Low-Fantasy Occultist Isekai

Nick was on the hunt. While it may not have been a particularly thrilling one, it was still a hunt.

Information was just as valuable as, if not more than, monsters.

Sitting on a bench at the eastern edge of the market district, enjoying a stick of jelly-filled fried dough made from the last remaining preserves of the past season and, therefore, much less expensive than usual, Nick was eavesdropping on a very interesting conversation.

A casual observer wouldn't think much of the scene. He was merely another teenager enjoying the shade and indulging in sugary treats.

But anyone who knew him would immediately realize he was up to no good. After all, when was the last time he had taken a moment to relax and do nothing? Not since he had awakened in this world.

"Are you sure he's actually reached Prestige? This could be just a farce to make us back off. It's too convenient a timing," a man sitting in a private room five hundred feet away said, dabbing his sweaty forehead with a napkin and gazing longingly at the closed window.

"He has. I felt it, just like everyone else with a modicum of sensitivity to mana," his interlocutor replied grimly.

The two had set up a privacy spell to ensure they wouldn't be bothered and had even gone so far as to seal all the windows with a sticky concoction meant to prevent any sound from escaping.

For anyone else, that would have been an insurmountable level of preparation. Nick, on the other hand, didn't even need to strain himself to overhear them. Although the windows had been sealed, there were enough cracks in the floorboards for thin whispers of air to flow through, and that was more than enough for him.

During a routine sweep of the town, he felt the unfamiliar magics and decided to take a moment to snoop. It's a good thing I did. I probably would have missed them had they not gone to such lengths to keep their secrecy.

"Then what are we supposed to do? The Archmage has already taken his due, and the Duke will probably refrain from moving forward with a demand to build a good rapport with him, now that he's Prestige." The first man blubbered.

Nick knew him to be an agent of a noble family from Alluria, likely here to try and pressure House Crowley into giving up a share of their ownership of the crystal forest.

While that had already been a losing proposition before, it had become impossible to achieve now that Eugene had ranked up. Any power disparity that being richer might have afforded them was completely nullified.

"You are too hasty. The situation here isn't as calm as it looks. My people have reported tensions between the beastmen and the temple, and I can only imagine Crowley is not too happy about having a Grand Exorcist take over the role of spiritual guide in his town. He must be feeling better now that he's stronger, but that alone is not enough to rebalance the scales. Soon, he will start looking for external help, and we will be able to pounce on that weakness," the other man replied.

He seemed to be both older and wiser, and Nick pegged him as the more dangerous of the two. Although he didn't feel particularly powerful to [Empyrean Intuition], being at best comparable to a C-rank adventurer, that didn't mean he couldn't cause harm, especially if he had managed to spread feelers through town without anyone noticing.

"Yes, that might be a good path," the first man murmured, sounding slightly more confident. He was still fiddling with his napkin, folding it and smoothing it out repeatedly, but he had stopped sweating uncontrollably. "But how long will that take? You know the Lord wanted to gift the Heir a crystal focus before the next tests. That's less than a month away!"

"If you are in such a hurry, you can brave the forest and take a piece from a tree yourself, you know?" The other laughed, fully aware that wouldn't be happening.

"Wha—don't mess with me! I am already on thin ice after the incident at the Weacons' ball, and I took the fall for you!"

I'm learning much more than I expected. No one told me that a test was coming up to become an apprentice at Alluria's magic tower. This might be a good opportunity to infiltrate it and extract its secrets. It will be like the good old days when I had to scramble for every bit of magical knowledge from the old families.

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Nick hummed to himself, polishing off the last of his sweet treat. He hadn't exactly intended to head straight to Alluria, especially with so many interesting things happening across the grassland. Still, if he could get his hands on some power grimoires, he might be able to continue advancing.

I haven't slowed down yet, not with how many new spells I know I can develop with spiritual affinity, but I can see the wall approaching. If I don't make a qualitative leap, I will be forced to keep repurposing the same types of magic in every flavor, and there is only so much experience that can provide me.

If he truly wanted to brute force his leveling up, he was confident he could do so quite successfully by hunting and sacrificing powerful monsters, but that would only broaden his path, rather than advance it.

"I know, I know. That's why I agreed to help you, didn't I? We have a good relationship, and our masters won't care if we work together to achieve results, as long as we don't come back empty-handed. Just be patient; I will let you know when the time is right to strike," the older man ended the conversation, standing up and waving his hand to dispel the privacy ward, thus preventing any response.

He walked away with a chuckle, likely relishing the frustration that Nick could feel wafting off the first man.

Seeing that nothing else could be learned from them, Nick also stood up, stretching his back and shoulders. I make for a very effective spy. I don't even need to be in the same block to overhear secret meetings.

"Devon?!" He heard someone shout, and he turned around in surprise.

On the other side of the road stood a pretty girl with braided dark hair, watching him with wide eyes and slowly reddening cheeks.

Nick tilted his head, trying to place her face, until it finally came to him. "Ah, you are one of my brother's girls!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized he had said too much, as Avery, the girl, shifted from excited to furious.

She stomped toward him, her eyes clouded, and pointed a finger in his face. "You are his brother! What do you mean, girls?!" She shouted.

Nick blinked before slowly nodding. "Yes, I am Devon's brother. Nick, pleasure to meet you," he smiled, trying his best to smooth things over.

To his surprise, it kind of worked. Avery blinked, taken aback. Anger mixed with confusion as her eyes roamed his face. "What are you doing here?" She asked after a moment, for lack of anything else to say.

"I live here?" Nick's eyebrows lifted, and he could see embarrassment replace anger. Something was throwing the girl off; that much was clear.

"Well, yes, I know that. But I never see you here. Everyone says you are a super wizard being trained in secret." Even as she spoke, Nick could see she realized she wasn't making much sense, but in her flustered state, she felt forced to justify herself.

"Ah, well, I am not a super wizard being trained in secret," he replied, trying for another smile since it seemed to have a disarming effect.

As before, the girl's brain seemed to reboot. She kept blinking at him, struggling to understand her own emotions, before clearly deciding that she could not stay near him. Without saying another word, she turned around and left.

Nick smiled bemusedly after her. That might be the first time I've seen charisma utterly overwhelm someone.

It hadn't escaped him that he seemed more capable of smoothing out tense situations than any teenager should. His encounter with the royal knights alone was proof of that. However, since he spent so much time around people who either had very high CHA of their own, he rarely saw such a stark effect.

Avery, that poor girl, didn't have any resistance to his over one hundred points. [Empyrean Intuition] couldn't exactly tell him her level, but judging by the amount of mana within her, she must have been in the low tens. She was simply not built to endure that much.

Suddenly, it became clear why there was such a distinct separation between adventurers and other powerful individuals and the common populace. Whether due to strength, charisma, or even wisdom, the disparities were significant enough at a certain point that interactions could only occur in small doses.

Oh, well. It's not like I was interested anyway.

The girl had been pretty, yes. His brother would never have gone for someone who wasn't easy on the eyes, but she was still relatively young, despite being a few years older than him, and her path in life was simply too restricted for him to be interested.

If he ever reached a point where he felt ready for a relationship, without fearing he was being cradle robbed or that he was the one doing the cradle robbing, the woman he chose would have to be someone who could at least hold her own.

Shaking his head to clear away any foolishness, Nick walked away from the market. He'd learned enough to know that things wouldn't slow down anytime soon.

In fact, Floria was likely to see increased traffic for the foreseeable future. The dungeon turned crystal forest would continue to draw the attention of anyone with some influence to throw around, and Eugene's recent rank-up would probably only make things more hectic.

The King's Shadow, for instance, was expected in the next couple of days. That alone was enough to send everyone into a tizzy.

It was exceptionally rare for a frontier town like Floria to receive any royal attention, much less the presence of one of the king's most trusted men.

Although it was merely a required visit, where the Shadow was meant to bestow new duties and honors upon Eugene, the whole town seemed to consider it a worthy occasion for celebration.

In fact, the sweet treat Nick had been eating was just the first of countless goods that the local merchants were churning out in preparation.

Whether it was due to the subdued previous months, which had prevented them from properly celebrating the dungeon's destruction and the Purification of the Ashes, or their hometown pride in their Captain's success, it didn't really matter.

Everyone seemed determined to celebrate Eugene properly, and it was enough to send him hiding in the barracks, too embarrassed by all the attention to continue his usual patrols.

It was even funnier to Nick, who could overhear conversations all around town and knew that his father's sudden scarcity had only made people more excited.

They seemed to believe it was only proper for a Prestige warrior to keep his distance, as if he were some sort of superior being. This perception wasn't helped by the only two others known to have reached their level: Arthur and Marthas —and not Ogden, who was still skating by as an eccentric Alchemist somehow— as they were known to be reclusive.

However, his levity began to fade as he sensed movement from the north side of town. A small procession had set out from the beastmen quarter, led by someone he recognized as Elia, and was making its way toward the Town Hall.

It's time to finally get this thing done, huh?