Large-Scale Subjugation
Upon returning to the Magic Tower, Rain went first to find her master.
Ordinarily she would have written up a report on her mission, but something far more urgent demanded her attention.
As she climbed the tower, Rain kept thinking of the small girl she had met.
Ceris—a young girl from an ordinary country village.
She possessed a composure far beyond her years, and she had even demonstrated skill with a sword.
Of course, that alone would not have been enough to send Rain racing to her master.
The moment Ceris first sensed mana, she had formed an inner world and cast a magic entirely her own.
Radiant starlight… Rain had never once heard of such a spell.
Magic that beautiful should have left at least some record in the Tower’s Great Library.
After climbing the endless stairs, she arrived at a narrow corridor where a single weathered door stood alone.
Rain strode toward it without hesitation.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Master!"
The old door rattled as if it might collapse under her pounding fists.
A voice answered from within.
"Is that you, Rain?"
"Yes!"
The moment her answer left her lips, the weathered door swung open.
Beyond it lay what appeared to be an ordinary study.
Rain, however, knew better. What she saw was not the truth.
Spaces that shifted according to their master’s will were a common enough occurrence within the Magic Tower.
She walked slowly toward her master.
A long white beard and hair of the same pure white. An elderly man in a blue robe—just like Rain’s—regarded her with eyes that shimmered with azure mana.
"Have you written your report?"
"Ah—no. I’ll do that later."
"I see. Then what brings you here after a full month?"
Rain pictured the small girl and began organizing her thoughts.
Normally she would have noticed the faint reproach in her master’s words and apologized at once. Right now, though, her mind was filled with nothing but brilliant starlight and the image of that little girl.
In a rush of excitement she poured out everything she had witnessed—the girl’s unchildlike composure, the starlight magic she had used, how that vast river of stars had painted a world beyond ordinary understanding. Last of all she mentioned the girl’s unknown master, and that this master was not of this world.
The old mage listened in silence, then nodded and spoke.
"You say it was an original magic you had never seen before?"
"Yes!"
"Magic that cannot even be found in the Tower’s library…"
"Yes!"
"Frankly, it is a hard story to believe."
Rain did not contradict him.
She herself would never have believed it if she had not seen it with her own eyes.
"Rain, if your story is true, a new school of magic may well be born within the Tower."
"Th-that much?"
"That is how hard it is to believe."
"Ahh…"
The old mage studied his disciple.
She wore a dejected look, watching his face carefully while clutching the hem of her robe.
No doubt she resented him for not believing her.
"This Ceris child is thirteen, you said?"
"Yes…"
"And not of noble birth…"
"Yes…"
"Hmm…"
The old mage rose from his seat.
He did not fully credit every word his disciple had spoken, yet the information was still worth stirring his aged bones for.
A young mage overflowing with talent and without powerful backing was a precious talent everyone would covet.
"You may soon have a junior."
"H-huh…! Really?"
"My duties at the Tower have just concluded. I think I shall take a little outing for the first time in a long while."
The journey from the Magic Tower to the port city took roughly three days by carriage.
Rain hurriedly packed her things alongside her master.
After finishing the commission, I immediately found an inn and let the accumulated fatigue melt away.
I washed in hot water, then sank into a soft bed and drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, after a meal on the first floor of the inn, I slung my bag over my shoulder and headed for the adventurers’ street.
I needed to have the Ice Horn hide and horns from the Karum Mountains processed.
The first place I visited was a large leather workshop.
"Welcome!"
A man greeted me the moment I stepped inside.
With a small smile he asked if I was looking for something in particular.
Instead of answering I rummaged through my bag and pulled out the Ice Horn hide.
"This is… an Ice Horn?"
"You got it right away."
"Occupational hazard…"
He turned the hide this way and that, offering a running commentary on its quality.
After examining it for quite some time he recommended I have a cloak made from it.
"Production will take one week. The fee is two gold total. Only you may pick up the finished item. Agreed?"
"I’ll do it."
I handed him two gold on the spot.
He nodded, took the hide, and disappeared into the back of the workshop—clearly intending to begin processing it at once.
Next came the Ice Horn’s horns.
I left the workshop and wandered the streets, wondering what sort of craftsman could work them.
The question did not occupy me long. A sign hanging in front of a smithy gave me the answer.
Monster Horns & Bones Processed Here
I stepped inside without hesitation.
Even in the depths of winter the smithy was sweltering.
The clang of hammers on iron and the fierce heat of the forges filled every corner.
Just as I had at the leather workshop, I sought out the blacksmith and handed him the horns.
What I needed was a sword superior to an ordinary iron blade.
The blacksmith examined the horns for a long while before naming his terms: three days of work and a fee of three gold.
I rummaged through my pouch and made a sour face.
Careless spending had left me with only a single gold.
"Hmm… short on coin?"
"Yes…"
"Then how about this? A sword only needs one horn. Sell me the other."
"How much will you give?"
"Ten gold."
Ten gold for a single Ice Horn? The price was higher than I had expected, and I was startled—though I kept the surprise from my face.
The blacksmith looked at me as if to say he would go no higher.
Hoping the man had a conscience, I nodded.
Once the deal was struck he handed me seven gold—after deducting the crafting fee—along with a leather scabbard.
The leather was soft yet tough, clearly high quality.
The scabbard’s length could be adjusted so it could be worn at the hip or across the back.
"This is…?"
"On the house."
I immediately unstrapped the sword I had been carrying on my back.
Until now I had simply bound it with rope; at last I had a proper scabbard.
A small smile spread across my face.
I freed the blade from the rope, adjusted the scabbard’s length, and settled both sword and scabbard across my back.
The soft yet solid feel against my shoulder was deeply satisfying.
Quite a nice gift.
With every transaction finished and my purse comfortably full from the Ice Horn sale, I left the smithy, bought wine and a large ham, and returned to the inn.
I drank the wine—bitter with a faint fruit fragrance—and tore into the thick ham with gusto.
For a girl who had spent her entire life in a country village, it was pure luxury.
On the third day after placing the commission I returned to the smithy and received my new sword.
A long, pure-white blade, gripped at its center by solid iron.
The plain cross-guard, free of unnecessary ornament, pleased me greatly.
I took a few light practice swings.
It was lighter than my old iron sword, with a perfectly balanced weight.
Overall it was clearly a far finer weapon than the one I had been using.
"I ground the horn into an edge and set iron through the center for balance. How is it?"
"It’s good."
The blacksmith seemed so pleased with his own work that he launched into a stream of unsolicited details.
I endured the lecture for quite some time before a new customer finally arrived and set me free.
Leaving the smithy, I headed straight for the Adventurers’ Guild.
With a new weapon in hand I intended to take a light commission and test its performance.
Yet the atmosphere inside the guild was strangely unsettled.
Adventurers who normally gathered in twos or threes were sitting in large groups, deep in serious discussion.
I walked past them and approached the receptionist.
"Excuse me."
"Hmm?"
He turned at my voice, looked around, and only belatedly spotted me down below. An awkward smile crossed his face.
I rose onto my tiptoes, clinging to the counter, and asked,
"Why are all those people gathered like that?"
"Ah—the mayor has put out a large-scale monster subjugation request."
"A large-scale subjugation…?"
"Interested?"
A large-scale subjugation request.
Of course I was interested.
I nodded without a moment’s hesitation.
"Hmm… just checking—what’s your rank plate?"
I pulled my bronze plate from my pouch and showed it to him.
He looked relieved, then drew a sheet of paper from under the desk.
"Pay is one silver per monster. The subjugation will last about a week. The start date is four days from now."
"Does the type of monster matter?"
"He said higher-ranked specimens would earn more, but he didn’t give details. So we’re just telling everyone one silver per head."
"Are the people over there the only ones joining?"
"There’ll be more. The mayor’s private soldiers are coming too."
"Oh…"
"Signing up?"
"Yes."
"Name?"
"Ceris."
"All right. Rank: Bronze. Class: Swordsman…"
After filling out the form the receptionist handed me a small wooden tag stamped with a special seal. He added that if I lost the seal I would not be allowed to participate in the large-scale subjugation.
I slipped the tag into my pouch and asked the question that had been bothering me.
"Why the sudden monster subjugation, though?"
"You’ve heard that monsters that don’t normally live around here have been showing up, right?"
"Ah, yes."
"One or two wouldn’t have been a big deal. But lately the frequency has gotten ridiculous."
The receptionist was quite the talker.
He launched into a lengthy explanation of how the sudden influx of new monsters had driven the original ones out of their habitats and down into human villages.
In any case, there was still time before the appointed day.
I ignored the chattering receptionist and returned to the inn.