Chapter 206: Wood and Mushrooms

Kira was nothing like a grand noble of a duchy. She charged into the dust and sand alone, completely unconcerned by the filth.

However, it didn’t take long before she rushed back out again.

With a guarded expression, she scanned her surroundings. One of her arms had transformed into a short sword, raised defensively in front of her.

But once the dust settled, she couldn’t find any trace of Victor.

“Ran off?” She sounded disappointed as she retracted her weapons.

The two greatswords melted into liquid and flowed along her arms, vanishing into her sleeves.

Despite the size of the swords, Kira’s figure remained unchanged. Saul couldn’t tell where she had stored such massive weapons.

Hiding behind a pile of debris, Saul stood up.

Seeing the proud Second Rank wizard approaching, he hurriedly kicked the coachman, who was still curled up on the ground.

“That Second Rank—whoever he is—why was he after you? And who exactly are you?”

Saul quickly pulled out his apprentice badge and held it up for Kira to see. “Lady Kira, I’m a Tower apprentice. I came here for an external mission and happened upon him by accident. He seems to have been lurking here for some time, harming both commoners and wandering wizards.”

Kira glanced at his badge and curled her lip slightly, as if unimpressed.

But then, as if something occurred to her, she gave a cold, humorless smile. “Provoking an unknown Second Rank wizard? That’s no small matter. I’ll take you back to the Tower. Let your Tower Master interrogate you properly.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she raised her right hand and snapped her fingers.

Instead of the usual sound of skin and bone, Kira’s snap rang out like metal clashing.

Her words left Saul speechless.

If stepping into Victor’s trap by accident counted as provoking him, then what was Kira doing by repeatedly charging in with giant swords, ignoring all warnings?

Picking a fight? Aggro bait?

Still, she was a Second Rank wizard. Saul knew better than to argue.

A giant bird descended from the sky.

As it neared the ground, Kira grabbed Saul, small and skinny, and leapt directly onto the bird’s back with him.

The bird’s back was uneven and had no saddle or anything to sit on.

Kira stood steadily atop it with no difficulty.

Saul, on the other hand, was having a miserable time. He could only lie flat, clutching the bird’s feathers with both hands to avoid sliding off.

But the feathers were smooth and slick, offering no grip at all.

Up front, Kira seemed lost in thought. Apart from shielding them from wind resistance, she simply stood there silently, offering no help.

Saul sighed, realizing he couldn’t count on the battle maniac.

He muttered a chant and cast a rarely used adhesion spell, sticking his rear and thighs firmly to the bird’s back so he wouldn’t fall.

Only after ensuring he was secure did he start to worry about others.

The coachman had apparently been left behind again.

As the bird ascended rapidly, the figure on the ground grew smaller and smaller.

Once they were out of communication range, Saul could only wave at the coachman below, signaling him to return to the Tower on his own.

The coachman helplessly watched Saul vanish into the sky with the terrifying Second Rank wizard.

He was a bit worried for the kind young apprentice, but he knew he had no right to intervene.

He shook the mushroom on his head, then deftly climbed over the barrier and debris blocking the road and headed for the carriage parked under a nearby eave.

The horses raised by the Tower were all excellent. Even after the massive commotion, the steed merely shifted restlessly and hadn’t bolted.

The coachman patted the horse’s mane to calm it down, then climbed into the driver’s seat and tugged the reins to turn the carriage around.

The earlier chaos had plunged the entire town of Sawp into an eerie silence. Not a single resident came out to investigate—every door was shut tight, with people hiding inside.

The carriage rolled smoothly out of the town and onto the countryside road leading to the Tower.

Beneath the coachman’s feet, amid a pile of miscellaneous items, lay a small, dust-covered jar.

As the carriage bumped along, the jar occasionally gave off the crisp clink of coins rattling inside.

After the coachman left the town where the Ralph estate once stood, the sky above the ruins gradually cleared. Sunlight once again bathed the land, illuminating the remains of the destroyed Ralph estate.

Suddenly, a stone slab on the ground tilted upward. A hand reached out and slowly pushed the slab aside.

A boy—looking even younger than Saul—crawled out from underground, clutching a small, common spell pouch in his hand.

The pouch bulged with contents, clearly filled with quite a bit.

Once fully emerged, the boy revealed a wooden lower body—the waist down was just a flat stump of wood.

If Saul were still here, he would immediately recognize this boy as Swan, a First Rank apprentice and student of Third Rank apprentice Clawn.

But now, Swan no longer looked terrified or dazed. His expression was complex.

Once he was sure no one else was around, Swan began chanting a spell fluently.

With the incantation, two thick branches sprouted from his wooden waist. They straightened forcefully, replacing his legs and feet, allowing him to stand.

He exhaled in relief and set the heavy pouch on the ground before wiping the grass-scented sweat from his forehead.

Opening the pouch, he saw a pile of broken shards.

“Damn, it’s broken again. This time it’s too busted to fix. Wonder if the Land Drifters will buy scrap…”

But when he saw the magic crystals, gold coins, gemstones, and a few books under the broken bits, he grinned widely.

“Still, a decent haul today. More than enough to buy a new mentor… Maybe this time I’ll get a female one?”

Swan licked his lips and briefly drifted into fantasy.

But as he looked around at the ruins again, he reined in his excitement, closed the pouch, and slung it over his shoulder.

“Better get out of here fast. Two Second Ranks showing up at once—way too scary. Good thing they had no interest in a Third Rank apprentice like me.”

Thinking of Victor, who had lured him to the castle’s fourth floor, and that terrifying female he never even saw, Swan shivered and hurried away.

But when he reached the end of the road and saw the small rundown house beyond the fence, he remembered something.

“Crap. I think I gave that old hag a gold coin when I was gathering intel earlier. I’ve lost so much already—I can’t afford to waste money like that.”

Convincing himself, he headed toward the old woman’s home at the roadside.

But when he got there, he noticed the door was slightly ajar.

A warning bell went off in his mind.

Carefully avoiding the door, he peeked inside through a nearby window.

And what he saw made his eyes go wide.

The old woman was still sitting on her little stool, facing the door.

But her entire body was covered in white mushrooms, densely packed and deeply unsettling.

Only her slightly cloudy eyes remained visible, staring expectantly at the doorway.

The pile of clutter behind the mushroom-covered figure had been disturbed—especially the old jar once full of coins, now nowhere to be seen.

Swan slowly backed away, retreating ten meters before hastily casting a cleansing spell on himself, terrified he might’ve picked up something foul.

“Someone beat me to it. Who the hell is so greedy and shameless they’d even steal from regular folks?” he cursed internally, no longer daring to linger as he quickened his pace away from the street.

Now, the area around the street where the Ralph estate had stood was completely devoid of life.

…

Kira’s mount flew fast, though not as fast as when she had first arrived with thunderous force.

She had probably been startled by Victor’s flashy display and used “nitro boost” to rush over just in case.

“Thank you for saving me today,” Saul finally found a chance to speak as they burst through the clouds.

Kira didn’t even look back. “Saving you was just incidental… Do you know the name of that Second Rank wizard?”

So you beat him up and chased him off, and now you think to ask?

(End of Chapter)

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