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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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I was a warlock, and by Earth standards, I was undoubtedly a villain no matter how you looked at it.
In a crazy world, it’s hard to survive without going crazy.
‘If I had overwhelming power, I might be able to pretend to be good.’
But I wasn’t that strong, so it was impossible for me.
“Besides, even dangerous creatures will avoid us on their own, right?”
At that moment, Athena seemed to notice something strange in the process of entrusting the luggage to the trolls.
“These guys… What’s wrong with them? Are they in heat?”
“That’s right. In that state, they’ll run until they die trying to find a new troll group.”
With their excellent sense of smell, they would pass through other monsters’ territories as quickly as possible or avoid them well on their own.
‘They’ll keep running endlessly, chasing the scent of their own kind.’
Since trolls existed throughout the Monster Forest, it shouldn’t take too long to reach our destination.
‘Especially in the forest, trolls are faster than horses.’
Although it would take a bit longer because we needed time to rest and weren’t moving in a straight line, it was still incomparably faster than walking.
‘Besides, we’re not coming back here anyway.’
After raiding the warlock’s dungeon, we would go straight to the nearest territory of the Kingdom of Shufet, so the calculation of about a month wasn’t a lie.
“…Ugh, it feels a bit uncomfortable…”
“Bear with it. At least they won’t go crazy enough to target humans. I adjusted it properly.”
They wouldn’t go crazy even for the same sex.
That was why I deliberately instructed them to save only the males.
‘If their condition gets too severe, we’ll have no choice but to abandon them.’
I saved ten of them to prepare for exhaustion or going berserk.
As soon as we mounted the trolls, I controlled them to run quickly.
I didn’t make them run at top speed since we needed to use them for as long as possible, but it was still plenty fast.
“…They’re quite sturdy, aren’t they?”
“They’re monsters, after all. I wish we had ghost horses or skeleton horses, but unfortunately, I can’t create those at my current level.”
Skeleton horses required 5th class, and ghost horses required 7th class to create.
‘I might be able to force one with great effort, but four would be difficult.’
That was why I chose this method.
The group was surprised at how well the trolls ran beyond their expectations, and I repeated the process of dealing with the existing trolls, resting, and then attacking the next troll village when discovered.
Of course, if the village was too large to handle or too close, I forcibly changed direction to use the existing trolls a bit longer.
‘Staying on the outskirts as much as possible, heading north.’
With a compass, it wasn’t difficult to determine the direction.
After changing trolls about fifteen times, we were able to cross the border.
Naturally, we used the deep parts of the forest when crossing the border area for safety.
In the process, we encountered two orc tribes that were in the midst of a war, but we managed to slip by without getting entangled.
“…There really are a lot of trolls.”
Athena seemed a bit surprised by the countless troll tribes we encountered.
In reality, the trolls rarely died from exhaustion.
We found new troll villages so frequently that it hardly ever happened.
There were even cases where trolls appeared to warn about the scent of invading kin, only to end up becoming our mounts.
For reference, the trolls that had served their purpose either became our food or were killed and discarded in a corner of the forest.
After crossing the border and changing trolls a couple more times, we were able to reach my destination.
“…It seems there’s no pioneer territory here. The walls are solid stone. And very high.”
“It’s close to the neutral zone. That’s why we can’t go there even more.”
The security was that tight.
If we presented the identity cards of ordinary commoners from Shufet, we’d go straight to prison.
“That’s a bit disappointing. I was starting to miss proper food.”
It took about twenty days just to get here. It was understandable to start missing it.
‘We’ve been focused almost entirely on moving.’
“We have no business there. This way.”
I led the group deep into the forest.
Tracing my memories to find the direction, it wasn’t long before we discovered a fairly large lake.
Some beasts and monsters showed wariness upon seeing us.
It was a place many visited as it was the water source for the area.
“Catch one. Doesn’t matter which.”
Following my instruction, Kayla caught a wolf.
There was no need to keep it alive, so I killed it immediately and kept the corpse.
Then we headed north from the water source, and it wasn’t long before we found a dried, twisted old tree.
“…It’s big.”
“This is it.”
“Huh? You’re saying this is the warlock’s dungeon?”
This was the place I had found in my previous life.
I had fled from the Kingdom of Shufet to the Kingdom of Ashulin, and because it was near the neutral zone, many avoided this area, so I had operated around here.
In the process, this was the place I had accidentally found.
‘Despite being a warlock’s dungeon, it’s not that high in difficulty.’
That was because the dungeon’s owner had died.
‘Probably due to a failed experiment?’
Despite that, the rewards were quite decent.
Because of the memories from that time, I started searching for warlocks’ dungeons and after several successful explorations, I had managed to make quite a bit of money.
‘It was one of the few moments when my life saw some light.’
Of course, the end of that was rock bottom.
Just when my confidence was at its peak, I discovered a new dungeon, and it happened to be my master’s dungeon.
That was where I became a slave to the Demon Lord.
After shaking my head to disperse the memories that were flooding back, I headed to the back of the dried, twisted tree.
Then I split open the wolf corpse we had caught earlier and sprinkled its blood on the tree.
The tree absorbed the blood and slowly began to open an entrance.
The group seemed a bit surprised at this sight.
“If it’s like this, it wouldn’t be strange no matter when it’s discovered…”
“It won’t open if there are people inside.”
“…Could this be the dungeon of an old colleague?”
“Hmm… Something like that.”
I didn’t intend to explain in detail, so I responded vaguely.
I led the group into the dungeon interior.
As we entered, the dungeon entrance closed, and I turned on a lantern and spoke to the group.
“For a warlock’s dungeon, it’s not that difficult. Just be careful of traps. The owner is already dead.”
The traps were a mix of physical and magical traps, but that was about it.
Originally, it was assumed to be a much higher difficulty dungeon.
However, the original owner of this dungeon specialized in summoning magical beasts, and the defenses were also based on summoned beasts, but amusingly, when the caster died, most of the beasts were reverse-summoned.
That was why the difficulty had plummeted.
As it was a dungeon I had discovered, the memories were quite vivid.
Therefore, using No. 1 and No. 2, I quickly broke through the traps and ransacked the dungeon interior.
“…Are dungeons usually this easy?”
“Of course not. Look at our dungeon. It’s not an easy place, is it?”
“…True. With the Land of Death at the entrance, the defensive traps set by Mutre, and besides that, you, Master, and Baldur…”
“The Master is correct. We must not let our guard down. This place is only easier because the dungeon’s owner has died.”
“There are many dungeons that are scary even if the owner has died. Just think of this as an exception.”
Kayla and I provided some explanation to ensure Athena didn’t get the wrong idea.
‘Well, most of the warlock dungeons I found in my previous life weren’t much either.’
Of course, I had no intention of searching for all of them again.
Unless I needed them later, it would be stupid to look for them now when there were better opportunities all around.
‘They’re full of things that will still be around even years later.’
Of course, after several years, they would become places not worth looking for.
Some lucky fellows might find and take them.
Meanwhile, No. 1 and No. 2 continued to pave the way, and before long, we were able to reach the deepest part of the dungeon.
Mercenary Registration
In the deepest part of the dungeon, we found a headless skeleton.
“…Is this the warlock?”
The robe covering the skeleton was half-rotted, and thick dust had settled on the old research journal.
The experimental tools all looked useless, being either worn out or broken.
“But you said there was something you needed.”
After first securing the old research journal, I immediately started rummaging through the corpse.
A brooch that had fallen off the rotted robe was wedged between the ribs.
‘If only the head was intact, I could have made it into a mage. What a shame.’
The reason this one died was because it tried to terminate its contract with a demon.
The journal contained all the methods it had tried to terminate the contract with the demon, which was why the Heavenly Order had bought it for a high price.
Later, after I became a slave to the Demon Lord, I regretted selling it.
‘I thought that if I had continued this research, I might have found a way to terminate the contract with the Demon Lord.’
Of course, erasing the contract seal engraved on the soul was impossible, but at the time, I was in a situation where I had to bet my life on even the smallest possibility.
After all, it was an environment with no other answers.
And this brooch that I got my hands on…
‘It’s an artifact.’
To be precise, it was an artifact created by this one.
Despite appearances, it was estimated to have been a 6th class warlock in life.
Being of this level, the dungeon had been maintained despite being dead for quite some time, and the magic traps were still activating until now.
Its effect was… to make the surrounding mana turbid, making it easier to be contaminated by magic.
‘It’s the kind of artifact desired by warlocks who always struggle with magic deficiency.’
It was a problem that most warlocks constantly worried about, and as a result, there were quite a few similar artifacts.
Nevertheless, the reason I came all this way was because the creator’s skill was excellent and its effectiveness was correspondingly superior.
For reference, I had sold this for a high price to a black market dealer in my previous life.
It was always in demand among warlocks.
Of course, it was an artifact I didn’t particularly need.
The reason I needed this was for a different purpose.
‘If you operate properly, you’re bound to meet your own kind.’
Even Rithild had noticed that I used pure magic.
Among warlocks, those with a high level of perception or high-ranking demons who could share the vision of warlocks might recognize my value.
That was why I needed to disguise myself.
‘If I wear this… I can disguise myself as using mana even when I use black magic.’
The contaminated mana would lower the purity of the magic used in my spells.
The power of the magic might decrease slightly, but the staff would more than make up for that.
Of course, even so, the concentration of magic would still be high.
Therefore, it would make them mistakenly think I had contracted with a high-ranking demon, but I could bear that much.
‘As long as they don’t mistake me for having contracted with a Demon Lord-level entity.’
A warlock who had contracted with a Demon Lord… could never operate openly.
Most Demon Lords were always aiming for the middle realm, so their goal was always the current world.
Therefore, warlocks contracted with Demon Lords were always targets for eradication, and even warlocks contracted with high-ranking demons were quite wary of.
Together with the group, we searched the dungeon and managed to secure a few silver coins additionally.
For its level, it didn’t have much wealth, probably because it had used up all its money in the process of making final preparations to terminate the contract with the demon.
‘The result was a failure, though.’
After cleanly clearing out the dungeon, we rested for a day and then immediately headed to the surface.
We repeated what we had done before, finding trolls, and before long, we were able to return to the Kingdom of Shufet.
“…It really took a month.”
Exactly 32 days after our departure, we were able to arrive at the Doriem territory of the Kingdom of Shufet.
It took just over a month.
“I thought we’d start operating in the Lineta County right away…”
“Even the Mercenary Guild avoids that place. There is a guild, but it’s almost nominal.”
It was such a desolate place.
No specialties either.
There were monsters, but it was to the extent that mercenaries from Doriem went there to subjugate them.
That was why we came to this neighboring territory.
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