The Burning Dream
“What’s going on?”
Derik asked, his voice steady and serious despite the fact that he had only recently completed his training and was still trying to project the bearing of a proper private soldier.
“You…?”
“You asked that? What’s going on?”
Joseph frowned. Derik had been around him long enough that Joseph recognized the cocky tone, but the man standing behind him and the soldiers behind Derik made it impossible to continue the conversation.
“It’s fine. What is it?”
Joseph’s words came out quickly, and Derik answered at once.
“Someone from outside the village is looking for the mage, sir.”
“Looking for me? Who?”
Joseph raised an eyebrow. A villager wouldn’t come all this way. Someone from outside was searching for him?
But Derik shook his head.
He had simply rushed ahead after hearing that someone outside the village was looking for Joseph.
No brains at all.
Derik had clearly wanted to make a good impression on the mage, but Joseph had no idea that this had only made the man more irritated.
“You should at least find out who it is and why they’re here, you idiot.”
“What?”
Derik’s face flushed red as he snapped back at the insult.
Joseph said nothing. He hadn’t expected much from the man anyway.
“Go check who it is and come back.”
Derik sprinted toward the village entrance the moment Joseph finished speaking. He tossed a coin to the messenger who had come to deliver the news.
The man bowed deeply and hurried away.
Joseph was beginning to know how to command people.
“It’s Gorda, an old woman from Omor Village,” Derik reported when he returned.
The woman he had brought with him was an unfamiliar face even to the soldiers from Doran Village.
Her face was deeply wrinkled, making her look older than she probably was. Her eyes were tilted upward, giving her an unpleasant expression.
“What business brings you here from the neighboring village?”
Joseph asked. Gorda glanced around nervously before speaking slowly.
“It’s nothing… I came because I thought I should tell the mage about a dream I had.”
“A dream?”
Joseph looked puzzled. Why had she suddenly shown up to talk about a dream?
He instinctively glanced at Refn, but the man shook his head as well.
He had no idea what the old woman was talking about either.
“…It’s a tradition in this region,” Derik said first, since he was from the village.
“If someone appears in a bad dream, you must warn them so they can avoid whatever is coming.”
Superstition.
Belief in dreams was not uncommon, even in modern times. People still took pig dreams seriously.
Joseph asked casually, “So you’re saying that in your dream I appeared?”
The old woman hesitated before nodding.
“M-Mage… I had a dream where I saw you burning.”
She avoided saying “burned to death” out of caution not to anger the mage.
“Nonsense!”
One of the soldiers raised his voice. He had only just woken from his sickbed.
When he heard that Joseph had been burned in the dream, his face turned even redder than Joseph’s.
“You’ve never even met the mage! Where did you hear such nonsense?”
It was a perfectly reasonable point. Joseph had only met Gorda that day. How could she possibly know it was him?
“H-Hey! I saw it! It’s true!”
Gorda shouted, her face panicked, and pointed at the staff Joseph carried.
In the dream she had seen a man holding a jeweled staff wrapped in flames.
Joseph’s staff had spread rumors to the neighboring village.
“Don’t listen to her. She’s just trying to get something from the mage for free.”
The soldier tried to appease Joseph, claiming Gorda was after his coin.
“…Let’s hear her out first.”
Joseph remained calm. Even if the story was absurd, he wouldn’t dismiss it outright.
I’ve been through this before.
Of course, in his previous life he would have brushed it off as nonsense. But this world was different.
It was a place where unseen mysteries lived and breathed.
And this village followed an old tradition.
Superstitions like this usually had some basis.
Moreover, Joseph had a simpler reason for not dismissing it easily.
I’m using magic here.
The man who had summoned flames from the air was him.
Who knows what else this dog of a world has in store?
Divine power. Demonic energy. And those incomprehensible spells he had seen before.
Joseph still knew far too little about this world.
So even if he didn’t fully believe the superstition, it was better to treat it as information.
“Then what should I do?”
If someone appeared in a bad dream, the proper response was to warn them. Simply saying “You died in my dream” would only make the person seem crazy.
“Avoid it for now.”
“What?”
Derik added quickly when he saw Joseph’s confused expression.
“Avoid the situation that appeared in the dream.”
If the dream involved drowning, avoid water. If it involved falling, stay off the cliffs. As a rural superstition, the solution was vague.
So avoid fire?
Joseph’s expression hardened at the words.
He had only recently obtained the Fire Mage’s spellbook and learned a new spell.
He had also been treated as a Fire Mage, relying heavily on fire magic.
Avoid fire?
It was basically the same as telling a knight to throw away his sword.
“…”
The soldiers glanced at Joseph’s face, sensing the implication.
Telling a Fire Mage to abandon fire magic was like ordering a knight to surrender his sword.
A normal mage would have killed the old woman on the spot.
“Hmm. How long should I avoid it?”
Unlike the others’ concern, Joseph had no intention of following through.
After all, unlike other mages, he valued practicality over authority.
“It depends on the person.”
Just avoid it until it felt safe again, then return to normal life. There was no clear timeline.
Even that was a rural superstition.
“I understand. Thank you for telling me.”
Joseph handed Gorda a coin. She snatched it and hurried away.
The soldiers looked displeased that Joseph had given the old woman money, but they said nothing. They had already realized what kind of man Joseph was.
Surprisingly merciful for a mage.
What a shitty world.
Of course, Joseph’s inner thoughts were different.
He had no intention of stopping his fire magic just because of some old woman’s dream.
But caution was always wise.
Joseph was trying to be careful, but he had only a vague idea that it might be good to practice Iceberg more.
The next morning, more people came looking for Joseph.
“My dream featured the mage!”
“Me too! I have to tell the mage!”
Just like yesterday’s old woman, they had rushed over after hearing that Joseph appeared in their dreams.
“You bastards!”
Joseph sighed as he listened to the soldier’s outburst.
That old woman…
She had probably been bragging about receiving coins from the mage and walking around the village.
Others had started fabricating stories to attach themselves to Joseph.
After all, Joseph was leaving the village tomorrow anyway.
They figured it was worth a quick lie to get a coin.
They were poor, but not kind.
Joseph realized he had forgotten what kind of people lived in the countryside of this era.
But he couldn’t stop the thought when the other soldiers began speaking.
“We had the same dream…”
Refn and some soldiers spoke while glancing at Joseph.
Joseph’s brows furrowed.
What is this?
Unlike the villagers, the soldiers had no reason to lie.
They had already earned enough money traveling with Joseph.
There was no need to make up stories to steal coins.
“…Did I burn in your dream?”
The soldiers nodded at each other.
By now Joseph felt that this was no ordinary matter.
When even his soldiers reported the same dream, he could no longer dismiss it.
Joseph sent Derik to verify the villagers’ stories as well.
“The mage burned in my dream!”
“Me too!”
“I-I saw the mage…! Ah, a dream where he fell from a high place!”
Most of them were similar to the old woman and soldiers’ accounts.
“…”
A clear warning was beginning to form.
Was it simply malice like a curse?
Or a sign to avoid danger?
Joseph didn’t know, but he was certain something was trying to tell him to avoid fire.
His gaze drifted to the Fire Mage’s spellbook.
There was nothing special about it. Mages could read spellbooks, but that was all.
They only scattered faint traces of mana.
Does avoiding fire mean not to learn fire magic?
p>The thought made sense, but he wasn’t entirely sure.
The ambiguity of superstition.
When the entire village began having the same dream, unease spread among the people.
At first they had taken Joseph’s coin, but now they were starting to feel uneasy.
A mage had arrived in the village, and suddenly everyone was having strange dreams at the same time.
“It’s a curse! The mage is cursed!”
“W-We shouldn’t have to die…”
“What? How are we supposed to deal with that!”
The meaning of the warning had vanished. Instead, fear and blame were directed solely at Joseph, the cause of the dreams.
Soon the village chief came to see Joseph.
He had come to check whether Joseph was indeed leaving the village.
His expression was noticeably anxious compared to before.
It was only natural. He had to maintain stability in the village.
He was someone who had been born and raised in Doran Village.
For him, the events surrounding Joseph were the first of their kind in decades.
“Mage. I hope the villagers’ nonsense didn’t cause you any trouble…”
He spoke carefully, trying to read Joseph’s reaction.
“Has anything like this happened before?”
Joseph asked, knowing the answer was no.
He wanted to be sure.
The chief shook his head.
“No. This is the first time.”
The soldiers were anxious as well.
Of course, after months together they no longer feared Joseph.
Instead, after the chief left, they warned that a shaman or witch might be hiding in the village.
“A shaman?”
“Yes. Someone in the village is surely trying to curse or slander the mage.”
Refn spoke seriously, but Joseph remained calm.
Let’s avoid it for now.
After all, Joseph would leave the village tomorrow.
He had already sent Auk and Jiren home to say goodbye. The villagers would know.
Anyway, this world is fucked up.
Joseph prepared to leave, thinking that way.