Wizard Mirror

The villagers were overjoyed when they saw the Holy Messenger returned. When Paul first left, no one had any idea where he was going, so they couldn't help but worry about whether this Holy Messenger of theirs would be returning. Some thought that he might have felt that the villagers had treated him poorly, and thus he abandoned the village out of rage and disappointment.

Now that the Holy Messenger returned, the villagers felt more at ease. Seeing that he came back after leaving the village also meant that the Holy Messenger had probably started treating this village as his home! This alleviated the worry that the elders originally had, that he might just leave after recovering from his injuries.

However, they did wonder where he went for an entire day. Paul did not bring back any remains of the two animals, so no one knew that he had gone on a hunt. They could have guessed so from looking at his gear, but it might just be for his own protection while wandering in the forests as well.

As Paul walked back to his house, he felt a little guilty as he saw the expression of relief on the villagers' faces. They had probably been truly worried. However, none of them would have been able to guess that he had just devoured the raw meat of a deer and a crocodile in a single sitting! In fact, even he wouldn't have believed that he could have such a voracious appetite if he weren't the person in question.

Through this hunting trip, he also discovered one more thing – the death energy that could be absorbed from different animals varied in volume! It seemed that the stronger the beast was, more death energy would be emitted upon its death.

I wonder how much death energy would be emitted if I were to kill humans? It would probably be more than that of the crocodile, right? Or perhaps it depended on the pure physical strength of the body? Then maybe the crocodile would give more death energy. If only I could try it out…

Paul pondered as he returned to his house. However, he knew better than to commit murder just to test out his hypothesis. The last thing he wanted was to be imprisoned by these villagers here and sentenced to death. That would be a pathetic ending to playing this game!

For the year that followed, Paul did not stop killing wild beasts. With every kill, a stream of death energy would enter through his forehead, nourishing his body on the cellular level. This made him stronger and in turn more efficient at hunting as well, increasing the rate at which he killed. This formed a cycle in which Paul got stronger at a rate that became faster and faster. For some reason that he just could not figure out, most animals would freeze up for a few moments upon seeing him, making it a lot easier for him to approach as well.

By now, Paul could already be considered a bit of a superhuman. His speed and strength had grown to absurd levels after absorbing death energy for an entire year. He could now even outrun deer and overpower tigers. Even the Tyrant Wolves that May had encountered previously would have been given a tough challenge in terms of pure strength if the current Paul were to encounter any. With his strength increased to such an extent, Paul had long since started to bring some of his prey back to share with the villagers.

After all, what he needed was mainly the death energy that was emitted from the carcass upon the death of the beast. While it was an enjoyment to inhale all the raw meat, it took too much time for him to personally finish off the meat on all his kills, making his hunting routine slightly inefficient. Thus he had no qualms about sharing the meat with the villagers since it did not cost him anything at all, instead earning him even greater respect and awe from the villagers. With his increased strength, there was no issue with carrying multiple carcasses along with him.

It was more convenient with these people around too, especially with them being able to help repair his weapons.

If those were the things that went well, then there was something that went badly as well.

Even though his wounds did not hurt, they seemed to be taking a terribly long time to recover as well! The wounds on his neck and abdomen had not recovered even after a year, so Paul started to be more careful when out hunting. After all, he was pretty satisfied with this handsome face that he obtained, and did not want to have sewn marks all over his body, wasting away that precious physical appearance.

Without anyone noticing, a slight greyish tint had also started to creep over the ground, and vegetation nearer to the village started to wither away. The previously lush field of grass that surrounded the village gradually died away, giving off a sense of dilapidation.

After trying but failing to find out the source of the problem, the villagers just let it be. After all, it didn't seem to have any direct negative effects on the villagers. Just that they now had to venture further to gather food since fruits no longer grew on the nearby trees, and animals stopped approaching as close as before. However, stray hunters would pass by the village from time to time, and when these hunters returned to the towns where they came from, word slowly spread about the strange phenomenon that surrounded the village.

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One day, a loud commotion could be heard from beyond the sturdy fences to the south of the village. Villagers on that end came out of their houses in curiosity, wondering what the racquet was all about. Soon, their curiosity was satiated, but slight anxiety promptly replaced it.

From the shadows of the forest appeared a squad of around twenty soldiers, each bearing silver full body armour and a sword slung at their waist. Despite having its appearance slightly ruined by fresh leaf marks caused by moving through the dense forest, one could tell that the soldiers had polished their armour to the point of possibly mistaking any piece for a mirror.

Although that clearly displayed how disciplined they were in terms of equipment maintenance, the soldiers could be seen to be relaxed and chatting among themselves, without any tension in the air. In the centre of the group, two men were dressed starkly different from the others. Their skinny bodies were mostly hidden under the cloth robes that they wore. Despite being dressed much more lightly than their companions, they looked uncomfortable as they trod through the trees, obviously not used to traversing the wild.

As they approached, the two lookouts stationed at the gate hurriedly went forward to greet them.

"Pardon me for the question, good sirs. But may I know the reason for your visit?" one of the lookouts politely inquired when they got close enough.

There were twenty fully armoured soldiers standing before him, so before getting to know their intentions, it would be a lie to say that he wasn't nervous. However, while the lookout did not want to accidentally offend them, he did not want to show too much deference either. After all, they have strong warriors of their own. Moreover, their Holy Messenger was currently in the village! There's no way they would lose in an all-out fight!

"Rest easy, we are here to help you!" one of the men dressed in cloth walked to the front of the group, but not before giving his clothes a quick brush to make sure he looked all right.

"Help us?"

"That's right. I am Hither, and he is Hather. We are the famous magician brothers also known as Wizard Mirror. Rejoice! For we are here to help you get rid of this Death Aura that surrounds your village!" the other of the two robed men added to his companion's words as he walked up to them in his cloth attire.

"Death Aura?" the two lookouts simply looked at each other in confusion.

"That's right. But shall we continue this conversation inside? We are quite tired from the long journey here!" Hither confidently smiled.

The duo was hesitant when suddenly the outsiders suddenly requested to enter, but a village elder who came to check out the situation made the decision for them. The group was led to the village hall which boasted the biggest sheltered area available in the village, though it could still only barely fit all of the village elders and the visiting troop. The village elders were quickly informed as they all assembled at the village hall.

"So tell me, Mr Hither and Mr Hather," the village cleared his throat as he thought about how to start this conversation.

"You can call us Wizard Mirror," Hither interjected quickly.

"Right…Wizard Mirror. So, I have heard a bit from the man you spoke to. But I'm afraid it's best to hear from you personally. If it is all right, would you be so kind as to once again tell us your reason for visiting our humble village?" the village chief inquired. After all, that was the question on everyone's mind right now, and he wanted to cut to the chase.

"That's a good question! I assume you are the head of this village?" Hather crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair comfortably as he asked.

The village chief frowned as he looked at how disrespectful this younger man was acting when speaking to him, but answered nevertheless.

"Yes, I am the village chief."

"Then we are speaking to the right person! Have you noticed that a layer of grey has crept up over your soil? And have you realised that the vegetation near your village are slowly withering away?" Hather smiled confidently as he directed the questions at the village chief.

"What are you driving at?" the village chief's frown deepened.

Obviously the villagers had long noticed this anomaly, but were baffled by what it was and why it occurred. Still, nothing serious had arisen out of it other than a little more difficulty in procuring food, so they were not too alarmed. At this moment, a bunch of outsiders actually came and claimed to know what was going on? It sounded too suspicious to be true. They could just say whatever they wanted and the villagers would have no grounds to refute their claims!

"Don't worry, chief. We just want to help you solve this problem! This is a win-win situation!" Hather tried to give the most amicable smile that he could muster.

"Even if you do manage to resolve this situation for us, how would it benefit you so that it becomes a win-win situation?" a village elder cut in from the side before the chief could reply.

"First of all, you should know that this greying and withering is caused by what we call Death Aura, and Death Aura is formed in two ways. One way is when there is an unnaturally high amount of deaths that occurred in an area, causing the death energy to corrupt the natural flow of energy. However, that would require a disgustingly high number of deaths, and there's no way to achieve that without killing at least thousands, so that is out of the question," Hither answered calmly, not at all offended at all by the elder cutting in.

"And the other way for it to form?" the village chief asked.

"The other way for it to form…" Hither deliberately dragged out his words as he ran his gaze across all the village elders' faces. "…would be for a source of death energy to be moved to the village. The death energy emitted by this foreign object could spread and accumulate over time, eventually forming a layer of Death Aura that shrouds this area."

"And I assume what you want is this foreign object?" the frown on the village chief's face lightened slightly.

"You are a smart person indeed. I can see why you were elected as the village chief," Hither did not bother to mask his intentions.

There was a moment of silence as the village chief took his time and contemplated deeply. If it really was as they said and a foreign object was brought into the village, causing this whole situation, then they would truly be better off giving it away to these people! After all, what could they do with an evil object like that? It would only cause further withering of the surrounding vegetation while bringing them no benefits at all!

"What proof is there that you are speaking of the truth?" the village head finally spoke as he looked straight into the eyes of Hither.

"The truth will be out when we find the Artifact that is the source of the death energy," Hither confidently stared back into his eyes.

"And if you fail to find this Artifact? I will have you know that I will not entertain you ransacking the village as you please, just to find nothing in the end!" the village head's words were stern as he bellowed, trying to display as much authority as he could in a bid to intimidate them.

Seeing this scene before him, Hither simply let out a mocking snicker but retained the calmness on his face.

"Don't worry, village chief. We have no need to ransack your entire village. As long as you give us free reign to walk around, we will be able to find the Artifact by detecting where the death energy is at its strongest. And if we don't find it, then we will definitely compensate you for your trouble accordingly," Hither hid the sneer on his face as he responded.

This bunch of ignorant villagers who didn't even know what was Death Aura dared to challenge his authority and even talk terms with him? If he wanted to, he could easily blow them away with a single spell! The only thing to consider was that their reputation might be sullied if word got out that they went to bully some random village. He would first try resolving this diplomatically, but if they left him no choice, then these villagers could kiss their lives goodbye!