Blacksmithing Is Child’s Play for a Dark Mage - Chapter 5

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 5
With the Imp tucked away in the shadows, Tay pushed open the door to the magic shop and stepped inside.
There were no other customers. Even the young man in a mage’s robes behind the counter—presumably the clerk—gave Tay a cursory glance before turning his attention back to his book.
Is this normal?
That clerk doesn’t care about customers at all, does he?
Tay approached the counter with that thought in mind.
“Do you have a staff suitable for a Black Mage?”
“A Black Mage?”
“Yes.”
“From the Black Spear Guild?”
He nodded.
As Tay bobbed his head, the clerk snapped his book shut. From what Tay could glimpse, it was filled with magical incantations.
“Just starting out?”
“Yes.”
“What’s your budget?”
“I can go up to two Goldmanta Coins.”
“I’ve got exactly two staves that fit that price.”
The clerk produced two staffs.
One was twisted and warped, fashioned from dried, half-rotted wood, while the other was forged from steel with a Ratman skull affixed to its tip.
-Madness Measurement Eye activates.
-Confirm item information.
[Staff of the Hanged Corpse Wood]
Grade: Special
A staff crafted from the wood used to hang and execute criminals.
Resentment and lingering malice saturate it, making it specialized for Curse Black Magic.
Effect: Curse-series Black Magic power increased by 20%.
[Ratman Skull Steel Staff]
Grade: Special
A staff fashioned from the skull of a Ratman killed after extensive torture.
Steel serves as the binding, allowing it to double as a blunt weapon in emergencies, and the vengeful spirit and lingering malice of the Ratman grant it effective assistance in various Black Magic practices.
Effect: All Black Magic power increased by 8%.
-Madness Measurement Eye activates again.
-Would you like to expend accumulated Madness to acquire the crafting blueprint?
‘No. I won’t.’
He could tell what kind of items these were at a glance.
Based on his previous life’s experience, items were divided into seven grades: Ordinary, Special, Rare, Magical, Unique, Legendary, and Divine.
Ordinary grade referred to items with no special properties—just everyday objects.
But from Special grade onward, items typically came with various magical or systemic functions.
Staffs for Black Mages would naturally be imbued with some form of magical power.
And true to the profession, these items possessed both unsettling appearances and dark histories.
The Madness Measurement Eye then asked whether he wanted to acquire the blueprint, but he declined.
He didn’t even have a personal smithy yet—no point wasting Madness on that right now.
Madness was a resource, after all.
He needed to conserve it.
“Full price. No haggling.”
“I’ll take it.”
He handed over two Goldmanta Coins and picked up the staff.
-Now you look somewhat more like a proper Black Mage.
-Don’t you want to go home?
-I entered into this contract with you for the sake of experience. I intend to remain by your side as much as possible.
-Is that so…
-After all, maintaining the summoning contract with me places no burden on you whatsoever, does it?
That was true enough.
The lowest-rank demon—an Imp.
As long as it wasn’t attacked and unsummoned, it could maintain its summoning indefinitely.
Or until the Black Mage chose to unsummon it.
This was because Imps were the lowest-ranking demons, sustaining themselves by consuming small amounts of power that flowed from their summoner’s soul.
It didn’t cause the Black Mage any real harm.
The problem was that witnesses to a demon suffered Mental Erosion—even at the lowest grade.
That’s why most Black Mages kept their Imps unsummoned during normal times and only called them forth during combat.
But Ars, the Imp butler, can slip into shadows without difficulty, so there’s no real need to Unsummon him.
Besides.
Imps are demons and sentient beings, no matter how you look at it.
If relations soured, wouldn’t the partnership creak under pressure during combat?
Tay decided to respect Ars’s unwavering position.
“Well, fair enough. Then do as you like.”
So the conversation reached its natural close. Gauging the sun, there was still plenty of daylight left.
‘Hmm. Now that I’m properly a Black Mage… maybe I should take on something better.’
Tay found himself thinking it was time to stop hunting in the sewers and start accepting commissions instead.
This Harundel. Being such a sprawling city, work was hardly in short supply.
And the Black Spear Guild, true to its nature as a mercenary house, lived off sword-for-hire contracts.
It was essentially a twenty-first-century staffing agency—just with swords and magic thrown in.
As a Debt Mercenary, Tay desperately wanted to settle this tiresome obligation, so he needed to hustle.
Chatter and bustle.
The moment he arrived at the Black Spear Guild, the place was packed with people.
Ten counters stood at the far end. Beyond them stretched a wide hall furnished with chairs and tables scattered about.
Various mercenaries sat drinking and talking loudly.
Remarkably, the mercenary guild actually sold alcohol!
Though there were no appetizers.
In any case, he passed through the hall and made his way toward the wall, looking for a suitable commission.
He had an Imp, and Black Magic tricks learned from it.
That much was enough to earn respect anywhere.
He went to the counter.
“You’re a Debt Mercenary, I see. What brings you in?”
The guild clerk answered in a businesslike tone once Tay showed his Mercenary Badge.
‘Businesslike—so they must be a businessperson.’
He muttered the terrible joke under his breath before stating his business.
“I’d like to update my information and request a rank promotion. I’ve recently acquired two additional Black Magic spells: Clinging Flame and Darkness that Blinds the Eyes.”
“So you’re currently Stone-rank, I see.”
Mercenary ranks were Stone-rank, Bronze-rank, Iron-rank, and Silver-rank, followed by Gold-rank and Platinum-rank.
Six ranks in total.
This world had no classes to speak of, but for mages, their standing was determined by the number of spells they could cast and the potency of their magic.
With four Black Magic spells at his command now, Tay had certainly shed his lowest-tier label.
There were distinctions from lowest, lowest-tier, low, lower-middle, middle, upper-middle, high, to highest.
Beyond highest, they stopped calling you a Black Mage and called you an Archmage instead.
Archmages were targets for recruitment at the national level—impossibly remote positions.
“With two additional Black Magic spells, you certainly have the qualifications for Bronze-rank. However, there is a Trial Commission. Only by completing it can we grant you the Bronze-rank badge.”
“Assign me the trial commission.”
“As it happens, I have just the thing.”
And so Tay received a commission—his examination for promotion.
It was a sewer exploration commission.
‘Sigh. The sewers again!’
Tay’s inner protest was entirely justified.
* * *
The eternal companion of Stone-rank mercenaries living in the super-metropolis of Harundel.
The Ancient Sewers!
Bronze-rank mercenaries still venture down, but by the time you reach Iron-rank, you’ve typically graduated from such places.
But here’s the thing.
Lately, most of the Stone-rank mercenaries who ventured in have gone missing.
The commission was to investigate what happened.
Of course, he wouldn’t be going alone.
“I’m Ellen, Iron-rank. Pleased to work with you. As you can see, I’m your vanguard.”
“Gallin, Stone-rank. I’m vanguard as well.”
“I am Molton, a priest of the god of war and strife. It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”
“Yosep, your archer supporting from the rear. Stone-rank.”
Two Iron-ranks and three Stone-ranks.
Tay blinked at the sight of two mercenaries ranked above him.
‘Wait. This is a trial commission, and they’re pairing me with people like this?’
A trial commission.
Given to assess a mercenary’s competence and reliability for promotion.
Most commissions require cooperation, and a single mercenary acts as both supervisor and observer throughout the commission’s execution.
Usually, it’s said to be a single Bronze-rank mercenary.
In other words: get along well, don’t act like a failure, and work with speed and efficiency.
Even so, the typical arrangement is one Bronze-rank mercenary paired with several Stone-rank mercenaries (all of them on trial), but what is this?
Two Iron-rank mercenaries?
First, there’s Ellen, the muscular Iron-rank swordswoman who appears to be around Tay’s age, but the scars scattered across her body clearly mark her as a veteran.
Then there’s Molton, a stocky, bald priest of Kalthera, god of war and struggle.
Though he’s called a priest, he looks like someone capable of turning goblins into “things that used to be goblins” in the blink of an eye.
Both of them carry sturdy equipment.
Ellen wears chain mail that covers her entire body, and her helmet is forged from solid steel.
At her waist hang two hand axes, and daggers are thrust into various spots across her frame—an impressive display of practical combat readiness.
She radiates the aura of a melee specialist honed for real battle.
The priest was even more formidable.
He wore plate armor, a step above chain mail—and though it was only a breastplate, it was extraordinarily expensive.
Beneath the plate armor lay another layer of chain mail covering his arms and legs entirely.
One hand held a metal shield, the other a war hammer.
Was this a priest, or a bloodthirsty berserker?
Setting aside build and equipment, the mere fact of being a priest made him fundamentally Iron-rank.
Those who wield divine power are priests, and any party with them shouldn’t even dream of Bronze- or Stone-rank members.
The other two Stone-ranks matched Tay’s own rank and seemed unremarkable.
One carried a shield and a mace—a heavyset fellow (though part muscle, part fat)—and the other, a lanky archer.
Neither looked significantly different from Tay. If anything, Tay might have the advantage. He was, after all, a Black Mage.
“I’m Tay, recently promoted to Black Mage. I was Stone-rank until now, and I’ve accepted this Trial Commission to test for promotion. Thank you for having me.”
“A newly minted Black Mage… I wonder if that’ll work out.”
“Better than nothing, I suppose.”
Watching the two Stone-ranks chatter to each other, Tay felt dumbfounded.
Who are they to talk?
These two aren’t washouts, are they?
What bothered Tay wasn’t the content of their words, but the relaxed attitude with which they’d spoken—the complete absence of tension.
A party with two Iron-rank mercenaries.
Yet three Stone-ranks, two of whom were questionable.
Was this really all right?
Shouldn’t it have been another Bronze-rank Black Mage who came, not him?
Being a Black Mage should be far easier than being a blacksmith.
Author |
Automaton G
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(주) Samyang C&C
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Editorial Department
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The contents of this book may not be used in any form or by any means without the written permission of (주) Samyang C&C – Dream Books.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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