CH 157

Ch. 157: The Cat and the Wizard

Igni walked Elie back to the castle, and coming back to the inn after several days of absence, he found Yoori and Sara inside the room.

Yoori: “Welcome back, Igni.” Sara: “You’re late!”

Igni: “I’m back.” It’s been 3 days, but Yoori and Sara looked the same as when he left.

Igni: “Sara, I had to borrow some Magic from you, but were you okay?” Sara: “Magic? I didn’t notice.”

The [Path] between them passes both ways, and Igni was certain that he borrowed a significant amount from her, but Sara did not seem to care or mind.

He could definitively say that her Magic reserves must be close to bottomless.

Igni: “I see. Thanks anyways.”

Sara: “It’s okay. If it helped, I’m glad.”

And with that Sara smiled with satisfaction as she nodded.

Yoori: “So what happened to the Dragon, Igni?”

Igni: “We worked it out.”

Yoori: “I see. As expected of you. Were you able to slay it?” Igni: “No.” Yoori: “Then you let it go?”

Igni: “Nope.” Yoori: “Huh? Then, what happened?” Igni: “We convinced it to change its form to a human.”

Yoori: “Is that really possible?!”

Yoori’s reaction was no surprise.

Only in fairy tales, has he ever heard of Dragons turning into people

There’s not that many people who believe that fantastic things like that happen in the real world.

Igni: “Yeah, she’s at the castle right now……….and she’ll probably come back to the Academy with us.” Yoori: “ThーThe Academy? The “Frozen Winter” Hayem will……?”

Igni: “Yeah…….” She believes that being with Igni will help her become a Magician. Since Igni is not hiding the fact that he can use <Magic>, there’s no issue if she sticks by him, but he is worried about what the professors will say.

If it’s the Rolmod Wizard Academy’s faculty, they will most likely allow Hayem to be around Igni…….is what Igni thinks, but if they reject his proposal, it’ll be very troublesome. And so, Igni decided to stop thinking about the issue altogether.

Igni: “Oh yeah, have you two had dinner?” Yoori: “No, not yet.” Sara: “I’m hungry!”

Igni: “Then let’s go out somewhere to eat.”

Yoori: “Yeah, that sounds good.”

The 3 hungry kids walked out into the main street and ran into a familiar face while looking for some place to eat.

“Hm? Oh, it’s Igni.” Igni: “It’s been a while, Fram.” It was the red-haired young man that Igni could not help but feel that it was similar to himself.

But he was dressed differently this time.

He held a short staff and had a pouch around his waist.

His clothes were different too, and it must have been for combat. The material was thicker, and it looked to be made from Magic-Conductive-resistant materials to protect him from Spells.

Igni: “Are you going somewhere?” Fram: “Yeah, we got a job to do.”

Fram shrugged as he answered Igni.

Looking next to Fram, Igni saw that black-haird man with a sword at his waist.

Igni: “........so you were a swordsman.” “Yeah, I’m the vanguard, and Fram is the rearguard. Oh, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Sol. Just Sol. Nice to meet you.”

Yeah: “Yeah, nice to meet you.”

But Igni did not feel the same familiarity from Sol as he did with Fram and wondered if it was because Sol was a swordsman.

Igni: (No, there’s something about him, that I can’t put into words……)

But as Igni thought, Yoori opened his mouth to speak.

Yoori: “A job? So you are going on a Quest?” Fram: “Yup. We’re going to the underground labyrinth dungeon to explore. I guess students like yourselves don’t explore dungeons much?”

Yoori: “We have classes that do in later semesters.” Fram: “I see. That’s a Wizard’s Academy for ya. You have a class for it? I wish I went to school then.”

Sol: “An idiot like you wouldn’t be able to make it there.”

Fram: “What you say?”

Fram was genuinely impressed with the curriculum offered at the Academy, but furrowed his brows at Sol’s comment.

Fram: “Well, I’m sure there are things that they can’t teach at school that happens during real combat, so be careful if you ever do.”

Yoori: “Oh, yes! Thank you. We’ll keep that in mind.”

Fram patted Yoori on the shoulder and headed to outside of town with Sol.

Sara: “Igni.” Igni: “Hm?” As they watched Fram and Sol leave the city, Sara turned to Igni.

Sara: “Why are they going during the night?” Igni: “That’s because at night, the Monsters become active.” Sara: “Is that a good thing?” Igni: “It makes it easier to collect materials from the Monsters. That’s why you can make more money.”

Sara: “Then shouldn’t everyone go during the night time?” Igni: “Haha, it would be great if everyone could, but when the Monsters are active, they become stronger, so that makes it more difficult.”

Sara: “...........is it dangerous?” Igni: “It is. But those two are B-Rank Adventurers so they should be fine.”

Sara: “I see.” Sara looked impressed and surprised as she watched the two in the distance. With knew knowledge and insight, many thoughts swirled around her head as she watched them disappear.

Igni, Sara, and Yoori selected a random tavern, and after eating dinner, returned to the inn. When they entered the tavern, it was before the sun was setting, but as they left, night had arrived. A chilly breeze cooled their reddened cheeks.

Yoori: “Oh yeah, Igni. When will your grandfather come back?”

Igni: “Hmmm, I wonder when he will be back. Well, he’ll be back sooner or later.”

Though it was a vague answer, Igni could not predict his grandfather’s return, so there was no other way for him to answer that question.

Sara: “Igni, there’s a kitty cat.”

Igni: “Hm? Oh, look at that. It’s a cute thing.”

In the darkness, Sara pointed to one cat she found. From the back alleyway, it had poked its head out slightly to look towards their direction, and otherwise, it was just an ordinary cat.

Igni: “I’m surprised that you saw it.”

Sara: “Hehe, there’s lots of kitties around here. Did you know?” And Sara smiled proudly.

Igni: (So cute.)

And Igni did not know that there were many cats around the Imperial Capital. And as Igni approached the cat to try and pet it, the cat opened its mouth.

[I finally found you, Igni.]

Sara: “The kitty talked!!”

Yoori: “What?! How?!”

Sara and Yoori were shocked.

For a brief second, Igni believed that he was now so Popular that cats were even wanting his attention, but the familiar voice immediately triggered a deep search into his brain’s database and identified the owner.

Igni: “MーMiss Celia?!”

And it was undoubtedly Celia’s voice.

Yoori: “Huh? Oh, you’re right! That is Miss Celia’s voice.” And it took a moment, but Yoori noticed the similarity to Celia’s voice as well.

Yoori was taken hostage by Celia once.

It did not take him long to remember Celia’s voice.

[Just call me Celia. I need to speak with you.]

The cat remained just a cat and spoke to the three.

[Igni, I need you to protect Allie and Elie.]

And the [Extreme] of [Life] had a favor to ask the Wizard.