Chapter 91
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 091
Chapter Title: The Swindler and the Staff (5)
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“Please hand over the gem and the staff.”
Jake extended both hands toward me.
I placed the gem on his left hand and the staff on his right.
Then, from the cloth bundle slung over my shoulder, I pulled out the red gem I had obtained earlier and posed a question.
“Could this be used as a material by any chance?”
It was a powerless item that was difficult to dispose of.
The quality was too poor to use as a material for body-shaping magic, so I wanted to consume it this way if possible.
But Jake shook his head at my words.
“Any magic tool can only be synthesized once.”
That meant if I synthesized the red gem with the magic staff, I couldn't use the gem left by Alistair as a material?
Hearing that, I put it back into the cloth bundle.
I'd have to find another use for it.
“Ah, and before synthesizing the magic tools, there's something I want to tell you.”
Jake gripped the gem and staff in both hands.
He stared straight into my eyes and continued.
“I'll use the staff as the main material and the red gem as the sub-material. We'll enhance the staff's performance using the gem. However, I don't know how it will manifest.”
“What do you mean you don't know how it will work?”
“It means I don't know how the staff's effects will change. It's certain the performance will improve from before, but I can't say in what way it will differ.”
Ah, I got it.
The current effect of the magic staff I handed him was to increase magic power by about 20%.
Enhancing the staff might alter that.
He said the performance would definitely improve, so no matter how the effect changed, it would be a gain for me.
“Understood. Let's get started right away.”
With my thoughts settled, I said to Jake.
He nodded.
Soon, mana began to gather around Jake's body.
And just like that, the magic activated.
‘Hm?’
I tilted my head.
The magic had definitely manifested, but I couldn't tell what changes had occurred.
Then, belatedly, I realized the red gem in his left hand had vanished.
So where had the gem gone?
The answer was in his right hand.
The staff Jake was holding.
A red gem was now embedded at its tip.
“Oh?”
The red gem sat naturally at the end of the wooden staff, as if it had always been part of it.
It was a truly wondrous sight.
“Here you go. Fortunately, it completed successfully.”
Jake offered the staff to me with a pallid face.
The enhanced magic staff.
I didn't know yet how it had improved, but at least its appearance was clearly better than before.
“Are you okay? You don't look well.”
I asked Jake, whose complexion had turned ashen.
The difference before and after casting the magic was stark.
He gave a faint smile in response.
“The materials required for this magic are mana and lifespan. That's why I'm a bit fatigued.”
“Pardon?”
No way—did using this magic cost lifespan?
I was utterly bewildered.
Didn't this make me feel like the bad guy?
“You should have said so earlier. I wouldn't have asked you to enhance the staff if you had.”
“That's exactly why I brought it up first. I wanted to repay your kindness somehow.”
“Hah...”
Did my confusion show on my face?
Jake continued speaking.
“If it weren't for you, I would've been dragged around by Alistair and died anyway. So don't feel burdened.”
“How could I not?”
Magic that costs lifespan as a price.
I never imagined such a thing existed.
That's why I worried about Jake's health, but he seemed utterly unconcerned about his condition.
He even urged me to test the staff right away.
“Since we don't know how the staff has changed, try using some magic to check for differences from before.”
Jake's calm expression.
Seeing it eased my mind a little.
Right, what's done is done.
His reduced lifespan couldn't be undone.
So the only thing I could do was... sincerely thank Jake.
“Thank you so much. Truly.”
I conveyed my gratitude to him.
He smiled and nodded.
After leaving the village.
I tested various magics to check the staff's performance.
And I realized what had changed.
‘The magic power has increased.’
The magic staff's effect was the same as before.
Only the boost amount had changed.
From 20% to 40%.
The performance had improved tremendously.
Yet I couldn't purely rejoice.
The materials used to craft this staff weighed on my mind.
‘A staff made with someone's life.’
The red gem used to enhance the magic staff.
It was a magic tool crafted using Stonehill villagers as materials.
And synthesizing my staff and the gem had cost Jake's lifespan.
My heart couldn't help but feel unsettled.
‘I'll bear it. I can't just not use it because it's creepy.’
I steeled my resolve.
And pushed those thoughts aside.
Dwelling on the staff's origins would only fray my nerves.
‘We should be arriving soon.’
I looked up ahead.
Currently, I was walking with Gilbert and Jake.
To find a grimoire.
This stemmed from something Alistair had said.
‘Who would've thought Alistair wasn't lying.’
Alistair had told me there was a place near the village where a mystery had manifested.
And he offered to guide me there.
At the time, I thought it was a lie.
A ploy to lure me in.
But surprisingly, it wasn't.
The mystery Alistair mentioned.
It was real.
‘Jake confirmed Alistair's words were true.’
Jake had said there really was a place not far from Stonehill where a mystery had manifested.
That's why we were heading there now.
“We're almost there.”
At that moment, Jake spoke up.
Actually, I'd known even before he said it.
I could sense mana coming from ahead.
From the atmosphere, the grimoire at our destination seemed to contain lightning magic.
‘Lightning magic. Nice.’
The moment I thought that.
We finally crested the uphill path.
A vast clearing spread out before my eyes.
The open view refreshed my spirits.
“Ah, there it is.”
As I dazedly took in the clearing.
Jake pointed to one spot.
The place he indicated was a distant withered old tree.
The blackened trunk was split in two.
It looked like it had been struck by lightning before.
“That's the tree where the mystery manifested. The moment something approaches, lightning pierces it right away.”
As if proving Jake's words true, animal bones littered the area around the split old tree.
Traces of unlucky beasts killed by lightning, no doubt.
They must have lost their lives passing by coincidentally.
“That's terrifying.”
With that, I fell silent.
Jake glanced at me cautiously and said.
“Then I'll be on my way. I've done all I can.”
Jake had packed his belongings before leaving the village.
To quietly depart Stonehill.
So I recommended he go to Chester.
With my letter of recommendation, he could stay at Chester Castle and receive lavish treatment from the Earl of Chester.
But Jake refused.
He planned to return to his hometown.
“Heros, be careful.”
Before leaving, Jake looked at me and said.
Careful of what?
I asked him, voicing my doubt.
“Of what?”
“The mystery. Many mages seek out places where mysteries manifest to obtain grimoires. And they die. So don't rush in without a plan.”
“Ah. Don't worry about that. I have a way.”
“Well, you're you, so you'll handle it fine.”
Jake nodded and departed.
I watched his receding back until he was completely out of sight, then finally turned away.
I felt nothing but genuine gratitude toward Jake.
‘Alright, now to focus on the grimoire.’
After seeing Jake off.
I first tried to hear the grimoire's voice.
But no sound came at all.
This meant the grimoire was staying silent.
It seemed it had no intention of conversing with me.
‘Are all lightning grimoires like this? No way.’
The place where the mystery had manifested.
The grimoire there was named Inky Cloud Grimoire.
Just like when I sensed the Cumulonimbus Grimoire, this one gave no voice either.
In that case...
‘First, let's retrieve the grimoire.’
The Inky Cloud Grimoire's location was presumed to be inside the old tree.
Mana emanated from there.
However, without a means to counter lightning, I couldn't approach.
That's why I'd brought Gilbert.
‘Go, Gilbert.’
Gilbert received my command.
Before heading to the old tree, he removed his armor.
It might get damaged by lightning.
Thud.
Chainmail and padded armor hit the ground.
Wearing only his undergarments, Gilbert strode toward the split old tree.
‘As an undead, Gilbert should be fine even if struck by lightning.’
No matter how powerful the lightning, it shouldn't harm Gilbert, who was already dead.
With that in mind, I observed the situation at ease.
‘What's this? No reaction to inanimate objects?’
Gilbert had approached the old tree.
Yet no lightning struck.
That made me question the mystery's activation conditions.
At that instant.
Boom!
A flash blinded me as lightning from the sky pierced Gilbert's crown precisely.
Its speed was incomparable to my Lightning Bolt.
Impossible to react even seeing it.
If I were in that spot, I'd have died without knowing what hit me.
Now I understood why the black mages in Stonehill couldn't retrieve the grimoire here.
‘Good call sending Gilbert.’
I thought with relief.
Meanwhile, Gilbert—with his head aflame—maintained his expressionless face and stepped toward the old tree.
And lightning struck again.
Kaboom!
Lightning with every step.
Gilbert took them all on his body.
His upper body and undergarments burned, but it wasn't a big issue.
His body would regenerate, and clothes could be replaced.
Crunch, crunch.
Dozens of lightning bolts.
Gilbert endured them and finally reached the old tree.
His appearance was pitiful.
His clothes had burned away, exposing his upper body, and the revealed flesh was charred black in places.
Yet it didn't hinder his movement.
A scene that clearly showed he was undead.
Shff.
The split part of the old tree.
Gilbert thrust his arm inside and soon pulled out a single book.
A tome with a pitch-black cover.
The Inky Cloud Grimoire.