Chapter 52

Dozens of pairs of eyes are watching us.

Every one of them was hard and brutal like battle-hardened veterans. Middle-aged veterans worn down by the wilderness. There wasn’t a single person who wasn’t a Mana User.

“…They’re just kids?”

I heard someone mutter.

I swallowed hard. Tension filled the air.

‘Five 1st Circle mages, two 2nd Circle mages, twenty-one Mana Users. And over there…’

Among the dozens of experienced-looking adults, there was one person who appeared younger, around his early thirties. I could see three Circles writhing inside his chest.

‘So that’s what a third Circle looks like…’

My guess that the third Circle would be teeth was correct. A circle shaped like chainsaw teeth rotated slowly within the two other Circles. When the third Circle made a scraping sound, the metallic resonance was threatening.

‘Can we win?’

I instinctively sized up our odds. Whether we could win or not, when meeting strangers in the wilderness, one must act according to that assessment.

“I am Han Se-hoon, a 3rd Circle mage from the Tower of Covenant. This might sound silly, but… it’s nice to meet you.”

The 3rd Circle mage smiled slightly as he greeted us.

“…I’m Baek Jun-woo, a 2nd Circle mage. These are my companions.”

My introduction caused a stir around us. Impossible. How could such a young child be a 2nd Circle? These kinds of disbelief.

But Han Se-hoon didn’t waver at all. With slightly drowsy-looking eyes that still carried a smile, he also addressed Monggu and Yuria who were standing behind me.

“Right. And your names are?”

“Yuria Lin.”

“M-Monggu.”

“I see. Yuria, Monggu, nice to meet you all. You look much younger than I expected though. How old are you all? For reference, I’m thirty-three.”

“I’m fourteen this year. My sister is sixteen.”

“You really are young…”

Han Se-hoon clicked his tongue. His attitude was friendly and approachable. But I’d learned that friendly people are either genuinely good or truly evil.

“How did such young friends end up here?”

He was subtly probing for information about us. It might have been an everyday question, but an ancient relic site isn’t an everyday place. I raised my guard slightly.

“We’re from Sena School Nomad. We were on our way to the Talon School Caravan when we were wiped out here. …We crawled in here just to survive.”

But there was no need to advertise “I’m being cautious,” so I answered honestly. I didn’t hide my sadness either. Making myself appear a bit weaker and more vulnerable. So the other person would reveal their intentions more easily.

“I see… In any case, calamities are the problem! The Tower of Covenant should pay more attention… As an adult, I apologize. But why haven’t you left yet? The outside is just an empty field now without any calamities.”

“We weren’t certain, and we also had nothing to eat.”

“Ah, food.”

I don’t know if I’m being paranoid, but several sharp probes seemed to pass through our casual conversation. The reason why a mage like Han Se-hoon would come all the way here. In my opinion, it could only be treasures buried in the relic site. He was trying to probe what we knew through indirect questions. I answered diligently but avoided the information he really wanted.

Somehow, Han Se-hoon’s smile seemed to deepen.

“Have you found food now?”

“Yes, this…”

I took out the pink powder used for physical enhancement, Cell Powder.

“Ugh… This tastes terrible.”

Han Se-hoon, who casually took a pinch to taste, grimaced and then laughed.

“Good thing we came. We’ll save you from this awful food! You’ll be safe if you come out with us. But before that, we have some business to take care of. Fortunately, since you know this place well, if you could help us a little, we’ll finish quickly.”

He said he would “save” us.

As if it were an action purely based on goodwill. But was it really? We were already surrounded by their group.

What should I do?

For now, I decided to play along.

+ – + – +

Han Se-hoon, who had thoroughly explored the lowest level of the relic with me. But he hadn’t achieved any results. When I received his message magic, I had instructed my auxiliary ego to put all activated functions into hibernation mode. Seeing is believing. Until I knew what kind of person he was, showing my hand early would be foolish.

Han Se-hoon carefully scanned the underground level with a magical device containing scan magic, then finally sighed.

“Hm… Is there really nothing here except food, ancient corpses, and this strange water-filled space?”

“Yes. Just as you’ve confirmed.”

“Hmm…”

Han Se-hoon groaned. Then he spoke in a voice tinged with disappointment.

“This is troubling… I thought we could find important clues to fight calamities…”

He trailed off while looking at me.

He seemed to want me to provide more information.

Kids my age usually have fantasies about the ‘Tower of Covenant’… He probably thought that if he implied he was doing important work for the world, I’d be more cooperative.

But since Teacher Sena had covenanted to get me into the Tower of Covenant, I’d occasionally heard stories about it from her. At least I knew well that it wasn’t the heroic organization we’re led to believe.

The mages of the Tower of Covenant who taught magic to the world and built cities and crossroads, ensuring humanity’s survival. That was an old story. I’d heard that such mages were now the minority. When was the last time a city was built?

So, Han Se-hoon openly talking about “fighting calamities” made him seem even less trustworthy.

He seemed disappointed for a while, but finally muttered as if shaking off his regrets.

“Well, what can we do? I guess we’re half successful… Let’s leave the rest to the following team.”

Han Se-hoon turned to us.

“Now, let’s leave together! You said you have nowhere to go, right? Come with me to the Tower of Covenant.”

He smiled kindly.

Just looking at his face, he seemed like a benefactor taking in children with nowhere to go, giving them a chance to start anew at the Tower of Covenant.

But was it really so?

If this person was genuinely acting out of goodwill, it would be a great opportunity. But… if his intentions weren’t pure and he had some other scheme? Following him blindly could lead to unknown trouble.

Now it was time to find out.

“Thank you. But can we go later, not now?”

“Huh? Later?”

“I was in the middle of training, worried about leaving with just the three of us without a transfer barrier. I even made a covenant to train for 100 days. We have 80 days left.”

“Training? In this empty place?”

“I just reached 2nd Circle. I need to stabilize my state… and above all, this place is safe from calamities.”

The method to understand a person’s true nature is simple.

Refuse their offer. Then observe how they react. You’ll clearly know whether their offer was kindness or coercion.

Han Se-hoon’s and my gaze met in midair. Han Se-hoon smiled slightly and said:

“No. If you stay here and meet the following team, things will get complicated. They really hate uncertain elements. If I leave you behind and problems are found with the relic’s preservation, you and I will take the blame. Come on, you can train all you want at the Tower of Covenant, so let’s go now.”

“I’m a 2nd Circle mage. You know what breaking a covenant means.”

“That’s old-fashioned talk. You’re arguing about covenants with a mage from the Tower of Covenant? At your age, being a 2nd Circle will get you full support from the Tower. With that kind of support, breaking a covenant or two is nothing. Come with me now. Don’t cause trouble.”

“No. I don’t want to break my covenant. If you’re in a hurry, please go ahead. I’ll visit the Tower of Covenant later.”

Han Se-hoon’s eyes quickly scanned me.

He smiled even more deeply and raised his hand.

“Haha… What’s this? What are you hiding?”

And with that,

Our sizing each other up came to an end.

Shring! Clack!

Swish!

As twenty-one Mana Users simultaneously aimed their bows and drew their swords, there was a sound like machinery clicking into place. Sharp blades pointed at us from all directions, leaving no escape.

It was an impressive change of stance.

“You admit it, right? You definitely seemed suspicious just now? Three kids alone in this deep relic site is strange, and what? You won’t leave? You need to train more?”

He mocked us.

Han Se-hoon raised a finger to point at Yuria and Monggu.

“I’ll count to three. If you don’t want to see their heads with holes in them, talk. What are you hiding?”

No matter what, this person changed too quickly. From kind to immediately threatening to kill? When sweet-talking didn’t work, he jumped straight to death threats?

Someone who can switch from being infinitely friendly to changing masks in just one second. Truly a bad person indeed.

Moreover,

“Now, then… three!”

Tak!

Han Se-hoon said he would count to three but didn’t even finish counting. Whether he intended to break our spirit immediately, he just said “Three!” and snapped his fingers, and immediately several arrows flew toward Monggu’s stomach and thigh.

A sinister intention to not kill but cause serious injury to disrupt our composure.

‘So it comes to this after all.’

Actually, I wasn’t confident we could win, so I had hoped to avoid fighting if possible.

But… this was someone we couldn’t pass by without fighting from the beginning.

There was also the option to disclose all information and negotiate… but that’s something you do with trustworthy people.

‘Kill or be killed.’

It was inevitable… I made up my mind.

Baring my teeth, I said:

“Transportation.”

[T-rans-por-tay-shun!]

Faster than the arrows, my magic activated.

“Huh!”

“Ugh!”

“Argh!”

With a variety of screams, thud! The sound of falling bodies came from all directions. Twenty-nine cuffs appeared, tearing through space. Ring-shaped devices appeared around each person and immediately tightened. Those whose arms and waists were captured by the cuffs lost their balance and smashed their heads on the ground.

Cuffs are devices that can restrain even ogres if the harmony rate is high enough. Even with my terrible harmony rate, this alone was enough to effectively subdue Mana Users.

Meanwhile, the arrows shot at Monggu were partly caught by Yuria and partly deflected by Monggu himself. Monggu had also completed level 2 physical enhancement. He demonstrated physical abilities that wouldn’t lose to ordinary Mana Users.

I stared coldly at Han Se-hoon. He too was caught by cuffs but neither fell nor lost his composure. I knew well that this wouldn’t be enough to subdue a 3rd Circle mage.

Even at this moment, his third Circle making sounds like crack, click as it rotated, gave me an ominous feeling.

I activated the primordial incantation once more.

“Transportation!”

[T-rans-por-tay-shun!]

Simultaneously, Han Se-hoon’s Circle moved with an eerie tooth sound.

The serrated teeth stamped out mana patterns like type blocks. Each one a different mana pattern… that is, different spells pouring out.

…What? How many spells is he casting in one breath?!