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Chapter 150

It feels good to be back. (2)

In the Territory of Penris, there was a bustling construction site near the Lord’s Castle. Laborers were busy hauling materials and stacking the building’s foundations.

However, one corner of the construction site was oddly devoid of people coming and going.

“Hey, isn’t it nice in here?”

Alfoy, in his tattered robe, muttered while rolling on the ground.

All the scattered wizards nearby nodded in agreement. They too wore worn-out robes, resembling nothing more than construction workers rather than the haughty wizards from the Mage Tower.

With some grass roots in his mouth, Alfoy looked like a true slacker, if he even looked like one at all.

“I hope the Lord doesn’t come back.”

Alfoy grumbled. The other wizards nodded again, murmuring in agreement.

“Yeah, right?”

Without the Lord around, it was so peaceful and nice.

They had become quite skilled at construction, but annoying is annoying.

The wizards laughed quietly, wishing for this small happiness to last longer.

“He might have caused a ruckus in the capital.”

“Right? That personality of his must have gotten him into a dispute with some high-ranking nobles.”

“Who knows, he might already have lost his head.”

“Wow, just hearing that makes me happy.”

The wizards even discussed how they would escape once the news of the Lord’s death became public.

Of course, they didn’t genuinely believe it; it was more a hopeful wish.

In a desolate territory with no entertainment, they could only pass the time with such conversations.

“Since we’re bored, how about we play a game?”

“Should we?”

At Alfoy’s suggestion, the wizards perked up and sat up straight.

Innocent wizards who didn’t know a thing about gambling had started betting among themselves ever since losing to Claude.

One somewhat sensible wizard cautiously spoke up.

“Uh, I heard that the Chief Officer’s deputy was complaining about the slow progress of the construction… Shouldn’t we get moving today?”

“How long have we been here for him to start bossing us around? I got this covered. What’s there to be scared of?”

Alfoy responded confidently.

While Lowell had authority over managing the territory, he couldn’t just boss around Alfoy.

After all, Alfoy was the heir to the Mage Tower and the Branch Leader of the Mage Tower in the Territory of Penris.

No one could easily touch him except for the Lord.

“So, what’s the game? Odds and evens?”

“Yeah, let’s keep it simple with odds and evens.”

“Alright, I’ll start.”

As everyone agreed, Alfoy pulled out four coins. He shook them in both hands and then made a fist with one hand, extending it out.

“Guess. Is it odd or even?”

A wizard pondered for a moment before responding.

“Even.”

“Even?”

“Yeah, even.”

Alfoy let out a chuckle.

“Hey, when you start with four coins, normal people usually pick odd. That’s the smart choice. But you’re really going to pick even?”

“Y-yeah, so can we just check how many there are quickly….”

“Ah, wait a minute. I’m talking here. So, you’re not changing your answer?”

“Y-yes, I’ll stick with even.”

“No! I’m giving you a chance to change! You cheeky little brat!”

Seeing Alfoy shouting, the wizard wore a troubled expression.

“Dammit… here we go again. This guy sometimes goes off the rails like this.”

This money was hard-earned, collected bit by bit while occasionally helping the territory residents.

They were already unpaid slaves, and losing money this way would be a hassle.

“If I lose this, I won’t even have money for drinks! I absolutely can’t lose!”

As Alfoy and the wizard glared at each other, looking for openings, a wizard on lookout rushed in, breathless.

“The Lord has returned!”

The wizards paused, blank-faced for a moment, and then sadly hung their heads.

The little happiness was now over. It was time to get back to work.

Alfoy, donning a serious expression, stood up.

“Let’s move. Quickly, hurry up!”

As the wizards scrambled to their feet, he slyly slipped the coins into his robe.

Just then—

Boom!

“Mom! What the heck!”

A loud noise erupted, and flames shot up from the direction of the Lord’s Castle.

Startled, Alfoy murmured, trying to gauge the situation.

“Huh? That’s… Vanessa’s laboratory, right?”

Black smoke and flames began to engulf the surroundings.

*

The cheering residents of the territory were also startled by the sudden explosion, looking towards the Lord’s Castle.

What kind of accident could happen on such a joyful day?

Ghislaine assessed the location of the explosion, her face turning pale.

“Vanessa!”

The explosion had surely come from the Magic Laboratory created next to the Lord’s Castle for Vanessa’s training.

“There were runestones moved there too!”

Ghislaine had moved runestones around the laboratory for Vanessa, due to her lack of mana, so she could use them in case casting magic became difficult.

“Damn it, run!”

Ghislaine kicked her horse into a gallop towards the Lord’s Castle.

The level of mana from the explosion was concerning. It surely meant that the mana from the runestones had been used.

If all that mana from the runestones were to explode at once, the area around the Lord’s Castle would be turned to ruins.

Other people were flustered by the sudden situation but ran after Ghislaine.

When they arrived at the location of the blaze, chaos had already ensued.

Vanessa’s laboratory was made up of a central building surrounded by various auxiliary buildings.

What had started as a small fire in the central building seemed to subside for a moment, only to consume the auxiliary buildings and grow larger again.

People rushed around, trying to extinguish the flames.

“Axes! Bring axes! Let’s smash this down!”

“Everyone else, get water and sand!”

But the fire wouldn’t easily extinguish and instead continued to spread even further.

“Lowell!”

Ghislaine jumped off her horse and shouted.

“My Lord!”

Lowell, struggling to direct people while fidgeting nervously, brightened up upon seeing her.

“What the hell happened here?”

“I don’t know! There was a sudden explosion from Lady Vanessa’s laboratory!”

“And Vanessa?”

“Ah, she seems to be inside.”

“Is anyone injured?”

“There shouldn’t be. I made sure no one else could approach besides Lady Vanessa.”

Ghislaine let out a sigh of relief at the good news.

“Where are the wizards?”

“They should be at the construction site right now.”

“Bring everyone here immediately! Hurry!”

The territory still lacked proper firefighting facilities. The scale of the blaze was too large to extinguish by manpower alone. Using magic to contain the flames was currently the best course of action.

Creeeak!

The skeletal remains of Vanessa’s laboratory began to crumble as flames spewed out.

“I’ll go in and get Vanessa.”

Just as Ghislaine was about to take off her cumbersome coat and enter the collapsing building—

A woman’s voice, sounding incredibly flustered, echoed from inside.

“W-wind blast!”

Whoosh!

Debris falling from the building was sent flying in all directions by the wind.

“Whoa! Watch out!”

“What the heck!”

“Why is it coming this way!”

The mass of people scattered, ducking for cover.

Ghislaine and her followers shielded those around them from the flying debris.

Once the rain of debris subsided, a loud cry came from inside the building once more.

“Water strike!”

Whoosh!

This time, jets of water began to erupt from all over.

Splash! Bam! Crash!

Spraying water was a good idea since there was a fire. However, someone seemed to have lost control, making the jets way too large.

The giant jets of water broke through and exploded the debris, sending it scattering again.

Ghislaine shouted urgently.

“Block it!”

The residents fell back, and the mercenaries following Ghislaine worked hard to clear the debris away.

“Ahhh! What do we do!”

It seemed that the person inside casting magic realized the chaos as well and let out a scream.

“D-dispel!”

Swoosh!

With that shout, the jets of water slowly dispersed and vanished.

The fire, having consumed several buildings, was finally extinguished, leaving only the damp wreckage behind.

Splash.

Water pooled around, undulating like waves. The sounds of the remaining embers flickering out in the torrent of water echoed here and there.

“……”

Ghislaine and her group, drenched to the bone, looked at one another.

They couldn’t say a word, looking like drowned rats.

Just then, from the debris of the collapsed building, a woman crawled out.

“Oh my god, I-I’m so sorry! I’ve committed a terrible sin.”

The woman, crying streams of tears and snot, was in a complete mess.

Her hair was soaked and hanging like seaweed, and her face was smeared with black soot.

Pieces of runestones that had been attached to her tattered clothes clinked together.

Ghislaine stared at the disheveled figure for a while before finally asking in an incredulous tone.

“……Vanessa?”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, so sorry! I caused everyone so much trouble… Ohhh.”

Even to Ghislaine’s question, the woman hung her head and wept uncontrollably.

Ghislaine felt awkward and asked again.

“Is it really you, Vanessa?”

“Yes, I’m Vanessa. Waaaaah! I’m the one who did this!”

“……Are you okay?”

“Uhh, I’m fine. I’m okay. I’m really, really sorry. Waaaaah!”

Vanessa, genuinely remorseful, was just lying on the ground and sobbing. She seemed completely out of it, not even realizing who was speaking to her.

Well, it was only natural for such a timid person like Vanessa to lose her mind after causing such a huge accident.

“Calm down and tell me what happened. What just happened?”

“Waaaaah! I-I couldn’t control my mana properly, and I made a mistake. I’m sorry. Waaaaah!”

“You couldn’t control it properly?”

Ghislaine tilted her head for a moment.

While she lacked mana, Vanessa was unparalleled in magical theory.

She had successfully executed gigantic trap magic that even great wizards could perform.

How could she have made such a huge mistake?

“No, how on earth did you mess up? Don’t cry, just tell me slowly.”

After sniffing a few times, Vanessa straightened her voice and began to explain seriously.

“This magic was my first time attempting it, so I used a little too many runestones to be sure. I layered the magic to adjust the waves of mana, then flipped the structural mechanics to manipulate the spatial shape and coordinates… mumble mumble… and finally succeeded in a 6th Circle spell…”

“…….”

As expected of a wizard, she rambled on about the reasons in a way that was completely unintelligible.

However, one word did catch Ghislaine’s ear.

“6th Circle?!”

Ghislaine gasped and shouted.

Reaching the 6th Circle in such a short time was astonishingly gifted.

“Hahaha! 6th Circle! Can you believe it, 6th Circle!”

The catastrophic incident of the building exploding faded from Ghislaine’s mind. Ignoring those around her, she laughed heartily.

With her head lowered and still sniffling, Vanessa finally realized something was off.

She had been answering without thinking, lost in the chaos… but that was not the voice of Chief Officer’s deputy Lowell.

‘Who am I even talking to right now?’

Slowly lifting her head, she rubbed her blurry eyes and looked up, recognizing a familiar face.

“My Lord!”

Ghislaine was grinning from ear to ear, paying no mind to being drenched.

She looked as if she had just won the world.

 

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