[605] To someone (3)
Liz asked.
“what?”
“Do you know who Mr. Oscar met?”
“That’s right, branch manager…”
“My daughter joined us. They walked arm in arm and went home. Do you really have any clues?”
It was a lie if it wasn’t.
Even if he obtained official recognition, judging from Oscar’s skills, it was impossible to get a job with the association through special recruitment.
“You must be mistaken. The branch manager’s daughter could have just joined in and escorted it.”
Given the circumstances, such an interpretation is possible, but he was not so stupid as to not feel the subtle lines of emotion between a man and a woman.
“I am not lying. If you had seen it in person, you would have believed me.”
Liz was ashamed.
“stop. Why are you doing this? It doesn’t change anything because you’re like this. You know that too, right?”
“Why doesn’t anything change? Oscar-san doesn’t truly love you!”
“Even so, it’s my job! I don’t want to hear anything like this from you! Don’t mess with even the good memories!”
“Senior…”
It must be their own secret that no one knows what kind of school days Liz and Nade spent, but that was just a good memory now.
“Stop leaving. I think meeting you was a mistake. Even if Oscar has another woman…”
Liz bit her lip and squeezed out the words desperately.
“I will never go to you.”
Feeling the sky collapsing, Nade lowered his head and fled helplessly out of Liz’s room.
* * *
“Mom! mom!”
Nade was eight years old.
The West family’s fortunes were on the decline, and on their way to the capital to get a loan, they were attacked by Chickenhead bandits.
The carriage was overturned, and the family members were captured by the bandits and brutally murdered.
Nade’s mother Teria stamped her feet toward the only carriage standing, but was caught by bandits shortly thereafter.
“Khehehe! Where are you going to run away to!”
The chickenhead bandits were all half-mad, and the one who attacked Teria stuck out his pierced tongue.
“Isn’t this a great beauty? From now on you are mine!”
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Hearing Teria’s insane screams, Nade attacked the bandits without hesitation.
“Free my mother!”
“Quack. It’s too bad, kid.”
One blow was enough to deal with a mere eight-year-old, he thought.
However, the thieves, who raised their swords, opened their eyes wide when they saw blue electricity flying toward Myung-chi.
“Keugh!”
Shocked, he flew away, and the eyes of those present at the scene of the slaughter focused on the child.
“Magic? A kid like that?”
The driver who was waiting in the carriage shouted.
“Come on, get on!”
The wagon had already started running, and Teria and Nade chased after it with all their might.
Teria rode first, and Nade, who fell behind by a narrow margin, fell prey to the thieves.
“mom! mom!”
Teria’s face turned pale as she watched Ned captured by the thieves in the fast-moving carriage.
“mum…!”
It was a voice that seemed to contain all human anguish.
“Stop! stop!”
“It’s not possible! Even if we go, there is no way to rescue them! Anyone can call for support once they get out alive!”
“Mom!”
Nade’s screams echoed through the mountains.
* * *
“Ha ha.”
a cold morning.
A sigh emanated from Ned’s mouth as he crouched on the side of the road and looked up at the Dolphin Inn.
No one was passing by, only the diligent birds chirping in the forest far away.
“I knew it would be like this.”
Oscar still hasn’t returned.
I don’t know if he will tell Liz that the story is getting longer, but Nade, who saw the scene of the incident in person, drew all the circumstances.
Of course, it would have been a difficult offer to refuse.
While attending magic school, I know how fiercely wizards compete and how eager they are for success.
If the headquarters manager’s daughter flirted with him, he, who came from an infamous family, would have no choice but to be shaken.
‘It doesn’t matter.’
Because the most important thing for everyone is different.
‘Aren’t you thinking about the hurt Liz-senpai will get?’
What was upsetting was Oscar’s handling.
If success comes before love, then what is an engagement and why did Liz bring her here?
‘There must be only one reason.’
Just as Nade’s eyes grew cold, he saw Oscar wearing a coat from afar walking towards him, looking exhausted.
He didn’t know what to say in front of Liz, but he didn’t seem guilty as he walked away lightly.
“You are very busy. Going this way and that.”
Oscar turned his head at the sudden quarrel heard on the side of the road, confirmed that it was Nade, and widened his eyes.
“What are you? Did you wait here all night?”
“You look good. Did you have a good talk with the general manager?”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
At first, Oscar was embarrassed, but like a wizard, he quickly judged the situation, and anger soon showed on his face.
“Are you following me? I guess I’m not a lamb. You really are a nasty bastard.”
“Let’s talk for a minute.”
Oscar snorted and turned away.
“why me? And I don’t know what the misunderstanding is, but I just went to the general manager’s house for a contract.”
“If you’re so confident, can I tell you the truth?”
“haha! to Liz? However much. Do you think Liz would believe the words of someone blinded by jealousy like you?”
“no. In the press room.”
Oscar’s expression hardened.
“If what I saw is correct, as a certified mage, you have committed a serious crime that has tarnished the kingdom’s honor. After having an affair with the branch manager’s daughter, he entered the association with that privilege? What will happen if this is known?”
Although he is a self-willed wizard, a public figure who feeds on the nation’s rust has morals to uphold.
“…what do you want?”
“So, let’s talk.”
Oscar made sure no one was around and walked towards Ned.
“good. Go where you want.”
When Nade, leaning on Oscar’s shoulder, casts a spatial shift, the flashlight bends with a roar, and the scenery changes.
It was a clearing in the woods outside of Creas, and Oscar laughed after checking the geography.
“As expected, he’s a lamb. Did you think I would be scared if I brought you to a place like this? Even if you look at a public figure as a pawn… Gap!”
Nade’s fist turned Oscar’s jaw.
“You bastard!”
Oscar’s eyes lit up as he turned his head back, but Nade was no longer there.
Nade, who moved so fast that human nerves couldn’t keep up, did his best not to lose his temper.
‘Great!’
However, when the emotions he had suppressed for the present were released, a terrifying intent to kill began to erode his mind.
“Gagging!”
Once again, a fist flew from an unexpected place, and this time Oscar had no choice but to fall.
‘shit! What is it?’
A much more flickering movement than teleportation.
It could be the Unlocker’s proprietary flicker magic, but if it was, Liz would have said it.
“Don’t act weird and come out! You cowardly child!”
“Who are you talking to?”
Oscar turned his head in the direction of the voice, but to his dismay, the fist flew in the opposite direction.
A fist punched him in the cheek, and Oscar’s body spun and fell to the floor.
All I feel is humiliation.
“Aaaaaaa!”
Oscar, who finally opened his eyes to the murderous intent, opened the distance by teleportation and then equipped his two hands with his long-term fire magic.
“I will kill you!”
I shouted loudly, but I was frustrated because I couldn’t find anyone to vent my anger on.
‘shit! Where the hell are you!’
Nade’s presence was not detected even when the Spirit Zone encroached on a radius of several tens of meters.
‘Is it further away?’
Unexpectedly, a straight punch from an unexpected place sent Oscar rolling to the floor.
“Keugh!”
He spat bloody saliva and fell on his stomach as the sound of quiet cat-like footsteps approached him.
“wake up.”
Contrary to what was said, what followed was a brutal beating, and as if determined to kill Ned, his feet began to trample on Oscar.
“Turn it off!”
As he let out a groan while crouching down, Nade, who slowly opened the distance, immediately ran and kicked him in the pit of the stomach.
“Ah!”
Oscar flipped over and wriggled, and only then did Nade catch his breath, shaking his head.
“wake up.”
It was a magical achievement to be able to control the phenomenon with just this amount of resentment, but the feeling was the worst ever.
“Get up. Please. Don’t let it end here.”
“You you you bastard…!”
Nade’s foot kicked him in the jaw as Oscar pushed his limbs off his face.
“Quaaaaagh!”
“wake up.”
Oscar, blinded by the impossible spell, squirmed and crawled and leaned against the trunk of the tree.
“Just lose. If you want to lose, lose.”
There was no way to fight an invisible opponent, so there was nothing to do but gauge the difference in level.
“Is this the last pride? Try struggling at least.”
“joy. Are you just annoying me anyway? You’ll think you stepped on shit, so let go. And get out of my life.”
“I can’t do that. You know I’m a bully, right?”
Oscar’s already painful face crumpled even more.
“Why are you doing this? What are you going to do by ruining me? Wouldn’t it be good for you if I broke up with Liz?”
“Pray. Go to her and beg her. I said I went out of my mind and I won’t do that from now on, I pray that your hands become your feet.”
Oscar was dazed for a moment.
“Innocent child. So what are you left with? Do you think that pure love will work? What women want is sweet lies, not trivial sincerity.”
“Maybe.”
said Nade, squatting in front of Oscar.
“If I pretended to be cool, if I didn’t procrastinate, if I had overused that sweet lie you said, my senior could have come to me.”
Nade’s hand squeezed Oscar’s throat.
“Turn it off!”
“But, there are people who are so precious that you can only treat them sincerely.”
Oscar’s airway was blocked, and his limbs struggled.
“You must have been like that at first. Even the sound of their breath was sweet, and it seemed like their minds would fly away just by looking into their eyes. Do you weigh her against success?”
Nade’s face contorted like a monster.
“One should have given up. In that sweet lie you said, the satisfaction of winning a woman’s heart like that… is there really no sense of responsibility?”
‘This bastard is out of his mind.’
In Ned’s eyes, there was a supernatural intent to kill that humans couldn’t contain.
It wasn’t until the thought that I could die here became a reality that the accident started looking for a hole to escape.
‘Yes, I’m a public figure. This is self-defense.’
The opponent was a ruthless man without a magician’s license, and he was the one who was beaten one-sidedly.
“okay. Got it. I will do as you ask.”
As Nade slowly backed away, Oscar stroked his bruised neck and asked one last time.
“Do you really have to go this far? I was betting my life on it too. Isn’t it good for each other if we just end it like this?”
“That’s for Liz-senpai to decide. tell the truth and pray You will never get a job at the Magic Association.”
“ha. It’s really frustrating.”
Oscar lowered his head as if resigned, and touched the ring he was wearing with his hand behind his back.
‘If you enter the Spirit Zone, it’s over.’
A certified wizard earning a decent income would carry at least some magic weapon to use in an emergency.
“Yes, it seems like Liz is everything in the world right now. But you’ll know when you get older. I don’t know about you, a student, but…”
Oscar held out his fist.
“The grown-up world is a harsh law.”
As the Lightning Thunder magic contained in the magic ring was activated, a bolt of lightning fell on the top of Nade’s head.
—————————————
