Chapter 761 - 761 They are Strength-Seekers

761 They are Strength-Seekers

“So, what is this fruit?”

After they decided to surrender, we no longer fight. They know that they are no match against me. Even if they can use magic, it’s too late since they are too close to me. I can stop them before they cast any magic.

So I asked them about the fruit that I stole from one of them. Because after seeing this small red fruit the size of a grape, they are able to use magic in this place where magic should be blocked.

Should I call it Magic-y Fruit? Or is it Grape-y Fruit?

“We just call it fruit. We don’t know the name. But after eating one, we can use magic for a few minutes. The more we eat them, the longer we can use magic. But they are so rare that we don’t have much of them anymore,” the one acting as the leader said.

Now that I’m looking at them with my Divine Vision, other than a well-trained body, in the pocket of their clothes, they only have one or two more fruits.

And after checking the village, I can’t see any. Those in the pockets are the last it seems.

I checked the fruit in my hand. There’s no seed. You can swallow it whole. Well, chewing it first is obviously better. Don’t choke on your food.

After eating them, the effect is not instant. Only after a while they can start using magic. But it’s still quick enough.

.....

Anyone other than me would let down their guard and got defeated by the magic of the master level mages.

“Alright, let’s talk about the fruit later. Are you guys villagers here? How long have you been here?” I asked.

All of them hesitated to answer. I wonder why?

“Answer his question!” Shelia forced them to speak.

“Yes. We’re villagers here. We have been living here for a hundred years at least,” the leader said.

Over a hundred years? No wonder they look much older than the master level mages I usually met. But if it’s that long, they might know something about the city where the cult is hiding.

Or maybe not. The cult might have built that city after these master level mages stayed here.

As for the reason why they’re here, I think I know why.

“Can we really tell them everything?” one of them asked the others.

“What else can we do? They’re stronger than us.”

“Yeah. I thought that there shouldn’t be anyone else stronger than us physically. But I guess we’re wrong. It has been so long since we go to the outside world. I wonder how strong the people are out there?”

“Weak. They are physically weak. In fact, you are already the strongest people if you decided to go out since master level mage is quite rare. And it’s difficult to find even one person who train their body since everyone is focused on magic.”

They were quite surprised to realize that I can hear them whispering to each other. Then their expression light up.

“You can hear whisper from far. Have you surpass the limit of human?”

“Oh my God! Is that what it is? You two have exceeded the limit of human?!”

As expected. These people, after reaching master level, they tried to make themselves stronger. Physically.

From what I’ve heard, it’s near impossible for anyone who have reached higher level in their magic to learn Aura. So it’s likely that they will never learn Aura.

Even then, they are much stronger than any humans I’ve faced in close combat. Not as much as the cat-man though.

They are strength-seekers. And they felt that their strength reached the limit. And seeing how they fought us before, they must have learned to fight together instead.

What a muscle-headed old people. Though I don’t think they will ever get any stronger than this.

“Let me guess. You reached master level in your magic element, and thought of training your body so you can be the strongest. That’s why you all come here and built a village. Am I right?” I asked.

“Well, it was me first. Then the others came one by one. So we built a village and live together here. All of us thought that if we could increase our strength, we will be the strongest. But it seems like it’s not enough,” the leader said.

So he became the leader because he’s the longest one to be here. I guess that’s natural.

In the end, they are just people who are obsessed with strength. Let’s see if they know about the cult or not.

“You might have been here for more than a century, but does anyone know about the True God Cult?” I asked.

I called it True God Cult because that’s what the cult is calling themselves. And seeing their reaction after hearing the name should let me know if they know about it or not.

It looks like they genuinely don’t know about the cult. So I guess they are safe and not related with the cult.

“I think I’ve heard of it. Someone calling himself a priest tried to recruit me to join a cult or something. Though I don’t know if that’s the same cult as you spoke. Is there anything about it? Are you somehow trying to recruit us? If joining can make us as strong as you are, then I’m interested,” one woman said

The rest also agree to join the cult if they can get stronger.

“Fortunately, I’m not. I just asked you about it to see your reaction. It seems like none of you are involved with the cult. That’s good. Because that cult’s goal is to destroy the world. Also, I called that cult Evil God Cult or Evil Cult. Because they are evil.”

Then I explained more about the cult and the fact that we are in the middle of a war.

And these people... they look excited instead after hearing that there’s a huge war between the alliance of the kingdoms in this continent, against a very secretive cult.

“It’s finally time to show our real strength! I’m not satisfied enough with my strength, but this is the best time to act!”

“I haven’t used magic for so long. Even before, I failed to do it. I guess I’ll try to remember all my magic again.”

“FIGHT! THERE’S A FIGHT!”

Yup. They’re all crazy. But now, can I get them to join us?

“So, which side do you want to join? Because if you want to join the cult, then I will kill you right here right now.”

I let out a killing intent enough to stop them from being excited.

They all stood still and just looked at me in fear.

“Umm... will we ever be as strong as you are?” someone asked me.

“Nope. Never. Watch this.”

It’s better to show them how strong I really am than having them hope that they can be as strong as I am.

I pulled out the sword from the walking cane. Then facing the forest, I swung the sword down vertically.

The ground split because of my attack. To show them the difference between us.

“...Amazing. I can do that but with earth magic. Yet he did it without magic. You didn’t eat that fruit from before, right?”

“Nope. I didn’t eat it yet. I’m interested in it so I want someone I know to appraise it. Maybe it could be useful in the future. And since I know someone who is good with plants, I can ask them to grow more of this later,” I said.

“Okay, that doesn’t explain how you can do that. We have been training here for a long time but doing what you did is simply impossible. Tell us how.”

That’s what I intend to do. Since I don’t think that they are with the cult, it’s fine to show them my face.

I remove the Blobbymask covering my face and everyone was shocked with how young I am.

“My name is Roy. I’m an Aura user,” I said.

“...Aura user?”

Yup. Everyone is confused. I guess they didn’t read any children’s stories here. Or maybe they forgot since they have been here for a long time without leaving.

“I’ll explain more if you’re going to join us fighting the cult. But even if you don’t want to join either side, I need to bring you somewhere first,” I said.

“What about her? Is she an Aura user as well?” a woman asked me about Shelia.

“No. She’s Shelia. A werewolf. I’m a summoner and she’s my familiar,” I said.

“She doesn’t look like a werewolf at all. Is that your human form?” one man asked Shelia.

“Yes,” Shelia replied.

For now, I’ll just introduce Shelia as my familiar. Victoria can’t transform here. And I think it’s fine if I don’t tell them that Ray is also my familiar. They will think that he’s just a horse. A not very normal horse.

“So, you can’t make us stronger, but you want us to join you?” the leader asked.

Is strength the only thing they care about? That might be useful though.

“Do you guys know that there’s at least one stage above master level?”

And now everyone is curious. I’m sure they are interested now that I mention it. I can at least bring them to meet Albert soon.

I need to get Angela and the others to come as well for safety reason. They are ten master level mages whose physical strength can be compared to a trained werewolf. Not Shelia. She’s way stronger than other werewolves.