The Witch's Trial (3)
"If I fail, I'll go back quietly. And I'll keep quiet about catching you following me."
"......"
"What? Not confident?"
"Fine. There's no way a little kid like you could do something I can't."
Roy smiled a wicked little smile to himself.
Kids really were easy to exploit—just prick their pride a little, or dish out praise at the right moment, and you could put them to use.
Anna was exactly like that.
He immediately began scanning the area for the mana stone that powered the barrier formula.
"What? Looks like they weren't even trying to hide it."
Right where he'd expected, the mana stone was concealed.
Lily asked, her face startled.
"What? How did you even find it?"
"It's obvious. The places mages think are hard for ordinary people to find."
Roy checked at once whether the barrier was still active.
As Lily had said, it was damaged. Worse, the mana stone driven into the ground to sustain the formation was nearly drained dry.
"A small mana stone like this couldn't last even a year."
"That's why the witch replaces it with a new one every year."
"Is that so? Sounds like a hassle. Should I improve the efficiency a bit?"
He began chanting at once. The hidden magic circle revealed itself.
Hmm, the encryption is pretty solid. But why is a witch of this caliber stuck out in the countryside like this?
For a witch, it was a fairly respectable barrier formula.
Ah—right. That witch only looks young; she isn't in her twenties. If she spent about a hundred years researching to reach this level, she might just be average.
Roy modified part of the formation the witch had completed and finished a barrier far more efficient than the original. He also added a new formation that would keep anyone from finding the dungeon entrance—from the inside as well as the outside.
"Done?"
"I-Is it done?"
"Can't you tell? Go back and look. You won't be able to see the entrance because of the barrier."
Lily hurried back the way she had come.
"Wow! You're right! How did you do that?"
"It's just my specialty, that's all. Anyway, I win this bet. From now on you can follow me around and watch all you want, but you absolutely must not interfere with my trial."
"......"
"Not going to answer? Or is the witch's apprentice a liar?"
"...Fine! You win..."
Lily pouted and vanished astride her pitch-black spirit. She was probably planning to keep watching him from somewhere invisible.
Ugh, having someone watching is a bit annoying... Oh!?
A good idea suddenly struck him.
Lily, who rode around openly on that suspicious spirit.
I could just say my eyes are from summoning a spirit, too, right?
Roy immediately activated his Golden Eyes.
With the Golden Eyes active, the first mana Roy sensed was from Lily and Shady right nearby.
Since she'd already been found out, Lily intended to watch him openly. She was hiding in the shade of a tree barely ten meters away.
I can't find her with my eyes at all... She said it was a shadow spirit...
She was this close—he even knew roughly where she was—yet no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't see her. It might even surpass the advanced concealment magic he had newly devised.
I kind of want that...
Roy still knew nothing about what kind of spirit the Golden Eyes belonged to. It might turn out to be completely useless. He had high hopes because he'd learned of it through an ancient summoning spell, but if it proved worthless it would be a real problem.
But look at that shadow spirit. You could ride it, and it was several times faster than a horse. On top of that, its concealment techniques far outstripped any magic he'd used—and it didn't even require an incantation. A spirit like that would be the ultimate assistant for a mage.
The more powerful the magic, the longer the casting time. If you could hide perfectly from enemies during that time? Need he say more? As long as you had the mana to back it up, becoming the greatest mage under heaven wouldn't be a dream.
That naive girl somehow managed to summon a treasure of a spirit.
Roy clicked his tongue. Then he shook his head. This wasn't the time to get distracted.
First, pass the trial.
When he scanned the surroundings with Golden Eyes, aside from Lily and Shady he sensed no signs of life. Of course not. He had deliberately chosen this spot to build his shelter and light a fire.
"I'm heading out!"
Roy raised his voice so the hiding Lily could hear, then moved toward the place where he'd spotted the suspicious fog while gathering illusion herbs yesterday.
The fog wasn't so thick you couldn't see ahead—just a little hazy. Especially today, with the clear weather, sunlight filtered down between the great trees.
There's something around here.
The mana energy he sensed with Golden Eyes was unusual; this area was likely near the very center of the local mana vein.
It's chilly.
A cool mana presence flickered into existence and vanished, over and over. Roy figured it was because phantom beasts were crossing the dimensional boundary. It was written on the scroll that way, too.
Phantom beasts and spirits that fed on mana would create gaps in dimensions seeking the rich mana scent of a mana vein. The same went for evil spirits and other beings with "demon" in their names. Monsters mainly appeared underground where mana concentration was densest, forming dungeons. So the dungeon whose barrier Roy had just reinforced might extend underground all the way here.
They wouldn't only come from other dimensions.
This world, this continent, teemed with countless monsters. Monsters drunk on the thick scent of mana would gather here as well—like the monster right in front of him, drooling as it stared at Roy.
A Twin-Headed Hound.
A two-headed mutt had appeared. One head was drooling as it stared at Roy, while the other tore into a goblin corpse. Its body was massive enough to put an ordinary horse to shame.
Shing.
Roy immediately drew his sword.
What day is it that I keep running into dogs first thing in the morning?
At the sound of the sword being drawn, all four eyes on the two heads glared at Roy at once. The creature wasn't stronger than an orc giant, but it was a monster with remarkable agility. Its intelligence would be higher, too, and if a human got bitten by those fangs, that was basically the end. According to known information, it was the most powerful monster that appeared in this forest.
"Grrrrr."
For the first time, Roy wrapped mana around his sword. This was a completely different opponent from weak goblins. Fighting with only his still-immature swordsmanship would be a stretch.
"Graaagh!"
As if taking the reddening of Roy's sword as a signal, the Twin-Headed Hound charged straight at him. The snouts on both heads competed as if each wanted to bite first. But its movement was linear.
Roy lured it in until the last moment before being bitten, then used his sword footwork to dodge sideways. As he moved, he thrust his sword into its neck.
Thuck—!
Like sticking a fork into pudding, the blade smoothly pierced through its neck. The instant it penetrated, he poured strength into the hand gripping the hilt and swung. Half the neck of one head was severed in an instant. Crimson blood sprayed.
He repeated the same thing once more. One head came cleanly off, while the other dangled raggedly from the still-standing dog's body. The Twin-Headed Hound soon collapsed sideways with a thud. Despite having two snouts, it died without even letting out a scream.
"Damn, got blood on me."
He hadn't taken a single point of damage, but it had been a close fight. If his dodge had been even slightly late, or if luck had gone the other way, he might have been the one torn apart. Moving so boldly had actually been effective in taking it down without any injury. He hadn't hesitated for even a moment. That had decided the match.
Having a decent charm really is reassuring.
In fact, because he had the amulet as a safety net, he hadn't needed to flinch and back away. Roy wiped the blood splattered on him while gagging, then used Golden Eyes to scan the Twin-Headed Hound's corpse. He quickly found roughly where the mana stone was located.
"Ugh, I have to do this myself too..."
After swinging his sword a few times to cut open the body, a reasonably sized mana stone appeared.
"Not as big as I expected. Maybe it hasn't lived here long?"
If it had been feeding on the abundant mana of this area for a long time, the stone could have been larger. Then again, if it had, he might not have taken it down so easily.
"Hey, what even is that sword?"
"Holy—!"
Roy jumped at the sudden voice.
"Don't be so jumpy. I asked what that sword is."
It was Lily's voice, astride the black wolf.
"Oh, come on! Make some noise when you show up. You scared me. And isn't your job to watch? Why are you talking to me?"
"Sorry... But that sword is just so mysterious. This red energy was pouring out of it. And your eyes—what's with those?"
"Before that, what's with this dog? Aren't you its master?"
Strangely, the black wolf called Shady was rubbing its head against Roy, sticking close. He couldn't understand why.
"I don't know either. It seems to like you..."
"You asked about this sword, right? How about it? Want to trade this sword for your spirit?"
"What?"
Roy sent mana through his sword again. The blade, still dripping with the Twin-Headed Hound's blood, glowed red and looked even more sinister than expected. He quickly swung it to fling off the blood. That kind of care was important if you wanted to sell it for a high price.
"No. Shady is mine."
"Aw, don't be like that. Here, try channeling mana into this sword yourself. Be careful—it cuts ridiculously well."
Roy handed the sword to Lily. Even if something went wrong, it was fine. He still had another enchanted sword at his waist—also a sword he'd received on his seventh birthday, an unnecessarily ornate gift from Benjamin Biswald.
Even while insisting she would never give up Shady, Lily didn't refuse the sword Roy offered. She immediately channeled mana into it and examined it this way and that, marveling.
"Wow... How did you do this?"
"I didn't make it... My master did. More precisely, someone else forged the sword and my master enchanted it."
He'd almost bragged and caused trouble again. Roy learned another lesson. A person really should stay humble.
"Whoa... Can you make them too?"
"Not as well as my master, but I can imitate it."
It had already been four years since he started the enchanted weapon business. Throughout that time, Geren had remained Roy's master. Moreover, word had spread that Roy had defeated Benjamin Biswald's youngest son in a magic duel—that he was born with talent for magic, and that such a child was studying under a mage of renown. If people now heard that Roy could perform enchantments, they'd just accept it.
Of course, that would mean people wanting to become Geren's disciples would be swarming. It's already bad enough.
"You're more impressive than I thought. So what about those eyes?"
"They're my spirit."
"A spirit?"
"Yeah. Using this spirit's eyes, I can tell where illusion herbs are, or who's hiding."
"Our Shady can do that too. So you used those eyes to figure out that Shady and I were peeking?"
"Something like that."
"Where's the real spirit? You only have the eyes?"
"My spirit eats a lot of mana. So I just borrow the eyes."
"Ah, yeah... Shady's the same. Around here it's fine, but calling him elsewhere takes a huge amount of mana."
"...!"
Listening to Lily, Roy felt as if something that had been clogged up all this time had suddenly cleared. Certainly the mana density around here was high enough that beings from other dimensions flocked here. Naturally, the mana needed to command a spirit would likely decrease as well.
Maybe this place was the answer all along...
After securing the Dragon's Breath, Roy thought he should secretly visit this place again. If the hypothesis he'd just formed was correct, he could accelerate the timeline more than expected—the time until he could summon the spirit of the Golden Eyes again.