I Became the One-of-a-Kind Archmage with Instant Death Magic | Chapter 33
After turning in my belongings, I stepped outside and found that evening had long since passed.
Damn it, I’d barely finished the brainwashing.
The magic tool’s grumbling sounded from inside my belongings.
It had only been that short a time since I’d done the brainwashing.
This guy was no good left on his own.
Then again, his habit of muttering to himself too often suggested he lacked cunning.
Maybe he was still young in spirit?
I’d felt that sensation often enough.
If so, the clumsy actions and missing pieces made sense.
Right now, with this brainwashing, he’d probably been waiting for the next chance with his mouth shut.
It’s not a bad story for me, though.
Bormora, the one who created this magic tool, was clearly evil.
To take him down, I would need the magic tool’s help.
Thinking back on it, though.
“What’s your name?”
It struck me that I hadn’t even heard the magic tool’s name yet.
I couldn’t go on calling him “magic tool” forever.
“Since you need a name, I’ll give you one.”
…Name? There’s no such thing.
A being with intelligence but no name?
Even a dog I kept at home got a name.
Yet this conversational magic tool had none?
“I’ll call you Leksan, then. That’s the name.”
I don’t need a name like that!
“Fine. Let’s go with this name.”
Wi-iiiiiiiiiiiiik!
Honestly, I was naming him so I could call him whatever I wanted. I didn’t really care about his opinion.
“Be good, Leksan.”
……
He seemed displeased with the name and wouldn’t even answer.
I decided not to let it bother me and set out to renew my monster hunter license, killing time with meals along the way.
Left like this, the guild would have turned me away in Laoren too.
When I entered the Jefran monster hunter guild, only a handful of hunters were there.
Probably because so many had left after the collapse two years earlier.
More newbies than veterans, it looks like.
The monster habitats around here had clearly spread a lot.
As I approached the counter, a bored-looking old man sat there.
“Ugh, they’re even dragging retired workers back into service these days.”
The old man’s mutter reached my ears.
He’d been retired, then?
Clearly there were severe staffing shortages.
I held out my renewed hunter license.
“I couldn’t renew it on time, so the death report went through. Please renew it for me.”
“Death report? Oh, you just got stuck in a mountain and came back?”
He was quick to the point.
The old man renewed my license without a word.
Then he noticed something and raised an eyebrow, looking at me.
“A few people asked me to pass along a message if they ever find you.”
“Really?”
“Here.”
He pulled out a document and handed it over.
Familiar names were written there.
Starting with the three maniacs, then Dreygan, and even Maria.
Whenever someone learned something about me, please contact them. Laoren branch guild master was included.
This guy was probably owing the guild for something.
“Also, you’re Dreygan’s disciple, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Even though it had only been a few months, that time had been precious to me.
I’d learned a great deal from Dreygan.
Even without being able to cast magic yet, I could now control mana thanks to his training.
“Do you know Dreygan?”
“Of course. Out of all the monster hunters, who doesn’t know him?”
That was true.
Dreygan’s reputation was so legendary that people from other regions even came to learn from him.
“And until last year he was stationed here.”
Dreygan had been in Jefran, not Laoren?
His eyes lit up when I mentioned it.
“You were looking for him, weren’t you?”
Ah.
I recalled the three maniacs’ stories.
Maybe Dreygan felt responsible after hearing them.
I felt sorry for him.
And grateful at the same time.
Someone searching for me that hard had been a blessing.
Still, the search had only lasted a year.
Dreygan probably thought I was dead.
“So he must be staying in Laoren now.”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Really?”
I tilted my head, and he slowly stroked his chin.
“There’s a rumor that he became a mage’s disciple.”
When I heard the next words, I stared blankly.
A mage?
Dreygan had become a mage’s disciple?
Dreygan, who had always looked down on mages as an unbridgeable wall.
But maybe somewhere deep inside he had also envied them.
He was probably searching for the path to become a mage again.
“The training center is still there, but the students all left.”
That made sense.
It was a bit sad, but Dreygan had chosen his own path.
Someday I might meet him again.
If he truly became a mage’s disciple, his lifespan would have extended.
If I met him then, we could share many stories from the past.
“Thank you for the information. I’d also like to have some food.”
“Tell the staff. Sit down.”
After sitting for a meal, my thoughts drifted.
So, were all the people I knew absent from Laoren?
If that’s the case.
Was there even a reason to return to Laoren?
I pondered briefly, then dismissed it.
Laoren had been my initial goal.
If so, I should continue toward that goal.
Then I’d set the next one from there.
***
After spending one night in Jefran, the next day I set out for Laoren.
From the inn, I’d bathed cleanly and bought a new set of clothes, so my appearance was better than ever.
Thanks to that, I entered Laoren without issue.
My hometown after a long absence.
Two years had passed, but it looked almost unchanged.
“Eh, Haren?”
As I walked, a few people recognized me.
After two years of my disappearance, maybe.
They still hadn’t forgotten me completely.
“You disappeared two years ago, and you’re alive?”
“Ah, it’s good I never saw that face again. They’d just stare at me like I was a monster whenever I was near a girl.”
“That’s because your face looks like a monster.”
“Whoa, tell me again.”
These were the faces of monster hunters I’d met while coming and going.
“There was an incident.”
“Oh, you’re a monster hunter, so that makes sense. You got injured and were lying around for a while before waking up.”
I didn’t even need to explain; they figured it out.
The monster hunter profession was inherently dangerous.
Since it could claim anyone at any time, their disappearances were usually assumed to mean they’d died.
I hadn’t found that strange, seeing them after so long.
I’d returned alive, and their reaction was exactly that.
“Also, I heard Dreygan became a mage.”
At my mention of the Jefran stories, the hunters nodded.
“That’s right.”
“It was a few months ago. Thanks to that, the monster hunter kids went wild.
The legend of monster hunters, Dreygan, suddenly becoming a mage?”
Their reactions made sense.
To them, the idol they revered had become another kind of being.
“It must have been largely because of the granddaughter.”
But when they said the next words, my reaction changed.
“Granddaughter? What happened to Maria?”
Dreygan’s granddaughter, Maria.
They looked uneasy when I asked what had happened to her.
“Um, I’ll tell you upfront. Haren, this isn’t your fault, is it?”
“No, it’s not anyone’s fault, really.”
Something had happened.
I could feel it clearly from their reactions.
“Tell me what happened. What exactly?”
“Um, so. During the search for Dreygan’s granddaughter, she went missing.”
My face froze solid.
Maria had gone missing while searching for me?
Now I understood why the hunters had been so vague at first.
“From what I heard, a mage took her or something. She has some special constitution, apparently.”
Rotten.
I didn’t know the full situation, but it was getting dangerously complicated.
Why did mages keep causing trouble wherever they went?
Just look at Bormora, Leksan’s master.
“……So that’s why Dreygan became a mage.”
The granddaughter had been taken by a mage.
At this point, Dreygan had no other choice but to become a mage’s disciple.
I swallowed hard, and they looked awkward.
“Anyway, it’s not your fault. It was bound to happen if you crossed paths with a mage.”
“Don’t be too upset about it.”
After hearing the hunters’ condolences, I kept walking.
I didn’t need consolation.
And I didn’t want to receive it.
The mage who had taken Maria.
I would find him and search him out.
I owed Dreygan a debt.
What I had learned from him had become my asset and the foundation of who I was now.
So I had to repay that.
My steps eventually stopped in front of the training center.
The place felt lacking in energy, as expected.
Of course.
Laoren branch’s monster hunter training center had relied on Dreygan’s reputation.
Without him, it had naturally declined.
As a result, the number of trainees had noticeably dropped.
“Eh.”
“H-Haren?”
“It’s Haren!”
When I entered, the instructors recognized me and were surprised.
They rushed over, asking various well-wishes.
After all, the version of me they thought had died had returned.
They asked about Dreygan and Maria, and the answers were the same as before.
As expected, neither Dreygan nor Maria was there anymore.
The three maniacs were the same.
They had gone to the capital to search for Maria on their own.
The capital had abundant information and mages.
They must have gone there to look for her.
Everyone was really heading off in their own directions.
The capital.
That was the next path I needed to take.
Now I was a mage.
I had an easier position to gather information about mages than the average monster hunter.
I could help Maria too.
“By the way, Dreygan said to pass this along if you came looking for me.”
Dreygan hadn’t thought I was dead, then?
He had probably been waiting for me to return someday.
“What does it mean?”
“Maria’s case is not your responsibility.”
When I heard that, my fists clenched tight.
Everyone was too kind—Dreygan included.
And that was why I couldn’t forgive them.
The mage who had taken Maria from him.
No matter what, I would get her back.
“And one more thing he asked of me.”
I relayed Dreygan’s request.
Soon after, I arrived at the training center’s dormitory.
I spotted the end-of-the-hall room, which had been closed for a long time.
Klunk—
Opening the door forced it open, and a sharp smell of dust struck my nose.
Evidence that someone had been living inside for a long time.
On the bed.
A bulge under the blanket.
The moment I saw it, I grabbed the blanket and pulled it straight off.
Inside the blanket.
Someone was curled up there.
The instant I saw it, I exhaled and said, “Wolfgar.”
The once-lively man had become a slouch on the bed.
Wolfgar.
He was there.