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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: The Hunter's Cabin
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Jefferson's cabin was located on the outskirts of the village, in a place where people's footsteps rarely reached.
On top of that, because Jefferson avoided people's comings and goings, the villagers knew of the cabin's existence but hardly anyone had actually visited it.
"Even starting a fire... there's nothing proper here."
By the time they arrived at the cabin, it had grown quite dark, so he looked around, but there were no suitable tools to light a fire.
Normally, he would have to find some way to start a fire, but Jeon had another method.
"Light."
Paht.
After closing his eyes briefly and concentrating to finish the casting, a sphere emitting a soft light appeared in front of Jeon.
With that, the cabin's appearance, which hadn't been visible properly in the darkness, was revealed.
"It's gloomy."
The overgrown grass around it due to infrequent human traffic, combined with the cabin's poor maintenance, naturally created a sinister atmosphere.
Even so, Jeon felt a slight chill.
It was because the girl's memories still lingered in his mind.
Still, shaking his head to dispel the feeling, Jeon slowly stepped inside the cabin.
"Ugh."
Kkiiik.
The interior of the cabin, revealed as the door opened, was filled with a stench.
The foul odor was so intense that Jeon wondered how anyone could eat, sleep, and live here; he pinched his nose and surveyed the inside.
The cabin's condition was a mess.
Except for the corner where he presumably lay his body, nothing on the floor was organized and everything was scattered about, with animal hides and bones haphazardly stored.
Moreover, human bones seemed to be mixed in here and there, creating not just a dirty and disorganized atmosphere, but something grotesque.
'Can a person really live in a place like this?'
Shaking his head at the seriously dire state, Jeon continued to look around the cabin interior.
Jeon's goal was one thing.
'There must be something related to magic.'
Jefferson didn't know Magic Language properly.
But the fact that he could attempt to make such a stone meant he had something to reference and imitate.
How much longer did he search?
'That spot alone looks unusually clean.'
Under the workbench in one corner of the cabin.
A drawer that was relatively well-maintained caught Jeon's eye.
Approaching it immediately to check, as expected, unlike the other filthily managed areas, the drawer and its surroundings were kept clean.
Sensing something suspicious, Jeon quickly opened the drawer to look inside.
And what was in that drawer were just two books.
"This is... a magic book?"
One of them was a rather thick magic book.
The other was much thinner than the magic book, with poor finishing that made it look less like a book and more like a bundle of notes for writing.
Jeon first skimmed through the magic book.
As expected, it contained information on how to make that stone.
"...This is on a completely different level, isn't it?"
The problem was that the contents written in the book were on a completely different level from the stone found in the mountains.
The magic book described not only artifacts that stored mana using stones or ores as mediums, but also various advanced methods for creating artifacts that stored only specific types of mana or altered the properties of stored mana.
Moreover, there was no mention anywhere of making artifacts by killing people.
The Magic Language inscriptions on the stone seemed to come from the magic book, but he still couldn't understand why one would kill a person and soak the stone in their blood.
'Did he go mad trying to replicate it and failing?'
For now, pushing aside the question in his mind, Jeon picked up the bundle of notes next.
Unlike the magic book, which had preservation spells and even printing done through magical processes, the bundle of notes had no magical treatments whatsoever, and the handwriting inside looked like ordinary handwritten script.
"Taynon of the Midgal School?"
The contents of the bundle of notes were a diary left by a mage named Taynon.
Starting with his affiliation to the Midgal School, the diary appeared to be written in his old age, mostly filled with concerns about his late-life research.
However, one part captured Jeon's attention.
"During my research, I contracted a serious illness. They say treatment requires years of hospitalization, but I can't do that. I must continue my research. So I found a small village and decided to recuperate and research there. And since I needed someone to be my hands and feet, I took along a guy named Jefferson whom I met on the road."
He had wondered how Jefferson came to know this Taynon, but it seemed like a chance encounter.
But the following content was quite a spectacle.
"Jefferson is easy to handle. He pretends to be cold and calculating, but he admires mages. He's got no talent or brains, but flattering him by saying I'd take him as a disciple made him useful enough to exploit."
Taynon didn't seem like a particularly good person either.
Anyway, using the excuse of making Jefferson his disciple, Taynon continued to exploit him until his illness worsened and he met his end.
"...So he didn't learn a single thing."
That explained why he hadn't properly learned Magic Language—there was no one to teach him.
But even so, he still couldn't figure out exactly why Jefferson had turned into a madman who killed people and put them into stones.
Still, wondering if there might be more written, as he flipped through the bundle of notes.
Kkiiik.
The sound of the cabin door opening came, along with a man's voice.
"Looks like a little rat snuck into my house."
At Jefferson's voice, dripping with venom, Jeon quickly tucked the magic book and bundle of notes into his bosom and turned to face him.
"You're back sooner than I thought?"
"Heh, it took a bit to track you down."
Jefferson let out a low chuckle as he watched Jeon respond nonchalantly.
'Now, what to do from here.'
Watching Jefferson, Jeon quickly racked his brains on how to deal with him.
The opponent was an adult and a hunter, so his physical abilities overwhelmingly surpassed Jeon's.
A calm frontal confrontation wouldn't be easy to win.
'But... his gaze is a bit off.'
Then, suddenly, Jeon realized Jefferson's gaze wasn't fully fixed on him.
His eyes were directed not at Jeon, but at the glowing sphere floating in front of Jeon.
Confirming that fact, a good idea flashed in Jeon's mind.
"First time seeing magic like this?"
"...What?"
"It's called Light, a basic spell that illuminates the surroundings."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
At Jeon's casual remark, Jefferson's voice noticeably trembled in response.
He answered as if it were nothing, but it had clearly gotten under his skin.
"Nothing really. I just said it because you seemed amazed. Most non-mages are."
"...Who said I'm not a mage?"
And that hit the mark, as Jefferson's calm facade cracked, his brow furrowing sharply.
'It's working for sure.'
Confirming his provocation had landed properly, Jeon decided to deliver the finishing blow.
"You're not a mage, are you?"
"You must want to die!"
With those words, Jefferson drew a dagger from his waist and charged at Jeon.
Jeon watched him rush forward, then suddenly squeezed his eyes shut.
"Hmph! Scared now?!"
Thinking Jeon had chickened out by tightly closing his eyes, Jefferson sneered as he closed in right up to him.
At that moment.
"Kuhk!?"
Flash!
The brightness of the Light in front of Jeon's eyes suddenly intensified, blinding Jefferson.
His steps faltered from the sudden glare.
"It's a flash bomb."
As the light faded, Jeon opened his eyes, drew his sword from his waist, and swung it at Jefferson.
Feeling a chill, Jefferson quickly rolled backward, but unable to see, he couldn't fully dodge the sword.
"Kuhuk!"
Jeon's sword grazed long along one of his arms, instantly covering that arm and his upper body in blood.
"This is how mages fight."
Confirming the situation had gone as planned, Jeon provoked him again.
In truth, contrary to Jeon's words, real mages didn't fight solely with Light magic or use swords, but the truth didn't matter to Jeon right now.
'I need to keep him agitated.'
Even though the opponent was injured, if he charged with intent to kill, it would still be hard for Jeon to handle.
He needed to rile him up more to make him blunder.
"Y-You little bastard...!"
And fortunately, Jefferson was the perfect target for provocation.
Just mentioning anything magic-related made his face flush red and his eyes gleam with murderous intent, ready to charge.
"And mages don't kill people over worthless nonsense like you do."
"Th-That's not true!"
At the continued words, Jefferson clutched his injured arm, his eyes bloodshot, his entire body trembling.
"I am a mage! I am!"
"You? A mage?"
"Yes! Lord Taynon accepted me as his disciple! How could a noble mage's disciple not be a mage?!"
"Who knows. Maybe you just deluded yourself?"
Jeon kept provoking as Jefferson screamed in desperation.
Seeing him lose all reason, one or two more jabs and he'd charge heedless of his wounds.
'That's when I finish it.'
As Jeon planned in his head and prepared to continue the taunt.
"How dare you insult me and my master!"
Gritting his teeth, Jefferson pulled a stone from his bosom.
'What, that?'
What Jefferson drew was a stone similar in appearance to the one Jeon had seen in the mountains.
But the details were completely different from what Jeon had seen.
The color, which had merely been reddish, was now dark crimson as if soaked in blood.
And the inscribed Magic Language was not the crude version from before but perfectly formed.
In truth, it only looked similar; it was an item of entirely different completion level.
'Did he make his by imitating that one?'
He had already found it odd that Jefferson's stones didn't match the examples in the magic book.
It seemed he had made them by copying that one.
"Kuhuk!"
Jefferson raised the stone—no, an artifact worthy of the name—and jammed it into the wound on his arm.
The sharp artifact dug into the already injured area, widening the wound as blood gushed out.
But not a single drop of that blood spilled; it was all sucked into the artifact.
'Mana...?'
And the mana within it flowed into Jefferson's body.
An artifact that gave mana in exchange for blood.
"A completely insane item."
Blood for mana—an equivalent exchange.
He didn't know the exact ratio, but it didn't look cost-effective.
'Do that a bit more and he'll die.'
In fact, instead of mana filling his body, Jefferson's complexion was rapidly worsening.
"See this! This is my magic!"
Aware of that himself, he concentrated the mana now dwelling in his body into his palm.
'This might be dangerous.'
Seeing that, Jeon judged he couldn't just wait from afar for the attack; he needed to move now.
The good news was that, busy draining blood, he couldn't do anything else right now.
Thus, Jeon moved first, before Jefferson could attack.
"Too late moving now!"
Seeing Jeon, Jefferson thrust his mana-charged hand toward him.
Or tried to.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡
Compression (Rune Magic)
Hwaaak!
At Jeon's single word, it was as if someone had yanked his hand; the hand holding the stone shot straight up into the sky.
Thanks to that, Jefferson's prepared attack shot not at Jeon, but harmlessly into the sky.
Seogeok.
A chilling sound came from the opposite side of the raised hand.