Chapter 47

“Oh, Riana? Can you calm down first?”

“I want to kill them all, I’ll kill them all!”

It seemed like my voice wasn’t even reaching Riana, whose eyes had already changed as if she were possessed.

“What did my dad do for this Magic Tower, and what did I do so wrong?! I just worked hard to practice magic!”

The situation was extremely serious.

Did Riana even realize it now?

That her accommodation was filling up with purple smoke flowing from her body.

“Kairon, what on earth is going on?”

“I don’t know either, but it’s definitely not good! But still…”

My hand naturally went to the hilt of my sword.

But I couldn’t bring myself to draw it.

The Demon in front of me, the emotions I felt from Riana’s cries.

It was truly… ‘sorrow.’

“I’ll destroy everything, everything!”

Those words—destroying everything.

They were chilling and terrifying, but somehow, they sounded different to me.

A cry soaked in loneliness and sorrow.

“Haha…”

I felt so foolish.

Only now did I realize.

The reason Riana had to become so cold.

I completely let go of the sword hilt.

And slowly walked toward Riana.

“…Kairon? What are you doing? Kairon!”

Abelin urgently called out to me, but this situation wasn’t as dangerous as she thought.

“I’ll kill them all, kill them all, and then, and then… Huh?”

Riana’s anxious muttering stopped.

*Crash—*

It was because I hugged her with all my might.

“Kairon, oppa?”

“Yeah. I’m here.”

The Power of Demon was still flowing from Riana’s body, but I didn’t care about that.

After tightly hugging Riana, who didn’t struggle, I gently patted her back.

At first, Riana just blinked up at me, but soon she slowly leaned into me and let her body relax.

Not long after, her excited, rapid breathing began to calm down.

“It’s been hard, hasn’t it, Riana? Being away from your family and living alone in the Magic Tower.”

“Yeah. I was lonely. Sniff…”

As she said she was lonely, Riana buried her face in my chest.

Then, the surge of demonic energy from her body also subsided.

Soon, I felt the small breaths and warm body temperature against my chest.

Now I was certain.

Riana wasn’t a Demon.

Even if the Power of Demon dwelled within her, my instincts were sure, and my reason could confirm, that she wasn’t a Demon.

“Abelin. Can you go make another cup of cocoa?”

“…Sure.”

Abelin, whose voice had also calmed in the now peaceful atmosphere, obediently did as I asked.

Sipping the warm cocoa slowly and carefully this time, Riana began to tell us about what she had been going through in the Rostia Magic Tower.

***

“Come forth, flames! Turn that pile of wood into ash!”

The confident chant of the applicant echoed through the Rostia Magic Tower’s examination hall.

And as soon as the chant ended, the trainee pointed their staff at the practice woodpile, but nothing happened.

A cold atmosphere spread among the onlookers.

“Ugh, please! Come out, flames! Burn, flames!!”

With all their might, the trainee shouted, and finally, a small flame flew from the staff and hit the woodpile.

After the flame disappeared, the woodpile began to crackle and slowly burn.

“Wow, it worked!”

“Hailey, you did it!”

“I knew you could do it!”

The onlookers gave Hailey, who had successfully created the flame and returned to the applicant waiting area, generous applause.

Applicants aiming to enter the Rostia Magic Tower were given free accommodation and a month of basic magic training, and today was the day to prove their progress.

The ‘Promotion Exam.’

Passing this exam would make them a member of the Tower, but failing meant starting over from scratch, with no record of the training they had received.

A fair opportunity for everyone.

So, more than half of the applicants were commoners struggling to make ends meet, hungry and poor.

But even they didn’t get unlimited chances.

They were only given three opportunities to take the exam.

After that, they were considered hopeless and couldn’t even receive training.

So everyone was desperate for their own reasons, but…

“Flames, rise! Burn fiercely before my eyes and turn that woodpile into ash!”

Another applicant’s shout.

The staff trembled and resonated, and a flame much larger than Hailey’s flew out and began to burn the woodpile fiercely.

“Wow…!”

“Impressive skill. Hard to believe it’s only been a month.”

“Among the applicants who’ve shown their skills so far, this is the best.”

This time, even the examiners gave generous applause.

Unlike Hailey, who had stood there with a blank expression, they even made comments belittling the other applicants.

“Ugh…”

Hailey’s shoulders slumped after barely succeeding.

“Hang in there, Hailey.”

“Riana…”

When Riana, another applicant, patted Hailey’s shoulder, Hailey couldn’t hold back her tears and started sobbing into Riana’s arms.

“I’m going to fail. With someone that good, I only managed to succeed once…”

“What are you talking about, Hailey! Hang in there. You managed to cast the spell, didn’t you? And even if the starting point is different, no one knows how it’ll end.”

“Riana, just saying that means so much to me! Waaah…”

Instead of comforting her, it seemed to have the opposite effect, and Hailey ended up crying out loud.

Even though the examiners must have heard the crying, they didn’t even glance her way.

“Next, applicant Riana.”

“Yes!”

Riana answered firmly and had to push away Hailey, who was clinging to her and sobbing.

“I’ll be back, Hailey. Wish me luck.”

“Yeah, Riana, you’ll do great. Much better than me! You’ve done well before, right?”

“Ah, don’t say that, you’re making me more nervous…”

Riana gripped her staff tightly and stepped forward.

Then, taking a deep breath, she looked at the newly prepared woodpile.

“…I command you.”

Clenching her teeth, she burned with the will to create a hot, fierce flame with her Mana.

“Burn, flames!”

The staff trembled and resonated with Riana’s Mana.

‘It worked!’

At that moment, Riana was sure of her success, but…

“Huh…?”

Nothing happened from the staff.

“T-this can’t be!”

She had practiced the flame-shooting spell dozens of times, and it had always worked.

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t nervous, but Riana knew she wasn’t so nervous that she’d fail such a simple spell.

“Come forth, flames! Burn, flames!”

No matter how many times she chanted and tried to manipulate her Mana, it was all in vain.

The staff resonated with her Mana but didn’t shoot out any flames.

“Step back.”

“Yes…”

Riana returned without being able to shoot any flames.

Hailey looked at her in disbelief.

“What happened, Riana? This isn’t like you!”

“I don’t know. Something went wrong…”

Finally, it was time to announce the passers.

The examiners called out the names of the applicants one by one, declaring them ‘passed.’

And then it was Hailey’s turn.

“Hailey.”

“Yes!”

“You’ve passed. Congratulations.”

“Oh my god, thank you!”

Hailey, who had thought she’d fail, passed and joined the group of passers amidst everyone’s applause.

Next, the examiner…

“That’s all.”

Folded the list of passers.

“Passers, follow me. I’ll guide you into the Tower. Those who failed, if you want to retake the training, speak to the person in charge, or you may leave.”

In the end, Riana had to remain among the failures.

As the failures were choosing their next steps, people suddenly started murmuring.

“I-It’s the Archmage!”

“Why is someone so high-ranking here?”

Following the voices, Riana also turned her gaze.

Someone wearing unusual clothes, radiating powerful Mana, was walking toward them.

And…

Toward Riana.

“Disappointing. Your father was such an excellent warrior, but his daughter is just…”

Archmage Ronos shook his head.

“I’ll see you in a month. Don’t disappoint me then. For your father’s sake!”