50

Among the three seven-circle Wizards of the Icarus Wizard Tower, Regulus was the only one who had a strained relationship with Benjamin. Sirius, the owner of the Wizard Tower, helped Benjamin in many ways for decades since the latter had entered the Wizard Tower. So Benjamin regarded Sirius as his master. The other seven-circle Wizard Denebola was Benjamin’s best friend. However, Benjamin and Regulus, who had become six-circle masters around the same time, had been in competition since childhood. Benjamin had been ahead of Regulus by a sound margin for decades, but in the end, Regulus had been the first to reach the level of a seven-circle Wizard, while Benjamin had not been able to break the wall of the seventh circle for more than a decade. Regulus’ original name was Jack, but he changed his name after becoming a seven-circle Wizard. It was known that there were only thirteen seven-circle Wizards throughout the whole continent, and most of them changed their names after engraving the seventh circle on their heart, about which no one argued against.

“I had a few difficulties, but I overcame them well after meeting good young friends. I’ll never forget the experiences in the Scandia Kingdom.”

Regulus showed a cynical facial expression at Benjamin’s remarks and briefed him on why he came to Greenhorn.

“…... so I joined the dragon hunt planned by Duke Cronos. Why don’t you join us, too? I’ve already received permission from Sirius for your joining my party.”

Though hurt by Regulus’ unilateral notice, it was hard for Benjamin to overcome the temptation of the dragon’s magic books.

“All right. I’ll go with your party.”

Benjamin, who exited Regulus’ room, went to his disciple Simon’s room.

“How have you been, Master? I was worried when I heard the news of the incidents that happened to you.”

Simon had been Benjamin’s most cherished disciple since he was just eight years old. Benjamin was thinking about various ways to make Simon, who had already become a five-circle-expert mage in his twenties, a seven-circle Wizard as soon as possible. Simon was a disciple like his own son for Benjamin, who had still not been married even after reaching the age of sixty.

“There were difficulties, but meeting great young swordsmen made the troubles a blessing in disguise.”

Benjamin told Simon in detail what had happened since he had met Id and Sasha. Having listened to Benjamin for over an hour, Simon asked a question.

“Are you saying that the manna circulation method that Id created could also help sorcerers?”

“Nothing is certain yet, but I think it might help me break through the wall of the seventh circle, judging from the fact that Lara carved the third and fourth circles on her heart simultaneously. If you are interested, I can teach you Id’s method. Later, I’ll introduce you to Id so that you can talk to him in person.”

Simon was half in doubt. But knowing how much his master cared about him, Simon couldn’t help but believe in what Benjamin said to a certain extent. Still, it was hard to believe that a young man less than twenty years old had created such a marvelous method of manna circulation.

************

It has been ten days since Id’s party had entered the mountain. Sasha was unsure because there was no clear border in the mountains, but he felt as though they had entered the territory of the Icarus Empire because rangers, who had not been seen before, had appeared for the last few days. The rangers seemed well-trained and agile in their movements, but the party circumvented them without much strain. Approaching close to the party in the forest, not being noticed by the elf Selena, was almost impossible even for the rangers, no matter how well they were trained. Several rangers found traces of Id’s party, but no one could find them. Though Id was not afraid of encountering rangers, he did not want to go through unnecessary troubles. So, he was looking for a large cave where they could set camp without being exposed to the outside during the night.

When the sun slowly sloped westward, Id, who finally found an adequate cave, went inside alone to check if there were any dangerous beasts or monsters, leaving his party outside. About twenty meters inside the cave, Id found a small human figure running toward him from the opposite side rapidly. As Id put his hand on the hilt of his sword, wary of the figure, several Magic Arrows flew at him with a sharp wind-piercing sound. As Id swung his sword to deflect the Magic Arrows, a Magic Missile followed them. Having extinguished the Magic Missile brandishing his sword from top to bottom, Id ran toward the opponent who launched the magic attacks. Although not outwardly noticeable, Id was astonished. He had already encountered some high-level sorcerers and even fought a seven-circle Wizard Torres. Still, Id had never seen a sorcerer who had carried out magic attacks as fast as the opponent in front of him. The power of the spells were not particularly superior to that of other sorcerers, but the time for chanting a spell was significantly shorter than even the Wizard Torres’. He even questioned if the opponent was chanting at all. It looked like the magic attacks were carried out with just a chant of initiators.

Id, who was rushing to the opponent, suddenly stopped. It was so dark in the cave that he had not noticed it earlier, but he realized that his opponent was a small girl looking to be about twelve years old when he saw her up close. The girl also opened her eyes wide and looked at Id with incredulous expressions.

“Who are you? Why did you attack me all of a sudden?”

The girl asked a question instead of answering Id.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?”

Id gazed at the girl calmly for a while before answering.

“I am Id. I was looking for a cave big enough to set a bonfire inside with my companions.”

“A scary monster lives in this cave. She’s not here at the moment because she’s out hunting, but if she sees you, you won’t be safe. Follow me. I know a suitable cave nearby for your purpose, so spend the night there and leave early in the morning.”

The girl ran out of the cave, only having said what she wanted to say and not waiting for Id’s answer. Numerous questions crossed Id’s mind, but he quietly followed the girl. She ran past Id’s party outside the cave and into the forest on the opposite side. Lara shouted, looking at Id following a small girl.

“Id, what happened? Who’s that girl?

“Just follow me for now. I don’t know much about her, either.”

Just saying so, Id followed the girl into the woods. The rest of the party had no choice but to follow him.

About five hundred meters into the forest, a cliff was blocking the front, and there was a small pond in front of the cliff. A waterfall was falling from the cliff into the pond, but it has not rained much lately, so the quantity of the water was not much. Turning alongside the pond, the girl approached the waterfall and then went straight behind it. As Id followed the girl, the rest of the party also entered the cave behind the waterfall. The cave was pretty spacious, and its ceiling was high, but it was so dark inside that they could not identify their surroundings clearly.

“Didn’t you say you’d build a bonfire in the cave? There’s no firewood here. If you want to make a fire, go get some firewood.”

As Id and Sasha went outside to collect the dry branches, only the three girls were left in the cave. The small girl questioned Selena.

“Elf, why are you with humans?”

Selena looked at the girl with a stiff look, not answering her question. Then the girl asked Lara.

“What do you have to do with that Id fellow?”

Lara found the girl’s personality interesting. It was strange for a little girl to stay alone in the mountain, and it was also interesting to see a young girl who had no particular reactions after seeing an elf.

“The four of us are friends. I am Lara, and she is Selena. What’s your name?”

“I am Spica. Well, friends? Interesting. Three human kids and a little elf are friends…….”

“Did you call us kids? But you are a kid!”

Spica was lost in thought without responding to Lara’s outburst. As Selena also seemed to be musing about something, Lara said nothing more. When the silence among the three girls grew longer, Id and Sasha returned. Sasha was carrying a deer on his shoulder, and Id was holding a large bundle of dry branches. Lara and Spica were delighted at the sight of the deer. Spica's eyes were shining brightly. Lara cheered towards Sasha.

“You’ve caught a big deer. That’s great, I’m starving already.”