Torbin
Joseph sat staring at the man bound to the chair, swallowing his rage for a long while. The man was taut with tension, and a fresh surge of irritation rose in Joseph at a world that clearly had no intention of leaving him in peace.
This son of a bitch...
How much had he suffered to finally get an environment like this? After leaving Bari Village, how many times had he fought, how many times had he come within a hair of dying? The Roph Merchant Guild had been attacked by an ogre. He'd nearly been killed in his sleep by a mad mage's curiosity. Upon arriving at the castle, he'd nearly died subduing a giant demonic beast that hadn't even been part of the plan — and his artifact had been destroyed in the process.
Any one of those incidents could have killed him, but he'd clawed his way through every last one of them. And just when he'd thought, after all that hardship, that he'd finally secured a safe place to research magic in peace...
As if to mock him, an assassin had come bursting in.
He felt like even beating the man in front of him into a pulp wouldn't be enough to cool his fury.
Not yet... not yet.
The reason he'd kept him alive was simple: he needed to know why someone wanted him dead. Joseph glanced at the man's clothes and dagger, tossed aside in a corner. The preparations made it obvious — he'd come ready to kill with a single stroke, as quietly as possible.
This wasn't like the time he'd been ambushed by bandits while camping. If he didn't find out who was behind this, there was no telling what else might happen.
Still... I can't help being pissed off.
Joseph let out a small sigh and stared at the man, who had begun to tremble violently. The man's face was twisted with terror, his breathing ragged and harsh. Seeing him stripped naked, dripping with cold sweat, Joseph almost laughed.
So even a piece of shit like you is afraid of dying.
This was the same man who'd been about to drive a blade into Joseph's throat while he slept — and now he was shaking in fear of his own death. The contradiction only made Joseph angrier. After a long while of swallowing his rage, Joseph finally spoke.
"...So I take it you don't actually want to die."
The low, gravelly voice was so thick with killing intent that even Joseph himself was surprised. The man flinched, clearly feeling it. Even in the darkness, the movement was vivid.
"I was wondering what I'd do if you were the type to throw your life away."
He'd briefly wondered if this was some professional assassin from the movies of his past life, the kind who'd rather die than talk. Fortunately, that didn't seem to be the case. Fortunately, the man appeared to have some attachment to his own life.
Sssssss—
Joseph poured mana into the Mana Orb pressing down on Torbin's leg. The orb swelled with a strange sound, and the man swallowed a groan.
"I'll take the cloth out of your mouth. If you say anything stupid, I'll burn you."
The man nodded vigorously. Confirming this, Joseph removed the cloth gagging him. He didn't forget to pull out a bead and hold it to the man's throat, just in case. The man's mouth was free, but he didn't speak. He seemed unwilling to open his mouth carelessly and provoke Joseph.
"Who are you?"
"I-I'm Torbin."
Torbin answered immediately. His voice trembled, but he didn't hesitate.
"I... I'm a retired mercenary. I received a contract to k-kill... kill you, Mage."
...Fuck.
He'd suspected as much, but hearing that the man had truly come to kill him made the anger surge all over again. Joseph clicked his tongue, and Torbin, watching his expression, hurriedly continued.
"Zalier sent me! That old mage! He told me to kill you!"
"What?"
Joseph's face twisted at the unexpected name.
That mage sent him?
From Joseph's perspective, it made no sense. He barely had any connection with Zalier to begin with. The only time they'd met was in the reception room with Folmers, before Joseph left to hunt the demonic beast. Why would that man want him dead?
"You expect me to believe that?"
Joseph snapped sharply, pressing down on the broken shin. The already inverted shin twisted even further in a grotesque direction. Blood began to well thickly from the crushed flesh.
"Aaagh!"
Torbin clenched his teeth, letting out a pained groan, then hurriedly continued.
"I-It's true! He asked me himself to kill you! He promised gold coins and t-tax collection rights. The location of your room, the guards' shift times — Zalier told me all of it!"
Joseph's eyes narrowed at that. It had bothered him that the man had slipped past the castle's security alone and come straight to Joseph's room. He'd assumed someone inside the castle had helped.
...If it was Zalier, it's not impossible.
Folmers had said Zalier was helping him handle the castle's affairs. That would mean he could easily know the guards' shift times. And since he always stayed at the castle, he couldn't not know Joseph's room either. But there was one thing that still didn't make sense.
"Why is Zalier after me?"
"I... I didn't hear the reason. B-But! He seemed wary of you, Mage!"
"Wary of me?"
"Yes! That bastard always went around boasting that he was the great mage of Valois Castle! He must have been afraid you'd steal his position!"
Torbin said Zalier was the very image of the "eccentric, selfish mage" people imagined. If anyone so much as seemed to look down on him, he'd often call Torbin to have them killed.
"So he tried to kill me just because his position looked threatened?"
Even so, Zalier was the mage of a count's castle. Mages were all crazy, sure — but to try to kill someone over something that petty? But Torbin hurriedly shook his head.
"D-Didn't you subdue the demonic beast, Mage? Z-Zalier already failed at that! A mage better than him showed up — of course he'd do this!"
Torbin brought up how Zalier had previously led soldiers on a hunt and failed. The soldiers who'd marched out the castle gates so proudly had come back with less than half surviving.
"That's why he's trying to kill you!"
"..."
Suddenly, Joseph recalled when he'd first been offered the demonic beast hunt. It hadn't been Folmers who'd made the proposal — it had been Zalier. He'd cut Folmers off and proposed hunting the northern demonic beast in exchange for a magic book. The same demonic beast he himself had failed to subdue.
Folmers said the beast was more dangerous than he'd heard...
Folmers hadn't seemed to know the details of what that beast was. That's why he'd doubled Joseph's reward.
If Zalier insisted on sending me after that northern demonic beast...
The thought made him laugh hollowly.
This guy's just a complete lunatic, isn't he?
If his position was in danger, he should have done something about it himself. At the very least, he should have talked to Joseph. Joseph hadn't even planned to stay at the castle long. And yet the man had jumped to conclusions and tried to have him killed. People said mages were all insane, but experiencing it firsthand was something else.
"..."
Joseph thought for a moment. Would it be better to just leave the castle now? He hadn't planned to stay long anyway. The castle's laboratory was certainly an attractive place, but the fact remained that he could get swept up in a war if he was unlucky. Maybe he should gather what he needed and disappear, just as that old mage wanted.
These thoughts drifted through one corner of Joseph's mind. But the rage that had been boiling up for some time soon swept every last one of those considerations aside.
I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I run?
No matter how he looked at it, he had done nothing wrong in this. He'd simply been caught in the jealousy of a power-mad mage. And now he was supposed to tuck his tail and run?
There's no way I'm letting this slide.
Joseph felt something burning inside him. And he knew it wouldn't go out easily.
Joseph sat still, organizing the situation. He intended to fight Zalier from this point on. For that, he needed at least a minimum of information. Even though he'd succeeded at the demonic beast hunt Zalier had failed, that had been entirely thanks to the artifact's power. Without it now, he had no confidence he could kill the man.
"What kind of mage is he?"
"E-Excuse me?"
"What magic does Zalier use. Fire, whatever."
Joseph had only ever met two mages. One of them was Rophen. That bizarre mage.
He's hard to use as a comparison.
No matter how he thought about it, that man hadn't seemed like an ordinary mage.
"I-I know him as a mage who makes artifacts."
"Artifacts?"
"Yes... Most of the artifacts in the castle were made by him, as far as I know."
"He doesn't know combat magic?"
"Probably... not."
Torbin brought up the story of Zalier's failed hunt again. How he'd led soldiers out and fled back with half of them gone.
"B-Besides, every time he wanted someone killed, he called me, so it must be... true... definitely."
Torbin's voice trailed off, as if he wasn't entirely certain. But that was enough. Joseph still didn't know how strong Zalier was, but at the very least, he didn't have much experience fighting head-on. Compared to that, Joseph had already survived near-death more times than he could count. Even if it came to a direct fight, he wouldn't go down easily. The rest was just a matter of reviewing his own combat experience.
The problem is that he's the count's mage.
There was one bigger problem than that, though. Zalier had the count's authority behind him. Even if Joseph was the victim, killing the man could easily put him at odds with the count. After being threatened with assassination, he honestly had no attachment left to this castle. But separately from that, if the count put a bounty on Joseph's head, things would get messy.
I'll need evidence of self-defense.
Joseph turned it over in his head for a moment, then looked at Torbin. The man was still trembling, watching Joseph's expression.
"What were you going to do after you killed me? Report straight to Zalier?"
"Th-That's right. He said if I just reported, he'd handle the body himself."
"Is that so?"
Hearing that, Joseph picked up the discarded cloth and stuffed it back into Torbin's mouth. Ignoring Torbin's panic, he immediately reduced the Mana Orb's mana to the minimum.
"If you pass out, you die."
"What?"
"Fire."
⟨ Fire ⟩
Fwoosh—
The Mana Orb bloomed into flame and began searing the broken shin in an instant.
"Mmmph!"
Torbin thrashed in the chair at the searing pain. But because of what Joseph had just said, he clenched his teeth and struggled not to lose consciousness. When the fire finally went out, the blood flowing from the shin had stopped.
Joseph frowned at the smell of burning flesh, then immediately untied the knots binding Torbin. Then he took off the shirt he was wearing and soaked up the blood pooled on the floor.
"Get dressed and go report to Zalier."
"E... Excuse me?"
He spoke to the dazed Torbin, killing intent hanging thick in his voice.