Chapter 246 : Adrian the Black Mage

"You've worked hard. Go and rest."

"Yes."

I took some of the duke's burden onto my own shoulders and returned to the inn.

Of course, the duke had offered to provide a room in his mansion, but we had already refused, as the bustling and cozy inn was much more comfortable for us than the duke's chilly mansion.

After finishing my report, I dragged my tired and weary body back to the inn...

The others had already clocked out.

The innkeeper was clearing the messy tables.

I could see empty glasses, as if they had relieved their fatigue with alcohol.

...Being a captain is tiring.

To think that while I was working hard, these guys were just drinking hard.

Should I just quit being captain right now?

[Go ahead. Quit being captain, and while you're at it, you might as well quit the commission you just took on.]

"I was just saying."

I grumbled and plopped down at a table, ordering food and drinks.

Then, I looked at Linda, who was sitting across from me.

She was dropping something drop by drop onto a round, flat glass dish with a frighteningly focused expression, observing the reaction.

Next to her, several glass bottles containing various liquids and powders were lined up.

"..."

The girl who usually clung to me, calling me "devil, devil" just by looking at my face, was so engrossed in her experiment that she hadn't even noticed I had come.

She must have been quite frustrated that her poison hadn't worked.

That's how serious she was about poison, the master of poison, the madwoman Linda.

I deliberately didn't speak to Linda so that she could focus on her research.

It was a rare sight to see Linda concentrating quietly, so I ate my meal and watched her serious face.

She looked like a different person.

After finishing my meal, I washed my body in the hot bathwater and then dragged my weary body up to my room.

Because the gift of tomorrow was waiting for Ashuban, the captain of Sherwood.

Thump.

I lay on the bed and stared blankly at the dark ceiling.

'If an S-rank magical beast really appears. Can I handle it?'

I was getting stronger quickly, but the crisis was growing at an even faster rate.

It was a speed that was hard to even keep up with.

But that sense of crisis was brief.

I remembered the guys who had come back after beating up A-rank magical beasts as if they were neighborhood thugs.

Then, the thought that we could somehow manage it if we were with the Sherwood members came to me.

'...Somehow?'

Suddenly, my mind cleared as if I had dunked my head in cold water.

No, 'somehow' wouldn't do.

What if someone died in the process of doing it 'somehow'?

Even if we defeated the S-rank magical beast through his sacrifice, it would be no comfort at all.

I wouldn't be happy at all.

I would feel the same emotions that the others had felt when I fell from the Mist Cliff.

That... was something no one wanted.

That kind of thing shouldn't happen.

Not again.

Losing once is enough.

'This won't do.'

A sense of crisis raised its head.

'I have to get stronger.'

Lying down, I activated the Snow Branch Blue Flame Art.

Blue Flame in my right hand. Snow Branch in my left.

When I brought my hands together and forced them to merge...

The sight of a white wolf and a blue wolf spinning around, chasing each other's tails, unfolded before my eyes.

A precursor to the Heaven-Reversing Light.

The Heavenly Demon had given me a clue.

That if I looked at this for a long time, I would be able to understand.

That the mystery of the Snow Branch Blue Flame Art was contained in this.

"Right?"

[That's right.]

"Alright."

I stared with wide-open eyes for a long time at the blue and white wolves spinning around, chasing each other's tails.

When their speed increased, I would gently separate them, and then repeat the process of merging them.

I fell asleep watching that sight.

I had a dream.

It was a dream where I, a blue wolf, and a white wolf were chasing each other's tails, spinning around.

* * *

The next day.

The second day of reconnaissance.

I came down to the first-floor restaurant early, finished my breakfast, and then went out to the wall.

There, the black mage, wearing the white cloak I had gifted him, was diligently fiddling with the corpses of magical beasts.

As I approached, Adrian, who had sensed my presence, turned to me.

"Oh, Sir Ashuban. Are you going out for reconnaissance again today?"

"The magical beasts don't rest, so the reconnaissance can't rest either."

"Haha, a wise answer."

I looked around him.

At some point, new friends had appeared.

Adrian dusted off his hands and stood up.

He placed his hands on his hips and smiled proudly.

"What do you think? Aren't they cool?"

"Is that your work?"

"Yes."

"Rather than cool... it's grotesque."

[Grotesque. That's the right word.]

The Heavenly Demon agreed.

So, he had combined the limbs of the magical beasts in his own way to create a new, unheard-of creature.

Was there another creator in the world so grotesque and yet so creative?

There was one with over ten arms, each boasting a different personality.

There was one with multiple heads.

There was one with the body of a beast and dozens of tentacles.

And a hideous one with sharp thorns all over its body.

Their heights were also varied.

Some were over 3 meters tall, while others barely reached my waist.

Instead, they were bulky. The sight of them with multiple legs like a centipede instinctively made me feel repulsed.

Although magical beasts were originally unruly in their appearance.

This was a bit much.

Wasn't this taking it a step further?

Taking the unruly ones, cutting them up in an unruly way, and then sticking them together in an unruly way, it was indescribably unruly.

No, in the first place, how did he connect the different body parts so naturally?

To say it was grotesque was an understatement.

It was disgusting, horrible, ugly, and hideous.

I was afraid I would see it in my dreams.

But Adrian stood next to me, still with his hands on his hips, looking at his proud works and nodding.

An utterly satisfied smile spread across his lips.

"They're beautiful. This is art."

"Otherworldly art."

"Thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment."

"Ah, was it not?"

"Do they move?"

"Not yet."

I turned my head and looked at Adrian.

"...Not yet?"

"Yes. I think it would be better to show you directly rather than explain with words... Ah, there's a suitable example. Could you give me that hand over there?"

I picked up the hand of some magical beast that was lying where he had pointed.

I didn't know what kind of magical beast it was, but its fingers were quite long.

When I handed it to Adrian, Adrian, who had received the hand of the unknown magical beast, explained.

"Now, here is the hand of a magical beast, isn't it? First, you project your magic power to check the passages where the mana will flow, that is, the blood vessels, and then you find the center. To put it simply, you can think of it as finding a place for a new heart."

Adrian muttered as he fiddled with the magical beast's hand.

"Hmm. This place seems suitable. Once you find a suitable place, you embed a magic stone here and set up the circuit for the magic formula. This is the most important part. The more efficiently you set it up, the less waste there is. Then, you make the mana contained in the magic stone flow along the blood vessels where the blood flows..."

Then, he placed the magical beast's hand, which he had been fiddling with to his heart's content, on the ground.

"Hup! March!"

Then, the magical beast's hand trembled, raised itself, and then began to move awkwardly, using its long fingers as legs.

"...It's really moving."

"Haha, what do you think? Isn't it cute?"

"It's incredibly cute."

"You know a thing or two. I can talk to you, Sir Ashuban."

The Heavenly Demon let out a hollow laugh.

[How absurd.]

I agreed with that.

Where in the world could you see the hand of a dead magical beast marching?

I looked at Adrian's grotesque friends and asked a question.

"Then do they also move like this?"

"Yes. As long as there are magic stones."

"Magic stones?"

"The magic stone acts as a kind of heart that delivers mana to the body along the blood vessels."

"So the magic stone is the power source, is that it?"

"Exactly. You're a quick learner."

"Then... can you also raise the dead?"

"It's possible, but not efficient. Because you have to purify the magic stone to use it. In that process, the contaminated mana also evaporates, so the total amount of mana contained in the magic stone decreases, and the output also decreases."

"Hmm."

"The most suitable vessel for using a magic stone is, after all, the corpse of the original owner, the magical beast. Because you don't have to purify the magic stone. In fact, magical beasts move more naturally and smoothly with contaminated mana. The output is also good. In the first place, the magic stone itself is the hardened heart of a magical beast, so there is no rejection reaction at all."

So it's not that it's morally wrong to do it to people, but that it's inefficient.

My goodness. What kind of guy is this?

Adrian pointed to the magical beast's hand, which was marching diligently somewhere, and said.

"That small one is fine with an E-rank magic stone, but the bigger and more complex ones require higher-rank magic stones."

"How high a rank are we talking about?"

Adrian's eyes scanned his works.

"Let's see... these guys should be fine with B-rank magic stones."

"B-rank magic stones. Then do they also show that level of performance?"

"Haha, of course! Who do you think designed them!"

Adrian explained with a voice full of conviction.

"The reason I called these guys art is not just because they look cool. It's because of their intuitive structure, which only considers their performance, their efficient movements, and their economical mechanism with no waste. I eliminated all inefficient things and emphasized extreme practicality and mobility."

"Hmm."

"And yet, the result is so cool even on the outside, so how can I not call it art? Ah, look at that efficient magic formula circuit and the corresponding energy transmission path! The structural beauty is dazzling. I think I'm going blind!"

"..."

Adrian looked at his work with an ecstatic expression and praised it to no end.

"Even with the same energy, if you use it efficiently, it's only natural that the power will be several times greater. With just a B-rank magic stone, one individual will be able to face more than ten B-rank magical beasts. I, Adrian, stake my name on it."

I only understood the last part properly.

That one individual could face more than ten B-rank magical beasts.

"But... unfortunately, it seems the soldiers have already taken all the usable magic stones. All I can find are those E-rank magic stones, or D and C-rank magic stones that they forgot to take, if I'm lucky."

Adrian, who had been chattering away excitedly, suddenly became gloomy.

"Besides, they've also taken all the corpses in good condition for sale... To be honest, it's a great disappointment. I could have made even cooler guys."

"Why didn't you ask for them?"

Adrian sighed.

"I did ask, but they said that B-rank magic stones are so expensive that they have to be used to secure war supplies, and they were reluctant. The same goes for the magical beast corpses. And since it was a black mage, not any other mage, who was asking, that probably had something to do with it. The perception is so bad."

"Hmm."

"Tch... it's just a shame. I have no choice but to fix the magic formula circuit to work with at least several C and D-rank magic stones, even if the efficiency drops..."

"No, don't do that."

"Yes?"

I took out a pouch and tossed it to Adrian.

Adrian, who had caught it in a daze, blinked.

"...What is this?"

"Open it."

His eyes widened as he fumbled with the pouch and looked inside.

"Th-this is... a B-rank magic stone! And not just one or two! H-how many are there."

Adrian, who had taken out a few and held them up to the sunlight, made a fuss.

"And they're all in good condition! Such high-quality items! Where on earth did you get them?"

I answered nonchalantly.

"I picked them up when I went on reconnaissance. Is it possible to operate those guys with these?"

"Possible, of course! It's more than enough!"

"Use those for now."

Adrian's expression as he looked at me turned pale.

"S-Sir Ashuban! Is it okay to just give me these precious things like this?"

I nodded.

"If they're worth the price, gladly."

"...!"

I looked at his eyes with a serious gaze.

"Sir Adrian."

"Yes!"

"Can I trust you with this?"

"Of course!"

Adrian looked at me with a moved face.

He's going to cry at this rate.

"Ah, and if the materials are good, is it also possible to make a bigger and stronger, that is, a more efficient and structurally beautiful one than these guys?"

"It's possible, but a magic stone of that level..."

When I took out the A-rank magic stone I had, Adrian's words were cut off.

His mouth fell half-open.

"Adrian the Black Mage."

Adrian's gaze moved from the magic stone sparkling in the sunlight to my face.

"Your research is supported by Sherwood. Spread your wings as you please."

...Thump.

Adrian fell to his knees.

(End of Chapter)

Tip: Tap/click the left or right side of the screen to go to previous/next chapter.