漫画大王

Chapter 152

“... You just need a genius nearby... Like her.”

It was ridiculous, but sticking beside a genius all day and having them teach you was enough. In such a case, even someone ordinary could approach the level of genius themselves. Of course, this only worked if the genius was kind enough to set aside their pursuit of their own achievements to teach an ordinary person.

Now that I thought about it, I realized Ellen was truly an angel. Despite the fact that it had been mere nagging that had set her on this path, she continued to take responsibility, didn’t she? What could I do in return? I didn’t have anything to offer for all that I’d received.

Anyway, when I pointed at Ellen, Austin looked at her with a stunned expression.

“Y-You are... a genius?”

“... I’m not sure.”

Ellen didn’t quite agree.

I was somewhat confident at throwing punches, but only now did I realize that they actually worked in real combat. It wasn’t just working; I could even easily subdue criminals who mocked others with death.

“It’s too late for someone like me to enroll in a swordsmanship school. The only possibility for those of us to learn seems to be from adventurers. I’ve heard that there are retired mercenaries amongst them. If one of them takes you as a disciple, they will teach you some of what they know...”

I believed that my strength mainly came from a somewhat cheating ability, supplemented with a bit of effort.

However, as I listened to Austin, my thinking seemed to change. The very act of being able to study at the Temple felt like a cheat in itself. There seemed to be only a few ways that Austin thought he could grow stronger—by becoming a squire to an existing knight, or a disciple to a retired mercenary, where he had a chance to learn swordsmanship skills that they might or might not teach.

When compared to what was available to ordinary people, the Temple environment seemed like an incomparable cheat code. Esteemed teachers who devotedly instruct you just because you were a student there, and there were literal monsters roaming around among your peers.

Austin spoke as if becoming a disciple of a retired mercenary was a chance to turn his life around. Here I was, studying in a place filled with teachers who far surpassed the level of an average knight, and I could spar with the strongest prospect in this world as much as I wanted. Our environments were incomparable, even before considering the cheat abilities I had.

“Why do you want to become stronger in the first place?” I asked Austin, genuinely curious about him.

I had my own reasons for wanting to grow stronger, but for most people, this was the start of peaceful times. The Dark Land had fallen into disrepair. I wondered why anyone would feel the need to grow stronger in a world where there was no necessity or reason to be strong. It seemed that most adventurers were after a quick fortune, but Austin didn’t seem like that.

“I want to be like Artorius.”

At those words, both Ellen and I fell silent.

Artorius was a commonly discussed topic in the world, but it was almost never mentioned between Ellen and me. Artorius had become a legend among adventurers. For adventurers who weren’t merely seeking wealth, but dreamt of the romance of adventure itself, Artorius was inevitably seen as a utopia.

“Ahaha... It’s impossible, of course... but still... it’s my dream to become like him.”

As he finished speaking those words, Austin laughed awkwardly as if it was all a bizarre dream.

“Even dying like him?” Ellen asked quietly.

“... What?”

“Do you even dream of dying like him?”

Her tone was calm, yet there was an edge to it. Taken aback by the sudden question, Austin’s expression stiffened.

Did he desire to imitate Artorius to the point of seeking a similarly grand death in defeating a Demon King?

Ellen’s question was somewhat aggressive.

“Ah, ah... well, if... if I could meet such a glorious end like Artorius... for someone like me, that would rather be an honor... though, of course, it might be presumptuous!”

Austin scrambled to apologize, wondering whether he had overstepped somehow. He noted that those who admired Artorius could possibly find such comments distasteful, and was afraid of the idea of making a statement that could upset admirers of Artorius.

Ellen remained silent for a while before abruptly asking, “Do you have a family?”

“A family? Ah... I have a younger sister and parents back home.”

Austin’s family composition was strikingly similar to Ellen’s.

“...”

Ellen seemed lost in thought for quite some time, as if she wanted to say something. It was easy to guess what was swirling around in her head.

Austin was a novice adventurer. He wanted to be strong, but he wasn’t strong yet. Even in the situation we had just been in, had it not been for Ellen and me, he would have been a goner for sure.

She probably wanted to tell him to stop messing around and go back home. Yet, Ellen was indifferent to the lives of others. She would also be contemplating whether she had the right to say such things.

Saying “You’re weak, so you should just go home,” would only serve to wound Austin.

Ellen remained deep in thought.

In the end, she didn’t say anything.

***

The journey to Saints Point took a total of four hours. We used gates and even took some extra time along the way, so the sun was already dipping below the horizon by the time we arrived.

“It’s a good thing we made it before dark; otherwise, we might have had to camp outside along the way.”

Austin stepped through the entrance of Saints Point, smiling as if relieved. Saints Point felt more like a base than a city.

If Egxian was a metropolis, this place felt more like a village. These points, functioning as supply bases for adventurers, were scattered in considerable numbers along this eastern route of advance. The pace of expansion suggested that a large urban area centered around the Egxian base might emerge in time. Despite it being almost nighttime, Saints Point was far from dark. Many buildings were lit up, giving a lively impression, though it couldn’t quite be considered bustling.

“What about this carriage, then?”

The carriage wasn’t originally ours. Now that we had arrived at our destination, we had to figure out what to do with it.

“Keep it,” Ellen said to Austin.

Ellen seemed indifferent, and I had no particular desire to keep the carriage either, so I didn’t mind it.

“Is... Is that okay? With three horses, it must be worth quite a bit...”

The carriage might have been stolen property, but it wasn’t like the horses had name tags.

“Sell it or ditch it, whatever suits you.”

“Then, thank... thank you, guys.”

“Sell the horses and perhaps return to your hometown with the money—Uh. Nevermind.”

Ellen stopped herself from continuing. Austin was an adventurer with an uncertain future. She was about to suggest that he might have been better off returning home with the money from selling the three horses. However, she considered that it was not her place to meddle in another person’s life, and so chose not to continue.

“We’re going to stay at the Lockhilt Inn. If you need to find our party, just ask for Mr. Hugson at the inn.”

We disembarked from the carriage, and Austin drove it towards the inn where his party was staying.

Somehow, despite everything, we had made it to Saints Point.

“Let’s rest here for today, plan our schedule, and depart tomorrow,” I suggested.

“Okay.”

It was now time to find Eleris.

***

The Giant’s House Inn.

Eleris was going to join our group after a chance encounter here. Being a magician, she had a convincing reason to persuade Ellen to let her join the party.

That was the plan, originally.

Murmur, Murmur.

As soon as we entered the Giant’s House Inn, though, I had to admit that I had overlooked something very important.

—Hey, lady! Come with us!

—Hey, I asked first, okay?

—How about we split things fifty-fifty? Our party will take half, and you can have the other half all to yourself. How about that?

—These guys have no sense of decency! They’re trying to smack us away with money!

—We’ll split whatever we earn fifty-fifty, with a guarantee of three gold coins each time! We’ll even pay you if we draw a blank! Guaranteed three gold coins just for joining us! And we’ll give a bigger share to you, miss! How’s that?

There was pandemonium on the first floor of the inn.

“Ah... ahaha... well, that’s... I...”

In the middle of the chaotic calls of interest, a woman, presumably Eleris, seemed at a loss as to what to do. She was in disguise, and her facial structure had changed considerably, but I could still spot several features that were characteristic of Eleris. She seemed shorter, and while she did not look like her usual self, there were subtle similarities that made her recognizable.

“... What’s this?”

“... I’m not sure...”

But what on earth was going on?

Numerous people were surrounding Eleris, begging her to join their groups, some offering money, and others saying that she could keep all the earnings as long as they could claim the achievements.

They were desperately promising to give her the best treatment if she would only agree to accompany them.

But why?

I discreetly scanned the room then headed towards the innkeeper, who was behind the counter.

“Do you have any rooms?”

“Would a double room work?”

A double room...

“Would it be better to have separate rooms?” I asked Ellen.

Ellen shook her head. “You never know what might happen. Let’s share one room.”

She was considering the possibility that something might happen to one of us while the other remained oblivious if we were in separate rooms. Given that we had almost been robbed on the first day, it was better to be cautious.

“It’s five silver coins.”

As I paid the innkeeper five silver coins, I pointed toward the commotion around Eleris.

“What’s going on over there, though?”

“Ah, that.”

The innkeeper sighed. “There’s a rumor going around about a mage being here, so people have come over from other inns, causing this mess. They’re not even buying drinks. It’d be terrible if a fight broke out...”

A mage...

“... Why make such a fuss over a mage?” I asked, to which the innkeeper furrowed his brows.

“...I thought you’d know. You must be green.”

“Out of a hundred adventurers, only one among them is a mage,” Ellen explained.

With that, everything made sense.

I knew mages were rare, but I had not imagined that it was to such an extent.

***

Let’s say there are a hundred adventurers.

Among them, 97 are from the combat class.

Two of them are clerics.

And only one among them is a mage.

The ratio of the different classes amongst adventurers was that dire. The majority were riff-raff, jumping in with hopes of striking it rich overnight. Among these, many were indifferent to adventure or exploration, and made a living by robbing naive adventurers of their equipment.

Just like the ones we’d encountered earlier that day. Most adventurers were only adventurers in name only, with droves of riff-raff similar to neighborhood thugs. With everyone and their dog trying their hand at adventuring, the number of true talents was incredibly low.

Hence, it was natural that there would be a paucity of those from the elite professions like clerics and mages. That was why there was such a fuss any time a mage made an appearance, and why everyone wanted to recruit them.

In MMORPGs, there is often a shortage of healers because they are considered boring to play, but here, clerics and mages were treated as incredibly precious resources for very pragmatic reasons.

Recalling the conversation I had with Riana about the social status of different magical specializations made me chuckle. Those who ventured into places such as these were usually battle mages specializing in destructive magic, who were considered low-income earners and not very popular in the mage world.

Yet, in such a place, everyone was scrambling to recruit these battle mages. It turned out that being a mage was like being a doctor—respected and acknowledged wherever you went. I wasn’t sure how Eleris’s identity as a mage was revealed, but this was problematic. My plan to casually encounter her and have her join our party was now impossible.

—Please, join our group and take good care of us.

—Hey, come on, I told you already. We’ve already discussed everything with her. She’s coming with us!

Approaching Eleris, who was enjoying immense popularity, suggesting we team up, and then having her agreeing to it would clearly provoke all these other competitors. Quietly integrating her into our group had definitely become impossible. Eleris, surrounded by people and unable to move this way or that, locked eyes with me.

Eleris seemed surprised.

I wanted to acknowledge her, but I couldn’t let on that we knew each other.

‘Please help me, Your Highness!’

‘How am I supposed to do that?!’

Our desperate glances were the only things we could exchange.

“What are you doing?”

Ellen, unaware of the situation, urged me to stop dawdling and head up to our room, but I couldn’t just leave Eleris behind.

I had to take a more active approach.

“... Wouldn’t it be good to have a mage with us?”

Ellen looked puzzled by my direct suggestion. I didn’t have a clear plan on how to cut through the crowd to propose to Eleris that she join our party, but I had to persuade Ellen first.

“Do we really need one?” Ellen asked.

She seemed skeptical, wondering if we really needed to invite a mage to join our party, even though there was one right in front of us.

“It’s not like having her would hurt, right?”

“... Well, that’s true. But we can’t match the offers of the other groups.”

So many others were already pushing hard, ready to throw money at a mage to make her join their party. Ellen did not see the need to compete with such offers, and was clearly wondering if it was worth the financial hit just to have a mage in our party.

‘No, we don’t need to offer money. I can’t explain why, but we just don’t.’

“It wouldn’t hurt to ask, right?”

“... Well, might as well.”

Ellen seemed to give up on the matter and headed up to our room first, probably thinking that it wouldn’t work out. Now, I had to find a way through the eager crowd and pull the popular Eleris over to our side.

Having already rejected all other offers, if Eleris were to accept mine, we would surely attract some strange looks, but that was a risk I had to take. Just as I was about to make my way through the crowd surrounding Eleris—

Bang!

The door of the inn swung open forcefully and someone entered.

The sudden noise attracted the attention of the murmuring crowd, and everyone’s heads turned toward the newcomer.

“There’s a mage here, I’ve heard.”

The man, with a rugged look and an axe on his back, commanded silence in the inn with his presence.

—It’s Hugson.

—Hugson?

—You know, the only B-rank here.

—That’s the guy?

People were whispering amongst themselves.

Hugson...

Austin had mentioned that there was a B-rank adventurer in his group, and that looking for Hugson at the Lockhilt Inn would lead us to his group. Apparently, the man who had just entered was Hugson.

—Ah, there’s no point now then. It’s over!

—He’s going to scout her for sure!

—Why, out of all people, does a B-rank adventurer have to appear at this time?!

—Why is he even in Saints Point? Isn’t he too powerful to be here?

As I watched the situation unfold, I couldn’t help but cringe at the reactions around me.

“Oh no, he’s B-rank? That’s way too high-level! What’s happening?! Why is someone like him here of all places? Damn!”

... I felt like I was witnessing a ridiculous spectacle.

Anyway, being a B-rank adventurer seemed to be quite prestigious.

He approached Eleris, disregarding the people around her as if they were invisible.

“Join our party.”

His request was plain and straightforward, surprising Eleris, who looked momentarily taken aback.

“Uh... hm?”

“Come join our party. We can offer you achievements that no other party can.”

Of course, none of these offers meant anything to Eleris, since she was waiting for me.

Without waiting for an answer, as if he believed that considering any option other than joining his party was ludicrous, Hugson grabbed Eleris’s arm.

“Oh! H-Hey, wait! I—” Eleris said urgently.

“Just come along.”

Watching Eleris being dragged away involuntarily made something snap inside my head.

“Hey, ahjussi[1].”

“...?”

‘This bastard.’

“You should let go of her arm before it’s too late.”

‘Who does he think he is, laying his hands on someone like her?’

1. A Korean word used to address an older middle-aged man. ☜