Waking up, Mark felt pain from his shoulder, like it would break off. Sitting upright and looking around him, he saw that Robert was already awake, cutting and eating slices of beef.
The first thing Mark did was to check his belongings. The pouch full of silvers was still there, with no signs of being touched.
“Robert.”
“So you’re awake.”
Mark drank some water from his waterskin, and took out his beef jerkies. He had no real appetite, but there wasn’t much choice since Robert was eating now. If he passed up on this chance, there wouldn’t be time to eat until noon.The beef was much more edible compared to the rye bread. Every chew brought out the flavor of the meat.
Glancing to the side, he saw Robert had finished eating and was staring at him. It wasn’t a demanding look in particular, but Mark got the hint. So he took another swallow of water, and rose to his feet while chewing beef. He hadn’t packed up his things yet, but he could do it while still eating.
Mark strongly dusted the leathers he had used as a pillow and blanket, then tied them back into the bundle with the rest. A sigh came out when he thought of how he would be carrying this and walking again.
The two were starting to move again. Yesterday, Mark was somewhat energetic from the excitement of leaving the village, but today was greatly tiring for him.
Thinking of the conversations he had with Robert the day before, he considered talking to him again, but the atmosphere was strange. Robert looked like he was thinking about something. It was hard to try talking to him in that state, so Mark kept walking in silence.
Just when he thought he couldn’t walk anymore, Robert came to a halt, and dropped his luggage to the side of the road.
“I’ll be back after some hunting.”
After saying that, Robert went into the forest with his bow and arrows. Perhaps it was hard for him to sustain himself on only beef jerkies. Mark thought it would be a relief if the reason for Robert’s mood today was because of fatigue and hunger.
Mark decided to make a fire so they could cook whatever was hunted right away. Going over to Robert’s belongings, he rummaged around and found flint, then gathered rocks and pieces of wood near the road. Placing the rocks in a circle, he put the wood in the middle and lit them on fire, then sat on the ground waiting for Robert.
When quite some time had passed, Robert came out of the forest empty-handed.
“There’s not a single rabbit around.”
“Might as well eat beef jerkies.”
Covering the fire with dirt to put it out, Mark then sat and ate his beef.
Later in the afternoon, he talked to Robert again. Although Robert wasn’t as talkative as yesterday, he did give replies. Chatting while walking made the journeys atmosphere feel lighter.
The sun had set and they had eaten dinner, afterwards continuing to walk further for another long while. They kept moving, and only stopped when it became completely dark. Mark was so tired that he nodded off into sleep the moment he readied his bed. Unlike the last night, he hadn’t pondered over anything.
It was the afternoon of the next day, when Robert stopped walking.
“Mark.”
“Yes, Robert.”
“When you consider what George did to you kids, he did deserve his death. Jax was no different.”
Robert was talking as he placed the things he carried down to the ground. Mark got the impression that he shouldn’t talk at all right now.
“After waking up yesterday, I went through your things. I figured it out, after seeing the pouch full of silvers and that dagger.”
“I see.”
“Rather than the fact that you had killed them, I was surprised that you weren’t any different from your normal self after killing two people. That’s why I considered whether to kill you or not, nipping a potential evil in the bud. I thought about it twice yesterday, in the morning and noon. And now.”
Hearing those words, Mark recalled Robert cutting up beef yesterday morning, and the time he had went into the forest armed with his bow. Imagining that Robert was ready all that time to shoot him with an arrow from within the forest, caused a shiver to run down his back.
“To me…yes, let’s just say that this is a revenge for Jax. With Jax’s death, there is one less hunter who can supply me with leathers. Now tell me why you shouldn’t die. And while you’re at it, tell me. Before they died, how did George and Jax plead for their lives?”
Robert withdrew the dagger at his waist. The Robert right now did not seem like the owner of a shop, but a frightening mercenary.
“Robert.”
Slowly lowering his luggage, Mark spoke out.
“George died without saying a word. Jax…I think he did try to say something.”
He remembered how Jax had got up from the bed even though he was wounded.
“At that time, I spoke these words before Jax managed to utter a thing. The mana dwelling within me, respond to my calling and destroy my enemy with the force of a hammer, faster than wind. Magic Arrow!”
The Magic Arrow rapidly burst out and flew towards Robert, but he simply dodged it with a slight twisting movement of his torso.
“I did think that there would be something else you were hiding. Magic huh.”
Mark didn’t do anything. He knew, that with Robert’s skills, he could have thrown his dagger and killed Mark while he was casting the spell. Robert must have purposely waited in order to confirm whether he could really use magic.
“Who did you learn magic from?”
“From old man Cain. I paid 5 coppers for it.”
“When did you learn it.”
“It was about 2 weeks ago.”
“2 weeks?”
Robert looked slightly surprised.
“Did you kill them to learn magic. Because you needed money?”
“I didn’t kill them for the money. I found the money pouch after killing them, when I searched to see if there was anything useful to take. After all, won’t I need alot of money to learn more magic? But the biggest reason I killed George and Jax was because of Jill.”
“Yes. Jill was the person I was closest to in the village. I was determined to go to a bigger village so I could learn magic. But then Jill would be all alone. I worried for Jill, so I had to get rid of the threats. And to be honest, George and Jax were beginning to eye her strangely at that time.”
Robert had quietly listened until everything was said. Then, putting away his dagger, he heaved his luggage onto his back, and began walking. It seemed that for now, that was the end of it.
The two had walked without words for a lengthy period of time, when a large village began coming into their sights. Arriving at the entrance of the village, the guard soldier called out to Robert.
“Robert, it’s been a while.”
“Yeah. Let’s have a drink after I sell my leathers.”
The two were apparently quite well acquainted.
“Sounds good. Who’s the child?”
“Ah. A kid from my neighborhood. He said he wanted to see what a big village was like, so I brought him along.”
“Alright.”
Entering the village, Mark followed behind Robert for a good long way, until they arrived in front of a certain shop.
“This is as far as we go.”
At those words, Mark placed the bundle of leathers he was carrying onto the ground.
“It was good working with you.”
“You’re going to go?”
“Yes.
“Okay.”
There was a long pause before Robert opened his mouth again.
“I’ll take care of Jill, so don’t worry about her.”
“…Please be good to her.”
Mark thought that Robert was a better choice compared to most others. There wasn’t a lot of paths that an orphan girl could take. If Robert took care of Jill, then there wouldn’t be any problems for her well-being. Although there was a large age difference between them, it was best to not mention that.
Robert turned away, intending to enter the shop.
“Robert. What about the 20 coppers?”
Without turning back, he replied back.
“I’ll buy Jill something tasty to eat with that money.”
And he went into the shop just like that.
Mark was feeling somewhat light-hearted. Finally, he had taken a step forward in his life. Since he now had money, he wanted to stay at an inn. Following the street straight up, he spotted an inn and entered it.
“Welcome.”
“Hello. One room please. And ready the bath as well.”
“That will be 15 coppers.”
Mark paid the money and was led to his room. There, he spread out his money pouch. The reason he wanted to stay at an inn, was to safely count his money.
“38 silvers and 12 coppers.”
That was everything in the pouch. Mark wondered what to do with this money. But before he could think for long, the bath was ready to be used.
Sinking his body into the warm water, Mark felt alive for the first time in a while. He was in the water for only mere moments before it became dirty. Although Mark wanted to wash one more time, he had something to do before the sun set, so he got out and dried his body.
Leaving the room, he went to the counter at the front of the inn.
“Please clear the water in my room.”
“Yes, I’ll be on it.”
First of all, Mark wanted new clothes. Finding his way to a clothes shop, he bought a shirt and a pair of pants for 80 coppers. Next, he found a bookstore. Mark asked the owner if there were any magic tomes in the place, but the owner told him that they would only be found at the magic store.
Exiting the bookstore, Mark tried asking the passing people for directions, and made his way to the magic store.
“Hello.”
“Come in.”
At first glance, Mark felt that the owner had the look of a magician. He was wearing a black robe, and had a white beard to go with it.
“I want to buy a magic tome.”
“Do you have the money?”
“I do have a bit of it.”
The owner laughed, showing his teeth.
“What should I bring you.”
“Are there any books on basic magic theory?”
“There are.”
After answering in the affirmative, the owner took out a book from among the shelves. It looked to be a book with around 100 pages.
“It’s 4 silvers.”
Expensive. But Mark needed to know the basic theories of magic, so he made the payment.
“There’s something else I want to know about.”
“What is it?”
Perhaps it was because a book had sold, but the owner looked as if he would tell him anything.
“Can you tell me what class Alarm Magic is?”
“There are many different varieties of spells in Alarm Magic. What kind are you curious about?”
“What are the different kinds to it?”
“Well, there is the most basic form of Alarm Magic, which sounds an alarm in response to intruders, and then there is the spell that makes noise when someone touches an item you cast the magic on. There is even the type that only alerts the caster.”
The owner was like a teacher, explaining in detail.
“I want to know the kind of spell that sounds an alarm when an intruder comes nearby when I’m camping outside in the night.”
“That spell would be class 1. Class 1 magics aren’t sold separately.”
Browsing the shelves for a moment, the owner took out another book.
“This is a class one magic tome which contains Alarm Magic. If you want to learn that magic, I recommend buying this book. It even has quite a few of other class 1 magics.”
“What other kinds are in there?”
“Let me see.”
The owner opened the book, seemingly looking at the index.
“Wind. Daze. Alarm. Light…in total, there are 12 kinds of magic included in this book.”
Although he heard the names of the different kinds of magics, Mark couldn’t really tell them apart. But since the owner said they were class 1 magic, it would be good to learn them.
“Are you going to buy it?”
“Can I have a look?”
“Sure.”
Mark didn’t know how to read, but he wanted to see it anyway. He looked through the book, lightly turning the pages. Half the contents were written in words while the rest were illustrations.
“How much is it?”
“20 silvers.”
It was a tremendous price. But Mark couldn’t not buy it. Paying for that book left him with 13 silvers and 32 coppers. Although his money pouch had become much lighter, the weighty feel of that magic tome made him a little excited. Mark felt as if he had already learned every magic the book contained.
“Come again.”
The owner looked outwardly happy due to having sold an expensive magic tome.
Coming out of the magic store, Mark continued to move his feet. There was a final destination left to go. It was the mercenary guild.
“Welcome. How may I help you?”
“I want to put in a request.”
A young female employee had welcomed him inside with a smile. Judging by the name of the guild, Mark had expected tough, wild men to be taking the requests, but he was surprisingly wrong. Perhaps it was a business tactic, he thought to himself.
“What kind of request would you like to make?”
“I’m looking for someone who can teach reading and writing. The student will be me. As for the fee, I’ll pay 50 coppers per month. The period of the request will be 3 hours a session, twice a week for 3 months. I’ll be using a book on basic magic theory for the teaching material.”
“I understand. The registration fee will be 10 coppers. How shall we contact you?”
“I’ll be at an inn not far from the village square. The roof of the building is red, and there’s a tool shop right next to it.”
“Ah, you must be talking about the Beer With You inn.”
Mark didn’t expect such a name for the inn.
“Yes. All you have to do is look for Mark in that place.”
“Understood.”
After giving his reply, Mark left the mercenary guild building.
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