The misadventures of the necromancer

She and Axe walk side by side, with the two boys following close behind. Bringing up the rear is the poorly dressed young man who is clearly the leader. Well, he and his mule.

The boys are still quite talkative, especially the blond one. The dark-haired one, on the other hand, keeps giving his companion stern looks whenever he feels the other is talking too much.

The fact that the blond introduced them by name seems to have gone over poorly with the other two. This leads her to assume those should be their real names.

She still tries to keep a conversation going, asking a few questions about their destination. But Axe keeps giving her looks, telling her to be careful about what she says.

Reminding her of his warning when they met to begin their journey to the meeting point.

They already know and respect each other. They are not great friends, but she feels she can trust him. Especially considering she knows that he talks to everyone, even questionable characters.

So when he asked her in a serious voice whether she knew who had hired them, Carrion paid attention.

It was something she had not even considered. A novice might think that all the mystery surrounding this job, with coded phrases and distant meeting points, was strange and would be surprised.

But the main jobs for adventurers tend to be escorting, particularly as merchant escorts. Merchants that, usually want to keep their business hidden, afraid of losing some business advantage.

But Axe's words and tone had been concerning.

“Carrion, be careful. The people who arranged this contract are two men known as some of the best assassins in the region.”

Something potentially more dangerous than she had thought. But it also raised the question of why assassins would be recruiting adventurers. Could they be connected to an assassination?

Axe had reassured her somewhat, saying that in principle they were not. But the men were supposedly members of an organization, and this job might have come from that organization.

He had ended with a warning.

“Be careful with your questions! Some people don't like explaining too much. And that's exactly what I was told to be careful about.”

At the time, she could only nod.

Although her companion is more accustomed to situations like this, she herself feels uneasy. Still, she followed Axe's instructions not to talk too much.

Normally, she would only accept a mission like this after Axe's warning if she were truly desperate for money.

But the situation for adventurers is currently changing. And that is because of the Old Towers, or as some people called the event, Berta's Battle.

Although few adventurers had joined the girl in her attempt to control the monsters in the ruins that had nearly destroyed the region. They were all now benefiting considerably.

The desperate battle in those ruins had resulted in an incredible number of monster corpses that would normally have been almost impossible to find. And because of that, there was now an impressive number of ingredients available for potions or the creation of equipment. This could have caused the value of special ingredients to fall.

But in reality, the opposite had happened.

With easier access to ingredients that had previously been impossible to obtain, everyone had started researching recipes they had previously been unable to use.

For example, before coming here, she had heard that a rather large group of adventurers had been hired to deliver ten hearts obtained from the Old Towers to a group of alchemists in Great Harbour who wanted to experiment with recreating an ancient vitality potion recipe.

Beyond those escort missions, what interests her most is that demand for monster parts and other ingredients has also increased.

Because using what they found in the Old Towers will also require more “common” ingredients.

A good example would be the bat wings she had mentioned to Nero.

Something that is supposedly used in a potion to increase someone's strength.

As such, a job where they can find monsters could be extremely valuable. And Nero's description of giant beetles had left her intrigued, making her suspect they could earn very good money.

She could almost imagine herself buying, perhaps even at a discount, a good two dozen magic potions. Allowing her to train her magic without worry for several weeks.

“So, you’re a mage. What spells do you know?” Seres, the blond one, suddenly asks.

His friend gives him a shove for the question.

“No, that’s a good question. We need to know what she can and can’t do,” Nero comments from behind them in a relaxed voice.

She can hardly argue with that, although normally conversations like these are more about having an opportunity to talk about magic than any real practical implications. After all, mages are not exactly common, and she herself would be the first to admit that she is not one of the best magic users.

Then again, it is not as if non-mages are particularly capable of evaluating mages.

As she prepares to answer, an idea occurs to her.

How had they shown so little reaction when she introduced herself as a mage? A revelation like that tended to result in much more enthusiastic reactions.

Which leaves her with a little 'what is going on?!' in the back of her mind.

“Well, mainly ice magic...” she answers, trying to convey both humility and pride at the same time. It is not as if many people are capable of the same.

But from behind her comes a “What!?” And not one of amazement or wonder.

The reaction reminds her much more of her master back home.

Not just her, but everyone turns toward Nero.

He has his mouth half open and is scratching his head.

It is Seres who asks the question, “Nero, what’s wrong?”

Nero, in turn, looks at her, shakes his head, and answers, “I’m trying to figure out whether she’s brilliant or an idiot.”

Her irritation rises at that, but she decides to remain professional. She will tell him that if he has a problem with it, she can leave, but he keeps talking.

“I mean, you come from a volcanic island. And you went for ice magic!! With all those debuffs!?”

For her, this is a new and rather confusing criticism.

“Debuffs?” She has to ask, since she has never heard the term before.

That seems to make him pause for a moment before continuing.

“Honestly, the guy standing next to you has a better chance of becoming a good ice mage than you.”

He points at Axe, a warrior with no experience whatsoever with magic.

Axe stares at her, apparently speechless.

And so is she.

How is she supposed to comment on that without starting to insult this idiot?

“Besides... Iceballs!... Really.”

And now his comment sounds much more familiar to her ears.

“You know there are good reasons why everyone goes for fire, right? It’s not just because they look cool.”

She cannot help herself and answers sarcastically.

“Really!!”

“Ohh... why?” Seres asks curiously.

“Fireballs are natural area attacks rather than attacks against a single individual. Iceballs are, at least initially, only single-target spells. It is only when you manage to learn more advanced spells that you start getting area effects.”

It is a story she has heard many times from almost every mage she has told about her specialization.

“Besides, you have the secondary effects... Fireballs, logically, set things or people on fire, which causes extra damage.”

His voice is thoughtful, as if he is carefully considering his answer.

Not that he is saying anything her own master has not already discussed with her.

“On the other hand, ice only freezes people, which gives little extra damage, although it makes them slower. Unfortunately, that effect is relatively rare in most cases.”

Nero shakes his head before concluding.

“So it tends to be a bad choice.”

“In my experience, iceballs tend to be more efficient,” she replies, considering that she is an ice mage herself.

“And you have to work harder to aim, especially at a distance. Which doesn't make you much different from an archer...” he immediately shoots back.

For a moment, it feels as though he is repeating an old argument she once had with her master.

“Why study magic if you’re just going to act like an archer?” her master had told her before she left her hometown to study ice magic.

“Maybe if you stayed in Nutem, where everyone has major debuffs against ice, it would still make some sense,” he continued as he appeared to be considering something.

The comment revealed that he knows where she comes from, something relatively rare in an area this far from the coast.

Making this strange young man somewhat interesting.

“But as the StormTowers of the pirate city demonstrate, lightning works better,” Nero continues with a shrug.

For a moment, this surprises her, because even in Nutem. There are not many people who refer to the capital’s ancient defensive towers that way.

That surprise lasts only an instant before something else catches her attention, causing her to snap irritably.

“Hey!!”

She can only conclude that he must be from Great Harbour or its surroundings if he refers to her ancestors as pirates.

The young man, in turn, looks at her with confusion, as if he does not understand her irritation.

“Don’t refer to my people as pirates!” she has to shout at him, raising a fist threateningly.

“Maybe the word pirates is a bit of an exaggeration...” she hears the voice that seems to belong to the dark-haired boy, Adar.

“Nope. They’re pirates. The exact kind that steal ships out on the open sea...”

That makes her focus once again on the wretch in front of her.

Beside her, she feels Axe move, and she hopes that if she takes action, he will back her up.

Nero, meanwhile, raises a hand and points a finger directly at her.

Almost innocently, he says, “And she must know it. Look at the blue. She’s from Sapphire, from all places.”

And that really makes her think.

Blue is the color of the mark on her forehead, and as he has just mentioned, it indicates that she comes from the city of Sapphire.

Well, more accurately, it indicates her clan.

And her clan is based in Sapphire.

She herself comes from a small village outside Sapphire.

Even so, that is a level of knowledge rarely found outside Nutem.

“Or what, are you going to tell me that the people of Sapphire stopped raiding ships coming from the Islands!?”

It is a confusing sentence, and she struggles to make sense of it.

The only island she knows of is Nutem itself.

Fortunately, Seres's curiosity kicks in again, and she hears her own question being asked.

“Nero, what islands are you talking about?”

The young man in front of them pauses and stares at all of them as though they are idiots.

“You don’t know which islands I’m talking about!? You do know that this continent had no human life for millennia, right? So you should know where all the humans come from?” He gestures toward them with both hands.

“The Islands of Origin!?” Adar asks, half in shock. Referring to the long-lost origin of all of us.

Nero simply nods, while they look at one another in disbelief.

Why is this strange man talking about the Islands of Origin?

“You know it’s been centuries since any ship returned from beyond HeavenStep,” she has to say. Referring to the promontory in Nutem from which every ship that sailed beyond its horizon was never seen again.

An intrigued Nero finally responds with a question of his own.

“So there’s no longer any access to the Islands?”

She simply shakes her head from side to side, not even looking at the others, more interested in Nero’s reaction.

He merely nods, seemingly thinking about something, but says nothing.

“Nero, do you... come... from the Islands?” Seres asks hesitantly.

“Well, technically, everyone comes from the Islands. That’s why they’re called the Islands of Origin. Right?”

It is true, while at the same time not actually answering the question.

“You know what! Maybe we should keep moving... There’s no point wasting any more time,” Adar declares tensely.

“Yes, yes. I completely agree,” Axe immediately supports him, even going so far as to pull her along so they can resume their march.

The man has clearly realized that this entire conversation is nothing but trouble.

And she cannot help but agree.

But as they start walking again, her mind returns to the beginning of the discussion.

The way Nero spoke.

He sounded like someone who understood magic.

Add to that the way all the boys had shown so little interest in the fact that she was a mage.

It indicates that Nero himself must be a mage.

And then she remembers the recent rumors.

And with that thought, a shiver runs down her back.

Supposedly, someone had recently accomplished the feat of defeating the Bane of Mages.

“Oh, by the gods of the sea...” she whispers fearfully, not even daring to turn around.

Considering the entire conversation they have just had and this new piece of information, she can only wonder what kind of mess they have gotten themselves into.

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