“Sergeant Morgan.”
“Huh? Why are you calling me?”
At the edge of the Empire’s western end lies the wilderness.
The guards stationed at the walls of Fletcher Fortress, located at the entrance to that wilderness, were languishing through another lethargic day.
Standing guard in a place where the only thing visible was an endless expanse of tawny wilderness was a battle against unbearable boredom.
Staring blankly at the wilderness where nothing had happened for a long time was torture. Sergeant Morgan glanced sideways at the rookie standing next to him, leaning on his spear.
“Uh, over there, look!”
“What?”
The rookie’s head, which had been staring blankly at the ground, rose. His gaze shifted toward the horizon of the wilderness, which he hadn’t seen in quite a while.
“Shit. What the hell…?”
A wave of death filled the horizon.
Recalling his rookie days, Sergeant Morgan shouted with all his might.
“ASSAULT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! BEEEEEEEEEEAR!”
——————————-
[Contractor, how long until we reach the Academy?]
“Still three days left.”
I responded while extinguishing a tiny flame that had risen on my index finger.
For me, it was a productive use of time since I was practicing with the Phoenix’s Blessing, but Rue had nothing to do but get sick of seeing the same scenery again and again.
By the way, this is pretty hard.
It’s been almost half a month since I started practicing handling the Phoenix’s Blessing, one of the key cores of the Knight tree.
It was more difficult than I thought. Should I say it’s the difference between the game and reality? In the game, passives applied automatically, and activations were as simple as pressing a shortcut key, but in reality, considerable practice was required to wield the blessing.
The regeneration enhancement passive applies automatically, so it doesn’t matter much. However, managing the Phoenix’s flame was far more challenging than I imagined.
On the first day, I tried to use it to start a fire and nearly melted my igloo. Not just any flame, but a divine beast’s flame could exceed the power of ordinary level 3 magic merely by being wielded by a newbie like me.
If Renny received this, she could have shouted, “We won! End of Part 1!”
…Maybe I should take Renny along later.
After all, strategically, it’s definitely advantageous to concentrate the strongest person. The difference between having or not having an asymmetric weapon in emergencies is enormous.
In fact, I probably wouldn’t even need the Phoenix’s Blessing.
While powerful, the Saint’s Blessing is just as potent. No, in some aspects, the Saint’s Blessing might have more depth since it even provides healing magic powered by the Saint.
Only those who’ve experienced it know the horror of cutting off an arm only for it to be reattached by the miracle of healing.
Renny’s boss fight Phase 2 starts that way.
Sigh.
Suddenly thinking of catching Renny made me dizzy.
Let’s practice the blessing again.
I once again ignited a small flame on my index finger. Soon after, I lit another flame on my middle finger. Since I couldn’t shoot flames inside the carriage, I was practicing delicate control by creating several tiny flames.
No matter how strong the blessing is, if the wielder is incompetent, it could even become a curse.
But seriously, this is tough.
I had to concentrate as if I were performing fine work just to create a small flame. As the numbers increased, the difficulty of control escalated exponentially.
I was amazed at how casually witches performed such tasks with each attempt.
“I need to get help from Elisa.”
I’m not sure if Elisa is a good teacher, but she’s likely to drop at least a simple tip, making self-study easier. I ignited a flame on my ring finger and extended my pinky.
I had succeeded in three flames so far, so now it was time to try for a fourth.
I closed my eyes and felt as if I were laying a line on my ring finger to move my mana. The mana amplified by the Phoenix’s Blessing slowly crawled along my finger until it reached the tip. The mana gathered on my fingertip slowly turned into a flame—
“Failed again.”
This isn’t creating a flame; it’s setting my finger on fire.
Should I rather channel my energy like that pirate who died with his belly pierced by magma? But I’m not a physical fighter.
Unless I had inhuman physical abilities, I’m sorry, but my physical prowess would struggle to reach the level of an athlete.
In modern society, that might be considered above and beyond, but in a game-like world, that’s far from sufficient.
As they say, to those kinds of beings, a mere child or the top-tier physique of an athlete would be nothing more than a silly competition.
“…Damn this world.”
If you’re going to make me reincarnate, at least give me kickass abilities. How long do I have to keep contorting my body? Thinking about the approaching showdown with Harpas makes me feel regretful.
[Huh? What did you just say?]
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
[What? That’s no fun.]
At that moment, the carriage stopped shaking, and the window connecting the coachman’s seat and the carriage opened, and a voice came through.
“We’ve arrived at Stein Village.”
Has it already come this far? I pulled on the backpack I’d left in the corner of the carriage and wrapped Rue, who had been clinging to the window, around my waist. Soon after, I opened the carriage door and stepped out to see a peaceful village.
No, a peaceful…?
“Tom, doesn’t it seem a bit chaotic?”
“Could it be that someone had an accident?”
As we tilted our heads, we entered deeper into the village. Once inside, the chaotic atmosphere enveloped the village even more intensely.
People were talking seriously, some were even crying. Someone mentioned preparing weapons, worrying whether the issue would spread here.
We made our way to the ‘Golden Egg-Laying Goose’ inn, focusing silently on the whispers of the crowd around us.
————
“A large-scale monster incursion from the west…”
Tom murmured as he took a big bite of his sausage.
War.
A horrifyingly heavy echo lingered between us.
“We should avoid the west for a while.”
“West… have you been there?”
“It’s rare for me not to have been somewhere on the continent. The west… it’s not a bountiful place. But the people there aren’t bad. The land is a bit barren, but it’s not a particularly dangerous place.”
Tom rambled on about the west. I tuned out most of his chatter while sifting through useful bits of information.
Of course, I wasn’t entirely clueless about the west. During my second year, I had completed several quests there.
But that was in the game, and here, it’s reality.
While the broad strokes of the story seem to follow the source material, most of the finer details are completely overturned. It’s too late to cling to the original now. It may serve as useful reference material, but…
In any case, what I need now is to understand the reality of the west, not the game version. It would be good to secure a map as soon as we return to the Academy.
“Tom, it’s best to stop talking about the west now.”
“Huh? Ah, I see…”
Tom had already consumed five mugs of beer and was clearly drunk. His stories about the west had long devolved into inflated tales, and his voice was growing louder, drawing unwanted attention from others.
This wasn’t a welcome situation, so I called over an inn staff member, paid, and took Tom upstairs to our room.
I had already heard all the useful information anyway.
—————
“I miss Johann… right?”
Milia, who was sitting at the same table diligently writing her report, suddenly blurted out, and Karina turned her head.
“Johann… I wonder what he’s doing right now.”
It’s been almost a month.
The Yeomyeong-gwan, with Johann absent, felt oddly lacking in vitality.
Even Milia, who had been so lively, found herself staring silently out the window for long periods, and Elisa spent more time cooped up in her room. Even Renny occasionally paused from work, lost in thought.
Karina, amidst this awkwardness, would often glance at the workshop where he used to work whenever she went out for a walk.
“When he returns… what should I say?”
The Yeomyeong-gwan, without him, was lonely.
Karina looked out the window, unaware of what thoughts were swirling in her mind.
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