“If you had just led the Magic Unit properly, my parents wouldn’t have died.”
The disciple, who had learned the truth, hated his Master as much as he had once loved her.
The disciple attacked Serranos with magic. A fierce magical battle ensued.
For now, Serranos’s power was still greater.
The Master subdued the disciple, but she could not bring herself to kill him just for attacking her. She simply watched as her disciple fled from the Mage Tower.
And once again, she regretted that choice.
She could only despair when she heard news of her second disciple once more. The second disciple had become a villain. News arrived that he had slaughtered a village.
That village was where the commander who had foolishly led the Magic Unit and his family lived. Every time she heard news of him from various places, it was always a serious crime.
She distributed most of her wealth to the people harmed by her second disciple. She also laid down all her honors and titles.
While staying at an inn while cleaning up the mess, she rescued a child who had lost her parents and was being abused by the innkeeper. It was a girl with a talent for magic.
She brought the child back to the Mage Tower. That child became Serranos’s third and final disciple.
When she began teaching magic to her third disciple at the Mage Tower, an assassination attempt occurred. Some of the mages at the Mage Tower had begun to attack her. As it turned out, they had been bribed by the second disciple.
To protect her third disciple and to take responsibility for making her second disciple a villain, she left the Mage Tower. For two years after that, she lived a long life on the run with her third disciple.
She was unable to teach her third disciple anything other than magic. Time was far too short even just to teach her the craft.
The third disciple was dissatisfied.
“My Master is a hero!”
The third disciple truly respected the magic user, who was a great mage like those from storybooks and who was infinitely warm to her.
In fact, her life had not been happy before meeting her Master. She had been sold to an inn at a young age. She had lived a miserable life without even a moment to warm her frozen hands in the cold winter. If her Master had not saved her, she might have ended her own life.
To her, her Master was simply light and a savior.
Serranos did not want her third disciple to interact with people. She was worried that her pure disciple would be tainted or used by the wicked hearts of others. It was also her own trauma; she was worried the girl might turn evil like the second disciple.
She hoped the girl would research magic in a safe place and live out her life peacefully with her. But she realized that was a mistake. This was because Serranos did not have much of her life remaining.
The third disciple would soon have to live without her Master…
She regretted having only taught her magic and making her live a life severed from the world. That was why she had sent her to her first disciple. That kind fellow would surely have a good influence on Pie.
Her aging accelerated even further. Now, she appeared to be a 70-year-old woman. And… she sensed it.
‘I likely won’t survive the year.’
Then, she received a letter one month ago.
[Fieldnier’s location has been confirmed.]
Serranos had asked a former companion to track the location of her second disciple. Finally, that location had been pinpointed. Serranos decided to die with her second disciple as her final mission.
And at that time, she also learned of the existence of the Cloak of Protection Artifact. She felt that no matter how much of a genius Fieldnier was, she would be able to end her disciple’s hatred as long as she had this cloak.
The confident, tomboyish mage was now just a trace of the past for her. She had matured. And after countless journeys, only one path remained.
***
“Live well, my daughter.”
She stopped in her tracks and gazed in that direction long after the horse-drawn carriage had become a dot and disappeared. Perhaps if she went in that direction, she might be able to finish the rest of her life happily with her two disciples.
“Fieldnier. My son, wait for me. Your Master is coming…”
She moved her footsteps very slowly in the opposite direction of the carriage. She would not meet Fieldnier immediately. This was because she had decided to meet the companion who had sent her the news first.
Her footsteps were a mix of excitement about meeting a companion she hadn’t seen in a long time and complex emotions toward Fieldnier.
***
We traveled by carriage. Slot drove while Hyde, Pie, and I sat in the cabin, avoiding the luggage.
We passed through a dark forest path for quite a while. As the twilight slightly descended, it felt as if a Magic Beast might pop out. During that time, Pie kept her eyes quietly closed. We followed suit and kept our mouths shut.
Unable to stand the atmosphere, Hyde eventually spoke up.
“Hey. Let’s introduce ourselves. I’m Hyde Taylor.”
“You probably heard my Master call me Pie earlier… Just call me Pie.”
She spoke coldly, her eyes still closed. She was quite polite to her Master, but…
“Nice to meet you. I’m William Steven. You can just call me William.”
“Hmm. If you say so…”
We performed simple introductions. Hyde glanced at us. It was the timing to start nagging her to teach her some manners.
“By the way, how old are you? You look about 12? 13?”
Hyde asked her age first to gain the upper hand. Indeed… you have to listen when older adults speak.
In an instant, Pie’s face turned red. Then she snapped.
“I’m 17!”
“Uh, 17?”
“I thought you were a kid.”
She was the same age as me and older than Slot?
“Ugh… Who are you calling a kid!”
Pie shouted at the tactless Hyde’s words.
‘My ears are going to ring.’
Suddenly, Pie’s staff flickered, and her hair swayed.
“Wait, is that…”
“Casting?”
Screech
The carriage suddenly came to a halt. How did Slot know to stop? We tried to evacuate the carriage in a hurry. However, Slot said something unexpected.
“Leader, there’s a pack of Goblins ahead.”
“Goblins?”
Goblins… They were one of those weakling Magic Beasts that appeared frequently in fantasy worlds. However, they were on a different level from Kobolds.
In some games, they were recognized as a race, and in some animations, they were portrayed as incredibly cruel before being slaughtered by slayers.
Stepping outside, I saw ten Goblins. They had short statures, hunched postures, and green skin. Their pointed ears, large protruding noses, and bald heads were striking.
Their skin was shriveled and wrinkled. They looked like they would smell foul. They were wearing light armor and carrying dagger-type weapons.
Among them, the one presumed to be the leader said something. I couldn’t translate the monsters’ language, but it sounded like he was telling us to put down everything we had and get lost.
Judging by how he pointed at Pie, it seemed he meant for us to leave the girl and get lost too.
Seeing three relatively young boys and one girl in the carriage, the Goblins seemed to think we were easy targets.
“First the Kobolds, and now a carriage ambush… This hasn’t happened in a while,” Slot said.
Ever since the war with the Demon race, Magic Beasts had not acted in groups like this. This was as if…
“It’s like how the Magic Beasts behaved when they were under the command of the Demon race in that era.”
We assumed combat stances. Slot pulled a longsword from his back, Hyde put on knuckles, and I gripped my wooden sword. And Pie still had her eyes closed.
‘Is she still continuing that casting from earlier…?’
Actually, I wasn’t very afraid. It was because two Rank 5 mercenaries and the disciple of the Kingdom’s greatest mage had joined us.
“Leader, I think we can fight just like last time.”
“The two of us will handle five each, so you and that Mage protect the carriage.”
Hyde prepared for battle, slamming his fists together. The moment Hyde spoke to me, Pie stepped forward.
“Just die, all of you.”
Her hair billowed, and Pie’s eyes shone as if they contained the flames of magic. Her staff and hands crossed precisely as she drew patterns in her mind’s circles.
As the spell was completed, a small spark bloomed from her fingertips, grew to the size of a soccer ball, and then became a massive fireball several times larger.
As her staff moved, a giant sphere was launched toward the Goblins. The surrounding space instantly brightened as a wave of intense heat swept over us.
The magic directly struck the one presumed to be the Goblin leader.
“FIREBALL!”
Kaboom
In an instant, all ten Goblins, including the leader, were turned into piles of ash.
“Hieek!”
Hiccup
Hyde, who had teased Pie for being a kid earlier, suddenly started hiccuping. I guess Mages really are a race you shouldn’t mess with.
***
The carriage that had headed toward Tannero yesterday had made a U-turn with a full load of cargo and was now heading back to Mistrail.
‘Mages really are amazing…’
Pie sat with her eyes closed and her arms crossed again. After seeing her magic, Hyde and I kept our mouths shut and remained quiet. Even Hyde’s plan to give her some “mental training” vanished completely.
‘I guess she can afford to be a bit arrogant with that kind of power…’
Thus, we headed toward our destination in silence. We were finally able to arrive at Mistrail again in the evening.
“Leader, we’re entering Mistrail Village.”
Unlike yesterday, Mistrail was covered in thick night fog upon our arrival.
“I guess we were lucky yesterday…”
Whether because of the night or the fog, the Mage Tower was not clearly visible. Mistrail… It was a landscape that lived up to the village’s name. We headed straight for the House of Angels.
***
“The signal has been cut.”
Cargo, the Dark Merchant, was testing the command of Magic Beasts. He was controlling Magic Beasts on a small scale, carrying out looting missions and conducting training in preparation for the upcoming second war. He was in charge of training and coordinating five types of Magic Beasts: Kobolds, Goblins, Lizardmen, Ghouls, and Skeletons.
“That shouldn’t be possible…”
He very secretly selected only carriages that could be handled for ambushes. That was the current rule. A single small-scale carriage. Five or fewer people. No separate escorts. Only carriages that satisfied these conditions were ambushed.
However, both the Kobold and Goblin units had already been annihilated.
“I should contact the mages…”
Cargo wondered if something had gone wrong with the magic. Work had to be carried out thoroughly. Everything was for the Resurrection of the Demon King…
***
Brutus was wearing a black hood. He sat in front of a crystal ball. Though they were in different regions, ten mages wearing black hoods were attending the meeting via crystal balls. A deep, heavy voice flowed from the crystal ball.
“Hehehe. I failed today as well. It seems someone is systematically interfering with us.”
“How unfortunate. I am in a similar situation.”
“We need a countermeasure. At this rate, none of us will be able to hold out.”
The ten mages spoke seriously, as if they truly needed a solution. Brutus thought to himself as he listened to them. ‘They’ll be shocked when they hear this, right?’
“Actually, I received ten customers today.”
“What?!”
The nine mages were all startled at once upon hearing Brutus’s words.
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