## Chapter 179 – 179. Mayfield (2)
#179. Mayfield (2)
I killed all the bandits who attacked the carriage without exception.
It wasn’t that I wanted to play the hero, but killing them was several times better than letting them live.
After all, handing them over to the guards would result in the same execution anyway.
In the past, I would have searched their hideout for valuable items, but I wasn’t that desperate anymore.
However, the coachman mentioned that some of the bandits I dealt with had bounties on their heads.
Of course, the amount wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t small enough to ignore either.
‘I should take what I can get.’
More than anything, I couldn’t ignore the money lying on the ground.
I collected the bandits’ heads as if picking up coins, while waiting for the coachman to repair the carriage.
“T, thank you so much, wizard!!”
It was a bit annoying that Logan, the merchant, was bowing so deeply he seemed about to break the ground, but it was convenient that I didn’t have to use honorifics with him anymore.
People in this world were more terrified if a wizard used honorifics.
He insisted on sitting next to the coachman, saying he couldn’t dare ride in the same compartment as a wizard.
“You’ve worked hard.”
Iris greeted me with a bright smile.
Of course, her eyes were half-closed as if she wasn’t fully awake, but even that looked beautiful to me.
I got into the carriage with Iris, who hugged me sleepily.
“Oh? Hyunwoo, what’s that?”
Iris tilted her head, looking at the small card in my hand.
“It’s a reward I got with my ability, it says I can synthesize weapons.”
It was a weapon synthesis ticket I received as a reward for registering with a dating app a while ago.
[Weapon Synthesis Ticket
Rank: ??
You can create a new weapon by synthesizing two weapons.
The performance of the weapon depends on the weapons used as materials.
※Caution! Synthesizing weapons of different properties may degrade the performance of the weapon.
※Caution! Synthesized materials cannot be recovered.]
Aside from everything else, I carefully read the caution notes first.
Weapons of different properties probably meant synthesizing swords with swords, and axes with axes.
‘I wonder if I can synthesize Gillennium with the Demonic Sword of Madness?’
If possible, I might be able to combine Gillennium’s magic-related effects and the Demonic Sword of Madness’s magic power-related effects into one weapon.
But there were things I was worried about.
First, Gillennium’s dispelling magic effect and the Demonic Sword of Madness’s magic amplification effect might conflict.
Besides, there was still one unreleased ability in the Demonic Sword of Madness.
After thinking for a while, I put the synthesis ticket back in.
It wasn’t an urgent problem, and I might get a better weapon later.
“Ah, come to think of it, Sylvia. What’s your sword?”
The silver rapier that seemed to emit moonlight, which I had seen countless times, didn’t look like an ordinary sword at all.
“It’s a sword bestowed upon me by Iris-nim at the time of my knight’s oath.”
“Can I take a look?”
As soon as I finished speaking, Sylvia made a troubled expression.
It was a rare sight.
Normally, she would have frowned, but it seemed like she was managing her expression because Iris was right next to her.
“Hyunwoo, for a knight, a sword is a companion in life, an honor, and another life. A request like that is a great discourtesy.”
“…Sorry.”
As someone ignorant of the etiquette of this world, I didn’t know it was a discourtesy.
Sylvia looked even more awkward when I apologized right away.
It was as if her face said, ‘You’re apologizing…? Did you eat something wrong…?’
‘Unbelievable.’
This is the treatment I get even when I apologize.
It seemed like it was time to show the dignity of a royal consort.
When I took out a small box from my inventory, Iris flinched.
“It’s nothing much, but would you like to eat this? It’s like a dessert they sold where I used to live.”
“Dessert… you say?”
I unwrapped the package and handed it to Sylvia.
It was a small yellow candy.
“H, Hyunwoo…?”
Iris pulled on my sleeve with a small voice, but I couldn’t back down now that I had come this far.
Sylvia looked at the candy suspiciously, but she carefully put it in her mouth, not wanting to refuse.
The moment she rolled the candy around on her tongue a few times.
“…Hick?!!!”
Sylvia’s eyes widened and she jumped up.
For reference, the candy Sylvia ate was a super famous sour candy even in Korea.
Iris even guaranteed that it was an intense sour taste that couldn’t be experienced in this world.
“How is it, does it taste good?”
Sylvia, who had crunched the candy, glared at me as if she would kill me.
If Iris hadn’t been there, she would have rushed at me right away.
“…Yes, it’s an intense taste I’ve never experienced before.”
“I’m glad. Want another one?”
“I appreciate the offer, but I will decline.”
Beyond Sylvia’s eyes, there was a determination to take revenge.
It seemed like she still hadn’t grasped her position.
Clunk, in the midst of a strange war of nerves, the carriage started moving again.
“Iris, would you like to eat one too?”
“I, I’m okay…”
Unexpectedly, the elves of this world seemed to be weak to sour tastes.
Anyway, time passed quickly as we stopped by villages from time to time.
-We will arrive in Mayfield soon.
Along with the coachman’s words, a huge city appeared in the distance.
The walls alone looked 1.5 times higher than Wavele.
The carriages lined up for hundreds of meters from the gate were a bonus.
Of course, thanks to the recommendation letter I received in Wavele, I didn’t have to stand in line separately.
Seeing this, the power of the nobility was convenient, but it was also a power that couldn’t be used outside the Veilhaven Republic.
It wasn’t for nothing that I only asked the head butler for directions to the Nivia Kingdom.
There was nothing more foolish than announcing your destination in a situation where pursuers might follow you at any time.
“Here’s the bounty.”
After safely entering the city, I handed over the heads to the guards and received the bounty.
Roughly, there were copper and silver coins mixed in. Of course, there were no gold coins.
After receiving the bounty, I came out and walked around the streets, looking around. There were definitely several times more people than in Wavele.
In particular, the market street was so crowded that there was no room to set foot.
The stalls were full of strange things I had never seen before. Especially when it came to food ingredients, there were some that made me doubt whether people actually ate them.
While passing by what looked like a restaurant, I saw a man being hit with a ladle by an ajumma who seemed to be the owner of the store, as if he was trying to eat and run.
I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of the man fainting after being hit twice.
It was definitely a city that smelled more like people than Wavele.
“Aah! S, sorry!”
There was a happening where a kid tried to steal my wallet and got caught, but other than that, there wasn’t anything particularly special.
After leaving the market street, I took a seat on a bench in a nearby square.
It was quite a famous place, crowded with couples even in the middle of the day.
In the past, I would have frowned, but now that there was no need to feel lonely, I blankly looked around.
“…What should I do now?”
Suddenly, I realized that I had nothing to do.
Originally, I was going to find a carriage from Mayfield to the Partal County to cross the border.
Fortunately, I heard from the coachman that there was a carriage to a city bordering the country in Mayfield, and after many twists and turns, I succeeded in renting the entire carriage, but the problem was that the carriage’s departure time was tomorrow morning.
I ended up having to rest until tomorrow.
Of course, I hadn’t rested properly since leaving Wavele, but when I tried to rest, I didn’t know what to do.
Iris said she had some business with Sylvia and left, saying she would see me at the accommodation in the evening.
I was left alone all of a sudden.
“I’m tired of sightseeing too.”
I was wondering if I should go back to the accommodation and train, when.
“…Hmm?”
In the distance, I saw a person in strange clothes between the alleys.
They were wearing a hood pulled down low, but judging from their small build, it seemed like they were a woman.
I felt a strange sense of discomfort.
There were definitely at least a hundred people passing by, but why was my attention only drawn to that woman?
Unless she was an incredibly beautiful woman, why a suspicious woman wearing a hood from broad daylight?
At that moment, the woman ran urgently into the alley. It looked like she was being chased by someone.
Sure enough, men followed the woman into the alley soon after. Roughly, there seemed to be more than ten of them.
It smelled like crime at first glance.
After thinking for a moment, I got up from the bench and walked towards the alley where the woman had disappeared.
“I don’t have anything else to do anyway.”
Besides, if things got complicated, I could just pass it on to the guards.
***
After following the woman into the alley, I soon witnessed a strange sight.
‘She was a wizard?’
The woman was knocking down the men with Magic Bolt, a 1st circle common magic.
But judging from the fact that she was squatting on the floor and panting heavily after only firing three Magic Bolts, it didn’t seem like she was a proper wizard.
Not long after, the woman got up and started running again.
“There she is!”
“Catch her!”
“If we miss her, we’re dead!”
Whether their goal was to narrow the encirclement, men who popped out from other alleys chased after her.
They must have known that the woman was a wizard, but the fact that they didn’t give up meant that they weren’t completely stupid.
Had I followed for about five minutes?
“Haa, haa…”
The woman was blocked by a dead end.
The men looked at her with a sneer.
“Hoo, we finally caught you.”
“Running away without knowing you were being lured into a dead end. I guess not all wizards are smart.”
“Don’t let your guard down. If she casts magic, we’ll get holes in our heads.”
“What wizard? Can’t you tell she’s a newbie at a glance?”
Looking at the approaching men, the woman tried to draw up magic power, but the magic power kept scattering.
It was proof that her mana circle was empty.
‘Even if I’m generous, is she a 1st circle?’
As expected, she was definitely a wizard who created a circle by luck.
Moreover, a newbie wizard who didn’t seem to have learned anything about combat.
I, who had been watching the situation from the roof, went down below.
“If you stay still, I’ll find you a good master soon.”
“Yeah, how gentle people-“
Thud!!
I stomped on the head of the man who had been saying harsh things from earlier. The man’s neck bones broke as they couldn’t withstand my weight falling from a height of about 5 meters.
As someone who had learned Buddhist martial arts, I recited sutras in my heart for him.
‘I hope you don’t look like the bully’s lackey who used to make fun of me for being an orphan in the next life.’
For reference, I don’t know Buddhist scriptures.
Anyway, what’s important is the heart, so I’m sure the Diamond God Monk would be okay with it.
By the way, maybe it’s because he was so skinny, but as expected, there wasn’t much cushioning.
I shook off the blood on my shoes and walked forward.
I could feel the gazes on me even in the thick dust that rose up.
The men couldn’t say anything as they looked at the corpse of their colleague whose neck and torso had parted ways.
I opened my mouth in the heavy silence.
“I’d like you to introduce me to your master too.”
I pulled out Gillennium, which I was wearing on my waist.
“K, kill him!!”
“What’s that again!!”
“That bastard killed Rick!!”
“The vitals! Stab the vitals!!”
Only then did they come to their senses, and the men rushed at me with their weapons.
They were all ordinary people who had never learned how to use magic power, let alone how to hold a weapon.
‘Should I kill them?’
It wasn’t a question I should be asking after already killing one person, but I needed to be moderate in the city to avoid unnecessary trouble.
“Cough?!”
“Ugh!?”
“W, wait… Cough?!”
It wasn’t difficult to knock out the rushing men with the pommel.
As I was breaking the ankles of the men who had fallen to the floor so that they couldn’t do things like human trafficking in the future, I felt the woman’s gaze on me from beyond the chaos.
‘…Blue?’
It was only for a moment, but I saw the woman’s eyes through the gap in her hood.
And it was a deep blue color like the sea.
It wasn’t a common eye color.
The woman, who had made eye contact with me, flinched and slowly backed away. There was nowhere to run anyway since it was a dead end.
“I helped you, so you don’t have to worry…”
Thud.
Before I could finish speaking, the woman collapsed.
I came along thinking of helping her this time and handing her over to the guards, but I started to feel an ominous premonition that things were going to get bigger.
