Louie the Rune Soldier 2 (novel)

Louie the Rune Soldier 2
Author	Ryo Mizuno
Illustrations	Mamoru Yokota
Japanese title	魔法戦士リウイ２
Romanized title	mahō senshi riui 2
Publication information
Original release	18 February 1999
Chapters	Prologue The One Who Arrived in Midsummer The Frenzied Spirit The Tower of the Four Great Magics Epilogue
Pages	224
ISBN-13	978-4829128671
Novels
← Previous	Rune Soldier 1
Next →	Rune Soldier 3

Louie the Rune Soldier 2 is a light novel written by Ryo Mizuno and illustrated by Mamoru Yokota. It is the second volume of the first Louie the Rune Soldier series.

The novel was covered in episodes 9 and 10 of the Rune Soldier anime and volume 3 (chapters 11-14) of the manga.

For this story, Mizuno took inspiration from a Sword World RPG scenario called the Tower of the Four Great Magics, which was made long before this novel was penned down.

Synopsis

　A five day travel away from Phan, capital city of Orphan, an old magician named Banarl is working on a magical device. While doing so, he suddenly stops moving and would never move again. In the Tartious Forest the elf Celecia senses something is wrong and goes to the village's elder. The elder tells her the disturbance they're sensing reminds him of the age of the Ancient Kingdom. He tells Celecia to go to the human world and deal with the source of the disturbance of spiritual power.

　In the city of Phan, Louie and Ila walk around and notice the weather has been very unusual. When the two return to the Magicians’ Guild, Ila is informed she received a letter. When she opens it, it turns out to be a letter from Banarl, whom she once studied under before transferring to the Magicians’ Guild. In the letter, Banarl speaks of nearing the final stages of his weather control device, and he calls himself the "Master of the Four Magics." The two figure this device must be the cause of the unusual recent weather. Louie seems eager to investigate, but Ila prefers getting his three female companions on board first. Louie figures they will also need the help of a shaman.

　Elsewhere in Phan, Melissa, Genie and Merrill are together discussing Louie, and Melissa reluctantly acknowledges some of his hero-like qualities. She adds she thinks its time for Louie to undergo a trial. Merrill believes that the relationship of the three girls had subtly shifted since Louie became a member. As the three girls discuss further, Celecia suddenly jumps in the conversation. Celecia announces she wants to join their group, but the three girls haven't forgotten how Celecia tricked them back in the Tartious Forest. Celecia, however, replies she knows what they did to her village; summoning those dark fae, which killed many of her fellow villagers. Celecia says she wants to meet the man who was fighting dark fae with his fists; Louie. The girls are reluctant to add Celecia to their group, but Celecia says she knows exactly where to find Louie. With or without being accepted, she could go visit him. The three girls then decide to take her to Louie. When the three girls, and Celecia, arrive at the Magicians’ Guild, they meet Louie and Ila. They are informed of the letter that Ila has received. Melissa believes overcoming this weather disaster is a good trial for Louie. Celecia, being a shaman, would also be needed.

　Louie, Melissa, Merrill, Genie, Ila and Celecia are preparing at Louie's place. Ila shows the girls Banarl's letter, informing them of the weather device. It also says that he is about to complete his work, but that his final push, if unsuccessful, may bring disaster. Merrill notices Ila's voluptuous chest. Earlier, she also noticed Melissa's voluptuous chest. Merrill's chest isn't voluptuous, and she sighs the world is unfair. After completing their preparations, the party leaves via the road, heading to the west of the Yasgaln Mountains. They eventually reach a village and talk about whether to stay the night there, or continue travelling through the night. Melissa gives Louie the final word, which Merrill does not seem to like. After a little resting, the party continues to Banarl's tower. With the weather continuing to act strange, now it's snowing again, Celecia summons a spirit, who are normally responsible for the weather, to inquire about the weather. She summons a sylph, the spirit of the wind, but the spirit goes crazy and starts attacking Celecia. Louie tries to stop the spirit with his sword, but can't land a single hit. Genie informs Louie that only silver of magically imbued weapons can hurt a spirit, and offers her sword to be imbued. She is surprised that Louie, being a magician, doesn't know that. Louie, however, drops his own sword and magically imbues his own fist and starts pummelling the spirit, which slowly fades away. The girls are left speechless.

　Afterwards, Celecia explains she wasn't surprised that she summoned a frenzied spirit and that she basically summoned a spirit to see if it was frenzied or not. She believes it to be better to find out now, then during more chaotic times. She then turns to Louie and tells him she also learned of his heroic qualities. Genie then approaches Louie and punches him. Genie is angry at Louie for not imbuing her sword with magic, and not even knowing about it; the fight would've been over sooner if he did. The party decides to rest before continuing their journey.

　When the party arrives at the Tower of the Four Magics, Merrill uses her thief-skills to unlock the door and the party goes inside. Once they arrive at the courtyard, the party stands face-to-face with a flesh golem. The flesh golem tells the party "All praise my name," basically asking for a password, but Louie didn't hear the flesh golem and asks what it said. The flesh golem, interpreting Louie's response as the (incorrect) answer, then begins attacking the party. Genie and Louie eventually take it out and proceed exploring Banarl's place.

　Once the party arrives at the top of the tower, Genie peeks into the room and notices the magical device in the center with many out-of-control Frau, the spirits of ice, dancing around it. With the spirits of ice's ability to instantly freeze someone upon touch, the party is unsure how to proceed. Louie decides to go in alone, with protective magic from Ila and Melissa, and a salamander, the spirit of fire, summoned by Celecia. Though the spirit of fire, too, has gone out of control, it does provide distraction from Louie, who reaches the magical device. The device works with several spheres, five in total, all different in colour and corresponding to an element, which need to be placed in a specific order on the device. As Louie tries to figure out the order, the frau have defeated the salamander. When Louie is about to lose consciousness he makes one last move with the spheres, thinking he has it figured out, before collapsing on the lifeless body of Banarl. When Louie regains consciousness, he is surrounded by his female companions and the weather has returned to normal. When he explains to his companions how he figured out the order of the spheres, he gets into an argument with Ila, who suggests Louie's logic didn't make much sense, implying Louie was lucky. Melissa notices that the weather is returning to normal. The party buries Banarl's body outside the tower, and Celecia later returns to the Tartious Forest, praising the party before her departure.

Characters appearing

In order of appearance.

• Banarl
• Celecia
• Louie
• Ila
• Genie
• Merrill
• Melissa

Gallery

Artwork from the novel by Mamoru Yokota.

Genie, Merrill and Melissa Louie Louie and Celecia Ila and Louie Melissa and Merrill Merrill and Melissa Merrill and Ila Louie and Celecia, and Merrill Genie, Celecia, Louie Louie Genie faces a flesh golem Louie and Merrill Ila, Merrill, Melissa