Riftan’s POV (Under the Oak Tree Side Story)

Chapter 10 – Riftan’s POV

Translator: LF

Proofreader: Nymeria

The wizard quickly grabbed the gold coins and put them in his robe like he had been doused with cold water over his head and chased after Riftan.

“W-wait!”

Riftan looked at him dryly, as if to question with his eyes what the matter was. The wizard looked side to side, and hurriedly spoke.

“Y-you haven’t received treatment yet. Sit for a moment. I will heal you with my magic.”

Riftan didn’t have a single thought about trusting his body to the unreliable fellow. He was about to decline his offer, but then he looked at the people around him. Mercenaries swarmed the area and he had just received a handsome amount of gold coins, those who were eyeing his earnings might plan to execute an ambush.

He shifted his eyes to the other side. Although the Lord of Nebron seemed to be distracted with the wyvern’s corpses, there was a possibility that he would change his mind and try to steal back the money he paid. Riftan was suffering only from light bruises but still, it would be better if his body would be in perfect condition, so he nodded lightly in agreement.

“Fine. Please do.”

“Sit here please.”

The wizard sighed in relief and pointed at a large rock. Riftan shoved the pouch of gold coins in his bag and slumped over it. The wizard immediately healed him with magic for his body to recover. Riftan scratched his neck as he felt a lukewarm heat flowing into his body. He had been treated with healing magic before, but the sensation of a foreign energy penetrating in his bones always felt unpleasant to him. He moved around with his body that felt noticeably lighter and slowly stood from his seat.

“Thank you.”

He muttered an obligated word of appreciation and was about to turn to leave, but a hand too thin for a man, gripped the hem of his trousers. Riftan raised an eyebrow irritably.

“What now?”

“W-where are you going?”

“And why would I tell you that…” Riftan tried to shake him off coldly as he was annoyed by his pestering and sighed. “Where else? I must go and take the monsters apart. I have to help dismantle them and finish the rest of the work.”

He pointed his chin at the mercenaries assembling equipment to dismantle the monsters, and the wizard released his hold, his eyes blinking as he realized that the expedition had not been completed yet. Indeed, the wizard appeared to be lacking to Riftan’s eyes.

He clicked his tongue lightly and went to assist in dismantling the wyverns, but then noticed that the foolish wizard was trailing his footsteps. His patience was reaching its bottom. Riftan gave him a threatening look.

“Why are you following me?”

“W-well t-that’s….” The fidgeting man raised his head and shamelessly spoke. “It’s because I am an assistant wizard! I received my share of payment, so I shall help you ‘til the end.”

“I don’t need you anymore, you can go back to your group.”

Riftan spoke without hesitation and stepped towards the wagon, but the wizard held onto him urgently.

“If I go back now, they will try and take the gold coins from me!”

Riftan had a grim expression on his face. He thought the man was clueless, surprisingly, he seemed to have a good inkling of the situation. Like a chick following its mother hen, the wizard clung to his side, casting a dubious look to anyone.

He looked just like Riftan when he first joined the mercenary corps, the wizard appeared to have a hard life too. However, that didn’t mean that Riftan was obligated to protect this raw human being. He coldly snorted.

“What does that have to do with me? You can deal with it using your magic.”

“I can’t use magic to attack humans! In the first place, its your fault for throwing the gold coins at me in front of everyone! Isn’t it technically your responsibility if I get targeted by these greed-blinded humans and then have my dead body found in the woods?”

Even Riftan, who didn’t bat his eyes at anything, was momentarily speechless at the man’s impudent attitude. After doing as much as I could for this guy, I’m hearing these words come out of his mouth.

Riftan frowned and spoke harshly.

“If you don’t appreciate it, then give it back!”

As soon as his temper escalated, the wizard, who had been clinging so closely to him, created a significant distance from him. Riftan glared at the man who was stunned as he wrapped his hands tightly around the pocket that contained his share of coins, then sighed and resolutely turned away from him. However, the wizard was not intimidated by him, in fact he continued to follow him and whispered discreetly.

“I mean, at least I know I’ll be safe if I stick around you. Other people won’t dare harm me then.”

“…”

“You have nothing to lose. Wizards come in handy in many ways. As you’ve seen before, I can lift heavy objects. If you’re tired, I can restore your strength through magic. If you get wounded, I can give you a quick fix with healing magic. You see, it will be a give and take affair.”

Riftan pretended not to listen as he bent into the wagon and rummaged through the various equipment. Despite the chaos that the wyvern has caused, nothing in that wagon was damaged. He picked iron pliers for skinning the monster and a saw made of special material to cut its joints.

Other mercenaries had already finished assembling the retractor and were draining the blood from the wyvern’s body. Among them, Riftan found Samon and glared at him fiercely. Sensing his anger, he turned around in a hurry, pretending to be busy and went away.

Riftan looked at his retreating figure and clenched his teeth, dragging a saw as tall as him and walked in front of the wyvern’s corpse. He was contemplating on how to deal with Samon later, but the wizard followed him everywhere he went and chattered endlessly.

“I realized I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name is Ruth Serbel, please feel free to call me Ruth. I heard the other mercenaries call you Calypse… is it alright if I also comfortably call you Calypse?”

Riftan grinded his teeth. The wizard groaned and shed an awkward laughter.

“Of course, I won’t! I was being presumptuous. I will be polite and call you Sir Calypse.”

Riftan thought that the man’s nerves were probably so thick that he was not a normal human being who shivers at hostility. Riftan shuddered at the thought of having such an irritating person stuck to him like a bothersome bump on his skin.

***

Due to the decrease in number of the mercenaries, dismantling the wyvern took longer than expected. It took half a day to drain blood from the monsters’ bodies and remove their skin for leather, and another full day to separate the flesh from their bones.

All that time, the wizard literally never left his side. Whenever he tried to go someplace, he would follow. It made the air feel dense, he was following him like male sirens follow females during mating season—making him completely sick of his presence.

The wizard was always on edge, nervous that someone would steal his gold coins shall he let his guard down even for a moment. As time passed, the bags underneath his eyes became darker and his pale face became noticeably exhausted. Riftan thought it would have been much better if he didn’t give him any money.

Although, he wondered why a wizard would be so protective and thrilled about the number of coins he received when wizards earn considerably larger amounts of money, depending on the type of expedition. It seemed to him that this wizard had been exploited by atrocious men and, for some reason, the wizard firmly believed that Riftan would protect him at all costs.

Although the wizard’s brazen act struck him, Riftan decided that he would leave him when the expedition was over. Besides, the wizard’s anxieties were not exaggerated. He himself felt several times the plotting and unusual gazes of the other mercenaries.

… Although he has a thick face, it’s better than having no one siding with me.

For several days it was unavoidable to sacrifice sleep and deal with the anxieties of being robbed if they had lessened their vigilance. However, if they even attempted to be complacent, it could have led to a disaster. Riftan, who was on his way back from the expedition, gritted his teeth as he saw the wizard still following him like it was the natural thing to do.

“Hey, cut me some slack. Just how long are you planning to follow me around?”

“The journey going back was the most dangerous! There might be people lurking in the woods waiting to attack!”

Riftan swallowed the foul words that rose to his throat, seeing the wizard tremble like an old man having a nervous breakdown. The man’s fear wasn’t baseless, it was true that executing an ambush in the woods was much more advantageous than their campsite.

“Fine. Instead, get off as soon as we’re out of the woods.”

“I don’t have much to say on that. I have already received permission to join the journey until we reach the Golden Sand Village.”

Riftan, who reluctantly stepped aside to give up a seat, stiffened. He slowly turned his head and stared at him. The wizard puffed his chest out and triumphantly declared.

“I am now also a member of the Black Horn Mercenary Corps. I asked just a while ago and he told me that a wizard was more than welcome.”

Riftan shifted his gaze at the direction where the wizard was pointing. He was pointing at Samon who was saddling his horse.

That f*cking son of a b*tch…

As he was going in the wagon, the wizard suddenly climbed up and sat on the wooden island across from him. Riftan fought the urge to kick the guy’s ass out at that moment. He didn’t have the right to prevent the guy from joining the mercenary. Objectively, the wizard might have a valuable contribution during the expeditions and Samon’s decision to accept him wasn’t completely unreasonable.

However, he had no intention of allowing the guy to stick around him. Riftan growled furiously and placed his arms across his chest.

“I won’t stop you if you really want to join, but you’re mistaken if you’re expecting me to have your back. You’ll be rid off once it gets difficult.”

The man’s shoulders shook like Riftan frightened him but soon bluffed him off.

“Wow, really! When have I ever asked you to watch my back? Don’t you worry! I will do my part. Even if you try and search every corner of the Western Continent, you will not find a wizard who’s better than me.”

Riftan laughed in vain.

“It’s ridiculous for you to say such a thing when you just failed in this expedition. If your sleeping enchantment had worked properly, we wouldn’t have taken a great deal of damage.”

“W-well… it turns out that my theory and the execution itself was a bit different…” The wizard’s face darkened and he confessed with a sigh. “I have been stuck studying in a tower for decades. It hasn’t even been half a year since I had actual hands-on experience. Before that, I did nothing but healing and restoring magic. The first time that I’ve casted a sleep enchantment on a monster was when I joined an expedition for half-dragons…I didn’t know that compared to them, wyverns have far more resistance to magic spells. I will never make the same mistake again.”

Riftan shed out a laugh. For decades, he says. At best, this guy looks like he’s around 20 years old. Everything that comes out from his mouth is nothing but exaggeration and fiction.

“Prove your skills in action. It’s useless to brag about it in words.”

The wizard shut his mouth like he had nothing to refute. Riftan leaned against the wagon’s wooden wall and closed his eyes. Although he told the wizard to prove himself, he wasn’t planning to get entangled with him in any given situation.

Obviously, magic was convenient. However, it was better to get rid of anything that was bound to fail from the beginning. Nothing was more burdensome than a plan going wrong, so he couldn’t bring himself to trust this braggart for one bit.

However, regardless of his determination to shake him off, the man named Ruth persistently followed him around. He was commissioned to follow after his foot, and when staying in the inn, he insisted to death on lodging in the room beside Riftan’s. Riftan immediately took notice that the son of a b*tch was using him like his personal escort at every chance he had.

The most annoying part was that rumors spread within the mercenary corps that he was protecting the wizard. Thanks to that, the wizard was able to melt smoothly into their mercenary group.

Note – Nymeria: Another bonus chapter! Also, I knew it! Every chapter my conviction that Ruth is actually pretty old grows stronger uwu