episode_0018

“Wouldn’t it be possible to use the lives of animals or monsters?”

What I was thinking of was using the lives of animals and monsters.

The reason for being disqualified as a Certified Warlock was attacking people and stealing their lives, so I thought there might not be a problem if it wasn’t people. The religious order defined the person as a sub-race capable of conversation and interaction, so attacking animals or monsters did not disqualify a person from becoming a certified warlock.

But as I read a little more about the contents of the book my grandmother left me, I realized that it was impossible.

This is because black magic using animals or monsters was not suitable for humans. Since it was created based on life, life extracted from animals or monsters was harmful to humans.

Although black magic can be obtained by using the lives of animals and monsters, the amount is minimal, and using life that is not suitable for the body can reduce lifespan or even lead to death in severe cases.

It was written that it was because of this problem that my grandmother had no choice but to live a shorter time than the person she said was her mentor. The fact that my grandmother lived for about 300 years, compared to my grandmother’s teacher who lived for 400 years, was not due to a difference in skill, but because she made the wrong choice to gather dark magic.

“Animals and livestock won’t work.”

No matter how much I wanted to gather dark magic, I had no intention of trading it for life. Since it wasn’t even very efficient, I wasn’t particularly interested in it.

“Wow, should I at least practice this in a place like a cemetery…? … .”

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t think of any other way. The lives of animals or monsters could not be used, and for the same reason, only human lives had to be used. However, it was obvious that if he extorted human life, his qualifications as a certified warlock would be revoked and he would be subjugated.

The only way that came to mind was to practice gathering dark magic in a place like a cemetery where the energy of death was strong, but it wasn’t something I really wanted to do. As there are undead in this world, there are also ghost-type undead. Aside from the fact that I am a warlock, I personally really disliked ghosts.

“Ha… … . I don’t know. Let’s do some real training first.”

Even if it is a cemetery used in the village, if you use it for a while, you will see at least some effect.

I really hated practicing in a cemetery, but I had no choice.

“Son! Is there any medicine in the blacksmith shop?”

“Mom? What medicine?”

As I was thinking about meeting the village chief to use the cemetery, my mother suddenly came to me and started looking for medicine.

“Your dad got cut with a knife or something. Does it make sense for someone who has been making knives all his life to cut himself as soon as he picks up the knife?”

“What? You got cut? Did you get cut a lot? How hurt are you?”

“It wasn’t much, just a little cut. Still, there was some blood, so I wanted to apply some medicine.”

Mom slightly spread her thumb and index finger and said the wound was not that big. Thanks to this, my shocked heart calmed down.

“There is medicine, but where is Dad? Didn’t you come together?”

“I was standing outside trying not to come in because I was embarrassed about being cut by a knife… … . Would you like to take a look?”

Mom was smiling as if she was very happy, as if she had figured out how to make fun of her dad. The sight made me smile, and I left the blacksmith shop to get the medicine she wanted.

As I left the blacksmith shop, I saw my father near the entrance with his index finger wrapped in cloth.

“Woman, honey! They only bring medicine… … ?”

And, my father, who was covering my index finger, looked very surprised. It was as if they had never thought I would come out.

Realizing once again that my uncle, who had big muscles, was also an ordinary person, I approached him.

Because there was a medical aspect to studying to become a warlock, I knew how to provide first aid. Although he was insignificant compared to ordinary wizards and clerics, he still knew how to use recovery spells to some extent. It has the disadvantage of consuming excessive stamina during the recovery process, so it is not used often.

Anyway, when I approached my father, I cleaned up the cloth that had quite a bit of blood on it, applied some medicine, and used a very weak recovery spell. A faint halo of light disappeared as if grazing my father’s fingers. If used to this extent, it did not consume much stamina and only accelerated natural recovery, so there was no problem.

“Father. The wound is not that big, and I used the recovery spell, so it will be healed by tomorrow morning.”

My father immediately hid his hand, as if he was embarrassed to show me his scar. Still, I don’t know if it was because the stinging pain I felt in my fingers had disappeared, but my expression was much more relaxed than before.

“As expected, my son is the best~ Thank you, son!”

When my father turned his head without saying a word, my mother slapped my back and lightly stroked my cheek. I felt like they still thought of me as a child, but it wasn’t a particularly bad feeling.

“Mom and Dad will go to the bakery again. Tonight, I’ll make Andrew something he likes, so look forward to it!”

My mom quickly headed to the bakery with my dad, saying there would be people waiting at the store. I laughed at that sight, and since I was out after a long time, I decided to go to the village chief and get permission to use the cemetery.

“Ah, throw this away… … ?”

Before going to the village chief, I was about to throw away the cloth covering my father’s fingers when a thought suddenly occurred to me. Because the cloth was stained with blood.

“Anyway, the process of extracting vitality involves drawing blood and refining it… … . Can’t I just extract a small amount and purify it?”

Using life basically meant extracting the blood from living things and purifying it. Blood could be seen as life force itself.

So the thought that came to mind was, wouldn’t it be possible to receive only a small amount of blood and use that? It seemed like it would be okay to receive and use blood at a level that did not harm people’s health, just like donating blood in a previous life.

If you do it by force or just extort it, there will be a problem, but if you voluntarily provide blood with a promise of fair compensation, there will be no problem.

But there was something I needed to check before that. Even if only a small amount of blood was used, such as donating blood, it was necessary to make sure that there was no effect on the owner of the blood. There was also a way to cast a curse using blood, so even if the blood was collected, it was not necessarily safe.

And, to check it out, I headed straight to the mercenary hall. There is a saying that mercenaries are those who will do anything for money, because mercenaries will do anything.

“Looking for Mormot!”

“… … .”

Of course, it wasn’t cooperative from the beginning. It was inevitable that the perception of black magic was bad.

The mercenaries’ attention was focused on me because I had a record of requesting a considerable amount of money, but as soon as I said that I was saving Mormot, all eyes turned. It went back and forth like cockroaches scattering.

I felt regretful for a moment when I saw that, but I couldn’t help it. Therefore, I decided to tell you the detailed conditions.

“Safety guaranteed with my certified warlock qualifications! Make a cut, collect a very small amount of blood, and you’re done! Enough about the compensation! Three people are needed!”

When I briefly summarized the conditions and shouted out, the response came immediately.

“Me! I will do it!”

“Hahahahaha! I can’t fall into something like this!”

“Can’t I just pay you with a med-sized sword?”

“Warlock man! Take my blood!”

“My blood is so good that mosquitoes go crazy! Please elect me!”

“You bastard! Is the blood that bugs like good blood? I like my blood better!”

The reaction was so intense that the mercenaries in the hall began to argue with each other about what they would do.

Seeing that, the mercenaries thought they were still the same, and chose the three who looked the most sturdy. Those who were not chosen by me were very disappointed. They were appealing to the end, wondering what their blood was like, but whether their blood was good or bad didn’t matter right now.

Anyway, after selecting three people, I immediately brought them back to the blacksmith shop. To be exact, I returned to the workroom I had built in the corner of the blacksmith shop.

“I’ll have to draw blood so I’ll cut you, but if you want, I’ll put a paralyzing curse on you. There will be no pain, and the wound will resolve as it heals.”

“Well, we’re fine!”

I nodded at the sight of the mercenaries suddenly showing fear at the sound of a curse. It was the mercenaries who were hurt, not me.

I immediately received the mercenaries’ cooperation and made small wounds on their forearms. The sharp blade slightly cut my forearm, and red blood flowed down.

“Ahh!”

He grabbed the arm of someone who was stomping around in pain from a wound on his forearm, and collected their blood. The blood slowly flowing down began to accumulate in the glass used for drinking strong liquor. When the accumulated blood reached the point where it filled half of the glass, I stopped receiving blood.

Since the wound was not that big, I applied a clean cloth and medicine and the bleeding stopped quickly. After collecting blood from all three people, I looked at the mercenaries again.

“From now on, if you suddenly feel weak, dizzy, or nauseous, please tell me.”

“I’m dizzy right now!”

“You haven’t done anything yet, so don’t act harshly.”

I haven’t done anything yet. I slapped the mercenary’s wounded forearm and started working right away.

The purpose was to purify the blood accumulated in the glass and create something called blood essence. Blood essence was a condensation of only the vitality contained in blood, and by using it, one could quickly increase black magic power.

However, since I had never made it with human blood until now, I searched through a book my grandmother had written and created blood essence. Since it was close to refining blood using dark magic, the process was not difficult. Even though it was my first time trying it while reading a book, I knew I wouldn’t fail.

However, the essence of the blood created was very small, perhaps because the blood was only half full of the drinking glass. It was a bit exaggerated, so it was a little bigger than an eyebrow.

Still, since it was clear that it was the essence of blood, I immediately turned my attention to the mercenaries.

“Are there any strange places?”

“Uh… … . I’m fine.”

“Me too.”

“I don’t feel anything!”

It was confirmed that there were no problems with the mercenaries. Because I had found a way to quickly increase my dark magic, I was able to smile with great joy.