A Bad Decision
Now that I think about it.
Master Rei and Miss Mary said I cannot use magic, which is true; I can't.
I tried casting some basic spells, and nothing came out. I couldn't even feel mana converging.
Not to mention, I haven't even had any magic lessons.
But... What if...
I stood up, dusted myself off, and ran after Marcus, who was walking to the mansion. My face had turned into a sea of anticipation. It wasn't a surprise, given that I had just come to a great realization.
Even the pain of standing up and talking was bearable.
"Old ma... Sir Marcus!"
Right after I had declared never to think out loud, I almost said the same thing that got me bruised.
He stopped and turned around to look at me.
Luckily, he did not hear me about to say old man, or maybe he did and chose to ignore it. Either way, it saved me from another crash course on what the old man is capable of.
"So, you are already healed and ready to keep practising?"
"No... Well yeah. But first, can you teach me enhancement magic? Like the one you just used."
He had those sparkly eyes. Finally, he found the kind of magic he could use, and this filled him with great joy and anticipation of the possibilities this would open.
He thought that since he couldn't use magic to influence natural phenomena, maybe he could use it on his body instead, like what Marcus did with Body Enhancement Magic.
"Sorry, child, but I cannot do that."
"But why?"
"Orders from the lady of the house."
Those words hit harder than the sword in his hand.
Marcus denied his request, shaking his head while he walked away.
His eyes closed, showing no sign of badging on the matter.
He was like the others: Reina and Mary, who also gave him the cold shoulder on the topic.
Not saying that there was a chance of Marcus teaching him the magic he so wanted to learn, but Krai not expecting this outcome was naive of him. Thus, the denial hit home.
Krai's sparkly eyes turned dark when Marcus crushed his dream.
His only chance to use magic. He wore a sombre expression, his head facing down.
Though his wish was crushed, he was not ready to give up.
However, under these conditions, with all the different negative emotions he was feeling, any action he took would only bear unsatisfactory results.
"This is not fair." His voice was down, almost hard to pick up anything he was saying. He complained to himself about the fairness of the situation.
"Body Enhancement Magic..."
"No!"
"...Mana Build."
Marcus turned around instantly the moment he heard him start the incantation and tried to stop him. It was as if he could see a horrific future, and stopping it took precedence over anything else.
But he was too late; he had already finished the incantation.
His body glowed like Marcus', but his technique was different. He was emitting a glow more brightly than Marcus and was absorbing more mana in the air at a rapid pace.
Even the wind was restless.
Marcus lunged to knock him unconscious, which would stop the magic.
**Swoosh!**
His sword missed its mark. There was no longer a person standing there; only an afterimage.
In his normal state, Marcus was slower than enhanced Krai.
So Marcus also applied his body enhancement magic, and they started chasing each other.
Well, more like Marcus was chasing after Krai.
This was done the moment he saw he couldn't catch him in his normal state. He didn't want to waste any time because every second with him applying that enhancement magic, he was slowly reaching that future they were trying to avoid.
Well, more like the future Reina was trying to avoid. She was the only one who knew the true depth of the matter.
"I did it... I'm using magic!"
Though Marcus kept edging him to stop... His warnings fell on deaf ears.
He was too overjoyed to listen to anything and wore a wide grin on his face. He was filled with an unimaginable glee, the likes of which he had yet to experience.
Marcus grew anxious with every passing second.
He was told not to let him use any magic, even enhancement magic, but the reason why was not offered.
His face showed anxiety about the unknown. He had only his imagination to lean on about the severity of the situation.
"Marcus! What the hell is going on?!"
A loud yell rang through the whole courtyard.
It was Reina and Mary who stood beside her.
"Master..." Said Mary.
She was in a panic. Krai was glowing. A glow he shouldn't have, according to Reina's words. She said he couldn't use magic, and when he did, they were not amazed; they were in a panic.
And so, when Mary spoke, she turned to the only person who had the information for the answers.
"I know."
They both were, but Reina had some clue about the situation.
This is not good.
He can't control that enhancement magic, and now he's absorbing all the mana in the area.
If he doesn't stop, we don't know what will happen.
"Mary, put up a barrier. That will at least cut off his supply of mana."
"Got it."
She broke free of her panicked state and began issuing orders to deal with the problem.
Mariada understood the order well, and then she knelt on one knee, placing both her hands on the ground.
"Space Capsule!"
Instantly, the courtyard was covered in a black barrier.
No chant, no magic circle. Just the name of the magic was enough to erect the barrier.
"Krai, stop this instant!"
"Master Rei, look!.. I can use mag-"
**Ba-dump!**
Everyone just stood there inside the barrier and watched as the glow he had started to dissipate.
He slowed down and came to an abrupt stop.
He did not even finish his joyous declaration to his master.
What's going on? I can't... move...
**Bang!**
They all ran towards him when they saw his body come crashing to the ground.
Blood spewing out of every opening on his face.
Not only that. He had cuts all over his body from the toll the magic and mana had taken on his body.
Like a tomato that absorbed too much water too quickly.
This was it.
"Krai!!"
Mary screamed his name.
The sight of him plummeting to the ground caused her to lose focus on her magic, which resulted in the barrier breaking.
☆☆☆
There's chatter in the whole adventurers' guild hall.
It is packed with men and women in all kinds of combat clothes.
Mages in their baggy clothes and pointy hats, tanks in their heavy armor and gigantic shields, attackers in their shiny, sparkling leather armor, and healers in their priestly white cloaks.
They all looked different, but they all had one profession – Being adventurers.
And this is the place where they come to get jobs, called Quests.
"What do you mean, quests are not being completed? That is simply impossible with the number of adventurers active here in Vismagia."
A bald man said, proudly and confidently, stating the obvious to the woman standing in front.
He filled the chair he was sitting in. Not to mention, the shirt he was wearing looked as if it were about to rip open under his bulky muscles.
The scars on his forearms marked him as a veteran in the adventuring business, and he wore a shirt with sleeves rolled up to show them off.
He remained confident in his words and continued to scribble in the folder on the table.
"What is the problem, really?"
"I'm talking about S rank quests, genius... And the problem is you don't let people finish talking before you can give your smug know-it-all feedback!"
She slammed the file she was carrying on the table.
Her short brown hair flailed around on impact.
"Okay! Okay! I get it. Come down, Kierra."
He raised his hands, signalling to her that he was surrendering, although his condescending voice and attitude suggested otherwise.
"Still, where are our S ranks?"
"Tell me, Guild Master Shugal..."
Kierra leaned forward, with their faces only inches apart.
She stared deep into his soul with her light brown eyes, causing Shugal to lean back like a timid dog.
"Do you remember 6 months ago when Reina came here all happy and energetic after finishing a quest?"
"Uhm! No."
He averted his eyes from hers and glanced to the side.
"I seem to remember a certain Guild Master giving her a one-year leave of absence. Don't you? Come on, you can tell me."
She pressed for answers, but that's not all. To make sure that she got the answers she wanted, she placed one knee on the table and started stroking Shugal's face with her hand.
Shugal took glances at her face, then her chest.
He was captivated by Kierra's body and charm.
His side glances were because he was lying, but his glances at her body were a result of Kierra seducing him.
"But I had a good reason to do that. She was going to retire, so I suggested a leave instead."
"Really?"
"Yes..."
Kierra was surprised and stopped her advances on Shugal.
And Shugal let out a big sigh of relief.
"Why didn't you say so?"
"I simply forgot... S-rank quests are rare, so I figured it would be okay."
"Well, S-rank adventures are rarer still..."
She picked up the file and opened it.
Tapping it with the back of her hand, looking at Shugal, who seemed somewhat unbothered by Kierra.
"What are we going to do about these long-overdue quests? We could have trained new S-rank adventurers if you had said something sooner."
"...Where's Zecorn?"
"Zecorn?... You know damn well Zecorn never stays in one place for too long.
It's been two years since he set foot in this guild."
Shugal then stood up and walked towards Kierra.
He took the file from her hand.
Then began to read out the content of the document in a mumbling voice.
Standing close to Shugal, Kierra appeared small in her average size. It wasn't that she was short and skinny; it was just that Shugal was bigger than the average person.
"But I suppose it was our own complacency for only relying on two anomalies as our go-to S ranks."
She was now shifting the blame to the whole guild management instead of the guild master alone. Their dependence on the two one-man adventure parties known as Reina and Zecorn was coming to bite them.
Shugal and Kierra are S-rank adventurers as well, or rather, they were S-rank adventurers, in the same party, even, and so could easily handle any S-rank quests that arise. However, their position made it difficult for them.
One quest in particular caught Shugal's eyes.
"Hmm! Who issued this quest?"
"Some guy in fancy clothes."
"...?"
They all stared at the file, looking puzzled.
"I can see why we need an S rank... The Zeus Woods." He said in a curious tone. "But why does it specifically ask for Reina?"
Special rank quests (S rank) refer to either a mission with no rank limit and anyone can take it, or a mission that only S rank adventurers are allowed to accept.
The Zeus Woods warrant the expertise of an S-rank adventurer.
It is full of strange phenomena; spirits wander through that forest, and it is also Elven territory.
Who could have issued this quest? Shugal thought.
He then closed the file and gave it to Kierra.
"Let's just... hmm?"
Both Shugal and Kierra became silent and stationary, as if they were suddenly hit with a paralysing spell.
Their bodies shivering and faces looking a little bit tense.
They were instantly flustered.
"You feel that?" Shugal asked.
A strange phenomenon was happening in town.
"What's going on?!"
"I don't know... but..."
Now, there was mass panic in the guild hall.
The once joyous and rowdy guild hall was now filled with panic and anxiety. Everyone was frightened and roamed the hall aimlessly.
It was the work of this strange phenomenon that caused mass panic and confusion.
It wasn't an attack or anything like that, nor was it a natural disaster that caused people to panic.
"I feel... Dizzy."
People started to feel woozy, and some fell to the ground.
Shugal stuck his head out the window behind his chair.
"What... The... Hell."
Kierra followed suit and stuck her head out, too.
Standing beside Shugal, she had a puzzled and terrified look.
She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
People were falling one after another, especially old people and some adventurers.
"Granny?... Granny?!"
"What is happening?! It's like mana is being drained out of their body," Kierra said.
Shugal looked at the people down below.
And then suddenly, he shifted his eyes to the sky, where an even stranger phenomenon was happening.
There were strands of different coloured mana flowing, all heading in one direction.
"No."
"Huh?"
"It's not that mana is being sucked out of them, well, not directly..."
"What do you mean?"
"Look up at the sky..."
Kierra shifted her gaze up at the sky, and she had the same expression as Shugal when he saw the mana flow.
"Mana is being sucked out of the air, and every living organism is releasing mana into the air to replenish it." Shugal continued. "The surroundings are losing mana fast, and they are losing it at a rapid pace, too."
He was right.
The air was restless, and the people and animals were losing consciousness due to losing too much mana.
They both just watched as people continued to feel weak and fall to the ground. There was nothing they could do to help.
"Shugal, look..."
Kierra pointed, and Shugal directed his eyes in the direction of her finger.
"Is that Reina's mansion?"
The mana was flowing in the direction of Reina's mansion.
Although they could not directly see where the mana was gathering, they had a lead on the situation.
As they were busy pondering the reason behind the direction of the mana flow.
It stopped.
It was all sudden, but the mana began to stabilise, and the flow disappeared.
The mass panic in town also began to calm down as people stopped falling.
What the hell is going on at Reina's mansion? Shugal and Kierra thought at the same time, as if their minds were in sync.
To my dear readers, apologies for the late update. I was busy with school all this time, but I was writing. Now that I'm free, I'm in the process of editing the first part (Chapter 1), which has 22+ episodes, and will be updating them daily.
I appreciate your understanding.
