Mightiest Melee Magician
Chapter 66
In this extraordinary circumstance, an artifact from Area X had reacted to me.
Kunkhan’s Tooth.
“This… Isn’t this that guy’s tooth?”
“……Eh? Do you know this item?”
Looking at this, Straang had a mischievous smile on her face.
“This is the molar of the Great Chieftain Kunkhan, the first one to create a tribe after rounding up all the ogres that were spread out over the continent under the Sky Summit banner.”
“……The chieftain of Sky Summit? Then, maybe……”
“Yeah. Remember the ancient ogre sleeping in the underground of your academy? This is Kingram’s father’s.”
PR/n: Previously, we said that Kingram was part of the Sky Phoenix clan, but we have decided that Sky Summit clan is a more appropriate name for it. We have updated the previous chapters to reflect this change.
“……”
Everything really was connected in a weird way.
World Ender Draka and the 100 years he spent on Sky Mountain Summit with the Incarnation of Strength, Straang.
He was accepted as ‘part of the family’ by an ogre, Chieftain Kunkhan.
After receiving Kunkhan’s favour, Draka taught Kunkhan’s son, Kingram, magic and the human language. I knew this well because Kingram had told me this story before.
I could only exclaim.
“It’s a small world.”
The world really felt too small.
Wherever I went, my connections with these ogres never ended.
However, Straang refuted this notion.
“No, the world is big. It just feels small for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you think all of this is just a coincidence?”
“……”
Coincidence……
No, it merely looked like a coincidence.
In reality, it was just inevitable.
“Kunkhan’s Tooth was waiting for you this whole time. We can tell since it reacted and signaled cause it couldn’t wait any longer for you when you weren’t even looking for it.”
“Is this item that great?”
“This is the symbol of ultimate strength. And it is also the representation of the Great Chieftan’s support for you.”
“……”
A fragment of a molar that was the size of my fist.
It didn’t look ordinary, but it didn’t look particularly extraordinary either.
However,
“This…… You’ve really done it now! Kunkhan’s Tooth! For Kunkhan’s Tooth, that was quiet for hundreds of years, to wake up! This is Algal’s great blessing to you!”
Looking at the weird responses from Delicious Boar and other magicians, it seemed that I had done something serious.
The part they were exclaiming and making a fuss about the most was the moment when I grabbed Kunkhan’s Tooth, which was emitting light and flying toward me, with one hand.
“Isn’t it heavy?”
“It has some weight, but I don’t think it’s that heavy.”
“Kunkhan’s Tooth is something not even five adult knights could lift together. To move it into Area X, we needed help from ten knights using a tool.”
This small item required ten knights.
“It seems that it found the right master.”
“……”
Yeah.
Just like what Stray Cat said, the item found its rightful owner.
The winner of the Grand Festival would be ‘selected’ by an artifact.
This selection was final.
No one could stop me from owning Kunkhan’s Tooth.
Even if…
“I’ll go report to the tower master now.”
That person was the king of magicians.
* * *
I took Kunkhan’s Tooth and came back to my room.
With this, I received all the benefits of being the winner of the Grand Festival.
An enormous sum of money, a legendary artifact, and even a special mission.
After finishing the Search Mission starting tomorrow, all the things I needed to do here would be done.
But before that, I contemplated how to use Kunkhan’s Tooth effectively.
“What is this?”
“The primordial source of strength. A symbol of ultimate might. The ogre that had inherited unbreakable will—”
“No, not those symbolic things. I’m asking how I can use this artifact.”
I had heard the stories about the three artifacts that were stored in Area X.
Along with the famous artifact of Algal’s Staff, which was used by Fire King Teron, there was Morshi’s Scales, a set of armour that the gold dragon ‘Morshigonia’ crafted for humans using their own scales.
In reality, the humans didn’t know that this was a dragon’s item.
Only Straang, who had lived her life with a dragon before, could determine the ‘smell’ of the artifact.
In any case, for these two, a staff and a set of armour, the usage was clear.
However, Kunkhan’s Tooth wasn’t like that.
“It’s not a sword, and it’s not a shield either……”
This weird bumpy spherical shape was the size of my fist.
It was like an unrefined ore that hadn’t been made into a weapon yet.
After all, no one had handled this guy yet.
It could become a weapon, but it was pretty hard to imagine what.
“Could it be a flail?”
The size and shape were good enough to attach some chains and use as a flail……
But a flail? Really?
There was no way.
Then, Straang spoke.
“For now, just having it on you should be enough. Kunkhan’s Tooth should increase your strength considerably.”
It was true.
Just by having Kunkhan’s Tooth with me, my strength, which was barely over 2,500, had increased by 1,000.
This wasn’t all.
“Since it’s in its raw state, its value won’t be as good, but there will be a chance later down the line where you would turn this into a weapon. Then, the effects should increase.”
“……”
Like Algal’s Staff and Morshi’s Scale, if Kunkhan’s Tooth was able to be crafted into something, it too would gain a powerful ability.
Of course, I was a bit worried…… What blacksmith would be able to handle this one-of-a-kind material?
“It’s not something that can be solved by thinking about it now.”
“That’s true.”
Since this was currently out of my domain, I wouldn’t worry about it.
So, for now,
“Focus on the mission you’ll go on tomorrow instead.”
Let’s try and cleanly finish the mission.
* * *
* * *
The dawn of the next day.
I was greeted in the morning by just Stray Cat, and quietly exited the Magician’s Tower.
“Here. It’s your mission allowance and the mana train ticket for Tercian. Other than that, your identification is also in there. The mission time limit is exactly one month. The ticket for returning to Ravirdyne is there too, so please don’t miss the date.”
“Ok.”
Allowance and identification.
I also received the ticket for the roundtrip, and now, my business with Stray Cat had ended.
However, for Stray Cat…
“……”
He looked at me with quite a complicated look in his eyes.
As if he had something he wanted to say to me.
So, I asked him.
“Is there something else you want to tell me?”
“There is, but there also isn’t.”
“…What does that—”
“It’s not something I should say as a magician part of the magic tower, as we are forbidden from having personal opinions, but I do have something to say to you as your senior.”
Mr Stray Cat.
He tried to keep an objective distance between us during conversation, but we both knew that we had gotten close enough to talk about personal things.
“The magicians that are here in Ravirdyne all look to be kind and friendly, but in truth, that is not the case.”
“……Yes?”
“The magician’s directly under them, and the magicians that are out of their control. The Tower separates magicians into these two distinct categories. You probably know that you’re definitely in the latter category.”
The magician that refused to be under the Fire King Teron’s foot.
The magician that refused the crown prince’s suggestion of naturalizing to the Empire, and couldn’t be contained by him.
Me.
“Be cautious. And doubt everything. In this place, every smile hides a sharp dagger behind it.”
Stray Cat was telling me to be careful.
To doubt every situation.
“That was the words of not Stray Cat, but ‘Taylor Hapilburg’. Please bear it in mind. And then, please forget it. The magician Stray Cat didn’t say anything.”
“……”
‘Renegade Hapilburg’.
I had heard of him.
He was a noble of the Radian Kingdom and a student of Ignit Magic Academy.
But he gave up his name and everything to naturalize to the Raynac Empire.
The eldest son of the Hapilburg house, Taylor Hapilburg.
He had advised me, not as Stray Cat, but as a senior of the Academy.
And I smiled toward that senior.
“I didn’t hear anything, Mr Stray Cat.”
Then, Taylor Hapilburg—
No.
Stray Cat also smiled at me and replied,
“Then, have a good trip.”
* * *
The ancient castle of Tercian.
At one point in history, it was called the shield of the Frelian continent.
The ogre village was the most threatening thing to humanity after the demons.
This was the biggest city in the vicinity of Sky Mountain Summit.
With the sole purpose of protecting the continent from an invasion by the ogres, this city was constructed with this plan in mind, and with it, came its worth.
Thanks to this, it had pretty tall castle walls and strong military might. It was an armed city with an iron-willed spirit.
Well, at least before the ogres had all disappeared.
However,
“……It truly is desolate.”
After the great ogre threat had disappeared, the Tercian of now was nothing but a ghost town.
The outer walls of the castle were poorly kept, just like the ruined castle I saw in Altein.
Rather than a strong military presence, the positions were filled with guards that were drinking in broad daylight.
The courageous citizens of Tercian who believed that the old, the women, and the children, should all fight in the face of danger had all disappeared.
Vagrants and delinquents filled the streets.
It seemed that, after its purpose—the ogres—had disappeared, the answer called Tercian had also crumbled into nothing.
‘For that famous shield of the continent to be in this state……’
The world within books and the real world truly were different…
I shook my head after seeing all this and straightened my steps.
The place I was headed to was the sole stable in Tercian.
“Kuah! Kuuooh!”
“……”
However, the stableman was sleeping after drinking all day, and I tapped him on his shoulder.
At that, the owner of the establishment opened his eyes slowly.
Then, he frowned.
“What? Whose kid is this? You dare wake me up from my sleep?”
“……”
Seems words wouldn’t be effective.
I pulled out a parchment from my pockets.
My identification.
The parchment had a phrase that said not to ask about my identity nor my objective in being here.
Stamped under that were the seals of the Raynac Empire and the Magician’s Tower.
“U-uhak……!”
Having looked at the document, the stableman swallowed his breath and then collapsed to the ground bowing, eyes wide.
“I-I apologize! I dared to…… I didn’t know you were a m-magician…”
“It’s fine. Could I get a horse?”
“Yes? A h-horse?”
The stableman scratched his head and spoke while being a little flustered.
“S-so the thing is…… I don’t actually have a horse that I can give to you.”
“You don’t have a horse?”
“Yes. It somehow became like that.”
“……Are there no other stables around here?”
“No, this is the only stable in Tercian.”
“……”
The stable didn’t have a horse.
What kind of predicament was this?
As I became perplexed, the stableman started to talk and mutter.
“So the thing is, there were a total of three horses stored here, but they were all taken today. It was just flies here for the last few weeks…… but looks like the customers all came today. Haha…… But sir magician, don’t worry too much. If you can wait just one day, I think I’ll be able to get a horse……”
“What did you say right now?”
“If you can wait just one day, I can try and get a horse—”
“No, before that. You said that there weren’t any travelers for the last few weeks, but they all came today and took the horses?”
“Pardon? Right, yes. That’s the truth. But why is that…?”
“……”
The people who would borrow horses in Tercian……
There were people other than me?
This… Was this really a coincidence?
The words that Stray Cat had told me before suddenly appeared in my head.
‘Doubt everything.’
But then,
“……Did you feel that?”
“Master, you only felt it now? I’ve sensed it since the mana train.”
“……”
I could feel hidden gazes targeted at me.
Yeah.
I had some shadows trailing me.
——
