Chapter 72. Because I Hate Rat Bastards
After parting with Fixer.
I returned to the lodging and had Raileigh get our preparations in order.
“Uh…… are the Aviot mercenaries coming with us too?”
“What did you hear earlier?”
At my indifferent reply, Raileigh flicked his eyes sideways at Oberon.
As if he had something to say, but it seemed like he was watching Oberon’s mood.
“Just speak comfortably.”
“Haha…….”
Raileigh gave an awkward smile.
It wasn’t hard to understand.
‘Yeah, he really is in a sorry state.’
After yesterday’s talk with Fixer, Oberon’s condition was the worst—no, “worst” wasn’t even enough to describe how wrecked he was.
Eyes that had never lost their light even in the harsh environment of the Hamelin Great Forest were now dull, like those of a dead goblin, and skin that used to gleam with sheen was pale beyond belief, like a sick patient.
And in front of him sat a single tray.
A meal an Aviot mercenary had brought this morning, and he was just staring at it blankly without even touching it.
“You’re not going to talk?”
“Th-that is…….”
“Want me to make it so you can’t talk?”
Raileigh checked Oberon once, then carefully opened his mouth.
“Uh, actually… in my personal opinion, I think this is a good thing.”
“A good thing?”
“Yes. The Aviot mercenary company is, in its own way, a mercenary group with deep history. I hear they’ve protected Base Camp No. 1 for close to two hundred years— kuhk!”
“Are you giving a history lecture?”
I’m a man who doesn’t even properly know the history of Deculan, where I’ve spent my whole life.
What is the Empire’s history, and what is the Kingdom’s history?
Listening to them chatter about this and that doesn’t make anything come out.
“Just say what you have to say.”
“……F*ck.”
“What?”
“No, I mean. I was going to talk all the way back to what happened eighteen years ago, but I’ll just tell you what I think.”
Raileigh smoothly tried to dodge it.
I hadn’t missed it, but if I reacted to every single thing, there’d be no end.
“Anyway, spit it out.”
“Yessir.”
Rubbing his aching head over and over, Raileigh continued.
“So, to get straight to the conclusion, it means we’ve gained quite a reassuring ally.”
“A reassuring ally?”
“Yes. Did you see the Aviot mercenaries? They say if you’re at your level, Mage-nim, you can tell someone’s realm and all that…….”
“Realm, huh… well, it’s similar.”
It wasn’t like I could know their exact realm.
I just grasp their presence through my presence sense.
Generally, presence and realm are proportional, so Raileigh’s question wasn’t completely off.
But.
“There’s nothing that special about them. Aside from Fixer and a few others, they’re just so-so?”
By mercenary standards, even that could be called impressive, but it was only that much.
“Well. It might look that way to you, Mage-nim, but Aviot mercenaries are a bit special. How should I put it. Like… hunters, maybe?”
“Hunters?”
“Yes, hunters who hunt monsters.”
“Hm, hunters……”
Hearing that made something click.
Say there’s a hunter who hunts bears.
Then would that hunter be stronger than a bear? Would his hide be thicker? Or would he at least be faster?
‘None of that.’
Hunters are generally weaker than their prey.
And yet, an ordinary person who hasn’t learned a single secret art still hunts bears and hunts tigers.
“So you mean they’re guys who know how to win.”
“……Yes?”
“Whatever, it’s fine. Anyway, you’re saying they’ll help.”
They would, for sure.
Dozens of hunters who had learned Aether.
‘No—since it’s only the oldbies, it’ll be a bit less.’
With people like that gathered, most monsters probably wouldn’t even be an issue.
“Of course, I know no monsters would be an obstacle for you, Mage-nim… but still, they’ll help a lot. Especially, we’ll be able to shorten the schedule significantly.”
“Well, that’d be nice, but…….”
I trailed off indifferently.
Honestly, when it came to monsters, they’d be a big help.
‘Better to conserve stamina.’
The Ruler of the Swamp we met in the wetlands.
Who knew how many things like that were lurking in the Hamelin Great Forest?
According to Raileigh—
- Just because it’s the outer edge doesn’t mean there are absolutely no ancient species. The Ruler of the Swamp is just the one that’s especially well-known.
Those things could shift their habitat with this change and show up in front of us!
But shortening the schedule……
‘The more heads we have, the more we have disadvantages too.’
The schedule could even get longer.
Still, I accepted the Aviot mercenary company because I judged it had enough value to offset that loss.
Anyway, as I was thinking that—
“Hm.”
Arms crossed, I looked at Raileigh.
“Hey, but… aren’t you packing?”
“Huh?”
I told him to get ready, but Raileigh was still empty-handed.
“Haha, I’m already done packing.”
“Right. When you die, you won’t need luggage.”
“Ah, it’s not that. That Subspace you gave me, remember? I put it in there.”
I stared at Raileigh, who chattered on proudly and gratefully.
A thought occurred to me.
“So it’ll be easier for you to run away.”
“……I’m not running away, sir.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Uh, but instead…….”
“Instead?”
I looked at him with suspicious eyes.
A guy who was always, constantly, hunting for a chance to run away wouldn’t change his mind overnight.
But as I listened to what came next, I could tell what he was really after.
“When this is all over, could you take me in and use me? I’m good at odds and ends, if nothing else. I’m quick on the uptake too.”
“Ah.”
So he wanted to gamble his life.
‘Admirable.’
Life is a single big bet.
Chasing only the safe path means you’ll never amount to anything.
In that sense, Raileigh’s gamble was something worth cheering—an act of real courage!
And……
‘He’s lucky too.’
Where else would you find a line as sturdy and reliable as me?
Nowhere.
Well, of course……
‘He could die in Deculan. And he could get mixed up with the Forbidden Magic Society or whatever. And also…….’
Even Destrow wouldn’t be easy, right away.
‘Still, if he gets through those, who’s going to make it big like me?’
No one.
The problem is the chance of dying is overwhelmingly high.
“Fine. We’ll see how you do.”
“Th-thank you! I’ll do my best! I won’t sell my soul—well, not all the way!”
Raileigh bowed deeply, fired up.
That was when Fixer opened the lodging door and came in.
“We’re all ready.”
His face looked haggard, somehow.
I watched him for a moment, then tossed out a single line.
“Already?”
“What good is a long farewell?”
“That’s true too.”
As if he’d buried everything he wanted to say in his chest.
“Then the departure?”
“We can leave right now, if we want. But…….”
Fixer looked at me and made a suggestion.
“Could you persuade one person for me?”
“Persuade? Who. Bring them over first.”
The best persuasion is a fist.
No matter how stubborn someone is, if you hit them a few times, they listen. And if they still won’t?
‘Then you didn’t hit them enough.’
Sufficient persuasion can move any stubborn bastard in the world.
Ah, of course, I’m an exception.
Anyway.
“He’s not here. He’s at Base Camp No. 2.”
“Base Camp No. 2?”
“Yeah. Persuade Chief Hallig there. He’ll be quite a help.”
“Hm.”
Arms crossed, I looked at Fixer.
“So you’re saying we should drag the Base Camp No. 2 guys along too?”
“If they’re still at Base Camp No. 2, that is. No, even if not…….”
“Even if not?”
“I’d like to borrow even their deputy captain. A guy named Plen. He’s a bit rude, but he’s good with strategy. A rare one in the mercenary world.”
“Hm…….”
In the end, what Fixer wanted was the brain called “Plen.”
It seemed like, in order to stop Destrow, he expected most of the fighting to be close-quarters battles against undead.
“Sure.”
I accepted readily.
If you have a proper head, there’s nothing bad about it.
“Then, are we going now?”
“If you wish. We’re already prepared.”
“No need to delay.”
I stood up without hesitation.
But then someone stepped forward.
“Uh…….”
“……?”
Oberon, who until just a moment ago had been dying with a blank expression.
As everyone’s eyes gathered on his sudden movement, his head slowly bowed.
“Yesterday… I’m truly…… sorry.”
There was no explanation.
Only—
the sincerity in his voice was painfully real.
Fixer watched him quietly, then gently placed a hand on Oberon’s shoulder.
“Yesterday, I’m sorry too. And don’t take it to heart too much. No one can be perfect. What matters is learning through mistakes.”
“……Yes. Understood.”
It was a truly heartwarming sight.
“Uuugh……!”
If not for Raileigh at the side, curling up his hands and feet and twisting himself like he couldn’t bear it, anyway.
In any case.
“Then let’s go.”
We left Base Camp No. 1.
“No, but, Mage-nim.”
“……Yeah?”
Walking through the Hamelin Great Forest like that, Raileigh looked at me with a face like he truly couldn’t understand and asked.
“Aren’t you worried about wasting mana? Why do you keep killing those innocent bugs like that…… Ah, again!”
Pajik.
A bug crawling along the trunk of a giant tree popped under my magic and dropped.
I looked at the remains for a moment, then shrugged.
“Because I hate rat bastards.”
“Where are the rat bastards? That’s a bug…….”
“Right? That’s what I’m saying.”
Raileigh tilted his head, as if he couldn’t make sense of it at all.
Somewhere in the Hamelin Great Forest.
“Hm.”
Belloc, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, opened them with a faint hum.
“So… it wasn’t a coincidence?”
The prey wearing a mask.
To keep watch on him, I attached familiars in various places.
But they weren’t ordinary familiars.
They were familiars I had painstakingly made—so covert it was absurd……
- Pagak!
Yet somehow he found them so well.
Every time I sent one, the connection would be cut in under ten minutes.
That meant he’d definitely realized they were familiars.
“So he really does have some skill, huh?”
The former war mage of Base Camp No. 4.
If it weren’t someone at that level, I’d been confident they could never find them.
‘Don’t tell me he’s that kind of guy?’
Belloc thought that far, then let out a snort.
‘No way.’
As it happened, one of the black mages who’d joined up had just brought back the identity of the former war mage of Base Camp No. 4.
Honestly, I hadn’t even ordered it.
If I’m going to kill him, that’s the end of it.
But after looking at what the black mage brought, I thought it was good that I knew his identity.
‘To think that old man was that…… This is something. I almost got into serious trouble. He hid his identity well.’
Anyway.
No matter how much that masked guy thinks he’s something, he can’t be at that level.
But.
“Still, good. So he’s pretty sensitive, huh? Then I’ll need a usable blade…….”
If he had a presence sense as sharp as that, it wasn’t good to face him directly.
That was when Belloc snapped his fingers.
‘Ah, right. I have that.’
Belloc looked down at the bracelet he was wearing. No—more precisely, he thought of the existence sleeping inside that bracelet.
Solion’s toy.
It has a proper official name.
But to Belloc, it only looked like a toy Solion played with.
Of course, its power wasn’t toy-like at all.
‘A guy who does nothing but dig holes—he couldn’t make more than three in his whole life. Of course it’d be something.’
For this hunt, Belloc intended to use the existence inside the bracelet.
‘He told me to use it only when it’s urgent, but…….’
What can you do. The prey is just too tempting.
Now that it’s already in my hands, how I use it is up to me. Solion must have expected situations like this, too.
He could only make three in his life, but in a way, they were nothing more than failures.
Well, anyway.
‘It’s about time I start preparing.’
Belloc took a crystal orb from his robe and held it in his hand.
A crystal orb containing ancient magic—this was the real weapon for hunting the prey.
‘But for that, I’ll need some sacrifices…….’
One or two won’t do.
Fresh humans.
There had to be dozens of them, but the problem was that in the great forest, humans were so hard to find you could wash your eyes out looking.
“Hey, you.”
An empty great forest.
The voice came from within Belloc’s shadow.
“Yes, O Precursor.”
“Find sacrifices. Humans. The more, the better.”
“Yes. Understood.”
The shadow rippled.
Left alone, Belloc smiled.
“Just wait a little.”
His gaze held the direction, far off, where the prey was passing.