Read Daily Updated Light Novel, Web Novel, Chinese Novel, Japanese And Korean Novel Online.
Return of The 8th Class Mage (Web Novel) - Chapter 106: Traces of an Artisan (4)
Chapter 106: Traces of an Artisan (4)
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
“…?”
The boy was acting completely different from a few hours ago. When they had first met earlier, he had treated Ian like an assassin and attacked, but now, he was looking at Ian blankly as if nothing had happened.
“Don’t you remember me?”
Cleven couldn’t speak at all. Earlier, he was so agitated and didn’t seem to be in the state which he could be reasoned with , but now, he couldn’t communicate at well. Both situations were frustrating.
‘Probably not the artisan Mitchell Greenriver had met.”
Even though three hundred years had passed, this boy was a completely different figure form the artisan described in the diary. He didn’t have the black hair or pale skin the diary described.
“Can you understand me?”
Ian started chanting a rhyme in the Greenriver language. He wanted to check the boy’s language skills, just to see if he was fluent in various languages as the diary described the artisan. Of course, all Cleven did was blink blankly.
‘I’m sure he has some sort of connection.’ Ian thought.
Ian couldn’t simply dismiss the correlation between the artisan and Cleven. They certainly had the common ability to control artifacts.
‘Whether it’s a direct connection, or not.’
There was definitely some sort of connection.
The boy could be some other artisan master.
Or the Artisan’s successor.
Maybe another third party with some other connection.
There were so many possibilities.
‘What a lucky start.’ .
Although he wondered - was it really just luck?
But no matter. He found a clue.
It was easier and quicker than he thought it would be.
“I noticed you have quite an amazing talent…” Ian said, squinting his eyes.
He now spoke in the Dukedom language that Cleven could understand.
“Where did you learn those talents?”
“… “
Of course, Cleven didn’t answer.
But Ian wasn’t one to stop here.
He continued to ask the questions he wanted answered.
“Is there a particular reason you are helping the chief?”
“…”
“Let’s say, for example, he is threatening you.”
“…”
“I don’t see traces of violence. Or is it drugs? Or could it be…”
“St-stop…”
Cleven clutched his head in hands at Ian’s continuous questions. Was it because of the tranquilizer? It still seemed impossible for him to think logically.
“Hm…” Ian murmured, stroking his chin as he looked at the boy groan in agony. It would be a waste of time questioning the boy like this. In order to receive some sort of clue from Cleven, it was essential that Ian helped him get Cleven to think properly again.
‘I should meet that chief brat first.’
Suddenly, there were so many things to ask the chief - how he knew Cleven and he had gotten ahold of the boy. And how he did he know Cleven had special talents?
‘Not that he would answer willingly, of course…’
This was the moment using force would be effective. After all, hadn’t the chief tried to target Ian by using sleeping pills? There was no reason at all for Ian to hesitate.
“Why don’t you get some sleep.” Ian said, putting the boy Cleven to slumber.
He did it because the boy looked anxious.
In situations like this, it was best to get some sleep.
“And now…”
Ian teleported out of the storage house. His destination was the guest room the chief had led him to. He expected a message to be delivered to him from the chief or his followers.
Sure enough, Chief Jackson came to Ian’s room to talk of the ritual. The dragon statue was fixed, and so were the preparations to rip off ‘traveler Ian’.
“Join us for the special ritual, if you don’t mind.”
“There are leaders among the villagers other than myself who take care of matters in our village. I guess we can call them our administrators.”
At his words, Ian had to swallow back contempt.
Administrators. Yeah, right.
The followers who took over the village with him was more like it.
“It is a joint religious service with all the leaders. The ritual won’t be limited to personal prayers, but it’s for praying for the entire village as well.“
“Are outsiders allowed to partake in that kind of ritual?”
“There’s no reason for you not to. Oh, by the way, the special ritual won’t be at the statue in the middle of the village, though. There’s a separate sanctuary we have managed for you. We are not discriminating you, but a quiet ritual is preferred since it’s different from our normal ones…”
Chief Jackson was quite good at lying.
Ian didn’t have a problem in sensing this.
It was thanks to the spell he had secretly put on the chief.
“If you’re not up for doing prayers at another location, you can wait and partake in the evening ritual. Everything we say is only a suggestion.“ Chief Jackson added, just for sake of not buying suspicion. Of course, things would be a lot easier for him if Lian simply followed up to his suggestions. Jackson had already placed his followers at the special ‘sanctuary’ in the woods, which was just an empty space in the middle of the woods.
“Hmm.” Ian murmured, pretending to be thoughtful.
He nodded slowly.
“Well, I am curious about where this special ritual will be proceeded.”
“Is you say so…”
“I’ll take part in it then. Will you lead the way?”
It was done.
It was all over.
Jackson led the way, smelling victory.
The so called ‘special location’ for the ritual service was in the woods, a little ways away from Bordon Village. Perhaps Jackson’s story about the special religious service wasn’t completely made up, because there was also a shabby statue of a dragon in the middle of the woods. The ‘administrators’ Ian had mentioned, or rather, his followers were standing around the statue.
“Is this the place? It’s a lot closer than I thought.” Ian said to Chief Jackson.
Chief Jackson didn’t answer.
He didn’t have to.
There was no need for him to check up with Ian.
Jackson’s pretense was only up to now.
POW!
A loud, smacking noise sounded, followed by a deep pain in the head instead of a response. At that same moment, Ian’s upper body fell over forwards. Was it because of the pain? At least, that’s what Jackson and his followers thought.
“I’m telling you, you should have just fallen asleep after taking the medicine. Less trouble for us, and you would have left without trouble. You’re seriously an unlucky fellow, aren’t you?”
Jackson’s tone had completely changed after he made sure Ian was swaying on his feet. The gentle and respectful attitude he had shown back in the village was nowhere to be found.
“We don’t want to do this either. After all , haven’t we cleaned up our act and taken over a village? But we humans have our old habits, don’t we? We have our occupational habits.”
Chief Jackson walked over to Ian. There was a creepy smile on his face. It would be liable if someone were to say he was a completely different person.
“Why did you keep prompting me, little boy? You made it obvious that you had a such a deep pocket. You had the face of a wealthy one! I couldn’t stand it.”
Jackson and his nineteen followers had been traffickers in the Low Kingdom in the past.
Now, they were ruling in the village of Bordon like kings, but once in a while they targeted bypassing travelers.
They would steal the possessions of these travelers and quietly kill them, and sometimes they would revive their old skills and sell the bodies to the traffickers who were currently active. In a way, it was their ‘hobby’, as Jackson and his followers liked to put it.
“Just consider yourself unlucky.”
Jackson pulled out a dagger. His followers helped Ian back to his feet, as if this were used to this routine. Ian still hadn’t spoken a single word.
The way he was looking on the ground made it look he was trembling in fear.
“I gathered a bunch of my men thinking you would be trouble, but looks like there was no need.”
Jackson twirled the dagger in his hand.
Then, he stabbed Ian in the stomach.
He seemed to have no reluctance or hesitancy at all.
“…huh?” Jackson muttered. He was confused.
This wasn’t the feeling he was supposed to feel on his hand.
Where was the feeling of penetrating skin?
“Wh…What the…?”
Jackson’s eyes grew big as he quickly withdrew his dagger. The entire blade of his weapon had disappeared completely.
This meant that there had never been a blade in the first place. Jackson wouldn’t know, but Ian had put the Break Spell on the weapon.
“Why is this…?” Jackson stuttered, looking bewildered. He looked at Ian. After all, hadn’t he been lowering his head just now?
Ian had now lifted his head.
Jackson could feel Ian’s eyes on him, which were vicious and deadpan…
‘His…his eyes…’
Jackson had deceived Ian. He had appeared to be like a respectful and gentle young village chief, but he had shown his true colors since they had come into the forest. But now…
“Maybe it’s you all who’s rather unlucky.”
“…what?”
Perhaps Jackson wasn’t the only who was showing his true colors here in the woods.
“Aaaaaagggh!”
Jackson’s followers were the first ones to let out a painful scream. The reason was simple. They were the ones who had been holding Ian down and they felt an extreme pain in their hands.
It felt like a burn, but it wasn’t because of flames. In fact, there was a cold energy creeping off Ian’s body.
“Maybe I’ve lost my senses, or maybe there’s something wrong with my head. I just don’t get angry nowadays. Is it because of the ridiculous new enemies I have now?”
Ian wiped the back of his head.
There was a bloody stain on his hand.
He had known of Jackson’s planned attack.
However, he had only put on the defense spell.
A spell that would only protect his head and his intestines.
As a result, there was a throbbing pain he could feel all over his body.
“That hurts.”
The blood on his hand had dried and turned to powder. Ian dusted it off.
“I must say, I feel I’m starting to get a little angry.” He said quietly.
Ian was starting to get mad.
BOOOM!
As soon as the last word escaped his mouth, there was the sound of mana exploding all around them. That was not all. Jackson’s followers who had been holding Ian down disappeared.
They were not cut into pieces, nor had they burned into flames. They had simply vanished into thin air. They were incapable of leaving a scream, nor a single drop of blood.
“Wha… Huh?”
Jackson stood with his mouth open.
He still couldn’t take in what was happening.
What was going on?
“You didn’t want to do this?” Ian repeated.
Just as Jackson hadn’t been hesitant to stab him, Ian also didn’t feel guilty about all that had just happened.
They had crossed the line of ‘categories’ that Ian places on his enemies.
There was the bandit guild who had tried to threaten him. There was the army of the Coldwood Kingdom that had been drafted by the order of the head authorities. There was Dragonian Evantus, who was struggling to keep his child alive. None of them had crossed the ‘category’ Ian had set for himself.
“That was my intention as well.” Ian continued.
On the other hand, there were the ones whom Ian had killed off. Starting off, there were the Mogrian soldiers who had disgraced his mother, and the bandits who had attacked Ladio. Then there wasthe murderer of Coldwalker and Lagnar Greenriver. They had all crossed the ‘line’ and every single one of them had faced death.
“The thing is though… I have a habit as well.”
The conmen of Brodon Village, including Chief Jackson, were the latter. They had been in the grey area, as Ian wasn’t sure how to categorize them as his enemies, but he had become positive with his decision a few moments ago. They had crossed the line to the category of people Ian killed off.
“If I see trash, I get rid of it ASAP.” Ian replied.
