Chapter 14: The Breeze and the Bluff

At the payment counter, I told them to deposit everything and signed the appraisal slip confirming the deposit before heading to the guild cafeteria.

As I carried a mug of ale, looking for an open seat, I felt an unpleasant stare on me. I ignored it and walked toward an empty spot.

“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’s useless anyway. Maybe you can earn some pocket change by making a summer breeze or something. 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 then — I’ll return his “kindness” in kind.

“Thanks for the great nickname. I’ll give you one too — Marco the Bluff. A loudmouth whose spells are all sound and no substance. Remember that time you fired that pathetic Fireball at a Black Bear? Two of your teammates died, and one was so badly injured he had to quit being an adventurer. You tried to blame others, but when the survivors spoke up, you got kicked out of Lynas. ‘Marco the Bluff,’ whose Fireball only works on goblins — nice, isn’t it?”

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 broke out across the hall. Marco turned red and glared at me — not that it was my fault. If you don’t want to be mocked, don’t mock others first.

“Well, well, Leon the Breeze, huh? Nice name. Why don’t you try feeling that breeze yourself? This guy’s the one who soloed a medium Horn Boar and seven Black Wolves — they’re lying in the dismantling yard right now.”

Once again, the burly old man had appeared behind me without me noticing. How does such a massive guy move so quietly?

He smiled faintly, sat at the table, and downed half his ale before speaking again.

“Leon, how about hunting with us for a few days? You don’t need to share the loot — I just want to see your skills.”

“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 slightly, likely avoiding mentioning the birds I hunt — probably out of respect, not wanting to draw attention. His companions, equally massive, were quiet and composed, which made them likable.

“I’m Olga, leader of Strongarm. Let’s meet at the west gate tomorrow morning.”

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I spent the night at an inn, had breakfast at the market, bought three days’ worth of food, and headed for the west gate.

A group of seven giants approached — even the smallest of them towered over me. As we passed through the gate, I followed behind them like a child trailing his guardians, earning odd 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 the party: Strongarm, a team of seven muscle-bound warriors.

Olga was the leader.
Allen, the scout, wielded a longbow.
Beck carried a short spear but could handle a sword too.
The “small” one, Boldo, was an ice mage who also used a strong bow.
Daring and Garb both used short spears and were capable archers.
Maven had a heavy sword slung across his shoulder, along with a bow.

All seven carried rank-3 magic pouches, and once outside the city, they all 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.

Huh? I scanned the area, but nothing showed up on my detection range. Allen glanced at me, and I shrugged.

A bit later, we found a group of goblins. My detection range is about 60–70 meters, so Allen’s must be around 80 — impressive.

I thought I was getting good at detection, but seeing him, I was genuinely impressed. Joining other parties is worth it; I’d like to learn their silent movement techniques too.

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?”

Since everyone looked so curious, I quietly stepped forward to confirm the goblins’ positions and, murmuring “Goblin pisspants” under my breath, cast [Whirlwind!], wrapping each one in turn.

I used just a small amount of mana—enough to make them dizzy—forming spindle-shaped whirlwinds that caught each goblin and spun them around one after another.

It took a bit of time since I was half-mimicking an incantation under my breath, but the whole thing still took 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.”

Hearing my reply, he told them.

“Alright, clean up the goblins.”

The eight wobbling goblins were easy pickings, and since each magic stone sold for 3,000 dara, the adventurers were beaming and bowing deeply in gratitude.

I waved to them and continued toward the forest, when I heard the cry of a Chikki-Chikki Bird 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.

Since this was the southern forest along the Branje Highway, I decided to let Strongarm handle any wild beasts and headed deeper south into the woods.

My pace was slower than expected—despite enhancing myself with mana, I wasn’t used to forest terrain. I had to watch my footing, though I still kept my surroundings under full vigilance, using detection and sense for presences as I advanced.

The forest was full of life compared to the plains; plenty of wild beasts and small creatures serving as prey. I was admiring that when someone tapped my 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. Rare to see one moving around 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 show my technique [Vacuum Balloon]—which suffocates prey by air deprivation—so instead, I used [Whirlwind!] to wrap the Green Bird as it tried to perch, pulling it toward me.

The startled cat rose from the branch, and immediately, the sound of several bowstrings snapped through the air—arrows pierced it, knocking it down from the tree.

As I released the whirlwind, the dizzy Green Bird flapped weakly in front of me; I caught it by the neck and twisted cleanly.

“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.”

Three men returned after retrieving their kills, and we started walking again—just as a beast’s roar echoed through the forest.