Will You Become My Personal Mage?

Bella staggered backward in stunned disbelief.

How—?!

With a single casual flick of his hand, he had raised two Fireballs into the air.

That was not something an ordinary combat mage could do.

He can cast two 3rd Circle spells at the same time?

She should have known. Of course. This man was a tremendous adventurer hiding his true strength all along.

She should have realized it back when he was tossing silver coins around like loose change! Losing her badge hadn't been the only blunder she'd made today.

Tap. Tap.

Seo Hwarang strode forward, an easy smile playing on his lips.

Fwoosh! Fwoom!

The twin fireballs drifted along in step with him, trailing his every stride.

"D-damn it."

Yoo Seon-ah had no choice but to scramble after him. "Are you insane?! What do you think you're doing?!"

"Honestly, I don't get it either."

Seo Hwarang genuinely couldn't understand it himself. The men up ahead were real bandits—hulking, murderous men who could talk, eat, and scheme like anyone else. Facing twenty of them in open battle, why wasn't his heart even pounding?

I just don't feel anything.

No pressure. No menace. Nothing at all.

"Wait here, noona. I want to try fighting them alone."

"Wh-what if you get beat? Then what?"

"Then you can jump in."

"You—! What kind of irresponsible nonsense is that?!"

There was no need to worry. He'd weighed the quest's grade, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the standing of Circle magic in this world, everything—and the conclusion was simple.

Right now, I'm just a walking cheat code. Plain and simple.

THUD!

Noskar, captain of the Black Wolf Bandit Gang, drove his enormous greatsword into the ground. "Who the hell is that? What's he think he's doing, walking up here all by himself?"

"Judging by the fire floating in the air, Captain, he appears to be a mage."

"A m-mage?"

Noskar narrowed his eyes at the man approaching them—then threw his head back and roared with laughter.

"KHAHAHAHAHAT! A mage is closing in head-on? Against a swordsman?"

A mage only became truly dangerous when he rained down long-range combat spells from the rear. Marching straight toward a former knight like himself? Short of being a 4th Circle mage or better, it was nothing short of suicide.

And besides—

There's no way a 4th Circle mage exists in some backwater village like this.

Whiiiing!

Noskar raised his sword. "That's one cocky little bastard, no mistake. Kill him!"

"Yes, Captain!"

His loyal underlings answered in unison and came charging with their weapons raised. One hurled a spear; another loosed an arrow.

Thuck! Thuk-buk!

Whatever the thrower's skill, the long spear flew true—and buried itself clean in Seo Hwarang's chest.

Pwhack!

It pierced his heart, and blood burst from the wound.

"KYAAAH!"

"W-what do we do?!"

Yoo Seon-ah froze in horror. Bella's face went white. Even the villagers watching from a distance squeezed their eyes shut, unable to bear the grisly sight.

But then—

"What are you waiting for?"

Seo Hwarang was alive. Not only that—he was standing directly in front of Noskar.

"Wha—what the—!"

Noskar recoiled in shock. He had seen the spear punch through the man's body. So how was he standing here?

There was only one answer.

It was nominally a 1st Circle illusion spell, but there was nothing 1st Circle about its content. It was perfect. Exquisite. Detailed enough to fool every single person watching.

"Th-that's—!"

Bella, a member of the Magic Guild herself, clapped both hands over her mouth. "High-order illusion magic...!"

And that wasn't all. Seo Hwarang flung the two fireballs still hovering in the air—one at each knot of bandits.

They're not human.

That was the frame he chose. He was no pushover who would stand here agonizing over human rights and the sanctity of life with people who had just tried to kill him. They were just dungeon monsters. And thinking of it that way, his conscience settled even further at ease.

SWOOOSH—KA-BOOM!

The fireballs streaked forward and detonated the instant they touched the ground. A massive wave of flame erupted outward like an explosion, swallowing the bandits whole.

"GRAAAAGH!"

"AAAAAAGH!"

His underlings thrashed and writhed in the fire.

"You little—!"

Noskar clenched his teeth and swung his greatsword in a wide arc. His opponent was a mage—one who ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had just used both illusion and combat magic. From what he knew, any decent mage needed casting time between spells, which meant—

CLAAANG!

His blade slammed into something massive and utterly unyielding.

CRACK-crack-crack!

It wasn't merely hard. Striking it felt like hammering a solid ingot of iron—and the impact shattered the bones of his hand to the marrow.

"G-GRAAAAAH!"

Noskar's fingers sprang open, the greatsword tumbling away as he clutched his shattered wrist.

And that wasn't the end of it.

Whiiiirrr!

The wind screaming in from every direction turned to blades and carved Noskar to ribbons. An ordinary Wind Cutter would have left him with a few shallow gashes—but this was Master Wind Cutter. A lattice of razor-thin lines spidered across his entire body, slicing through him like a web.

PUHWAACK!

Blood erupted from every cut at once.

From start to finish, the time one mage took to dispatch a gang of twenty bandits: barely a minute.

"......!"

"......!"

A dead silence hung over the village square. Yoo Seon-ah's jaw hung slack, while Bella's eyes shimmered with something close to reverence.

"Hah."

Seo Hwarang let out a short breath. Then again, he'd been running some brutal dungeon dives lately. Maybe he was finally getting used to this.

"Hey. Hey hey hey!"

Yoo Seon-ah came bustling over, fussing as usual. "What in the world just happened? And what is with that absurd power of yours?!"

"...Those ten skill books from before. I've finished mastering all of them, that's all."

"Even so! This is insane—actually insane!"

"It's not that big a deal. My proficiency's still only in the forties, you know."

"Only... forties...?"

Yoo Seon-ah was left utterly speechless. Those world-breaking skills, and his proficiency was barely past 40? Then just how much stronger would he get once it hit 100?

"Save the amazement for later. Let's settle our rewards first."

"...Rewards?"

"Your quest popped too, didn't it? You should have gotten one."

"Ah. Right."

Yoo Seon-ah scratched her head. "You sly little rat. You never let a single thing slip past you."

"Those are mine. You didn't actually do anything, noona."

"True. True enough."

Yoo Seon-ah was a docile lamb now. This battle had made one thing crystal clear to her.

He doesn't need me in a fight. Not even a little.

With power like that, she'd be dead weight at best—no help at all. And yet. She still had to stay by his side. And to make that happen? She needed to make sure Seo Hwarang walked away with something solid from their partnership, too.

"I promise. Every reward I get from here on out is yours."

"Now that's more like it. Good talking with you for once."

Seo Hwarang flashed a grin. It stung just a little, but fine—she'd take it. Her plan was simple: hold out here as long as she could, get into the Academy, and learn real magic. Then push all the way up to the 7th Circle Bella had told her about. That alone would make her an S-rank Awakener—the kind who could stand shoulder to shoulder with Ha Seoryeong, the Sword God herself!

And time doesn't even pass on Earth while I'm here.

The harder she worked, the faster the gap would close. It was that simple.

"I'll take everything, but if anything genuinely useful drops, I'll hand it over to you."

"Thanks for the thought, kid."

"Let's see what we got, then."

What they'd pulled from this quest: two Black Wolf Pauldrons (Normal)!

"So—boosted defense, Agility plus five, and an 'Intimidation' skill attached. Not bad, right?"

"...Hey."

Yoo Seon-ah's eyes went wide. "This is actually insane. How is this Normal-grade?!"

Item grades were conventionally divided into six tiers: Normal, Rare, Unique, Epic, Legendary, Mythic. On present-day Earth, nothing above Legendary had ever surfaced—the only reason anyone knew the higher tiers existed at all was because production-class workers kept analyzing their job skills and glimpsing what lay beyond.

"Roughly how much is this worth?"

"Items usually only start carrying skills from Rare upward. Once a skill's attached, you're looking at a starting price of around ten million won."

"...Wow."

So just by taking down some backwater bandits, two items like this had rolled right into their laps?

"Hwarang."

"Yes?"

"...What if I quit the mage thing entirely and we just go into business together? I take one, you take nine. I'll sell like my life depends on it, I swear! With this alone we're already tycoons. Actual tycoons!"

"Hah."

Look at this woman. She'd pulled the exact same stunt earlier, and here she went again. A 90-10 split wasn't a terrible offer, granted—but first, some remedial attitude education was in order.

"Business is a side hustle. What matters is building your power first."

"You're already this strong!"

"Exactly. That's why you're my stand-in back on Earth."

"...Stand-in. What are you, some kind of king?"

"Well, excuse me?"

"Fine, fine, I get it. Whooooo. Okay, anyway—what are we doing about those people out there?"

A huge crowd had gathered outside the Magic Guild hall where the two were talking. The village's heroes, they were calling them. Everyone was ecstatic; the whole place was in an uproar. Even Bella had gotten in on it, chiding herself for not speaking up sooner and insisting they at least take a 3rd Circle badge as a token.

"We didn't do anything that special."

"Special to them. And honestly? Kind of special to me too. For a second there I honestly thought you were some B-rank Awakener or something."

Just as they were still chattering away—

Knock knock knock.

Bella rapped on the door from outside. "Honored Mage! Honored Mage!"

Hm? What now? He'd only asked to borrow a meeting room for a quick chat.

"The Baron has come to see you! You really must meet with him!"

The Baron...? Ah, that Edwin Barck fellow or whatever his name was?

Nobles are a bit much, honestly.

He still barely understood how this world worked—didn't know its etiquette, didn't know anything. Still, the system had said his trust with the man had gone up a notch, so it'd probably be fine?

"Let's go see what he wants."

They'd promised to set the coins aside anyway. He'd just ask the man how to get to the capital while they were at it.

Baron Edwin Barck. A plump, fair-haired man in silken finery came bustling toward them, beaming from ear to ear.

"So it's you two—the heroes of our village!"

His face was overflowing with relief and joy; it seemed all of Seo Hwarang's earlier worries had been for nothing. "Thank you, truly! Without you, the village might well have fallen into the bandits' hands. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠To think you subdued Noskar—a man who was once a knight, no less—in a single stroke! If it's no impertinence, may I ask what Circle of mage you are?"

Hm. What Circle, indeed.

Admitting to 1st Circle would probably make things awkward....

Best to just split the difference.

"3rd Circle."

"Ho!"

The Baron's eyebrows lifted in genuine admiration. "A rare 3rd Circle mage, come all the way to our village. Might I make one small request of you?"

"A request?"

"Become my personal mage. I can't offer the finest terms in the industry just now—but I promise you'll live anywhere without wanting for a thing!"

And in that very moment—

.....

Hold on.

A salary of one gold coin a month?

He said he'd let me live without wanting for anything?

What kind of bullcrap is this?

After all, to a Seo Hwarang who no longer even registered his four-million-seven-hundred-thousand-won monthly salary as real money—this offer didn't amount to pocket lint.