Imperial Mage Association.
Imperial Mage Association.
Make it ‘clean’.
It was actually thanks to trivial experiences that I learned what neatness meant to Master.
On the day Master was away for a short while, I was practicing my swordsmanship alone in the open space behind the mountain as usual, when I encountered a terrifying bear that came down from the mountain. Of course, at that time, I didn’t have the skills to beat a bear yet, and I barely escaped while being bitten here and there by a predator that suddenly intruded.
Fortunately, before Master returned that night, my healthy body had already been restored, but the clothes I was wearing and the vacant lot were covered in blood. I managed to hide the clothes well and throw them away, but I couldn’t do anything about the empty lot that was stained with blood.
The next day, when Master saw the empty lot covered in blood, she looked at me blankly.
Then Master muttered that it was necessary to clean up the animals once and for all. Fortunately, I thought I had tricked it well, but in hindsight, it wasn’t the truth at all.
After that, dead bodies of bears began to be found in the mountains near the church. There was a brief frenzy of searching for bear corpses among hunters who followed the smell of blood and found the corpse of a dead bear, but that was short-lived. Eventually, not a single bear could be found near the church.
Even after that, the things that Master had said over and over again that he was doing something neatly were bound to be erased cleanly without any rumors. For example, the bandits who fearlessly settled down near the church, or the group of mercenaries who flowed in in search of work.
They died in turn, starting with the topmost heads, and then disintegrated and disappeared in disarray.
Of course, I’ve never personally seen Master take care of these things, but whenever Master goes out, they ‘accidentally’ disappear over and over again.
Yes, Master is very warm to me, but from an objective point of view… Master was clearly a human being who lacked something. I’m not sure if it’s an artificial result or if it’s been like that since I was born.
***
“Get this first and hang it around your neck!”
Giselle, who was pulling my hand, gave me a necklace with a black and transparent jewel.
“What is this?”
“A necklace that hides the divinity that spreads when using authority! Try hanging it around your neck!”
“Where did you get these things…”
“Don’t ask! Write once! I’ll tell you everything later!”
Well, it wasn’t the time to have a leisurely conversation. As I put the necklace around my neck, I felt an invisible energy surround me. very faintly.
When Giselle confirmed that I had put on the necklace, she quickly opened her mouth.
“If you put it on and use your powers…”
She glanced at people passing by and chose a word.
“… You can hide your unique, uneasy aura! Do you understand roughly what that means?”
Is it possible to hide the divinity of an evil god? Thanks to this necklace, even when Giselle used her powers earlier, I didn’t notice.
“I got it.”
“But there is a limit to hiding it, so if you use large-scale power or strong power, the jewel will be overpowered for a while, right? So you have to use it carefully.”
“How do you know how far you can hold out?”
“Once you use the authority, you’ll get a sense… Huh?!”
A subtle green tattoo glowed across my skin. When the Corruption Gate was activated, the rising divinity was absorbed into the opaque membrane and disappeared in an instant.
I immediately reached out and hugged Giselle. If I ran alone, I could arrive much faster than if I ran with Giselle. Giselle, who was suddenly embraced, widened her eyes and panicked, but soon she picked herself up and put her hands around my neck.
“That way!”
“yes!”
As I sprinted out of my seat, I understood why Giselle had said you would understand it once you tried it. The intangible membrane surrounding my body was collapsing in real time, absorbing the flowing divinity.
At this speed, assuming that only the Gate of Corruption is used, roughly 30 minutes is the limit. If you use the sword of corruption, it will probably overload the necklace as soon as you use it.
“right! Turn right and you’ll see it right away!”
Following Giselle’s words, I turned right and saw a building that was twice as large as the surrounding buildings.
The doorkeeper sitting near the entrance yawning with his mouth wide open, and the passers-by passing here and there. The street was very peaceful.
“hmm…?”
“uh…?”
We, who had run faster than anyone else, stopped in place after seeing the peaceful scene. I unlocked the Corruption Door and put Giselle on the floor.
“Hey.”
“yes.”
“Even to you, it looks like we arrived first…?”
“It seems so…”
To think that he arrived first after running so urgently. something was a bit silly. However, after all, it hadn’t been long since we broke up with Master, and Giselle and I rode the mark she made and teleported instantly, so it wouldn’t be strange if we arrived a little faster than Master.
“Your master is… usually easygoing when it comes to dealing with things like this?”
“I don’t know because you didn’t take me with you when you did these things.”
I always did chores or trained alone in Master’s house, but I never directly got my hands dirty with Master’s blood.
“Maybe it’s just the outside, so wouldn’t it be better to go in and take a look?”
Giselle nodded at my suggestion.
“Okay, you better go in.”
After she finished answering, she quickly moved towards the branch of the Imperial Wizard Association without hesitation. I asked, walking after Giselle.
“Can I just go in?”
“Of course you can. Although they claim to be a wizard association, in the end, the essence is similar to a mercenary guild. Usually, anyone can come in and out of this floor freely. The first floor also serves as a restaurant where you can have simple meals. Although the quest itself can only be accepted by wizards registered in the guild.”
As we approached the building, a guard sitting on a makeshift structure near the entrance glanced at us, then yawned again and leaned back in his chair.
“You don’t seem to be working very hard.”
“Because you’re a wizard, yes. Rather, I should be grateful for not having an accident and just sitting there.”
“I see…”
As we opened the door and entered, we were greeted by a cheerful jingle and a buzzing noise. The spacious first floor had the appearance of a typical restaurant like any other inn. The only difference from the inn was that there were documents related to various requests hanging on the bulletin board in one corner.
People gathered in groups of threes and threes, each having a meal and talking noisily.
“I heard that Gesne went to make a deal today?”
“I went a little while ago, so you’ll know what’s going on by lunchtime! Well, I’m not really curious about it!”
“Actually, me too! Ha ha ha ha ha!!!”
That’s mostly wizards.
“It looks like a full-fledged restaurant, not a simple restaurant, but…”
“They don’t sell alcohol here.”
“aha.”
Giselle narrowed her eyes and scanned the ground floor restaurant after room. Unfortunately, Master was not at the restaurant.
“None either. Shall we go up to this floor? Or would you like to eat something simple while waiting? I haven’t eaten lunch, so I’m getting a little hungry.”
“Then, if you’re ordering for a while, I’ll check upstairs and come back.”
“good. I’ll be sitting over there, but what do you want to eat?”
“I would like the same one Giselle is ordering.”
“okay. Then go quickly.”
I made sure that Giselle had settled down in a corner, and I quickly walked up the stairs leading upstairs.
Took.
“damn.”
As soon as I walked up the stairs and reached the second floor, I bumped my shoulder into someone who suddenly jumped out. The woman, who was wearing a robe, frowned as soon as she saw me bumping into her shoulder.
“What color are you wearing your eyes on? Make you feel good.”
It was this woman who suddenly jumped out and it was this woman who bumped into her shoulder.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been soaked in emotions at the extremely red-hot attitude.
Yes, sorcerers were originally such a tribe. Self-righteous people living in a world of their own.
“You bastard! Aren’t you going to apologize right away!!!”
As I was contemplating what to answer, a shrill voice came from the second floor.
“Miss Spina! You know you get a penalty if you fight inside the association building!!! If you get penalty points this time, it’s already 10 points! Remember!!!”
“Ah… watch your back when you bastard walks on the street. If you run into them on the street, you’ll be very annoyed!”
The woman called Spina let go of her threats, pushed me on the shoulder with her hand, and walked downstairs without hesitation.
I shrugged off my shoulders and entered the second floor, and the reception desk, which looked exactly like an ordinary mercenary guild, greeted me. Because the building of the Wizard Association branch was larger than the Mercenary Guild, the number of receptionists was much higher here. There were very few people compared to the large space.
“Here it is. You can come over here.”
Someone called me to the car I was standing at the entrance looking at the people inside. It was the same voice that had pointed out to a woman named Spina earlier.
As I sneaked closer, the female receptionist greeted me with a bright smile.
“hello. How can I help you? It’s the first time I’ve seen this face, but I guess this is the first time I’ve been to the Imperial Wizard Association branch?”
“Ah yes.”
I called and came, but there was nothing to say. I took a quick look at the receptionist and asked a question.
“The wizard association receptionists don’t seem to be wizards.”
“Yes. Apparently, wizards are not good at being receptionists… there are a lot of people like that! Seeing that you didn’t fight earlier, I don’t think you’re a wizard. Are you the one who came to entrust our association with a request?”
“That’s…”
I tried to ask if I’d ever seen a woman with blue hair, but the receptionist added quickly, as if worried I might run away.
“You may have been a bit disappointed by Mr. Spina, whom we met earlier, but the mages belonging to the Imperial Mage Association are much calmer than the independent mages! Besides, there are very few people who stop beating the request in the middle because it’s annoying! Don’t take to heart Spina’s threat just now! I’m sure you forgot right away as soon as you opened the door on the first floor! Really!”
“I didn’t come here to entrust you with a request.”
“yes? Then, are you a wizard who came to register…? I recently saw a very nice, well-behaved wizard, and it’s like a miracle that there’s another one like that!”
A nice, gentle wizard? It’s a very strange word, so I threw a question without knowing it.
“Is there such a person?”
“yes! There was a silver-haired wizard who came here a while ago! Is your name… Dacia? So it was!”
Is it Dacia? Certainly Dacia can do that. The female receptionist spoke again like a rapid-fire gun before I could answer.
“And what’s so great about that silver-haired wizard is that he can use magic without an ancient spell? Because of that, wizards belonging to the Association are very interested in that female wizard! You’re not the only one who has opened their eyes to find out the secret! Seeing that silver-haired wizard hasn’t been seen for several days, it must be that he’s going through a lot of trouble. Oops!”
A woman with wide eyes bowed her head at me.
“Did I just say too much? After arguing with the wizards all day long, it has become a habit for me to prioritize what I have to say and shoot at them! Usually when you talk to wizards…”
She glanced around and whispered in a small voice.
“It’s not once or twice that I think it would be better to talk to the wall. But are you a real wizard? Aren’t you?”
“no.”
The female receptionist tilted her head.
“You’re not here to make a request, are you?”
“yes.”
“Then why are you here…?”
“Perhaps blue hair…”
Before I could finish my words, a man jumped down with a groaning sound.
“The branch manager has died!!!”
With just one word, the wizards on the second floor began to buzz.
“what?!”
“who? how? Branch manager, he’s quite strong! Not for me!”
“hey! tell me now! How did you die?”
“If you don’t speak quickly, you will die like the branch manager! really!”
Far from falling into panic, the wizards all threw questions at the man who jumped down with curious eyes. The man shrugged his shoulders and replied as if it was no big deal.
“No, I went up to ask for the penalty points, but there was no response even when I knocked! So I broke down the door and went in and found only the head cut off and lying on the table! But I mean… hey! Receptionist! If the branch manager dies, what happens to the penalty points he gave you? It’s all gone, right?”
“Right! Now that the branch manager has passed away, the penalty points given in his name should be gone! cancer!”
“that’s right! that’s right!”
Even the receptionist wasn’t too embarrassed.
“We’ll talk about the penalty points later! First of all, I have to inform the association headquarters and the lord. This is embarrassing…”
I couldn’t stand this horrible situation and had no choice but to ask a question.
“The branch manager is dead, are you really okay?”
“You might be surprised because it’s your first time. Branch leaders usually die often. It’s normal for angry wizards to fight and one of them will die. Even the lord doesn’t care.”
Just as the receptionist finished speaking, the man who came downstairs lightly added:
“right. The branch manager’s secretary was also dead because her head was cut off?”
As soon as they heard the story, the receptionists’ faces turned white.
“Quaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Murder! Murder!”
