Chapter 17
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: The Black Sorcerer (3)
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Loan Hebriss.
He was a black sorcerer in his mid-forties.
Having realized early on that he had no talent for magic, he had turned to black magic, but that didn't mean he'd achieved anything extraordinary with it either.
To master black magic, one needed effort, above all else.
The effort required to capture innocent people and use them as sacrifices for spells.
That was, fundamentally, the kind of magic black magic was.
And Loan was not the type of person who could carry out such efforts with any real aggression.
In the end, he was trapped by his own mediocrity, forever running in place.
The only thing that had changed was that he had joined a band of bandits to use their occasional prisoners as sacrifices.
Loan's own skills remained stagnant, forever stuck in the past.
"If only I could offer every last one of them as a sacrifice."
Loan muttered, tossing the prepared ingredients into the bubbling cauldron.
His eyes, fixed on the cauldron, were filled with boredom.
Even the act of making magical potions had grown tedious.
Despite knowing he would regress without at least some minimal research, he wanted to abandon even this task.
But the bandits Loan worked with would never let him go.
The potions Loan created were one of the bandit group's main sources of income, along with their slaves.
A life of being revered wasn't so bad, but it was human nature to want to escape sometimes.
Tsk, tsk.
Clicking his tongue, Loan dropped a clump of hair, cut and collected from a slave, into the cauldron.
"If I had just stuck with magic, I might have been teaching it in some mountain village."
His achievements would have been less than with black magic, perhaps, but a magician was still a respectable enough profession.
Especially in the countryside, where magic seemed a world away.
He might have lost his chance forever to be seen as an eccentric wizard in some rural town, to be called a wise man.
As Loan was lost in such thoughts, a voice from outside the tent reached his ears.
It was a familiar voice.
None other than the bandit who guarded his tent.
"Sorcerer!"
"What is it? I told you not to disturb me while I'm making potions."
Hearing the bandit, Loan replied with clear annoyance.
If even the slightest impurity got in, the potion's effects would be warped.
Loan had warned him countless times not to interrupt while he was brewing.
But the bandit paid his voice no mind, flinging open the tent flap and rushing straight inside.
The bandits eyes, breathing heavily, locked onto Loan.
At the same moment, a leaf carried in by the wind gently settled on the surface of the cauldron.
An impurity had mixed into the potion he was making.
Watching the whole scene unfold, Loan scowled.
"Sorcerer! There you are!"
"Didn't I tell you not to come in! An impurity got into the potion!"
Loan yelled at the bandit who had barged in without warning.
No matter how urgent things were, there was a proper way to do them.
Despite Loan's shouting, the bandit shook his head with a frantic expression.
Gasp. After catching his breath, the bandit spoke to him in a trembling voice.
"We're in b-big trouble!"
"What kind of trouble could possibly warrant this? Did the whole band get wiped out or something?"
"The boss has been taken hostage."
"Wh-What...?"
Hearing the bandit's words, Loan's jaw dropped.
From the sound of it, this was indeed big trouble.
The leader of a bandit group taken hostage? What kind of absurd story was that?
Furthermore, if they were strong enough to take the bandits hostage, it meant some kind of subjugation force had arrived.
If he were captured by a subjugation force, Loan, a black sorcerer, would undoubtedly be executed.
The situation was turning grim. Tense, Loan asked the bandit,
"How many are in the subjugation force?"
"The subjugation force?"
"Yes! The subjugation force!"
"I didn't see a subjugation force. Only two people came."
"....?"
Loan stared at the bandit, his expression uncomprehending.
But the bandit's face was more serious than ever.
Two people.
Just two people had decimated the bandits and taken their leader hostage.
In a way, that was even more serious than a subjugation force attacking.
"What are their arms like? Did they look like knights?"
"It's a man in shabby clothes and a woman holding a book!"
"A book...?"
"It seems a sorcerer has come! Please defeat the enemy sorcerer with your magic, Sir Loan!"
The more Loan heard, the more troubled his expression became.
A sorcerer who had defeated a group of bandits in an instant.
And there were only two of them.
Could Loan really achieve victory against such beings?
Loan didn't think so.
He had devoted decades to magic, but that didn't mean he was exceptionally more powerful than others.
If possible, fleeing was the best option.
"A sorcerer..."
"There's no time, Sir Loan! Please punish the enemy with your powerful black magic!"
"No, I..."
"Sir Loan! It's urgent!"
But he didn't have the heart to run away while the bandit stared at him with such a fervent expression.
A sorcerer's assets were his grimoires and research notes.
Even for a black sorcerer, that fundamental truth did not change.
The moment he abandoned all of that here and fled, everything Loan had built up over decades would turn to nothing.
Hooo.
With a sigh, Loan walked past the bandit before him.
As he pushed aside the tent flap and stepped outside, he saw the leader, held hostage just as he'd been told.
"Oh, Loan...! Help me!"
The moment the leader saw Loan, he called out his name, begging for salvation.
Loan looked at the captive leader, and then at the uninvited guests standing behind him.
There was a young man with a simple-looking face.
And behind him, a young girl clutching a thick book.
An unfathomably deep magical power surged from the book the girl held.
It was a supreme treasure whose value could be guessed just by facing it.
"Are you the sorcerer who lives here?"
Loan's and the girl's gazes met in the air.
The girl, with an innocent expression, asked his identity.
But Loan was not swayed by her innocent face.
The opponent before him was a sorcerer.
A sorcerer with such terrifying magical power that he couldn't even begin to guess her skill level.
She was not an opponent to be taken lightly.
"Yes. I am the black sorcerer, Loan Hebriss. And who might you be?"
"My identity?"
"You asked a question, so it's only fair you answer one, wouldn't you say?"
"I suppose that's true."
"So, reveal your identity."
Gulp. Swallowing hard, Loan watched his opponent's every move with a wary gaze.
At Loan's request, Yutenia stepped forward with light footsteps.
She came to a stop right beside the bound leader.
Halting a short distance from Loan, Yutenia opened her mouth and spoke in a gentle voice.
"I am an Apostle, Yutenia Hi-Lost. An Apostle who serves a great being."
"An Apostle..."
"Is that an unfamiliar term to you?"
"No. Now I think I'm starting to understand."
An apostle of a god.
Though he didn't know which god, he could guess that encountering a divine apostle was no ordinary matter.
Those who walk the path of black magic must understand all manner of rituals.
Offerings to evil gods were no exception.
One offers a sacrifice and receives power in return.
That was the foundational principle of the study of black magic.
Seeing Yutenia call herself an Apostle, Loan realized he needed to make a quick decision.
"Is that so? I'm glad I could be of help."
"Then there's only one thing for me to do."
"It seems you intend to use magic."
Crackle.
Sparks flew from Loan's hand as he gathered his magical power.
Creating an arrow of lightning, Loan immediately fired it at his target.
The arrow flew like a bolt of light, striking its target in an instant.
"Lightning Arrow!"
"Kuaargh...!"
The arrow Loan had thrown pierced the bandit leader standing next to Yutenia.
The leader's body flashed as the arrow struck, and he began to convulse, foaming at the mouth.
Loan had attacked not Yutenia, but the bandit leader.
Struck by the sudden attack, the bandit leader screamed before passing out.
Watching this, Yutenia stroked the cover of her book and spoke to Loan.
"What an interesting thing to do."
"I had already reached my conclusion the moment I first saw you."
"Is that so?"
"Please, accept me as your disciple."
Thud.
Loan dropped to his knees, pressing his forehead to the ground.
This was the only conclusion Loan could have possibly reached.
The immense aura surging from behind Yutenia, who controlled the shadows.
From the moment he faced it, Loan knew she was an unbeatable existence.
He may not have had outstanding talent for magic, but he was born with the 'eyes' to recognize an opponent's level.
His opponent was an apostle of an evil god.
She was connected to the being she served by some kind of link, drawing upon a near-infinite supply of magical power.
She was an existence akin to the ideal that all sorcerers dream of.
To dare fight against such a being.
It was no different from a foolish moth flying into a bonfire.
Yutenia shook her head at Loan's plea.
"That's a shame. I don't think I can take you as a disciple."
"...Pardon?"
"I'm recruiting followers, not disciples."
"Then please accept me as a follower! I will serve the great being!"
Hearing Yutenia's words, Loan immediately changed his plan and bowed his head again.
If he couldn't be a disciple, he had to at least become a follower.
This was especially true if it was a god influential enough to create an Apostle.
Seeing Loan bow his head repeatedly, Yutenia smiled.
A hand extending from the shadows gently stroked the head of the prostrated Loan.
"Perhaps I will. I'm sure the great being will be pleased as well."