Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Pioneer Zone (3)
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Galen and Lilia returned to their spots, where Jenny greeted them.
"You've worked hard, both of you."
"Could I trouble you for a favor, Sister Jenny?"
Lilia omitted the object, but Jenny understood and nodded slightly. It was something they'd experienced several times already, so Galen naturally chimed in right after her.
Jenny and Galen reached out their arms to each other. Their hands met lightly.
Flash!
The light blooming around Jenny's hand spread through their clasped grip to Galen as well. It felt like his whole body relaxed in an instant, just like stepping into hot springs. A long sigh escaped him naturally.
"Hoo... Thank you."
"No trouble at all."
Galen gave a slight bow of his head, and Jenny returned it before releasing his hand.
The third miracle, the Miracle of Vitality, had an effect similar to drinking holy water—it restored fatigue.
The fiend hunt they'd just finished hadn't been particularly taxing, but she was offering anyway, insisting it would be rude to send them off empty-handed.
It was like treating hardworking folks to a cold drink with a pat on the back. Except the drink was holy water.
Jenny, as a sub-priestess, could use miracles, and of course Lilia the priestess could too, but since Lilia had been out working, Jenny—who'd been resting—used her divine power instead.
The reason Galen followed Lilia around so willingly during every raid was partly this service. It was practically a luxury to chug holy water multiple times a day. The sensation of his stamina refilling was subtly addictive.
'Clerics really are the best. Their common skills might be the only ones, but they're so versatile...'
In this world, wizards could master their specialty but were hopeless in others. By Earth's standards, they were closer to espers than traditional mages. The Oceanis family were water espers; Redna was a fire esper.
Galen was the sole exception—not because he wielded some entirely new magic system, but simply because the status window let him learn spells rapidly and aim for mastery across multiple fields at once.
Clerics, on the other hand, could support with the Miracle of Vitality, heal with the Miracle of Healing, and mimic warriors with the Miracle of Fortification. Even limiting to the first five miracles, they were incredibly versatile; the higher ones must make them true jacks-of-all-trades.
Of course, they couldn't match a warrior's specs one-on-one or a wizard's mass destruction in group fights, but if clerics surpassed those too, warriors and wizards would be treated like trash.
'It'd be nice if I could learn them myself. Though maybe that's too greedy.'
Galen secretly smacked his lips.
Truth be told, it wasn't pure envy of a cleric's versatility; he was wondering if he could sneak some for himself. But despite receiving the Miracle of Vitality multiple times, the status window showed no reaction.
He hadn't expected much. It had activated upon direct contact with mana from secret manuals or spirits, so if divine power worked the same way, he'd have awakened ages ago. Back when he served Jerbon, he'd witnessed miracles a few times with no effect—sudden awakening now would be weird.
'No reaction fighting warriors either. Seems it only responds to mana, not aura or divine power.'
That alone was cheat-level, so Galen let go of his greed. If he needed miracles, he could just travel with clerics. Why try doing everything solo?
"Moving out!"
"Moving out!"
While Galen was lost in brief thought, voices called from front and back. The halted caravan started rolling again, and Lilia's group urged their horses forward to match.
"Brother Galen, Brother Galen!"
Lilia, walking her horse alongside his, leaned toward him. Riding was second nature to her, so this wasn't unsteady at all.
"Something just occurred to me—mind if I ask?"
"Go ahead."
"I've seen your skills several times these past few days, but they were all fiends that Silver-rankers could handle easily, right?"
"True. The panghog was the toughest we faced."
The fiends they'd encountered over three days might trouble Bronze-rankers, but they were pushovers for Silvers. Everyone knew Galen was Silver from his mercenary plate, so Lilia hadn't really gained new info.
"To plan properly, I need to know your exact capabilities. Any experience hunting specific fiends before?"
"I'm not that experienced."
Galen scratched his chin.
"I've taken down trolls, though."
"That's super impressive!"
"Just once. And not solo. Hmm... Could probably do it alone now?"
"Tell me more?"
Lilia showed keen interest. Without church support, she'd only ever formed small self-funded subjugation teams and had never faced powerful fiends like trolls. Jenny had desperately talked her out of it before she even had the skills.
"Well..."
Galen tried to explain objectively. While a highly skilled warrior friend—who'd been pegged for Gold—held the troll down, he'd battered it with water blobs until it drowned. Somehow, it ended up sounding like boasting.
"Blocking breathing with magic seems super efficient! Any fiend would drop in minutes, right?"
"Those minutes are longer than you'd think—that's the issue. That troll was already worn out from beatings and lacked the strength to resist. A fresh one wouldn't go down easy."
"I'll buy you that time! Oh, but what if it ignores me and goes for you?"
"That's on your guards... Though I can cast other spells while suffocating it."
Not if he had to painstakingly scoop up trickling stream water, but now water was plentiful.
"Oh, right."
Lilia clapped her hands as something clicked.
"From what I've seen so far, and the troll story, you seem to favor hurling water balls like projectiles."
"Usually, yeah."
"No other shapes? Like spears or arrows?"
"Sometimes, but not regularly."
"Why not?"
"Eh, too much hassle? More effort."
Gathering nearby water with Water Flow Manipulation's 'invisible hand' naturally formed spheres. Like snowballing—your hands make round balls.
Changing shapes required extra mana to knead them.
Fiends died the same whether hit by blobs or spears, so why waste time and mana? Just hurl two balls instead.
"Hmm..."
Lilia pondered his simple summary, then—uncharacteristically—glanced at Galen hesitantly.
"This might be rude, but... are you a self-taught wizard, Brother Galen?"
"Spot on. Why's that rude?"
"Well... some self-taught wizards hate even mentioning family-trained ones."
"No issue here. Speak freely."
Galen's casual response put Lilia at ease, reverting to her usual self.
"I worked with a family-trained wizard once... How to put it. They shouted skill names?"
"...Pardon?"
"Like, when throwing a water ball, 'Water Ball!' while hurling it!"
"Is that... a thing? Not what I knew..."
He'd traveled years with Jerbon, never hearing embarrassing terms like Hydro Pump.
"Not all do it! Some stay quiet for gravitas. But they at least mutter during training?"
"Training?"
Galen's ears perked up, despite his skepticism.
He'd leveled Water Flow Manipulation and Spirit Creation past 30 through solo trial-and-error, but that was just fumbling around.
He had no clue about refined family training methods, and here was someone mentioning it.
"You said water spears take more effort, right? Family wizards don't think that way! They just use the Water Spear technique because it exists."
"Isn't a technique just naming an action you can do? No real need..."
"Beats me—I'm no wizard."
Lilia grinned brightly.
"Just popped into my head! Not because you look bored without shouting skill names!"
"Sure it isn't."
Totally sounded like it.
But intent aside, if family wizards named and trained spells that way, there must be a reason. People in this world—sans games or comics—wouldn't do it for show.
Worth thinking seriously about.
...Not that he'd start shouting names.
Two days passed.
On the fifth day since departing Abaka, the regular convoy finally left the entry pass behind and entered the plains zone. They traveled another two hours before reaching their destination.
The village, simply named First, truly was the pioneer zone's inaugural settlement—and the largest among them.
"Fancier than I expected."
Galen remarked at the sight of sturdy walls, not mere fences, encircling it.
"It's old, and it's where pioneer convoys start from. Lots of traffic naturally built it up."
Jenny added. From here, the hundreds traveling together would scatter to various villages on their own.
No village could house them all like a giant inn. Most would camp outside.
But Galen didn't need to. The church had a small outpost here too—a shabby room, but shelter nonetheless.
After unpacking and a quick wash, Galen, Lilia, and Jenny gathered around a map.
"Rest here today, head this way tomorrow!"
Lilia traced a line on the map with her finger. Galen peered at where it stopped.
"What's this mark? Not a village."
"Traces of one. From before."
"Gone now, I take it."
"Villages vanishing wholesale isn't rare in the pioneer zone. When a fiend too strong for them overlaps their territory, tragedy strikes."
"And those fiends haven't been subjugated. Easier to pioneer elsewhere!"
Lilia clenched her fist, picking up Jenny's words.
"So let's start with the closest one!"