The Man Who Stops the Mad Bull (1)
After learning to wield mana, I devoted myself entirely to training that would make the mana properties adapted from Dana completely my own. Whenever I had a spare moment, I sat motionless in one place, feeling the mana circulating through my body and sinking into meditation. At first I couldn’t suppress the mana’s instinctive urge to revert to its original nature, but as the number of sessions grew, I gradually improved. Once I grasped my own secret method with Dana’s guidance, I finally succeeded in reshaping the mana’s properties to suit my body.
“The mana properties have changed to match your body. You won’t experience any rejection when you learn new techniques now.”
I immediately threw myself into researching brand-new skills that used mana. Simply possessing mana didn’t mean I could cast spells at will. If I compared it to a car, I only had the fuel. Just as you needed engineering expertise to build the chassis and wheels, mastering the techniques used by mages or priests required long-term study of their specialized knowledge.
Since I was a bandit, I focused on coating my daggers with sword energy every single day to increase their destructive power. At the same time, I trained relentlessly to heighten my physical abilities with mana so I could move more nimbly than before, while also sharpening the speed and precision of my throwing skills.
“I came up with a technique last night. What do you think? You coat a throwing star with mana, hurl it, and make the mana explode the moment it embeds in the target. Think it’s doable?”
“I’ll only know after I practice.”
“If it works, the technique name is ‘Marcus-Style Exploding Throwing Star.’”
“That name sounds kind of lame.”
“Master it first, then complain.”
Because Marcus himself had no mana, he could only offer advice based on intuition and theory—suggesting this approach or that. Dana taught me how to use mana efficiently and, whenever I wasted it, immediately cast mana recovery spells to help me replenish quickly.
“I would’ve been in serious trouble without Dana.”
Having a mage constantly by my side was an incredible advantage. Thanks to her, even if I burned through mana like crazy, it refilled in no time, more than doubling the speed of my skill research.
And at last….
“I did it!”
I had succeeded in coating my dagger with a faint bluish sword energy.
Even while busy training every day, the 15th Squad faithfully carried out our duties within the bandit group.
“You’re riding there again?”
Marcus glared with clear displeasure at Dana, who was already settled in the wagon’s passenger seat wearing a deep brown robe. It made sense—he had always claimed that seat in the past, but ever since Dana joined us it had become hers exclusively.
“Did she piss on it to mark her territory or something?” Marcus asked, watching me as I secured the cargo boxes in the back with ropes. I simply smiled and brushed it off.
“Just lie down in the cargo bed. It’s more comfortable back there anyway.”
“Comfortable my ass. Those kids never shut up. I can’t even sleep properly.”
Even as he grumbled, Marcus eventually climbed into the cargo area. After double-checking that the load was secure, I lifted Haida and Evynee one after another and set them in the back.
“Make sure you don’t fall off during the trip.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Okay! I’ll sit still!”
“Keep your voices down so Grandpa can travel comfortably.”
“Yes.”
“Got it!”
“Telling them a hundred times won’t do any good. They forget immediately.”
“We’ll behave this time.”
I gave Marcus a bright smile, then climbed into the driver’s seat. The moment I sat down, Dana silently held out her hand. On her slender white palm rested a fist-sized bread roll she had saved from breakfast.
“Want to split it?”
Her voice was expressionless and quiet. I shook my head at once.
“I’m fine. You eat it.”
“Let’s split it.”
Ignoring my refusal, Dana tore the bread in half, placed one piece in my mouth, and ate the other herself. A gentle smile slipped out before I could stop it. I had no idea why she had saved the bread from breakfast, but sharing it with her filled me with a strange sense of warmth.
With the bread still in my mouth, I smiled and urged the horses forward.
Several hours later, as we drew near the village of Ligeral, the breeze carried the mingled scents of tar and cow dung. Eager to finish our business and head back, I picked up the pace. When we reached the village entrance I woke Marcus, who had been dozing in the cargo bed, and followed his directions to the village chief’s house.
“Goodness, thank you for the good price. The tobacco leaves had run out in the village, and all the old men who smoke were raising a fuss.”
After selling off the leaves while disguised as merchants, we were slowly driving the wagon out of the village when a crowd gathered in front of the inn, murmuring and blocking the road.
“Excuse us, please make way!”
I waited a moment, hoping they would step aside. That was when I saw a man being dragged out of the inn by soldiers. He was a sturdy, middle-aged fellow who looked to be in his early forties. A middle-aged woman and a girl around Evynee’s age—probably his wife and daughter—were clinging to the soldiers, sobbing and begging them to forgive him.
The villagers who had gathered to watch clicked their tongues.
“Oh dear, how pitiful. Heaven truly is heartless.”
“Who is he?”
“From what the soldiers were saying, he’s a poor soul. His wife was raped by some thugs in the city. So he killed every last one of them and hid here in our village. They caught him.”
“Tsk, tsk. If they take the husband, how are the wife and child supposed to survive? They should show some mercy. Those bastards deserved to die anyway.”
“Exactly.”
That was when a woman’s scream tore through the air.
“Kyaaaaah!”
I whipped my head toward the sound. A massive bull with glowing red eyes had suddenly appeared in the street, rampaging wildly. Several people were sent flying by its horns, while others scrambled onto rooftops to escape the chaos.
Someone shouted in panic.
“It’s a demon! A devil’s possessed that thing!”
“That’s no ordinary bull!”
The people clustered in front of the inn screamed and fled in all directions. Even the soldiers who had been escorting the middle-aged man abandoned their prisoner and ran for their lives.
“We should get out of here too. Getting mixed up in trouble will only bring us headaches,” Marcus said calmly.
But in the midst of that pandemonium, my gaze remained fixed on the man bound with ropes. He was the only one behaving strangely in this life-threatening situation, and it caught my full attention.
He snapped the ropes binding his wrists with raw strength, then strode boldly toward the bull. The beast spotted him, lowered its head, and charged straight at him like a mad locomotive. Yet the man showed no fear. He met the bull head-on.
“My god!”
“Whoa! Incredible!”
The man seized both of the bull’s horns as it tried to gore him and held on with unyielding strength. But simply stopping its charge seemed to be his limit; he could do nothing more. Veins bulging on his forehead, he roared to the crowd.
“Everyone! I’ll hold it tight, so come and kill it now! This is your chance!”
The man gripped the horns of a bull driven mad with demonic rage. Yet not a single person stepped forward to help. The villagers hesitated, afraid of getting involved, and even the soldiers who had been dragging him away simply trembled and watched from a distance.
“Ugh!”
As time passed, the man began to be pushed backward. The bull’s eyes burned even brighter as it strained to throw him off. He was dragged across the ground, feet carving furrows in the dirt. Finally, at his limit, he cried out desperately.
“Please trust me and stab it! We’re all going to die! Aaaargh!”
But the villagers stayed hidden in the corners, shaking with fear. No one moved.
So I did.
I opened the drawer beneath the driver’s seat, grabbed a throwing star, and jumped down from the wagon. Seeing me move, Dana immediately tried to follow.
I raised a hand to stop her.
“Stay here.”
“I’m coming too.”
“No. I’ll handle this alone. I want to test the skills I’ve been honing. Just watch from here.”
After persuading Dana, I passed the cargo bed. Marcus jerked a thumb at her and asked, “She’ll die if you’re not around, huh?”
I gave a small chuckle and walked toward the man and the bull. My steps quickened, then broke into a full sprint. The moment I manifested a faint spark of sword energy on my dagger, shocked voices rose around me.
“M-mana! That man has mana!”
“Unbelievable! Such a noble person has come to our village!”
I leaped high, stepped on the man’s right shoulder, and launched myself into the air. Spinning in midair, I brought the dagger down with both hands, slashing deeply across the bull’s back. I pulled out the throwing star, poured mana into it, shoved my arm into the gaping wound, and buried the star deep among the beast’s organs. Then I quickly retreated.
Moooooooorgh!
The bull screamed in agony as the throwing star detonated inside its body. Blood and flesh exploded outward in every direction. Cheers and gasps erupted from the villagers at once.
“A-amazing!”
“He’s no ordinary man! Must be a famous adventurer!”
While everyone’s attention was on me, the middle-aged man who had finally caught his breath approached.
“I don’t know who you are, but thank you for helping.”
He was covered in the bull’s blood and gore. I simply gave him a silent nod. As soon as the situation ended, the now-bold soldiers seized him again and dragged him away by force.