The Merchant Mage
"What happened while we were gone?"
At Joseph's question, Berit opened his mouth, his eyes blazing.
"Those mercenary bastards...!"
Not long after Seymo and Joseph had departed south, he said, mercenaries had suddenly raided the camp in the dead of night.
"A few of them seemed to have talked the mercenaries staying in the village over to their side. There were even some of the young ones who'd been standing village watch among them."
More than half the mercenaries left in the village had turned bandit. All the skilled fighters had gone with Seymo, and others had already left once the western road opened, so the camp had been more short-handed than usual. Subduing them had been anything but easy. And while the remaining men were locked in the fight, the mercenaries—no, the bandits—had seized the leftover wagons and fled the village.
Doesn't sound like something they did in a fit of rage.
Pulling in the village mercenaries and even the watchmen meant they'd been preparing for quite some time. There was a good chance the plan had existed before Joseph ever set foot in the village.
He suddenly recalled the guards he'd encountered when he first arrived. That attitude of theirs, before they knew he was a mage—it might not have been simple wariness of an outsider.
I never caught a hint of this while I was around... because I was a mage?
From their perspective, a mage appearing out of nowhere would have been a serious inconvenience. They may well have waited until Joseph was gone to make their move.
This place really is crawling with lunatics.
The merchant group hadn't been able to give chase. With the people they had left, they barely had enough hands to put the camp back together, let alone form a search party.
"Th-then what on earth happened on your end? How did Master Seymo end up...!"
Now it was Joseph's turn to answer. He explained to Berit what had happened in the south, and Berit's face went deathly pale.
"An... an ogre?"
"Yes. We nearly all died."
"An ogre... why would one be there?"
"I have no idea either."
He said nothing about the gem in his coat, or the unidentified figure who had attacked Seymo. There was something he needed to ask first.
"...By the way, what exactly was the merchant lord looking for?"
It seemed certain that the object Seymo had been seeking was a gem that restored mana. It was only speculation, but Seymo's death appeared to be connected to it somehow. That was why Joseph wanted a definite answer.
But Berit shook his head at the question.
"...He only said there was something that needed to be delivered to the Count, and that he would go find it himself."
Berit's shoulders sagged weakly. He didn't seem to be watching Joseph's reaction. If anything, he looked half out of his mind, muttering over and over that he should have stopped Seymo from setting off so recklessly.
He doesn't know about the gem, then?
Berit oversaw the entire operation of the merchant group and doubled as Seymo's secretary. If even he was in the dark, then the gem's existence had likely been known only to Seymo himself.
...Which means there's no one left in the merchant group who knows about the gem.
Joseph could tell the gem was a somewhat dangerous item. But handing it over to Berit didn't seem likely to earn him any proper compensation.
Better to keep it for now.
Right now, the only people who knew about the gem were Joseph and the mercenaries. And the mercenaries weren't likely to bring up merchant group business of their own accord. Besides, with the group in chaos, they seemed more preoccupied with whether they'd even get paid.
Joseph listened to Berit's account until nightfall before he was finally let go.
He's completely overwhelmed.
When he reached home and opened the door, an acrid smell hit his nose.
"Hm?"
Joseph stood in the doorway for a moment, staring inside. There was no one there. The house, however, was in a strange state. The interior was a wreck. Someone had clearly ransacked the place. Drawers had been flung aside, cabinets thrown wide open. There were even small holes punched in the walls, and floorboards had been torn up. The shield and spear he'd leaned in the corner were gone. Every scrap of food and drink he'd stored had vanished.
"..."
He started to run through suspects, then shook his head. There were no security cameras in this era. Finding the culprit was impossible from the start. Even thinking of suspects was a waste of time.
The camp got raided. Of course this place wouldn't be left alone.
Could have been vagrants. Could have been nearby residents. The footprints said it wasn't just one person. They'd probably seized on the merchant group's chaos. With no guards and no homeowner, Joseph's house would have looked like an unlocked treasure chest.
Joseph righted a fallen chair and sat down. He scanned the wreckage. Looking at it this way, it wasn't much different from the house he'd lived in back in Bari Village.
There wasn't anything important... but that's not the problem.
People who had looked at him with fear had turned into thieves the moment he disappeared. Ransacking the house of the merchant group's mage meant they no longer feared the merchant group itself. The moment the group looked shaky, the fallout had reached Joseph's door.
I really can't stay here anymore.
Judging by the state of the merchant group, he didn't think he could request anything from them. If anything, there was a real chance he'd be dragged into unpaid, life-threatening work under the title of merchant mage. And Joseph had no intention of sticking his neck into danger for no reason.
More than anything, I don't think I'll be getting that magic book anytime soon.
He'd become the merchant group's mage in the first place to get his hands on magic books quickly. In this situation, there was no telling when one would actually come his way.
Joseph thought it over, then reached a conclusion.
There's nothing left to gain by staying.
Better to pull out fast, before things got any more troublesome. Joseph took out the gem he'd kept in his coat. Moonlight from the window caught it, and it glittered with unusual brilliance.
Let's call this a substitute for the magic book.
He still didn't know what it was. All he knew for now was that it restored his magic. But that alone was more than enough to take a magic book's place.
Joseph went to Berit as soon as day broke. Berit looked overwhelmed with the cleanup. His eyes were sunken, as if he'd been up all night. With Seymo gone, everyone came looking for him—lost goods, what to do with the captured bandits, even the mercenaries' pay that Seymo had promised. No wonder the man was losing his mind.
Joseph felt a little sorry for him, but it couldn't be helped. The merchant group's problems were the merchant group's to handle. Joseph couldn't look after that too.
"Pardon?"
"I don't think I can continue as the merchant group's mage."
Berit looked somewhat stunned, but he couldn't bring himself to stop Joseph. With Seymo gone, Berit knew as well as anyone that he had no way of holding him there.
A moment later, the contract burned away before Joseph's eyes.
"What do you intend to do now?"
Berit asked, looking down at the vanished contract.
"I'm heading east."
Joseph had decided to make for the large city that had been his original destination. There he would look for magic books again, and find work that would let him make serious money with his magic.
Preferably something that doesn't involve this kind of danger...
After exchanging a final farewell with Berit, Joseph packed at once. He hadn't had much luggage to begin with. He finished preparing before the sun was overhead.
An escort... it'll be hard to hire one here.
Joseph briefly considered hiring a mercenary, then shook his head. He had a feeling that if he hired one, the man would turn on him outside the village and put a sword to his throat. Hiring two or more would cost more money than he had.
In the end, Joseph set out on the road alone once again. A few people glared as the merchant group's mage walked out carrying his own bags, but no one stopped him. He passed the entrance, guarded by two clumsy sentries, and left the village without difficulty.
Joseph was alone again. No escort. No wagon. He trudged eastward, one step after another. If he reached the heart of the territory, Count Valois's castle would be waiting. He'd think about finding magic books once he arrived.
The wagon was nice, though.
But the journey was anything but easy. Once you'd tasted something sweet, going back was hard. Even having learned Fire, he couldn't easily start a blaze, so his only food was dried meat again. Sleeping on stone ground left his back aching, and he felt tired all the time.
I just want one more proper night's rest.
When he'd stopped at a small village called Kaldar, paying the village chief for a night in a rundown house had been his only rest. Even that had only been possible because he'd revealed he was a mage. Most people were ignorant about mages, but the village chief seemed to have heard of them—he'd looked at Joseph with fearful eyes.
Thanks to the village chief's warning, no one had tried to attack him.
They said it'll still be a long way before a big city turns up...
And so today, after walking from dawn to dusk, he was camping somewhat off the road.
Rustle.
He'd woken and drifted off several times already, tossing and turning, when a sound reached him.
"..."
The sudden presence startled him considerably, but thanks to everything he'd been through, he didn't make a sound. He held his breath and waited. Footsteps drew closer. When they came near, he heard whispering.
"You said he'd be around here."
"Shut your mouth. He'll be nearby."
Joseph was glad he hadn't lit a fire. His brow furrowed at the blatant malice in those voices. He could feel them getting closer.
That guy is...?
Joseph listened to the voices coming out of the dark. That one sounded familiar.
"He's not here."
"Tch. We should've just grabbed him and killed him when he left the village."
"He's still a mage, though. You sure about this?"
"I told you, he looked like a half-baked one. You don't know he abandoned the merchant lord and ran off on his own? That's why they kicked him out."
One of them was running his mouth. Joseph's heart hammered at those words. And at the same time, he realized why the voice from a moment ago hadn't been unfamiliar. It was the long-haired guard who'd directed him to the inn on the day he'd first entered the village.
...Did they actually follow me?
Had they really come after him? They should have killed him—him? No matter how he turned it over, they were looking for Joseph. And from the tone, it clearly wasn't for anything good.
Hiding until they pass... won't work.
He checked the spot where he'd been lying. There was luggage set down beside him. He couldn't completely pretend not to be there.
...Better to strike first.
They were clearly here to kill him. Since they'd meant to kill him, they couldn't complain if they died.
Those sons of bitches.
Rage surged up through him. He could hear their reasons later. Or kill them all and never hear them. Either way, it didn't matter.
"..."
Joseph quietly turned only his head. Shadows were faintly visible in the darkness. It was hard to count them exactly. But he didn't think he'd lose. He steadied his breathing and drew up mana. Their footsteps grew closer, until they were right on top of him.
"Huh? That's his stuff, isn't it?"
The moment one of them said something stupid, Joseph formed four orbs and burst from cover, reciting the spell before they could even react.
⟨ Fire ⟩
Flame caught on the clothes of the one who'd spotted the luggage.
"Aaaagh!"
The man rolled on the ground, his body in flames. Joseph immediately loosed an orb at the one beside him. It smashed into the man's jaw and his legs went slack. Joseph seized his arm and drove the sword the man had been holding straight back into him.
"Die!"
Someone lunged from behind. Instead of dodging, Joseph threw out his arm.
⟨ Return ⟩
The orbs floating around him unfurled into a white wall. The club the man had been swinging struck it and bounced away. The man himself was hurled backward by the impact.
"Ghk!"
Sizzle—
Joseph poured extra mana into the last orb. Thanks to the man still burning and rolling, the surroundings were lit up perfectly. Two of them left.
"You're the ones who'll die."
"Ah—!"
Joseph slammed an orb with everything he had into the one panicking beside the long-haired man. The man's body snapped backward from the impact, and he went down without even a scream.
"Guh!"
It was over in an instant. The long-haired one stood frozen, staring at Joseph in shock. The one who'd been on fire no longer moved. His corpse began to burn like a campfire, flames licking high.
"...You."
"..."
Joseph dropped his voice low. The orb he'd thrown was already resting against the back of the man's head.