Episode 42
EPISODE.21
“You’ve never seen a face, but are you from a foreign country?”
Among the men who appeared, a particularly large man looked down at Russell and asked.
As if to prove that he was the leader of this group, he had a tattoo of a scorpion on his shiny head.
‘hmm.’
What should I do?
Normally, I would have been able to defeat them just by injecting mana into my cloak and displaying the Flare Rose.
but.
‘I can’t leak information in a situation where I don’t even know which way the cultist fled.’
Showing Flare Rose was dismissed for that reason.
‘Then…’
A few thoughts pop into my head for a short moment and then disappear.
It was then that one of them shouted.
“If this bastard asked a question, wouldn’t he have to answer?”
A threatening tone, as if to say that even that short silence was unbearable.
Russell laughed lightly at the sight.
It was because the situation today felt similar to what I experienced on the first day of the return, only the location and the other person had changed.
Of course, it would be difficult to pass it off as a simple laugh from the position of acceptance.
“Is this bastard laughing?”
The bully put his hand in his bosom.
He took out a dagger about an inch long and held it up.
It looked like it had been used and maintained a few times that the blade was standing up well.
Confirming that his face was reflected in the short blade, Russell decided on his next move.
Ignoring the guy holding the knife, I met the man with the scorpion tattoo and opened my mouth.
“It just went well.”
“…?”
what went well?
As if trying to clear up the question, the following words continued.
“I just wanted to ask you something.”
The words he uttered while surrounded by men who looked younger and were much taller than him.
At those words, the men who surrounded Russell looked dumbfounded.
for a while too.
“No, but kid. Why are you talking so short?”
The guy with the dagger waved his sword menacingly.
Either way, said Russell firmly.
“I wish the smallfish were gone, but it doesn’t matter.”
All he needed was someone to give him the information he wanted.
It didn’t matter whether it was the captain or the small pike.
“This is crazy…!!”
The moment the man tried to cut Russell’s thigh with a dagger in response.
“You’re quite proud.”
The man with the scorpion tattoo stepped forward.
I was so angry that I pushed back the furious subordinate.
“There seems to be a corner to believe in something, but is it a noble or something?”
Although it is close to the kingdom, Sudra is a neutral zone. It was not a place where the laws of the kingdom prevailed.
It means that even if you are a noble, you are not protected.
The man had warned of that, and Russell shrugged.
“well?”
rather questioned.
“What do you think I really believe in?”
As soon as the words are finished, a strange flow of magical power begins to flow along Russell’s body.
The magical energy radiated along the floor covered the area, forming a dense film like a spider’s web.
I don’t think I felt any abnormalities until the job change, but it doesn’t matter.
‘Even if you don’t like it, you’ll feel it soon.’
Vermillion and Hubert.
Alan Page and Hemingway Melville.
And Daria Snowwhite. Is it because I met too many eminent people for a while?
Now, this situation just seemed ridiculous.
‘It must mean that the world we live in has changed from the past.’
It was about then.
The man with the scorpion tattoo felt something was wrong.
A feeling of being tied in the middle of a net, as if a strange energy coiled around the body.
After that, cold sweat ran down my back.
Unlike the other subordinates, he learned how to train Aura, even if it was cheap.
That the aura that was restraining him now came from magic.
Rather than finish it quickly and go back and have a drink, a new woman has entered the brothel on the outskirts, and let’s go with the stolen money.
I wanted to shut the mouths of the ignorant and chattering underlings, but before that, there was something I had to do first.
“What are you curious about?”
A completely different tone than before. The expression of the subordinates also changed at that tone.
“Captain, what are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“To be respectful to such a little boy…”
“Shut up!”
The surroundings became quiet at the man’s work.
His hair was already glistening with sweat.
“If there is anything you want to ask, ask. As far as I know, I will give you an adequate answer.”
“It seems like we can talk a little bit now.”
In response to his liking, Russell withdrew the mana he had stretched out.
Since it was simply a display of magical power, it would have gone unnoticed whether it was a wizard or an aura practitioner.
“There must be a bar called Yellow Wyvern around here. Do you know where it is?”
“A bar?”
I thought it was something grand because there was something I wanted to ask.
It was only the location of the bar. I felt weak and drained, but it didn’t matter.
Because they were weak and their opponents were strong.
“Go three blocks down this alley. After that, turn left…”
The scorpion man stuttered, but did his best to explain the location of the ‘Yellow Wyvern’.
Russell nodded.
He reached out and patted the man on the shoulder, who was a head taller than himself.
“thank you. Good job then.”
I passed between the man and his men with light steps, and Russell took a few steps away.
His subordinates asked him.
“Captain, why the hell is that?”
“What’s the problem with such a kid stealing the money bag…?”
These are questions that seem dissatisfied.
At that question, the scorpion man frowned.
“Quiet. these bastards.”
He spat it out at the idiot-like subordinates who still couldn’t figure out the situation.
“I think you guys just saved your life.”
“Anyway, it is. Leader. What kind of life…”
“If you’re a wizard, you’re at least at a level where you can use anti-army magic. If you’re a trainee, you’re a skilled person who can cut us all off in ten seconds.”
“…?”
“That was just that kid’s skill. You stupid bastards!”
The faces of the subordinates turned pale.
They realized that they had stuck their heads in the ogre’s mouth and came out alive.
“That is true. Leader?”
“Then I’ll lie by making up words that I don’t have…”
That moment.
Jerk-.
The distant footsteps came closer again.
As he moved his gaze, he saw that the young man, whom he had thought was quite distant, was getting closer to him before he knew it.
“Did you leave something behind?”
At the sight of the young man Russell approaching again, he secretly hid the dagger the man was holding.
“I forgot there was one more thing to do.”
Russell looked around them all and spread his palms.
“Take out all the money you guys have taken so far.”
* * *
After putting the thick pocket into the inventory.
Russell opened the tavern ‘Yellow Wyvern’.
creak-.
Old, rusty hinges screamed in sync with the movement of the wooden door.
At the sound, the eyes of those sitting inside turned their heads in unison.
I stared at Russell.
It must have attracted attention because he was a foreigner and looked young.
Just like the guys who surrounded him just before.
Of course it wasn’t too long.
After looking at them for a moment, they turned their heads again as if nothing had happened.
Each one told a story.
Russell, too, passed between them inconsequentially and into the tavern. I went and stood in front of the long bar.
daughter-.
Sitting down, he took out a small silver coin and placed it on the table.
“Mix Red Drake 37 Year Old and Brucks 12 Year Old, straight, please.”
Both were drinks over 70 degrees. Mix it up and drink it straight.
It was a spell that a sane person could never do.
‘Of course.’
The words he just uttered weren’t real spells, but a kind of secret language to meet the Mage Tower’s informant.
just as expected.
The bartender, who was cleaning the shaker, flinched and turned to Russell.
“Which snack would you like?”
“If you have some dried red nutmeg, could you lightly roast it?”
There is probably no one in the world who would consume a high-quality spice like nutmeg as a snack.
A ridiculous order like the first one. But it wouldn’t have gone wrong.
‘Because Master taught me this dirty word himself.’ The color of nutmeg
means that
the genealogy of the magic tower to which it belongs is lightly roasted .
just as expected.
“Wait a minute.”
The bartender was accustomed to holding a silver coin.
I went through the door at the back of the bar and brought out another bartender.
He is dressed as an ordinary bartender, but what he senses is the unmistakable scent of magical power.
‘3rd Circle… Is it almost at the level of the 4th Circle?’
About forty years old.
He appeared casually waving a shaker and set the drink down in front of Russell.
“This is the drink you ordered.”
Ugh-.
A strange wave started from the glass and spread along the table.
It formed a hemispherical shape and blocked external and internal sounds.
‘A magic tool enchanted with sound insulation.’
It’s too much for a 3-circle mage to have.
but.
“I am Jackson, a dispatched wizard belonging to Kiehl’s Red Tower.”
If he belonged to an intelligence agency connected to all the magic towers, the story was different.
‘There’s nothing strange about having at least one of these things.’
“This is Russell from the Flame Tower.”
“Russell!”
At the name Russell, he quietly exclaimed.
“I never thought I would meet the rumored star like this. It is an honour.”
“I don’t know what rumors you’ve heard, but most of them are exaggerated.”
To the modesty that fell out of manners.
Jackson murmured, “It can’t be?” and smiled.
I took something out of my chest.
It was a notebook.
An easy-to-hide notebook about half the size of the palm of your hand.
After handing over the notebook, Jackson confirmed that Russell was opening the contents.
“This is information about the bastard’s whereabouts… but the difficulty of the mission has been adjusted due to two problems.”
From 4th grade – to 4th grade – above.
It is said that it is a bit unreasonable for a normal 4-circle wizard to solve it alone.
“This is the full text of the Tower of Flames that was delivered as the mission level increased.”
Right after that, a single line written in Daria’s handwriting was delivered to Russell.
‘It doesn’t matter if you ask for support or abandon the mission if necessary. The decision about him is entirely left to my judgment…’
Before making a judgment, there was something I had to do first.
“What is the reason for the adjustment of the mission difficulty?”
First of all, I had to hear that there were two problems.
“The first is the location where he is currently hiding.”
He flipped through the notebook in Russell’s hand. He said, opening a page with a map of the Takle Desert.
“Currently, it seems that he has been hiding in one place for over five days without moving….”
“It is a ruin in the desert.”
The Ruins of Desert.
As a place where there was once a civilization, the number of ruins buried under the sand is countless.
The place where he hid was also one of them.
The place where Russell obtained the Overlord and the Wizard Body was also an abandoned castle in the desert.
Of course, the desert was not Takle Desert, but it
was a huge ruin partially exposed by a sandstorm.
the problem is-.
‘This is the location of the ruins.’
This ruin, which can be reached by walking another 15 days from Shudra…
was located only two days away from the border of the Empire.
‘Of course, this alone will not increase the difficulty level.’
It is said to be close to the border, but the only ones you can encounter there are guard dogs of the empire.
Because it was at the level of a skirmisher. The reason why the difficulty level went up is that the second reason is bigger.
Russell gave an explanatory look and nodded.
Shaking his head once, Jackson continued.
“The second is…”
The wizard who swallowed the dragon
