Hermit Wizard

1. 1. 1. 1. Savior or Destroyer (24)

A roaring sound as if the sky was collapsing continued for some time, and cloudy dust knocked over everywhere.

I looked at the mess unfolding on the ground with my eyes open to the Mana circuit, and the figure in front of me came into my eyes through the thick dust. It was enough to distinguish objects.

The dragons were lying to the ground with their whole body covered in blood. Even their strong bodies couldn’t withstand the impact of the fall. Dragons with bent and torn wings also stood out.

None of the dragons, which must be experiencing considerable pain, were making any noticeable movements. They just stretched their necks and limbs and lay flat on the ground.

“… Is that a ‘sitting’ position?’”

Mrs. Pearl asked with a trembling voice behind me.

“What the hell did… Maru do?”

The causal relationship of that phenomenon would be clear even in her eyes, so I answered calmly.

“It’s a language that was made to communicate with those dragons, and it gave orders.”

The dragon’s reason didn’t understand it directly, but their genes controlled the dragon’s brain in response to that command.

“What Maru just said was instructing them to stop flying, come down to the ground and sit down.”

Dragons were basically flying animals.

I didn’t know if tentacle creatures could fly in the sky by nature (in the case of Maru, it was only possible to fly only after acquiring telekinetic power). Still, to keep a creature that could fly freely as a pet would’ve required a means of restraining its behavior.

Even if the dragon was flying far away, wouldn’t the owner do something like ‘training’ so that the dragon quickly comes back and sits down on the ground when the owner said a word?

No, there was a high probability that the genes were modified so that even such training was unnecessary.

“Is that sitting down? …No matter how much I look, didn’t it seem just to fall?”

“… I didn’t expect them to fall so violently. I don’t think that the original intention of the command given by the Root Stone was like that.”

“Command?”

Only then did I gave the group an explanation of the language system Maru acquired through Root Stone.

Maru was consequently implanted with the ability to speak a single language from the ruins.

However, as Root Stone informed us in advance, Maru couldn’t freely create sentences. Since it was a very complex system, it took some time for Maru to take root and converge completely in its language center, and it seemed that the user needed constant practice.

“Due to that, when Maru received the language system, it selected and transplanted several commands for emergencies separately. Including the words that it just said to sit down. I think it would be right to sit down naturally instead of falling like that… but I think it’s because there are differences in nuances even if the same language is spoken.”

While I was talking, the dust that had covered all over the place had subsided to some extent. The dragons that covered the plain were exposed to everyone’s vision. No dragon crashed near us, thanks to ordering in advance before approaching the village.

“… Dragons… hurt.”

Maru, who saw the scene, muttered sullenly. That guy seemed to notice that it was a different outcome than intended.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.”

At first glance, it wasn’t life-threatening.

I was soothing Maru like that.

“@#[email protected]#@^%@!”

Chaos arose as the surroundings murmured.

***

“What’s wrong with them?”

Hwang Soo-rim asked in confusion. All of the Ramumings around us leaned down, shook, and trembled. They then got down on the ground and started bowing to us! Many of them even burst into tears.

“@#@@#[email protected]#@^%@!”

The Old Ramuming approached and talked to me. He appeared to be the leader of that village, and he was the one who was discussing the terms of the deal with me. Come to think of it. We hadn’t heard the answer yet about what we would do to return the minerals fed to Garam.

“@#@@#$!”

He kept telling me something, but of course, I didn’t understand.

“… Hey, Parvache?”

[…]

Parvache still couldn’t answer. Maybe it would stay like that and then move on to the next ego.

“… Well, interpretation magic consumes too much Mana.”

The interpretation magic I used boasts the worst fuel efficiency when compared to a car. That means that my proficiency was low.

There had been no significant level of development when communication was impossible. As on the Earth, I had to use Speech Dissolving Bead, and on other dimensions, I had relied entirely on Parvache.

Just in case, I triggered the interpretation magic for a moment, then the words of the old Ramuming made sense, a little. Not a perfect sentence level, but a simple word meaning.

“… Thank you… dragon, savior… healing… please…!”

As Parvache’s condition worsened before the next move, I heard the explanation of Ramumings briefly. It was said that while living as dragon slaves in that world, they were consumed as a cure.

With that background knowledge, when I put the meaning of the old Ramuming’s words into my head, I got a sense of it.

It was saying thank you for making the dragons that harassed them like that, right?

It seemed that it wasn’t very important to me, so I ended the interpretation magic right away because it was a waste of Mana.

“Now, then shall we look for it?”

The old Ramuming looked at me and said something eagerly, but I nodded once and turned away. I know, I know. You were saying thank you, right?

I focused on my business. There was something more urgent.

“Which one of these guys…”

I looked at the dragons that had fallen on the ground.

Their bodies looked almost the same. At first glance, the wings, which were so long that they were mistaken for birds, were drawing a graceful curve. But of course, none of the birds in all dimensions I knew had that size.

I thought as I saw the army of dragons buried in the ground, leaving red stains all over the ground. They were all so big. Furthermore, there were huge cracks in each place that crashed seem unrealistic.

“Why did a flying creature have to evolve with such a massive body?”

The strange thing didn’t stop there. The color was also unnatural, so it was unmatched. In contrast to the almost identical appearance, there were too many types of scales of dragons gathered there.

Well, of course, there might be subclasses of species like a red dragon or blue dragon.

However, some have ivory colors ranging from the nape of the neck to the tail with irregular patterns, while others had stripes in which fluorescent purple and jade colors intersect like a zebra.

“… Moreover, colors don’t seem to mean anything.”

There was no difference in physical characteristics or abilities depending on the color of the scales.

The dragons that I had encountered in person scales. Even though there was a difference in strength according to age, I had never felt any ability change according to color.

“Nevertheless, the variety of appearances like that…”

In the end, it couldn’t be seen as someone’s intentional touch.

Aquarium fishes naturally came to my mind. Aquarium fish that had been improved through human hands often show a brilliant color that couldn’t be found in nature.

In the end, weren’t those colorful and diverse colors of dragons improved for contemplative purposes?

I felt the completion of the search magic in my hand and stopped thinking.

“Ah… is that magic?”

Hwang Soo-rim asked as if she noticed.

I nodded.

“Now that those dragons notice, I don’t need to use magic secretly.”

Actually, search magic with increased accuracy and precision could be created at any time.

I had the ‘Black Hermit’ body tissue, and I knew his true name. However, if I set the whole planet’s range and unfold the search magic, the dragons would notice it, so I had carefully lowered the level of magic and beat them one by one.

However, I didn’t have to do that anymore. All of the dragons on that planet that I had been wary of, I guess, were all trembling like rats in front of a cat currently.

After getting ready, I sprayed a perfect form of search magic on the plain. The search range was, ‘The army of dragons gathered on this plain right now.’ It was a search for an individual with the soul of the Black Hermit.

-Whooooooong!

Condensed Mana flowed through the plain.

And after a while…

My face was distorted without mercy.

***

“Oh, what the hell is wrong with it?!”

I scratch my hair. The party looked at me with anxious eyes.

“Is there something wrong with the spell? However, the trajectory on Earth was clearly captured. Even the soul’s transition to this dimension has been measured without a problem!”

I wanted to ask Parvache for advice, but I still didn’t get an answer from it.

“How is the reaction?”

Mrs. Pearl, who didn’t understand, tilted her head and asked.

I replied with anger in my heart.

“There’s not much difference between the effect when the spell power was weakened in case it would be caught by a dragon and when I cast the completed spell right now.”

When I first memorized the heat-thermal spell after moving to this dimension, the result was very ambiguous. It’s just a measure of direction indicating that my target will be among the dragons in that direction.

Still, a similar phenomenon occurred even though the proper spell was cast. My new sense, honed as a result of the spell, tells me that the soul of the Black Hermit was there at that moment.

The problem… was that the arrows created by that sense were too large and inaccurate. According to the sense that I feel now, all dragons scattered in this place, with over a thousand individuals at first glance, could all be the targets!

That only returned the absurd answer that all dragons there were candidates. It was a meaningless result.

“There was no problem with tracking on Earth… What is the reason that the problem occurred as soon as we moved to this dimension?”

I turned to Garam and asked.

“Now, among those dragons, can you see the soul?”

He looked around the plain and shook his head.

“Damn it!”

Although the command to sit forces the dragons to obey, it didn’t seem to have the effect of completely destroying the mental barrier and causing them to lose their reason.

… Oh, then?

“Maru, order those guys. Turn off all mental barriers.”

“… I can’t. It’s hard.”

“Ah, seriously!”

The process of converging new language systems in Maru’s language center like ‘mental barrier’ has not been entered yet.

Then suddenly, Hwang Soo-rim asked.

“You said there was no problem with tracking on Earth?”

“Right.”

I pondered for a moment.

“It was possible on Earth, but not here. After all, the environment is the problem. There are two possibilities. Either this dimension itself is interfering with magic, or…”

I looked around at the fallen dragons that stretched endlessly on the ground.

Hwang Soo-rim got my words back.

“There are so many dragons gathered in one place, is there a problem with the current situation?”

“There is a possibility of that.”

In the end, there were two ways to change the experimental environment to eliminate that disturbing factor. Either take all those dragons out of that dimension or isolate each of these more than a thousand dragons away and then re-select them.

After thinking about it for a while, I finally decided to try both methods.

“Maru, how many words have you got into your head now?”

“Ummmm…”

Maru pondered for a moment, then it said.

“I don’t know. I can’t count them all… I keep getting new words now.”

The language system to control the dragons seemed to be fused with Maru’s language center at that moment.

I looked at the plains and said to Maru. To bring all those dragons to Earth was impossible in that state now. I remember the way Dragon Emperor transformed into a human being. If humans were possible, even smaller creatures were possible.

“Is there the word small?”

“There is.”

“How about transform?”

“… Wait a minute.”

Maru thought for a while and then answered.

“There is something roughly similar.”

“Will you then give the dragons an order again? Do you remember our container? I’m going to put all those dragons in it. I think they should transform to a size smaller than my palm. Could you order them to transform into that small size?”

“Transform smaller… like… Reclusive’s… palm?”

Ah, was it rather ambiguous to make such a sentence?

I changed my mind.

“Aren’t there any words for animals, bugs, or anything smaller than my palm? Please tell them to transform into it.”

“… Ah, there is.”

Maru, who seemed to have finally found something, thought about it for a while and finally made a sentence.

“[Doho-keiilamian, Takk!]”

Once again, a roaring sound as if the eardrum would burst resonated in the air.

“Haha.”

Garam burst out laughing as if he were dumbfounded at the scene unfolding on the plain.

The bodies of the numerous dragons, which were more than 1,100, began to shrink in no time. Before long, they disappeared.

I quickly took the party and flew into the sky. We then went to the nearest dragon’s location and land on the floor.

“… Hey, what the hell is this?”

I wrinkled my eyebrows and asked Maru. I then reached out my hand and lifted that little thing wriggling in a puddle of blood in my hand.

“… Bug. Small bug. A bug smaller than Reclusive’s palm.”

“Is this a species that live in this world? What the hell did you order?”

“…I told them to be [keii].”

“What is that?”

“…The bug’s name.”

There was a high probability that it was not a creature that existed in this world. Nevertheless, the intelligence tools embedded in the dragon’s genes must have faithfully manipulated the dragon’s brain according to the command, transforming the body into this shape.

Perhaps each dragon’s knowledge or reason is not involved at all in this process. It was highly likely that the dragon race had no idea what this creature was. All that was done as the genes in their bodies tell them to do.

I looked at the bug drooping in my hand. It was a maggot-shaped bug…a plump pink that was a little smaller than my palm. Small shallow bumps covered its whole body.

“Then… we’ll have to collect all of these.”

“T-T-That! Are you going to put them in the container? Do we have to ride with those to the Channel!”

I nodded calmly. Without a container that allowed life to survive, it was impossible to put what I brought into a backpack with a subspace spell. They were going to die, and when the body containing the soul of the Truth-Seeker died, the soul had a high probability of waking up and running away. Absolutely not.

Hwang Soo-rim’s face turned white when she heard my answer. I didn’t know that her fine right eye would fall from the pink maggot in my hand.

My dimensional expedition to find the soul of Black Hermit was about to end with half a success, with a thousand pink maggots collected.