18 – Episode 18
# 18
“My beloved~ wizard~”
With an earth-shaking noise, Drake showcased his monstrous presence.
Upon encountering Drake, the people with rabbit feet involuntarily froze in place. They were aware that the wizard Ian had disappeared with Drake, but there might be a chance that things went awry due to a trivial reason.
What if that Drake was no longer under the wizard’s control?
Well, what can you do? Either die running or die if you fail to escape.
Fortunately, however, Drake was with the mage.
And even on Drake’s back.
‘…Cool!’
Ric looked up at the wizard who was riding on Drake with fervent eyes.
What kind of trick did he pull last night to have Drake offer his back!
The sight of the wizard on Drake’s back with a sluggish expression (though in fact, he was grimace due to exhaustion), held something stimulating to male fantasies.
‘Indeed, a wizard is a wizard!’
Drake even bowed his head for ease when Ian intended to dismount.
“Rick, I saw some people running away earlier. Who were they?”
“Ah, those bastards! They are very bad guys! They are wicked human traffickers!”
“Human trafficking?”
Rick began to stammer the recent situation.
The traffickers came for cash, luckily they could escape unscathed due to their absence.
“Ah, cash! I’m glad he’s safe!”
Rick heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing Cash (Lucy) with Ian.
“Isn’t this too much? Even if they’re like that, they belong to the Heavenly Faith!”
Rick started grumbling as his sense of injustice came belatedly.
In this medieval fantasy world, a grand religion called ‘Heavenly Faith’ held a firm spiritual pillar.
Similar to other religions, the Heavenly Faith preached ‘how to live accurately in this dirty world’, these teachings were remembered as ‘Don’t do this’ coded in regulations. In Heavenly Faith, there was a rule: ‘Do not make a fellow believer your slave.’
Although most of the adherents strictly followed this rule, human traffickers and slave traders, due to the nature of their jobs, were often found ignoring this rule.
They were being hated by the Theists, deemed ‘filthy slave traders.’
“The slave traders, they’re all the same.”
“Right? Spit! Damned curses upon them!”
Enraged, Rik continued to rail curses upon the ‘human traffickers.’
Lucy’s expression soured at his harsh words.
This was no pleasant news for Ian either.
“I saw Drake talking to a wizard. He’s not giving this up, huh?”
Human traffickers. No, Lucy’s pursuers had a remarkable tenacity.
By now, he had grown curious about what they were promised by the Count in return for capturing Lucy.
‘This won’t do.’
If they were to safely send back the pursuers now, one hundred percent, they would be trailed.
Being not confident in fleeing with a multitude of pursuers, Ian decided on a single course of action.
“[Longtail. Can you do me a favor?]”
[“Sure. Speak your mind. Friend.”]
“[Could you drive off some people? If necessary, you can kill.]”
Ian felt slightly uncomfortable at the mention of murder. However, it was a necessary choice.
The opponents already had a criminal record for killing mercenaries, ruthlessly. Would they spare him, Ian? If Drake hadn’t showed up, there’s a high chance that Ian should have been killed too.
This place is a medieval fantasy world where killing each other is a daily routine. In order to survive as a resident of such a savage world, one had to get used to murder. That way, one could consider murder as an efficient option at the appropriate time.
[Ah, those humans from earlier.]
“[Do you know who they are?]”
[“Yes, of course. You want me to kill a few and chase away the rest, right?”]
“[Please.]”
Longtail gladly accepted Ian’s request.
[If it’s a friend’s request. Gladly.]
Longtail accepted Ian’s request and moved to eliminate the trackers.
A wizard controlling the drake with a few commands.
The onlooking laborers were busy admiring the wizard’s mysterious talent.
‘Did you see that?’
‘He’s really controlling the drake as if he owns it.’
‘What a talented wizard!’
Although all Ian did was ask the drake for a favor, to ordinary people, it seemed as if Ian had performed an impressive magic.
How could it not be curious to give orders while talking to a drake as big as a house?
“Ian!”
Ian, who had finished his conversation with Longtail, swayed.
He had overused Maronius’s magic, which was taking a toll on him.
Lucy ran up to support Ian.
“Are you okay? Does it hurt a lot?”
Rick, who saw the scene, nodded his head.
‘They seem strange friends. They must be dating.’
Rick knew that Lucy was no ordinary girl.
Although he had no idea that she was actually a runaway noble.
#
Ian descended the mountain slowly with help from the laborers. Even though he climbed into a cart, no one pointed out his behavior.
Going down the mountain, he learned that the drake was diligently hunting humans.
It was the power of his skill: Summoning.
‘Eleven already…’
The number of trackers identified so far was 14.
Of them, 11 lost their lives to Drake before a day had passed.
Despite his huge size equivalent to a house, Drake was incredibly fast. He could not fly, but could bolt at a tremendous speed of up to 60 km per hour in an instant.
Furthermore, this was Drake’s home ground.
There’s a saying that even a domestic dog has something to eat and take in its own house. Let alone a ‘Longtail the House Owner’ who boasts a nest of the level of Banpo Xi, Earth Dragon Mountain was nothing more than a mere playground slide.
Hence, a one-sided massacre took place.
Drake was clearly planning to kill ‘moderately,’ but due to human fragility and power adjustment issues, he ended up killing them all.
[Your Drake has killed a human.]
‘Another one dead.’
A status window popping up right before his eyes whenever he can forget about it.
The Summoning spell continuously reported the status and direction of Drake’s actions to Ian. Even when Ian wanted it, he could transmit his will no matter how far the distance, thanks to the summoning skill.
However, it was not like a RPG game where you say ‘Summon Drake!’ and Drake pops out in front of you.
This was inevitable because summoning originally refers to the act of calling something. It was not clear how the summoned creature would come.
For example, if you summon a ghost, the ghost comes by itself; the summoner does not bring the ghost himself.
What if Ian summons Drake?
Longtail would walk.
If it’s urgent, it might run.
This was the limit of the Skill: Summoning.
If one had a contract with a formless being or a being transcending dimensions, it would come to where Ian calls of its own accord…
But a tangible monster like Drake needs the combination of teleportation magic with summoning to unfold a summoning spell like in RPG games.
‘Can’t help it.’
Unless Ian learns teleportation magic from a spacetime wizard, it is impossible to summon Drake in the middle of the city.
Still, Ian wasn’t particularly sorry.
While Drake is a strong force, he’s not an entity to carry around with him.
Longtail was busy bringing along his NTR-afflicted girlfriend. And how would he feed and care for that huge body? If he were receiving support from a prominent noble family, it might be manageable. But he wasn’t a suitable travel companion for a journey in search of mysteries.
“Mr. Mage, the village is just a little further now.”
“[Ian. All visible humans have been driven away.]”
“Thank you, Longtail. Your help has saved me a lot of trouble.”
“Ha-ha, that’s what having friends is for!”
In reality, only one or two humans had been driven away. The rest were killed.
Yet, the trackers sent by the Count (Jin) were all repelled.
Even if more trackers were dispatched, they won’t consider crossing the Earth Dragon Mountain.
“[I guess it’s time for us to part ways.]”
“[Although our encounter was brief it was both fun and gratifying, my friend.]”
“I hope you find yourself a sleek Drake with scales.”
At the edge of the mountain, Ian bid farewell to the Drake and parted ways. Although their meeting was by chance, in the end, he had gained a good friend. This too was one of the joys of the journey.
“Ian, I imagine you must be interested in the world’s mysteries?”
“Huh?”
Even though the Drake couldn’t follow him beyond the mountain ranges, it gave Ian some valuable information for his solitary journey.
“I heard there’s a frost phoenix living somewhere in the northern ice mountains.”
Frost Phoenix. The phoenix was a type of monster and was literally known as the ‘undying bird’. When its body was dying, it would change into an egg and regain life.
However, contrary to common sense, not all phoenixes were fire beings.
There were ice phoenixes, wind phoenixes, rock phoenixes, etc…
A phoenix changes its body structure according to its habitat, making it a rather adaptable creature.
From the beginning, the ‘fire’ in ‘Phoenix’ was not the fire of flames, but the fire of immortality.
[I’ve heard that many wizards are searching for the Phoenix… If you’re interested, why not try finding it yourself?]
Drake didn’t understand why wizards were searching for the frost Phoenix. He had only heard from other Drakes that there were many such human wizards.
However, it was Ian, another human wizard, who had passed on this story…
The problem was that Ian himself wasn’t well aware of the value held by a frost Phoenix.
‘Could it be used as a summon?’
But since he had leveled up his summoning magic to level 3, he thought it wouldn’t be bad to twist it into a summon and take it along.
Or it wouldn’t be too bad if you just experienced the mystery and earned some bonus skill points.
[Thank you. I will definitely look for it.]
[My friend Whitepeng lives in the Ice Mountains, ask him for help. Mention my name, and he’ll treat you kindly.]
[Whitepeng. I’ll remember that.]
Before they knew it, Ian and his group were walking on flat plains.
They had passed the Earth Dragon Mountain.
From Noble mtl dot com
#
While Ian was immersed in the lingering feelings of farewells, a sharp sound of a smack was heard from somewhere.
According to experiences from dramas, this was the sound of people slapping each other.
As Ian looked up, the servants were flocking to the source of the noise.
“Stop it!”
“What are you doing!”
The source of the noise, indeed, was a group of women.
“And there were only two women, Emily and Lucy.
The two women, with their hair disheveled, were glaring at each other and fuming.
‘You dirty whore!’
Emily shouted at Lucy.
Lucy, undaunted, retorted, ‘The whore is you!’
‘What…! What did you say! You’re the real whore!’
Surprisingly, it was a fact.
Emily, a professional prostitute, received money for her body. She was of a lowly status, unable to even mingle with nobility like Lucy.
However, Lucy was strong-willed. Her full name was Lucy of Talia. It could be said that ‘Lucy was hiding her identity’.
Ignorant Emily insulted Lucy as per the bet.
But Lucy was in a dilemma, unable to act, fearing her disguised identity might be exposed in some disgraceful affair.
Therefore, a match that should never have happened in common sense had actually taken place.
‘Why are they like this?’
As Ian appeared, Emily clung to him, making a whining sound.
Seeing her cling to a man without hesitation, it was clear that a professional prostitute was indeed different.
‘Magician sir~ That woman keeps picking fights with me~’
‘…Who started the fight first!’
Lucy cried out, her voice trembling. Her words were true.
Ever since Lucy returned with Ian, Emily had harbored malice towards Lucy, constantly nitpicking at her. Emily’s dislike for Lucy was due to jealousy.
Throughout the journey, Emily had served the magician, flattering him whenever she had the chance, busy with her construction.
Why did a thieving cat-like woman completely take over and run away, leaving her burning with rage?
‘Magician sir~ That woman did something wrong, right~?'”
“Ian, whose side do you think is right?”
Ian, who was suddenly caught in the gaze of both Lucy and Emily, let out a deep sigh.
Why the hell are they asking me this? Bloody hell.
In fact, the upper servants already knew who Ian was going to back.
A rather attractive lady, but a former prostitute who sold her body to mercenaries Vs A young lady with an elegant atmosphere, despite insisting she’s a noble.
‘Ah, get a grip on the matter.’
‘Anyway. Women. They go crazy trying to bait someone of higher status.’
Emily also knew that the upper people’s gaze was not kind…
But there are times when women should not back down, even knowing slim chances of winning!
That is when aiming for a social-climbing marriage!
If somehow the courting went well and she became the wife of a wizard, it would be a tremendous life turnaround.
Ian, the wizard, might be the highest person Emily can ever meet in life.
‘Are you two fighting over something so ridiculous? Are you both three-year-olds?”
“Ian.”
Lucy pointed to her chubby blushing cheek with an obstinate look. It was a mark caused by Emily.
‘Ah.’
Ian was Lucy’s escort. It’s a bit strange to say that a wizard is escorting, but anyway, Lucy wanted him to, so he was indeed her escort.
He had to do the job of an escort, even though it was annoying.
“Emily. Apologize to Lucy. And don’t bother Lucy again.”
“…Master Wizard!”
Emily looked shocked as Ian made his decision.
The servants nodded as if they expected it. Except for Emily, everyone had anticipated this outcome.
“I, I’m trying my best to please you, Master! But this lady speaks to me so informally and disruptively! Oh, Master, you can’t possibly…? You like the type with no manners…? Ah!”
“???”
“This Ian, you bastard!”
As Emily opened her mouth, the top henchmen swarmed in like bees, clamping Emily’s mouth shut.
“Hey, you crazy b*tch! If you want to die, go ahead and die alone!”
“Eh! I know men well… Eh! The magician, he likes to be treated roughly… Eh!”
“Shut your mouth, for heaven’s sake!”
During Emily’s rampage, Lucy stealthily approached Ian and crossed her arms.
It felt so natural that Ian didn’t even realise that his arm had been snatched away.
“That woman. Why is she suddenly like that?”
When Ian asked, Lucy responded with a gleeful smile.
“Don’t know. Maybe she’s been poisoned.”