Chapter 61. Ah, I’m Not a Suspicious Person
Hamelin Great Forest.
A place that had never allowed humanity to conquer it, preserving its untouched wilderness—yet harboring countless secrets still undiscovered.
And those secrets came in many forms.
From monsters said to have gone extinct, lurking deep within the great forest… to the remnants of ancient civilizations.
The spot where Solion, a forbidden magic adept (禁魔士), stood right now was also one such remnant of an ancient civilization.
A massive cavern located beneath the great forest.
“……Hmm.”
Arms folded, Solion stared ahead.
The space was quite strange.
A vast, empty chamber you could only call colossal—circular in shape, with walls packed full of murals.
No… not murals.
A kind of script.
And the script was so ominous that simply looking at it made one’s body and mind shrink back, as though pressed down by ill fortune—yet Solion remained utterly unbothered even before it.
He was only… lost in thought.
“Hey, you tunnel rat. How’s it going?”
“……Ah. You’re here.”
Solion tucked away his musings at the sight of Belloc approaching before he even realized it.
“How’s it going, you ask… you’d better see for yourself.”
Solion stepped aside.
The moment he moved, a single object entered Belloc’s view.
A crystal, about two meters tall.
And as if it wasn’t subject to gravity, it hovered roughly a meter above the ground, floating there.
But that wasn’t the only strange thing.
Saaaahk— saaa……
Inside the crystal.
Black, wavering smoke—no, something more accurately called a shadow, a writhing spectacle of it.
It was the ancient abomination (凶物), Destrow.
Belloc stared calmly at Destrow squirming within the crystal sphere.
“Has the seal still not been undone? What about the liberation ritual? Don’t tell me it failed.”
“The liberation ritual succeeded. But it looks like it’ll need a bit of time.”
“……Hmm. I see.”
Annoyed at the schedule dragging longer than expected, Belloc let out a low hum.
‘I thought it would wake up right away.’
It had already been days since they reached Hamelin Great Forest to find Destrow.
To be honest, finding the ruins themselves hadn’t been that difficult.
Even now—look.
Woooong…… woong—!
A crystal pulsing at regular intervals, like a giant’s heart.
Each time the crystal pulsed, Destrow’s malignant energy (邪氣) spread outward across Hamelin Great Forest in concentric circles—and for Belloc, finding the center of that was as easy as breathing.
Well, anyway, that wasn’t what mattered.
Belloc recalled what was happening outside the ruins—within Hamelin Great Forest itself.
- Kieeeee—!
- Guaaaah……
Ancient wraiths that had awakened alongside Destrow.
Monsters whose bodies had been stolen by those cursed souls, reduced to nothing more than undead.
Not just one or two.
The area around the ruins had already become a complete land of death, and the monsters turned undead expanded their territory as they sought out living things.
Even now, that territory was steadily spreading.
And considering that the more Destrow’s seal loosened, the stronger the forces of the dead became… it meant only one thing.
That the time of Destrow’s awakening was not far off.
And yet—
‘Even after performing the liberation ritual, it still isn’t waking?’
It was an unexpected situation.
It was Belloc’s first time seeing Destrow with his own eyes, but within The Order’s internal records, information on it was fairly abundant.
So he could make a rough guess.
Thinking of other Destrows in the records, it should have awakened by now……
“Heh.”
“……?”
At Belloc suddenly letting out a laugh, Solion frowned and looked at him.
“Ah, no. It’s just… this is going to get more interesting than I thought. Way more fun than babysitting someone like Friegen.”
“Friegen… hmm. He wasn’t as incompetent as you think. That Artifact he lost— even the Council of Elders was watching its potential.”
At Solion’s rebuttal, Belloc shrugged.
“Haha, Solion. Don’t tell me you actually trust those old geezers’ judgment? Does that make any sense? Building a Demon Realm with some Artifact? And if they really ‘watched its potential’ that much, why did they leave that halfwit bastard to rot like that?”
“That’s…….”
Solion pressed his lips shut.
Because it was true.
“That guy was just… right, a spare. If he succeeds, great, and if not, no big loss. And in the first place, he wasn’t even a proper forbidden magic adept, was he? A mere black mage wannabe—who does he think he is, building a Demon Realm…….”
The words were scathing, but this time even Solion didn’t particularly deny them.
Not everyone who learns forbidden magic becomes a forbidden magic adept.
Beyond merely refining the Demonic Energy (魔氣) flowing out of the Demon Realm, beyond merely carrying Black Magic Power within one’s body—
Casting Off (脫殼)
The mind must take a step further, surpassing its limits.
If one insisted on comparing it to a mage’s realm, one might call it transcendence (超越), the realm of an archmage—but strictly speaking, it was completely different.
More like… an intermediate stage on the way to transcendence (超越).
In Salvatium, whether one had achieved Casting Off—or failed to—was a crucial matter.
“A bastard who should be fetching and carrying like a worm…… enough. Don’t we have something to deal with?”
“If you mean something to deal with… ah, that old war mage. Right. He was there.”
While searching for the ruins—
One old war mage they’d passed by, just briefly.
Thanks to Belloc’s concealment, that war mage hadn’t noticed them, but the instant Belloc saw him, a sensation flashed through his mind—vivid and sharp.
It was…
A shiver.
The feeling of looking at a weapon, not a person.
Sensing defeat before even exchanging blows—this was the first time since becoming a forbidden magic adept.
“If it’s him… then yes. That’s a problem. He’s probably searching for Destrow too, isn’t he?”
“Yeah. He hasn’t pinpointed the location yet, but still.”
“Hmm.”
Solion organized his thoughts for a moment, then looked at Belloc.
“I have to continue unfolding the liberation formation. How… can you handle it alone?”
“Handle it? Are you kidding me right now?”
Belloc burst out laughing—“Ha!”—and shook his head.
He called himself a mage hunter, but facing that kind of monster alone was close to impossible.
But—
The answer that came from his mouth was quite unexpected.
“Solion, this is a hunt. Yeah? You know what the easiest way to hunt is?”
Smiling in circles, Belloc made Black Magic Power flare up.
It was shape transformation.
“No matter what kind of monster it is…….”
The Black Magic Power formed two beasts, one large and one small—and at that moment, Belloc’s hand clenched around the smaller one, crushing it in his grip.
“A parent can never turn away from its own kid.”
Crack—
The small beast lost its shape and crumbled away.
“Do you get what I’m saying?”
“……You mean we use the disciple.”
“Yeah. You saw him too, right? The brat trailing right behind the old war mage. Looks like the old man’s pretty attached.”
“Hmm.”
Certainly, on the surface, it sounded plausible. Plausible, but—
“Will that work? He’s an old war mage. You should know better than anyone what kind of breed they are.”
“I know. Of course I know. How could I not?”
People called black mages heartless monsters, but in some ways, old war mages were much the same.
A disciple? For the sake of victory, they would send even a disciple into the jaws of death.
But—
“That’s the old story. Solion, do you know how many old war mages’ heads I’ve got in my Subspace? Just trust me.”
“Hmm. Fine. Let’s say you’re right.”
Even if Belloc lived for nothing but his own amusement, he didn’t treat his own life lightly. So if he said that, Solion had no choice but to believe him.
Still—
“Even if what you’re saying is true, will we get an opening so easily? If it’s a disciple he cherishes that much, he won’t just let them out of his sight.”
“Heh heh. There’s a way for that too.”
Belloc recited the information he’d gathered while circling around the Fourth Base Camp.
He couldn’t get close because of the old war mage, but mercenaries were constantly scouting Hamelin Great Forest anyway.
“Looks like they’re calling for reinforcements.”
“……Reinforcements?”
“Yeah. The disciple and one Pathfinder left the great forest. It’s been a little while since they left, so….”
“We snatch them when they come back.”
“That’s exactly it.”
“Will it be fine? If it’s reinforcements summoned by a mage like that, they won’t be ordinary.”
Belloc shrugged.
“If it’s reinforcements, we’ve got some too, don’t we? Even if they’re worms.”
“Black mages… will they even help?”
Solion tilted his head.
Salvatium had selected and dispatched a few black mages for this job. Of course, since they hadn’t achieved Casting Off, they weren’t particularly important combat power.
“Depends how you use them, doesn’t it?”
“……Tsk.”
Seeing him grin in circles, it didn’t look like he’d listen no matter how much Solion tried to stop him.
Solion lightly shook his head and waved a hand as if to say, do whatever you want.
“Fine. Do what you want. But if you cause trouble that disrupts the work….”
“Don’t worry. Even if not for fear of you, I’m not about to do something like that when the Elders are scarier.”
Right after that, Belloc vanished.
Solion watched Belloc melt into the shadows for a moment, then turned his gaze away.
‘He’s not a stupid bastard…….’
He wouldn’t botch the job.
Like he said—if he botched it, the Elders wouldn’t let it slide.
‘And if we’re judging by that… I’m not an exception either.’
Solion looked back toward the crystal sealing Destrow.
In the end, it was a matter of time.
Whether Belloc would stop the old war mage… or whether that old war mage would arrive at the ancient ruins and stop Destrow’s liberation.
Meanwhile, at that same time.
Greentown, the city bordering Hamelin Great Forest.
A mage was stepping into the massive supply city that had grown wealthy from the goods flowing out of Hamelin Great Forest.
The mage’s appearance was quite unusual.
Even under bright sunlight, hair tinged with ash-gray carried a gloomy sheen, and the mage’s stature was too small to be called fully grown.
And that wasn’t all.
His face was covered by a mask with a black base and a white border.
He looked suspicious to the extreme, yet the passersby around him couldn’t quite recognize him.
It wasn’t that he’d hidden his presence.
It was simply that—
“Hey, hey! Load it faster! We have to depart by this evening at the latest!”
“Foreman! We don’t have enough wagons! We can’t load any more!”
“Then load the expensive stuff first!”
They were too busy doing what they had to do.
This kind of scene was happening all over Greentown, and it wasn’t long before the unidentified mage stopped walking.
“Hey there.”
“……Who’re you?”
At the call, a laborer carrying a box turned around.
A wary light filled his eyes at once.
How could it not?
Greentown.
A place where all kinds of people gathered, dreaming of striking it rich in Hamelin Great Forest—but even so, someone this suspicious-looking was rare.
“Ah, I’m not a suspicious person or anything. I just don’t want to show my face, so understand, yeah?”
“……Mm.”
If not wanting to show your face wasn’t suspicious, what was?
The laborer suddenly found himself very curious what a “suspicious person” meant by this mage’s standards, but he soon put the question aside.
Whatever the appearance, the voice and the way he spoke didn’t sound particularly dangerous.
Just……
‘He kind of sounds like an asshole, though.’
And how many mages were properly polite, really?
It wasn’t that strange.
“Well, I didn’t learn much, so I don’t know if I’ll explain it right, but go ahead and ask.”
“It’s nothing else—why is this neighborhood in such a damn… no, such a frenzy?”
The laborer narrowed his eyes and looked the mage up and down.
“First time here today? No, even then, that’s weird. You didn’t hear the rumors?”
“Rumors?”
“Looks like you really don’t know anything. These days the great forest’s been real unsettled. Monsters have been popping out pretty often too. I heard a Monster Wave might happen… first time in decades, they say?”
“Then…….”
“They’re getting ready to evacuate. Well, nobody knows if a real wave will break out or not, but if it really does, Greentown won’t be safe either. Those damn imperial bastards—who knows what they’re even doing. They take taxes by the cartload, but when something like this happens, they just watch from across the river like it’s someone else’s fire.”
The laborer grumbled with a sullen face, then looked at the mage.
“I don’t know what you came to Hamelin for, but be careful. Even the adventurers who were inside are all coming out now. Something’s going on deeper in, and it looks like they’re digging in hard…….”
“Ah, then let me ask just one more thing.”
As the laborer turned to leave, the mage called him back.
“……?”
“I’m trying to find an inn called ‘Sun of the Pastures.’ The city’s bigger than I expected.”
“Ah, that place… just follow this road straight and there’s a plaza. You’ll see it from the plaza. That enough?”
“Yeah, more or less.”
At the mage’s answer, the laborer nodded.
At that moment, an angry shout rang out from afar.
“Hey! Hans! What are you doing? Stop slacking off!”
“Ah—coming!”
Hans—the laborer—startled and hurried his steps.
But before he left—
He stopped for a moment, and didn’t forget to leave a final word.
“Don’t just brush off what I said. I don’t know how amazing mages like you are, but… you won’t see anything good, not really.”
With that, the laborer hurried off with busy steps.
The mage silently watched his back for a moment.
For a short while.
‘……Hmm. A Monster Wave, huh.’
He repeated the laborer’s words in his mind.
‘It does look like things are moving fast….’
Tch. This schedule was going to get pretty annoying.
Aster clicked his tongue briefly and shuffled forward.
For now, his destination was the inn at the plaza.
Sun of the Pastures.
There, a guide was waiting—someone who would lead him into Hamelin Great Forest, and to where Destrow was.