Wanderer and the Beast
Last winter, before it arrived, Joseph had fought the beast and won, surviving. But that was all. He couldn't kill it. After the fight with Joseph, the beast had vanished from around the village.
Completely thought it had left this area. Since he had scouted the surroundings of the village every day, he knew. No footprints or even a single strand of hair from the beast could be found around the village. That's why he believed it had completely disappeared. But that beast had appeared now.
"Haa..." Joseph let out a long sigh. Since when had it been watching him? When he was sleeping? When fighting the thieves? Or even earlier? No. If that were the case, it would have targeted me when I was sleeping. Moreover, the important thing now wasn't that.
"Yeah... Let's end it." Joseph set down his backpack on the ground and pulled out his shield and sword. At the same time, he re-examined his condition. He had slept a little, but his stamina and mana hadn't recovered yet. At best, he could only manage about two mana orbs. Can't drag this out. Must aim for the vital point in one strike. The situation was different from when he had struck the beast's neck properly last time. The beast was fine, but Joseph was at his limit. If time dragged on, it would clearly be disadvantageous.
"..." The black beast slowly walked down the slope. Its steps looked very relaxed. Joseph squeezed every bit of strength into his body. Feeling pushed to the edge of the cliff, but he didn't intend to just die. Rather than the opposite of a despairing situation, he was thinking the opposite. Since he had faced it twice, he had to eliminate it for sure. In Joseph's mind now, there was only that thought. But something felt off.
"..." Joseph gripped the shield and lowered his stance to wait, but the black beast didn't charge. Instead, the beast stopped at a distance from Joseph. What the...? Joseph was taken aback. The atmosphere of the black beast was completely different from last time. The beast's gaze shifted from Joseph to the corpses around. Turning his head and sweeping once, it seemed like he was evaluating the result of Joseph's hunt. What is he doing? Joseph quickly rolled his eyes. He didn't have the stamina to fight the beast now. And the beast wasn't showing hostile intent towards him. But if he suddenly turned his back, he didn't know what would happen. Then... ...Maybe it's not targeting him. That was an instantaneous judgment.
"......Want to eat?" Joseph pointed to the corpses and said. Then the beast looked at Joseph's eyes for a moment, then went towards the nearby head-crushed dead man. Then it started eating with a crunching sound of bones breaking.
"..." The black beast went to another corpse as is. And one by one, it swallowed all the corpses. Joseph watched quietly from behind the shield. A cool breeze brushed Joseph's cheek. Glancing at the sky, there were no clouds, the moon was bright. Moonlight flowed through the leaves. Under it, the black beast that had already eaten all the corpses was licking its front paws contentedly. Joseph felt his sense of reality fading. It was a strange feeling. He couldn't tell what the beast was thinking. The only sure thing was that the beast didn't see him as prey.
......Can I go? If I just stay like this, it doesn't seem like it will attack. But he couldn't stay here forever.
"..." As he moved slowly, the beast's gaze turned to Joseph. The beast lowered its head and approached Joseph stealthily. But no threat was felt, just a bit. Of course, he didn't relax his tension. If it rushed, he would immediately hit it with the shield or stab it with the sword. But....
Ptoo-
"Eh?" The beast stopped at a distance of about five steps from Joseph. Then it spat something from its mouth. ......Orb? Something that looked like a small glass orb sparkled in the moonlight. The beast tapped it with its front paw and rolled it towards Joseph. Joseph looked at the orb once, then at the beast. ......Giving it to me? But the black beast didn't respond to Joseph's question. The beast, as if it had finished its task, went back up the mountain path it came from. At the end of the ridge where the beast had first stood. The beast looked down at Joseph once and then crossed the ridge and disappeared.
* * *
"Eventually, what was it." Joseph, who returned to the thieves' camp, examined the orb left by the beast. Inside the transparent and clean orb, a pure white mist-like thing was blooming. He shook it and threw it, but nothing responded. Even trying to inject mana, there was no change. Why did it give me this? The beast seemed to have come to give him this orb. The problem was that he couldn't figure out the reason at all.
Think about it later. Anyway, it wasn't something that could be solved by thinking now. Joseph didn't know enough to find the answer yet. He was just satisfied that nothing happened. Since it's a world with magic, there must have been something else. For now, he decided to think that way.
Joseph put the orb in his pocket appropriately and picked up the grimoire. Huhuhu... There were various things, but when he saw the grimoire, a smile leaked out. He wanted to open it immediately and check. But for now, it was priority to get far from this place. He didn't know when the beast would come back, and there were two corpses lying nearby. He gave up burying the bodies. Although there were few people, if a lucky one found it, he would handle it himself.
"Let's go." Joseph, who had packed all the necessary items, finally set out on the road in earnest.
* * *
"Haera of Bari Village..." A man muttering alone. Peter, the third-rate minstrel who was traveling without knowing about the thieves. He witnessed the thieves catching and killing travelers and stealing their things. He didn't think of fighting the thieves, so he hid in the nearby bushes like Joseph. He decided to wait for one night after hearing that they would leave the next day.
But the next day. "You damn thieves! The warrior of Bari Village! Hayra will kill you!" A man introduced himself loudly with a brave voice and attacked the thieves. That... that crazy guy! A bit dark skin, a bit larger build than average. From the way he spoke, he seemed like a rural young man. He probably came out of the village to catch the thieves and spread his name widely. Such people were surprisingly common. Most of them died within three days and their existence was forgotten.
But Peter thought that this man would also be killed in an instant. It seemed he had some skill, as he threw a white stone-like thing and caught two thieves, but that was all. He disappeared into the forest after running on the highway. It seemed to hide his body. Peter clicked his tongue quietly while watching. Stupid. There are too many obstacles in the mountains to escape. The pursuers only need to follow the direction the fugitive went. If stamina is equal, they will eventually be caught. Jumping into dangerous places by themselves to avoid thieves...
Bari Village's Hayra... Peter remembered the name of the young man who would die pitifully, and thought he should include it in his song someday.
"..." But even after a while, the pursuing thieves didn't come back. He was afraid to go out of the bush to check. Eventually, when the sun was setting, Peter heard someone coming. "Shit, shit..." One of the thieves who had chased the man. He spat curses and picked up only his own luggage and immediately ran away on the highway. It was a hasty movement as if being chased by something.
Wait...? Peter realized that something was going strangely with the situation. Only one of the thieves who chased the young man came back, picked up his luggage and ran away. Could it be... could it be? Peter's heart started beating fast. He decided to wait a bit more. He didn't have the courage to check directly, but if he ran away, it seemed like he would miss something important.
That... what is that! After a while, someone approaching from afar was seen. When Peter saw his face, he couldn't close his mouth. The stupid-looking young man was walking from afar wearing the thieves' equipment. He almost shouted in surprise. He thought of going out and talking to the young man, but soon shook his head. Peter didn't know who he was. He might get beaten to death if he went out unnecessarily. But he hid his body and looked at the young man with an excited face repeatedly.
The hero... Peter was admiring Joseph, no, Hayra. When he returned to the camp, he didn't even covet the loot, and quietly left, as if he had finished his work. After Joseph left, Peter stayed alone and started composing while plucking the lute.
"The hero of Bari Village. Hayra... It's okay." He didn't know where Bari Village was, and didn't know about the rumor of the thieves, and accidentally stumbled upon it. He gathered the remaining loot to prepare travel expenses. It was the moment when the third-rate minstrel Peter's song was newly created.
* * *
Joseph's daily routine after leaving the village was simpler than expected. During the day, he walked on the highway, and at night, he camped nearby and read the grimoire. The new grimoire had more filler than expected.
Are all grimoires like this? - Irmaph's mana is a new magic theory created by Irmaph, the great mage... It seemed like this was meant to pass knowledge to someone. Rather, it felt like he wanted to prove his greatness through the grimoire somehow. Thinking about it, even basic magic books had much more of the author's story than magic. A sigh came out while looking at a book that seemed a few light-years away from the word 'practical'.
Perhaps the magic he could use wasn't included. Thinking that way, he felt a bit empty. Still, there is time. It would take several days to reach another territory anyway. It wasn't like he could go fast just because he was in a hurry. Joseph decided to read one page at a time slowly with patience. Several days passed like that.
Someone was seen walking towards him from the opposite side of the road. Like Joseph, the other party was also alone. Joseph stopped at that spot and carefully observed the approaching person. The hooded white robe was pulled up to the head, so his face was not visible. It seemed like a mace was hanging at his waist.
......A priest? He had never met a priest in person. But he had heard the village chief often boasting about his acquaintance priest. The clothing he heard at that time was similar. Of course, Joseph didn't relax his tension. The only ones he had met outside the village so far were thieves. There was no guarantee that the person in front wasn't a thief wearing priest clothes. Since he himself had stolen the thief's clothes, there was enough possibility that a thief would steal priest's clothes.
"..." When Joseph looked at him with tense eyes, the other party also discovered him and stopped walking. Then he took off the deeply worn hood.
......Hmm. Unlike Joseph with dark skin, the man had white skin and sharp eyes.
"Excuse me, warrior sir. I am Laurent, a priest of the Silimaf Church. May I ask you a question for a moment?" Warrior? ......Oh, right. He was momentarily puzzled by the title he was called, but immediately recalled his own clothing. No matter who looked, the clothing looked like a warrior.
Don't deny it. Joseph was a mage, but in the end, he was third-rate or less. Rather than an amateur mage, it would be better not to be called a warrior at the moment. Joseph thought so and nodded his head.
"What is it?" Laurent raised his head and intently looked at Joseph. Exactly, not Joseph, but Joseph's chest. After staring for a while, he opened his mouth.
"Where did you get the orb you're carrying in your pocket?" Joseph immediately pulled out the sword from his waist.