Genius Wizard Hides His Sword Skills [EN]: Chapter 46

46. Herald (3)

“Ian?”

The children appeared with the mages of Comas. Noah’s gaze rested on me.

“You didn’t run away? Why are you here?”

At her questioning look, I hurriedly took a few rough breaths.

Huh, huh…. As if I had just run all the way here.

“I ran away too, but I just came back. I was going to Comas, but I got lost.”

“Ah. I see. Didn’t you see the Circle members?”

“No. When I arrived, there was no one left.”

Only corpses were strewn across the marketplace. All of them were Raka Bellier’s underlings.

“Search every nook and cranny around here!”

The twenty mages from Comas searched for traces of the Circle.

“What happened here?”

Soon after, mages from the Apete royal family arrived.

‘The merchants must have reported it.’

The situation was quickly being handled.

“But, putting the Circle aside, that Raka Bellier guy is nowhere to be seen? Did he escape alive?”

Noah looked around and raised a question. Her curiosity would soon be resolved.

“Ugh, uh!”

A young mage from Comas opened the door of the jewelry store and stumbled backward.

“What’s wrong!”

The royal mages hurriedly gathered around him.

“Heuk!”

“This is insane.”

“How could anyone be so cruel…….”

“Can a person even do something like this!”

Those who saw the interior scene were all in shock.

‘What did he do to make them like that.’

Surely, they must have seen Raka Bellier’s corpse. Naturally, the children and I headed there as well.

“Ugh!”

Clio, who was at the front, retched and stepped back.

“Eck…….”

Drew, who had a relatively strong stomach, also shook his head.

“How could he do this…!”

Noah bit her lip.

It was a natural reaction.

[It is pretty bad.]

Even for me, who had been through countless battlefields, it was a scene that made me frown.

‘……Was it really necessary to go this far.’

Raka Bellier was torn to pieces. His head, arms, legs, and torso were separated and impaled onto different stone pillars.

Below it, a circle, the symbol of the Circle, was drawn. A red circle drawn with Raka Bellier’s blood. It was as if they were deliberately indicating that it was the Circle’s doing.

‘Are they deliberately making it obvious?’

[Why?]

‘So that the blame doesn’t fall on me.’

Before he died, Raka Bellier said he had connections with Killavega.

‘Killavega will surely look for the one who took the Ratatosk Egg. The chances are low, but it could be revealed that I’m the culprit.’

[That could be the case. He seemed quite thorough.]

Just in case I might be suspected, they seemed to have deliberately revealed their identity even more.

‘There’s going to be some friction with Killavega because of this.’

The Circle, which had always hidden its full power, was clearly taking a considerable risk.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the gruesome sight.

“You guys shouldn’t look at things like this.”

One of the royal mages grabbed us and led us away.

“You’re all students from the Magic Tower, right?”

A young mage was conducting a simple identity check.

“Yes.”

He went around asking for names and families one by one, writing them down as if it were a chore.

“You must be Delema.”

The man saw my red eyes and wrote Delema on the paper first.

“Yes. My name is Ian.”

“Okay. Well, your identities are confirmed, so there’s nothing more to ask. But, do you know where the three men who were with you earlier went?”

He was asking about Aiteo and his group. They had disappeared somewhere in the confusion. We had no idea, so we all shook our heads.

“Okay. You guys have been through a lot too. I can’t believe something like this happened……. They’ve been giving us headaches recently. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”

The man shook his head. He gave a sheepish smile.

“I’m telling you all sorts of things. You saw the Circle kill Raka Bellier’s gang, right?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“The Circle……. Are they bad guys catching bad guys? Okay. The adults will take care of the rest, so you guys can relax and get some rest.”

Then the man turned away.

‘Ha. Look at this guy.’

A hollow laugh escaped at the sight.

[What’s wrong?]

‘That guy was wearing a Circle necklace just now. He showed it to me slightly, so only I could see it.’

[Huh? Really?]

It wasn’t just that it was surprising that the Circle had infiltrated the Apete Kingdom. They had also infiltrated the Magic Tower.

‘It seems like that guy has already heard about me from Angel.’

However, the fact that he had already received my information from Angel was chilling. They were so elusive that even I couldn’t figure out how they did it.

[Did Angel want to show off their intelligence to you?]

‘Maybe.’

Angel, who had dealt with the 7-star Raka Bellier as if he were a child. And those organizations that were spread all over the continent were a larger force than I thought.

‘The Circle……. It seems like I’ve gotten quite a bit out of this.’

* * *

Before going to the Magic Tower, we headed to the inn.

“Let’s tell the innkeeper what happened too.”

All the children nodded at Noah’s natural decision. I had told Admun to go to the Portal Management Bureau first.

“Mr. Rgo!”

Clio opened the inn door with a bang.

“……Huh?”

His eyes were filled with doubt.

“Mr. Aiteo?”

Aiteo and his gang were smiling awkwardly beyond the wide-open door.

“Everyone’s here. Ah, no, you’ve arrived.”

Aiteo’s group was there, acting politely.

“What’s going on?”

As I approached him, he scratched his head.

“Ah, I was a little scared to meet the royal mages. I’m just a petty criminal, but I have a criminal record, so if I ran into them, I’d be interrogated for a long time…….”

“But why did you come back here? I thought you ran away.”

“I’m not the kind of guy who has no loyalty, no matter what. You saved my life, so I have to say thank you.”

His eyes glanced at Clio.

“Now that I’ve greeted the young masters, I’ll visit Comas separately to apologize.”

He wasn’t a completely hopeless guy.

‘I don’t know if he’ll really go apologize.’

At least he came to greet us.

[Isn’t there some other motive? Like trying to steal your Egg again.]

‘He’ll really die by my hands then.’

I glared at him once, and the innkeeper, who had been in the kitchen, ran out barefoot.

“Oh my! Young masters! You’re here. I heard about what happened from this man. You almost went through something terrible. I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”

Rgo bowed his head, even though it wasn’t his fault.

“It’s okay. These things happen when you’re solving a request. We learned a lot from this incident too.”

“Ah, speaking of the request, this person said that he doesn’t need that item anymore. You don’t have to look for it anymore.”

Rgo’s finger pointed to Aiteo.

“So, is the request considered complete?”

“Of course! Thanks to you, the misunderstanding has been resolved, so that’s enough.”

In other words, we could also get achievement points. The children’s lips curled up involuntarily.

‘It’s a win-win situation.’

Of course, I was the one who benefited the most. Not only did I get the Ratatosk Egg and the Circle, but I also solved the request.

[You’re getting a lot this time.]

Rgo smiled brightly as he looked at us. He led us to the dining area.

“I thought you might come, so I prepared a meal in advance.”

Splendid dishes were set on the table. He had really shown his skills.

“I don’t know if it will suit your taste, but please eat it as if it were the request fee. It’s late, so stay another night. Of course, it’s free of charge.”

There was no reason to refuse. It was quite late too.

“Wow…….”

Moreover, thanks to Drew, who was drooling at the sight of the food, no one could say no.

“Okay. Let’s stay one more day. We just have to return to the Magic Tower within a week anyway.”

In the end, even Noah nodded.

* * *

‘Ha. I’m so full.’

The innkeeper kept recommending more food. Drew ate like someone who hadn’t eaten for days, but it reminded me of a past nightmare.

‘He’s the first person to torture me with food like this since my nanny.’

I went outside to digest for a while.

Whoo-oong!

As night fell, the cool desert wind dug into my collar.

‘Who is it?’

At that moment, the door of the restaurant opened again.

[It’s Aiteo?]

I turned my head and saw Aiteo standing there blankly.

‘Don’t tell me he’s really trying to steal the Egg?’

[Huh. I was just saying it.]

Aiteo slowly approached me.

“Young master. I saw everything.”

My eyes narrowed at the words that came out of his mouth.

‘Did he see me taking the Egg?’

I naturally gathered aura at my fingertips. Fortunately, his martial prowess was at a level that I could easily subdue on my own.

‘How dare this guy.’

I quickly scanned his body. I looked for a good place to strike.

[Is it there again?]

‘That would be good, right?’

The guy’s vitals were in a perfect spot to strike. It was one of the most vital spots that could take down even a robust man in one blow.

Just as I was about to throw a punch.

“My lord! Please take me in!”

Aiteo knelt down on the desert floor. Only then did I meet his eye level.

‘What is he talking about all of a sudden?’

[Is he saying he wants to work at Delema?]

The guy was looking at me with pleading eyes.

“Take you in? What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry, but I saw everything. The Circle, didn’t they kneel before you, my lord.”

I couldn’t help but narrow my brows.

[He pretended to run away and peeked.]

‘Ha, this is annoying.’

As I stared at him without answering, the flustered guy opened his mouth repeatedly.

“I, I’ve been living by my wits all my life. I’m good at all sorts of odd jobs, and there are many ways to use me.”

He wasn’t exactly a useful guy. He didn’t use magic, and his martial prowess wasn’t that great either. He was just a mediocre thug.

‘Should I kill this guy too.’

I couldn’t just let go of a guy who knew about my relationship with the Circle.

[Here? If this guy suddenly disappears, it’s bound to raise suspicion. Moreover, because of what happened during the day, the royal mages will move quickly too.]

‘This is a headache.’

I couldn’t stand the guy’s existence. The situation had become twisted because he had witnessed that scene.

[Let’s at least hear why he wants to be taken in.]

First, I needed to probe the guy’s intentions, as Oberon said.

“Why do you want to follow me so badly? I can’t trust you.”

Aiteo picked up a grain of sand from the desert. As he spread his palm, the wind carried the sand away.

“The lives of guys like us are like these grains of sand. When the wind blows, we scatter as it blows. When someone steps on us, we change according to the shape they step on.”

“So?”

“It’s not like we wanted to live like this from the beginning. Originally, we wanted to serve a lord and live proudly as knights. But we never had the chance.”

“In the end, you want to cling to someone with power?”

“N, no, that’s not what I meant……!”

His words sounded eloquent, but it sounded like he wanted to throw his weight around under me.

[What are you going to do?]

‘Hmm……. I happen to have something I can order this guy to do.’

[Really?]

Aiteo, who was surprisingly talented at stealing despite his size. I had just thought of a mission that would be perfect for him.

“Okay. I can do that. However, I think I need to test whether you’re worth it.”

“What kind of test are you talking about……?”

His eyes, half-filled with anticipation and half with worry, turned to me.