Chapter 27 – The Guild's Request (2)
As the day began to fade, the coachmen found their usual camping spot and stopped the wagons.
Then, in an instant, they lit a fire, set a stew to boil, and pitched tents. Since they were professionals in the transport business, every movement meshed together with perfect precision.
Meanwhile, the adventurers came out to spend some time outside.
Mirna took a deep breath, her face twisted in distress.
'I feel so suffocated I can't even breathe.'
Verden simply gazed out the window, or closed his eyes.
And yet Mirna was still afraid. Just looking at his face brought back the image of that cave, where he had blown a man's head off without the slightest hesitation.
Locke and Mild were the same, their bodies visibly stiff.
Iris tried to change the mood, but it didn't help much.
It was the first time they had witnessed a killing, and the trauma remained. Even if it had been to save their lives.
It was something inexperienced adventurers often went through, and something they often had to overcome.
"Dinner's ready, adventurers!"
The coachmen carefully ladled out stew and handed it to each of them. Holding beef stew rich with broth, the adventurers gathered in their own groups.
Verden, who was about to enjoy his stew alone, was stopped by Iris.
"Where are you going alone? Just eat here."
"..."
With no choice, Verden sat down a little apart from the others.
It was obvious, though unspoken, that they felt uncomfortable around him. He had spent long years in the magic tower watching people's wary eyes.
After saying something to her teammates, Iris came and sat beside him.
"...Shouldn't you eat over there?"
"I'd like to, but you keep trying to distance yourself, senior. I was hoping to use this chance to help my team bond with you... but, well, I guess they are a little too scared of you."
"Don't mind it."
Iris took those words to mean he didn't care at all.
The Verden she knew was not someone who easily built relationships with others. He moved only according to his interests, and spared no glance at what held none.
Still, he wasn't a bad person.
'But do we really have to ride that suffocating wagon for several days?'
The air was so awkward it felt suffocating to death.
Iris sighed softly and took a bite of stew. Despite her mood, the taste was good.
At that moment, Verden spoke quietly.
"Iris, those adventurers, what kind of people are they?"
"Huh? Ah, those people?"
The four adventurers who were chatting casually as they ate stew. Iris pointed them out one by one as she introduced them.
Silver-rank, Mearin and rox.
Copper-rank, Walter and Diclin.
Since Iris frequented the Adventurer Guild, she had seen them before, but there was no real friendship.
All she knew was that, like most adventurers, they chased after money, and had been active in Martes for at least over a year.
'At least they won't suddenly draw a blade.'
Since Verden had nearly been assassinated, it was natural for him to be wary of outsiders.
Just then, he locked eyes with a man called rox. The man scratched his head, holding his stew, and came over to Verden.
"Mind if I join you?"
"Do as you please."
rox sat down across from him.
Chewing his stew, rox sneaked glances at Verden, then finally spoke.
"By any chance, are you... that mage who appeared in the newspaper?"
"Newspaper?"
rox handed him a thin paper.
It was issued by a newspaper company in Martes. As Verden read down, a large headline caught his eye — The Lorix Inn Bombing Terror Incident.
"So it really is you."
rox rummaged through his clothes.
A knife? Or poison? Whatever it was, it didn't matter.
In the blink of an eye, Verden activated his mana circuit. His blue eyes glowed as magic power surged.
Sensing the ominous magic power, Iris flinched in shock, dropping her stew.
But what rox pulled out was something no one expected.
"Would you give me an autograph?"
...An autograph?
***
Verden himself hadn't cared, but in truth, in Martes all sorts of rumors about him had been circulating.
A mage of mysterious appearance who had appeared in Martes. Though the newspaper only described him as an unidentified mage, adventurers and those who knew enough had figured out that the mage was Asher.
"That crazy mage is supposed to be him? With that face?"
"So they say. If you're curious, why don't you go ask him?"
Yet none dared approach.
The aura of Verden, immersed solely in himself, made it impossible to start a conversation. As time went on, Verden became more and more famous among the adventurers of Martes.
A handsome yet crazy mage, a mage who strangely trained his body.
Then they heard that some adventurers were on a quest together with him.
Well, since they were traveling together anyway, why not talk to him? Get an autograph to brag about too!
So, as the loser of a bet, rox was pushed forward to approach Verden.
"Were there really such rumors in the city?"
"I'm not sure..."
Iris avoided his gaze.
She knew what people said about Verden, but she hadn't told him. If she had, he might have cut their lecture time short.
Mages were sensitive about their own gain.
At rox's signal, the other adventurers gathered around.
Thus, nine people sat around the campfire. From all sides, trivial questions directed at Verden began to flow.
'It's not bedtime yet anyway.'
Answering half-heartedly to pass the time, Verden listened until a female adventurer named Mearin asked,
"Hey, what's your relationship with her? You two seem really close."
"Huh? Me?"
Iris blinked, then answered in Verden's stead.
"...Senior and junior?"
"What, are you from the same academy?"
"No, not that... but calling him teacher would sound too much. So for now, I'm just calling him senior."
The adventurers' eyes turned to Verden.
He remained silent. He simply had nothing to say.
As conversations went on, night grew deep.
The coachmen, as contracted, were exempt from night watch. rox, the eldest, was about to discuss how to take shifts, when Verden stood up.
"I'll take care of the watch myself."
With his staff, he drew a geometric circle around the campsite. As he poured magic power along the lines, a dome of magic spread around the site, then vanished.
It was a type of boundary magic circle. The moment anyone stepped into it, a loud alarm would resound.
"Y-you can even draw a magic circle?"
"Of course."
Magic circles were Verden's specialty, second only to elemental magic.
Realizing that constant surprise only led to exhaustion, Iris decided to just accept it. He was simply different from everyone else.
"But, is this alone enough? What if someone breaks through?"
"Well, probably, that won't happen."
It wasn't only one magic circle he had set up. He had secretly laid down two other rather dangerous ones, without anyone noticing. If someone wandered in carelessly, they could very well die on the spot.
If anyone managed to break through this triple-layered magic circle, even before Verden noticed...
'Everyone would die.'
Even if they tried to resist.
That was how confident Verden was in his magic circles, and he used them as a measure of his opponent's true skill.
Night deepened.
When Verden lay down first, the adventurers, still unsure, eventually drifted off to sleep.
The magic circles gave no response.
***
Several days passed as they traveled in the wagons.
The adventurers were beginning to grow weary of the suffocating confinement. rox complained of aches and got down to run for nearly an hour. Then, saying he smelled bad, he was chased up onto the wagon roof.
Verden too disliked sitting all day in the wagon, so he stepped outside, soaring into the sky. His hair streamed in the cool wind.
'It seems we're almost there.'
With telekinesis, he pulled out a map and spread it before his eyes.
Judging by the geography, it seemed they would arrive in an hour or two. Just then, in the distance, he saw people moving frantically. When he strained his ears, he thought he heard screams.
His senses sharpened. Only then could he grasp the situation.
Undead staggering forward, chasing people who were fleeing. The sun was still high, and yet the undead had appeared. The situation was grave.
Verden lowered his altitude.
"rox, undead."
"Undead...?"
He didn't bother asking, 'At this time of day?'
rox banged on the wagon to summon the adventurers. After giving his warning, Verden headed straight ahead. With so many of them, only large-scale magic could deal with them at once.
'Perfect.'
Only a few days ago, he had finally completed the connection.
Now was the ideal chance to test the power of the magic tome. Verden's eyes gleamed as he gathered mana.
Ku-gu-gu-gu-gu!
A massive quake.
The ground rippled, then rose up, splitting the undead from the people. With a clench of Verden's hand, the earthen wave swallowed the undead whole.
But the undead were persistent.
If left as they were, they would surely crawl out again.
He forcibly opened the earth.
Mana poured out like a flood, yet Verden did not shed a single drop of sweat. The countless hours of training now bore fruit.
A pathway of wind leading into the opening of the earth. Down that path, he relentlessly poured scarlet fireballs.
The destructive magic fell vertically, burning the underground. Bones charred, crumbled to ash, and vanished into the soil.
'That should have killed them all.'
Verden descended to the ground.
Eyes fixed on him, as if they had just witnessed a natural disaster. Among them were also the adventurers who had just arrived.
***
A vast scar covering dozens of meters in radius.
Verden had, in an instant, turned the place into a crematory for the undead, and his breathing had not faltered in the slightest.
'This proves it. Senior is a 4th-tier mage. And not just any—he's utterly unrivaled.'
The wall between the 3rd tier and the 4th.
Whether one crossed it or not marked an entirely different dimension. The 4th tier was dominated by large-scale spells, boasting overwhelming firepower far beyond comparison.
But that didn't mean they could be cast recklessly. The mana consumption rose exponentially.
'But this...'
Iris grabbed a handful of earth.
How much terrain had he moved in a single spell? How deep had the undead been buried? Thinking of the fireballs rained down upon them made her dizzy.
To unfold such a spectacle, and then stand there unfazed...
Iris, who usually felt both jealousy for Verden's genius and respect for him as a senior, at this moment felt fear.
At that age, to have already reached this level.
As time passed, would one day a single spell from Verden destroy an entire nation, would a mage be born whom even the ten tower masters, the absolute authorities, could not withstand... such an impossible thought crossed her mind.
'No way...'
And yet, she could not dismiss it as impossible.
Sweat trickled down her temple.
It was not strange. For humans, simply imagining a being of another order was enough to give rise to fear.
Tak. A sound came from nearby.
Iris quickly looked up, and a stark white skeleton was staring at her.
"Senior! There's another undead here...!"
Puh-uck!
But before she could even finish speaking, the undead was shattered to pieces.
What...?
She turned her head sideways, and saw a massive axe embedded deep into a tree.
"What the—where did the undead all go?"
Out from the forest stepped a hulking, muscular giant.
On his neck gleamed a plate of platinum, the mark of a Platinum-rank adventurer.