episode_0025

“Andrew! where… … going… … ?”

I ran so fast that I couldn’t even properly greet my friend who was working near the wooden fence.

I literally ran like crazy until the village seemed like a dot in the distance in an instant. However, that Teft guy was also riding a horse or something and running quite fast, so the distance was still quite far away.

Still, we were a lot closer than when we were trying to find out its location in the village. I was only able to know the direction, but I was able to infer the distance from the guy to some extent.

At this rate, it seemed like I could get to where it was in just about an hour more. While I was concentrating on researching black magic, he ran away very eagerly.

“If I get caught, I really won’t let you go.”

Burning with anger at having to run out like this without even being able to do the experiment, I ran like crazy towards where the guy was.

After running like that for about thirty to forty minutes, we reached the beginning of a mountain.

“Did you hide in the mountains?”

As we got closer, we were able to clearly see Teft’s location, which was near the middle of the mountain.

It was clear that he thought that if he hid in the mountains, he wouldn’t be found. Although he had the guts to steal the warlock’s money, he didn’t seem to have the intelligence to match it. They say it would be difficult to find ordinary people if they ran away to the mountains, but for those who could use magic, there was nothing difficult about it.

Now it was finally time to catch the guy who stole my money.

Unlike when I ran all the way here, I started climbing the mountain with a slightly more relaxed movement. Of course, we had to be careful because that Teft guy might have created a trap. Even though you can know the location through magic, you don’t know if a trap has been created.

“… … What, why are there so many traps?”

However, there were a lot of pitfalls. Most of them were traps that would snare you if you stepped on them, but it was hard to tell whether they were for hunting animals or capturing intruders.

Still, there was nothing threatening me right now, so I moved roughly ignoring the traps. If you flow black magic into the skeleton horse and emit a curse at the same time, you could cause the ropes holding the skeleton horse’s legs to rot in an instant.

Anyway, as I continued to move forward, the building where I thought Teft was located came into view.

It was surrounded by a wooden fence about 1.5 times my height, and in the center of it was a building that looked a little taller than the fence.

Also, there were several watchtowers in such a fence that could monitor the surrounding area, and two people were seen entering each watchtower.

“It’s an intruder!”

Of course, just as I was able to spot those in the watchtower, the other person was also able to spot me. As soon as he saw me riding the skeletal horse, his face turned white and he started ringing the bell.

“Are they bandits?”

As I glanced at them moving in an orderly manner while ringing the bell, I began to wonder if these guys were actually bandits.

“… … Ah Mr. If Teft was captured by bandits, it would be a pain.”

I could punish Teft who stole my money, but it was difficult to punish the bandits who stole my money, so I frowned.

But my worries quickly disappeared. This is because Teft proudly appeared on a wooden fence among those presumed to be bandits. It’s a different story if he’s a member of a bandit.

“Hey, warlock! Just go back and say nice things! I’ll give you a special look at it just once! Hahahaha!”

Teft was boldly shouting out his courage, perhaps because of his colleagues around him.

Rather, the fellows next to Teft looked embarrassed and were whispering something to him.

“Hey! There was no mention of him being a warlock! Fuck, I don’t want to be cursed and die!”

“What on earth has this bastard brought with him!”

“The bastards who laughed at the money I brought are now damned. Did I tell you? That guy is a certified warlock! Are you saying we can’t touch it? That bastard runs a business, so he really needs to be a certified warlock. Unless you give up everything, they won’t be able to attack us!”

When I amplified the sound of their conversation and listened to it, it seemed like Teft knew a little about certified warlocks. However, I literally only knew a little bit. They seemed to think that I wouldn’t be able to attack them no matter what.

However, the bandits who did not know that fact seemed to have been taken in by Teft’s words, so they erased all signs of nervousness and began to look at me triumphantly.

“There are no such idiots.”

It was so stupid that I felt pity, not absurdity. No, how can you think that I will steal money and get away with it because I am a certified warlock?

I felt sorry and decided to correct Teft’s mistake. Even if you die, you should die knowing what mistake you made.

“I’m telling you because there’s something I misunderstood. Just because you’re a certified warlock doesn’t mean you can’t attack people. The person who attacked me first can retaliate as much as he wants. And, if you are directly harmed by a crime, you can kill the perpetrator. The qualifications for becoming a certified warlock are strict, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a punching bag to become a certified warlock.”

He corrected the misconception and quickly took out the skeletons he had kept in his arms.

Bone fragments were scattered in the air, like a farmer scattering seeds in a field. The bone fragments instantly grew in size and turned into complete skeletons. I tried to study how to apply this to change the shape of skeletons, but I couldn’t achieve it because of Taft.

Anyway, after taking out the skeletons, I immediately made them move towards the fence.

Since some of them were carrying bows, I left a few goblin skeletons around me and made the rest run to the wooden fence.

Kwaang-!

The orc skeleton, which was running ahead due to the difference in leg length, approached the wooden fence first. And, the orc skeleton knocked on the wooden fence with as much force as when producing premium line iron products.

If it were an ordinary bone, it would have been damaged by hitting the wooden fence, but the skeleton’s bones were strengthened with dark magic. Moreover, my skeleton was a specially made skeleton that had been strengthened with dark magic to the point where I could become a blacksmith. To put it simply, it was an object that could be used for combat right away.

When such a combat skeleton pounded on a wooden fence, the result was by no means light. The wooden fence, which had been roughly made by cutting down trees from the surrounding mountains and tying them together, was starting to break apart.

There was no way the wooden fence, which had begun to break after a single punch from an Orc skeleton, could withstand the attacks of other skeletons that followed. More than ten skeletons randomly knocked on the wooden fence, which instantly broke and a large door was created.

But unfortunately, I couldn’t catch Teft. It was because the people who noticed that the fence was broken came rushing in and got off the fence.

“Hee, hee! They say you can’t attack! Does that mean it can’t attack?! Taft you bastard!”

“I heard that certified warlocks can’t attack! Yeah, yeah! That’s just a threat! I’ll get back what I stole!”

However, despite running away from the fence, Teft, who was still thoughtless, began to treat my actions as a simple threat. Of course, I had no intention of simply making a threat. I needed to set a clear precedent for what would happen if I touched something that was mine.

In order to repair Teft, the skeletons that had created an entrance in the wooden fence moved again. Skeletons began to run toward where Teft was, making clattering noises.

“Ugh!”

Naturally, seeing the skeletons running towards them, the bandits scattered here and there. There was almost no ordinary person who did not feel fear at the sight of the swarming skeletons with their blue natural flowers burning in their eye sockets.

But I didn’t care about those guys and only targeted Teft. No matter how much they were a group of bandits, Taft was all I could beat right now. I am not a soldier with the authority to maintain security, and I could not arbitrarily capture bandits.

“Lord, die!”

However, what used to be one target has now become two. This is because one of the bandits who was moving hastily as if running away came back behind me and threw a hatchet at me. Now that it had attacked me, I could have taken its life as much as I wanted.

I moved one of the skeletons guarding around me to deal with the guy, and then targeted Teft among the guys running away.

“Let’s end the game of tag here. The blacksmith shop is closed, so I have to go back quickly.”

Looking at Teft who was running like crazy, he immediately cursed. It was a curse of weakness, a curse that instantly took away stamina and made movement sluggish. A black smoke-like object formed in the palm of my hand and instantly flew towards Teft, hitting him right in the middle of his back.

“Uh, uh… … !”

Taft, who was cursed with weakness, rolled around on the floor like a marionette whose thread had been cut. This was because all the strength in my body suddenly disappeared and my legs were twisted.

“Sa, save me! No, please save me! Wrong! I won’t do that again!”

As I slowly approached Teft, who was lying on the floor, on a skeletal horse, he began to beg me. Because of lack of strength in his body, he was lying on his back and was barely making noises.

But I had no intention of forgiving Teft for touching what was mine in the first place. It was obvious that if I forgave this, there would be people who would ignore me and look down on me.

Still, other than stealing my money, I didn’t do anything wrong, so I decided not to cause him any unnecessary pain. He created all kinds of curses, including the paralyzing curse, in an instant and threw them at Teft.

Teft fluttered his body as if struck by lightning and stopped moving.

“Lord, he’s dead… … !”

After Teft fell after being hit by my curse, the bandits began to get very agitated because he was no longer making any moves. Moreover, the guy who had attacked me earlier had also been captured by the skeletons and killed by the hatchet he had thrown, so he was even more agitated.

“If you bring the money and goods that this guy stole, I will spare your life, so bring them.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the bandits rushed over and brought a wooden chest. Inside was a bundle containing numerous coins and items that were obviously made in my blacksmith shop.

And, the bandits who brought them caught a glimpse of me and turned around and started running away. Since they had seen two of their colleagues die, it was natural for them to run away. There was no guarantee that he could beat me.

But since they couldn’t do anything anyway, they didn’t care and approached the dead two. This is because Teft and the people who attacked me and died could be used as skeletons or materials for black magic.

“… … Blood is a bit uncomfortable, so I should just make it a skeleton.”

Even if I could use it as an ingredient at will, I didn’t want to use their blood to make blood essence. This is because I think that if I were to see its effects directly, I might continue to suffer from bad temptations for no reason. Like those who are addicted to gambling or drugs, I didn’t know if I would be able to escape if I felt it so intensely.

Anyway, for that reason, I turned the two guys into skeletons. Perhaps because his dark magic increased and he also grew in his own way, it didn’t take long to turn him into a skeleton. The skeleton that rose up with blue natural flowers burning in its eye sockets moved easily as I controlled it. I was also able to moonwalk and do a head spin where I spun around with my skull on the floor. There was no problem in making it smaller with bone fragments and then returning it to its original state.

“Now let’s go back… … . Oh, I have to go to Father Thomas first.”

The skeleton was made properly without any problems, and the money and goods were recovered, so I tried to return to the blacksmith shop. However, it was necessary to report to the temple branch that Teft and the skeletons made of the bandits who attacked me. This is because there was the hassle of having to prove that it was not an illegally created human skeleton.

Fortunately, though, the process wasn’t difficult or took long. The fact that the city where Father Thomas was located was not far away also played a role, and it was also because I only acted in the best possible way. The fact that they were bandits and criminals also played a role.

Anyway, having solved all the possible problems, I was able to return to the village with a relieved mind. He took the money and items that Teft had stolen.

Then, after returning to the village and opening the locked blacksmith door, I decided to make special use of the skeleton made from Teft and the bandits.

The idea was to use it for some kind of surveillance and suppression. Since it is an ordinary skeleton, it is not capable of serving customers, but it can be used to immediately subdue people who enter the store and cause trouble, or to capture thieves.

However, it felt a bit plain to just use it that way, so I decided to use it as a kind of mannequin as well. A long sword was placed in his hand, a helmet was placed on his head, and items such as breastplates and gauntlets were given to him. Unlike goblin or orc skeletons, it was a human skeleton, so it could be worn without any discomfort. It was perfect for promoting the products sold in the store.

The newly acquired skeleton was promoted by wearing weapons sold at blacksmith shops, and the weapons were used as special mannequins to respond to emergencies.