Iska ①
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After that, Johan headed to a port city named Iska. He didn't have a specific purpose for traveling; he just wanted to wander the world as his heart desired.
In addition to that, Johan dreamed of grilled fish and ale. As a port city, the quality of food like that is expected to be good.
After a while of feeling the horse carriage sway back and forth, Johan arrived at Iska. Upon arriving, he showed proof that he’s an adventurer and entered the town. The town was an ordinary port town with nothing particularly noteworthy about its appearance. Since the town looked out onto the sea, it had a bit of a salty smell to it. Many people walking around the town had suntans. In particular, there were a lot of sailors and many people with good physiques. Iska also had a bit of a dangerous side to it; since there were many people with short tempers, fights would break out easily.
"For now, let's find a place to stay. There were times in the past when I neglected to do that and ended up sleeping outside..." Johan's memories of the days when he was more inexperienced resurfaced in his mind.
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Johan ended up finding a place to stay without much trouble.
It was called The Roaring Current.
When it comes to the names of inns, many of them tend to reflect the characteristics of the area they are located in.
(The inn is as noisy as the ocean…I don’t think it means that…probably)
Although slightly apprehensive, Johan spent the night at The Roaring Current without any problems. Fortunately, it was not noisy enough to keep him from sleeping.
The only thing that was a bit annoying was that the person in the room next to him called a prostitute that night. Johan realizes these things happen in a port town so it can’t be helped.
Inns have different features based on the people in the town. For example, in towns where many people live as soldiers, there may be double locks on the doors, and in cities where there are many wizards, if you try to forcefully open a lock with a spell, offensive magic activates to defend the door. Even a single inn can reveal the characteristics of a city.
All of these are cities of the Regnum Western Empire, but surprisingly, in the imperial capital, Bern, there are many ordinary inns with no special features.
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The next morning, Johan woke up and spent a relaxing morning at the inn. Since Iska's busy mornings happen extremely early, by the time Johan woke up, things had already settled down quite a bit…
(It’s not like this is the kind of trip where I’m in a rush to go anywhere though)
He opened the window and spent the morning listening to the meowing of the seacats while gazing at his catalyst.
Johan often used flowers as his catalysts, but if he handled them roughly, they would dry up, break and scatter everywhere.
Although he had cast a spell on his notebook to maintain the appropriate humidity, spells were not something that could be maintained permanently with only a single casting.
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Around noon, Johan finally started to head out.
He finished his meal and went to the guild.
The town had settled down after the morning commotion, and it was peaceful as usual.
Johan squinted at the clear blue sky that didn’t even have a single cloud in it.
"I can't use high quality spells unless I'm feeling depressed and gloomy though" Johan's words, mumbled in a whisper, weren’t even a joke.
Johan simply liked cloudy skies.
However, since the so-called Alliance-style magic is somewhat influenced by the caster's state of mind, there are those who care about it to some extent.
As Johan entered the guild, the eyes of the adventurers in the room all briefly turned to him, but each of them soon returned to looking at the request board or started discussing something with their parties.
Johan walked straight ahead and made his way to the receptionist’s desk. What would normally be a beautiful receptionist tempting reckless adventurers to their deaths...was not there. Instead, a sturdy middle-aged man with a strong build, who looks like he could easily beat low-level adventurers to death with his bare hands, sat firmly in place.
(Hmm, that’s rare. The receptionists at the adventurer's guild are mostly always women. It usually works well since the men are happy to go and die for them)
Even though I was thinking about such things I continued settling my business here- transferring from Ubris to here. After moving I will become active in this town, but I haven’t decided specifically on how long I’ll be here.
Reporting a move to a new town is not a requirement, but by doing so, it becomes easier to track the whereabouts of the person. The benefit is that if an accident occurs, it’s easier to get rescued if something unforeseen happens. There are no specific disadvantages to reporting your relocation, unless you’re someone who committed a crime and is trying to go into hiding or something like that.
After the process finished smoothly, the tough-looking old man asked me, "What kind of quest do you want to take on?" This was also unusual. What normally happens is that the guild accepts what the person chooses to take on from the request bulletin board... but well, this guild must have its own way of doing things, I guess. Johan told him the type of request he wanted to take on.
"I prefer doing something that’s as non life-threatening as possible."
For someone like Johan, who was not particularly in need of money, it was a perfectly natural request. So why do things like being an adventurer? It is largely due to his philosophy or rather, his policy.
—Work is similar to a wheel. If you don't keep it moving, it rusts. Then when you want to move it again, it requires more effort than one would think is necessary.
In other words, if he remains unemployed, his mental state will start to get worse, and he will have a hard time starting up again when he needs to work in the future.
However, other adventurers who overheard this conversation mocked Johan. "What's the point of being an adventurer if you value your life so much?" They had a point, but…
Without caring about being ridiculed, Johan accepted a request to refill the water barrels at the tavern and left.
(......Two of ‘em, eh?)
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After exiting the guild, Johan didn't head to the tavern but instead entered a dimly lit alleyway. It was a place that couldn’t be called safe even if one were to describe it nicely.
He crouched down, picked up a few stones, and continued forward. He made his way deeper into the alleyway, while making sure that he was being followed.
Then finally, he arrived at a spot that was slightly in the open, with a dead end farther up ahead.
Johan stopped in the center of the open area and slowly turned around. Two male adventurers stood before him. He surveyed them from head to toe and then after a moment of silence, he spoke.
"Good morning. Are you here to extort me? I'll let you know now, if you run away, I won't chase you but if you draw your weapons, I will kill you. However, if you're not actually planning on killing me, I'll take that into consideration."
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The adventurers both sneered after hearing Johan's words.
"That's my line, bro. You're a wizard, right? Can you even fight properly at this distance? I don't intend to kill you, but leave behind your catalyst. You probably have gems or something, right?"
Johan took those words as a declaration of war and threw a stone.
He was aiming for the eyes.
One moment of hesitation can be fatal in close combat. In the brief moment he made them flinch, Johan lowered himself and tackled one of the adventurers, grabbing him by the waist and bringing him down.
The other was still dumbfounded.
With just this one move, it was obvious how inexperienced they were.
With his palm, Johan struck the adventurer’s face and crushed his nose.
(It’s crucial to leave a gap between the back of the head and the ground.)
This technique called the hammer and anvil strategy, was invented by the gladiators who fought in the colosseum of Galvados, a city of the ancient Regnum Western Empire.
By combining the impact of the blow with the impact of the head hitting the ground, it becomes a more efficient way to physically destroy your opponent.
After confirming that the man he had tackled lost all his strength and was no longer a threat, Johan ran towards the other man who was still frozen in fear and kicked him.
Where did he kick him exactly?
Of course, in the organ that’s very important for a man.
As he groaned while dropping to his knees, Johan kicked him again, this time in the stomach.
"What would you do if you saw a small demon soaked and shivering from the cold? My teacher, Louise Chartres Faru Ebon, said this: 'Kick them in the stomach and weaken them further.' I agree with her. When the opponent is weak, you should attack them at once without hesitation and without observing their condition."
While saying this to him, Johan kicked his face, stepped on his arm, and then repeatedly stepped on his fingers with his heel.
"You think this is cruel? You guys tried to steal my catalyst. For a wizard, a catalyst is a lifeline. In other words, you two were trying to kill me...isn't that right?"
The adventurer who mistakenly thought he would be killed if things continued like this, responded to Johan’s question. “W- We had no intention of trying to kill you…We only...just wanted to take some money… please stop…I can’t take anymore…it hurts…my bones are broken…”
Johan knitted his brows while slight anger rose up, and responded to the man.
“You doubt my skill? There’s no way I broke any bones. I’m just inflicting pain. You were planning to beat me up if I didn't quietly comply, weren't you? That's why I'm doing the same. Now quietly take it. I won't do anything bad."
The adventurers were mentally overwhelmed by Johan as he continued being violent while saying he won’t do anything bad.
(Th–This guy is out of his damn mind…!)
The man covered his head and tried his best to endure Johan’s violent attacks. It had become a situation where you couldn’t tell who the victim was and who the aggressor was anymore. Finally, Johan stopped his assault, put his hand on the man’s shoulder and spoke,
“Drop the thought of taking revenge. There’s a phrase, “tyranny of the majority”. However, in the case you gather people and come after me in a group, I'll kill all of you. Even if you try to escape, I’ll chase you and kill you. I'll use my connections with the nobles of the Regnum Western Empire to find and kill you even if you hide. Oh, that's right. I'll only take half your guys’ money. You two were planning to rob me, weren't you? Originally, I was going to take everything, but I'll leave some money for you to get some treatment for your injuries. My family often calls me soft, but you know what they say, the kindness you show others comes back to you. You're lucky that I'm a kind man."
Johan left after warning the man to not try to take revenge. The man looked over at his partner in crime who was lying on the ground but luckily seemed to still be alive.
The man also checked himself and realized that he was mostly okay, just in pain. He swore to himself that if he ever saw Johan in town again, he would run away immediately.
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After leaving the back alley, Johan headed towards the tavern.
"I took up a request from the guild to refill the water barrels here,"
Johan stated to the tavern owner, who then invited him inside.
"So umm, there are five barrels...As long as you do as much as you can, that’ll be fine so, I can count on you, right?”
Johan nodded and took out a blue gem from his coat pocket. It was an unpolished blue gemstone. It was a high-grade but still common gem that could be found anywhere there was water, whether it be in a river or from the sea. When processed, it becomes a fragile yet translucent blue jewel. However, its value as a piece of jewelry diminishes over time as it becomes cloudy.
Johan tightly gripped the stone in his hand and began to speak: "Travelers in the desert– hunger, thirst, and collapse. Their consciousness empty, and in their dying moments, they see..."
He could have created water with an Association-style spell as well but Johan intentionally chose to use an Alliance-style one. Blue gemstones can also be found at oases making this kind of catalyst convenient to use with this spell.
When Johan finished his incantation, the empty water barrels immediately filled with water. The tavern owner’s nose twitched, not because of any peculiar scent but because the water seemed to speak to something instinctual within him.
"There's nothing harmful about it, but I want you to try to think about how someone lost in the desert would feel when presented with a cup of water after wandering and suffering from thirst. This water gives off an impression that appeals to that instinct. It's merely giving off the impression that the water is a bit delicious"
Hearing this, the tavern owner was delighted and treated Johan to a meal. The tavern remained busy for a while afterwards, as word of the water's appeal spread.
