Chapter 12
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Bloodshed in Hatchling Village
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Even casting acceleration magic and hurrying along as diligently as he could, by the time Blanc reached Mason Village, the sun was already high in the midday sky.
His heart racing with urgency, Blanc skipped meals and made a beeline for the Mage Association first.
The Mage Association was the one place where the magic academies—always too busy childishly bickering and clashing—actually exchanged with one another.
As Blanc stepped into the Mage Association, a 1st Circle Mage who had been dozing off with his head nodding jerked awake in surprise and stared at him.
"Uh... what brings you here?"
"I've come to apply for establishing an academy. How do I go about it?"
Blanc was a full-fledged 5th Circle Mage, but when it came to administrative matters, he might as well have been a blank slate.
He had served as a royal mage in his youth, then devoted himself to personal research ever since—it was only natural he knew nothing about academies.
Was it that naive demeanor?
The mage stared up at Blanc impassively for a moment before pulling out an application form with a bored expression and handing it over.
"Fill this out first and bring it back."
One might expect annoyance at the insolence from such a distant junior, but Blanc kept his smile and nodded cheerfully.
He filled out the form with utmost care, down to the tiniest detail, then submitted it back to the mage.
"Here you go. What's next?"
"Pestering me won't make it go any faster, you know? I'll verify it first, so just wait."
The mage waved him off irritably and gave the submitted documents a cursory glance.
But not even five seconds later, he kicked back his chair with a clatter and shot to his feet.
"You're a 5th Circle Mage?"
"It's a recent breakthrough, so officially, I'm still listed as 4th Circle."
Blanc explained with his usual gentle smile, prompting the association mage to swallow hard and scrutinize the application intently.
A 5th Circle Mage was a high-rank powerhouse rare even in this backwater village—no way could he act arrogant now.
But for some reason...
As he reviewed the application, the association mage's face suddenly stiffened, and he began stealing nervous glances at Blanc.
"Your name is really Blanc?"
"Yes. Why do you ask...?"
"And you're from Hatchling Village?"
"Yes. Do you know me?"
Blanc tilted his head in honest puzzlement, causing the mage's lips to quiver faintly.
"N-no, nothing. We'll process the application right away—just give us a moment."
Awkwardly brushing it off, the association mage scrambled toward the back of the warehouse.
'Damn it! I never thought he'd actually show up. A 5th Circle Mage, no less?'
After floundering indecisively for a good while, the association mage finally bit his lip and nodded to himself.
Then he hurriedly pulled out a magic communication orb and contacted someone.
'Shall I prepare something special for dinner tonight?'
Ruyan already knew Blanc had advanced to 5th Circle Mage.
He had aided the enlightenment himself and could discern it at a glance from the aura alone.
He had simply been waiting for Blanc to bring it up first—and his instincts told him today was that day.
'He said he was heading to the village.'
Once back, Blanc would surely share all sorts of stories, naturally including his new achievement.
'A day like this calls for a feast worthy of it.'
Ruyan checked the note Blanc had left, then headed back up the mountain.
He hunted a massive wild boar he had long had his eye on and gathered heaps of beneficial mushrooms.
Not content with that, he even set out in search of spirit medicines. He was dead set on throwing a proper celebration today.
'There was definitely a spot where the natural energy flowed strangely.'
Was it because his energy sense had sharpened after forming his dantian? Something deep in the mountains was prickling his senses.
Ruyan followed the faint energy trail, turning the entire mountain upside down.
After much arduous searching, he finally arrived beneath a colossal tree.
'So you were the one calling to me.'
A single fist-sized, vivid blue fruit hung from the tree.
Its appearance was unfamiliar, but the energy emanating from the fruit felt quite familiar to Ruyan.
'An outstanding spirit medicine!'
Rare herbs or fruits that absorb natural energy over long years become spirit medicines.
'This one's at least a century old.'
Even in the Central Plains, spirit medicines of this caliber were exceedingly rare.
Only something legendary like the 'Century Hosta' could compare.
'With this, I might even heal Dad's body.'
Now that he had secured a dantian, he could control the spirit medicine's energy.
If he could harness its power, treating Blanc wasn't out of the question.
'I figured it'd take at least two years even using mana circles, but heaven's granting us fortune.'
Ruyan carefully harvested the tree's fruit, then descended the mountain with a satisfied smile.
'Given Dad's current magic level and condition, he should be back by 8 at the latest.'
Ruyan circulated his energy to stabilize his dantian until Blanc's expected return time, then began cooking.
He roasted the wild boar to a golden crisp alongside the mushrooms and simmered a stew with medicinal herbs.
The blue fruit he simply rinsed clean and set on the table untouched.
As he finished his bustling preparations, a cool breeze accompanied the encroaching dusk over the mountain.
'I figured he'd be here by now. Running a bit late.'
It was nothing serious.
At first, Ruyan assumed Blanc was simply delayed a little.
But that wasn't the case.
Only after the wild boar roast had gone stone-cold did Ruyan realize something was wrong.
'Even if he dawdled, he should be back by now.'
Why?
He had only gone down to the village briefly—why this gnawing unease?
'This has never happened before.'
Ruyan paced the yard anxiously before finally resolving to go find Blanc himself.
'If I spread my senses as wide as possible, we won't miss each other.'
First, he would head to Hatchling Village and ask around.
The thought and motion were one.
Whoosh.
The instant Ruyan kicked off the ground, his body turned into a single gust of wind, slicing through the mountain path.
Having reclaimed his inner power, Ruyan was now an entirely different existence from the day before.
Yet the closer he got to the village, the more rapidly his expression hardened.
'What the hell is going on?'
Even in the dead of night, a considerable number of presences emanated from within Hatchling Village.
They were even quite rowdy.
And crucially!
'The smell of blood.'
An unforgettable, acrid stench assaulted his senses with brutal intensity.
"Search every nook and cranny—drag them all out!"
Knights clad in gleaming silver full-body plate armor tore through Hatchling Village.
Their number reached a full twenty.
Lacking even a militia, Hatchling Village crumbled helplessly before the knights' merciless onslaught.
"What in the world is the meaning of this?!"
To Hatchling Village's elderly chief, it felt like a bolt from the clear blue sky.
The villagers dragged out by the knights knelt trembling in anxiety.
The deputy knight commander leading the knights brusquely shoved the chief aside and stepped forward.
"All those close to Blanc—step forward."
It was an order that made little sense to the villagers at first glance.
Blanc belonged to Hatchling Village, but he didn't live among them. If they were looking for him, they were barking up the wrong tree.
"Sir knight, Blanc isn't here. He lives separately up in the mountains."
"You idiot! Did I ask about that? I said everyone who knows Blanc steps forward!"
Despite the chief's cautious response, the knights' cold expressions didn't soften.
Unable to grasp the situation, the chief rolled his eyes wildly, gauging the knights' moods.
It was a scenario where even the slightest slip of the tongue could demand a heavy price.
As everyone hesitated, one tiny girl suddenly shot her hand up high.
"Me! I know Grandpa Blanc. What do you need help with?"
It was Mari, the girl who teasingly called Ruyan a mountain bandit yet stuck to him devotedly.
While the adults only trembled, this young girl mustered her courage.
In unison, the knights' sharp gazes impaled the frail child.
"Then tell me this: where is Blanc's research journal?"
"Research journal? Sorry, I don't know anything about that."
She had bravely stepped up, but that was the extent of it. To this little girl, things like magic theory belonged to an entirely alien world.
Mari adorably shook her head. Yet the deputy commander's expression showed no change.
In truth, he hadn't held high hopes from the start.
He just needed an example.
Even if the target was a child, the deputy didn't hesitate.
"Refusing to talk? Very well. Let everyone watch closely and see what happens to those who shield Blanc."
The deputy commander unleashed a savage aura as he drew his sword in a single motion.
Shing.
The longsword, gleaming icy blue in the moonlight, plunged into Hatchling Village.
And the calamity began.
Slash.
In the blink of an eye, the sword flashed—and the little girl's head tumbled free.
Utterly tragic, pitiable blood soaked the ground at the knights' feet.
The villagers, stunned and unable to process the horror before their eyes, belatedly unleashed screams.
"Aaaah! Mari!"
"What have you done! What crime did that child commit?!"
People who normally wouldn't dare address a knight lost all reason and raged.
But it was only for a moment.
At the deputy's subtle glance, the knights drew their swords in perfect unison.
Clang.
There was no mercy in the knights' hands.
Anyone who so much as uttered a word had their head lopped off without fail.
Only after dozens of innocent lives had been extinguished did a grim silence descend over Hatchling Village.
"Still no urge to speak about Blanc?"
Before the deputy commander's killing intent, the villagers trembled too violently even to reply.
"Fine! Not enough yet, eh?"
At the deputy's nod, the knights pressed their blades to the villagers' throats.
That was when Ruyan arrived at the village.
'No... this can't be...'
Ruyan, who had rushed over after catching the blood scent, halted dead in his tracks upon witnessing the scene.
Hell on earth!
Villagers pleading for their lives, knights mercilessly swinging their swords.
Even to Ruyan, who had inflicted countless deaths in the Central Plains, this level of horror was unprecedented.
'To dare! To dare do this right in front of me!'
His hard-won peace was shattering into pieces before his eyes.
Vainly, miserably.
"Halt! All of you, stop!"
A lion's roar erupted from the enraged Ruyan's mouth. The Divine Bow's bellow tore heaven and earth asunder.
Clang!
The potent energy rippling through the air battered the knights' swords, shaking them and forcing their armored forms back.
The knights, stumbling awkwardly, tilted their heads in confusion, unable to comprehend what had befallen them.
With the slaughter halted, Ruyan advanced toward the knights step by step, each footfall heavy with fury.
"Who are you? Why are you committing this atrocity?"
Ruyan barely clung to his last thread of reason as he posed the question.
He yearned to smash their skulls right then, but he suppressed his killing urge with effort.
Unaware they had thrust their heads into a tiger's maw, the knights fired back instead.
"Are you that bastard Ruyan?"
One knight bulged his eyes ferociously, glaring at Ruyan.
A blatant wrong answer.
He should have responded to the question, not posed one.
If he wished to live even a moment longer.
"I asked you first."
Without a shred of mercy, Ruyan backhanded the knight's cheek.
A bare palm, bereft of any weapon—yet its speed was too fast for the eye to follow.
Crack!
Incredibly, the knight's iron helmet shattered on impact and flew apart.
If the helmet was reduced to that state, the head beneath fared no better.
Crunch.
Unable to withstand the shock, the cheekbone caved in, the head twisting grotesquely.
His neck snapped clean around, and as he collapsed, the knight stared squarely at his own back—the rear he had guarded his entire life.
Instant death.