Chapter 124
Translator: penny
Chapter: 124
Chapter Title: Realm of Savagery: Priella Atria (6)
A thick stench of blood spread through the back alleys of the city.
When Crayton, who had been leaning against the dilapidated wall, opened his eyes again, he found himself face-to-face with the familiar fluttering muffler.
One of the Eight Seats of the Eight Sword Council—Priella Atria.
She was the mercenary who had borrowed a ton of supplies from Crayton with no intention of ever paying them back.
"Crayton, are you coming around?"
"......"
Hearing Priella's voice, Crayton grimaced at the throbbing headache circling his mind.
As he lifted his head, still reeling from the aftereffects of the Heavenly Eye, and scanned his surroundings, his vision was as normal as ever.
Swish-.
Had the magic's effect completely vanished when he lost consciousness?
Fortunately, no more scenes from the outside world appeared in Crayton's field of view.
However, the changes that had occurred on-site weren't limited to that.
"Korkia... where did that woman go......?"
The great shaman of the Erbvar Federation, Korkia.
The shaman who had borrowed power from an otherworldly being was no longer anywhere to be seen.
'She must have fled while I was out.'
It seemed Korkia had escaped while he was unconscious.
Crayton's efforts to pursue her had gone to waste.
Still, to get a clear picture of the situation, he needed to hear the details from Priella.
When Crayton asked her about the woman's whereabouts, Priella responded with a single indifferent remark.
"I tried to catch her, but I failed."
"......So that's how it went."
Hoo-.
A heavy sigh escaped Crayton's lips.
Korkia was hailed as the foremost authority on shamanism.
It wasn't surprising that Priella couldn't catch her when she had resorted to her final measure.
"......"
The silver lining, if any, was that it didn't seem like a technique she could use without cost.
In the last moment before he lost consciousness, Crayton had successfully observed Korkia's exploded eyeball through the Heavenly Eye.
An eyeball crushed in a gruesomely brutal form-.
It was undoubtedly the backlash from the powerful shamanism she had invoked.
"Tch-. What a shame."
A small complaint slipped from Crayton's lips as he sat leaning against the wall.
It was lament over letting Korkia escape.
- Caw—!
As if empathizing with Crayton's words, the crow spirit perched on Priella's shoulder let out a cry.
Pfft-.
Crayton let out a hollow chuckle and looked up at the crow spirit.
"You're sharper than you look."
A brief compliment toward the spirit.
Right after, the crow spirit cried out two or three times.
- Caw, caw—!
"It says it's smarter than you, Crayton."
"What......?!"
Following the crow's cries came Priella's absurd interpretation.
Swish-.
While hearing the utterly unreliable translation, Crayton pushed himself up from the wall he had been leaning on.
He couldn't help but wonder if true communication was even happening between the two.
Of course, Crayton had no intention of voicing such doubts.
"Wait here a moment. I need to call the nearby guards."
Instead, he chose to go fetch the guards in the vicinity.
It was a decision from the lead mage of the Magic Corps.
"Crayton, does that mean the mission failed?"
Priella asked Crayton, who had picked up his staff, about the success of this mission.
Crayton's conflicted gaze turned to the corpse of the dead savage warrior.
Five mages had died.
It was a painful loss for the Magic Corps.
"This should be enough. You did well, Miss Priella."
"You'll split the contribution points when we get back, right?"
Even so, Crayton knew that not everything in the world went perfectly.
After all, hadn't they executed one of the savages responsible for killing the mages?
This incident had to be considered satisfactory at this level.
Step, step-.
Crayton's footsteps, staff in hand, left prints in the fresh white snow.
"......Yes, we'll do that."
In the pristine snowy landscape, the lead mage's voice echoed out.
It was one winter.
* * * * * *
—Celestia, the Phantasm Library.
In the middle of the library housing countless spells, I was reading grimoires as usual.
All the grimoires in Celestia were products of my own hands, yet I still took time every day to check the collection.
The reason was, naturally, the magic system I had recently acquired.
A new magic system analyzed and internalized from corrupted grimoires.
I was working on rewriting the existing grimoires based on it.
In other words, revising the ancient grimoires.
"......"
Of course, none of this work could be finished overnight.
Celestia held a vast number of grimoires, and the weight of history accumulated over centuries was far from light.
Transplanting all those grimoires into the new magic system required considerable time.
That's why I devoted most of my time, day and night, to revising the grimoires.
'No issues so far with the work.'
As my gaze read through the grimoire's incantations, the pen floating in the air wrote characters on its own.
It was real-time conversion of the magic incantations.
Scratch, scratch-.
Thus, the sound of the quill busily scratching away in one corner of the library lasted only a moment.
- Caaaaw—!
Soon after, something small suddenly flew onto the desk.
Whoosh-.
The black beast that landed on the desk promptly spread its wings and let out a clear cry around it.
- Caw, caaaw—!
A single crow sitting proudly on the desk, spreading a pair of wings tinged with jet black.
It was the spirit contracted with Priella, and at the same time, a top-grade spirit forcibly added to Celestia.
As if to flaunt its presence, it spread its wings wide and puffed up with a self-important air.
'Was it called Crowy?'
Priella always called the little guy 'Crowy.'
It didn't seem like the spirit had agreed to it.
Of course, refusing wouldn't make Priella retract the name.
"No need to caw so loudly. I already know you've come."
- Caw—?
Swish-.
I set down the book I was holding and looked at the crow spirit that had landed before me.
Separate from Priella's unique personality, this spirit was also remarkably unusual for one of its kind.
That made sense, since it had chosen a human, not an elf, as its contractor.
A rare choice for a spirit.
'I can guess why it chose Priella.'
Of course, I had a rough idea why this spirit had selected Priella.
Surely, it was drawn to her gray hue.
Wasn't its own nature that of a spirit lurking in shadows?
It must have taken a liking to the darkness of Priella, who could see nothing but gray landscapes.
"So, what's the reason for your visit?"
I asked the crow spirit directly about its purpose as I faced it.
At that, it spat something out from its beak as if it had been waiting.
- Caw! Ptooey—!
Thud, roll-.
A large something tumbled out from the spirit's wide-open beak.
Only then did I understand the purpose of the spirit's visit.
"You've come asking for contribution points again, huh."
- Caw—!
The reason the crow spirit had come to me.
It was to exchange the treasure it had brought this time for contribution points.
Ha-.
I quietly gazed at the treasure it had brought.
And soon after, I gave it a response with a hollow chuckle.
"It's hard to award contribution points for something like this."
- Caaaaw......?
A declaration that no points could be given.
At that one sentence, the crow spirit's pupils shook as if in shock.
However, my answer didn't change.
The reason was, obviously, the item it had brought.
"......For starters, where did you even get this?"
For any decent treasure, I would have acknowledged the spirit's contribution points.
But the item it brought this time was one I couldn't really recognize as treasure.
The item the crow spirit had brought me.
It was none other than 'Polaris No. 1.'
- .....
The spirit's gaze quietly looked up at me after spitting out the gleaming crystal orb from its beak.
And I, too, quietly looked down at the spirit.
Our gazes met.
In the silence, the spirit and I stared at each other quietly.
"......"
- .....
A brief silence descended upon the library.
Right after, it covered its face with its wings.
- Caw, caw—.
"......You should head back now."
- Gulk, gulk—.
A sorrowful cry echoed through the library.
I didn't bother stopping the weeping spirit.
I was just a bit curious watching it.
Just what was this guy planning with the mountain of contribution points it was piling up?
It was something even I couldn't fathom.
* * * * * *
The treacherous mountain range beyond the Empire's borders.
In the heart of the range that the tribes of the Erbvar Federation called 'Barkat,' an old man with faded whiskers was quietly staring at a massive boulder.
Creak, creak, grind-.
As the boulder the old man faced slowly twisted with grotesque sounds.
The boy watching the old man from the side spoke up.
"Master. Didn't you say the name 'Five Tusks' refers to the Erbvar Federation's executives?"
The boy asked his master, Pilgrim Bartov, about the Erbvar Federation's 'Five Tusks.'
He had learned about them from Pilgrim Bartov once before.
In response, Bartov smiled proudly, pleased by his disciple's attitude.
"The Federation hasn't been fully operational for long. The Five Tusks refers to the savages chosen by the Great Chieftain in that process."
"......"
"They could be called the real powers in Barkat right now."
The highest executives of the Erbvar Federation.
The Five Tusks-.
The boy's face grew even more perplexed upon hearing their explanation.
"But, Master... is it really okay to reduce one of those executives to this state?"
Naturally, the reason the boy posed such a question to Bartov was simple.
The chairman of the Extreme Magic Research Council and the mage known for monopolizing all the world's knowledge—Pilgrim Bartov.
Moments ago, that very Bartov had crushed one of the Five Tusks.
"This man introduced himself as one of the Five Tusks, didn't he?"
"......"
"And he had quite a few subordinates with him, too......"
One of the Federation's Five Tusks—undoubtedly, the savage named 'Ogor.'
True to his status as one of the top executives, he had boldly confronted the two with his valiant underlings.
However, that was only until moments ago.
Like a northern savage warrior, he had treated Bartov with utmost barbarity, and the result was the massive boulder now before the boy's eyes.
"You're quite the worrier, Julius."
Pilgrim Bartov gave an indulgent smile upon hearing the boy's words.
Drip-.
From between the twisted boulders behind Bartov, red blood trickled down.
The massive boulder had swallowed Ogor and his underlings, leaving only a trace of their existence.
For challengers against one of the continent's Seven Corners, it was a remarkably clean end.
"Even so, this is Federation territory... Won't the King of Savages get angry?"
The boy had no desire to defend the dead savage.
He was simply worried about whether it was alright to do this in the Barkat Mountains.
Swish, stroke-.
Bartov, who had been listening to Julius, quietly stroked his beard.
And soon, he spoke to Julius standing beside him.
"Julius. Do you remember what I told you about pilgrimage?"
Would reassuring words come forth?
As Julius pondered that, what reached his ears was the tale of Pilgrim Bartov's pilgrimage.
The journey chosen by the greedy sage who sought all the world's mysteries, casting aside everything he had built.
Stories flowed of the strict precepts that had transformed him into a pilgrim.
"Julius. I'll say it once more: anything obstructing the flow of pilgrimage must be cleared."
"......"
"The pilgrimage procession follows the celestial currents. Thus, no matter what, it must not be hindered in advancing."
Pilgrim Bartov spoke of a single rule.
The pilgrimage must not be obstructed.
Detours forward or retracing steps back were not permitted.
Only walking the predetermined path defined Bartov's pilgrimage procession.
Hearing that, a small response toward his master slipped from the boy's lips.
"......Yes."
"That is the only path to reach the 'Pilgrimage of the Heavenly Path,' shedding all natural orders and shackles."
Step, step-.
The footsteps of the great pilgrim, Bartov, who continued his eternal pilgrimage, began advancing along the path once more.
"Come, Julius."
The boy's footsteps followed behind that Bartov.
When would this endless pilgrimage of the old man come to an end?
Even the boy chasing after the old man alongside countless souls could not guess.
Chilly winds blew through the north.
Upon the savage lands, the two men's pilgrimage continued today as well.