episode_0042

The goblin was so short that it could barely reach Deif’s waist.

However, Dave’s face became tense, as if he had not expected to face this many.

Dave stood at the front and took charge of the vanguard.

Karin followed right behind, and Rinne stood side by side with Leon, drawing arrows on the bow.

How do three people deal with seven goblins?

Leon was curious about their skills.

“Ugh!”

Dave ran towards the goblin with a loud roar.

It seemed like he was blatantly trying to draw aggro.

“Keruk.”

“Kekekeke.”

Some goblins scattered and formed up at the sound alone.

‘Does it have any intelligence?’

The greatsword swept across the place where the goblin had been.

The greatsword shattered the iron-cored wooden club and slaughtered one of the goblins.

‘It’s powerful, but the next attack… … .’

By the time Leon had that question.

Daph leaped back with his greatsword in hand, blocking the club swings of another goblin that rushed at him.

It was a quick move.

He seemed to have enough strength to handle a greatsword.

Not all of the remaining six goblins were drawn to Deif.

Karin dealt with the remaining one or two goblins, waiting for an opportunity to stab them with her dagger.

Among them, Linne was given priority in dealing with the goblins that were in difficult positions for Daphna and Karin to deal with.

It took quite a while to deal with the seven goblins because I was taking them down one by one.

“Linne!”

Deif, who was drawing four aggro, shouted.

A goblin pretended to rush towards Deif and then rushed towards Linne.

Linne paused as she shot her arrow at another goblin.

Leon raised his palm.

“Fluvia.”

Leon created a water droplet large enough to surround the goblin, causing it to submerge in water.

Gulp-

The struggling goblin was unable to escape the water drop and drowned.

Leon didn’t use any other magic.

The Daph group also knew that Leon was not using much force and was just testing their skills, so they fought the monsters hard.

The last remaining goblin was struck down by Karin’s dagger.

Dave wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve.

“Whew… …I didn’t know seven of them would suddenly appear.”

“Isn’t that good?”

Karin slashed and cut open the goblin’s corpse with her dagger.

He took out a very small piece of black stone from inside.

“Is that a magic stone?”

“Yes, it is said to contain magic power… … It is said that it cannot be used as is because it contains many impurities, so it is refined and used. It is also said to be used when making artifacts.”

Leon nodded, raising his eyebrows.

‘The main target audience was wizards.’

While mana stones are filled with pure mana and can be used on their own, magic stones appear to be something that can be refined and used.

You could say it’s a lower-compatibility version of Mana Stone.

“That… …you said it’s a 3rd grade, so you can instantly activate magic three times, right?”

While Karin was dismembering the body, Deif approached Leon and asked him cautiously.

It seemed like he knew about memorization.

‘Now that I think about it, after using number 3, I have to recite the rest at length.’

After becoming a secret master, there was no need to recite it at length, but since they knew about memorization, there was nothing I could do.

After that, the Dave group headed a little deeper.

The monsters you encounter most often are goblins.

Occasionally, a group of cobolds were also seen.

Seven is not a very common number, and groups consist of four or five at most.

After the first battle, Leon didn’t bother to test their skills.

They would break up the formation with waves of water, or sweep away goblins in one fell swoop with blades of wind.

Every time, the faces of the Dave group brightened.

Stamina was saved and hunting speed increased, so the monster corpses needed for the mission were quickly obtained.

The problem came after that.

It wasn’t a big problem, it was just Leon’s minor problem.

After casting the spell immediately about 3 times, I had to continue the spell for a long time.

“Source of life, flow according to my will… … .”

“Power of the free wind, around me… … .”

It is true that even for the most arcane magician, the longer the spell is cast, the more detailed the magic becomes, but there wasn’t much of a difference.

Fall, Leon, who could drop nine lightning bolts with one word, couldn’t help but feel frustrated.

Even if you just say the incantation, the magic will exert its natural power, so it was strange to have to say it at length.

for example…….

“Descend, magic powerful enough to sweep away all enemies.”

Even so, if you say the synonyms correctly, the magic will be realized.

“The wizard is preparing a great magic! Everyone, be alert!”

“… .”

Of course, there has been no such thing as a glorified person since then.

*

One thing I’ve noticed after killing dozens of goblins is that they don’t seem to be particularly resistant to mana.

There is no proper means of defense either.

‘Would it be different if a stronger monster appeared?’

According to Kito, the place where she hid the core is not even accessible to high-ranking magicians, so it won’t be possible to catch all the monsters so easily.

‘They said it would take a week if we just kept flying… ‘

Of the one month time limit, subtracting the time it took to get to Crest and the travel time to get there, that leaves two weeks.

It didn’t really matter since Kito knew the exact location, but he had to take into account that he might encounter unexpected monsters and lose time.

‘Nutritious fruits are also falling away… … .’

Leon asked Dave while he was thinking about it.

“I’ve never heard of such a fruit, wizard.”

Dave stopped picking up the greasy leg of roast pork and answered politely.

They had just finished hunting and were returning in the early evening to have a meal together.

After seeing five kobolds die from fire arrows, Deif became noticeably more polite towards Leon.

Leon didn’t really care because he had already confirmed that there was no stopping that attitude.

‘Would it be possible if I went to a bigger magical city?’

I didn’t have high expectations from the start because I hadn’t found the nutritious fruit in Widia.

Considering that we would be staying in the Demon Forest for up to three weeks, we would need to pack a lot of food.

It would have been impossible to keep it in a treasure chest due to the time difference, but since we have preserved porcelain, we can secure it to some extent.

“How was it?”

As Leon snapped out of his reverie and took a sip of the light stew, Dave asked.

“There was a reason why Zone 1 said they were confident.”

“Is that so? Haha… ….”

As Leon gave him some space, a look of satisfaction spread across Dave’s face.

“Ahem, we were surprised too.”

“Really!”

Karin happily took up the words of Dave, who was awkwardly trying to return the compliment.

This time, Dave didn’t stop Karin.

“Actually, this isn’t the first time we’ve partyed up with a wizard.”

Karin looked at Rinne and asked.

“Didn’t the wizard we first met say he was a second-grade apprentice?”

“Yeah.”

“Something’s different!”

“I didn’t know the difference between the first and second grades would be this big.”

As Karin began to chatter on her own, Deif glanced at Leon and put the leg of the roast pig in his mouth.

Perhaps because he was hungry, Dave stuffed his mouth with meat and munched.

Leon felt sorry for Dave, who was watching his food closely, so he deliberately scooped up some more stew and brought it to his mouth.

Leon only ate stew because he was afraid that he would feel sick if he suddenly ate meat after eating only nutritious fruits.

I could taste the deep flavor of spices in the rich broth.

Even that was provocative to Leon.

“As expected, the wizard… …even eats elegantly.”

“Karin.”

“Are you telling me not to say things like that?”

She had a history of shouting that she wanted to go for a drink after a hunt, only to be loudly stopped by Dave.

It was not normal to ask Leon, who obviously did not look like an adult, to go out drinking.

‘It doesn’t really matter, but… … .’

Leon was actually curious too.

The taste of alcohol in this world.

But now was not the time to enjoy such leisure.

“Are you heading to Zone 2 tomorrow?”

“Is that okay, Wizard?”

“You said that Zone 2 is where the play and lizardmen appear?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“If you think that seven Lizardmen came out at once like this… … .”

When Leon spoke, Dave laughed awkwardly.

“That’s why we couldn’t go either. We could probably deal with 2 or 3 of them, but we were worried that there might be a situation where we couldn’t.”

Even with seven goblins, it seemed like it would be difficult with just them.

That doesn’t mean Leon was negative about going to District 2.

It was quite possible.

I was convinced as I watched the goblins fall one by one to the attack magic.

From the beginning, it felt like these people were lacking in numbers rather than skills.

If we just bring two more people of similar skill level, it will be enough for District 2.

“Haha, that’s… because we’re so close, and there’s also the issue of distribution… … .”

Is it a money issue?

Leon didn’t really understand those words.

Wouldn’t it be better to add two more people to hunt the monsters in Area 2?

It seemed like it was more because they were very close to each other than because of money.

It feels like it’s not the people who are reluctant to come to this party, but the party itself that is reluctant.

‘Well, everyone has their own circumstances.’

Leon decided not to dig too deep.

Leon was going to leave anyway.

“The reward for this mission is from the wizard… … .”

“We will distribute it equally.”

The disposal of the corpses of the monsters hunted today was left to the guild.

He said he would take care of everything if I deducted the fee.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t accept it at all, but such unconditional favors won’t be returned very favorably.

Leon asked, pretending not to notice Dave’s face, which was trying to hide its expression of affection.

“What kind of monsters appear in areas 3 and above?”

“Well, really experienced adventurers… Gold adventurers, for example, go beyond District 3. I heard from them that they encounter orcs and ogres. And trolls.”

‘These names are all familiar.’

Leon nodded and opened his mouth again.

“How good is the gold adventurer?”

“I also heard a rumor a while back that a 3rd-grade apprentice wizard and a gold adventurer got into a fight… …but the adventurer got completely robbed.”

“Is that it?”

“Even the most golden adventurer can’t fly in the sky.”

“… .”

“That doesn’t mean there aren’t any cases where wizards are harmed.”

Dave spoke cautiously, watching Leon’s expression.

“I guess the wizards needed that memo… Rise? That kind of thing… … I did kill them after the magic was consumed. However… … .”

Dave laughed bitterly.

“It just so happened that he was a magician belonging to the Magic Tower… The person who killed the magician went missing right away. It is not known whether it was the Magic Tower’s doing, but they haven’t touched the magician since.”

Considering the wizard’s sinister nature, it would make sense for Magic Tower to do so.

Even though it is a free city, it cannot be touched carelessly, so they must have been plotting behind the scenes.

Leon could have easily predicted the whole story.

Just as Leon’s curiosity was almost satisfied, Karin smiled and said.

“You can take a break and explore the city tomorrow. I’ll be your guide!”

Leon immediately shook his head.

“Let’s go tomorrow.”

“Hing.”

She pouts her lips as if she feels regret.

“ka… .”

“I apologize for interrupting your meal, Wizard.”

Dave’s attempt to get her attention again was blocked.

Because someone suddenly barged into the table.

He was a man with blond hair and distinct facial features despite his sun-tanned skin.

His green eyes were sharp and there was a crooked smile on his lips.

He was a tall man, wearing light leather armor, the scratches here and there showing the marks of experience.

He nodded to Leon and looked at Dave as he spoke.

“I didn’t mean to hear that… You said you were going to District 2 tomorrow?”

“Sengor… … .”

There was a wariness in Dave’s face as he looked at him.

It seemed like the two knew each other.

“You’re lucky. When you asked me to join your party, I said I absolutely couldn’t… But now I’ve met a wizard and I can go to places I’ve never been able to see in my entire life.”

“You think you can’t look at me for the rest of your life.”

“When are you going to go to District 2 while forming a party with only 3 people and ostracizing everyone else?”

The words going back and forth between the two were sharp.

You could tell just from hearing a few words of conversation that their relationship wasn’t that good.

The two glared at each other for a while as if they were having a staring contest, and then Senghor suddenly turned his head to Leon.

“Wizard, how about coming to our party?”

The spark flew to Leon.

Despite his rough appearance, he made a polite proposal to Leon.

“Our party consists of five people, and I am confident that we can protect you while you cast your spells. I can also treat you much better than we can here.”