Wandering Mage Luke #1
Wandering Mage Luke #1
On the road to the Adventurer's Guild.
Making my way through the streets of Yoen-su, I was practically giddy at the thought of collecting my bounty. My share of the bounty plus the quest's base reward came to twenty-eight silver. My mind raced, bouncing from one possibility to the next for what to do with it.
"What's the first thing you want when we get the money?"
"New gear."
Rebecca answered as she walked beside me, no hesitation at all. As expected, equipment was the only thing on her mind. A very tank-like mindset—obsessing over good gear.
"New gear... and I want some strawberry pie, too."
"Strawberry pie?"
"That pie you brought earlier was incredible. Where in the world did you get it?"
"There's a street vendor on the way to the guild. You want me to buy you another one?"
"If you're buying, I'll happily eat it. Hee hee."
The main road from the inn to the Adventurer's Guild passed right by a stall that sold strawberry pie. When we reached it, I bought one for each of us, and we decided to eat them as we walked. Maybe her body was craving the sugar, because Rebecca devoured her paper-wrapped pie in an instant. A bit of crust had stuck to the corner of her mouth, which looked awfully cute.
"What are you staring at?"
"You've got pie on your face."
"Oh."
At my observation, Rebecca flustered and wiped her mouth. In the old days, she wouldn't have wiped it—she'd have told me to watch where the hell I was looking. Was she super conscious of the fact that we were dating now? I rather liked this newly docile Rebecca.
A short while later, Rebecca and I arrived at the Adventurer's Guild. We stepped inside and approached Wendy at the reception desk. She'd been waving and welcoming me from the moment I appeared in the distance.
"Luke! Rebecca! Welcome back! Did you both get plenty of rest yesterday?"
"Yes."
"Yep!"
"I've been thoroughly briefed on the subjugation quest report. I heard the two of you took down an elderly giant as a duo. That's a truly remarkable achievement by Bronze standards."
"We didn't take it down all by ourselves. The adventurers in the escort squad held the line for us up front, to some extent."
"Even so, it's unheard of for Bronze Tier adventurers to claim a giant's head. And Luke, your exploits in the report are quite impressive as well. It says you used fire magic to cleanly burn away the spiderwebs blocking the subjugation team's path."
Wendy pulled a coin pouch full of silver from beneath the reception desk. My pouch was several times heavier than Rebecca's, no doubt because it contained the bounty. Feeling like I was walking on air, I started counting the silver coins inside.
Not that Wendy would ever miscalculate payment. It just felt so damn good to run my fingers over the silver.
But midway through counting, I couldn't help noticing something off.
Counting this out makes forty-eight silver... that's way more than I'm supposed to get.
I double-checked, meticulous, just in case—but nothing changed. The pouch Wendy had handed me held far more money than I was owed.
Sixty-eight silver coins in total. A full twenty silver more than I was supposed to receive.
"This is too much."
"Ah, that's the bounty for taking the giant's head. Sixty silver."
"Wasn't the bounty forty silver?"
Wendy shook her head.
"Elderly giants carry a higher bounty than other giants. They're weaker than the young ones, but they know how to use their heads—you could call them special individuals that command giant packs. So the bounty on an elderly giant is sixty silver."
The elderly giant paid a higher bounty? Hearing the explanation, I could accept it. A giant that uses its brain is far more trouble than one that just uses its body. That elderly giant really was a terrifying bastard, going straight for the healer—the nun—first. A crazy mob that manually picks its aggro targets against adventurers.
"I see. I'll gladly accept it."
"Our funds have grown."
Beside me, Rebecca threw both hands up and cheered. Wendy, who had been watching Rebecca with a kind smile, soon turned her head toward me.
"Luke, with the merit from clearing this quest, you should be able to challenge the Silver Tier promotion match soon. Do just one or two minor quests and you'll probably fill up all your achievement points."
"Ah, the promotion match."
The Silver Tier promotion match! I'd been meaning to ask Wendy about it. I'd been thinking about it myself, but I hadn't expected her to bring it up first.
"One or two quests... what kind of quests would I need to do?"
"Clearing F-rank requests would be enough. Simple errands, or requests to find lost pets—that sort of thing. But you'll need to time when you clear them carefully. Jump straight into the promotion match before you're fully prepared and it'll be rough."
I understood what Wendy meant. If I cleared a few extra quests now and maxed out my achievement points, the Silver Tier promotion match might kick off before I even realized it. I'd be fighting the promotion battle without time to properly prepare new equipment or new magic.
"Thanks, Wendy. Good advice."
"I am your assigned receptionist, after all. Make sure you're fully prepared before you take the promotion match. And pray hard."
"Pray?"
"Pray you don't get stuck with troll bastards as your party members."
"R-right..."
That was the moment I grasped the true importance of prayer.
Rebecca, standing beside me, looked at me with startled eyes. "You're getting promoted to Silver Tier?!"
"About time. I've been working at the Adventurer's Guild for two years already. Taking down that giant piled up a fair amount of achievement points, too. I've more than earned a shot at the promotion match."
"Luckyyy."
The look Rebecca, a newbie adventurer, leveled at me was laced with intense envy. It would be a long time before a freshly-minted adventurer like her earned the qualifications for a promotion match.
Rebecca suddenly grabbed my sleeve, her expression falling into anxiety. "When you make Silver, promise you won't ditch me? Like, suddenly vanish from the fixed party. Or cut off all contact."
"How could I ditch you? What kind of subhuman abandons a party member they grinded through the Bronze Abyss with?"
"A man of loyalty. So cool."
For some reason, Rebecca was already treating me like an adventurer who'd been promoted to Silver. Never mind that there was no telling whether the promotion match would end safely or not. The only thing on my mind was deep anxiety about what kind of troll bastards I'd run into during the promotion match.
Wasn't there a saying—whenever more than five people gather, there's guaranteed to be at least one piece of trash?
I had no choice but to train my magic like hell and be reborn as a carry-type mage.
"Is that everything?"
"Yes! That's all I had to tell you. But Luke! Would you mind sparing a moment for me?"
"A moment?"
"There's something I'd really like to show you in person. It's probably something you've been fairly curious about. There's a wandering magician visiting the guild right now. A Bronze Tier wandering magician, just like you."
A wandering magician? Wendy's words immediately piqued my interest. In all my time working as an adventurer, I'd never once worked with other mages like myself. I'd always wondered what the hell they were like. Could they all handle magic as well as I could?
"His name is James. He's currently training his magic at the Adventurer's Guild training grounds. If it's alright, shall I show you while he's practicing?"
"Is it okay for me to watch him train?"
"It's fine. You just have to follow behind me."
For whatever reason, Wendy seemed very eager to show me this magician named James. I'd wanted to observe another wandering magician anyway, so I decided to follow her.
"Miss Receptionist! Is it okay if I come too?"
"If you have the time, Rebecca, please come along! It's not every day you get a chance to watch a wandering magician train."
Wendy rose from the reception desk and headed toward the training grounds installed outside the building. Curiosity piqued, I followed after her.
*
The training grounds.
A wide open space, visible the moment you stepped out through the back gate of the Adventurer's Guild. The place was outfitted with all sorts of training facilities so adventurers could hone their bodies. Yet in my two years working as an adventurer, I hadn't used the training grounds even once.
Because you have to pay a monthly usage fee.
Bronze Tier adventurers had to pay a fee to use the guild's training grounds. The price was eighty copper a month. A broke adventurer like me would starve to death trying to pay it. Though things had improved a lot lately, now that I'd become a mage.
"Follow me inside, please. Luke. Rebecca. I got permission from the staff member who manages the training grounds. He said a simple observation visit would be fine."
Wendy, who had been talking with the facility manager at the entrance of the training grounds, returned to my side. I marveled at her skill in getting permission from the prickly-looking manager. No—rather than marveling at her skill, I was marveling at Wendy's deployment of her feminine charms.
Her tits bounce like crazy with every step. Fuck. If she asked a favor with a chest like that, there's no way you could refuse...
The manager's gaze had been locked onto Wendy's cleavage the entire time they talked. He was an old manager, but it seemed his dick still worked just fine. Thanks to that, Rebecca and I were able to follow Wendy comfortably inside the training grounds.
"Do you see that middle-aged gentleman in the robe over there? That's James. A wandering magician registered with our guild."
I didn't even need Wendy's explanation to spot where the magician was. A spot in the training grounds had drawn quite a crowd. Other adventurers had stopped their own training and were spectating something.
"Check out the beard on his chin. He looks totally like a wizard."
"Right? Appearances alone—he's the stereotypical mage type."
A middle-aged man surrounded by adventurers. He was wearing a shabby robe and sported a long, flowing beard. He radiated years of experience, and just looking at him, you got a strong mage-like vibe.
Was the robe the key to achieving mage-chic after all? Should I get myself a stylish robe, too? I was freshly afflicted with material desire, imagining myself in a robe, when Wendy suddenly spoke to me in an urgent voice.
"Lu-Luke! Look, quickly! James's magic is starting!!"
Her voice made a fuss, like the opening act of a famous theater circus was about to begin. Hearing Wendy's tone, my interest was caught. That middle-aged magician seemed like someone truly impressive. Wendy had called this an "observation visit," after all. That had to mean she wanted to show me a mage of high caliber. She was probably thinking of inspiring my own training motivation by showing me a genuine, real-deal magician. Just like the capable assigned receptionist she was.
A spell incantation burst from the middle-aged magician's lips. "O blazing flame which slumbers within the soul—"
The moment the incantation began, I was stunned. A spell incantation! An auxiliary technique used when casting high-difficulty magic. I could cast magic with just a short activation word, but that was only possible because it was basic magic. This middle-aged magician really seemed like the genuine article.
"By the covenant of blood, I summon thee—"
A covenant of blood and a summoned blazing flame? Goosebumps erupted all over my body, and I recoiled backward.
Is he seriously planning to drop a Hellfire on the training grounds?
Weren't we going to burn to death just watching?
"W-Wendy! It's dangerous! That middle-aged mage's skill is no joke!"
"Even if it's dangerous, Luke, you absolutely must watch! It's the only way to broaden your insight into magic!"
Wendy grabbed my arm tightly. A receptionist with no combat ability whatsoever was showing such courage—there was no way I could run. Trembling with dread, I stared at the middle-aged mage chanting his incantation.
"Burn my enemies, crimson blaze—!!!!"
The instant the middle-aged magician ended his incantation with a roar—
Whoosh!!
A flame ignited on the palm of his hand. A dinky little flame the exact size of a candle flame—!!
"What the fuck!!"
I stared at the middle-aged magician, horrified.
"What's the matter, Luke?"
"That's smaller than my Fire magic!"
I formed a hand seal and conjured a flame myself. In just a few seconds, a fire much larger than the middle-aged magician's sprouted above my fingertip. I gazed at the middle-aged magician with an expression of utter disbelief—at the middle-aged magician who was grinning smugly as if he'd accomplished something incredible.
"What in the world is going on here? Wendy, that bastard's just an idiot!"
"Luuuke!" Wendy, wearing a wistful expression, whispered into my ear. "That is the Bronze wandering magician average. They're all idiots."
A SHIVER OF SHOCK—!!!!
Hearing Wendy's words, goosebumps erupted all over my body.