Chapter 3: First Battle

Edgar tugged at my sleeve, and I followed him quietly as we moved to circle behind the goblins.
The creatures were sitting in a loose ring, noisily screeching as they devoured something, completely unaware of our approach.

“Perfect formation for a fireball. Keep your head down—his aim’s awful.”

He wasn’t wrong. Marco bragged about being a fire mage, but his aim and power left much to be desired. Still, from over twenty meters away, we were probably safe.
Through the goblins, I could see Marco’s face directly opposite us as he began his chant.
A glowing orb of fire formed before his outstretched hand, then shot toward the feasting goblins.

PAAAN!

The fireball exploded above their heads, scattering and toppling several of them.
Arrows followed immediately—two shafts loosed by Mintz and Scott struck home in two goblins’ chests.

“Alright, move in!”

Following Edgar, I charged toward the goblins. Ted had taken up a rear guard position near Mintz and Scott, watching for their next shot.
Edgar went straight for the largest one, whose back was turned to us. Even though this was my first battle, the goblin—nearly my height—made my steps falter.

Ahead, Henry had already plunged into the fray, finishing off a fallen one with his sword. Ted faced the biggest goblin but wasn’t striking—just locking eyes with it, waiting.

“Leon! He’s got his back to you—grip your spear tight and ram him!”

Before I could hesitate, Edgar gave me a shove between the shoulders, propelling me forward. I lunged in desperation, spear held low, and crashed into the goblin.
It was nothing like thrusting at a practice tree—the solid, living resistance and the goblin’s shriek of “Ggyahhh!” sent shivers down my spine.
Its stench hit me next. I kicked it reflexively and stumbled backward, landing hard on my rear.

“Not bad for your first fight! Finish it off, and you’ll be a real adventurer.”

I looked up to see the goblin struggling to stand, blood pouring from its back.
Neither Edgar nor Ted moved to help—they just watched. Mintz and Scott, too, were grinning as they looked on.

“Leon! Stab it from the side—go for the neck, then slide the spear through!”

Henry shouted, his sword resting on his shoulder.
If I froze now, I’d be the laughingstock forever. Tightening my grip on the blood-slick spear, I thrust it again and again into the flailing goblin.
It took three strikes before it finally collapsed. My strength drained all at once, and I nearly fell with it.

Afterward, I poured [Water] over my head, washing off the blood before helping extract the goblins’ magic stones.
Seven stones, worth 3,000 dara each—21,000 dara total.
With another half-day of herb gathering, we’d likely earn another 20,000. Even after paying me 2,000, everyone would take home around 6,500 dara each.
A fine haul for a job this close to town.

I handed the stones to Ted, and we set off again toward the herb fields.

While walking in the middle of the formation, I could only practice detecting presence to my left and right.
After a while, concentration began to fade, so I switched between sensing presence and focusing my awareness ahead.
I thought I felt something small in the distance—but since no one else noticed, I kept quiet.

Judging by the faint aura, it was probably a small animal—a horned rabbit or a hedgehog.
Too bad to just ignore it… though coaxing it out of hiding with a wind spell seemed impossible.
Still, I decided to practice creating whirlwinds while alternating between detection drills.

It’d look strange if a sudden dust devil formed out of nowhere on the plains, so I tried focusing the magic a bit farther away.
I imagined the airflow, murmured “Whirlwind!”, and released a bit of mana. A small vortex appeared—barely visible, but definitely there.

“What’s up, Leon?”
“Ah, nothing. Thought I saw something, that’s all.”

That was close. Yesterday, it had been too dark to see, but now, catching sight of my own spell mid-day nearly made me freeze.
It looked kind of like those little whirlwinds from anime. Then again, that was my only reference—no wonder it resembled them.

“Hey, Leon, how exactly do you use wind magic?”

 “Don’t ask for the impossible—I just received it yesterday! You can’t even see wind, and there’s no one to teach me. For now, I’m focusing on skills—Detection, Presence Sense, Spear Handling, Bow Handling, Appraisal… and if possible, something that lets me blend into forests or grasslands.”

“You sure dream big. Think a guy with wind magic’s going to get all that?”

“Maybe not—but I’ll try anyway. You can’t be an adventurer without training.”

“Heh. If skills were that easy to get, I’d already have Appraisal and be living easy in town.”

“Leon was told his desired skills depend on practice, right? Then keep training—it’ll pay off.”

“Yeah, if you pick up scouting or archery skills, it’ll make things easier for me.”

“And if your detection improves, we’ll get more prey. That means better pay for you.”

“Your nose was a big help with those goblins. Keep finding us good targets, kid.”

As we gathered herbs, I occasionally created small whirlwinds far off in the distance.
At the end of the day, I received 2,000 dara and headed home.

Two months had passed since the ceremony, and summer had come in full force.
The plains were hot and muggy, and I was sick of it.

While resting in the shade, Marco sneered,

“Hey, let’s see that fancy wind you got blessed with.”

I wanted a cool breeze too, but I still couldn’t manage more than a tiny whirlwind.
If I showed him that, he’d definitely mock me.

He liked to brag about being a fire mage, but his detection and sensing were non existent, and he was useless with a spear or bow.
Everyone knew he was only good for scaring off wolf- or dog-type monsters, or maybe for fighting small goblin groups.

When Marco first joined the group, he insisted they needed a party name and suggested “Lynas’s Gale.”
Ted and the others didn’t care about names—they just wanted a fire mage—and later laughed about what a bad trade it was.

Still, even a weak fireball the size of a volleyball was useful for a herb-gathering team.
His shots traveled at arrow speed and exploded on impact.
If he actually hit, he could take down a wolf or small horned boar—if he hit.
Since he rarely did, I’d secretly nicknamed his fireballs “scarecrows.”

When I took a short break and stood up, I heard a rustling sound coming from a little distance away — something brushing through the grass.

I signaled 〈Chichi〉 for everyone to stop and glared in the direction of the noise, but it didn’t register on my detection skill. I glanced at the scout, Mintz, and pointed my short spear toward the sound’s source.

After a moment of watching, Mintz raised his arm to signal — Horn Boar.

Following Ted’s orders, we quietly took our positions. Mintz and Scott drew their bows and loosed their arrows. The Horn Boar let out a shriek — 〈Bugi!〉 — and began to run, but with both thighs pierced from the sides, its movements slowed.

A second volley of arrows struck, and almost simultaneously — 〈Paan〉 — Marco’s fireball exploded.

“Let’s go!”

At Ted’s shout, Edgar and Scott charged in from both flanks, stabbing their blades into the beast, while Ted faced it head-on to hold its movements down.

A third arrow shot from point-blank range pierced its heart, and the Horn Boar collapsed. Ted finished it off and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

For a group that claims to specialize in herb gathering, their coordination is always impressive.

Once enough blood had drained, they stored the carcass inside a magic pouch — a sight that still amazed me no matter how many times I saw it.

A Rank 3–10 magic pouch costs 15 gold coins, which is about 1,500,000 Dara. Expensive, but not impossible to buy someday. I hoped that once I established myself as an adventurer, I could afford one. For now, even a Rank 1–10 coin pouch — worth 2 gold coins, or 200,000 Dara— was far beyond my reach with just helper’s wages.

“You’ve got sharp ears.” 

Ted said.

“It just made enough noise to catch my attention.” 

I replied.

“With that size, it should fetch around 35,000 Daras.”

“Would be nice if we could hunt one of these every day.”

“Not likely — they don’t come around this area often.”

“Well then, let’s get back to picking herbs.”

We went back to gathering Sarasa berries in the shade of the trees.

“Appraise, fruit,” 

I muttered — though I already knew what it was. Still, it didn’t register as a medicinal herb.

I could identify leaves, petals, and roots, but since I couldn’t “appraise” something as a medicinal herb, I could only collect what I already recognized.

Once we’d picked all the sellable Sarasa berries, we decided to return to town a little early.

Henry said that among the few Sarasa trees around, this area had maybe one or two more good harvests left this year.

We’d gotten both the Horn Boar and a good haul of berries, so everyone was in high spirits — expecting about 15,000 Dara each.

On our way back, I kept the usual formation and tried again to form a whirlwind in the air ahead. Disappointing.

Even though I was following the image in my mind, the result was always a small whirlwind barely over a meter tall and half a meter wide — no improvement at all.

It looked just like those little dust-devil whirlwinds that lift fallen leaves off the ground in an anime — cute, but weak.

I tried increasing the magic output. I’d been dividing my mana into a hundred parts, so I poured in more — but the size and power didn’t change.

Being able to see the wind’s movement only made it more frustrating how little progress I was making.

While waiting our turn at the west gate, I received my daily helper’s wage of 2,000 Dara, then separated from the group and headed home.

Even while walking, I kept practicing — visualizing a whirlwind in the air ahead and channeling mana into it, wondering how to create not just a small gust but a real tornado.

When I got home, my mother was still out on the late shift, so I started practicing life magic.

Since receiving my magic blessing, I’d been training daily, and I’d learned to channel mana into my life spells as well.

So far, I could produce enough Water to fill a small pot, or a Flame about the size of a clenched fist — far from the flashy spells you’d see in light novels, where they fill barrels or light up whole rooms. Reality was much stricter.

Still, being able to summon a potful of water instead of just a cup’s worth was an improvement. But I wanted to make my Light spell flash bright enough to blind enemies — so I practiced diligently every day.

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