Became a Medieval Fantasy Wizard

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: none

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Aesis was truly wronged.

He really had received support from the Golden Rule Society!

"That man is famous as 'Savage', a notorious bandit!"

"Savage?"

Aesis eagerly spilled everything he knew.

He had met two key figures.

A wizard who controlled monsters, and that bandit known as 'Savage' visible in the distance.

"He's such a lunatic that he definitely won't listen to me!"

Belenka kept her sword drawn as she glared at Aesis for a moment.

Aesis's neck was drenched in cold sweat.

"Is he really that crazy?"

"Y-yes! They don't call him Savage for nothing!"

Aesis hastily explained.

Savage.

The man was more infamous for his deranged behavior than for being a bandit leader.

"He collects the fingers of his captives and bathes in the blood of his executed enemies!"

"Hmm. What else?"

"He puts human flesh under his saddle to make jerky and eats it!"

Ian responded nonchalantly:

"So he just has a thing for human byproducts?"

"Well, sounds crazy enough to qualify."

Aesis was dumbfounded by Ian and Belenka's reactions.

How could they be so unfazed after hearing about Savage's deranged acts?!

The guy was a monster who ate people!

"Once, he even killed one of his men just for kicking his dog!"

"...? Sounds justified to me."

"???"

Ian and Aesis stared at each other in disbelief.

As someone from the modern world, Ian was instilled with contemporary ethics about not harming animals.

But in medieval times, livestock were creatures you'd eat if needed, so they were rarely valued above humans.

Murder could send you to hell, but kicking a dog wasn't a hell-worthy sin!

Being a thoroughly logical medieval person, Aesis couldn't understand Savage killing someone over kicking a mere dog.

They would even boil and eat dogs if they ruined crops!

"Anyway. So he's too crazy to listen to you, is that it?"

"Y-yes! Sir Knight!"

Belenka warned Ian.

"Be careful, Ian. He doesn't seem like an easy opponent."

"Right. If black wizards prepared him, he's probably not your average madman."

Ian kept his guard up while watching ahead.

Though he'd been surrounded by enemies countless times.

Underestimating an opponent would be pure insanity.

With lives at stake, they had to give it their all.

"Kehehehe! Attack! Attack!"

Savage issued the attack order without hesitation.

At that moment.

Rumble rumble...!

"W-what's that?!"

"Landslide!"

A massive pile of earth crashed down behind the path Ian had taken.

Their escape route was cut off.

"Here they come! They're coming!"

"W-we need to run!"

With their retreat suddenly blocked and bandits surging forward like a wave, Ian's servants fell into panic.

Being ordinary people without combat training, their fear was understandable.

Sir Salvador drew his sword and tried to control the servants.

"Don't panic! Maintain formation! If we scatter now, we all die!"

The servants barely managed to control their terror and gathered around Sir Salvador.

"Kehehehe! Don't let a single one live! Let's have a blood festival!"

"Kyaaaah!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Savage charged forward while licking his blade.

The fact that he didn't cut himself despite the wild movement showed this wasn't his first time.

"Who's the leader! Who will entertain me!"

"I'm your opponent!"

Belenka blocked Savage's path.

Clang!

The two longswords locked together.

"Kehehehe! I am madness! I am death! I am Savage!"

"...Would you please shut up and fight?!"

They called him Savage the Mad.

But he was so noisy he should've been called Savage the Chatterbox.

The mountain path instantly became a battlefield.

"Protect the wizards!"

While Sir Salvador commanded the servants and Belenka held off Savage.

Ian, Kira, and Maria-

The three wizards observed the battlefield with calm eyes.

Actually, Savage... wasn't really crazy at all.

His 'madness' was a kind of roleplay.

In other words, his insanity was just a concept.

And this wasn't particularly unusual.

After all, people obsessed with personas didn't just fall from the sky one day.

Everyone has an instinctive desire to experience being someone completely different from themselves.

Psychologists call this a persona.

So Savage's madness was like a mask, a persona-

Something somewhat detached from his true nature.

'Bandits are rough.'

The mad persona wasn't something Savage had chosen because he liked it.

'To control rough men, you need both ability and charisma.'

Savage had ability.

He was an excellent swordsman who had never met a proper match.

But born a commoner with mediocre intelligence and a timid personality, Savage couldn't follow the path of becoming a knight through noble connections.

However, being a skilled swordsman, Savage was semi-forcibly recruited when he encountered bandits.

With nothing going for him except swordsmanship, he became caught up in the internal politics of the bandit group.

Then by chance, he met someone who would become his mentor.

A mad beggar.

'Why do you deliberately act crazy?'

'Simple. People naturally fear what they don't understand... That's why madmen are scary. Because you can never predict what they'll do!'

Savage practiced acting crazy by following the beggar's example.

Collecting severed fingers... splashing around in pools of blood from decapitated corpses...

'W-what's he doing?'

'He's completely insane!'

The beggar was right.

Though his madness was artificial, the bandits feared Savage's insanity.

Combined with his natural sword skills and others' fear.

Savage quickly gained many followers.

'Hey Savage! What are you eating?'

'Keheheh! The flesh of the guy we killed yesterday!'

Savage would shout while chewing dried pork.

While telling others he was eating 'human flesh'.

'Haha! You madman!'

But the bandits believed Savage's lies.

His reputation as someone capable of anything had been established!

And when someone kicked his beloved dog, he accidentally killed them.

He hadn't meant to kill them but... he was just too angry to control himself at that moment.

Who wouldn't be angry if someone kicked their cute puppy!

'That Savage. He killed a guy just for messing with his dog.'

'...What a psycho.'

Though he was a bit more sensitive in some areas.

Ultimately Savage's madness was roleplay, and he was essentially a dull and timid man.

Rumble rumble-!

That's why.

"???"

When he heard the thunderous noise behind him, Savage lowered his sword and stepped back.

'W-what is this...?'

Another landslide occurred.

This time... blocking their path forward.

'What... what is this...? What's going on...?!'

Though he didn't show it outwardly, Savage was greatly startled.

Cutting off the enemy's escape route was part of the plan.

The monster-controlling wizard had promised to help with that.

But to cut off Savage's retreat too?!

This meant they were completely trapped front and back!

"Tch! Quite thorough for a mere bandit!"

Belenka glared at Savage as she spoke.

From their first exchange of blows, she had judged he was no ordinary swordsman.

Savage's swordsmanship was truly excellent.

He could match Belenka evenly!

"So you were just stalling for time!"

"..."

But there was one thing Belenka couldn't understand.

It was Savage's sword style.

Though his mouth spouted nonsense about being [Madness] and [Death], making a lot of noise...

His actual swordplay was extremely precise and delicate, almost like watching a skilled female swordsman.

What happened to the madness?

Belenka, who had expected him to charge recklessly like northern berserkers, couldn't help but be suspicious of Savage's graceful(?) bladework.

But now, when the second landslide occurred-

Belenka was convinced.

Savage, that guy...

Had deliberately used precise and gentle swordsmanship to buy time!(Wrong)

"K-kehe... Kehehehe!"

Though startled, Savage laughed anyway.

He tended to laugh when things happened.

"How fun! So very fun!"

Actually, it wasn't fun at all.

"Savage! What's going on here!"

The sharper subordinates asked.

They too sensed something was wrong with the situation.

"T-this is now the Colosseum of Death! The slaughter will continue until blood flows like a river-!"

"Colosseum of Death!"

"Hahaha! What a mad plan you've prepared, Savage!"

"..."

Actually there was no plan at all.

Even Savage wondered why their escape route had vanished.

'I don't know what's going on but...'

Savage quickly racked his brain.

'If we subdue them all, something will work out!'

He wasn't smart enough to fully grasp all the confusion.

"Alright! It's a slaughter party-!"

"I am a gladiator of the Colosseum-!"

"..."

His bandit companions were just as dim-witted as him...

But right then.

"Kira."

"Yes."

Ian, having finished conferring with his companions, signaled Kira to move.

Kira raised her arm diagonally toward the sky.

Crackle, crackle...!

"???"

At the same time, there was a sound like something burning-

Whoosh!

A massive fountain of flame erupted from Kira's hand!

"Aaaah!"

"Good heavens...!"

"It's fire magic! Lady Kira's magic!"

Kira shot fireworks into the sky, using them as sparks to summon even greater flames.

"[O burning flames!]"

Soon, a ring of fire descended from above.

A ring perfectly sized to trap the bandits.

"F-fire!"

"Damn! What do we do?!"

"Savage! Don't you have a plan?!"

The bandits trapped in the burning circle looked at Savage with hopeful eyes.

Maybe the mad Savage would have a way to break through that ring of fire!

"..."

But Savage remained silent.

Though he was an excellent swordsman, he was still just a bandit.

How could he break through flames with his bare body!

"Colosseum my ass. Have you ever even seen a real colosseum?"

Ian walked steadily to Belenka's side.

"Took you long enough."

"Something felt off from the start."

Ian pointed his finger at the high mountain.

"Necromancer Bertholdt has come. Maria agreed too."

"...!"

Ian had sensed something ominous, so he had conserved his magic.

Ian's magic wasn't infinite either, so he couldn't just use it carelessly.

With Salvador and Belenka holding their own, he'd figured they wouldn't lose to mere bandits anyway.

Salvador and Belenka had indeed blocked the bandits' attacks without much difficulty.

"A necromancer..."

"They blocked both paths at once, trapping both us and the bandits."

Ian spoke calmly.

His voice sounded almost cold.

"To prevent us from escaping a battlefield full of corpses."

"..."

Having realized their opponent was a necromancer, Ian had decided to keep all the bandits alive.

From the start, the bandits had been sent to die.

"Belenka. Get ready. Bertholdt is coming."

Ian said.

The real attack was about to begin.

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