Return of the Class 8 Mage
104.

Traces of an Artist (2)

“Killer!”

A killer?

Ian rolled up the mana in his hand, puzzled.

Things would be different if it was Oliver's sword but handling a children's sword like this was a children's game. As expected, he could snatch the sword from the boy's hand.

“Aduh!”

The youngster who was swinging the sword in his hand hesitantly took a few steps back. Maybe he thought it was a revenge blow, considering he took a few steps back.

“Hah..a skilled assassin has been sent to challenge me! Sure was! After all, they had once managed to kill the greatest genius in the country. You are quite skilled1”

“But I don't.”

“Shut! A murderer is a murderer! You will die in my hands!”

The young man's attack did not end there. He took out a dagger from his underwear and entered for a second attack. Of course, Ian did not feel threatened at all.

‘Where is this place?’

Ian casually avoided the prick and scanned his surroundings.

He had been thinking of coming to the western end of the Lower Dukedom, because his destination, the FIltin Territory, was to the west of the Dukedom. It was late at night when Ian left the imperial city of Greenriver, but this place was already late in the morning, and the sun had already set. Considering the time difference, Ian believed this was the Low Dukedom territory.

‘Have I been to a village like this before?’

There is a small village. Ian could see what looked like the entrance to a village. He must have never been here recently, but if he could teleport here, it meant that he had been here in a previous life.

“You beast! You murderer! He-yah! Ha-yah!”

Even amidst Ian's confusion, this strange child did not stop attacking. Ian didn't feel threatened at all, but he was getting upset. He decided to stop it.

“Sl..” Ian began, trying to pair a Sleeping Spell on the boy.

“Celaka!” A man shouted.

Some of the villagers had heard the commotion and walked towards them.

Maybe this boy's name is Cleven.

“Will you stop it right now!”

A large middle-aged man ran over and caught the boy. Could he be an old man?

Ian's question was answered immediately.

“Head! You're here on time. This is a killer! I'm sure of it! He was sent to kill me! He suddenly appeared in front of me!”

Hearing the boy's words, the chief looked at Ian. Of course, he didn't seem to believe that Ian was a murderer. After all, he had taken the dagger and fought the boy.

“Ouch! T..The head! why did you..” protest the boy.

“Basic brat, until when will you continue this about your killer ?!”

“It's true! He's out to pick me up! He stopped my sword with his bare hands! I'm sure he's a trained man.”.

“I think everything has calmed down a bit but it doesn't seem to! Who let this kid get a gun? Eh?! Bring him home immediately! And don't let him leave the house!”

Hearing his words, some villagers stepped up to take Cleven's hand and dragged him home. The boy did not stop shouting about Ian as an assassin, but the villagers did not seem to notice his words. They seem to be used to this.

“Wah.. forgive us. As you can see, the boy had some problems. He's a little ... defective in his mind. He always makes a fuss, claiming to feel threatened. We sincerely apologize once again.” The chief said, apologizing.

Ian replied back in the language of the Low Nobles.

“It was pretty good. And I'm not a hit man, just to tell you. ”

“Haha, I sure don't. I'm thinking you're not from here, so are you a traveler from afar? Chief advises. Judging from Ian's accent, appearance, and attire, the chieftain came to the conclusion that Ian was a traveler.

“Ya. I saw a village so I thought I would look around.”

“And you happened to catch the attention of Cleven.”

“I think so.” Ian murmured at the chairman's question, but according to Ian it was good enough. Ian did not want to reveal his identity if possible. Strictly speaking, he was in a foreign land, a country that rarely came into conflict with Greenriver. There was no reason for him to start a commotion.

“Circling the world at such a young age. Extraordinary.”

“That's probably since I was young.”

“That's what youth means.”

The conversation went well, as it did between locals and tourists. Of course, Ian wasn't an ordinary wanderer, and wanted to get out of there right away, but he couldn't just leave.

“What is the name of this village?” ask Ian. He might as well know where he is. It was a village that was not in his memory, but he managed to teleport. That means he's been here before.

“Aduh Buyung's. I was late to introduce myself. My name is Jackson, and I'm the village chief. ‘Bordon’ is the name of our village, and we are in the land of Filtin.”

“Did you just say we're in Filtin's land?”

“I did. Is there a problem?”

“...Nothing. I'm Lian.” Ian said, deciding to introduce himself with a different name. The wires in his brain started working at full speed. He was confident the rank of a duke had surrendered in the midst of the unification war. Therefore, there was no reason for him to go so far. Even when he was busy hunting down Artifacts in his previous life, the region of FIltin had been out of the question.

Then how could he remember and teleport all the way here?

‘Hold..’

Ian thought carefully.

Then, he could remember it.

All the old memories he had forgotten.

Even the ones he doesn't need to remember.

‘Ordo Fake Dragon.’

The region of FIltin was in the western region of the Low Dukedom.

He's been in the area before.

Ian had been searching for the Dragon cult group when he helped to research the Dragon Language. The con men had been active in the western part of the dukedom. In his previous life, it was the far western part of the united Greenriver Kingdom, but now it was part of the Low Kingdom.

‘I forgot.’

As soon as his memories lit up, they spread like wildfire. Memories of his past are revived and he remembers the reason the village was there.

“Their headquarters.”

When he visited in his previous life, that is, twenty years from now, this Bordon village was not what it is today.

‘When it was completely destroyed.’

At the same time, it also became the headquarters of the dragon cult. Even Crude, the leader of the thief guild, whom Ian had secretly met to find out the whereabouts of the Dragonians, knew of the existence of an active cult group. Taking that into account, the cult is still active.

“Head.”

Some of the villagers, who were aware of Ian's whereabouts, walked up to the village chief and whispered in his ear, making sure to stay away from Ian. There was no point in doing it, because Ian could make his hearing better if he wanted to.

‘It's time for the morning service. What should we do?’

‘And that stranger...?’

‘He's a victim who came with his own two feet. See him through.’

The chieftain made a big fake smile, completely unaware that Ian, his ‘ prey’ has been listening, and speaking.

“How rough we are on our guests. Many of our villagers are ashamed of strangers, so please understand.”

“It's really fine.”

“Let's see...Even this meeting is destined, so why don't you stay and eat with us? There's nothing we can show off about the city, but we're not so cruel as to turn a blind eye to strangers we've caused trouble.” Jackson said, start working like he always does as a head.

If he really is the chairman.

“Then I excuse you and accept food from you with pleasure.” Ian replied, with this suspicion.

“Do not regret at all. Come, this way.”

Ian followed Chief Jackson far into the village. It was a quiet town. Ian could not even hear the noisy Cleven, so he wondered where the boy was being dragged to.

“And those people gathered there.?” Ian pointed at the group of people gathered around the ugly-looking stone statue. They knelt down, lifted up their prayers. It seemed like the service whispered by the village chief and the villagers earlier.

“Ah, our villagers gather for dawn prayers every day. It is an old tradition of this city.”

“What a unique looking statue they pray for. Is that a winged lizard?” Ian asked, pretending to know nothing. Anyone would know that it was a dragon, but Ian acted as if he knew nothing.

“Not a lizard, but a dragon.”

“A dragon! Lifting prayers for dragons?”

“Unlike the gods, they answer prayer.”

“They answered?”

At that moment, there was a commotion among the villagers who had gathered, and Ian could not blame them.

Streams of light burst out from the dragon statue, as if it was actually listening to a prayer.

“Oooh!”

“Oh, Great Dragon! Great Dragon!”

“Cure my mother!”

“Do not let us starve again tomorrow!”

The villagers became more excited with their prayers. This might seem like a miracle in the eyes of the villagers, but Ian knew better.

“It's magical.”

The statue emitted a perfect stream of light.

A spell was being cast from the statue.

It was a slight change from the Light Spell.

This made Ian even more suspicious.

‘The sculpture is not good enough to be made from magical techniques.’

A magical engineering device cannot conjure magic by itself. There are only two things that can work wonders in the name of magic.

‘Magic and Artifacts.’

The statue bewitched magic just like the Artifacts did.

“But this is different.” thought Ian in heart.

The statue was different from the other Artifacts Ian had seen so far. Feels different. How does he describe this difference?

‘It looks like it was made haphazardly, as if someone just wanted to test it ..’ thought Ian.

All of the Artifacts Ian had seen so far, such as the Mogrian Ring, Queen’s Amulet, Mitchell Greenriver's robe, and the Cane of the Great Fields had different figures. They might look simple, but there was nothing as ugly as this statue.

Ian would believe if someone said a skilled child had succeeded with mud.

‘Too ugly to be an Artifact ..’

Ian grew suspicious by the second.

“Come in. Although a little shabby. I'll prepare food for you soon.” The head said, breaking his mind.

They had arrived at the house of the chieftain, which was not far from the statue. Being the head house, it was different from the other houses in the village. It was the biggest and very clean inside.

“Not as shabby as I expected.”

“I did build this house with my own hands. Not comparable to the ones in town, but I'm trying to build it.”

Immediately, the food is prepared and placed on the dining table. It was actually a potato soup and a piece of fragile bread. It is also a traditional food.

“Can I eat with you?” ask Chief Jackson.

Ian nodded, and they ate in an awkward silence.

Ian had no problem with his food, because he was hungry.

“If you don't mind me asking, may I ask where you are from? You seem to be fluent in our language, but you have a unique accent. ”

“I'm from Greenriver.”

“Oh! Isn't it pretty fucked up right now?” Jackson asked. He then began to pour Ian with questions.

Only in the beginning, though.

He's starting to shut up.

“...” The chairman started busy looking at Ian and kept stealing glances.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” ask Ian.

“A-? Ah, it's okay! I'm just worried the food might not be good for you, but you seem to enjoy it more than I expected. Do you want one more serving?”

“Ya please.”

Chief Jackson heads to the kitchen with Ian's bowl. Once he was in the kitchen, the village chief could not hide his confused expression anymore. Ian did not see any confusion on his face.

‘What is going on? Why did nothing happen?’ he thinks.

The stew that Jackson served to guests was not just any soup. He's been mixed on sleeping pills. But the stranger had not even fallen asleep. Oh, my God, he asked for more.

Read the latest chapter in the novel Only

‘Did I put in too little?’

Ja. That's just possible. He thought the stew would feel strange if he put in too little. Jackson was just thinking of putting in more. He poured more sleeping pills into the decoction once again. Much more than he did before.

‘This time must be ..’

Jackson does not know.

It's not the amount of sleeping pills that's a problem, and he's making a big mistake right now.