The Mage and the Crow
The Mage and the Crow
What the hell was up with that Crow?
I nearly jumped out of my skin when it suddenly started flapping wildly above my head.
The crows of the Midgard Continent were huge compared to the ones back on Earth.
They were practically the size of eagles, and just as intimidating.
Anyone would be startled if a giant Crow started beating its wings right above their head.
Caw! Caw!
The noise grated on my nerves.
I silently prayed for the Crow to disappear quickly, but my prayers went unanswered.
Instead, the Crow swooped down and clamped its massive talons around my horns.
"Agh—ack!"
Flap.
I yelped and jerked my head, terrified it was about to attack me, but the Crow didn't seem interested in hurting me at all.
It simply folded its wings, settled its bulky body onto my head, and sat there as if it owned the place.
"Unbelievable!"
"He really must be the mage's pet. Look at it, just sitting there without scratching him."
"Keeping a Crow as a pet is impressive. They're sharp-witted creatures, very hard to tame."
"Wow! A Crow-taming mage!"
The crowd watching the show in the backyard formed one huge misunderstanding the moment the Crow appeared.
I kept my face composed so I wouldn't ruin my mage's aura, but inside, I was shuddering.
'Oh, fuck me. What if it starts pecking all of a sudden? Wouldn't that poke a hole straight through the top of my skull?'
If the Baekhoehyeol acupoint on the crown of the head gets punctured, any third-rate mage or martial artist drops dead on the spot.
This enormous, unidentified Crow was quiet for now, but it could turn into a wild pest at any moment.
Cursing internally, I considered firing a Mana Sphere directly at my own head.
"M-Magic Missile."
But just as I finished casting the spell, a voice from somewhere made me stop short.
"Whoa! Mommy, look at that! That mage oppa has a Crow riding on his head."
"It must be his pet."
"The Crow looks so cute. I want to pet it!"
"Hehe. Should I go ask the mage oppa? I happen to know him."
Surprisingly, someone I knew was among the onlookers gathered on the street.
When I heard that familiar, gentle voice, I spotted none other than Wendy.
Wendy, the receptionist lady from the Adventurer's Guild.
My dedicated receptionist, Wendy, was out on a walk with her daughter Mary on her day off.
Wendy waved at me, her giant mommy milkers bouncing.
"Luke! I never thought I'd run into you on a walk!"
"Y-Yeah, I sure didn't expect it either, Miss Wendy."
I never expected to run into my receptionist in the middle of a show!
"Can my daughter pet the Crow on your head?"
"No."
"What do you mean, no? You haven't forgotten about me, have you? Just because you got promoted to Silver, you've forgotten I've been taking care of you since your Bronze days? I didn't raise you to turn out an ungrateful little shit!"
"N-No, that's not what I meant..."
Wendy started tearing up, convinced I'd become the kind of trash who forgets his rookie days the moment he turns Silver.
She wasn't just pretending to cry, either—actual tears were welling up in her eyes.
At this rate, the citizens might brand me as the garbage incubus who made a widow cry.
Flutter!
At that exact moment, the Crow sitting on my horns spread its wings and launched into the air.
In the blink of an eye, the Crow flew over to Wendy's daughter Mary, landed quietly on the ground, and bowed its head.
It looked like it was begging to be petted.
"Mommy! The mage oppa sent the Crow over!"
"Oh, he did?"
Stroke, stroke.
Mary reached out and stroked its head, and the Crow didn't resist at all, just kept its head bowed obediently.
The moment the petting was over, the Crow lifted into the air, traced a graceful figure-eight through the sky, and then landed right back on my horns.
"Luke! That's my boy, goddammit!"
Wendy looked at me, stopped crying, and shot me a thumbs up.
The other citizens on the street applauded as the Crow acted so docile, as though it understood human speech perfectly.
And naturally, the applause was directed at me, since they all mistook me for the Crow's owner.
Clap, clap, clap, clap!
"A Crow-taming mage really has an impact. He's overflowing with personality."
"It's not just a magic show for adults—he's even being mindful of the children. A show everyone can enjoy, must all be by the mage's design."
"Hey there, Mister Mage! That Crow's your pet, right? How long have you been raising it?"
One citizen raised his voice and threw a question at me.
'How long have I raised it?'
I met it exactly three minutes ago.
But I couldn't exactly go admitting it was a total stranger now.
I flashed a stiff smile and answered the question.
"Three years. I've raised this Crow for three years. I trained it thoroughly for today's magic show."
"That Crow is incredibly smart! What breed is it?"
Breed?
What the hell was I supposed to say the breed was?
Ah, whatever.
"The breed is Hwajireuguji—."
"Hwa-Hwajireuguji? I'm not sure what that is, but it's clearly a high-grade bloodline!"
The moment I gave that half-assed answer, the gathered citizens started murmuring among themselves and constructing their own interpretations of the Crow's identity.
The Crow seemed to take a liking to the name Hwajireuguji too, because it started cawing in a bright, chipper tone.
My dedicated receptionist Wendy, however, was looking at me with a puzzled expression.
"That Hwajireuguji Crow... you've raised it for three years? Then how come I've never seen it before?"
"I-I only raised it at home. I never brought it along on adventurer work. It's a valuable breed—getting it hurt would be a disaster, you know."
"Ah, I see."
I talked my way through it smoothly and cleared up Wendy's doubts.
Now that I'd somehow wound up with a Crow mascot for my magic show, it was time to tell the gathered crowd why I was performing in the first place.
Whoooosh!
I surged a wave of magic to create a loud sound and seized everyone's attention.
"Before I continue the show, I have something to tell you all, the audience. This is the reason I have been putting aside my shame to perform magic on the street."
When I abruptly halted the show and spoke in a solemn voice, the citizens fell silent and listened.
I made eye contact with each of the roughly fifty citizens, one by one, and opened my mouth.
"The Tabad Inn, where I'm staying, has been struggling lately. The innkeeper asked me to help him out by putting on a magic show to promote the inn. Now, most of you probably have homes, so you don't look like you'd need an inn."
The fruit shop owner, the mill owner, the Adventurer's Guild receptionist, the city guard.
Most of the citizens gathered on the street had their own places to live and weren't customers who would need an inn.
But that didn't mean they were useless for promotion.
"In exchange for watching the show, spread the word to travelers. If someone asks whether there's a decent inn around, just point them here. Got it?"
The citizens responded immediately to my request.
"Got it! I'll silver my tongue and introduce it as a fine inn to any traveler."
"The Tabad Inn is struggling? They've been doing business here a long time—it's a shame to hear that."
"We get it, so hurry up and show us some magic!"
There is no Yanolja in this other world.
There aren't any apps to find accommodations, so travelers have no choice but to find inns through word of mouth.
Instead of a super-discount booking app, we had fifty citizens with solid standing in the local community.
'Reassuring.'
With the Crow still perched on my horns, I continued dazzling the citizens with my magic performance.
The crowd of fifty didn't dwindle over time; the numbers held steady. That's because there is jack shit to do for fun in this medieval fantasy land.
One: watch gladiators fight in the arena (paid).
Two: occasionally watch criminals get beheaded at the outdoor execution grounds (free).
Three: read boring-as-hell medieval literature (paid).
Outside of those three things, there wasn't any entertainment for the citizens to enjoy. My magic show had carved a path straight into a blue ocean in the recreation market, giving the citizens a taste of a genuinely fun experience.
"Water Illusioooooon—!"
"Wooooooow."
"Time flies! Mister Mage, thanks to you, my day off is already over! That was some top-tier time-killing!"
At some point, I ran out of tricks to show and just started recklessly summoning waves, but the citizens burst out laughing and enjoyed it all the same.
Some even laid out mats and had a picnic in the cool spray.
"That's all for today's show."
As sunset approached, it was time to wrap up the magic show.
Once I dismissed them, the citizens laughed and chatted as they dispersed back to their own homes.
"We had a great time thanks to you."
"Luke! Thanks for letting my daughter pet the Crow!"
"Mage oppa! Come visit my house and bring the Crow! My mom said she'd make something delicious. Come over and eat my mom!"
"Mary. You mean eat Mom's *food*, not eat your mom."
"Ah, I said it wrong. Hehe."
I waved to the citizens, including Wendy and her daughter, and then started tidying up the soaking-wet backyard.
The unidentified Crow was still stuck on my horns as if that was its rightful perch.
I ignored it and used a Liquid spell to absorb the moisture from the ground. Just as I was finishing the cleanup, the Crow detached from me and flew up into the sky.
Flutter!
The Crow bowed its head to me, as if saying goodbye.
"Yeah, good work. The show was better because of you."
Talking human words to an animal felt unhinged, but somehow I got the sense that this Crow would genuinely understand me.
Caw!
The Crow let out a short cry, then soared high into the sunset-colored sky.
As the Crow vanished from sight, only a few of its pitch-black feathers were left scattered around the backyard.
'Should I have given it something to eat?'
I ought to have given it a piece of bread as a reward for doing the show with me.
But the Crow was already gone, and there was no guarantee it would show up again.
I silently focused on my magic and finished drying the damp backyard.
And so, the first day of the Tabad Inn backyard show concluded without incident.
Pushing myself to cast spells with everything I had was, of course, great help for my magic training as well.
*
That night.
New customers started trickling into the Tabad Inn, which normally drew nothing but flies.
When renting a room, each customer asked the innkeeper the exact same thing.
"Is this the inn where the mage and the Crow put on a fantastic show?"
"You've come to the right place."
When Mister Brown tactfully confirmed it, the customers, clearly intrigued, expressed their intention to stay for at least a few days.
Thanks to that, the inn's income saw a modest bump.
Needless to say, Brown was grateful to me.
"Thank you, Luke! Seems that show of yours was quite something."
"Really? How 'quite something' are we talking?"
"The surrounding streets are buzzing with people who saw your performance. They're all spreading the word about our inn on their own."
"That's a relief. I was worried the spectators would just keep their mouths shut and do nothing."
"It means your show had an impact. A Crow-taming mage, they're calling you! I don't know where you found such a clever Crow, but you did an excellent job. For you, I've specially prepared a meat dish for tonight's dinner."
"You're telling me to stuff my face with meat alone? I've got a family, you know."
"Of course not—I've prepared portions for two, with your lover in mind. Eat dinner together and show off your manly prowess."
"...You've got a real sense for these things."
That evening, instead of the usual tasteless soup, I got to enjoy the smoked meat Brown had specially prepared.
Along with my lover, Rebecca.
Unfortunately, Rebecca hadn't been able to see my magic show today because she'd been training her martial arts outside the inn.
Martial artists need to train in places with clean air, like forests, for maximum efficiency.
Returning from training soaked in sweat, Rebecca caught sight of the meat dish Brown had prepared in the inn's dining hall and looked surprised.
"Huh? Why is it meat for dinner tonight?"
I shrugged and answered her.
"My magic changed what we're having for dinner tonight."
"What? You can turn soup into meat? My boyfriend is a real man of ability."
"Heh."
"If you've got an ability like that, it's a meat party every day from now on. Awesome!"
Rebecca, evidently a huge meat-lover, stared at me with her mouth hanging open.
She seemed to be expecting a little too much, so I put on a straight face and spoke again.
"No. I mean, it's not like I can change it *every* day."
While we ate together, I told Rebecca all about what happened today.