The Healer and the Mage's Obsessive Gluttony
Haru tilted her hazy, unfocused eyes as she peered inside her pocket.
Inside were two black magic stones.
Black magic stones that Ahin and Er had obtained after defeating the skeletons and the orc warriors.
At that very moment, Haru’s hand moved toward the black magic stones she had been staring at, filled with the thick aura of forbidden magic.
Philanthropist
“Wait! Don’t touch that thing! It’s dangerous!!”
Ahin’s panicked shout, born from knowing exactly what could happen, fell on deaf ears.
“…Don’t? Why?”
“Eh…?”
Haru lifted the object with her tiny hand and began examining it from every angle.
“Ahin, is it really okay to do that?”
“I-I don’t know. Normal people would burn their hands on something like this…”
“Yeah, that Jane girl tried it too.”
Haru’s curious expression matched the opinions of Ahin and Er, and Jina spoke up in agreement.
“You say you’re a mage, so you must have some special technique or something, right?”
“Maybe.”
Ahin and Er were watching Haru with that look when Er suddenly remembered the incident from earlier.
A silver-rank mage named Haru who had claimed to be a magician, wearing a silver plate.
There were too many reasons why Er couldn’t simply believe everything she had been told.
So Er immediately stood up, headed to the guild office, and asked the question.
“Is there a silver-rank adventurer named Haru?”
The answer came back positive.
Lise, the receptionist who nodded without any expression, replied in a businesslike tone.
“Yes, the one who investigated the lizardmen cave where Ahin-nim and Er-nim explored, and the underground mausoleum afterward.”
Upon hearing that Haru was indeed the famous mage of the Carpe Guild, Er informed Ahin and Jina right away, then handed over the pouch containing the black magic stone with the excuse of “for observation purposes.”
“Hmmm…”
Right after receiving it, Haru stared at the black magic stones without saying a single word, as if her mind had completely slipped away.
She didn’t care what anyone said around her and kept her gaze locked entirely on the stones, which only added to the image of her being an eccentric genius mage.
“She’s really lost in thought…”
“Yeah, she might get herself in trouble if she touches the aura.”
“But even if she does, since Ahin’s here, it’ll be fine, right?”
“I’d rather not show off my abilities if possible…”
Ahin spoke with obvious discomfort at that moment.
“…Confirmed. Complete.”
Haru placed the black magic stones back into her pocket and set the pouch on the table.
While Er retrieved it from storage, Ahin, who had been watching Haru, asked.
“Did you figure out anything?”
His party lacked knowledge.
At best, they knew the stones came from black magic and that touching them might affect nearby corpses or monsters.
When Ahin asked the mage for more information, Haru raised her sky-blue eyes and spoke slowly.
“…Power.”
“Power…?”
“The power is tightly packed inside the stones.”
“…We already know that.”
That was obvious even to a mage like her.
Ahin wondered what she was thinking as Haru, without a trace of confusion, continued with a small spark of determination in her hazy eyes.
“I don’t know the details yet. I’ll need more investigation.”
“…Eh?”
“Buy one of those stones for me.”
Haru suddenly reached inside her oversized robe, and the next thing Ahin knew, she was holding two shimmering gold coins.
“One gold each…”
She tilted her head curiously.
“Wait, two gold coins?”
“…If it’s just one, almost a month of nothing is possible, right?”
“Ahin, stop being greedy at a time like this.”
Ahin swallowed hard at the sight of the coins, while Jina warned him in a cheerful voice.
“Sorry, but that doesn’t look like something you can sell for money.”
The one who stepped forward to defend them was, of course, Er.
“I’d like to ask other mages too, and I want to check with the church. Right, Ahin?”
“Yeah, but—”
“I’m the best.”
Haru cut Ahin off mid-sentence, narrowing her brows as she spoke.
“I’m the best. In Carpe, no one else knows anything I don’t.”
“…Quite confident.”
Er noticed the pride hidden behind the strange words.
“…That makes sense. I heard she’s a guild staff mage.”
“Other mages are idiots. Fancy fools who just look good… they aren’t mages.”
Despite calling every registered mage in the guild except herself an idiot, Haru spoke without the slightest hesitation.
She looked straight at Ahin with her unfocused eyes.
“I’ll buy the stones. You sell them to me.”
“…Someone like you ended up lying in the street? And you have money, but you’re starving?”
“Food… annoying… eating out is annoying…”
“What…?”
Ahin let out a bewildered laugh as Haru raised her small hand inside the sleeve of her oversized robe and pointed at him.
“The person who took me to a restaurant. A kind person.”
“…Eh?”
“Tell me your name.”
Ahin answered with a trembling voice, thrown off by the sudden topic shift.
“Ahin.”
“Ahin… Ahin… Ahin, you’re my research subject now.”
“…What?”
The worst possible outcome Ahin had occasionally feared after awakening his divine power flashed through his mind.
“You’re different, Ahin. So much warmer and gentler than anyone else…”
“Wait, isn’t that—?”
Haru’s words about his skill were the first thing Jina caught on to.
She immediately stopped the conversation and addressed her companions.
“Let’s get out of here. Too many people are listening.”
“…That’s true.”
Er nodded and stood up.
“Let’s head outside then. Or should we rent a private room?”
“That’s not a bad idea. But…”
Haru suddenly exploded with an angry expression.
“Why is it stuck to Ahin like that?!”
“Uh…?”
“Get off! Just because she’s a mage?!”
Seeing Haru clinging to Ahin’s shoulder, Jina shouted.
“Research subject… need to observe…”
“Get off! I said get off!”
“Umm… just for an hour… or two hours max…”
“Hey!”
“Leave her alone, she’s still a kid.”
Ahin answered indifferently as Haru’s small, fragile body—smaller than Er or Jina’s adult figures—pressed against his back.
Jina thought it was strange and was about to smack Ahin when a strangely soft sensation met her palm.
It felt like a perfectly puffed-up piece of bread.
The softness unique to a young woman’s body was far more abundant than it looked, defying any attempt to dismiss it as childish.
“Ahin? Why are you suddenly blushing?”
“N-n-n-nothing!”
“It doesn’t look like nothing… Aaaah!!!”
Er realized the reason and screamed, but Haru only muttered softly.
“…One more fox grew.”
She slowly rose from her seat without making another sound, glancing alternately between the frozen Ahin and the girl still clinging to his back.
“…Yeah. Let’s kill them.”
“P-please save me!!”
●
After the commotion settled, the group headed to the meeting room inside the adventurer guild.
As silver-rank adventurers, Ahin and Er received countless benefits from the guild, including the ability to rent rooms within the building.
Seated around the round table in the center of the room, they spoke cautiously.
“Haru, right? So, did you find out anything about the stones? I’ve been staring at them for almost an hour.”
Haru had been examining the stones more carefully after entering the meeting room.
She had been allowed to poke them lightly and even infuse mana, and now she carefully shared what she had learned.
“The power sticks to monsters. It also pollutes the stones. So monsters become stronger.”
“We know that from firsthand experience. We almost died.”
Ahin chuckled and continued, still holding the stones.
“What we want to know is why the black magicians made them and what they plan to do with them. Can you figure that out?”
“I don’t know.”
“…What?”
Surprised by the unexpected answer, Ahin watched as Haru answered with sleepy eyes.
“What I know is that this power wasn’t created naturally. And only black magicians can make things like this. And…”
“…And?”
Ahin asked, leaning forward.
“…”
“…Haru?”
“…Crying.”
“…?”
“Coooouuuuull…”
While explaining, Haru suddenly dropped her head and fell asleep.
Three pairs of eyes stared blankly at her.
“W-what is she…?”
“…A strange person. It’s like she fell on the street.”
“Hey, wake up! You need to finish what you were saying!”
Ahin snapped out of it and tried to shake her shoulder, but Haru woke up with a dazed expression and called him a strange person.
“Where… am I… Who am I…?”
“…What?”
“Ah, Carpe… I’m Haru… a mage…”
“…Is she really all right?”
“Ahin, maybe you should try using Heal just to check.”
“Y-you think so?”
Ahin was still debating whether to use [Heal] on the clearly weird Haru when she spoke again.
“I’ve seen this power before.”
“…What did you just say?”
Haru’s offhand remark was something Ahin couldn’t ignore.
Her dazed tone made it clear she wasn’t joking.
“I saw it at the place I was assigned.”
“Assigned quest?”
“Quest. Want to do it together?”
“In exchange for one stone… then I’ll give you the full reward…”
“Hey, we’re not—!”
Money wasn’t the issue. Giving away a stone that could be a major clue about black magicians for just a little gold was out of the question.
“The reward is this much.”
“Thank you, Mage-nim!! It’s clear you’re well-educated! Your service is outstanding!!!”
“…You just said it wasn’t something you sell for money?”
Jina asked with a puzzled look, and Ahin replied seriously.
“Jina, when someone says they won’t sell an item, there’s something you need to think about.”
“…What?”
“Wasn’t I short on money? Wasn’t this an unfair price?”
“…”
“Fair prices come with fair services.”
Jina considered hitting Ahin hard after hearing his serious nonsense.
“Ahin, this quest is related to that skeleton’s tail.”
“What?”
“Look at the request details… It’s about tracing the traces of a black magician found in an outer underground mausoleum.”
“I said there was nothing there?”
Ahin’s words were cut off when Haru tugged on his sleeve.
“…There was.”
“Eh? Suddenly saying what?”
“Black magician.”
Haru looked at Ahin with her hazy eyes, the name burning in her voice.
“There was a black magician in that mausoleum.”