I'm Just Passing By…

Chapter 34 - I'm Just Passing By…

Campas occasionally felt that the thing known as fate was a fickle mistress.

Victory had clearly been within his grasp just a moment ago. He had been so close to accomplishing a great achievement and receiving wealth and glory. In the next moment, however, fate had given him a tight slap to the face. Moreover, it was the kind that left his face swollen.

As Campas looked at the pitiful state of his subordinates, he could easily imagine what kind of end awaited him even if he escaped this place with his life.

No! This cannot happen!

Blood rushed to his head, and his ears started ringing. At this moment, the madness induced by his fear of punishment thoroughly enveloped his sanity. He scanned his surroundings with rage-filled eyes, trying to locate the perpetrator of this disaster.

Whether he was a match for this new opponent didn't fall within the scope of his consideration.

Contrasting Campas's reaction, the man guarding the valley entrance recovered from his despair upon seeing this unexpected development. Even so, he still didn't relax his guard. Although the magician working in the dark didn't seem hostile toward him, the visual effects of the spell had been a little too scary. He simply couldn't bring himself to rest at ease.

On the other side, although Zwei had been shocked by Turbid Impact's power, the overachievement of his spell wasn't necessarily a bad thing for him.

Thinking that his spell should've deterred the warg-riding man, Zwei came out of his hiding spot, wholly unaware that Campas now regarded him akin to someone who had slaughtered his entire family.

Just as Zwei thought to enhance his entrance with some flowery remarks, the warg-riding man suddenly let loose an angry howl and charged at Zwei with his longsword raised.

Taken aback by this situation, Zwei automatically exercised the instincts he had honed in the dungeons, and slammed a Mage Hand into the crazed man with all his might.

As a result, Campas met with tragedy.

Like a squashed tomato, viscous red liquid burst out of Campas's body. The armor he wore seemed no different from a piece of flimsy cardboard, as it got deformed and flattened without resistance. As for the body under the armor, its original shape was gone. Given the current state of Campas's body, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe it as minced meat.

Zwei's first thought upon seeing this scene was that it would be too stimulating for Alyssa. A moment later, though, nausea assaulted him.

However, in order to look cool to the end, he persisted in maintaining an indifferent expression.

In any case, the mastermind of this incident was already a meat paste. As for the few surviving gnolls, which were on their last legs, it was unlikely he would get any useful information from them—unless, of course, he knew how to speak the language of the beastmen. The gnolls had inferior IQs, to begin with. Any sane person wouldn't describe their plans in detail to these fools.

Hence, Zwei set his sights on the man guarding the valley entrance.

However, when the other party saw Zwei looking at him, he immediately raised his sword. Given how tightly he was gripping his sword, Zwei's two consecutive moves had left an indelible psychological trauma on this iron-blooded man's heart.

Amitabha, Amitabha. I didn't wish for this situation, either. After finally adjusting to the bloody scene, Zwei opened his mouth and said, "Don't be afraid. I'm just an ordinary itinerant magician. I saw someone besieged by gnolls, so I decided to help out a little. The smell of blood here will most likely attract carnivores in a bit. If you're alright, it's best if you leave quickly."

Do I look alright to you?! The heavily injured man's body wavered slightly when he heard Zwei's nonsense. However, he had at least learned that Zwei didn't intend to continue intervening in this matter.

In reality, if the situation Zwei encountered this time didn't involve gnolls besieging humans, but humans besieging other humans, he definitely wouldn't have taken action.

His goal was to establish the world's number one magic academy. So long as he proceeded in accordance with the Magic Academy System's quests, it was only a matter of time before he achieved this goal. He had no intention of getting himself involved in huge conspiracies.

After all, the real world was different from the worlds depicted in novels. On the off chance he caught the attention of some higher being, it wouldn't be difficult for them to obliterate his current self. No real villain would be so bored as to send someone just slightly stronger than the protagonist, providing training for the protagonist. Normally, they would just send a strong opponent to take care of their enemies once and for all.

Zwei did not wish to get secretly taken care of by the villains for reasons such as "You know too much!" Hence, no matter what the situation here was, he wouldn't dig any deeper into the matter.

Besides, he had come here solely to solve the village's gnoll problem. Now that he had dealt with the gnolls, the typical next step would be to head back and turn in his quest, though it was doubtful the poor village could come up with a decent reward.

"Please wait…" the iron-blooded man pleaded weakly, the voice coming out of his helmet sounding a little strange. "May I know how I should…address Lord Magician?"

"Zwei Aldric." Zwei had a bad premonition when he saw the man acting friendly. Immediately, he grew alert. It would be very troublesome if this man were to throw a dying wish on him. "Sorry, but I still have some magic experiments I need to conduct, so I need to leave—"

Before Zwei could finish his words, the man suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood, which presented a miserable sight as it spurted through the gaps of the man's helmet. In the man's current state, it wouldn't be strange if he were to die in the next moment.

Hey, hey! Aren't you overexaggerating things?! I didn't see you spitting blood even after fighting so intensely just now!

"T-This humble one is…the deputy guard captain…of Lord Skange…" Ignoring the frown on Zwei's face, the man continued, "If possible…I wish to ask Lord Magician…for your help…"

The man fully understood the state of his body. Even if his enemies didn't send reinforcements, he would still die shortly. Meanwhile, although the mysterious magician before him could wield terrifying magic, the magician did not seem to harbor any ill intentions toward him. If he could get this magician to help him…

Originally, Zwei had resolved himself to reject the man's request. However, at the end of the day, he wasn't a cold-blooded animal. He simply couldn't bear to refuse the dying man's wish.

Forget it, forget it. Let's just treat this as doing a good deed and accumulate some karma…though I'm not sure if karma is of any use in this world, Zwei thought helplessly.

In any case, so long as he didn't get himself involved too deeply in this matter, completing this dying man's wish shouldn't be a problem.