Staff
Joseph pulled a pouch containing an artifact from his pocket.
He opened it and showed the gem inside to Manir.
Manir looked at the gem, then back at Joseph.
“This is the artifact you’re looking for.”
Joseph said that and handed the pouch to Manir.
He stared at the pouch in his own hands and asked, “......Surprising.”
“Handing it over so easily?”
He nodded.
Manir wasn’t a mage, but he knew this wasn’t an ordinary item.
To cast magic, mana was required.
The value of something that recovered that mana was priceless.
Especially for mages.
“I don’t want to get entangled with nobles. Not even with nobles at war.”
That was his honest thought.
Up until now he had done everything to avoid entanglement with Count Valois, and now he didn’t want to become a target of another count by clinging to this.
Not just any, but the Fire Mage’s thing, so it seemed better not to mess with it for his own safety.
‘Well, I wasn’t attached to it in the first place.’
Mana-recovery artifacts were rare, but if broken and unusable, they were just useless.
He was hoping there was some decent one among the shaman’s artifacts.
“Avoiding entanglement with nobles…… Strange mage.”
Manir looked at Joseph in astonishment and put the pouch in his pocket.
“You don’t check if it’s real?”
“……I don’t have a way to tell.”
He admitted it honestly.
Even if it was fake, Manir couldn’t tell.
There had been someone among his subordinates who could distinguish, but he had died attacking Joseph earlier.
Manir glared at Joseph for a moment, then spoke.
“If this is fake, we’ll meet again someday.”
“Don’t worry. It’s real.”
Joseph was slightly tense at his words but nodded brazenly.
He hadn’t been lying in the first place.
It was real.
‘It was just broken.’
He simply hadn’t said that fact.
Even if he figured out the truth about the artifact later, by then Joseph would already be gone from here.
“Then, I’m leaving.”
“You’re injured but not resting?”
“……This place is enemy territory.”
Manir turned and limped away from the hill.
He quickly disappeared along the path.
Joseph watched his back even from the village, but didn’t try to stop him.
He didn’t know if he could return to Pon-Er territory with that body, but from there, Joseph wouldn’t worry.
‘Not that serious.’
***
Several days passed.
The group was still staying in Malešov.
In that time, three who had been severely injured died, and the soldiers were down to nine.
“Then, let’s depart.”
“Right. Thanks.”
Refn, who had recovered somewhat, decided to return to the castle.
He had to send a messenger to Folmers, and the healthiest soldier in the castle, Refn, volunteered.
The soldiers who hadn’t recovered yet would go back with Auger later.
Auger attached a healthy soldier to him.
“Then, Mage-nim. See you later.”
“Yes. If there’s a chance, I’ll see you again.”
Joseph saw him off with a sense of loss.
After spending months together, he had grown attached, and now parting was bittersweet.
“I plan to stay here for a while.”
Unlike Refn, Auger didn’t seem to plan to leave Malešov.
Originally, he should have returned to the castle, but now he couldn’t leave Malešov behind.
Malešov was a village at the southern tip of Valois territory.
It was already not well-policed, and if one entire village was wiped out, it would become a bandit den.
At least until someone was sent from Valois Castle, he would likely stay.
“Then…… I have to handle the remaining tasks.”
While Auger was cleaning up, Joseph led Auk and Jiren to the shaman’s cave.
Derek was still recovering, so he had no choice but to bring the two.
Auk was also infected, but he insisted on coming.
“……When you return, make sure to wash the wound area cleanly.”
Joseph felt like a parent whose child wouldn’t listen.
Flash
The torch was lit, and the cave brightened.
It looked like a beast lair at first glance, but upon closer look, it was artificially made.
The ceiling and walls were cut quite evenly.
Humans were detail-oriented.
‘Was he quite meticulous?’
The more he thought about it, the harder it was to understand the shaman’s last appearance.
What kind of deeds could lead to such a state.
‘Maybe I shouldn’t expect too much from the artifact he had……’
Joseph thought that while heading inside.
Humans hoped for nothing even when expecting nothing.
Above all, he had found an artifact that stopped the flow of mana in Kudna Village before.
It was practically useless and not controllable, so he stored it like a broken artifact.
‘If there’s a place like this, there must be something.’
A bit inside, a table appeared.
Next to it, bloodstains from where Auk and the shaman had fought.
And behind that.
Clumsy pendant-shaped artifacts made by the shaman came into view.
“Check around you.”
Joseph instructed, and examined the pile of artifacts.
Most were made of wood, with large cracks or instead of the central gem, a stone shard embedded.
‘Didn’t have proper materials.’
He could tell because he had studied Zallier’s Grimoire on artifacts.
Unlike the ones found in the northern monster cave, they looked very low quality.
‘Still, there should be some decent ones.’
Joseph turned his gaze to the hardened bloodstains on the floor.
There, the last artifact the shaman was holding had fallen.
Before dying, he had tried to use it.
So it might still be usable.
“……”
Joseph hesitated for a moment and picked it up.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem to activate on its own like the other artifacts Joseph had.
‘……What to do.’
Joseph pondered.
If his guess was correct, using it might attract monsters.
‘From the abandoned ones, it doesn’t look like a Troll or Ogre would come out.’
What worried him more was the demonic energy flowing in the shaman’s body.
At least from Joseph’s knowledge, demonic energy flowed in monsters’ bodies.
It came from the body of the one controlling the monsters.
It didn’t seem unrelated no matter how he thought.
“Joseph-nim! There’s something here!”
While Joseph was pondering, Auk called him.
He opened the drawer hanging from the table and pointed inside.
“A book?”
There was a notebook inside.
“A grimoire?”
It didn’t feel like a grimoire at all.
Joseph immediately opened the notebook.
“This……?”
Joseph’s eyes widened.
At the beginning of the notebook were mysterious symbols engraved on the artifacts.
The shaman wasn’t very familiar with these symbols, so he had written the meaning of each symbol separately and kindly.
Even if he didn’t know the symbol’s identity, he could at least understand the meaning.
Moreover, at the back of the notebook were things that piqued Joseph’s interest more.
There, the experimental results of the artifacts the shaman had made so far were written.
- Frame: Wood / Medium: Gold
- Confirmed that it was somewhat effective. However, after a week, the monster loses control and starts rampaging.
- Frame: Stone / Medium: Stone
- No effect. Maybe possible with monsters that have the skin of ore.
Differences in materials for pendants were written like this.
Joseph quickly skimmed through it.
And from here, he could also understand why the shaman’s appearance was like that.
- Frame: Iron / Medium: Monster’s bone
- Most effective among the experiments. However, when connecting with the monster and mind, the demonic energy that comes in noticeably increases. That’s why the thumb turned black. It would be worth considering using this.
‘Is it because it gets corroded by demonic energy.’
Joseph took out a pendant from his pocket.
A frame made of iron, with something like a bone embedded in the center.
It was the thing the shaman was wearing around his neck at the end.
Probably the last one written was this, and thinking about the last guy’s appearance, he probably used it.
‘This is good to keep.’
Joseph put the notebook in his pocket.
He had no immediate plan to make it, but this was definitely helpful information.
‘If I can find a way to not get corroded by demonic energy.’
It was a somewhat naive thought, but Joseph thought that anyway.
After all, Joseph was a mage who used magic infused with holy power through a staff.
Demonic energy probably had other ways.
‘Well, if using it, I’d have to build up power.’
Not physical or magical ability.
It would require power that even nobles couldn’t easily handle.
Otherwise, it would be attacked just for the sake of controlling monsters.
Like the dead shaman.
‘It’s better to hand the rest over to Auger.’
He left the cave.
He handed the other artifacts to Auger.
They were useless to Joseph, and also evidence that the shaman was in Malešov.
He explained the demonic energy corrosion to Auger simply.
When he heard the story, the soldiers carrying the artifacts on the cart were shocked and fell.
“Don’t mess with it lightly.”
“I-I’ll be careful.”
Auger nodded and pointed to something else.
“Then, is that also a dangerous item?”
“That?”
The one he pointed to was the black staff the shaman used.
Joseph examined the staff closely.
The wood thinner than Joseph’s wrist stretched straight as tall as Joseph’s height.
The peculiar thing was that part of the staff was black in a way that was difficult to come out naturally.
‘Nothing felt special.’
From the outside, it looked more like a wooden stick than a staff.
Then suddenly, a possibility popped into Joseph’s mind.
“……”
Joseph looked at Auger’s eyes for a moment, cleared his throat, and spoke.
“No particularly strange points, but if it’s okay, can I take this?”
“This? Is there something?”
“I’ve never seen a mage’s staff before……”
Actually, he had seen the staff that Rophen summoned in the air before, but it was a bit hard to say he saw it.
Auger made an odd expression for a moment, then nodded.
“Do as you like. The shaman’s stuff is enough with the artifacts.”
“Thank you.”
“No. Rather, I’m sorry that I have nothing to return. If there’s anything you need, let me know.”
Thanks to Auger’s consideration, Joseph took the staff and immediately returned to the house he was staying in.
After sending all the soldiers back, Joseph held the two staffs in each hand.
Right hand: the holy staff.
Left hand: the black staff.
“……”
Joseph swallowed a mouthful of saliva and slightly shook the staffs at the same time.
Then, small mana orbs rose at the same time.
Joseph slowly gathered the two mana orbs in the center.
Then.
Siiii─
A faint burning sound was heard, and.
White smoke began to rise from where the mana orbs touched.