Sorcerer Wants to Enjoy Poya Poya

Chapter – 7 : The Power of an Apprentice Sorcerer

The next morning, when Ricardo arrived in front of the Viscount Delv Castle, he found about 20 soldiers preparing for the hunt. A man who seemed to be the commander of the soldiers came up to him.

“Hey, kid. This is not a place for a novice beast hunter.”

Ricardo was dressed the same as when he went to the thicket. He was carrying a shield, a warpick strapped on his belt, and a backpack on his back. He could easily be mistaken for a beast hunter.

“I’m an apprentice sorcerer.”

“I’ve never seen you before. Are you Alexander’s apprentice?”

“Yes, my name is Ricardo.”

The man who called out to Ricardo was Jacob Cornelius. He was the confidant and escort captain of the Viscount who commanded the hunting of Erbil trees.

Jacob was in his late thirties and looked like a heavyweight pro wrestler.

He was puzzled by Ricardo’s strange appearance.

“I’m also troubled by Alexander.”

A voice came from behind Ricardo. He looked back and saw a tall, sharp-eyed man. He had a belt pouch on his waist, similar to the one Alexander wore.

“May I ask who you are?”

Ricardo asked.

“I am the sorcerer Flavio. Just let him participate to make up the numbers. Kid, you just have to stay behind so that you don’t get in the way.”

There were two boys behind Flavio. They were about five years older than Ricardo and wore the same belt pouch as Flavio. Maybe those pouches were for storing catalysts.

They were not official sorcerers yet, and they were both wearing a short robe that reached only up to the thighs. There didn’t seem to be any weapons, so most probably they relied solely on magic for fighting.

“Ricardo, you are a sorcerer, but you don’t even have a catalyst pouch?”

Apparently, the belt pouch was called a catalyst pouch.

Ricardo blushed for being ridiculed. Neither Alexander nor Massimo had told him about it. It seemed like he was taken in as a disciple just to take part in the hunt. Once again, Ricardo realized that the father-son pair was not really willing to raise him as a sorcerer.

“Are you Master Flavio’s apprentices?”

Ricardo asked the two boys and they nodded proudly with their chests puffed outwards.

“I’m Bennett, a third-year apprentice sorcerer.”

The tall, lanky boy with a red nose introduced himself.

“Why should I bother with giving an introduction to a guy like you. You are not going to be of much use in the tree hunt anyway.”

The monkey-faced boy spoke with an edge in his voice. Ricardo later learnt that the name of the boy was Marcello. He was Flavio’s son.

In addition to these two, there were two other apprentice sorcerers in the group. They were Ivan and Patrick, apprentices of the sorcerer Edward.

Ivan was a quiet boy, while Patrick was a young man who spoke with an accent like Nagoya dialect.

It was not the true Nagoya dialect, just that the intonation sounded similar.

Also, in this country, a person was considered to be an adult when he or she turned fifteen. Patrick was seventeen years old. He was the oldest of the apprentice sorcerers.

“Your name is Ricardo, isn’t it? When did you become an apprentice?”

“Two months ago.”

Patrick looked surprised.

“Alexander is a… terrible man.”

Patrick sensed that Alexander had taken Ricardo as his apprentice only to maintain his track record of sending apprentices to the tree hunt. He felt sorry for Ricardo.

“Have you learnt how to use magic?”

“A little bit of beginner magic.”

“Did Alexander teach you magic?”

“Well, sort of.”

The answer was quite ambiguous. Hearing that, Marcello made a disgusted expression.

“I think you only learn [Ignition] and [Flame Shot]. Those are the only spells you can practice even with cheap charcoal.”

He was half correct. [Ignition] and [Flame Shot] seem to be the first magics learnt by the beginners.

“You can’t use fire magic in the mountains, I’m warning you. If you’ve brought any cheap charcoal, throw it away.”

Marcello warned him. Ricardo made a troubled face.

Patrick defended Ricardo.

“You didn’t know that, so it’s no big deal.”

Ricardo shook his head.

“I did know that. But I will still use it if there is a danger to my life.”

Marcello and Patrick were surprised. It could be seen from their faces.

“I told you, you can’t use fire magic.”

There was a hint of anger in Marcello’s voice.

“You’re saying I can’t use fire even if I’m dying? Or is it because you are sure you can escape from the magical tree Erbil?”

“We’re going to hunt Erbil for the Viscount. What if you scare it away, huh?”

“Of course, I will try not to use it. But if my life or someone else’s life is in danger, I will not hesitate to use it. My life is precious, after all.”

During the hunt this spring, two apprentice sorcerers were killed and three soldiers were seriously injured. If they had used the fire magic, they might have saved their lives.

“Interesting. Alexander has an unusual apprentice.”

Jacob exclaimed from behind. He was in charge of the spring hunt, so he felt responsible for the casualties that happened. He had tried to resign from his position at that time. However, the Viscount stopped him.

The Viscount persuaded him to continue, but he swore to God that he would never let a single person die in the next hunt.

It was no wonder that Jacob was interested in Ricardo’s words.

After all the people who were participating in the magical tree hunt had arrived, Jacob gave the signal to depart. The sorcerers and their apprentices would ride in a carriage.

The carriage would take them to the edge of the mountain near the hunting grounds, and from there they would enter the mountain on foot.

Soldiers were stationed to protect the sorcerers and apprentices as they made their way up the mountain.

The mountain was said to be home to various magical beasts aside from the Erbil tree.

One of the soldiers looked at Ricardo and asked.

“You’re a sorcerer’s apprentice, aren’t you? Why are you dressed like a beast hunter?”

“If a magical beast other than the Erbil tree attacks, I’ll use this to fight it.”

Ricardo showed him his warpick and buckler.

“You don’t use magic?”

“I do, but it will be a waste of a catalyst.”

Ordinary sorcerers didn’t deal with small fry. That was the work of soldiers. The soldiers were armed with short spears and knives, and only two of them were carrying bows.

A little further up the mountain, a pack of two-horned wolves appeared.

The soldiers stepped in front of the magical beasts and held up their spears.

They were about the size of large dogs, with brown fur and horns the size of rifle bullets on their foreheads.

“Surround and kill them!”

The wolves attacked the soldiers. Spears were thrust out at the wolves, which roared and tried to push the soldiers down.

A normal wolf would choose to flee, but the magical beast preferred to fight. It was an exceptionally strong fighting instinct.

The sorcerers and apprentices took out one small wooden tube from the catalyst pouch on their waists and prepared to activate their magic.

They seemed to be prepared in case the wolves broke through the soldiers’ enclosure and attacked them.

In a few minutes, the wolves were on the ground, bleeding.

“Let’s just strip off their horns for the catalyst and get going.”

Jacob ordered. The soldiers stripped off only the horns and resumed moving. The only thing they were after was only the magical tree Erbil.

The mountain seemed to be full of magical beasts.

There were demon-faced rats and head-butting rabbits everywhere. They were even on the mountain paths, but the soldiers had easily exterminated them all.

The soldier’s enclosure was broken only when they encountered a group of about 20 demon-faced rats, and the demon-faced rats started attacking the apprentice sorcerers.

Marcello used a catalyst made of powdered blood-smoke bird’s wing bones to cast his spell.

“Shenna, brid, wynn.” (Wind, become a blade and blow)

It was a wind-based magic that he specialized in, the [Wind Slash]. Marcello’s magical power shined in purple light, and when it suffused into the catalyst and formed a vortex, it became a blade of wind and flew. A slightly purple-tinged, shining blade of air shot toward the demon-faced rat and cut off its neck.

The demon-faced rat heading for Patrick was halved by his water-based magic [Flowing Water Blade].

“Amazing!”

Ricardo was surprised by the power of their magic.

But he didn’t have time to be surprised. This was because Ricardo was also attacked by a demon-faced rat.

A demon-faced rat jumped at his neck. As usual, he caught it with his round buckler shield and killed it with his warpick.

It was an instant kill because Ricardo was familiar with their battle pattern.

Jacob clicked his tongue at the soldiers’ ineptitude. His role included keeping the sorcerers from wasting catalyst until the battle with the magical tree.

With that in mind, his response to the group of demon-faced rats was a failure. However, after seeing the new sorcerer apprentice defeat the demon-faced rat, he hoped that the other sorcerers would be able to handle them as well as this guy.

The demon-faced rat was a small fry. With a little training, even sorcerers could defeat them with weapons.

Jacob would like to complain that they didn’t need to use a catalyst to defeat them.

Ricardo defeated another demon-faced rat with his warpick.

That was the end of the rats’ ambush. The soldiers began to strip the fangs for the catalyst. Ricardo also joined them to collect the catalysts.

In this hunt, the person who killed a magical beast was allowed to collect material from the magical beast they had killed, but of course it didn’t include materials from the magical tree Erbil.

Marcello approached Ricardo as he was stripping the fangs.

“You’re a sorcerer’s apprentice, yet you fight with a weapon like that?”

Ricardo was annoyed by his mocking tone.

“What does a demon-faced rat need magic for?”

Ricardo replied sarcastically, but after retorting back, he realized that he had made a mistake. “Oh no…”

It seemed that after Mato took over Ricardo’s body, he began to reply without thinking deeply. The original Mikio Mato was a cautious man, but…

The sorcerer Flavio was glaring at him with a terrifying look on his face.

“That’s a lot of bluster for only an in-name disciple of Alexander.”

Flavio despised Alexander’s lack of emphasis on actual combat.

He believed that this apprentice would be someone who only packed knowledge, but surprisingly, he was a real fighter.

But that’s not the way a sorcerer thought. Sorcerers would think that they could solve everything with magic.

There was an awkward atmosphere among the sorcerers and the apprentices.

“I’m sorry, Sir.”

“No need to apologize. There is no set way for a sorcerer to fight. But, it is said that magic hates iron. That is why no sorcerer fights with iron weapons.”

That was true. But Ricardo didn’t remember any loss of power when he used magic while holding a warpick.

“Come on, let’s get going.”

At the sound of Jacob’s command, they began to climb the mountain path again.

The point where the magical tree had made its home was halfway up the mountain, a place thriving with many coniferous trees. As they got closer and closer, the weather became more and more strange.

The sky was covered with black clouds and the wind was getting colder.

Patrick approached Ricardo.

“Don’t mess with Marcello,” he advised.

“I just replied.”

“He’s a prickly man, that’s why. You have to be patient and let it go. If you don’t, he’ll keep coming back to harass you.”

Marcello seemed to have a personality problem.

“I’ll be careful from now onwards. Umm… I want to ask something, don’t sorcerers fight with weapons?”

“Almost no sorcerers use iron as a weapon.”

Since Patrick had limited himself to iron weapons, Ricardo asked if there were any sorcerers who used other weapons.

“Some people use wooden staves and rods, and the ones made of special materials seem to have the same power as steel swords.”

It was said that expensive weapons could be made as sturdy as steel rods by channelling some magic power. It seemed that those who were hit by the augmented rod would get some damage from some kind of shock wave.

I wonder if this is a type of magic that doesn’t require a catalyst. It is at least worth a try….