Chapter 71: The Wizard of Destruction
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 71: The Wizard of Destruction
Guild Village.
That was the name of the residential area about a kilometer south of Sohen's Adventurer Guild.
It was one of Sohen's most prominent poor districts, precisely because of its proximity to the Adventurer Guild.
Novice adventurers trying to form new parties, outsiders, party exiles, ex-convicts, and vagrants had all gathered there one by one, turning it into a slum.
People raising children in a place like this were bound to become tough and defensive.
People like Mrs. Renick.
"I'm here for some vegetables."
When she went shopping at the market, she always put on an intimidating glare.
It was the most basic haggling skill for anyone living in this neighborhood.
But that day, something was different.
"Aren't you that monk's wife?"
The old woman selling vegetables slashed the price herself, and dramatically at that.
"Take it for half price. That's what it costs me to get it, anyway."
"I... what?"
"My grandson is alive thanks to your husband."
It was the day after Aimus had returned from the 3rd floor of the Labyrinth.
Everyone she met at the market told a similar story.
"My husband made it out alive thanks to Aimus's party. He was badly injured, but they say he'll recover as long as he gets proper treatment at the temple."
"Huh?"
"Mrs. Renick! Thank you so much! My older sister nearly died on the 3rd floor this time! But I heard your husband cleared the exit room for them!"
"He did?"
Until that moment, it was all news to Mrs. Renick. She had been at home looking after the kids and hadn't heard about the monster wave. Her husband had come home late at night and passed out, and she had left early in the morning.
"They say everyone on the 3rd floor was saved thanks to Mr. Renick. Of course, there were some who didn't make it back."
Since most of the residents of Guild Village were low-floor adventurers, an especially large number of them had made it out thanks to Caleb's party.
"My brother's party said their wizard died, and they were all about to freeze to death because of the freeze effect. But that's when Sir Aimus appeared."
That monk, who had lost about half his hair, was now known in Guild Village by a new name.
'Aimus the Torch.'
A shepherd and savior who showed the way to a flock on the verge of death.
Though, instead of a staff, he carried a giant iron rod, and instead of healing the injured, he was the type to smash the exit boss's head in.
The monk with the sparkling bald head—no, the gleaming, torch-like helmet—who had brightly illuminated the darkness of the night the wave hit, dispelled the confusion, drove away the cold, and rallied the people.
That was Aimus the Torch.
Who the hell is that...?
It sounded completely unfamiliar to Mrs. Renick.
The Aimus she knew was a bottom-tier adventurer who was constantly getting kicked out of parties on the 1st floor.
"Thank you so much for saving my husband, Mrs. Renick. I made some cake at home."
Even the neighbors who came all the way to their house, showering them with gifts, felt so strange!
The people in this neighborhood weren't such a warm-hearted bunch, were they?
"Aimus is the greatest adventurer in Guild Village!"
"He is...?"
Is this really my husband they're talking about?
Mrs. Renick's confusion wouldn't fade, and the next day, something even more shocking happened.
"This is for our firstborn's school tuition."
"...Gasp."
"And the remaining balance on our home loan."
"...Guh?"
"And this is what's left over."
"No way!"
Aimus had brought home an enormous sum of money. He said this was what was left even after deducting the 10,000 gold contract fee.
Mrs. Renick was so shocked by a fortune she had never seen in her life that she couldn't hold it in. Her eyes doubled in size, and her hands trembled as she counted the money.
"Honey!"
She threw her arms around her husband. She had loved him even when he was incompetent, but now...
"You... you suddenly look... handsome."
Mrs. Renick found herself falling for the middle-aged monk, whose bald spot was well underway, all over again!
Feeling good, Aimus even set aside a little pocket money for his wife.
"Ahem. Go buy yourself some new clothes or something."
"...!"
"That skirt of yours is getting pretty worn out."
"Yes... A fourth..."
Mrs. Renick's eyes narrowed.
"Want to make a fourth?"
A flustered Aimus shot to his feet.
"I have a meeting with Caleb, so I'm off!"
A married man must be swift. Always ready with an escape route.
Aimus fled, escaping the mandatory defense match.
*
"I heard Aimus has practically become a hero in Guild Village."
I'd heard the news.
But in my case, things were a little different.
"That's him."
"Caleb."
"They say he's the King of Destruction."
I could feel the stinging glares from all around me in the university's magic bookstore.
"Disaster follows him wherever he goes."
"The Wizard of Misfortune."
"Caleb, the God of Destruction..."
I could hear whispers from all sides.
But when I listened, it was all true, so I couldn't really argue.
In Wyndham, he killed his fox-spirit companion, and his party was blown apart.
As soon as he joined a slave party, he ran into a Back Attack as the exit boss.
When he went to the 1.5th floor, the Caretaker of Rest showed up.
When he went to the 3rd floor, a monster wave broke out, and two eccentric bosses appeared.
And even outside the Labyrinth...
"This time, he went to a gambling den for the first time, and the place got shut down!"
Frenzy follows the cursed detective wizard wherever he goes.
On the very day he visited the gambling den for the first time, the Public Security Headquarters just so happened to raid the place. A professor from the magic university died inside, the owner was arrested, and a torrential downpour flooded the building's lobby, ruining everything.
That was the gist of it.
As a result, the venerable gambling den, now also called a casino, which had been a major pillar of Blackdog's finances for the past decade, was completely shut down for the foreseeable future.
It was forced to suspend operations until it could be cleaned out, renovated, and reopened.
Fortunately, I wasn't charged with anything. The Public Security Headquarters kept my involvement—that I had gone in undercover, that I was there when Enver died—under wraps. They simply concluded the matter by stating that a new wizard had assisted in the suspect's arrest using Cumulonimbus.
It was their way of trying to protect a witness.
Blackdog already knew, of course, but there was no point in broadcasting it.
Thanks to that, I became the wizard of disaster who shut down the gambling den on his very first visit.
"Now who's going to spin the roulette wheel...?"
The glares from some of the wizards were quite sharp.
Sorry, guys. I didn't want to become the poster child for misfortune either.
This incident had also started to develop in a strange direction from another quarter: the Enver Club.
Also known as the Assembly of the Labyrinth's Abyss.
Apparently, a strong protest from Blackdog had arrived there last night.
It went something like this:
'Your Assembly members, Enver and Caleb, instigated the Public Security Headquarters to raid our gambling den. So we killed Enver. Caleb survived because the authorities stormed in just in time. Since Enver has paid for his crime and the incident is closed, we will not touch Caleb in order to maintain our agreement. However, Blackdog will be sure to remember this debt.'
The Assembly had convened an emergency meeting. Isel, who had been about to leave for the East, had rushed back to attend and had sent me a frantic message.
Along with the information above, she included the Assembly's ridiculous conclusion.
[The Assembly now thinks Caleb has been recruited by Blackdog.]
What kind of bullshit was this?
Blackdog had complained that I was a member of the Assembly. But the Assembly had concluded that I was a member of Blackdog?
[Because Enver died, and only Caleb made it out of there alive.]
That was the problem.
From the Assembly's perspective, the idea of the usually timid, faint-hearted, and obedient Enver suddenly flying off the handle and storming a Blackdog gambling den all by himself was a picture that made no sense.
So why did he go there?
At the last Assembly meeting, Enver had insisted he would "recruit Caleb" and had taken on the mission himself.
And a few days later, that same man went to a Blackdog gambling den with Caleb and turned up dead?
And only Caleb made it out alive?
The Assembly didn't believe Blackdog's claim that the Public Security Headquarters had conveniently raided the place at the perfect moment to save only Caleb.
Unless Public Security had managed to slip an invisible wizard's eye into the 2nd-floor meeting room and was monitoring it from outside, how would that even be possible?
The time it would take for Krom to swing his axe and lop off both their heads would be a matter of seconds. Did they really expect them to believe it happened with perfect, ruler-like precision? 'Now! Enver is dead, so let's rush in and rescue Caleb! Nobody move!'?
It was too unbelievable.
Therefore...
[The Assembly thinks Caleb is already a member of Blackdog, and that Blackdog used Caleb to lure and eliminate Enver.]
From their point of view, it was a rather rational deduction.
Then how did they interpret Blackdog's claim about "Assembly member Caleb"?
They couldn't.
Apparently, that question had taken up half the discussion time. They concluded by agreeing to watch carefully, as that too could be a trap.
Just like wizards.
Being suspicious and thinking two or three steps ahead was second nature to them, which is how they arrived at this absurd conclusion.
So they both think I'm on the other side.
And because of that, neither of them was attacking me.
This current safety felt like enjoying clear, calm weather after stepping into the eye of a storm.
A single step in any direction would put me right back in the heart of the tempest.
It really made me want to go to the Labyrinth.
But there were definite benefits to stirring things up with Blackdog.
There was the important tip that the White Lion might be a monster from an inter-floor village, and...
'The ten chosen by the Deep Layer.'
What Enver had mentioned before he died. He had spoken as if entering that group of ten would allow one to return home.
Unfortunately, Isel knew nothing about the White Lion or the ten chosen.
Then again, was it only natural that she didn't know?
Isel wasn't a possessor, so she had no home to return to. And if the White Lion's true identity was real and Isel knew about it, she would have reported it long ago, and the university would have been in an uproar.
"Sir."
As I was organizing my complicated thoughts, the clerk from the magic bookstore appeared with the items I was looking for.
I had searched through everything on display but couldn't find them, so I had asked the clerk for help.
"Luckily, we had one of each in the warehouse."
She handed me two spellbooks.
One was Tier 1, the other Tier 2.
*
"Memorize."
Back in my dorm, I opened my Memory Book.
[Memory Book]
▶Known Spells
- Dust Blast, Heat Gale, Humidify
▶Registered Spells
- Tier 1 Spell Slots (3/4)
① Dust Blast
② Heat Gale
③ Humidify
④
▶Tier 2 Spell Slots (0/1+3)
① Dust Explosion
② Scorch
③ Cumulonimbus
④
I currently had one Tier 1 spell slot and one Tier 2 spell slot available.
First, I would put this in the Tier 1 slot.
[Spellbook: Frost Ray]
I read the spell from the spellbook aloud, slowly transferring it to the Memory Book. And then...
[Memory Book]
▶Known Spells
- Dust Blast, Heat Gale, Humidify, Frost Ray
▶Registered Spells
- Tier 1 Spell Slots (4/4)
① Dust Blast
② Heat Gale
③ Humidify
④ Frost Ray
[Acquired the binding grimoire for Dust Blast, Heat Gale, Humidify, and Frost Ray.]
『Book of Hailstorm』
- The Tier 3 magic 'Hailstorm' has been recorded in your Memory Book.
A quad-bond.
Adding Frost Ray to the existing Cumulonimbus combination had created a Tier 3 magic.
Nice.
Now I had truly become the King of Destruction who brought disaster wherever he went.
And...
[Spellbook: Electrostatic Coat]
I filled one of the Tier 2 slots as well.
It wasn't a spell I could bond right away, but it was a means of survival for the 4th floor.
"Are we going now?"
Yernil was waiting in the living room, ready to go out.
"Let's go."
First, I needed to head to the Appraisal Department and pick up the magic equipment I'd left there.
*
"Whoa!"
As soon as we entered the Appraisal Department, Yernil suddenly cried out at the sight of something.
"What is it?"
Since Yernil was usually timid and quiet, her outburst startled me as well.
"You... you..."
Yernil was pointing at a man in the Appraisal Department.
He was an elf, the same race as Yernil.
The man also looked quite surprised.
Are they from the same hometown?
Since they were both elves, it was possible...
"The Errand Center Owner!"
Nope, not from her hometown.
The Errand Center Owner?
"Well, look at this. What a coincidence."
The elf stroked his chin, looking amused.
Yernil had once gotten a job at an errand center in Flandre City, working in logistics and delivery.
But it turned out that the errand center was using parcels as a front to distribute drugs.
Yernil was framed as a courier and fined. When she couldn't pay, she became a slave...
This is that guy?
Then that means he's a drug dealer.
Why the hell is this bastard here and not in prison?
"My, my."
The man chuckled as he approached.
"What a coincidence. Yernil. You managed to survive and pay off your debt, I see?"
Yernil trembled, as if her old anger was boiling up all over again.