“Mmm, that’s right. It says right there, ‘Luspel Castle.’ You’ve worked hard.”
“Yes, yes. Thank you, my lord.”
“That’s enough, you may leave now.”
“Yes! Thank you very mu…”
Thud.
“Gurk.”
“To the underworld.”
The sword that brushed past lightly grazed the throat and drew out a fountain of blood.
Logan closed the glaring eyes of the man who looked at him with resentment and threw the bushy man’s body into the forest.
He had kept him alive at least three days longer than his comrades who had died earlier; it was mercy enough.
“The waste of life, may you become fodder for the forest.”
Of course, the animals would probably tear it to pieces first.
Logan turned and walked away down the mountain without looking back.
***
“A merchant from Grandia? What brings a merchant here?”
“Ha ha. You see, I took a wrong turn. I was supposed to head to Luspelheim and…”
“Ugh. If you ended up here trying to get to Luspel, you’re completely directionally challenged, aren’t you? Are you really a merchant?”
“In fact, I had a guide, but he suddenly turned into a robber, and well…”
I killed them all.
Swallowing the lethal truth, he trailed off, but showing the soldier his completely empty traveling bag elicited a pitying nod.
“Heh heh, poor thing. Tsk tsk. Well, it’s a humble place, but rest here before moving on. Things are cheap, so if you have a bit of spending money you could stay a few days.”
He was a kind one.
‘Except, a good Imperial is a dead Imperial.’
Luckily for the soldier, Logan was not here this time for war.
Logan expressed his gratitude to the non-identity-checking soldier and entered the castle.
Despite being a country fortress he had never heard of in his previous life, it was several times larger than old MacLaine’s.
It wasn’t built simply for strategic purposes, but rather as a lifestyle-oriented castle where plenty of people could live.
Feeling the difference from the kingdom even from this remote fortress, Logan’s taste soured already.
He wandered around and eventually found an inn along the main road.
Creak.
“Welcome!”
“Innkeeper, a mug of beer and a room. I’ll be staying for a while.”
Ping, a gold coin of 10 gold flashed, and the innkeeper’s face lit up as he took it.
A spectacle that would have made the soldier who had seen the empty bag frown.
Fortunately, the innkeeper was not that soldier.
“But your accent isn’t from around here. Where are you from?”
“I’m from Grandia. Ended up here by mistake.”
“Tsk tsk. Well, we have everything here too, so take your time looking for anything you might want to buy. Seems like you’ve got nothing worth selling, though.”
“Thank you, innkeeper. While I’m here, could you tell me about the area?”
Another gold coin quickly disappeared into the innkeeper’s hand as he opened his mouth with a smile.
An hour later.
“A mage? Are you saying there’s a mage here?”
“That’s what I’m saying, buddy. At first, I thought he was a weird one, but the lord showed him great hospitality. They say he’s a rare mage?”
Before long, the innkeeper had loosened his tongue and laid out everything about the target comfortably.
Hoping to hear some information, he was sucked into a full-blown gossip session over beers with the affable innkeeper.
Thanks to that, Logan swiftly memorized the names of dozens of people in the domain.
Fortunately, it seemed his target was among them.
“Cough. If there is a mage, perhaps he would buy my goods too. Chern ‘Kraune’? That person… no, that’s not it. Where could I find them?”
“Krou, that is. You’re young but such a poor memory for a merchant? Tch tch. I’ll explain, so listen carefully.”
After cross-checking Nox’s information, Chern Krou’s location was secured.
‘It seems he’s not using the name Kraune.’
Logan didn’t even check the room and, with his bundle in hand, left the inn.
He probably would never return to this inn again.
“Is anyone there?”
Thump! Thump!
“Anyone there?!”
Thump! Thump!
– Who the hell is it!
Bang!
“I told the lord of this place not to let it get noisy… Who are you? I’ve never seen you before?”
In one corner of the castle outskirts stood an old mansion, seemingly separated.
The man who burst out the door had brown curly hair and abundant whiskers that made it hard to recognize his face.
The only clue that he might be a wizard was an extremely worn-out robe.
There was no sign of that Kraune from his past life, draped in the finest artifacts, his hair neatly combed back, and not a single facial hair.
“Chern… Krou, sir?”
“So what? What are you?”
Thankfully, the disposition was a match.
And so was the mana emitting from that insufferable bastard’s heart, forming five circular tower (Class) layers.
‘This is the guy.’
Logan’s hands tensed unconsciously, eager to reach for the hidden Lux and slash his throat.
But…
“Ah. Ha ha. I am Royan Kairoz, who has come a long distance to meet the wizard. May I have a moment of your time?”
Logan managed to restrain himself and spoke with a forced smile.
And then…
“Ha, you piece of trash. Get lost!”
Slam!
He was greeted with a door slammed in his face.
“Ah… this…”
Logan looked up to the sky, letting out a long sigh.
He was trying to be patient, but one idea kept coming to his mind.
‘To kill or not to kill?’
Anger from his past life was building up with irritation of the present.
However…
‘But if he can be persuaded, there could be no better ally than this. Let’s be patient.’
Suppressing his bubbling fury, he grabbed the doorknob again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Mage! I have come from far, from the kingdom. Could you spare some time?”
His impatience might have made his knocking stronger, but his tone remained impeccably polite.
But again, his patience went unrewarded.
Or rather, instead of a reward…
Zzzap!
“Get lost, you peddling scum!”
A threatening magic burst from the doorknob.
A tingling shock shot through Logan’s hand that held the knob.
His face became stern.
‘With this level of electricity, a normal person could die.’
This goddamn bastard…
The stories he had indirectly experienced and heard about Kraune’s character came flooding back.
Strong against the weak, weak against the strong. A typical petty and ruthless coward.
The only problem was that for most people, except for a few high-ranking officials of the empire, the bastard considered himself a strong one.
There were so many tales of people getting tangled up with him and ending up miserable that it seemed pointless to enumerate them all.
And experiencing that directly now—everything but his name being cursed felt appropriate.
Logan, who couldn’t just walk away from this situation, thought he would need to insist by force if necessary.
‘If he’s not willing to talk, I will have to make him.’
At that moment.
Bang!
Logan’s foot sent the mansion’s door flying inside.
Crrrasp.
As if it demonstrated the homeowner’s temperament, the remains of the shattered door’s magic flowed over Logan’s body.
At best, it was second-circle level magic—barely enough to shock a common knight, meaningless to Logan.
“Chern Krou. We really must have a conversation!!”
As he shouted, the bushy man tumbled down from the second floor with a clatter.
“You, who are you! You’re not just an ordinary man!”
Ziiing.
Around his hastily raised hand, three blue-glowing metal orbs floated.
In that instant, Logan couldn’t help but flinch instinctively.
‘The Orbs of Slaughter?!’
What made the mage Kraune most famous were his mass-produced low-tier artifacts, but regarding combat, it was exactly these spherical chunks of metal.
Orbs that automatically shielded and repelled enemies around Kraune, an integrated offensive and defensive artifact.
Though the Slaughter Mage was said to be weaker in combat compared to his peers, those cursed objects enabled unmatched firepower for killing lesser people.
As far as Logan remembered, he wouldn’t sell those artifacts to anyone.
‘No, no, that’s premature. They shouldn’t be that level yet.’
Logan forcibly settled his flinch and smiled.
“Isn’t that quite an unwelcoming treat for a guest from afar, Mage?”
“Guest? Who enters by breaking down the door?!”
“Well, I had to since the homeowner wouldn’t meet otherwise. Here, I’ll compensate for the door. I apologize.”
Clank.
He tossed a pouch full of gold coins, and, with a wary gaze, the wizard cautiously opened it.
Seeing the heap of gold inside, he widened his eyes in surprise.
“Hmm. You seem to have some money, Guest?”
“Plenty.”
“Then perhaps we can talk.”
The grumpy wizard led Logan into his study.
Scribble.
“Here, here. It’s not often guests come, so the tea is to my taste, but it should be fine. Now, why were you looking for me?”
Not familiar with honorifics.
Despite the common language of the continent.
Irritation bubbled up again, but compared to before, it was manageable.
Logan transformed his anger into a grin.
“I’ve heard rumors of the wizard and came to propose to recruit you.”
At those words, the mage paused.
“Rumors? What rumors?”
He seemed more fixated on the rumors rather than the recruitment offer.
His expression even hardened as though something hit a nerve.
‘This bastard must have committed many sins.’
No, that can’t be true.
It was just prejudgment from the anger of his past life.
Logan tried to think positively.
“I’ve heard you’re a master of artifacts. Just looking at those items around you, I can tell.”
“Ho ho. Where did you hear such a rumor? I’ve come from quite far.”
It sounded like he had fled from a far place.
Logan maintained the twitching corners of his mouth while speaking as gently as possible.
“I was looking for a skilled mage, and the information guild told me about you. I can’t say the name of that guild, though.”
Sharing that bit of truth caused the man’s face to harden even more.
“Information guild? Which one?”
His eyes even held a malicious glint.
It was hard to pass it off as a misunderstanding.
“Uh-huh. Looking to recruit, but you seem unconcerned. What would you do if you knew the guild?”
“Ah. That’s… naturally, selling and buying my information would concern me.”
“All I’ve heard is that a mage good at making artifacts showed up in the Luspel domain. Hmm. Is it not your real name? If it’s someone shady, I’d have a problem too.”
Nox’s current name for him was Chern Krou.
But in the past life, it was Kraune Ranfield.
Which one was the real name, if either, Logan wasn’t sure.
“Don’t joke! I’ve lived a very honorable life!”
The more he flared up, the more it seemed like he was admitting to shameless deeds.
‘Ability aside, if his character is trash and he could backstab at any moment, it would be better to deal with him here.’
The floating metal bodies – wrongly presumed Orbs of Slaughter – were properly assessed to be only up to class 3 artifacts, made by a mage of class 5, not a superhuman.
He could handle this easily if he decided to.
A cold light briefly flickered in Logan’s calculating eyes.
Time to verify.
“By any chance, do you recognize the name ‘Kraune’?”
In that instant, from the floating metal chunks, red light beams shot out without warning.