Became a Medieval Fantasy Wizard

Chapter 233

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: none

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Standing before a valley where cold winds blew, Ian looked around.

The ruins of an old fortress with collapsed walls overgrown with blue weeds.

That was Ian's destination.

"According to the map, this should be the place..."

Ian slightly furrowed his brow.

These damn medieval maps needed to be more reliable.

As a long-time traveler, Ian had encountered all sorts of maps.

Medieval maps rarely rose above the level of amateur scribbles.

Map makers would probably feel offended hearing that, but it was simply fact.

Medieval cartographers weren't idiots - they worked hard walking everywhere to draw their maps.

But maps drawn by people eyeballing distances naturally ended up with severely distorted measurements.

What looked like a small rocky hill worth drawing tiny on the map might actually take three days to cross.

And the biggest reason maps got distorted was...

They filled in places they'd never been to with pure imagination!

Say a cartographer wanted to sell maps. But when they tried drawing one, there were too many areas they hadn't visited.

So they'd use their imagination to fill in what 'might be there~'

Was it okay to write maps like some fantasy novel?

Having blank spots was actually more problematic.

When customers bought maps with empty areas, complaints immediately followed.

'Hey, aren't you supposed to be a cartographer? Why's this part empty? Is it DLC?'

'Well... I haven't been there yet... Updates coming soon.'

'Tch! Some cartographer you are! Let's go to another shop!'

Whether 1000 years ago or now, difficult customers were always the problem.

To avoid mindless complaints from troublesome customers, cartographers filled empty spaces with their imagination, and surprisingly, it worked well.

In fact... the more interesting the made-up details, the better the maps sold!

'Look here! This map says there's a land covered in gold at the eastern edge!'

'Eek! I'm sorry...'

'This is awesome, got any maps with more detailed lore?'

'???'

That's why medieval maps had so many weird versions.

Claims about cliffs at the edge of the world, lands where giant dragons lived...

Such fun and quirky imagination might have added excitement to medieval people's boring daily lives...

But to Ian, who had been a modern person, it was just fucking annoying.

No, you damn scammers. If you haven't been somewhere, just write that you haven't been there. Don't distort the maps!

"Hey. Thief."

"Yes! Thief here!"

Baron Mud rushed over at Ian's call.

Ian pointed at the map and asked.

"What's this about 'Warriors Bjorn and Junken fighting over treasure'?"

Ian desperately hoped this wasn't just some easter egg the cartographer had thrown in.

And his prayers were somewhat answered.

"Ah! That's the story!"

As Count Dufel's 'show-off child', Baron Mud had grown up hearing various tales about northern barbarians.

Though he'd only passively listened to Count Dufel's ramblings.

"Warrior Bjorn was the one who stole House Dufel's treasure and ran away."

"He's a thief too?"

According to Baron Mud's story:

Warrior Bjorn had run off with the treasure, and Warrior Junken had chased after him.

The two had their final battle here, at this valley fortress.

They fought to their very last breath...

"And they both ended up dead."

"...? What about the treasure?"

"No one knows! That's why it's missing!"

Ian habitually kicked Baron Mud.

"Ouch!"

Then he caught himself.

Oh no... despite living in medieval times, to be this steeped in violence!

He shouldn't lose his pride as a modern person.

Ian nodded to himself after contemplating this.

To Belenka, it was quite an odd sight.

Well, Ian doing strange things wasn't anything new.

"Are you evaluating the impact?"

"What impact?"

Though he did weird things, Inglan was still a university professor after all...!

"Setting up camp is fine. Go with Belenka and buy supplies. I'll scout ahead."

Ian walked straight into the underground entrance of the ruined fortress.

Watching from afar, Baron Mud jumped in shock.

As Ian moved into the darkness, shadows extended like tentacles and began wrapping around his body...!

"Th-That!"

"Don't make such a fuss. That's just Ian's magic."

Belenka spoke as if it was nothing special.

"The darkness will protect Ian."

Ian was a wizard beloved by mystery.

Underground exploration might be extremely dangerous for normal people.

But that didn't apply to dark wizards.

"There was a village nearby. Let's go buy something."

"Hehe. If I just steal some stuff, we could save money..."

"Shut up, thief."

#

Ian patrolled the abandoned fortress's underground alone.

An underground world filled with pitch-black darkness.

'A dungeon.'

Dungeon!

This place Ian had entered was literally a 'dungeon'.

Not the kind with monsters crawling around, boss monsters and treasure chests waiting...!

A dungeon was an underground space built to imprison criminals or store supplies.

"[Darkness, light my path.]"

[Using Skill: Dark Vision]

Upon entering the dungeon, Ian used his dark vision magic.

It was the same magic he'd used to escape that dark cave in the past.

[Hello! Ian!]

[It's nice and quiet here~ Right?]

Voices of darkness whispered in Ian's ears.

Though not a single ray of light penetrated this dark world, Ian moved forward without difficulty.

Crack!

As he stepped forward, rotted bones crumbled.

Human bones were scattered throughout the underground dungeon.

'Signs of battle.'

Ian recalled Baron Mud's story.

In the past, the warrior who fled with the treasure and his pursuing subordinates had fought a fierce battle in this fortress.

The scattered bones were remnants preserving memories of that battle.

'Not much here.'

Ian thought this and smirked.

It made sense when you thought about it.

Why would there be anything in an abandoned fortress's underground dungeon?

Dungeon exploration was similar to digging through garbage in ruins.

Terrifying man-eating monsters, guardians protecting treasure - those were all fiction created by overstimulated modern people...

"Woohoo~~~!"

"???"

A voice echoed from somewhere.

Torchlight flickered in the distance.

'People?!'

For a moment, Ian was dumbfounded.

What madman would crawl into an underground dungeon?

But when he saw the faces lit by torchlight, Ian sighed.

"Friends! Look at this! It's Takarion's Gospel~!"

"Woohoo~!"

"Woohoo~! Super lucky~!"

Kekekekek!

A group of men piling up and rummaging through items.

There was only one type of person who would act like this in an underground dungeon.

'Thieves...!'

They were thieves.

---

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