Wind Mana
The mage of Valois Castle was infamous for his vanity. Rumor had it he commissioned personal versions of everything he used, from the clothes on his back down to pens and tableware. That was why his carriage was so unusually large, and so distinctive in its design—and why more than a few people could recognize it at a glance.
Marvin had learned as much through his connections at the castle.
"That's not good..."
Thenic let out a low groan. The castle's mage had gone out on a bandit hunt. That was not a story he wanted to hear. It meant the castle had started watching them in earnest.
"So what are you suggesting? That we skip town together?"
Thenic asked, though he didn't mean it. Marvin was a capable man, but loyalty was not among his virtues. Bandits were rarely the loyal type to begin with, but Marvin was worse than most. This was a man who had stabbed the people of his own village in the back. Thenic knew perfectly well that Marvin hadn't come out of concern for him.
And indeed, Marvin gave a slimy smile at Thenic's words.
"We'll leave, all right. But before we do—what do you say we rob that mage first?"
Thenic's brow furrowed. Did this lunatic even understand what he was saying? Robbing the castle's mage was no different from announcing you wanted to die.
"You crazy bastard. Do you even hear yourself?"
It wasn't only that mages were dangerous. Unless a mage was particularly seasoned in combat, there were plenty of ways to kill one. They were still human, after all. A blow to the back of the head from hiding was usually enough to put their lights out for good. That old mage would probably close his eyes without even realizing he was dead.
The problem was that this man wasn't just any mage. He was a noble—the mage of a count who ruled a vast territory. That was like punching a hornet's nest with your bare fists.
But Marvin just nodded, shameless as ever.
"Just hear me out. I looked into it. The man's in Kutna village right now."
Kutna. A small rural village on the outskirts of Valois Territory. An unremarkable little place—except that a mage had gone in a few days ago and hadn't moved since.
"...Waiting for something?"
"Could just be the rain."
Marvin pointed at the sky. Dark storm clouds blanketed the entire heavens, dumping torrential rain. Fair enough. Nobody wanted to travel in weather like this—least of all a mage with that kind of reputation. He wouldn't have the slightest interest in becoming a drowned rat.
"He's only got five escorts. Some of the boys nearby saw them."
There had originally been a crew targeting Kutna village. The plan had been to pick off travelers passing through, then loot the village as it slowly withered. But right in the middle of the job, the mage's party had shown up.
"That mage killed everything he saw on the way from the castle. He's probably loaded."
The belongings of everyone who'd made the mistake of crossing a mage. Those would all be piled up inside his carriage by now.
"And whatever the mage himself is carrying should fetch a decent price, don't you think?"
Anything involving magic sold well, anytime, anywhere. Not just a mage's possessions—even a mage's corpse. Joseph, with his modern sensibilities, would have recoiled in horror to hear it, but that was the reality. A noble's treasure, another mage's research material, a great merchant's collectible. A mage's corpse sold, one way or another. Rarity made it valuable.
"Think about it. This is a golden opportunity."
A mage with a carriage full of loot, sitting still in a village far from the castle, guarded by only five soldiers. It was, undeniably, a situation where an insane amount of gold could fall into their hands.
Once the thought reached that far, Thenic fell silent. Profit and loss. Failure meant death, of course. But success might mean wealth beyond anything he'd ever experienced.
"...Got a plan?"
After a moment's deliberation, Thenic spoke. Marvin nodded as if he'd been waiting for exactly that.
"Nothing fancy. We just sneak in quiet and—slash. Once the mage is dealt with, what are the rest of them going to do?"
"You said he has escorts. Castle soldiers, at that. Won't be easy."
"I already talked to the ones who ran from the mage. Almost twenty of them."
That tipped the scales. Combined with Thenic's own men, that made twenty-five. More numbers meant a better chance of success and less chance of dying himself. If some of them died, that just meant a bigger share for him. A large-scale assault to take out the mage, then they could plunder the village in one sweep.
"The village have a palisade?"
"It does, but the riverside is poorly maintained. With the rain, we could walk right in and nobody'd notice."
The riverside palisade had been crumbling because of the demonic beasts that kept appearing there. But Marvin didn't mention that.
"...It was about time we moved on anyway."
At Thenic's words, Marvin smiled that slimy smile again. Thenic might look like he was still deliberating, but Marvin could tell he'd already decided to go along. Thenic wasn't a local bandit to begin with. He'd come to Valois Territory after pillaging other regions, drawn by how easy the banditry was here. A man who'd survived long enough as a bandit to keep changing territories. That meant he was sharp, and he was good.
"Then I'll go talk to the others."
Watching Marvin say that with his shameless grin, Thenic's own mouth curled up. Greed began to gleam in both bandits' eyes.
"Pack it up. We're moving."
Once Marvin left, Thenic immediately gathered his men, packed their things, and headed for Kutna village. He didn't want to travel through the rain, but if the weather cleared, the mage might leave. They didn't have much time.
"Cok."
Arriving near Kutna, Thenic immediately sent Cok into the village. Cok was small for his age, built like a boy, and quick on his feet. Ever since a club had broken his nose, he'd breathed roughly through his mouth—but with rain this heavy, he wouldn't be noticed.
"Snff. There were two carriages. But that mage seemed like a real freak."
Cok had gone into the village, confirmed the carriages parked beside the village chief's house, and come back. There was no lord's banner, but the design matched the distinctive features of a mage's carriage.
"A freak? What's that supposed to mean?"
"He was walking the soldiers around the village in the rain. Just circling."
Thenic's eyebrows rose.
"Was the mage not an old man?"
A man who treated his own body as the most precious thing in the world, strolling around in the rain? That didn't make sense unless he had some purpose.
"Snff. Couldn't see his face because of the robe, but his back was ramrod straight. Didn't look like an old man."
The scales that had been tipping one way began to waver again.
The next day, Marvin arrived with the others.
"Didn't you say about twenty?"
The assembled number was around fifteen. Fewer than he'd been told.
"A few of them gave up and left."
Marvin smiled awkwardly and brought over some gear from the side. A bloodstained leather cuirass and a hand axe. He'd said what he'd said, but there had clearly been some trouble in the process of gathering people.
"You left some things out when you talked to me."
Thenic pressed Marvin. The information he'd been given didn't match the mage in the village. Bad information led to losses. This was an assault on a mage. Even a small loss meant death.
"Ah, you already checked?"
Thud—
Thenic threw a punch the instant Marvin answered. He beat the fallen man like a dog. The atmosphere around them went dead silent in an instant.
"The ones who ran knew about this."
The man on the ground managed a weak nod. Thenic kicked the shameless bastard in the gut one more time.
"...What are you going to do?"
One of his own men asked. Thenic looked at the bandits Marvin had brought. They were watching Thenic with fearful eyes, but they also kept glancing at the loot he'd brought.
These were men who'd come even knowing the target wasn't some old man but a different mage entirely. If Thenic tried to back out now, they were likely to turn on him.
"...You crazy son of a bitch."
Backing out was no longer an option. He realized he'd been played by that bastard Marvin.
"Heh, heheh... Now that it's come to this, why not just go for the score?"
Marvin mumbled from the ground. The words made Thenic even angrier, but beating him further wouldn't change anything. Besides, Marvin was now one of their fighting assets, whether Thenic liked it or not.
"...Tell me the plan."
"Heading out again today?"
When Joseph finished getting ready and stepped outside, Refn asked. His expression was sour. Of course it was. If Joseph went out, the soldiers had to follow. Nobody wanted to go out in rain like this.
Ever since the rain had started, Joseph had been wandering the village outskirts for days, getting soaked. It was because of the claim that wind mana was easily obtained in strong gales. Every day he found the windiest spot nearby and sat there meditating from dawn to dusk. Which meant the soldiers assigned to guard him had to get rained on the entire time.
"Yes. You really don't have to come."
Joseph said it, but they couldn't actually stay behind. The soldiers had a duty to escort him. If anything happened to the mage, the soldiers would be the ones held responsible. There had already been an assassination incident at the castle. They wouldn't just let it slide.
Refn chewed his lip, then called the soldiers anyway. They wore the same look of having bitten into something foul as Refn did. They'd known mages were lunatics, but going out in this wind and rain every single day?
"I'm genuinely fine on my own."
He meant it. Joseph didn't want to drag soldiers around in pouring rain either.
This is going to look like I'm throwing my weight around.
The soldiers were escorting Joseph solely because of Folmers's orders. They didn't feel any particular goodwill or gratitude toward him. Resentment, once it piled up, tended to explode. He'd rather not create that kind of problem if he could help it.
"...No. We don't have anything else to do anyway."
Refn seemed to hesitate for a moment, but in the end he shook his head. So Joseph, reading the soldiers' mood, led them out.
He made a wide circuit of the village, looking for the place where the wind felt strongest. It wasn't a large village, so it didn't take long, but the villagers watched his bizarre daily ritual with curious eyes.
Joseph soon settled by the riverside, where a strong wind was blowing. He closed his eyes and slowly sank his consciousness. The fierce rain drumming on his hood faded, and mana he couldn't see began to make itself felt. Then he searched more finely among those currents of mana—wind mana, the kind the grimoire claimed could only be found by those with talent.
Fortunately, Joseph seemed to have it. Amid the rest, there was a current that felt a little sharper than the others. Joseph slowly absorbed it into his body. He could feel that sharp energy accumulating inside him, bit by bit.
Then he opened his eyes and summoned a mana orb.
"Storm Chip."
⟨ Storm Chip ⟩
At the incantation, the mana orb's form began to collapse. The mana within transformed into wind, becoming a whirlwind.
Whoooosh—
The mana orb became wind for a brief instant, then scattered all at once. The most basic spell written in the Book of Wind. For all its grandiose name, all it did was generate a momentary burst of rough wind.
Still, it'll come in handy later.
He'd more or less expected as much. Wind only caused damage when it was extremely powerful. It needed to be a gale strong enough to pose a real threat.
Having finished his test, he stood and looked around. At some point, the soldiers had set up a small tent near him. They'd been sitting dully beneath it, and when Joseph stood they hurriedly packed up.