Chapter 20 Gray Tower(1)
Translator: BaeBae Editor: BaeBae
Juan injected some mana into Taltere’s dagger that he’d used for hunting. Above the achromatic sword a red blooded pattern emerged.
As he started to strip the skin off the stag, the smell of blood covered the area. Taltere’s blade easily cut across and separated the skin from the fat.
‘It’s more useful than I thought.’
Especially, when Juan injected Taltere’s mana that hadn’t yet fully assimilated inside his body, its usefulness skyrocketed.
Although Taltere’s consciousness was eradicated, his impure mana still existed separately inside him.
It was only a matter of time before he absorbed it, but he needed to consider whether it could destabilise his balance.
Whenever Juan used Taltere’s mana instead of his own, an outrageous display of strength was demonstrated on many occasions.
Like when he’d set the colosseum dungeon on fire, his mana concentration was far more denser than he’d thought.
‘Although a large part was because I was too emotional at the time, it’s always a good idea to be extra careful.’
He knew having this explosive strength on standby for the right time could be very useful.
On top of that, if used in conjunction with Taltere’s blade, the synergy would double the power that he could unleash.
Looking at it from that perspective, it was for the better that Taltere’s mana had been separated. In dire situations, a bit of madness could be more helpful than being logical.
Blood and god of madness, Juan didn’t feel any rejection toward using the evil weapon that had caused death for countless sacrificial victims.
To him, a weapon was simply just a weapon.
There was no reason to reject using an enemy’s weapon for such thoughts.
In his days as emperor, he’d come across far superior weapons but they’d all been destroyed or sealed. Yet now, he was in desperate need of it.
‘Plus, if I count up the number of lives I’ve killed, it would likely surpass Taltere’s.’
If he counted his days as an emperor, it was fair to call Juan a slaughterer. It would’ve been a sad joke to think deaths could have an influence on his behavior.
Quickly, Juan finished dismantling the stag. He had hanged the skin on a branch but left the meat on the ground for the forest beasts. It was too heavy to be carried on his journey.
“…………?”
Then, he suddenly felt a menacing presence. He realized the smell of blood would be attracting virtually everything from the forest.
It didn’t feel like a wolf. He felt the ground shake each time it came closer.
What had appeared out from the forest was a brown bear. Its size was almost as tall as a tree.
‘Creature huh.’
He was certain that it had mutated, excessively grown from mana entering his body. Here and there, unproportionate muscle growth and deformed teeths confirmed this.
The brown bear scoffed as it looked at Juan but quickly lost interest.
Its attention was fixed upon the delicious looking stag that had more meat for him to devour.
If Juan rag away, it wouldn’t have chased him.
And yet, Juan grabbed his dagger invertedly.
“It’s gonna take forever to strip the skin off this one.”
*****
The smell of blood was heading towards the town’s center.
The majority of the townsfolk here made a living as a hunter.
The beasts attracted towards the Gray tower was a good source of income for the hunters. However, beasts that’d absorbed mana were extremely dangerous. Casualties were a common sight.
And for these hunters who live a rough life, seeing a hooded boy dragging behind piles of leather pictured a terrifying sight.
One object in particular was the cause of their astonishment. The head of a brown bear placed on top of the leather pile.
It felt as if the bear’s eye socket was big enough for Juan to fit through.
A few hunters were about to say something to Juan, but back off as fellows hunters restrained them from doing so.
Juan continued pulling the leather pile forwards and only stopped once he found himself in front of an exchange stall.
The wide eyed shop merchant who had been staring at Juan from afar, quickly came to his senses and greeted Juan.
“…..Did you really catch this? A brown bear creature?”
Juan simply nodded with a tired look. It was a bigger deal than Juan was making out to be.
Unlike at a colosseum, in its natural habitat, the creature’s level of danger was extremely higher in a forest.
The level of danger it posed was dangerous enough to call every hunter inside the village and hire mercenaries in certain cases.
And yet, Juan had solely killed it.
Juan touched his chest where it still slightly ached. The brown bear fell to its death on top of him at the end, breaking his bone.
Not a bad result considering he’d refrained from using magic and used only his physical abilities to topple it.
At the very least, he decided not to rely on his magic unless his life was threatened. Relying on his magical ability to restore his body did not help him improve in any way. In dire scenarios, it was possible that he may not have the opportunity to use it.
“Huh, and here’s me thinking that bear was going to be something special. As expected, people from beyond the boundary are on a different level. I’ll have to let the master know to cancel the request for an expedition. I’m sure there’s going to be many disappointed bastards haha.”
The merchant stated happily after having checked the leather for its authenticity.
A few days ago, the merchant had gladly helped a beggar looking child when the child handed him the corpse of a dead beast.
While he knew this different child was from outside the empire being black haired, he didn’t look that dangerous.
Only after seeing that the child had killed the beasts with a single dagger, he was scared out of his wits. But to him, his love for money came before anything else.
The church didn’t properly regulate in places deep in the mountains. The merchant decided to hold off his curiosity and make full use of this opportunity.
He’d never expected someone to have brought along a dead creature.
“Anyways, I’ll reward you handsomely for this hunt. If you catch another one, bring it to me.”
In a happy mood, the merchant offered a good price.
The brown bear had a bounty on its head so it wasn’t a bad deal for the merchant either.
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“Huh, what are you saying suddenly!”
From the village a loud voice could be heard. A group of adventures were loudly shouting at an elderly hunter. In a pickle, the hunter was trying to calm them down.
“The situation was out of my control. Who could have known that he’d lose his leg?”
“In that case, you should have gotten a replacement from the hunter group!”
“I’ve already told you….Recently, creatures have been appearing more frequently.…. And plus, with the rumour going around about that incident at Tantil, who would be foolish enough to go into the Gray tower? Lets not be stupid here… you guys should forget about going too.”
“For fucks sake!”
The male leader of the adventure group grabbed the old hunter by the collar but immediately his party members held him back.
The townsfolk consisted of mainly hunters and their family. Nothing good would come out of them picking a fight with an elder of the village.
“It’s that bastard who came half a year ago and left with a face as if he’d seen a ghost. Once again, it seems someone gave up on entering the Gray tower.”
Juan asked after listening to the merchant’s mumbling.
“Enter the Gray tower?”
“A few do attempt it. Lured by the rumour that the emperor had confiscated a nearby church’s entire treasure and locked it into that tower. Ignoring the fact it’s impertinent for them to try to break past the emperor’s seal, I don’t recall our emperor being so pathetic that he’d allow adventurers like them to break into his seal.”
The merchant gave a hearty laugh towards the reckless adventurers, but quickly turned his head as the group sent sharp stares towards him.
The elder hunter continued his advice.
“There’s nothing more that I can help with….. I know there’s a hefty reward that comes with catching creatures close to the Gray tower, but there no one stupid enough among us to actually enter the Gray tower.”
“I’ve spent my whole income on this expedition old man!”
“Then search for a new party member willing to join from a different town. Maybe there is someone who wants to commit suicide, someplace else.”
While the adventurers grumbled back, they’d couldn’t find the appropriate reply.
It seemed the members were originally going to join forces but partitioned due to an injury.
Juan recalled back to his past when he’d formed his little group and started their journey around the empire. He snorted inadvertently.
‘Won’t happen again I feel.’
Juan suddenly realised the adventure group was looking at him. He quickly pretended not to have noticed them. Juan understood why they were looking in his direction.
‘I need to get going soon.’
He’d stuck around for too long. It was about time rumours from Tantil would be spreading to solitary towns like here. Although he couldn’t out-travel a rumour, he wanted to avoid any unnecessary encounters.
*****
Juan immediately left the town once he’d bought the items that he’d needed from the merchant.
And sure enough, the group of adventurers that was causing a ruckus back at the village was on his tail. They were pursuing in a secretive manner but Juan could sense their presence from a mile away.
‘Five, all armed.’
Juan sighed. He didn’t want any unnecessary disputes. And in saying that he had no intentions of sitting around waiting for trouble to find him.
Juan sped up his walk then in a flash, moved up a tree and concealed himself.
Not long after, a group of adventurers hastily passed by. Five in total, their numbers were exact as he’d sensed.
Like when he’d been hunting for beasts, he used the same method to pounce at a hooded woman at the back of the group.
“Hughhk!”
Instead of piercing her in the back of the head, Juan placed his dagger on her throat and gave her a hard kick to knock her on her back.
The woman let out a moan at the surprise attack. Only then, her party members finally looked back.
“What do you want.”
It wasn’t too late to kill them after he’d heard their purpose. If they were really aiming for the Gray tower, he wouldn’t feel any guilt in killing them as none of them were going to be alive for long anyways.
“Hang on, wait!”
It was the adventurer that was shouting back at the village. Looking at his sword and shield, it looked as if he was a Warrior. Juan ascertained that he was the group’s leader.
“Kid, are you alone here? Where’s the others?”
Juan felt it was a question not even worth responding to. He simply moved the knife closer to the woman’s throat. The woman let out a whimper as a cut had formed and a streak of blood flowed down.
“Stop your whining. If you’re too noisy, I’ll make you bequiet.”
Understanding his words, the female went immediately silent. Upon observing Juan’s ruthless attitude, the group’s leader quickly changed his stance.
“My name is Huksel. Ki…. no I mean, You. What’s your name?”
“Juan.”
Then, one of his comrades whispered to Huksel.
“Boss, look at his hair colour…..”
Upon realising Juan’s hair colour, Huksel nodded his head in affirmation. It seemed as if he’d been expecting it.
Where gods had hidden themselves away and the emperor’s grace could not be reached. The land beyond the empire’s border was still full of mystery and fear.
As an empire’s citizen, they couldn’t understand why someone would live there. But Huksel’s attitude was different from normal. As if he’d already expected Juan’s hair to be black.
“It looks as if you’re alone. We have no intention to fight.”
It wasn’t the first time Huksel had seen someone from outside the empire. He’d noticed the majority of them were on alert to the extent of being paranoid and their sensitivity level were on par with beasts.
He found them alright as mercenaries but not so much as comrades. It looked as if Juan was no different.
“Your name is Juan? Do you mind if we have a short talk?”
“Aren’t we having one now…”
“Uh. Okay. Um, So uh…. Where are you headed?”
“You still haven’t answered my question first.”
They had pursued him after once they’d laid eyes on him from the village. To Juan, it was obvious what they were after.
So be it, Juan had a few questions he wanted to ask as well.