Part 4: Regrets (2)

Lucy paced nervously around the magic training ground. It had been several minutes since Aiden entered, and he still hadn’t come out.

Inside that place…

What on earth could be happening?

Lucy couldn’t figure it out at all.

Aiden seemed to know something she didn’t.

Before heading to the training ground, every casual remark he had made was laced with hidden meaning.

But perhaps it had all been a smokescreen.

Maybe Aiden was just pretending to know something.

‘How foolish… I should have stopped him from the start.’

Lucy was overwhelmed with belated guilt.

She hadn’t received the recommendation letter, and her regret and sorrow over that failure had left her no room to worry about Aiden.

If she had simply accepted the result and turned away, she wouldn’t be feeling this anxious now.

Aiden wouldn’t have stepped up to do something drastic either.

Her question returned to square one as she hovered near the door.

What exactly was happening in there?

Was Aiden begging the branch manager for a recommendation letter?

Or… was he demonstrating his strength?

For some reason, the latter seemed more likely.

She recalled hearing about it indirectly from her father—how, during their journey back home, Aiden had saved him in a life-threatening situation.

That meant Aiden wasn’t weak.

But!

If Aiden was indeed using force to make his case, this time, he had seriously miscalculated his opponent.

No matter which branch of magicians you visited, the branch manager would at least be a 2nd or 3rd-class master.

And these weren’t naive magicians either—they were veterans who had experienced the bitterness and harshness of life.

Lucy’s imagination solidified into certainty.

She could vividly picture Aiden groaning in pain from a magical attack beyond the door.

She couldn’t bear the thought of Aiden suffering because of her shortcomings.

Lucy’s eyes grew resolute.

She strode purposefully toward the door and grabbed the handle.

Click!

It was locked.

No amount of force could budge it.

Dismayed, she wondered why the door that had been open earlier was now locked.

Something ominous must have happened inside.

‘I’ll take the blame if I must.’

Lucy glared at the door and began drawing mana from her mana heart.

She conjured the largest fireball she could manage.

Soon, a blazing orb, the size of a child’s head, hovered above her palm. The fire didn’t just flicker—it roared.

Her fiery determination had seeped into her magic.

‘Break the door down and storm in.’

The moment she made up her mind—

Creeeeak.

The door opened with a groan.

Out came Aiden, his face perfectly calm and unscathed.

“What are you doing?”

“Uh? N-nothing, just… practicing magic.”

“Pointless.”

Aiden shrugged.

Lucy hurriedly extinguished her magic and steadied her startled heart. Seeing Aiden unharmed brought an immediate wave of relief.

“Lucy, is it?”

Following Aiden, the branch manager Cody stepped outside.

To Lucy’s surprise, he spoke to her in a polite tone, his expression uncharacteristically servile.

“Yes?”

“I’ll write you a recommendation letter. It seems I made a mistake earlier due to my poor condition.”

“……”

“There’s even a special recommendation letter that can exempt you from the entrance exam if presented to the academy.”

“Really?”

Lucy’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Her despair turned into elation, her spirits soaring sky-high in an instant.

Happiness enveloped her entirely.

Now she could go to the academy!

“You’re not joking, are you?”

“If I were joking, it would be about what happened earlier, when someone as talented as you was rejected.”

“Then why the sudden change of heart?”

“As I said, I realized my mistake. Haha. Please, follow me this way.”

Cody forced a laugh and led the way.

Lucy and Aiden followed behind.

“Aiden, what exactly happened in there?” Lucy couldn’t suppress her curiosity and asked.

*  *  *

Ten minutes earlier.

Branch Manager Cody glared at Aiden, grinding his teeth.

The audacious boy dared to threaten him, the branch manager.

And to make it worse, he had even spouted the ridiculous claim that he could defeat an 8th-class master.

“I don’t understand why you’re getting so upset. The one who should be most upset isn’t you—it’s Lucy, waiting outside.”

“……”

“Your greed crushed her dreams.”

“I already said, bring the money, and I’ll write the letter.”

“I refuse.”

“You think your refusal changes anything? Not even a fraction! Today, you’ll learn what it means to taste the bitterness of life.”

Cody began channeling his mana.

There was no way Aiden would leave the training ground unscathed after touching his pride.

Snap!

Cody stretched out his hand, and his mana wrapped around Aiden’s face.

Aiden’s eyes closed involuntarily.

It was the 2nd-class spell Blind.

“How do you like it? A pitch-black world? My Blind lasts a whole hour. In the meantime, I’ll make you wish you’d never been born.”

“Talking as if you’ve been to hell yourself…”

“Still mouthing off, huh?”

Cody immediately launched his next attack. Three mana-forged spheres flew toward Aiden.

They were precisely controlled Magic Missiles, aimed at his torso, leg, and shoulder.

There was no need to kill, just teach a lesson.

Whoosh!

The missiles streaked toward their target, but—

To Cody’s shock, Aiden dodged them all with movements too quick to track.

The missiles exploded harmlessly against the walls, sending up clouds of smoke.

What the hell? He dodged magic without seeing it?

A creeping unease filled Cody, but he dismissed it, gritting his teeth.

The water has already spilled.

There was no turning back now.

‘So you’ve got a few tricks up your sleeve? No matter.’

He moved silently to Aiden’s flank, preparing his next spell.

This time, he’d teach the insolent boy the sting of lightning.

But the impossible happened again.

As though he had a third eye, Aiden dashed toward Cody with unerring precision.

In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of him.

Panic-stricken, Cody activated his barrier, an artifact-powered 3rd-class Barrier, without any casting delay.

Fwoom.

A translucent shield enveloped Cody.

“You fool. Do you think you can break a 3rd-class Barrier? You wouldn’t even—”

Cody couldn’t finish his sentence.

Aiden thrust his hands into the barrier and tore it apart.

Rip!

What kind of monster is he?!

“Tearing through a barrier with bare hands?”

“Does that mean his raw strength surpasses a Class 3 barrier?”

As the barrier shredded apart.

Cody found himself completely exposed to Aiden.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Intense impacts struck his torso, legs, and shoulders.

Ironically, the points of impact aligned exactly with the trajectory of the magic missiles Cody had launched at Aiden.

Boom!

“Ughhh!”

Cody slumped against the wall, groaning.

Each of Aiden’s actions defied belief.

Even while blinded, he managed to evade every magic missile.

And then, he ripped through a barrier with his bare hands.

The pain coursing through Cody’s battered body was overshadowed by his shock at Aiden’s capabilities.

But the shock didn’t end there.

“You… opened your eyes?”

Aiden was now glaring down at Cody with those very eyes.

“Low-tier magic like Blinding won’t work on me.”

“Then why were your eyes shut…?”

“To mess with you.”

Aiden approached Cody with steady, deliberate steps.

At that moment, Cody realized that resistance was utterly meaningless.

After all, mages were a rational breed.

But surrendering to Aiden wasn’t an option either.

“You think you’ll get away with this kind of violence?”

“You were the one being violent. You demanded bribes and attacked first.”

“You think the world will see it that way?”

A sly grin crept onto Cody’s face.

“If you get on your knees and beg for forgiveness, I might just let you go.”

“Me? Why should I?”

“Because I’ll put out a bounty on your head through the Rayon Magic Association. I’ll admit—you’re strong. I misjudged you.”

“……”

“But can you really handle the full wrath of the Rayon Magic Association on your own?”

A twisted smile lingered on Cody’s lips.

An individual could never win against an organization.

That was an eternal, unchanging truth.

The moment Aiden was branded a fugitive, his life would be that of a hunted man.

“Have you considered that I might just kill you before you report me?”

“There’s no one here but you and me. If you kill me, the blame falls squarely on you. I don’t want to die, of course, but your life won’t be easy either.”

At this point, Aiden hesitated to speak further.

Cody’s calculations were spot on.

Though immensely powerful, Aiden was still a fiery youth, unaccustomed to thinking several steps ahead.

The heavy silence was finally broken by Aiden.

“Then how about this idea?”

“What idea?”

“The idea that I might just kill everyone in the Rayon Magic Association.”

“Haha! Have you lost your mind? Do you really think such a thing is possible?”

“Nothing’s impossible.”

Aiden opened a subspace and pulled out an item.

It was a staff.

Thunk.

He tossed it to the floor with casual indifference.

“What’s this?”

“See for yourself.”

Cody glanced at the staff lying on the ground—and froze in terror.

How could he not recognize that staff?

The Staff of Glory!

The one used by Archmage Horatus.

Horatus, celebrated as the Great One, was the most accomplished mage of the past century.

The staff’s body was plain.

But the headpiece was carved into the shape of a dragon’s head.

And it wasn’t just decorative. It was made from actual dragon bone.

“A convincing fake. You almost had me.”

“You’re quick to judge. Look closer.”

“Hah! As if—”

The moment Cody gripped the staff and channeled his mana through it—

His eyes widened in astonishment.

Instinctively, he knew.

This was the real thing.

The staff contained an astonishing concentration of mana equivalent to a Class 5 mage.

Intricate mana circuits were embedded within, allowing spells to be cast without chanting.

Cody could detect over twenty circuits—and likely, there were more he couldn’t sense.

“Wh-why do you have the Archmage’s staff?!”

“……”

“Horatus was assassinated by demons, wasn’t he? And the staff went missing after that!”

“Who knows? Why don’t you tell me?”

“Don’t tell me… you’re the demon who killed Horatus?”

“Half right. I’m no demon.”

Aiden’s calm expression remained unshaken as he spoke the unthinkable.

The young man who had seemed ordinary now stood revealed as the one who had assassinated the legendary Horatus…

“Even an 8th-class master wouldn’t stand a chance against me.”

It dawned on Cody that Aiden hadn’t been bluffing.

The staff in his hand was undeniable proof.

The thought of using the staff against Aiden crossed Cody’s mind, but he abandoned the idea almost immediately.

If Aiden had killed the wielder of the Staff of Glory, any resistance would be futile.

Whoosh!

The staff flew back into Aiden’s hand with a simple gesture.

He returned it to his subspace.

“Now, back to the main issue.”

Cody swallowed nervously.

“So? Do you still think the Association can protect you?”

Cody didn’t respond.

He merely shook his head in defeat.

If this man had killed Horatus, not even the Association could shield him.

Aiden would wipe them all out—from the headquarters to every branch.

“Still… I don’t get it.”

Cody’s tone turned unexpectedly polite.

“What don’t you get?”

“Why would someone as powerful as you stay in a small, backwater town? Why bother mentoring a nobody like that commoner mage wannabe?”

“……”

“And why reveal your identity now?”

Cody poured out his frustrations, unable to suppress them any longer.

What rotten luck.

How?

How did I end up crossing paths with the man who killed Horatus?

And in this manner, no less?

Moreover, Cody couldn’t even reveal Aiden’s identity.

If he tried, he’d be killed.

Not that anyone would believe him anyway.

“I thought I’d try living a normal life. In the past, I would’ve killed you here and wiped out the Association without a second thought.”

Each word Aiden spoke sent chills down Cody’s spine.

What made it worse was knowing Aiden truly had the capability to do it.

Especially the way he’d torn apart the barrier with his bare hands—that image would haunt Cody’s nightmares.

“Dammit… you call this normal?!”

“This is all on you.”

Aiden’s calm response left no room for argument.

Cody didn’t realize.

Aiden was simply applying the law of retaliation—an eye for an eye.

The blows he dealt Cody mirrored the magic missiles.

And just as Cody had threatened him with the Association, Aiden countered with assassination threats.

After a long, suffocating silence—

Cody dropped to his knees before Aiden.

Pathetically.

He grabbed the hem of Aiden’s pants.

His course of action was clear now.

“I’m sorry! I’ll write her a hundred, no, a thousand letters of recommendation if you want! Please, be merciful as the ocean—and spare my life!”
 

To be continued

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