#69
Engraving (2)
“Hey there, furry. Is this really a human?”
The old woman, blinking her eyes repeatedly, pointed at Harley and asked the old man.
“What’s wrong with you, grandma? Calling him a human! And look, Harley’s been through a lot of stuff, but he’s a proper human!”
Even though the words weren’t directed at him, the old man got worked up and protested like a rabid dog.
In the tumultuous ‘Harley’s Great Adventure,’ Act 4, Scene 3, there was a tale about him being captured by the wicked black magician ‘Hans’ and undergoing biogenetic experiments before escaping.
She must be worried about that.
‘Despite his looks, he’s quite the attentive fellow.’
Harley, who had flinched inwardly at the mention of “monster,” crossed his heavily muscled arms and nodded with satisfaction.
Hmmm… “So, you’re really saying you’re human?”
Unperturbed by the old man’s outbursts, she examined him again with great care.
“Well, I’ve seen many warriors in my time, but this kind of case? Quite rare, I must say.”
“Old lady! What exactly is the problem? This is infuriating!”
Seeing the old woman continuously expressing amazement, Harley couldn’t sit back and let it be.
“Well, it’s not really a problem. On the contrary, it’s quite good. Hehe…”
“Oho?”
“Hmmm… It’s chilly outside. Let’s talk indoors. My bones ache as I get older.”
Patting her back, she stood up from her chair and guided them inside.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t even said thank you yet. I appreciate you helping me out when I was in trouble. I’ll fetch some tea, so please sit comfortably.”
After entering a clutter-filled room and sitting down, the old woman brought out a tea brewed from some unknown herb.
“Drink up. It’s good for you. You have to take care of yourself as you get old, you know? This is to show my gratitude for helping me today.”
Harley immediately grabbed the teacup and gulped it down.
The steaming hot tea caused no harm to his robust body.
“Hahaha! This tastes so healthy! Now, please continue that story from earlier!”
“Ahem… Young man, why are you in such a hurry?”
Taking a leisurely sip of tea, the old woman began to speak slowly.
“You do know that the unworthy experience severe side effects when getting an engraving, right?”
“That’s common knowledge!”
“Engraving basically consumes a lot of the body’s energy. Mana… I mean, the aura warriors use is significant, but life force is even more crucial.”
And she had the ability to see the life force flowing through the subject’s body.
“This level of life force? It startled me, I must admit. I’ve seen a few great warriors, but none come close to what I’m seeing now.”
“Harley is that impressive? Sure, he had remarkable power even without using his aura, but…”
“At this level, you’re closer to a monster than a human. That’s why I asked earlier. Are you really human?”
The overwhelming life force erupting from a body possessing physical abilities far superior to that of a human. It was only natural that it resided within Harley.
“Since the engraving forcibly draws out the life force within the body, the more abundant it is, the more powerful the engravings you can inscribe.”
From the moment the engraving is inscribed, it continuously consumes life force, so the fiery energy emanating from a seasoned warrior’s body was essential.
“But at this rate, it’s not just a warrior’s engraving; it could easily be the engraving of a great warrior.”
“Oh! But is there a higher level?”
“Hehe… There’s something called ‘Engraving of the Dragon King,’ but it’s been hundreds of years since anyone has managed to inscribe it.”
“Oh, the Dragon King…”
Harley’s eyes sparkled at the name he found extremely appealing.
“Of course, I can’t do that either. It requires several wizards’ assistance under the leadership of a great mage.”
“That’s unfortunate, but I understand. Then please at least inscribe the great warrior’s one for me! I should at least have that much! Hahaha—!”
“That’s a bit complicated.”
“No, why?!”
Despite Harley’s protests, the old woman leisurely sipped her tea and enjoyed the moment.
“First, I don’t have the materials. As you know, it’s been quite a while since a southern warrior came this far, so I’m not prepared at all.”
After spending many years treating minor ailments, the materials immediately available were the ones they used.
“I can find those materials quickly…”
“And second, to inscribe the great warrior’s engraving, you need to have accomplished feats to warrant that. It’s not just enough to have high life force or mana.”
It seemed that higher level engravings came with stricter conditions.
Breaking those conditions would unleash the side effects she had previously mentioned upon the person in question.
Muscle loss, baldness, aging, decreased vitality…
‘No way!’
Each one of those was a fatal side effect that made Harley swallow his words.
“So what kind of feats are necessary? Do I need to hunt a dragon or something?”
Though he couldn’t shake off the disappointment, he asked her with an annoyed tone.
“Hehehe… You don’t need to go that far. Let’s see… Yeah, if you could take down an ogre, the predator of the Northern Mountain Range beyond the Steel Fortress, that might suffice.”
‘Eh?’
“Ogre? Granny, do you even know what kind of monster that is?!”
The old man, who had been listening, shouted in shock.
Ogres were towering beasts nearly 5 meters tall, with an overwhelming density of muscle and sharp senses, the ultimate predators.
To maintain that physique, they had to hunt all day except when sleeping.
Even the highest-ranked mercenaries often took massive losses just trying to take one down; now, she wanted him to go solo on that?
“If you wish to challenge a great warrior, you should be able to handle at least that much. And honestly, that’s the minimum requirement.”
“Well… I guess a great warrior could manage that, but…”
“And if you succeed in the hunt, its remains could also be used for engraving. High-level monsters make excellent materials for spells.”
As the old woman leisurely concluded, she took another sip of her tea.
And Harley silently rummaged through his spatial dimension magical equipment.
“So initially, you should receive a different engraving, grow, and then taper off into this challenge… Puhuuup—!”
“Ugh! What are you doing, grandma? You just spat on my face out of nowhere… Ugh…?”
He had started taking out monster remains.
All sorts of items including giant bones, tendons, eyeballs, and blood in vials.
“Uh… don’t tell me…”
The old man looked back and forth between those remains and Harley with a blank expression.
“Ogre! It’s the remains of an ogre! And they’re fresh, hunted just a few days ago!”
The old woman immediately recognized them and exclaimed in shock.
She was right; these were very fresh.
Having gone to hunt beyond the Steel Fortress and returned just yesterday.
‘In the middle of discussing wizards, I completely forgot to dispose of these, how convenient.’
He could bypass the hassle of gathering materials again.
“I’m asking just in case… but did you, uh, hunt these alone?”
Seeing him lay out the materials, the old woman seemed to sense something.
Carefully inspecting what Harley had brought forth, she narrowed her eyes and blinked at him.
“Hoo… Hahaha—! Of course! An ogre is nothing to me! Hahaha!”
He broke into a confident laugh.
“So, that means there are no issues with inscribing the great warrior’s engraving, right?”
“Y-Yeah, I mean… just to be safe, you did hunt these alone, right?”
“Of course! I clearly know what kind of side effects could arise; there’s no way I’d lie about this!”
At his words, the old woman slowly nodded and poured tea into her empty cup once again.
“But tell me, granny. If you’re skilled enough to inscribe the great warrior’s engraving, why are you living here in such a way?”
At that moment, the old man absentmindedly wiped the tea off his face and asked in a tone lacking enthusiasm.
She paused, cup in hand, but eventually took a nonchalant sip and replied without much care.
“What’s wrong with this place? I’m earning a living decently, and we help each other out here in these hard times.”
“Weren’t there humans who didn’t even show up when you were in trouble?”
“Everyone has their own reasons, don’t they?”
Her words were filled with meaning.
Seeming to not want to talk anymore, Harley quickly opened his mouth to finish his business.
“So when can I get the engraving? And if possible, I would like to receive other engravings too…”
“Ahem… You’re just like that, always in a rush.”
Clicking her tongue, the old woman thought for a moment before answering.
“Since there’s no preparation done yet, it’ll take a day to gather the necessary materials and get everything ready. Come back the day after tomorrow.”
“If you tell me what materials are needed, I can gather them quickly…”
“Whoa now! You can’t rush magic like that!”
Taking care of each preparation and calming the mind to align the energies was part of the ritual for magic.
“And half the payment is an upfront fee. As you can see, I’m lacking and can’t collect those materials myself.”
Thanks to the expensive monster remains and Hubert’s profitable business, money wasn’t a concern at all.
“Can I receive other engravings at the same time? If it’s possible, I’d like to do that!”
“Once an engraving is done, the body requires around a week to adapt. And during that time, I need to recover. Do you think inscribing is an easy task?”
After finishing all their business, Harley and the old man stood up and promised to meet the old woman again the day after tomorrow before leaving her house.
As they walked back through the alley.
“Whoa! Now, shall we finish what we left off earlier?”
Stretching out energetically, he remarked, leaving the old man looking puzzled.
“Huh? Harley, were we doing something before coming here?”
“Hahaha! What are you talking about, buddy? We had something we were working on together, remember?”
It seemed his friend had quite a bad memory.
So Harley decided to explain what they needed to do in a calm manner.
“We’ve got to deal with those guys from earlier, right?”
“Huh?”
The old man wore the same blank expression once again.
It looked like he needed a more detailed breakdown of the situation.
“In my experience, the types of guys like that tend to cause trouble later if you leave them be! We need to sort them out beforehand!”
Of course, that experience was derived from the cliché-infested pop culture of Earth.
“R-really? In my experience, just scaring them off like this usually keeps them at bay.”
“Whoa, you’ve lived your life way too gently, haven’t you, buddy?”
From the standpoint of a modern individual dried out by all sorts of stimulation, the old man’s response was unbelievably naive.
Though he initially thought the same would be sufficient.
After all, they were just a bunch of ruffians, and he was a well-known mercenary with solid muscle using the Wildness trait to instill fear.
Presumably, they would keep their distance if things got hairy.
But unexpectedly, the old woman’s abilities were far more competent.
Plus, with the first engraving in two days, followed by more engravings once a week after that, who knows how much time it’d take after?
‘That should be ample time for the fear to dilute.’
He realized a more assertive approach was needed.
“Oho… Indeed, a tenacious warrior who has survived numerous adversities. I learned a thing or two from you, Harley. So how are we going to find those guys?”
They had already fled and were completely out of sight, and he didn’t know where their base was either.
“Hehehe— They must be living around here anyway. If I take down associated figures one by one, they’ll surely pop out somewhere!”
“That makes sense! But what if they plot revenge instead?”
“Then they’ll be caught red-handed! I’m doing this to prevent such an eventuality! I need to clamp down more thoroughly now!”
“Impressive…! I’ve never met a warrior as meticulous as you, Harley. You possess not only strength but intellect as well!”
“What’s there to it? It all comes from experience. Turaba, you could be like this too! Hahaha!”
The two exchanged friendly chatter as they disappeared further into the alley.
Yet the conversation ran deeper than it seemed.
As night fell, numerous wails echoed through the streets until…
They finished their business neatly and returned home with a refreshing heart.
