WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ The Magic-Eating Wizard ◈

Chapter 6: Guests at the Inn

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It had been fifteen days since Haren became the disciple of Cardin, a dark wizard who was evil, vile, and even sadistic.

Haren had to admit it inwardly.

‘This is... better than I expected?’

When he had first been taken away, he had prepared himself to be locked in a dark laboratory and dissected.

Cardin had seemed sinister and cruel enough to do exactly that.

Yet life so far had been far more peaceful than Haren had expected.

They went outside the city in the morning and trained in magic until lunch. After that, they were free to do whatever they wanted.

They could go out and train more, rest at the inn, or take care of personal business.

During that time, Haren usually practiced manipulating his mana field at the inn or read books at the library to make up for his lack of common knowledge.

Unlike Cardin’s initially spiteful behavior, the old wizard provided enough money for living expenses and pocket money, so Haren never lacked funds.

Compared to his old life, he was living in the lap of luxury.

That did not mean he had grown fond of Cardin, of course.

Relaxing around someone who had nearly killed him, and still could kill him whenever they wished, just because that person was treating him well now was something only a goldfish would do.

He also avoided visiting Elmin Street to meet or help his old friends because he was wary of Cardin.

Even if he eventually broke the seal and escaped, Cardin might try to hold the people Haren cared about hostage.

He was a little worried about Kort, whom he had encountered once, but...

Given enough time, Cardin would not remember the face of a slum boy he had merely passed by.

“We should get going. We’re late.”

Early in the morning, Ruska, carrying a large backpack, urged the other three along in a blunt voice.

As Cardin had said before, the old wizard was too busy to supervise their training every day. Whenever that happened, Ruska led them instead.

He normally kept to himself, but whenever the fellow disciples needed to do something together, he always took the lead.

Their training locations varied, from the shore they had visited on the first day to forests, riverbanks, and abandoned mining areas.

Today, they were in a clearing in a small forest east of the city.

“Alright.”

Before beginning their training in earnest, Haren stretched to loosen up, then looked at Rim lying beside him.

“Rim, aren’t you training?”

“I’ll rest for a bit first... My stomach hurts because I ran too much earlier.”

Haren let out a small sigh at the sight of the boy rolling around in the shade while making such a flimsy excuse.

Whenever Cardin did not accompany them, like today, Rim and Nasrel’s motivation for training hit rock bottom.

Rim sprawled out lazily and drifted into daydreams, while Nasrel used her excess energy to dig through the ground for anthills or kick trees to knock down rhinoceros beetles.

They were only thirteen or fourteen years old, after all. It was natural for them to slack off without someone supervising them.

Perhaps Haren should be grateful they trained hard whenever Cardin was watching.

“Pant...!”

However, Ruska was different.

Even with his breath catching in his throat, he did not stop running.

Whether Cardin was there or not, he always pushed himself to his limits.

His hatred and desire for revenge against the enemy who had murdered his family were probably what drove him.

‘Watching him makes me feel bad about taking it easy.’

Thanks to him, Haren could sometimes steel himself against laziness as well.

Controlling the power of magic was mysterious and enjoyable, but the training itself involved plenty of suffering and boredom.

“Whew.”

His magic training began with practicing applications of the two spells he had learned.

He could now release flame spray from his palms and fingers, and even control its temperature and shape.

There were still problems. If his concentration wavered, the flames lost their shape or went out. Still, compared to before, his progress was tremendous.

He had also progressed beyond merely walking and running on water. He could strengthen or weaken the friction where his feet touched the water, allowing him to glide about and stop.

However, perhaps because he lacked an innate affinity for water, trying such techniques often resulted in him falling into the water with a splash.

When his mana was nearly exhausted after training, he used meditation to dissolve the residual contamination from the essences into his soul.

This strengthened his mana and helped him cast the spells imprinted through the essences more easily.

Thanks to repeating this process steadily for fifteen days, Haren had almost completely digested the contamination from the two essences.

‘I should ask for another potion soon.’

Drinking another potion would bring considerable pain again, but he could endure it if it meant gaining another spell.

More than anything, his unusual soul structure seemed to give him a greater ability than others to withstand and digest essence contamination. He needed to make the most of that advantage.

After finishing his magic training, Haren rolled up both sleeves and took an unusual stance.

He was going to practice a martial art Cardin had taught him a few days ago, Serpent’s Baptism.

Stealthy footwork like a crawling snake, punches and kicks that changed trajectory in strange ways, and joint locks that wrapped around an opponent’s body and twisted it.

After trying a few movements that brought a snake to mind, just as the name suggested, Haren tilted his head slightly.

‘As I thought, it’s a bit lacking like this...’

Thanks to the experiences of his previous life, he had a deep knowledge of martial arts.

He had first learned boxing and jiu-jitsu because roles required it. Unexpectedly, he had an aptitude for them and became deeply absorbed. Afterward, he studied numerous martial arts, including MMA.

It had also helped him survive on Elmin Street.

Among children fighting with their fists, merely possessing systematic fighting techniques gave him an overwhelming advantage.

By the standards he had developed, Serpent’s Baptism was not particularly impressive as a purely fighting technique.

Its bizarre and original movements could confuse an opponent seeing them for the first time, but once they grew accustomed to them, its shortcomings would quickly become obvious.

Even so, he trained in it seriously because Serpent’s Baptism was not a technique performed using muscular strength alone. It was a kind of magical martial art that incorporated the mana field.

This martial art used the mana field like an exoskeleton or artificial muscles to assist the body’s movements.

Combined with movements that had previously been unusual but inefficient, it became a unique technique that seemed to distort the laws of physics.

For example, the trajectory of an incoming attack could twist slightly, or a punch or kick that had passed its target could change direction and strike again while retaining its acceleration.

Such techniques were not limited to combat, either.

There were also methods for running, jumping, reducing the impact of a fall, and moving silently.

What Haren wanted was to incorporate these useful skills into the martial arts he already knew.

To do that, he first had to master the original form properly.

One could not run before learning to crawl.

‘Was it like this?’

He recalled the movements Cardin had taught him and tried to imitate them, but they felt somewhat awkward.

Not only had the movements yet to become natural to him, his mana field manipulation was also clumsy. His body’s movements and the assistance from the mana field were out of sync.

As he floundered for some time, a voice came from behind him.

“Relax your left leg.”

It was Ruska.

Although he was exhausted from pouring out spells until moments ago, he seemed unable to bear watching any longer and began offering advice.

“Your center of gravity shouldn’t be there. And the mana field around your waist is unstable, so it isn’t supporting you properly. That’s why your movements are falling apart.”

Following the advice, Haren realized that his movements had become much smoother and nodded.

This was definitely something better learned from someone who knew how to do it rather than through self-study.

“Thanks, Ruska.”

“Hmph.”

Ruska snorted and turned away at the thanks.

They had been awkward on the first day due to a strange misunderstanding, but after training together for fifteen days, they could at least exchange words like this.

Ruska in particular seemed to feel an odd sense of kinship with Haren, since Haren, like him, did not slack off during their independent training time.

After that, Ruska continued focusing on his own training, but whenever Haren ran into a wall, he tossed out a word or two of advice.

* * *

When the sun had risen high in the sky, the four returned to Room 310 of the Targa Inn and unexpectedly found Cardin sitting in the living room, drinking tea.

Whenever the old wizard left in the morning, Cardin normally did not return until evening, so none of them had expected Cardin to be there.

“Oh, welcome back! You were training later than I expected.”

At Cardin’s greeting, Rim jumped and hurriedly bowed his head.

“M-Master! What brings you back so early...?”

Fear and guilt were obvious in his trembling voice.

Unlike the other three, who were covered in sweat and dust, Rim alone was neat and clean after relaxing in the shade.

Only an idiot would fail to realize he had been slacking off.

Nasrel, on the other hand, did not change her expression at all.

It did not seem that she thought Cardin could be fooled by her dirty appearance. She simply appeared indifferent to whether Cardin scolded her or not.

“I finally have some free time, so I stopped by. Most of my troublesome business is nearly finished.”

Cardin spoke with a relaxed smile, seemingly unconcerned with their circumstances.

Whatever the old wizard did, Haren guessed it was not the most respectable sort of work.

Of course, there was nothing he could do even if he knew, so Haren calmly brought up his own business.

“Master, I’ve completely digested the potion I drank before.”

“Have you? Well now, it seems we are quite compatible! As it happens, I intended to give you this today anyway.”

Cardin took out a glass bottle containing a bright lemon-yellow liquid.

“It contains powdered wings from a Flashlight Bug. It is a potion that can imprint the Illumination spell.”

“I think I would have been happier not knowing the ingredients.”

Haren murmured jokingly as he took the potion from the old wizard and swallowed it in one gulp.

When he concentrated his awareness on his inner world, just like the previous two times, something appeared in his spiritual form and began causing contamination.

That enormous insect resembling a rhinoceros beetle must have been the Flashlight Bug Cardin mentioned.

‘Whew...’

Using the meditation method he had grown accustomed to, Haren buried it in the deepest darkness of his inner world.

After temporarily calming the contamination, he immediately recalled the newly imprinted spell in his soul.

Haren raised his index finger and created a small sphere of pure white light at its tip. Cardin watched and asked,

“How does it feel?”

“Hmm... Of the two, it feels like the easier kind. It’s closer to fire.”

Having experienced both attributes that suited him and ones that did not, Haren could instinctively tell that this spell suited him.

“Then it seems you have an innate affinity for the light attribute as well. Fire and light. You will be suited to learning Sun Magic in the future.”

There were complex-attribute spells that combined several attributes. The combination of light and fire was called Sun Magic.

It specialized in purifying poison, curses, evil creatures, and the like.

It was also an ability Haren personally wanted.

It had not been difficult to guess that the old wizard dealt in that sort of thing from the evil magic Cardin had cast before.

It would probably help in breaking the curse embedded in Haren’s heart as well.

While Haren was secretly pleased, Cardin leisurely drank another cup of tea before bringing up something astonishing to the four disciples.

“Come to think of it, you should begin preparing to leave soon. We will likely depart within a few days.”

“Which unfortunate fool are you going to pick up this time?”

Ruska sneered, raising an eyebrow.

According to what Haren had heard, after taking Ruska as the first disciple, Cardin had stayed for several weeks or months before moving on to the next region and taking another disciple. Cardin had repeated that process ever since.

If they were leaving now, it was natural to assume Cardin was looking for a fifth disciple.

However, Cardin shook their head and denied the assumption.

“I will not be taking any more disciples. Four is enough. Three is too few, and five is too many.”

Before they could ponder what that meant, the old wizard continued.

“Oh, and if possible, you should study a foreign language! We are going to the Kingdom of Berman.”

“The Kingdom of Berman...”

“There may be a few people in the cities who can speak the Imperial language, but there will be few where we are going. And I will not always be at your side there, either.”

Haren did not know much about that country.

It was the northernmost nation in the world, with the largest territory of any country. Most of it, however, consisted of frozen land and undeveloped coniferous forests.

Unlike other countries, where parliaments and political parties had already taken root, its monarch still held absolute power.

“Does our school have its headquarters there?”

“Hmm? No, nothing like that. We are simply going there for a slight change in your educational environment. I have also been in the Empire for too long, so I am beginning to worry that my enemies might come looking for me.”

Yet even as Cardin said that, the old wizard did not show the slightest trace of the anxiety unique to someone being pursued.

Haren had felt it before. Cardin always hid their emotions thoroughly behind a relaxed smile, making their true thoughts difficult to read.

“But I can’t speak Berman at all.”

At Rim’s quiet murmur, Haren looked between Ruska and Nasrel before asking,

“Can either of you speak their language?”

“No.”

“A little.”

Haren was secretly surprised by Nasrel’s answer.

It felt rude to say so, but she was the one who seemed least intellectual among them.

“Well, Nasrel is from the border region between the Empire and Berman, so...”

Rim abruptly stopped speaking, as though he had realized his mistake.

Nasrel herself showed no interest whatsoever.

Curious, Haren pretended not to notice and asked Nasrel,

“How much can you speak?”

“Just a few words. Like ‘monster,’ ‘kill,’ ‘please save me,’ ‘Mom,’ and ‘run away.’ I don’t know what they mean.”

As she listed the Berman words in a flat voice, Haren was left speechless for a moment.

Those few words alone brought countless possibilities to mind.

Haren stopped his pointless speculation and brought up what he had originally intended to say.

“That probably is not enough for conversation. I know some Berman, so I can teach everyone the basic expressions needed to communicate. We still have some time, and we will have plenty of time on the way there too. Right, Master?”

Haren had never told anyone that he could speak a foreign language.

He had not wanted to look as though he were showing off for no reason.

But if they were going abroad, there was no reason to keep it hidden and put up with inconvenience forever.

“This is the first I have heard that you know Berman! Where did you learn it?”

“Many people from there come to Moria. I gradually learned by speaking with travelers.”

“I see. I have thought this for some time, but you are a talented fellow. I certainly chose a fine disciple.”

Haren responded to Cardin’s praise with an embarrassed smile.

* * *

From that day on, Haren’s routine gained time for teaching simple Berman to his three fellow disciples.

The first thing he did was buy related textbooks from a bookstore.

Haren read through them before showing them to the others and let out a soft exclamation.

“Oh...”

He had learned the language practically through newspapers and conversation, so his grasp of the theory was somewhat lacking.

It was similar to how native speakers could use their language naturally even if they could not explain every rule of grammar.

Haren taught the others how to read and write, corrected their pronunciation, and taught them frequently used expressions. At the same time, he quickly absorbed the theoretical knowledge to fill in his own gaps.

“Here. I’m done.”

“That was fast. You’re first, Rim.”

“Haha...”

Of the three, Rim progressed the fastest.

He had trouble concentrating on studying alone, but once someone showed him a direction and urged him along a little, he was the type to follow it steadily.

Nasrel and Ruska, on the other hand, did not progress very quickly.

“Nasrel, have you finished your homework?”

“...It’s boring.”

Nasrel had excellent pronunciation. Whenever she repeated what she was told, she sounded like a native speaker. Yet if she sat still for too long, her concentration fell apart and she became distracted.

Haren prepared a tailored lesson for her.

“Here, repeat after me. Give me food.”

“Give me food.”

“Good. From here to here, these are all food names. If you memorize them, you can tell people what you want to eat when we get there...”

It must have been precisely the right motivation for the food-loving Nasrel, because her blood-red eyes gleamed fiercely. Usually, she was indifferent to everything.

After handling one student, Haren turned his attention to Ruska.

“Damn it, why do I have to waste time on this?”

He considered it a waste to invest his passion and energy into anything other than growing as a wizard.

Knowing a foreign language would not help him kill Cardin in the slightest.

Haren carefully chose his words to encourage him.

“Think about it, Ruska. Right now, only Master Cardin and I can properly speak their language.”

“So?”

“If Master is away and something happens to me, you will have to take responsibility for the others. You might need to ask the locals for help. It would also help you mediate if there is a conflict with people there.”

“Hmm...”

Ruska was a boy with natural leadership qualities.

It was not that he enjoyed bossing people around. Rather, when someone needed to take responsibility and control a situation, he considered it his duty to step forward.

To provoke him, Haren listed all manner of extreme situations requiring communication, like a home-shopping host exaggerating the virtues of a product.

“Damn it, fine! I get it, so stop chattering.”

In the end, Ruska stopped grumbling and began studying as instructed.

Watching the three bow their heads over the table, Haren smiled with satisfaction.

‘Good. It’s going fairly well.’

His efforts toward his fellow disciples’ language learning were not entirely pure, in truth.

Until now, Haren had always been the youngest disciple and the one who needed to learn from others.

He had learned common knowledge wizards needed from Rim, and practical tips for using magic from Ruska.

But after beginning to teach Berman, Haren naturally moved into the position of giving instructions to his fellow disciples.

Teaching was an excellent means of guiding others’ thoughts and exerting influence from a superior position.

First, he would get his fellow disciples accustomed to following his instructions. In the long term, his goal was to make them psychologically dependent on him while deepening their resentment toward their master.

* * *

Their peaceful daily life was abruptly shattered on the tenth day after the announcement that they would travel to Berman.

Late in the afternoon, Haren was spending time in the living room with his fellow disciples, playing a card game similar to Old Maid that was popular in the Empire.

Magic training and study were important, but sometimes they needed small amusements like this to ease their minds.

People’s hearts were not made of steel.

Of course, Ruska was still in his room, absorbed in bodyweight training.

“I got it.”

Nasrel declared as she drew a card. Haren gave a small sigh as though acknowledging defeat.

Then he realized that Rim, who was happily laughing beside him, had his face tightly scrunched up.

“What’s wrong, Rim? Is there a problem?”

“It’s just... I have a strange feeling. I feel incredibly uneasy. Usually, something bad happens when I feel like this.”

Haren was reminded that Rim was a Prophet.

He had heard before that their foresight could be used intentionally, like divination through tools. More often, however, it manifested as sudden visions or sharp intuition.

But was there any reason something bad would happen to Rim now?

Before he could dwell on the question, Haren’s gaze turned outside at the strange noise coming from beyond the closed window.

[!#%#^^!@--]

It sounded as though someone was shouting at the top of their lungs, or perhaps several people were murmuring among themselves.

Perhaps because the soundproofing was good, he could not clearly hear what they were saying.

Possibly because of Rim’s earlier words, Haren approached the window, pulled back the curtains, and looked outside.

“This is...”

To his surprise, the Targa Inn was surrounded by dozens of thugs with vicious-looking faces.

They were all armed with clubs, hammers, and other weapons, yet there was not a single police officer in sight.

Once he opened the window, the shouting outside became clear.

“Remember this! The redhead, the blond, and the blue-haired one are boys! The black-haired one is a girl! They’re about thirteen or fourteen! Do not let a single one matching those descriptions escape! You can kill them if they resist!”

“What the hell has that old man been doing?”

Haren muttered without realizing it.

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