Report
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Jjescus]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 11: The Wizard
Terdin stood with his arms crossed, staring grimly at the powder scattered across the ground.
The wizards awaited the general's words.
Ram waited too.
At last, Terdin spoke.
“Is it truly possible to kill someone with sorcery? Using this powder?”
“Yes. Of course, as I mentioned earlier, shamans have dozens of tools. And…”
The elderly wizard continued his explanation.
“I’m not sure if I need to explain this in such detail, but since you asked, I’ll proceed. The shamans of the Geron tribe are divided into two types. Female shamans are called Hagras, and male shamans are called Hakras. Hags and Haks use different types of sorcery and tools. Female Hags excel at predicting the future or reading the past, while male Haks specialize in sorcery that directly influences life and death, such as curses or blessings.”
“So, killing spells are something male shamans can perform?”
“Most likely.”
The elderly wizard pinched a bit of the powder, rubbed it between his fingers, and brought it to his nose to smell.
“That’s why we concluded that if the enemy’s Hak were to end this war in the best, easiest, and most feasible way, it would be to use sorcery to kill our great general.”
Terdin glared at the two wizards as if accusing them of conspiring to assassinate the general themselves.
The elderly wizard, unfazed, continued his explanation.
“We sought signs. Specifically, the smell. The smell of this powder being dispersed.”
“Are you saying you can identify every scent in the camp?”
Ram, who had a sharp sense of smell, quickly understood what Terdin was asking.
The allied camp was filled with various odors.
At its center were the smells of people—sweat, rotting flesh, and uncleaned waste.
Further out, discarded food added to the stench.
The natural smells of wood and insects were almost absent in the surrounding area.
A powder like this would easily be masked in such an environment.
The wizard answered honestly.
“Of course not. It’s more of an intuition. We have to rely on every smell, sight, and sound around us for clues. Early in the war, something unusual approached. Do you recall, General?”
“You requested heightened vigilance, so I sent patrols all over the camp. Nothing happened, and nothing was found—not once, but three times!”
“Still, we appreciated your swift action despite nothing happening.”
“Your warnings left me uneasy, and I despise such feelings.”
The elderly wizard chuckled.
Terdin’s expression didn’t change, but Ram thought he might have smiled.
“You say nothing happened, General, but we would phrase it differently: ‘It withdrew.’”
“It?”
“We don’t know what it was. Attempting to capture it might have led to disaster. A Hak’s curse has no tangible form. You can’t catch or block something intangible. There might be a way to stop it, but we haven’t discovered it yet. Even Senelot couldn’t provide guidance.”
“Senelot?”
“That’s the title for the wisest individual in the Elder Tower.”
“So, even with such a critical war underway, this Senelot stayed behind and sent you instead?”
“In most cases, Senelot spends their time alone in the tower, meditating, seeking visions, and analyzing news from wizards across the world. They’re very busy.”
The wizard’s calm tone slightly irritated Terdin.
“So you couldn’t identify ‘it’ or gather evidence, so you just made sure it couldn’t approach in the first place. Is that what you’re saying?”
“Precisely. Since those three incidents, there have been no further signs. But we remain vigilant. Just because the war is over doesn’t mean their Hak has given up on assassination.”
“That doesn’t make sense. If their shamans can summon something ‘intangible and unstoppable,’ why don’t they just use their sorcery from far away to kill me?”
“Let me put it this way: no matter how skilled an archer is, they still need to be within a certain range to hit their target. Sorcery works similarly.”
“You’re saying it requires aiming?”
Terdin answered his own question before the wizard could respond.
“You didn’t block the arrows—you stopped the archers from getting close enough.”
“Yes, because stopping a loosed arrow is much harder.”
“What about shields?”
“We have shields that can block our magic. But we don’t yet have shields to block theirs. That’s one of the questions we asked Senelot.”
“So you’re saying their shaman came near our camp three times?”
The elderly wizard shrugged like a child.
“If our intuition was correct, yes.”
Terdin rubbed his chin—a gesture he often made when deep in thought, even during strategy meetings with his commanders.
“If you can detect such things by smell, can you also determine if someone has been cursed by a shaman?”
“Do you have a specific individual in mind?”
“For instance, myself. Or perhaps… this young man here.”
Terdin casually gestured at Ram, as if picking him at random.
The elderly wizard glanced at the younger one, as if seeking advice.
When the younger wizard whispered something to him, Terdin barked angrily.
“Don’t hold private conversations in my presence!”
Both wizards bowed in apology, and the elder wizard explained.
“This man’s voice is too soft due to his advanced age. I had to lean in to hear him clearly.”
Terdin looked astonished, a rare expression.
“What? He doesn’t look a day over thirty!”
“In fact, he’s over a hundred and thirty. His experience surpasses mine, so I sought his counsel. I apologize if it seemed disrespectful.”
“If that’s the case, it’s fine. Now, continue about the curses.”
The elderly wizard explained,
“Our senses have been honed to detect any sign of Hag or Hak sorcery. We would have known if either of you had entered this tent under a curse.”
“So, no curses at all? No death curses?”
“Such powerful sorcery would be even easier to detect.”
The elderly wizard once again listened to his companion’s whispered input.
“There’s a slim possibility of the opposite scenario.”
“Opposite?”
“If a curse has been cast but hasn’t manifested yet, we might not be able to detect it.”
“Explain simply.”
“It’s like this: if someone has a runny nose, a fever, and a cough, we can confidently say they have a cold. But if there are no symptoms yet, it’s hard to be certain they’re ill.”
“You’re contradicting yourselves. If there are no symptoms, they’re not sick. If symptoms arise, then they’re sick. If someone’s sick but has no symptoms, aren’t they not sick?”
The wizard awkwardly smiled, unsure how to explain further.
“As wizards, it’s in our nature to avoid speaking in absolutes. But if it concerns you greatly, let me say this: there’s little need to worry about curses. Killing with magic is extremely difficult, not only in execution but also in cost. Taking a life requires a life of equal value—perhaps even their own. Casting a curse undetected is no easy task.”
The elderly wizard turned to Ram and asked for the first time.
"Have you experienced any unusual events recently, something that could be considered a peculiar curse? Perhaps you've heard a strange song muttered in odd words, been exposed to strange smoke or scents for a long time, or seen mysterious visions—anything out of the ordinary that defies understanding?"
Ram recalled the moment he assassinated Mantum.
It hadn't lasted long and was nothing out of the ordinary.
"No, sir. All I heard was a strange trumpet sound from the sky."
"Hmm, that's not particularly unusual since everyone heard it..."
The old wizard’s comment was interrupted by the general, who asked,
"Still no analysis on that sound?"
"As I mentioned on the day it happened, we don’t know either. There are records from ancient times that mention such sounds being heard from the sky, but my memory of them is vague."
"So, this has happened before, even in ancient times?"
"Yes, the records state that it 'happened,' but there’s no mention of what caused it. We’re not even sure if it’s the same phenomenon. I sent a letter to Senelot just in case, but there’s been no reply yet…"
As the two discussed the sound from the sky, a young wizard spoke to Ram.
"You can hear me, can't you?"
Instinctively, Ram braced himself for an attack.
But there was no movement.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Jjescus]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!w
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
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The young wizard’s lips moved, but unlike earlier when whispering to the older wizard, Ram could now hear his voice.
"You don’t need to respond. Just blink if you can hear me."
Ram blinked.
Terdin, meanwhile, seemed oblivious to the conversation and continued talking only with the older wizard.
The topic was the difference between their magic and the enemy’s sorcery.
The older wizard gave vague answers, leaving Terdin visibly frustrated.
Meanwhile, the young wizard continued speaking to Ram in a voice only he could hear.
"You had a scent. Faint enough to miss at first, but it was there. 'That event' happened a week ago, didn’t it? If you’d been cursed by Hak’s sorcery during 'that incident' the general doesn’t want to discuss, your body should reek of it. A death curse should cling to you like a heavy stench. But it doesn’t. There’s no way the scent could have faded in just a week. It was either never there to begin with or something suppressed it. If so..."
The young wizard seemed to be closing in on Ram, though he wasn’t moving.
"...Have you ever met a wizard before us?"
Ram almost said no but suddenly recalled the assassination request from Selken.
He nodded.
The young wizard also nodded.
"Then that wizard must have cast a spell on you."
Ram couldn’t respond.
The young wizard whispered something to the older wizard, but this time, Ram couldn’t hear it.
The older wizard nodded once and said to Terdin,
"If the boy truly had a death curse but didn’t die, there are three possibilities. The first is that the arrow simply missed its mark. He was just lucky, which happens even in the world of magic. The second is that he already had a shield, and it blocked the curse. The third is that the knife that pierced his body failed to kill him."
"The third one doesn’t make sense. If the body’s pierced, there should at least be pain!"
"Not all death curses manifest perfectly."
"What analogy would you use for that? Being hit by an arrow that was too weak?"
The older wizard pondered if it was a fitting analogy and then lightly nodded.
Terdin fell into thought briefly before suddenly standing.
"Keep this matter secret."
Both wizards bowed simultaneously.
"Understood."
Terdin left without looking back, but Ram glanced back.
The young wizard was staring at him intently.
It was hard to tell if the gaze was one of concern or scrutiny.
Ram suddenly realized that Terdin hadn’t called the wizards by name even once.
The general was known to remember even the names of patrolmen and always asked for the name of any unknown soldier he met.
But he never once addressed these wizards by name, which felt uncharacteristic.
‘Terdin must fear them.’
Terdin didn’t say a word until they reached his tent.
Just as he opened his mouth to speak to Ram, his Lieutenant rushed in urgently.
"General?"
"It’s been a while since I’ve seen you running out of breath."
"His Majesty is about to arrive."
"What? When?"
"The letter states he will arrive in three days from the time it was written. The letter took a day to reach us, so..."
"The day after tomorrow?"
"Uncertain, sir."
"How is that possible? We only sent word of the war’s end a week ago."
"We mentioned in our dispatch that we anticipated securing a surrender within ten days. We gave ourselves a cushion, sir."
Though Terdin had appeared troubled and indecisive earlier while speaking with the wizards, he now radiated the determined energy of a warrior on the battlefield.
"That means His Majesty departed long before Mantum was beheaded. The army’s assembly would have been even earlier."
"Our requests for reinforcements were ignored, yet suddenly, he’s coming here personally...? Something feels off."
The Lieutenant lowered his voice, conscious of Ram’s presence, but Ram still heard everything.
"What’s strange about it? We’ve seen royal whims before. Summon the commanders. His Majesty is coming, so we’ll need to prepare a banquet."
Ram wondered how they were supposed to prepare a banquet when even the soldiers’ rations were insufficient.
Just before leaving, Terdin whispered to Ram,
"I don’t know what that young chieftain meant by bringing up the curse. If he truly wanted to see his father’s assassin die a miserable death, he wouldn’t have mentioned it. The fact that he did means he’s trying to instill fear in us."
Ram thought that if that was Jedrick’s intention, it had already succeeded to some extent.
Terdin seemed unusually shaken.
Ram found this oddly gratifying—the kingdom’s greatest general was concerned for his life!
"Are you afraid?"
"No, sir."
"You’re not afraid of the Geron chieftain in our custody?"
"No, sir."
"Then from now on, you’ll watch over Jedrick."
"Do you mean to protect him or to ensure he doesn’t cause trouble?"
"There are plenty of Geronians who’d be burning with a desire for revenge, even among our ranks."
Ram hadn’t considered that.
"That’s true. Understood."
"And if Jedrick asks about the curse, tell him a soldier drowned in a filth barrel. Say you’re unsure if that’s the curse. Then carefully listen to what he says."
"Yes, General. But..."
Ram hesitated before asking,
"Are you sure it’s okay for me to stay near him?"
"Why, don’t you want to?"
"It’s not that, but if I really do die from the curse, Jedrick will witness it. Is that acceptable?"
"That won’t happen."
Terdin dismissed the concern as ridiculous and left.
Ram was relieved by his confidence.
He also felt that no curse would suddenly manifest and kill him at that moment.
Moreover, he couldn’t even begin to imagine what would constitute the most wretched death for himself.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Jjescus]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!w
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
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