The Blockhead Became an Overpowered Magician

2 – Becoming a magician (2)

Swan Mersen and his daughter, Reyna Mersen, looked back from within the rapidly moving carriage. The wolves were still chasing them.

“Damn! I need to change the direction!”

Swan gnashed his teeth and whipped the horses in his urgency. However, it made no difference as the horses were already running at full speed.

Initially, they were ascending the Northern Mountain Range along with other carriages. They hadn’t been negligent in their preparations.

Merchants who trade in the north always prepare thoroughly. They chose a proven safe route and employed adventurers to prepare for monsters.

-“Master, we’ve been surrounded!”

-“Forest wolves!”

-“What?! This is not their territory?!”

When a pack of Forest Wolves revealed themselves for the first time, the Mersen convoy got in formation and prepared for battle.

Since their safe route had suddenly become the wolves’ territory, they decided they must exit the area by any means necessary.

However, regardless of how fast they ran, the monsters pursued them from a distance. Then at one point, they ambushed the convoy with a howl.

The bitten driver fell straight from the carriage. His red blood spread on the white snow.

A nearby adventurer that had been matching their speed was also wrestling with a monster on the ground. The smell of blood combined with the cold air and filled the forest.

Amid the chaos of adventurers and merchants being overrun by wolves, Swan Mersen had no choice but to grab the reins of the carriage and change its direction.

At the time, it was the best decision. If he hadn’t done so, his daughter might have been bitten immediately.

However, he now wondered if that too was part of the monster’s scheme.

Swan turned to look at his daughter. Reyna was throwing loads from the carriage while gritting her teeth. Her intention was to lighten the weight and increase the speed of the carriage, and to delay the monster’s pursuit if possible.

Having watched her father’s business from a young age, Reyna, who was not age-appropriate, often showed maturity and cleverness.

The luggage hurled towards the monsters, as the items within shattered and scattered on impact. Yet, the Forest Wolves skillfully evaded or jumped over the obstacles.

“Papa!”

Rayna’s desperate voice held several implications; they had thrown all the luggage, yet the distance was still closing.

‘Damn it!’

Swan clenched his teeth. He was searching desperately in his mind for a way to turn the situation, but nothing came to mind.

There was no answer.

Suddenly, the world in front of them brightly lit up. Dozens of fireballs appeared, like stars in the night sky.

“…!”

“!”

Swan and Rayna held their breath as they watched the spectacle.

‘Magic troops?’

The north was the frontline with the monsters, so it was common to encounter knights or battle magicians. Therefore, Swan assumed that he had run into a troop of magicians.

‘Just one person?’

However, upon closer inspection, there was only one man. Dozens of spheres of flame hovered in mid-air around the man who stood firm.

‘…Too many?’

Meanwhile, Eren was considering how many Fireballs he should cancel.

He had summoned plenty, but now that they were summoned, it seemed excessive. But since he didn’t feel a shortage of mana yet, he decided to let them be.

The ferocious monsters that had been pursuing them suddenly changed their direction after witnessing the spheres of fire. It was the survival instinct of the beasts.

‘My points!’

When Eren saw the Forest Wolf trying to flee, he immediately launched his skill.

Controlled by Eren, the Fireballs increased in speed and flew towards the monster herd. And as the Wolves got hit hard, Eren immediately used another skill without hesitation.

＜Magic Missile＞

＜Magic Missile＞

＜Magic Missile＞

.

.

.

The northern monsters had weak fire resistance. Therefore, the conventional hunting method while playing the game was to lower the defense with fire magic and finish with other magic.

A shining mana arrow flew out and impaled the monsters. The Forest Wolves, who were fleeing in flames, were hit by skills one after another and fell to the ground.

[Monster extermination complete]

[+170P]

[Quest: Rescue Completed]

[+5000P]

The carriage slowed down. Swan and Reyna couldn’t hide their astonishment. After all, a single mage had laid out such a spectacle.

They hadn’t learned magic themselves, but they roughly knew about it.

Magic was hard. It isn’t for nothing that novice mages take a long casting time, casting only one spell at a time.

Furthermore, for a wizard to use multiple spells simultaneously was quite challenging. There were mages who managed to do so with training, but…

‘This wizard is different.’

He had overwhelmingly surpassed the casting speed of all the wizards they had seen so far. And even more astonishing was that he was casting dozens of spells simultaneously and successfully launching attacks.

His magic accurately struck the swiftly moving wolves. There were no misfires of fireballs or magic arrows.

It was amazing. To cast magic in such a way, you had to calculate the trajectory and speed of each spell individually.

Heads full of anxiety and fear quickly filled with a different emotion. Chills of awe ran down their spines.

‘If someone so young has this level of ability, he must surely be a wizard who’s been active on the front lines…!’

***

“I keep saying this but, thank you so much.”

“I’m glad you’re safe.”

“So, is it really okay just to take me to Arktos?”

“It’s enough.”

The carriage left wheel marks on the snowy road as it moved forward. It was to find other carriages and join them. Since they had to return as soon as possible, there was no time to loot the monsters’ corpses.

In the meantime, Earn had asked Swan several questions, mostly about the continent’s situation.

“So, has there been any major issues in the royal palace lately? Like a coronation…”

“You must have heard the rumors. What I heard from other merchants is that His Majesty is in good health. Of course, if you go around casually saying such things, it could cause trouble.”

As Earn saw it, Swan replied with an overly polite demeanor. It was awkward to see a bearded man acting so servile.

‘It seems I reincarnated into the time range I know.’

Through the information Swan provided, Earn learned that he had been reincarnated into the timeline of the original game, ‘Fantasia’.

The heirs to the throne enrolling in the academy was already a long-established cliche. Fantasia was following that path too.

And Earn confirmed that the king of this country was still alive, and the princess would soon be enrolling in the Kagon Academy.

‘The throne succession episode hasn’t happened yet. I was vague with just one piece of information about the teacher, it’s fortunate it’s not a random timeline.’

If it’s the era that forms the background of the game, there’s a lot that can be done.

The carriage rolled backward on the same path they had fled. At the same time, Earn was loading the boxes and sacks that had fallen onto the snow onto the carriage using ＜Telekinesis＞. It was just a side job to pass the time.

Ern didn’t think much of what he was doing. All he had to do was use his skill when he thought of ‘wanting to put something in the cart.’ It was simple.

“Thank you so much, Ern!”

“It’s nothing.”

But to Rayna, it seemed different. Sitting across from Ern, Rayna had been watching his actions with sparkling eyes.

Magic is hard. And a mage’s service is pricey.

He rescued her from a monster and helped her inconsequentially, but this wizard asked for nothing in return.

‘He even refused my father’s continuous offers of reward.’

Rayna was used to the world of merchants, where everyone always pursued profit through justification.

If you take a job, there’s always a fair price to it. Usually in money, sometimes in goods or requests. This wasn’t different for adventurers or wizards.

-Join the escort and give me that magic item for a cheap price.

-My magic performed great this time, how about a little more reward?

There were even those who blackmailed using their abilities.

-There are quite a lot of incoming monsters, if you don’t pay more, I won’t participate in the battle!

‘Just drop off at Arctus?’

The only thing Ern asked was for them to take him as far as Arctus in the carriage. He even offered to escort them first.

Rayna, following her father around, prided herself in knowing human nature pretty well. In her judgment, Ern did not refuse the rewards out of formality, but genuinely did not want it.

There are people born with less greed. But this wizard seemed not only less greedy, but also exceedingly transcendent.

‘What has he gone through…?’

This is the dangerous northern region.

He is excellent in magic. It is clear that he has abundant field experience.

He isn’t interested in money. It could be a trait, or it could be due to a certain event.

He seems to think a lot. He has an expression filled with concern.

All he wants is to leave the north.

“……”

A single conclusion settled in Rayna’s head. However, she didn’t show it and started to chat trivially with Ern.

“Ern! Do you know about the trending product in the Kagon area these days?”

Avoiding any talk about battles or the north as much as possible.