The Liberomancer [Isekai Progression LitRPG]

Alongside the two of us, some other Liberomancers who had effective spells over water also unleashed theirs.

While not all of the dryads died from this assault, they were scattered all over the place and their attempt to storm the city was thwarted.

A few stragglers did get past our offensive barrier, but they were so few in number and close to the fortifications by that point that they were easily shot down by archers or spearmen. No mana was wasted upon them.

"I though you were a fire elementalist," I said, watching his whirlpool and my tornado disappear. I knew that Drake and Zeke had to have at least a few other cards up their sleeves that weren't fire spells to deal with things in case fire didn't work, but this was a water elemental spell. It was just that it was quite contradictory to the main element he specialized in.

"I am, but, when you grow up near the sea, it's useful to have a thing or two to deal with threats like that," Drake said. "I originally wanted to have it to deal with pirate ships if we ever came across any, thankfully no one's been dumb enough to try in my lifetime." Drake made it sound like Arconia was just so strong that no one would dare do something like that, but I had a more reasonable theory, that being that the oceans of this world might as well be cursed for how unsafe they were to travel on, so no one tried.

"How is your brother doing on the other side?" I asked Drake. It was hard to tell from this distance, but they didn't have a combo like mine, so it was possible they were in hot water. From this distance, while I could see some signs of fighting near the other side shore, it didn't look like any dryads had managed to get much closer to the city than on our side.

"I can't tell from here, but if they needed help, they'd signal for it," Drake said.

That was true - and even if the dryads got through the sea and approached the city from that side, they would run into our new fortifications and a line of draftees backed by Liberomancers.

That was all the excitement that the day held for us. After the failed seaside assault, no further groups of dryads approached the walls for the rest of the day, and loud cheering could be heard from nearly everywhere. Morale had greatly improved after today given that we had driven the enemy off with basically no casualties other than one person who had tripped and fallen off the wall, though he had been swiftly rescued and patched up with magic.

Unfortunately, my little combo had brought me quite a bit of fame and recognition. People were calling it 'Stefan's Spider Combo' and talking about it all this side of the wall, and likely the story had spread to the other side as well. By tomorrow morning everyone in the city would've known about it.

The reason why I said 'unfortunately' was because this little action of mine, given it was so effective had lead to other people thinking that I was far more skilled that I actually was.

As such, they were treating me like I was some sort of military genius Hannibal or Caesar. Even Drake was taking my suggestions and thoughts more seriously - normally I would have been happy about that, but the issue was that they were asking for my advice on things like battle strategy which I was woefully ill-equipped to do.

And the last thing that I wanted to do was to hand out a suggestion which might end up backfiring horribly.

I had gotten lucky with that combo in how effective it was. I had no delusions about my own ability, however, I was not some sort of military genius. Not that anyone cared to listen when I told them that. No, I was the youngest Master Liberomancer in the history of the kingdom - and I was just being humble.

Still, it was good to see as the sun set upon the city that the wall still stood, and the dryads had failed in their first attack.

The mood improved considerably thereafter - and I realized what had been going on. It wasn't just my small innovation which had perked the general mood throughout the city.

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The dryads were an unknown unknown - a problem that many people did not have the slightest context for. For all the oridinary people knew, the dryads could break through the city wall easily with only their fists, were immune to magic, and could shoot laser beams out of their eyes. This was not a rational fear in hindsight, the Kingdom of Hitutsa would not have stood for so long if that were true.

But because they had no context for this problem, people magnified the severity of it in their minds. The long amount of time for the enemy to arrive had allowed for their worries to fester, though now reality had begun to set in.

The situation was dire, but far from unwinnable.

The fear regarding the dryads being this nigh-unbeatable force had been so great that it wasn't until now that the higher-ups realized that there wasn't a set night float system.

After all, now that it was clear that the siege was likely going to last several weeks, there needed to be some people to man the wall at all times, Liberomancers included. We needed to sleep though.

We drew lots for that purpose, and thankfully I wasn't going to be starting tonight. I would've definitely fallen asleep while on watch given how tired I was.

"Excellent work," Zeke said, approaching us as we were heading off the wall after the day shift was over. He was speaking to both Drake and I. Drake, for handling his section well, and me, for my little trick with the spider.

I looked up at the night sky. "Do you know if the dryads are less active at night? Is it possible they might launch a nighttime raid?"

Zeke shrugged. "Unfortunately I do not know about that - but that's what the skeleton crew at night is for. Dryad eyes reportedly don't work that well at night, however, so I doubt that they would do such a thing. Actually, I wished to ask you something - that creature you summoned - do you have a spare grimoire that gives that skill?"

I did as a matter of fact - I had been saving it to sell once I joined the merchant caravan, but I knew why he was asking. He wanted to buy it so that he could use it. I nodded.

"I would like to purchase it from you," Zeke said, proving that my hunch was correct.

It did make sense to give it to him, he would be on the other end of the wall so both ends would be covered by that combo with the middle being covered by Lance. It was a good formation - it was just that, as childish as it may have sounded, this combo was 'my thing' and I was a bit hesitant to give it to someone else.

Yes, cooperation was necessary between Liberomancers - but there was also competition between them. The balance shifted as one went from Rank Two to Rank Three towards the competitive side, and was completely skewed in that direction for Rank Four Liberomancers.

Not to mention I had made it for the purpose of selling it later on once I joined the merchant caravan.

But, again, given the circumstances, I couldn't think of a good reason to say 'no.' And it could very well be that having someone else who could use this combo could indeed turn the tide of battle in the future in our favor.

"Sure, but I would rather swap it for another Rank Three grimoire if possible, rather than taking the money," I said. "I also unfortunately only have one copy right now, and I don't think I'll be able to make a second in time before the siege is over."

The reason I said this was because I had a feeling that the two brothers, thanks to their connections, had access to certain grimoires that would otherwise be hard to find. In ordinary times they might not be willing to trade, but these were far from normal times.

"That's fine, but in case you're wondering- I think I said this, but I don't have a grimoire that could help you fly," Zeke said.

"No, I remember that - but do you have anything else that could be good?"

"Ah, let's drop by my study - you're coming over to the palace tonight, aren't you anyway? We can go over what I have there," Zeke said.

We all trotted off, with the streets far livelier now. As I got into my own carriage, people swarmed around me.

"Master Liberomancer, how did it go?"

"What is the state of the city?"

"Do you think we can win?"

Some of them were local passer-bys, others had been reduced to beggars due to the city's current condition, but they all looked at me eagerly - hoping for some good news. Word had already spread throughout the city, but they wanted to hear it from me.

And well, it wasn't a complete lie to tell them that for now, things were going well. So I did, much to their immense relief.

Others wanted to thank me for the work I'd done. Some of them simply wanted to get a glimpse of me like I was some kind of rock star. I tried to appease them for as long as I could but quickly discovered that if I stopped to chat for too long, it would only draw in a larger crowd.

"I'm sorry, but I really need to be off," I finally said, exasperated, but the crowd didn't seem to get the message until one of the guards in the carriage banged the butt of his spear on the ground loudly and repeated that line at four times the volume. The crowd backed off after that, making way for the carriage.

I was showered with thanks even as I hurriedly shut the door and the carriage sped off towards the governor's palace.