It was a message sent by Lampel, who was exterminating magical beasts at the border of the Balkan Mountains, so it must be true, but it was hard to believe. Nirhil Valley was still a tourist destination with quite a few people, and the fact that magical beasts had invaded this far was dangerous in many ways.
‘Even if they’re Mad Crows, they shouldn’t be able to easily cross the barriers, right?’
If it became known that magical beasts had crossed beyond the border where magical barriers and divine barriers were layered upon layers, the area would surely become a cauldron of chaos. That’s why Lampel must be secretly searching for the magical beasts.
At that moment, behind the dazed Cesare, a yellow pillar of light began soaring high in the distance. Somehow, an ominous feeling crept over him. Seeing that, Cesare threw down even his luggage and quickly mounted his horse.
“Lionel! Damn it! I should have stayed with him! I promised to protect him, damn it!”
Cesare clenched his palm on the running horse. Yellow light flowed out and then faintly disappeared. Whether it was because he had been continuously using mana to receive Lampel’s contact earlier or because of his impatient heart, he couldn’t concentrate well.
“Damn! Nothing’s working!”
Cesare forcibly squeezed out mana, sent a messenger somewhere, and quickly galloped toward the pillar of light.
* * *
– Whooosh!
“Kugh!”
In front, one angry Mad Crow was flapping its wings to create a gust of wind, threatening Jayden and me hiding behind a tree trunk.
“Jayden, you damn bastard! So why did you bring me here?”
“Even in this situation, you want to blame others? You’re the one who picked a fight from the first day!”
“This is driving me crazy!”
When I glanced back, the Mad Crow was making ominous cries toward the sky.
“L-let’s calm down. There’s only one, so if we somehow shake it off, we might be able to survive.”
Jayden held a tree branch like a sword and took a combat stance. I blocked Mitche, who was struggling to get out of my front pocket, and whispered quietly.
“No. Don’t come out. Cutie. Cesare will come soon.”
“Lionel. It seems more excited because you shot that strange light ball earlier.”
“Crazy bastard. Do you think I shot it thoughtlessly? We need to send a rescue signal, don’t we?”
“You said you can use magic. Don’t you have any other magic to blow that thing away?”
“I only know how to move mana, I don’t know any magic I can use!”
“You useless…!”
“No matter how many times I think about it, you’re the culprit!”
– Kyaaak!
Suddenly, with an even louder cry, a dust storm arose in front. Looking ahead, we could only lose our will to fight with our mouths hanging open. Two more Mad Crows had flown over and were clacking their sharp beaks toward us.
“Jayden. Did you happen to write a will?”
“One page during liberal arts humanities class….”
“Kheuk. I should have taken liberal arts humanities too.”
Damn it. What use is taking useless horseback riding classes when the horse runs away! What good is liberal arts reading? When surrounded by magical beasts, there’s not even a drop of hope!
“Puha~! Ppyo!”
While I was shedding tears of lament over my elective courses, Mitche popped out of my pocket. And there was no time to say “oh no.” Mitche started bouncing and jumping toward the Mad Crows!
“Mitche!”
“Hey, hey? Lionel!”
Before I knew it, my body jumped out first to catch Mitche. And the moment I grabbed Mitche bouncing on the ground.
– Shiiik!
I felt the Mad Crow’s huge breath shooting right in front of my face. A damp and cold energy that seemed to freeze to the ends of my lungs struck my entire body. Facing a magical beast was on a completely different dimension from being in front of a terrifying beast.
They didn’t feel like living creatures at all. A wave of black mana that was huge, something huge, as if it would swallow me up, was pouring out like a tide. I was so scared I couldn’t even move my pupils carelessly.
‘This is… a magical beast…!’
My legs were trembling, but my feet wouldn’t move at all. From behind, Jayden seemed to be shouting something, but my ears were also muffled.
‘I, I have to run away.’
But the three Mad Crows had already surrounded the area, and I could barely stand in the dizzying wave of mana.
‘Grandpa! Aunt! I’m really going now! I’m really going to die! Wahhh.’
Just as one Mad Crow was slowly opening its mouth wide.
“Ppyo!”
Mitche wriggled and popped out from between my hands.
Then an unbelievable scene unfolded. The Mad Crows who saw Mitche backed away with a start, as if confused. They didn’t just back away. They flapped their wings noisily and twisted their heads.
– Kiiiiik! Kiik!
‘What?’
I was also confused by the magical beasts’ strange behavior. They seemed to be afraid of Mitche. Mitche bounced again and went in front of the Mad Crows, then suddenly stomped its foot.
“Ppyoo!”
– Kyaeng!
Surprisingly, at that foot stomp, the Mad Crows were startled and began preparing to glide.
‘Are they running away? From seeing Mitche? Can these guys see Mitche?’
Seeing a thread of hope, I quickly placed Mitche on my palm and held it up toward them.
“This! Look at this, you bastards! Look!”
Then the magical beasts became even more excited and flapped their wings. Riding the atmosphere, Mitche swung its tiny fists like I usually do shadow boxing in anger.
“Ppyo, ppyoo!”
At that moment, suddenly, with a voice calling me, a yellow light ball struck down like lightning in front.
“Lionel! Get back! Run to the opposite side!”
– Paaang!
When I quickly turned around, I could see Cesare had arrived on Jayden’s side and was chanting a spell.
‘Cesare…!’
The moment I saw him, I felt blood rushing through my legs and felt like I was about to cry. Even though it wasn’t all over, a sense of relief that I was safe now, that he would end everything, wrapped around my entire body.
– Bang! Bang!
The Mad Crows hit by the lightning falling like rain again let out sharp screams and began randomly shooting gusts of wind at us from the air.
“Ppyooo~.”
I quickly snatched Mitche flying in the wind and put it in my pocket.
“Mitche. Stay inside now. It’s too dangerous here!”
As I quickly ran to the opposite side, all the gliding Mad Crows started chasing after me.
“Hiik! Why are you only chasing meee! He’s the one who attacked! Khheung!”
With the feeling that only I was unhappy in this world, I ran at full speed with a tearful face. Tears and snot spread across my face so I could barely see ahead. I just ran like crazy.
– Kyaaak!
Just as the Mad Crow’s talons were approaching from right behind.
– Kuuung!
Black lightning, different in size from Cesare’s yellow lightning, struck it hard.
“……!”
Not understanding, I looked ahead and saw a tall man in a black cloak approaching this way while chanting a spell. And from his fingertips, one black sphere was created and began floating in the air.
– Whoosh.
“Puppy. You’re in the way.”
“Ugh!”
As soon as he lightly gestured with his chin, I was swept away by an invisible force and bounced out.
Soon the black flame sphere enveloped all the Mad Crows at once and began blazing. It was an amazing amount of mana I had never felt even from Professor Mahoff.
The sphere gradually became smaller and completely disappeared in the air. Kyaak, kyaak—below the magical beasts that had been noisily crying around, only ash remained and scattered. In the silence that remained as if nothing had happened, Cesare approached. As soon as I saw him, feeling relieved, I clung to his waist and burst into tears.
“I-it’s over, right? Really? Wahhh!”
When I asked frantically in Cesare’s embrace, he gently stroked my head and calmed me down.
“It’s okay. It’s all over. Lionel. It’s okay. Stop crying.”
The tall man holding a large staff turned toward us and said.
“Has it been five years, Cesare?”
“……”
“Even if they’re magical beasts, struggling against weak ones. Is the Royal Academy’s magic curriculum substandard?”
That naturally flowing shitty attitude.
‘That person is definitely…!’
The middle-aged man’s sharp eyes turned toward me. I didn’t expect a meeting at a high-end restaurant course with ‘Haha. Your son is tall and handsome.’ ‘Oh my, yours is so sharp and smart-looking.’ but this really wasn’t it right now.
Meeting my prospective father-in-law with dirty clothes covered in mud, a face stained with tears, and snot bubbles forming.
The man who saw me had his eyebrows twist in exactly the same way as Cesare’s.
“What’s that puppy, Cesare? Is it your minion?”
Right. Judging by his speaking design, that man was definitely Cesare’s biological father, Lampel Yanox.
At that moment, Jayden suddenly grabbed my shoulder and shouted excitedly.
“You! What did you do to make the magical beasts scared? I saw it all! I saw everything, Lionel!”
Cesare’s and Lampel’s eyes looking at me curved thinly in exactly the same way. Seeing that, I clenched the pocket containing Mitche and swallowed my tears. Fuck this. Addiction.
* * *
Returning to base camp, to the adults asking about the truth, I kept repeating only these three sentences, which are regular lines at hearings.
“I don’t know.” “I don’t remember.” “Did I do that? Haha.”
Anyway, the valley camping was instantly terminated, and a decision was made for students and civilians to quickly return to the city. Officially, it was because the weather suddenly got bad.
But the reality was that a flock of Mad Crows had nested not far from where we were attacked, and the people gathered here knew this.
Thanks to that, we were excluded from the return order and were called to the emergency countermeasure committee like this.
When I pulled back the large dark-colored tent and entered, people with scary faces were gathered in droves. The only people I knew were Lampel, Cesare, and Cedric. Jayden seemed to have returned to the city.
As soon as I entered, Cedric smiled and gestured for me to sit next to him, but Cesare quickly approached, pulled my arm, and made me sit next to him. In the end, I sat timidly squeezed between Lampel and Cesare.
When I glanced sideways at Lampel, I could see a high nose bridge and black hair that looked exactly like Cesare. His well-groomed beard and sharp impression gave off an aura exactly like a northern grand duke. And the most important thing was….
‘He’s fucking handsome…!’
Crazy. Ripped. Mr. Lampel. The only thing that should be given to you is a pass necklace.
