Back to the Start – Part 01
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Translator: Kell
“I really hate everything that’s going on. I’ve gone way past my limit, and it’s just one problem after another.”
Fiddling with her soft, blond hair with her fingertips, Albus lay her cheek on the table and heaved a sigh.
She was in her late grandmother’s home—Solena’s lair, hidden away in a forest of witches that rejected the malicious and guided those who sought salvation.
The house, built by Solena using Magic, was constructed entirely using twisted wood, ridiculously huge ivy, and flowers that never withered.
The table Albus was on was made of countless intertwined ivy, and the chair was a tree trunk bent in an unnatural way.
Albus loved this place. She grew up in this house filled with the memories of happier times. The air here was cool and calm, and she could even feel the presence of her late grandmother.
So whenever something stressful happened, Albus always retreated to this house and talked to the Solena in her memories.
She was strict, wise, and the kindest woman she had ever known. Imagining what she would say to her if she was still alive made Albus feel a little better.
But now was a little different.
“I’m just really exhausted. Recently, people are even claiming that I poisoned His Majesty. That witches were trying to take over the kingdom. What do they mean, take over? We’re trying to coexist.”
“That sounds terrible,” came a soft voice. “You’re just trying to protect the king. If he was poisoned, the culprit would be from among the humans who refuse to coexist with witches.”
The voice came from an old doll sitting in a rocking chair. Wearing a pointy hat and a long robe, it was given to Albus by his grandmother when she was young. Of course, the doll didn’t move or speak back then.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about a thing. There are many people on your side. You’re a smart girl, so you can tell the difference between friend and foe, right?”
Nodding, Albus shot a glance at the doll. She felt her irritated mind calm down a little. The doll was the only one that didn’t criticize Albus, didn’t reprimand her, or urge her to work.
“Young lady! I know you’re here!” A voice called from outside the house. “You can’t just ditch your work. The kingdom’s already in an uproar because of His Majesty’s death.”
Scowling, Albus puffed out her cheeks and reluctantly got up the chair. “It’s probably just another stupid meeting, or an audience, or complaints. I don’t have to do any of those. Holdem can handle all of them. Why does it have to be me?”
“I think you should take some time off,” the doll said. “You’ve been working non-stop.”
Albus smiled at the doll’s kind words. “Thanks. I have to go, though. I’m a person of high position. I’ll be back, grandma.”
“Come visit me anytime.”
There seemed to be a smile on the doll’s face.
Let’s go over what happened so far. Yes, it’s necessary. The situation is that bad.
It all started with a civil war in the Kingdom of Wenias, where witches and the government clashed.
I entered the kingdom to assist with the witch hunts, when I met Zero. I agreed to be her escort on the condition that she turned me human. Eventually my job became gathering information about Magic that was taken outside of Wenias. Now we were chasing a group of good-for-nothings called Cestum, our biggest headache at the moment.
They were an annoying bunch who used a saint to cause a Magic-related incident in the Republic of Cleon, used Black Dragon Island as a test bed for Magic, and attempted to undermine the authority of the Church in the paradise port of Lutra.
In order to obtain information about Cestum’s leader, we traveled all the way to Moonsbow Forest to see Thirteenth, Zero’s brother who was referred to as the leader in the past. But when we arrived, only disappointment awaited us.
To sum it up, we traveled a long way only to find that no one was home. Thirteenth, who was supposed to have returned to the cellar in Moonsbow Forest with his disciples, was not around.
“Thirteenth?”
The moment Zero uttered his name, Thirteenth’s signature spell activated, a forced summoning, dragging us into some other place.
Now back to the present.
From my point of view, this was the worst part.
“Why?!” I screamed. Who did this? For what purpose? What kind of torment is this? “Why is there an Ebl Boar here?!”
Shaking my dizzy head from the effects of the forced summoning, I somehow managed to look up.
One: It was much bigger than me.
Two: It was enraged.
Three: It was aware of my presence.
When I realized it was charging straight at me, I thought I was dead for certain. Quickly, I looked around for Zero. When I couldn’t find her, I searched for Lily and then the priest.
I wasn’t sure if I would call it lucky, but no one was nearby. If I didn’t need to protect anyone, there was only one thing I could do in the face of an agitated Ebl Boar.
Escape unharmed.
However, I concluded that it was impossible to evade the boar’s charge when it was already right before my eyes, so I decided to get rammed.
Crossing my arms to protect my head, I curled my body, and at the moment the boar slammed into me, I leapt backwards to lessen the impact. A head-on charge from an Ebl Board would definitely result in some bones creaking, but a Beastfallen would not die from that.
I rolled around on the ground, then immediately stood up, regaining my posture. The momentum of the boar’s charge caused it to hit a tree.
While it was still staggered, I quickly tried to make a run for it, when I heard a call.
“Mercenary!”
I turned to the direction of the voice and saw a familiar black cloak behind a tree quite the distance away.
“Witch! What are you doing there?!”
“The priest and the rat are still unconscious! Draw that hunk of meat’s attention while I call their souls back!”
“Draw its attention? That’s easier said than done.”
I wanted to complain that I couldn’t do it, but the situation looked dire. Zero was holding the unmoving priest and Lily.
A forced summoning is an extremely dangerous spell. If a person with no background in Magic was summoned, there was a high chance they would die.
In fact, the first time I was force-summoned, I would have died if it weren’t for Zero’s help. My experience allowed me to move around without any problems, with only a slight dizziness.
But that was beside the point.
“You expect me to handle this on my own?!”
I knew I had no other choice, but I couldn’t help myself from getting a word or two out.
I could not let the Ebl Boar turn its attention to Zero. If escaping was not an option, I just had to kill it. After preparing myself, I jumped out from behind the tree I was hiding at and faced the giant creature head-on.
“Come at me, you giant piece of meat! I’ll cut you to pieces and take the most delicious parts!”
The Ebl Boar’s bloodshot eyes caught mine. It began rushing at me, huffing, knocking down trees in its path. I pulled out an explosive from my bag and threw it at its nose. While it didn’t have much firepower, it could serve as a distraction. Loud sounds and bright lights were effective against wild animals, after all. The startled boar shrieked and reared, exposing its soft belly—its weak point.
I dashed forward at once, ducked under its belly, and thrust my sword deep until only the grip was visible. I then ran my sword vertically with all my strength. A huge amount of blood and guts spilled out of the Ebl Boar’s belly.
After stumbling a few steps, its gigantic body toppled, knocking down a small tree. A few twitches later, it stopped moving completely.
Once I confirmed that it was really dead, I was finally able to relax.
“Well, compared to fighting a dragon, this was pretty much nothing.”
“Nice work, Mercenary,” Zero said, clapping her hands. “You butchered this giant boar alone so easily. Very impressive. I have fallen in love with you all over again.”
“Thank you for the compliment. What about those two? Are they all right?”
“Yes, they just regained consciousness. Beastfallen never cease to amaze me. Rat is already acting as if nothing happened. The priest, though, was spewing out the contents of his stomach the moment he woke up.”
“That makes me feel better.” I laughed.
“I still feel awful, though.”
I felt a glint of rage behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw the priest standing there, pale yet still maintaining his dignified appearance. Lily was regarding him with concern.
“Well, you look fine to me.”
“Priests have a high tolerance for pain,” he said. “A normal human wouldn’t be able to get up. Anyway, how’d we end up in the middle of a forest?”
“Where’s Thirteenth, even? I thought he summoned us.”
“Given the circumstances, that is the most reasonable conclusion,” Zero said. “Hmm, strange. There is no sign of Thirteenth anywhere.”
“What?! I thought forced summoning, you know, summoned a person to the caster, not move them somewhere else.”
“As far as I know, it is a summoning spell. It can only summon its target to the caster.”
Then Thirteenth should be here.
“We were in a cave in Moonsbow Forest a while ago,” the priest said. “What’s this forced summoning you’re talking about? Some kind of Sorcery? Where are we even?”
There were a lot of things he needed to process, but even we didn’t understand the situation we were in. We couldn’t explain things to him in detail.
Lily turned her head up. “That’s a huge mountain,” she said in awe, her mouth agape.
Mountain? I turned my head around and saw a huge mountain range towering like a wall, blocking our view.
Wait a sec. A giant Ebl Boar, and a mountain range that blocked travelers’ path.
“This looks familiar, Mercenary,” Zero muttered, nostalgia in her voice.
“Yeah, I’ll never forget this place,” I replied as if talking about fond times.
Zero and I had seen this scenery before. More specifically, we met in this kingdom, where I signed up to be her bodyguard.
A map popped in my mind.
Map of Wenias Kingdom (Revised Edition)
Merchants are welcome in Fomicaum, where you can collect rare items from all over the world.
In the capital of Plasta, performances are held in the plaza every week on the day of the Goddess.
Specialty: Juicy and tender Roasted Ebl Boar (A huge species of boar native to Wenias).
Warning: Wild Ebl Boar live in the forests. Hunting them is prohibited. Stay on the roads at all times.
I looked up at the sky. Oh, boy.
“It looks like we’re back in Wenias.”
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