As soon as Zich came out of the ruins, Hans and Lara were there waiting for him.
“We heard that you would be here.”
“Yeah, I just went to check up on Lyla for a bit.”
Hans looked at the hole that led to the ruins. “We heard that Lady Lyla won’t be able to wake up for the time being, sir.”
“Yeah.”
Hans sounded worried. Although he hadn’t known Lyla for that long, the experiences they shared weren’t just regular experiences. Thus, he did feel a sense of camaraderie with her too.
“Don’t worry too much. I’m going to wake her for sure by using any means possible.”
Hans felt that Zich had never sounded more determined than right now.
“Then, there’s really nothing for me to worry about, sir,” Hans said.
“Of course.”
Was it firm trust or blind faith? Although it hadn’t been long since she joined Zich’s party, Lara knew that the party’s members had almost an abnormal level of trust in Zich. She sometimes thought it was strange, but considering her last party that hadn’t the smallest ounce of trust, she simply felt envious of her companions.
“Did you guys go patrolling or something?”
“Yes, sir.”
Even if the Steelwalls had achieved a historical victory, they still suffered significant losses and damages. Before the situation with the Pinnes and Flauds could be diplomatically resolved, Count Steelwall needed to station armies to keep their hold there. However, he ran into a shortage of troops. Thus, Hans was helping to maintain Violsa’s security and public order in case any unexpected situations arose, as requested by the Count.
“We heard that Count Steelwall also made a request to see you, sir.”
“I ignored his request,” Zich said.
Both Hans and Lara smiled awkwardly.
“I already did enough to help him with his war. What more does he want from me? I had no reason to intervene in this war in the first place.”
“That’s true.”
Currently, Zich was the most skilled and powerful fighter in the estate. With his title as a dragon slayer, he could repress criminals and other organizations from acting against them. Yet, Zich was leisurely playing around right now without doing anything. However, no one said anything to him.
“Sir Count called for you.”
“I don’t want to see that guy’s face.” Zich had followed the Count’s orders because it was necessary to do so until now, but there was no need for him to do that anymore. Zich’s behavior was just as Hans and the Count expected. Thus, Hans immediately relayed the next piece of information the Count told him to tell Zich.
“He said Count Dracul and Lady Rouge are coming here, and he wants to speak about the matter.”
The Dracul and Rouge families were very important families for Count Steelwall. Their families had given the Count their support while even the royal family hesitated to provide any aid. Count Dracul was a noble from another country, but this was of little importance; instead, the Count was especially grateful for Count Dracul’s support in a war completely unrelated to him. Thus, upon hearing that these two were coming, the Count accepted their visit even when the chaos hadn’t settled down yet after the war. Of course, he also made a political decision knowing that it would be advantageous to continue to build a relationship with these families.
“Those two are coming?” Zich said. The mention of their names changed his mind. “Okay, I will go then.”
Unlike others who received the Count’s order, Zich didn’t move fast. He moved slowly like an old man on a walk.
“By the way, how are your former companions doing? I heard that you go to see them sometimes,” Zich asked Lara.
Chelsea Windne and Pina Acous were both still in Violsa. Although the story of this war was starting to wrap up with all the blame placed on Count Flaud, people were still worried about those who had been former enemies. But those two were different. Although they had fought alongside their enemies, they helped Zich fight the dragon in the end. In some ways, they were part of the group of dragon slayers. Thus, they were permitted to stay in Violsa with some light surveillance.
“Yes, both of them want to see you, Mr. Zich.”
“I’m sure they do.”
Those two moved according to what would give them fame and glory. Zich even admired their strong desire for these things as they had managed to assess the situation so quickly and decided to join Zich’s party.
‘They’re surprisingly useful. No wonder Glen Zenard kept them around.”
As soon as those two realized that Glen Zenard was a sinking ship, they changed sides and managed to grab titles as dragon slayers. They prevented their reputations from going to the gutter and created possibilities for them to rise again. Of course, these facts didn’t erase the fact that they previously sided with the enemy, especially one that was revealed to have ties with the Bellids. This was especially detrimental for Chelsea. It was a completely different matter for a normal person to get tricked by a Bellid than a Karuwiman follower. Even though she had left her role in the Karuwimans for this battle, Zich easily found out that Chelsea still had deep longings for the religious organization.
‘I could use them when dealing with the mastermind,’ Zich thought. Then, those two could gain the fame they so desired while Zich had more cards up his sleeves. It didn’t matter if Chelsea was full of selfish desires to return to the Karuwimans and replace Lubella for the Saintess position.
‘As if I have to even worry about Lubella getting pushed out,’ Zich thought. There would be no more meaningless worries than that.
“I will see them later,” Zich finally said to Lara. “Since they helped us defeat the dragon, I am open to accepting their requests if they are within reason.”
Lara appeared slightly relieved. It seemed like she wanted to still take care of her past companions. The three walked up to the Steelwall mansion when they saw a splendid path of fire shoot out from a distance.
Pop! The flames caught everyone’s attention.
“It’s from the military exercise hall. Doesn’t that mean it's Elena?”
“It seems like Sir Dwayne is overseeing her magic.”
Zich changed the direction of his feet toward the exercise hall.
“Sir Zich? The Count is still waiting for you to see him.”
“Tell him to wait. If he doesn’t want to, that guy can come to me himself,” Zich said and strolled to the exercise hall. Hans let out a slight sigh, and Lara was just as taken aback as him. However, they followed Zich. When they arrived at the exercise hall, they saw the scene that they had expected. Elena was reciting spells under Walwiss’ guidance. There was also Snoc. He was acting as Elena’s sparring partner.
“Ah, it’s Zich.” When Walwiss noticed Zich, he called for a break. However, he narrowed his eyes when he saw Snoc approach Elena immediately after the announcement.
Disgruntled, Walwiss asked Snoc, “Were you hurt anywhere?”
Although the content of his words seemed to be asking in case Snoc had gotten hurt during this training, his tone revealed his true sentiments. ‘It would be great if any of your body parts were destroyed!’
“I am fine, sir. Elena adjusted her magic well,” Snoc replied.
“…Thank goodness then.”
Watching the two, Hans thought there was no soul behind Walwiss’ words.
“Stop it, Grandpa!” Elena shouted from behind.
“What did I do?” Walwiss feigned ignorance to his granddaughter’s warning, but he evaded her eyes and said while pointing at Snoc, “I only spoke in concern for this guy…Ah!”
Walwiss let out a sudden scream. Seeing Walwiss’ finger hovering over him, Nowem had bitten his finger. Of course, it resulted in no big injuries since Nowem had bitten him half-jokingly and half out of revenge. Yet, seeing Walwiss’ response, it seemed like the pain that it caused was considerable.
“Hey, you damn rat!” As Walwiss waved his staff in the air, Nowem jumped down from Snoc’s shoulder, climbed Elena’s body, and sat on top of her shoulder. Then, he stuck his tongue out at Walwiss. Unable to swing his staff at his granddaughter, Walwiss could only tremble in rage and glare at Nowem.
“A-Are you all right?” Snoc quickly tried to check on Walwiss’ finger in surprise, but Walwiss shooed him off with his hands. Walwiss acted a bit mean to Snoc since he was a young man who had become very close to his granddaughter in his absence, but he didn’t really dislike Snoc either. Thus, Walwiss didn’t plan to get any angrier over this matter where Snoc held no blame; but of course, if someone mentioned his attitude toward Snoc, Walwiss would feign ignorance again.
“Were you looking over Elena’s magic?” Zich asked Walwiss.
“Yes. It hasn’t been long since she began using magic, but she has progressed so much. I’m sure her skills will grow even more if I teach her well now.” Pride oozed out of Walwiss’ words when he talked about Elena.
Soon, Walwiss changed the topic and asked, “Besides that, is Ms. Lyla all right?”
Walwiss was naturally worried about his granddaughter’s splendid master, who had developed Elena’s skills and was also an outstanding mage like him. Elena also came closer when Lyla's name was mentioned.
“She’s fine. She will wake up in a bit.”
“If that’s the case, I’m relieved but…”
Since he didn’t want to explain everything about the Clowon Empire, Zich told everyone that Lyla wasn’t coming out of the ruin because she had to take care of some personal business. Yet, to Walwiss and some other quick-witted people who sensed that something wrong must have happened to Lyla, Zich told them that Lyla was unconscious at the moment and couldn’t get out of the ruins.
“Is there any way that I can help?” Elena asked.
“Not right now. I will tell you right away if there’s something for you to do in the future. So, until then, focus on improving your magic skills,” Zich answered.
“Yes, sir!” There was strong determination in her voice.
“Come to think of it, Sir Dwayne, I heard that you are spending a lot of time researching magic these days,” Zich then mentioned.
“Ah, yes. I’m glad you mentioned that.” After requesting to Count Steelwall to borrow a small building in a secluded place, Walwiss was spending all his time there except for when he trained Elena.
“I mean, there was a huge incident that we have to investigate this time,” Walwiss added.
“Are you talking about the dragon’s magic?”
“Yes. I always prided myself on being well-versed in magic. I thought that no one in the world could use magic better than me. To be honest, I thought I didn’t even lag behind elves in that regard.”
If others had said the same thing as Walwiss, people would have reprimanded them for being so conceited. Yet, it was different coming from Walwiss. He really was the best in magic to the point that he could be called the Demon Lord of Magic in other timelines. Perhaps, he wouldn’t be able to beat Lyla if she gained all her memories back, but everyone else wouldn’t be able to surpass Walwiss in the field of magic.
Thus, Zich said, “You’re not wrong.”
“No, that’s not true. Didn’t you also experience the dragon’s magic? Its power, speed, and the number it simultaneously shot. In the field of magic, it was superior to me in every regard in terms of power, speed, and magic attacks. This experience made me realize I was also trapped in my own world.”
“Well, this is a dragon we are talking about.”
“Even if our species are different, as long as I have proclaimed myself as the master of magic, I want to take on a challenge in this new world.”