Chapter 9: Bloodsmoke Code 

Once you accept a request, the targets are nowhere to be found.

It’s just like when you lose something, while you’re searching for it, it never turns up, but the moment you give up, it appears out of nowhere.

Well, in exchange, I managed to bag a fair number of Horn Rabbits, Hedgehogs, Horned Boars, and even a few Elks.

Sometimes a few Horned Dogs, Fang Dogs, or Carrions mix in and attack, but I only got a handful of Chikichiki Birds and Runner Birds.

Every now and then, I’d also run into groups of goblins, so I started using my improved technique, [Ring!], to trap them inside, split the ring vertically, and fire arrows through the gaps.

“Not seeing any Chikichiki Birds or Runner Birds around.”

“I usually hunt around here when I’m alone, but…”

“That’s it! You should’ve said so earlier! If you hunted this much using that crazy method of yours, of course the game around here’s going to thin out.”

“Yeah, even when you told us about it, we couldn’t see a thing. Birds would just suddenly drop from the sky! Let’s move to a different hunting ground tomorrow!”

At the butchering yard, as I laid out the day’s catch, the sub-master came by and frowned when he saw how few of the requested birds there were.

“They’ve been scarce lately. Can’t you do a bit better?”

“Sub-master, we’ve been hunting in the same area all this time, so the numbers are probably down.”

“We’re changing spots tomorrow. Should be better then. Probably.”

“‘Probably,’ huh. Well, ever since folks heard you took the request, everyone’s been coming out here every day. It’s turned into a race.”

We shifted a bit west from our usual area, and right away I could feel more presences—and even hear Chikichiki Birds calling.

“They’re a bit far off. Should we flush the nearby ones out first?”

“There’s movement, but I can’t tell which are birds.”

“Yeah, me neither. Let’s just flush them out. Same routine as always.”

Mintz and Scott took up positions with their bows on either side of the thicket, nodding when ready.
I grabbed a few pebbles from my magic pouch, formed a [Vertical Ring Rotation!]—a donut-shaped spinning ring of wind—and tossed the stones inside.

When the rotating stones reached the bottom of the ring’s arc, I released the air membrane and sent them flying into the brush.
A series of sharp thwacks, thuds, and cracks echoed through the air.

“Something’s out!”
“Runner Bird’s mine!”
“I’ve got a Hedgehog—though there should’ve been another one.”

Peering into the thicket, I saw a slightly smaller Runner Bird collapsed there.

“Looks like the stone hit a female Runner Bird.”

“All right, let’s go toward where we heard the Chikichiki Bird next.”

“Didn’t expect this many around here. First time in this area?”

“Yes. It takes longer to get here, so I’ve avoided it before.”

“No wonder. Hardly anyone can hunt Runner Birds or Chikichiki Birds efficiently.
Even if a party targets them, one or two per trip isn’t worth the trouble, so most don’t bother.”

“I’m sure the calls came from this direction…”

“Yeah. Birds alone are hard to sense—their presence is so faint.”

As I checked the large tree branches overhead, Mintz warned that someone was approaching.
We stopped searching and switched to detection mode—there was a group heading straight for us.

“It’s Bloodsmoke. Leon, move to the rear and cover us with defense.”

“Bloodsmoke?”

“They’re a party called The Bloodsmoke Code. They usually go deep into the forest and only show up at the guild two or three times a month. Skilled, but known to be moody. Not the type you want to deal with.”

“Watch out for Simon—the red-haired fire mage. Rumor is he sometimes lobs Fireballs just for fun.”

“There’ve been complaints, but he never leaves proof. People say to steer clear if you ever run into them.”

We usually work the plains, so we’ve never crossed paths—but they’re heading right toward us now.

“They’re off course if they’re returning to Lynas.”

“Let’s hope it’s just coincidence, but… they’re coming straight at us. If we try to dodge, they’ll probably accuse us of something.”

“Guys like that wouldn’t have business with small fry like us… maybe they just want to rough us up.”

They kept their eyes fixed on us the whole way, an icy chill running down my spine as they drew near.

The three of them stopped before us, calm, confident, and making no effort to hide their scrutiny.

“A three-man team with a kid, huh. Word is you’ve been making good coin lately. How’d you land those named requests?”

“If you saw the guild board, you’d know. Anyone can get a named request if they hunt the targets listed there.”

“You’re telling us to waste time catching Runner Birds and Chikichiki Birds?”

“No way a brat like you gets a request from Travis Trading without some kind of connection.”

“Marks General Store named you too, and rumor says even the lord’s taken an interest in you.”

“Uh… are you guys hoping to get backing from a merchant or noble, by any chance?”

“Well, a rich merchant’s patronage is tempting. But what we really think is, those merchants and nobles are after your wind magic.”

“Heard you use some weird kind of wind spell.”

“I’ve been dying to test myself against it—no holding back.”

“It’s just simple wind magic for making pocket change on the plains. Go easy on me.”

“Funny, you don’t seem scared of us at all.”

The instant after that, one of them slashed at Mintz. Mintz dodged by leaping back, only for the attacker to pivot and thrust at Scott.

“Hey, cut it out! If you want a noble patron, I can introduce you.”

“Hah. You lot used to be in the Count’s knight order, didn’t you? Got kicked out for being useless.”

Great… a bunch of battle maniacs.

I stepped back, lowering my sword, but the red-haired man behind them started muttering something—probably a spell.
They’d already come at us seriously once, and if he’s about to cast, there’s no reason to hold back.

At this distance, if my defensive ring lags even for a second, I’ll either go up in flames or get blasted away by the shockwave.

Yeah… better to play it safe and put up some insurance.

The moment he raised his palm toward us and a Fireball began to form,
I released the stored magic from the compressed air sphere I had planted at his feet.

With a sharp BASUN, the compressed air burst open, making the man stagger backward.
It only seemed to surprise him, though—the impact wasn’t quite as strong as I’d hoped.

Still, the sudden blast threw the others off balance, so I formed a ring, invisible, with only the faint whoosh of swirling wind echoing through the clearing.

One of them sprang up, sword in hand, and rushed in to strike, but his blade was dragged aside by the dense swirl of air, throwing his stance off completely.

“Leon, what was that just now?”

“It’s like… I released a defensive barrier that I’d been compressing tightly.”

“Heh, not bad at all.”

“No need to hold back anymore—just toss them out of here.”

That was probably the cleanest way to end it, so I started with the red-haired fire mage in the back, lifting him into the air with a tornado.
The five others who’d been attacking the barrier loosened their grips in shock.

They looked like the type who could assess the situation quickly—if I leisurely took them out one by one, they might slip away.

So I cast [Whirlwind!] and then another [Whirlwind!], wrapping each of them in spinning gusts so they couldn’t escape.

By the time they got dizzy and sank to their knees, I shifted the whirlwinds into full-on tornadoes, blasting them high over the forest canopy.

“Bye-bye.”

“Man, it’s always amazing to watch.” 

Scott said, grinning. 

“Clean, fast, and no mess left behind.”

“About what they said earlier—were you really in the Count’s knight corps?” 

I asked.

“Oh yeah,” 

He replied with a wry grin. 

“After my coming-of-age, I didn’t have any steady work, so I joined the guard corps. My sword skills got me placed in the knight order—but it was dull as dirt.”

“Same routine every day: wake up at a set time, roll call, eat, train—repeat. And the pay was lousy to boot.”

“So a few of us who got along ditched the knights and became adventurers instead. I’ve got a wife and kid, so I stick to day jobs—herb gathering, small monster hunts, stuff like that.”

“Was Marco part of the lord’s service too?”

“I hired him back then to scatter wolf or dog packs if we got ambushed.”

“He was trained plenty in man-to-man combat, but against beasts, even he could’ve been badly hurt. And then that damned fool had to go and—ugh.”

So, as I suspected, that guy had basically been their scarecrow, making noise to scare off beasts.

Thanks to that whole interruption, we only managed to bag a single Chikichiki Bird.

After spotting one perched on a branch, I shook the air around it with a gust of wind to make it fly, then enclosed it inside an air bubble and expanded it rapidly.
As the air thinned inside, the bird couldn’t breathe or stay airborne—it just dropped.

I picked it up, twisted its neck, and dropped it into my magic pouch.
Mintz and Scott could only shake their heads watching me.

Well, fair enough—if you can’t see the air or moving wind, it probably looks like some kind of weird parlor trick.

Hardly the image of a proper mage. I just laughed it off.

A week later, we delivered the required number of Runner Birds and Chikichiki Birds to the guild and collected the payment.

Mintz and Scott split the proceeds from the hunted animals, but since the commission had been in my name, they refused their share of the official reward.

With the job done, I took the next day off for training.

This time, I wasn’t practicing anything flashy, so I went out the west gate, to a small hollow in the plains, and sat down.

I formed a 3-meter air balloon in midair, compressed it, infused it with more magic, and left it hovering a short distance away.
Then I made another one, rolled it along the ground, and released the magic inside.
BASUN! —a sound like a tire bursting, sending the surrounding grass whipping violently.

I remembered a video of a truck tire bursting. It made a BOOM, and the narrator said it could kill someone from shock.

That must be because the compressed air explodes in a single direction.

I don’t know exactly how many atmospheres I’m reaching when I compress a 3-meter balloon down to the size of a fist, but it looks like I should try compressing something even bigger next time.

After several trials, I decided that for close-range, a 4-meter balloon compressed to fist-size worked best.
For longer distances, I’d use one about 7–8 meters wide, depending on the situation.

I infused another balloon with magic and let it roll along the ground—it didn’t burst yet, so I decided to time it.

The ring barriers last about three minutes after activation—about as long as it takes to make instant noodles.
If I add extra magic, they last a bit longer, but within 10–20 minutes, I’ve always released the magic manually to dissipate them.

I should probably figure out how long one could last if I just kept adding magic continuously.