Chapter 168

When Ian returned after meeting the baron, Carl had vanished.

Instead, Krysus greeted Ian while sipping a beer.

"What gives? Weren't you supposed to go use earth magic with Senior Carl?"

Krysus was the only person in the tavern.

The wizards had come and gone so frequently that they'd practically taken over the place.

'Another act of wizardly mischief to add to the list,' Ian thought as he took a seat.

The villagers might soon be complaining to the baron, "Please kick the wizards out of the tavern!"

But adding another act of mischief? Not bad.

They'd leave if you just handed over the booze nicely.

"I used it."

"Ah. Is it all done then?"

Krysus nodded as if she understood.

"I thought so. I heard an incredible noise earlier."

She stared directly at Ian and exclaimed, "Senior Carl must have used an amazing spell!"

"..."

Ian turned his head and pretended not to hear.

Well... about that...

Things just kind of turned out this way...

"But where did you go?"

"I went to apologize to the baron briefly."

"Apologize? Ah. That kind of thing?"

Krysus grinned.

Ian said he went to apologize, but...

He must have gone to threaten under the guise of an apology!

"Hehe. To receive an apology from a wizard. That baron must have had quite the wake-up call by now, right?"

"...?"

Ian couldn't understand Krysus's words.

Why would apologizing wake someone up...?

Ian had apologized with genuinely pure intentions...

"Well, the only way you could help Senior Carl is by running errands anyway."

"..."

Krysus thought Carl had used magic and Ian had gone to the baron on an errand.

Of course, that's all she could think.

Carl was an excellent earth wizard, and Ian was a dark wizard!

"I'll say you did well for now."

"Senior. Actually, I..."

"What? Tired? Are you trying to slack off as the youngest?"

"..."

No.

I was going to say that I demolished the baron's castle...

Ian had those words on the tip of his tongue, but he held back for now.

There was no need to go through the trouble of explaining.

"This works out well. Ian. You need to come with me."

Krysus summoned Ian.

"Ah. Are you going to use ice magic? I'll help too."

"Pfft! Yeah~ Having you help makes this senior feel so reassured~"

"..."

Ian glared at Krysus with salty eyes.

Why did that woman make him want to smack her upside the head?

She was clearly holding a grudge over crying when surprised by Ian's fire magic.

It was a bit annoying, but he decided to let it slide for now.

After all, Ian couldn't say he was entirely innocent either.

"Alright! Let's go! Let's go!"

"No, I just ordered a beer..."

"Down it like a man! Or are you still too much of a baby for that? Hah!"

"..."

I'll let it slide just this once.

Ian downed the lukewarm beer in one go and got up.

"Let's go, senior."

The place Krysus wanted to go was a cave located in a forest not far from the village.

"It's a cave where cold air accumulates."

Ice magic was heavily influenced by the surrounding environment.

The failure rate increased with heat and decreased with cold.

Naturally, a cool place was needed to use powerful ice magic.

"But senior, didn't you use it at normal temperature before?"

Ian was slightly puzzled.

Ice wizards were strong in winter and weak in summer. That's because they were swayed by temperature.

But Krysus had used ice magic at room temperature, though it wasn't summer.

That's why he thought she was an excellent ice wizard, but...

"Th-that's right!"

"...?"

Krysus was flustered by Ian's observation.

"B-but! This time I'm going to use a much more amazing spell! So I need the power of cold air!"

"The spell you used before was plenty impressive though?"

Ian thought for a moment.

Why was Krysus going out of her way to find cold air?

"Senior. Perhaps."

Ian just asked what came to mind.

"Can you only use that freezing spell once?"

"... No?! I can use it multiple times!"

"Senior. That's not the right direction."

Krysus had tried to walk towards the river instead of the cave.

Ian clicked his tongue.

Had she lost her mind?

"You really can only use it once, can't you?"

"Sh-shut up! What do you know about ice magic!"

'It really was single-use.'

Ian reassessed his evaluation of Krysus.

A spell that could only freeze one set of clothes, usable only once every few days...

"Ice magic really sucks, huh."

"No it doesn't! I'm just not good at it!"

"Is that so? I thought you were a decent ice wizard..."

"That's right! I'm excellent for my level!"

"...? But you just said you're not good at ice magic..."

Krysus insisted that ice magic was an excellent type of magic, but...

In Ian's view, ice magic honestly seemed like trash.

It wasn't completely worthless since it was still magic, but...

He couldn't highly rate a magic that's unusable in summer and has such pathetic usage limits.

"Argh! Ice magic is excellent magic!"

"Ah. Okay..."

"You don't care because you learned fire magic, right! Cocky junior! Hurry up and shout that ice magic is the best!"

"..."

"Ice magic is the best! Ice magic is the best!"

Rather than feeling annoyed, Ian just felt...

Well, sorry for her...

"Then senior, what spell are you going to use with the cave's cold air?"

"Of course, a freezing spell! I'm going to freeze a ton of water!"

"... And then what?"

Let's not forget, Ian had just demolished the baron's castle walls with earth magic.

But what Krysus was trying to do was just show off some frozen ice...

"And after freezing a bunch? Are we supposed to carry it ourselves?"

"Ah."

Ah. What the hell.

As expected, it seemed Krysus hadn't thought at all about what to do after the freezing spell.

"... Let's just freeze a little."

"Then, are we giving the baron ice as a gift?"

"Gift? It's not a gift, it's a warning!"

Ian was dumbfounded.

As if cold ice cubes would be much of a warning.

Wouldn't you need to at least turn the baron's bedroom into a freezer or completely freeze the well for it to be a "warning"?

But unfortunately, that was impossible at Krysus's level.

Because winter hadn't come yet...

"Ice magic really seems like crap..."

"La la la~ I can't hear you~ I don't know~ Ice magic is the best~"

"..."

Ian just gave up and followed Krysus.

It's not like Ian was going to use ice magic instead of Krysus.

He had originally planned to help, but from the atmosphere, it seemed Krysus was determined to handle it alone.

"Senior. Then why am I..."

"You're a dark wizard, right? You can walk well even in the dark?"

Ian nodded.

Krysus was bringing Ian along as a guide.

The cave would be pitch black, but they couldn't use torches.

Because it would drive away the mystique of the cold air...

'Ice magic really is such garbage...'

Ian shook his head and changed his thoughts.

'Hmm. Ice magic is the best.'

Anyway, that's that.

A little while later, Ian and Krysus arrived at the cave in the forest.

"Senior. Is it there?"

"Uh. Yeah."

They had found the right destination.

But the state of the cave was the problem.

"There are people inside."

"..."

The cave already had guests.

Since it was far from the village, they hadn't even considered that anyone would be there.

Casual attire. And crude weapons in hand.

Judging by their appearance, they were clearly a group of thugs.

Multi-purpose criminals who dabbled in ruffians, thieves, bandits, and unemployed bums.

"They weren't here a while ago..."

Krysus also seemed taken aback, her words becoming fewer.

It must have been frustrating, but there was nothing they could do.

It was a cave that anyone would see as perfect for spending a few nights, so some night visitors might have stopped by temporarily.

"Should we ask the baron for help?"

"... Would that work?"

Ian shrugged.

It was a matter of clearing out some suspicious guys, so the baron might lend his strength. He was the lord after all.

But since it was related to wizards, the stiff-necked baron might ignore them.

Especially asking him to move just to make ice to threaten(?) him.

'No, he might like the ice?'

Surprisingly, the baron might be happy to receive threatening ice.

After all, ice was a precious commodity.

Ian frowned.

Though Ian was a skilled wizard, he wasn't yet adept at handling such small fry.

Skill card magic wouldn't work due to cooldown.

It seemed wasteful to throw skill cards at mobs that could be wiped out by a single knight.

Still... maybe I should prepare some magic just in case?

As Ian was thinking that...

"Oh!"

Krysus suddenly shouted.

Wondering what happened, he looked and saw a blonde female knight walking steadily towards the thugs.

"Isn't that woman your friend?"

"So it is."

The blonde female knight was none other than Belenka.

Behind Belenka, Kira, Maria, and even Jubal appeared one after another.

'Come to think of it...'

Ian recalled what Belenka had said.

She had said she would do her own investigation since the baron seemed suspicious.

No doubt they had arrived here while investigating something.

"What are you doing! Ian!"

"What?"

"Hurry up and run! Your friend is in danger!"

"??? In danger? Who?"

Krysus wore an expression of disbelief, but Ian remained calm.

In reality, Belenka exchanged a few words with the thugs, then...

Slash!

She soon swung her longsword and cut off a thug's head.

The severed head rolled over to Ian's feet.

Krysus's face turned ghostly white.

"Well. The thugs are the ones in danger."

No matter how strong thugs were, they were just a snack for a knight.

Soon Belenka naturally began to perform an unrivaled massacre.