Chapter 13 - Do I Have Talent Too?
Chapter 13 - Do I Have Talent Too?
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"Little warrior, Dennis. It seems you have a talent after all."
"Talent, you say?"
Talent, huh.
Doesn't it usually happen? Reading novels or manga, you see a protagonist dropped into another world who receives power from a goddess and goes around rampaging.
Unfortunately, nothing like that happened to me. I just opened my eyes one day and dropped right in.
And in my original body, at that! Would it have killed them to give me a slightly sturdier physique?
"Talent as a black magician, that is."
Is this because of that time I stopped the skeleton?
But couldn't that just have been a coincidence? I'm honestly afraid it's way too hasty to assume I definitely have talent as a black magician.
"Karl. Couldn't what happened back then just have been a fluke?"
"No. That was definitely the power of a black magician. I know it well."
If Karl says so, it must be true. After all, I didn't know a thing until she told me.
"But what does a black magician have to do with studying letters?"
"It has a lot to do with it. All magicians learn magic through books."
"Are there books on black magic...?"
"There probably aren't any. But if you go to the large library in the city, you can find clues."
My life in the previous world was identical to that of an ordinary Korean person.
Studying only through school days before going to university, taking a leave of absence during my freshman year, and going to the army.
You could say studying occupied most of my life, in a way.
'I never thought I'd be going to a library in this life too.'
The best thing about being dropped into another world. For some reason, we could understand each other's languages.
How wonderful it would have been if I could even read the writing while we were at it!
"Learn to read and write. And cultivate your power as a black magician."
Karl placed a hand on my shoulder and muttered as if whispering.
Yet, I couldn't understand it.
Didn't this person hold a grudge against black magicians?
"...Karl. You said before that a black magician burned down your hometown. I might end up having that power myself. Are you really okay with this?"
Her expression hardened slightly.
Was she flustered? However, recovering her expressionless face shortly after, Karl chanted in a vigorous voice as she always did.
"Power has no good or evil. Only the wielder is evil or good. If you use that power in a good place, you are a good person."
"I see."
Her face was still coldly stiffened. Yet, deep sorrow oozed from her dark eyes.
Those are the eyes of someone longing for their hometown. I know that look very well myself.
Because I've made those eyes too.
A library in this world boasts the outrageous price of costing a whopping 5 bronze coins.
Five loaves of black bread! Even though it's food that tastes awful and is so hard that only beggars eat it, 5 loaves of it form a very precious sustenance that warms your stomach once eaten.
I'm just glad I earned a lot of money...
'I can't even read. Is there any reason for me to come to the library?'
It's not that I don't trust the barbarian Karl's judgment. But she isn't right one hundred percent of the time either.
Of course, I have no intention of grumbling about wasting money. The money I have right now is practically what Karl earned for me anyway.
"Excuse me..."
Naturally, since I don't know the letters, I can't find the book I want.
So I decided to talk to the librarian at the library's reception desk.
"Hmm? Ah, the cookbooks are over there. Even if you can't read, pictures are included, so..."
"No! That's not it. Actually, I want to learn how to read and write."
To tell someone to go straight to the kitchen upon a first meeting!
Of course, considering how trivial the perspective on men is in this world, it's a natural reaction.
"They said the era of men learning to read and write had arrived, and it's true."
"Ahaha..."
"You've come to the right place. We happen to have a writing book for men in our library."
It suddenly reminds me of when I learned Hangeul and English when I was young.
Back then, thanks to having a teacher to teach me, I could understand it relatively easily.
"Um, aren't there any teachers who can teach letters?"
"Hmm. Is there really no one in your household who knows how to read? Actually, reading itself is very easy, so if you just know the trick, you'll pick it up quickly."
There's naturally no way there would be!
"...There isn't."
"Huuurm. Then I suppose you have no choice but to go to the church."
The church!
The most surprising thing when I fell into this world was that, unlike churches in various media, this side of the world was a very proper place.
It does a lot of things beneficial to society, such as supporting alchemists (who correspond to scientists in our world) and sponsoring artists to produce works.
It also takes on the role of organizing public order by having paladins patrol on their own.
It even acts as a hospital for sick people!
'If it's the shinbu-nim, they might really be able to teach me letters. Though it'll cost a bit since I'm an adult.'
Should I think of this as part of reinvestment?
Anyway, after thanking the librarian, I walked over to the bookshelf she pointed to.
"Books... Ah, here it is."
Finding the book was simple.
That must be because a book with a drawing of a baby and a pencil stood out right away.
It seemed they drew the pictures large so even illiterates could recognize them.
I picked it up right away.
'They said the overdue fee is 3 bronze coins.'
It's definitely expensive. Having to spend my entire daily food budget on this! Tears of blood are streaming down jureuk-jureuk.
"Then before taking this to the church..."
Let's first see what it looks like.
The book was a decent size. As expected of a library book, it was frayed here and there. But I should still be able to read it.
I opened the book immediately.
"...Hmm?"
As I opened the book, an amazing thing happened.
[Easy Handwriting for Anyone]
The letters on the paper wriggled all of a sudden and soon began to transform into a language I could read, namely Hangeul!
'What the hell!'
There was nothing like this before, was it?
It's an absurd change...
'Could it be because of what happened recently...?'
Did stopping the skeleton have some kind of effect on my body?
Like my intelligence increasing a bit more, or something.
Whatever it is, such a miraculous experience is a huge benefit to me.
'As Karl said, maybe I do have a talent.'
It would have been great if that talent had manifested from the beginning. Unfortunately, it didn't.
'I don't know what triggered it. There are too many things pointing to it.'
Catching the skeleton? Or maybe because I handled a lot of quests?
Or maybe the soup I ate yesterday stimulated my power. I can't pin down any specific reason at all.
"Anyway, I achieved my goal... Now I just need to find things about black magicians."
Taking a quick look around this library, there were quite a few books on black magicians. I don't necessarily need to read all of them.
I picked up a book titled [About Black Magicians] and quickly flipped through the pages.
[...Records on black magicians are usually accompanied by the expression that they are base. They all display a fanatical worship of power, and for that sake, they even showed behavior of sacrificing their own family.]
"This isn't it... Next!"
[Ever since the Demon King was defeated by the hero's party from another world, a large-scale extermination policy against black magicians began. After about 50 years of war, the church, having seized victory, erased even their idols and records.]
"Is that why it's hard to find..."
Still, they probably weren't annihilated. After all, black magicians were the ones who burned down Karl's hometown right now.
[The magic used by black magicians was extremely powerful, but in front of the kingdom's knights and the church's paladins, they couldn't wield much power. Countless black magicians met their deaths, and only a small number barely survived and fled, as if chased toward the north.]
So Karl's hometown suffered damage because of that. Should I say she had bad luck?
[Currently, the magic handled by black magicians is completely lost. This is not something to rejoice over; rather, we must raise our vigilance regarding the disappearance of countermeasures against that fatal magic.]
"So it really is gone."
Of course, if I'm told to, I can find it. I'll somehow manage if I go north too.
However, I don't want to spend resources and time on that. Whew, this isn't it. I clicked my tongue, tseut, and tried to close the cover again.
[A black magician's magic can be broadly divided into three types. By writing down these types remaining in the records, the writer aims to appeal to readers' vigilance regarding black magicians.]
"Hmm?"
Until just a moment ago, it said the magic was lost and gone.
Why did it suddenly change its tune? Besides, this page looks strangely brand new.
[The first is 'Summoning Magic', a type that summons demons, beings residing in hell, by offering sacrifices. The second is 'Curse' (sal), which curses the opponent to rob them of their physical abilities or permanently lose them. The third is 'Necromancy', which revives the dead.]
Summoning magic, curse (sal), and necromancy.
[A skilled black magician can appropriately utilize these three to kill an opponent.]
"This is pretty valuable."
As expected, nothing Karl says goes to waste.
Since I've learned even this.
'Can I use this someday too?'
To me, who finds black bread more valuable than a black magician, it actually feels very distant.
Still, if I could just use this... Wouldn't I be able to eat delicious food in a comfortable sleeping place from now on?
"Great!"
My life, which had only been covered in fog, seems a little brighter now.