Became a Medieval Fantasy Wizard

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: none

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Standing before a valley where cold winds blew, Ian looked around.

The ruins of an old fortress with collapsed walls overgrown with blue weeds.

That was Ian's destination.

"According to the map, this should be the place..."

Ian slightly furrowed his brow.

As a long-time traveler, Ian had encountered all sorts of maps.

Medieval maps rarely rose above the level of amateur scribbles.

Map makers would probably feel offended hearing that, but it was simply fact.

Medieval cartographers weren't idiots - they worked hard walking everywhere to draw their maps.

But maps drawn by people eyeballing distances naturally ended up with severely distorted measurements.

What looked like a small rocky hill worth drawing tiny on the map might actually take three days to cross.

And the biggest reason maps got distorted was...

They filled in places they'd never been to with pure imagination!

Say a cartographer wanted to sell maps. But when they tried drawing one, there were too many areas they hadn't visited.

So they'd use their imagination to fill in what 'might be there~'

Was it okay to write maps like some fantasy novel?

Having blank spots was actually more problematic.

When customers bought maps with empty areas, complaints immediately followed.

'Hey, aren't you supposed to be a cartographer? Why's this part empty? Is it DLC?'

'Well... I haven't been there yet... Updates coming soon.'

'Tch! Some cartographer you are! Let's go to another shop!'

Whether 1000 years ago or now, difficult customers were always the problem.

To avoid mindless complaints from troublesome customers, cartographers filled empty spaces with their imagination, and surprisingly, it worked well.

In fact... the more interesting the made-up details, the better the maps sold!

'Look here! This map says there's a land covered in gold at the eastern edge!'

'Eek! I'm sorry...'

'This is awesome, got any maps with more detailed lore?'

'???'

That's why medieval maps had so many weird versions.

Claims about cliffs at the edge of the world, lands where giant dragons lived...

Such fun and quirky imagination might have added excitement to medieval people's boring daily lives...

But to Ian, who had been a modern person, it was just fucking annoying.

No, you damn scammers. If you haven't been somewhere, just write that you haven't been there. Don't distort the maps!

"Hey. Thief."

"Yes! Thief here!"

Baron Mud rushed over at Ian's call.

Ian pointed at the map and asked.

"What's this about 'Warriors Bjorn and Junken fighting over treasure'?"

Ian desperately hoped this wasn't just some easter egg the cartographer had thrown in.

And his prayers were somewhat answered.

"Ah! That's the story!"

As Count Dufel's 'show-off child', Baron Mud had grown up hearing various tales about northern barbarians.

Though he'd only passively listened to Count Dufel's ramblings.

"Warrior Bjorn was the one who stole House Dufel's treasure and ran away."

"He's a thief too?"

According to Baron Mud's story:

Warrior Bjorn had run off with the treasure, and Warrior Junken had chased after him.

The two had their final battle here, at this valley fortress.

They fought to their very last breath...

"And they both ended up dead."

"...? What about the treasure?"

"No one knows! That's why it's missing!"

Ian habitually kicked Baron Mud.

"Ouch!"

Then he caught himself.

Oh no... despite living in medieval times, to be this steeped in violence!

He shouldn't lose his pride as a modern person.

Ian nodded to himself after contemplating this.

To Belenka, it was quite an odd sight.

Well, Ian doing strange things wasn't anything new.

"Are you evaluating the impact?"

"What impact?"

"That thief. I've kicked him a few times too, it's quite satisfying."

"..."

Ian looked at Belenka like she was a complete barbarian.

Belenka found Ian's gaze quite unpleasant...

He'd been happily kicking away too, why give her that look?!

"But the map says the treasure should be here."

"Ugh... this is just the most likely location."

"Then wouldn't someone else have taken it already?"

"They might have!"

Ian kicked Baron Mud without hesitation.

Modern dignity? Whatever.

I'm an uncouth medieval person now.

"If you don't know, does your thief career end? I can just head back to university, but your neck's on the line!"

"W-Well I could always become a grave robber in another country..."

"Get an honest job! A real job!"

As the foreign representative, Belenka kicked Baron Mud.

Ian and Belenka kicked him so often that Baron Mud wondered if he might have been a soccer ball in his past life.

"B-But! This is the only map with such detailed underground descriptions!"

"Oh. This was underground?"

"..."

For a moment, Baron Mud felt infuriated.

That ignorant(?) wizard...!

Just look at the number of pillars! This was clearly a map of the fortress's underground! Come on!

As a professional thief, Baron Mud had robbed so many ancient buildings that he could estimate sizes just by looking at floor plans.

He might be a professional grave robber, but still a professional.

"This is so unfair! I'm going to hit you once too! No complaints, right?"

"What? Are you crazy, thief?"

"Must be desperate to hang from the gallows."

"..."

Baron Mud seriously wanted to desert this party...!

That merciless wizard and knight didn't treat an innocent(?) thief as human!

"Anyway... so the treasure's underground?"

"Yes... so now we should set up camp and hire workers from the nearest village..."

Though he'd been dragged along, Baron Mud immediately went into professional mode.

Usually when finding a tomb to rob, you'd start by building a camp and gathering workers.

It could take days to find the treasure, and who knew what obstacles awaited.

But that wizard must have lost his mind, because he suddenly said:

"We don't have time, let's go in ourselves."

"Oh fuck... I have to explore the same place as a lunatic like you?"

"Hey, that was a sneaky insult."

Having fully regained his medieval self, Ian kicked Baron Mud without a shred of guilt.

Baron Mud, unfairly kicked again, was really about to lose it!

"No! How can just three people explore such a huge place! And you know what all tomb deaths have in common? People rushing in because they don't have time or money!"

He wasn't lying, it was true.

Sometimes ignorant evil employers would demand treasures be found in impossible timeframes, and nine times out of ten the workers would just die without finding anything worth the cost.

Any kind of theft requires time and dedication!

That was Baron Mud's thieving philosophy(?)!

"Shut up. Lead the way, thief."

"But seriously...!"

But that only applied to newbies inexperienced in underground exploration.

As a veteran wizard, Ian wasn't afraid of underground exploration at all.

Belenka snickered and said.

"You must not know what kind of wizard Ian is."

"...? What, are there different types of wizards?"

Baron Mud showed his ignorance in an unexpected area.

Weren't all wizards the same?!

"Ian's a dark wizard."

"Dark magic...? What's that?"

"Magic that controls darkness and shadows."

"!"

Only then did Baron Mud realize the source of Ian's confidence.

Dark magic!

In an underground space completely filled with darkness...

It was a stage made for dark wizards!

"Ian did struggle before in the Talian tomb because of Inglan. But that was because Inglan's photon magic was exceptional."

Inglan's magic that could summon brilliant radiance in the pitch-black underground was amazing.

Though he did weird things, Inglan was still a university professor after all...!

"Setting up camp is fine. Go with Belenka and buy supplies. I'll scout ahead."

Ian walked straight into the underground entrance of the ruined fortress.

Watching from afar, Baron Mud jumped in shock.

As Ian moved into the darkness, shadows extended like tentacles and began wrapping around his body...!

"Th-That!"

"Don't make such a fuss. That's just Ian's magic."

Belenka spoke as if it was nothing special.

"The darkness will protect Ian."

Ian was a wizard beloved by mystery.

Underground exploration might be extremely dangerous for normal people.

But that didn't apply to dark wizards.

"There was a village nearby. Let's go buy something."

"Hehe. If I just steal some stuff, we could save money..."

"Shut up, thief."

#

Ian patrolled the abandoned fortress's underground alone.

An underground world filled with pitch-black darkness.

'A dungeon.'

Dungeon!

This place Ian had entered was literally a 'dungeon'.

Not the kind with monsters crawling around, boss monsters and treasure chests waiting...!

A dungeon was an underground space built to imprison criminals or store supplies.

"[Darkness, light my path.]"

[Using Skill: Dark Vision]

Upon entering the dungeon, Ian used his dark vision magic.

It was the same magic he'd used to escape that dark cave in the past.

[Hello! Ian!]

[It's nice and quiet here~ Right?]

Voices of darkness whispered in Ian's ears.

Though not a single ray of light penetrated this dark world, Ian moved forward without difficulty.

Crack!

As he stepped forward, rotted bones crumbled.

Human bones were scattered throughout the underground dungeon.

'Signs of battle.'

Ian recalled Baron Mud's story.

In the past, the warrior who fled with the treasure and his pursuing subordinates had fought a fierce battle in this fortress.

The scattered bones were remnants preserving memories of that battle.

'Not much here.'

Ian thought this and smirked.

It made sense when you thought about it.

Why would there be anything in an abandoned fortress's underground dungeon?

Dungeon exploration was similar to digging through garbage in ruins.

Terrifying man-eating monsters, guardians protecting treasure - those were all fiction created by overstimulated modern people...

"Woohoo~~~!"

"???"

A voice echoed from somewhere.

Torchlight flickered in the distance.

'People?!'

For a moment, Ian was dumbfounded.

What madman would crawl into an underground dungeon?

But when he saw the faces lit by torchlight, Ian sighed.

"Friends! Look at this! It's Takarion's Gospel~!"

"Woohoo~!"

"Woohoo~! Super lucky~!"

Kekekekek!

A group of men piling up and rummaging through items.

There was only one type of person who would act like this in an underground dungeon.

'Thieves...!'

They were thieves.

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