「Dark mages and dark magic are like a plague.」

「They are terribly harmful to people, and if left unchecked, they spread and can ruin an entire domain in the blink of an eye.」

Those words appeared in an imperial history book. Countless dark mages who read them rose up in protest, calling them slander, but their voices never reached the ears of the scribe who had committed that sentence to history.

Every dark mage who protested was dead.

Killed by whom? The Empire’s knights and inquisitors.

The Empire applied a policy of zero tolerance to dark magic and demons. Whatever the purpose, whoever was involved, ask no questions and annihilate everything connected to them. This rule proclaimed by the Empire recognized neither distinctions of status nor national borders.

For that was the Empire’s mission.

“Why do you think dark magic is called dark magic?”

Meditating with his eyes closed in the carriage, Najin listened to Merlin. Perched on a wall with her chin propped in her hand, she spoke in a bored voice.

“Fundamentally, magic is a discipline that takes an enormous amount of time. Unless you’re a genius like me, you have a lot to learn, starting with the letters that form the foundation of magic, then circuit construction, understanding circles, the structure of spells, and so on...”

Merlin shrugged.

“A genius like me understands things after seeing them once, but most people don’t—”

“Enough about you, Merlin. Just get to the point.”

“... Haven’t you been a little cold to me lately?”

“I’ve just learned when to cut you off.”

When Najin murmured that, Merlin grumbled but continued her explanation of dark magic.

“Here’s the point. Dark magic ‘shortens’ those complicated processes. By an incredible amount, too.”

How did it accomplish that?

Merlin answered with a sigh.

“By using living sacrifices. You shift all the costs and processes required to use magic onto someone else. The more sacrifices you have, the more powerful it becomes.”

She drew pictures on the dirt.

“Human fingers, ornaments made from human bones, and sometimes even flasks with living humans ‘stored’ inside. Those are the things dark mages always carry around.”

They were objects that made him frown just hearing about them. Najin clicked his tongue and murmured,

“There’s a reason it’s called dark magic.”

“Exactly.”

“Anyway,” Merlin murmured, then continued.

“The key is to exploit that. What advantage do dark mages have over ordinary mages? Faster, stronger spellcasting through sacrifices. Smash all their sacrifices and anything they use as a medium, and that’s it.”

“Then you go boom, boom, like this.”

Merlin snapped her fingers, miming blowing something up.

“That’s a precious lesson I learned grinding down plenty of dark mages, so make sure you engrave it in your head.”

She shrugged as she spoke, seemingly pleased to have a chance to show off her knowledge.

2.

The city of Regenof.

After getting out of the carriage and following the knight’s guidance, Najin arrived at a conference room where the participants in the operation had gathered. Upon entering, he was greeted by a middle-aged man who looked to be his employer.

“I’ve heard much of your reputation, adventurer.”

The man welcomed Najin warmly. Entrusted with command of the operation by the lord of Regenof, he introduced himself as Hite.

People continued to arrive after Najin. Once the inquisitors had assembled last of all, Hite outlined the operation.

“Our target is Pauve, a dark mage estimated to be at Four Circles. Of particular note is her possession of the Masterpiece ‘Flameshadow’...”

The explanation continued for some time. The information about Pauve differed little from what Najin had heard from the knight. Listening with half an ear, he surveyed the people gathered in the room.

‘Knights, mercenary commanders, and inquisitors.’

His gaze lingered briefly on the inquisitors, who wore pristine white priestly robes embroidered in bloodred. They were battle priests bearing the symbol of the Order of Starblood. Instead of carrying books of law and maces like ordinary priests, they carried keenly sharpened longswords and spears.

“Pauve’s last confirmed location was the underground waterways. Along with sightings, traces of dark magic continue to be discovered there.”

“That should be all we need to hear.”

A priest rose, interrupting Hite’s explanation. He appeared to be the inquisitors’ commander, and he gave Hite a brief explanation.

“We will operate independently, focusing on the underground waterways. The Order of Starblood has its own methods.”

He did not even ask for their understanding. Yet Hite and the others present merely nodded, apparently taking no offense. Hunting down dark mages and beating the hell out of them had long been the Order of Starblood’s work.

They were the experts in this field, and the others seemed to respect their judgment. After the inquisitors left, Hite continued.

“The priests of the order are well versed in this, of course, but for those of you unfamiliar with dark mages, I’d like to explain some precautions and ways to fight them. Does anyone already know anything about that?”

Najin raised his hand.

“I’ve heard that smashing the things dark mages use as sacrifices or mediums is helpful in fighting them.”

It was information he had heard from Merlin. Coming from an expert who had practically ground up and drunk her fill of dark mages, it had to be accurate. Yet Hite wore a rather peculiar expression at Najin’s answer.

“Pardon...? That isn’t wrong, but... it’s a very old method. Hardly anyone uses it these days.”

He offered an awkward smile, looking embarrassed.

He was trying hard to be tactful, but what he meant was that it was an antiquated method from ages ago. Najin quietly murmured inwardly,

‘I thought you said this was how to fight dark mages?’

“...”

Merlin was silent. After a brief pause, she spoke.

“... He just doesn’t know any better. That’s how everyone did it in my day.”

Najin realized he needed to take the information supplied by Merlin, who had been active nearly a thousand years ago, with a grain of salt.

“I’ve summarized some information useful for dealing with dark mages here. Reading it over should help. And...”

After distributing the documents, Hite steadied his breathing.

“Adventurer Ivan, please come this way. There’s something we need to discuss separately.”

Najin nodded.

Once the mercenary commanders and knights had left, Najin met privately with Hite and learned of the special clauses attached to this commission.

“So...”

Najin summed up what he had heard.

“You want me to handle this as quickly as possible, preferably before the inquisitors?”

“You’ve understood perfectly.”

Hite nodded. He promised that the faster Najin finished, the more he would increase the commission’s reward.

“Why would we hire you when we could simply leave this to the inquisitors? Because we want it dealt with as quickly as possible.”

His explanation went roughly as follows. Pauve had already killed five inquisitors. If that number increased, or her estimated threat level rose, things would become very troublesome...

“Troublesome how?”

Najin asked why, and Hite answered with a deep sigh.

“The executioner of the Order of Starblood will come here.”

The executioner of the Order of Starblood. That was someone Najin knew of as well.

“By the executioner, do you mean... Lady Yuel Razian?”

“Yes, that’s her.”

Just as the Order of Star Radiance had its Lighthouse Keeper and the Order of the Starbody its Incarnation, the Order of Starblood had its executioner.

Sword Master Yuel Razian.

Najin had come across some information about that figure, known as a murderous fiend. Yuel Razian had been among the candidates who might draw Excalibur.

“Whenever there is a dark mage whose threat level is at or above a certain rank... she tends to act personally.”

Yuel Razian took action even when the matter did not warrant the attention of someone as powerful as a Sword Master. Given any justification to stain her blade with blood, she would gladly set out.

And once that happened, it was all over.

The executioner of the Order of Starblood possessed immunity and authority above the law exceeding even those of the order’s pontiff, along with the right to pass summary judgment. The moment someone like that set foot in a domain... it would descend into utter chaos.

“People don’t say she burns down an entire domain to catch one dark mage for no reason. Our lord wants this matter resolved cleanly before the Order of Starblood’s executioner takes action.”

The moment Yuel Razian acted, the domain would become a sea of blood, and every business in this growing commercial city would grind to a halt. Hite was explaining that they had hired Najin to prevent matters from escalating that far.

“... Then wouldn’t I alone be insufficient?”

Najin tilted his head as he listened. It wasn’t that he lacked confidence in his abilities, but if what Hite said was true, wouldn’t one person be insufficient? If they were that worried, shouldn’t they have hired more people?

“Ah, you needn’t worry about that.”

Hite smiled at his question.

“Alongside you, Master Ivan, we’ve hired another highly skilled adventurer from the adventurer city. I expect you’ll be working with him. He’s probably waiting for us.”

With that, Hite opened the door and went outside. Following him, Najin arrived at a place where a man stood with his poncho pulled low.

“...”

The man regarded Najin in silence. The instant their eyes met, Najin felt a chill run down his spine. That gaze was unnerving, like the eyes of a wild beast. A moment later, he narrowed his eyes.

He recognized the man’s appearance. He had seen his portrait hanging in the Central Guild. As their gazes met, Najin recalled his name.

‘Kaufman Theosis.’

Hawk-Eye, Kaufman Theosis. One of only five White Horn adventurers in the city.

3.

Hawk-Eye, Kaufman Theosis.

Najin was well acquainted with the stories about this adventurer, said to be a former Ranger of the Techel Mountains. The White Horn adventurers at the pinnacle of the adventurer city were all famous, and Najin also had a personal interest in Kaufman.

Kaufman Theosis was a Ranger. And when Najin thought of Rangers, the first person who came to mind was... Horse, one of the former rulers of the underground city.

‘Of course, he must be beyond comparison with Horse.’

That aside, he had some interest in how Rangers fought. As they met each other’s gaze, Kaufman approached first. With every step, the nameplate hanging from his neck swung.

A pure-white nameplate.

It proved he was a White Horn adventurer, one of Cambria’s finest. Having confirmed his guess, Najin stepped toward Kaufman as well.

TAP.

Stopping midway, Kaufman held out his hand first, apparently offering a handshake. Najin took it. Kaufman was the first to speak.

“I’ve heard about you. Ivan, the Red-rank adventurer. Looks like we’ll be working together on this job. I’m Kaufman Theosis. Do I need to introduce myself?”

Najin shook his head.

“I’ve heard plenty about you. I look forward to working with you.”

“Good. That saves us time. First, we’ll infiltrate the underground waterways and track the dark mage. You’ve heard the details of the commission, I assume? Our employer says speed is everything, so I intend to move quickly.”

Kaufman pointed to the entrance to the underground waterways.

“We get ahead of the inquisitors. Kill Pauve quickly, before she causes any more casualties. Understood?”

He had swiftly reduced the plan to its essentials. Najin nodded.

“Good. Let’s move.”

There was no need for idle chatter.

Just as they were about to pass through the entrance to the underground waterways, Kaufman drew back a bolt in his ballista and asked Najin a question.

“Need a lantern? I have good night vision, so I don’t, but you might.”

“My night vision is good too, so I should be fine.”

“Really? Well, in that case...”

Looking into the darkness shrouding the underground waterways, Kaufman gave a faint chuckle.

“Be careful, regardless.”

CLACK.

The heavy sound of a bolt being loaded into the crossbow rang out.

“In dark underground waterways like these, you never know who will be the prey and who will be the hunter.”