The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations

Chapter 669

Ghislain was the first to send a letter to Leo, instructing him to buy as many magic books as possible and send them over. He knew he could only acquire magic books, but there was no harm in learning magic that Astion didn’t know.

“I can absorb it all myself anyway.”

Ghislain used the money he had to gather as many commissions from nearby territories as possible. He also inquired through the information guild about a wizard who might be committing crimes and on the run.

While gathering information using the guild, Ghislain pressured Astion relentlessly to learn every magic spell he knew, leaving no gaps.

Crash!

Chunks of ice flew through the air.

“Wow, this is really good. I could live comfortably even after going back.”

Ghislain was more satisfied with the ability to use magic in daily life than in combat. He especially enjoyed freezing drinks and sipping them.

There had been countless inconveniences while living as a mercenary, but one of the biggest had always been managing drinks — purifying them, keeping them cold in the heat or warm in the cold, maintaining the freshness of food.

He had heard of a ‘stop at the peak’ method, but that was nothing more than enduring discomfort. It was hardly something comfortable.

But now, just look at this. The problems that had made life inconvenient in everyday activities were quickly being resolved.

“It feels like I’m getting the hang of life... maybe I should’ve become a magician from the start.”

If he had done so, he wouldn't have grown as much as he had now. Given Ghislain's nature, it would have been impossible to consistently stick to that level of extensive study.

What he was doing now was fun because he was enjoying it, especially with the magic he could use on himself. But he had learned all the spells that Astion knew, leaving no room for that.

“Hey, hey, don’t you know everything already?”

“I don’t… this is so unfair…”

Astion was a sensitive individual, so much so that he could even accept the possession of others.

Thanks to this unique trait, he had quickly awakened to magic and was able to learn spells faster than most people.

However, this didn’t mean he had it easy; magic was a complex discipline, and learning it properly required years of hard study.

“If I’m like this, am I a genius? My talent is terrifying…”

It would be a lie to say he never thought that. Astion took pride in his innate talent and the efforts he had invested so far.

He also appreciated the luck that allowed him to accept possessed individuals.

But now, seeing Ghislain absorb several spells in one day without even knowing the details of their workings, merely copying the methods of mana operation, he couldn’t help but feel discouraged.

“I’m… I might be a skill-type… Magic isn’t about brains but body work…”

Astion, feeling his standards had been unfairly raised by Ghislain, fell into a sense of misfortune, unaware of the world's general expectations.

Noticing that Astion seemed down, Ghislain laughed.

“Hey, don’t get discouraged. I’ll help you grow too, real quick.”

It was his body for now, but one day, it would return to Astion. He also planned to increase his mana significantly.

As Ghislain learned new magic, the three of them changed their training methods.

Woosh!

Dozens of fireballs appeared in the air.

“From today, we’ll practice fighting with mages.”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The fireballs flew mercilessly toward the three.

Suddenly, the difficulty of the training soared, and the three were caught off guard.

“What… what is this?”

The magic came in with pinpoint precision, targeting vital spots, and there were dozens of them.

Ghislain had fought many mages before. The priests of the Salvation Church fought in a manner that resembled that of mages.

Using that experience, Ghislain applied some advanced techniques, showing attacks that ordinary mages could never perform.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

“AAARGH!”

The three could barely dodge a few of the fireballs. Their footing was disrupted as the ground shook beneath them.

There were limitations to using the body for attacks, but as soon as magic was involved, countless tactics emerged.

The three were being bombarded by both fire and ice.

That wasn’t all. Ghislain’s application of magic was so brilliant that the attacks became unorthodox, tormenting the three in bizarre ways.

“Wow, magic is so convenient and great.”

Ghislain smiled brightly as he shot off more spells. Learning new techniques was always a joy.

On the other hand, the three, who were on the receiving end, felt the difficulty of their torment increase significantly.

Eventually, it was Kyle, who had the shortest temper, who exploded first.

The three could only think the harassment was now on another level.

“Forget this! How do you block this?!”

He immediately turned and ran. Seeing this, Julien and Deneb followed suit, trailing behind him.

“Running away, huh? This is all with the intention of saving you!”

“Saving? We’re going to die like this!!”

“You’re not going to die!”

Ghislain spun his staff around wildly, chasing after the three. Watching him, the three gritted their teeth.

While training the three, Ghislain also began using magic to stabilize his body.

It wasn’t something that could be done all at once, so for now, Ghislain focused on maintaining balance without breaking his form.

Astion, though worried, could only watch from the sidelines.

***

While learning magic, Ghislain didn’t neglect increasing his mana.

He used the meditation techniques from the magic books he had learned from Astion to gather mana.

“It’s a pity I can’t form a core.”

If he were to form a core in Astion’s body now, it would actually clash with the mana in his heart, putting him in a dangerous situation.

While Ghislain could control both the core and mana simultaneously and reinforce them, Astion wasn’t capable of that yet. That’s why he deliberately refrained from forming a core.

Instead, he applied the flow of the mana cultivation technique and used a bit of his willpower to gather mana.

It wasn’t as efficient as Ghislain’s mana cultivation technique, but it was much faster than when Astion gathered mana on his own.

“Hmm, I need to find a way to gather mana faster.”

However, Ghislain wasn’t satisfied. Even though he could gather mana faster than the previous method, it still didn’t compare to his perfected mana cultivation technique.

So, while looking for a magic book, he decided to also search for a way to quickly fill his mana.

“The quicker I get stronger, the more it will help Astion too.”

Now, Ghislain had reached a level where he could use both the mana from the core and mana freely. There was just a slight difference in efficiency.

Even after returning to reality, he could still use magic with the core’s mana cultivation. On the other hand, here in this world, he was using the mana just like he would in his cultivation technique, so the more mana he had, the better.

So, the Julien Mercenary Corps, with the ample funds received from Leo, focused on their training. During this time, numerous commissions and pieces of information steadily reached Ghislain.

“Ah, this one’s not good.”

“Is there anything related to a mage?”

“Finding decent work is tougher than I thought.”

Ghislain rejected all the incoming commissions. He was completely absorbed in the joy of learning magic. He wanted to obtain magic while working too.

He was a man who pursued efficiency.

“Maybe I should go to a different region…”

If he traveled around, he could find a rogue or a mage to deal with. Just as he was planning to combine training with travel, he received some information.

“Oh? A dark mage?”

He received word that a dark mage was causing trouble in a nearby territory called Nodehill.

The lord had tried to hunt him down twice, but had failed, and even died in the process. The new heir, full of rage, was now preparing another campaign to defeat the mage.

There was also news that the local mage had died, and the new lord was offering generous rewards for capturing the dark mage.

“This sounds good.”

Dark mages were rare and extremely hard to find. Ghislain knew that dark magic was taught in secret, and in some mage towers and kingdoms, they would capture dark mages to study them, but most of those caught were experienced wizards, and little progress had been made.

Ghislain grew curious about dark magic. He thought he should catch this one.

Besides, capturing a bad guy fit perfectly with the Julien Mercenary Corps’ mission, and it would make for excellent training as well.

“Let’s go! Time to catch the evil dark mage!”

Ghislain immediately packed his things and set off.

Since dark mages were still mages, they might have other magic books or magical items. Ghislain intended to seize anything he could.

So, they quickly traveled on horseback and arrived at the Nodehill Barony.

Nodehill was in a state of turmoil. The failure to capture the dark mage and the lord’s death had caused chaos.

The new lord, Andrew, had summoned many mercenaries, but they weren’t gathering as quickly as expected.

“They’ve failed twice already, right? He must be really strong.”

“There are rumors that he’s a 5th-circle master. With that level of power, it’ll be hard to catch him.”

“I heard he’s really good and fights secretly, in a way that’s hard to pin down. A mage like that isn’t something you can catch in a small barony.”

Most of the mercenaries declined the request due to their wariness, so it was no surprise that the gathering numbers were low.

In the midst of this, when the Julien Mercenary Corps, which included both mages and priests, arrived, Andrew went out to meet them first.

“Welcome! If you can capture the dark mage, I’ll pay you handsomely!”

The young lord Andrew hadn’t given up on his quest for revenge. The territory had been in a state of unrest due to the dark mage’s experiments, and the hunt had to be done.

However, asking for help from another territory was difficult. If another army came, they would surely find some justification to take control of the territory. It was that kind of era.

Andrew knew that if he failed the hunt again, he would be doomed, and if he asked for help from another territory, he would lose his land.

There was no other choice.

The Julien Mercenary Corps, with their known achievements, were well-received.

Andrew had heard that Julien had defeated the best knight in Magvel Barony and that Ghislain was a 5th-circle mage.

On top of that, there were rumors of a dark mage and a high-ranking priest, making the Julien Mercenary Corps an ideal choice.

With a calm face, Ghislain approached Julien and spoke.

“We’ll accept the payment as promised. I’ll let you know if we need anything extra for completing the task.”

“Understood. We’ll give you everything we can.”

Ghislain and his group were treated with the utmost respect. After their arrival, Andrew continued to gather mercenaries, exhausting the territory’s finances.

As preparations for the hunt continued, Andrew couldn’t hide his anxiety.

“Sigh… If we fail again, this barony is finished… What should I do?”

His worries were immense. The dark mage’s strength was one problem, but there was an even bigger issue looming.

During the previous hunt, a few soldiers suddenly turned on their own side and attacked. Though the period was brief, it led to catastrophic consequences since they were in the middle of a battle.

In the end, the entire army fell into chaos and was easily overwhelmed by the dark mage.

Andrew paced the room, muttering to himself.

“A few of the soldiers were affected by mind control magic. That means there’s definitely someone here in the territory who had cast magic beforehand. And they’re probably close by.”

This meant that someone working with the dark mage had infiltrated the area, hiding their identity. If they didn’t catch them, they wouldn’t be able to set out on the next hunt.

In the end, the hunt was postponed, and Andrew decided that he, along with the mages and priests who had arrived, would need to find the culprit.

The rumors reached the ears of Ghislain’s group, who were being treated with great respect.

As Ghislain was eating fruit, he let out a small laugh.

“So, it seems someone working with the dark mage has hidden here. If we want to find them, it’s impossible to begin the hunt immediately. How long will it take to investigate all the soldiers and servants?”

If someone had truly been mind-controlled, they would need to be examined one by one with magic and divine power.

Deneb asked curiously, “What if the higher-ups were affected too? That would be really dangerous, right?”

“The knights are guarding the high-ranking officials, so it should be fine. No outsiders could easily approach. Besides, mind control magic is actually not that easy.”

“Not easy?” Deneb asked, puzzled.

“Exactly. It doesn’t work easily. And even if it does, it’s only temporary. If it were that easy to control someone’s mind, this small barony would have been destroyed by a single person already, right? Especially considering the mage involved here.”

Kyle nodded as if in agreement.

“Since only a few soldiers caused temporary confusion, it seems like they targeted just a few easy ones.”

“Yeah, they probably placed magic that activates under certain conditions on a few people. For a weak territory like this, even that would have been lethal.”

In most territories with well-established mages, such incidents rarely happen. Regular checks and magical inspections are conducted to root out infiltrators. In any case, a few soldiers causing problems wouldn’t cause much harm.

Therefore, the enemy wouldn’t typically make such a useless attempt. But this small barony was a different case.

“You said the only mage in this territory died during the first hunt, right? That makes finding them even harder. The intruder is probably being very cautious. They must be around the 4th Circle.”

With that level of power, they could control a few weak soldiers. It would take time and steady effort, but they could still manage it.

The infiltrator was likely still observing and continuing their work.

Ghislain spoke calmly, and Deneb asked again.

“So, what should we do?”

The three of them looked at Ghislain with eager eyes. After all, Ghislain always had a solution.

Ghislain popped another piece of fruit into his mouth and thought for a moment.

“Well… In this situation, it seems like we’ll have to investigate everyone one by one…”

It would take time, but there wasn’t much they could do here right now.

In the end, they would have to delay the hunt and conduct a thorough investigation of all the personnel.

They needed to find not just the victims of mind control, but also the culprit.

Deneb muttered with a disappointed expression.

“Isn’t there a faster, easier way?”

Suddenly, Ghislain remembered something that Maurice used to always say to him.

—You idiot! This guy weighs the same as a duck, so we need to weigh him on the scale!

“Is there no such superstition in this era? I heard that dark mages or witches weigh the same as ducks.”

“Is there such a superstition? I’ve never heard of it.”

“Oh, maybe it’s just something from the past. Don’t take it too seriously, it was just a random superstition I remembered. Anyway, I’ll meet with the lord and discuss a plan.”

Ghislain figured that, since he was the only one who could use magic in this territory, he’d have to take the lead in solving this issue. The hunt might be delayed a little, but it was unavoidable if they wanted to minimize the damage.

However, Ghislain hadn’t expected what was about to happen. A servant who had been serving them and overheard their conversation reported it to their superior.

The report made its way up, eventually reaching the lord, all because of the method mentioned by the mage.

And soon, a new order came down.

—All soldiers and servants are to gather at the training grounds! We will check if they weigh the same as a duck!

Ghislain stared in disbelief after hearing the news.

The lord was usually decisive and effective, but... this was beyond absurd.