3. Asher the Coward (1)
#3
Asher was having a hellish day again today. He was deeply regretting not having rejected his friends’ invitation. I should have made an excuse that I was sick, but it’s always like this.
“I know! Money! I wish I had brought it! not! Even if it’s right! “It works!”
“I really don’t have any money!”
In return, Asher had to blend in with the herd and watch the shepherd being beaten. The small child was curled up in a ball and was being beaten as if he were a ball.
“Then how are you paying for your sick mother’s medicine, huh?!”
“That…that! ”
The reason why it was true was also surprising. This was because his mother’s illness had worsened recently, and most of his expenses went towards medicine. His gang, most of whom were orphans, did not take the shepherd’s filial piety into consideration.
“Hey, even if you don’t have a mother to raise you, you can live well like me. “Why are you clinging to a bitch who will be a bitch sooner or later anyway, huh?”
“Wouldn’t you feel a little better if you thought that the cost of buying a coffin was paid in advance?
Even after hearing the unacceptable insult, the child could not say anything. Asher clenched his fists and muttered.
“idiot.”
It was also something he said to himself, not to the child. The only reason he was not a target of bullies, as he was as short and skinny as the shepherd, was because of his talent. He didn’t have the courage to face violence or bullying.
Asher prayed. It is impossible to stop it anyway, so I hope that this barbaric violence will end quickly. I hope my name is not called.
But life doesn’t always go as planned.
“Hey Asher! “I wonder if this bastard wants to taste your magic?”
Hans, the captain, called to him under his breath. At that moment all the bullies stopped what they were doing and turned their heads towards Asher.
Asher felt as if a heavy weight had fallen on his heart. He kept a blank expression and nodded his head.
“Hey! Magic! No! please! “Just look at that!”
“Yes Asher! “Make them think that it would be better to die!”
“Wizard! You’re a wizard! “Please have mercy!”
The shepherd fell to his knees in his haste. His nose was bleeding and he held on to Asher’s pants. Asher closed his eyes tightly and chanted his incantation.
“Invisible Hand”
The shepherd’s body slowly began to rise.
“Aaaah! no!”
An invisible hand was holding the shepherd and lifting it up. Cheers erupted from everywhere. His body, which was climbing slowly, soon reached a height where it would cause serious injury if it fell. However, the bullies only encouraged Asher further.
“It’s amazing no matter how many times I see you giggling. “Hang it from the top of the tree!”
“Put me down! please! Please get off!”
Asher twisted his lips. His own mediocre talent was a curse. If he had known this would happen, he wouldn’t have bought the magic book sold by a random merchant as a joke. Would I have been more useful if I hadn’t been born in such a remote corner?
His hands were shaking. The moment I lost my concentration, I felt like I was going to drop the shepherd. His magic was still weak and unstable. Asher let out a silent scream. Please someone stop me!
“Okay, drop me off.”
Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice came from behind.
“What kind of bastard are you?”
“You are!”
The group suddenly became quiet as if cold water had been poured on them. Even Hans, who did not panic even if he was hit by a stone while walking, became mute.
What’s going on? Asher barely turned his head to look behind him. The outlaw of Nimburton stood there.
Ronan spoke again.
“You said you were going to get off?”
Asher felt goosebumps running up his spine. There was something in that dry voice that made people feel intimidated.
He began to slowly lower the shepherd without realizing it. Hans, who saw this, squeezed Asher’s shoulder.
“Hey, what are you doing now?”
“Huh?”
“If that bastard tells you to get down, do you get down? Do you think I’m easy?”
“That’s not it….”
“Put it back up.”
Asher swallowed his saliva. The shepherd’s body began to rise again. Ronan laughed when he saw that. Hans walked forward with great strides and stopped right in front of Ronan.
“Ronan, it’s been a while. right?”
“Well, Hans, it’s been a really long time.”
“Why are you coming out all of a sudden? “It will continue to be crushed.”
“You still look like a sweet potato with syphilis. Was it this bad?”
“…Fuck you, don’t you understand the topic?”
Hans, who was much taller, appeared to be looking down at Ronan. In reality, Hans was three years older than Ronan.
The other boys, intimidated by the atmosphere, looked at the two with bated breath.
Originally, Ronan’s position in Nimburton was like a natural disaster from which he remained on the sidelines. People who quarreled with him were massaged so that they could not walk or walk, but he never intervened in other fights.
“Don’t act like I punched you in the past. “Do you think you’ll win if we fight again?”
On the other hand, Hans was like a bison that would attack anyone. Even if he was in a bad mood, he started an argument and punched him as soon as he went against his will. Of course, only for those who are weaker than you.
There were often cases where disasters occurred because the opponent’s level was not properly understood. A representative example was his extremely ugly hooked nose, which was Ronan’s work that caused a controversy three years ago.
But now things have changed. Hans had a nice long sword hanging from his waist. It was an item received as a reward for helping a mercenary group throughout last winter.
Slurp!
Hans drew his sword. Ronan curled his mouth in admiration.
“Oh Carl.”
“Why are you just staring blankly?”
Hans’ voice was as intimidating as his size. The bullies immediately surrounded the two people. Asher had to maintain his magic so he could not move.
“Get down on your knees and pray right now. “I’ll take a look at it at least once.”
“Do you know how to swing? Just because you hold a stick and shake it, it would be difficult to think of it in the same way…”
Wedge!
Hans swung his sword vertically. Ronan dodged the attack by lightly twisting his shoulder. I expected him to be a mess, but surprisingly he had acceptable posture.
“…I tried to make him an idiot with no arms, but I got lucky. ”
“I know.”
You’re lucky. Ronan truly thought so.
Unlike his poor strength and stamina, his visual acuity and reaction speed seemed to remain the same. Of course, since the opponent is Hans, more information will be needed.
“It’s too late to pray now. “If you want to go, you’ll have to leave one of your ears or nose behind.”
Ronan didn’t answer. Before he knew it, his attention was focused on Asher again. The short boy was struggling not to drop his shepherd, which was swaying in the air.
‘As expected, my memory is correct. That bastard wizard…’
The boys, who interpreted Ronan’s silence as intimidation, joined in one by one.
“Well, it was already a few years ago. “I was scared for no reason.”
“Don’t hold on to the same weight, pray right now, you idiot.”
Even for Ronan, it was impossible to deal with the Jingeom with a stick slightly thicker than a dragonfly. Moreover, Hans trained his sword every day. Although he never had good intentions, there was no denying that he was a hard worker.
Once the desired atmosphere was created, Hans’ shoulders were strengthened.
“If you ever get tired, I will make your sister look cute. “I’m already thinking about massaging that plump butt…”
Shriek!
At that moment, a sound like a whistle rang out.
Tuk. Something round fell between the two people.
“uh?”
No one saw what happened. However, Ronan’s pole, which had been draped over his shoulder, had fallen to the floor.
Hans, feeling uncomfortable, lowered his gaze. One of his severed ears was resting on his shoe.
“Huh?…Uh huh?”
Soon, a burning pain invaded my ears. Hans threw away his sword and grabbed his ear. Red blood gushed out from the cracks in his fingers.
“Aaaah! Fuck! “My ears!”
“hey.”
Wow! Ronan kicked Hans hard in the stomach. Hans collapsed, forgetting the pain of having his ear cut off. Because the shock had reached his internal organs, he could not breathe properly.
“Huh…!”
“You fucking orphan bastard.”
He grabbed Hans by the hair and lifted him up roughly. Ronan’s smile disappeared and a gloomy voice came out of his mouth.
“What happened to my sister’s butt?”
“Kill! “Kill me!!”
Hans, who barely came to his senses, cried out, shedding drool and tears. One by one, the hesitating boys ran screaming. Ronan muttered as he hit Hans’ face on the ground.
“I heard that friends who don’t have a mother or father always show it off. “I don’t have one either.”
****
“hmm? “You put it down?”
“Uh, yeah.”
When he came back after clearing out the bullies, Asher had already put down the shepherd. Ronan grunted, rubbing his hands on his trousers.
“Huh, I’ve definitely become weaker. “I can’t believe I’m just this tired.”
Asher pursed his lips. Weakened?
The incident that took place for about five minutes was shameful even to be called a fight. The overwhelming violence carried out unilaterally was reminiscent of the rampage of an eagle infiltrating a chicken coop.
Under the tree, a bread hat originally worn by a shepherd was rolling around. Ronan picked up the hat, shook off the dust, and placed it on the shepherd’s head.
“You go home.”
“Um…so…”
“Don’t worry about those idiots. “Now, even if I fight with your brother instead of you, I will lose.”
Ronan raised his thumb and pointed at the bullies spread out in the back. All of his limbs were broken and he was lying on his back.
“Take this too.”
Ronan took off the shepherd’s hat again and put a handful of coins into it. The money came from the pockets of the hoodlums. The shepherd said in a trembling voice.
“This is too much.”
“are you okay. “I have already taken my share.”
“But still….”
“Do you want to be beaten until you poop your pants?”
“Thank you!!”
The shepherd bowed several times and ran down the hill. Asher was biting his nails pointlessly while looking at Ronan. Finally, Ronan opened his mouth.
“Hey dwarf.”
“Oh, huh? me?”
“Then who else is here besides you? “Was your name Michelle?”
“It’s Asher.”
“That’s it. “By the way, you’re a man, right?”
“uh? Ugh…”
“You look like a girl. “More than I remember.”
That’s not just an empty remark, it really was like that. Looking at his red hair down to the nape of his neck and his dark double eyelids, I couldn’t tell if he was a woman or a man. He was so short that Adeshan could have placed her chest on the top of his head.
“Oh, over there… I’m… sorry…”
“Okay, you can use that on me.”
“huh? what…?”
“Telekinetic magic. “The one that picked up that little boy and lifted him up.”
“You can’t do that!”
Asher waved his hand. Ronan said, showing a glimpse of his bloody fist.
“I won’t say anything if you drop it while lifting it, so just do it.”
“No, the problem is that it’s dangerous… but you probably won’t be able to lift it either. “I never learned it properly…”
“sun.”
Asher sighed deeply. It seemed like no matter what he said, it wouldn’t work. He looked at Ronan and recited her spell. His magical hand appeared and grasped Ronan.
“oh.”
Eventually, his body slowly began to rise. It took more strength because it was much heavier than the shepherd.
“Should I get off now?”
“Go ahead.”
It was a similar feeling to when he was involved in a dogfight in his previous life. During the decisive battle, he was able to cut off Ahayute’s wings thanks to the help of a skilled telekinetic wizard.
‘Wizards are rare. Telekinetic wizards are even rarer.’
With very few exceptions, wizards could only handle one attribute. Telekinesis was an extremely rare ability.
Ronan looked at Asher’s face and recalled memories of his past life, and he was proud of himself. I remembered him using his telekinetic powers to steal items from a stall.
A bastard who was as uninterested in ant snot in his previous life turned out to be such a gem of talent. Ronan didn’t want to miss out on this unexpected luck.
Ronan’s body suddenly rose to a height similar to his own. Asher was sweating profusely and concentrating on his magic.
‘Now that I think about it, I guess I should experiment with this too.’
Slurp! Suddenly Ronan drew his sword. It was the sword of Hans, who could now never swing a sword again. Asher was startled and tried to dispel his magic, but Ronan stopped him.
“No, keep uploading it as is.”
It was an incomprehensible sound. Asher did as he was told. Ronan lightly cut the area where telekinesis was working with a knife. A feeling like cutting water passed through his fingertips.
At the same time, the force holding him disappeared.
“uh?!”
dump. Asher fell and landed on his butt. Ronan, who landed lightly, breathed a sigh of relief.
