Chapter 70

Chapter 70

“When I was young, my master was one of the ten guardians protecting the Great Being, the Seeker. He served the Great Being, a mage who also fought bravely on the front lines of battle.”

“Grandfather when he was young? Somehow, I don’t even want to imagine it…”

“Heh heh heh, Miss Sarrieta will grow old someday too. Anyway, I learned magic by his side and followed him across battlefields. I even participated in the Hundred Years’ War.”

Tahul’s hand trembled faintly, as if recalling those memories.

“Those blessed by the traitor were far too powerful. They were nothing short of a curse to us. Every day was hell. Have you ever closed your eyes for a moment only to open them and see your comrade beside you collapse and die?”

No, no—.

Sari and Osun shook their heads violently.

“You’ve seen a human youth, I see? What a horrific sight it was. Isn’t this old man remarkable to have endured a hundred years of that and survived? Heh heh heh.”

Tahul gulped down his beer mug, quenching his thirst.

Dojae waited quietly, intrigued by the chance to hear stories from that era.

“Gulp. Over a hundred years, countless lights of life were extinguished. It felt like if the war continued like this, there might not be a single living creature left on the continent. That’s when the Seekers decided to sacrifice themselves to seal the traitor. Isn’t that interesting? That the traitor was so powerful it took the sacrifice of all the other Seekers to eliminate just one traitor.”

“Forgive me for interrupting, but who exactly is this traitor?”

Dojae asked Tahul.

He had heard about the past from Aktria, but not the details.

He wanted to hear it properly from Tahul this time.

“The traitor… His name was Gelahan, once a seeker himself. I went to see him once as a child, following my master. He was a very young human, yet he radiated an unapproachable, terrifying aura. Even watching from afar, it was enough to make the hairs on my body stand on end.”

“Gelahan…”

“Even to me, a mere young Grey Elf, the traitor felt different from the other seekers. That was about 300 years ago, just before the war began. The first and last time I saw the traitor, he seemed devoid of any emotion. Ugh.”

Tahul held out his beer mug, and Doja filled it to the brim.

“Well, the story has come full circle, but ultimately, I’m heading to the ruins to find traces of my master, who was a Guardian.”

“Grandfather, you look different somehow!”

Sari’s eyes sparkled.

Her eyes likely sparkled more at the word ‘trace’ than at the earlier story.

“Very well. I won’t ask why you seek these traces. You’ve stated your purpose. As it happens, I too am interested in the great beings, and I’m curious about that traitor, Gelahan. So, for now, let’s travel together. I’ll continue to rely on your carriage.”

“Heh heh. This old man should be thanking you more. Then I suppose I should repay Miss Sarieta for serving such delicious food?”

Tahul slowly rose to his feet.

At the same time, Dojae also jumped to his feet.

“Did you sense it too, old man?”

“I had it spread out when we stopped the carriage—the alert magic.”

When Dojae and Tahul suddenly stared off in one direction, Sari and Osun tilted their heads in confusion.

But soon they understood why they had risen.

Whoooooosh!

“Kyaaaah!”

“Kiiiiii!”

A swarm of dozens of monsters flew in, making a sound like a torrential downpour.

Sari shouted as she saw them.

“Kiri-o-da!”

Kirio, a small bat-like monster.

Each individual was only a Level 10 monster, but they were quite dangerous.

They didn’t appear one at a time, but in swarms of dozens, making them monsters that inflicted constant, nagging damage.

Especially on flat ground like this, they were extremely annoying monsters that would sweep through once, then fly back in a wide arc to attack again.

“Sari, Oson! Hide behind me! You too, old man!”

Dojae summoned a golem and erected a wall.

He then evacuated Sari and Osun behind the wall.

Dojae drew his Black Scales, waiting for the Kyrios to fly in.

However, Tahul stepped forward in front of Doja instead of hiding behind the wall.

“Old man?”

“Young human, this old man also placed third in the tournament.”

Tahul pulled a short rod from his robe.

It was a magic wand with a small gem at its tip.

“Chain Lightning.”

Crackle-.

Crackle-!

Lightning bolts shot from the tip of Tahul’s wand, striking the swarm of Kirios head-on.

“Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

“Kyaaah!”

The Chain Lightning spell flashed, beginning to electrocute the swarm of Kirios.

From one creature to the next, the intense lightning instantly charred the Kirio swarm black.

Crackle-crackle-.

“Whoa!”

“Old man! Not bad at all!”

Sari and Osun watched the Kirios falling to the ground beyond the golems.

“Heh heh, I guess that’s enough to earn my keep?”

Tahul returned, tucking his staff back into his robe.

Dojae expressed his gratitude.

“Magic really is unmatched against large numbers of enemies.”

“How about it? Wasn’t it a good idea to bring this old man along?”

“Yes, I’ll admit it.”

“Heh heh heh, feels good. Might I take a look at those golems for a moment?”

“Why the golems…?”

Tahul approached the golems.

Then he pulled out a small, white stick that looked like chalk and began drawing on the golem’s chest.

“It’s a pencil made from Hakun’s bone powder. Its viscosity is high, so it won’t erase easily.”

Scribble, scribble.

“What are these golems’ cores made of?”

Tahul asked as he continued drawing.

“Why, they’re made of magic stone, of course.”

“Magic stone? Don’t lump it all together. What specific ore did you use?”

“Ore?”

“Ugh, you don’t even know that? Fine.”

Tahul finished drawing on the first golem’s chest.

It was a magic circle densely packed with incomprehensible symbols and characters.

“It’s a magic circle that channels lightning using the core’s mana. While it won’t match the power of Chain Lightning, it should be capable of light electrical attacks. You deserve to sleep comfortably, don’t you?”

A faint glow emanated from the golem’s magic circle.

Small sparks occasionally flew with each movement.

Tahul drew identical magic circles on the remaining three golems, and Dojae positioned them around the area.

“Well then, shall we sleep? Old folks tend to sleep a lot at night anyway.”

***

Thump-thump.

Though not as comfortable as sleeping in an inn bed, Dojae and his companions had spent a relatively restful and safe night. They began moving again.

“Hey, Ohson, you gotta treat the horse gently.”

“Geez, old man. I’ll handle it myself, so stop fussing.”

The task of driving the carriage was entrusted to Osun.

Having spent the entire previous day learning how to handle horses from Tahul, Osun drove the horses with surprising stability.

Sari sat beside Osun, as she wished to ride while enjoying the cool breeze.

“Indeed, a carriage fit for a king. Sturdy and comfortable.”

Tahul, however, was riding inside the carriage, partly because Dojae had requested it.

“Your Excellency, magic. Can anyone learn it?”

Dojae welcomed Tahul into the carriage precisely because of the magic.

Seeing the magic circle engraved on the golem last night had given Dojae much to ponder.

He realized that if the golem could harness magical power beyond just physical strength to hunt monsters, it could deliver far more lethal attacks.

And what if they could even imbue the golem armor with lightning like that?

Recalling how the golems had performed during the battle with the monsters at dawn, it was an ability he desperately wanted to obtain.

“Magic? Isn’t summoning golems magic itself?”

“Is… is that so?”

Doja was momentarily speechless.

Upon reflection, his own ability was indeed a form of magic.

Summoning golems and manipulating mana through their nerves was clearly magic to anyone else, but Dojae hadn’t realized it.

Perhaps it was because there had been no other awakened ones who summoned and commanded golems, or perhaps it was because Dojae himself had been the weakest of the weak, an F-rank hunter with no skills whatsoever.

“Huh? Then what else could it be if not magic?”

“Ah… this is something different… Anyway, can it be learned, or not?”

“You’re a strange young man… Since you asked, I’ll answer: anyone can learn it, but it’s not easy to master.”

Dojae clenched his fist tightly.

For Dojae, easy or hard didn’t matter.

What mattered was whether he could learn it or not.

“Then please teach me magic. Especially magic circles. I want to know about magic and magic circles.”

“What? Hmm… It’s a hassle… Even if I teach you, it’s not something you’ll grasp right away…”

“It’s fine. Just showing me a demonstration would be enough, or even just drawing the same pictures. Please.”

“That much shouldn’t be difficult… but you expect me to do it for free? You’re the one who grilled this old man with all your questions.”

Tahul gave Dojae a faint smile.

Dojae saw the black pupils in Tahul’s narrowed eyes blazing.

“You’re more childish than I thought.”

“Call it a trick learned over the years.”

Dojae pondered how he might best handle this Grey Elf.

In the Nightingale Forest, he’d won over countless gray elves with cup noodles, but it didn’t seem like it would work on Tahul.

Hadn’t his reaction to Sari’s cooking yesterday been rather lackluster?

After pondering for a while, an idea suddenly flashed through Dojae’s mind, and he pulled something out of his pocket.

“Just a moment.”

“Hooo… Your secondary dimension is full of wonders, isn’t it?”

Tahul showed interest as Dojae opened his sub-space.

He was already fascinated because Dojae’s sub-space had previously produced items like lighters and sleeping bags—things not found in this world.

“This is called a flashlight…”

Dojae pulled out an LED flashlight from Youngjin’s bag.

He remembered taking it out while organizing his belongings when the Chinese hotel returned his bag.

Back then, he had asked why he had packed such a thing when he had a smartphone, but Young-jin’s words, “You’ll need it later,” were now proving useful.

Click.

Pop-!

“Whoa! It’s blindingly bright! What an amazing magic wand.”

Young-jin’s high-intensity LED flashlight illuminated the somewhat dim carriage interior as brightly as if the sun itself were shining.

“This isn’t magic. Would you like to try it?”

Dojae handed the flashlight to Tahul.

Tahul took it, examined it curiously, and looked it over carefully.

“It’s true. A wand that emits such bright light without using magic.”

“Are you interested? If you teach me magic, I might give it to you.”

“Hmm… This is quite a dilemma. Do I really need this?”

“Of course you do! Aren’t you going to explore ruins? You’ll need to conserve your mana for any unexpected dangers, and with this level of brightness, it could illuminate even the deepest, darkest places.”

“Hmm… You have a point…”

“Then how about this?”

Dojae adjusted the flashlight’s lens, focusing the beam into a single point.

He then cranked the brightness to maximum and began shining it on the carriage wall.

Sizzle-sizzle-.

Within seconds, the wooden walls of the carriage were charred black and burst into flames.

Dojae immediately extinguished the flames and said to Tahul.

“Did you see that? What do you think would happen if we aimed this at someone’s eye? Don’t you think it’d make a pretty decent weapon?”

Tahul’s hand, which had been resting on his chin, finally dropped.

“Alright, I’ll teach you. Magic.”