Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Newbie Adventurer Bern (11) - Disciplining Mistakes
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Blanca had always considered Bern an incredibly refined person.
He never hit on female adventurers.
He never looked down on those around him or acted arrogant.
He never uttered curses or crude jokes.
He never let his clothes get disheveled or skipped proper hygiene to the point of smelling bad.
Someone might say that's just common sense, but in the adventurer world, the number of people who could actually live up to those basics could be counted on one hand.
The guild office even highly valued that trait—"not having a rag in their mouth"—when hiring receptionists.
Even if Bern thought he was acting like a proper adventurer, to Blanca, every single one of his actions screamed of someone raised with refinement.
"Can't you even tell the difference between conversation and a threat, you dumb fuck?"
So when unfiltered profanity poured from Bern's mouth, Blanca was more shocked than anyone else there.
Bern's demeanor was utterly ferocious, his eyes blazing with raw fury.
This was a far cry from the half-playful vibe he'd given off when he himself was being provoked.
"...Dumb fuck? You talking to me? Can you back those words up?"
But Karina and her party were bristling with menace too.
Karina usually avoided clashing with opponents whose skills she didn't know precisely, but that was just the cautious instinct of an experienced adventurer when facing uncertain risks—not because she was scared of losing to Bern.
Besides, backing down after being insulted in front of so many people would turn her party into a laughingstock among the adventurers.
"You'd better watch your mouth. We only go easy on rookies once."
Personality aside, Karina's prowess as a mage was the real deal.
As she seriously channeled her mana, the temperature around them plummeted like they'd stepped into a frigid glacier, despite the mild spring weather.
The spectators, who'd been watching lightly at first, felt their own bodies stiffening up.
They couldn't even open their mouths, and even twitching a fingertip took several times the usual effort.
Blanca's face went pale.
It wasn't some spell Karina had cast; this was pure mana causing the effect.
The Adventurer's Guild divided ranks into seven levels, but the highest adventurer in the guild was only 5th rank.
This stemmed from the continent-wide custom of grading personal strength in seven tiers.
Among them, the number 4 held strong symbolic weight.
Nosy gossips even called it the boundary between human and superhuman.
A warrior could emit sword aura, a priest could borrow their god's power.
And for a mage, their mana itself gained unique properties, dramatically boosting spell power and efficiency.
Blanca knew Bern was strong, but facing a 4th-rank ice mage—the trickiest type in PvP—and several comrades at least upper 3rd-rank or better alone? Impossible.
She tried desperately to stop Bern, but unfortunately, her body, caught in the chill, wouldn't obey.
All she could manage was a feeble grab at his collar.
Bern glanced back at her.
"It's fine."
Short words.
But filled with certainty.
Leaving the frozen Blanca behind, Bern advanced on Karina.
She scowled and summoned ice shards, firing them at him.
Shwoosh!
The strike, meant to graze his cheek and intimidate, was blocked by Bern's own hand.
He caught the incoming shard barehanded.
"How...?"
Karina flinched at his reflexes amid her chill, but quickly deemed it a mistake.
In subzero conditions, touching ice or metal with bare skin meant it stuck instantly, ripping off flesh if pulled away.
Deflecting with a sword or forearm might've been one thing, but grabbing with his bare hand? His palm must be fused to the shard now.
She summoned three more and launched them.
Even if he caught one with his left, he couldn't block the rest.
She wasn't out to kill, but the bone-deep cold would have him bedridden for days.
But her prediction missed again.
Bern casually extended his supposedly useless right hand and snatched all three with a light gesture.
Four ice shards now wedged between his right fingers like darts.
He held up his hand to show her off, then clenched his fist, pulverizing them in an instant.
Karina backpedaled to widen the gap, and two warriors stepped forward in her place.
"You wanna fucking go? Huh?!"
"Hah, tch."
One was the flippant-looking guy who'd eagerly piled on insulting Blanca at Karina's words; the other, a bushy-bearded man sighing reluctantly but assuming a stance anyway.
While most adventurers wore cloth or leather armor protecting just vital areas like the torso, these two wore full metal plate and chainmail.
And they showed no sign of feeling the cold in Karina's chill, suggesting some cold resistance measure.
At this level, they could stand toe-to-toe with a decent fief's regulars. Confidence was warranted.
But Bern didn't care a bit and pressed forward.
"You shitty bastard!"
Infuriated by his calm, the flippant man swung his longsword.
Unlike Karina's measured strikes avoiding vitals, this was blatantly murderous.
Bern reached out again.
The crowd braced for gore, but the blade didn't cut his hand.
Not even a scratch.
"Y-You bastard!!"
The flippant man panicked, trying to wrench his sword free, but Bern's grip didn't budge.
Bern flicked his wrist upward like snapping a towel, and the longsword slipped right out into his hand.
He gripped it like the blade was the hilt.
The flippant man gaped in disbelief, but his comrades didn't just watch.
"Hup!"
The bearded man targeted Bern's side with a hexagonal mace, while the rogue—now behind him—slashed at his back with a dagger.
Even larger than before, an icicle plummeted from above his head.
Veteran teamwork, worthy of the title.
But not enough for Bern.
Bam!
"Grahk!!"
The flippant man flew back first.
Bern smashed the sword's hilt and guard into his shoulder, driving deep into his body.
The sickening crunch of shattering collarbone made him spew bloody foam and pass out.
Using the recoil, Bern flipped upward like a handstand, sending the warriors' and rogue's attacks slicing empty air.
Next was the rogue.
Bern kicked the descending icicle to shards, then dropped onto the rogue, grabbing his head and slamming it into the ground.
Thud!
With a gruesome sound, the rogue convulsed violently before going limp.
Third, the bearded warrior.
Bern dodged another ice shard with a head tilt, then booted the warrior's torso, sending him crashing into the wall.
The warrior seemed conscious but couldn't move, limbs twitching from the shock.
Fourth, the healing mage standing dumbly at the rear.
Perhaps the weakest, he'd only now started prepping heals amid his comrades' beatdowns.
A stark contrast to Karina, who'd peppered him with probing spells and was even now raising an ice wall to block his path.
Bern shattered the wall with a kick, then hurled the shards at the healer.
The man hit the floor with a froglike croak, without any defense.
Finally.
Having watched all her spells dismantled effortlessly and realizing the skill gap, Karina trembled, utterly broken.
Bern approached and spoke to her.
"Still think it's baseless rumors? Still believe we fabricated achievements out of thin air? Unless your head's stuffed with cotton instead of brains, you get it now. We had zero need for that. If we want accomplishments, we earn them with skill."
Bern's words and gaze were on Karina, but the onlookers felt a different chill.
The guild's verification had kept overt doubts quiet, but plenty of adventurers had privately questioned Bern and Blanca's feats.
To those whispering behind backs, his words rang like a warning.
But their unease was nothing compared to Karina's, staring into Bern's eyes up close.
In them, she saw something immense she couldn't even resist.
She'd met members of the guild's sole 5th-rank party, but even they hadn't conveyed this with a look alone.
Finally, in a quavering voice, she said,
"I-I'm sorry."
"Sorry?"
"I'm sorry...!"
Only then did a smile return to Bern's icy face.
Relief washed over Karina's, knowing she'd live.
And Bern switched back to his usual calm, polite tone.
"Then you need to be punished accordingly."
Pardon?
Karina's retort never came.
Slap!
Intense pain bloomed on her cheek, spinning her body through the air into a nearby restaurant's food waste bin.
Bern glanced around.
It looked like he'd evenly demolished the whole five-man party, but actually, he'd gone extra hard only on the murderous warrior and rogue; the other three got measured force.
By his standards, no excessive or lenient punishment.
But Bern knew his judgment wasn't always perfectly right.
So he approached Blanca and asked,
"Any of these need more beating? Specifics on how many times harder would be great."
"What kinda crazy talk is..."
The sensible Blanca nearly blurted her true thoughts but remembered this creature was her benefactor and lifeline, so she carefully rephrased.
"Th-This seems sufficient."
"Is that so? My judgment was spot-on after all. Ahem."
Bern nodded smugly.
His eyes so innocently clear that Blanca—and everyone else nearby—could say nothing.
[How the hell does someone like this get treated like a perfect crown prince... Ah, it's 'cause he can't vent over there, so it spills out here.]
The demon's epiphany went unheard by any of them.