assistirfilmes Chapter 6 Not Looking Too Idle, Are They?
Chapter 6 Not Looking Too Idle, Are They?
Turan eventually managed to get information in exchange for a mug of beer.
To find masu with bounties, he should go to the city hall and ask the official in charge.
When he asked what city hall and officials were, the serving girl burst out laughing.
"Not knowing even this, you really are from the complete countryside, brother!"
Still giggling, she explained that city hall was a building in the center of the city where various public affairs were handled, and officials were people employed by the city's lord.
Since the sun had completely set today, it seemed he should go to city hall tomorrow morning to inquire.
"But why are you looking for masu? Don't tell me you're also a masu hunter?"
"What's a masu hunter?"
"You know, people who believe they can become wizards by hunting masu."
She explained that there was a superstition spreading that even ordinary people could gain magical power by hunting masu, and there were those who risked their lives hunting masu for this purpose.
While normal people treated them as mentally ill, surprisingly many aimed for this as a way of advancing their social status.
While listening to her explanation, someone placed their hand on Turan's shoulder.
"Hey, Lena. Becoming a wizard by catching masu isn't a superstition—it's fact. I've seen it with my own eyes."
The speaker was a middle-aged man who looked to be between thirty and forty years old.
His unkempt head and beard gave an impression of complete neglect, but in contrast, his eyes were strangely clear.
"Uncle Midan! You're alive!"
"Did you think I'd die? I told you. I won't die before becoming a wizard."
"Sorry, Miss Lena. Our leader is always so rude."
Three men approached behind the man called Midan.
Armed with long spears, bows, and hammers that looked capable of destroying buildings, they were all large and muscular.
When Turan lightly brushed off the hand on his shoulder, the man flinched back.
"Oops, excuse me."
"It's fine. But could I hear more about what you said earlier?"
"Hm? Which part?"
"About becoming a wizard by catching masu."
"Oh, so the young fellow was interested in that too?"
Pleased by Turan's interest, Midan grinned and explained.
Wizards grow stronger by killing masu and taking their power, and by the same principle, ordinary people could become wizards by killing masu and gaining their power.@@@@
He said he had seen several wizards who had gained power this way.
"That's why the four of us hunt masu to become wizards."
"We've already caught three!"
"Not much longer now."
Midan's subordinates—who seemed to call themselves sworn brothers—added one by one.
Turan was shocked to hear they had caught three masu.
The only masu he had seen possessed enough strength to easily tear apart dozens of ordinary humans.
"Three of them—does that mean one of you has already become a wizard?"
As soon as Turan finished speaking, everyone on the inn's first floor burst out laughing.
"No way! This city only has four wizards—the lord and three knights under him."
"If just one of us became a wizard, it would be much easier to help the other brothers."
"Actually, we nearly died several times catching those ones."
Only four wizards in a city that seemed to house at least a thousand people?
He could somewhat understand why Keorn had lamented the shortage of wizards in the world.
Then, Midan glanced at Turan's bag and asked:
"So you hunt masu? Your equipment seems too poor for that—don't you have any weapons?"
"Weapons?"
Turan took out the sheepskin sling from his pocket, thinking they would mock it.
It would look quite unimpressive compared to their metal armaments.
However, contrary to his expectations, the masu hunters showed quite positive reactions.
"Oh, you throw stones with this?"
"Looking at the wear, it's been well-used."
"What size stones do you use?"
"About egg-sized ones."
After confirming there were no people around, Turan recalled the masu he had seen at city hall earlier.
Blade Crow, a man-eating masu that preyed on children...
"Crow search."
The moment he cast the spell, hundreds of different sounds reached his ears.
Sounds of feathers rubbing, wing flaps, and pecking at things.
"Ugh."
Due to the overwhelming variety of sounds from all directions, Turan frowned and canceled the magic.
The search spell had lost its discrimination due to the excessive number of crows around the city.
'This method won't work.'
How should he search for just the masu?
A crow with mana?
He tried, but it wouldn't activate at all—it seemed mana possession couldn't be used as a search condition.
Next he tried the condition of "crow that eats humans," but this time too many targets were caught.
Probably including those that had pecked at corpses.
"This is difficult..."
He hadn't encountered such problems much on Hisaril Hill where animals were scarce.
To find lost sheep, he just had to search for sheep and find the lone ones, and for wolves, at most one or two packs would be caught.
After pondering for a while, Turan had a flash of insight and used magic.
'Crow larger than a child.'
Though masu were said to be stronger than ordinary animals, it would need a basic size to carry off children.
As expected, he heard the rustling of feathers from just one crow.
Plus a faint scent of human blood.
"Found it."
Though nothing was visible looking in the direction of the sound due to obstacles, once detected, there was no chance of losing it.
A distance that would take an ordinary person at least 10 minutes running.
But for a noble-class wizard running at full speed, 3 to 4 minutes was enough.
When the forest where the target lived came into view, Turan used another spell.
Not the complete concealment unique to the Zahar bloodline, but ordinary invisibility magic that just made him unseen.
Complete concealment magic consumed too much mana to use comfortably yet, and from experience, he knew birds' hearing wasn't that sharp.
Arriving at the huge tree that housed the crow masu—which looked like it would take three people with outstretched arms to encircle—Turan immediately used flight magic to float up.
'It's big...'
The crow masu was over a meter tall just sitting.
Its folded wings were sharp like blades as its name suggested, and fresh blood was visible on its sharp beak.
Throughout the nest it perched on were scattered bones of various animals, and occasionally what appeared to be human bones.
As expected, it was busy grooming its feathers, completely unaware of Turan's presence.
'Now, how should I catch this one.'
The simplest would be to immediately blow its head off with a stone sling, but he wanted to test more varied magic against it.
If he became too accustomed to stone slinging just because it was easy, he would have no countermeasures when facing an opponent immune to physical projectiles.
It was also Keorn's teaching to prepare various response methods when possible.
Looking up at the sky, he noticed quite a few clouds—perfect conditions for a magic he wanted to try.
A technique he had only learned in theory and never used because conditions weren't right on Hisaril Hill.
Turan raised his finger to the sky while recalling memories, staying slightly away from the nest.
Several years ago, on a rare stormy day on the rarely rainy Hisaril Hill.
The massive pillar of light connecting sky and earth, accompanied by a roar that seemed to shake the world.
'Come.'
Along with a strong wish, his internal mana was suddenly drained, and moments later, low thunder rumbled between the clouds.
The crow masu looked up at the sky as if sensing something amiss, but it was already too late to escape.
Lightning faster than sound struck the bird's nest.
[CAWCAWCAWCAW---!!!]
The crow screamed and tried to flee from the suddenly falling thunderbolt.
But its proud blade feathers had all burned away with only the metal-like parts falling off, leaving it no way to fly.
The crow fell helplessly to the ground, thrashed a few times, then stopped moving.
After carefully checking for about a minute to see if it would move again, Turan descended to the ground and absorbed its mana.