Chapter 18: If you come, you have to go

‘What? What just happened?’

Unable to avoid Chloe’s direct gaze, Murray fumbled with his hand, lost in thought.

His invisibility dispelled.

The remnants of his staff (ashes) in his grasp.

A situation that would leave an ordinary person stunned!

But Murray’s prized inquisitive mind, even in this bewilderment, jumped to problem-solving.

Q. Where’s my staff?
A. It went poof!

It just happened.

‘My staff? Poof?’

Yes. That could happen.

It happens sometimes.

A mage’s staff was essentially a wooden stick.

And surprisingly, wood catches fire!

Therefore, it could happen that a staff bought for 30 Yurk gold coins would suddenly burst into flames.

It was a sudden parting, but it was okay.

Parting made reunion more beautiful.

Murray’s partner would be waiting for him on the Staff Star.

• Giggle…! Your name is Sylvia from now on!

• Come here, Sylvia! Let’s take a bath together!

He really was okay. Really.

A sudden gust of wind carried Sylvia’s remains into the sky.

Sunlight licked his hand, not sad at all. Really.

‘Wait, what?’

Murray was startled and brushed the ashes off his hand.

His hand was clean.

Without a single burn, strangely enough.

‘It was a fire powerful enough to incinerate my staff in the blink of an eye. But how is my hand unharmed?’

Was such a thing possible?

Murray’s intuition agreed.

It was entirely possible.

If a being wielding incredibly precise magic had targeted and incinerated only his staff.

Unparalleled magic control.

Activation speed exceeding even his own, a Dawn-grade mage.

The opponent’s skill level implied by those facts.

His mage’s intuition rang a fierce alarm.

Murray slowly replayed the recent magic in his mind.

And shuddered.

‘I couldn’t… see the moment the magic activated?’

Murray hadn’t sensed it at all.

The activation of the magic that attacked him.

The magical precision was such that he would’ve believed it was an automatic defense function of some ancient artifact.

‘Th-That’s it! An artifact! It makes sense if it’s an artifact!’

Murray comforted himself by gathering his common sense.

Right. It was possible if it was an artifact.

Who knows?

A legendary artifact.

Nexo’s Magic Book.

Perhaps she had a copy, and the book activated its defense function to protect itself.

‘Yes! An extremely logical deduction.’

Thinking this way, everything made perfect sense.

Murray nodded.

Except for the fact that both artifacts and magic books were useless if you didn’t understand their contents.

Finding an artifact that disappeared hundreds of years ago,

Grasping its hidden nature,

And mastering its contents to activate its functions.

“……………….”

Was it possible for an eight-year-old girl to meet those conditions?

Even if she could, could she hide it?

It was all forced.

There was a limit to cognitive dissonance.

Perhaps that was why.

Even though he hadn’t figured anything out yet, Murray realized.

“Do you need something from me?”
“…Gasp!!”

That the being before him could not possibly be human.

And what he had just stumbled upon.

‘Is he senile?’

Murray, who appeared in the dark alley.

Chloe, observing him, came to that conclusion.

He flinched with his arm outstretched.

He opened his mouth wide, then turned serious.

He looked like a sleepwalker or a senile old man.

Given his age, the latter was far more likely.

[Be careful! He’s a dangerous person!]
‘I know without you telling me.’

A senile old man wasn’t a good person to have around a preschooler.

It was a cruel thing to say, but it was reality.

[How about setting his head or b*tt on fire to chase him away? 😊]

This crazy Skynet finally revealed its true nature!

It gave her the creeps, even though she knew it was nonsense.

It was a relief that she was the only one suffering from this.

‘At least it asks for permission before hurting others, even if only in its imagination.’

Should she call it conscientious?

Chloe sighed involuntarily.

Respect for elders was the way of the Haedong martial artist.

Chloe turned and made way.

“Here, go ahead.”
“Uh, huh?”
“I’ll step aside, so you can go.”

Huh? His reaction was strange.

Was this wrong?

Tilting her head, Chloe pondered.

And then she spoke casually,

“Or… did you come here knowing my identity?”

Did this person know she was Synthia?

Did he come to ask why she closed commissions?
How did he find out?

“I-Identity…?!”

Yikes. Why did he suddenly shout?

Right, he was senile.

Poor complexion, bad hearing, and a loud voice.

The stereotype of a dementia patient.

“No, I was just talking to myself. It’s fine if you don’t know.”

Coming from a rural area with a severe brain drain.

She was used to dealing with the elderly.

Instead of explaining, Chloe put on a smile.

“Should I call someone you know? Or I can walk you home.”

Senile elders wore, what was it called?

Missing person prevention stickers?

She’d heard they wore those for situations like this.

‘But I wonder if they have those in Luntraval.’

Chloe looked at Murray questioningly.

At her cold (※: thoughtless) prodding gaze, Murray’s heart briefly stopped.

His once clean hands were now drenched in sweat.

‘Is she just going to let me go? Me, who attacked her?’

It was the remark of a lunatic.

Impossible for a sane human.

Yes.

If she were human.

‘Then… what if she’s not human?’

Forgiveness, empathy, mercy, reconciliation.

Humanity’s good qualities.

Actions praised as ‘humane’.

What if those words were uttered by a monster who only superficially memorized those virtues, trying to act like a kind human?

Thinking that way, it made perfect sense.

‘Why didn’t I suspect?’

That unrealistically beautiful appearance.

Those radiant eyes, as if crafted by the hand of a devil.

‘Why didn’t I notice?’

Those paintings that were definitely twisted somewhere.

The byproducts of madness that knew nothing of life’s emotions.

He should have realized and run away earlier.

From the moment he didn’t sense the magic that burned his staff.

Murray’s rational mind considered the situation.

And lost all will to fight.

A surprise attack using all his skills.

To this monster… it was ‘just a prank she could overlook.’

“Hello?”

The repeated question.

Murray easily interpreted it as an ultimatum.

Therefore.

“Oh my! Such kindness!”

• Wide smile!

A smile as if physiognomy was nothing but pseudoscience.

At this moment, the cunning, old mage, like a wrinkled vulture, became the kindest old man in the world.

“Thank you so much! Bless you!”

Sticking close to the wall, away from Chloe.

Murray quickly fled the alley.

That thing was a demon.

A great demon deceiving an entire human city.

Risk his life fighting something like that?

‘Why would I?’

The vitality of life was always dazzling.
Anyone who witnessed Murray’s escape would be convinced that the old saying “Old people should die” was a lie.

“Wow, he’s still quite spry for his age.”

Chloe put her hands on her hips with satisfaction.

It seemed he wasn’t senile after all.
She’d misjudged him. How embarrassing.

—

🔓 Defeated an opponent of equal or greater rank.
✨ Received growth reward based on experience.

[Acquired: Soul Expansion (Hereafter referred to as ‘Experience’)]
[Acquired: Skill – Spirit Magic Proficiency]
[Acquired: Skill – Bard Magic] (New!)

⭐ Mage Level increased by 2.
⭐ Spirit Magic Rank increased by 1.

—

She ignored the status window that appeared before her eyes.

‘I level up for helping a senile old man?’

What a wonderful game.

Wasn’t it supposed to be a “chivalrous warrior” level, not a mage level?

And d@mn it, she couldn’t use spirit magic.

“…Ahem.”

Despite feeling a slight sense of anticipation due to Clicker’s constant appeals and focusing, as always, nothing happened.

No fire, no water, nothing.

“Tricked again, aren’t you? Angry?”

When would she stop believing this thing?
Chloe gritted her teeth.

[You can use magic if you understand Nexo’s Magic Book!]
‘Isn’t that practically a confession that I can’t use it yet?’

Besides, there was another reason Chloe didn’t trust Clicker’s status window pronouncements.

‘If you learned spirit magic from that magic book, the protagonist would have used it first.’

Did the protagonist use spirit magic in the original?
Even Chloe wouldn’t have forgotten something like that.

Nexo’s Magic Book was an artifact that inscribed the structure of analyzed magic power into its pages.
It could also record spirit magic.

But comprehending it was a different matter.
Chloe knew this, so she ignored it.

[Well, the original protagonist didn’t have me! 😆]

Really? I’m so jealous!
Chloe rubbed her eyelids.

‘If only the copied magic book had worked properly, it would have been ten times more useful than Clicker.’

Training wheels for mastering magic power manipulation.
An external talent that turned the magically mundane protagonist into a genius.

The very essence containing the wisdom of a Dragonborn!

The one that got away always seemed bigger.

However.

Neither Chloe nor Clicker knew.
But this Nexo’s Magic Book was compatible with them.

Just as a book and AI were repositories of data, the meaning of life was a container of genes.
All three were the same in that they were recording mediums of information.

The functions of the copied book.
They had already been absorbed by Chloe.

The true value of Nexo’s Magic Book.

The power to feel, understand, and wield magic power.

A talent essential for warriors and mages.

No, a potential bordering on ‘divine power’.

Updating knowledge and information transformed the mind.

It was essentially the same as reading an ordinary book.

Humans who updated certain data, such as religious scriptures, sometimes defied their biological nature.

Less than 1MB when converted to text.
Even with that little data, humans could become new people.

In Chloe’s case, she had become quite a new person.

Her physical constitution had changed.

Enough to break bricks with her head.

Thanks to this, the three mercenaries were left dumbfounded.

“…Did that old man just run off on his own?”

Seriously?
He ran away like that?
D@mn it, take me with you!

“Oh, there were a few more of you?”

Chloe was startled by Valt’s voice.

That is, about 10% as startled as Valt was when he made eye contact with her.

‘Gah! Client, you d@mn swindler!’
‘How is this an ordinary little kid with no abilities!’

A mage losing his staff in a fight?

It was like a warrior having his sword broken.

A decisive victory.

In their eyes, Chloe was stronger than Murray.

If it was just about talent, they weren’t wrong.

It also meant that they, who couldn’t even beat Murray, were no match for her.

“D-Did you call us?”
“Hehehe….”

The mercenaries cautiously revealed themselves.

Chloe was inwardly flustered as she observed their appearance.

‘Why mercenaries? And what’s that burning smell?’

Were they smoking something?
They must have burned some pretty good wood.

Chloe’s nose twitched, following the source of the smell.

The mercenaries’ hearts pounded as their eyes met hers.

‘Th-That!’
‘She’s sniffing! Sniffing!!’

They were seasoned mercenaries.

Even if they were uncultured, their bodies remembered the battlefield.

The Chloe-as-a-demon hypothesis?

There was no need to take it that far.

The meaning of Chloe’s action was clear to them.

• Is there anything else to burn?

• Wow! Three extra pieces of firewood as a service!

It was a familiar action.
The crazy pyromaniacs from the Flame Tower usually did that.

Psychopaths who preferred the smell of burning flesh over the aroma of baking bread.

But.

‘Even they didn’t use such insane magic without batting an eye!’

Huh?
Ultra-precise incineration magic that burns only the target without even a hint of heat reaching the hand holding the staff?

What was that?

Who in their right mind would be a mercenary if such a thing existed?

And that ‘target’ wouldn’t be limited to a staff either.

There were many things in the world that burned better than a wooden stick.

For example, a drunken mercenary.

If they were sane, they’d follow Murray’s example and run.

But.

“V-Valt! Let’s run!”
“Don’t be ridiculous! Mercenaries don’t run!”

Valt grabbed his companion who was trying to flee without permission.

The three rules of shonen manga.

Friendship, effort, and victory.

And the greatest of these was sales.

It was okay to lose friendship, deny effort, and be defeated.

Sales justified everything.

And what guaranteed a mercenary’s sales was credibility.

A mercenary could abandon anything.

Except for their credibility.

That’s right.

Credibility was akin to life.

There was no retreating from an enemy for a mercenary.
If they betrayed a client, their mercenary career was over.

So Valt declared resolutely,

“Our client is the Painter’s Guild Master!”

I quit being a mercenary!

Just spare my life!

What?
If you betray your client, you’re finished?

Aha!

Then I’ll just retire!

“This is all because of that request! We just followed the order to bring you!”
“Oh, really?”

Then let’s go.

Chloe climbed into the carriage.

She was skilled, having ridden in it a few times before.

“?”

Why are you getting in?

Valt blinked.

Chloe blinked back.

“What are you doing? Aren’t we going?”

You said your superior called.

Then you have to go.

“Uh? Uh, uh…. W-We have to go, right?”
“R-Right. We have to go. That’s right.”
“Huh?”

Why are they acting like this?

Chloe, sitting in the carriage, tilted her head.
The mercenaries also tilted their heads.

“Is this right? Valt, is this really right?!”
“I don’t know, d@mn it! If you have a problem, why don’t you ask her if she’s okay with not going!”
“…Giddy up! Run, Speedy!”

• Neigh!

And so, the carriage traveled down the alley once more.

Carrying a kidnapper and victim, both with clueless expressions.

Chloe A. Turing.
Eight years old.
Fully cooperating with her own kidnapping.

This was why safety education for children was important.