Chapter 14

Chapter 14. A New Power (1)

It seemed the bribe had worked after all.

After all, even after several days had passed, the guards had done nothing at all to Balun.

It was not as though the guards did not know what Balun had done, either. They had gone in and out of the Vipers’ territory constantly for days while conducting their investigation, and they had quickly learned that Balun was the culprit behind the whole affair.

Well, even without an investigation, it was something that would have come out soon enough. The rumors had already spread all across the city.

-Some barbarian wiped out all the Vipers’ Rogues!

That was the rumor currently circulating through Milford. Since Balun had not even tried to cover up the incident, it was only natural.

How loud had that battle been, after all? There had even been explosions. Of course the whole town was going to hear about it.

Perhaps because of that, the stares directed at him were painfully obvious. Feeling dozens of eyes fixed on him inside the inn, Balun shoved a piece of bread soaked in stew into his mouth.

The taste of flour filled his mouth, but he could not taste it.

That was because all of Balun’s attention was focused elsewhere.

‘Should I buy a house with 100 gold, or not?’

After feeding Captain of the Guard Dane a bribe worth a full 10 gold, Balun had gone around in his own way looking for a house.

To his surprise, there really was a property that fit his budget.

A shabby little house on the outskirts of Milford cost exactly 100 gold.

The condition of the house was not very good. It was narrow and decrepit, and hardly got any sunlight. Probably because of that, it was terribly damp. If he lifted the floorboards, there would likely be bugs swarming underneath.

It was disappointing beyond measure, but from Balun’s perspective, it was still more than he deserved. Was it not a hundred times better than being a pitiful wretch with no home at all?

Besides, Balun’s standards had become very low after living so long with barbarians. Even if it was a miserably shabby house, Balun was more than willing to live with it.

So was this how his dream of owning a home would come true? Was he finally going to settle down and live in the city?

If it were that simple, Balun would not have been agonizing over it like this.

‘Is buying this house really the right choice? If I buy it, I will be flat broke…….’

Balun knew next to nothing about how the world worked, but he did understand just how much money this was. It was an enormous amount, enough to buy an outrageously expensive house in a lump sum without even taking out a loan.

Spending that much all at once meant losing that much in opportunity cost.

‘For now, I will put it off.’

Balun made his decision.

He would not buy the house.

More precisely, he would postpone it on his list of priorities.

There was a reason for that.

‘I should invest it back into myself instead. With that money, I could do a lot. I could buy better equipment, and maybe even learn advanced combat techniques.’

After the last battle, Balun had realized that this world was even more dangerous than he had thought.

The people in this damned world could turn invisible, swing around glowing swords, and use magic.

Magic especially had been so absurd that he could hardly believe it.

They threw fireballs, shot ice arrows, and even made human corpses explode……

Were they even human? Should they not be called superhumans instead?

In a world like this, if he ran around dreaming peacefully of owning a home, he would die a meaningless death in no time.

So he needed to become stronger.

This fortune had to be used for that.

But how?

The only method Balun knew was the weapon training he had learned from his tribe.

Then if he practiced that diligently, would it let him kill monsters that threw fireballs? Or deal with bastards who suddenly turned invisible?

Balun shook his head.

No matter how he thought about it, it did not add up.

Even if he became a master at swinging an axe, how was he supposed to beat someone launching bombardments from far away? And how was he supposed to attack someone he could not even see?

It was impossible.

To the mind of a modern Earth man, that was the only conclusion.

Think about it. No matter how skilled someone was with a cold weapon, they still could not beat a gun.

‘Then why do I not just learn magic too?’

Learn magic.

That was the conclusion Balun eventually reached.

‘A ranged attacker is obviously better than a warrior who has to walk up to his enemy. It is safer and better if I can just stand far away and fire off magic.’

Even in his previous life, whenever Balun played games, he had always tended to choose ranged damage dealers.

“Innkeeper. The bill.”

“Yes, sir! Coming right away!”

After paying for the food, Balun stood up.

Then he headed for the guard barracks.

As Balun approached, the guard lounging at the post and yawning while standing with one leg cocked recognized him at once.

“Well, if it is not the barbarian. Good to see you!”

It was the very same guard Balun had once bribed with 1 gold.

Whether it was because he had taken the money or because they had seen each other a few times since then, he looked genuinely pleased to see him.

“What brings you here today?”

“I came to see Dane.”

“All right. Go on inside. He should be there.”

When Balun entered the building, Captain of the Guard Dane was indeed there. Sitting in his chair, he waved a hand.

“Oh, and who might this be? Why, it is my friend Balun, is it not? Have you been well? You had not shown your face at all, so I was worried!”

He sprang to his feet and offered a handshake. Balun clasped his hand and shook it, thinking,

‘Worried my ass.’

It was obvious the words meant nothing to him.

And besides, they had not seen each other for all of two days. What kind of frozen nonsense was all this talk about worry?

“Dane. Do you have time?”

“When you work for the guard, the one thing you always have is time. So then, what help do you need today?”

“I have something I want to know. Can you tell me?”

“I have no idea what it is, but if my dear friend is asking for help, then naturally I must help him. Come, sit!”

Balun sat down.

Dane poured water into a cup and handed it over, and Balun drank it down in great gulps the moment he received it.

“Even the way you drink water is manly. Just what one would expect from a warrior.”

“Are you flattering me?”

“Flattering you? Not at all. It is simply that my new close friend is so dependable!”

‘It is not me who looks dependable. It is my money pouch.’

He wished Dane would at least change his eyes while saying it.

It was obvious he was staring only at the money pouch, and he was not even trying to hide it.

Dane’s true intentions were blatant, but Balun did not particularly mind.

A man who was openly materialistic like this was better than the kind who stabbed you in the back.

“Did you perhaps come because of the Vipers? If that is the matter, then rest easy. I already closed the case. I reported it that way to the lord as well. We burned all the bodies. No one will rebuke you.”

“That is not it.”

“If it is not that, then I suppose there is something else I can help you with. Go on, just name it. Whatever I am able to do……”

“Do you know any Mage?”

“What?”

“Tell me about a Mage. A strong Mage is good.”

Dane fell silent after hearing Balun’s words.

Then he looked seriously into Balun’s eyes and asked,

“Do not misunderstand. I ask only to make sure. Are you looking for a Mage because you want revenge?”

“No.”

“Then what is it?”

“I am going to learn magic.”

“……?”

Dane’s eyes filled with confusion at once.

He was so startled that he even began to stammer.

“W-Wait a moment. I did not hear you wrong, did I? Are you going to learn magic? Truly?”

“That is right.”

“You are serious?”

“I am serious.”

“You are mad.”

‘What is with that look?’

He was staring at Balun as though he were some strange animal. It made him feel like a monkey in a zoo.

“You really are a barbarian, are you not?”

“That is right.”

“Strange. Truly strange. A barbarian that does not loathe magic.”

He muttered that to himself, then continued,

“Let me ask you one thing. Answer sincerely.”

“All right.”

“What do you think magic is?”

“It is an absurdly unfair, overpowered technique.”

“An absurdity…… what?”

“Balun is a melee fighter. I swing an axe. Swing swing. But Mage shoots magic. Pew pew. Ranged fighter. Completely unfair!”

After saying that, Balun huffed in indignation.

He had remembered the fight against the Mage.

The helpless way he had done nothing but dodge, unable to properly respond to the fireballs and exploding corpses.

Whenever he thought of that, anger boiled up inside him.

I should have learned such an absurdly unfair technique too!

‘Why does our tribe not have any absurdly unfair technique like that?!’

Balun resented his origins.

If he had been born somewhere better, he could have learned magic and gone around firing it off, but instead he had been born in a barbarian tribe and ended up as a brutish axe-wielding savage.

Meanwhile, Dane was more than a little flustered. What in the world was this barbarian talking about? He was clearly speaking in the Continent’s Common Tongue, yet Dane could barely understand a thing.

“Let me ask in a different way. Is magic a good thing, or a bad thing?”

“It is a good thing.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Because it is good.”

“Hm.”

Balun had no idea why he was even asking this.

Was this really supposed to be a question?

It was a ridiculous ability that let people throw fireballs with their bare hands and cause explosions.

Of course it was good.

“So you do not think magic is the art of demons?”

“Of course not.”

What was this nonsense about demons? He ought to say things that made sense.

‘He is not doing this because he does not want to tell me, is he?’

If he was planning to pocket all 10 gold and wash his hands of the matter, Balun would split his skull open.

“Hm. This is a little surprising, but I suppose it is not impossible. There could perhaps be one barbarian as unusual as you in the world.”

Then Dane continued.

“You came to the right person. Who do you think I am? I am the man responsible for the security of Milford. Naturally, I have ties with Mages as well. I can introduce you to a Mage. And not just any Mage, but a truly remarkable one.”

“Good!”

Balun nodded in satisfaction. That was exactly what he wanted to hear.

“But there is a condition.”

“What is it?”

“You have to be young.”

“Age……?”

“Yes. From what I have heard, the older you are, the harder it becomes to enter the path of magic. For reference, the average age of those who first begin learning magic is in the early to mid-teens. But you, well…… it looks rather difficult for you.”

Dane looked Balun up and down. With that great height and broad frame, his build was as magnificent as that of a warrior among warriors.

“It looks rather difficult for you. Even if you tried to learn magic, it would probably be hard……”

“Then that is good! Balun is young! I am average age! I am still in school-age!”

“What?”

Dane paused at once.

He repeated the words he had just heard in his head, then widened his eyes and asked again,

“How old are you?”

“I am sixteen.”

“……?”

Dane scratched at his ear.

What?

Sixteen?

“Do not lie. How could you possibly be sixteen…… hm.”

Dane let out a low groan.

Now that he thought about it, Balun’s face was quite youthful.

It was only hidden by that imposing physique and those thick muscles. Looking only at his face, he clearly was a teenager.

“That is impossible.”

Dane muttered that without thinking.

It felt as though common sense itself was collapsing. How could that possibly be the body of a teenager?

‘So a mere sixteen-year-old brat wiped out the entire Vipers, killed Jackson, who was an aura user, and even killed a battle mage from the Mage Tower……?’

Dane ended up laughing hollowly.

It all felt too unreal.

Was that even a person? He was a monster.

‘Why in the world does this fellow want to learn magic?’

Dane sincerely wanted to ask.

At that level, Balun could smash people’s heads in perfectly well without learning magic, so why?

Besides, he was young.

If he was already this strong at only sixteen, there was no telling how much stronger he would become as he got older.

Rather than digging two wells at once for no reason by trying to learn magic too, it would be far more efficient to dig a single well.

“Well, very well. If this is truly your will, then I will introduce you to a Mage.”

“Good!”

“There is a condition, however.”

“What now?”

“Mages are proud people. With ordinary sincerity alone, they will not even agree to meet you. Do you understand what I am say—”

“Do not try your tricks.”

Balun cut him off before Dane could even finish speaking.

Unlike before, his voice was very cold.

“You already took a lot of money. A full 10 gold. So I do not give more.”

Then Balun continued,

“You have to do work worth the money. If not, you get split by my axe.”

As he said that, he stroked the blade of his axe.

Seeing that, Dane found himself nodding without realizing it.

That was because he could feel an explosive killing intent coming from that sixteen-year-old brat.