Chapter 16
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Travel Companions: Recruiting Enthusiastically
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When they returned to the inn, old man Richer was already up and practicing his magic. He focused not on boosting output, but on precise control.
Richer was creating multiple rings of water and fire, weaving them into chains without letting them touch.
"Old man, enough with the fire tricks. Listen to what I've got to say."
"You bolted after seeing that Rabbit Beastkin earlier. Did you confess or something in the meantime?"
Tae-jin flinched, wondering if his tastes had been found out, but decided to brush it off vaguely.
"What nonsense is that? He just seemed like he knew a way to sneak across the border, so I followed. And that beastkin was a guy, anyway."
Richer made a face that said he understood all of Tae-jin's preferences. It was the most infuriating expression in the world, but getting worked up would only play into it.
"Really? Looks like you dug up some interesting info. Spill it."
Tae-jin spun the tale with some artistic liberties.
The Rabbit Beastkin seemed like a formidable fellow. There was an air of secrecy and crime about him.
Driven by a sense of justice, Tae-jin had tailed him to see what crime he was up to, only to discover they were smugglers. If they played their cards right, crossing the border shouldn't be too hard.
Richer furrowed his brow slightly and spoke up.
"Smugglers won't travel with strangers whose backgrounds they don't know, will they?"
"They seemed to be looking for mercenaries. Can't we just pretend to be hires and muscle in?"
"Hmm. We're not exactly part of a mercenary band."
"How long does it take to get mercenary credentials? There's a mercenary guild in the city, right?"
Richer shot him a look like he was the world's most pathetic fool, and Tae-jin backpedaled as if it had all been a joke.
"Kidding, of course. We'd get caught in a heartbeat at the guild. What I figure is, we act like fellow smugglers and ask to tag along."
"You think barging in out of nowhere, claiming you're one of them, and inviting yourself along will work? Your sense of reality is completely shot."
"Back home, regular folks never run into smugglers. It's different here. Not knowing is normal."
Richer clicked his tongue and replied.
"Those types stick to a fixed crew. Unless you're connected somehow, you can't join the gang. At best, they'd open a route for you."
"So what do we do?"
"What else? Go straight at it. Play dumb and clueless, butter them up properly."
"I'm not confident about that."
"Leave it to me. Don't worry. We'll grab a bite tonight, then tomorrow, blend in when those guys move out."
With that, old man Richer headed downstairs to the first-floor tavern with Tae-jin.
The two of them loitered in front of the inn from the crack of dawn.
The smugglers must have been an early-rising bunch; they emerged from the inn with their bundles before the sun had even peeked over the horizon.
"Smugglers earn by the time they move, so they always get up early and get going early."
Richer puffed up with pride as he explained. Tae-jin wanted to poke holes in it but had nothing to say.
"So, what's the plan now?"
"We head to the road to Rahis City first, wait there, and hitch a ride when those guys pass by."
"They're smugglers, right? Don't they go over mountains or ford rivers off the beaten path?"
Richer gave him a pitiful look.
"Those guys are smugglers, not adventurers. Of course they'll take the easy road if it's there. They're only smugglers when crossing the border. Otherwise, they're just honest peddlers."
"Fine, whatever. What if they roll past in a carriage?"
"From what I saw earlier, there were only carriages to Gate Frontier City. Rahis City is off in a corner, so they don't run daily to there."
"...We can really hitch on?"
"I'm a mage. I've done it plenty. Trust me."
There wasn't a trace left in Richer's confident tone of the half-day he'd spent starving. But there were no other options or people to rely on.
The two cast concealment spells and slipped out the city gates unnoticed, strolling leisurely to the road toward Rahis City.
By the time the sun had risen a bit higher, footsteps approached from behind. Richer slowed his pace slyly and said to Tae-jin,
"Oh man, Tae-jin. Water, please."
Tae-jin gathered a large orb of water with magic. Richer casually poured it into his canteen and drank, positioning himself at just the right angle for passersby to get a good look.
After drinking, the two quickened their steps again. The smugglers glanced at them curiously, but the pair showed no reaction and kept walking.
Maintaining a distance that wouldn't raise alarms, they chatted in the most "mage-like" way possible.
"Are there spells you can only learn at the Empire's Central Tower?"
"Eh, most of what I taught you covers it. They have some unique high-level stuff, but that's beyond your current level."
"I'd love to learn something unusual."
"Unusual, huh. A few come to mind. Like those obsessed with mental magic at the Western Tower... But the weirdest are the southern shamans. Hardly qualify as mages, though."
"Shamans?"
"Yeah. Down south, you've got troll shamans. I once met a troll who used both shamanism and magic—it was incredibly versatile."
"Shamans? Isn't that all just quackery?"
Richer looked genuinely shocked as he replied.
"What?"
"Orc shamans are just snake-oil peddlers."
"Mages don't call orc shamans 'shamans.' Those scum are just drugged-up trash."
It was an uncharacteristically harsh judgment from Richer.
"So, what makes real shamans real?"
"All true shamans are trolls. The only race that can become the real deal."
"Huh. Never heard of troll shamans."
"Of course not. There are fewer true shamans than dragons."
"Fewer than dragons?"
As far as Tae-jin knew, there were fewer than ten named dragons, and he wasn't even sure if any were active.
"Yeah. They might not be stronger than dragons, but they're rarer for sure. There are never more than five troll shamans at a time."
"Why's that? No one wants to learn?"
"No. Unlike magic, where effort alone gets you in the door, shamanism demands too much. Talent, hard work, and the seal from a previous shaman."
"Seal?"
"Not sure on the details. But it can't be passed to multiple people—strictly one successor. If they die without one, the line ends. That's why there are so few."
"Sounds picky. So they only pass it troll-to-troll?"
"Nah, not that. Trolls don't keep it in the family just because."
"Then what?"
"Non-trolls die before they can master it."
"Why die? Mages don't drop dead mid-study."
"Shamanism requires a price. That's the biggest difference from magic. And that price is a real hassle."
To Tae-jin, it sounded off. The logic didn't connect.
"That doesn't explain why only trolls can do it. Other races could prepare the price and use shamanism too, right?"
"You can't leisurely gather every ingredient one by one. Shamanism doesn't care about the user. Even weak spells don't use common stuff. Powerful ones demand even more."
"So, what, trolls get materials at a discount?"
Tae-jin joked as he spoke, but Richer shook his head with a serious expression.
"No. Trolls offer parts of their own body as sacrifice instead. If a spell needs five ingredients, they prep two or three, and sub the rest with flesh—like a fistful of guts or a forearm."
"Eww. That must hurt like hell. Trolls can regenerate, so that's why they can become shamans?"
"Exactly. Other races would die from losing a handful of innards or a limb. No way to learn properly."
Tae-jin imagined himself losing organs or limbs while learning magic.
Even assuming troll-like healing, he had zero interest in enduring that pain for shamanism.
Richer saw his face and grinned.
"Always remember how lucky you are to have learned magic instead."
Tae-jin and Richer walked all day, chatting about this and that.
They kept a subtle distance from the smugglers without drawing notice. The smugglers, hearing rare and intriguing talk, didn't hurry ahead either.
Thankfully, no soldiers appeared all day. They must have figured their numbers were too few to track two mages effectively. Or they'd given up the chase. They knew well how hard mages were to pursue.
Dusk fell before they knew it, and the chirp of crickets began filling the night.
The two eyed the smugglers carefully as they walked.
Then, as one smuggler set down his bag to start a fire, Richer beat him to it with magic.
"Oof, oof. My bones ache after walking all day."
As Richer plopped down first, the would-be fire-starters edged closer. Better to mooch a flame than bother starting their own, it seemed.
"Uh, could we get a little ember?"
"Of course. Or better yet, share our fire instead of just an ember. Plenty of room."
"You sure that's okay?"
The one who approached saying this was the Rabbit Beastkin smuggler.
Tae-jin irrationally wanted to punch him, but decided to let it slide since he looked too scary.