Chapter 62

The power and range of offensive magic were inherently inversely proportional. With only a limited amount of mana available for a spell, emphasizing power reduced its range, while emphasizing range reduced its power.

But the magic unleashed here on the coast of Parayan Island defied that rule. Devastating an area dozens of meters in radius and pulverizing the pirates until not even their corpses remained had cost only a handful of black powder and an amount of mana he could recover in a few breaths.

Brushing off his blackened palm, Turan gained a renewed appreciation for just how powerful and dangerous the Spirit of Fire was.

'I really can't let the other houses get their hands on this.'

He had dramatically expanded the blast radius by combining it with wind magic, but even allowing for that, its power was absurd. At this point, wasn't it essentially a consumable magic tool?

Of course, considering how it was made, there was almost no chance anyone would stumble upon it by accident. The requirements were far too exacting: combine three substances in precise proportions, then have a wizard expend mana to blend them.

'The only people besides me who know about this... are the Karmine nobles who helped me kill Orville, right?'

Even among them, the others had shown little interest. Only their leader, Bisen, had looked through the notebook out of curiosity and copied its contents. Their attention had been focused on the ritual for obtaining the Pyromaniac ability. Given that saltpeter and sulfur were not particularly easy resources to acquire, they were unlikely to have created the Spirit of Fire, but it seemed worth keeping an eye out nonetheless.

Soothing Vije, who was complaining that her ears hurt, Turan landed and finished off the surviving pirates one by one. There were also some thirty men who had remained inside the buildings, whether because they were fast asleep or simply couldn't be bothered to come out.

"P-please spare me, please—"

"Dieee—!"

"Please take me into your service! I'll be loyal!"

Those who had stayed inside reacted in all sorts of ways. Faced with the destruction of the entire waterfront, some immediately begged, some bravely resisted, and others switched sides and submitted on the spot. Turan selected a few who looked relatively compliant and, instead of killing them, used earth-alteration magic to bury them in the ground.

The two knights stationed to guard the island held out the longest. Turan incapacitated them by sending a pinch of Spirit of Fire toward them with wind magic and detonating it. He could have killed them without it, but he wanted to find out how much was needed to take down knight-caliber wizards.

"Urrgh..."

The experiment left one dead on the spot and the other on the verge of death, all his internal organs ruptured. That gave Turan a rough idea of how much power was needed at what distance. Apparently realizing he would soon die, the survivor spat curses as blood poured from him.

"Just you wait. Our captain... will avenge us...!"

"I was planning to pay him a visit soon anyway. Tell him to stop this shit."

With that reply, Turan kicked him in the head and ended his life. There was no doubt that this Covinus fellow was a noble-caliber wizard, but he would hardly be stronger than Turan. Someone that powerful wouldn't be wasting his time on piracy.

In the midst of his work, Turan sensed a dozen or so people gathered inside one building. A foul stench wafted from it, cutting through the Spirit of Fire's distinctive acrid smell.

He broke down the door of the large, warehouse-like building. Just as he had expected, women in wretched condition were huddled together inside like livestock.

"P-please spare us. We'll do anything, please..."

"Were you all kidnapped by the pirates?"

"Yes!"

"Then make yourselves presentable and come out. You're free."

Having said that, Turan went outside without looking at them. Quite a few were in various states of undress, and unless they had personalities like Lida's, he doubted they would welcome his gaze.

A little later, the women hesitantly emerged from the warehouse, gasping or screaming at the sight of dead pirates strewn everywhere. Some could barely stand and needed support, perhaps from prolonged abuse.

"Th-there's a mine inland! There are kidnapped men there too—"

"I've already unlocked all their shackles. How many pirates were here?"

"I'm not sure, but around sixty or seventy."

Turan counted those he had swept away in the widespread explosion and those he had killed personally or buried, then nodded. The numbers more or less matched. Even if anyone had survived by going elsewhere on the island on some errand and not yet returning, there would only be one or two. In any case, the only vessel was the sailing ship in the village harbor, so that few men wouldn't be able to escape.

"Then wash up and get some rest for now. Don't kill the ones buried over there. I have a use for them."

* * *

After telling the women to clean themselves up and find clothes to wear, Turan returned straight to the mine. The miners were gathered beside the overseer's savagely torn-apart corpse, all wearing anxious expressions. Their faces lit up at the sight of Turan.

"Ah, the wizard is back!"

"You're safe! W-what happened in the village?"

Their brightening faces reminded him of the citizens of Kalamap. Frail sheep looking to him alone, yearning for safety.

Turan now admitted to himself that, deep down, he enjoyed protecting such people and receiving their adoration. Not that he would ever breathe a word of it to anyone.

"I've dealt with all the pirates."

"Yes, sir! Ah, we've sorted some things out here!"

"Sorted what out?"

"W-well, you said you'd come for saltpeter... If you need anything else, we'll carry all of it down to the village."

He had wondered what they meant. Apparently, while he was wiping out the pirates, the miners had sorted the minerals extracted from the mine so he could take them away.

"I'll handle this myself. Go wash up and rest first. I've rescued the women too, so look after them."

"Women...? Ah!"

"Please, just be alive, Teiya..."

Some of the men must have had ties to the women in the village, for they rushed straight there without even stopping to wash.

Once he had confirmed that everyone had left, Turan first reached toward the ore mixed with stone. He melted the gold- and silver-bearing rock with intense flames, then levitated and separated it by manipulating the liquid. As for the saltpeter, he pulverized the rock whole and separated it out with telekinesis.

Absurdly, this consumed hundreds of times more mana than devastating a village and killing dozens of pirates. He had to carefully control the heat melting the gold and silver to keep it from spreading elsewhere.

After solidifying the liquefied gold and silver into lumps, he measured their size and weight. Each amounted to well over ten kilograms. Once refined into coins or ingots, they would likely make a considerable fortune.

Still, his original purpose in coming here had been saltpeter. Turan frowned as he checked how much he had obtained.

'This is far too little...'

Perhaps because it was only mined as a sideline, there were barely ten kilograms of saltpeter powder. Given that it was the largest component of the Spirit of Fire, he would need at least several dozen times as much to feel secure.

Turan picked up one of the miners' pickaxes and headed into the mine.

'If there isn't enough, I'll just have to mine it myself.'

He had never worked as a miner in his life, but technique was unnecessary in the face of overwhelming strength. Each mana-laden swing gouged deep into the ground. Whenever the force threatened to collapse the tunnel, he used telekinesis and earth alteration to forcibly hold up and repair the ceiling.

The labor of a single wizard miner with transcendent power far surpassed that of hundreds of ordinary miners. A few hours later, Turan emerged with more saltpeter than he had aimed for.

"Whew... This should be enough."

[Are we all done now?]

"Yes."

[I'm tired.]

"All right. Let's go back and rest."

Vije, who had been digging beside him with her beak and talons, wrote with a weary look.

When he returned to the village with his large supply of saltpeter secured, he found the kidnapping victims busy with various tasks. Those in poor condition were lying down in the relatively intact buildings, while the able-bodied had brought out ingredients and were cooking and tending the sick.

'They're doing better than I expected.'

He had expected them to simply sit around blankly. But these were people who had somehow survived captivity, and apparently they had an unusual capacity for action. After checking that none of the pirates he had buried earlier had escaped, Turan approached the rescued captives. They were in the middle of a lively discussion.

"Um, are you sure we should be doing this? Technically, all this food is part of his spoils too..."

"We have to keep people alive, don't we? Surely he doesn't need corpses. The sick will die if we don't at least feed them this... Oh, sir!"

The woman who had been lecturing a sturdy man noticed Turan and bowed her head. The others also stopped cooking to greet him, some even dropping to their knees.

"Stand up."

His words carried the power of animal control magic, compelling them to obey. While everyone stood bewildered by the unfamiliar experience, Turan asked in a flat tone,

"You've been tending the sick and preparing food, I see."

"Y-yes..."

The woman directing the others looked to be in her mid-thirties. Apparently, her role as an elder-sister figure had allowed her to take charge. Turan spoke kindly to the tightly wound woman.

"Well done. Keep directing everyone, arrange places for them to rest, and see to their daily needs. If any more pirates appear, call me."

She must have expected a reprimand. When Turan said that and abruptly left, she sank to the ground as though her legs had given out. With matters entrusted to someone who knew how to take initiative, things should be fine for a while.

Having delegated that work, Turan pulled three or four pirates back out of the ground near the beach. Naturally, they didn't dare defy a wizard who had single-handedly slaughtered a village's inhabitants in moments.

"You want to live, I assume?"

"O-of course! Spare us, and we'll serve you loyally!"

"Even if it costs me my life..."

Since he had only spared the visibly spineless ones, the competition to pledge loyalty was fierce. Turan raised a hand to silence them, then asked a question.

"Who's the cleanest pirate around here?"

"By clean, you mean...?"

"The one who washes most often, sir?"

As expected of ignorant pirates, their level of thought was utterly dismal.

"I mean the most honest ones, who leave ordinary people alone. Are there any bastards who at least don't kidnap people like you do?"

"Anyone like that..."

"Is there?"

"The Red Whale gang?"

"Come on, they're still pirates."

"No, I heard their captain won't tolerate trafficking people."

"How do they even keep things running?"

After a short discussion among themselves, they told him the Red Whale Pirates fit his requirements. They attacked merchant ships to collect tolls and even plundered them, but did not kidnap people. Their discipline was strict enough that they punished their own members for indiscriminate raids on fishing villages.

After learning where their base was, Turan buried the pirates again and went to question the survivors as well. Hearing much the same answer from them, he explained his plans to the rescued captives.

"I'll ask these Red Whale Pirates to take you home. You've all come from too many different places for me to take you back one by one. Part of the value of the minerals in the mine should cover the cost."

The captives came from all over: near Shiraf Marsh, small neighboring islands, the southern Enril Desert, and fishing villages in the east. Taking them all home would require months.

Rather than do that, it was better to choose a reasonably decent pirate crew with several ships and ask for their help. One man asked with a terrified expression,

"B-but... will pirates keep their word?"

"They will. Unless they want to end up just like that Covinus fellow, or whatever his name is."

Originally, Turan had planned to leave for the Dakayn Plains as soon as he secured the saltpeter, but what he had seen here changed his mind. He had encountered a wicked shepherd who kidnapped and abused other people's sheep—a man who was, in effect, no different from a wolf.

He couldn't hunt down and exterminate every pirate in the South Sea, but pulling out one thorn that caught his eye would not be difficult. He now had the power to do that. It would likely serve as ample warning to other wicked shepherds as well.

* * *

With his plans settled, Turan entered the largest, most spacious house, formerly used by the knights, and immediately began making Spirit of Fire. He had even secured charcoal powder from dozens of trees near the village, so all his preparations were complete.

Ordinarily, combining the ingredients did not consume much mana, but making hundreds of kilograms took an entire day. This was partly because he stopped to rest whenever he had expended a moderate amount of mana. It would be troublesome if that Covinus fellow attacked just after he had exhausted himself.

When Turan emerged with his preparations complete, the woman he had appointed leader was waiting for him. She looked at him with some unease before speaking.

"S-sir. We've sorted all the valuables in the village. Would you like to inspect them?"

"Valuables?"

"Yes. Things from the pirates' bodies, and things they mined but hadn't yet sent to their superiors."

"Ah."

Thinking about it, that was only natural. They couldn't have left everything they extracted sitting in the mine. He had been so preoccupied with the Spirit of Fire that he hadn't considered there might be stockpiles still awaiting collection.

Turan followed her to the warehouse, where he was greeted by several times the quantity of precious metals he had refined at the mine the day before.