Chapter 11 - Let's Become a Dark Mage
Chapter 11 - Let's Become a Dark Mage
Chapter 11 - Let's Become a Black Magician
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The rain had finally stopped.
Of course, the forest was still dripping with water.
There were so many droplets piled up on the tips of the leaves that passing beneath them made it feel as if one were still caught in a downpour.
"The rain has stopped. Time to move."
Karl said this while casually piling the bones of the wild boar she had devoured inside the cave.
A several-hundred-kilo wild boar was impressive enough, but Karl's appetite, which had polished off all that meat in a single night, was something else!
"Do you always eat like that?"
"Only when the chance comes. You have to eat your fill whenever you can if you want to survive."
Of course, she had not eaten the entire wild boar.
The tough, flavorless parts had been tossed out, and anything that looked like it might harbor parasites had been spat out immediately.
But when a single leg weighed over 20 kg, did any of that really matter...?
"...It's a beast. Looks like some lynxes have gathered."
"They're here to scavenge the meat we threw away yesterday. Leave them be."
I called them lynxes, but they were actually a bit different.
Creatures two or three times the size of anything on Earth, each with a single black eyeball stuck on its forehead.
The wild boar Karl had caught also looked nothing like the ones back on Earth.
Still, since its shape matched and no one felt any sense of wrongness when calling it a "wild boar," this world must call them that too.
"I'll take the lead. Follow quietly."
Karl wrapped her robe around the giant's leg bone and tied it securely. Then, with her characteristic powerful strength, she began dragging it along.
To do something a horse or ox should be doing, and with bare hands at that! And not even on a paved road, but on a rugged mountain path.
"I'll go ahead and clear the way."
"You can just hack it down with an axe. Cutting through grass with a sword takes skill."
She was right.
They say that hacking your way through jungle with a machete, like in the movies, is something only trained experts can manage.
If you're clumsy, the blade ends up buried in your thigh.
"It's over there. About yesterday..."
"You mean the time you kissed my genitals?"
"You don't have to put it so bluntly!"
As expected of someone who grew up in the snowfields, her mouth was incredibly vulgar.
"Are you saying you want to leave my side because of that?"
"I'm not some petty man. I won't whine just because my mouth happened to touch that place."
"Then?"
"I just... wanted to ask if your mind has changed."
At those words, she fell silent for a moment. But soon, as if she had thought of something, she spoke right up.
"It hasn't changed. You are mine forever. That kiss last night decided everything."
"Yes, I understand..."
While pretending to sleep last night, I had thought several times about running away from Karl.
And the conclusion I reached was... that it would be better not to.
Regardless of the reason, traveling with Karl had clearly increased both my skills and my money.
To put it plainly, Karl was a top-tier bus driver. You know how there are people who carry games with overwhelming skill? Exactly like that.
'Let's make use of her while I can.'
Someday an opening to escape would appear.
I just had to wait for that moment.
From the moment we entered the city, we drew an enormous amount of attention.
A barbarian dragging bones longer than a person, tied to a rope, and the small man following behind her.
It was a sight worthy of a circus troupe. If we'd had a single tin can, we might have collected quite a few coins.
"The Adventurer's Guild is right up ahead. Shall I call someone over?"
"Sure."
Even for her, dragging bones this size must have been quite tiring.
She stripped off her robe, rolled her shoulders, and let out a ppudeudeuk- sound.
I watched her for a moment, then walked straight toward the Adventurer's Guild.
"Hmm? If it isn't Dennis-nim. Quite the feat, making it back alive."
"Huh? It was only a skeleton extermination, though."
A giant skeleton had shown up and nearly killed us, but this receptionist only knew we had gone out to hunt ordinary skeletons.
"Why? Because even though it was just skeletons, it took you a whole day. I figured you must have run into some wild beast and died."
"No, I'm perfectly fine, I tell you!"
Ah, so that was the reason. That made sense.
"More importantly, you should come outside. There's something incredible."
"Hah. Did you pick up a dragon egg or something?"
It might be even more impressive than that.
Without answering, I flung the guild doors wide open.
The receptionist, who had followed me out as if to see for herself, had her eyes go wide as saucers.
"What kind of bones...!"
"Pretty big, right? That barbarian lady over there caught it. That giant skeleton was alive and rampaging!"
Karl, who had brought the bones, was now sitting casually on the dirt ground, pulling out some jerky she had stashed away and chewing it with an eujeok-eujeok sound.
Even with all those stares pouring in, she was eating without a care.
"T-This is! A skeleton made from a giant's bones. Why would the ones living on the plain come to the mountains...?"
"A g-giant?"
Did this world have those too?
I did not know everything either. Even after two years as a porter, I was still just a rookie compared to real adventurers.
"Yes. Those dimwits who raise goats. They're so innocent that even if you throw rocks at them, they just grin and hand over cheese."
"Why would the ones living on the plain have been in the forest... and in skeleton form, no less?"
"There must have been a combination of reasons.
The receptionist slowly approached the giant's bones.
"Someone must have killed the giant. The nearest plain is Kamater, and it takes three days on foot to get there."
"They killed a giant?"
Killing an 8-meter monster did not feel real at all.
A lot of people overlook this, but combat is always about size. The reason I walk around the streets with my head down even while carrying this falchion is exactly that.
A 5 kg difference in body weight already creates an enormous gap in strength. What about 20 kg? Your attacks barely even register.
At 8 meters, the weight would be in the ton range. A soccer kick from something like that would probably pack the same punch as a Fireball!
Just looking at the bones made me realize all over again how incredible Karl was for having killed this giant.
"It's hard to believe. Killing giants violates the treaty. It seems... something is definitely happening."
"Hurk! W-what kind of incident are we talking about?"
"The black magicians must be on the move."
Black magicians!
I never thought I would hear that name again. I nearly jumped on the spot.
"Black magicians!"
"Yes, you seem to know the name well. Those demon worshippers killed the poor giant, revived its bones, and sent them into this forest."
The receptionist ran her hand over the leg bone with a solemn expression.
"I do not know what purpose they revived it for... but the church's investigation team will have to come to find out."
"I see. Um, by the way..."
Asking for a reward in this situation felt a bit scummy.
But the living still had to live. That was only natural, was it not?
I did feel sorry that the giant, or whatever it was, had died.
Even though I had never seen one and had helped turn its remains into splinters.
"Are you asking about compensation? Yes, you should receive it, of course. Giants are foes even a C-rank adventurer party would struggle to defeat. We will give you a bit more than the promised reward."
"Alright!"
Bringing these bones really paid off!
"Karl, did you hear that? They're giving us extra reward!"
"I see. It was worth dragging the bones here."
How much would they give?
Even a single silver coin would have been plenty satisfying.
"Hmm, this should be worth about two silver coins."
"R-r-r-really...?!"
Two silver coins?!
That was a whopping 200 copper coins, enough money to spend the winter in real comfort!
"Of course. The Adventurer's Guild does not break its promises."
"Hurk!"
"We will send these bones back to the plain for burial. That is all right, yes?"
The bones looked sturdy enough that, with some work, they might even be usable as armor.
Still, giants seemed to be quite respected around here.
"Yes, let's do that! Karl, you don't mind, right?"
"Doesn't matter."
"Understood. Then please come again tomorrow."
Two silver coins.
My luck was really good. If I had not been traveling with Karl, I would not have gotten this either.
Ah, what a wonderful day. I should eat soup and bread today.
"Dennis."
"Yes, Karl?"
"What are you planning to do with that money?"
"Well... I was thinking of giving most of it to you."
"A snowfield warrior has no interest in pocket change. You keep it."
I figured as much. Then again, calling two silver coins pocket change?
Just how much money did she have?
"I want to spend about half on reinvestment. I was thinking of buying some shin guards and taking on requests to hunt goblins and the like."
Goblin subjugation requests were the flower of adventuring.
No matter how bad the recession got, goblin subjugation quests were always available. Of course, they were dangerous enough to match.
"Hmm. Is that so? My thoughts are a little different, little warrior Dennis."
"Huh? You definitely said reinvesting was a good idea."
"Rather than buying weapons, you should learn your letters. In other words—"
Dennis. Books suit you better than weapons.
Is that it...?
