Chapter 47: Souvenirs from the Royal Capital

Since they had said from the beginning that they basically didn’t camp outdoors, the four—worn out from sleeping—were relaxing their bodies, and I prepared breakfast for them as we spent the early morning together.

“Leon, do you always camp alone?”

“Yes. I have a good grasp of the dome’s durability, so I can sleep safely. More importantly, if you’re in a group, someone has to stay awake on watch.”

“We were supposed to take turns keeping watch, but… we all fell asleep.”

“A fox came by in the middle of the night. When you learn to use barrier magic, make sure to pay a skilled mage at least once to run a proper durability test.”

“…You said you’d show us an example, didn’t you?”

“Then I shall show you.”

Leaving the dome as it was, I decided to demonstrate a shield—though I couldn’t make a square one, so I went with a circular shield.

“I’ll create it slowly so you can see clearly. Don’t forget this.”

I spun the air into a disc shape, picking up dust to make it visible, and formed a large adventurer-style shield.

“Gale, with your barrier magic, the basic form is a 2–3 meter square. You can adjust the size as needed. And once created, releasing the mana will make it disappear.”

To make it easy to understand, I touched the shield and said, “Release mana.”
The mana drained out, and the shield vanished.

“Oh, so you can make what you create disappear.”

“Exactly. Anything you create yourself can be erased by saying ‘release mana’. Next are the shelter and the dome. Basically, a larger shelter becomes the dome.”

I called the four closer to me, and after saying “Shelter!”, a spiraling ring rose up around them, forming a circular wall.

“Wow, amazing!”
“So this is a shelter?”
“How is it different from a dome?”

Because it was formed using dust, it was clearly visible, and they watched with great excitement.

“If you can’t make this, you can’t make a dome. You just adjust the size and height as needed.”

After showing them a shelter about 2.5 meters across and 3 meters tall, I began transforming it into a dome.

“Watch closely—this is how it becomes a dome.”

I extended the upper part inward, narrowing it gradually.

“Woah, you can do something like that?”
“Yeah, if you can’t make a shelter, there’s no way you can make a dome.”
“But even if this were a dome, it’s too small to sleep in.”

“That’s why you adjust the size as needed. A shelter is for emergency use when encountering beasts—you must be able to make it instantly. But the dome is for camping. To use magic, draw mana to your arm, stopping around the wrist. Then decide where and how large the shield will be, and at the word ‘Shield!’ release the mana.”

“Release…?”

“At first, it feels like pushing the stored mana outward. Once you’re used to it, it naturally flows from the arm. Once magic manifests even once, never forget the length of mana you sent out. As you get used to magic, shorten the release distance. It’s important to know the limit where magic stops manifesting. That way you’ll know how many times you can use magic.”

“Sounds like a long road ahead…”

“If you can manipulate mana, it’s not too hard. But more importantly, you all should practice detection and presence sensing. If you rely on one person and that person collapses, the whole group dies.”

“Yeah, we’ll train while we still have money.”

“I’ll start by finding my mana pool and I’ll definitely learn magic.”

“Then I’ll escort you back to the highway.”

“Where should we go next? Leon, you said you were traveling—where did you come from?”

“Lynas. Seven or eight days west along the Blange Road.”

“What’s it like?”

“It’s a small city—a Count’s territory. Compared to the capital, it’s modest. I learned the basics of being an adventurer there.”

“I see, getting taught by veterans makes a difference, huh.”
“We were such nobodies no one wanted to invite us.”
“The ones who did talk to us were… you know.”
“Yeah, they looked like they’d work us to death.”

“If Gale is serious about training magic, there’s a skilled pair in Lynas. They’re searching for a mage. They’re probably still working as a duo now.”

“Skilled?”

“It was my old party. A stupid fire mage screwed up—we lost two people, one retired, and the party disbanded. Then a noble took interest in me, so the sub-master told me to leave town for two years, or I’d get dragged into something.”

“A noble took interest…?”
“What did you do?”
“You’re not wanted, right?”

“Of course not. If I were, the guild wouldn’t let me in.”

“So what happened with the noble?”

“He summoned me about my magic. If things went badly, I could have been forcibly drafted into the magic corps.”

“Yeah, escaping was the right choice.”

“Two veterans, huh…”

“Ah—one was originally in the Count’s knight order. He’s married now, does day trips gathering herbs or hunting small animals. Since I left, they’ve been searching for a mage, but I bet they’re still just the two of them.”

“If it was Leon’s party, I guess they’re trustworthy.”
“I’m used to gathering herbs—maybe we should go.”
“I’m fine with anywhere.”
“Yeah, I don’t want to go near the capital for a while…”

“Then… I have a favor to ask.”

“As long as it’s not unreasonable, we’ll do it.”

“My parents and siblings are in Lynas. I want you to deliver souvenirs from the capital to them.”

“You saved us—we couldn’t thank you enough. Leave that to us.”

* * * * * * * *

Before heading back to the road, we stayed one more night.
I packed the souvenirs I’d bought, and wrote letters of introduction for Mintz and Scott addressed from the four men before handing everything over.

Before parting, I demonstrated the shelter again—how to make entry and attack openings, how to drain mana—and reviewed it all with them one last time.

The rest depended on Gale’s practice.
Since I didn’t teach him chantless casting or lightning magic, he probably wouldn’t reach my level, but he should be somewhat better than an average barrier mage.

“Betty, who helps with cooking, or Ralph, the room attendant, at the Olivetan Hotel on 25 Olivetan Street, right? I’ve received it properly.”

“Please tell them I’m working hard and doing well.”

After seeing the four of them off, I headed back into the forest to get rid of the troublesome things inside my magic bag.

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Early in the morning, in front of the Adventurers’ Guild, Toma and Namul ran into each other. Both looked pale and eyed each other suspiciously.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“That’s my line… Have you seen Steve and the others?”

“Don’t tell me Berche stripped you down to your last ass hair. Serves you right.”

“And what about you? Judging from that wound on your face, looks like you got mugged.”

They both fell silent at that, because it was true, and sighed.

Namul still had his magic pouch, but inside the leather coin pouch the gold coins had vanished, and after paying his bills, only a few silver coins remained.

Drunk with joy over the money he had earned, he forgot to register as the magic pouch’s user, and after passing out, the women went through every inch of his body and found it. When they realized it wasn’t registered, they made a fuss about how everything, even the brothel fee, would disappear if they didn’t take what they could, so they left him only a small amount and split the rest among themselves.

A perfect example of what happens to a broke adventurer who gets drunk and passes out.

Toma was exactly as Namul suspected. On his way to a cheap inn, he was dragged into a dark alley—the usual scenario. Those who attacked him didn’t want trouble from someone yelling about being robbed, so they put a few silver and copper coins back into his pocket before leaving.

At the guard post, when his belongings were returned, he caused a scene about his missing magic pouch, but the guards yelled that there was no way a man who had only a few silver and copper coins had a magic pouch to begin with. On top of that, he was fined for getting drunk and being taken into custody. In the end, all he had left was three silver coins and a few copper and iron coins.

The two of them looked at each other, sighed again, and decided to wait for Steve and the others so they could borrow money.

＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊

After dumping the unwanted items from my magic bag, I returned to the city and headed to the Adventurers’ Guild. Two men were sitting by the entrance, and when they saw my face, they happily stood up and hurried over.

“Brother! Didn’t think we’d see you again!”

“You haven’t seen Steve and the others, have you?”

“Uh… who are you?”

“What do you mean who—? You saved us in the forest!”

“You forgot?”

“You must be mistaking me for someone else. I don’t know anyone in the capital.”

“You gave us a magic pouch and money! But it got stolen… just lend us a little, okay?”

“Please, if we see Steve we’ll borrow from them and pay you back.”

“So shaking me down, huh? If you think you can extort some young guy, I’ll hand you over to the guards!”

“Hey, hey, we know you’re strong, just calm down. We’ve only got a knife and a bit of money left. Please lend us something.”

“If you refuse, we’ll tell the guild you killed someone and stole their money!”

“Ohh? Then go ahead. With attempted extortion and filing a false report, you’re guaranteed a trip to the underground jail.”

Hearing that, their knees buckled, and when I grabbed one by the arm, they panicked and ran. Adventurers coming out of the guild watched with interest and laughed, pointing at the two fleeing men.

Judging from this, it’ll probably take a bit longer for the story of them getting cleaned out to spread, but since they yelled things like “He gave us a magic pouch and money!” and “He killed someone and stole it!” right in front of the guild, I expect a new batch of pests will show up soon.

Before that happens, I should settle things with this Warrens fellow and get out of the capital as fast as I can.