The Magic Council did all they could in order to find him. They sent scouts all over Magius. They questioned any and every wizard, bandit, hunter, and merchant they could find. They scrambled to set up camps and outposts anywhere they could to watch over more land. All so that they could track down one person. A single dark wizard who’s gained enough infamy to be considered a tyrant, both feared by criminals and innocents alike. The dark wizard known simply as… Bosco.
But to think, that the magic council would spend so much resources in order to track this psychopathic, murderous, bloodthirsty monster, to find wherever the hell he was in this large continent… just so I could find him in Bell Village, sitting on one of the benches near the fountain relaxing, and of all the times my fellow scouts decided to leave their post to catch dark wizards…
I was standing near the entrance when I first noticed him. I begun to hear panicking screams from the civilians about a maniac being on the loose, and immediately began looking around. That’s when I noticed him. That cruel bastard was sitting near the fountain like he didn’t have a care for the world. I had no idea what to think when I saw him. Confusion filled my mind, trying to piece together what business he would be here for. Was he meeting with someone? Was he planning an attack? Why was he here?! But as I asked myself these questions, I realized something: right now, it didn’t matter. I could get reinforcements and bring him in. I had his location, I can get soldiers here and finally bring him in!
… is what I was thinking, before he finally noticed me.
“Hm? A Magic Council Scout?” I heard him say. As he started speaking to me, I stopped thinking about all those plans, and then began thinking about a way to keep him here, how to make sure the soldiers will get here before he tries to leave. I couldn’t let him go, otherwise it’ll just continue this already-tedious wild goose chase. Even if it would cost me my life, I was prepared to do whatever it took to keep him here… at least, that’s what I thought.
“Y-You! You’re Bosco aren’t you?!” I shouted, barely able to get the words out. That monster’s expression barely changed, as if he didn’t take me seriously.
“Yes. That is me.”
His lackadaisical attitude towards me further unnerved me, making me even more aware of the gap between us. However, that sign didn’t make it clear that I shouldn’t have done what I was about to do.
“I won’t let you continue your awful ways. The Magic Council will be here to ca-”
“Oh, by all means, bring them.” He stood up from the bench and walked towards me. What he just said shocked me.
“W-What…? Are you seriously just going to do nothing…?”
He began laughing. “Oh, no no no. It’s just that there’s nothing your council can really do against me.”
“What?!” I jumped back as he began approaching me, putting my arms up and preparing for the fight of my life. “How dare you underestimate-”
“You do know who I am, yes? After all you did say my name.” He began walking towards me again, his nonchalant face slowly becoming more and more arrogant. “Are you not aware of how many people I have killed? How many magic council members have approached me saying more or less the same things you’ve said before me? They’ve fallen to me all the same. And what are you going to do? Bring more of them? To do what exactly?”
“To… to defeat you-” I tried to not let Bosco’s intimidation work on me as I let those words out, but he simply laughed more and more, like he was getting a sick thrill out of this.
“Do you REALLY THINK that your battalion of soldiers will accomplish anything more than the many others couldn’t? They will merely be the next bodies buried under the ground.”
Right when he said that, he dashed forward faster than I could even blink. He moved so fast, I thought that he had casted a leap spell to boost himself. But at the same time the casting spell was so fast, I couldn’t even see a magic circle anywhere around him. But when he did, he put his hand on my shoulder, and leaned towards my face.
“I won’t try to stop you from bringing the Magic Council to this location, but I assure you it will all be for naught. All that would happen will be many soldiers and a few captains dying at my feet, alongside the destruction of this village and the death of the civilians here via the crossfire. And I’d make sure you stayed alive to witness everything. If you truly wish for that to happen, go ahead. Call for them, right now.” His words struck me like hundreds of shards of glass. Deep down, I knew he was right. I was prepared to throw my life away to try to stop him, and get the magic council to Bell Village to stop him, but as much as I didn’t want to admit it to this rotten scumbag’s face, he was right: all of it would be in vain. So many people would die, and then Bosco would carry on with the rest of his day. Having him push the truth onto me like this took away all of my will to fight, but if that wasn’t enough, things took a turn for the worst as I heard a familiar voice.
“Anchor!! Is that who I think it is?!”
I slowly turned to where I heard the voice. Joe Lamina and Lucas Stone, the other two scouts sent to Bell Village, had returned, and at the worst possible time. With Bosco standing over me, I was too scared to mutter any words, but I was praying that the scared look on my face would tell them to stand down.
It didn’t.
Lucas Stone put his hands together, forming a blue magic circle with them, and aimed it at Bosco. “Lamina, send word to the soldiers to come here, I’ll hold him off for as long as I-” Before he could even finish that sentence, I saw a streak of light bolt towards both of them, completely engulfing their bodies and causing an explosion right at the entrance of the town. As the light went away, the two scouts were gone, and all that was left was a crater.
I was mortified when I saw that. Two magic council scouts, who were considered prodigies amongst the magic council, were completely obliterated in an instant, and I could tell that he wasn’t serious when he casted that spell.
“See? Just like that, they’re gone. But don’t let that stop you. Send more scouts and soldiers here. Help me raise my body count.” I didn’t turn back, but I could feel that he was smirking towards me. Then, I felt the hand grabbing my shoulder push me back, and I fell back into the wall of a house, flat on my ass. I looked up and saw him standing over me, his cold dark green eyes piercing right through me as if they were a laser.
“Come now, try to do something. Call them here. Go on, you said you were going to defeat me, no?”
I was breathless. I couldn’t respond to him. It was as if I had gone mute that day.
“No? Nothing? If you say so.” He turned back, preparing to walk away. But before he left, he stood there to tell me something.
“Let that be a lesson to you. A lesson on what happens when you try to play hero.” And with that final sentence, he walked back towards the fountain and sat on the bench, as if none of this had transpired. And there I sat on the grass, too scared to do anything. Too overcome in despair to run, or fight, or even stand. All I could do was sit where I was pushed, struggling to find the determination to rise up. That was when I truly learnt the horrors of Bosco. It wasn’t just how powerful he was. But it was also how fearful he was. How intimidating he was. How much of a tyrant he truly was…
