Even though most of them did not have a long history with Gimul or its people, the drive to help as many of them as possible kept them going.

■ ■ ■

What were the citizens of Gimul doing? Not standing by and watching their city burn, that was for sure.

“That oughta do it!”

“This one’s out!”

“This fire’s out too!”

“You see any more fires?!”

“This way! They started another one!”

“The hell?! Let’s go! Anyone who can, follow me!”

“I’m gonna kill whoever’s doing this!”

“We need more hands over here! Got an old man who can’t move!”

“I’ll get him!”

The people were aiding in evacuations and firefighting to the best of their abilities.

Then someone shouted, “I found the perp!”

The arsonist, who was about to set fire to a trash can in a narrow alley, turned to flee.

“Not so fast.” A man popped out from around the corner in front of the arsonist, struck him in the gut with the pommel of his lance, then brought the lance’s shaft down on the man’s cranium. The flawless combo easily knocked him out.

Soon, the men who had been firefighting caught up to the lancer. “Good job, Jeff!”

“I don’t need your kudos! Go put out that fire! The constables will take him,” said Jeff. “There they are now.”

“Excuse me! B-rank adventurer Jeff, I presume. Is this the arsonist on the ground?”

“Yeah. Got a witness right here.” Jeff pointed at the man who had joined him. “And here’s proof.” He opened the arsonist’s coat with the end of his lance. A fire-starting magical item and a bottle full of oil came tumbling out.

“You caught him red-handed, then,” said the constable. “We’ll take him in. Can we leave you to put out this fire?”

“We can do it, right?” asked Jeff.

“No problem. We can handle a little fire like that one!” said his friend, and he rejoined the firefighting efforts.

Jeff gazed up at the sky, then darted into another alley.

The people of Gimul were fighting tooth and nail against the fires erupting throughout the city.