The Shadow of the Shaman
Joseph had heard of shamans before.
It was during the last unsettling dream incident, when the soldiers had mentioned them.
Back then, he had simply brushed it off to quickly leave the village, but now the word came up again.
“……What kind of people are shamans?”
Joseph asked, and the others looked somewhat stunned.
Joseph was the one who knew the most about shamans.
Yet he hadn't expected Joseph to ask such a question.
Well... this guy is a bit peculiar too.
A mage who knew how to be modest.
And he spoke quite well.
Just that alone made him not an ordinary mage.
Auger cleared his throat once and explained what he knew about shamans.
“From what I've heard, they're similar to mages, but they deal in black magic.”
“Black magic?”
Joseph asked with a somewhat dazed expression.
Does that even exist?
From Auger's explanation, it got even more intriguing.
They supposedly controlled monsters made of bones.
They stole corpses to revive them.
They seemed like sinister figures spreading such rumors.
“Reviving corpses... so there are such magics?”
“Hmm? No, I just heard it. And I don't know if it's real magic. It sounds like some strange sorcery, and since there's no specific name, everyone calls it black magic.”
Auger looked embarrassed, as if he had lost his nerve.
Joseph nodded as if he roughly understood.
I get the general idea.
Shamans were apparently the term used for mages who looked ominous.
Whether among nobles or commoners, when something went wrong, it was common to throw in some superstition.
Shamans were also a good topic to bring up, and when something strange happened, many would shout 'It's the work of a shaman!' right away.
So, it seemed that not many people knew exactly what shamans were.
“Anyway, since it's clear that the monster is being controlled by someone, we need to come up with a plan.”
Auger looked somewhat concerned.
If it were the him from when he went out to earn merits, he might have expected a fight with the mage.
But now, he knew he couldn't even fight the mage head-on, let alone be a match for him.
“...If we just avoid the monsters, it might not be a big problem.”
But Joseph's thoughts were a bit different.
Joseph's words drew the gazes of the others.
“What do you mean? Isn't the monster a mage too?”
Joseph nodded and continued.
“The monster probably doesn't have proper combat magic.”
This was a statement born from Joseph's experience.
Mages usually specialized in one type of magic.
Because that was far more efficient.
It was easy to understand when thinking of the fire mage on the battlefield or Zalier.
Learning various magics meant accumulating multiple elemental manas in the body.
It required tremendous effort.
Even Joseph, who spent most of his time accumulating just three manas, didn't get very satisfactory results.
Honestly, if Joseph hadn't started from being a rural orphan wandering around, he might have locked himself in a lab and only explored his strong areas.
Anyway, from the situation, it seemed the monster was using artifacts to control monsters.
It was the same when attacking the village, and the villagers didn't see him using magic.
That meant he probably hadn't learned proper offensive magic.
“More importantly, if the monster were a combat mage, he wouldn't need to use monsters at all.”
If he coldly just wanted to kill the villagers, it would be better to just spam simple magic.
Human bodies are incredibly fragile, and a single good swing of a club could easily break them.
Moreover, these people had no magic resistance, so even now, Joseph could slaughter most peasants with just one Fire.
But the monster chose to use artifacts to attack with monsters.
There was no other way.
Of course, this was just Joseph's speculation.
When facing them in reality, it could all be wrong.
But Joseph didn't talk about that far.
The important thing was that he didn't get scared of the word "mage" and abandon the extermination of Malešov.
Joseph had already decided to exterminate Malešov for sure.
There was also the purpose of investigating and researching the artifact that summoned monsters, but because it was winter, he was starting to feel the need to settle down greatly.
If I go further south from here, there's the Favidia region.
A quiet region with nothing special, nothing remarkable, where no one paid attention.
It was exactly the environment Joseph wanted.
If he settled there and built his own faction...
He might be able to live a peaceful, leisurely life that he only dreamed of.
To do that, I must absolutely eliminate the dangerous elements here.
Malešov is relatively close to the Favidia region.
If I don't clean this up neatly, problems might arise even after settling in Favidia.
So, Auger's soldiers were absolutely necessary.
And Auger probably wanted to finish the Malešov extermination mission as much as possible.
“If we can get close to the monster's nose, capturing it won't be difficult.”
Auger seemed to hesitate for a moment at Joseph's firm words, then nodded.
“If that's the case, it would be good to modify the plan.”
Auger brought the map of Malešov.
He pointed to the forest below Malešov.
“According to the refugees, the mage is probably still hiding in the forest.”
“Then, shouldn't we just charge into the forest?”
At Arke's words, Auger shook his head.
“Besides the forest, there are many open fields around Malešov. If we move as a group, we'll be discovered right away.”
At that, Arke clicked his tongue awkwardly.
Joseph looked at Auger with a fresh expression.
This person has really changed a lot.
Now, he seemed like a commander leading soldiers.
Auger pointed to a few more places on the outskirts of Malešov and said.
“...So, rather, it would be better to draw the soldiers' attention from multiple directions.”
His plan summarized was like this.
The conscript soldiers and Auger's private soldiers would deliberately cause chaos in various places in the village.
While dealing with the monsters that flocked to the noise, Joseph and his soldiers, and Auger would cross Malešov and sneak into the forest.
And find the mage in the forest and subdue them quickly.
“It looks somewhat risky...”
Refn muttered while listening to the plan.
The others seemed to agree to some extent.
After all, it was good to enter the forest, but the plan after that was vague.
“No, it's possible. We have a combat mage!”
But Auger didn't seem particularly worried.
Not just anyone, but with Joseph.
The trust in Joseph was evident in his plan.
“I understand. Let's do it this way.”
Joseph didn't say much about it.
Rather than having ordinary soldiers in front and giving the mage a chance to escape, it would be better for him to encounter the mage first.
There wasn't really any other way to win safely with the current troops.
“After we enter the forest, the soldiers who drew attention will immediately retreat. Dealing with the monsters will be difficult.”
With that, the meeting ended, and Joseph returned to his house.
And in front of the house, he summoned a mana orb and floated it high above his head.
“Flame Bite.”
And as he chanted, the mana orb changed into a fireball and exploded in the air.
A loud sound echoed, and momentarily the gazes of those around gathered, but Joseph didn't care.
His gaze was directed at the flames scattered in the air.
Fire magic will be hard to use.
In this Malešov infiltration, Joseph had one problem.
It was that Joseph was a mage.
More precisely, Joseph's magic was the problem.
He had to cross the village as quickly as possible while avoiding the monsters' attention as much as possible.
No matter how much the soldiers drew attention, he had to assume he would encounter a monster at least once.
In that case, he would have to kill it without mercy.
But no matter how he thought, Joseph's magic was too loud.
The boom was the basic, and the spreading flames made it visible from far away.
Once used, it would obviously be discovered by the opposing mage.
But if there's no this, the power is the problem.
Joseph thought he had grown quite a bit.
Like when he first faced monsters, his mana orb wouldn't burst in one hit from an ogre's hand.
But could he kill ogres or similar by hitting them with mana orbs?
No.
Joseph recalled the worm monster he saw in the Kutna village monster cave.
That tough one that looked like a giant millipede.
To kill that monster, he had to pour mana into the mana orb as is.
He had no confidence that there wouldn't be such a monster among those in Malešov.
What should I do...?
Joseph rechecked his current conditions.
The magic he could use now was six.
Fire.
Flame Bite.
Flame Road.
Return.
Iceberg.
Storm Chip.
Flame magic, Flame Bite and Flame Road, couldn't be used for the reasons of a moment ago.
Iceberg didn't seem easy to use actively.
This was only summoning ice blocks, not throwing magic.
To utilize the unique weight of large ice, it would have to tie the monster's feet and drop it from a high position.
In other words, the constraints for using it were too demanding.
Well, it's not an offensive magic in the first place.
Iceberg was just something Joseph forced to use with mana orbs, like Fire.
In the end, for this search, the only usable things for Joseph were the mana orb and Return.
It would be better if there was some other means...?
While pondering for a moment, Joseph returned to the room and immediately unfolded the Book of Wind.
Since using fire magic was difficult now.
He thought of finding new magic instead.
It's good to check everything at once.
Until now, when learning new magic, he had found new magic after learning it roughly.
He thought it was better to master even one properly.
But rather, it would be good to learn the magic in the remaining Book of Wind in advance this time.
If there's something good, I'll learn that first.
Joseph locked himself in the room for a while after that day and kept checking the Book of Wind.
- Controlling wind made with magic is much more difficult than simply controlling mana.
- Unlike mana that flows slowly without being greatly affected by the outside, wind is strong movement of air. It will require great effort to catch it.
From the content, it didn't seem easy to learn other wind magics either.
It wasn't just because the author was talking about talent, right?
In fact, he had some worry about learning wind magic again just for fire magic.
But Joseph had a strange confidence in his talent.
A unique talent to control mana externally.
He believed he could control wind magic as well.
If not, I'll find other ways. First, focus.
After fiddling with the magic book for several days, Joseph was finally able to organize the magic in the Book of Wind.
Storm Wall.
Slicer.
Wind Runner.
And Storm Chip, which he had already learned before.
“This magic book has four spells.”
- Storm Wall is an advanced magic of Storm Chip, creating larger and stronger whirlpools.
- Slicer is a magic that condenses rotating wind into a single breath and shoots it forward, and its cutting power is comparable to a knight's sword.
- Wind Runner envelops the user's body with wind to reduce the burden.
...There were even more usable things than I thought?
Joseph inwardly admired while reading the explanations in the magic book.
There were things that could fill Joseph's current lacking parts.
Instead of having powerful magic, it seemed he had properly covered utilities.
Among them, the one magic that caught Joseph's eye the most.
Wind Runner, this...?
This was clearly a buff magic no matter who looked at it.
Especially optimized to the point where it seemed he aimed for the situation where he had to move quickly, like this search.
No, not just this time.
In the future, no matter where he went, having this would reduce physical burden.
...This is innovation!
A smile appeared on Joseph's lips.