Ch.41Something Strange (1)

‘Damn it. Absolutely damn that bastard!’

A man wrapped in thick clothing was climbing a snowy mountain. At first glance, his rugged appearance might lead one to mistake him for a hunter, but surprisingly, he was a knight.

“Damn it. I can’t believe I’m here again.”

Seth gritted his teeth. It was just a month ago that he had sworn never to show his face in the north again. But that damn captain had pulled rank on him.

– You need to go up north again. From now on, check on those kids at least once a month.

What if the kidnapped children were dead? Was she planning to bring the entire knighthood?

“As if they’d wait that long.”

Seth knew that order was just an excuse. Since Olivia had a lot of information, he was being sent to pick up whatever scraps he could get.

He understood. Certainly, the witch Olivia was different from other witches.

She sold out the locations of other witches without hesitation, and instead of poison, she carried hundreds of effective potions.

From the start, the fact that normal communication was possible with her was a distinctive difference from other witches.

Even if Olivia shared just a little information about demons, it would be a great help for the Empire’s defenses.

‘And she’s strong.’

Due to the nature of his work, the Raven often had occasions to meet important figures. He had contact with the elders of various towers, and even occasionally with Tower Masters.

But among them, none were stronger mages than Olivia. Calliophe’s intuition was never wrong about such things, so it was probably certain.

Of course, the Red Tower Master and Golden Tower Master weren’t included in that assessment, but still.

It meant that the witch Olivia possessed magical power exceeding that of most Tower Masters yet remained uncontaminated by demonic energy.

Normally, someone with that much power would have gone mad long ago.

‘Just how strong is her mental fortitude?’

Why would someone like that become a witch? Even though everyone has their own story…

Seth stopped as his thoughts reached that point.

Boom.

A heavy footstep sounded from not far away. Then came the rough breathing of a beast.

‘…A yeti?’

Seth had deliberately not concealed his fighting spirit until now. This usually caused most monsters to recognize their place and flee. There was no better way to avoid unnecessary combat.

But occasionally, there were monsters that were actually drawn to fighting spirit. The so-called challengers.

And yetis were such challengers in the north.

With strength that could easily tear apart an adult man, skin thick enough to repel blades, and like all northern creatures, terrifying vitality.

It was serious enough that when rumors of a yeti spread, the White Tower would dispatch elder-level mages.

But it was no match for Seth.

“Perfect timing for my frustration.”

Seth smiled grimly.

Throwing off his thick clothes, Seth pounded his fists together. His fearsome biceps rippled with each movement.

“Come on!”

“GROOOOAR!”

The yeti, having spotted Seth, charged at a terrifying speed.

‘Brainless beast!’

Seth’s fists became enveloped in a dark aura.

It was certainly massive, worthy of being called a large monster.

‘Hehehe. Good!’

Something that size wouldn’t go down with just one punch.

After turning that yeti into a bloody pulp, his anger might subside a little…

“There’s a yeti over thereeeee!”

“Horololololololo!”

“That one’s definitely mine to eat!”

Huh?

Seth paused mid-punch and turned his head.

Were there still barbarians in the north?

That couldn’t be. The northern barbarians were absorbed into the Empire more than 50 years ago.

Then what on earth was that sound?

Just as a question mark appeared on Seth’s face.

KWAAAANG!

The clear sky suddenly darkened, then unleashed lightning.

The lightning struck the yeti’s head.

“GUEEEEEK!”

With a sound like a pig being slaughtered, the yeti collapsed.

Magic?

Olivia immediately flashed through Seth’s mind. But the power was too weak to be her doing.

He could tell just by seeing the yeti still alive and twitching.

“Then who on earth…”

Seth’s words trailed off.

From over the hill, three people were running like mad. They were faces Seth knew.

“Hahahahaha! Life is about practical experience! I’ll take the finishing blow!”

“Aramis, you crazy bastard! Blink is cheating!”

“If you’re jealous, learn it yourself!”

Flash!

Aramis appeared out of thin air.

SWISH!

A spear imbued with terrifying cold flew toward the yeti. Just as it was regaining consciousness and trying to stand, its leg joint was pierced, and it collapsed again.

“Hup!”

As Aramis concentrated at his fingertips, a much larger spear appeared. An ice spear exuding a sharp edge. Without a moment’s hesitation, Aramis launched it.

THWACK!

With its head pierced, the yeti died instantly without even a death cry.

“…Well.”

Seth couldn’t close his mouth.

There was no wasted movement. Even considering that the yeti’s attention was focused elsewhere, they had hunted it too easily.

Not some low-level monster like a wolf, but a yeti.

‘At that age, to have such skill?’

What on earth had happened in the past month…

At least so far, it seemed Olivia was properly fulfilling her role as a teacher.

“Nooooooo! My yetiiiiii!”

Jayna fell to her knees in front of the yeti’s corpse, wailing. Unable to accept the situation, she grabbed Aramis by the collar and shook him violently.

“Aramis, you crazy bastaaaaard!”

“Hehehe. As Master said, the loser is the fool. Anyway, this means I get to skip two training sessions!”

…Is she really teaching them properly?

What kind of language is that, like street thugs.

He could understand if it were other mages. Mages were famous for their bad personalities.

But they were from the White Tower.

Famous for gathering mages with good personalities and kind hearts.

Just a month ago, they certainly weren’t like this…

Suddenly, nightmares Seth had buried deep in his memory surfaced. The image of disciples suffering endlessly under the name of education.

– I’m dying, I’m dying, I’m really dyiiiiing!

– Grrrr.

– KIEEEEEK!

Hmm.

That makes sense.

After enduring a month under that crazy demon, it’s impressive they survived at all.

Seth understood immediately.

*****

“So…”

Olivia tapped an ice-made chair and looked at Seth.

“You came all this way just to check on my kids?”

“…That’s the initial reason.”

“Tsk. Still trying to be clever. Want a beating?”

“HIIIEEK!”

Seth instinctively raised his arms to protect himself. The man who had shown fighting spirit before a yeti over 4 meters tall couldn’t stand up to the slender Olivia.

Olivia tilted her head.

“Speak. Why did you really come?”

“Well… I came back, despite my shame, because I have a proposal.”

“What kind of proposal?”

“Roughly… think of it as an information exchange.”

Olivia laughed incredulously.

“Information exchange? What information could someone like me, holed up in the mountains, possibly need?”

“The captain said you’d need it precisely because of that.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. She didn’t tell me.”

“What a nasty woman.”

“I agree. And she’s unpleasant too.”

Olivia was secretly impressed. As Calliophe had said, Olivia did need information.

No matter how knowledgeable Olivia was, she couldn’t predict how massive the snowball pushed by fifteen Returnees would become. Even just to prepare, she needed to know how the political situation was developing.

“What you want is information about other witches, right?”

“…Could we include information about demons as well?”

“That’s quite expensive, you know?”

“We’ll pay whatever it costs.”

“True enough.”

Indeed, this witch was different. A witch who served demons, yet spoke without hesitation about selling them out.

This was as absurd as a Saintess cursing God in the middle of a temple.

‘…She’s definitely insane.’

Not normal at all.

But precisely because of that, he could trade with confidence.

“Before we get to the main point, our Ravens deal with all kinds of information. As long as you don’t leave the continent, no human can escape the eyes of our Ravens.”

“So I’m not human?”

“N-no, that’s not what I meant. Powerful individuals like you are exceptions, of course!”

Seth waved his hands frantically. He gathered himself and continued.

“Anyway, information about witches and demons is very difficult for us to obtain, making it premium information.”

“Right. Because they bite off their tongues and die when tortured.”

“…Correct.”

Seth nodded.

“The captain gave me full authority. That means I can freely trade any information except that related to the Imperial family.”

“Fine, I understand, so go ahead and tell me something.”

“…Just like that? Aren’t you going to ask whose information you want?”

Olivia stroked her chin.

‘Should I ask about Melina?’

Since Kiel was finished, meeting Melina would be next.

“What’s the Golden Tower Master doing these days?”

Seth made a sour face. He hadn’t expected Olivia to mention the Golden Tower.

“…If the Golden Tower starts kidnapping people, even we can’t clean up that mess.”

“It’s not like that. I’m just curious about what the Golden Tower Master is doing these days.”

“If that’s all, even street urchins know this, so I’ll tell you for free.”

Seth spoke as if doing her a favor.

“The Golden Tower Master has gone into seclusion.”

“…Seclusion?”

“Exactly as I said. The Golden Tower Master hasn’t shown his face outside the Magic Tower for nearly a month. I hear he’s abstaining from food and drink…”

“…Abstaining from food and drink?”

Olivia’s expression became strange.

What nonsense is this now?