25 – The Wizard who left the Courtyard
The senior party member with a scar on his face briefly described our itinerary.
“It’s about a five-day journey, including the travel time. We heard there’s an unexplored dungeon nearby. We’ll camp at the entrance of the dungeon after crossing the forest, then explore the dungeon and return.”
“Are there any changes to the objective?”
“No. The purpose is to gain experience for illusion magic, so just wipe out any monster we come across. As written in the contract, you will be rewarded with incentives based on the number of battles fought…”
The Tear-Mark Guy carefully reviewed all the terms specified in the contract. Observing the archer and the rogue in the back lounging around, it seemed like Tear-Mark Guy was the one in charge of handling all the tedious tasks.
Just as I thought the negotiation was about to end, the discussion shifted to ‘how much compensation will be paid for emotional damages in case of personality insults during the expedition?’ This debate didn’t seem like something that would end within 10 minutes, so I decided to zone out.
Judging by her long ears and multiple adornments, the archer appeared to be an elf. And seeing a long tail wrapped around the thigh of the rogue because of a hole in her hot pants, she seemed to be a beastman.
Demihuman, huh…
Born in a country bumpkin village where potato farming was a common sight, I spent my time in the purple tower in solitude. While I had heard of the existence of demihumans and learned about their habits and behavior from encyclopedias, it was my first time seeing them with my own two eyes.
I wondered if it’s true that an elf’s ears are their erogenous zones. The urge to ask was overwhelming but I held back, afraid that I would be greeted by an arrow in my forehead.
I was scrutinizing the two girls for design inspiration when my gaze met that of the beastman rogue. The rogue widened her eyes at me and sent me a simple sign language.
Pointing at herself.
=＞ I’m.
Pointing at Tear Mark Guy.
=＞ His.
Creating an obscene gesture with her hand.
=＞ Girlfriend. (A much softer translation)
She was warning me not to flirt with her as she already was taken. I nodded my head as a sign of understanding and asked the elf archer next to her with a hand gesture whether she was in the same situation.
The affirmative signal came back. Unbelievably, this party was a harem party.
With re-emerging curiosity, I observed the Teary-eyed guy. His handsome face might be alluring enough to capture a woman’s heart, but I hadn’t expected him to be a ladies’ man, able to handle two at once. It made me wonder if they had conflicts like typical harem scenarios.
I asked by a signal about the harmony of their relationships.
The reply came that their relationships were orderly. They respected each other and strictly divided their time to avoid disputes.
My interest intensified.
I was about to inquire if they ever spend time all three together, but ended up getting a smack on the back of my head from Scarred Face senior. He was also chastising the Beast-man Thief, who was dominated by Teary-eyed guy.
The Beast-man Thief seemed eager to brag about his male companions, and I was very keen to listen to him for data collection. Even though we were reprimanded by Scarred Face senior, the time would come for us to delve into this conversation once again.
————-
Adventure was more tedious and tough than I had expected.
Walking through the forest, resting, walking again, resting… the cycle simply repeated.
The elf archer led the way with us trailing behind. As much as I wished for a monster to appear to collect data, they weren’t ignorant. They knew better than to engage when a group of five humans roamed around.
Admiring the countryside landscape also pall drop after a few hours. The same trees, the same stones, and strangely enough, butterflies swirling around us made the journey monotonous.
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Thus, the majority of the adventure consisted of idling around, though I couldn’t participate in casual chats because, as Scarred Face senior said, “Junior, make sure to keep your mouth shut.”
While watching Teary-eyed Guy and Scarred Face senior carry on their veteran-like conversations, I found it amusing to secretly exchange signals with Beast-man Thief.
When I learned about the color of Teary-eyed Guy’s underwear (which I didn’t want to know) and the color of the elf archer’s underwear (which I did want to know) from Beast-man Thief, we had arrived at the dungeon entrance.
There was an ogre idling at the dungeon entrance.
He was the typical monster depicted in numerous fantasy novels, standing three meters tall with bulging muscles, equipped with a club. In small villages untouched by knights, he was an embodiment of disaster. A single ogre could single-handedly devastate a village. Growing up, I was often told, “If you don’t work hard, an ogre will get you!”
But for the second-tier adventurers hired from the empire’s capital, it seemed like an easy opponent.
“Time to warm up a bit. This will be over in less than ten minutes if you watch.”
“uuu-aaa!!”
Teary-eyed Guy equipped his shield and long sword and stepped forward. The ogre roared and charged at him. I cast a motion tracker spell on Teary-eyed Guy and began to collect data.
“By the way,” I said to Scarred Face senior.
“Yes, junior?”
“How strong is a second-tier adventurer?”
“They’re one step away from Feathering. Once they succeed at Feathering, they receive a first-tier title.”
Feathering was a term I was unfamiliar with, and I maintained a calm expression that said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I believed that my senior would kindly explain.
“Has the Mage Tower Master not explained it yet? Well, it might be easier not knowing.”
“There are two ways to make someone angry. First, …”
“There is a realm that life forms with souls can reach. They undergo metamorphosis, and from there, sublimation. I heard the First Princess has metamorphosed, and the Tower Master has completed sublimation.”
I decided to interpret it in the style of a martial arts novel. From what I could gather, metamorphosis seemed to be equivalent to the peak of master martial artists, while sublimation appeared to be akin to reaching the realm of enlightenment. Honestly, it didn’t quite resonate with me.
I knew the Tower Master had incredible skills for sculpting models, but I had no idea the extent of destructive power the title of Archmage could wield.
Including that… when the boy knight collided at the Purple Tower.
To my eyes, it looked like the boy knight was slashing at all the wrong places. Given the context, the Tower Master must have done something, but I couldn’t understand what it was. Is this how a third-rate warrior perceives the enlightened realm…?
As the story was being told, Guy with the Teardrop was almost done handling the ogre. Like a professional butcher, he systematically weakened its mobility by cutting the tendons in its legs and gradually drained its strength by causing cumulative blood loss.
With a bit of support, I might be able to finish it off in one fell swoop.
Thinking it would be effective to cast an illusion spell on the ogre to make it flail about aimlessly, I raised my hand. I gathered magical energy, twisted it twice and flicked it towards the ogre.
Sparks flew inside the ogre’s head. The magic I cast was “Blinding Illusion.” It’s an illusion spell that creates a variety of phantoms, obscuring the target’s field of vision completely.
“Woah, woaaah—ack!”
“Why is it moving so suddenly…?!”
The ogre began thrashing wildly, and Guy with the Teardrop, who had been reading the ogre’s movements and fighting, was caught off guard by the sudden, random patterns.
Clang!
He got hit with a club and was sent flying about five meters.
“Loreille—en!!”
“……!!”
The elf archer ran to catch Guy with the Teardrop, who was in mid-air, while the beastman thief lunged at the ogre. Scarface the senior unsheathed his crossbow at his waist and began cover fire.
A battle that was going well had been blown to pieces.
I watched the chaos and discreetly knelt down, raising my hands.
————-
Crackle, crackle.
The campfire crackled and somehow, listening to it, I felt mentally and physically comforted. The flickering flames pushed back the darkness of the night, coloring a portion of the world in crimson hues.
How beautiful it was. The rabbit meat roasting golden brown over the fire added to the atmosphere. There was a romance to camping. And.
I had been kneeling with my hands raised for three hours.
My arms… were heavy.
Was this how Atlas felt, supporting the heavens? The weight of the world was indeed this heavy. I was drenched in sweat, which made me feel a bit cold.
Guy with the Teardrop had his arm broken by the ogre’s strike and was now splinted. Luckily, he had a potion poured on it so sleeping it off should result in healing by morning.
Injured due to the trolling of some wicked illusionist, Guy with the Teardrop’s expression was nonetheless bright. He’d managed to cover the accident with a few leftover jewels from the letter of the First Princess.
Scarface the senior smirked bitterly.
“Now you see why illusion magic is so unpopular, junior?”
“Yes.”
Unless you could shatter your opponent’s mind with a single fantasy magic spell, there were many side effects to using it in party play. Just making a real-name Ouroboros would, paradoxically, often result in a teammate getting injured.
If you must use it, you had to carefully consider its application.
For example, if all party members possessed long-range attacks. Then you could tie the Ouroboros in fantasy magic and shower it with attacks.
“But that doesn’t work well either. Big, fierce beasts charge towards the direction of the attack.”
Then couldn’t you apply fantasy magic one-sidedly to small, precious beings?
“If it’s a small, precious, and weak creature, a single arrow would suffice. If it’s small but strong, fantasy magic wouldn’t be very effective, would it?”
What about applying something like “Madman’s Rage” to a place like a goblin village in mass?
“That’d be useful as long as no one has been kidnapped to the goblin village.”
Then what can you actually do with fantasy magic?
No matter how many different application methods were brought up, she found herself questioning, ‘how is it better than a fire arrow?’ Her words became less convincing.
This sensation…The uselessness one had when picking a weak character in an RPG game… The senior scar-face stepped forward to restore the shattered honor of a wizard specialized in illusion magic.
“Believe it or not but countering an ogre’s mental barrier with fantasy magic is remarkable… My junior, this is how you use fantasy magic.”
Scar-face made a solemn face pointing at the tough jerky, dry biscuits, and water keg that the party had, and spoke.
“Tell me what you would like on the menu.”
“…!!”
The adventurer party was unable to comprehend the meaning of Scar-face’s words immediately but once they did, chills ran down their spines.
If you want cost-effective food without wasting space, inevitably you choose tasteless rations. Bringing kitchen utensils for the sake of delicious meals just adds to the load.
But if you have a fantasy magician…!!
“It tastes like… steak… from this jerky…”
“Lorilen! This biscuit tastes like cake! It reminds me of a dessert shop in Crownhol…”
“…The taste of home.”
Indeed, a fantasy magician could dramatically increase the comfort of an adventurer party!
That night, the scar-faced senior, who also demonstrated “magic that doesn’t let you feel a mosquito bite” and “magic that makes lying on a pebble bed feel like a comfortable bed”, received shouts of joy and applause.
Look like mental magic and illusion magic is merged