chapter 14
Mountain climbing is a mecca for infidelity (2)
Abnormally elevated heart rate obscured vision. In the midst of everything blurring, only one person was clear. It was only Jeniel.
“·······”
Jeniel looked down at me with deep eyes. Her fine breath touches the bridge of my nose.
“·······”
3 seconds of silence.
In that brief moment, I felt so many emotions.
I was excited. happy. I wanted to love you. I wanted to marry Jeniel, have a child who resembles her, and lead a happy life.
······On the one hand, it was resentful.
I resent the writer who wrote the love that shouldn’t continue, me who set my friend’s lover to love, and Lee Jin-wook who wrote the ending where everyone is unhappy.
gulp.
Jeniel’s swallowing sound was strangely audible. His gaze was directed to his lips.
“·······”
If I kissed you here, if I quenched my insatiable thirst even for a moment, would our story be different?
If you cross the line that shouldn’t be crossed, so long as it can reach you, doesn’t it matter what the ending of the novel is?
It was a time when thoughts like that were messing with my head.
Four Trilogy-
I could feel the presence in the pile of grass behind me. Someone was coming here. Only then did Jeniel wake up, and I also got up.
“Are you sure about this? Aren’t you fooling around again?”
“Oh, that’s right. I could definitely hear it from here.”
A very tense voice. Soon after, four young men with bamboo spears appeared.
One of them pointed a bamboo spear at me.
“What, what? who are you guys!? Who’s been in someone else’s mountain?”
“Is it Simmani?”
“I came from the Imperial Academy.”
I showed the robe’s academy crest. The young men who looked at the pattern with frowning eyes soon reaped bamboo spears.
“Oh, so these are the wizards who came to support. sorry.”
“I’ve been rude since the beginning… but why are you in a place like this…?”
“I know? what were you doing here? Do you have any herbs you are looking for?”
“It tripped…”
I was having an affair. I lost my footing.
When I couldn’t say the next word, Jeniel’s face turned red. It seemed that Jeniel was thinking the same thing as me.
“Aww, you missed it. Is your body okay?”
“Yes, fortunately.”
“The road here is rough, so be careful. You’re going to Daglania, right? We are also Daglanians. Let’s go together.”
······
Daglania arrived with the help of the youth. The scenery there was absolutely fantastic.
Like a mountain village in Switzerland, village-type houses and magnificent nature were in harmony, and the mountain behind it was infinitely magnificent.
But my expression hardened. Jeniel, who was looking forward to seeing this scene, couldn’t help but like it.
“What should I do… I guess witch beasts have appeared over there?”
“In the middle of the night, magical beasts suddenly appear…”
Buildings damaged by demon attack.
In front of him, as if a plague had spread, the wounded lay in a row.
As we approached, an elderly man greeted us.
“I am Irotan, the elder of Daglania. Did you come out of the Imperial Academy by any chance?”
“That’s right. I am Leonard of the defense class. Next to me is Jeniel from the pharmacy department.”
“Le, Leonard?”
When I said the name, Irotan’s eyes widened. The youths who assisted us were also shocked.
“Leonard-sama?”
“That, Leonard-sama from the archmage candidates??”
“Yeah, what…”
I nodded resolutely.
Even if it is a mountain village, you will not know about Leonard. It was only because of my fame that I couldn’t recognize my face.
Irotan held out his hand politely.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Leonard.”
“No, Elder.”
Since the courtesy of the elders was inconvenient, I immediately changed the subject.
“Let’s do a formal greeting later, and let’s treat the injured first.”
“I guess so. Their condition is…”
Jeniel pointed to the wounded. Most of them had severe fractures.
“Pharmacy” and “Healing” are closely related fields.
Moreover, since Daglania is a place where various medicinal materials are grown, there seemed to be no great difficulty in treatment.
While Jeniel looked at the condition of the wounded, I talked to Erotan. The novel didn’t include the story of Daglania, so I had to figure out the situation first.
“What happened?”
“Three ogres showed up last night. They were all adults.”
A blunt-type demon ogre.
An object of fear and fear to the general public who did not go through the academy. The big one grows up to 4m.
“They suddenly appeared and attacked the village without reason. Fortunately, there was an attack mage in the village, so disaster was avoided.”
“What is his name?”
“This is Gilbert. I heard that he was an attack mage who once made a name for himself…”
It was a name I knew.
Gilbert Vale Hemmington.
A reclusive master in any village.
Although the proportion is extremely small, he is an elite attack mage from the Immortal Knights.
I needed to get used to the face.
“Can I meet you?”
“It’s possible, but before that, there’s something I’d like Leonard-sama to help me with.”
“What is it?”
“First this way-”
Erotan led me to the place in question. In the vacant lot south of the village, a tower roughly the size of ‘Dabotap’ had collapsed mercilessly.
“I have my personal belongings hidden under the tower, but these are difficult to disclose to the residents.”
“·······”
“Tomorrow, the residents will clean up the remains of the tower… but before that, I would appreciate it if you would take steps with great generosity. Please, Leonard.”
Erotan continued to groan.
What is the object at the bottom of the tower, asking me for a personal favor?
To be sure, it is not related to the black magician. If it was such an important matter, there was no way I could not remember it.
“All right.”
The period of stay in Daglania is three days. There was nothing to lose by being good to the elder.
It was also a good opportunity to test out Expedium.
I reached out for the collapsed tower.
At the same time, as a magical intuition, [Expedium] was manifested.
A complicated formula that popped into my head. It was a level of difficulty that was different from the techniques I had interpreted so far, and the mana flowed out in a lump, and I felt a bit of dizziness.
As much as I felt the strain on my body, the magic was clearly manifested.
sss
The remains of the tower were gradually blurring.
The position I set is 10m above. After a while, the remains of the tower completely disappeared. Before long, it slowly appeared at 10m in the sky.
Special magic that can only be used by five wizards in the empire. Erotan forgot his true intentions and only expressed his admiration.
“Oh, really… you’re really amazing, Leonard-sama.”
“Get it out quickly.”
“Ah, yes. sorry. Stop being so surprised…”
I said it quite sharply.
I’m sorry for the rude behavior, but a lot of mana was wasted to maintain [Expedium]. The more the mana drained away, the more the body was strained, so I had no choice.
Irotan ran away in a hurry and took a bundle from the place where the tower was. The sound of metal clashing echoed.
After Erotan was completely removed, I canceled 「Expedium」.
Debris floating in the air faded, then teleported back into place.
“after······”
I wiped the sweat from my forehead.
“Are you okay, Leonard?”
“yes. Now guide me to where Gilbert is.”
“All right. This way.”
***
Erotan led me to the edge of the village.
There was only one house in the wooded forest, and on the rock in front of it was a Wen Doin sitting cross-legged.
A hat that half covered the face. A long white beard hung down from it. In slang words, the scent of ‘Pakgosu’ was strong. Anyone could see that he was a ‘hermit master’.
“Are you that person?”
“no. That’s the herbalist, and Gilbert’s in the house. He is a very reclusive person.”
“okay. Let’s go.”
I followed Erotan to the house.
Knock- Knock, the door opened effortlessly.
Ki-Ik-
Dark and shady inside.
“Gilbert. Are you inside?”
“What is it, Elder?”
A man with dark circles came out of the master bedroom. Judging from the rough beard and body shape, he had an impression close to that of a carpenter.
“Someone wants to meet you. Greetings, this is Professor Leonard from the Imperial Academy.”
“Leona- Huh!?”
Gilbert, who found me, was startled.
It was a common reaction from those who saw Leonard for the first time, but the atmosphere was strangely different.
It was not a pleasant or mysterious game, but a game as if I had seen a ghost.
Gilbert’s complexion darkened.
“Ah, how are you…”
Something won out. Do you think it feels strong?
That’s why you can’t judge people only by their heart. I treated Gilbert the same as anyone else.
“nice to see you. I heard you killed an ogre yesterday. Are you okay?”
“yes.”
Gilbert, who averted my eyes, replied nonchalantly. He avoided talking openly.
As if he was embarrassed by the flat reaction, Erotan added additional explanations on his behalf.
“haha! From Gilbert’s point of view, he is still from the Immortal Knights. Yesterday’s ogre at once-”
“stop.”
Gilbert’s sharp voice cut off Erotan’s words. Gilbert, who had grown even sharper, asked me directly.
“What is your reason for coming?”
“·······”
“Why did you invade someone else’s house?”
“I want to hear the circumstances of the ogre incident.”
“In the middle of the night, an ogre suddenly appeared and attacked the village. I killed them with magic. This is the end.”
Having said that, he turned his back.
“Please leave.”
He strode into the bedroom and slammed the door shut.
bang-!
Silence spreading through the house.
Erotan, who was at a loss between the two, apologized on behalf of Gilbert.
“I’m sorry, Leonard. Since I am a person with poor social skills…”
“no. It was our fault that came out of nowhere.”
I stared at the door gently and turned around. Is it another evil relationship of Leonard that is not covered in the novel?
“Let’s go.”
“All right.”
I left Gilbert’s house and headed to where Jeniel was. While traveling, I heard about Daglania from Erotan.
Again, I don’t know what’s going on here, because the novel contains the extermination of Kario’s demons. So, I had to gather as much information as possible.
“What about the damage?”
“The house is in a state of great damage due to the attack of the ogres. Fortunately, the dead are-”
As we talked about this and that, the sunset spread across the sky.
Because it was in the mountains, evening came earlier than in the city.
The center of the town we arrived back at.
“Thank you sorcerer. Thanks to you, I think I will live.”
“That’s fortunate. Still, you need to rest for a while. Got it?”
Jeniel treated all the injured before he knew it.
Fractures were still bandaged because only a professional healer could treat them immediately, but the faces of the injured were much brighter.
“uh? Leonard. Where have you been?”
Jeniel, who found me, hurriedly ran to me. It was so cute that I wanted to hold it in my arms right away.
“That, that…”
“Have a meal~”
“OMG! I was very hungry.”
The meal arrived just in time. It was warm soup and garlic bread.
Me, Jeniel, and Erotan sat down at the kitchen table and had dinner together.
“It’s embarrassing to treat such a simple meal to distinguished guests.”
“no! Is it too delicious?”
Jeniel smiled brightly and shook his head.
Somehow, his heart was as good as his face. Thanks to you, I laughed too.
“It suits my taste too.”
“I am just grateful that the two of you enjoyed the meal.”
Dinner time ripe with warmth.
At that time, when everyone was hungry, a young man hurriedly ran and whispered to Irotan.
“·······”
“What?”
Erotan’s face crumpled as he inadvertently listened to the story. As soon as the young man left, he asked cautiously.
“Are you two lovers?”
“yes!? No, ugh!”
A rather embarrassing question caught Jeniel. He seemed to have remembered what had happened in the forest, and reacted violently. I answered on behalf of the speechless Jeniel.
“no. Friends.”
“Uh huh…”
Erotan shook his head in embarrassment.
What did you hear that made you do that?
Did the young men find out what happened in the forest?
I just became anxious. It was still too early for strange rumors to spread.
Crucially, I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary.
“Why is that?”
“That’s it…”
His troubled face made me even more anxious.
“What should I do with this?”
He scratches his head as if in pain. He wipes his forehead as if he is sorry.
Then he said softly.
“I heard there is only one room left …”