The Wanderer and the Beast
Once he'd left the village behind, Joseph found himself thinking.
Where do I go now?
Joseph had never once set foot beyond the bounds of the village. Everything he knew of the world had come secondhand — scraps of talk filtered through the mouths of merchants and the village chief.
Should I head for the castle after all?
Not far from Bari Village, a few days' walk west, stood the castle where the lord lived. Settling there wouldn't be so bad. It didn't seem likely anyone from the village would come looking for him. Even if they did, they were rural villagers themselves. If Joseph hid who he was, how would they ever find him?
Hmm... still, somewhere that close feels off.
After a moment's thought, he shook his head. There was always that one-in-a-million chance, and being careful never hurt. Besides, having finally left the village, hanging around the neighborhood would have been a pretty sorry look.
Then the only option left is the eastern territory...
A week's walk east would apparently bring him to another noble's domain. To the north and south, a long mountain range stretched on — no path a person could travel.
I should've learned more about the world outside the village.
The thought crossed his mind, but it was meaningless now.
Would've just drawn suspicion anyway.
East, then. Joseph decided to head for another territory first, toward wherever a large city might be.
Settling in some nowhere village would be pointless.
He'd broken out of the village to escape a life in the gutter. Crawling out of one gutter only to drop into another would mean nothing.
In a big city, I might even find a new magic book.
Even in Bari Village, a cheap magic book was something only the village chief could get his hands on. To find a proper one, he'd need to go somewhere trade actually flowed.
The problem is... the bandits' location.
The unidentified footprints had been in the village's northwest. The tracks had led over the northern pass. He hadn't been able to confirm which direction they'd gone after that.
Joseph would sooner hide in the mountains than pick a fight with bandits. He had no interest in that kind of reckless courage.
After a moment's thought, he headed south. If he circled around through the mountains and came out on the distant eastern Highway, he figured he could avoid them entirely.
Crossing the mountains wasn't difficult. Joseph had spent most of his life in them, so he didn't lose his way or flounder. Even so, two days of camping was exhausting, even for him. His hunting had always been confined to the area around the village. This was the first time he'd come this far — and alone, carrying his own pack.
"Oh..."
At the foot of a steep mountainside, the Highway appeared through the trees. By then, fatigue had piled up from every direction. Joseph didn't go straight down. He dumped his pack nearby and closed his eyes. Once he'd recovered his strength, he planned to travel along the road.
That was when the problem started.
"Please, spare me! I'll give you everything — just please let me live!"
Someone's desperate cry snapped his eyes open.
Joseph instinctively pressed himself to the dirt and scrambled into the nearby brush. Slowly lifting his head to look at the Highway, he saw bandits killing travelers and looting the corpses.
Oh, fuck. Why are those bastards here?
About thirty paces away. That he hadn't been spotted was nothing but luck. Joseph stared, stunned. Why were they here? Had he taken a wrong turn?
No. That wasn't it. He had come exactly as planned — which way to go between the village's west and east, which point on the Highway he'd reach by crossing the mountains. He'd prepared all of it thoroughly before setting out. He'd simply gotten both of the last two questions completely wrong.
Ah, my luck is absolute shit!
Joseph ground his teeth. He wanted to kick the ground and scream.
What kind of bullshit is this?
The one silver lining was that they didn't know he existed. All he had to do was stay quiet, hold his breath, and slip away without being noticed.
If they keep camping here, that's a problem in itself...
Joseph checked their numbers and their gear. Their equipment was shabbier than he'd expected. They wore cloth armor, and the only metal among them was one man with a helmet and another with an iron plate strapped to his arm. Two had swords. One had a worn lumber axe. The rest had nothing but clubs. None of them carried a shield. Looking at the gear alone, Bari Village would have seemed better armed.
"...Yeah. If we drag this out too long, a knight might show up. We hit the village tomorrow."
While Joseph was surveying the situation, he overheard one of them.
They're hitting the village tomorrow?
That was luck. If he could just quietly wait out one day, there'd be no problem. They started packing their things. If they were telling the truth, they'd leave tomorrow to raid Bari Village.
"Hey, what do we do with this?"
"We take it, right? Once we sweep the village, we'll be staying there for a few days anyway."
Then one of the bandits pointed at a pile of loot, and Joseph's gaze locked onto it. Spoils, by the look of it — gathered from everyone they'd killed along the road.
...Huh?
Among the heap, one thing stood out. At the very bottom of a pile of cheap clothing, something that looked like a book. And yet it was a book that felt somehow both strange and familiar.
Is that maybe...
A magic book.
Whether it was because Joseph was a mage, he felt it instinctively. The magic book he'd wanted so desperately all winter. The magic book he'd planned to seek out first thing upon reaching a city. There it was, sitting right under the pile of loot they'd tossed aside.
Of course he wanted it. Joseph wanted to become a great mage and live a human life. He wasn't asking for warm coffee and a comfortable sofa — but he at least wanted to live like a person. In this damned era, though, there were too many walls standing in his way. He'd decided to become a mage to leap over those walls. And now a magic book had appeared right before his eyes. How many walls could that one book let him vault over right now?
That... is mine.
That was what Joseph thought. He hadn't chosen the wrong answers. He had come here to claim that book. He couldn't know what would happen going forward, but there wouldn't always be only safe options. If he'd wanted safety, he would have been better off staying the village chief's slave in the woods. But Joseph had already taken the step.
Before he knew it, the sun was sinking. The bandits seemed to be lighting a fire near the Highway and preparing a meal. Joseph quietly swallowed.
I'm taking it. No matter what.
This was the first step toward the wider world. Joseph repeated that to himself as he plotted how to deal with them.
Joseph watched them for a long time, piecing the situation together.
There were seven of them. Mage or not, Joseph didn't think he stood a chance in a straight fight. Kill three, and the remaining four would kill him. Stealing the magic book didn't look easy either. Two of them were sitting leaned against the loot pile, leaving no opening to get close.
Joseph didn't know they were former mercenaries, but he knew they wouldn't be easy opponents. The kind of men who'd spent considerable time preparing to raid an entire village. Unlike Joseph, who'd grown up in a village, these were men who could slit a throat without a second thought.
They're definitely professionals at this banditry business.
Joseph checked what he currently had. A spear with a sharpened blade. A shield larger than his torso. Five Mana Orbs. Fire had too low a success rate to even consider.
He ran through various scenarios, but he couldn't picture a clean victory. That was because Joseph had never experienced real combat. No matter how much he predicted, he'd never been in a fight for his life, so he couldn't feel certain.
No... there was one time.
Then, suddenly, the image of a black beast rose in Joseph's mind. The beast had darted through the darkness, tearing five men apart in an instant. It hadn't been possible simply because it had great strength and claws.
How did that thing do it?
It had been a hunter. A real hunter, unlike Joseph. It planted terror in its prey, then picked off the panicked, scattering humans one by one. Without the Mana Orbs, Joseph would have died just like them.
Joseph replayed the beast's hunt in his mind. Meanwhile, the bandits were drinking and making a racket. They didn't seem to have the slightest thought that someone might be targeting them. Joseph hoped they'd keep partying as long as possible. He still needed a little more time to think.
It wasn't until dawn that the bandits finally fell asleep. Joseph moved immediately. He quietly climbed the mountain so they wouldn't notice him — a place neither too far from nor too close to the Highway, and at the same time the shortest route toward the village. Unless they were complete idiots, they'd head this way.
They wouldn't just follow the Highway, would they...?
He shook his head. They'd already scouted Bari Village. They'd know the way.
Here...
A place with plenty of trees to grab onto, yet difficult to swing a weapon. Carefully surveying the surroundings, Joseph started digging holes all over. They didn't need to be deep. Just enough to catch an ankle, then covered over with scattered leaves. He hid the spear nearby as well.
Then he climbed a bit further and drove the shield into the ground behind a tree. It was a large wooden shield, hard to distinguish from the other trees unless you looked closely. He strapped just a little food and drink to his waist and buried the rest nearby, out of sight.
By the time he finished, the sun was rising overhead. The bandits were sleeping soundly, faces slack with contentment.
Just in case, he checked on the magic book. One of them was still drooling on top of it.
Dirty bastard.
Joseph took a deep breath. Then he repeated it to himself.
Organizing his thoughts, he drew up his mana. He created one Mana Orb, then injected a bit more mana into it. When twice the mana had been poured in, the orb began to make a faint sound.
Ssssshhh—
Someone stirred at the noise. And that was the signal.
First, one of them!
The orb flew at the throat of the goat-bearded man still asleep.
A dull thud. The man's neck bent at a grotesque angle. He made a choking, coughing sound, waving his arms at empty air.
"Ghk! Gah—!"
It didn't burst this time!
Unlike with the beast, the orb still held its form. Joseph immediately retrieved it.
"AAAAAAAGH!!"
"Wh-what the hell!"
Then, screaming at the top of his lungs, he fired it at the face of the square-jawed man who'd woken at the goat-beard's cry.
That's two!
A wet crack — the man's teeth flew out as his face caved in. He toppled backward.
"It's an ambush! Get up, you bastards!"
A man who seemed to be the leader finally shouted at the others. They came to their senses faster than Joseph had expected and started grabbing their weapons.
"What's with that guy!"
"Zorph! That son of a bitch killed Zorph!"
"Who the hell is he!"
Joseph shouted at them, making himself look as much like an idiot as possible.
"Hey, you bandit bastards! Warrior of Bari Village! Hayra's gonna kill every last one of you!"
Then he immediately turned and started running along the Highway.