At the payment counter, I asked for the entire amount to be deposited, signed the appraisal slip, and then headed to the guild cafeteria.
Carrying a mug of ale while looking for an open seat, I felt an unpleasant stare. I ignored it and continued toward an empty place.
“Hey, you’re Leon from Lynas, right? What are you doing here?”
Turning toward the familiar voice, I saw Marco grinning smugly.
“So, you finally got kicked out of town too? Did you at least learn to use your wind magic properly by now?”
“Well, the sub-master told me to leave town for a while, so I’m traveling.”
“Not surprising. Wind Magic is useless anyway. Maybe you can earn pocket money by making a summer breeze. Oh, I know—I’ll give you a fitting title: Leon the Breeze. Perfect for a worthless wind mage like you.”
He pointed at me, laughing arrogantly. He probably didn’t want me talking about his blunder back in Lynas to anyone in this city.
Fine. I would return his “kindness” in kind.
“Thank you for the wonderful nickname. I’ll give you one too: Marco the Bluff, a loudmouth whose spells are all noise and no substance. Remember when you fired that pathetic [Fireball!] at a Black Bear? Two of your companions died, and another was injured so badly that he had to retire. You tried to blame everyone else, but the survivors told the truth and you were driven out of Lynas. ‘Marco the Bluff,’ whose [Fireball!] only works on goblins—does that suit you?”
Snickers rippled through the room.
“Did you hear that? The Breeze and the Bluff, ha!”
“The kid’s got a sharp tongue.”
“So his Fireball only works on goblins? ‘Marco the Bluff’—that’s perfect.”
“The guy shaking after being talked back to by a kid really is just bluffing, huh?”
“He shot a weak Fireball at a Black Bear? Idiot.”
“Got his party killed, got exiled, and still hasn’t learned. What a fool.”
“He even tried to join my group once, but his talk was too big. I turned him down—never trust loudmouths.”
“Hey, Marco the Bluff! Nobody in this town needs you!”
Laughter spread through the hall. Marco flushed red and glared at me, but that was hardly my fault. If you didn’t want to be mocked, you shouldn’t mock others first.
“Leon the Breeze, is it? Not a bad name. You should try feeling that breeze yourself. This boy killed a medium-sized Horn Boar and seven Black Wolves alone. They’re in the disassembly yard right now.”
Once again, the enormous man had appeared behind me without my noticing. How could someone so large move so quietly?
He smiled faintly, sat at the table, and downed half his ale before speaking again.
“Leon, would you hunt with us for a few days? You don’t have to share your spoils. I simply want to see what you can do.”
“I don’t know this area well, so if you’ll guide me, I’ll join. But unless we’re attacked, I don’t hunt beasts on my own.”
He smiled faintly, probably avoiding mention of the birds I hunted so that he wouldn’t draw attention to my income. His companions were just as enormous but quiet and composed, which made them easy to like.
“I’m Olga, leader of Strongarm. Let’s meet at the west gate tomorrow morning.”
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
I spent the night at an inn, had breakfast at the market, bought three days’ worth of food, and headed for the west gate.
Seven giants approached. Even the smallest towered over me. As we passed through the gate, I followed them like a child trailing his guardians, earning curious looks from the guards.
“Leon, choose wherever you like to go.”
“I’m new to this city, so I’ll leave it to you.”
As we walked, Olga introduced Strongarm, a seven-man party of heavily built warriors.
Olga was the leader.
Allen, the scout, wielded a longbow.
Beck carried a short spear and could also use a sword.
The “small” member, Bord, was an ice mage who also used a powerful bow.
Daring and Galb carried short spears and were capable archers.
Maven bore a heavy sword across his shoulder along with a bow.
All seven carried Rank 3 Magic Pouches. Once outside the city, they armed themselves.
I walked behind Allen, who led the way toward a nearby forest. Since I’d said I wouldn’t hunt unless attacked, I figured I’d just watch and let these giants handle close combat.
Or so I thought—until Allen suddenly stopped and signaled us to halt.
I searched the area, but nothing appeared within my Detection range. Allen glanced at me, and I shrugged.
A little later, we found a group of goblins. My Detection range was about sixty to seventy meters, so Allen’s appeared to reach roughly eighty. Impressive.
I had thought my Detection was becoming fairly good, but Allen’s skill genuinely impressed me. Traveling with other parties was worthwhile. I wanted to learn their methods of moving silently as well.
And his short spear—thick shaft, black-glinting head, nearly 2.5 meters long with a 70 cm tip—looked deadly in his huge hands. These men clearly specialized in hunting large beasts.
But apparently, they didn’t plan to overlook even goblins — true adventurers, earning whenever possible.
At least, that’s what I thought—until they stopped just before the goblins and pushed me forward.
“We usually leave small fry to the low ranks. Might be boring, but let’s see a bit of your wind magic.”
“I also don’t bother with small fry unless they come at me. How about I just make them dizzy?”
Everyone looked curious, so I stepped forward, confirmed the goblins’ positions, muttered “Goblin bed-wetters” under my breath, and cast [Whirlwind!] on them one after another.
Using only enough mana to make them dizzy, I formed spindle-shaped whirlwinds that caught and spun each goblin in turn.
Muttering an abbreviated incantation made the process slightly slower, but I still finished in less than a minute.
Behind me, the Strongarm guys were laughing out loud, and Allen had already wandered off somewhere.
“Hey, look, the goblins are dancing!”
“Well I’ll be…”
“Shortened chanting, huh? Still, impressive.”
“They must be dizzy—they’re sitting down!”
From the direction Allen had gone, I sensed multiple people approaching. When I looked, I saw him leading what seemed to be a group of low-rank adventurers.
“Leon, is it okay?”
“Yes, they’re dizzy right now. All they have to do is finish them off.”
After hearing my answer, Allen called to the low-ranked adventurers:
“All right. Finish off the goblins.”
The eight staggering goblins were easy prey. Each magic stone was worth 3,000 dara, so the adventurers beamed and bowed repeatedly in thanks.
I waved to them and continued toward the forest. Soon, the cry of a Chikki-Chikki Bird sounded in the distance.
It was to the east of yesterday’s hunting ground—a new area, but it seemed rich with birds too.
Once we reached the edge of the woods, they gave me a half-hearted instruction to “go wherever you like” and pushed me forward.
Because this was the forest south of the Blange Highway, I left any wild beasts to Strongarm and headed deeper south.
I moved more slowly than expected. Even with mana enhancement, I was unused to forest terrain and had to watch my footing. I advanced while keeping my surroundings under constant watch with Detection and Presence Sense.
Compared with the plains, the forest teemed with life—wild beasts and the smaller creatures they hunted. I was admiring the abundance when someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind.
Allen pointed ahead, and when I shook my head, he asked, “Why not?”
“I figured the Strongarm crew wouldn’t find it interesting. I don’t really enjoy hunting, and I ignore anything that doesn’t attack me.”
Someone behind us snorted with laughter, but I ignored it and moved on.
When I focused on a presence above, I saw a black shape stretched along a branch ahead.
“What’s that?”
“A Black Cat. It’s unusual to see one moving during the day. It must be stalking something.”
Right as he said that, the sound of wings flapping reached us. Turning, I spotted a Green Bird flying toward the same branch.
“I’ll take the Green Bird; I’ll leave the kitty to you.”
I didn’t want to reveal [Balloon], my technique for suffocating prey, so I used [Whirlwind!] instead. It caught the Green Bird as it tried to land and pulled it toward me.
The startled Black Cat sprang upright on the branch. Several bowstrings snapped at once, and arrows pierced it, knocking it from the tree.
When I released the whirlwind, the dizzy Green Bird fluttered weakly in front of me. I caught it by the neck and twisted sharply.
“Impressive. Now I understand why every bird you bring in is spotless—not a single wound.”
“I was disappointed with wind magic at first, but it’s turned out to be a decent way to make money.”
“Yeah, using it like that, I can see how you’d earn easy coin. My ice magic works nothing like that—no use comparing.”
The three men returned after collecting the Black Cat, and we resumed walking just as a beast’s roar echoed through the forest.
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