[V3C6] Trial of the Novice Mage, Glenn Dudley

Glenn Dudley walked briskly through a forest to the southeast of Ridill’s capital city.

Occasionally, he would stop, look around, and then cup his hands to his mouth, shouting loudly.

“Dragon~! Dragon~! Come out wherever you are~!”

Despite listening intently for a while, all that echoed back was his own words, “Come out~! Come out~!” No dragon roars or wingbeats.

Glenn let out a sigh, his shoulders slumping.

“Ugh, it’s not easy to find them, huh? But they come out in droves whenever you don’t want them.”

Perhaps he needed to bring bait. Glenn pondered this, tilting his head, when he heard rustling from the bushes up ahead.

Could it be a dragon?! Glenn readied himself, but instead of a dragon, a human hand shot out from the thicket and plopped lifelessly onto the ground.

“…Is someone there…?”

It was indeed a person. Glenn hurriedly approached the bushes and grabbed the fallen hand, pulling.

As if uprooting a turnip from the ground, a young man in his mid-twenties sprang out from the thicket. He was dressed in travel attire with a sword at his waist.

The young man brushed off his dull golden hair, and looked up at Glenn with vacant gray eyes.

“Um, excuse me, could you… spare some water…?”

“Water, got it!”

Glenn took out a canteen and handed it to the young man, who thanked him in a hoarse voice and took a small sip of water. Rather than gulping it down, he was quite reserved.

Upon closer inspection, the young man’s clothing bore embroidery reminiscent of the Empire.

While his spoken words implied fluency in the language of Ridill, his birthplace might be in the Empire.

The young man, seemingly of Imperial descent, drank a few small sips. After letting out a sigh, he returned the canteen to Glenn.

“Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I was having trouble because my canteen got torn apart by a dragon along the way.”

“A dragon!? There was a dragon around here!?”

The man looked surprised at Glenn’s loud exclamation, before gently reassuring him with a calm voice.

“Yes, there was a dragon, but it’s okay now. It, um… seems to have already fled far away.”

“What…!? It ran away…!?”

Disappointed to hear that the dragon had escaped, Glenn frowned. The young man looked puzzled, probably under the assumption that Glenn was afraid of the dragon.

“Are you not relieved to hear the dragon has fled?”

“Well, you see, I’m actually looking for a dragon…”

Glenn ruffled his golden-brown unruly hair, knitting his brows.

There was a reason why Glenn Dudley, the son of a butcher, was searching for a dragon.

“I recently passed the novice mage exam.”

“That’s quite an achievement at your age.”

“So, when I reported it to my master, he said, ‘Why not hunt a dragon or two?’ “

“…Excuse me?”

The young man furrowed his brow, looking puzzled.

“Um, I’m sorry. I thought I was fairly proficient in the language of Ridill… but I didn’t quite catch that. So you say you reported to your master about the novice mage exam…”

“Yeah, I reported to my Master and he told me to hunt a dragon or two.”

The young man widened his gray eyes, utterly speechless.

Of course, Glenn, when told this, was also initially dumbfounded.

In response to the outrageous statement from Glenn’s master, the traveler voiced his disbelief.

“Goodness. I had heard that the mages of Ridill were excellent… but I never thought they were expected to overcome such perilous trials.”

Of course, only someone like Louis would say such absurd things.

Dragon subjugation was typically carried out by multiple mages and dragon knights working in tandem.

However, defeating a dragon mentioned in a bounty may receive a reward from the local lord. There were even specialized hunters who hunt dragons for profit alone. In his youth, Louis apparently made a living doing just that.

Dragon scales and fangs were highly valued as materials for magical tools. In particular, scales fetched from a living dragon were traded at a higher price than those peeled from a dead carcass.

“My master said, ‘Even if you can’t defeat a dragon, at least bring back a fang or scale for now.’ But I’m having a tough time even finding one.”

“I see…”

The man whispered to himself, “I might have done something bad.” It sounded more like a muttered soliloquy than words meant for Glenn.

What could be bothering him? Wondering, Glenn watched as the man rummaged through his belongings and offered something to Glenn.

It was a scale about the size of a child’s palm. Its color was a modest brown, but it was translucent like a crystal, and it seemed to take on an orange hue when exposed to light.

“If you like, please accept it as a token of gratitude for the water.”

“Huh!? Is this an earth dragon scale!?”

“Yes, I picked it up when I was attacked earlier. It’s a scale dropped by a living dragon, so it should be of good quality… Your master will likely approve.”

While the offer from the youth was appreciated, it seemed like an unbalanced trade for water.

Glenn vigorously shook his head. “I can’t accept something this splendid just for water!”

“But I don’t have anything else to offer you.”

“When in trouble, we help each other out! Come on, put it away!”

The man looked troubled despite Glenn’s insistence, but eventually, he came up with a new suggestion.

“How about this, would you guide me in exchange for this scale? I hate to admit it, but I’m a bit lost due to my lack of familiarity with the area…”

“If that’s the case, leave it to me! Where do you want to go?”

When Glenn pounded his chest, the youth, with a relieved expression, said, “To the Albright mansion.”

The Albright mansion. Glenn felt like he had heard that name somewhere, but where? He tilted his head in confusion.

“Ummm, Albright… Albright… Let’s see, I feel like I’ve heard that name before, but… who was it?”

“I heard that he is a famous figure in this country. Apparently a… shaman or something…”

At the mention of a shaman, Glenn finally remembered.

When someone mentioned a shaman in this country, the first name that came to mind was the Abyss Shaman, Ray Albright, one of the Seven Sages.

And Glenn had been saved by this Abyss Shaman before.

Two years ago, during the Curse Dragon incident in the Reinberg Territory, the Abyss Shaman treated Glenn’s curse. In a sense, Ray had saved Glenn’s life.

“I remember now! The purple guy!”

“…Purple? Um, if I may ask, what kind of person is Abyss Shaman-dono?”

To tell the truth, Glenn never had a conversation with the Abyss Shaman. Glenn’s treatment had been completed while he was asleep, and Ray hurriedly left whenever Glenn tried to engage in conversation.

A year and a half ago, during the Supreme Council, the Abyss Shaman had cooperated to restrain Louis. However, even then, Glenn hadn’t met him directly.

Thus, Glenn only recognized the Abyss Shaman as “that guy with purple hair” and “a friend of Monica.”

Naturally, he didn’t know what kind of person the Abyss Shaman was, but Glenn suddenly remembered something. Louis had spoken about the Abyss Shaman in the past.

“Oh right! Master said he was a guy who asks ‘do you love me?’ to any young woman who makes eye contact!”

At that moment, a chill ran down Glenn’s spine. In response to the mysterious chill, he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

The traveler placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and muttered something incomprehensible. It was a language unfamiliar to Glenn, likely the language of the Empire.

When Glenn timidly asked, “Um, excuse me?” the man slowly lifted his face. His expression was incredibly grim.

While he had seemed somewhat unreliable earlier, his gray eyes were now glowing with intensity.

Glenn recognized those eyes. They were the same eyes Louis displayed during combat.

“…It seems I may need to hurry. I apologize for the rudeness, but may I ask you to guide me with utmost haste?”

“R-Roger.”

Glenn involuntarily straightened his back and nodded.

Then, he recalled that he didn’t know the man’s name.

“Um, traveler, what’s your name? Oh right, I’m Glenn Dudley.”

When Glenn introduced himself, the man courteously bowed his waist, as if a knight in front of his lord.

“My apologies for the delayed introduction. I am Henrik Blanquet. While I may be young and inexperienced, I serve as the Margrave of Valmbelk.”


On the other side of the thicket behind the man… laid the carcasses of three earth dragons.

Larger than the biggest oxen, their sturdy bodies were covered in scales that repelled all blades and magic.

Their only weakspot was on the forehead, right between the eyes. All three had clean stab marks there, inflicted with a sword.

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