WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
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◈ Unbound Magic Swordsman ◈
Chapter 17: Good Intentions
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His stamina was scraping bottom.
Less than half the mana in his dantian remained.
But unlike when he had fought the troll, his limbs did not feel as though they would tear apart from overload.
His total stamina and mana had clearly increased, as if they had burst through the shell that once contained them.
Clear proof of growth.
Silently, he collected the spoils.
The grotesque head of the red Queen.
The head of the purple Mutant.
And the Core he pulled from the Mutant's split chest, giving off a murky purple glow.
This gem, a lump of condensed Ether, was a high-grade alchemical material that mages of the Magic Tower would eagerly buy.
He also stuffed the antennae of the ordinary specimens into a sack to calculate the request reward.
Lastly, he checked the state of his silver longsword.
The blade corroded by the Mutant's acidic fluids had snapped cleanly in two from the middle.
It was beyond repair at a glance.
It had been an excellent sword, given to him by Hector, but its inherent limits were clear against the brute durability and mana of higher magical beasts.
His next weapon could not be mere steel. He would need some aberrant weapon forged from magical beast bones or ore.
Naturally, it would cost a great deal of money, but there could be no compromise when it came to spending for survival.
Lucian slung the heavy pack of spoils over his shoulder and left the rotten forest without a backward glance.
* * *
By the time he left the southern forest and reached the paved road leading to Kaldia, a blood-red sunset was already licking across the land.
The smaller of the two suns had been swallowed below the horizon, and only the larger one scattered its dark crimson glow across the road.
Lucian walked quietly down the road.
With every step, mana circulating through his veins stitched together torn muscle fibers and washed away his fatigue.
Kaldia's gate was two hours away.
He could reach it before darkness fully fell.
Then it happened.
An unfamiliar noise rode the wind from beyond the bend in the road ahead and struck his ears.
The scrape of clashing steel.
And human screams.
It was the desperate shriek of an unknown woman.
Lucian stopped.
A memory from a month ago flashed through his mind.
When the carriage escort had been attacked by Beastfolk.
When he had heard screams, changed direction, and intervened.
The same choice had been placed before him again.
He could have passed by without getting involved.
He only had to pretend he had heard nothing, slip into the darkness, and continue on his way.
With a broken sword and exhausted stamina, he had no obligation to join someone else's fight.
No one was forcing him to answer that scream.
Yet Lucian quickened his pace and swiftly slipped around the bend.
It was wise to avoid accumulating hostility and malice whenever possible. Conversely, it was wise to accumulate as much goodwill and kindness as possible.
Hostility and malice could pile up and create unpredictable danger, while goodwill and kindness could pile up and bring unexpected help.
That did not mean foolishly risking his life. Only helping when the situation allowed it.
So first, he needed to assess the situation.
The sight on the road was just as he had expected.
A shattered carriage.
One horse was already dead, its throat torn open as blood poured onto the ground.
Three people were isolated beside the carriage.
One was an escort warrior, drenched in blood and swaying with a sword in hand.
Their leg artery seemed to have been severed, turning the ground entirely red.
Another was a middle-aged woman lying on the ground.
And there was a silver-haired woman in a worn robe holding her.
A faint light leaked from the pale fingertips of the woman, who appeared to be in her early twenties.
Magic, Ether.
More specifically, Healing Magic, the rare kind that forcibly sealed wounds and regenerated cells.
And surrounding them on every side were creatures.
Wolves.
No, not ordinary wolves.
Mutants as large as calves, with grotesque, sharp bone spikes rising along their spines.
Dark red smoke smelling of sulfur rose from their mouths.
Spike Wolves.
Intermediate magical beasts that appeared in packs along the borderlands.
Troublesome creatures that fired the spikes on their backs and spat sparks from their mouths.
There were five in all.
The escort warrior was desperately holding one at bay, while the remaining four tightened their encirclement around the silver-haired woman and the fallen woman.
Lucian assessed the situation in an instant.
He could fight them.
His stamina was nearly spent, but his remaining mana and throwing daggers would be enough.
Without hesitation, Lucian kicked off the ground and leaped forward.
His longsword was broken, so he drew three throwing daggers from his left thigh at once, quick as lightning.
As he ran, he forcibly packed the mana from his dantian into the metal of the daggers.
Reinforcement.
He threw them.
Whether it was magical power or vital force, to Lucian, they were one and the same.
No, his mana was fundamentally purer than either.
He used mana itself before it had been refined into a warrior's aura or a mage's magical power.
Whoosh!
The first dagger tore through the air and embedded itself vertically in the nearest Spike Wolf's flank.
“Yelp!”
The mana-infused dagger pierced the beast's tough hide like butter and destroyed its insides.
It rolled across the ground, coughing blood.
The other four turned their blood-red eyes toward Lucian all at once.
Without blinking, Lucian flicked out the second dagger.
Thud!
The dagger lodged precisely in another beast's throat, and it collapsed.
But the third dagger, thrown while he ran, only grazed one creature's shoulder and missed as their paths shifted.
“Grrrrr!”
Two of the remaining three Spike Wolves opened their mouths toward Lucian and arched their spines.
The bone spikes growing from their backs shot out like released bowstrings.
Fweee! Fweee!
Two fragments of bone flew at him with a chilling whistle.
Lucian bent his upper body down to the muddy ground and slid.
One spike brushed over his head, while the other struck his left shoulder directly.
Clang!
But the Wyvern hide Light Armor deflected the savage piercing force and sent it bouncing away.
Only a dull impact that shook his bones remained.
The distance closed in an instant.
Rolling across the ground, Lucian pulled a spare dagger from his right thigh and gripped it in a reverse hold.
The first Spike Wolf lunged with its jaws wide open.
It breathed out a crude blast of fire amid dark red smoke.
Lucian sprang aside to evade it.
Heat scorched his cheek, but he used the momentum of his dodge to slip into the creature's blind spot and drive the dagger vertically into the medulla beneath its jaw.
A deep, merciless strike.
The creature went limp, foaming blood. At that instant, the second beast raised its claws at Lucian's back.
Using the beast's corpse as a shield, Lucian turned. He deflected its claws with his dagger and slit its carotid artery in one motion.
Slice.
The dagger blade was too short to reach bone, but more than enough to sever an artery.
Blood sprayed through the air like a fountain.
Meanwhile, the last Spike Wolf that the escort warrior had been facing also died, its belly split open by the warrior's desperate struggle.
The battle was over.
Fragmented experience from the five intermediate magical beasts seeped into Lucian's veins.
It was different from the magical power he had felt from the Giant Insect colony, a concentrated enhancement of pure wild instinct and reflexes.
Lucian shook blood from his dagger and approached the carriage indifferently.
The silver-haired woman sat on the ground and looked up at Lucian with trembling violet eyes.
She appeared to be around twenty.
A small silver emblem was embroidered on the chest of her worn robe, depicting a winged serpent coiled around a staff.
It was likely a symbol he had seen somewhere before, perhaps of the Healers' Union or some holy order.
And beneath her hands lay the bleeding, collapsed middle-aged woman.
The light of Healing Magic had slowed the bleeding, but her side had been torn away completely. It was a fatal wound.
“Th-thank you...”
The woman moved her bloodless lips.
“How is she?”
Lucian asked flatly, nodding at the fallen woman.
“It’s a fatal wound. My magical power can only stop the bleeding... If we don't reach Kaldia’s infirmary immediately, her internal organs will all fail.”
The healing light leaking from the silver-haired woman's hands flickered out.
Her Ether was exhausted.
Her mana vessel was only at the Novice level.
Even the escort warrior had collapsed like baggage with their leg artery severed.
One carriage horse was dead, and the remaining one would require someone in the driver's seat, whipping it onward, if they were to reach the city.
“Are you... a mercenary?”
The escort warrior asked Lucian with bloodshot eyes, almost pleading.
“Please escort them only as far as Kaldia. The payment will be guaranteed...”
Lucian's gaze moved between the fallen middle-aged woman and the silver-haired woman.
A Healing Mage.
Hector had said there were only a handful of people capable of healing damage to a mana furnace.
Of course, this woman would not be at that level.
She was a Novice Healing Mage. But if she had talent, she could grow.
In this world, a Healing Mage had value simply by existing.
And Lucian might someday need healing as well.
Overloaded mana channels. Grave injuries from battle. Damage beyond what self-recovery could cover.
The difference between having a Healing Mage nearby and not having one at such a time.
Of course, he was a Magic Swordsman, and all related skills applied to him. Someday, he might be able to use Healing Magic as well. But that would only be possible while he remained conscious.
What if he lost consciousness for unavoidable reasons?
What if he faced a situation where he would die without someone else's help?
Helping them was ultimately a way of helping his future self in a crisis.
He finished his calculations.
“I’ll drive the carriage.”
Lucian roughly cut away the dead horse's harness and loaded the carriage's burden onto the remaining horse.
He loaded the escort warrior and the wounded woman into the cargo bed, then took the reins in his bloodstained hands.
“Hyah!”
The battered carriage began rattling toward Kaldia, tearing through the dark crimson sunset.
The silver-haired woman's trembling voice came through the rear window behind the driver's seat.
“My name is Elena Castel... What is yours?”
Lucian stared into the darkness ahead and answered briefly.
“Lucian.”
“Your family name?”
“I have none.”
After a short silence, Elena held the fallen woman and spoke.
“Sir Lucian. This is my mentor, Loren. We were on our way to Kaldia's infirmary...”
Mentor.
Lucian's eyes glinted faintly.
“Your mentor is also a Healing Mage?”
“Yes. She’s a Mage... a Fourth Class Healing Mage.”
A Fourth Class Healing Mage. A Mage.
The real thing, capable of carving intermediate or higher magic circles into the body and stitching together internal organs.
He did not know why someone regarded as a strategic asset had come all the way to the borderlands in such an insignificant carriage, but what mattered now was saving her somehow.
Lucian struck the horse with the whip. The carriage moved a little faster.
* * *
By the time the sun had fully sunk beneath the earth and torches burned atop Kaldia's imposing walls, the carriage arrived at the city gate as though crashing into it.
The guards raised their spears, but when Lucian showed them his silver badge, they opened the way without complaint.
The carriage stopped before the infirmary north of the central square.
Healers ran out, loaded Loren and the escort warrior onto stretchers, and hurried inside.
Elena climbed down from the carriage, her silver hair fluttering as she stepped in front of Lucian.
Deep exhaustion and gratitude mingled in her violet eyes.
“Thank you so much. If it hadn't been for you, Sir Lucian...”
“It is enough that they are safe.”
“No, it isn’t. When my mentor recovers, I want to repay you somehow. Where can I find you?”
He did not have the naive thought that kindness he gave would always return as kindness, but there was no reason to refuse someone who wished to repay him.
“Ask at the Mercenaries’ Guild.”
“All right.”
Elena ran into the infirmary.
Lucian sat atop the carriage for a moment.
Elena Castel. A Novice Healing Mage.
And her mentor Loren. A Fourth Class Mage-level Healing Mage.
Two Healing Mages.
He did not know whether this meeting was chance or fate.
But in this world, connections with Healing Mages were precious.
Lucian climbed down from the carriage and headed for the Mercenaries’ Guild.
He had much to do.
Report the extermination of the Giant Insect colony and settle the reward. Replace his ruined sword.
Kaldia's sunset disappeared completely beyond the western wall.
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