[V16C8] Urgent: How to Deal with a Scary Guy

Hubert clapped Isaac on the shoulder in an overly friendly manner.

”‘Isaac-kun’ here is a great buddy of mine. I even saved his life once, right?”

An obvious lie. Norman was smart enough to understand that Hubert held some kind of leverage over Isaac, and was using it to his advantage.

In the first place, Hubert was not the type of guy to make genuine friends. To him, the word “buddy” was practically synonymous with “plaything”.

Isaac’s reaction only proved Norman right. His already stern expression grew even scarier, and he quickly brushed Hubert’s arm off his shoulder.

“I will be compensating you for your services,” Isaac said. “Also, I promise not to hold you accountable for the medical expenses on any injuries I may receive during training. I have written a contract, you can review it for the details.”

These were the words of someone who clearly wanted to settle everything with money. He was doing everything in his power to avoid owing them any favors.

However, Hubert shrugged with a wide grin and continued the act.

“Come on, there’s no need to worry about that kinda stuff. We’re all friends here, yeah?”

With each word he spoke, Isaac’s face only became more terrifying.

Unable to bear this any longer, Norman hesitantly interjected.

“Um, personally, I hope we can treat this as a job rather than a favor… I would prefer to get paid…”

“Good to hear,” Isaac said, pulling out the contract from his bag. “I find your disciple easier to deal with.”

Isaac designated a forest near the royal capital as his training spot. Apparently, he was camping out there, and had brought a decent amount of luggage.

This training was supposed to be a simulated magical battle, but it seemed far from perfect. After all, he did not have access to even the most basic version of the barrier, which would require a specialized magical tool.

Without the barrier, there was nothing protecting them, so they needed to avoid injury by using spells with minimal power. Of course, there was always the chance of accidents. A mistake in mana allocation could make a spell powerful enough to be fatal. This was why Isaac prepared a contract.

Norman was actually a bit impressed by how cautious Isaac acted. This seemed like something he could learn from, as there was certainly no way to learn caution from Hubert.

＊　＊　＊

Three days had passed since the start of Isaac’s training.

This training mostly consisted of a single exercise. Hubert and Norman would hide and try to ambush Isaac with spells, while Isaac searched them out.

Aiming at a target from the shadows was the essence of hunting, though Norman had little experience with that.

At the beginning, Norman got repeatedly drenched by Isaac’s water magic, as he had been easy to find. But after several tries, he gradually started getting the hang of it.

Keeping track of the target was important, but you also had to avoid giving away your position.

(And the best tool for doing that is… remote magic.)

Remote magic was used to activate a spell at a distance from the caster. It came with the downside of extremely low accuracy, but there was nothing better for distracting the target.

Isaac seemed to have incredibly sharp instincts. He could immediately detect anyone trying to get close to him.

To counteract this, Norman and Hubert employed a strategy of bombarding him with remote spells from a distance. The rain of spells disrupted Isaac’s concentration, creating an opening for them to land a hit.

By the third day, Norman and Hubert had gotten used to coordinating with each other. However, Isaac had also gotten better at predicting their actions.

While Isaac’s repertoire of spells seemed pretty lackluster, he possessed excellent athletic ability, sharp eyes, and a knack for thinking quickly in the heat of combat.

Thus, Norman had to come up with another strategy.

He hid behind a tree and invoked four weak lightning arrows. Then, he voiced a second incantation to create a fifth arrow, before firing all five at Isaac.

Isaac easily dodged all of them… until the fifth arrow suddenly changed direction and struck him in the leg.

“…Urgh!?”

Once he was stunned, Hubert slammed him with wind magic. Isaac got sent rolling across the ground. Victory went to Norman and Hubert.

Isaac remained seated on the ground, rubbing the spot where the lightning arrow had hit him, as he questioned Norman.

“Those arrows… Did you put a tracking formula in just the last one?”

“Ah, yes,” Norman replied. “Since you’re so fast, Walker-san, I figured you could dodge all of our normal spells by now.”

“As far as I can tell, you didn’t use a tracking formula for the past three days. Were you hiding it until now?”

“No, I’ve been practicing tracking formulas since they seemed necessary for magical battles! Today was my first time using it for real.”

Norman did not have much interest in magical battles, so he never really delved into tracking formulas. However, he wanted to do a good job since Isaac was paying him for this. That’s why he decided to learn.

Norman’s answer caused Isaac to fall silent with a stern expression, as Hubert put on a wide grin.

“Mmm, my disciple sure is impressive, yeah?”

“…”

Isaac ignored him and pulled out a canteen to drink water. Apparently, it was time for a short break.

After their training, the ground was wet due to Isaac’s use of water magic. And since he often ran or even rolled across the soaked ground, his entire body was covered in mud.

This dirtied his clothes, his lustrous blond hair, and even his fair skin. But strangely enough, he didn’t seem to mind.

Norman found this puzzling, so he asked about it as a casual question.

“Isn’t it a pain to do laundry when you’re camped out here?”

“Not really,” Isaac answered, lowering the canteen. “Besides…”

“Besides?”

“It’s pretty fun. Feels like I’m a kid again.”

“…”

Isaac looked like a cold and intimidating man, but his current smile made it seem as though he was teasing Norman.

(He’s a bit hard to read. I can’t tell if that was a joke or not…)

Norman often helped out at the village tavern, so he was pretty good at reading people. But even he had trouble figuring Isaac out.

This man was a disciple of the Silent Witch, with connections to Duke Erin. His mannerisms and way of speaking were refined, and he seemed to have plenty of money.

Moreover, he had undoubtedly undergone some sort of combat training.

Throughout the magical battle training, Isaac only attacked by imbuing his dagger with mana, or launching water a short distance. In the other words, he needed to run up to his target, while Norman and Hubert hardly moved at all.

(Despite running around so much, he can still keep track of our spells…)

Norman was genuinely impressed. He had never been bad at physical activity, but he wasn’t especially good at it either.

In particular, he had a hard time imagining himself casting spells while running. Heavy breathing made chanting difficult, and moving around would throw off his aim. He probably wouldn’t even be able to hit a sitting duck.

Meanwhile, Hubert fiddled with his rings while asking Isaac a question.

“You’ll be up against three other Sage disciples, yeah? Why not get one more person to simulate a one-vs-three battle? Like your lapdog ice mage who yaps a lot?”

“I played a little prank on him the other day, so asking for his help would be a bit awkward.”

Surprisingly, Isaac actually answered Hubert’s question.

He seemed to dislike Norman and Hubert quite a bit, but he usually responded when spoken to. However, he sometimes replied, “Why should I answer that?” if he deemed the question pointless.

In which case, Norman decided to take the plunge and try asking a few questions. The first step to building a relationship was small talk.

“Um, Walker-san. This training seems to be focused on helping you improve your skills at dodging, right?”

“Yeah. I want to learn how to read the timing of enemy incantations.”

Reading the timing of incantations was a skill usually picked up with regular training, as all mages needed to chant… except for one.

Isaac was taught by someone who did not use incantations. He would learn nothing about timing from a mage who sent a barrage of spells without delay.

That made sense, but Norman could not help but wonder. Was dodging enough?

“Shouldn’t you be training your offensive spells too?” Norman asked.

While Isaac possessed high physical ability, he had very few means of attack. Perhaps he did not have enough time to learn remote magic, but wouldn’t it be better to work on the range of his water spells?

“I am practicing my offensive spells,” Isaac replied, averting his eyes. “I just do it after you guys leave. I’ve got a reliable partner and Senpai helping me there.”

Norman quickly realized that Isaac dodged the question, and behind him, Hubert let out a snickering laugh.

“This guy just doesn’t want to show us his trump cards~. Water and earth mages need a bit of creativity to fight, after all…”

That made sense. Norman nodded in understanding—only for Hubert to suddenly press a fingertip against his forehead.

“Now then, pop quiz. This country only has a few mages specializing in water or earth magic in recent history. Why is that?”

This was not the first time Hubert quizzed him in the middle of a conversation, so Norman reacted quickly.

“Um… for the past few decades, the Kingdom of Ridill hasn’t been involved in any major wars. As a result, the focus shifted from interpersonal combat to anti-dragon combat. This increases the value of mages skilled in long-range attacks.”

“Mmm. You pass.”

Hubert withdrew the finger pressed against Norman’s forehead. If Norman’s answer had been unsatisfactory, then he would be on the receiving end of a painful flick.

Norman secretly let out a sigh of relief as he reviewed the question Hubert gave him.

“Cannons are expensive to produce, and it’s hard to hit a dragon’s forehead with a cannonball. I think there’s room for debate over whether it’s more costly to produce a cannon or to train a mage capable of fighting dragons, but it seems the government decided it was cheaper to train mages. Perhaps because the Kingdom of Ridill has made great progress in magical research… That said, we aren’t exactly weak when it comes to metalworking, and iron ore imports are stable. It seems like a waste to neglect the development of firearms, as we will fall behind other nations… yeah, a real waste…”

This was one of Norman’s bad habits. When presented with written-response questions, he tended to digress into financial issues and spend a big portion of the word count.

Norman lost sight of everything around him as soon as money came into play. His master Hubert watched him with a smirk, as Isaac seemed somewhat dumbfounded.

However, their reactions didn’t faze Norman one bit. He turned to Isaac and asked about the next subject that came to mind.

“By the way, I heard that the military ships from the Erin domain are equipped with the latest cannons. Could you tell me how much one of those cannons costs? How much does it compare to the cost of educating a water mage? Do they deliver results worth the cost?”

“I see,” Isaac replied. “So your master told you about my connection to Duke Erin.”

Norman gasped and quickly covered his mouth, but Isaac narrowed his eyes and stepped toward him.

This was a tall man with an intimidating face. Needless to say, he exuded an enormous amount of pressure when seen this close.

“Is cozying up to me part of your assignment?” Isaac asked.

The cat was out of the bag.

Norman started trembling in panic, as Isaac grabbed both of his ears and yanked them.

“Ow ow ow!”

“I’m usually soft on younger kids. But you’re a clever one, so I feel like being a little mean.”

“Waaah! I’m sorry…!”

As Norman cried out, Hubert tried to pacify Isaac in a disgustingly sweet voice.

“Hey, cut him some slack, Isaac-kun~. He’s my precious disciple, y’know~?”

Or rather, he was just taunting Isaac. Of course he would. He had always been that kind of man.

Isaac abruptly let go of Norman’s ears, only to deliver a powerful flick to his forehead. Norman clutched his forehead in agony, as the heavy sound reverberated through his skull.

Meanwhile, Isaac spoke in a voice that was hardly gentle, but not as cold as before.

“It’s not bad to study your negotiation partner in advance. You’ve got more potential than someone I’ll forget the next day.”

There was no doubt Isaac hated him. And yet, Norman could also sense something else in those words.

If Norman proved himself a valuable business partner in the future, then this man would be willing to make a deal with him.

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