chapter 10

How to Live as a Hero in a Magical World

Kaian smiled brightly as he looked at the red flag fluttering beneath the clear blue autumn sky.

“Haah, haah! Just as I thought! It really is my masterpiece!”

The mission to retrieve the Flame Veil had a time limit.

First of all, he couldn’t skip his fieldwork.

And once he harvested the Flame Veil, he had to return within twelve hours.

That meant he had, at most, about eighteen hours in total.

What was the most futile and disastrous mistake one could make when operating under such a tight time limit?

Obviously, taking the wrong path.

After receiving the mission from Eldarin, the first thing Kaian did was climb up Amber’s tree house.

From there, he figured out the approximate direction and terrain between himself and his destination.

Next, he made several wooden poles and attached red flags to their tops.

They need to be tall enough to see clearly from far away, and bright red.

Fortunately, Eldarin’s greenhouse was full of berries and grasses that could produce a red color.

He also found working with wood surprisingly fun, so making the poles themselves wasn’t particularly difficult.

The problem came after he finished making them.

Every day after lunch, Kaian began running the route he would need to take on the day of the final showdown.

I need to build up my stamina, and more importantly, there aren’t many proper roads around here.

He placed the poles he had made at regular intervals along the route he needed to take.

The following afternoon, he would climb a tree again and check whether he had set the direction correctly.

If the route wasn’t the shortest possible path, he didn’t hesitate to make adjustments.

I repeated that for an entire week.

As a result, blisters formed on his feet, burst, formed again, burst again…

His feet had been through absolute chaos.

The poles were also incredibly heavy when he tried to carry several of them at once.

Even thinking about it again, Kaian shook his head as though exhausted just by the memory.

I only dragged them around, but I’m still sore.

He had considered making a cart, but the difficulty of constructing one was higher than he had expected, and he wouldn’t have been able to finish it in time.

Besides, with my size, pulling it would have been a chore in itself.

In the end, he had no choice but to tackle the whole thing with his bare body.

Thanks to that, the muscle aches from an entire week had accumulated, and even now, a tingling pain ran through his whole body whenever his feet touched the ground.

Still, there was only one reason he had been willing to endure all that pain.

His determination to use magic.

Every time Kaian worked his way through one tedious task after another, he thought:

It would’ve been easier if I could use magic.

It would’ve been simple if I could use magic.

It wasn’t that he disliked doing things with his own hands.

If anything, he found it appealing.

But being able to do something and choosing not to do it is completely different from being unable to do it in the first place.

Dreaming of the day he would tame the flames in his mental world and freely use magic, Kaian quickened his pace.

―Tap, tap, tap, tap.

He passed another red flagpole.

“Haah, haah, haah…!”

Kaian desperately tried to calm his breath, which had risen all the way to his throat.

How long have I been running? No, how much farther do I have to go?

He had definitely been counting the number of poles he had passed.

But at some point, he had lost track of which number he was on.

One thing was certain.

His running speed was gradually slowing down.

“Haaah, haaah… No, in, in… out. In, in—hack! Cough! Cough!”

He even choked on his own breath.

This is driving me crazy.

―Tap, tap, tap.

The sound of his feet striking the ground stirred up all kinds of thoughts in Kaian’s mind.

Perhaps random thoughts were flooding in simply because all he wanted was to rest.

Come to think of it, fieldwork was the most relaxing part of my day.

Even so, Kaian didn’t stop walking.

There was a small belief settled deep inside his heart.

The belief that Eldarin hadn’t told him to retrieve the Flame Veil alone just to be spiteful.

There has to be a reason.

His mountain-goat elf teacher, who had a very dark side to her, always had a plan.

I just don’t know what it is.

Through his experiences so far, Kaian had learned that whenever he did as Eldarin told him, he was always left with something valuable.

So even now, he tried his best to think positively about the situation.

“Yeah, haah… this too… haah… and that too… huh… they’re all… in… training.”

―Thud, thud, thud!

Kaian considered his life in Eldergrove one giant training regimen.

But it was training he couldn’t have endured alone.

I barely managed to hold out because the earth spirits helped me.

Whenever he collapsed exhausted in the yard at night, the earth spirits would come over and restore his energy.

Once, he had even dozed off under the warm yellow glow unique to the earth spirits.

When he woke up later, he found the spirits struggling to drag a blanket over with their tiny bodies.

The memory brought a small laugh from him.

When I get back, I should take better care of the fields.

Eldarin had said that the more carefully one treated the earth, the stronger the spirits’ power became.

And if the spirits grew stronger, the amount of help he could receive from them would increase as well.

Then they’ll be twice as cute, and my recovery will be twice as fast!

Kaian soothed his exhausted body with pleasant thoughts.

He still needed to think more about what exactly it meant to treat the earth with care.

But once he returned safely, he intended to do everything he could.

If I learn magic, I’ll be able to take care of even more land…

Thinking that, Kaian stopped for a moment at the end of a gentle uphill slope.

“Haah, haah, haah….”

His entire body was pounding as though it had become one enormous heart.

―Whoooooosh!

A refreshing autumn breeze swept past him, but his overheated body refused to cool down easily.

Various thoughts had flashed through his mind as he ran.

But the more he thought, the clearer one conclusion became.

I absolutely have to fix my mental world.

Kaian gulped down the astragalus tea Amber had given him and stretched his body thoroughly.

Then he adjusted his backpack again.

The autumn sun didn’t stay up for very long.

“Let’s run.”

Then, soon enough, he would see the next flagpole.

The final red flag had been planted at the point where the Golden Plains came to an end.

There was a small forest there.

According to the information Kaian had managed to squeeze out of Eldarin after pestering her, a proper volcanic zone began after passing through that forest.

This is where the path I know ends. From here on, I have to explore and find my own way.

Kaian stood in front of the forest with his arms crossed, deep in thought.

Considering the distance he had traveled so far and his remaining stamina, the most efficient time to sleep would be immediately after reaching the forest.

But Kaian really didn’t want to.

…I don’t want to go in. It’s already getting dark.

That was despite the fact that a little sunlight still remained from the sunset.

The forest at night was dark.

Much darker than most people would imagine.

Kaian knew this relatively well because he had tried running through it alone before.

Darkness stimulated the imagination.

Invisible dangers grew larger inside his mind, and the shadow of fear fell over his soul.

The memory lurking deep within that darkness.

Every night, the death of his family—something he hadn’t even been able to see because he had been controlled by a command—came to visit Kaian again, layered with new details from his imagination.

Because of that, he still couldn’t sleep with the lights off.

If my second brother found out, he’d tease me to death.

For Kaian, who suffered from nightmares, Eldarin had placed a small lantern in his room.

The light, lit by magic, wouldn’t go out even in a passing breeze or at someone’s playful breath.

Kaian had considered bringing his precious lantern along on this journey, but it seemed impossible.

It’s just too bulky.

Kaian groaned.

“Ugh….”

No matter how much he disliked the darkness, continuing onward in his current condition was unreasonable.

In the end, Kaian decided to start a fire before the sunset completely disappeared.

He settled down beneath a large tree.

Yeah, at least having a campfire should make things a little better…!

Up to that point, everything was fine.

But then—

Oh, no.

Kaian wasn’t the only one who needed a fire in the forest at night.

“Prrr…!”

A threatening snort rang out.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down… caaalm down….”

Kaian held a torch in a defensive stance and stared at the enraged creature in front of him.

It was one and a half times the size of an ordinary wild boar, with a layer of skin as hard as basalt covering its body.

And there were obsidian tusks glowing red from the fire mana they contained.

―Gulp.

No way. I didn’t think one would actually show up.

There was no doubt.

It was an Obsidian Boar, a creature said to mainly inhabit volcanic regions.

He had thought there was a chance he might encounter one because they had a habit of seeking out places with strong fire mana.

But not here.

And you, you bastard…! You look way scarier than you did in the book!

Kaian screamed internally.

The Obsidian Boar stomped threateningly and snorted.

―Thump! Thump!

“Prrr!”

It looked ready to charge at any moment.

Just standing in front of it made Kaian’s legs tremble.

He repeatedly told himself:

Calm down. Calm down. I’ve done this image training so many times.

Holding the torch, Kaian slowly backed away.

He didn’t break eye contact.

The moment he looked away, the creature would charge.

Kaian stretched out his free hand behind him.

Soon, his fingers touched the rough trunk of a tree.

Ugh, it should be around here somewhere….

Kaian waved his hand around behind him, making sure the Obsidian Boar couldn’t see what he was doing.

And finally, he felt the texture of the wooden board he had been desperately searching for.

There! It’s here!

Maintaining his fierce eye contact with the Obsidian Boar, Kaian began moving his foot around as well.

―Clunk!

His foot caught on the wooden board.

From this point on, it was a battle of reflexes and speed.

―Squeeze!

Kaian tightened his grip around the handle of the torch.

His palm was damp with tension.

But for some reason, a grin kept creeping across his face.

Is this the thrill of having everything go according to plan?

―Thump! Thump! Thump!

“Prrrr! Prrr!”

The Obsidian Boar shook its head as though amused by the sight of prey smaller than itself.

That was when—

Kaian hurled the torch he was holding directly at it with all his strength.

―Whoosh!

“Gweeeek! Prrr!”

For a brief moment, the Obsidian Boar’s attention was drawn to the fire.

―Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!

Kaian quickly climbed up the makeshift ladder made from wooden boards, escaping the range of its attack.

It was a ladder he had set up when he first chose this spot, specifically in preparation for a situation like this.

Kaian gave the glory of his survival to his own meticulous preparation—

And to his diligence in practicing tree climbing every single day without missing one.

But it was still too early to relax.

The moment the Obsidian Boar avoided the torch, it charged straight at the tree Kaian had climbed.

―THUD!

“Waaaaah!”

The tremendous impact shook the tree.

Even though Kaian clung tightly to the trunk with both arms and legs, the force was strong enough to make his entire body sway.

Perhaps enraged at having been fooled by such a crude trick, the creature charged again without stopping and slammed into the tree a second time.

―THUD!

And then—

An ominous sound reached Kaian’s ears.

―Crack….

“Huh?”

―THUD!

―Craack, craaack…!

“Eeeeh?! No way…!”

Kaian wanted to deny reality.

But no matter how he thought about it, there was only one possible conclusion.

That was the sound a tree made right before it broke.