Chapter 85
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 085
Chapter Title: Mercenaries and Employer (3)
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"Crazy... What the hell is that."
One of the four fools from the mercenary band gaped in awe at the orange fireball hurtling toward the griffon.
Cedric's reaction was no different.
It was the first time he'd ever witnessed magic that looked so incredibly powerful.
Kiiiek?
The griffon spotted the fireball flying straight at it.
Instinctively sensing its immense power, perhaps?
In the midst of its rapid descent, the beast swiftly veered sideways, dodging the incoming projectile.
"Ah!"
Cedric gasped in shock, thinking the spell had missed.
But he was in for an even bigger surprise moments later.
The fireball curved, chasing after the griffon.
And right then—
KABOOM!
A deafening roar erupted, flooding his vision with blinding light.
"Aaaagh!"
"S-Spare us!"
"Divine punishment! It's divine punishment!"
The spell's overwhelming power left the mercenaries—who had never encountered magic of such magnitude—collapsing in terror, prostrating themselves on the spot.
And then, something began raining down on their heads.
Plop, plop.
The sensation of impacts on their napes and backs.
The mercenaries cautiously lifted their heads.
They could now identify the falling debris.
It was chunks of griffon meat.
Pieces of varying sizes poured from the sky like hail.
Then, an enormous lump thudded down.
The griffon's lower body.
"The griffon... taken out by a single spell..."
Cedric was the only one still standing among them.
He muttered those words as he stared at the griffon's remains, reduced to just its lower half.
The monster that had snatched their employer.
When they'd first faced it, Cedric and his men had frozen in place, utterly helpless.
The powerlessness he'd felt then!
Yet Heros had dispatched the griffon with absurd ease.
He hadn't even seemed surprised by his own success.
As if it were the most natural thing in the world.
'I have to become Lord Heros's subordinate, no matter what!'
Heros's strength.
Feeling it viscerally for the first time, Cedric vowed as much.
"Kiiiek!"
A new arrival on the scene.
Once we killed it, the griffon we'd been fighting let out a guttural screech and went berserk.
But that changed nothing.
The battle still flowed in our favor, and the beast's movements were growing feebler by the second.
And then—
Slash!
Finally, the griffon's head came clean off.
Gilbert's handiwork.
While Bear and Conal pinned its attention from the flanks, he'd nimbly climbed onto its back and slit its throat.
Thud, roll roll.
The severed head bounced low across the ground before tumbling forward.
It came to a stop soon after.
A scene signaling the battle's end.
"Haaah!"
"Huff... huff..."
Bear and Conal immediately slumped to the ground.
Meanwhile, I scanned our surroundings warily.
A third griffon could show up, after all.
But thankfully, nothing happened.
The fight was truly over.
Yeah, running into three griffons in one spot was ridiculous anyway.
With that thought, I approached the two and asked,
"You guys level up? I did."
When I took down the griffon with my flame magic...
I'd felt that familiar rush.
The sensation of gaining a level.
"Yes, we did."
"Same here."
Good. Both Bear and Conal had leveled up too.
Hmm, griffons really were miracle cures.
But there was one more thing worth anticipating.
Battle tattoos.
"Any battle tattoos?"
Beating a monster like a griffon should qualify, right?
That's what I thought, but no such luck.
Bear shook his head.
"No dice. Guess Werzo wasn't impressed."
"Next time, then."
As I said that...
The squires who'd been waiting in the rear rushed over, cheering our victory.
The big three started shedding their chainmail with their help.
'Might as well check the grimoire.'
While the group caught their breath, I headed toward the corpse I figured was the employer.
Time to inspect it for a grimoire.
That's when Cedric and his men approached me.
"Lord Heros. If there's anything you need done, please leave it to us!"
Cedric's words.
I shrugged.
"Nothing in particular."
"Ah, I see. Then, may I ask where you're headed right now?"
"Gonna check that body. That's the guy who hired you, right?"
I pointed at the corpse as I asked.
Cedric answered immediately.
"Yes, that's him."
"Mages might carry grimoires or magic tools, so I figured I'd take a look."
"We're experts at that."
With that, Cedric nodded to his men.
The three of them hurried to the body.
They stripped it bare, down to the underwear, looting every last item in no time.
"This is everything."
The men returned and laid out the guy's possessions on the ground.
Two things stood out.
A grimoire and a parchment.
I examined the latter first.
Swish.
Unrolling the coiled parchment revealed the writing inside.
It was a letter addressed to someone.
The recipient was probably Cedric's employer.
'Let's see.'
The letter began, "To Baylor."
So the man's name was Baylor.
Noting that, I slowly read through the text.
And its contents... were pretty dire.
'A plague in the Empire's northernmost reaches?'
To sum up the letter:
A plague ravages the Empire's far north.
Unable to endure it, the barbarians are fleeing southward to escape death.
Thus, aid is needed.
Apparently, this Baylor wasn't just a mage—he was a highly skilled alchemist too.
The writer firmly believed he could brew a cure for the plague and penned the letter accordingly.
'Ugh, but plague's a problem...'
My destination was the Empire's northernmost tip.
Learning about a plague there was killing my motivation to head up.
Disease scared me more than Eremus or the Silent Compliant Order.
'What to do.'
After some thought, I reached a decision.
Keep going for now.
I could always stop once I had a clearer picture.
'Grimoire first.'
Shelving that headache for later...
I looked down at the white-covered grimoire.
Its name: Bone Heap Grimoire.
And its request:
"I'm hungry. I need food."
It wanted food.
Simple enough.
Though I had no idea how much.
'This do?'
The bundle slung over my shoulder.
I pulled out a leather pouch of jerky.
Palm-sized, so not much meat inside, but it'd tide things over.
I placed the jerky on the cover, and soon it sank into the grimoire like melting away.
"Mm, tough, but edible."
A bit later.
The Bone Heap Grimoire's voice echoed.
The cover flipped open on its own.
What came next?
Obvious.
Flip flip!
The pages flew by rapidly.
I'd seen this show plenty of times, so I watched impassively.
The mercenaries, though, found it mesmerizing.
"Ooh!"
"The book's moving on its own!"
"Is this magic too...?"
The fuss they kicked up.
Cedric, embarrassed by his men, flushed red and tried to shush them.
It was comically slapstick.
Thud!
The pages halted at the book's midpoint.
Meaning one more spell remained.
Confirming that lifted my spirits.
As I basked in satisfaction, the Bone Heap Grimoire revealed its second demand.
"Need more food. Bring a lot more of what you just gave me."
Same request as before.
No reason to hesitate.
"Anyone got jerky?"
I asked the mercenaries, and two of the four pulled out grubby bundles from their pockets.
They fished out jerky.
But it differed from ours a bit.
Smaller, and in worse shape.
I wondered if it was even edible.
'Probably won't like this.'
Tried handing one piece over, just in case.
"This isn't it!"
The Bone Heap Grimoire snapped in anger.
Soon, a dark red chunk of meat shot out from the cover.
Like someone chewing and spitting it out with a "Ptoo!"
Naturally, it was half-eaten jerky.
"Here, no longer needed."
I returned the jerky to the mercenaries, then went to the big three.
I collected jerky from them and the squires.
Handed it all to the Bone Heap Grimoire.
"Yes, that's it!"
The Bone Heap Grimoire cheered in delight.
The cover opened once more.
"Haven't eaten my fill in ages. Thanks, human!"
Moments later, having fulfilled its role, the Bone Heap Grimoire bid me thanks and crumbled to dust.
So, what did I gain?
50 mana capacity and two spells.
Extremely satisfying rewards.
'Both bone-related.'
I carefully reviewed the new knowledge in my mind.
The first spell I'd learned: Bone Weapon Creation.
A technique to craft weapons from bones, costing 40 mana.
The second was similar.
Bone Armor Creation.
Crafts armor from bones, also 40 mana.
'Weapon and armor performance depends on bone quality. Hmm, not bad.'
Perfect timing to test them out.
Two griffon corpses right here.
One only half intact, but still.
'Let's make some armor.'
Bone armor intrigued me more than weapons.
For now, I prioritized defense over offense.
So, I designated the griffon corpse I'd killed with flame magic as material and cast Bone Armor Creation.
Then—
Whoosh!
The corpse convulsed violently, bones ejecting from the wound's cross-section on their own.
They flew toward me.
That looked like... a spine?
"Don't worry. It's not attacking me."
The sudden flying bone startled Bear and Conal into jumping up.
I calmed them and watched the approaching spine.
Snap!
It reached me swiftly and coiled around my torso.
Then, like pliable clay, it stretched smoothly up and down, encasing my upper body perfectly.
Done.
Incredibly straightforward magic.
'So that's how it works.'
I looked down to inspect the bone armor.
The chest plate was rounded.
Smooth surface.
Seemed practical to my eyes.
And it was lightweight—no hindrance to movement despite wearing it.
"Not bad."
I rapped it with my fist, feeling the solid hardness through my knuckles.
Pretty tough.
Just one minor issue.
I couldn't take it off.
In the end, I needed Bear and Conal's help to smash it off.
'Won't use bone weapons or armor personally much, but that's fine.'
Unless made from top-tier bones, they'd underperform metal gear.
But I was satisfied anyway.
Because these were magic tools too.
Meaning, usable as materials in body sculpting magic.
They could substitute for the bone component among bone, flesh, blood, and heart.
'Now I've got bone and flesh covered. Just need blood and heart, but heart's the priority.'
Bone via bone weapons/armor.
Flesh via mana soil.
Blood: water or monster blood would do.
What's left?
Heart.
Hard to find a suitable magic tool for that.
'That's where black mages come in.'
Eremus's black mages.
Fighting them should yield red gems.
The magic tools embedded in humans transformed into monsters.
I planned to use them as undead hearts.
I had one already, but it lacked mana, making it unsuitable.
'Yeah, northbound it is.'
The plague terrified me, but that fear crumbled before my desires.