Chapter 19: Berga’s Last Fire

Night had fallen.

Hio was still nowhere to be seen.

Berga forced his stiff body to move, looking around the area, but he couldn’t find any clues.

“Cough……”

He’d only managed to catch a cold in the chilly air.

“You impudent brat…… Stop worrying your old master and come back quickly.”

He lingered outside for a few more minutes, but since his useless disciple still didn’t show up, Berga had no choice but to go back inside the house.

He’d lived alone here for nearly twenty years, but tonight, for some reason, the loneliness felt especially heavy.

He headed to bed, trying to fall asleep.

Lying on the bed, he tried to comfort himself.

Come morning, that brat of a disciple would return as if nothing had happened.

He’d probably grin brightly as usual and tease Berga, asking if the old man had been worried.

If that happened, he’d give the boy a good scolding.

Well, the brat would probably just laugh it off as always.

…But what if he still didn’t come back tomorrow?

The anxiety he’d been trying to ignore came together and cast a small doubt.

Could it be, just like twenty years ago, that the same thing had happened again?

That doubt rippled outward, and Berga’s thoughts began to spiral.

The day when there were originally two masters of this place, but it became just one—the day Berga’s master was brutally murdered.

On that day, his master had gone out to gather food as usual and never returned.

He’d fallen asleep without a care, only to wake up and go looking for his master, only to find a trail of blood.

A trail leading to the Kobold’s Domain.

Torn robe fragments.

Blood pooling thicker and thicker.

Half out of his mind, he’d charged into the Kobold Domain and barely escaped with his life.

‘What if the same thing had happened again?’

Eventually, after tossing and turning for a long while, Berga got up and headed outside once more.

The cold night air pierced deep into his body, making his cough even worse.

“Cough! Cough……”

Still, he did not stop walking.

How much he had regretted it that day.

If only he hadn’t fallen asleep so carelessly at night.

If he’d just gone out to check, maybe he could have helped his master.

Foolish Berga. Pathetic Berga. Lazy Berga.

Move your body, quickly.

Don’t leave behind any more regrets.

But no matter how much he searched, he found no trace of Hio.

When Berga, who had started from the vegetable garden, ended up back at the garden once more, dawn was already breaking.

With bloodshot eyes, he stared off into the distance.

He’d searched just about everywhere.

But he’d found nothing.

Now, there was only one place left that he hadn’t checked.

Only the Kobold’s Domain remained.

‘…No. That can’t be.’

No matter what, he couldn’t imagine Hio, who had been in the garden, going all the way to the opposite side, to the Kobold’s Domain.

Shaking his head, Berga trudged back toward the house.

“Where have you gone, leaving this old man behind? You useless brat……!”

He’d lived alone for over twenty years.

It had only been about two months since he’d taken on a disciple.

And yet… why did it feel so empty and sorrowful?

***

He’d only closed his eyes for a moment, but the day was already growing dim.

“Hio.”

Had wandering around all night in the cold been too much for his old body?

His throat was parched and he felt feverish, but the first thing on his mind was still that useless disciple.

“Hio. Are you there?”

He barely managed to raise himself and opened the door to Hio’s room.

But all that greeted Berga was an empty room and a lonely air.

Certainty filled Berga’s heart.

Something had definitely happened to his disciple.

Even so, he did not lose his composure.

He calmly considered the reason.

His first guess was probably correct.

The reason Hio, who had been in the vegetable garden, suddenly ran off must have been because he saw a little rabbit or something.

The problem was what happened after that.

So absorbed in chasing the rabbit, Hio must have entered a place he should never have gone.

The Kobold’s Domain.

And what happened after that……

Once again, memories of that day replayed in his mind.

The lump of flesh he’d found in the Kobold’s Domain.

Among the mangled and chewed bits of flesh, a piece of his master’s robe was sticking out.

This time, it was his own disciple who had suffered that fate.

“You bastards.”

At last, a fire lit in Berga’s heart.

“You’re not even worth chewing up, you monsters.”

Bitterness seeped through his cracked voice.

A sad fire burned in a heart he thought had long since worn away.

“What… what did I ever do so wrong?”

The day he lost his master, after barely escaping with his life, he’d dreamed of revenge.

He’d resolved to master magic and wipe out these wicked monsters.

He thought that way, he could fulfill his master’s wish and spread the great magic to the world.

…But.

In the twenty years since then, all he’d managed to do was secretly hunt a few stray Kobolds.

It was unbearable and bitter.

“Hio……”

The image of his disciple, smiling brightly as he left for the last time, lingered in his mind.

To others, it had only been two months, but for someone who had lived for twenty years obsessed with magic and revenge, those two months had been unbearably warm.

“My disciple. Just a little… just wait a little longer.”

The old magician no longer wanted to go on living.

***

‘Was there anyone who knew as much about Kobolds as he did?’

They were territorial creatures that liked dark places.

More sensitive to smell and hearing than sight, and unless they were extremely hungry, they rarely left their domain.

And the most important fact—

‘They don’t move at night.’

Even if they were awake, they wouldn’t come out and act during the night.

That’s why Berga’s plan this time would be fatal to them.

He’d set fire to the entrance of the cave where the Kobolds lived.

And toss fire inside as well.

A simple and easy plan.

But the reason he’d never carried it out until now was obvious.

The entrance of the cave was, of course, guarded by Kobolds.

It took time to start a fire.

Even using magic, it took time to create enough firepower.

With Berga’s strength, he couldn’t break through an entrance guarded by two or more Kobolds and set such a fire.

‘In truth, I’ve always known the method.’

How to break through and set fire at the entrance.

It was simple.

Just ignore them.

Whether they hacked at his body, beat him with clubs, or trampled him—

Whatever they did, the fire would already be set.

He hadn’t done it until now.

Because he had a goal.

To spread magic.

To raise the status of magic.

To fulfill his master’s dream.

…So twenty years had passed.

‘What had he accomplished?’

‘What had changed?’

He still struggled even against a single Kobold, and the world still ignored and mocked magic.

Even after twenty years of study and research, he was still in the same place.

A deep helplessness took hold of his whole body.

There was nothing he could do with the magic he’d devoted his life to.

***

After leaving behind his master, who’d become a chunk of flesh, now his disciple had suffered the same fate, and all he could think of was to end his own life alongside them.

So, in truth, he’d always known.

Magic.

The magic that had been his entire life.

The magic that had been his lifelong wish, hope, goal, and driving force!

In reality, it was nothing but useless trash.

If only he’d admitted it a little sooner.

If only he’d let go of his stubbornness a little earlier.

At the very least, Hio wouldn’t have been dragged into this foolishness.

At the very least, he wouldn’t have ended up in such a miserable state.

“Foolish Berga. Pathetic Berga.”

There was no will or meaning in the way Berga trudged along.

“What have I lived my life for?”

It was the look of a man whose entire life had been denied.

The sun had completely disappeared, and even the moonlight was faint.

Without hesitation, Berga entered the Kobold’s Domain.

Perhaps wanting to mark their territory, the place reeked with a damp, rotten stench, and bones were scattered everywhere.

Somewhere deep inside, Hio would be there, too.

Come to think of it, this was where they’d first met.

‘Wasn’t it Hio who had saved him when he was struggling against a single Kobold?’

He should have just left in disgust after seeing Berga’s pitiful state.

Looking back, it seemed he’d forgotten many things during those two months.

His master’s last bloody trail that used to haunt his dreams every night, and even his desire for revenge.

He hadn’t locked himself away underground for days, trying to prove magic, nor had he skipped meals.

Only then did he suddenly realize.

‘I was… just lonely.’

It was just an excuse.

Proving magic, revenge for his master.

They were all excuses to forget his loneliness.

That voice calling him “old man.”

Those bright eyes gazing at magic.

His lifelong goal and lifelong revenge had faded away.

Grrr.

He could see the cave entrance in the distance.

Two Kobolds stood guard at the entrance.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the wind was blowing the other way, so they hadn’t caught his scent yet.

Not that it mattered.

With his abnormally skinny body, they probably hadn’t heard his footsteps either.

That didn’t matter, either.

No matter the process, the result would be the same.

Fire would rage in the Kobolds’ lair.

He was old, had no strength to run, and all he could do was cast his worthless magic…

He would die here.

That was all.

So he gripped the oil can tightly in his hand.

Slowly, but without hesitation, he moved closer.

The mana he’d lived with all his life was already prepared.

“This really is the end.”

At Berga’s muttering, the Kobolds turned their gaze toward him.

Grrk?

But what their poor eyesight caught was a can flying toward them, scattering liquid.

The can rolled past them and landed at the cave entrance.

The ground quickly became soaked, and the smell of oil began to rise.

And soon, another can came flying, followed by a desperate voice.

“To those who took everything from me, I wish you endless suffering.”

The surroundings suddenly grew bright.

“Fire.”

Three balls of flame flew toward the Kobolds.

Grrrrk!

The two Kobolds hurriedly dodged, but that wasn’t the real target.

Whoosh!

The entrance of the cave caught fire.

“Fire.”

Another fireball flew in, lodging deeper inside the cave.

Grrrrk!

Grk! Grrrrr…

The two Kobolds, confused by the sudden flames, looked around and soon found the culprit.

An old human.

Grrrk!

Kill him!

The two Kobolds charged, but Berga didn’t move an inch.

His gaze was fixed on the cave entrance from the start.

“Fire.”

As if he didn’t care about the charging Kobolds at all, he kept throwing fire at the cave.

In his blank eyes, only the blazing flames were reflected.

The shadows of the Kobolds covering the fire.

Their menacing eyes drawing close.

Their old clubs.

As if he’d finished what he needed to do, Berga closed his eyes.

Thud-!

A sound like a watermelon being smashed echoed out.