Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: The Eccentric Mage (1)
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Scarlet flames devoured every color in the area.
Everything on the superheated ground turned to gray ash and crumbled away.
The sound of dry trees twisting and snapping, rocks exploding from the expansion of heat, and monsters in the underbrush or on the trees screeching in their death throes as they burned...
At the center of this symphony of madness.
"I'll burn it all to cinders."
Federback stood there, his face expressionless.
Kuuu―oooooh!
The divine tree, towering as if to touch the sky, blazed fiercely.
It looked like the wick of a massive candle illuminating the world.
'I'm not confident in shamanistic exorcism, so physical exorcism it is.'
Federback tore his gaze from the raging pillar of fire.
Kuuu―oooooh!
The firestorm swelled, consuming the entire forest in the area.
It burned everything in the swamp impartially.
Even Federback himself, the one who had set it alight.
But.
Shhhhhhh...
Not a single hair on Federback's head singed in the midst of this ferocious blaze.
The cold aura emanating from his entire body completely blocked the approach of the flames and smoke.
Even in this boiling heat sphere, tiny icicles formed at the tips of Federback's hair.
Soon.
[Keeek―keek―]
[Kkiririririk!]
[Kuhuuuuh...]
From the black forest emerged venomous spiders the size of small dogs.
Offspring left behind by Zuba Popi.
Federback swung his sword mercilessly at them.
Thud! Splutch! Crack!
Every swing felled a spider without fail.
Even as he did, Federback tore off their oily legs to make torches, hurling them into various parts of the forest.
Right then.
[Stop!]
Cardina's apparition flickered before his eyes.
From before his regression, caught in the Demon King's army assault, not even a corpse left behind.
Blood-soaked, riddled with arrows, she dragged her body toward Federback.
[Stop it! If you keep rampaging, you won't get what you want either!]
A quite urgent plea.
But Federback did not respond.
"I'm sick of these past peddlers."
The sword forged from Bingryong Adara's fang sliced off Cardina's head once more.
Immediately after, Soleil's apparition appeared.
He too was in the moment from before the regression, assassinated by an assassin.
His eyes blinded, sword in his back, hole pierced through his chest—his father.
[Son. That's enough. You've fought well enough, so stop now...]
"I'm sick of it, I said."
Federback ruthlessly severed his father's head.
The life of his previous existence had already been swept away on the flowing river.
The family and comrades from there were no longer in this world.
So in this life, he would seize the new opportunities that had arisen.
Federback stared straight ahead with his characteristic expressionless face, but eyes filled with strong conviction.
Soon, the entire heart of the swamp was engulfed in crimson flames.
Finally, a tearing scream echoed from beyond the divine tree.
[Please stop!]
A clear, pure voice.
But Federback paid it no heed.
Roar―
He simply silently spread the forest fire.
Sizzle―sizzle―sizzle―sizzle―
Along with the massive pillar of fire, thick black smoke rose, even dispelling the purple mist.
Soon, a greenish shadow appeared before Federback.
[I said stop!]
Tiny girls the size of thumbs, their white bodies covered by small leaves.
They were the spirits dwelling in this forest.
Unlike the pitch-black leaves everywhere, they emanated a light green aura.
But.
Crack!
Federback swung his sword as if swatting a fly, cleaving even the spirits' bodies.
[Eek!?]
The bisected spirits trembled as they retreated.
Their upper and lower halves rejoined smoothly, but the terror of the moment they were cut lingered vividly.
The spirits pleaded with Federback in cowed tones.
[Please stop! Don't burn our country anymore!]
"Didn't you provoke me first?"
[We were just trying to drive out the intruder!]
"By unleashing giant spiders? I nearly died."
[Those spiders weren't under our control! They barged into the forest on their own. They were a headache for us too!]
The forest spirits begged tearfully.
But Federback did not stop the arson.
"The fire's already spilled. You should've talked it out from the start."
The rear forest was already a pile of ashes, with acrid smoke billowing up.
Every hot gust from deep within sent skeletal burned trees crumbling into ash, scattering on the wind.
The pale-faced forest spirits were now groveling.
[P-Please stop...]
"Where is your master?"
[That's...]
"Never mind. Don't answer. I'll just burn it all."
[N-No! Over there! To the north!]
One particularly timid spirit pointed toward the north of the divine tree.
[How could you say that!]
The other spirits scolded her, but there was no real grounds to blame her further.
Federback immediately headed north.
Toward the deeper sanctum where the divine tree had taken root.
Step―step―step―step―
A downhill path continued for a while.
The swaying black leaves ahead seemed like guides to the underworld.
Soon, Federback reached a sunken basin at the end of the steep slope.
The area was extremely low-lying, covered in damp moss and humid mushrooms, untouched by the flames and smoke.
Federback shook the icicles from his hair tips.
"Hiding in a place like this, you were just watching the fire show."
"...My, that's not something I want to hear from the one who burned all my cute subordinates to death."
Then, the true master of the deep forest began to reveal herself.
Long green-gold hair cascading far below her feet.
A revealing dress made of leaves, vines, and tree fruits.
Her slightly drooping eyes looked languid yet seductive.
"I didn't think you'd actually accept the invitation. Nice to meet you, anyway."
The hostess of the nightmare-eating swamp, a wandering eccentric who even refused affiliation with the Magic Tower.
The mage who had invited Federback smiled brightly.
At the same time, outside the forest, a fierce battle raged.
"Fire!"
At Sir Haundid's command, the soldiers raised their crossbows.
Thump thump thump!
Monsters charging out from deep in the forest were felled by arrows from the seasoned northern hunters.
"We hunt monsters our way!"
"If those things get out of the forest, innocent folks will bleed!"
"I hope this helps Young Master Federback even a little."
Once their arrows ran out, Haundid and the soldiers drew their swords without hesitation.
As veteran soldiers from the borderlands, the best of the best, facing monsters was no challenge.
Especially panicked escapees whose nests were burning.
But the number of monsters bursting through the underbrush kept increasing.
Without arrows, cutting them all down with swords was impossible.
Haundid said,
"We'll set a counterfire here."
"Pardon? Will Young Master Federback be alright with that?"
"Counterfire's fine. It'll die out naturally once it reaches the burned zone inside."
Haundid read the forest's mood like the seasoned commander he was.
"Young Master Federback's already deep in the forest. A counterfire at the edge won't matter."
"Right away, sir!"
The soldiers gathered dry brush, jammed it into burning thickets to make torches.
Soon, a wall of fire rose here too.
Monsters fleeing the blaze slammed into the opposite firewall and perished.
"Yes, keep it up!"
Haundid spurred his horse forward as well.
Thrusting the branch's burning tip into the grass as he rode drew a straight line of flames.
[Ooo―oooooh!]
A massive centipede burst from the forest toward Haundid, but.
Whoosh―roar!
It was soon caught in the counterfire and collapsed.
"Good!"
"That finishes this forest!"
"Burn every tree and blade of grass, and we're done!"
The soldiers cheered.
Right then.
Kaboom!
A earth-shaking explosion erupted from beyond the flames.
The soldiers who had just cheered fell silent.
"That came from inside the forest?"
"Is Young Master Federback fighting?"
"The man who slays dragons solo should be fine, but..."
A hint of anxiety crossed the soldiers' faces.
Right then.
[You stop too!]
Tiny shadows appeared before the soldiers.
The forest spirits blocked Haundid and the soldiers.
The soldiers blurted in confusion,
"What're these bugs?"
"They look kinda human?"
"They're talking. Am I hallucinating from the smoke?"
"No choice. Burn 'em too!"
But knighted Haundid instantly recognized them.
"Forest spirits?"
[Yes.]
Forest spirits, dryads.
A name every northern-born child had heard in fairy tales.
Haundid, taught by his grandmother from childhood to 'get along with spirits,' tried to keep a gentle tone.
"We came here on business."
[Business? Then why set fires?]
"Ahem—that's because the monsters in this forest are far too vicious."
[To me, you look far more vicious!]
"Doesn't matter how we look. For my lord's safety, I'd do worse."
The spirits puffed their cheeks in anger.
The northern soldiers shouted too.
"Yeah, you bugs! What'd you do to our Young Master Federback!"
"If even a scratch is on him, see here! We'll burn every tree in the world!"
"My dad's got an orchard?"
"...Spare their dad's orchard!"
The forest spirits sighed deeply.
[That's actually why we came to talk.]
"We got nothing to say! Send back Young Master Federback!"
[We can't.]
"Figures, you wicked monsters! Then we'll fetch him by force!"
[That's exactly what we want.]
"...?"
The soldiers tilted their heads at the spirits' words.
Soon, the forest spirits parted, clearing a path for Haundid and all the others.
Burning trees and thickets toppled left and right, opening a way deeper into the forest.
The forest spirits said, faces tear-streaked.
[Please take your master away!]
[Tell him to leave this forest!]
[And never come back!]