: The Days of a Mage?

Chapter 12: The Days of a Mage?

As Rorschach recounts the bizarre night of the adventurer's debut, he finds something amiss.

According to Mr. Aller, the hotels in small towns are often exclusive, serving as strongholds for nobles and town administrators to extort money from outsiders. Now that the hotel owner is a preacher of the church, could the owner of the owner be a member of the "Return to Our Lady" church?

Ordinary people in this world often both respect and fear spellcasters, but that thief was not afraid of the magical thing that made the stone glow, and was about to assassinate Rorschach.

Have they been brainwashed? Or does the cult also possess supernatural methods, with some god secretly using the "Mother of the World" account as a cover?

In the Holy Kingdom and Istani, every town of any significant size has a state church and monastery, where priests maintain order and prevent disturbances by uncontrollable supernatural forces. In contrast, the empire, with its diverse faiths, employs resident mages funded by the parliament and various states and principalities to handle supernatural matters. Limburg certainly has imperial mages residing there, and the underground cult seems to have been developing for some time; why has there been no feedback?

Thinking about it carefully, this team is not normal:

Their destination was the Holy Kingdom of Human Supremacy, yet the Lowe Merchant Guild hired a half-elf and a dwarf instead.

Fur is worthless in the Empire, and Luo Xia is not sure about its price in the Holy Kingdom, but with food and supplies for people and horses, plus the wages for three adventurers, it is really questionable whether he can make a profit.

The Chamber of Commerce appears very powerful, so why doesn't it have its own guards? The elegant manager at the time explained that the Chamber of Commerce's guard forces were concentrated on the trade routes between the Empire and the northern kingdoms.

I have something to write in my letter to the head of the organization.

Overcome with drowsiness, Rorschach fell asleep before the sun had fully risen.

Before setting off, Luo Xia hadn't expected that he would use the [Basic Decomposition Technique] the most on the road.

Rorschach's water-making technique was quite taxing on him, and it was difficult to satisfy the drinking needs of so many adult men and packhorses. He could only provide some clean water when they were far from a water source. "Young Master Rorschach's water is so sweet!" This was Singh's compliment. It was a pity that it wasn't a proper water-making technique, otherwise Rorschach could have told everyone, "I don't produce water; I'm just a porter of nature!"

After reaching the purple proficiency level, the Disintegration skill can control the size and shape of the segments, making it more versatile, such as when cooking.

With a flick of his index finger, Rorschach cut the salted meat into small pieces.

Rorschach flicked his index finger and broke the stem of the fatroot grass (similar to a radish, but sweeter) into small pieces.

With a flick of his index finger, Rorschach sliced ​​the mushroom into thin slices.

With a flick of his index finger, Rorschach sliced ​​the bread into even pieces.

Rorschach snapped the rabbit Hill had hunted into small pieces for easy stewing with a flick of his index finger.

At first, the coachman, Hill, and Rorschach chopped vegetables together, but they later discovered that chopping with a knife couldn't keep up with the speed of the wizard's wave of his hand, so they divided the work into plucking feathers, washing vegetables, and then handing them over to Rorschach.

"Knowing magic is so convenient! Young Master Rorschach, can an archmage conjure up a whole table of dishes with a wave of his hand?"

"Yes, you can."

"How did it change? Tell me."

"High priests are very rich. They only need to walk into their own restaurants and wave their hands, and a line of servants will bring them food and drinks."

"Those great mages are no match for young master Rorschach!" Rorschach didn't know how Singh came to this conclusion, but he manipulated the mage's hand to throw the rabbit meat into the pot.

After developing [Magic Drive], Luo Xia was able to use the minor spell [Hand of the Mage], which he had never mastered before. Opening the panel, just as he had guessed, the first entry for [Hand of the Mage (Blue)] was "Magic Concentration (Purple)," and the second entry was "Repulsion (White)."

It seems that the principle behind using the "Mage's Hand" to lift physical objects, and for mages to use it for self-defense and to block some ranged attacks, is to condense magic power and then give it a repulsive force.

Taking advantage of the cooking opportunity, Rorschach practiced [Mage's Hand], trying to get a feel for controlling magic. Perhaps after improving this spell, he could actually use Mage's Hand to cook a meal, at least enough to chop vegetables, wash dishes, and do everyday life magic like in some Japanese children's books.

The food on the road wasn't exactly delicious, especially in this world where spices were scarce and expensive. We ate two meals a day, just a pot of porridge with dry bread. If Hill brought in fresh rabbits, that was fine, but if not, we'd just boil salted meat in the soup, giving it a rancid taste.

Occasionally, when passing by a farmer's house, Mr. Ale would buy some eggs. If there were enough, he would divide them among the people; if not, he would stir them into the soup so that everyone could have a share.

Another issue in the wild is taking a bath.

It's summer now, and even just riding a horse at midday makes you sweat a lot. Some of the river cart drivers and Singrev go down to bathe, while Mr. Aller goes a little further upstream to fetch water to wipe himself down. Rorschach's solution is to cast a water-generating spell on his head, which is roughly equivalent to a shower.

Hill wouldn't shower with them, but he always managed to keep things clean, which Rorschach admired.

"Miss Hill, Master Rorschach, why did you become adventurers? Answer me, what was your original motivation?"

One evening after dinner, Singhlev started making small talk over drinks. Rorschach didn't mind the awkward conversation either, and the group actually enjoyed chatting around the campfire.

"This," Hill patted the crossbow, "and this," then took out a pistol and wiped it clean, saying, "Control. Adventurer exemption."

Halfway there, Rorschach said frankly, "I was originally going to Valuana, and I was looking for a caravan to hitch a ride with."

Mr. Ale jokingly replied, "Our chamber of commerce is paying for you to hitch a ride."

"This won't do!" Singh exclaimed, exasperated by the new generation of adventurers. "When I first started out, adventurers—no, pioneers—relyed on dreams! No matter how vast the ocean, we swam across! No matter how deep the ruins, we explored to the bottom! It wasn't like today, doing jobs like finding lost cats and dogs for rich people, and it wasn't like you guys who have no dreams!"

"I encountered it when I was still at the Black Iron level." If the dwarf had drunk too much, then tonight would be the serialization time for "The Memoirs of the Adventurer King Singrev." Although he always dug holes and never filled them, and repeated the same plot over and over again, the coachmen listened with great interest. Hill listened while wiping and maintaining his pistol, while Rorschach listened while reading the book he had brought with him.

Having finished reading "The Three Royal Spellcasters," Rorschach is now reading "The Complete Book of Elementary Spells," a hardcover, heavyweight tome comparable to the "Xinhua Dictionary," which he borrowed from the academy library.

Previously, Rorschach couldn't afford the deposit for borrowing books: two Imperial Golden Eagle dollars. He would either read books in the library or ask Bart or Richard to borrow them for him. Speaking of Mao, the librarian should have realized what kind of intention a graduate might have if he paid a year's deposit before leaving and then "borrowed" books.

Rorschach thought to himself that he had essentially bought some books, although two gold coins could never buy the books lying in his storage ring on the market—no way!

(End of this chapter)