Chapter 118
Chapter 118
Chapter 118
Southern Great Forest (1)
"Why do I have to learn magic from that guy!"
It was only natural that Gray's rebellion would occur, given that this had proceeded without any particular agreement.
"I'm a proud Bellatrix! I don't need teachings from other schools!"
"Really? You're going to give up the chance to learn from a legendary 10th-class demigod?"
"......"
"Didn't you say you'd defeat Maria? With that old man's skills, he's probably stronger than Maria right now."
"R-really?"
Those words seemed to be quite a shock, as Gray's expression changed to one of considerable interest.
Of course, in a few years Maria would easily surpass Giovanni, but at least at this point in time, it wasn't a lie.
"I understand that your pride was cracked from being beaten so thoroughly, but still, an opportunity like this won't come twice."
"Ah, brother!"
Gray let out a shriek.
Naturally, seeing Gray's face turn bright red, the companions snickered inwardly.
"Nngh...!"
Gray made a groaning sound.
Well, to get straight to the conclusion, Gray was beaten thoroughly by Giovanni.
“I need to see with my own eyes how much talent the kid who'll become my disciple has. I'm quite picky about these things, you know.”
While Gray's talent in reaching 6th class before even becoming an adult was unquestionable, Giovanni also didn't accept just anyone as a disciple.
Rather, if Gray hadn't exceeded his standards, Rudian and Giovanni's negotiations would have started over from the beginning.
“Not bad, I suppose.”
Giovanni nodded as he looked at Gray's back, who had exhausted all his magic and collapsed.
The sense for constructing spells and the body's magic affinity are at a considerable level. Though I'll need to fix the habit of relying on artifacts for spell assistance.
Giovanni truly pushed Gray mercilessly with the determination to scrape at Gray's limits.
In terms of brutality, it was far worse than what he'd done with Maria.
"Gray, you'll be able to surpass Giovanni someday."
"Of course."
"But if you receive Giovanni's teachings, that period will be shorter, right?"
"Damn it...!"
Actually, receiving Giovanni's teachings was itself a fortuitous encounter equivalent to conquering the Tower of Trials...
"Fine, I'll grant you that."
Gray grumbled as if something didn't sit right with him.
"But why do I have to learn magic from that slippery guy instead of him?"
Gray pointed to where Eugene Celestial stood with a broad smile.
"That's too harsh. We're companions now, after all."
"Who's a companion? You're just a surveillance agent!"
After the negotiations with Giovanni were concluded, Rudian and his companions returned to the surface.
However, Giovanni had attached Eugene, an executive of Celestial, to Rudian's party as both surveillance and a temporary instructor.
Rather than calling it an uncomfortable journey, Eugene's martial prowess was too outstanding to refuse.
Giovanni also uttered ominous words that they would regret it if Eugene didn't go with them.
Most importantly, having him around would significantly increase the party's survival rate even in extreme situations.
While Rudian looked at Eugene with complicated eyes, the argument between Eugene and Gray continued.
"Learning from the boss is every Celestial magician's dream. But before that, you need to reach a level where you can digest the boss's teachings. If you haven't reached that level, you'd just be wasting the boss's time."
"That standard being... 8th class?"
"At least all the organization's executives, including myself, were like that."
The reason Celestial could achieve its current prosperity was entirely because Giovanni, an extraordinary genius beyond standards, had invested all his capabilities in nurturing the organization.
But even such a Giovanni couldn't extend teachings to magicians below a certain level.
That would simply be a waste of time.
"If you don't reach the minimum level, you can't become the boss's disciple. That's something Rudian here has agreed to as well."
"......"
"Heh, personally, I'd like to see you exceed expectations and give the boss a good hit."
"Is it okay for a subordinate at the executive level to say that?"
"It's interesting, isn't it? It's not like it would cause any harm."
Giovanni accepted this condition because he was confident that Gray could never surpass him, no matter how hard Gray tried.
Of course, there might be a possibility after hundreds of years, but the end times would come before then.
"Until then, I'll guide you thoroughly. I pride myself on having quite a reputation when I step into the light."
Not just "quite" - an enormous reputation.
A 9th-class Great Magician on the same level as Caslay Lichmond could sufficiently change the entire continent's balance of power.
"That said, I do have one complaint."
"What is it?"
Eugene looked at Rudian, the party's leader, and slightly pouted.
"The treatment of me is too much! I demand improvement!"
"Too much?"
"I joined the party to help you! But what's this? This luggage-carrier treatment?"
Indeed, Eugene was carrying a backpack as large as his torso on his back.
Of course, since it was a two-dimensional pocket with the highest level of weight reduction, it weighed no more than an empty backpack, but for Eugene, the very fact of carrying luggage was the problem.
"I'm high-level personnel! I've never been treated like this before..."
"I think it's a perfect role for a voyeur."
"That's a false accusation!"
Rudian nodded and extended his hand.
"Well, still, treating a skilled person with class as a porter was too much. Give me that."
"...? You're surprisingly accepting my opinion readily."
"It's definitely rude to ask someone who isn't even a companion to carry luggage."
"......"
"What are you doing? I said give it to me."
"No. I'll just keep carrying it."
What part of him did the word companion stimulate?
Eugene suddenly showed a very compliant attitude.
Even so, there was no need for Eugene to play the porter role indefinitely.
The party's main means of transportation was, after all, a carriage.
After sufficient preparation, Rudian's party left Southwood City.
"But where are we heading now?"
Eugene, who had been reading a magic book in the back seat of the carriage, asked.
"The Great Forest. Originally there were several more places to visit, but they became unnecessary after forming an alliance with you guys."
Now that Eugene had joined the party, there was no need to hide anything, so Rudian gave a brief answer.
The Great Forest in the south overlapped the borders of the Morian Empire and the Kingdom of Rohans, but no one considered that land to be entirely human territory.
That place was a treasure trove of resources that rejected human touch, created by the original author of based on the Amazon.
"Hmm...? Going there at this time specifically?"
Eugene narrowed his eyes and tilted his head slightly.
"It'll be quite dangerous, won't it?"
"It seems you know what situation the Great Forest is currently in."
As an executive of Celestial, Eugene was well aware of the situation there.
"Isn't it a demon realm? The demons have recklessly stirred up magical beasts and monsters, completely ruining the inner ecosystem."
At this quite interesting conversation topic, the surrounding attention focused on the two of them.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Exactly what I said. The southernmost part of the continent has become a battlefield between magical beasts and different races."
The two million monsters that Baal of the Seven Seats had brought up to threaten Rudian.
Since they were basically disguised as humans ruling kingdoms, it was impossible to bring monsters into official positions.
Moreover, the number of two million was difficult to hide even if they wanted to.
The place that immediately solved this headache for the demons was the Great Forest.
"Going into the Great Forest in this situation is dangerous. And more importantly..."
Eugene hesitated for a moment about whether to say this, but eventually spoke.
"There are those who are targeting you, so going to a dangerous place isn't a wise choice."
"......"
He had expected it to some extent, but hearing those words directly from a third party's mouth made him sigh slightly.
"Still, I have no choice but to go. Moreover, crisis and opportunity come simultaneously."
"Do you have something you're targeting?"
Something he was targeting? Quite a lot.
"Our objectives are four. First priority is recovering the Blue World sleeping in the Great Forest. Second is solving the current troublesome situation in the Great Forest and drawing the different races to the Morian Empire's side."
"The Blue World was in the Great Forest?"
"No, to be precise, the method to obtain the Blue World exists in the Great Forest."
Rudian spoke to the party looking at him as if making a resolution.
"Third, gaining experience within the Great Forest to raise our companions' levels and..."
Finally.
"We're going to completely destroy all the demons there, the organizations fighting with them, and even those targeting us."
***
While Rudian's party was steadily heading south.
CRAAACK!
"Watch out, big-eared wife!"
"I know without you saying, short husband!"
THOOM!
When a woman with a slightly fierce expression waved her hand, hundreds and thousands of layers of waves overlapped and spread out around her.
POP! POP! POP! POP!
Then hundreds of large and small monsters in the vicinity had their heads burst as if crushed by something.
"Uriyaaaah!"
The man's performance was as impressive as the woman's.
The sight of him swinging a war hammer much larger than his own torso and smashing the magical beasts' heads like watermelons was a majesty that even decent knights couldn't imitate.
"Damn it! There are too many!"
But individual martial prowess has its limits.
The number of monsters the two had ground down exceeded a hundred, but several times that number was running from beyond those woods.
"Wife, that's enough for today. According to the orcs' prediction, there should be a big one beyond here."
"You mean a commander-level entity? I'd like to eliminate it and return if possible..."
Seeing the woman lick her lips slightly with her tongue, the man was horrified and stopped her.
"That's dangerous talk! We're scouts. Who knows what might happen if we try to catch that thing by ourselves!"
There was not only the basic assumption of failed subjugation, but the magical beasts might go berserk and attack settlements everywhere, or they might unintentionally provoke 'outsiders' settled elsewhere.
"Tch! What the hell are the humans doing? Haven't the envoys sent to those Rohans or whatever they're called returned yet?"
"Well... It seems they returned before we left, but it appears a war broke out among the humans. So they can't send reinforcements..."
"What? Aaaah!"
The woman screamed in fury and grabbed the back of her neck.
"These damn humans! Don't they know it'll be their turn if we're broken through? But what? War among themselves?"
These magical beasts and monsters were ones that had completely destroyed the existing Great Forest ecosystem.
Not only their numbers, but the biggest problem with these damn things was that they were under someone's control.
Ironically, because of this tendency, the different races of the Great Forest had been able to postpone a life-or-death battle with the monsters until now.
Conversely, they knew that their danger level was hundreds or thousands of times more dangerous than ordinary Great Forest monsters.
"Calm down, wife."
"Then those Morian or sand grain people will come out the same way! Really, human bastards are like goldfish brains who forget everything in their heads after just a hundred years!"
"Humans usually die after about a hundred years..."
"Do I care? They must have historians or something!"
While the woman was venting her frustration by thoroughly badmouthing humans.
"Hey, Silperin! Mohammad!"
"What, isn't that Yvern?"
A blonde woman who appeared to be of the same race as the woman approached the two from far away.
"What's the matter? We'll go in on our own without causing trouble, so what are you worried about again..."
"Ah, that's not it. There are humans at the Great Forest entrance right now."
At those words, the woman called Silperin's expression brightened.
"Humans? Have reinforcements finally come!"
"Ah, no. The number seemed to be about five..."
"Just common adventurers then? Just shoot an arrow at their butts, why make it sound like a big deal..."
It took less than a second for her brightened expression to become indifferent.
"Ah, well... They said they were nobles of the Morian Empire."