Infinite Mana (5)
The guild made up entirely of werewolves, Wolf Fang, was no pushover. Let’s compare it to the others. The witches’ guild, Hexennacht, accepted anyone into its ranks as long as they were a witch. Lately, they had even started welcoming people who weren’t witches but had learned witchcraft. To Wolf Fang, they seemed like an utterly feeble bunch. No matter how much they inflated their numbers, they were still just water balloons. Another guild, Delphoi, was a group that worshipped the sun—the very source of mana. In Wolf Fang’s eyes, they were half-wits who relied on external power.
Only strength. Power forged by one’s own hands. Wolf Fang had been created with that exact purpose in mind. Naturally, they didn’t accept just anyone simply because they were a werewolf. Being a werewolf was merely one condition; the most important factor was strength. The werewolf who had attacked Ayoung before wouldn’t have even been allowed to knock on Wolf Fang’s door. They would have lost their head for daring to knock with such pathetic power, underestimating the guild so badly. Physically, of course.
Because it was a guild that gathered only the strongest werewolves, the pride of its members was particularly fierce. And it didn’t take long for that pride to turn into arrogance. The weak could be crushed by their own power. Even those who were somewhat strong would instinctively hold back in front of the name Wolf Fang. After all, a personal fight could easily escalate into a guild war. In an environment like that, not becoming arrogant would have been the harder demand.
That was exactly why the man leading the five Wolf Fang guild members gathered in the store could throw a tantrum without thinking about the consequences. The part-timer had done nothing wrong. If one had to blame something, it was simply bad luck. She had been working the shift on the day the man showed up. That tiny, trivial misfortune was her only sin.
And for the same reason, the chicken that had been carelessly tossed aside ended up dirtying the clothes of a dragon who had been quietly enjoying her meal in the same store… was also that man’s trivial misfortune.
Tap.
Serpina placed her hand on the table and stood up. The man, who had been glaring and snapping at the employee, noticed her movement as well. He crossed his legs and looked at her with interest.
“What? Got a problem? If you’re pissed, come at me.”
Serpina didn’t bother replying. She simply picked up the chicken that had fallen at her feet. The once-glossy, oil-slicked fried coating was now covered in dust and looked utterly disgusting. She held it in her hand and flicked it lightly.
“What are you doing? Want to eat it? If you want it that badly, I’ll let you—”
Thud!
The chicken flew straight into the man’s mouth as he cackled and spouted nonsense. The impact against his throat combined with the thick smell of dust at point-blank range made him gag violently. He choked and spluttered, unable to regain his composure.
“What the hell?!”
“This bastard!”
His companions all shot up from their seats at once. The inside of the store instantly filled with a hostile atmosphere. Outside, however, it was pure festival vibes.
“Fight! Fight!”
“She picked a fight with Wolf Fang? That’s badass!”
“One beer over here! Hurry!”
Nothing beat watching a good brawl. People cheered, thrilled to have found such excellent drinking entertainment out of nowhere.
In contrast to the boiling excitement around them, the man who had been force-fed a dusty chicken was frantic and desperate. The chicken was lodged in his throat and wouldn’t come out. He kept gagging, but every time his throat spasmed, instead of dislodging the chicken, it only sent more of that dusty stench rising up. In the end, he had no choice but to shove his hand into his mouth and pull the chicken out. It was an incredibly undignified sight, one he would never have chosen willingly, but he had no other option.
“Kek, kehek… ptooey!”
The man clutched his now-freed throat, coughed violently, and spat on the floor. Even then, the unpleasant feeling of dust still clinging inside his mouth lingered.
“This bitch… I’ll kill—”
The man, burning with rage, suddenly sensed something was off. Why was it so quiet around him? His Wolf Fang comrades weren’t the type to sit still after someone had humiliated him like this. They would have trampled her, humiliated her back—whatever it took, they would have made her pay. Or at least they should have been in the middle of doing so right now.
But… it was far too quiet for that. Not a single shout, not a single sound of someone getting beaten. When he lifted his head to look around, he finally understood why.
“……!”
“Mmph…!!”
“Ugh… mmph…!”
All of his companions were rolling on the floor. Each had a huge piece of chicken shoved into their mouths and were desperately coughing and struggling to spit it out. When had she done it? No matter how distracted he had been trying to pull the chicken from his own throat, it couldn’t have been that long. At most, thirty seconds. In that short time, with barely any noise… everyone had been taken down.
He had messed with the wrong person. Cold sweat ran down the man’s spine. The scariest part was that he couldn’t even begin to guess how she had done it. There wasn’t the slightest trace of mana in the air. That meant she hadn’t used magic. And if she hadn’t used magic, then it had to have been pure physical ability? That made even less sense. Werewolves were the supreme race when it came to physical prowess; no one could match them.
The magical world had countless races. Among them were some that surpassed werewolves in one specific area—strength or speed, for example. But when all physical attributes were considered together—strength, stamina, agility, durability—werewolves were without a doubt the undisputed peak. That was common sense. It had to be.
Yet the scene before his eyes made him question that very common sense.
“Hey.”
Tap.
Serpina closed the distance with one step. The gap between them remained the same, because the man had unconsciously taken a step back. He was shocked to realize his body had tried to flee on its own. Serpina, on the other hand, found it annoying that she had to move forward every time he retreated. Instead of taking another step, she picked up a piece of chicken that had fallen nearby. This time it was a wing.
The moment Serpina reached for the chicken, the man felt a surge of dread and spun around. He was trying to seize the chance to run. But his desperate effort was in vain. The chicken wing struck the back of his neck, and he collapsed on the spot. The impact felt like being hit by a baseball. If the chicken hadn’t burst from the force first, his neck bones might have snapped.
As the man lay face-down on the floor, savoring the rich scent of dust, a shabby shoe appeared before his eyes with a soft tap. It was Serpina’s foot.
“Hey. Can you see it?”
At Serpina’s words, the man’s mind raced. See what? All he could see was a pair of shoes so worn-out they would have been hard to find even in a clothing donation bin, pale ankles peeking out because she wasn’t wearing socks, and a faint oil stain on the very edge of her pant leg.
…An oil stain?
In that instant, the man realized what had happened. One of the carelessly scattered chicken pieces had created this entire situation. In other words, he had simply been unlucky.
“Choose. Want to pick up those idiots on the floor and leave, or eat another piece of chicken?”
“W-we’ll leave!”
The man jumped to his feet and shouted. He had a gut feeling. This woman meant what she said. No—she would do even more than she said. If he chose the chicken option, she would definitely keep feeding him until he and all his companions had left the store. And if he couldn’t swallow the dirty, smelly chicken, she would probably make him eat the pieces he had already spat out.
“Ah. Okay. Then get lost. Quickly.”
“Yes ma’am!”
Even in his short reply, her voice somehow sounded almost disappointed. The man hurriedly pulled the chicken out of his companions’ mouths and helped them up.
“Uh… huh? What just happened…”
“Shut up and get up!”
He dragged his companions, who still hadn’t fully grasped the situation because everything had happened so fast, out of the store.
“Hey. Aren’t you going to pay?”
“Y-yes! Here! Please take the payment!”
He had to rush back when he heard her voice from behind, ending up paying for food that hadn’t even come out yet. His wallet hurt. His neck hurt. His pride didn’t even need to be mentioned. Still, the man inwardly cheered at the fact that he was getting away with only this much. Having lived in Wolf Fang, he knew all too well what happened when you truly offended someone stronger.
The spectators’ cheers erupted. The guys who had been ruining the pleasant drinking atmosphere were gone. That alone was enough to lift everyone’s spirits. Serpina lightly waved her hand in response to the cheers and returned to her seat. The coca-tris chicken drumstick fries were still warm.
Ayoung whispered to Serpina as she sat back down.
“I was worried you might end up spilling blood in here, sunbae.”
“What do you take me for? I know how to draw the line. I wouldn’t go that far over something this small.”
“…And if it had been worse?”
“We’ll think about that when the time comes.”
Serpina answered casually while using magic to erase the oil stain on her pants. It was such a simple task she could do it while talking. That was exactly why she had stopped at simply feeding them the chicken again.
By the time the noisy cheers had died down and Serpina and Ayoung had nearly finished their meal, the part-timer approached hesitantly.
“Um…”
It was the same employee who had been harassed earlier.
“Thank you for helping me earlier. I wanted to give you this, at least.”
The employee held out some packaged chicken. Even at a glance, there were three whole boxes—quite a generous amount.
“Oh? I’ll take it, thanks.”
Serpina accepted without hesitation. Of course, the physical task of receiving and carrying the chicken fell to Ayoung.
That was how they ended up heading back after watching the nighttime operations of ML Mart.
On the way, Serpina suddenly asked something that had occurred to her.
“That part-timer from earlier wasn’t even a mage, right? Are there a lot of people like that?”
The employee hadn’t been a bottom-tier Rank 5 mage like Ayoung—she was just an ordinary person. A normal civilian who couldn’t sense mana at all.
“Yes. There are quite a few people who work in the magical world even though they can’t use magic. No matter how convenient and amazing magic is, society can’t run on mages alone. Plus, most mages have huge egos, so they don’t like doing jobs like that.”
“Huh.”
“It’s beneficial for them too. Mages earn well and spend a lot of money. Prices are higher than in the human world to begin with. And a lot of people use that money to buy the mage beginner kits you saw earlier and try to become mages themselves. Of course, plenty of them still fail to become mages even after that…”
Becoming a mage, huh.
As far as Serpina remembered, modern Korea was in an absolutely brutal job market. Becoming a mage might just be another career option for them.
When they returned under the bridge, Heemang came trotting over, tail swishing. Serpina handed the kitten a few pieces of chicken. Heemang immediately buried his head in the disposable bowl the store had given them and began busily tearing into the chicken with loud chomp chomp sounds.
“…Is it okay for a cat to eat chicken?”
She wasn’t sure. Since he was a magic beast, he probably wouldn’t die even if it was a little bad for him. Besides, no one ate chicken for their health anyway. Serpina brushed it off and assigned Ayoung her training for the day.