The Crazy Magician

Upon entering the mansion, Aria immediately tried to look around while thinking about where Leyna and Mika possibly might be. Though even if they were indeed locked up, it was unlikely that they would be in the main house either.

Forgetting to be wary of the man in front of her, Aria didn't even realize where the man was taking her. All she knew was that now she was in the backyard where the soldiers had their impromptu training.

"Well, sit here." The man said as he patted the seat beside him. "You see, Rei told me to watch his practice. But of course I'll get bored alone, so at least accompany me." He says relaxedly. "Hurry, over here."

Holding back her feelings, Aria finally sat down. At first she sat a little far away, but then the man came back to her and even started embracing her shoulder. Aria had never really been bothered by men because Mika and Arran were always with her, but today she realized that being bothered by some unknown man can be pretty scary.

Although it's still not as scary as imagining bad things happening to her friends.

So Aria might as well cultivate her fear more. "T-The soldier said earlier that there was a thief here last night. Is it true? Is that why they are training like this?"

"Yes, my goodness! I don't care what they want to steal. But if my father and mother find out that something is missing when they return home, I'll be the one that would get killed!"

"But it seemed like there were no reports at the village head's office."

"Ah, that? Well, you know… Ah, or maybe someone like you doesn't understand something like that?" He suddenly asked back. "Criminals need to be punished to their root, you know. So they need to be interrogated first before being sent to the mayor. Not to mention Rei has been very sensitive lately..." He explained while pointing at one of the men who was still practicing in the yard. The man she had previously seen over the fence.

And perhaps realizing that he was being pointed at, the man then headed towards them. Only after scrunching his face in displeasure did he seem to throw his sword at the other warriors and started walking towards where they were sitting.

Even though he was the same height as the man beside her, this man definitely looked more muscular. His black hair also looked messy, although the skin of his face looked a little fair for a person who looked like a training master.

But still, rather than all of that, what stood out the most were his piercing gaze and… his incredibly intimidating magical aura. Even Aria who wasn't sensitive to magic aura could feel it.

'Was he actually the one Arran told me about…?'

"What are you doing? Who is she? After last night's incident, I can't believe you still have time to bring unknown women here?!" He complained in a row.

"She's just a delivery guy…girl. There, your mountain packages have arrived again." Replied the man, who then managed to get his friend's attention diverted.

Ignoring Aria, now the man with the strong magic aura went to check the goods he ordered. It was thanks to that, the previous man was about to return to approach Aria. But apparently his friend still called him again. "You have to help me too."

The man had a sour face, but apparently he didn't argue and finally followed his friend instead.

He left Aria just like that.

Aria fell silent… Somewhat confused by the luck of the situation she's in. But before she thought about it too much, she started running towards the side of the mansion like a real thief.

At first Aria wasn't sure which way to check. But because she saw that there were maids hanging around in several places, she spontaneously always ran in another direction which looked quieter. And after she kept doing that for a while, she finally stood in front of another mansion. Judging from the many bookshelves inside, it looked like a library or something.

Aria was a little worried that there were people inside because the books looked messy on one of the desks. But it looked like there really was no one there. So when she saw that there were workers hanging around again, she was forced to go inside.

"Hh… Hh…" Second by second Aria became more and more afraid and began to feel that someone would definitely catch her back. But somehow she could strengthen herself again and finally began to run across all the bookshelves there to find the back door.

Aria stopped when she arrived at the table where there were piles of books. But she immediately felt scared again because the pile of books didn't seem so dusty. So before the person really came back, she immediately rushed out.

But even after that, Aria still continued to wander incoherently through the Malven's residence. She knew that she wasn't very good with directions, but her feeling of panic today made her really not know where her own position even was.

"...Aria." But suddenly Aria caught a faint voice calling her name.

She turned her head to look around and searched for the sound. But because she couldn't find it either, Aria finally decided to return to the mansion she had previously passed. The place seemed to have a lot of employees hanging around, but she had to check it out this time.

But just as she was about to turn towards the back door, Aria ran into someone instead. The man from earlier, who had that terrifying magical aura.

Aria herself immediately had a heart attack, but it turned out that the man didn't look surprised at all and just furrowed his brows. "Disgusting..." He spat out instantly. "That old man even threatened to bring the entire village here if anything happened to you. But look who he's actually protecting." He grumbled. But of course Aria could only stay silent.

"You stole something, didn't you?" He accused her immediately. Aria was too scared to answer anything, but she finally managed to shake her head while trembling.

"So what? Are you telling me you're just lost? To the end of the yard like this?"

Still trembling, Aria had lost all hope of escaping this situation. But once the man was about to grasp her arm, Aria spontaneously avoided him. And she started running away!

But unfortunately something caught Aria's arm again, which turned out to be a magic rope the man made.

Even if it was a normal rope, Aria obviously couldn't untie it with normal force. So before the man got any closer, Aria hastily used her fire magic to burn the rope.

But it still didn't work! So Aria used her ice magic too to freeze the rope so she could break the rope. Her hand got hurt because of the ice itself, but thankfully she succeeded this time and finally broke free.

"What--wait!"

The man screamed which just made Aria run even faster instead. That must be why he immediately used his flight magic and streaked to intercept Aria. But as soon as the man stepped on the ground, Aria immediately used her magic again to make the ground have a strange texture so that the man slipped and fell.

And Aria ran again with all her might.

Aria couldn't bring herself to look back, but strangely the man didn't cast any more magic on her until she finally arrived at the main mansion.

"You, where are you from--" The other young master was about to ask as soon as he saw Aria, but the girl just passed him and ran straight to Mr. Isak.

"Aria, are you alright? They didn't do anything to you?" Asked Mr. Isak, even though Aria immediately grabbed his arm.

"I-I'm fine. Uncle, let's go back right now."

"Is it okay? If you want to, we can--"

"I'm alright. Let's just go now!"