8
My Villains Chapter 8
3. Elemental Mage (3)
Barely swallowing the curses about to fly out, I took another swig of beer.
Whether she knew my frustrating situation or not, the baggage, no, Ellen had a confident expression.
"A magician doesn't simply mean someone who uses magic. Uncovering the secrets of dimensions and exploring the fundamentals of matter. That's what true...
I scratched my head feeling heat rise.
When did I last wash this body?
Hadn't I not washed for a full fortnight?
There's supposed to be a well behind the inn, I should roughly wash there later.
"...So strictly speaking, while I may not functionally meet the conditions of a magician, due to the knowledge I possess...
I abruptly asked Ellen, who was still spouting nonsense.
"Do you know what they call a cook who can't cook, a singer who can't sing, a doctor who can't heal people, things like that?"
"...What do they call them?"
"There are quite a few. Idiot, defective product, useless human. Just pick one of the three. Which do you want?"
"Fine. Useless human is probably the best?"
Ellen closed her mouth with a sulky face. Satisfactory.
Come to think of it, that wand resembling a recorder Ellen had, it was quite a familiar item.
The discrepancy between 2D graphics seen on a monitor and reality unfolding before my eyes was confusing, but that was clearly the unique wand 'Baton of the West Wind'.
Among Dark World equipment, there were items that allowed use of unskilled skills or enhanced learned skills.
They were also called 'skill items', but most were in the form of allowing a certain skill to be used a limited number of times.
The 'Baton of the West Wind' was also a type of skill item, but befitting a unique wand, it had several special effects attached.
Stat increases and magic recovery were a given, and to name two unusual options... One was the effect of allowing unlimited use of the 'Gale Wind' skill.
And the second was 'Restriction Easing' which significantly lowered the equippable level.
How do I know this in such detail? Because it's an item that is always used when raising an Elemental Mage alt.
I even created a new Elemental Mage character as soon as I obtained the 'Baton of the West Wind'.
As that thought occurred, suddenly one of the characters registered to my Dark World account came to mind.
I don't remember exactly, but about six months ago I created a female Elemental Mage.
It's been a while so I don't quite remember the character name... Was it 'ABCDMagician'? Well, it was something like that.
Anyway, as soon as I created the character, I transferred over some usable equipment including the 'Baton of the West Wind' from my then main character, the Berserker.
And I immediately cleared Chapter 1, then never touched it again after that.
That's because I started full-fledged PK with the newly campaign-cleared Blood Knight 'Pique Application Note'.
I muttered while swallowing.
"Then could it be?"
When I raise an Elemental Mage, I don't put any skill points until level 15. The 'Baton of the West Wind' is enough to clear Chapter 1.
For stats, I only put 10 in health and 20 in magic, leaving the rest.
The idea was to finalize the skill tree and start allocating stats once usable equipment drops while progressing through the campaign.
Suddenly feeling goosebumps, I turned to look at Ellen.
The girl who had been dejected from my scolding spoke softly with a furrowed brow, as if I'd seen a ghost.
"W-What are you looking at?"
Concern, worry, or perhaps fear hung heavily in her blue eyes.
Looks like she's finally realized she's a useless human. She tried to act confident, but signs of intimidation were evident.
"Hah, it's nothing."
"What. What is it."
My intuition was screaming. Ellen was that very 'ABCDMagician' that I had created, briefly enjoyed, then abandoned.
But Ellen was a living, breathing human.
There was no doubt about that. That emotion and vitality was something that could never be imitated by a mere program.
Trying hard to organize my jumbled thoughts, I opened my mouth.
"You, why did you come to South Harbor?"
"Um... I have something I need to do."
"Something you need to do? What is it?"
"That's none of your business."
How fitting for a girl in her stormy adolescence.
I gazed steadily at Ellen.
I suppose I should make this clear.
"You saved my life, and I saved yours. In other words... We've built a certain level of trust through cooperation. Don't you think?"
"So?"
"On top of that, I've given you some help. Using a potion on you was purely out of my goodwill. Right?"
"...Let's say that's true."
Ellen's ticking attitude was annoying, but not enough to break my patience. I tried to speak in a kind tone.
"It's not 'let's say that's true'. This is a very important matter."
"An important matter?"
"Yes. Why do you think I showed you goodwill?"
"How should I know?"
"I'm thinking of making you my companion."
Ellen opened her eyes wide as if surprised. Then after chewing her lips for a moment, she asked in a calmer voice.
"W-Who decided that?"
"I'm not saying I'll do it on my own. From now on, we need to reach an agreement through conversation."
The most important thing when dealing with children is respect.
If you show an attitude of respecting their opinions without disregarding them for being young, most children will notice that goodwill.
...Or so I heard in the child welfare theory from liberal arts classes.
Come to think of it, Ellen isn't quite a child, is she? As soon as I thought that, her face relaxed considerably.
"An agreement?"
"Yeah. I'm a useful warrior, and I have decent social skills. I won't be a bad companion at all. What do you think?"
"Well, you don't seem completely idiotic - let's say that's true. But..."
Ellen hesitated for a moment while speaking. Then, fiddling with the beer mug in front of her, she glanced at me and asked, "As I said earlier, I'm in a state where I can't demonstrate the functional aspects of a magician. The wand my master gave me is also shattered..."
There she goes again about her master.
It seems Ellen considers the 'Baton of the West Wind' as something given by her master.
Well, I suppose it would be a bit strange to receive a wand from an unknown Berserker.
Wait. Come to think of it, does it make sense for a unique item to shatter after being stepped on a few times? That's hard to obtain...
As I frowned thinking about this, Ellen trailed off.
Seeing her face that had suddenly darkened, I quickly opened my mouth.
"Of course, you're a useless human right now."
"...Well, that's not wrong."
"But you won't be a useless human forever. You're still growing, and you have the potential to become the greatest magician in the Middle World someday."
Ellen's eyes wavered at my definitive words. But her mouth formed a sneer.
"What do you know about magic? I've studied magic for over ten years, but I'm a fool who can't even create a single fire arrow on my own."
Deep skepticism or self-loathing could be felt from her expression and words.
Perhaps my insignificant choice had tormented her life.
A magician who can't even use basic magic. How painful must it have been?
I wanted to say, 'No, you'll become incredibly strong just by leveling up. You can't use magic because you're just saving skill points and haven't allocated them,' but of course, I held back.
Now is the time to build trust with this baggage, no, this girl, not the time to be treated like a madman.
"Of course, I don't know about magic. But..."
I nodded readily and placed my hand on the table.
After looking around briefly to check people's gazes, I slightly dipped my fingertip in the beer. The hardened scab dissolved.
"I know a bit about energy."
As I concentrated, droplets of blood climbed up my finger against the flowing beer.
Then they swirled and clumped together in a small whirlpool. It was a trick using the binding force over blood.
However, Ellen didn't seem very surprised by my trick.
"Blood manipulation? What of it? Blood manipulation and magic use completely different energies as their base?"
"Huh?" This wasn't the reaction I expected. Well, since she studied magic for ten years, I guess she learned other knowledge on the side too.
Blood control, or rather, Blood manipulation was a kind of supernatural ability that only those born with rare talent could handle.
Of course, it was also an ability possessed by the Blood Knight, a player character in Dark World.
I roughly thought it was similar to magic, but it's completely unrelated? I didn't know that.
"Ahem, anyway. I guarantee... You definitely have the potential to become an excellent magician."
"Hmm."
She didn't look very convinced, but it seems she'll let it slide.
"I... I'm looking for someone on my master's orders. The last place where traces were found is a city north of here, and I'm on my way there. I can't tell you any more than that."
Though I'm in the habit of skipping dialogue windows, I vaguely remember.
Ellen's goal is probably to chase the spell thief 'Scythe' who has hidden in 'Raven's Cliff'.
"Hmm, alright. I understand."
Thinking that was enough, I nodded.
From the beginning, what was important wasn't the content of the information, but the fact of sharing it itself.
Recalling the Blood Knight's scenario, I spoke in a slightly serious tone. As if roleplaying.
"I'm looking for the source of my blood. It's a necessary process to grasp the ultimate meaning of Blood manipulation."
"Hmm.”
Despite my attempt at serious acting, Ellen doesn't seem very interested. How awkward.
"So, what do you think? Your answer?"
At my question, Ellen hesitated for a moment before nodding.
"If our destinations are the same... Let's do that."
"Good."
"......"
Ellen looked down at the hand I extended for a moment. Then, with an enigmatic expression, she grasped it.
And so, the future great magician - currently just a burden with no skills and stats barely at level 5 - Ellen became my first companion.
The name of the inn where Ellen and I entered was 'Ship's Horn Inn'.
Not too good, not too bad, just an average inn.
While paying for meals and lodging, I had to learn anew about the Dark World's currency.
In the game, gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins were all converted and displayed as GP, but reality was different.
To explain briefly, the currency mainly used is gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins. They say barter is prevalent in remote villages, but that's not our concern.
Based on the Milanol Kingdom, which will be our main stage of activity from now on... One gold coin is worth five silver coins, and one silver coin is worth twelve copper coins.
Normally, five copper coins are enough for two meals and lodging at an inn, she said.
Ellen gave me the explanation while casting suspicious glances as if wondering why I didn't know this.
Well, I vaguely mumbled that I wanted to confirm because the currency system seemed different from 'Ailant', the stage of Chapter 1.
Anyway, perhaps due to the poor situation in the city, the meal prices were ridiculously expensive.
The meal consisted only of bland, pale oatmeal porridge and hard rye bread. It neither tasted good nor filled me up much, yet they demanded five copper coins.
I briefly looked into it, wondering if they were overcharging me as an outsider, but this seemed to be the going rate these days. Apparently, food prices have become unimaginably expensive.
After filling our stomachs like that, we headed to the inn's backyard to wash up.
Ah, they even charged one copper coin for using the well. The innkeeper here really seems crazy.
However, the bad mood from being fleeced disappeared as soon as I took off my bandages and clothes.
"Wow. What is this?"