“Klad, where are you taking me?”
“This way.”
Klad stopped only after leaving the village and reaching deep into the forest.
This place, located on the opposite side from the road leading to the capital where Duke West’s castle was, had a more gloomy and ominous energy lingering than the path they’d walked until now.
As if the demonic energy covering the village had also affected this place.
‘It’s not like it affected it. I really can feel demonic energy.’
Jake clenched and unclenched his tingling right hand repeatedly while surveying his surroundings.
To think demonic energy could be felt in such an ordinary-looking forest. There must definitely be a route used by demons nearby.
How about blocking the path demons use instead of struggling to protect the entire village?
‘I could protect more people.’
It was rational.
Klad must have come here to make the same suggestion.
Jake looked at Klad with the corners of his mouth stretched wide in satisfaction at having a companion whose opinions aligned well. He couldn’t see what expression Klad was making in the darkness, but he could feel that the figure that had been walking ahead had turned around to face him.
“Look carefully, hero. Over there…”
“Is the path demons use over there? To have already figured that out. Amazing, Klad!”
“…What’s over there isn’t a path used by demons, but a small city.”
“A small city?”
It was a more surprising discovery than news of finding a path used by demons.
Jake’s eyes widened as he stared intently in the direction he assumed Klad was pointing.
He couldn’t see anything.
“It’s too dark to see. But I remember seeing it on a map. I definitely remember that if you keep following the direction that cuts across that village from the capital, you’ll come to a small city.”
“We’re going there.”
“Won’t it take an absurd amount of time to get there?”
“If we hurry a little, we can arrive within half a day.”
“I can’t gauge the exact distance without a map, but there’s nowhere in this world that can be reached on foot in a mere half day.”
Instead of answering Jake’s question, Klad committed the grave offense of touching a noble’s body. When Klad’s hand touched his back, Jake, who had been about to say something, closed his mouth at the subtle sensation that followed.
Hot energy seeped into his body through Klad’s hand.
Startled, Jake jumped to escape from his grasp.
Whoosh—
“Hup!”
Jake, who had planned to step back one step, floated up like a feather blown by the wind and landed far away. At this level, it was closer to flying than jumping.
Jake sat down on the ground, shocked at his body’s unusual state.
“What is this…!”
Jake was a hero in name only, with a body weaker than even commoners due to his inability to operate mana smoothly. That meant not only that his sword-handling ability was lacking, but also that his basic physical fitness including muscle strength, endurance, and agility was remarkably poor. Flying through the air as if levitating just from jumping a little was impossible even if he tried his whole life.
“What did you do to me, Klad?”
Though his tone seemed accusatory, his voice was filled with joy. Right now, Jake was more excited than he’d ever been since meeting Klad.
“Magic.”
“Is this magic you can use again? I’m asking if you can do it often.”
“Well.”
“I thought so. There’s no way you could use such amazing magic often. My body feels light as if it’ll fly away.”
“Light, my ass.”
Jake, who had been clinging tightly to the ground in fear his lightened body might be blown away by the wind, slowly stood up. When he jumped as if stomping his feet, his body rose so high it was hard to believe he’d just jumped in place. While it might be nothing special to mages who easily handled mana or swordsmen who achieved a certain level of ability, for the dullard Jake, it was a height that felt tremendous.
“As you said, in this state, moving to the next destination within half a day wouldn’t be impossible. Truly amazing.”
“Stop.”
Klad grabbed the nape of Jake’s neck and stopped him as he was about to kick off and run recklessly.
He understood being happy about suddenly becoming agile, but if he ran around blindly in the darkness, he’d only end up crashing into trees.
“Don’t do anything stupid and just follow me.”
“What if I can’t see where you’re heading?”
“Don’t look with your eyes, follow me while sensing the flow of mana.”
“Oh!”
Instead of answering that he couldn’t sense mana, Jake let out an exclamation. The mana of others, which he couldn’t detect no matter how hard he tried, was being felt vividly.
‘Is this Klad’s mana?’
It was a very unique sensation, hot as if blazing yet cool.
Did sensing another person’s mana all feel like this? Or was it a characteristic of Klad’s mana?
He wanted to sense the mana drifting through nature and compare it to this, but even when he strained his eyes and concentrated, he couldn’t feel anything except Klad’s mana.
Jake realized he hadn’t gained a new ability, but that Klad was pouring out enough mana that even he, who was insensitive to mana flow, could clearly feel it.
‘An amazing ability.’
It was regrettable that he couldn’t taste this feeling often, but it didn’t matter. If he remembered today and repeated mana operation, he’d see much more effective results than training without knowing this sensation.
‘I’ll make sure to master the sense of feeling another person’s mana before we arrive at the small city.’
Jake resolved to himself and chased after Klad. He staggered as he wasn’t used to the sensation of his body floating with each step and landing in a place three or four times farther than usual.
After floundering and following Klad until the sky brightened, a small city came into view in the distance as he’d said.
Unlike the miserable state of the previous village, it was a city surrounded by neat walls.
“Ooh!”
Jake was impressed.
Even among the many cities he’d visited, it was one of the smallest cities, a small city among small cities, but so what?
What mattered was that there was a place to lay down and rest right now.
‘Still, I mustn’t let my guard down. Always remember that priorities exist, Jake.’
Jake steadied his mind while encouraging himself. Right now, there was something more important than washing with warm water and sleeping in a soft bed.
He was so happy about his body becoming lighter and being able to sense mana that he hadn’t asked why they came to the city. Jake stretched out his legs with all his might to catch up to Klad, who was one step ahead.
“Hut!”
He thought he’d be able to move forward a bit faster that way. Contrary to his expectations, his body suddenly became heavy as if stones were tied to his legs.
Klad quickly snatched Jake, who had almost fallen forward and rolled.
“Be careful.”
“Kla-Klad. My feet won’t move. My feet…”
“Your feet aren’t not moving, the magic duration ended so you’ve returned to your original speed.”
“Was my body originally this heavy?”
“Don’t worry, the magic’s side effects won’t make your body heavier. That’s your original speed.”
“Ahh…”
Jake was so disappointed that he again failed to ask the purpose of coming to the city. Fortunately, before the distracted Jake could remember he should ask a question, Klad explained the reason first.
“All the demons heading toward the village erected as a breakwater passed through this city. Someone controlled the demons’ movements from here, sending a designated number of demons to the village on set dates.”
“…!”
It was tremendous content, enough to make even the dazed Jake’s eyes snap open.
Jake forgot what he’d been disappointed about just moments ago and rushed at Klad.
“Is that true?”
“It’s certain without even checking.”
“If someone here manages the demons’ movements, it must be the lord who governs the territory.”
“Right. If you want to stop the demons, it’s better to start from here rather than the village.”
“However, my whereabouts will be reported to Father.”
Jake’s expression became serious.
A situation on a completely different level from when he’d just been spouting futile nonsense about rubbing the ground with his palm was right before his nose.
For Jake, who’d had no choice other than to flee and hide, a proper choice was given.
Would he retreat or would he fight?
“Do you want to stop the demons?”
Klad’s voice ringing in his ears sounded as if it was tempting him.
As if planting a false dream that he could accomplish more than his limits.
“No.”
He’d tried to stop the demons attacking the village because there was no other choice.
But if… if another choice were given…
‘What I want to do.’
How many times in his life had he made the choices he wanted?
For Jake, who clearly knew his limits, it was difficult from the start to pick out what he could do among the things he wanted.
When he excluded things he couldn’t accomplish with his own power one by one and finally realized there were no choices left, the sense of frustration was hard to laugh off even for Jake.
‘But now it’s different.’
Now he had a helper. With Klad’s abilities, he could put into practice what he’d only imagined in his heart until now.
After agonizing for a while, Jake finally opened his mouth.
“I want to catch the demons.”
Jake clenched his fist tightly and met Klad’s gaze.
“In the name of the hero.”
