How to Suck Honey at a Warrior’s Party

Keung-

The massive orc’s body fell backward.
The green blood mixed with the dirt, turning it a dark color.
I stared at the orc’s corpse, then cast a butchering spell.
The useless entrails and flesh disappeared, leaving only a mass of bones and gemstones.

I quickly placed the bones and gems into the subspace.
It was a good thing I’d dumped a few useless items at the Panko Castle.
I had been subtly uncomfortable with the lack of space in the subspace.

I moved on.
No matter how much it was split into molecules and disappeared, there was nothing I could do about the orc blood that had already mixed with the soil.
It would be a nuisance if the party found out.

I pulled out a wooden chair a good distance away and sat down under a shady tree.
I heard birdsong in the distance.

“Haa.”

I sighed.
How did this happen.

I mean, I’m lost.

It had been good until I’d gotten out of the manor and made my way to the Horn Mountains.

Sure, I was pissed off that damned Kassel wanted me to donate a lock of my hair to cover his mouth with the end of it, but I’d cut off a little bit of it and that was that.

There were a lot of fun things that happened, like Herrin offering to trim my hair and a warrior complimenting my hairstyle.

The problem came when we passed the entrance to the Horn Mountains.

The Horn Mountains were a huge mountain range between Panko and Arandal.
It stretched across half the empire, and any other party would have been trying to figure out which peak to start from or how to avoid getting lost.

But we had a fascinating guide in the form of a spirit.
With Herrin by our side, it was only right that we shouldn’t be afraid.

“And then the thing we feared happened….”

I smiled wistfully.

We only made one mistake.
We were too impatient.

The fact that a magi occupied region had appeared right under the imperial family’s nose, and the fact that the warrior hadn’t yet mastered the divine power and completely cleansed the Tankin Forest, made us impatient.

We also hadn’t realized that there was a slime monster roaming around on our way to the Panko Estate.
We didn’t realize that the Horn Mountains, further north than Panko’s estate, would naturally be rampant with magi and demons, and we didn’t take the time to investigate.

It’s only been a week or so since my party of warriors headed to Demon City, so surely I shouldn’t know, right?

I decided to think shamelessly.
I’m innocent.
I just made a mistake.
I had to find my companions quickly, if only to prevent further mistakes.

If magi went on a rampage, it would be fine if the soil melted like the Tankin Forest.
I’d cast a protective spell on them, and they could follow the spirits’ guidance.

But the magi in the Horn Mountains were not grounded, they were airborne.
As it consumed the air, it stirred the very fabric of space, turning the entire Horn Mountains into a labyrinth.
He had entered the Horn Mountains without knowing anything about them and had been left alone in the blink of an eye.

I just took a quick look at the purple flowers because they were so pretty….
I didn’t stop walking.
I just turned my head a little bit.
Really.

I didn’t have time to call out to my teammates for protection or location spells.
I didn’t know if I’d fallen alone or if they’d all scattered.

The only thing I had was the magic thread still tied to the warrior’s ankle, but it was too distorted to pinpoint his location.
I could only estimate how many meters away he was from me based on the amount of stretching of the magic thread.

It was frustrating to have no information about the space filled with magic.

Not only did I have no idea how it was affecting the soil, air, water, and creatures, but I had no way of countering it.
I had to just go for it and learn as I went.
The only thing I knew was the simple proposition that magi is bad.

All the while, I was getting sleepy.
I had just beaten an orc, and all I wanted to do was lie on the ground, even though I had to worry about my companions who couldn’t kill a slime in one hit.
Was this another effect of Magi?

As soon as I got lost, I cast a protective spell.
But by then, I’d already inhaled enough magi that I hadn’t even realized it.
I checked my body, but I couldn’t tell how much magi I’d inhaled because it’s similar to magic power.

Pa-!

I slammed the ball down with both hands.
First, let’s find the warrior.

I pushed the chair into the subspace and floated.
It was nice and easy to use magic, and if I sat down to rest my aching legs, I might actually fall asleep.
Plus, it was fast.

I grabbed the magic thread again and moved slowly.
I could only hope that the warrior and the others were with him.

At the very least, I hoped Herrin was with one of them.
In a place like this, an elementalist would last the longest.
If she tried to pass out, the spirits would wake her up with a loud scream.
It would be a pain in the ear, but it would be better than losing her mind.

I walked for another 20 minutes.
Even though I was walking with the thread, the thread hadn’t sagged.
Furthermore, I noticed that there were trees that I had marked with thread along the way.

They must have been left behind after every 15 minutes of walking, but when I looked again, the distance between two of them was only about ten steps.

“Dear Lord, a balance patch, please.”

Or at least give me a plan, like, ‘Stop somewhere and improve your skills before you come back’.
I’m not heading straight north because I’m in a hurry, and I’ve only picked the party of warrior, and they’re all from the empire that borders the Demon King’s Castle.

Isn’t this a rookie bar? My lord, I’m an experienced rookie… If that’s how you run things, no, it’s not.

In a previous life, my love of mobile games motivated me to send a truck to a game company to protest.
I could do that now.

My shoulders sagged further.
I tried to think of something to keep from falling asleep, but it didn’t work.

I could feel it with my whole body.
The spatial distortion here was unusually extreme.
And the magic chamber went even deeper.
Had I really entered the most distorted place? Or was space playing a trick on me?

I had no choice.
I strained the hand that held the power chamber.

Mohan searched his memory.

He was following Herrin to the middle of the Horn Mountains.
He could feel the magic threads on his ankles stretching.
He glanced back to see if Cylon had taken a wrong step and fallen, but he was alone.

He continued to walk along the magic chamber.
But no matter how far he walked, Cylon didn’t appear.
In fact, it only seemed to get longer and longer.
Unless Cylon had used spatial travel a few times, there was no way he could have gotten this far.

Mohan was convinced that space had been distorted when he found the oddly shaped rocks he’d seen at the beginning of the mountain.

Perhaps as long as Herrin and Reg didn’t look back, they wouldn’t get lost.
He hadn’t realized one of them was gone until after the magic chamber connected to Cylon had stretched, so it might be too late for the other two to notice their absence.

He’d hoped they’d notice once they were out of the mountains altogether.
Perhaps the spirits would warn for Herrin, who signed with her.
Spirits tend to adore their elementalist.

“So, what is this all about?”

Mohan looked up at the massive castle that had appeared in the middle of the Horn Mountains.
A dense fog that had appeared out of nowhere surrounded the castle.

It was strange.
Not only had he never heard of the Horn Mountains being foggy, but if there was such a huge castle, it should have been visible from afar long ago.
Moreover, a castle that resembled a Moroccan castle should have been famous, even if it was out of sight.

The Marquis’s butler was an old man like a knife in this regard.
He would have collected the slightest rumor and sued for damages.
But he couldn’t recall hearing of a similar trial ever taking place.

Mohan walked slowly into the mansion he hadn’t seen in a long time.

He wasn’t afraid because he didn’t have to hide his skills from anyone.
He couldn’t wait to get through this trap or mystery and find Cylon.

Where else could he be hanging out….
It was getting colder as he climbed higher, and he wondered how cold it would be once the sun went down.
He knew there was a house he’d been bragging about building for three years, but he didn’t want to be in a room full of magi for long.

And for some reason, he couldn’t picture Cylon chopping firewood.
Instead, he pictured him shivering in a cold house, hugging his quilt.

Mohan batted his long eyelashes down.
If only he knew how to use his divine power properly.
This space distortion, he’d get rid of it right away, and Cylon would find him in no time.
The party wouldn’t be in danger.

In his defense, the concept of divine power was new to him, and he had no place to learn and no way to self-taught.

Even now, he could feel an unknown power coursing through his body.
He realized that this was a power called divine power.
He instinctively knew what this power was capable of.
But no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn’t budge.
There had to be a way to get it out of his body, but he couldn’t figure it out.

At this rate, he might have to retreat even if he reached the Demon Castle.
He could only pray that he would be enlightened on the way, that he would not be foolish.

Creeak-

The Morocco castle, on the other hand, opened its front door with a harsh noise.