Chapter 63 – While Away (5)

Liv hadn’t truly intended to attack. As much as she disliked Adela clinging to Louis, she hadn’t planned to escalate things.

But unlike Liv, who was merely holding her staff, Adela had already cast her magic. And it wasn’t just any magic—it was something powerful, something Liv had never encountered before.

The icy air surged toward her. Though sudden, Liv didn’t panic.

She swiftly retreated, casting a defensive spell. But then, something unexpected happened.

Crack!

“Ugh…!?”

As her spell took form, the magic circle froze solid. Adela’s unique magic from House Rochear, which manifested as ice but didn’t fall under any traditional elemental category, had interrupted her casting. Although the spell was incomplete and cast in the heat of emotion, it spread before Liv had a chance to properly defend herself.

“Tch…!”

Realizing her defenses wouldn’t hold, Liv switched to offense. Several large wind orbs materialized in the store within seconds.

Just like the scattering shards of ice, part of the frozen <Wind Cutter> spell shattered various objects in the store.

This is bad, Liv thought. Louis is going to be furious.

As she tried to divert the path of the <Ice Spike> inching closer to her heart, Liv shouted in frustration:

“You! Stop this right now!”

“I-I can’t stop it!”

“What!?”

“My desire to stab you is too strong, I can’t stop it!!”

This crazy girl…

Liv hadn’t expected Adela to be capable of such powerful magic, but what was even more absurd was her inability to control it.

There was only one solution left.

I need to redirect it.

Liv focused her mind and analyzed the <Ice Spike>. There were no layers of magic for “tracking” or “refraction” built into it.

That meant if she could just divert its trajectory once, it would be over.

She merged her <Wind Cutter> with the orbs and prepared to blast them in one direction, slowing down the terrifying ice spike’s approach.

But then, Adela’s pitiful voice reached her ears.

“It’s all the Baroness’s fault…!”

“What…?”

“Teacher and I are in love! You just barged in between us!!”

In love…?

That shocking statement made Liv’s mind go blank.

And then—

Boom!

The <Ice Spike> that Liv had been trying to deflect didn’t pierce her heart, but it shot off in another direction and exploded.

“Ah.”

One of them made a small sound as they sat on the floor, facing each other.

They looked up at the gaping hole in the ceiling.

Drip, drip… Boom!

“No…”

“Oh, my God…”

Adela and Liv groaned in unison.

The second floor of Louis’s beloved convenience store had collapsed.

***

I decided to spend the night in a village near the Sandalphonia Gorge with Lehel. Since our business had wrapped up quicker than expected, and we had been trekking through the desert all day, we were quite exhausted.

The small village, nestled in a part of the region where sandstorms weren’t as severe, had a few wooden buildings, which was unusual for the area.

We rented a room in one of those buildings, and after purchasing a bucket of water, I washed the dust off my body.

Water is expensive here, as expected in the desert.

I don’t have much money left; I need to be frugal. It had only been three days since I left the academy, so the income from the store likely hadn’t been great either. My mind wandered with trivial thoughts as I finished my shower and wrapped a towel around myself, heading back to the room where Lehel was waiting.

We had spent most of our money buying food we couldn’t even eat, so we decided to share a room to save costs.

“Headmaster. Are you going to wash up now? They’ll charge 2 gold coins for a bucket of water after midnight… Huh?”

But when I opened the door, Lehel was nowhere to be found. Only her old pointed hat lay on the bed.

Where on earth did she wander off to in this unfamiliar village? Worried, I quickly dried my hair and went downstairs, where I soon found her.

“Raise!”

“Haha, innkeeper! More booze over here!”

“Come on now, young wizard. You’re betting on a flop like that with a snap call?”

“Scared? If you’re scared, you can just drop dead!”

“Fine, all in!”

In the midst of a raucous, noisy scene that didn’t quite fit the desert night, a white-haired wizard was gambling among some grimy nomads.

Unable to resist, she had found herself a gambling table. As I pushed through the crowd toward Lehel, she suddenly screamed out loud.

“Whaaaat!? That’s impossible!! I had a full house! A full house!!”

“Too bad. I got four of a kind. Now hand over the bet money, and while you’re at it, give me that robe and that metal badge on your chest.”

“Nooo!! Give it back! Give it back!!”

Lehel’s desperate pleas were met with indifference as the man played with her cracked iron badge.

“What’s the big deal? It’s just a rag, barely good enough to wipe my feet with. If you want it back… put up that other thing.”

He pointed at the rosary on her left wrist. Clearly, he had realized it was far more valuable than her dirty old robe.

I stood quietly behind her, watching her clutch her head in frustration.

To a mage, a magical tool isn’t just a conduit for casting spells—it’s as precious as life itself. Especially in noble mage families, where magical tools are often passed down through generations. That rosary was likely the most valuable item Lehel possessed. Even when she lost everything in Alzace, she hadn’t wagered it.

“Ugh, ugh…!”

After a long moment of hesitation, she trembled as she removed the rosary from her wrist. Just as she was about to place it on the table, I pushed her aside and sat down next to her.

“Boss!?”

“How do you play this game?”

***

The stench of rotten straw in our room was replaced by the luxury of the top-floor suite of the village’s best inn.

As soon as we entered, Lehel threw herself onto the soft bed with a scream of delight.

“Ahhh! This is amazing! I love you, Boss!!”

Inside the room, baskets filled with local specialties like mud cookies and goat cheese from Sandalphonia were laid out, along with whiskey. Lehel, who had been following closely behind me, received the robe I was holding and handed me a drink.

“Here, sit on the couch! Have a drink and some snacks! How are you so good at gambling? Have you done this before?”

“No, it must have been beginner’s luck.”

“You’re incredible! Poker requires more than luck, though. You must be smarter than you look.”

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. Hehe. So, Boss… how about we go on some gambling expeditions together? Let’s fill our pockets with all the gold this continent has to offer!”

While Lehel flailed her arms around excitedly, draping her precious robe back over herself, I remained indifferent. I swirled the whiskey glass under the light for a moment before placing it down on the table beside me.

“Headmaster.”

“Yes? What is it?”

“Give me that.”

“Oh, the drink? Of course, here you go! I’ll drink from the smaller glass; I don’t like alcohol anyway.”

“Not that.”

Lehel flinched when she noticed the eerie gleam in my eyes.

“I’m asking for your hand.”

A cold sweat ran down her back. Louis had said before that if she ever dragged him into another gambling situation, he would cut off her hand.

I should apologize immediately, she thought. But just as she was about to take off the robe and kneel to beg for forgiveness, her wrist was grabbed by Louis’s firm grip.

Squeeze!

“Eeek! I’m sorry! I’ll never do it again!”

Once Louis made up his mind, he never changed it. He was ruthless and unforgiving to those who crossed the line.

Lehel begged for mercy with all her might, bracing herself for the pain that would follow.

“If you’re going to cut it off, please take the left one! Hyaaah…!”

“…Headmaster.”

However, the feeling from his grasp was rough, but also warm.

“Is gambling really that hard to quit?”

“Huh?”

Louis held her hand tightly, his expression a mix of disappointment and concern.

“You’ve seen how it ends. You lose all your money, make trouble for those around you, and even wager the few precious things you still have. Is it really worth continuing?”

“…”

Time seemed to stand still. After a moment, Lehel gently pulled her hand away from his grasp.

A slight red mark was left on her wrist, which she quietly hid under the sleeve of her robe.

When she looked up, her face wore an exaggerated smile—the lighthearted grin of someone who could fly away at any moment.

“Oh, come on~. I only act like this in front of you, Boss. I’m Lehel of the Eternal Cycle! One of the Five Grand Dukes of Pennheim and the founder of unique magic! Do you really think I can’t take care of myself?”

“…”

“What’s wrong with gambling? It feels great! It’s way more stimulating than drinking or smoking, and I’m not about to start doing drugs!”

“…”

“When you live as long as I have, everything else gets dull. In that sense, this life has been pretty exciting. Even that horrible war was a first for me.”

“…”

“Oh, are you worried about me?”

Lehel scratched her neck and took a step back, trying to laugh it off.

“Could it be that the Boss… cares about me…?”

“I do.”

“…!”

Her heart pounded like she’d been hit with a hammer.

“After watching over you all this time, how could I not worry?”

Those with unique magic are all a bit insane. Lehel had said that about herself and other Grand Dukes, after watching many of them over the years.

Their lives were filled with mundane, rusty gears turning endlessly, always searching for something more intense. The Ice Duke, whose heart had frozen over, couldn’t feel anything anymore, and the Illusion Duke, unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality, was trapped in his own world forever.

Yet what shocked Lehel most was this:

She, who had dulled her senses with gambling and lost the taste for even alcohol, had never made it to the Sandalphonia Observatory. But this man, who had reached it with ease, was worrying about her instead.

“Uh, um… I mean…”

Lehel fidgeted with the rosary now back on her wrist.

It was a gift from a dragon who had taught her magic when she was young, a dragon that no longer existed in this world.

Since then, for hundreds of years, she had met countless people.

She had been begged for her unique magic, asked to pass down the secret to eternal life, threatened to reveal the location of Sakré.

But no one had ever worried about her over something as trivial as gambling. No one had ever spoken to her like Louis just had.

“Give me… some time to think.”

Her voice trailed off, barely audible.

“…Please.”

Lehel realized that her heart was pounding just as it did when she placed her final bet in a high-stakes game.