Chapter 15: Goblin and Earring

Chapter 15:
Goblin and Earring

THE BEAUTIFUL, SNOW-WHITE Greek statue raised her lithe right leg over her head. The sight was exquisite enough to make angels weep. She was like unto a ballerina as her graceful foot slammed down onto the head of an enormous monkey.

Gol’s simple yet picturesque axe kick left a crater in the monkey’s skull. Blood sprayed and bone shards scattered through the air like a firework. The remains of the monkey’s obliterated head were buried in the ground. Another splendid fatal attack.

I’d confirmed my suspicion that the farther west we went, the larger the monkeys became. The beasts in this area were particularly huge; they were large enough to make any boss gorilla envious. But, obviously, they were still no match for Gol.

I had also realized something else. That morning, I complimented Gol when she happened to pull off an especially magnificent axe kick. Ever since, Gol had relied solely on that same axe kick to dispatch her enemies.

But balance in all things is important; I needed to find a way to praise her other techniques.

“Your Goretaru really is astounding, Nemaki. I didn’t grasp its true sophistication…” Mister Speria said as he adjusted his drooping glasses. “I never imagined I would be able to travel so easily down a road infested with Earth Goblins. And here I thought you were using your golem’s Surface Detection to avoid contact with the creatures as you traveled…”

Right, “Earth Goblin” was the official name for these monkeys. I’d thought they were Japanese macaques clad in stones, but to think they were actually goblins… Well, I’d already given up thinking too hard about their strangeness. If Mister Speria called them goblins, then that was what they were.

However, ladies and gentlemen, if you would lend me your ears for a moment: Goblins resembled humans, in as much as they were fellow vertebrates. Monkeys were also vertebrates, so wouldn’t that classify goblins as a type of monkey if they were to appear in my original world? That meant that goblins were monkeys, yes? For that reason, I shall continue referring to these creatures as “monkeys.”

I still had a puzzled look, so Mister Speria kindly explained further. I appreciated his unerring professionalism. “In terms of extermination, Earth Goblins are unmistakably the most difficult to handle of all mana beasts. The stones that cover their bodies deflect spells, and as such, spellcasters are wholly unable to affect them. On top of that, the sorcery at an Earth Goblin’s disposal includes the troublesome Stone Bullet. Even golems, which are usually excellent protectors against mana-beast spells, fall short in this case. Stone Bullet weaponizes physical mass, and can easily pierce the armor of a light-class golem. If surrounded, even a military-grade, heavy-class golem would be helpless in the face of a saturation attack.”

As he was explaining, his eyes drifted toward Gol. “But all the Earth Goblins’ advantages come to nothing when your Goretaru’s detection ability, speed, and exceptionally powerful physical attacks hit them first.”

Well, I’d already known of Gol’s amazing capabilities. But from Mister Speria’s overview, it seemed that those Greek statues back in the shrine had been quite strong. They had hunted all those monkeys, after all.

Hm? Wait. Just now, Speria used an interesting word, I thought. Sorcery…?

Weren’t the monkeys using normal spells to make the rocks fly through the air? Actually, I’d kind of completely forgotten this, but was that “sorcery” he mentioned related to my title in this world: “Sorcerer King of Destruction”?

“What exactly is sorcery…?” I asked. “How is it different from normal spells?”

“Sorcery is the manipulation of mana, and can only be used by mana beasts. For them, it is an innate quality, and it allows them to exert control over an item created by other spells,” Mister Speria said with a smile. “As you know, once we humans create objects with spells, we can no longer control them. For example, once a Fireball or Wind Blade is fired, we can’t guide its trajectory. This is especially true for Earth spells. A rock generated by spellcraft remains at the site of its creation. Quite inconvenient, really.”

Urgh…! How frustrating! But I can’t deny it!

“Mana beasts, on the other hand, possess an organ known as a ‘sorcery core.’ By utilizing this core, they can manipulate an object after its creation. This is what makes them mana beasts.”

“I see… So the way they fly their rocks through the air is otherwise impossible for Earth spells?”

“Correct. In the end, compared to the spells humans can wield, sorcery’s threat level varies more greatly across attributes. If a mana beast has access to attributes that produce physical mass, such as Earth or Ice, it becomes capable of penetrating defensive spells, making it quite terrifyingly dangerous.”

At the end of his explanation, Speria turned to face me. Then he slapped my shoulder with a laugh, as if he were teasing a bad student. “Ah, Nemaki, I can’t believe you sometimes. Even though you wield such an incredible golem, you’re utterly clueless about mana beasts! Ha ha, you must really be a pampered son.”

I was ashamed. My knowledge was probably at the level of an elementary school student in this world.

Still, “sorcery,” huh? I was able to make those rocks swish through the air like the monkeys, so was NTR sorcery?

Huh. Come to think of it… Because Gol had been so eager to show off her axe kicks this morning, she was killing every monkey in sight, which left none for me to sweep up with NTR.

In the meantime, I could bring any questions to my new teacher, Speria. “Um, are no other living creatures besides mana beasts able to use sorcery?”

“Hm, I haven’t heard of any precedents.” He thought for a moment before continuing. “Except for mana beasts…probably only the ‘Sorcerer King’ of legend. Though, it’s hard to say whether he’s real.”

Sorcerer King! He answered my question with some damning words.

Are you serious? You know about that, Great Teacher Speria?!

Just as I was about to ask more questions, a giant brown figure leapt down from the cliff in front of us and landed with a heavy boom. It was a hulking monkey the size of a boss gorilla. It was also relatively close to us.

I looked over to Gol. Although she moved to her protective position in front of me, she didn’t show any signs of charging. Instead, she glanced at me. Ah! She had allowed this lone monkey to approach to give me a chance to play around with NTR. How considerate.

Come to think of it, I’d been neglecting her as I talked with Mister Speria. She must have felt lonely and was now trying her best to catch my attention. She really was bad at asserting herself.

But what should I do? According to Mister Speria’s lecture, NTR was, without a doubt, something only the Sorcerer King could pull off. Could I get away with deploying it in front of him? I knew Gol was being considerate, but I suspected I should let her defeat it the same way as usual.

I hesitated as the hulking monkey continued to approach. It was so close and so large that I could make out every individual stone covering its body.

“So, those stones can deflect spells, huh…?” I said. “They look like normal rocks to me though.”

“The theory underlying Earth Goblin defense is exactly that which defines golems,” said Mister Speria. “Right, seeing is believing. Let me demonstrate.”

With that, Mister Speria took a step forward and casually raised his right hand toward the approaching monkey. The monkey showed no concern at this action and kept coming straight for us.

When the monkey was close enough, Mister Speria began his chant. “Well then, here I go. Fireball!”

A ball of fire the size of a softball shot out from his palm at high speed. It was terribly showy and incredibly protagonist-like. So frustrating!

The burning fireball slammed right into the monkey’s chest. However, on impact, the ball of fire dispersed and disappeared. That seemed strange.

“So, as you see, the mana flowing within the stones deflects mana that comes into contact with them, then disperses and returns the external mana to a particle state,” Mister Speria explained. He looked just like a patient science teacher.

Though cloaked in a heat haze from the fireball, the large monkey continued its inexorable approach.

“As expected, when the mutants grow to this size, even intermediate spells can’t scratch them…” Mister Speria murmured.

Indeed, even though this boss gorilla had faced a scorching ball of fire, it was completely unscathed. Huh, so it was true that spells were completely ineffective.

I also hadn’t missed that Mister Speria waited for the monkey to get closer before casting his spell. Did that mean spells had a surprisingly short firing range?

As I was mulling over the elements of spellcraft revealed by this demonstration, Mister Speria turned to me, a bit embarrassed. “Um, Nemaki. As you can see, my spells just aren’t reliable at the moment. I’m sorry, but do you think you could defeat that mutant Earth Goblin?”

“Ah, right! Sorry, I got lost in thought.”

I had forgotten that as the student in this scenario, I was in charge of cleaning up after the experiment. And it seemed the monkey was fairly pissed about being hit by that Fire spell. It reared up and bared its fangs, looking like it would jump us at any moment.

Ah. Bad.

“Gol, would you take care of that monkey for me?”

At my request, Gol pelted forward, like a bloodthirsty hound dog let loose on its prey. The graceful white goddess released a merciless axe kick. The monkey’s head exploded into yet another inglorious firework.

***

“Look, Nemaki. That’s the Earth miasma. It’s condensed enough to be visible.” Mister Speria pointed at the land in front of us. A faint brown fog covered the road ahead.

Ah, so that was the Earth miasma. If Mister Speria hadn’t been kind enough to explain it to me, I would’ve thought it was a sandstorm and wasted energy trying to go around it.

He continued: “The miasma does not directly harm the human body, but it will generate an outbreak of mutant mana beasts. It will also alter the soil quality, preventing any crops from growing…and if any land is engulfed by this miasma, it becomes uninhabitable.”

Whoa, the Earth miasma was bad news…though it looked so unremarkable.

“However, an outbreak of miasma in this area is unprecedented, so there’s undoubtedly something abnormal about it.”

That was the reason Mister Speria had undertaken a dangerous journey to investigate this place. What magnificent fortitude, I thought. As expected of a model man of culture.

Being a representative of cultured men from my original world, I was about to express my respect to this upstanding compatriot when I noticed several shadows within the miasma. On closer inspection, I saw buildings in ruins. Unfortunately, the sun would set soon, so I supposed we would be staying there overnight.

As expected, it was an uninhabited settlement. Well, this statement is obvious, but the size of the monkeys in this region was flat-out dangerous. No matter how you looked at it, we were in a situation beyond any normal person’s capacity to handle. Small wonder the residents had cleared out.

“This place was also swallowed by the miasma…” Mister Speria murmured with a troubled look.

Huh? Hadn’t he passed through here to get to Samari? Gol and I had come from the east and headed west along the road, and all that time, we’d never encountered another settlement, nor had we strayed off the path. I had assumed Mister Speria took the same road but from the opposite direction: west to east.

“Speria, how exactly did you reach Samari?”

Mister Speria pointed to the turquoise earring in his right ear. “I used this. It helped me come up from the south.”

“You used that earring?” It was quite large. I thought it might be malachite. Did it hold some special function?

“Well, observe.” Mister Speria faced the settlement and began to chant. The crystal portion of his earring released faint particles of light. After a few seconds, a gentle breeze stirred around him until it blew past us. His eyes remained closed for a bit, but when he slowly opened them, he nodded. “Yup, it’s safe. There are no more Earth Goblins in the vicinity. The one Goretaru just defeated must have been the last.”

According to Mister Speria, his crystal earring was known as a mana tool. This one enhanced Wind spells and allowed him to perform an advanced scan of the area. It was what you might call his special move. He had used this detection spell to evade the monkeys as he zigzagged through the mountains, heading north to reach Samari.

The map had indeed indicated a number of settlements to the south. However, because they were distant and would have required crossing mountains, I hadn’t considered them viable destinations.

Had Mister Speria really traveled all the way from there—by himself, no less—just to avoid the monkeys? Those steep mountains had no roads, as far as I could tell. We were so different… I had only gotten anywhere by being carried in Gol’s arms. I couldn’t hope to match Speria’s work ethic.

“This mana tool actually came in a pair,” Mister Speria said. “However, I seem to have dropped the other somewhere. I probably lost it when I was running away from the Earth Goblins after they finally caught me.”

He let out a flustered laugh as he scratched his head. “I’m afraid that’s why this spell seems so impotent. It’s genuinely a lifesaver to have been able to join you for this leg of the journey.”

Mister Speria had experienced such troubles, and all to pursue the noble goal of scientific research. I was glad to offer him any help I could.

Well, I was really offering Gol’s help, but let’s not get back into my dreadful mooching.

Together, we chose an empty house and settled down to spend the night. Dinner was a group effort comprised of our collective ingredients: soup.

We threw in generous amounts of whatever was in Mister Speria’s shoulder bag, including some vegetables that resembled onions and others that looked like chickpeas. Likely on account of ending his journey earlier than expected, Mister Speria wasn’t being frugal with his rations. I also tossed a bunch of jerky into the pot. Finally, we sprinkled in some of the spices Mister Speria had on him.

What a lovely aroma…

After the ingredients softened in our stew, I ate together with my new companion.

Yup, not bad at all. With the jerky, we’d created an excellent soup stock. In other words, jerky soup. Ah, that vegetable really does taste like a normal onion. How delicious.

After all the distance we’d covered that day, the saltiness of the jerky seeped into my body, granting it another satisfying layer of flavor.

Incidentally, the water we used to make the soup was created by Mister Speria’s Water spell. He really was resourceful. I was envious of his Water spells, though. Unlike spell-created stones that instantly turned into dirt, spell-created water remained water. You could drink it and everything. Amazing, right?

It appeared that spells of the Water attribute were powerful tools when used by those with the appropriate aptitude. Although Water spells utilized physical mass like the Ice and Earth attributes, they didn’t quite create individual items, but rather manipulated their flow. In that way, Water resembled attributes like Fire or Wind, which could determine the initial vector of an object before its creation.

In short, if you were skilled enough, you could shoot water like a water gun or even control the flow of a river. There were even records of a great spellcaster in the past using a Water spell to sink an entire castle. Additionally, eighty percent of healing spells were of the Water attribute.

Yet this amazing attribute wasn’t included among the Four Cornerstones: Fire, Wind, Earth, and Ice. That meant, to the layperson, the Water attribute was even less worthy than the scum-level Earth attribute, and it was especially belittled in comparison to the similar Ice attribute, which could freeze water droplets in the atmosphere.

“For some reason, it feels unfair…” I muttered.

Mister Speria could even refill the water in my ceramic pot. There was a functioning well in the ruined settlement, but since the water might have been turned foul by the miasma, I thought it best to avoid drinking from it. It might upset my stomach.

Thank you very much, Water attribute, I thought. Let’s work together to overthrow the Fire attribute one day.

I silently swore an oath of allegiance to the Water attribute as I watched clean water pour into the ceramic pot.

***

The fireplace emitted a warm light. I covered my legs with a blanket and ate slices of the glorious cranberry-apple Gol prepared for me as I reread Introduction to Spellcrafting I. Thanks to Mister Speria’s lecture earlier, I’d gained some new insight into spells. If I reread the book, I hoped I would be able to better understand it. Reviewing your lessons is important.

While I read, Mister Speria sat in front of the fireplace and checked his equipment.

I confess, I knew that we had been sharing food, but I couldn’t bring myself to share my glorious cranberry-apples.

Sorry, mister. Forgive me. Our friendship doesn’t apply here. I cannot give them away. I apologized to Mister Speria in the depths of my heart as I returned to my study. But with a full stomach and the warmth from the fire, I began to doze off.

As a self-proclaimed bookworm, this was unsightly behavior, but it couldn’t be helped. I mean, Gol was sitting next to me and felt super warm. She was basically a hot-water bottle. No…this warmth felt more like that of a kotatsu.

I sensed Gol’s intense stare fixed on my profile as I began to doze off, but I was accustomed to this. It certainly wasn’t enough to vanquish my drowsiness.

Just as I was about to crash, Mister Speria spoke. “Oh…? Is that Introduction to Spellcrafting? How nostalgic. I studied that back when I was a beginner.”

At the sound of his voice, I rubbed the fatigue from my eyes. Speria’s brow furrowed with memories as he regarded the book. But, at the same time, his gentle eyes were darkened by shadows and seemed terribly lonely.

“I see…” he murmured. “You’re reading that to study spellcrafting, right?”

I was still a little tired, but Mister Speria’s next words yanked me straight out of dreamland.

“It’s only…Luvel Zairein is the book’s author, isn’t he? That man, you see, was my spellcrafting master.”