"Well then... shall I head out?"
Late at night.
Timing his departure for when the people in the mansion had fallen asleep, Rest slipped out of the stable.
The lights in the mansion had already been extinguished.
The only illumination at Rest's feet was the pale glow of the three moons—red, blue, and yellow—drifting across the night sky.
Gazing up at the three moons, Rest was struck once more by the realization that he truly was in another world.
"[Night Vision]"
The moment he cast the spell, his field of vision brightened dramatically.
With the spell's power to pierce through the darkness of night, the surroundings sprang into view as clearly as if it were broad daylight.
This was not a spell Cedric had taught him.
The bulk of the magic Rest had learned... primarily offensive spells... had been acquired by serving as Cedric's practice target, but beyond those, he could wield several other spells as well.
He had learned [Night Vision] back when he lived alone with his mother, taught to him by a middle-aged man who always sat in the back alleys drinking.
Rest never learned the man's identity—the one who had traded magical knowledge for bread.
Yet thanks to that man, spells like [Night Vision]and [Lockpicking], [presence detection "] and such — he was grateful that he could learn magic such as these."
"(Perhaps it's best not to think too hard about what kind of work that person did……)"
"(Now then……where are the monsters?)"
Rest arrived at the entrance to the forest.
Densely overgrown trees blocked out the moonlight, and the forest's interior lay shrouded in darkness like the maw of some monstrosity.
Without magic, he wouldn't have been able to see a single meter ahead, let alone walk through it.
"(The monsters are……this way?)"
He used the presence detection magic to search for monsters.
He detected the presence of three monsters right near the forest entrance.
He approached as quietly as he could, and there he found three wolves — each with a third eye set in the center of its forehead — ravenously devouring some kind of meat.
Rest concealed himself behind a tree and watched the wolves.
"(What they're eating is……ugh, Goblins?)"
What the three wolves were feasting on was a green-skinned, ape-like creature.
It was what's commonly known as a "Goblin" — a type of monster.
A fantasy staple, to be sure, but watching humanoid creatures being gnawed apart, their bones and innards laid bare, was far from a pleasant sight.
"Gurr?"
One of the wolves, which had been engrossed in goblin meat, raised its head and began scanning its surroundings.
Perhaps it had picked up Rest's scent or presence.
"(Born to win……here I go!)"
"「[Lightning Sphere]」"
Rest darted out from the shade of the trees and unleashed the magic he had just learned.
A crackling sphere of lightning crackled with purple arcs as it struck one of the wolves, its large body convulsing violently from the impact.
"Gruuuuuuuuuuuuh!?"
"Gauuh!"
"Guaah!"
Seeing their companion go down, the other two wolves lunged at Rest.
Without panicking, Rest calmly fired his next shot.
"[Lightning Sphere]"
"Gyaah!"
The second lightning sphere also struck a wolf. He moved to fire a third— But the wolves were faster. One of them lunged at him before he could cast.
"Guaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Kh—!"
He managed to dodge by leaping to the side, but the wolf's claws grazed his arm, leaving a thin red line across his skin.
The pain nearly twisted his expression into a grimace, but panicking now would be playing right into the enemy's hands.
(If your mind falters, your magic falters. Stay calm, stay calm...)
"[Lightning Sphere]"
"Guaah!?"
With his composure restored, Rest's lightning struck the last wolf, and it collapsed to the ground.
Rest let out a breath of relief and looked down at the three wolves lying on the ground.
"Gu...ru..."
"Ah... they're still alive."
It seemed that Thunder Ball wasn't a spell with much killing power.
Electrocuted and left paralyzed, the wolves couldn't move, but all three were still breathing.
"Time to finish you off...[Wind Blade]"
He unleashed a blade of wind, severing the necks of all three wolves.
A torrent of blood poured from the wolves' necks and spread across the ground.
(Thunder Ball's attack speed is pretty fast, so it's not totally useless. If I pump more mana into it, the power should increase too... I'll need to train more.)
"Giih! Giih!"
"Oh... it's you guys this time."
A different monster emerged from the bushes.
Green humanoids about the size of a child... Goblins.
Had they come to save their companions that the wolves had gotten to, or had they caught the scent of blood?
The Goblins, clutching rusted knife-like objects, glared at Rest.
"Gigiih! Gigiih!"
"I'm not the one who got your companions. Don't glare at me like that."
"Giih!"
"Besides... your surprise attack has already been spotted."
Rest lightly hops to the side.
Immediately after, another Goblin leaps out from behind and swings its club down at the spot where Rest had just been.
"Giigh!?"
"Good thing I have presence detection. Right back at you!"
Using body reinforcement magic to boost his strength, he kicks the ambushing Goblin away.
It had probably planned to use the first Goblin as bait and beat Rest to death with the club... but thanks to his presence detection, Rest had noticed the Goblin circling around behind him.
The kicked Goblin goes flying and slams into a tree trunk.
"Gih!"
"[Water Blade]"
He launches a water blade at the first one.
The Goblin that was trying to flee with its back turned to its fallen companion gets slashed across the back and collapses.
Just to be sure, he fires off another spell to make certain it's dead.
"Hmph!"
"Gi...ih..."
He follows up on the Goblin that had crashed into the tree.
With his body still magically reinforced, he stomps on its head with all his might.
The skull cracks open and the Goblin's head splatters like a dropped egg.
It was a pretty gory sight... but he was used to it by now.
Goblins are monsters that attack livestock and sometimes kidnap and eat human children. He felt no sympathy for them.
"This time, the battle's really over."
He scanned the surrounding area for any signs of presence, but there were no monster-like auras nearby.
Rest healed the arm that had been torn open by the wolf's claws with magic.
"[Healing]"
The wound closed as it was enveloped in faint green light.
This, too, was not a spell Cedric had taught him.
He'd learned it from a temple priest, back before he was taken in by House Eberun.
The priest who taught him healing magic was the same one who had diagnosed Rest as a baby, declaring him to have "no mana."
"There are illnesses that magic cannot cure. Your mother has been called to the side of the Goddess."
The priest had always looked after Rest and his mother, and it was he who had been there with Rest to watch over his mother in her final moments.
When he learned that Rest—who was supposed to have "no mana"—could actually use magic, he didn't think much of it at all, readily accepting it as the Goddess's will.
What's more, he went on to teach Rest spells like [Healing] and [Purify], [Cleanse], and others.
"No matter how hard things get, the Goddess is always watching over you. Live righteously, and never lose your way."
(If I hadn't met her, I might have used this power in a much more reckless way...)
I might have given in to my anger and killed my stepmother and Cedric. I might have burned with hatred toward the father who had hurt and abandoned my mother.
(Though, if I wanted to take revenge, I probably could. With this mana, I definitely could...)
Even after subjugating five monsters with magic, Rest felt no slightest diminishment of her mana.
As expected, Rest's mana reserves were near-bottomless.
It was power that could be twisted to any malicious purpose, if she so chose.
(But... if I went and took revenge, it might make Mother and the Priest sad. I can't do that.)
In her past life, someone had once said that the greatest revenge is living happily.
She had no intention of using violent means to get revenge. She would simply aim for the top.
She would make her father, her stepmother, and Cedric eat their words.
Not through crimes, but through straightforward, honest means.
(And for that... I have to train my magic even harder!)
Rest cast her mana to search for presences, hunting for monsters in the nighttime forest.
———————————— Thank you always for supporting this work.
I've posted two new novels, so if you're interested, please check them out as well.
• The Cursed Swordmage Dragged across the country under the weight of every calamity and cast out to sea, but he won't bother with revenge. He doesn't care about any of that — he aspires only to become the strongest.
• Chronicle of the Monkey King Reborn as a monkey, he builds a harem and lives life entirely on his own terms.