Chapter 146: Preparation Part 4

The White Whale Mercenary Corps—

And their leader, the fifth‑circle mage Jun.

They were the talk of the town lately, and Wurt had no intention of dismissing the feats they had achieved.

After all, Wurt too had once sworn to live and die as a soldier defending the Empire.

Stopping the Dimension Reversal not once but twice within a single year was the kind of achievement he could never belittle.

However, the reason Wurt felt disappointed in Joseph’s decision lay elsewhere.

“Just one year… Their experience in Blackout is barely a year.”

From what he’d heard, aside from their high‑ranking priest, most of the members of the White Whale Mercenary Corps had unimpressive backgrounds.

Their leader Jun had been only a third‑circle mage a year ago. And even then, he was just a wandering mage who had left the Magic Tower.

Aiden was an unknown commoner from who‑knows‑where, and Maya, the petite one, was said to be an Imperial citizen from the Outer Regions.

“If we have a bit of luck on our side…”

…couldn’t they possibly surpass the White Whale Mercenary Corps?

That was why Wurt thought it would be more effective for Joseph to take the lead and form contracts with other nobles, rather than just living off scraps that fell from the White Whale’s table.

It was partly pride in himself, but more than that, it came from his loyalty and trust in Joseph.

But—

“What…”

Once they entered the dungeon on the second level, Wurt’s thinking began to change.

***

The dungeon they were in now was a field‑type dungeon.

It was about halfway through their exploration.

Up to that point, Wurt and the rest of the mercenary team had been brimming with confidence.

In terms of skill, they were more than capable of holding their own even on the third level. Their teamwork was excellent, and no matter what monsters ambushed them, they stayed calm together and took them down.

On top of that, Enamel who had recently joined the Hermetes Church had activated [Pilgrim’s Dawn], so there was no worry about getting lost. Their progress was smooth.

However—

“Four o’clock! Lizard Walkers incoming!”

“Those damned salamanders!”

“We still haven’t cleared the ones at ten o’clock!”

“What the hell?! This is supposed to be a second‑level dungeon! Why are they swarming us like this when the intel says otherwise?!”

At some point, instead of appearing periodically as their information had suggested, the monsters began flooding in all at once.

Of course, the Break Mercenary Group had the experience of former soldiers, so they weren’t completely thrown off.

But the unexpected situation forced them to exert far more effort than necessary, and exhaustion began to set in quickly.

Up until then, Aiden had been quietly observing the situation. But now, he rested his hand on his sword.

“Told you we should’ve sewn his mouth shut.”

Aiden gave his usual awkward smile in response.

“Still, you can’t just go around sewing up a stranger’s mouth…”

“Anyone who utters that cursed phrase about a mission being easy deserves it.”

Thanks to the experiences they’d accumulated over the past year, both Aiden and Maya had already realized that something was off about this dungeon.

Still… maybe this is for the best. I needed to test out that new skill anyway.

At some point, without even realizing it, Aiden had begun adopting Jun’s way of thinking. He drew in his mana.

***

“Ugh… why is it so chilly? Is it just because it’s spring?”

Although Blackout wasn’t a place affected much by the seasons, Eleanor grumbled as she shut the open window.

“Or maybe I’m just feeling weak…”

Twisting her body uncomfortably over her magic theory studies, Eleanor rubbed at her eyelids in fatigue.

Because of her characteristic black eyepatch, even reading was tiring for her.

Thanks to her [Mind’s Eye] skill it wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, but it still consumed mana.

“I mean, what kind of lunatic tries to absorb that for the sake of studying…?”

Just as graduate students always had coffee by their side, Eleanor always had cylinders of mana fluid scattered around her.

When she had complained about it to Jun, his only response had been:

– So this is another way to train your [Mind’s Eye] skill proficiency.

…which was exactly the kind of infuriating remark that made her want to tear her hair out.

The only saving grace was that her skills were noticeably improving in proportion to her suffering.

“I hate to admit it, but maybe his teaching methods really are impressive…”

It had already been half a month since she started staying in the Black Forest.

For the first week, Jun had mysteriously vanished without a trace, but then, a few days ago, he started showing up to teach her in person.

And truthfully, Eleanor had benefited a great deal from it.

“So why doesn’t it make me happy…?”

Whenever she made a mistake in magic theory, Jun would immediately demonstrate the actual magic on the spot, breaking down in meticulous detail exactly why she had failed and where her error lay.

Naturally, Eleanor had to learn, in real time, what kind of disasters could occur when you made mistakes in magic… and by now, she was developing something close to an obsessive compulsion when it came to analyzing magic patterns.

It wasn’t all that surprising. After all, there had been ridiculous situations where even a high-ranking priest had made a mistake while casting holy magic and ended up injuring themselves!

“Phew—”

Eleanor let out a deep sigh as she recalled that moment once again.

If there was one small consolation…

“At least I can finish my quota faster than I thought.”

During this break, she had managed to thoroughly read through the magic books she had deemed worth studying.

Perhaps now, she could start using that knowledge to create her own holy magic.

“I might actually have some talent for this. Fufu!”

Her little daydream, born somewhere between resenting Jun and indulging in self-satisfaction, was shattered later that evening.

“Ah, Eleanor. You should learn these too.”

“…What?”

“I’ve been studying enchantment magic lately, and it completely shatters your preconceived notions about magic. This is a paper that summarizes the theory in a simple way.”

“…You do realize my so-called preconceived notions haven’t even been around for a full week yet, right?”

“Exactly. That’s why you need to learn now before those notions harden into fixed ideas. They’re still soft and can be smashed, you know?”

Pretty sure the thing that needs smashing isn’t my worldview but your thick skull.

…Oops.

This time, her actions came before her words.

***

While Eleanor was busy being tormented by Jun, Aiden and Maya were taking a break after finishing a battle.

“What do you think was lacking in this fight?”

At Aiden’s question, Maya who had been tearing into a piece of meat gave him a sharp glare, clearly annoyed at being interrupted.

Gulp—

Was he some kind of cow, chewing bites after every single battle by reviewing the previous one?

Of course, Maya didn’t exactly hate doing it… she just preferred to avoid it during meals if possible.

I’ll just bite my tongue.

Resigning herself to it, Maya replied in her usual blunt manner.

“Skill proficiency issue.”

“Yeah… true. Beast’s Roar drains more mana than I expected. It was… pretty powerful.”

“Pretty?”

Calling it “pretty” powerful was more than a bit of an understatement.

Maya glanced over at the Break Mercenary Company, who were also eating nearby.

The five of them had been avoiding making eye contact with Aiden since earlier.

The new skill Aiden had learned, Beast’s Roar, was a technique that projected overwhelming intimidation toward nearby monsters, forcing their attention onto the user.

Sensing the intimidation as a direct threat to their lives, the monsters would naturally prioritize attacking the one using it.

The problem was… this didn’t apply only to monsters. It worked on people just the same.

And Aiden’s mana was, well… a little too overwhelming for the average person to handle.

“Haha… maybe I should’ve tested it somewhere with fewer people around?”

At his remark, Maya shook her head.

It wasn’t that she disagreed with him; she just didn’t feel like answering.

“Well, that’s a relief. At least it doesn’t seem like any major problems cropped up.”

“Probably an Irregular.”

Just as Maya had said, the disturbance in this dungeon was most likely caused by the appearance of an Irregular.

Meanwhile, watching the two talk, Wurt of the Break Mercenary Company shut his eyes in weary resignation.

“How can they eat so casually after cutting down that many monsters?”

Under normal circumstances, his muttered remark would have earned him mocking laughter from his comrades.

As former Imperial soldiers, they had endured some of the harshest training imaginable. Harsh enough to keep their expressions steady through almost any trial.

But today… they had seen a mountain made of monster corpses.

Aiden, unleashing mana like rolling waves of crimson fire, was one thing…but the woman called Maya never seemed to kill a monster the easy way.

If the monsters had died quickly, their bodies would have dispersed into particles. But instead, the two of them, claiming they were giving the newer recruits a live demonstration, showed how to take on large groups of monsters with only a small number of people.

The result: severed monster limbs, howls of pain, and blood spraying in every direction…

“Ugh.”

The memory alone was enough to make Enamel nearly bring up the food he had just swallowed.

“To be that relaxed in a situation like this… honestly, it’s impressive.”

“I guess their reputation isn’t undeserved.”

“I’ve heard that the odds of something like this happening are extremely low.”

“Looks like we’re getting one hell of an initiation.”

The end of the dungeon was finally coming into sight, and that was what they believed.

They thought their streak of bad luck had run its course.

But whether the two remaining requests would go the way they hoped… only the goddess of fortune knew.

***

A month had passed.

It was about time for the members to start regrouping.

Aiden and Maya had yet to return, but Jun wasn’t concerned.

A letter from Joseph had arrived.

– My men are begging for mercy. Do you know anything about that? They say the monsters are dying in ways far too brutal to be normal. Strange thing is, these are the same men who hardly ever made a death cry even during training with me. Once your training center in the Black Forest is complete, I might just have to send them there. Seems they’re in need of a refresher course in mental discipline.

Reading that, Jun was certain. They’d be arriving before long.

Meanwhile, as always, after finishing Eleanor’s lesson for the day, Jun headed to Shylock and Mashar’s workshop.

“Today, I’ve been summoned upstairs, so I think I should head there.”

Shylock, who was once again busy making something in the workshop, replied to Jun’s words.

“Ah, I was going to tell you that anyway. Starting today, you don’t need to come here anymore.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. You’ve already taken everything you could from here, haven’t you?”

“I still think I have more to learn, though.”

It wasn’t quite like the first day, but even now, new theories and ways to apply them kept coming to him one after another.

As a mage, it would be a shame to pass up such an opportunity.

But Shylock shook his head firmly.

“You fool. Even with food, once you’ve eaten enough, you’re full. If you keep stuffing yourself without giving your stomach time to digest, do you think you’ll get sick or not?”

“…I guess I would?”

“Exactly. You’ve already absorbed plenty of theory. If you keep piling on new things before you’ve even sorted out what you have, all that knowledge you’ve worked so hard to gather will just turn into a useless mess. With your level of skill, whatever insights you might gain today, you can always get later. For now, organize what you already have.”

“…Alright, I understand.”

Even if he had lost his magic, Shylock was still a “Great Mage”.

Jun wasn’t arrogant enough to ignore the advice of someone like that.

So, for the first time in nearly a month, he made his way to Chloe’s office. There, he saw a mountain of paperwork that had finally started to look somewhat organized.

“Hey, you’re looking a lot more refreshed these days.”

“Wanna die?”

Chloe, whose dark circles hadn’t yet fully disappeared, shot back.

Recently, she had been able to breathe a little easier after hiring additional help to take over some of her workload.

“Here, take this.”

“The thing you mentioned last time?”

“Yeah.”

A month ago—

Through Chairlse who needed time to adjust to the blackout Jun had made a request to procure certain items.

It turned out Chairlse was more capable than Jun had expected. He had brought back the very item Jun had wanted.

“What’s Chairlse up to these days?”

As he unwrapped the package he’d received, Jun asked the question. Chloe, still buried in her paperwork, replied without looking up.

“He’s still got some training left to finish. He’s working on that. It’s going to take a while; it’s part of building connections.”

“Ah, I see.”

“So, what is that, anyway?”

Finally taking her eyes off the documents, Chloe glanced at the stone in Jun’s hand, perhaps taking a momentary break.

“It’s a communications device… from the future.”

“…What?”

With a look of satisfaction, Jun examined the stone. Its surface was patterned like the decaying roots of a tree.

It was a second-level artifact known as the [Root of the World Tree].