The Strongest in Our Neighborhood - Chapter 40

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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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Our Neighborhood’s Strongest (40)
“Ah, no matter how much training it received, a Dual-headed Ogre is supposed to be the strongest among mutants… I can’t believe it could be this one-sided!”
Laila watched the unmarked Saber Tiger and the Dual-headed Ogre serving as its prey, its innards being torn open, and clicked her tongue in amazement.
“Unless it’s a Magical Beast living in a Demonic Realm, Mutant Monsters are no longer a match for Saber in terms of combat ability.”
Jang Ga-in spoke as he picked up the Iron Club the Dual-headed Ogre had dropped.
“Laila. But doesn’t this Iron Club seem a bit strange to you?”
“Pardon? What’s strange about it?”
“The first ogre I saw was carrying a Stone Axe, but this is a chunk of metal, isn’t it? Can ogres even forge iron weapons like this?”
“Ogres are fairly intelligent among monsters, but they shouldn’t have the technology to smelt metal.”
“Then how did this Iron Club come to exist?”
“That’s odd. I hadn’t given it much thought, but now that you mention it, something does feel off.”
“Even with just a Stone Axe, it would be a king of this forest. But an Iron Club sized perfectly for a Dual-headed Ogre? Could it be that a Demon crafted this for some purpose?”
“That’s something we’d need to investigate.”
“You said last time that a Demon’s corpse fetches good money, didn’t you?”
When Jang Ga-in licked his lips slightly, Laila felt a sense of awe stir within her.
Though Demons were objects of fear, to a master-class warrior they were nothing but prey that could yield substantial profit.
“That’s right. Very good money indeed.”
“Hmm, since the ogre came from that direction, I should take a look around.”
“Beyond the money, if there’s a Demon hiding here, we should capture it and be on our way.”
“Saber.”
Growl.
At his call, the Saber Tiger, which had been tearing into the ogre’s innards, lifted its head.
“You’ve eaten enough by now. Find where the ogre came from.”
Growl.
Laila watched the Saber Tiger nod as if it understood human speech, and once again found herself marveling inwardly.
‘I’ve never heard of taming ability on this level. Where on earth did such a person come from? My master once mentioned that dragons occasionally take human form to amuse themselves, but could this be one of those? Yet he said when dragons polymorph into human form, they become strikingly beautiful men or women. His appearance is far from that.’
No matter how she looked at it, his face was utterly ordinary, and he even bore old scars on his forearms and neck.
If he were a dragon’s polymorph, he wouldn’t have scars like those.
While Laila contemplated various possibilities, the Saber Tiger sniffed the air and ventured into the forest, with Jang Ga-in following behind.
“Laila, aren’t you coming?”
“What? Oh, yes. I’m coming.”
The ogre’s path was evident even without following the Saber Tiger—broken branches and footprints littered the surroundings.
After roughly ten minutes of walking, a large cave appeared.
Jang Ga-in examined the cave, then tilted his head.
“This looks like where the ogre lived, but I don’t sense the kind of Demonic Aura that would create a mutant. Was this a Demon’s doing?”
“Ga-in. Could you lend me a High-tier Demon’s Arm for a moment?”
“Of course. Since you’re going to buy it anyway, lending it first is no trouble. Here.”
Jang Ga-in produced the High-tier Demon’s Arm, and Laila withdrew several Reagents from her pouch, cut the arm, and mixed the flowing blood with them.
“What are you doing?”
“Drawing out Demons and Magical Beasts.”
“Drawing them out? It does have a sour, nauseating smell, but… will Demons and Magical Beasts really be attracted to a scent like this? And it doesn’t seem like the smell would spread very far.”
“Demons and Magical Beasts are said to have far sharper senses of smell than Magical Beasts like Saber Tiger. So if there’s a Demon or Magical Beast in this area, it will certainly appear.”
“Is that so?”
“Let’s wait and see.”
“Very well. I understand.”
Laila retrieved a vial of Mana-infused Powder from her pouch and poured it on the ground, drawing strange geometric patterns. She then sprinkled the Demon blood mixed with Reagents at the center of the pattern, raised her Magic Wand, and chanted an incantation in words difficult to understand.
Flash.
Suddenly, light erupted from the strange patterns, spread outward, and then faded back into the ordinary ground as if nothing had happened.
Jang Ga-in’s expression shifted slightly at the sight.
“Wait! Isn’t this the Magical Circle you laid out at the Training Grounds last time?”
“Yes. It’s the same Magical Circle I deployed then.”
“When you cast it back then, black smoke rose from the ground and seemed to drag at my feet. Is it a Magical Circle designed to bind an opponent?”
“It dulls the opponent’s movements through magical power while simultaneously amplifying the effects of my magic.”
“Hmm, it didn’t seem that strengthened though.”
At his words, Laila smiled wryly.
“You’re absurdly strong, so it seems weaker than it is. Normally, this Magical Circle works on even Expert-rank knights at the highest level.”
“Is that right?”
“Now I’ve used Spirit Art to create wind that spreads the Demon blood scent rapidly in all directions. All we need to do is wait for the Demon who gave the Dual-headed Ogre that Iron Club to appear.”
Hearing Laila’s explanation, Jang Ga-in now noticed the wind rising and spreading in all directions, and was taken aback slightly.
“I thought only Spirit Art could manipulate wind, but magic can control it too, it seems?”
“Spirit Art draws on Spirit Power as its foundation, and Magic draws on Mana, so both can manipulate wind. However, Spirit Art has a tuner called a spirit, allowing for far more precise control of the wind, while Magic is cruder. Are you saying you practice Spirit Art but don’t understand that?”
“Ah! I’ve only been studying Spirit Art for a short time, and this is my first time meeting a mage, so I’m ignorant of many things.”
Laila’s eyes widened in an instant.
“What? A strong person like you…… Ah! Now that I think about it, your accent did sound a bit awkward. You must have lived in a remote place where it’s hard to see mages or spirit users.”
“Yes. It’s not exactly remote, but it’s a completely different place from here, so it’s difficult to explain.”
“What do you mean by a completely different place?”
“Well, as a simple example, the air in the place I lived didn’t have high concentrations of spiritual energy, but here it’s relatively abundant, so I’ve become stronger than I was back home. And besides that…….”
Jang Ga-in offered various explanations, and Laila questioned him with a skeptical expression. About ten minutes passed.
A piercing scream tore through the air.
A woman’s cry suddenly rang out from the forest.
Not only Jang Ga-in and Laila, but Saber Tiger’s head also turned toward the source of the scream.
“Someone seems to be in trouble. I’ll go investigate.”
“I’ll come with you.”
“Aren’t you supposed to stay here and wait for Demons to arrive?”
“If only low-tier Demons come, that’s one thing, but if mid-tier or higher Demons appear, I won’t be able to handle them alone.”
“That’s true. Since we’ve only scattered the scent recently, Demons probably won’t come for a while. Let’s go.”
Jang Ga-in pushed off the ground and summoned a gust of wind; his body flew like a gliding eagle.
“Gasp! W-wait, let me come with you!”
Laila used the help of a Magical Circle and deployed Flight Magic, pushing off the ground, but she realized she was slower than Saber Tiger following behind Jang Ga-in, and her jaw tightened slightly.
‘How is he so fast!’
Her pride stung, she did her best to deploy Flight Magic, but the moment she stepped out of the Magical Circle’s range of influence, her speed dropped noticeably, and soon Jang Ga-in and Saber Tiger disappeared behind the forest trees.
―Ahhhhh…… Save me! Someone, please save me!
At least the screams came from not far away, so Laila found Jang Ga-in and Saber Tiger not long after entering the dense forest.
About a dozen wolves were chasing a blonde woman in a white dress, and even from a distance, her beauty was so stunning it took one’s breath away.
‘Beautiful!’
Laila was entranced for a brief moment.
‘If I save that woman, she’ll develop tremendous affection for me. Perhaps…….’
A rosy future bloomed unbidden in her mind, and a sense of justice burned like wildfire within her.
A deep, thunderous roar echoed.
Saber Tiger, arriving first, let out a great roar, and the pack of wolves chasing the blonde woman scattered in panic and fled. The blonde woman spotted Jang Ga-in and ran toward him, screaming.
Crack.
As the woman ran toward him, Jang Ga-in tilted his head, then suddenly slapped her across the face.
“Aaahhh!”
In an instant the woman shrieked and collapsed, and Laila, arriving moments later, saw it and wore an expression of utter shock.
“Jang Ga-in! What on earth are you doing to the lady? Stop this instant!”
Laila tried to stop Jang Ga-in, who was drawing a spear from his back, but the distance was too great.
As she hurried forward, Jang Ga-in drove his spear through the blonde woman’s chest and pinned her to the rock behind her.
“Ahhhhhhh…….”
“Good gods! Jang Ga-in! What kind of insane act is this? Not only did you fail to save this beautiful blonde lady, you killed her instead?”
“She’s not dead yet, so don’t make a fuss.”
“Even if she’s not dead, her chest is pierced by a spear—she’ll die soon!”
Laila rushed to the scene and tried to grab Jang Ga-in by the collar.
Thud.
In an instant, Jang Ga-in extended his left foot and kicked her in the abdomen; she missed grabbing his collar and went flying backward, tumbling across the ground.
“Argh! You, you madman! What are you doing? You kill the woman and then attack me too?”
“Who’s the one who can’t tell right from wrong, dazzled by what’s right in front of their eyes?”
“What do you mean I can’t tell right from wrong…… Wait. Surely not!”
In the middle of arguing with Jang Ga-in, Laila suddenly came to her senses.
‘Why did I get so worked up? And I’m not even close to a match for Jang Ga-in…… I nearly threw my life away fighting him!’
For a brief moment, the thought struck her that she’d fallen under some kind of mental magic.
She turned her head and looked at the blonde woman, blood streaming from her mouth, her chest pierced by the spear.
The color of the blood wasn’t bright red—it was a dark crimson with a thick, viscous quality.
“D-Demon! So this woman was actually a Demon in disguise!”
“Tsk, tsk. Now you’re coming to your senses. Think about it if you have a brain. Running around in a flowy dress and being chased by wolves in a forest like this doesn’t make sense, does it?”
“N-now that you mention it, you’re right.”
“And it’s strange that she’s beautiful enough to drive any man insane.”
“Ahem, I apologize. I seem to have been enchanted for a moment.”
Laila gave her answer while clearing her throat repeatedly in embarrassment.
“Listen, Demon. It’s all been revealed—how much longer are you going to keep that fake form?”
“Grrrrgh! When I saw you kill that Ogre I’d worked so hard to dominate, I should have fled without hesitation…… Curse it! I couldn’t resist the scent of high-tier Demon blood…….”
As she spoke, the woman’s form began to shift. Her white dress transformed into bird feathers, her face melting like candle wax, until a wolf’s snout protruded where her features had been.
“Ko, Kolpon!”
Laila cried out in alarm, and Jang Ga-in turned to ask her something.
“A wolf’s head with a bird’s body! A dog-bird… ahem, so you call this creature Kolpon?”
Once Laila had regained her composure, Jang Ga-in continued with renewed formality.
“Yes, Kolpon is a mid-tier Demon with a wolf’s face and an eagle’s body.”
“It doesn’t seem particularly strong, yet it’s a mid-tier Demon? Wouldn’t mid-tier be quite formidable?”
“Though Kolpon’s physical prowess is unremarkable, it possesses the power of Hypnosis—capable of enchanting even knights of strong will or high-tier Magical Beasts—which is why it’s classified as mid-tier.”
“Ah! So it has the power of Hypnosis. That explains why it commanded the wolves and ogres, and why it enchanted Laila as well.”
“Ahem, well, yes. In any case, that’s what manner of Demon it is.”
“In that case, what would a mid-tier Demon fetch as a price?”
“A corpse would fetch around 200 Gold, but a living specimen like this one could bring in as much as 300 Gold.”
“200 Gold? That’s quite dear, though relatively modest compared to high-tier Demons, I suppose.”
“High-tier Demons are extraordinarily rare and have many uses, whereas mid-tier and low-tier are relatively common with limited applications. Low-tier Demons trade for mere tens of Gold.”
“Is that so? You just said a living specimen could fetch 300 Gold—and this one’s still breathing. Would you sell it to me for 300 Gold?”
In that instant, Laila’s eyes fixed upon Jang Ga-in with the contempt one reserves for a con artist.

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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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